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Tag Archives: Tofu

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!

 

 

 

 

XO Restaurant – Narrabundah – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – January 2018

16 Monday Jul 2018

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

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

ACT, Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Chinese fusion cuisine, dinner with friends, Narrabundah, Tofu, XO Restaurant

Dinner with friends

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There is a small group of friends from my previous employment that I like to catch up with…we started off going out to dinner at a local restaurant but now have decided to catch up at each other’s homes as it’s a little more relaxed.

But our first catch up was at a local restaurant serving South East Asian cuisine.  Unfortunately one of my friends could not attend so it turned out to be just four of us.  What a great night it was…lots of food and wine and so much to catch up on.fullsizeoutput_263fullsizeoutput_262I chose this restaurant as I had been here before and enjoyed the food.  XO Restaurant is located in a small neighbourhood shopping street and is known for its communal share plates.  There is a range of vegetarian and vegan dishes and lots of other dishes for my meat and seafood loving friends.

We started off with steamed dumplings…yum…these were Chinese style dumplings but a little like Italian ravioli containing minced vegetables and wood ear mushrooms sitting in a spicy soy vinaigrette and also a dish of special XO fried chicken wings which were marinated in butter milk and came served with a large dollop of kewpie mayonnaise.fullsizeoutput_265fullsizeoutput_264

We also ordered two plates of Banh Mi; one a vegetarian lentil burger with carrots and cucumber and a mushroom pate which was accompanied by a chilli kewpie mayonnaise.  The other plate pretty much the same but with a pork burger and toppings of carrot and cucumber.  A little more than bite size and so tasty.

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Next dish I chose was the shallow friend tofu with soy and candied ginger.  I do love tofu especially now I am vegan [which wasn’t at the time of going to this restaurant] and this didn’t fail to impress…the tofu was so fresh and the sauce delicious.

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I must say looking back on the evening we really ordered so much food but unsurprisingly managed to eat it all.  I have decided just to list all the dishes as there really were so many…and every one was delicious.

Two dishes of fried Udon noodles; one vegetarian in a Swiss brown mushroom ragout and the other with chicken.

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Sugar snaps tossed in a garlic confit.

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Fried baby squid with a sweet chilli salt.

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Grilled chicken thigh fillet with a pickled vegetable and peanut sauce.

fullsizeoutput_27bNasi goring with squid ink fried rice, spanner crab and fluffy eggs – well that is what the eggs are called, I just think they are a little scrambled; suppose they could be fluffy!

fullsizeoutput_27cSlow cooked black Angus chuck steak reduced in coconut milk and spices.

fullsizeoutput_277Steamed fish cooked with ginger, shallots and shoaling wine.

fullsizeoutput_278Yes… and still more to come.  Only one more dish though…a salmon ceviche with lime caviar, red curry cream and a crispy salmon skin.

fullsizeoutput_268All throughout the evening, wine certainly flowed and our laugher grew louder. Funnily enough we didn’t have any room for dessert.  I really do love catching up with my friends and look forward to the next catch up with this particular group of girls but now know all three that came on this occasion cannot work out a bill even though it pretty much was just divided by four!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zaab [Streetfood] Restaurant – Braddon – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – March 2018

20 Tuesday Mar 2018

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

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

ACT, Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Braddon, dinner with friends, Eggplant, Lao-Thai street food, nam jin sauce, seafood platter, Tofu, Zaab Streetfood Restaurant

Dinner with friends

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Zaab (pronounced sahp) Street Food is a local Lao-Thai restaurant in a suburb I regularly visit to meet friends for dinner.  I had been to this restaurant once before and ordered the Pad Thai noodles and didn’t really love my meal, but my friend Jane really loves the food so I said I would give it another try…and can say I am very happy I did.

Inside is a spin on a classic southeast Asian street food restauarant – beer ads hanging out the front, corrugated iron panels and graffiti on the walls, and low tables and stools to enjoy a casual evening meal. Zaab-1060-3The menu is small and includes nice range of vegetarian options and lots of other dishes to share.fullsizeoutput_faSince retiring last November, I make an effort to catch up with the good friends I used to work with and as I hadn’t seen Kylie or Xenia since I retired I felt it was time for a catchup.  Jane booked and we met up for a pre-dinner drink and chat and together walked to the restaurant.  There is an extensive beer menu but none of us ordered beers; Xenia started off with a cocktail which arrived in a funky plastic bag with straw, Kylie’s came in a normal cocktail glass and Jane and I ordered wine.fullsizeoutput_ffMost of the smaller dishes are for sharing so we ordered a few including the chicken satay sticks and crispy tofu with fried noodles.  The tofu was so (so) good.Image 21Jane ordered two serves of the betal leaf which contained a spicy pork filling [she has had this several times before and loved it] – you roll them up and eat in one bite…loved by the girls.fullsizeoutput_fbAlso ordered was the Crying Tiger dish which is a Thai dish comprising strips of beef and a hot sauce.  A lot of my friends enjoy this dish and whilst the girls said it was spicy, they did say it was very tasty.fullsizeoutput_100We also ordered two serves of the corn fritters and I ordered a roasted eggplant dish (no surprises here) to share with the other girls.  Wow… this was very good as it was cooked to perfection with a particularly spicy tomato sauce…the girls loved this dish too.  fullsizeoutput_101The final dish ordered by the girls was a grilled seafood platter to share.  It came with king prawns, barramundi fillet, mussels and calamari and a nam jin sauce which I now know is a hot, sour and tangy Thai dressing.  Looked pretty good I must say!fullsizeoutput_feAs we were leaving I saw a noodle cart with fairy lights that serves meals during the day. And on a Friday/Saturday night it transforms into a DJ station – probably too late in the evening for me but guess it would be great for the younger crowd!!1476746096804Always great to catch up with friends; we have decided to make this a regular event and will try out other restaurants in Canberra.

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