Christmas and Boxing day 2009

Woke up in the morning (noon) with the yummy leftovers of last night's oxtail soup, didn't have much time left since we had to rush back home. I still needed to do finish off the other cake to bring to Moco's parent's house. I was kinda cheating with the base by using the biscuits but I didn't put enough butter. So eventhough I made it the night before the base still looked a bit loose. Based on the last experience using frozen berries, I also added more icing sugar!


At dessert time, the base did crumble a bit but it's still okay, so glad Moco's cousins finished it all!

Flashed back the time after we got home and before we went to Moco's parents place, we got a lil peckish and wanted to have a quick snack of dumplings. Our first choice was the Din Tai Fung at World Square but sadly they closed at 3pm and we got there at 3.01pm

But conveniently there's this new dumpling restaurant just below. Attracted by the high tech menu on their walls and by the fact we did want to have some xiao lung bao we were lured in. We had to wait and I think they've been quite busy since the waitress was a bit 'forgetful' (she didn't give us a ticket but in two minutes she suddenly asked for a ticket from us?)

Overall the service was good (they can speak English and weren't too rude) but if you're starving and you saw the restaurant was full, maybe the best not to go in. It took so long for us to fill our craving! Whilst waiting we realized we have actually visited their original restaurant in Ashfield a long time ago!

pork xiao long bao $7.90

My dad always said eating xiao long bao is an art in itself, there's a trick to lift it without breaking the skin and to keep all the juice inside. But I think it's more likely to depend on your luck of the draw and thickness of the skin..

I found this one was a bit too thick, but the inside was perfectly tasty.

pan fried pork and crab dumpling

I think I was a bit dissapointed with the pan fried dumpling. Not just because it took so long but also from the menu each of the dumplings had crab roe on top. When it came out there was only one dumpling that had crab roe on top! The bread itself was too thick for my liking too...

Next time when I come again I'd like to try their larger dishes instead of their dumplings...

Anyway that was just the afternoon snacks, now we're getting ready for the real deal.

We arrived at Moco's parents house and already greeted with Christmas Noodles Viet style!
What I like most about Viet cooking is the freshness and the natural vibrant colours that they have and I'm also a big fan of rice noodles.

It's so nice to have lots of greens after the all meat dishes yesterday..

lettuce, mint and some other leaves =p

homemade sauce and pickles!

Moco's mom has been trying to pass the recipe on to me but I can't see myself doing any of these sauces anytime soon..

Prawn springrolls and taro rice vermicelli rolls (apparently the taro rolls were fresh from Vietnam)

I don't normally eat deep fried springrolls but this one was quite good. It's crunchy and I can actually tasted the prawns inside! As for the taro rolls, I've actually never tried them before and surprisingly good for a vegetarian roll ;)

the prep..

My bowl! (greens, sprouts, pineapple, shredded pork, prawn, springrolls, and lots of meehun!)

The next day, the noodle bonanza continues, using a different type of rice noodle, this time my bowl was filled with mungbean prawn fritatta and sliced preserved pork!


It's almost too late when I realized there's a different type of noodle at the bottom of my bowl. This one is similar to what you can find in yum cha but the rice noodle had dried prawns inside.

And if you think the noodle show ended now, you're thinking too fast..

Last one for the night!

fresh deboned steamed fish and special sauce prawns!

This is my second time I've eaten this dish and I think the first one was more than two years ago. I almost forgot how beautiful Moco's mom stewed these prawns. The sauce was so sweet and the meat so tender. It's hard to believe the sauce is mainly made up of prawn head guts. Traditionally you eat this with soup but I like dry noodles more so for the next bowl (yes I had two bowls!) I made my own version of just the noodles and the prawns ;p