Dear Reader, I know that it has been a terribly long time since I did a Meet My Suburb. In truth, these stories take so long to research and write and I simply ran out of the slippery stuff, that is time. But when I received an email from a super organised reader Wee Lynn Teo offering to take me on a tour of her own suburb Burwood and show me all the goodies contained within the mileage of post code 2134 I jumped at the chance.
I had an inkling that her tour would be run with calm efficiency. The emails before indicated that she was a very organised person that even told me that I should arrive at Burwood station by 9:50am and that I should make use of the facilities there-she even told me where they were in the station. I arrive early and she is already there wearing a microphone headset and a cup of hot chocolate for everyone along with a deliciously soft and fragrant milk bun.
She furnishes us with liquid and food sustenance as well as a schedule including names, addresses and times at our 10 stops that day and a recipe for her own Kimchihini chicken (an intriguing cross cultural dish made with chicken, tahini and kim chi). Lastly, we’re handed name badges with our names that have been decorated by her daughter.
A former corporate banking lawyer, Wee Lynn used to run tours for the Benevolent Society and now specialises in private “Feasting in the Know” tours (four people minimum, prices vary but this tour is $77 a person). She is starting with Burwood as that has been her neighbourhood for 15 years but also covers Flemington, Campsie, Strathfield, North Strathfield and Homebush. She lets us know that she is independent – that is, she doesn’t receive any compensation from the stores for taking us there or any money for any purchases we may make.
Her tour encompasses ten stops with two light meals, five samples and two beverages with some surprises thrown in between. Wearing comfortable clothes (and a waistband that expands 
) and shoes and bringing cash and a carry or chiller bag is a must as we rapidly learn. “You’ve been warned, pace your stomach” Wee Lynn says smiling.
Leung Tim Choppers Company
An institution along Burwood Road, Leung Tim Choppers Company stocks anything and everything you could ever want in an Asian homewares. Do you have fantasies of hosting your own yum cha or playing Chinese restaurant at home? They have it all. Walls of cleavers, scoops and steamers furnish this deceptively long store which is supplied by their factory in Hong Kong. Wee Lynn shows us an enormous wok, a steal for $30. Unlike non stick woks which you can’t heat to super high, you can heat this high enough to get the much sought after “breath of the wok.”
Piping tips, piping bags, baking tins are also stocked at very low prices with tips at $2.80 each. And if you’ve ever sat at yum cha and watched them spoon sweet tofu from a round wooden barrel and wondered where to buy one, they have these too along with an enormous Peking Duck roaster that can hold several ducks. Wooden moon cake molds sit behind glass along with myriad items. The owners can’t resist but show us a little contraption-a shallot and calamari blade to get those paper thin shallot strips for steamed fish, a steal for $4.50.
Burwood Mega Mart
“I have a test for you” self confessed Koreaphile Wee Lynn says as we walk into Burwood Mega Mart, a mecca for Korean groceries on George Street. She takes out a container with two bags of cooked rice and two small lidded cups of sesame oil. She gets us to sniff both-one is a Chinese sesame oil and one a Korean sesame oil. She has flavoured each type of rice with one of the oils and we are to tell her which one we like and which rice matches with the oil. The lighter coloured oil is rich and aromatic and smells like pure roasted sesame seeds whilst the darker one has a slightly adulterated taste, almost with a whiff of rice wine vinegar. Everyone prefers the lighter one which is the Ottogi Korean sesame oil. It’s so popular that everyone grabs a bottle to buy.
Wee Lynn then shows us Gim or Korean seaweed which unlike Japanese seaweed, is seasoned and then deep fried to make it super flaky and crunchy. She places a spoonful of plain boiled jasmine rice on it and wraps it up. It’s delicious as a perfect snack with the flavoursome seaweed and soft, plain rice. And did you know that seaweed is so moreish because it contains glutamines which is what MSG is made up of?
Walnut and peanut soy drink
Sac sac drink
I’m tempted by some liquid refreshment and buy two popular Korean drinks. There is a Sac Sac drink which is a mandarin flavoured drink so called because it has little individual sacs of mandarin pulp. It’s not carbonated and it’s sweet but the little beads of mandarin pulp add an interesting texture and I’m sure it’s better for you then a Fanta. Apparently if you are ever convalescing in hospital, people will drop off a carton of these – not for the patient but to serve any guests that might drop by! Another drink is a soya bean drink which comes in a variety of flavours including a walnut peanut flavour. Somewhere in between the thinner Chinese soya bean milk and the thicker Western version it has a medium thickness but with a distinct taste of…potatoes!
The kimchi fridge
She shows us bean sprouts with larger heads – she tells us that the larger heads are good as that is where a lot of the nutrients are stored. And randomly, Wee Lynn gives tips like Korean washing up gloves are better than any kind that you may find. Apparently they are longer and thicker so they don’t break or puncture as easily and a long opera length pair of gloves will set you back just $2.75! Just don’t go to the opera in these…
Fresh parilla leaves
It seems like everyone is a bit crazy over ssamjang at the moment-this along with gochujang are sold in colour coded tubs. Ssamjang is in green tubs and it is a paste that you use if you are eating things in leaves and means “wrapping sauce.” Gochujang comes in the red tubs and bean paste in the brown and ssamjang is a mixture of both gochujang and bean paste.
Before we leave, the lovely owner of the store brings over some delicious mochi rice flour sweets. They’re rice balls filled with sesame filling. Biting into one yields a soft, liquid filling and they’re lovely and chewy.
Wow Cow
Wee Lynn admits that a place like Wow Cow isn’t her usual type of stop as she usually includes family run businesses but she is such a fan of Wow Cow so she included it on her tour. We try samples of of their frozen yogurts -I try the original and black sesame and they’re both creamy and delicious. Toppings like mango balls are like giant caviar balls that release liquid mango (although the mango liquid is a bit faux mango for me) but the small mochi balls are nice and chewy too.
Momiji
My feet were a bit weary at this stage so I was glad to hear that we were stopping for lunch and even happier when I heard that the lunch stop was at Momiji, open for just four months. Here, the lovely Mitsu runs the front of house while her chef husband Koji Shimooka tends to the kitchen. They both hail from Hiroshima and specialise in ramen and hand rolls.
Their ramen stock is cooked for 10 hours with not only pork bones but also fish heads to give it a layered complexity. We get a half size bowl (usually $9.80 for double the size) so that we won’t end up completely rolling down Burwood’s main street. They only start cooking this once we arrive as they want us to try this while it is as fresh as possible.
The ramen comes out and it is topped with corn, seaweed, slices of pork and a whole crunchy deep fried prawn. The broth is delectable, rich but not overly so and the ramen itself is springy and fresh and tofu so silky smooth that is feels like creamy marrow going down. All I can think is that I must take Mr NQN here because he will love it (look out for an upcoming post ).
Melt Chocolate Bar
We quickly pop into Melt which is where Wee Lynn got our hot chocolates from. She divulges that the hot chocolates were actually made with skim milk which was a surprise as they didn’t taste low fat. They make them using melted Callebaut chocolate simply added to milk. Melt also courts the post dinner crowd and are open 7 days a week from 8am-11pm.
Top Choice BBQ Restaurant
If you crave the crunch of Chinese fatty pork then a stop at Top Choice BBQ restaurant is a must. For a good fatty pork, the crackling should be crunchy and the lean pork at the bottom still moist and not dry with a touch of Chinese five spice added to it. Admittedly, I am not a huge eater of this but everyone else in my family is and this version could convert me quite easily as each bite of the striated pork is an exercise in textures. The pork is $26 a kilo and a serve this size would set you back around $5.20.
A later visit back in Burwood with Mr NQN shows us that the roast duck and char siu are also delicious. What is a nice surprise is how friendly and generous they are bringing bowls of delicious broth to every customer.
Charcoal King BBQ Restaurant
Aha, my downfall. Leave me with a kitchen full of chocolate and I will be fine but leave me with a kitchen of char siu and it will be gluttonous scene of carnage. True story . Brother and sister team Jack and Wing run Charcoal King where every order of char siu is cooked to order. They eschew the distinct red food colouring that usually marks char siu and all of their meats are either grilled or braised and not stir fried.
Wee Lynn tells us that Wing’s husband owns ten restaurants in Hong Kong and that she works at the airport from 5am-10am and then works here until 10pm. Despite this, she is still bright and friendly. The char siu takes some time as it is all cooked to order. It starts off being grilled and finishes it time on charcoals. It is tender, juicy and full of flavour and served with rice and a surprising perfect match, a fried runny yolked egg-.
Their specialty, apart from the the char siu is eel. Wing proudly tells us that they are the only restaurant to stock wild, live eels which they keep live in their kitchen. The eel is grilled in a thick sauce, slightly different from the Japanese eel sauce although still sweet and salty. The eel is so different from other eel that we’ve tried which is often frozen. The eel has an amazingly bouncy texture to it and fellow tour participant Kim remarks that it has a texture between fish and calamari.
Eel
Sydney Dumpling King
Our next stop is one for a little Shanghai action-you’ve probably guessed by now that Burwood is replete with a range of ethnicities, particularly Asian. We walk into Sydney Dumpling King which is busy with customers. There are turquoise booths on one side and tables on the other. Here, we start with a crispy spring onion pancake that is superbly thin and crispy without being oily.
We also try some of the pork and coriander boiled dumplings which they are busy making in the area behind the register. We watch their rhythmic filling, pleating and folding and before long an oval plate of steaming dumplings arrives. We douse a dumpling with some vinegar and chilli oil and tuck in. The flavour of the coriander hits you at first and then you get the flavour of the pork mince.
Lung Cheung Chinese Grocery Store
Next door to Sydney Dumpling King is Lung Cheung Grocery Store which has stood on this site for 27 years. Wee Lynn tells us that they stock super fresh Chinese greens including loose leaf baby pak choy whose leaves are sweeter than the tied up bunches. The shelves stock an array of fascinating items and a freezer holds packets of frozen dumplings, ready to be steamed or boiled.
Here Wee Lynn buys some soft flour cake as a little snack for us which is chewy and sweet-the closest thing I can compare it to are those marshmallow cereal bars that taste almost deep fried. She also shows us a bottle of the chilli sauce that they serve at yum cha (don’t laugh, Mr NQN craves that stuff if we have dumplings at home, and if you’re after it, look for Koon Yick Wah Kee chilli sauce).
Taipei Dainty Bakery
Our last stop is a fittingly, a dessert stop. Not that we need any more food at this point but the smell of sweet butter envelops us and suddenly we are hungry again. Wee Lynn excitedly tells us that owner Jessie is fussy with the ingredients. For the shop’s range of taro cakes, she only uses taro from Thailand as fragrance and taste is important. This means that only the white taro with the spidery purple veins is used here instead of the lesser tasting other taro (and definitely not taro powder).
They go through 5 kilos of taro every day or two and these are made into their yuan bao taro rolls which are feather light taro filled rolls with a light sponge outer which she heats up before serving them. They disappear within two or three bites and they are so light that you could almost crush them when picking them up as you would mistake them for something sturdier.
She also serves dense taro biscuits which go wonderfully with the lavender tea made from dried lavender. A range of Chinese baked goods sit in the window and you help yourself to these and cakes and other sweets can be found in the front display.
Wee Lynn shares one last surprise and that’s a thermos full of chilled pandan and ginger tea in a keepsake thermos from our fun afternoon strolling Burwood. I came, I ate, I met some amazing shop owners and lovely tour participants and got a glimpse into the hidden secret treasures of Burwood from one of its most lively and knowledgeable residents. I should really do this more often…
So tell me Dear Reader, what tasty treasures does your suburb hold? And do you think suburb tours like this are a fun activity?
NQN was a guest of Feasting in the Know
Feasting In The Know Food Tours
https://feastingintheknow.wordpress.com
feastingintheknow@gmail.com
Tel: +61 439 472 985
Leung Tim Choppers Company
200 Burwood Rd,Burwood,9744 1288
Burwood Mega Mart(Korean grocery shop)
1/43 George St, Burwood, 9745 5477
Wowcow
51 Burwood Rd, Burwood, 9745 1950
Momiji Japanese Restaurant
96A Burwood Rd, Burwood,9744 2977
Melt Chocolate Bar
124 Burwood Rd,Burwood, 9747 6358
Top Choice BBQ Restaurant
224 Burwood Rd, Burwood,9715 2233
Charcoal King BBQ Restaurant
220 Burwood Rd, Burwood, 9715 3539
Sydney Dumpling King
183 Burwood Rd, Burwood, 9701 0055
Lung Cheung Chinese Grocery Store
185 Burwood Rd, Burwood,9747 6358
Taipei Dainty Bakery
183B Burwood Rd,Burwood, 8960 0334
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51 Comments | Add your own
What? A whole kimchi fridge? Oh, Lorraine, please, don’t tell me they have all kind of kimchi there… I am hopelessly in love with all things kimchi, and when I see it in the stores, I can’t help myself but to get some or many… And for all that I have to “blame” my many Korean friends, who introduced me to kimchi and a wonderfully delicious Korean cuisine, for which I had no taste buds developed before I met my friends…
Exploring a suburb is a great fun indeed…
Oh my god, I was so excited reading your description of the tour. That’s something really interesting! Both fun and cultural at the same time. I’ve never heard of any tours like that around here (Portugal), not of that dimension at least. But that’s a service that that would be really interesting to provide.
I don’t think I saw it on the post: how much time did the tour take?
What an incredible tour, well worth the cost if you’re in the neighbourhood. Wee Lynn seems very together and the quality of the places she takes you to for samples seem very good. It’s obvious Wee Lynn is very good at what she does.
What a great tour! It sounds so personal and warm, unlike many of the food tours out there at the moment. A couple of great finds there, thanks Lorraine. Given we’re so close to Burwood, I’m amazed we’ve never been to Charcoal King. That will be remedied very soon indeed..
Aww, the awesome Vietnamese restaurant isn’t there! The Vietnamese restaurant opposite the church (near the station) is one of my favourite places to eat in the whole city.
I reallu love reading your blogs. They are a refreshing partof my busy day. Doing the bodybuilding I am ALWAYS dieting for one comp or another and envy your experiences with all the new foods and recipes…oh to get back to a normal life..when you try something yummy and new, think of me and have an extra bite and savour it…lol.thank you for being a highlight of my tedious days.
Oh, now I’m just jealous – what a great idea for a day tour. And that luscious pork – how could you resist?
What fun! I think exploring other neighbourhoods is a fab idea.
Wow Wee Lynn certainly knows the best of Burwood! I have been meaning to visit for a while, apparently the shopping centre is huge!
And now so many other places to visit – how about a Castle Hill sometime?
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
P.S. Come check out my international giveaway for my Blogiversary
Seriously think a special trip to Sydney for this one, have to drive the car down, luggage allowance never enough for this Asian emporium. Burwood has had a major cultural change since the days I lived nearby in Strathfield. Maybe Celia and I can do the tour together.
Love this series Loreaine! Really shows I should get out more often like I used to in my teenage years. I actually got my Ls in Burwood by skipping Saturday Polish school in Ashfield!
Once again a wonderful report
that leaves me looking forward to
Asian food soon. Sounds like a
wonderful way to re-acquaint
yourself with your neighborhood
or to introduce you out-of-town
readers where you call home
Kudos!!
I think I’ll be heading to Leung Tim Choppers to check out those woks and bamboo steamers!
This is hilarious and really cute. I never knew it was possible to get guided tours of the suburbs! Looks like you had a fun day
What a great tour around Burwood in Sydney
It reminds me very much of Box Hill in Melbourne and that shop that sells the Asian knives and cookery, really reminds me of HK and it’s just like you’ve flown all the way in HK it really does not look like a place in Sydney 
I would love to have a tasty tour like this in my suburb but there’s not much here
Most of the food in my area is Chinese based ~ But you know what tour I’d like to create hahaha it’ll have to be a dessert one 
Wow….. envy, envy… what a fantastic tour you had! I haven’t been to Sydney for a very long time but I’m almost ready to book a flight just to take this tour!
Black sesame frozen yoghurt! That’s a meeting of two of my favourite things!
Man, the suburb I grew up in would have the saddest feast ever. A bagel shop that doesn’t do retail and a weird Ethiopian-Italian-Mediterranean take-out shop, all finished with a standard Chinese gluggy-sweet restaurant.
Ok, it took me so long to read this, I kept getting distracted, and now I need dumplings for lunch. Luckily I have some in the freezer because there is no time for anything more complicated today.
I am spoilt for choice in my suburb. Lots of restaurants of every description and I live five minutes from Chinatown! I am very lucky.
This sounds like an amazing tour for anyone visiting the area whether you live relatively close by or are from far, far away.
But where were the meat pies? I would love to wander through that Asian supermarket. So many great buys there and all so reasonably priced. And that woman works so hard. When does she sleep? I don’t think I’d want live wild eels in my kitchen and certainly not the job of carrying out the death penalty. If I was doing this tour I would definitely need to bring my expanding pants too xx
Wow! That’s a LOT to take in a day!!I would be exhausted. But you seemed to have a lot of fun.”Wing’s husband owns ten restaurants in Hong Kong and that she works at the airport from 5am-10am and then works here until 10pm.”
What does this woman run on? Gas? My God, that’s unbelievable!!!
Thanks Lorraine for debunking the mystery of some of those shops. Heading there now!
If I ever make it to Sydney, I am definitely taking this tour! OMG–I felt like I was in HK or Tokyo all over again. So authentic. Lucky you. And the food…the fooooooooood! I don’t know what looks best, but I know I would have snagged one of those lacquered ducks.
I wish I could go to a place like this!
What an awesome idea! My bf used to live in the neighbouring suburb of Croydon so I loved exploring Burwood – so much good stuff! Would love to try out some of these places you visited..everything looks great! What an awesome idea for a tour!
I think anyone reading this post from anywhere in the world would find great enjoyment, BUT – for anyone within a 100 km of Sydney this is manna from heaven
! Oh how Burwood has changed from the days we knew it as a quiet middle class suburb famous for the Methodist Ladies’ College 
! All this info will be carefully filed and groups may be organized even from my distance. Actually the price charged for a wonderful day seems most reasonable! Thanks, Lorraine 
!!
What a great way of exploring your suburb Lorraine! I would so love to rummage in the kitchen ware shop, and I just adore charsui too, I stock up now and then and freeze it in meal lots. I just have to be careful when slicing it as my cat has benn known to swoop down and eat it straight off my chopping block when I wasn’t looking!
My suburb has nothing…. purely suburban with a very, very small Woolies. Well, actually, I glean when I walk. The other day I picked some raspberries growing through someones fence, I picked 2 different types of olives left to rot on street trees, I pick ‘ornamental’ plums from street trees in summer that are as sweet as sugar, I have also promised myself that the fejoas up the street are mine next year instead of rotting on the ground too, as well as the pomegranates. It’s just amazing the amount of fruit that goes to waste in peoples front yards!
i grew up in this areaand i love it! and if u r ever in burwood again, u should visit maria’s bakery for pineapple buns and the chinese restaurant next to it for its crab congee!
What a GREAT food tour to do!
Highlighting the best of what one’s suburb/city can do!
The Adelaide Central Markets Tours are (for adults) 80.00 for a 1.5 hour tour, TRUE!
Sounds like your tour was “Value for Money” too!
WISH there were more cultural food tours in Adelaide!
The food areas are so diverse and spread around, think simply would be difficult factoring in transport costs, tour costs and what the guide would be paid!
What a wonderful way to spend your day! Burwood has only improved over the years and it would be decadent to spend a day perusing the shops and eateries. Char sui, I wish we could buy it here. I cook it but it is never the same. That kitchen gadget shop is amazing. It is lucky you didn’t fill a garbage bag full of goodies. The proffered Asian sweets – delectable, even I eat those, especially moon cakes with the yolk. Thanks for sharing your intriguing day, it is fantastic Wee Lynn offers this day of food exploration.
A fascinating tour of Burwood. I’m ashamed to say my knowledge of that suburb is limited to inside the walls of Westfields. Oh the shame.
I would love to check out some of those great little shops though, especially the place that sells all the great cookware.
Wow what a lovely day tour… everything looks so delectable, I would definitely love a bowl of that ramen.
I live right next to Burwood and have eaten many delicious things there over the years!
I have yet to try those taro rolls and biscuits which look absolutely gorgeous with their purple hue. A wonderful post as always!
Been such a long time since I’ve been back to Burwood! I used to live there and it looks like it has changed quite a fair bit – good to see Lung Cheung is still there, the owner is such a lovely lady. She used to give me treats whenever I went grocery shopping with mum
What a great idea! I shall have to ‘steal’ this from you when I have some energy
I LOVE suburb tours – I knew Burwood had loads of interesting food, but I’ve not really eaten there before. Wee Lynn seems like a great guide…
Sounds like a fun tour!I think it’s nice to be introduced to all the foodie haunts in an unfamiliar suburb by someone in the know. The char siew looks good..so does the ramen!
It is great to see your own suburb through the eyes of a visitor. I love wandering around Brisbane as a tourist.
The write up is so good that I actually wanted to be there with you but in reality I think there will always be something better to spend money on than a suburb tour.
What a fabulous tour, can’t wait to explore Burwood for myself, thanks for showing another side of Sydney!
I’m not too familiar with that part of Sydney but oh my, there are so many wonderful places that I would love to visit. Ahhh one day…
Who would have known that there is so much to see,do and taste in Burwood? Really interesting food and some I have not encountered before such as the taro biscuits, would love to try those.I’m always a little lost in Asian grocery shops as I don’t know what many of the products are and how to use them. That’s where this guided tour comes in handy, what a great day out!
My suburb doesn’t offer much in the way of food or local produce but I don’t have to drive far in any direction to be able to pick up vegetables, fruit, dairy & meat .
Excited much for the weekend , Masterchef Live ( I’m enjoying my five minutes of fame as I’m in one of the marketing pics with the one and only Adriano Zumbo!) and Crave Sydney Food festival . Yay
Again, thats a massive informative post Lorraine! That Kimchihini sounds like something for me to try out pretty soon. I am happy if I come across some simple nori here, but those shops are like heaven for a food blogger. East Asian cuisine is a huge mystery and there is soo much to discover!
What a fantastic tour Lorraine – I would love to do this tour! I think suburb tours are a fantastic idea – and I love it when the host is from the area and has a genuine relationship with the shop owners. One to add to my to do list!
What a fun tour, I haven’t visited Burwood in years but will now put it on my list of things to do (I want a shallot blade!). We have the same chilli sauce at home
Hubby is the same as Mr NQN, when I first made prawn dumplings at home he said he wanted the same sauce. We bought so many different bottles until we found the right one. We find that depending on where we have yum cha there is another brand that is served, it’s called Pun Chun Chili sauce, it’s a little thicker in consistency (comes in a 2 litre bottle though!) and it’s perfect for dumplings. We love our chilli sauce 
What a lovely food tour in those culinary shops in your neighbourhood,…ooh yeah!
It surely was a big & grand tour!
I loved it so much, Lorraine!
I live so far out in the boonies, that we don’t have anything at all like this…
sigh…
Whenever I think of Amsterdam, I think of “Weeds”. I’ve become a tad bit addicted to that show. There are a few episodes where one of the characters thinks Amsterdam is the solution to all problems!
xxoo,
RMW
I’m chuffed that you liked the tour and made some new discoveries, Lorraine. Trendy Burwood ain’t, but it sure has the real deal in spades. Thanks for coming along, and for your terrific post.
Cheers,
Wee Lynn
OH jealous i am!!! that kitchen ware store would keep me busy for, forever! thanks for the tour.
Ha ha! I have lived in Burwood for nearlt 12 years and it is an amazing place! So many lovely places to eat, so many cultures to discover. I also recognise Wee Lynn; Our children are in the same year at school!
I was wondering where I can buy the Pun Chun Hot Chilli sauce in Melbourne? We used to get it from Costco but they don’t stock it there anymore and I have searched hi and lo in our local asian supermarkets with no luck
Lynda, I also used to buy Pun Chun Hot Chilli sauce at Cosco and have found it at Tan Hung Asian Grocery shop M 2-3 Box Hill Centre. 2.27 kg bottle.
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