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Uighur Cuisine at Haymarket, Chinatown

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

“Whaaat cuisine?” My friends ask when I tell them of our next proposed eating adventure. I’m talking to Queen Viv and Miss America and telling them about the restaurant I’ve pegged for our next outing. They’ve never heard of it and to be honest I hardly knew about it, which only added to it its allure. We’re told that stuffed lungs and tongue are on the menu so on that tenuous basis, we book. We also have Michael and Terri along for the ride. Michael is excited about the idea of trying lung, Terri decidedly less so.

We’re booked in for 7pm this Saturday night and the place is packed. There is a table of 6 next to us that fits on a table of 4. A man at the table is wearing a patterned jumper in a most …unusual pattern, which catches Queen Viv’s eye. “Look at his jumper!” she whispers. Yes it is indeed an eyesore. The restaurant has the requisite grapevines with bunches of grapes on the ceiling as well as tapestries on the walls and pictures of people that we’re not sure the identity of.

Prune drink $2.50

There’s a self serve fridge where Michael brings back a bottle of Coke for Terri and a Prune drink for himself, not for any dietary need but because the bottle looked so interesting. It’s not like a typical prune juice, the scent of sweet Osmanthus giving it a peachy or apricoty scent.

We’re searching the huge double sided menu for the lungs and there don’t seem to be any. We’re out of luck apparently, it’s not on the menu anymore so we order what seems to be a lot of dishes but we’re fascinated by so many of them and the kitchen delivers these literally within minutes.

11 comments | June 5, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet at Haymarket, Chinatown

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

Believe it or not, this is my first time to Mother Chu’s. For some reason or another, we always end up elsewhere yet I always stop and have a look at the women at the front folding and making dumplings. There’s something so rhythmically hypnotic about the process that keeps me entertained. Call me simple.

One Friday night we find ourselves hungry and in need of a good meal. We walk towards the main area of Chinatown and I see the red sign and say “Ooooh let’s go to Mother Chu’s!”. I have no idea who Mother Chu is, perhaps she’s one of the dumpling ladies. We opt for outside seating as the inside is crowded and try and make sense out of the two enormous menus we are given. It seems there is a section of small Taiwanese snacks and dumplings including savoury shallot pancakes, flaky pastries, and rice rolls.

There are also noodle dishes, rice dishes and meat dishes in traditional taiwanese flavours as well as cantonses style dishes. I’m drawn to the Angelica Mutton soup as I’ve only had mutton once in my life but unfortunately they are out of it. As my husband loves beef noodle soup, he orders a Szechuan version (spicy) $7 with suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra and I order a pork mince with rice $5 and we order some snacks to share including a pork flakey pastry $2.20, beef pancake $2.50, glutinous rice rolls with pork floss $3 and spicy seaweed salad $4. That’s $24.70 she says and holds out her hand. Oh and you need to pay when you order.

Before we’ve had a chance to even contemplate our surroundings, the soup, mince with rice and seaweed salad arrive. We have to ask for water a few times but finally get it fourth time lucky.

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup $7

The Szechuan beef noodle soup has a slick of chili oil at the top and features shanghai noodles, thin slivers of roast beef and an spicy and indeed fairly fiery chili oil infused broth. The noodles are way too soft for me and whilst the beef is nice, the broth is a little plain and seeming flavoured mostly of chili oil. I leave this to my husband who confesses that it is too hot for him and unlike most noodle soups where he will finish every drop of the soup, most of this soup is left behind.

Suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra

The Suan Choi is a small side dish of cabbage, full of flavour and sesame oil and quite delicious.

11 comments | May 28, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Din Tai Fung opens at World Square, Sydney!

Posted in Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

There was a whisper, no more a shout, that world famous Taiwanese Dumpling chain, Din Tai Fung, the one said to have queues day and night, had just opened in Sydney. It’s pretty much brand spanking new, opened only 2 weeks ago and already attracting a crowd. The reason? Xiao Long Bao, the soup dumplings that are so loved by so many, taking over as the popular alternative to Shao Mai or Gow Gees. Apparently, it started many years ago as a shop that sold oil with the owner Bingyi Yang selling dumplings on the side, these becoming so popular that a chain was spawned across the seas and accolades from the New York Times declaring it one of the Top 10 places to eat were bestowed. Sure it was about 10 years ago that they declared it that but given the queues, no-one seems to care.

We had just finished seeing a movie at the Academy Twin Paddington and were starving as it was late for us to eat (we always eat early, like pensioners at 6pm) .

We arrive at World Square at 8.30pm and go up to Level 1, where we’ve never been before and where there doesn’t look to be much. Outside there are two girls with earphones. I tense immediately, it’s like those stony faced Yum Cha women who give you a number and tell you that they’ll “call your number soon” before turning away to give the next customer their ticket stub only to summon you 1 long hour later. However I am greeted with a wide smile and a singsong friendly voice asks me if I have a reservation. I say no and she asks me if I mind sharing a table as that will be quicker. That’s fine by us but after a little flurry and some talking on the earpiece and it seems like they have a table just for us and she giggles “Lucky, you came at the right time, good timing!”. I find myself looking back bewilderedly, was that just friendly service at a Chinese restaurant? How very strange.

Sitting down at our table in theright most section of the restaurant, it certainly looks stylised and sleek. Adorned with displays of repeated white chinese soup spoons, small bowls and a wall full of different sized steamer trays. It is a weeknight and the crowd is almost exclusively Asian and mostly young types in suits and corporate clothes.

Menu: Large enough to hide behind should you require some stealth action

14 comments | May 17, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Review: Satang Thai at Haymarket

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

It’s not often that my husband suggests that we visit a place to eat. I know, deep down, he hopes that I will give up the food reviewing portion of my blog and just do cooking. Not that he is a killjoy or trying to kitchen enslave me, rather he was brought up not going to restaurants. Apparently the one time that his family went, as they were raw food vegans it ended up causing such a kerfuffle it gave him Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However this day, he was so fascinated by the enormous queues spilling out of Satang Thai that he actually suggested that we go.

The reason why there are such queues? The price apparently and it’s prime location right near UTS University. The food must also be good as there are a huge number of eateries to choose from. It’s 9.15pm on a Wednesday night when we arrive and still there are crowds outside, mostly students waiting for takeaway. We take a table right at the front and decide on our order. There are dishes starting at $5 for a thai soup with chicken to $6.50 for BBQ pork and noodles. There’s only one dish that breaks the $9.80 price barrier at $13.50. I order and pay up front and we take our seat and wait. There are only enough seats for 20 people to eat in and for most of the students around us, it’s probably easier to eat at home.

We’re waiting for between 5-10 minutes for our meal and once it arrives it looks and smells good. There is a slightly creepy sensation as if we are being watched. I turn around as I feel all eyes upon us. Indeed the large crowd on the footpath awaiting their takeaway are hungry and are feasting upon our food with their eyes. They’re fairly close and it feels like there are 20 other people seated at our table but not eating. Slightly creepy. Next time we’ll get a table inside if we can.

I try the Drunky Chicken noodles ($8.50). I’m not certain what makes it Drunky but it’s quite delicious. It’s heady in garlic and that fragrant licoricey Thai basil. The chicken pieces are clumped together and there are other vegetables and egg in it as well as thick rice noodles evenly coated with the garlicky, sweet scented sauce.

I next try the Seafood Laksa ($9.80). The Laksa soup is deliciously creamy and flavoursome. There are large, fresh garlic scented prawns and firm tofu chunks. The squid is a bit of a let down though being extremely chewy.

It’s not fancy food and not the kind of place to take a date to but for value for money, we feel like we’ve hit the jackpot. And at 9.55pm, 5 minutes before closing, finally the crowds have died down.

Satang Thai

20 Quay Street Haymarket Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9280-0956
BYO Cash only
Open 7 days until 10pm

9 comments | April 19, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Review: Marigold Regal Chinese restaurant, Haymarket Chinatown

Posted in Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

It’s literally been years since our last visit to Marigold. In fact since our last visit, it’s now changed it’s name to Marigold Regal instead of Marigold Citymark. Marigold Citymark used to be our Chinese restaurant of choice, mainly because the food was good and the decor was nicer than your average Chinese restaurant (I find Golden Century’s food is great but the decor isn’t as nice) and the free parking for dinner guests always made my father and husband happy. Yes, we’re the type of family where the men will greet each other with “Where did you park?” and the park closest to the restaurant wins and gets a fleeting moment of pride. Please tell me we aren’t the only ones.

The decor has been spruced up with warmer reds and oranges instead of austere blacks and whites. The fish tanks have been moved further down but other than that, everything is fairly similar. What we notice is back are the silver spoon and chopstick rests which is what we liked about dining here in the first place. Yes I know it may make me sound like a complete brat, and at times I am, but it’s the little details that help set a place apart and these were the details that my sister and I noticed and liked. So when they didn’t put them out 3 times in a row and we had average food we stopped coming here.

Tonight we’re here with my uncle, cousin, my family and my cousin’s wife who is over from Singapore. We order a slew of dishes including Peking Duck plus a whole lot of new dishes we’ve never tried before which I hope comes out quickly as I am very hungry. I am relieved with they wheel the duck out.

I always love it when they carve it at the table (although I know this would horrify my vegan mother in law who could not believe that they would do such a thing) and they show the duck off to us before slicing off the skin with a cleaver and placing them in 12 pancakes with the requisite spring onion and cucumber.

Curiously I notice that there is still a lot of skin remaining on the duck after it is carved and even though there are 7 of us, they don’t give us 14 pancakes. I wonder where the rest of the skin goes? It never seems to turn up in the second course and it’s a suspicion of mine that they use the skin for other dishes. I’d love to know whether this is true or not!

The pancakes have a little too much meat in them for my taste and the pieces are smaller than I’d like. For me, I love big discs of glossy, crispy skin and it’s a good sign when the sauce and oil run out of the pancake. My ideal version is not for the faint hearted or diet conscious.

The sang choi bau course arrives and they plate it into the lettuce cups. It’s nice and crunchy with the water chestnuts although we have to ask for the Hoi Sin sauce as it is bland without it.

The rest of the dishes arrive in quick succession. The pork ribs in champagne sauce ($18) are circled by orange slices and the sticky orange glazed champagne sauce is a lovely match to the deep fried ribs. It’s unusual and very moreish and a hit with the table.

Steamed egg whites, fried bean curd with assorted seafood and meat ($24) comes out next, with the bean curd sitting on the edges of the plate surrounding a melange of meats, seafood and egg whites. The scallops and prawns are plentiful and whilst the mixture is soothingly soft, it lacks punch or a distinct flavour.

The Spicy Fish fillets with Mermaid’s Tresses ($28) resemble the deep fried cornflour dipped salt and pepper fish but with spice and less intensity of flavour than the S&P variety. The spice comes in the form of some sliced bird’s eyes chili and the mermaid’s tresses are deep fried seaweed shreds. It’s alright but not particularly stunning.

The last dish, Four vegetables baked in creamy taro sauce ($21) comes out, the purply grey creamy taro mash coating the vegetables with some satisfying blistering on top. Scooping out the vegetables we are rewarded with large chunks of broccoli, whole mushrooms, asparagus and snow peas. It’s the most comforting of comforting Winter food and the buttery scent of the sauce beckons you to eat more than you really should.

At this stage we’re full but they bring out the fruit-sliced watermelon and rockmelon as well as a large tureen of sweet red bean and black sticky rice soup. It’s only the most robust of us that can finish a whole bowl of the sticky, sweet and delicious soup. Completely full, we rest for a little and then get up to leave whilst the men continue to debate who got the closest “parking spot”.

Marigold Regal

Levels 4 & 5
683-689 George Street, Haymarket Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9281-3388

Parking from 10am-6pm:
0-1 hour - $2.80
1-2 hours - $7.20
2-3 hours - $11.60 3-4 hours - $16.00
4-5 hours - $20.40
Over 5 hours - $30.00
Free parking for dinner guests (otherwise my husband noted that parking is $50 an hour so don’t make the mistake of parking there unless you are eating!)
Lunch (yum cha)

13 comments | April 11, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Review: Chinese Noodle Restaurant at Haymarket, Chinatown

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

Sometimes, when you’re having the laziest of a lazy 4 day weekend, all you can manage to travel is Chinatown for a loadup of Chinese dumplings. Shanghai Night in Ashfield is my husband’s favourite place to eat, probably in the whole of Sydney but we just couldn’t muster up the energy to drive there so it was to Chinese Noodle Restaurant in Chinatown, half an hour closer, that we went. Its an unusual setup, all geared to get maximum table turnover in a tiny but crowded space. There are plenty of people outside waiting for a table and you order from the menu while waiting outside and when your table is ready, so is your meal, or at least most of the dishes you have ordered. None of this wasting 10 minutes precious table space umming and ahhing over what you want. Its strictly eat and go but unlike Shanghai Night, the service is pretty friendly.

We order the Juicy pork buns (like the Shanghai night mini pork buns) $8 for 10; a half serve of 5 pan fried pork buns $4; Pork and seafood steamed dumplings, 16 for $8; Fragrant Spiced noodles $8; Braised Eggplant and Potato $9.80 and Mushroom and chinese vegetables $8.80. Prices are a dollar or two higher than Shanghai Night which is understandable given that its in the city. Like Uighur and Northern Chinese restaurants, there are grapevines stretching out across the ceilings and wall tapestries.

I have to duck off to the ladies while my husband and the Assman wait for our table outside. I have to be escorted there-they don’t give you the keys, they take you there. When I return a few minutes later, they’re already seated and we already have two dishes on the table.

Braised eggplant and potato $9.80

The braised eggplant and potato is full and flavoursome-the eggplant is crispy on the outside and soft inside and coated in a delicious spicy garlic sauce. The potato is similar to roast potato chunks in a chinese sauce.

Mushrooms and chinese vegetables $8.80

The mushrooms with chinese vegetables by comparison is more low key. Not bad by any means but following such a full flavoured dish does not do the mildly flavoured dish any good.

Juicy pork buns, 10 for $8

Our Juicy pork buns come in two steamer baskets with 5 dumplings in each-which is one serving we are told. They’re juicy and very full of liquid but they’re not particularly gingery like Shanghai night’s ones which we prefer. Still its a generous serve of 10 for our $8

Pork and seafood steamed dumplings, 16 for $8

My husband loves the pork and seafood steamed dumplings, the less glamorous, dumpy cousin to the showy mini pork buns. The dumplings are a little bigger than Shanghai night’s and the filling has a distinctly different taste although I wouldn’t have necessarily proclaimed it to be seafood. It doesn’t matter what I think of these though, my husband is fiercely loyal to these and devours every one except for the one I try. Yes luvvies, that’s 15 dumplings as well as his share in other dishes.

Pan fried pork buns, 5 for $4

I try the mini fried pork buns, 5 large upturned golden bottomed wheat flour dumplings with thick chewy skins and pork inside. They’re decent but I admit here that I prefer Shanghai Night’s version better.

Fragrant spiced noodles $8

Lastly I try the fragrant spiced noodles. These are a huge disappointment flavour wise and are not really fragrant, unless you count the scent of oil, soy sauce and chili flakes abundantly scattered on top. The thick, endlessly long noodles are rather fun to play with though and hooking them with your chopsticks and trying to get them into your small bowl is quite a challenge. When Assman tries to hook his in from a great height, we see the staff watching him to see whether he will make it in and of course he doesn’t as they break halfway and they laugh good naturedly. There is no meat in this dish, just a lot of chinese greens so he makes a quick meal of it and all that is left is a soup with 1/2cms of oil floating at the top and a lot of chili flakes.

We watch the noodles being made from the square window into the frantically ordered kitchen and watch them rhythmically loop the handmade noodles into a bundle before plunging them into the boiling water. Dinner and a show indeed!

Chinese Noodle Restaurant

Shop TG7, 8 Quay Street Haymarket NSW 2000
(Entrance from Thomas Street, next to Burlington Centre)

9 comments | April 3, 2008 - 8:00 am | Not Quite Nigella

Baby Pork Thai at Haymarket

Posted in Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

Along with Haymarket’s weirdly named Thai eateries e.g. Crocodile Senior Thai, comes another oddly monikered place, Baby Pork Thai. In a little arcade off Sussex Street, its modern looking, with large communal stainless steel and wooden tables and benches and offers your standard fare of Thai dishes along with two little goodies that caught my eye. Feeling peckish but not hungry enough for a whole meal we popped in and in true food blogger fashion, not even a snack can go unrecorded and unphotographed.

I ordered one of each, one would have probably satisfied me but who am I to pass up new food? I ordered 1 grilled marinated Baby pork $1.60 (buy 4 get one free) and 1 Loong Chin Ping -deep fried chicken ball served with homemade chili sauce $1.80. The sign says made to order and we indeed sat there for a good 5-10 minutes waiting for it.

When they both arrived, the pork was a dark hued, sticky glazed, chargrilled skewer. I dipped this in the onion, chili and shallot dipping sauce and it was very good. Soft, tender and juicy with enough char from the grill and packed with plenty of flavour from the marinade. I probably would’ve ordered another but I didn’t have the time.

The Loong Chin Ping resembled cross hatched fish balls but are supposed to be chicken balls. They have a fairly nondescript taste, not tasty like chicken nor fishy like fishballs. The sauce, a mix of chili and plum sauce, livens it up a little but it needs more resuscitation than that so its also dunked in the dipping sauce. Its fairly palatable with both sauces but still lacks the flavour punch of the Pork skewer.

Baby Pork Thai (part of Charlie Chan’s)

Entry off Arcade on Sussex Street (opposite the road from East Ocean-ish)
Monday-Thursdays 11am-3pm, 5pm-10pm
Fridays and Saturdays 11am-Midnight
Closed Sundays
Tel: +61 (02) 9281-4299

Add comment | January 19, 2008 - 4:00 pm | Not Quite Nigella

Crocodile Senior Thai at Haymarket

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

“Crocodile what-what?” Tuulikki asks when I tell her the odd name of the restaurant we plan to eat at. It takes her a few goes to get the name right and even then, I’m certain she’s not convinced. But from the number of seated patrons enjoying meals, we aren’t the only ones to have noticed this oddly crocodiled theme Thai restaurant on a strip of town bursting with eateries. The decor is full of dark brown wooden tables, square stools, large sprays of tiger lilies, delicate spun straw orbed lights and …crocodiles. Everywhere. And in every incarnation you could possibly think of. Even our waitress takes our order using a Crocodile pen. We don’t know what crocodiles have to do with Thailand but they have an awful lot to do with this place.

A quick glance of the menu shows that prices are rather low, from $8.50-$12.00 for the most part. There are 8 different varieties of Som Tum (Green Papaya salad) which I adore so I know I shall have to choose one of these. Apparently the difference in each is the topping which ranges from tiny mud crabs (which I’ve ordered) to grilled scampi, soft shell crab and deep fried salmon. I had also read that the BBQ pork with rice although dull sounding, was good. And of course the crocodile chef on the menu just beckons you to order the Noodles Senior style where you choose the type of noodle (hokkien, egg, rice) then choose the sauce (thai basil, chili, chinese, malay or cashew nut) and then choose the topping (tofu, veges, chicken, beef, pork, roast duck, prawn or seafood). We choose the thin rice noodles with malay peanut sauce with tofu.

Looking around at the signs, there are specials that are written in Thai only so there must be a fair amount of Thai patronage. And should you want to call friends in Bangkok, they have two clocks, one set on Sydney time and one set on Bangkok time. The music is pumping and loud, especially towards the middle and back of the restaurant and the plasma screens show Thai singers singing various pop and disco songs like “I Will Survive”.

Som Tum Pu (with small mud crabs) $8

Five minutes after we’ve ordered, our square plate of Som Tum Pu (with mud crab) arrives. Its a small but pungent dish. I personally love it but know that people are usually divided by it, only being swayed when being told how healthy it is. It is indeed tangy and pungent with fish sauce and packed with tiny dried prawns, shredded carrot and green papaya and very salty tiny black mud crabs. Some crab pieces are a little too big and when you’re trying to chew them, it takes a good crunching with your teeth of the larger pieces. The salad itself is good although I must admit I find Sailors Thai Canteen’s Som Tum better (and its not just because it comes with gorgeous caramelised BBQ pork sitting on top).

BBQ Pork with rice $8.50

Our BBQ pork with rice arrives next and its a huge plate with two types of BBQ pork. One the fatty belly pork crunchy and fried to a crisp, and another like thinly sliced Char Siu. The sauce coating the dish is unusual and strong with sweet cinnamon and star anise. I don’t know if I love it as much with the sauce. One of my greatest pleasures is eating Char Siu with plain rice. To me the sauce is too mysterious and a little unbalanced and almost powdery.

Noodle Senior: thin rice noodles with malay peanut sauce and tofu $9

Our Noodle Senior arrive last and its an impressive tangle of rice noodles. Its packed with coarsely ground peanut pieces and vegetables with three fat triangular chunks of deep fried tofu and stir fried egg. I didn’t expect to like this very much as I’ve found most satay noodles drowning in the sauce but this is subtle and nicely flavours giving the right hint of Malay satay sauce but not drowning or overpowering it. Its soft noodles and crunchy peanut and vegetables are perfectly seasoned and its easily the best dish of the night.

We’re stuffed by the end of our meal and still no wiser as to what Crocodiles have to do with Thailand!

Crocodile Senior Thai

768 George Street
Haymarket (opposite Marigold Citymark)
Sydney
+61 (02) 9211 6300
Cash only
No split bills
Open 7 days from 11.30am until 10pm

9 comments | November 27, 2007 - 4:47 pm | Not Quite Nigella

Woo-Long Comics World Cafe

Posted in Cheap Thrills, Eating, Sydney - CBD and inner city

Nestled between Emperors Garden BBQ and Thailand DVD in Chinatown sits a seedy looking entrance inviting customers to peruse Comic books and various DVDs. You could’ve walked past it hundreds of times and never noticed it or assumed that it would be an X rated bookshop upstairs.

I’ve asked my husband to look up somewhere for us to eat that night as we were staying in the Meriton on Kent apartments (part of the www.lastminute.com.au’s $1 secret hotel promotion). He calls me back excitedly “How about a Comic Book store?” and before I can exasperatedly remind him that we’re looking for a restaurant he tells me about this amazing hole in the wall Comic book store that also serves food and is known for their Hot Beef Noodle soup. He knows that I love quirky and at 6.30pm we set off in search of this elusive gem on Thomas Street, opposite Market City and Burlington centre.

Once you walk upstairs, the seediness is gone. Instead, its the ultimate in quirky kitsch - a comic book store slash internet cafe slash eatery run by the sweetest person to helm a kitchen. From one angle, it looks like someone’s house, from another, its shelf after shelf of comic books, from another its an internet cafe and from another, up in the back, its a small cafe which you’d never know of walking in except for the aroma of fried eggs.

There’s one English picture menu and on the back there are a number of items in Chinese that we can’t read. A glance at the picture menu and we are happy, the much recommended Hot Beef Noodle soup ($7.50) is there as well as a selection of other soup, noodle and rice dishes. I spy a grilled eel dish with soup and at $8.80 its the most expensive thing on the menu of 9 main items. I am in the mood for some sticky eel so I order that too along some with ice water for two. The smiling woman lets us know that the eating area is back towards the comics which is good as I am about to sit down at an internet station assuming that was where one ate!

The eating area is bordered on one side by a huge display of faux flowers in a variety of blooms and there are approximately 12 tables which can seat up to 25 people. At lunch apparently this place is buzzing with students from the nearby UTS, but since its fairly early in the evening, we have the place to ourselves.

Five to ten minutes later, she brings our food and we are even more glad that we came. The soup comes in a wide, fairly deep bowl with a very generous amount of melt in the mouth beef, bok choy, fried fish balls and shanghai noodles. My eel arrives sitting atop a large mound of rice with corn pieces and a cold sauteed bok choy and carrot side and a soup that is somewhere between a miso soup and the pork broth that one often receives in a chinese restaurant before their food arrives.

Everything is delicious, the hot beef noodle soup deserves the raves that it gets, the spiciness is perfect, not too hot not too mild, the spiciness gives it flavour rather than heat. My husband doesn’t look like he wants to give it up and its only when I physically take his bowl away from him that I try some.

My eel is fabulous too, sweet and soft and easy to pry apart with chopsticks. Who’d imagine such a gruesome creature would be so tasty? The sauteed bok choy side is also good.

In between this, the complimentary ice water arrives and its in a cup with a sealed lid with cubes of ice floating in it, much like you get for bubble milk tea (which I later read that she serves too).

There’s no dessert on the English menu but that doesn’t matter, she quietly places a plate of moon cake slices on our table and says “Its the Chinese Moon Festival so please enjoy these” with a warm, broad smile. I immediately see why its so popular with overseas students who are missing home.