Dumplings Incident

This happened about 2 weeks ago, a night before I flew to Hobart (Tasmania). My friend Julia requested dumplings from restaurant X in CBD as she missed it badly. My plan was to get her some dumplings & buns to take to Hobart the next day.

Staff @ door : Welcome...
Me : I want to take away dumplings A, B, C, give me the frozen ones
Staff @ door : Sure no problem, please fill out the order for, we can't do cold dumplings, dumplings need to be steamed
Me : Ok, I'll just order the buns then. Here's the form, total order 16 pieces, pack it into 2 boxes (1st box 6 pieces, 2nd box with 10 pieces)
Staff @ door : Please do 2 order forms
Me : Ok
Staff @ door : Please pay at the cashier & collect take away from inside

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...... WaiTing ... WaiTing...and WaiTing ....close to 30 minutes
I wonder why I have to wait so long, they only need to pack all the buns into the box, how complicated can it be?
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Me : Is my take away ready ?
Staff inside : Please wait a moment

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Another staff from kitchen came out with stacks of bamboo steamer. Not a good sign at all.
I put my hand on it and it is steaming hot (obviously it was steamed).
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Me : I ordered the frozen ones, cold ones...
Staff inside : Wait a minute
Staff inside talk to Staff @ door : She said she ordered the cold ones (talked in Mandarin)
Staff @ door : Oh ya she did ordered the cold ones
Staff @ door : (turned around at me and...) Do you want to take the hot ones ?
Me : NO, I ordered the frozen ones because I want to take it interstate
Staff @ door : We can make it cold again, you can wait 15 mins, we put it into our freezer OR
you can take this hot ones and put it into your fridge
Me : NO, I want my frozen ones, you screwed up my order and I am not taking the hot ones
Staff @ door : One minute (she went inside, then come out again)
Staff @ door : We can only give you only1/2 of your order for the cold ones, you need to take the hot ones for the rest of the order because we run out of the cold ones. You can also check our kitchen, we really run out.
Me : Forget it, I want all my money refunded now.


@ 8.20ish pm they run out of dumplings ?
Get real ... they are famous for their dumplings & buns. Are you kidding me ?
Me so annoyed after the dumplings incident.
Very disappointed considering I dined in so often to this place.
How can they expect me to take steamed buns - put it back to freezer - then later on when my friend wants to eat it they have to steam it again.
FORGET IT. I can get something else to bring to Hobart.

Chips on a Stick

Although I am not a big fan of having too much deep fried/ junk food, I still bought this accordion look like potato stick, Chips on a Stick. I found the stall during the yearly Willoughby Spring Festival in Chatswood. For $5 per stick you might think it is a bit of rip off considering 1 kg potato is around $5, hhmm not really, it does involved a lengthy process to sell a stick.

It started with a team starting to HAND peeled the potatoes which take up most of the times, put it into the skewers, run it in a machine that make the potatoes evenly sliced like accordion, stretch the potato to create the gap, deep fried & seasoned.

Chips on a Stick, piping hot & ready to be collected, I had cheese + chilli mix
Crispy ... Tasty ... and Oily of course
I don't think they are available in any other market which is a relief for my cholesterol level.

Available Flavours

Chefs Gallery

A new restaurant just opened in town about 1.5 month ago, it is called Chefs Gallery.
Similar style to Din Tai Fung with a better final presentation. The restaurant is quite cozy, you can definitely pick this place if you are planning to have a comfortable chit chat dinner with friends. Attentive staff, modern decor and spacious tables.

The open kitchen displays army of chefs running the whole area. The kitchen is pretty big, at least about 15-20 chefs were in the kitchen doing different duties from noodle making, stir frying, steaming, dumplings making, chopping etc. It was a mad busy kitchen.

ENTREE

Pan fried pork & cabbage dumplings

Chinese roti with pork floss
Roti is better than Mamak, less greasy & fluffy

MAINS

Home made egg tofu with preserved veggies topping

3 eggs fried rice (chicken egg, duck egg and century egg)

Hand made Spinach noodle with Prawn roe

DESSERTS

Osmanthus jelly with goji berries
Very refreshing, if you love plum, your name is on it !!

Cute pumpkin shape dessert
Everything is edible ...

Lotus paste fillings

Some friends commented about the small portions and bland noodle/ dessert. I don't find it bland at all & their portions are reasonable. Their noodles are great quality & fresh plus they contain no yeast. Majority of their desserts are Asian style & it is light, just right for my liking.
Chefs Gallery is definitely on my weekend hang out list.

If you are planning to visit the restaurant during weekend, I would highly recommend to rock up before 6pm otherwise you will be Q-ing for a while. Happy trying.

Cupcakes

I baked some cupcakes for my little friend Cameron (3rd) birthday party. I stayed up till 1am in baking them. My first batch was a total failure, had to throw them to the bin. Luckily the 2nd batch turn out all right. I decorated them with mini Oreos, m&m, baby marshmallows, chocolates sprinkles, etc.

I am little lazy today...but I will post the recipe soon...

The Counter Custom Built Burgers

2012 - The Counter Custom Built Burgers is no longer operational ... sad..sad

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I had no computer and internet for about 1.5 month as my vintage (aka old & dying) computer was problematic. I am glad that my geeky friend fixed it up, save me some $$$$. Time to update my eating adventures now....

Around my neighbourhood we have an American burger joint called The Counter where you can built your own burger & have sweet potato chips.

The only 'Counter' in Australia

Here's the Order form ... full of varieties, so hard to decide what I want in my burger
Well, I can always come back & try a different combo !

Yummy Sweet potato chips .... generous salt :o)
I had to shake off the excess salt

My Burger = Avocado + Boiled Egg + Beef + Cheese + Grilled Onions + BBQ Sauce

I got all my fave ingredients in the burger, the next question was how am I going to eat them ? Eating the burger was a bit of a work by itself due to the height, but I managed to get through the whole burger thanks to fork, knife and hands.
Our table was a big mess at the end. Practice makes perfect ... if I dine in another time I should be less messy.