1+1 Mandarin Dumpling Restaurant

"I'm going out for western Chinese tonight", I said.  "What", scoffed my friend M, sorting through his heirloom cabbage seeds.  "Sweet n' sour and black bean beef?"  "No", said I.  "Food from western China!"

That little exchange was actually over the new branch of Dolan Uyghur in the city (and M wasn't really sorting through his heirloom cabbage seeds, but I like to give him shit).  But it's not Dolan Uyghur I want to introduce you to - it's the new and improved 1+1.

First, a bit of back story.  China is about as big as the continental US, and while many tend to think of Chinese food as some kind of monolith comprising nothing but stir-fry, dumplings and rice, the country is rippled with regional variations.  In the northeast, there are hearty soups full of sauerkraut-like cabbage; in central Sichuan, they hubble and bubble with mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns and delicate white fish.

But the Xinjiang region at China's northwestern fringe is another kettle of fish altogether.  Here, the people are Muslim, speak a Turkic language that's written in Arabic script, and it's lamb that's the star of the show.  Check out the skewers and the pilaf above - they look more Middle Eastern than Chinese!  The Xinjiang area is arguably more connected culturally to its neighbouring central Asian republics like Turkestan and Uzbekistan than to Beijing.

1+1's been serving up Xinjiang (also known as Uyghur, although the terms aren't totally interchangeable) fare in Footscray for years, but recently acquired new owners.  They inserted "Mandarin" in the title and have done some zhooshing up.

We'd no sooner plonked down and started browsing when a helpful waitress appeared.  "Would you like some suggestions?"  Yes, please, we said, and she set about giving us a crash course in western Chinese food.  Highly recommended are the cold salads, handmade noodles and dumplings, and everything lamb.

Hot spicy cucumber, $9

You can't miss this cucumber salad.  It was a standout at the old 1+1 and it's still excellent, with crunchy cucumber batons in a zingy, vinegar-based dressing that tingled with just a little chilli.

Panfried veg dumpling, $11

I'd spoken to the owner of 1+1 when researching the Footscray Food Secrets project, and she singled out her vegie dumplings as a signature dish.  The skins are made in-house, with their vibrant green colour coming from cooked spinach that's then squeezed to obtain the juice.  These were as beautiful inside as out, with a filling of shredded emerald spinach spiked with ginger and garlic.  Dunk 'em in black vinegar - just help yourself from the condiment and cutlery shelf.

Tufun lamb fried noodle, $13.50

We had fun choosing which noodles to try.  Each variety had such mellifluous names ("tufun", "dindin", "uyghun") and each had a different shape, from large squares to long skinny tubes.  This noodle stir-fry of tasty, tender lamb, veg, and al dente noodle squares might not be that much of a looker, but it tasted fantastic.

The walls at 1+1 are dotted with interesting ephemera from the region, from musical instruments that look like Greek bouzoukis to this piccie which, to me, really speaks to the Silk Road which runs through Xinjiang.  If you go to Dolan in the city, it's kind of a head trip to see Chinese characters on the menu and huge Turkish carpets on the walls!

Much as I admit I'm partial to the very occasional sneaky sweet n' sour pork, this is the western Chinese food I like best.  Highly recommended.

1+1 Mandarin Dumpling
84 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Phone: 9687 8988
Hours:  Thurs-Mon noon-10pm (closed Wednesdays)

Gong de Lin

This is a commissioned post by the Australian Mushroom Growers' Association for "Mushroom Mania".  The Mushroom Mania campaign is on for all of July 2013 and highlights the amazing mushroom dishes on offer at cafes, bistros, clubs, pubs and restaurants across Australia.  Check out their competition where you can win one of 40 $100 restaurant vouchers!  Full disclosure at end of post.

Don't judge a book by its cover.  Or in this case - a restaurant by its elevator.

To get to Gong de Lin, you enter Swanston Street's Noodle Kingdom, take an abrupt left-hand turn and hit the button for the lift.

The doors open to reveal this long, peculiar, almost windowless pearly-white room, which - combined with your slow, rattling ascension here - feels rather otherworldly.

The spot to nab is one of the booths in the window, where you can gaze down at the trams and people rushing about below, as if you're some sort of benevolent spirit.

Gong de Lin is a unique Chinese restaurant serving Shanghai-style, Buddhist vegetarian fare.  Western diners often report being somewhat perturbed at Asian vegetarian restaurants like White Lotus and Bo De Trai as the focus is primarily on mock meat, with non-mock meat vegetable dishes somewhat of an afterthought.

There is a good range of mock meat dishes on the menu at Gong de Lin but there is also a strong showing of vegetables in their natural form...in particular, mushrooms.  "Hedgehog" mushrooms, "mountain" mushrooms, gold, black and morel - it seems like every denizen of the forest floor has a foothold on this menu!

Deep-fried shredded black mushroom with sweet and sour sauce, $12.80

If your kids have never eaten a mushroom, get this in front of them post haste.  These are shiitake mushrooms, sliced, deep fried and tossed with a toffee-like coating.  It's not your local shopping centre's sweet and sour, but much more reduced, deeper in flavour and with delicious tang that I think comes from Chinese black vinegar.  "Black" or shiitake mushrooms have a particularly rich, deep flavour that held up perfectly against the crackly sweet shell.

Diced hedgehog mushrooms with macadamia nuts, $18.80

See the feathery chunk at the left of the dish?  That's a hedgehog mushroom.  The pieces had a soft, almost fluffy texture that was quite recollective of delicately cooked fish.  The name relates to its appearance, having an underside covered in soft "spines" rather than the longitudinal gills of many mushroom cultivars, like field (see a pic here).  The flavour was mild and combined with the light sauce, fresh vegies and crunchy macadamias, this was a very pleasing dish.  (Not a fan of the bright yellow gingko nuts which are really bitter, but they're a cinch to pick out!)

Cold wonton in Shanghai style, $5.00

Dumpling time!  Apparently one top pick at Gong de Lin is their beancurd dumpling which actually has a skin made from tofu instead of dough.  We went off piste with some cold Shanghai-style wontons, but it was a bit of a dud run.  They were filled with some sort of green pickled vegetable and served with vinegar and sesame dipping sauces, but the straight-from-the-fridge chill put me off.  I'm sure they're authentic but next time I'd rather try the "Jade Buddha temple vegetable baozi", which look like fluffy char siu pork buns.

Barbecue boletus edulis, $18.80

You know how tomatoes are technically fruits?  Well, mushrooms aren't technically vegetables.  They are, of course, fungi, which makes their nutritional profile completely different than vegies.  For instance, did you know that mushrooms are the only non-animal source of vitamin D?  The specimens above were "boletus edulis", also known as the mighty porcini.

Porcini mushrooms (centre in the above pic) have large, thick stems and are most often seen dried.  After the fluffy, delicious hedgehog mushroom (left), I wasn't such a fan of the coarser, slightly leathery boletus.  Despite very different menu descriptions, both dishes were prepared similarly, which was a bit disappointing.  Anyway, I had eaten way too much of the specimen on the right - the deep-fried shiitake slices.  Trust me - so good!

So much food excitement and I forgot to mention drinks.  Loved this sweet, hot soy milk...

Or there are also fancy teas like chrysanthemum, served in gorgeous teapots.  Just be sure to stir it while it brews to get the full flavour profile.  And speaking of flavour, Gong de Lin use no MSG.  The prices are a bit steeper than your average city Chinese joint, but I reckon the unusual dishes and unique ingredients make it worth it.

Gong de Lin

Level 3, 264 Swanston Street, city

Phone:  9663 7878

Disclosure:  This post is the second in a series of two for Australian Mushroom Growers' "Mushroom Mania" campaign.  I had free choice of any Victorian restaurant and was required to choose at least one dish in which mushrooms were the "hero" ingredient.  I am being paid a flat sum for my writing which does not include meal expenses.  Reviews could be completed anonymously or with prior notice; I visited Gong de Lin anonymously and without prior warning.  Australian Mushroom Growers and Gong de Lin have not sought nor been given any editorial control of this post.

Dresses, dumplings and DIY summer rolls - a blog amnesty post

I think I'm the only person in Melbourne who wants this heat wave to continue.  Reason being, I dragged my skinny jeans out of the cupboard the other day and hoo boy - less muffin top and more mushroom cloud!  As long as these days keep being sunny, I can stuff those pants at the back of the cupboard and keep swanning about in forgiving summer frocks.

As you may know, the Food Festival is upon us and it's been worth every popped button so far.  I want to share with you some of the brilliant events I've been to in the western suburbs, but first it's time to clear the decks with a smattering of tasty treats.  My first amnesty post was here, and I hope you enjoy another!

I'm not sure if this festive red shop, Victoria Restaurant in North Melbourne, is new but one dish on the menu piqued my interest when wandering past.

$24 (serves two)

These are do-it-yourself Nha Trang-style rice paper rolls.  Lengths of grilled nem nuong or minced pork patty, smoky and juicy, are supplied along with pickled carrots, vermicelli, mints and cooling sliced apple - an interesting and delicious touch!

You twirl the round rice paper wrapper through hot water, fill it how you like, roll it up and dunk in special, curiously orange Nha Trang-style sauce.  Quan Viet also make Nha Trang-style rice paper rolls with this same sauce - I know it contains pork, but that's the extent of my knowledge!

Pho bo tai, $11 (one size)

Victoria Restaurant also do pho, and are the first place I've ever seen in Melbourne that serves sawtooth coriander alongside the regulation Thai basil!  In terms of our other dishes, some were perhaps a little Anglicised - spring rolls came with sweet chilli, not nuoc mam cham - and I think they were unexpectedly busy as the last of our dishes didn't arrive until about 90 minutes after ordering.  I only had a sip of this pho but I'd like to go back and try it again.

Mama Bear is a new brunch spot that's popped up in this cafe blackspot, not far from Flemington Racecourse.

Their house brew is Gridlock's 7,000 blend, plus there are single origins.  A latte and a single origin short black were respectable, perhaps not as sublime as Common Galaxia or Wee Jeanie but good all the same.

$16.90

There are loads of enticing menu options like eggs with apple cider hollandaise and slow-cooked beef cheek sliders.  I settled on this wild mushroom and taleggio tart with a pear and rocket salad, which was delish.  And for you fuss pots, there is an actual menu item called "I just want some eggs".  Love it!

From one mama to another...  There's probably nothing Melbourne likes more than a new dumpling house, and consequently Shandong Mama is getting epic amounts of buzz.  It is actually run by a mama from Shandong, and staffed by many gorgeous family members (we were served by her delightful son-in-law).

I mean, if that video doesn't make you scream and run around the room, you're not really a Melburnian.  So when I visited, to quote a friend who'd been a few nights earlier, I was expecting the second coming.

$16.80

And therein probably lay the problem.  I think I'm the lone dissenter in all the hype in that Shandong Mama didn't blow my mind.  My impression is that it is really, really authentic, but out of the entire Asian gastronomic pantheon, I find northern Chinese dishes such as these the most difficult.  This "Sichuan pepper beef" was too much for me, the pieces very fatty and gelatinous.

$8

Likewise I couldn't handle this homemade smoked fish, served cold with a thick, gooey sauce. 

$4.80

I did really like this lovely, sweet cabbage salad (an authentic version of Chang's!) but an accompanying black fungus and sesame oil salad, with big sheathes of swollen, slightly rubbery black vegetable, didn't go down well with me.

$13.80 for ten

The dumplings were good but they just didn't reach the dizzying heights I was expecting.  We tried quite a few varieties and my favourite were probably these "Melbourne dumplings", a tasty mix of seafood, chicken, lemon zest, olive oil and parsley.  I must add that they had run out of so many dishes, ordering became somewhat farcical (a friend confirmed this too on another visit).  So it's back to Shanghai Street for me.  But try Shandong Mama for yourself and see what you think!

But whatever you do, DO believe the hype at city lunch joint Wonderbao.  Check out this great interview by Eat & Greet with funky young owner Andrew Wong - his fam had been making steamed buns in Braybrook for years before Andrew commandeered the family recipes, booted out the MSG and created an instant Melbourne classic.

$3.80 each

These are Taiwanese-style gua bao, steamed white bread enclosed around fillings to create what could be termed Taiwanese tacos.  Wonderbao do three varieties - braised pork belly, roast pork belly and crisp silken tofu, each spiked with different combinations of pickled mustard greens, crushed peanuts and more.  Make sure you get the house-made soy milk too - cooling, sweet and beany.  Wonderbao?  Wonder-wow!

And finally, if you were curious about the top pic in this post, Footscray's new creative hub venue The Colour Box is hosting SELF, or Sustainable Ethical Local Fashion.  It's a pop-up shop featuring duds by independent designers and cooperatives like New Model Beauty Queen (great name!), The Social Studio, Jude, and Twitch Women's Sewing Collective, a South Sudanese women's group in Dandenong.

Read more about Colour Box from its founder, the very inspiring Amie Batalibasi, who not only makes documentary films but also gorgeous bags and badges under her label Pretty WAK.  So I might just leave those skinny jeans at the back of the cupboard, get fitted with new duds at Colour Box instead, and keep enjoying life!

Our 2 favorite dishes in 鼎泰豐 Ding Tai Fung

鼎泰豐 Ding Tai Fung needs no recommendations to most Singaporeans. This Taiwanese Xiao Long Bao chain has been a hit ever since they reach our shores. Thanks to the shrewd business acumen of Mr George Quek, founder of Bread Talk, that we are able to taste this popular Northern China snack, from the popular in Taipei brand name, right here in Singapore. It's only during the umpteen time that we visited 鼎泰豐 Ding Tai Fung that I noticed 2 dishes that we will always order. Whether we order 10 dishes or just 2 dishes, these 2 dishes will appear. 

蟹粉小笼包 Steamed Crab Meat and Pork Dumplings. There's the original steamed pork dumplings but HY and I simply love the extra indulgence from the sweetness of the crab meat. It gave the soup that is partially filled inside the exquisitely thin dumpling skin a sweetness over the overall savory flavor. Here's how I enjoy my steamed dumplings....

Pick the dumpling up carefully by pinching the tip of the dumpling with a pair of chopsticks. We pick the dumpling up by the tip as that is the part where the skin is thickest, most robust and hence least chance of poking a hole through the skin. As you are lifting it up, be careful as the base of the dumpling is usually quite delicate. If you're not careful and tear the skin, the essence which is the the soup inside the dumpling will flow out and be wasted. As the soup inside the dumpling is the highlight, that's the reason why we try to finish the dumplings before any other dishes or else the soup will start to evaporate and dry up.

I'll lay my dumpling on a spoon, bite a hole through the skin to enjoy the soup before shoving the rest of the dumpling into my mouth.

The condiment to go with steamed dumplings is black vinegar with ginger. They enhance the flavors of the dumplings. We got a friend who virtually "drown" her dumpling in black vinegar and sometimes ask cheekily for another fresh bottle of vinegar.

虾仁蛋饭 Fried Rice with Shrimps and Eggs. To have this taste like the original Taiwanese version, starchy Pearl Rice is used. With the consistently good "wok hei", this fried rice becomes our regular complimentary to Ding Tai Fung steamed dumplings. Quality must have been controlled well as I find that this dish is consistently good at both the branches that I frequent, I12 Katong and the Paragon.

Among the branches, I have a preference for I12 Katong branch as the service staff were attentive and sensitive to our needs, at least during the times I visited. There was one instance when I visited the restaurant when HY was pregnant, the service staff helped HY with her seat and while they serve me their regular Chinese tea, they served HY a glass of warm water. It's good to avoid too much caffeine like our gynae would say. Some great service that's worth mentioning right here in a land where good service in the service industry is hard to come by.

112 East Coast Road

#01-04 I12 Katong

Singapore 428802

Tel : +65 6636 3909

Ding Tai Fung Singapore Website

麗都飯店 Lee Do Restaurant ... Cold Crab's the reason why we're here.

I was Ade's birthday dinner and it's almost a crabby one for the last 3 birthdays for members of Eat Eat Eat club. It was Ade's great idea that we do crab birthday meals this year. Jane's was at House of Seafood, mine in Roland Restaurant and Ade chose hers to be at 麗都飯店  Lee Do (Cold Crab) Restaurant. There are several cold crab restaurats like Li Gui at Mosque Street or the Singapura Restaurant. Non of us tried Lee Do before and so here we are. Service was really good. Our plates were replaced by clean ones between dishes. The following shows the dishes that just skimmed the surface of what we actually ate but are highlights of the dinner.

Lee Do's Cold Crab was the one reason that we're here. We pre-ordered the crabs which we start tearing apart when everyone arrived at the table. The crab was chilled which was probably why it accentuates the sweetness of the crab. The pincer was the easy for us to pick at the chunky meat ...

... but I thought that the best part was the body where the crab roe mingled with the meat. Apart from the extra effort needed to separate the soft shell from the meat, which was well worth the effort, the meat we found here was especially tender and sweet. The chilli sauce as a dip didn't add much to the experience but the black vinegar did enhanced the sweetness of the crab. Negative thoughts of cholesterol intake were cast aside. Tonight we feast.

Steamed Threadfin Tail had a special preserved soy bean sauce with a sourish ring to it. It was appetizing. I had loads of the sauce on my white rice.

丽都虾卷 Lee Do Prawn Rolls

丽都虾枣 Lee Do Ngoh Hiang

61 Ubi Avenue 2 #01-13
Automobile Megamart
Singapore 408898
Tel : +65 6742 2181