Taiwan Cafe Taiwanese Street Food

After had such a big eating day from Chez Dre and Burch & Purchese, we still hadn't stopped the day yet. Since everyone left, only P'Krit was the victim who had to be with me for dinner lol.

We were actually not really hungry, then ended up at Taiwan Cafe on Swanton St.

 

 

The place is quite small but luckily we can get the table without waiting. 

My favourite Taiwanese dish : Braised pork on rice (Lu Rou Fan) 滷肉飯: minced pork stewed with five spice and soya stock served with soya marinated egg on rice.

I first had this one at Cho dumpling King and fall in love with it ever since. Here was not bad but still far from many places in Sydney.

Beef wrap : Spring onion wrap with soya marinated beef slices garnished with spring onion and plum sauce.

Recommended by P'Krit and I love it ! Tasty and interesting cuz they use the hoisin sauce reminded me of a Peking duck.  And it was a very heavy dish... I think only half piece already enough for my dinner...haha

 

 Xiao long bao : steamed soup dumplings

Nothing special about it.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup : tenderly braise beef in an authentic herb and spice noodle soup

I was too full for this dish, then had only a few sips of the soup ;P

Even really full after the meal, we managed to get our dessert, a golden sand bun from a shop in China town which I didn't take a photo ^ ^"

Taiwan Cafe
273 Swanston St.
Melbourne, VIC 3000

Tel : 03 9663 6663

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet

Because tonight we will have a dinner at Deryk's relative house, we tried to have a light lunch......

Mathor's Chu...I came here before 1 time...at that time I had the rice with braised beef, tofu, egg and seaweed...interesting combination but it didn't impressed me....However, I am do wondering that everytime I pass by this shop, always full of people...so I think I might miss something good here. That's why I came to try again.

The bill must be made upon ordering...I don't know the reason they do this, but it doesnt bother me...

On the shelf (not on the table), there are some vinegar, soy sauce and chilli sauce.

Deryk ordered soya bean milk .. I tasted it..mmm...I like soya bean but this was not quite my type. I had Iced milk tea which was quite nice...Oh I just realized that I forgot to take picture of it ><

Shallot pancake with yu tiao (deep-fried bread) $4.50

Here they freshly make their you tiao or Chinese donut. The Chinese bread dough is deep-fried and then wrapped in a thin blanket of pancake with a hint of shallot. This dish was a lot better than I thought...Pancake was flaky, the yu tiao was hot, crispy, light and airy. I don't really know how to eat this...Do we need to use chopstick? or we just eat it by hand? I tried both way and it's all good ..haha...

Glutinous rice filled with pork floss $3.00

Another interesting dish, I have never seen it before. It was wrapped in glad wrap and cut in half ...very good to share..hehe. The filling was yu tiao bread stick coated in pork floss (dry-fried shredded sweet pork jerky). The glutinous rice is warm and soft, the bread stick is crispy and crunchy, the pork floss provides sweetness and salt. Beautiful and very filling (We can't finish it :P)

Pork dumplings $8.00 for 12

We mixed between the steamed and fried one...The steamed was surprisingly the winner. It was very moist and juicy. The skin was not too thick, the filling tasted just nice and the chopped cabbage inside makes it crunchy and sweet. The fried dumpling was not bad just a bit oily.

Yummmmmm.....

Now I know why this place always packed...good, fast and cheap. The trick is you have to order the right thing (but it takes some experience for me to know what is the right one lol) This meal was fast with plenty of starch.....another nice meal !

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet
Shop 1, 86-88 Dixon St.,
Haymarket, Sydney
Tel : (02) 9211 0288

Cho Dumpling King

Last Sunday evening....It was raining but Meng and I kept walking among the rain along Glebe St. Since Meng lives in Wollongong, he have never come to this area before...then we turned our way to Chinatown and finally ended up at this place...Cho Dumpling King.. It was so packed and the queue outside was a crowd..so we had no wonder that this place should be nice.

Free Chinese hot tea.

We ordered the braised pork meal $9.00 which include 1 large bowl of braised pork belly on rice with some pickle on top and another side dish...(you can order the small rice bowl for $8.00)

The braised pork belly.......I was smiling after putting the first spoon into my mouth....wow.....just like food at home....You can feel star anise, cloves and chinese spice...the so-tender of the pork belly but no so oily due to properly cook.... Ja was so happy ^ ^

Another dish came with the meal was stir fried spinach top with fresh chopped garlic braised pork belly (like on top of rice)...Perfect again !


Meng wanna try the spicy anchovies $3.00 ...a bit different to Thailand...this was soft while in Thailand it is always crispy...

There are many interesting side dishes (changed daily) $3.00 You can see on the window outside and usually can order before you go inside..or just go and pick up whatever you want (like Meng did)

Such a great meal ...good food and so cheap...Our meal was $12.00 ..haha....Even that day I was not hungry, If I eat a lot, it is still a really good bargain !

Waiting to go there again and try eggplant, deep fried tofu, radish cake, etc..

Cho Dumpling King

Shop #6, 8 Quary St.

Sydney , NSW 2000

Tel: (02) 9281 2760

Din Tai Fung Restaurant

After read my favourite blog, Lorraine E, I decided to go to Din Tai Fung, the world famous Taiwanese Dumpling chain and specialises in Xiao long bao. The craze has spread throughout China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, The USA and has finally hit Sydney !

We went there a bit early .. about 6.00 pm on Monday ..so the restaurant was not so full crowded like last time i went to observe :P

The decor in the restaurant was nice, the light enhances the popular feel/warmth of the place. Decorations are obviously with the multiplication of various cooking and eating utensils. On the main display are the steamers for dumplings and buns, and below are are arranged with soup spoons, bowls, and chopsticks.

At that time, there were still little people.

The seasoning are chinese oil chilli, chinese vinegar, soy sauce and pepper.

We ordered Chinese hot tea $2.00 per person

The service here is very friendly...The waitress are some Chineses, Koreans and Thais..good for a Chinese restaurant. The first one who taked care of our table was Chinese (I guess ^ ^) ..We asked her to recommend the dishes...

The food came out from the kitchen really fast...

Din Tai Fung Vegetarian Delight...The Chinese waitress told us this one is quite popular...It is the tofu, sea weed and some pickle seasoned with sesame oil..the veggies were crunchy and have a hint of sesame oil ...

The shredded ginger in the saucer is part of the standard table setting..I was filled with vinegar and a bit of soy sauce, which is the common seasoning for the dumplings.

The next dish was Cha Jiang Noodle..(Noodles mixed in broad-bean sauce)...I think it was like Spaghetti bolognese not only the look but also the taste ^^''...However the noodle was perfect cooking...we mixed it with sauce, plus beef, tofu and beans...

The hi light one came...Xiao Long Bao (Steamed pork dumplings)... We were very carefully handle the dumplings because past experience had taught us the fragile of the xiao long skin...so easily broken...Especially when you pick them up with chopsticks, many rupture, spilling the precious soup within...But not in this case...I have no idea how they can make this nicely....the skin was acceptably thin (translucent), elastic but not chewy...Even Um dropped her dumpling from the spoon onto the plate...still not broken...2 thumbs up !!

Soup and pork filling inside was tasty but not much strong ginger flavour for my liking...hot but not burn your tongue (which i like..lol)

Another dumpling we had, Shrimp and pork shao - mai ..But this one the skin was a bit too thick... (It came not so nice...like sleepy shao-mai ..haha)

Looks beautiful, doesn't it?

Then another noodle came...Noodles mixed in Sesame and Peanut sauce...The waitress recommended using a bit of chilli sauce to give it some kick, but i forgot -_-'' Anyway, it was soooo yummy...I really like the sauce...(i am the sesame and nuts person..*laught*) Again, the noodles were of the ideal texture, tension and smoothness. It’s very pleasant to bite into.

Um with a bit dark face cuz the light ...

Seok and me....(In this time, the china girl asked us that wheather we are a couple. She said i am beautiful and Seok is handsome... lol...funny girl)

When we almost finished our dinner, another korean girl came..she is Seok's friend who studying Basic Cuisine in LCB also...so cute ^ ^

She treated us the Deep fried Taro...(Bread filled with mashed Taro)...Yummm..

Really like the filling...not too sweet

Outside of the restaurant, the kitchen where the dumplings and buns are made is especially visible to visitors.

Total was about $ 49.7 ...very reasonable price...friendly staff, superb food, great atmosphere.... I definitely go again to try other dishes !

Din Tai Fung

World Square Shopping Centre

Shop 11. 04 Level 1

644 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

Tel : (02) 9264 6010