Great find in Canberra
Earlier this year I saw a restaurant called Momoda as I was walking past on my way to meet friends for a drink and since then I have dined there about four times. On this occasion, a few months ago, I arranged for a group of friends to join me for dinner. I invited my Chinese friends, my friend Jon and another friend Anne (who I have known since school). The menu is extensive with vegan and vegetarian options and also with lots of meat and seafood dishes.
The name Momoda is Chinese slang meaning kiss-kiss which is an expression of affection used at the end of text messages similar to “mwah” in English. Cute! The food here is delicious; so many choices for me as a vegan and lots of great dishes for my meat eating friends as well as the many choices of alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails and drinks.
I always order the cauliflower san choy bowl which comes with peanut satay and baby cos lettuce which allows you to make your own little parcels of deliciousness. Also on my list is my absolute favourite – crispy eggplant with Chiang-Jiang red vinegar, roasted sesame and ginger chilli. Now this is good!
I have also ordered the wild mushroom bun, with pumpkin seed, king mushroom and black pepper which was very good and there is a dumpling called the double cheeseburger dumpling – yes you read correctly; that is definitely a combination of West meets East – we didn’t order this. All the buns and dumplings we have eaten here have been great!
The Enoki Mushroom Spring Rolls are really good and my friends chose the meat version; Mongolian Kangaroo Spring Rolls with Sichuan chilli salt, wombok and ginger salad. I must say I have never heard of a Mongolian Kangaroo so who knows how both link but anyway they were good I am told.
My friends shared quite a few dishes including the scallop and prawn dumplings topped with diced pickles, Grandma’s sticky pork belly; twice cooked pork with caramel lemongrass chilli jam, the pork and Chinese chive dumplings with black vinegar and ginger chilli dipping sauce and the BBQ pork Char Siu buns – all delicious I was informed.
The restaurant’s interior is worth the visit; dimly lit with a really lovely decor that includes Chinese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, fans on the walls and unusual items like an old leather suitcase displayed on a shelf and non-Chinese lanterns hanging on the walls – all adds to the ambience I think. 
The owner Irean is from Mainland China and has a wonderful sense of humour. I love that she remembers you from previous visits. And to top it off, my Chinese friends Peter and Katie said to me at the end of the evening that they loved each of the dishes and because they are used to typical Chinese food they were so impressed with the quality and variety of the dishes. I guess this is because the dishes are traditional Chinese but with a very modern twist. Certainly not the Aussie/Chinese dishes like beef in black bean sauce or sweet and sour pork; both dishes my Chinese friends have never heard of.
Definitely a restaurant worth visiting.
Just over a year ago, I returned to China with my friend Jon. I arranged for us to travel to various provinces; some I had already visited and others for the first time. It made me think of how many provinces I had seen throughout China so whilst travelling along the Yangtze River from Sichuan to Hubei Province I made my list and there are only two provinces I have not visited; Tibet Autonomous Region and Hainan Island.
Wuhan is a city of around eleven million people making it the seventh most populated city in China; amazing to think how different that is to my home town, Canberra which has a population of around 390,000!!
The trip only took about forty-minutes but it afforded us good views of the city and also of East Lake Park which is located in the midst of the city. We also saw several bridges in the Wuhan downtown area; some traditional and others modern.
This was not exactly a thrilling boat ride and the boat was rather old and rusty but it was a good way to see buildings and bridges that we would not have seen from a vehicle.
During my recent trip to South Africa, the wine regions of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch were recommended for me to visit. I decided on Franschhoek (Afrikaans for French Corner) mainly because after some internet searching the township looked lovely. It has centuries-old vineyards and traditional Afrikaans architecture as well as a lovely little tram that takes visitors to those old wineries.
Even Foliage Restaurant where I dined on my last evening had interesting statues on its tables. I pre-booked this restaurant before I travelled to South Africa as it had very good recommendations on-line and its essential ingredients are foraged plants and mushrooms; very suitable for vegans.
My entree and main meal were beautifully presented and tasted so fresh.
My second day I took a ride on the wine tram, however I woke up feeling very unwell but as I had paid the tram fee and wanted to see the wineries I decided to go. Once on the tram we were offered a glass of wine but I really couldn’t stomach it so went upstairs to enjoy the view. Our first stop on the Blue Line was the Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate. The winery is 325 years old and spread over forty-seven acres and quite beautiful. We had an hour stop-over and I decided to walk around the grounds rather than taste any of their wines; just wasn’t feeling up to it. The walk around the grounds were really lovely though.
There is a small open gallery within the grounds displaying paintings and other art from leading South African artists and an evolving sculpture garden. There is also a cheetah outreach centre within the estate where you can spend time for about R160 ($16AUD) as part of a conservation drive to help stop the reduction in their numbers. I went and spoke to the young lady but decided not to visit.
I had no idea why I was so unwell. I was trying to push through however once I returned to the wine tram I had to ask the driver to drop me back into town so I could return to my hotel. That afternoon my illness had passed which was good as I didn’t want to be unwell for my next location; Thornybrook Riverside Lodge at Kruger National Park (more on that later).
It’s been a while since I have written about my travels to China in 2008 so thought I would write a post about my travels in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province located in the North East of China, bordering the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or as most of us call it North Korea.
After our breakfast on our second day, we departed our hotel after meeting our local guide and arrived at the palace early which was a great idea as by the time we departed there were many other visitors (including the usual Chinese tour guide with loud speaker!!!). The palace is located in the centre of Shenyang and is located next to modern high-rise buildings.
Construction of the palace began in 1625 by the founder of the Qing dynasty and was built to resemble the Forbidden City in Beijing but it also exhibits styles of Manchu and Tibet with its glamorous roofs and exquisite carvings.
The first three Qing emperors lived in the palace from 1625 to 1644 and after the Qing dynasty replaced the Ming dynasty in 1644 in Beijing, the Mukden Palace lost its status as the official residence of the Qing emperor and became a regional palace. In 1955 it was converted into the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum. Then in 2004 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as an extension of the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties or as most people refer to it, the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The palace exhibits large collections of jade and ivory (shame!!), furniture, musical instruments and paintings. The stone grounds are vast and trees and plants are extremely well maintained so it was lovely to spend a bit of time before the crowds arrived, walking around and enjoying the blue skies of Shenyang.
And then my favourite things to photograph; doorways!
By this time we were ready to head off to our next destination, the residence of the warlord of Manchuria (but more on that later).
Sue's Fabulous Travels 
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