I’m certain that we’re in the naughty corner. When Gina texted me to tell me that she was sitting in the back of the restaurant at a very small corner table she wasn’t kidding. Just a few minutes earlier at 6pm she walked into Bar H and asked for a table for three people. Asked whether she has a booking (she doesn’t, as bookings are only for 6 persons or more) they call over the manager who tells us that we can have a table until 8:15pm where there is an existing booking. So the moral of the story? Grab five friends and make a booking or be prepared to haggle for a table (or wait outside as we see many outside do) because being a table of three that walks in at 6pm on a Friday night in a restaurant that seats 40 may not net you a space.

Wedged underneath a mural and the kitchen Gina and I perch on the banquette, Teena sits on the black plastic stool and we examine the menu. It’s a good sized menu with a nice choice of entrees and mains. Chef Hamish Ingham is behind the counter and we are directly facing him. Formerly with Kylie Kwong at Billy Kwong, the menu has an Asian influence to it (and the tables and stools are tiny, much like those at Billy Kwong). Teena, Gina and I haven’t caught up for months so a catch up and Happy Hour cocktails are in order but girl talk must halt momentarily while we order our food and drinks lest we overstay our two hour dining time.

Meiwei $10 (centre)

I’m not driving tonight so it’s cocktail time! The Happy Hour menu has four cocktails at $10 each (normally $14.50-$15.50).  The Meiwei is utterly drinkable and I take the waiter’s recommendation for it as it is a sweet cocktail comprising of vodka, pomegranate juice, rambutan and fresh lime. I normally sip at cocktails and pass them on but this is deliciously sweet with a rambutan at the bottom. We do a circular round tasting each other’s cocktails-Gina and Teena have the Gin Chi and the Ren Chen, both tarter but also good. And at 7pm our waiter helpfully lets us know that the happy hour is almost up and asks us if we want to order another cocktail.

Now the issue with the table was that there was no way that any more than one plate of anything would fit with the three of us crowded around it. Not a problem they tell us as each dish arrives just one at a time and they’re all meant to be shared. We breathe a sigh of relief that we didn’t bring the boys-the close quarters would have annoyed Hot Dog and Philippe doesn’t share so he wouldn’t have liked the sharing.

Steamed pork wontons with shellfish and chilli oil dressing $4 each

The wontons come out first. They’re sitting in a slick, dark pool of seafood and chilli oil and they’re silky, slippery and generously filled with pork mince. The seafood and chilli oil gives an interesting dimension to the wontons.

Prawn filled eggplant $6.50 each

I do love eggplant and this reminded me of the yum cha prawn stuffed eggplant but this one has a deep and rich with a dark, sticky sauce redolent in dark soya sauce.

Braised beef short rib with betel leaf $6.50 each

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Whenever we go out for Chinese food I always feel compelled to take my parents along. For starters, I know that my dad needs to get out more but he only really likes Chinese food and for my mother who likes all food and likes to go out this is the path of least resistance.  Blue Eye Dragon was actually a long ago suggestion from one of my readers Rebecca, so long ago that when I looked up the date of her email to me it was about two years ago exactly. But I never forgot it!

The first thing that strikes us as we walk up to Blue Eye Dragon Taiwanese restaurant in Pyrmont is the wrought iron gates-shaped like a dragon. There is a spacious outdoor area and it is housed in a sandstone building.  The other thing that strikes us is that it looks so very different from your usual Chinese restaurant -it’s dark and moodily lit and there are no bright lights beaming the way to the table. We are shown our table, up on the stage above which is a curtained off area that the menu tells us serves as a private dining room. Despite the moody and romantic atmosphere there are plenty of families with babies and large groups dining.

Taiwanese High Mountain Tea (Chinese Tea) $2.5/pp (min. $5)

Mr NQN needs a bit of a pick me up and the Taiwanese High Mountain tea is ordered and comes with a tea light warmer powered stand which promptly goes out a few minutes after the teapot is placed on top of it. The tea…well it tastes like regular Chinese tea even if presented quite nicely and without a dripping tea pot.

Chicken Won-Tons with House Chilli Sauce (very spicy) $12

The won tons, eight to a serve here are slippery and filled with pork mince and are coated in a chilli sauce which is quite spicy and the dumplings are propped up in the bowl by shards of iceberg lettuce leaves. Overall they’re quite good and a nice kick start for our taste buds.

Pan Fried Pork Dumplings with Chives, Ginger & Shallot $12

The pan fried pork dumplings come out next and they have a nice crispy bottom. The skin on these is thinner than the Shanghai counterparts and the filling is a mixture of pork mince, chives, ginger and shallots giving these a good flavour to them along with a sesame chilli sauce.

Prawn Dumplings with Water Chestnuts, Shallots & Chinese Celery $12

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“If you can answer this question correctly, you are the smartest person in Australia” Mr NQN said looking at me over the top of the iPad. As a child of Chinese parents that was subjected to flash cards before I could talk it is pretty much a given and an imperative that I will jump when asked a question (and cringe when asked to do a physical challenge-true).

He cleared his throat. “OK so in Australia on the census, most people ticked that they are of “no religion”. Can you tell me what the next two religions are?”

I thought about it for a moment and answered, “Catholic and Anglican” and he shook his head. Apparently the next two most popular religions in the last census before this year’s was Catholic and then Buddhist! Who knew? I mean I knew plenty of Buddhists although neither of us are but I didn’t think my motley sample pool of friends represented a portion of Australia as a whole. But this little tidbit reminded me of a Buddhist temple that we had driven past many times.

The Nan Tien Buddhist temple is an enormous sky high temple and never fails to catch our eye and a friend had mentioned that they do a yum cha or tea of sorts in their tea room or the “Dew Drop Inn” (pun perhaps intended). Well yum cha in the fact that they serve dumplings but there aren’t the trolleys whizzing past or a huge choice of items like a typical yum cha. Nevertheless we were intrigued to stop there and not just to see what the temple looked up close. Call it a temple version of checking out someone’s house!

We arrive through the enormous grand arch way and flapping in the wind are flags that signify us to “Do good things, Speak good words, Think good thoughts” and we immediately try and banish thoughts of swearing about how cold it is and how we just hope we get a parking spot really close to the tea room.

There’s a pagoda in a separate building but the main building houses the tea room. Some brave souls are sitting outside but as it is a freezing cold Winter’s day where the sun fails to ignite any sort of bodily warmth due to the wind chill we take shelter inside. We grab a wooden table, they are mostly all taken but there are all sorts of nooks and crannies here, and I go to the counter to order. I take one of the large laminated A3 sized menus and peruse it. On one side is a list of drinks from regular coffees to pots of tea. On the other side are a dozen or so dumpling and noodle dishes to choose from. All of the dishes are vegetarian and there is a good range of exotic teas. The prices aren’t as cheap as yum cha but the funds go back into the temple and it’s quite a nice setting to eat in.

Lotus tea $6.50

My first choice of “cam quat” aka cumquat tea is not available so I choose a lotus tea instead. It’s lovely and warming and helps warm us up from the inside.

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