The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
I had the PLEASURE of eating these chive and egg “dumplings” from Ruyee a few minutes ago. They were new to my local Asian grocery store, and what a delight they were.
Though labelled dumplings, I would not really characterise them as such as they were each quite large (shown in a 10-inch carbon steel pan above). The Chinese label, 韭菜盒子, is much more accurate, indicating that they’re more of an egg and chive pocket. The cooking instructions suggested heating them in a small amount of oil for a total of six minutes, however due to the three dimensional shape of the pockest I found it neccessary to hold the straight sided edge against the pan to ensure that that portion of the pocket was not left raw.
The taste of these, however, was really good. There was a strong chive taste, with an excellent filling to dough ratio – honestly even better than ones I’ve paid for at literal restaurants and food stalls.
At a pack of 5 for $6-7, I have no notes – hopefully I will be able to find more yummy frozen snacks from this company in the future.
Ruyee Chive and Egg Dumplings 如意 韭菜盒子 UPC 936999818197
We ordered a number of items from their electronic menu. Interestingly, the online menu provides an indication of what items are popular that given day, helping customers to choose not just what the restaurant believes to be its house specialties, but also what the customers think is good.
We had this fried dough 油条 you tiao ($3.50), which was fine, not the best, definitely not particularly crispy or fresh, with a bit of a self-raised taste to it.
This BBQ pork rice roll 叉烧肠粉cha shao chang fen $15.80 was OK at the time, but pales in comparison to a better one that I had at Traditional Chinese Tate in Burwood about 6 weeks after this meal. The one here at Steamup was in comparison less bulgingly full, with a char siu that wasn’t as good as the standard of char siu you’d get at most Cantonese BBQ restaurants.
We ordered also this chinese bacon & chinese sausage claypot rice腊肉腊肠煎仔饭 ($18.80), into which lightly gingered soy sauce was poured by the server, tableside with resultant sizzle, in an act of showmanship. I didn’t love it at first, particularly not enjoying the flavour of the preserved meat, but it did grow on me.
The bottom of the claypot rice was lightly charred and crispy, as it should be.
The egg tarts 蛋挞 (2 for $5) were terrible. The pastry wasn’t flaky, and the filling was too set and solid rather than soft, and also without an eggy flavour. The freezer aisle at your local Asian grocery store has better options. I would be embarrassed to sell this.
Unlimited refills of ginseng tea was also on offer, with the tiniest cups and the longest walk to the urn to minimise wasteage.
Overall the food was OK, and enjoyed much more by my partner than me. What this trip really did open our eyes to was the deep variety and availability of Chinese foods in Eastwood, a place we haven’t really been to much given we’ve always lived in a relatively Southern part of the city. Perhaps one day when our financial circumstances improve we’ll be able to go back to Eastwood.
This may really just be the uneducated opinion of one westernised Chinese guy, but I really didn’t have that inspiring an experience at Princess J (Jiao Gong Cooked) Malatang 焦功煮麻辣烫 in Emerald Square Burwood.
I found that the menu options and pricing structure was confusing and not well denoted on signage, at least in English, making it difficult to know how different items were priced, in particular the division between the fried foods and the self-serve malatang options.
I also found that the differences in soup bases was not well explained, not only by signage but also by the staff working there when I asked. In the end we chose two separate base options, one of which was pre-seasoned and one of which was similar but without a mix of seasonings, leading to a more choose your own adventure. We found that both options were overall less tasty and less enjoyable than the standard mixture of condiments and bases from, for example, Yang Guo Fu Malatang.
Whether or not this reflects poorly on this particular restaurant or poorly on our basic westernised palates remains to be answered, but our experience here wasn’t something that would lead me to come back.
At least you can tell from the photos that the place looked quite clean and well maintained.
Princess J Ma La Tang (Jiao Gong Cooked Malatang) 焦功煮麻辣烫 Shop 9 27/31 Belmore St, Burwood NSW 2134
I’ve always wanted to try orange chicken, made famous by Panda Express of California, but I’d never seen it on a Chinese restaurant menu until now. Though orange chicken wasn’t anywhere near Chick Joy’s best sellers, and was in fact not mentioned at all in online reviews, I knew I had to take the rare opportunity presented to me to live out my dream.
It turns out that the orange crispy fried chicken (8 pieces for $15) was really just generically fried chicken with a separate orange sauce to be lathered on by the eater. Though initially an underwhelming concept, I guess this does make sense as it gives control over how much of the sticky sweet sauce is desired.
While I had expected “8 pieces of chicken” to consist of perhaps the classically known half-bird with all its different pieces, what actually came (and what in retrospect was clearly pictured in the menu photographs) was 8 semi-identical drummettes. Whilst this was a bit of a disappointment, I must admit that the drummettes provided were tasty and crispy, I think previously par-fried and then re-fried to order.
The orange sauce was sweet and sticky and really not that orangey – more of a sweeter version of a sweet and sour sauce, but not bad and good to try once.
I think that if these guys actually had a half bird divided into thigh, wing, breast, and drumstick pieces then they might be onto something real.
I will list this restaurant as Chinese as the middle-aged man manning the fryer had to get his son or colleague to take my order in English.
UPDATE In a comical series of events, my wife tried to go to multiple Taiwanese fried chicken restaurants in Burwood, which all ended up being closed even though they were still meant to be open. She ended up at Chick Joy again, and ordered some bird for takeaway.
The crispy fried chicken soft bone ($15) she ate almost all of in the car. She didn’t like it as much as the one she likes to get from Hot Star.
The crispy fried chicken wings ($15) were alright, but not special.
The plum sweet & sour crispy fried chicken ($15) was quite yummy, wiht a bit of a hidden five spice flavour to it that added an extra dimension of Chineseness.
Don’t tell any of my local Chinese restaurants, but I would not be mad if I had these pork and cabbage dumplings 猪肉白菜饺 (500g for $10) served to me in a restaurant.
They were large, plump, tolerated well my haphazard boiling with no stirring of the pot, and most importantly, tasted good.
The filling of the pork and cabbage dumplings had a good texture with a bit of meat texture which made it seem like more than just your classic mystery slurry, and a light but enjoyable flavour that was allowed to shine by the addition of some extra vinegar for dipping. I can recommend them.
Lucky Dumplings Pork and Cabbage 品质王猪肉白菜饺 EAN 9309002913068
Others:
Though I enjoyed the pork and cabbage dumplings, my experience with the country-style chicken田园鸡肉饺 variety was less rewarding. I enjoyed neither the flavour, which I felt was lacking, nor the texture of the frozen vegetable medley.
Conversely, the addition of a little bit of prawn (and I think a bit of chilli) in the chicken, corn, & shrimp 鸡虾玉米饺 dumplings, as well as the removal of carrot and peas, made them much more palatable.
