Lair of Flying Green Song Rabbits

Edit: Photos updated 5/10/08.

My computer is dead again, this time with a nv4_disp Blue Screen of Death error. I HATE BSOD!!!

So still no photos, but I'll update on my day out with la grandmother. I should spend more time with her. These past few years she's slowly deteriorating (talk about a bad word to use) into a stereotypical little old woman and it scares me sometimes at how feeble and delicate she's become. She used to be such a strong woman who went tai chi every morning at the park. She was in the local newspaper for it :D

And now she's growing old, getting thinner and going vegetarian and it's like wtf T_T

Enough about old age. I started the day waking up an hour late...

I had to help out with chores so we could leave. All the while she was yelling at me at how slow I was in hanging up the clothes T_T

I wanted to dres up and look nice to take lots of photos, but I think I ended up pairing some badly choiced shirts and ended up looking pregnant and fat. Yay.

So for the past few days I've been wanting to go back to the world famous dumpling place, and I finally got the chance to sit down and have a meal. We arrived at Din Tai Fung and got a table really fast! I was so shocked! I hear stories about how people have lined up for an hour to get a table and I didn't even finish deciding on what to eat and got a table! But we had to share it with other people, which was fine by us.

Din Tai Fung is one of the top 10 restaurants in the world, originating from Taiwan (with rumoured queues for up to 2 hours) and recently opening a branch in Sydney around May-June, I think.


Asian place deserves an Asian pose.



We sat down and the waiter (called Ming) quickly brought us some menus and what looked like dirty clothes basket.

"For your bags."

Ooohhhhhh. Okay it didn't register to me until awhile later that, gosh, this is good service! They even have baskets so you don't have to put your bag on the floor! This was a good thing too, since I brought Lilas out to town. Wouldn't want to keep her on the floor, would I?


Can you see her? :D

Can I just say how good the service was.

There are like a gazillion waiters and waitresses walking around, each assigned to their designated section so there's no running all over the restaurant. I know this because I peeked at the staff register xD

Oh and the reviews on SMH.com were right. Those skirts they are wearing are frightfully short. Josh would like that. All the girls wore miniskirts and waistcoats teehee.






Table 55, 1 of 2 o_O

There isn't a huge amount of things to eat, but a rather good variety. We opt for their famous xiao long bao, prawn and pork siu mai, a vegetable bun for the grandmother and vegetable and pork dumplings in tangy sauce.

My review?


Check out the steam!



Omg can that xiao long bao get any smaller?! But beside the disappointing size of them all (and at $8.80 for 6 to boot), they taste quite marvelous. The outside layer is smooth and soft, and the inside pork is finely minced. The soup is very aromatic, but also clear; neither too salty or not enough, but a good amount of taste. If you're rich, get a whole bunch because they go fast. So yummy ^o^


Anatomy of a xiao long bao. The meat minced finely and covered in hot soup.


As for the siu mai, I thought the prawn on top was a bit too dry. Normal siu mai's come with a nice amount of juice, but this didn't.




They are also very puny.


The dumplings were also surprising because I was expecting a light, lemony or so tang but instead got something chili. Since when did tangy = chili hot? It was alright, but I couldn't handle that amount of chili oil and left most of it. That's right folks, if even I can't handle it, it must really be hot. I don't recommend it with the sauce, but without would be nice.



Too hot to bear so I ordered a cold soy milk.


The vegetable bun.





Next time I'll try the Braised Beef in Noodle Soup. I heard it was really good. Altogether we ate $32 worth of dim sims - a pretty hefty price since we only had 4 dishes. Go for the experience, and the xiao long baos. And if nothing else, the service. As we were leaving all the waiters bowed and thanked us for coming, including the hostesses who turned around upon hearing their coworkers' farewell.

I am freely advertising the restaurant with you people because I believe we should know what places are fairly good and should try out at least once. Sharing is caring! We should come visit it sometime together.

You can see the people in the kitchen perfectly moulding, spreading, shaping and creating the dumplings! Each chef is wearing pure white clothes and aprons, and everyone has a face mask on. You can even see the little holes with strong steam streaming out and cooking the dumplings! Last time I came I saw them roll out the dough and cut them into perfectly sized bits, weighing some that didn't feel right to make sure the dumplings were all uniform! And one woman was sorting the prawns over and over again to match up the sizes!

"Waaahh such concentration. Look at them!"

Grandmother was impressed too.


Din Tai Fung
644 George St, World Square
Sydney, 2000

Opened for lunch 11am - 2:30pm.

Go in through the "Jin puked on World Square" entrance, through the walkway and up the stairs to your left when you reach the clearing. Alternatively you can walk pass Napoleon Perdis on George St and enter World Square there.

The day didn't end here however, because I had to pay a visit to Shu Shin Bou for mochi. It didn't take too long to find this time, since I knew approximately where it was, and when I found Regent's place Shopping Centre I was like "this is it?!?".

It was so inconspicuous!

Many people were like "something exists between Greater Union and KFC?" T_T. Well apparently, yes. That mass of construction walls have opened up. They are still in construction, but some stores have opened up.

After walking around a bit and getting mildly lost, we found the store *eyes gleam*.

It was cute.

There was mochi in all shapes and sizes, in huge varieties. It was so hard to decide and I kept walking around in circles oohing and aahing at everything with the salesgirl throwing me weird looks. I'm impressed okay T_T In the end I really couldn't decide so bought 9 truffle mochi, 4 persimmon mochi, 2 daifuku and 12 flavoured mochi.

Here is the list:

Inside the rather large bag...



Lies many boxes...



It came to a total of $63. For mochi. >_>;; Hmm, I believe I went a bit overboard.

I wanted to go to Cupcakes on Pitt as well, but since now I know they may be opening a branch at Parramatta, NAH. Granny and I went home afterward, but not before browsing the Asian supermarket next to Shu Shin Bou and getting this...

















I bought Sparkling Elderflower Water. Like, wow. It tasted nice, and strange, but in a nice way. I had some interesting food today.

You'll find them all here:

Shu Shin Bou (and Maxim Supermarket)
501 George St, Regent's Place
Sydney, 2000

Next to Greater Union and KFC :) Go down the escalators before you and voila! I'll do further reviews once I finish off each and every one of the mochi, so you guys will know which to buy and which to steer clear of.

One thing though; self-made mame daifuku would probably taste better. It's not bad (my favourite is chocolate truffle mochi and Gift From God aka persimmon mochi) but I just think a lot of the yoghurt and cream in the daifuku and mochi was...overwhelmingy sickening =/

And I love cream... >_>

Oh dear, it sounds as though I'm a really picky person but I'm not really! I just love great food! The mochi is amazingly soft, squishy and to die for - just not the filling inside.

Either way, it was a fun day spending time with the grandmother, trying new foods.





Mr. N said he'll take me to Tetsuya's on my 21st, his treat!

Muahaha.

And to make sure I take him because he has no idea how to find it.



Mind you, this was posted several days after all this happened last Thursday.