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Tag Archives: Dickson

A new restaurant – Dickson – Canberra – ACT – Australia – August 2020

18 Tuesday Aug 2020

Posted by SueT唐 梦 琇 in Sightseeing and eating around Canberra/Sydney

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Australia, canberra, Chic Gourmet restaurant, Chinese cuisine, Dickson, dining with friends, Happy birthday

Chinese food in Canberra

fullsizeoutput_9fdThe 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.fullsizeoutput_a0aIt’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.fullsizeoutput_a09fullsizeoutput_a05fullsizeoutput_a02Peter 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.fullsizeoutput_a00fullsizeoutput_a01fullsizeoutput_9ffEvery 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. fullsizeoutput_a08fullsizeoutput_a06Every 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.fullsizeoutput_a07fullsizeoutput_a04And 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.fullsizeoutput_a0efullsizeoutput_a0bfullsizeoutput_a28And 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.

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Superbao Restaurant – Dickson – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – May 2019

03 Friday May 2019

Posted by SueT唐 梦 琇 in Sightseeing and eating around Canberra/Sydney

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Australia, canberra, Dickson, dining with friends, Eggplant, steamed bao, Superbao restaurant, Tofu

A visit to a newly opened restaurant

IMG_5860Earlier 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.fullsizeoutput_79d

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fullsizeoutput_79eThe 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 had a great sense of humour and he and Angel made our visit a really lovely experience.  We were told that the shop closes on Mondays and it’s this day they make hundreds of steamed buns for the week ahead.  I guess no rest days for owners of a new restaurant!

Of course the main food on the menu is bao. If you don’t know what a bao is…well they are those fluffy, folded-over steamed buns usually filled with pork belly, pickles and crushed nuts but this restaurant has all different types of filling.  There was one I really wanted to try; the Panko Tofu Bao; tofu crumbed with panko flour, white and black sesame seeds and then fried.  There are also rice and noodle dishes along with vegetable and meat dishes on the menu; so a good range of food.IMG_5858Our 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.fullsizeoutput_7a1fullsizeoutput_7a3Ray and Nat ordered several of the bao to taste and both said they were very good.fullsizeoutput_7a2Their 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.fullsizeoutput_7a7Also ordered were the beef skewers which Ray and Nat shared and sparkling water and a glass of wine each.fullsizeoutput_7a4IMG_5859When 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!fullsizeoutput_7a5I 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!

 

 

 

 

Chongqing Street Noodles restaurant – Dickson – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – February & March 2019

25 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by SueT唐 梦 琇 in Sightseeing and eating around Canberra/Sydney

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Chinese cuisine, Chongqing Street Noodles restaurant, Dickson, street noodles

Food in Canberra that brings back wonderful memories of China

fullsizeoutput_650Last 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. fullsizeoutput_642When 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.fullsizeoutput_640

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fullsizeoutput_646Since 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.fullsizeoutput_645IMG_4876I 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!fullsizeoutput_64dOn 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.fullsizeoutput_648Peter 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.fullsizeoutput_64efullsizeoutput_649fullsizeoutput_64cJon 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!

There were two additional dishes our Chinese friends ordered which were wolf teeth chips [crinkle cut chips with yep you guessed it – spicy chilli) and brown sugar rich curd (made with black sticky rice, black sugar sauce and yellow bean powder).  I do know both of these dishes are not healthy but they are so delicious so I continue to order them.  I think the sticky rice is a dessert but I put them into my chilli noodle sauce – fabulous!fullsizeoutput_64aThe 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.TB2jVErlKSSBuNjy0FlXXbBpVXa_!!2682110493

(source: courtesy of internet)

There is also a huge tea pot containing Chinese tea which is complimentary; great for lunch time meals.  We brought our own wine on the first visit but they don’t have any wine glasses so we used plastic cups.  Next time we were smarter and brought our own wine glasses and left them there.  The owner and staff know me quite well now and I chat to them in Chinese so they enjoy that and guess it’s good for me to practice.  It’s still funny seeing Chinese patrons staring whilst I am speaking Chinese – they seem to be very interested in hearing how well [or not] I speak.

I went to this restaurant last night with my friend Ray and the owner came straight out with my wine glasses (very kind that they wash them and keep them there for us).

The menu is four pages with only about two vegetarian/vegan dishes but that is ok as every time I visit I order the same noodle dish and now I don’t have to tell the staff; they tell me!

There are also pork and prawn wontons which my friends Jane and Natalie enjoyed one evening along with a small plate of combination vegetables.  And with any Aussie Chinese restaurant there is a deep fried ice-cream ball – Chinese of course have never heard of this but I remember it fondly from thirty years ago living with my parents and visiting the local Chinese restaurant.

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Looking forward to tomorrow night!  Hopefully not last people to leave like on a previous occasion…but it was only 9.30pm.fullsizeoutput_64f

 

 

 

Rasa Sayang Restaurant – Dickson – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – August 2017

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by SueT唐 梦 琇 in Sightseeing and eating around Canberra/Sydney

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

ACT, Australia, Australian Capital Territory, canberra, Chinese cuisine, Dickson, Dickson Dumpling House, dinner with friends, Friends, Malaysian cuisine, Rasa Sayang Restaurant

A quick dinner with a friend 

7VN7fCpnSamr3MYcLiKU1A_thumb_b3A 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.

We had made a reservation but as we were there early, we were initially the only people in the restaurant.6Zc3avJhSKCKYhAQI4k8CA_thumb_b0The 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.%9rmmM8sSnyB9g3caOmfmA_thumb_b4USJFEDVXS6OaWtbFNzyL0g_thumb_b5I 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.%cIkGo2bQa6ftNnDob1%+A_thumb_b6The 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 ordered the Eggplant Sambal, which was sliced eggplant cooked in a spicy sambal sauce..not bad but my preference is up the road at the Dumpling House.  I don’t think this dish was as spicy as my preferred dish.  Still good though!AJj%r7MFQ7mcH8RRfHfHDA_thumb_afI 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!!2PZu6DXfR7yaeFOFcoucuw_thumb_b2

 

 

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