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
Cha Dim House 一厘棧 was the first of three Burwood restaurants we ate on a single day, and the first of two of which made up my post-night breakfast with my partner. This particular location was chosen by her in part to help me with my post-night shift decision fatigue.
We had this five spice pork and taro roll 芋絲五香豬肉捲 ($3.80) which was fried, crispy on the outside and tasty, though a little bit salty on the inside. Not bad.
The pork siu mai 猪肉烧卖 (4 for $8.50) was quite well structured, with meat and large prawns however, very very salty, too salty for enjoyment and thus cannot be recommended by me.
The radish cake 蘿葡糕 ($2.30) was pretty good, and not a large price to pay for one variety of food.
The puff pastry egg tarts 酥皮蛋挞, which were $3.50 each were pretty good.
And finally, the steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce 豉汁蒸排骨($10.50) I wouldn’t recommend, given the price, as well as the fact that I’ve easily had better steamed from a frozen pack from one of my preferred frozen dim sum purveyors.
THOUGHTS Despite variable quality of its offerings, this kind of restaurant is a particularly good place where a solo eater could get a number of different things for a relatively small price. For that reason, it’s not neccessarily a pass.
Cha Dim House 一厘棧 Murray Arcade (Burwood Chinatown), Shop 7, 127/135 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
I’ve only ever ordered delivery from Chicha Burgers in Petersham, so there’s not much I can tell you about the structural layout of what is essentially a food truck in a permanent location on Parramatta Road.
Over a couple of occasions I’ve taken advantage of delivery platform discounts to order their Classico Burger ($12), featuring a single smash patty, American cheese, ketchup, onion and pickles in a seeded bun.
This is actually almost a perfect little cheeseburger with a very generous serving of tomato sauce and pickles giving it a nice tang as well as moistness which balances out the cheese and the oily meat. The fillings cover the majority of the surface area of the bun with no useless empty buns left round the sides.
Its only problem is its compact size which makes $12 a bit of a difficult ask given Chicha Burgers’ close proximity to more value conscious places on Parramatta Rd offering similar fare, for example Cheeseburger Factory which offers double patty burgers for $13.
Luckily the delivery platform deals meant that I was able to get two of these burgers delivered for $17.70 making it cheaper than going in person and thus an attractive value option.
