Lotus Dumpling Bar

I know people rave about Ding Tai Fung, but to me, Lotus make the best dumplings in Sydney. Yep, I called it. This title was definitely reinforced on a recent visit. We started out with a Jade Forest cocktail – Citron Absolut, mint, lemon juice and soda blended into a perfectly integrated, light and refreshing drink that was dangerously delicious – be warned, you will probably want more than one. We had two dumpling courses, and as the serves normally include four dumplings (and there were three of us), the waitress asked if we wanted portions of six (yes) – great service. The jade prawn dumplings were the standout. With two-toned, thin, sticky skins, these are the closest thing I’ve found to the dumplings I had in Guangzhou. The filling had fabulous identifiable individual textures (i.e. it wasn’t a blended mush) – plus the prawns were super juicy. Oh yum. Next were the pork xiao long bao, which were as silky and lovely as I remember. We then had the black pepper beef, which was incredibly tender and slathered in a delicious marinade, served with perfectly steamed asparagus and baby corn, and the crispy eggplant, which was deep fried, crispy on the outside and pillowy soft inside. Mmm. Lotus, you are undoubtedly my favourite.

Lotus Dumpling Bar, 3/16 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay NSW, http://www.lotusrestaurant.com.au/

The Cupping Room

This was my first visit to The Cupping Room for lunch – finally, I could try their famous burgers! The spring menu is full of delights, and I couldn’t go past the lure of a Korean fried chicken burger with kimchi ($20) – swoon. I started with the strawberry, apple and mint juice, which was beautifully presented in a large glass and was really refreshing – strawberry and mint belong together! The burger arrived shortly afterwards and was piled nice and high with white kimchi and the fried chicken. I was expecting the chicken skin to be really crispy, but instead it was more slightly chewy to get through to the succulent meat inside. There was some magical sauce drizzled on top that brought a bit of spice to the party, since the kimchi wasn’t overly hot (thank goodness, given how much there was!). Some fresh cabbage added a bit of crunch too. I loved the fries, which were lovely and crisp and served with a generous portion of aioli – no scrimping here. Overall this was an excellent, if slightly too filling, lunch and I’d definitely come back to have it again.

The Cupping Room, 1/13 University Avenue, Canberra ACT, http://www.onacoffee.com.au/

XO

The egg added a richness to the utterly delicious ragout – Kent explained that this is one of his Mum’s dishes, which he knew he wanted to include on the menu here – I’d come back for this alone (once again, there I was scraping the sauce off the plate with my spoon!). We had two main plates – the crispy lamb ribs ($29) and the confit duck leg ($28). The ribs were a close second for my favourite dish – even my friend who doesn’t really like lamb loved them and has decided she can eat lamb if it’s cooked like this. The ribs are piled up in a tower, topped with corriander and Vietnamese mint, and coated in a gooey, sweet plum sauce, as well as XO’s housemade lemon oil, to cut through the richness. Whilst not elegant to eat, the ribs were tender and tasty – the herbs supercharged the flavours for me, elevating this into a really spectacular dish. Finally, we enjoyed the confit duck leg – this was a good last dish, given how spicy it was. The duck was perfectly cooked and tender, and I enjoyed the mushroom broth, but definitely needed some rice as a spice-balancer! XO ticks all the boxes, service included – absolutely worth a visit. Or two…

XO, 16 Iluka Street, Narrabundah ACT, http://www.xo-restaurant.com.au

XO

Walking into XO feels like stepping into downtown Melbourne – the space is modern, fresh and very stylish. The menu is equally exciting, organised into starters, small and large plates, sides and desserts. We started with the bao ($8 each), which had the most incredibly fluffy texture and were served as burgers, rather than wrap-arounds. Co-owner Kent told us that he and the chef spent months perfecting the recipe, so that they stayed fresh upon service – I can confirm, they certainly do! The combination of the pickled daikon, the unctuous pork belly and the freshness of the cucumber was magical and set our palettes up for the rest of the night. Dish two was the steamed prawn and pork dumplings ($16, includes 4), served with the most delicious soy vinagrette – it had a perfect balance of spice, sweet and vinegar flavours and I may or may not have drunk the leftovers with my spoon. The dumpling filling was fresh and had great, distinct textures – I adore prawns in dumplings and could taste them loud and clear. Yum. My dish of the night was the Asian Bolognaise – fried udon served with a ragout and a 60 degree egg, this is comfort food at its best.

XO, 16 Iluka Street, Narrabundah ACT, http://www.xo-restaurant.com.au

Kuzuryu Soba

I have written a lot of posts about places in Kagurazaka, but this is a new one we discovered on this trip and I fell completely in love with it! We were wandering the backstreets and saw a small tour group beng led up the stairs into what looked like a traditional restaurant. After checking that a reservation wasn’t required, we took a seat inside and discovered that it was a soba restaurant, yay! The waiter was very patient with my Japanese and suggested we order a lunch set, so Mum had a mushroom soba and Dad and I both ordered the tempura set with tempura and kake soba (hot soba in a broth). The tempura was mostly vegetables and had a delicate, flaky batter which was nice and light. I particularly enjoyed the sweet potato piece, before getting stuck into my soba. The noodles were obviously made by hand – you could actually watch the chef slicing them – and were cooked to perfection. The broth had just the right amount of umami and wasn’t overly salty. The bowl was huge but I managed to finish all my noodles – I’ll definitely be back for another serving next time I’m in Tokyo.

Kuzuryu Soba, 3-3 Kagurazaka, Tokyo http://kuzuryu-soba.com/

Local Press

I usually stick to the breakfasty items on the menu at Local Press, but this visit was definitely at lunchtime, so I ventured into the actual lunch offerings. I was tempted by the kangaroo sirloin, but being a warm day decided for the cooler salad option – a soy ginger chicken and black sesame Vietnamese salad. The plate came out and I was impressed with the vibrant colours – getting stuck in, the salad was just as fresh as it looked. The snowpeas, capsicum and broccoli were all lovely and crisp, enhanced by the fresh mint and basil and rounded off with a good kick of chilli. The noodles were a bit underdone for my taste, although it made them easy to pick up, and I loved the fresh, tangy flavour of the vinegary sauce. The black sesame and cashews added flavour hits, but the star of the dish was the chicken – beautifully tender and packed full of flavour, these pieces were plentiful and moreish. I also had one of the cold pressed juices – orange, mandarin and passionfruit, which helped me cool down from the chilli. The citrus was sweet and refreshing, and the passionfruit added a nice bite. Lovely.

Local Press, 128 Trevellian Quay, Kingston ACT http://www.localpresscafe.com.au/

Pork Barrel

Two-for-one pizzas at Pork Barrel has been a lunch tradition for my whole Canberra life. To be honest, I’ve never tried anything else there! On this visit we ended up ordering two of my favourites – the Bombay (tandoori chicken, Spanish onion and raita), and Continental (artichoke, eggplant, pepperoni, olives and fetta) in the largest size to share. I feel like the bases at Pork Barrel have become thicker, because each piece was far more filling than I remember. The Bombay had tonnes of Spanish onion, much more than chicken, unfortunately, but was drizzled with refreshing raita and had a couple of papadums resting on top. There’s a good kick to the tandoori but it’s balanced by the sweet onion. The Continental had a generous amount of topping, with plenty of delicious pepperoni layered on the bottom, plenty of artichoke and a nice hit of salt from the kalamata olives and fetta. We didn’t have to wait too long for our food, despite being there at peak lunch time, although it took a while to line up and order. Remember to specify that you want two-for-one, otherwise you won’t get the deal!

Pork Barrel, King George Terrace, Parkes ACT, http://www.porkbarrel.com.au/