Zilver

Some prawn dumpling thing that was delicious. I don't know what it's called - perks of  being able to just point at exactly what you want to eat.

A few years ago when I visited Melbourne, my friends took me to a restaurant called Gold Leaf for dim sum. I remember it being really good - possibly the best dim sum that I had ever had at that point - but I don't remember much else, which is a little strange to me because I usually remember specific things that I particularly like/dislike about places.

Meat and Prawn Dumplings - not our favourite but very popular.  Pan fried at a station at the front of the dining room.

As I had previously raved about the dim sum in Australia and because we're so deprived of good dim sum here in Dunedin, when S & I visited Sydney a few months ago, it was right at the top of our list of things 'to eat'. Luckily we had some foodie friends in Sydney who directed us straight to Zilver. The long and the short of it is that we had dim sum at Zilver thrice over four days and now S flatly refuses to eat dim sum at any of the Dunedin restaurants (S now stands for SPOILT).

Har Kau (Prawn Dumpling) - Succulent marinated whole prawns encased in thin, smooth, stretchy dumpling skin. Absolutely delicious

First of all, they serve dim sum the proper way! - i.e. by pushing trolleys full of food around the restaurant and stopping at each table so that customers can choose what they want. None of the 'modern' ordering dim sum ala carte b.s. that is the norm in KL now. If I remember correctly, I was still in primary school the last time I went to a restaurant in KL that still served dim sum the traditional way. How sad is that?

Char Siu Pau (BBQ Pork Buns) - Fluffy, soft, white bun filled with lovely barbecue pork

Secondly, the dim sum at both Gold Leaf and Zilver were far superior than the dim sum that I've had in KL. According to Pops, most of the restaurants in KL now serve mass produced, factory-made dim sum, which is why they mostly taste the same (not terrible, but not particularly good or interesting). The second time we were at Zilver, as we were contemplating what to scoff next, I overheard one of the waitresses saying (in response to a customer's query about when a specific dim sum would be ready) that the 'si fu' (Cantonese for 'Master', as in master of an art, e.g. Kungfu Master, Master Chef, etc) was eating lunch, so whatever it is they had asked for would only be ready later. That obviously means that they actually have a dim sum master and they make their own dim sum in their own kitchen.

Char Siu Sou (Baked Pork Triangle) - beautifully buttery flaky pastry filled with tender, delicious barbecue pork

And of course, it shows in their food. Not only did they have some excellent dim sum that I had never seen in any other restaurant, but even their standard dim sum ('siu mai' a.k.a. pork dumpling, 'har kau' a.k.a prawn dumpling, 'char siu pau' a.k.a barbecue pork bun) were exceptional. As I am sure you have surmised, the food was fantastic (with the exception of the roast pork, which was tough, dry and not at all tasty and the fried noodles, which was bland), as it would have to be to warrant three visits in a four day overseas trip. Incidentally, I also had a delicious bowl of 'tau foo fah' (soy bean custard/pudding) that didn't photograph very well but deserves to be mentioned because the flavour was exactly right and it one of the smoothest, silkiest soy bean puddings that I've ever had. 

But there's more!:

Siu Mai (Pork Dumpling): Unlike the mass made variety that normally has a very finely minced filling, this siu mai was filled with delightful chunks of prawns. The complex flavours and textures were a surprising revelation  - this is what it can taste like and now I am probably never going to enjoy siu mai at a normal restaurant again.

Black Pepper Beef - Incredibly tasty and tender. Lip-smacking, finger-lickin' good.

Sam Sek Kou (Tri Coloured 'Cake') - Yam (grey), Radish (white), and Water Chestnut (clear). Quite unusual. I've had fried radish and yam cakes before, but the sweet, sticky, jelly-like water chestnut cake was new. Very tasty, and also very popular.

Char Siu Sou (Barbecue Pork Triangles) - As described in earlier photo, delicious and melts in your mouth. 

Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling - I am not exactly sure what this one is called even though it is one of the common dim sums and one fo my favourites. J called it fried 'har kau'. Whatever it's called, it's good. Crunchy, crispy (wonton?) skins stuffed with lovely tasty fat prawns, dipped in mayo (I didn't care for the greenish wasabi mayo). MMM!

Seaweed Prawn Rolls - Again, fat rolls of prawns. Can't go wrong with that if you're trying to please me! This was the first time that I had the immense satisfaction of biting into a big springy, tasty, crunchy ball of prawns. You know they say you can't miss what you've never had? Well now I've had it and I want more! This is going to be an expensive addiction if I have to buy a plane ticket every time I need to feed it.

Egg Tart - And to think S was going to leave without tasting this. Just look at the layers of flaky pastry and the golden yellow, smooth egg custard. On our second visit, we managed to get a table right in front of the entrance to the kitchen and so got first dibs on these as they came out, freshly baked and still lovely and warm. We got there at about 10 am that day and had eaten most of what we wanted in an hour. We were both quite full and were going to go to Tetsuya's that night, so it was supposed to be a 'light' lunch. Then I remembered that we had forgotten to get egg tarts the day before. I knew S would want some as soon as she saw them but she thought that she was too full to have anything else. The waitress said that the egg tarts wouldn't be ready until 11:30 am so I figured that if I stalled for a while longer, we could get the egg tarts and S would feel like eating them by then. Luckily, that was exactly what happened and S absolutely loved them. They're like beautiful, rich, sweet, buttery little bites of melt-in-your-mouth sunshine. 

Lou Mai Fan (Steamed Glutinous Rice) - Incredibly tasty and perfectly cooked. Normally glutinous rice is very sticky, soft and smooshed together but as you can see, the individual grains of rice are clearly... individual, and firm. It was seasoned well and had nice chunky bits of prawn, chinese sausage and egg.  

Green Beans Stir Fried with Garlic and Dried Shrimp - One of my favourite vegetable dishes. Simple, tasty, homey and satisfying.

Char Siu Pau (Barbecue Pork Bun) - As described in the first photo. You'll notice that unlike the artificial red colouring commonly found in its mass made cousins, the barbecue pork filling in this bun is a naturally dark caramel colour.

Special thanks to J and L for being great city hosts while we were in Sydney and for recommending Zilver.

Zilver
477 Pitt Street 
Haymarket 
NSW 2000 
Australia

Gaslight & S's Birthday Operation FI3

[*Updated 7:50 am, 16 May 2011]

Twice baked goat cheese souffle with ratatouille

S had a big birthday about a month ago. Since I am such an abusive slave driver (you know, always throwing recipes at her and making her cook, etc), and it was a milestone birthday, I knew that the usual dinner party and cake just wouldn't do. Being slightly neurotic, I began planning about two months before her birthday. 'Operation FI3' (can anyone who wasn't involved guess what that stands for?) came together with the help of a few 'agents' and a lot of secretive emailing. 

Butternut salad, arugula, pumpkin seeds, feta

On D-day, I was surprised at how (almost) seamlessly the plan was executed. Basically, we planned something akin to the 'Amazing Race', except that she wasn't racing against anyone. She was given clues and tasks that she had to successfully complete in order to get her next clue and progress to the next destination. S actually solved some tasks more quickly that we had anticipated, but she finished the entire mission more or less on schedule. Thanks P for playing paparazzi!

Steak frites with sauce borderlaise

J started it off by surprising her with the rules and her first task at 11:00 am. She had to decipher five clues to figure out which five items she had to bring on the mission as 'toll payment', e.g. "An _____ a day keeps the doctor away". After that, she had to solve another clue to figure out where I was waiting for her (at the basketball courts). There, she had to make either five free throw shots or one three point shot. Then she had to find the next agent, who made her play a taiko drill by stamping her feet - the video of them doing this is brilliant and a definite keepsake. Following that, she was supposed to recall missing lines from at least one of two Malay 'pantuns' (poems) that another agent had prepared - poems that we all learnt as kids. She failed at this - the penalty for failure to complete a task was a tequila shot per offence, to be paid at her party that night. Her last task was to find a spot to photograph the hospital so that the entire building would be in the shot. This had to be done to P's satisfaction - P's an excellent photographer and was following S throughout her mission to photograph the action. Finally, she had to use the first letters of the five items she had collected at the beginning of the mission and five other letters we had given her for completing each task to work out what the final destination was - Gaslight. 

Gnocchi with fume, lardons and fungi (spicy bacon and mushroom)

So, at about 1:00 pm, everyone showed up at Gaslight for a much needed feed. I had dined there once before and thought that the simple, decent food and comfortable, casual, aesthetically pleasing ambience would be perfect for an occasion like this. It's quite new and of course, as with anything new, had a few teething issues, but for me, the overall experience of dining there twice was positive. 

Fettuccini with fungi

I have a lot of photos of what everyone else ordered, but obviously can only really comment on what I tasted:

Fettuccini with fungi: I had this the first time I had dinner there. Initially I thought that the pasta was a little bland. But as I ate, I realised that the mushrooms were so well seasoned that you just had to make sure you had a mixture of mushroom and pasta with each bite to get the nice, subtle, earthy flavours of the mushrooms. Simple, rustic and quite tasty.

Gnocchi with fume, lardons and fungi: Had a tiny bite of this from B's plate. Thought the bacon was a little tough.

Fettuccini Marinara

*Fettuccini Marinara (southern littleneck clam in a rich chive cream): I didn't taste this, but thought it was really odd that their 'marinara' was a white cream sauce. People often think that 'marina' means seafood (I did too when I was a kid) but marina sauce is actually a specific style of tomato based sauce. This is the first time I've seen a cream based 'Marina' sauce in a restaurant and I don't know if it's just a misnomer, or intentional.

Pan-fried fresh fish, caper butter, wet polenta with feta and spinach

Pan-fried fresh fish, caper butter, wet polenta with feta and spinach: The fish was tasty, albeit a little over-seasoned. I really didn't like the wet polenta - it's just not my thing and had a strange texture. Otherwise, OK.

Chocolate croissant pudding

Chocolate croissant pudding: I think this really should have been served warm, instead of stone cold. It would have been pretty nice if it was warmed. I liked the crispiness of the top crust, and the thick layers of chocolate running through it, but bottom half was too stodgy and cold. Disappointing.

Chocolate mousse pots with white chocolate mascarpone: Absolutely delicious. Thick and luxurious with little surprising chunks of chocolate (or honeycomb?) throughout the pot. Wanted to order it again at S's birthday lunch, but they had run out. The mousse was rich and sweet enough on it's own without requiring the additional white chocolate mascarpone. 

I am keen to re-visit Gaslight to try more of their pasta and French dishes. Their prices are reasonable and as a whole, it looks promising. When they iron out whatever needs to be addressed and hit their stride, I think it could be a favourite Dunedin haunt.

Gaslight Cafe

73 St Andrew Street

Dunedin 9016

Riverstone Kitchen

Four weekends ago, S, P and I spent a gorgeous, relaxing afternoon at Riverstone Kitchen in Oamaru, as an early birthday celebration for S. This place is something special - they have quirky, quaint gift shops, an aviary, an awesome fort and playground, a nice big vegetable garden, a large chicken and poultry coop, and some random goats just hanging out. And I haven't even mentioned the casual-chic, sleek, comfortable, well designed restaurant. Clearly, a lot of thought, creativity and effort has been poured into every last detail and now it is one of my favourite spaces in NZ (and I am sure I am not the only one who thinks so).

It turned out to be just one of those days that I will always remember with fondness - simple, good, homegrown food, the beautiful, blue NZ sky, lush green grounds, with lots of entertaining features, and great company. I can't speak for the others, but the afternoon there left me feeling quite content and with a happy memory to keep.

I apologise for the brevity, but this is the simplest way to convey my/our thoughts about each dish:

Potato gnocchi, with roast pumpkin, burnt butter, sage and pinenuts: S's main. She loved the gnocchi, the roast pumpkin and the crispness of the sage. 

Riverstone fish and chips with fresh herbs, lemon and tartare sauce: P's main. All I got out of him was "really good". I like the look of the rustic, hearty chips but I didn't get to taste any. Luckily, C, my co-worker, recently visited Riverstone Kitchen and ordered this very dish and has proclaimed it 'fantastic!'.

Organic chicken pie with mash and onion gravy: My main. I loved the mash and the onion gravy. The filling of the pie was a little unexpected because it was sweetish rather than savoury, but it was still good. The chicken pieces were a little lean and therefore fibrous, but I suppose that comes with cooking with a conscience and using organic or free range chicken and leaner cuts. The pastry was perfect - just the right flavour, thickness and flakiness.

Sautéed brussel sprouts with roast almonds: We all loved this side dish. Perfectly executed. I loved the slight bitterness of the brussel sprouts and was pleasantly surprised by how well the roast almonds complemented the vegetables and lent that bit of sophistication to the dish.

Steamed Riverstone greens with black olive tapenade: Quite interesting. I've never had vegetables served topped with olive tapenade before but it worked well. I am not a fan of olives, generally, so S may have enjoyed this a bit more.

Caramel and macadamia tart: S's dessert. I think she liked it but after a while found it a bit too sweet.

Chocolate sour cream cake: My dessert. This was every bit as amazing as it looks. Beautifully moist, soft and chocolatey with a deliciously thick layer of incredibly decadent, gooey icing. I am not a fan of berry coulis so I just had the cake by itself. It didn't even need the ice cream or cream on the side.

Feijoa open tart: P's dessert. Again, all I got was 'good' and some nodding. 

the chicken coop

the quaint gift shop

the vegetable garden

the awesome fort!

If you need any more convincing, you should also know that Riverstone Kitchen was awarded Cuisine Magazine's Restaurant of the Year for 2010.

Riverstone Kitchen 
1431 State Highway 1 
RD 5H
Oamaru

Seafood Risotto

I love a good risotto, but I haven't had good risotto very often. Fortunately, the first one I ever tried was one of the best that I've had, so I from then on, I had a good idea of what it was supposed to taste like. And S's combination of Jamie Oliver's and Rick Stein’s seafood risotto recipes (and winging it) produced a really tasty, rich dish with nice full flavours. 

We used scallops and snapper instead of mussels and monkfish, and left out the squid. The scallops were terrible because we used frozen ones (don't ask me why, we were just pushing our luck). We seasoned the snapper fillets with salt and cajun spices and pan fried the fish instead of cooking it with the risotto. We also added asparagus, so with all those ingredients, it doesn't look quite as elegant as something you would get in a restaurant but it was incredibly satisfying. Sorry I can't even write a general recipe for this because S did 99.99% of the cooking (I think I stirred the pot a couple of times...maybe) and I don't remember what she did. But if you just go with these recipes and do what makes sense to you, you should be fine. Risottos seem to be pretty straightforward as long as you take the time to cook it slowly, allow the flavours to develop and the rice to naturally turn rich and creamy. It's worth the effort.

Pier 24 - etc

It's no secret that I think that Pier 24 is the best, and my favourite, fine dining restaurant in Dunedin. As I often use just about any excuse to go there, my collection of pictures and thoughts about their various dishes is becoming somewhat scattered. Before it gets completely out of hand, here's a post about some random dishes from different visits, as far back as July/August 2010:

  

This was a amuse bouche made with thai green curry paste and spicy kumara (I think?). It had lovely depth, richness complexity. It's nine months later, and I can still remember the taste.

Vanilla and five spice panna cotta, red wine poached pear, raspberry ice-cream and tuille biscuit - This was absolutely stunning. The perfectly balanced flavours and textures with the slightly acidic, tender, grainy flesh of the wine soaked pear, the pleasantly sourish, smooth ice-cream and the sweet, silky, creamy, luscious, delicate, wobbly, clingy panna cotta, topped with the crunchy, sticky sugar glass shard.....it was so incredibly good, that (after 20 minutes) I can't even think of a suitable way to end this sentence.  

Salt and pepper crisp fried squid - This was my favourite reason to visit St Clair for a delicious afternoon snack and to just relax and enjoy the view. It initially caught my eye as a starter on the evening menu but there were always other irresistible starters that edged the squid out, like the pork belly. Eventually, I realised that they had it on the bar menu, and then I couldn't get enough of it. It doesn't get much better than enjoying hot, freshly fried, tasty, lightly battered and crispy squid, with cool ginger beer and and view of the ocean and the blue, blue New Zealand sky. There was also a hint of a spice in the squid (maybe fennel?) that gave it that extra punch. Delicious. 

Unfortunately, the last few times I visited, the salt and pepper squid was not on either menu and the other squid dishes that I've tried since (Crisp fried gremolata crumbed squid starter from the dinner menu and squid rings from the bar menu) have been good, but not as good as the salt and pepper squid. But I've just checked the menus on their site and it looks like it's back on the bar menu!!! 

Grilled farmed venison noisettes with Parma ham, potato & kumara rosti, avocado hummus, red wine and candied onion pan jus - This is their new venison item, which is good, but the sharp saltiness of the Parma ham is a bit jarring and doesn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the plate. As I have highlighted before, I particularly enjoyed how the sweetish accompaniments enhanced the flavour of the meat in the old venison dish (which was such a favourite that even though I always went with the intention to try something else, I would inevitably order the venison) and have been craving it for a while now. Alas.........perhaps I can hope for it to make a comeback like the salt and pepper squid.

'Claypot' Chicken Rice v2.0

Very sorry about not posting in the last few weeks. The internet at my place STILL hasn't been restored and it is getting quite inconvenient. I am in internet and 'flogging' (food blogging) withdrawal, so I am posting this even though it's not going to be a very long one. 

I've written about making 'Claypot' Chicken Rice once before, but the photo in that post was awful and the recipe was basic. I've taken it up a notch here and the little extras are definitely worth it. This is one of those really easy recipes that will produce a delicious, comforting, and incredibly satisfying, one-pot meal. Great for all you hungry, non-cooks like me.

Random notes: -

I use thigh fillets because: 

1. they contain more fat than breast fillets and are therefore far less fibrous and more moist. 

2. the fat flavours the rice well, and 

3. I am too lazy to deal with chicken pieces even though they would retain more flavour and moisture with the skin on and bone in, AND the fat from the skin would give the dish extra flavour (maybe one day, when I have my dream kitchen - I know, I know, what does a 'non-cook' want with a dream kitchen? Doesn't matter, I still do!). 

Claypot Chicken Rice 

Ingredients 

Rice 

Chicken 

Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) 

Ginger

Garlic 

Dark Soy Sauce 

Shallot 

Salted Fish 

Spring Onion 

Method 

1. Steam chinese sausages (as per instructions on packet), then slice (about half a cm thick) and saute in a dry pan until slightly browned and oil is released into pan. 

2. Set aside chinese sausage slices and using the same pan, heat cooking oil (estimate what you would need to coat all the rice you are going to use and add an extra tablespoon) and saute a large (about 2-3 inches) piece of ginger until slightly golden. 

3. Add uncooked rice, saute until translucent, then set aside (with ginger) in rice cooker pot. 

4. Heat some oil and saute garlic cloves (crushed with the side of a knife, but otherwise in one piece) until fragrant. 

5. Add chicken pieces and fry until golden brown. 

6. Add dark soy sauce and sugar to taste and stir fry well. 

7. Add water to the chicken (estimate the amount you would need to cook the rice in a rice cooker, if unsure, use less and add more later). 

8. Taste - sauce/broth should be just a bit too salty because the flavours will mellow considerably when cooked with the rice. 

9. Pour chicken and sauce/broth over the rice in the rice cooker pot and throw in the chinese sausage slices. 

10. Cook in rice cooker as you would cook plain rice. The switch will 'trip' and show that it is done before it actually is but leave it in to continue cooking. Just keep testing the rice to see if it needs more water or if it just needs to be left in longer. 

11. While it is cooking, finely slice shallots and chop spring onions. 

12. Fry sliced shallots until golden brown. 

13. Serve topped with the fried shallots, chopped spring onions and some salted fish.

Eat

NB: Apologies for not posting anything in the last two weeks. The internet service where I live has been disrupted because of the earthquake in Christchurch. Apparently the servers are in a currently cordoned off area and service may be restored…next month. So until then, posting may not be as regular as I would like. Sorry.

If there is one word I would use to describe the food at Eat it would be 'pretty'. I know that for the majority of us, prettiness is not the first thing we look for in our food, but nonetheless, presentation is important. Everything about Eat is visually pleasing - from the display of freshly baked goods, tiers of friands, the simple, classic wooden chairs and tables, down to each artistic plate of food - it appears as though attention, thought and care has been poured into every last detail. Even the two (differently flavoured) pain au chocolates that we ordered were served on individually decorated plates, when they could have just served them both on a single plate.

Perhaps at this point some of you might be a little concerned that I have yet to say anything about how the food actually tastes. Rest assured, the food is as good as it looks. It isn't quite the best of its kind, but the combination of the beautiful plating, the comfortable, casual-chic, well-spaced dining area, and the excellent, warm service makes eating at Eat a treat for the senses and a large part of its appeal.

The meal that I am writing about is a brunch that we had in October last year, so as one would expect, my memory of the finer details is a little fuzzy. My feelings about an experience, however, is something that I can remember quite clearly, for a very long time. And that afternoon, I remember that we really enjoyed the food, the ambience and the great service. My pancakes, with beautifully charred bacon and grilled bananas, was very tasty and the unexpected strawberries, papaya, passionfruit and grapes accompaniment not only brightened the plate, but also my palate. It is these little surprising extras that definitely heighten one's experience. S was also delighted with her prosciutto (I think?) croissant. The pain au chocolates were both filled with decadent, dark, rich chocolate with elegant flavour twists - one with hints of some berry and the other with hazelnut (I think?) undertones.

I left Eat feeling like I had just been spoilt and pampered - something akin to how you feel when you leave a spa. I think that it must be the same soothing of the senses and special attention that you get that leaves you feeling happy, relaxed and with that elevated hum about you for the rest of the day. Whimsical, I know, but that's what Eat is like.

Eat
4 Dowling Street
Dunedin 9016

Yee Sang (Homemade)

Every time I don't get to go back home for Chinese New Year, one of the first things I whine about is that I won't be able to have Yee Sang (a special salad that is normally only available during Chinese New Year in Malaysia and Singapore). It just did not occur to me to make our own - maybe because nowadays you'd only get the kind with the dehydrated vegetables at restaurants and supermarkets. Stupidly, for longer than I care to admit, the thought "how are we going to dehydrate the ingredients?" was the one thing that was floating about at the back of my head that was preventing me from coming to the now blindingly apparent solution. The haze must have lifted at some point because randomly, I put two and two together: the memory of my parents telling me that when Yee Sang was first introduced in KL, all the ingredients were fresh + that means we don't have to have dehydrated ingredients for Yee Sang = we can make our own Yee Sang with fresh ingredients. Doh!

So we made it by roughly following this recipe and it turned out brilliantly. S and I were both amazed and how closely it resembled what we normally get back home. One would think that there would be a drastic difference in taste when replacing dehydrated ingredients with fresh ones - but there really wasn't. I think the key ingredients were the toasted sesame seeds, the plum sauce and lemon juice. The first time we made it, we left out the lemon juice and the sauce wasn't quite right. The second time, with lemon juice, it was perfect. This tasty dish delivers a delightful myriad of flavours and textures - juicy, sweet, sour, savoury, crunchy, soft, crispy, nutty, soft, tangy, fresh....MMMMM! Every bite is just irresistibly refreshing, like a burst of 'happy' in your mouth. I don't think we will be able to resist not making this again even though it's not Chinese New Year anymore. S?

We adapted the recipe slightly because we couldn't get things like pomelo here, and as usual, we added/omitted whatever felt right:

Second attempt - close to perfect

Yee Sang (adapted from here)

Ingredients
(adjust to your preference)

Fresh salmon, sliced into thin fillets (season with lemon juice, a pinch of five spice powder and pepper)
Carrots, finely julienned
White radish/daikon, finely julienned
Pomelo, separated down to individual sacs or small segments (if you can get pomelo)
Pickled ginger, finely sliced
Pickled onions, finely sliced
Mango, julienned
Roasted peanuts
Toasted sesame seeds
Fried wonton skins
Fresh coriander

For the dressing :
Plum sauce mixed with lemon juice (about 2: 1, should still be reasonably thick)
Oil (we used canola)

Method

1. Make sure you buy the freshest fish for the dish and slice the fillet into thin strips. Season as instructed.
2. Arrange all the ingredients into sections on a large serving platter.
3. To serve, pour plum sauce dressing and oil over the salad then immediately toss the salad with chopsticks (and friends preferably) as high as you can (the higher the luckier apparently) without too much of it ending up on the table/floor, while making loud proclamations of good luck and fortune for everyone for the New Year.

Din Tai Fung

Originally from Taiwan, Din Tai Fung has branches all over the world and is immensely popular in KL and Singapore. It is one of my favourite, nicer, Chinese restaurants particularly when I feel like going to a comfortable, pleasant, modern place for a delicious, quick, simple, reasonably priced meal. Like Fong Lye, Din Tai Fung restaurants are well presented and look like they would be quite expensive to dine at, but are not. If I remember correctly, the average individual meal was priced at about S$10 or under RM20.

The two things that I always order at Din Tai Fung are the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings) and the Fried Rice with Pork Chop. If you've never had Xiao Long Bao before, you're in for a real treat. These dumplings are special because they are made to hold broth inside the dumplings. The explosion of flavour from the broth from the first time I bit into one of these delightful, delicious, juicy, succulent little packages, was unforgettable. These dumplings are normally dipped in (or topped with) a bit fresh ginger and vinegar, which contributes that bit of acidity to the full flavoured dumplings and sets off the party in your mouth. It was quite a task, trying to photograph an open dumpling to show you the broth within, while desperately inhibiting the natural urge to slurp it all up in one mouthful.

Besides the Xiao Long Bao, of course, the Fried Rice with Pork Chop is another one of their extremely popular dishes. I know you can get fried rice just about anywhere, but like my sweet and sour pork complaint, it's one of those things that is taken for granted because it's so common and easy to make that no one really makes an effort to perfect it - until Din Tai Fung. In my opinion, their simple, classic, unadulterated Fried Rice is close to perfection. Their famous Pork Chop, which you can also order on its own, is always seasoned and cooked perfectly, beautifully tender and very, very tasty. There's no special glaze or sauce to dress it up, and no need for it - the dish is exquisite in its simplicity.

This visit, I also ordered some stir fried vegetables (might have been spinach), which was fresh and clean tasting - not overly seasoned or drenched in sauce. The sight of the bright, green young, tender shoots has reminded me of another pet peeve of mine - when restaurants serve vegetables 'old' vegetables, i.e. vegetables that were harvested later in the growth cycle. 'Old' vegetables are often tough and bitter, which is why back home, normally only young shoots are used for cooking. I think I've been served 'old' vegetables here (in Dunedin) more times in eight years than I have ever been in all the years back home. The point I am trying to make is that the vegetables at Din Tai Fung were young and tender and very good to eat.

Finally, I also had a dish of fried prawns with a mayonnaise-base dressing (might have been called 'Salad Honey Prawns' or something like that). I don't remember it being particularly spectacular, but I think it was decent enough. Something in the back of my mind tells me that I thought it was a bit sweet and that the flavour required some complexity and depth. Still I ate it all, so it can't have been bad.

Oh I want some Fried Rice with Pork Chop now. Writing about Chinese food during Chinese New Year when you're away from home is just masochistic.

Raffles City Branch 
252 North Bridge Road

#B1-08/09/10 Raffles City Shopping Centre 
Singapore 179103 

Mid Valley The Gardens Branch 
Lot LG-207, The Gardens Mid Valley City, 
Lingkaran Syed Putra 
Kuala Lumpur 59200 
Malaysia