Tag Archives: chinese

Black bean chicken stir-fry

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Food, Recipes by

I have been busy very these days so I haven’t been keeping up with this blog lately. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating :) On one of the rare days I get to watch TV I was watching Kylie Kwong make blue swimmer crabs with black bean sauce and that made me salivate. Too bad I had no crabs on hand so I used chicken instead for the dish and adapted other ingredients and it was good.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1/2 carrot, cut into star shaped
1 small stalk celery, sliced into thin diagonals
3 whole chicken breasts, sliced thinly
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small red capsicum, cut into squares
4 teaspoons Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce or 2-3 teaspoons black beans
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1-2 teaspoons Shao Xing wine
1-2 teaspoons sugar
oil for stir-frying

Method

1. In a wok, bring 2 litres of water to a rapid boil and add in carrots and celery. Boil for 1-2 minutes and remove from wok. Set aside.

2. Drain water from the wok and wipe it dry. Heat wok on high heat then add in about 3 tablespoons of oil and swirl to coat the wok. Stir fry chicken in 2 batches until cooked. Transfer onto a plate and reserve chicken juice that have come out. Set aside. Then heat 1 tablespoon of oil on high heat and stir fry capsicum for 1 minute. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

3. In the same wok, saute garlic in 1 tablespoon oil. Add in black bean sauce, sesame oil, and Shao Xing wine. Saute for about 30 seconds. Then add in reserved chicken juice and mix well. Add sugar and adjust according to your taste. Add in chicken and sauté and coat it with the black bean sauce for about a minute. Then add in the vegetables and mix together with the chicken and sauce.

4. Transfer to a serving plate and serve with rice.

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Jade Court @ Cottesloe

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Food by

The family and I ventured a little far from home for Chinese food. When it comes to Chinese food, we usually stick to the ones we know we’re going to love like some of those restaurants in Northbridge or a few of those close to home. Someone was feeling adventurous this day and I was tasked, yet again, to look for a restaurant we’ve never been before for a change.

This was on a public holiday and I was planning to head down to the beach so I thought why not try that oriental-looking restaurant along Stirling Hwy that I drive past frequently? I made the reservations and had everything planned out for the day. Except I overslept during my “nap” and never made it down to the beach! I was already cranky at this point because I was suddenly jolted up from my slumber. It was already dinner time apparently.

So it’s a good thing then that Jade Court knew how to please customers. Otherwise I would’ve been cranky and pissed the whole night. According to one of my cousins, the restaurant looked like those you’d find in Asia. Decor is very imperial and the waitresses were wearing traditional qi paos. We sat down and ordered our food. Being all too familiar with Hong Kong cuisine, both Auntie J and Auntie C said the taste was spot on. And I do agree with them. The food was tasty and Jade Court offered a change of taste to our palettes. Even though some of the dishes we ordered are also offered by other restaurants, the taste of Jade Court’s dishes was different. It was like eating the same food but not with the old familiar taste.

These are what we had:

* Spinach with chinese mushrooms (top left) – recommended by one of the head waitresses and it was a good recommendation. Fresh veggies with humongous mushrooms in a light and tasty sauce.

* Pork chops with peking sauce (top right) – this was the only underwhelming dish of the night. I thought peking sauce was supposed to be sweet but I really couldn’t quite make out what this sauce was.

* Yam duck (upper middle left) – finally a yam duck with just the right amount of yam! The yam had just the right amount of seasoning was fried to perfection. And so was the duck; crisp and meaty.

* Gwai mah chicken (upper middle right) - fried chicken pieces with seasoned with 5 spice and other spices that also had thinly sliced yao za gwai pieces (the fried dough that you dip in porridge).

* Salt and pepper salmon fillets (lower middle left) – who knew that salmon cooked this way could be so darn good. Bite-size salmon fillets are fried until just cooked so it’s still oozing with juices when you bite into it.

* Combination yee-fu noodles Hong Kong style (lower middle right) – a noodle dish as requested by my little cousin and he has made the right choice. This is a dry-style noodle dish but still had just the right amount of sauce to make it dry-style but not completely dry. It was loaded with toppings too and we were all fighting to have the last few servings.

* Sizzling Japanese tofu (lower left) – this is one of those Chinese restaurant staple that we always have. Except this one here has bigger slices of tofu and a taste that is distinctively Jade Court. It’s not the usual salty fish-style sauce.

Last but not least we ordered an entree of shanghai dumplings (lower right) and were told that they would take a while to make and cook so it will be served together with the mains. We waited. And waited. And waited some more but the dumplings never came. When we asked the waitress to check on them she said they were coming out soon so we waited some more. So, finally, for dessert we had the dumplings.

They were lucky because the dumplings were divine. Otherwise, the oldies would have gone ballistic waiting that long (30 minutes after we finished the mains) for something that was not good.The skin was thin and not overly chewy and the filling was very tasty. Served with a ginger and black vinegar sauce.

Apart from that dumpling fiasco, it was an overall great Chinese restaurant dining experience. The service was very good and attentive which is rare for Chinese restaurants. I must commend the waitress too. She was very friendly and apologetic about the dumplings and explained to us what had happened that took them so long to come out.

Jade Court is definitely more towards fine dining; the prices alone are double that of normal Chinese restaurants elsewhere and serving size is on the smaller scale. You do get a goodservice though, I must reiterate. The bottles of water were even topped up frequently without us once having to ask them. It’s a restaurant I’d definitely consider for the more special occassions.

My rating: 8/10
Jade Court on Urbanspoon

Northbridge Chinese Restaurant @ Northbridge

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It really does not feel like a Sunday if my family and I do not head out to Northbridge and wait under the sun (during summer) or rain (during winter) for some dim sum family time. Northbridge Chinese Restaurant, along Roe Hwy, is one of our favourites for such a meal. It’s a little pricier than other dim sum restaurants but it’s worth it – foodwise.

What I like most is that the dim sums do not taste like they are loaded in oil or fat. They are very flavourful without being too saturated so you don’t feel really heavy afterwards. If you decide to come here on a Sunday either come very early (i.e. before everyone else) or be prepared to wait in line. And the line can be really long. Once you get in, though, you will feel that weariness (from waiting in line) go away at the sight of the dim sum trolleys. In line with what you’ll find in dim sum restaurants in Asia, little bamboo steamers filled with dumplings or chicken feet or ox tripe are stacked high in steam-generating trolleys that are pushed around the resturant making occassional stops at tables with drooling patrons.

It’s best, really, to go with a bigger group so you can sample more choices. There are so many steamed and fried dim sums to choose from that we usually skip breakfast altogether so we can eat more. Either that’s smart or just plain sad is up to you. Works well for us! For a family of 9-10, we usually need around 20 dishes to fill us up:

  • har gow (prawn dumplings)
  • siu mai (pork dumplings)
  • coriander prawn dumplings
  • beef balls
  • fish ball
  • scallop prawn dumplings
  • steamed rice rolls
  • chicken feet
  • seafood and beancurd roll
  • steamed spare ribs
  • egg tart

  • radish/turnip cake
  • salt and pepper squid
  • deep fried tiny fish (exact name I do not know)
  • fried dough with rice roll

Then, for dessert, my personal favourite is the dao fu fa. Silky smooth tofu-like delicacy made from soy beans and served with syrup. This is a much better choice than mango pudding.

The many times I’ve been here food has been consistenly good. That’s the dim sum bit I’m referring too. They’re as close to the ones you can get in Hong Kong.

For banquet meals during dinner time, well, I wouldn’t say they were exceptionally good. They were good but nothing made them stand out from other Chinese restaurants in the area.

If you can get past the mediocre and arrogant service that you may sometimes come across from impatient older staff and indifferent younger staff who look like they are forced to work there, Northbridge Chinese Restaurant is really worth a lunch time dim sum trip.

My rating: 7.5/10

Northbridge Chinese on Urbanspoon

Recipe: Prawn dumplings & prawn toast

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It is almost like a ritual for me/my family that we go for yum cha on Sundays. Yesterday, mostly because everyone woke up late, yum cha wasn’t on the agenda and whenever I don’t get to eat out where I want to I make the food myself at home whilst hoping for the best result.

I trekked to the Asian supermarket to buy my supplies for har gow (prawn dumplings). Har gows are my favourite dim sum and let me tell ya – leave it to the experts to make them. There was an Asian snacks cookbook lying around at home so I took a quick read and the recipe for prawn dumplings looked rather simple. Or so I thought. Basically this was all what was needed:

Filling
1 kilo prawns, chopped
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chinese cooking wine
1 small can bamboo shoots, chopped
1/4 kilo pork fat

Wrapper
1 1/2 cup non glutinous flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons oil

Just mix all the ingredients for the filling together. Then mix the ingredients for the wrapper until it becomes a dough. Then divide the dough into about 30 pieces and roll them into tiny thin circles. Like wontons, but round. Put the filling into the wrapper and pleat the edges until you get a crescent shaped dumpling with pleats.

Now there were several things that went wrong while I was making the dumplings. The recipe called for non glutinous flour. I went to the flour aisle of the supermarket and there was nothing called non glutinous flour. There was something called non glutinous rice flour though. I wasn’t entirely confident that rice flour was the right kind of flour but since it was the only non glutinous kind of flour I could find I ended up buying it. While rolling out the dough I felt that it wasn’t sticky enough to be a har gow wrapper. I couldn’t roll it out too thin too because it kept breaking so my dumpling ended up having a thick skin and little filling. But it was too late now. The filling was ready and my bamboo steamer was steaming so, make or break, the family would just have to be forced to eat the dumplings.

Taste-wise, the dumplings were not too bad. I did not have any pork fat so they weren’t greasy. I thought of adding some chicken powder for added flavour but I couldn’t find my chicken powder in the pantry. In lieu of the chicken powder I added garlic salt instead. Appearance-wise, they looked nothing like the har gows you see in dim sum houses. The skin is not translucent enough and, as much as I tried to pleat my dumplings, I couldn’t do so without breaking and cracking the wrapper. Now they just looked like soup dumplings.

Essentially the dumplings were too doughy and the taste of the wrapper was very floury so I made a dipping sauce to rescue them.

Dipping sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons sugar
bunch of coriander, chopped

By the time I finished steaming all the dumplings I’ve decided that in the future I will simply head down to Northbridge to get my har gow fix. Making dim sums is an art that takes years to master.

I had extra prawn filling but I was reluctant to make any more wrappers since I wasn’t too happy with the ones I made earlier. Now what to do with the rest of the filling? I know. Prawn toast.

I have only ever eaten prawn toast twice before and both times were amazing. I like prawns. I like sesame seeds. I like deep fried stuff. I only eat deep fried food in restaurants so my version here is simply pan-fried. It’s not greasy at all so it doesn’t taste unhealthy. And to top it off, I used wholemeal multigrain bread for the toast. A healthy Chinese snack that you can only find in my kitchen.

I never thought I could eat so much prawns in one day!

Good Fortune Duck House @ Northbridge

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My old boss has this habit of explaining ideas through metaphors. We have endured long talks about 3-dollar Coke cans and that “little shop at the corner of the street” serving ham and tomato sandwiches. Then, one day, the Coke hype suddenly died down and he started talking about ducks. One place he kept referring to was “Good Fortune Roast Duck” (which I later found out was really Good Fortune Duck House). I can only assume that he loves this place since he has mentioned it in our morning “meetings” for a good 1 month – something about roast duck and peking duck and minced duck meat. I spaced out after 2 minutes of him talking about roast duck daydreaming about having roast duck for lunch.

I finally found a good reason to head to Good Fortune Duck House to get some duck action. My family and I were celebrating the fact that I am a finally a resident of Australia. Yay! We use the most random happenings as reasons to eat out a lot. It was a Friday and I called to make reservations for 8 people. The restaurant is not big at all and they only had 2 big tables to accommodate big groups so it was important that everyone in the group arrived on time. Otherwise, they won’t let you take the table. It was a busy night in Northbridge so parking was a nightmare. I walked from the city so I arrived first. The rest of the group took half an hour to find a parking spot and the waitresses were ready to shoo me out of the restaurant. They kept asking me every 2 minutes when the rest of the party will arrive and all I could say was “soon”. Though I do understand why they wanted to kick me out (there were quite a number of people waiting for a table outside), the waitresses could have told me or explained to me nicely that there were other patrons waiting outside instead of giving me that cold look. Well, good and friendly service is not exactly what you’ll find in most Asian restaurants.

By the time my family arrived, food was served because I ordered beforehand. But even on a busy night, food came out in about 10 minutes upon ordering. We had the roast meat combination consisting of bbq pork and roast duck. Honestly, the roast duck was not as good as I expected it to be. Given that they specialise in roast duck it was rather disappointing. The pieces they gave us were not very meaty but at least the duck was not very fatty. Truth be told, I have had better roast duck elsewhere.

Good Fortune Duck House: bbq pork and roast duck

I don’t usually order fried rice when eating out but we had a fussy eater with us so I did end up ordering the special fried rice. The fried rice was so-so, definitely nothing special about it.

Good Fortune Duck House: special fried rice

The rest of the dishes we had were quite tasty. The seafood were cooked just right – not overcooked and not chewy – which was great. We had salt and pepper squid, prawns with snowpeas and toothfish with soy sauce. The squid and the fish were definitely our favourites.

top to bottom: salt and pepper squid, prawns with snow peas, toothfish with soy sauce

 

 

 

Then to complete the meal, we had kangkong with garlic and sizzling Japanese tofu with seafood sauce.

Good Fortune Duck House: kangkong with garlic

Good Fortune Duck House: sizzling Japanese tofu

When you step inside Good Fortune Duck House, it really does take you back to China, or, at least, those typical Chinese restaurants in Asia where chairs are very oriental (and by that I meant chairs that I saw in China at my grandparents’ old house) and some menu items plastered all over the walls. The place is a bit murky too – dim lighting and it had that “sticky” feel inside where months of grease seemed to have infused the place.

Good Fortune Duck House: interior

But I hope this has changed. I was passing by one day and saw them taking all the furniture out on the street. Perhaps they were doing a general cleaning? One can only hope. Despite the shabby ambiance, there is good reason though why people are willing to line up to sample some of Good Fortune Duck House’s dishes. They are tasty, affordable and generous in portions. You do get that bang for your buck.

My rating: 7/10

Good Fortune Duck House on Urbanspoon

www.goodfortuneduckhouse.com.au/index.html

Big Bowl @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

Finally a place in Perth where I can indulge in noodles semi-guiltlessly (semi, because I am trying a diet of low carbs). If you need to be reminded…I have a very unhealthy addiction to noodles. Noodle soup, stir-fry noodles, deep fried noodles with sauce, boiled noodles, claypot noodles, salad noodles – in whatever way noodles are cooked I will eat them all (but noodles in a heart warming broth is my number choice).

Today on a very chilly day I ventured out to the city for some harmless shopping. I had the craving for a good bowl of soup, battling between minestrone or asian soup. In the end, asian soup craving won so I headed on foot to Northbridge for a big bowl of noodle soup. I have read that Big Bowl Noodles along William Street makes their own noodles so that alone is enough to convince me to give this place a try. The restaurant was not overly busy when I walked in seeing as it was already 2:30pm then. There were only 3 other tables occupied so service was very quick.

They have this on their wall explaining something about noodle making -

Big Bowl: info about noodle making

- and they are right. Noodle making is an art. Big Bowl makes their own noodles called La Mien, as in noodles pulled by hand, but we are now in the modern ages so they actually use machines to “pull” the noodles. There are 3 machines – 1 for regular noodles, 1 for wholemeal noodles, and 1 for thicker regular noodles – and the noodles are “pulled” to order. Place your order then choose your noodle and the waitress presses a button on the machine and, voila, noodles come out and she passes them on to the chef.

Big Bowl: here comes my wholemeal noodles

There are some 50+ combinations of noodles on the menu – some soup, some stir fried, some vego..etc. and it did take a while for me to decide which one to indulge in. Finally I chose the fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup with wholemeal noodles. Wow, it was heaven in every slurp. And made even better with a little bit of chili. It was unusual to have wholemeal la mien because I have never been to a chinese restaurant that actually makes and serves wholemeal noodles. This worked just fine for me because I currently have an obsession with anything wholemeal (for that added texture). The soup was very simple yet tasty. Just broth, I’m guessing pork broth, and not loaded with msg seeing as I was not left dehydrated after I finished my bowl of noodle soup. They were generous with the veggies too. The only real problem with my meal were the dumplings. They came in only 4 pieces and were mediocre. The wrapper was too big and I could not make out where the fish skin was.

Big Bowl: fish skin with prawn dumpling noodle soup

The staff there can speak little English, enough for them to get by and understand me. I was going to try ordering in Chinese but I felt so embarrassed with my broken Chinese that if she asked me something else I would’ve just turned red and replied in English. The lady who served me looked a bit uptight but she did turn out to be friendly upon “chatting” with her about the noodles. I loved my wholemeal noodles so much that I ordered fresh ones to take home. I did not know that you can actually just order fresh noodles until a man came in and ordered 4 large containers. So I copied him and ordered 1 large container for myself. And this was when I “chatted” with the lady about the different types of noodles and how I should store and cook them at home.

Big Bowl: take home fresh wholemeal noodles

I am literally contained with excitement about cooking the noodles at home. I finally found a place where I can get quality noodles to feed my addiction.

My rating: 8/10

Big Bowl on Urbanspoon

Daisy’s Cafe @ Jandakot

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Okay, this post is outright biased I must admit. Daisy’s Cafe is the cousin’s boyfriend’s parents’ restaurant and given how much I appreciate uncle Sam (the chef, as he is affectionately called) and auntie Doris’ warmth and hospitality I cant bring myself to find any faults with this restaurant, except for the fact that it is in woop woop (that’s a place far far away, for you non Aussies). Any place farther than Canningvale from my place is woop woop. This little restaurant, just off the Berrigan Drive exit of the freeway, sits about 20 to 30 people and there is quite a significant number of takeaway patrons as well.

Daisy's Cafe: interior

But as biased as I may be, Daisy’s Cafe is really worth going the extra kilometres if what you are looking for is a neighbourhood chinese restaurant that serves food in its simplicity. The food here is sort of like home cooked meals only much better.

Our family favourites include the succulent lobster with noodles dish. The dish below features bite sized lobster pieces on udon noodles. That’s a little different from the usual egg noodles or yee mien that this dish is served with but udon worked just fine in this instance.

Daisy's Cafe: lobster with noodles

Next up is fish cooked 2 ways. I’m not exactly sure what the fish we had is called as I am not a fish monger but it’s that kind of fish with red skin and blue green spots. The head and bones in this case are battered and deep fried while the fillets are stir fried with vegetables. Either way the fish is cooked was just really tasty. Here’s the fish that was the star of the dish but the final product was consumed all too quickly.

Daisy's Cafe: fish

Then auntie Doris came out with a boiling hot claypot containing chicken pieces in a wine infused special soy sauce based sauce. The sauce was sweet yet still with that hint of saltiness and the tender chicken pieces were deliciously drunk with wine.

Daisy's Cafe: chicken claypot

A non red meat dish came next – which is another family favourite of ours – steamed egg whites with seafood sauce. Very smooth and fluffy egg whites topped with chopped seafood sauce. Be warned that this is steaming hot and will burn your tongue if you cant resist it and dove in too quickly like what happened to me.

Daisy's Cafe: steamed egg whites with seafood sauce

We would usually just ask the chef to prepare whatever dishes he felt like making and we have not yet been disappointed. Food is always fresh and consistently good – tasty but not too greasy nor too salty – at a reasonable price.

It was indeed a very satisfying family (extended family included) dinner. And if you open your ears you might even hear uncle Sam belt out some really old-fashioned Chinese songs while he cooks!

My rating: 8/10
Daisy's Cafe on Urbanspoon

Golden King BBQ @ Northbridge

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I think I have just found myself a new place to eat whenever I get cravings for roast duck.

Today I’m feeling a little sick with a cold coming up and a throat that’s itching and beginning to sore up. So I figured that a good bowl of noodle soup would help alleviate my blocked nose and decided to head down to Hong Kong BBQ in Northbridge to have my usual “Sliced Duck Noodle Soup with Preserved Vegetable”. As I was walking down the street I took a quick look to see if there is a long queue outside. I only had an hour for lunch and as soon as I see a long line outside I am just going somewhere else. The street seemed strangely quiet on a weekday office lunch time and that’s when it hit me: today was a Wednesday and Hong Kong BBQ is closed on Wednesdays! I almost passed out at this thought. So I aimlessly continued walking down William Street hoping to find a decent place to eat where I can get my much needed soup.

Lo and behold! A few steps down the street was “Golden King BBQ”. I took a quick look at some of the dishes printed on the window and they had something that said “noodles (dry/in soup)”. This was good enough for me. I walked in and it was a full house but not over crowded. The waitress was just cleaning up a table when I walked in so I did not have to wait at all. She then handed me a menu and I went straight to the noodles section. Unfortunately they did not have my favourite sliced duck noodle soup with preserved vegetables so I ordered the next best thing which is simply  “Roast Duck Noodles”, not sliced into strips and no preserved vegetables. Strange how I did not order “Roast Duck Noodles Soup“, huh? Considering it was precisely what I was craving for. Let me tell you why.

Two minutes after I sat down, the waitress, without looking at me, put down a big bowl of soup on my table. I thought it was someone else’s order so I did not touch it obviously until I clarified it with the waitress. Then when she came over to take my order I asked her what is was and she said : “It’s free”. I was already thinking how awesome this is. A big bowl of soup just for me. I think they give out a free bowl of soup per table such that if there are 2 or 4 of you then you would just have to share. Dont worry, they’d give you a serving ladle and small bowls for that. But since I was having lunch alone I have the whole bowl to myself.

This is not just some chicken powder with spring onion soup. This is an actual homemade soup simmered for a least a few hours. How do I know this? Well, we make this kind of soup at home. Stock bones and chicken bones boiled and simmered together with carrots and celery (at home we would add onions and tomatoes too). I quickly took a few sips after ordering to warm up my stomach and it tasted almost exactly like what we regularly make at home. You could still see a few pork and chicken bones in the soup and that tells you it’s the real thing.

Golden King: a hearty asian soup for free

It didn’t take long for my roast duck noodles to be served. I had the dry kind because I already had that big bowl of soup and having another bowl of soup would make me too full and sleepy for work. The had 2 kinds of noodles in the menu: ordinary or special. I noticed that the Chinese equivalent of the special noodles is what they call “la mien” so I ordered that. The ordinary ones are what I assume to be egg noodles.  The dish came with a generous serving of roast duck and a side of steamed bok choy. The noodles were a bit stubborn as I couldn’t easily pick them up with the chopsticks because they were slippery and stucked together. Cutting them was hard too because they were “spongy”.  Anyway that really isn’t a big deal.

And then it was heaven in my mouth when I took a bite of that roast duck. The duck was juicy and tasty. Crispy skin and virtually fatless. Succulent duck is what I’d call it. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I quickly ate all the noddles first so that I can save the best for last. I’ve had some pretty good roast duck before and this one here from Golden King BBQ will certainly make it to my list of places serving awesome roast duck. On top of that the prices are actually pretty affordable too. My lunch cost me just $10.00. Hong Kong BBQ or Happy Star‘s noodle soup dishes cost more than that.

Golden King: Roast Duck Noodles

The place did not impress me at first glance. It looked like a Chinese canteen. But after my very good first experience here I will certainly come back and try the beef brisket noodles that the person in front of me ordered because it looked divine. Noodles smothered in beef brisket stew. Or perhaps I can just order a small bowl of steamed rice to go with my free soup?

My rating: 8/10

Golden King BBQ on Urbanspoon

Joy Cafe @ Northbridge

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I was looking for someplace to eat for my lunch break as I did not have my usual packed lunch and I stumbled upon Joy Cafe in William Street, Northbridge. I walked in not expecting too much because I had a feeling that this place would let me down. The photos of some of the dishes like “Fragrant Chicken Rice” and “Beef Brisket Noodle” posted on the window looked good enough for me to try this place.

An alarm sounds when you walk in notifying the staff that there’s someone at the door. So I was looked after quickly. The interior is a bit weird for me. It looks like a typical chinese restaurant setting but also a diner with Asian-style diner couches. I really could not make up if this is a Hong Kong style or, perhaps, a Taiwanese style restaurant. The TV screen was playing a Hong Kong TV series but the staff were speaking in a Taiwanese accent. To add to my confusion, this place also serves some very Hong Kong style cafe dishes like “toast and ham with creamed corn soup” or “toast and steak”, something very similar to Hong Kong’s Cafe de Coral’s breakfast and tea menu.

Anyhow, the waiter led me to sit on one of the Asian-style diner couch which was super uncomfortable. The seat was sinking in the middle and I could hardly rest my elbows on the table. So I moved around trying to find a spot on the couch that is not sinking but everywhere was just as bad. The waiter stared at me while I was decided what to order. After a few minutes of glancing at the menu nothing caught my eye so I just asked him what is a good noodle dish? He suggested the “Beef Brisket Noodles” with soup on the side and I said OK.

And just as I had predicted, this is not the best beef brisket I had eaten but it was edible. Good enough for me not rant about it. My plate had a small serving of the beef brisket, about 6 pieces medium sized beef cubes, that had been cooked in either a sauce from the jar or a homemade blend of oyster sauce and sweet soy sauce. There are no spices (e.g. star anise) to be seen nor tasted that goes into cooking beef brisket. The beef itself was not even tender enough. To make up for the small serving of beef 1/3 of my plate is covered in thin egg noodles lightly tossed with a soy sauce gravy. The amount of noodles is enough to make you full. And to top it off they will also give you 1 bunch of bok choy cut in half and a spoonful of dry chili. From what I can assume, the soup that came with it is made from chicken powder and a whole lot of ground black pepper and a whole lot of spring onions. It was obviously not made with stock and I was simply grossed out by the amount of pepper that I am sipping with each spoonful.

Joy Cafe: Beef Brisket Noodles

I hurriedly went to pay for my meal rushing back to the office. Cost me $10.50 for such a mediocre meal. I gave the cashier a $20 note and a 50-cent piece and they had no $10 notes to give me. So I went out with a pocketfull of $1 and $2 coins.

My rating: 5/10

Joy Cafe Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Happy Star @ Myaree

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My family’s connection with Happy Star goes a long way back to the Chinese restaurant’s humble beginning in 2007  when it was first known as Myaree Chinese Restaurant. Then the business was sold and the new owners named it to what is now called Happy Star. And then the business was yet again sold but the current owners kept the name, which is a brilliant idea as this little restaurant has a long list of happy clients thanks to the second owners.

This restaurant is the go to place for a quick takeaway, a lazy day when you don’t feel like cooking, a Sunday lunch or a big celebration. Being close to my house, needless to say, we are regulars here. As much as I love this place, I won’t lie – the chefs have their off days too. Taste has considerably changed when the current owners tookover, and not in a way. We missed the tastiness of what was served up by the 2nd owners and there was something clearly lacking in the dishes prepared by the new chefs. That, coupled with the fact that they messed up our orders for Chinese New Year’s dinner, convinced me not to go back unless really necessary. They messed up our family’s favourite “Yam Duck” by giving us tasteless yam with no visible duck meat (only skin and bones). It was a busy night with everyone dining out to celebrate the new year and the kitchen was terribly busy but this was no excuse to produce crappy dishes.

Alas, last night, things changed. I have not stepped into this restaurant since that awful Chinese New Year experience so I was hesitant to go again. But so much has changed. First thing I noticed was the menu. The owners have had new menus printed out in glossy book-type menus instead of the brown file inserts type of menu that they used to have, passed down from the 1st owners. More importantly, the dishes have greatly improved! Everything came out to restaurant standards. We ordered a few new dishes too.

“Yam Duck”, definitely 100% better than the ones we had before. The yam was smooth and tasty and the duck was virtually fat-less with a crispy skin.

Happy Star: Yam Duck

 

“Deep Fried Eggplant with Salted Egg”, the goodness of deep fried veggie with a hint of salted egg coating. Absolutely divine!

Happy Star: Deep Fried Eggplant with Salted Egg

 

“Steamed Chicken with Soy Sauce”, this is more than just an ordinary steamed chicken with soy sauce. This version here is loaded with sesame oil and fried onions so it was much more fragrant than, say, Hainanese chicken dish.

Happy Star: Steamed Chicken with Soy Sauce

 

“Tofu with Minced Meat Sauce”, silky tofu with minced meat in a sweet tangy sauce.

Happy Star: Tofu with Minced Meat Sauce

 

“Peking Pork Spare Ribs”, the sauce was just great! Sweet and vinegar-y that works really well with pork.

Happy Star: Peking Pork Spare Ribs

 

“Lo Han Zai”, a vegetarian dish. There wasnt really nothing special with this dish..tofu, mushrooms, black fungus, brocolli. We just needed a vegetable dish and this was an alternative to the usual spinach with garlic that we usually order.

Happy Star: Lo Han Zai

 

We may have ordered too much food but every dish was polished! I’m just glad that Happy Star is back to serving great and accessible food.

My rating: 8/10

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Hawker’s Cuisine @ Northbridge

Posted in Chinese/Asian, Perth by

Tucked away in the little alley of what is known as “Chinatown” in Perth, who would have thought that this place actually whips up some pretty good dishes.

First things first. Hawker’s Cuisine, just like all the other restaurants in this little Chinatown alley, is open for dinner only. 5:30pm til late. And by late they mean until the wee hours of the morning (3am or even later, I think) perfect for those nocturnal beings.

My cousin who has dined here before has recommended the “Marmite Chicken” and for weeks we have been trying to come here to try it out but we kept forgetting that this place only serves dinner and supper and early brekkie. So finally we managed to drop by early one Sunday evening. Oh by the way, bookings are essential! We arrived early enough for them to give us a table for 8 people. A few minutes later we could’ve been waiting for hours.

Their menu has over 100+ dishes and that obviously made it hard to decide which dishes to order. Of course we had to try the “Marmite Chicken” which was unusually good. I don’t like vegemite or marmite or any other yeast extract spreads for that matter but this was a good “special” sauce for the deep fried chicken. It has a sweet taste to it.

Also on the table were:

 ”Special Fried Rice”, a very taste fried rice with salted fish;

 ”Hawker’s Fried Rice Vermicelli”, which is good just because anything that involves rice vermicelli is good enough for me;

“Jellyfish Salad”, a cold dish of jellyfish, chicken strips and vegetables. A little bit of chili would have definitely made this dish even better. Also there wasnt enough jellyfish in it;

“Steamed Toothfish with Soy Sauce”, tender toothfish cooked perfectly with a salty-sweet soy sauce;

“Eggplant with Salted Fish”, this was a normal dish that I could easily prepare at home. Definitely not our favourite as this dish was barely touched that we had to bring it home. The eggplant skin was too hard so might as well peel the whole damn thing (although presentation wise this would be a no-no because the skin adds to the colour of the dish).

“Pork Spare Ribs with Lychee Sauce”, the only disappointment of the night. There was nothing special with this dish. Pork was over cooked making it hard and chewy, and the sauce? What lychee? I couldn’t taste where the lychee is.

And of course I had to have my own “Hot and Sour Soup”. In my opinion, every Chinese restaurant should be able to make hot and sour soup from scratch. This one here was definitely VERY hot and sour…just the way I like it. The serving size per one bowl was quite big and could easily be shared by 2 people so you’d have room to try other dishes. But if you served me this soup and a bowl of rice I would be 100% satisfied already.

Service here is really fast too. We waited for only about 10-15 minutes and all the dishes came out one after another. It helps to be early as the kitchen is not as busy. But even as I look over to the late comers’ table, I can see dishes on their tables shortly after they have ordered. I would definitely be back. One of my auntie’s only complaint — a tad too salty. Well that what you can expect from a Chinese restaurant. For me it was just right. A restaurant that serves bland food just does not go well with me.

My rating: 7/10

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