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Chinatown walking tour

Posted on 24 February, 2012 by Alvin

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: Vegetables (garlic chives and water chestnut) dumpling

: clockwise: bottom right, garlic chives dumpling, har gow (prawn dumpling) and siew mai (pork, prawn and shitake dumpling) .

: Dim sum lunch at the 800 seater Eight Restaurant at Market City, Chinatown

: Haymarket seafood, level 1, Market City – sells live, frozen and fresh seafood. Good place to get live mud crab, spanner crab and some types of fish loved by the Chinese such as Murray, parrot, cod and king salmon

: Emperor’s Garden BBQ shop at Thomas Street selling roast duck, roast quail, pipa duck, roast pork, crackling roast pork belly, roast Chinese sausage, roast pork ribs, braised chicken feet, soya sauce chicken

: Sample tasting of BBQ chilli beef and honey pork from Singapore Famous BBQ pork shop

: BBQ meat (lon yoke) at the Singapore Famous BBQ Pork shop, Thomas Street. Also sells different types of meat floss – plain or chilli

: Mixing flour to make “yu tiao” at Mother Chu’s Taiwan Gourmet shop.

: Making “yu tiao”. Lay a strip of dough on the floured table, place another same size srip of dough on top. Using a long round stick (similar in thickness to a chopstick), press the stick on to the dough to make an indentation. Lift the dough, stretch it longer and place into the hot oil

: Watching the making of yu tiao

: Using a long pair of chopsticks to turn the “yu tiao” so that it browns evenly

: Cutting the dough into 10mm thick to make “yu tiao”

: Making “yu tiao”

: Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet, sells “yu tiao” deep-fried fermented dough served with warm soya bean milk, green shallots pancake and other Taiwanese delicacies

: Cakes at Bread Top

: Egg custard tart (centre)

: Pork floss buns. Asian buns have a very soft texture and the fillings and toppings range from Western to Chinese. For the pork floss buns, mayonnaise is spread on the buns and then dipped in pork floss.

: Looking at the different varieties of bread with sweet and savoury fillings at the “Bread Top ” shop

: Breadtop – an Asian bread and pastry shop at 404 Sussex street. They have several shops located mainly in Asian community areas such as Hurstville, Kingsford and Chatswood.

: Looking at the colourful pictures of Chinese dishes, an array of delectable dishes to whet your appetite.

: Sussex street is lined with shops specialising in dried seafood such as sharksfin, sea cucumber, oyster, fish maw, bird’s nest, scallops and fish lips.

: Walking along Sussex street

: Browsing at the Abalone shop

: Browsing at the Abalone shop

: Australian Abalone Land, 396C Sussex Street. Sells frozen and dried seafood (sea cucumber, fish maw, bird’s nest, dried scallops, sharkfins, dried oyster and Chinese herbs

: Priced dried abalones – usually prepared by a highly skilled chef and takes 2-3 days of preparation.

: Chinese seafood delicacies – dried abalones. They are highy priced and cost few hundred dollars a kilo

: Continuing the walking tour crossing George Street and heading to Sussex Street

: BBQ shop

: Hmmm yummy BBQ

: The BBQ shop also sells cooked duck wings, duck’s tongue, pig offals – stomach, intestines and pig’s ears and roast porkt trotters

: BBQ shop selling roast duck, roast pork (char siew), crackling roast pork belly (siew yoke), bbq pork ribs, soya sauce chicken, roast pipa duck, poached cuttlefish, roast sausage

: Explaining the different types of tofu (beancurd), holding a silken tofu

: Browsing at Pon Tip Thai grocery and vegetable shop (few shops from Mae Cheng)

: Browsing the canned good at Mae Cheng

: White radish aka daikon (Japanese) or lor pak (Cantonese)

: Explaining the usage of green papaya

: Explaining the usage of kangkond (aka morning glory, swamp or water spinach, pat bom)

: Explaining the usage of galangal – see glossary for description

: Mae Cheng-Thai grocery and vegetable shop, 18 Campbell street

: Explaining the garlic chives (kow choy). One of the core ingredient in Pad Thai and Malaysian char kueh teow

: Explaining the pandan leaves (aka screwpine leaves or pandanus leaves)

: At Mae Cheng Thai grocery shop, Campbell street

: At Ho’s dim sum kitchen

: Hot dim sum at Ho’s dim sum kitchen

: At Ho’s dim sum kitchen. A take-away shop selling fresh and frozen dim sum, rice dumpling, hot dim sums like egg tart, coconut tart, bbq pork bun, spring rolls, siew mai etc.

: Group of participants for the Chinatown walking tour

: One of the highlights of yum cha, dessert! This little dainty mango pancake is filled with pieces of mango and whipped cream

: Dim sum lunch

: Enjoying dim sum

: Enjoying the dim sum lunch

: Live small abalone (left) and pippies (right)

: BBQ meat (pork, beef and chicken), comes in different flavours: chilli, honey. In Singapore and Malaysia, it is also madre from prawns and have other flavours like black pepper

: Curiously observing the barbecue of thin pieces of meat (lon yoke) at the Singapore BBQ meat stall

: Shopping for Asian greens at Paddy’s market, basement of Market City, Chinatown

: Betel leaves – refer to glossary page for description.

: Arthur, the manager at the Taiwan cafe explaining the making of Yu Tiao (fried bread stick)

: Shopping at Pon Tip – mecca for Thai groceries, fresh herbs, green papaya, banana blossom, drumsticks and banana leaves

: Photo shoot before the start of the tour

: Smorgasboard of dim sum

: Highlight of the tour – Yum cha at Eight restaurant, Market city