I must admit that I don’t know much about clubs. I only belong to one association and that’s not really a club whereas social clubs are an area I have yet to explore. So when I heard that there was a new Shanghai Chinese restaurant in the Castlereagh Club in the city I had no idea where that was-well apart from guessing that it was on Castlereagh Street because of the name.

One beautifully balmy evening I meet Mr NQN and his colleague Viggo at his work and we walk to the Castlereagh Club where we meet Viggo’s wife Louise for some Shanghai treats. Shanghai Cuisine seems to have taken Sydney somewhat by storm. Witness the number of soup dumpling places in the city with windows where patrons can watch the dumpling aunties fold and pleat an endless amount of dumplings. And them might be fightin’ words but I had read in the media that the owners of Lynn they thought that their xiao long baos were better than Din Tai Fung’s.

First things first. Why the name Lynn? We have to ask the woman who seems to be the owner-only because she comes over to every table to shake every diner’s hand and ask their names (think “genki” crossed with Tony Robbins). She tells us that the reason why it is called Lynn is because Chinese restaurants often have names that aren’t particularly memorable citing variations on golden, dragon, palace, kingdom etc so she decided to give the restaurant a person’s name. They decided on Lynn because it is a name both in Chinese and Western culture. And she tells us that everyone now calls her Lynn.

Open for 5 weeks now the restaurant is fairly busy on this mid week evening. The opening special of 20% off the food bill until the end of October has probably tempted some and looking around many of the patrons are Chinese. The dishes on the menu marked with a red “Lynn” are the house specialties. The glass fronted kitchen takes up much space and we can see the chefs cooking and making noodles. The head chef (we deduce from the pictures on their website) Rong Bau stretches some noodles. To order you fill in the form and mark the quantity you would like of the item. Service is well meaning but at times can be awkward and a request for water is met three times with a cheery “Of course ma’am, no problems!” but no water. A small Lazy Susan sits on one end of the table with soy sauce, vinegar, chilli oil and other condiments.

The order form

Cucumber roll with garlic in special sauce $6.80

We start with the cucumber roll which looks quite different from it does in the picture where it looks glossy and braised. These are slices of thinly sliced cucumber rolled with a pickling juice over it-in fact it smells just like my mother’s cucumber pickles. There are also pieces of chilli and slices of garlic. It’s a bit watery and I much prefer my mother’s version as that has a good balance of flavours.

Shredded chicken in bean jelly on peanut sauce $8.80

The shredded chicken and cucumber sits on a bed of slippery mung bean glass noodles which I remember eating when I lived in Japan. They are very slippery and have no flavour in themselves (and no calories or no fat!) but we mix them up with the peanut sauce to give us a cooling noodle salad.

Crispy smoked fish with Shanghai flavour $9.80

The crispy smoked fish with Shanghai sauce has a sauce similar to Peking spare ribs-sweet, spicy and very flavoursome with a nice hit of star anise. The only issue is that there are lots of bones-and I mean a lot. It appears that they have sliced the smoked fish in vertical slices keeping the spine bones in. However the flavour is good so we polish off this serve to the end.

Combo milk tea (rainbow, pearl jelly and grass jelly) $5.90

The drinks arrive during the entrees after a few requests. The combo milk tea is a super sweet concoction with round pearl jelly drops, grasses jelly and rainbow coloured jelly pieces all suspended in a bottom layer of syrup and then topped with sweet milk tea. It’s actually quite nice indeed although very sweet indeed even when stirred through. And yes grass jelly tastes a little…grassy!

Famous Shanghai pork buns 6 for $8.80

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With bonus shin bruising!

Good Sunday to you Dear Reader! So from my earlier story on Thredbo, where was I? Oh yes my shins were bleeding and bruised from my morning ski lesson and incorrectly put on boots (that would be my own fault). I have managed to slowly hobble my way onto the shuttle bus and back to The Peak where we are staying. I punch in my number and slowly remove my boots and clothing. My thermals which seem to cling tightly to my shins and ankles feel like peeling off a bandaid from a wound and I hobble around the apartment like I’m starring in the movie Misery and Kathy Bates is slowly chasing me around the house with an axe.

I hang everything wet (and it’s all pretty much wet from the rain) up in the drying cupboard which is a huge cupboard with a heater blowing in there that dries all the ski gear. High heeled boots would not do for the night and I make the quick decision to suspend my “no ugg boots out of doors” rule and wear my fluffy new fur tipped ugg boots and outfit from Birdsnest.com.au and we are going to drive down to dinner. But not before the crackle of fireworks are heard and we watch skiers with red lights shushing down the mountain to the burst of fireworks.

The skiers heading down

Fireworks display

We make our way to our dinner degustation for the evening, Segreto restaurant at The Thredbo Alpine Hotel. The restaurant itself is tiny and when I walk I to the door I have to ask if I am entering through the right entrance (I am, it just doesn’t look like the correct entrance) and I take a seat and wait for Chris from Toyota and his partner Charles. After not being able to find a park Mr NQN drives back to The Peak to park the Toyota Prado Kakadu and walks down. And this is where you rally feel sorry for me as I have the second Veuve Clicquot degustation dinner that weekend.

There are five courses including one amuse bouche so really it is more of a slightly more comprehensive dinner than a full blown degustation. Service is generally good although from one waitperson it borders on brusque and alternates between pleasant to curt within the one interaction which is just all kinds of odd. However we do notice that our champagnes are regularly topped up whereas the other night they weren’t. A Veuve Clicquot representative gets up to speak about the brand and it is a similar speech to what she told us but this time she also tells us that they invented the riddling table where the champagne rests so that the yeast settles to one end and is then extracted from the champagne. Veuve Clicquot is also a Pinot Noir dominated champagne which is a signature trait of theirs.

Raspberry juice acidule, wasabi emulsion served with Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut NV

Served in a shot glass our amuse is a raspberry juice acidule with a wasabi foam on top. The first sip of course yields much wasabi foam while the second and third are more balanced with the chilled raspberry juice sweeten with mirin. The wasabi foam is nicely balanced and not too sinus clearing.

Tuna and scampish with puffed cereals, mustard seed sorbet, miring dressing served with Veuve Clicquot Vintage 2002

This was undoubtedly a favorite with everyone at the table. A large tuna fillet seared on the outside was topped with a multitude of things. At first thought to be too many, and even though there were many components, they all did blend together nicely. There were little puffed cereal pieces, sorrel and celery leaf salad, what appeared to be crab salad (scampi was mentioned on the menu and there was no correction given but I would say that it was certainly crab), as well as the piece de resistance, mustard seed sorbet which was divine. It was sweet most certainly but there was just the right amount of mustard seed so that it wasn’t hot but had the trademark mustard taste.

Iodized asparagus, mollusc juice, roasted pork belly, celeriac mousse served with Veuve Clicquot Rose NV

Sadly this dish in contrast wasn’t a favorite. The iodized asparagus and mollusc juice ended up becoming a semi set jelly that dissolved easily and became quite watery. The pork belly as a result ended up tasting quite wet and losing all of it’s juicy unctuousness.

Roast Duck Magret, savoy cabbage purée, preserved lemon mayonnaise, cardamom crumble, chestnut beignet served with Veuve Clicquot Vintage Rose 2004

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What do Justin Bieber and Bono have in common? Well apparently they’ve all taken in the view I am looking at right now. No it’s not of a stadium full of screaming fans but instead the surrealy beautiful blue water of Whale Beach. Whale Beach or Palm Beach is the playground of the moneyed and if you’re fortunate enough you might have a house to go to on the weekend up here-or you could just stay for a weekend at Jonah’s.  And I am about to cut traffic time by engaging in a mode of transport that ensures that instead of driving 50 minutes from the East to the far North, we make it there in a mere 12 minutes.

The day is gloriously sunny and we lucked out with the weather for only yesterday it was whipping windily and the seaplane flights were grounded. However today it is still windy but safe to fly out. We were warned to wear flat shoes to make getting on and off the plane easier and I am glad that I heeded the warning. I’m one person that is poorly coordinated at the best of times (I am always warning Mr NQN not to fall on things and he just looks at me like “How/why would I fall on that?). So I gingerly get onto the seaplane with my handbag and camera bag and breathe a sigh of relief as I miss having to use the folded up life jacket that we’ve strapped around our waist. I’m definitely not coordinated enough for that.

They close the door and we’re enclosed in the plane and it skims along the surface of the water until reaching a speed where the seaplane takes off into the air. The short ride is scenic but with the winds and the air pockets there are lots of tiny jumps and our stomachs are somersaulting. I’m thankful I didn’t eat breakfast that morning as my stomach continues to leapfrog and jump.

The seaplane turns smoothly to its right almost at a 45 degree angle and we land on the water. From here a small dinghy from Jonah’s will collect us and drop us at the sandy beach and from there we’ll take a minibus. Ok so it’s not exactly 12 minutes in total but it’s scenic. Our feet arrive on the sandy beach and again I am thankful I didn’t wear spindly heels. We board the  bus and take the short five minute drive up to Jonah’s.

Jonah’s is set in an 82 year old house and comprises of 11 suites, 3 of which are located in a separate building called “Jonah’s Private” and is one of the four well regarded Relais & Chateaux properties in Australia. From Monday to Thursday diners can stay with them with just the room but from Friday to Sunday they have breakfast, lunch and dinner included in the tariff. And when we gaze into the blue waters below we are reminded why it is called Whale Beach as they tell us that whales were spotted only this morning frolicking in the water below ( from May onwards is the Southern whale migration). A pair of dolphins are our current companions down below diving and splashing.

Chef Alfonso Alés

As we have a seaplane booked to take us back at 2:30pm we pull our eyes away from the expansive blue view and take our seats. Jonah’s now has a new chef, Alfonso Alés who has worked at Spain’s El Bulli and Bilson’s here in Sydney and he comes out to say hello and explains his style of cuisine which will remain Modern Australian but of course be influenced by his Spanish upbringing.

Oyster gratin

The amuse bouche is a crunchy buttery topped oyster gratin which slides down the throat easily with a little crunchy edge for texture. It is briney with a creamy layer of cauliflower underneath it.

Marron Lobster, Western Australia, Green lentils cassoulet with duck confit and foie gras $35 served with 2009 Giaconda “Aeolia” Roussanne/Marsanne, Beechworth, Vic

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