Pho Phu Quoc Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – August 2016

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ACT, Australia, canberra, Pho Phu Quoc Vietnamese Restaurant, Vietnamese food

Dinner at a local Vietnamese Restaurant

I love so many types of food and hadn’t eaten Vietnamese food for some time, so one Monday night a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I decided to go out to dinner to a local restaurant in Canberra.  I actually wanted dumplings but the particular Chinese restaurant I love is not open on a Monday, so Vietnamese it was.

Monday nights are not usually a night I go out to dinner as it’s the first day of the working week and I really like to come home and relax, but because it was a busy day at work, I felt like some company and good food.

It was pouring rain outside but it was one of those nights when we drove past the restaurant, one driver was pulling away so we got to park immediately out the front…yay!!

Once inside, we ordered some vegetarian spring rolls to share which were really nice.

My friend said he was happy to have a vegetarian evening so this allowed me to try two dishes I was interested in; one being the curry vegetables and the other a stir fried noodle dish.

The food was lovely and fresh and very good.  It was a quiet night at the restaurant, I guess because it was Monday, but there was quite a few people dropping in for take-away…clearly a popular restaurant for people who do not want to cook on the first day of the working week.

Beihai Park – Beijing – PRC – 2011-2013

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Beihai Park, Beijing World Park, prc

One of Beijing’s parks…a lovely day out!

Beihai is a public park located in Beijing near the Forbidden City and was first built in the 11th century; it’s a great park to walk through or take a boat ride around the lovely lake and wonderful to visit in any season.

The park has an area of more than 171 acres and the lake covers more than half of the entire park.

Beihai literally means ‘northern sea’ and there are also two corresponding ‘seas’ being central (Zhonghai) and southern (Nanhai).  The central and southern seas are collectively referred as Zhongnanhai which has a total area of 1,500 acres of which 700 acres is lake, Zhongnanhai is located along Chang’an Avenue, west of Tian’anmen Square.

Zhongnanhai serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council (Central government) of the People’s Republic of China.  Chaiman Mao used to live there but these days the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang carry out many of their day-to-day administrative activities inside the compound which includes meetings foreign dignitaries.

China Central Television frequently shows footage of these meetings inside the compound, but limits its coverage largely to views of the interior of buildings which is a shame as I have heard the grounds are beautiful but because it is not open to the public, I have never seen inside.  The front gates are policed by both uniform and plain clothes officers twenty-four hours a day.

(source:  www.eastasiaintel.com)

Some sites in the southern sea area including Chairman Mao’s former residence had once been open to the public during important holidays and weekends between 1977 and 1985. I have read that during those years, many Chinese’ were able to fulfil their long-cherished wish of visiting the garden.

Now back to Beihai…which fortunately since 1925 has been open to the public…it’s a park that is definitely worth the visit and is high on the list of ‘things to do’ in Beijing.

During one of my visits to Beihai, I had found out about an imperial restaurant located on the edge of the lake, which would have had lovely views but all windows are blocked which I think is a bit disappointing.

The restaurant offers the favorite food of the Dowager Empress Cixi and the wait staff are dressed like Manchurian courtesans.  I must say if I had to eat that food all the time I would be very very thin as it really was not tasty at all…quite boring actually especially for me being a vegetarian.  But my friends did enjoy their meals which consisted of duck and chicken dishes.  I think my disappointment was the absence of any eggplant dishes and you know how much I love eggplant!!

Inside the restaurant is pretty opulent with gold everywhere and incredibly spacious along with huge golden chandeliers.

There is also a White Dagoba (Tower) located in the park which was built to honour the visit of the 5th Dalai Lama in 1651. Its body is made of white stone and sun, moon and flame engravings decorate the surface of the tower.

It has had a tough life; destroyed in 1679 by an earthquake, rebuilt the following year then restored again in 1976 as a result of the Tangshan earthquake near Beijing.

To have an overarching view of Beihai and the Dagoba, you have to walk to the top of Jinshan Park which is to the north of the Forbidden City.

(map of Jinshan Park to the north of the Forbidden City)

(source: Wikipedia)

Take a picnic, or buy some wonderfully tasty and cheap food sold in one of the local restaurants; either way the park is definitely worth a visit.

A. Baker Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – March 2016

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A Baker, ACT, Australia, Brunch, canberra

Brunch with friends in Canberra

Some months ago, I met a couple of friends at a local restaurant called ‘A. Baker’ in the Canberra suburb of Acton, which as its website says is short for ‘Acton Baker’.

Some other friends of mine had eaten dinner there previously so I wanted to see what the food was like.  We met for a late breakfast and I had full intention of buying some of the home made bread from the in-house baker.  Unfortunately I forgot which is a shame as the bread is supposed to be delicious…Next time!!

(source: http://www.goodfood.com.au)

The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor eating area and as the inside was a little noisy, we sat outside in the shade.

(source: http://www.abaker.com.au)

The menu is pretty extensive for breakfast/brunch but I did think there was not a great deal of vegetarian options.  My selection was the poached egg dish with artichokes and sourdough.  The eggs were nice as was the sourdough but the mushrooms I really didn’t like. Just not to my liking!!

All the produce served in the restaurant is obtained from local growers and producers in the Canberra district which is great for our Canberra locals. It’s another reason I wanted to try out the food.

But back to our meals, one friend ordered the trout dish with rye bread and beetroot.  She said it was delicious.  The food was very pleasantly presented on the plates along with little additions of plants like nasturtium.

And my other friend ordered a cheese board with three different types of Australian cheeses, some apple slices, walnuts and a little quince.  I actually thought the whole thing was a little basic looking; but my friends shared and said the cheeses were nice especially paired with the walnuts and apple.

A Baker is a nice restaurant and the service was pretty good to start off with then as the restaurant got busy we were sort of left alone which was a shame as we wanted to order more tea and coffee…all in all it must be said that brunch is a nice way to catch up with friends.

Chinese New Year – Beijing – PRC – 2013

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beijing, Chinese New Year, Fireworks, prc

Fifteen days of fireworks and noise!!!

Chinese New Year also known as Spring Festival (春节 chun jie) is an annual event celebrated in the majority of countries around the world where a significant Chinese population lives.  In China, there are beautiful fireworks and noisy firecrackers every day and night of the fifteen day long festival coupled with smiling, happy Chinese.  Because it’s a period of national holiday [usually Chinese have seven consecutive days off from Chinese New Year’s Eve to the sixth day after Chinese New Year’s Day], it’s a time when Chinese can return to their families from major cities where they have been working.  It’s therefore not a time in China to take any form of public transport – and for those of you who read my post on Mt Shangfang National Park you will know I learnt my lesson one May Day public holiday!!

From my apartment window overlooking one of the main streets in Beijing, I had a great view of the local Chinese lighting fireworks on Chinese New Year’s Eve.  On this evening,  many people set off fireworks and firecrackers, hoping to cast away any bad luck and bring forth good luck. Then over the next fourteen days [and evenings], many many firecrackers are set off to continue the celebrations.

There is an interesting history on the firecracker; in ancient China bamboo stems were filled with gunpowder and burnt to create small explosions and these were used to drive away evil spirits. This method has now evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season where firecrackers are usually strung on a long fused string to be hung down and where each firecracker is rolled up in red papers with gunpowder in its core.

Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud [very loud] popping noise and, as they are usually strung together by the hundreds, they have deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits – loud enough to wake me up from a deep sleep anyway at 3am.

(source http://www.ibtimes.com)

Chinese New Year is truly a sight to behold and a lot of fun if you are out and about around Beijing watching the fireworks and watching all the happy Chinese laughing and celebrating this important Chinese festival, but I must say the continuing sound of the firecrackers all through out the night, every night.. can make for a very restless sleep.

(hundreds of boxes of fireworks are arranged in the middle of the street)

(first lighting of the fireworks)

(fireworks in all stages)

(and the end result; all cleaned up by daylight every day)

Up the road from my home was a huge truck that arrived every New Year full of fireworks and every year they were always sold out.  No matter where you are in Beijing, there would be the noise of firecrackers during the day and beautiful fireworks in the evenings.

 

Whilst it’s a very noisy time, it’s a time every year I really looked forward to – I loved to see the Chinese celebrating and lighting fireworks…plus because I did not travel within China during this period, Beijing was very quiet and streets were pretty empty with all the migrant workers returning home to their loved ones – so it became a time to get around very easily without much traffic.

Muse Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – June 2016

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ACT, Australia, canberra, Muse Restaurant

Dinner at a restaurant at one of Canberra’s new hotels

Canberra has a few new hotels and East Hotel, in the suburb of Kingston is just one which has a lovely restaurant that I have been to twice over the past six months.  The hotel is quite funky and modern and the restaurant is lovely.

To get to the restaurant you walk through the foyer of the hotel then through a library where the walls are lined with solid American oak bookshelves suspended on a thin brass structure and lovely vintage Afghan rugs on the floor.  There is a selection of new and pre-loved titles that includes everything from the latest releases to long out of print classics.  I  love the classics and think this is a really lovely room to walk through on the way to your dining experience at Muse Restaurant.(source http://www.musecanberra.com.au)

The food at Muse is very good with lots of vegetarian options and the service is excellent. After I had been there once with some friends from my work, I went again with other friends who used to live next door to me in Canberra and had wanted to go but had not had the opportunity.  We started off with some share dishes which were the roast pumpkin, candied walnuts,  sourdough, balsamic reduction and watercress and another dish of house made dukkah, toasted sourdough, roast garlic labneh, balsamic reduction and extra virgin olive oil.  My friends were happy with the vegetarian entrees as they had already decided on meat and fish main courses.  Only one of my friends is really ever happy with vegetarian food, the majority of my other friends really ‘need’ meat or fish when we go out.

We also shared roast kipfler potatoes with chilli & citrus seasoning and smoked paprika aioli and as we were hungry we ordered the grilled haloumi with basil pesto and black olive tapenade.  No matter where I go, if there are chips on the menu I have to order them!!  

I didn’t try the haloumi on either occasion unfortunately but only because I had eaten so much of the other entrees I couldn’t fit anything else in, especially as I still had my main course to eat.  My friends said it was very nice though and as it was cheese made in Canberra it will be something I will order next time I visit [and the waiter told me it doesn’t contain animal rennet – which means I can eat it – yay!].  A couple of us ordered some nice wine to go with our meal and two of my friends ordered three red wines to match their meat dishes – all Aussie wines but from different states in Australia.

Our main courses consisted of  the roast stuffed baby eggplant, quinoa & pine nut tabbouleh, beetroot hummus and mint labneh (me).

Also the house cured and smoked duck breast, carrot, radicchio, zucchini and orange.

The fish was also ordered which came with a miso corn sauce, furikake seasoning and bean shoots, chilli and sesame.

 And the Grainge Angus sirloin steak with the green pea purée, charred eschallots and Café de Paris butter was something one of my friends was interested in, so ordered.

We also shared a delicious dish of Sumac-roast Dutch carrots, radicchio with hazelnuts and extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon – really good!!

The other main meal that was ordered was the slow cooked spiced lamb shoulder with roast pepper purée, beetroot chutney and dukkah.

All meals were delicious and of course a lovely evening catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for some time…so much to talk about and you walk away with a very full stomach of food!!  But as we left we saw large jars of sweets in the foyer [for the guests] and we all took a small handful even thought as I said we were very full – it’s a bit like chips, if they are there I will eat them.