An evening with friends at a local Chinese dumpling restaurant
(this photo from http://www.goodfood.com.au)
Tonight I arranged an evening with some dear friends to eat at a local Chinese restaurant in Canberra that has very good reviews for its dumplings. We were not disappointed.
Whilst I have to admit firstly I forgot to take photos of our dishes before we all tucked in; secondly my photos do not do justice to the meals which were so delicious.
Only one of my friends, Natalie, had been to the restaurant before but the rest of us were all waiting to compare the dumplings and other dishes to another Chinese dumpling restaurant we always go to in a local suburb near my home (which is very good). I ordered the ‘yu xiang qie zi’ which is spicy [and oily] eggplant which was sensational. It’s great with rice to mop up the delicious spicy oil. This usually comes with pork on the top, but of course, being a vegetarian I asked for ‘mei you rou’ which means ‘no meat’. My friend who I am travelling to China with next year, could not believe how delicious this dish was..he is used to grilled eggplant, which like me, he dislikes. I said that the Chinese make eggplant into fabulous meals and to get used to me ordering it all the time.
My friends ordered some meat dishes; pan friend pork dumplings and another pork dish as well as kung pao chicken. My lovely friend Evonne (who is Taiwanese) and I took the opportunity to teach my friend [who is travelling to China with me] some basic Chinese words:
您好 ni hao = hello
谢谢 xie xie = thank you
再见 zai jian = goodbye
And most importantly….
太贵了 tai gui le = too expensive [most important saying in China for visitors]
All the dishes were so fresh and I also ordered the salt and pepper tofu which was very good [albeit in my opinion my other local restaurant does it better].
We also ordered two serves of the Chinese pancakes and they might be the best I have ever tasted…absolutely delicious and as you can see I forgot to take my photo before we took pieces off the plate..
A lovely evening to catch up with friends and enjoy a really good restaurant in Canberra!!
sileas said:
I’ve been to Canberra once, but I totally missed that place. Too bad because it looks delicious!
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Oh what a shame, but then again I have lived here for many years and this is my first time to visit the restaurant..
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Sophie - cookingtrips said:
Sue, those dishes are mouth-watering, especially the spicy eggplants (I can’t get to cook it right at home!!! aaaargh!) and the Chinese pancakes that I used to love munching on!
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wanderingwives said:
Yum!
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CrazyChineseFamily said:
I never liked egg plant till I went to China for the first time! Of course it depends also in China how it is prepared but mostly I love it. Besides, I cant even think when I used rice in China the last time, must have been during my first trip there.
So sad that we dont have any good Chinese restaurant anywhere nearby where we live now so I always have to wait till the next trip to China or hope that my wife finds some time to cook some food (such as the pancakes depicted here 🙂 )
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
So like me; really disliked eggplant until China..do hope your wife finds time to cook – or that you both get to visit China soon. Thanks so much for reading my post.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Yes it was a very delicious meal with all dishes so good!!
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Sophie you are like me – I just cannot cook the eggplant anywhere near as good…I do love the pancakes so much.
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Amy said:
Delicious Chinese food! You take cool photos of these yummy food, Sue! 🙂
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
Thank you Amy, you are very sweet to say that as my photos were taken when some of the meals were half eaten…clearly we were too hungry to wait for me to take photos.
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JoHanna Massey said:
These dishes look just delicious. Thank you for sharing.
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Amy said:
🙂
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vinneve said:
I cannot find a fried tofu in my local stores so maybe I have to look further any specialty or Asian store.
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SueT唐 梦 琇 said:
I hope you can find it as its delicious isn’t it!!
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vinneve said:
When I feel vegetarian for a day it is a must! 🙂
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