“Chee Chong what?” you may ask. But have a closer look at these babies. You’ve probably seen these proffered from stainless steel trolleys driven by determined Yum Cha trolley ladies that either drive the trolleys right past you ignoring you or stop and interrupt you when you clearly have enough on your table already and are busy mid conversation. I confess years ago a friend of mine and I had a fantasy about being Yum Cha trolley ladies for a day just to see what it was like. We wanted to see whether driving trolleys in a packed Chinese restaurant, maneuvering around tight spaces and being gridlocked at random, inopportune times gave you a very special version of road rage and made you resultantly dismissive and cranky as most of them seem to be, or whether it was an innate personality thing.

My Mother actually said that making these rolls were hard as they sometimes worked but sometimes didn’t but let me assure you that between the two of us, through trial and error one afternoon, we managed to find a foolproof way to make them quickly and easily. Usually the mix is made and stands for an hour and they then need to be cooked in a steamer. This version however produces a deliciously soft but easy version using a microwave with no standing time and only 2 minutes cooking on high. They key of course is in the rolling. This is best achieved if they are allowed to rest for 1 minute to firm up slightly and of course become cooler to the touch.

You can use prawns or whatever filling you like. Traditional fillings range from beef, chicken, pork sausage (in Vietnamese cuisine) and vegetables and it is very versatile. My husband gobbled these down in no time with very little urging. I adore these too and am a little ashamed at how many I can eat in one sitting (ok I’ll confess, I can eat 8 in one go easily).

Tell me Dear Reader, what is your mum’s favourite recipe? The one that lures you home?

P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to do so, I’d be ever so pleased if you could fill in the Not Quite Nigella survey. There’s a chance to win 1 of 3 Nigella Lawson aprons! Link here.

And if your mum’s or Nanna’s recipes are just so fantastic you want to share them with the world, click here to see our Secret Nanna recipe book project!

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My fourth and last birthday celebration was to be with old friends Queen Viv and Miss America. African cuisine is one of those cuisines that I’ve enjoyed immensely in the past but is a little harder to find. Certainly there aren’t that many restaurants and most are concentrated in the Glebe/Newtown/Enmore area. The Second Wife, always a trusted source for restaurant recommendations enthused about Lat Dior and about the stunning woman in traditional African dress that works there. So of course we just had to try for ourselves. As they use native African ingredients which are often hard to find here, they import a lot of it from France where there is a large existing African community.

Traditional African wooden bowls

There’s a no booking policy and as it’s Sunday night and people need to work the next day, we decide to eat at 6.30pm which also assures that we get a table. The menu is charmingly written with things such as “Tangy!”, “Delicious!” and for the broccoli dish “Quite green in appearance!”. There are dishes from all over Africa with some marked according to the country of origin. We make a selection of mains and sides and entrees. Our waitress is the gorgeous African woman in traditional dress that The Second Wife mentioned.

Flower drink (left) and Ginger Drink (right) $2.50 each

We can’t resist ordering the drinks: a Ginger drink and a Flower drink. The ginger drink is heady in ginger and pungently refreshing. The flower drink is deliciously sweet with a flavour and sweetness similar to Ribena or a Hibiscus syrup.

Fataya pastries. From top to bottom Lamb $3, Fish $3.50 and Vegetarian $3

The pastries come out warm in their puff pastry shell and we divide them into 4. Miss America and I prefer the beef one which reminds us of a pastry laden beef pie whereas Queen Viv and Mr NQN prefer the Vegetarian one. The fish one is very fishy in taste – stronger than any of us really like. The accompanying tomato sauce is mild and tastes like tomato and capsicum and is nowhere near as fiery as it looks.

Flat bread $2 per piece

The flat bread comes out and it is delicious, like a folded crepe. As the kitchen is small and on this evening the restaurant is full, things tend to come out when they come out and we’ve finished the bread by the time the mains come out.

Yassa $10.50

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It’s been a long time between visits to Billy Kwong, Kylie Kwong’s famous Chinese restaurant in Surry Hills and it’s not for lack of trying. Their no bookings policy means that you either have to eat very early (i.e. line up at 5.45pm and eat when doors open at 6pm) or leave your name at the door and come back in a couple of hours-neither things we wanted to do. This year for my birthday, we are trying again and as we’re eating early there should not be a problem in theory. Outside there are posters advertising the Fair Trade Fiesta as Kylie Kwong is involved in environmental and social causes and since 2005, they only serve Biodynamic, Organic and Free Range produce. Billy Kwong is said to be the first carbon neutral restaurant in the State and the “Billy” in the name is from Kylie Kwong’s partnership with Bill Granger (my interview with Bill is here).

There’s a touch of nightclub queue in there where at 6pm the staff are looking at everyone in the queue hands resting in chin and pointing. We’re not quite sure what they’re pointing at and at 6.03pm the doors open and we are ushered in. Service is friendly-ish-you get the impression that should you misbehave they’d boot you out and by 6.15pm all tables are taken in this tiny establishment. Decor is all about dark lacquer and flower arrangements and the lacquered “walls” are cupboards that house things from peanuts to soy sauce and a handmade drum shaped lantern sits above the room.

We’re seated at our table which brings me to a point that traumatised us last time 9 years ago when we last ate. The stools are three legged stools and that combined with the hard lacquered floor meant that when we sat down those many years ago, the waitress advised us to sit squarely on the chairs as some people had been known to fall off. Indeed one of my dining companions back then had fallen off one of their stools a few weeks before. So we warn Mr NQN and Ronald that this may occur and to sit tight (Rose and I are seated on the banquettes as the more accident prone members of the dining party). The tables are tiny (and light), an unusual choice for a Chinese restaurant where dishes are shared – we presume done to make the most of the tiny space.

Service from our waitress is matter of fact rather than warm and we have some questions about the menu: the first one has her stumped. We ask about the White cut chicken and she describes it and when we ask if it is like Hainan chicken rice she says that she doesn’t know as she’s never heard of Hainan chicken-hmmm, not a good sign. Menu items err on the high side with most main dishes being $47-$49. I’m ecstatic to see the Duck with Mandarin on the specials menu-we’re told that it’s always on the specials menu but it changes according to the fruit in season which may be plums as it was last time I dined many moons ago.

Homestyle Fried Biodynamic Eggs with Organic Soy & Homemade XO $19

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