Yat Bun Tong Dumpling Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – April 2016

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ACT, canberra, Chinese restaurant, Dumplings, Peking Duck, Yu xiang qiezi

Dinner at Canberra’s newest dumpling restaurant

This week, friends and I went to try out Canberra’s newest Chinese/dumpling restaurant.  I also invited the friend who came to China with me as I wanted him to see if these dumplings and the eggplant dish tasted anything like what we ate in China.

The restaurant was fully booked and bustling inside with both Chinese and Australians – always a good sign to see Chinese at a Chinese restaurant – shows me it has good food.  We sat down and ordered some wine before ordering our dishes; vegetable dumplings (boiled), my favourite eggplant dish (yuxiang qiezi), my other favourite bean curd dish (deep fried bean curd with spicy peppery salt), shallot pancakes and Peking duck.  Everything came out very quickly and looked extremely appetising.  Service was very good and I got to practice my Chinese skills.

The dumplings looked better than the ones I usually buy at a local dumpling restaurant near my home but in my opinion they were not as delicious.

The shallot pancakes were really good and my friends said the Peking duck was delicious.

 We enjoyed the evening very much and spoke about our recent travels to China including some amusing stories that my other friends could relate to having lived in Beijing for two years.

And my friend Jon did say the dumplings were good and the eggplant tasted like the dishes he had in China…it’s a restaurant I shall return to.

Dinner at CBD Dumpling Restaurant – Canberra – Australia – November 2015

Tags

Australia, canberra, Chinese restaurant, Dumplings

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!!