Oh my, New Shanghai!

iPhone pic: The kitchen window at New Shanghai

Suddenly I have reason to shop at Chatswood on a very regular basis.  Normally I can’t stand the ‘park and hike’ layout of this busy suburban shopping hub, but now I’m sold.  Park in Chatswood Chase, ride the escalator and arrive in dumpling nirvana.  

This pocket-sized diner called New Shanghai is tucked into the corner of Chatswood Chase food court, decked out in lacquered red and wooden furnishings - sort of Shanghai funk meets 1930s Chinoiserie style.

The first to hit the table are Xiao Long Bau - eight soupy, soft and ginger-laden pork dumplings that diners watch being rolled through the open kitchen window. Within minutes we order a second round of these - a hungry three-year-old has an addiction to what he calls ‘juicy buns’. Dipped in black vinegar, they are sublime.

The next morsels are pan-fried pork dumplings – gyoza style filled with chunky pork mince and a thin crusty bottom.  Because it's flu season and toddler is coughing away, we feel obliged to have a soup. And we’re not sorry. Gorgeous silky noodles swim in a full-flavoured chicken broth with a side of crispy skin chicken, and a soy, garlic, chilli sauce pungent with vinegar to souse the lot. The best flu remedy.

And for fans of Din Tai Fung in Sydney's World Square, this is just as good and less than half the price.  I’ll be back again and again – next time I’m adding vegetable and pork wonton soup, and pan-fried pork buns to the order. New Shanghai has three outlets offering Shanghai style dim sim in fast and authentic style - another in Chatswood and one in Ashfield, Sydney. 

New Shanghai

Chatswood Chase NSW Australia

612 9412 3358

Also at Ashfield, Sydney and Lemon Grove Shopping Centre Chatswood

Possibly the worst iPhone pics ever taken due to dim lighting: 

T: Deep fried crispy skin chicken with special garlic and chilli sauce on noodle soup. 

B: Xiao Long Bau - steamed mini pork buns

A Vivid City

(T-B) iPhone pic of Japanese gyoza at Fire Water market, Fire Water Market from The Rocks website and market entertainers)

I know this blog is called Food Blurb, but this is one entry that’s not ALL about food. But I’ll say this much– the meatball, chilli, cheese and baby spinach wrap from the The Wine Odyssey stall at The Rocks Fire Water night market, well, it rocked.  It was warm, hot, saucy, meaty and satisfying. Washed down with mulled wine on a chilly, crisp and clear Sydney evening, made it  even better. 

Last night we ventured to the Vivid Festival.  First stop was the Fire Water event – turning Campbell's Cove into a stage with a show of lights, Bollywood dancing, fluorescent tall ships and fire.  A huge crowd turned out to watch the story of an Indian girl whose family arrived here from Calcutta on Robert Campbell’s merchant speculative voyage.

iPhone pic The Bounty alight complete with Bollywood dancers enters Campbell's Cove

Next stop was the Fire Water night markets. It was crammed with sleeping babies, families and people rugged in puffy jackets, man-scarves, beanies and gloves, and business-types in overcoats and trenches. 

Massive braziers filled with flaming wood filled The Rocks precinct from Campbell’s Cove throughout the Market area. Food on offer included Japanese dumplings and pancakes, Wagyu burgers, Cajun chicken wraps from Pony, Meatballs from Wine Odyssey, Cuban, Easten European, wood fired pizza, dim sum and more.  My fav, of course, was the mulled wine. Just the thing when it’s 10 degrees Celsius. 

(T-B) iPhone pics - Braziers everywhere and the Sails of the Opera House

After, we ventured to Macquarie Street for the Macquarie Visions component of Vivid.  It was nothing short of spectacular.  The Sydney Opera House looked amazing (Lighting the Sails), but St Mary’s Cathedral was really phenomenal. 

iPhone pic - St Mary's Cathedral as never seen before

One moment the facade was the screen for a thousand votive candles, the next a portrait of Governor Macquarie and then an old map of Sydney Cove. Hyde Park Barracks, Parliament House, The Mint and the State Library are all alight as well.  Go see it.  Take the kids too. Fire Water is on three times a night until 14 June.  And the other Vivid lights until 20 June.

http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Things_To_Do-The_Rocks_Fire_Water.htm

http://vividsydney.com/

iPhone pics - Sydney is Vivid

Gotta Go Malaysian

iPhone Pic of Temasek blackboard menu

If you love Malaysian food then you’ve just got to go to Temasek.  Happily I have to travel to Parramatta to get my car serviced, so it’s a good excuse to make a 45 min drive for Beef Rendang.  This version is heavily laced with lemongrass and coconut and served with crunchy piquant Chinese pickles. 

Because my car only needs servicing twice a year, we have to over-order to get a good Temasek-dose.  Along with steaming bowls of laksa, the Hainanese Chicken is what the predominantly Chinese-Malay patronage is eating.  Pungent with sesame and ginger, the silky skin and succulent chook defines comfort food. The Malay Chicken Curry swims in thick coconut gravy, peppered with chilli and nothing short of addictive.  I’d eat it every week if I was local.

The char kway teow (iPhone pic above) has the crispest batons of bean shoots possible, slurpy noodles tinged mahogany from the wok and paper-thin wafers of lup cheong. Be daring and eat it with a dollop of hot, eschallot-laden sambal.  Many deem this the best Malaysian in Sydney.  I agree.  I love Mamak, and although the two restaurants cook fairly different cuisine (Mamak being a nod to the more Indian Muslim-style street food like roti and clovey curry) my pick is Temasek.  Be sure to book, this is one popular spot for lunch and dinner.

The Roxy Arcade

71 George Street

Parramatta NSW 2150

02 9633 9926

iPhone pics above 

L-R Beef Rendang with Chinese Pickle and Chicken Curry with cooling cumber

Book Blurb - Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey

I don’t like to get all rock-star ‘groupie’ over chefs.  It’s not cool.  Especially as I work in the food industry. But I have to admit I am kind of a fan of Rick Stein. Okay, a huge fan.  Own every book? Check.  Indulged at new restaurant? Check. Watched every television series? Check.  Own some DVDs to watch over again? Check. Groupie? Check...maybe.

Obviously, then, I have his latest book Far Eastern Odyssey.  It sat unopened on my bookshelf for a few weeks while I was busy. Then the accompanying series started on ABC and I snaffled it off the shelf and studied it with fervour.  Like all of Stein’s recent books, it’s attractively photographed and as much a travel journey as a culinary one.  And if you watch the series, it’s almost a literary education with his well-thought prose and quotes from authors like Somerset Maugham.  I love that he reads from Graham Greene’s The Quiet American while standing on a balcony in Ho Chi Minh City.  A dream of mine is to read MM Kaye while floating on a Kashmiri houseboat.  Never going to happen, so on with this review…

Stein, I think, is one of the better English chefs when it comes to writing Asian recipes. No olive oil in sight.  He has deep understanding on Asian flavours and ingredients.  I can’t wait to cook vit nau cam – duck braised in spiced orange juice.  The som tum – green papaya salad - is simple but packed with authenticity and bags of flavour. I’ve cooked his rendang beef and it’s pretty good, and I’m a big fan of Nyonya cuisine so the prawns with fried cashew nuts, garlic and shallots will soon be on my home menu. And I’ll have to give Chef Wan’s noodle salad a go – for those not watching the series, Chef Wan is a hilarious celebrity chef in Malaysia… their answer to Ainsley Harriot, I think.

Thanks for another great (armchair) gourmet adventure Chef Stein.  I know Chaulky would never have travelled to the Far East, but I must say I miss watching the little guy on telly.

Book: Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey

A must have if: you are a Stein fan or enjoy cooking Asian food.

Food Blurb fav recipe: Haven’t cooked it yet, but I’m banking on the vit nau cam – duck braised in spiced orange juice – becoming a fav.

And: Catch the rest of the series on ABC1 television Tuesday evenings at 8.30pm (although it’s almost over).  DVD available through ABC Shops.

Details: BBC Books 2009 ISBN 9781846077166

Pizza Melanzana

An update on a previous post Bowl into Calabria Cucina...

Finally got to try the eggplant pizza at the Calabria Club.  It was good – soft and silky eggplant with homemade tomato sauce and bocconcini. Being an eggplant lover I’m probably a bit biased.  Having tasted a few now, my conclusion is the vegetarian pizzas and the gambari are the best.  The margarita is a bit bland, but not bad. Oh, and the homemade tiramisu is delicious with loads of mascarpone and cocoa.

http://calabriabowling.com.au

Ethical Blurb No 4 - Hip Hooray to Nestle

Hip Hooray to Nestle? Never thought you’d read those words?  Well Nestle obviously needs no more bad publicity, so a few weeks ago announced it would stop using all palm oil that is a product of rainforest destruction.  They’re the worlds biggest food and beverage company, so this is no small news and a product of pure people-power.

See previous post Don't palm us off for more info.

El Toro Loco

iPhone pic - Sweet battered deep fried lemon tree leaves

Mad clapping echoed down the entrance stairs, making it obvious he was there – Miguel Maestre, standing behind his open kitchen, grinning like a crazy man, clapping out a rhythmic flamenco and ringing a brass ship’s bell to indicate an awaiting order.

El Toro Loco is Manly‘s newest diner, and Mastre’s first solo foray into the Sydney restaurant scene. Starting his career in Europe, the Spaniard recently worked for Tony Bilson at Number One Wine Bar in Sydney.  His celebrity was born from television shows Boys Weekend and Miguel’s Tropical Kitchen.

Given its vast space, El Toro Loco was fairly crowded, with a couple tables of Spaniards (which Maestre visited for a chat in his native tongue), as well as tourists and locals sipping sangria and frosty Estella Galicia, with the autumn sea twinkling behind. 

The tapas ($12-$25) ranged from great to average. Plump baby chorizo picantes slick with a sticky cider and pickled onion sauce were just the thing to kick-off tapas time on a Saturday afternoon.  Croquetas made from salted fish were creamy with crunch, but the paired aioli was mayonnaise – not the punchy Spanish alioli it needed.  Ditto on the paprika garlic sauce served with the crispy fried baby calamari - which by-the-way, was far from its infant years – thick, dry, pub quality, possibly cut from frozen super-sized squid tubes. 

iPhone pic - Baby chorizos

Grilled sardines were good, with cubes of chewy jamon, but crisp cubes of pork belly were tepid and served on a salad of fennel, zucchini and an odd combo of herbs for the dish - mint, coriander and purple basil.   Grilled haloumi served with black volcanic salt was just that, and served on a clumsy salad of stringy snowpeas. Deepfried manchego was gooey and melting, and redolent of the slightly tart sheep’s milk, but the accompanying tomato confit was a basic thin tomato passata and not needed.

iPhone pic - Crisp bork belly (front) and crumbed sardines

Medium-rare beef on roast potatoes with a blue cheese sauce was, well, a multilayered calamity.  It was un-garnished, so the grey sauce was the hero.  The beef, far from medium-rare, was well-done and grey, served on cold roast chats. With Maestre standing at the pass, it is fair to expect more from a chef of his reputed caliber.  Overall the tapas menu seemed a bit disjointed and perhaps trying to be too clever. It might make more sense to stick to the Spanish classics.

Deserts were an upbeat finish – chocolate soused churros, orange flan and the weird but moreish sweet battered lemon tree leaves…no, you don’t eat the whole leaf, just the batter. It’s been said that El Toro Loco looks like an Ibethan tourist trap, and it’s true.  But the Spanish background music has a holiday vibe, the chef and his pumping kitchen is a bit of theatre, and the jugs of sangria (especially the twisted lychee variety) go down easily.  There are worse places to spend a lazy afternoon, but unfortunately for the Northern Beaches, better places to go just for the sake of eating great tapas.

49 North Steyne 

Manly NSW

02 99770999

www.eltoroloco.co.au

T-B iPhone pics - Rioja afternoon, churros, lemon leaf aftermath