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The lovely Laura turned 23, and there was much celebrating going around. =)

Laura, Mel, Marty and myself went to Chef’s Gallery for dinner, and on hindsight, it seemed like we were going for practically everything on the menu!

Clockwise from top left: Panfried Pork and Cabbage Dumplings, Chef’s Own Mini Pork Buns, Crabmeat Spring Rolls

Just because there is SO MUCH FOOD, I’m going to write about the ones that were interesting to me. There wasn’t a dish that we tried that was bad, but they were not all fantastic.

The Chef’s Own Mini Pork Buns were really good. It kind of reminds me of Chilli Crab in Singapore, where deep fried Mantou (buns) are often ordered to mop up all the errant sauce. This offering from Chef’s Gallery has a crispy outer shell and marshmallow-y soft insides. And wedged in it’s pacman-like opening is a slice of fatty pork belly. Om nom nom…

I didn’t say it was good for you. 😉

From top: Spicy Pork and Prawn Dumplings, Wok Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork

I really liked the chilli sauce in the Spicy Pork and Prawn Dumplings, but the filling, or rather, the dumplings themselves didn’t really stand up to it. Similarly, I love the mince in the Wok Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork because I have a weakness for the salty beans that they use in the mixture, but its not a dish that I’d be thinking about going back for.

Clockwise from top left: Seafood Pancake in Creamy Lime Sauce, Seared Scallops with Vinaigrette, Steamed Prawn Dumplings

Meh, this group didn’t really rock my world. It was all alright, but there was something about each that made me hesitate about that. The Seafood Pancake was quite like Prawn Toast, the Seared Scallops were…not very fresh, and the Steamed Prawn Dumplings were much like others that you can find at any establishment that does a decent Yum Cha.

Now get ready for some MAJOR CUTENESS!!!

How cute is that!!!! These Sesame Buns are shaped like little piggies, and each steamer basket gets a boy and a girl. The molten sesame filling inside is yummy, and tastes much like other black sesame desserts, but I really think that this dish is much about the ABSOLUTE CUTENESS!

There is a downside to this tale, though. When I was there, the service was terrible. First of all, they messed up the booking. It was made for 6pm on a Friday night, but Laura got a call on Thursday instead. Even after informing them that the booking was meant for Friday, they still had no records when we rocked up at the door. They did let us in, but promptly informed us that we were to leave by 7.30pm. The food was prompt, but when we requested a tray, we were ignored. When I decided that I had to ask a manager as the food was getting cold, I was met with a brusque, “I will solve your problems later”. Later, when we wanted to order more food at about 7pm, the poor waitress who took our order got absolutely yelled at by that same manager, and she came back to meekly remind us that we had to leave by 7.30pm.

So will I go back? Well, the food is good, but not mind blowing enough to risk being treated like that again. Sure, the restaurant was busy, but we had made a booking, and we went through all the proper channels in our requests. Make of it what you will, but just be wary of what you might get in terms of the service.

We ate at:
Chef’s Gallery
12/501 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9267 8877

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How awesome are food blogger meetups?? This one was organized by the lovely Wendy of Obesebaby, and the dinner was courtesy of Food Morning Sydney.

Wendy, Mel, Sara and myself got to eat and Sitney Thai in Parramatta, which is mah ‘hood!! I really love finding out about good places to go near home – it’s great for that sudden, “let’s go somewhere for dinner” decision!

And you know what it means when there are four food bloggers? FOUR TIMES THE FOOD!!!! (And we share and care, so it’s great! Tee hee.)

We could choose four entrées between us, but two of them had to be chosen from the following: spring rolls, curry puffs and satay chicken. We chose the Spring Rolls and Curry Puffs as, as per Miss Piggy’s suggestion, curry puffs are trés bad for you.

For our other choices we picked Duck and Herb, which is really yummy duck mince, artfully seasoned and scooped onto little lettuce leaves. This dish was an absolute winner, and something that I would order again in a snap!

We also ordered Tung Tong, or Moneybags, as they are better known. The inside was hot and steamy (watch your tongue!), and tasted strongly of, well, carrots. Not that it’s a bad thing, but for some reason I couldn’t really taste much else in the stuffing.

The Spring Rolls were very sweet, and the dipping sauce, even sweeter. I personally have quite a sweet tooth at times, so I didn’t mind it, but it was sweet enough to be definitely noticed by everyone.

The Satay Chicken was…I’m sorry to say that it was just a little lacklustre. The chicken was not too dry, but not quite as moist, and the peanut sauce was just a bit creamy for my taste.

We ordered Pad Thai, Soft Shell Crab Som Tum, Massaman Beef Curry and Pepper and Lime Leaf Stir Fry as our mains. The Pad Thai was ordered as the benchmark, and was well, ok. Not too moist, but also not particularly moreish. Although, it is really good that it was not overly sweet, like some of the other Pad Thais I’ve had. The Massaman Beef Curry was quite good, though not a dish for sharing. The sweet potato strips were incredibly moreish, and the beef had a deep, meaty flavour, but the pieces were quite large and hard to split amongst us.

I have a weakness for Som Tum, which is a papaya salad flavoured with lime juice, chilli, palm sugar and dried shrimp, all lovingly pounded in a wooden mortar and pestle. I love it’s salty/sweet tangy goodness, and will most certainly order it whenever it’s available. The addition of Soft Shell Crab just sold this dish for me. The freshness of the salad perfectly balanced the creamy crispiness (I know it’s an oxymoron, but if you’ve had soft shell crab you’ll know what I’m talking about) of the crab. YUM!

The Pepper and Lime Leaf Stir Fry was also good, although just a little strong on the pepper for my taste.

And the culprit? Long strands of pepper fried with the juicy chicken and crunchy veggies. And while they make a pretty picture, don’t eat them unless you have an absolute love for pepper.

We were absolutely full after this, due to the rather large serving sizes, and actually forgot about the dessert!!

A warm, creamy salty/sweet mouthful, the Rockmelon with Sago and Coconut Milk was a mixture of tastes and textures. The sago has a texture quite similar to tapioca pearls that you can find in bubble teas, although less chewy and way smaller.

In all, it was a really good dinner. Thanks again to Wendy for the invite!!!!

We ate at:

277B Church Street
Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9633 3226

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