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Work in Progress, Sydney
Sorry for the lack of post. Things in the GAs household has been chaotic. Dragon and I have been sick 6 times in the past 10 – 12 weeks, yes that’s every fortnight that we were sick! It was crazy, my body needed some rest and a reboot!!! Work has been chaotic also, and I was in Sydney for a fortnight to visit family and work! It has been a crazy couple of months, hopefully it will die down soon and I can focus on the more important stuff in life, like health, food and Dragon!
This post is quite late, and there’s only a week or so left of the pop up, Work in Progress, which is head by Patrick Friesen of Papi Chulo and on the menu is fried chicken, noodles and many more!
The menu is split into three sections, snacks and vegetables, noodles and FRIED CHICKEN! There are three types of fried chicken, and can be ordered by the half serve of the whole chook.
We started with the agedashi’ish tofu (AUD14) and OMG, this was absolutely amazing! Silken tofu cubes which was have a crisp batter was covered with dried bonito flakes, sweet mayo and BBQ sauce. I could definitely have eaten the whole plate myself! Probably my favourite on the menu
We ordered the sichuan duck and tofu lo mien (AUD16) – the noodles are al dente (i prefer it a little more soft) which was served with generous servings of duck and cubes of tofu. The sauce is a tad spicy, and garlicky which was a wonderful complement.
Lastly, the reason why we were here, fried chicken ginger nuoc cham (AUD16) – the batter deliciously crunchy and meat succulent (except for the breast which I thought was a little dry but I am never a big fan of chicken breast!)
Everything on the menu sounded delicious, the wonton noodles also looked great, it’s a shame that I didn’t get a chance to come back and try their other dishes. If you haven’t been, definitely worth going for a visit before it finishes. I do hope that it does become permanent, I wouldn’t mind some of that agedashi’ish tofu now!!
There’s no reservation, we came at about 12pm and it was quiet, but by the time we left about 1pm the restaurant was quite busy!
GA’s ratings: 7 / 10
Work in Progress
50 King Street
Sydney
Social Place, Central, Hong Kong
Newish restaurant located in the L Place in Central. It’s a new dim sum place, contemporary Chinese cuisine with a modern, healthy (no added MSG) and unique twist. I caught up with the lovely J for lunch, the restaurant offers dim sum and other dishes, but we were here for one thing, dim sum and wanted to try lots of it.
I love the plates – at first I thought there was something on my plate, a fly perhaps? I also love the décor, it’s a beautiful, open space, there’s a ping pong table that has been converted to a dining table which dominated the floor.
We started with duck salad – so much color on a plate and it was beautifully done.
Our favourite was the truffle shitake buns – I literary thought they were mushrooms but they were steamed buns in the shape of mushrooms and they were surprisingly good, and the truffle really gave it a nice kick.
Next the turnip cake, pan-fried, it really gave it a nice crispy exterior and soft-pillow-y on the inside.
I definitely couldn’t go past these pork belly slider babies. The pork belly were soft and tender, which was perfect with the soft bun, the preserved vegetables were a wonderful complement. We devoured these fatty pork belly babies within seconds and wanted more!
The seared Chinese pancakes were a little disappointing I thought. It was pretty much roti and shallots, which I could probably have done at home.
Another disappointing dish was the steamed glutinous rice ‘siu mai’. It lacked flavor and was bland.
For desserts, we thought we would get the steamed custard buns and boy oh boy it did not disappoint! Flowing lava of custard and egg yolk, my goodness, I wanted more. It was the perfect way to end a delicious meal.
Majority of the dishes I thought was good. This was my second visit (didn’t take photos during the first one) and thought it was pretty decent. I love the open space, there are no trolleys here at this dim sum place, but most places in Hong Kong don’t have trolleys anyways. Will be back to try their other dishes, even maybe for dinner.
GA’s ratings: 7 / 10
2/F, The L. Place, No.139 Queen’s Road Central (next to The Center),
Central, Hong Kong
Ph: +852 3568 9666
North Island, New Zealand Part II
So Part I was all about Lake Taupo, and Napier. Now the second part is about driving back from Napier to Auckland and stopping at Rotatua, spending a few days in Auckland and a few days in Bays of Island.
After Napier, we drove all the way to Auckland, it was about a 6 hour drive but we did stop in Roturua – we had originally going to stay overnight here but ‘The Mother’ decided against it and went straight to Napier. We sent to Polynesian Spa which I loved, however, Dragon, not so much! The water was WAY too hot for her and she said that it smelt like ‘poo poo’ LOL. We even got a private pool (only 30 mins) and we stayed at the Lake Spa for a bit. I would definitely have loved a massage, but ‘The Mother’ was eager to stop by a park (I can’t for the life remember the name) before Auckland. There were SO MUCH SPACE and GRASS!!!! LOVE!
Where we stayed: a 4 bedroom house (found on air bnb by ‘The Mother’s aunt) which was nice and spacious. Only problem was the walls were so thin, we could hear a pin drop!
What we did: nothing much, we had a wedding at Abbeville Estate – it was a beautiful place for a wedding and Dragon again wore her favourite and BEST outfit for the day!
What we ate – for breakfast we ate at home, and obviously a wonderful meal for the wedding and dim sum (yum cha) for the day after wedding. I did have a pretty good meal with one of my oldest and dearest friend in Auckland – Blue Breeze inn which serves a delicious Modern Chinese food.
Chef Che Barrington is the chef behind Blue Breeze Inn and in 2011, he opened MooChowChow, Auckland’s first modern Thai restaurant. There were so many options on the menu. We started with the steamed bun of roasted pork belly and pickled cucumber (NZD10 each) – that crackle, it was sublime and the bun itself was soft and pillowy which was excellent.
We also couldn’t go past the steamed bun of five-spiced tofu, kimchi, and coriander (NZD9 each) – I have to say, this was pretty good. I may have preferred this over the pork belly one and that says a lot!
The bang bang chili chicken with black vinegar, sesame-chilli dressing (NZD18) was ‘bang bang’. The chili really gave it a nice kick! It was a little spicy for Dragon unfortunately but she definitely enjoyed my pork belly more.
The beef unfortunately wasn’t as tender as I had hoped. It was a little on the tough side.
For dessert, we ordered a couple of things to share. Mango, tapioca and lemon sorbet was refreshingly light and was a great palate cleanser!
The taro dumplings were more on the heavier side but it’s not something I have eaten before. It was good but I definitely prefer the mango, tapioca and so did Dragon!
Service was good and food was pretty good, especially the pork buns, shame about the beef though, as I was craving beef!
Before we left Auckland we had a quick lunch at Toru Café which is located in Ponsoby – I am really loving that area. It’s a little like Paddington, if you live in Sydney.
‘The Mother’ couldn’t go past the beef cheek, tomato, kasundi, carrot pie which was served with crinkle chips (NZD16.50) – oh how I fell in love with the crinkle chips! My my! It was crinkle potato chips, slightly fried, it was delicious. The pie itself wasn’t too bad either.
I couldn’t go past the spiced chicken, halloumi, cous cous, raisin, harissa, date (NZD22.50) – I love cous cous, and not to mention squeaky cheese! Unfortunately Dragon wasn’t a huge fan of cous cous, nor the squeaky cheese, she did however, eat all my chicken.
Service was polite and friendly, it’s a pretty cool little café, it was in the middle of a shopping arcade and was very relaxed. Food was good and everything on the menu sounded great! Those chips though – worth coming back for just a bowl of crinkle cut chips!
We were in Auckland for about 3 days, and then we drove up to Bays of Island. It was about a 2-3 hour drive, very scenic but lets be honest here, I spent most of it sleeping! Every opportunity I had, I was sleeping, I was SO TIRED and besides, cars and I – sleep! Who doesn’t? Come on?
Where we stayed: Waterfront Suite Paihia – Herritage Boutique Collection, 100 Marsden Road, Paihia, Bay of Islands, Paihia, New Zealand. We got the 2 bedroom apartments – don’t ask why but we definitely enjoyed the space! LOTS OF SPACE! And had a view of the ocean, which was beautiful!
What we did: if it was summer or if Dragon was a little older, we could have gone swimming with the dolphins, go kayaking etc. But alas, our little Dragon is still 2.5 years old. We hung around town, there was a lovely grass area, and a piano where Dragon could not stop playing! I believe she has musical blood in her, just like her mama!
What we ate:
We arrived early afternoon, and thought we would have an early dinner at Alongside which is situated over the water in the stunning bay of islands. It’s a very laid back place, very casual, we sat there drinking and eating whilst watching the sunset. It was a tad cold but it was still quite pleasant.
I couldn’t go past the braised beef croquette – 4 generous size croquette with lots and lots of beef. The outside was slightly burnt but the inside, my my my… it was absolutely amazing!
‘The Mother’ couldn’t go past the soft shell fish tacos with our local catch, apple and mango salsa. He demolished this before I could even take a photo of it.
We also ordered a side of chunky street fries with rosemary salt and smoked aioli – they were demolished by the three of us! So good!
They even had a kids menu for Dragon. Not pictured but for NZD10 – a bowl of Bolognese pasta and juice. She loves pasta so had no problems demolishing it.
It is really a nice way to spend the afternoon / evening. I can envisage many Sunday lazy afternoons sitting here, drinking and catching up with friends. It was really a very nice and pleasant area.
The next morning we had breakfast at Upper Deck, which was next door to our apartment. I ordered the big breakfast to share with Dragon – 2 fried eggs, bacon, sausage, mushroom and hash browns which was served with some brown toast. Pretty large serving, Dragon isn’t really a toast kind of girl for breakfast, she usually eats rice and leftovers for dinner. She loved the sausage and mushroom though, the toast she thought was a little hard.
‘The Mother’ had something more simple – he was a little over big breakfasts (HOW COULD HE?) and opt for muesli, yogurt and fruit which was surprisingly good! Fresh fruit and the yogurt was surprisingly good!
We had dinner at one of the local pizza place near our apartments. The pizza wasn’t too bad, very big but it was for four of us. We ordered two of it and managed to finish it all!
Overall, it was a great trip I love New Zealand, it’s such a beautiful place. However, the driving – the driving with Dragon almost killed me! Never again I think. We did have a good time, and would be keen to go to the South Island at some point.
GA’s ratings: 7 / 10
146 Ponsoby Road
Auckland, New Zealand, 1011
Ph: +64 9 360 0303
GA’s ratings: 7 / 10
16 – 138 Ponsoby Road
Auckland, New Zealand, 1011
Ph: +64 9 555 1229
GA’s ratings: 7.5 / 10
69 Marsden Road,
Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Ph: +64 9 402 6220
Upper Deck
GA’s ratings: 7 / 10
76 Marsden Road
Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Ph: +64 9402 8147
Mott 32, Central, Hong Kong
Mott 32, part of the Maximal Concepts Group which can be located in the basement of Standard Chartered Bank. The restaurant is quite spacious and the name is after New York’s first Chinese convenience store, which is on 32 Mott Street opened in 1851. I was rather impressed by the bold spiral staircase and the semi-open kitchen inside and the space! I haven’t really seen such a spacious restaurant in Hong Kong, well not as spacious as this anyways.
The menu includes traditional Cantonese, Sichuan, and Beijing dishes. We were here for lunch, which meant dim sum but you can also order from the dinner menu which looked absolutely fantastic and will bring ‘The Mother’ for dinner! It’s always hard having dim sum with just two people, you can never order that many food. However, what we had was tasty and definitely keen to come back for more!
We started with wild mushroom, water chestnut dumplings. These babies were fantastic, the pastry was silky smooth and you can’t go wrong with wild mushroom and water chestnut
I couldn’t go past the kurobuta pork, soft quail egg, black truffle siu mai. These babies were incredible! Inside was a soft quail egg, and it was just amazing!
I really wanted the signature crispy bbq pork bun but considering we were ordering the bbq pork cheung fun, we thought we would go for the Australian Wagyu beef puff. These were good but I think the crispy bbq pork would have been a winner for me!
The honey glazed bq spanish teruel pork cheung fun was good. The bbq pork delicious and the cheung fun itself was so silky smooth.
Last but not least, the pan fried turnip cake, dried scallops, prawns, dong guan sausage (which I forgot to take a photo off). Probably one of the best turnip cakes I have eaten (and at a price higher than norm!).
Service was excellent, and food was good I thought. I was rather disappointed that I didn’t get the char siu but this is definitely a reason to come back and try the dinner menu, hopefully with more people so that we can eat more food.
*apologies for the dark photos, forgot my camera and only had my iphone. The place was rather dark unfortunately :(*
GA’s ratings: 7.5 / 10
4-4a Des Voeux Road,
Central, Hong Kong.
Ph: +852 2885 8688
Shanghai Lo, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
I was catching up with the auditor, M, for lunch and she suggested Shanghai Lo, which is located on 1/F of a building called Tonno at Tonnochy Road. It is apparently the sister of the upmarket cha chaan teng, Loyal Dining on Wellington Street (which believe it or not I have not yet been!).
I left all the ordering to M, and she definitely ordered well – as always! We started with these little babies, xiao long bao (had to order 2 servings) which Dragon absolutely loved! She finished 4 (or was it 5) by herself.
I absolutely loved these smoked tea eggs – very smokey and the yolk was deliciously soft.
M knows Dragon well – she loves chicken and opt for the deep fried chicken topped with scallion soya sauce and this was superb. Skin was deliciously crispy and chicken tender. Dragon definitely ate her share of portion!!!
We couldn’t go past the tender braised pork with preserved vegetables with Shanghainese buns. Definitely the highlight of lunch! The pork had the right amount of fat to meat ratio and the bun was delicious – definitely a winner!
The menu is definitely vast and we didn’t even order half the menu! Definitely keen for dinner to try their other dishes. We were too full for dessert, next time will have to remind myself to save room!
GA’s ratings: 7.5 / 10
Shanghai Lo
1/F, 5 Tonnochy Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Ph: +852 3125 3232
Gastronomous Anonymous 