Chinese Noodle Restaurant

Posted on February 7, 2011 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

FADED crimson-coloured plastic grape bunches droop from a plastic grape vine on the ceiling.

Colourful woollen tapestries depicting scenes from the Silk Road decorate the decades of tartare building up on the walls. One would think you have entered a bodega – not one of the cheapest and best Xin Jiang restaurants in Sydney. Xin Jiang is an autonomous region in north-western China and is mainly home to a Uigher ethnic group – the restaurant’s decor is typical of Silk Road eateries around the world.

Simply named Chinese Noodle Restaurant, this small and non de script eatery which seats only about 30 diners on black laminate tables squeezed into its only room is in the basement of the Prince Centre in Thomas Street in Sydney’s Chinatown.

Two women occupy one of the tables and are shredding whole cooked chickens and placing the meat in a bowl. In the small kitchen, the master is at work – kneading, stretching and coiling his home made flour noodles while another is meticulously filling doughy dumplings all under the watchful eyes of customers through the feature window that separates dining area from kitchen

I have arrived early – 10.30am (although it is open from 10am), for a feed of dumplings. I am the only one there but I know from experience that within an hour the place will be packed (and it’s been a while since I’ve been there and want a table).

I am ushered to one of the tables for two and instantly greeted by a pot of Chinese tea and a dish of dried, mashed chili drizzled with some oil just to make it sticky. I ordered the pork and chive dumplings ($8.50) – they’re going to take about 15 minutes (made from scratch), so I quietly sip on my tea reflecting and watch as the ladies shred and shred.

The menu offers a variety of dishes (some as half serves) the most notable to report being ma po tofu ($9.80); dry fried beans ($10.80); won ton noodle soup with hand made noodles ($8.80) and the braised eggplant with special sauce ($10.80), which I have heard good things about from colleagues.

Out come two medium-sized steamers full of doughy dumplings (six in each) packed with a combination of minced pork, chives and diced garlic and ginger. These dumlings are not for prima donnas – they’re wonderful thick and their silky dough is chewy, holding in the juicy goodness that is extracted from the seasoned meat which squirts out when pierced. The filling is robust – garlic, ginger, chives – I can’t eat them all and take four back home with me in a container. Half serves are available at $4.50.

I’ve decided to come back a week later as I yearn for Chinese Noodle Restaurant’s roasted lamb buns (even though it is 36 degrees outside). The two ladies are there – shredding chickens as they do and the master is stretching his doughy, silken masterpieces. The restaurant is also nearly full and it is not yet 11am.

The roasted lamb bun ($5 for one or $9.50 for a pair) is a large square of thick dough that has been baked and finished off in a pan to get it slightly crispy on the outside. Inside it is packed with chunks of lamb and large pieces of onion – the mixture flavoured with predominantly cumin but there are hints of garlic and ginger. The meat gets cooked in the parcel so its juices and fats – intermingled with the cumin and other spices – ooze out when halved. It is a large bun that could easily be shared between two people.

Chinese Noodle Restaurant is the kind of place that you can drop into to get a snack or quick meal with friends and will do take away. Best of all – the restaurant sells bags containing 16 frozen dumplings to take home (from $5.90).

The verdict: Doughy, juicy and flavoured-packed dumplings and silken handmade noodles dishes at prices that are ridiculously modest for Sydney.

What: Chinese Noodle Restaurant, TG7 Prince Centre, Thomas Street, Haymarket NSW 2000 Australia. Phone (02) 9281 9051. BYO.

Ate there: 29 January and 5 February 2011.

Posted in Chinese, New South Wales, Street Food, Sydney | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

White Rabbit Gallery Teahouse

Posted on January 31, 2011 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

WHITE Rabbit Gallery is Kerr and Judith Nielson’s gift to the people of Sydney.

This private (and free) gallery, tucked in a quiet corner of Chippendale, harbours a collection of contemporary Chinese art in a renovated four-storey warehouse that the Nielsons have collected over the years.

The gallery features rotating exhibitions of post-2000 Chinese art from the Nielson collection – drawings, photographs, sculptures, paintings, video and multimedia works. It is one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of contemporary Chinese art, and exhibitions run for five months before the gallery closes for a couple of weeks to bring in replacement works.

The gallery has staff on every floor to inform visitors of the indicifual pieces and also has screenings of Chinese comedies, dramas, romances and kung-fu movies on the first Sunday of every month at 2pm; a book club on the second Sunday of every month; and informal talks on Chinese culture and history on the third Sunday of every month.

The space is also home to the White Rabbit Gallery Teahouse.

The teahouse is to the left of the entrance and is popular not only with gallery visitors but with those who have a taste for Chinese and Taiwanese fine teas.

Dozens of old Chinese bird cages hang from the ceiling, the stark white-washed walls decorated with a few old Chinese posters and 1940s Shanghai songs play in the background. Solid timber tables are neatly lined in rows, some decorated with long and narrow red silk runners. To one side is the long bar for tea and food prep.

There is a limited food menu – it’s two choices of dumplings (chicken, corn and mushroom or egg and chive for $9.95), and a sweet or savoury snack plate (a selection of home made biscuits, dried fruit, nuts and the like for $4). But it isn’t the food that is the attraction here (apart from the art) – it’s the tea menu.

There is a selection of 13 teas. Some noteworthy mentions: Jin Xuan (Taiwan oolong); Yin Zhen (Chinese silver needle); Zhu Ye Qing (bamboo leaf green tea); and the Tie Guan Yin (the Iron Goddess of Mercy oolong). Teas are either $4, $4.50 or $5 per pot and as with all high-quality teas these can be steeped up to four to five times. Staff bring out a tray of all 13 teas in jars so you can see and sniff them and staff will also make recommendations.

I am very partial to oolong – especially those grown in Taiwan – but as I was with the young Miss Gob and Miss Pla I chose the jasmine green tea – rolled dried green tea leaves scented with white jasmine flowers ($4.50), and a serve of the chicken, corn and mushroom steamed dumplings ($9.95).

White Rabbit Gallery Teahouse isn’t like a Taiwanese teahouse that practices the Gongfu cha method (with the elaborate array of cups, sniffers and other utensils as well as the ritual that goes with it – see here on such a teahouse). Out comes the blue and white decorated porcelain-style teapot with matching tea cups. In it sits a wire infuser with the tea steeping in the water.

The tea had a light golden straw colour. It wafted of sweet white jasmine and had a slightly sweet flavour with light tannins and a floral after-taste. It reminded me of a Taiwanese jasmine I had a few years back from Maokong tea growing area just outside of Taipei. It was able to be steeped three times and would have been ok for a fourth (though would be nearing the end of its characteristics). It also got the thumbs up from Miss Pla (an emerging tea connoisseur), who repeatedly demanded refills.

The eight plump dumpling pillows were hand made with a filling of minced chicken, chopped mushroom and pieces of whole corn kernels. The wrapper was thin and silky, the filling mildly influences with garlic and soy. They were adequate as an accompaniment to the jasmine green tea and did their job to keep younger tummies from rumbling.

The teahouse is only one small highlight of the jewels that can be found by further exploring the White Rabbit Gallery. Further exploration of the teas and a new upcoming exhibition will be on the menu at my next visit.

To see what I enjoyed at my next visits to White Rabbit Gallery Teahouse click here.

The verdict: Art meets tea culture. An excellent variety of teas to savour among modern and contemporary surroundings in one of Sydney’s hidden gems.

What: White Rabbit Gallery Teahouse, 30 Balfour Street, Chippendale NSW 2008 Australia. Phone (02) 8399-2867. Open Thursday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. www.whiterabbitcollection.org/

Ate (and drank) there: 29 January 2011.

Posted in Chinese, Taiwanese | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Manao Lady

Posted on January 21, 2011 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

GLOWING in the early-morning glare of the Bangkok sun, she always greets me with her trademark smile followed by the question “manao“? She is Manao Lady – the creator and provider of the icy-cold and salty lime juice that refreshes me after my daily morning walk along Rama IV. Her stall is affectionately known after her nickname – “Naty”.

Manao Lady is always there from sunrise to late afternoon – providing Bangkok’s workers in the Khlong Toei commercial district (or those passing through on their scooters), with refreshment. Not even the swirling exhaust fumes from the choking traffic on the eight-lane artery into the city or the piercing trill of motorcycle horns seem to dampen her enthusiasm to serve her customers.

She has a simple set up – a small, rectangular and orange-coloured counter abutting a building on a sidewalk crowded with other food vendors near the Khlong Toei Kasikorn Bank branch on Rama IV. On her counter she has a coffee machine, an old-fashioned steel juice presser (which can be found in almost every Thai home), tins of condensed milk and a basket full of round Thai limes. To one side is a large plastic esky full of bottles and cans which are beading and dripping with the sweat of icy condensation. It’s all there: krating daeng (red bull), Birdy iced coffee and the usual assortment of soft drinks that can be found at the nearby 7-11 (but at slightly better prices than the convenience chain can offer). On a side table she has the daily newspapers and latest Thai gossip magazines, and behind her are the eskies full of commercial ice (and a small fan to keep her cool!).

If instant refreshment from a can or bottle isn’t your thing then Manao Lady’s fading menu (hand written in Thai), offers an array of beverages that she will prepare on the spot. Coffee (hot or cold, black or white, sweet or as it comes), the milky and orange-coloured Thai iced tea, and a variety of simple citrus juices – the best of course – her concoction of ice, lime juice, salt and sugar syrup.

It is for the manao that I come for everyday. For 20 baht (65 cents) my auntie will squeeze two whole limes into a plastic cup full of fresh ice (plastic bags with a straw were used not long ago). She will add a pinch of salt and a few millilitres of sugar syrup (to soften the blow of the acidity). She will taste, correct with more salt or sugar syrup if need be – shake the cup to cool the mixture down and deliver.

This is the perfect hot-climate drink – the ice cools you down, the lime refreshes and the salt replenishes the ions lost from sweating in the warm and moist humidity that blankets Bangkok.

Although I am no longer in Bangkok, Manao Lady is still there – smiling and chirping to her customers from sunrise to sunset and making her living replenishing and revitalising Bangkokians along Rama IV so they can make theirs.

Update: visited Naty in Bangkok in November 2012. She has done a little bit of renovation work on her stall (her manao drink business is booming). She is still smiling.

The verdict: Who needs Gatorade when you can have such an icy cold and revitalising drink in the tropics. Manao Lady takes pride in her work and endlessly keeps Bangkok refreshed and replenished.

What: Drinks stand on Rama IV at Khlong Toei, Bangkok, Thailand. Open 6am to 4pm (but she runs out of limes around lunchtime).

To get there catch the MRT to Khlong Toei station (exit 1) and turn right at once exited and walk about 200 metres along Rama IV. Her stall is right next door to the 7-11 and outside a pharmacy.

Ate (drank) there: Every time I am in Bangkok (but on this occasion November 2010).

Posted in Street Food, Thai, Thailand | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment