New Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield

Xiao long bao, those immaculately shaped pork dumplings bursting with steaming hot porky broth, are perhaps the most famous type of dumpling in Sydney. Din Tai Fung offers the holy grail of pork dumplings, with each crafted to a precise weight and diameter and filled with tasty pork marbled with gelatinous bits, have mouths drooling and queues forming at every joint. 

The lesser known relative to these dumplings are pan-fried pork dumplings, brimming with a similar filling and hot soup but with a fluffier bun wrapper and a bottom fried to golden crispy perfection. These are bigger, meater, more filling - call it the plump, loving auntie of xiao long bao.

Ryo's, Crows Nest

Crows Nest
Of all the carbohydrates in the world - oats, rice, bread, noodles.... Can you guess what my favourite carb is? It starts with an N and ends with oodles. Yep, oodles of noodles!! Whether it be slippery translucent rice noodles, chewy wheaten egg noodles or thin squiggly vermicelli, nothing tickles my tastebuds more than a big bowl of noodles. Pure bliss for me is slurping away at a pile of noodles, never failing to get a little bit of sauce or soup on my shirt every time in the midst of all my enjoyment. They are my absolute favourite comfort food. Of all time. Full stop.

If the title exists, I am a noodlie. Among my favourites are beef brisket noodle soup (with tendon, of course), Pho, vermicelli salads and Tsukemen. Tsukemen is a type of dipping noodle, similar to ramen but served cold with a small bowl of soup of the side. This style of ramen is typically eaten in the warmer months in Japan as it is more refreshing and less heavy than traditional ramen, which is why I love it so much. To eat Tsukemen, you take a few strands of noodle, dip them into the soup and slurp them up. This way the noodles stay al dente and you can appreciate their wonderfully chewy texture, as well as control the amount of soup you get in each mouthful. All the deliciousness of ramen, but without feeling too hot or heavy afterwards!

Miss Chu, Darlinghurst

Darlinghurst
Living in the inner west, I don't really get a lot of opportunities to try all the wonderful eateries I often read about and drool over in the inner city and city. That's why I love weekends and the holidays, because that's when I really get to go out and eat. I recently had a course in Darlinghurst and got really really excited because over the three days I'd be there, I'd get to go out every day for lunch and try all the places I'd always wanted to go!

One of these places was Miss Chu, near busy William Street in Darlinghurst. This is the original Miss Chu tuckshop, which has since expanded to have numerous tuckshops in the Sydney CBD, Bondi, Manly, Melbourne and even London. Being labelled the 'Queen of Rice Paper Rolls', this small Vietnamese hawker-style eatery and takeaway shop offers both quick takeaway munchies - think rice paper and spring rolls, yum cha style dim sim and peking duck pancakes- as well as sit down noodles and salads, traditional Asian desserts and drool-worthy tropical beverages.

Excelsior Jones, Ashfield

Ashfield
I know this place has been open for a while now and showered with a whirlwind of praise ever since its opening at the beginning of 2013. It's risen to fame in little over a year, and has gained Sydney-wide support for its great food and bustling atmosphere, a surprise find in the typically Asian-food-dominated suburb of Ashfield in the Sydney's Inner West. You need to go a little out of the way to find this cafe, situated unpretentiously in a corner block in the residential area of the suburb, and from the outside it may look quiet and unassuming. But behind the large glass windows lies a clean, simplistic but at the same time homey and comfortingly pretty little cafe with beautiful food.

Why I love Asian Bakeries: Part 2, Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery

Asian
So do you want to know another reason why I love Asian bakeries? I said in my first post here that it's because there is a myriad of weird and wonderful creations that you can find in them, sort of like a bakery museum!

One of the other things I love about Asian (Chinese) Bakeries is their cheep and cheerful fare and how you'll be hard pressed to find a bakery that is exactly the same as another. Each has their own 'feel' to their baked goods - no two Bo Lo Bao taste the same, no two Dan Tarts have the same texture. Each bakery has it's own take on the sweet and savoury classics.

Pear and Raspberry Cake

Baking

My love for cooking began when I started baking in the kitchen. I began by making simple things - chocolate chip cookies, lime and coconut loaf, cupcakes and muffins. Then I started becoming more adventurous with homemade pastry, tarts, pies, biscotti and this cheesecake.

Il Goloso Ristorante Pizzera at Haberfield Post

Haberfield
If you were to ask me what my favourite Italian food was, I wouldn't be able to answer you. I absolutely love Italian food, whether it be pasta, pizza, arancini, pane (bread) or any of the various antipasto delicacies. Actually, that's a lie.... I would probably say Gelato, but that is another type of food that deserves its very own category...

But of all Italian food, it would be extremely hard to me to choose just one that I adore. It's good eating out at Italian restaurants with a big family because you're always guaranteed to order a wide range of meals, which means that I hardly ever miss out on anything that I love. Must orders whenever we eat Italian are always a seafood dish of some sort, whether it be a Spaghetti Marinara or a Frutti di Mare pizza, most of the time accompanied by a lovely parmesan and rucola salad and crunchy, aromatic garlic bread.