Din Tai Fung - Sydney

Chao p'ai hsiao ts'ai
Cold appetizer of tofu, and seaweed in vinegar dressing

-> Must order #1. Delectable, delightful - will make you crave for more.

Rating: 9.5/10

Suan la t'ang
Hot and sour soup

-> It's nice and thick, with all sorts of delicacies inside. Tasty!

Rating: 8/10

Hsieh fen hsiao lung pao
Steamed crab meat and pork dumpling

-> Must order #2. I usually order the normal hsiao lung pao (xiao long bao, in hanyu pinyin romanization), but this one is damn good as well. The restaurant's raison d'etre - world famous. Somehow, the ones in Jakarta or Singapore is better compared to Sydney's.

Rating: 9/10

Hsia jen jou ssu tan ch'ao fan
Prawn fried rice

-> Better than expected. very fragrant.

Rating: 8.5/10

Chi p'ai mien
Noodles in soup served with fried chicken

-> The chicken could be a little bit crispier, but the noodle is very nice. Perfect texture. The soup is simple yet delectable.

Rating: 7.5/10

Hsia jou cheng chiao
Steamed shrimp and pork dumpling

-> Delightful. The pastry is firm yet tender to the bite, and the soup inside the dumpling is simply sumptuous.

Rating: 9/10

Strawberry ice

-> Just okay. Basically it's just shaved ice + condensed milk + strawberries + strawberry ice cream + strawberry jam. That's a lot of strawberries.

Rating: 6.5/10

As you might have heard, I'm crazy about Taiwanese food lately.
...and notice that I used the Wade-Giles romanization for the food names instead of the Hanyu Pinyin? (for romanization of Chinese characters, the archaic Wade-Giles method is still used in Taiwan - although now it's mostly replaced by the new Tongyong Pinyin, while the Hanyu Pinyin method is used in China and rest of the world)

First thing I would like to praise about Sydney's Din Tai Fung is the service. It's exceptional. Smiling faces, polite gestures, and enthusiastic even though the restaurant is EXTREMELY busy - and they're all Chinese!
How weird, right?
Seriously, the staff are so well-trained and courteous - in fact - you can't find Chinese people that behave this way outside...Hong Kong Disneyland.

Everybody knows that services in Chinese restaurants, especially in China, aren't the most courteous around. But we're kind of used to it, anyway. Even in nice restaurants, the waitresses may be extremely professional, but friendly they are not. Not always, anyway.
Services in Chinese restaurants in Australia are no exception. Remember those horrible yum-cha ah-ma waitresses? Jeez louise, they're rude. Caucasians might be very irritated by this, but being Asian, I'm used to it. I'm always a bit pompous towards those rude waitresses, because my restaurant rule: if you're rude, then I'll be rude.

As always, the queue is horrendous, but don't let that deter you from dining there. The wait is usually not that long - 15 minutes maximum if you're willing to share a table (don't worry, it's quite fine - the rectangular tables are spacious). They set up a free self-service Chinese tea stand for queuing customers (aw, thoughtful!), and you can even decide what you'd like to order while you're queuing, so your food will come faster. Once in awhile, those friendly, cute waitresses will check up on you with smiling faces, offering recommendations, etc. Very nice. And did I say they're cute? heeheehee they are! Very pleasant xiao jies (young ladies), very courteous and polite. Heeheehee. *smitten*

...also, I was quite taken aback when they refer to me as xiansheng (sir). I mean, it's RARE to see a Chinese restaurant staff who would call people 'xiansheng'. Most other Chinese restaurants staff would normally just avoid calling you. They also replied 'hao' when called, or after taking order. 'hao' means 'good', but in this context, it means 'yes, certainly'. How polite!

Maybe some of you thought that I'm making too much of a big deal out of this, but it IS a big deal! Chinese waitresses are good people, really, but courtesy and politeness is just not in their blood. The thing is, some Caucasians would mistakenly attribute this apparent rudeness to having a bad nature, which is not always the case. Chinese waitresses are just....like that. They're a bit odd. But we Chinese customers are used to them.

However, there are some exceptions when things become inexcusable, such as discourteous-ness in 5-star restaurants and hotels in upmarket areas / cities. If they're rude, their manager would get an earful from me.

All in all...I love Din Tai Fung. The Jakarta and Singapore ones are better in terms of food (compared to Sydney), though. The Jakarta and Singapore branches has twice as much menu items...and more interesting desserts...

Pho LV - Sydney

Cơm sườn chả trứng
Pork chop, fried egg, and pork cake with tomato rice

-> The 'pork cake' (shocking name, BTW) is kind of like a terrine with minced pork, some kind of offals, egg, mushrooms and glass noodles. It's a French influence on Vietnamese cuisine, obviously. It's nice. The tomato rice, however, is rather insipid. I was expecting more of a Japanese type tomato rice (you know, like the inside of the omurice).

Rating: 6/10

Cơm sườn gà
Crispy-skin chicken with tomato rice

-> The crispy-skin chicken is exceptional. Certainly the best I've tasted so far in the Sydney City/Chinatown area.

Rating: 6.5/10

This was the day I finally knew where Pho LV is (ha ha Cla)
'twas a really quiet night - they're almost closing, but my stomach was rumbling and it seems that the only interesting dining option within 1 minute walk from the cinema (yes, I'm THAT lazy) is either Pepper Lunch (Ironically, opens till 11 pm) or Pho LV at the same building. My brother HATES Pepper Lunch (Cla - he can become your friend) for whatever reason, so Pho LV it is.

Speaking of Pepper Lunch, I can't figure out how on EARTH can someone dislike it, let alone HATE it. It's cute, it's Japanese-western fusion (a.k.a. the PERFECT species of food), and it's damn hi-tech. Patented electromagnetic automatic hotplates, hello!
...and don't get me started on the gloriously melting, dripping herb butter above a perfectly-cut tender bite-sized steak combined with lashes of tantalizing Pepper Lunch hot and sweet sauce - as the aroma wafts in the air with thick, sensuous smoke, I knew I have reached heaven...

Mmmkay. Maybe I'm getting a little bit overboard with Pepper Lunch.

Anyway. Pho LV.
No, apparently they aren't in any way affiliated with Maison Louis Vuitton (ha. ha. very funny), but it doesn't stop VIPs and dignitaries from dining at their humble place. Guess who sat across my table - the Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Sydney with 5 other serious-looking VIPs. I recognized the Consul-General because I've seen him at some social events.

The food was just okay - borderline, acceptable. Maybe I should try the Pho next time. After giving the Consul-General a nod and a smile, We left the place, looking for....desserts.

(and we went for some Gelati from Gelatissimo)

Gelati = Gelato (prural)

Kingsford Chinese Restaurant - Kingsford, Sydney

A Big group impromptu makan-makan (eating out) that took almost half the room of the tiny, cramp, but popular restaurant (5 tables in total)!

Shandong Chicken

Long Beans with belacan
(a must try!)

Tofu with Broccoli

Salt, pepper & chilli calamari

Sweet & Sour Pork

Black Canyon Coffee - Cipete, Jakarta

Sawadee Khrap! Welcome to Jakarta's first Black Canyon Coffee, Cipete's current hottest hangout! Celebrities, high-and-hung-over partyboys, Harley chopper gangs, chain-smoking screenwriters, or even noisy schoolgirls still in uniform at 10pm hang out here.

Until roughly 6 months ago, most Jakartans have never even heard of black canyon coffee. The coffee shop chain is actually very popular in Thailand, where it comes from. In fact, some people are surprised to hear waiters greeted them with a "sawasdee" as they show them to their tables. They're even more surprised that this particular Black Canyon outlet is not the first outlet in Indonesia. They opened several outlets in Bandung, Makassar, Surabaya, and Bali years ago. As a Jakartan, this hurt my pride just a smidge, because everyone knows that everything that enters Indonesia MUST go through Jakarta first. That was the cardinal rule.

I first encountered Black Canyon Coffee in Bangkok a couple of years ago. In Thailand, their outlets are mostly smaller ones - unlike this particular outlet in Cipete street. Dubbed their Indonesian flagship outlet, the reasonably-priced cafe is truly a comfy place to hang out. They've got wi-fi, too (which recently became a must-have facility to attract customers. No wi-fi, no customer. That's how it goes these days in Jakarta). Black Canyon coffee also opened its doors in Singapore's Katong area a few years ago (something I wasn't aware of).


This is indeed a huge place for a cafe that mainly serve snack and drinks. The interior is dominated with comfy leather seats, homey rattan couches, and the restaurant has generous outdoor spaces. They've got this balcony which I just adore. The location is also perfect - Cipete street has so many good eateries nowadays, it's like little Kemang. Sooner or later, expats would fill this place considering that the Cipete area has a considerable French community. Kudos to Thailand for creating such a good concept!

Iced Lemon Tea Frost

Black Canyon Iced Coffee

-> Their must-try signature drink.

Pad Thai Kung

-> One of the better ones I've tasted in Jakarta. It's also the most expensive ala carte menu (surprisingly).

American Fried Rice

-> Quite delightful. This is very much a quintessential Thai hawker / small restaurant fare. This is what those Sukhumvit office workers in Bangkok would have for their lunch break.

Deep-fried Chicken

-> Served with Mae Ploy / Mae Pranom sauce, of course.

Bakmi GM - Pondok Indah Mall, Jakarta

I've always wanted to do a post on Bakmi GM. I love this place. Why? It's delicious, fast, healthy (I guess), cheap, and available all over Jakarta. What I love about this place is how they manage to maintain good quality for years and years - it still tastes exactly the same as when I had my first Bakmi GM in Jakarta's Chinatown area 19 years ago. It's just nice to know that there's such a reliable restaurant chain in this topsy-turvy city. And oh, they do phone and internet deliveries, too. Yumm!!



My favorite - Bakmi Ayam Special GM
(GM's special chicken noodle)



Ayam Goreng GM
(GM's Fried Chicken - the dipping sauce is reminiscent of 'Rojak' sauce)



Nasi Cap Cay
(Vegetables & Chicken over rice. Tastes just as good as those nasi cap cay in Jakarta's Chinatown)



Pangsit Goreng
(The legendary GM's Fried Wontons with sweet & sour dipping sauce. There's nothing like it on the face of the earth. Even my mom, one of the harshest, cruellest food critic I know, labelled it "unrivalled").



Fruit Punch.
-> What's so special about this fruit punch is...it's just one of those successful fusion between Western and Indonesian style drink. While Westerners might prefer some level of sourness on their fruit punch, this Indonesian-ized version is nothing but sweet with a strong pineapple undertone. I personally love it.