Tags
Australia, canberra, Chic Gourmet restaurant, Chinese cuisine, Dickson, dining with friends, Happy birthday
Chinese food in Canberra
The other night it was my Chinese friend Peter’s 30th birthday so we decided to go out to dinner and Peter chose a new restaurant in Canberra which is about a five minute drive from my home.
It’s a Chinese restaurant, quite casual and with an unusual name Chic Gourmet which if I had heard the name before we went I would not of thought it was Chinese cuisine…I guess I am so used to names with a Chinese connection!!
The menu was large and whilst there were my usual favourites, there were a few dishes I had not eaten before. So I ordered my usual dishes and the waitress was very helpful in checking which ones were vegan. My choices were the salt and pepper tofu with chilli, the Thai style sweet and sour deep fried eggplant and something I had never seen before, hand-made fried mushroom buns in the shape of a baby Hedgehog. These arrived looking so cute but I did eat them and they were truly delicious as was the tofu; so fresh and with just the right amount of chilli.
Peter ordered all the meat dishes and started off with the hand-made signature pan fried pork buns, hand-made pork wontons in a spicy sauce and a dish of stewed duck with beer and chilli oil. It’s a real shame those wontons were not vegan as I must say they looked fabulous.
Every dish really arrived very nicely presented and as with the majority of Chinese restaurants; food arrived quickly.
Peter also ordered two soups one was a stewed Barramundi in a hot and sour soup and the other was a boiled beef, Ling fish, king prawn and squid in a hot chilli sauce. 
Every time we go out with Peter, he always orders what we think are way too many dishes but they seems to get eaten, every time! This evening there was five of us and I was the only one not eating meat so there was quite a bit of food to be eaten even lots of vegetable dishes.
Peter’s girlfriend Katie had been to the restaurant a couple of times before and knew that two vegetable dishes in particular were very good. So she ordered them; the stir fried mixed vegetables with lotus root (probably the most delicious vegetables I have had for some time) and a dish of organic stir-fried pea sprout with garlic sauce (another absolutely delicious dish). I now can’t wait to return to eat these delicious and very healthy vegetable dishes again.
And just when we thought the dishes had finished Katie ordered both her and I a bowl of traditional Peking style slow cooked pear and white fungus soup for dessert. I thought this was very sweet of her as she had brought a cake from the local cake shop and as it wasn’t vegan she wanted to ensure I had something to eat. Not my favourite dessert I must say but I took a few sips.
And as you do when you are with much younger people, you find out about Apps (beautycam) that makes your skin look fabulously smooth and adds ears and other things to photos, so we engaged in some frivolity for a little while before ending the very lovely evening.
Earlier this week, I asked my friends Ray and Natalie to come with me to a new restaurant near my home. It’s located in the ‘Chinatown’ of Canberra and inside is bright with nice decor; all clean and fresh with amazing artwork on the main wall.
The restaurant is owned by Paul and Angel who both grew up in China and have been selling their bao at local markets in Canberra before they opened this restaurant.
Our waiter kindly let me know that the steamed buns are not vegan which was a bit of a shame as I really felt like eating the panko tofu. So instead I ordered lightly fried tofu which was so fresh and tasty and an eggplant dish. It wasn’t the style of eggplant I am used to (Sichuan style with oil) but more chargrilled I think. Both dishes were beautifully presented.
Ray and Nat ordered several of the bao to taste and both said they were very good.
Their choices were the Pork Belly Bao where the pork belly is cooked traditional Taiwan style and served with crushed peanuts, pickled cabbage and coriander leaves. Their second choice was the Shanghai Duck Bao; the duck stewed in soy sauce and Chinese spices with a slice or orange which we were told amplifies the rich and decadent taste and their third choice was the Crispy Fried Chicken Bao where a chicken thigh is marinated overnight then coated with a secret flour recipe and deep fried and comes with a drizzle of saffron mayonnaise.
Also ordered were the beef skewers which Ray and Nat shared and sparkling water and a glass of wine each.
When we called over our waiter to ask for the bill, he told us that we definitely had to try the Oreo Bao [not vegan unfortunately), but shared by my friends who said it was absolutely delicious. Rather decadent I think!
I am sure I will return as it’s a good place to pop in for a quick meal and glass of wine albeit a little expensive!
Last month my lovely Chinese friend Peter and his girlfriend Katie took my other friend Jon and I to a relatively new noodle restaurant just near my home in Canberra. It has a very small frontage on the main street in Canberra’s Chinatown. I am not sure if I should call it Chinatown as it is only one street but it has many Chinese restaurants and Chinese food stores and is frequented by many Chinese Australians so perhaps Chinatown it is. 
When you enter Chongqing Street Noodles restaurant you are greeted by a rather large statue of Chinese nana with cat like whiskers. I have no idea who this is but maybe my blogging friends (Marta/Sophie/Edwin) might be able to help. She is also painted on the wall and depicted on plates and bowls and printed on the paper napkins. The obligatory waving cat also welcomes you.
Since going to this restaurant with my Chinese friends I have been another six times both for lunch and dinner and have booked for a group of us to go tomorrow night. Yes it’s definitely my new favourite place to eat.
I absolutely love the noodles. They are authentic Chongqing street noodles so are very spicy. There are options to have your dish mild (one chilli pictured on the menu) or incredibly spicy (five chillis pictured on the menu). I choose mild but still find the sauce a little bit lip numbing. I think you can see how bright the sauce is from my photo. But oh my goodness it is so worth that lip tingling!
On our inaugural visit, my Chinese friends ordered a cold chicken dish [again with spice] and a couple of tea boiled eggs [for those of you who do no know what these are – they are hard boiled eggs which once cooked and cooled have their shells cracked and then are placed into a mixture of water, tea leaves, soy sauce, salt and other spices like cinnamon stick and star anise]. Peter told Jon to put the egg into the noodle dish which he did so the spicy broth seeps into the egg.
Peter and Katie also ordered dishes of cold cucumber in a spicy Chinese vinegar, shredded potato in chilli oil and Chongqing street noodles with beef. The chilli theme comes out in nearly every dish on the menu.
Jon said his Chongqing beef noodles were on par with those he had when we travelled to Sichuan Province last year which means they were mouth numbingly hot!
The beverage situation is a bit limited. Cans of coke, sprite and fanta are sold. There are also bottles of herbal tea, a prune drink, soy milk and a grass jelly drink [no idea what this is and too scared to try]. I always buy a bottle of cold soy milk – it’s quite sweet but lovely with the spicy noodles.
(source: courtesy of internet)
A thirty minute walk from my home is a suburb with many Chinese/Thai/Indian and Vegan restaurants. I usually eat at the Dickson Dumpling House which is definitely my favourite but I wanted to try something different, so with a good friend who I used to go to school with [all those years ago], we visited a Malaysian/Chinese restaurant called Rasa Sayang. This particular restaurant has been in this suburb for over thirty-five years so it must be doing something well.
The menu is extensive with over 100 dishes to choose from and has lots of options for us vegetarians. I ordered the tofu with peanut sauce and Anne ordered the deep fried spring rolls with a plum sauce. Pretty good but am glad the tofu comes with a sauce otherwise in the main I do find it rather bland. But this particular tofu was lovely and fresh so it was enjoyable.
I ordered some Malaysian bread [roti chanai] to share which was absolutely delicious. My friend had not tried this type of bread before and loved it so guess next visit she will order it along with her omelette.
The owner is very personable and enjoys a joke whilst taking your order and as soon as he saw us laughing at his jokes, he returned to tell us more…more laughter and now ready to order our main courses. Anne ordered the crab omelette with beansprouts, shredded onions and topped with oyster sauce…she said it was absolutely delicious. So delicious that since that visit she drives over from her home [about half hour] to pick up this omelette regularly. [no photo as forgot to take one].
I enjoyed the evening very much and loved chatting to my friend but as it was a week night [I was working back then], we just ate our meals and left rather than what I usually like to do which is relax, chat and enjoy a glass of wine. Next time!!
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