Get excited…

Ladies and gentlemen of Canberra… the Night Noodle Market is coming! Part of Good Food Month (I knew there was a reason I was born in March), the market is set to be bigger and better than last year when it kicks off tomorrow night! The line up is looking excellent – I’m particularly excited about the bao trifecta from Bao Stop, a mini-Boodle feast from Kusina (one of my favourite local businesses), the ever-sophisticated fare from Lilotang, and, finally, the ubiquitous Watermelon and Strawberry cake from Sydney’s Black Star Pastry, fused with the genius that is N2 Extreme Gelato. Yes, it will be busy. Yes, the weather is looking like it will be hot. But Canberra, this delightful pop up hawker-market is only here from Friday 4th until Sunday 13th March, so please make the most of it! To keep you posted on what’s happening, I’ll be Instagramming my opening night experience live for you to follow along and decide which queues are worth braving for yourself (follow me at @sharoninez16). Oh, and don’t forget to check out the rest of the Enlighten events while you’re taking a digestion pause. Happy eating!

Sammy’s Kitchen

I haven’t been to Sammy’s Kitchen in such a long time, so I was excited when we organised a work lunch there. On arrival, you notice the lovely plates with Japanese words for fruit and vegetables on them – I had persimmon on mine. We went for the $26.50 per person banquet option, starting with spring rolls and prawn toast. Guys, this is one of the biggest prawn toasts I’ve ever had, and it was amazing – entirely covered in sesame seeds and with heaps of lovely prawn meat inside, I’d come back just for this. But then we had the shantung chicken, and it got even better. Oh hello crispy skin and tender meat and unctuous sauce – get in my belly! Also a dish to come back for. Repeatedly. The beef rendang again had very tender meat and wasn’t overly spicy, and the sizzling prawns in XO sauce disappeared quickly – delicious! We were all getting very full by the time the bean curd and vegetables came out, but again this was a winner, with everyone making just that bit more stomach space to fit it in. The banquet was amazing and great value for the price.

Sammy’s Kitchen, 9 Bunda Street, Civic ACT http://www.sammyskitchen.com.au/

The Fish Can

Canberra seems to have gone mad for bao, the latest foodie trend to sweep Instagram, and The Fish Can are giving the people what they want. We went on a warm weekend afternoon and there was a significant queue of people waiting to order and collect their bao. We ordered a couple of different fillings to try – pork belly, soft shell crab and fried chicken. Yes, it’s a small shipping container/food truck, so we did have to wait a while, but the bao were dished up fresh, and whilst this isn’t fine dining (the bao wrappers don’t really compare to somewhere like XO), it is tasty and filling food. The pork belly bao is packed full of tender, fatty meat, refreshing cucumber and sprigs of coriander to lift the whole combo – I liked it, rather than loved it. Next up was the soft shell crab – mmm. Cooked in tempura batter and dished up with coleslaw and crushed peanuts, this was one I’d come back for. But my ultimate favourite was the ‘Chican’ -fried chicken breat with aioli, crushed peanuts and coriander. The chicken was so perfectly tender inside and crispy on the outside, combined with the crispy peanuts and spicy aioli to make a real winner.

The Fish Can, Westside, 3 Barrine Drive, Acton ACT

Onomichi Ramen

There are quite a few restaurants around the Hamamatsucho JR station, but many of them are designed for quick churn (i.e. standing restaurants/izakayas). We were quite tired after a day of sightseeing so ended up picking Onomichi Ramen, as it had seats. Sure, the decor is nothing special, and it has a lingering smell of cigarette smoke, but once you’ve received your giant bowl of ramen those things fade into the background. I ordered the standard soy ramen and added on all the extras – pork and egg. They offer table service, and brought out edamame for us to start. The ramen didn’t take long (so a good spot if you’re really hungry!) and the broth looked rich and fatty. Research after the meal explained that Onomichi ramen is the local specialty of Onomichi, near Hiroshima, and uses a typical soy broth with added fish paste and melted lard. Whilst that may not sound appetising, I promise you, it was delicious, and if I’d had room to finish the bowl I would have. The pork was thick and tender, the egg gooey in the centre and the ramen had a great amount of bite. Yum, yum, yum.

Onomichi Ramen,  Chome-30-11, Hamamatsucho, Minato, Tokyo Japan

Ginseng

I met up with friends at Ginseng for dinner before a night at the movies, and we each picked one dish to share. We started things off with a serve of the crispy duck pancakes (normally a serve of 6, we asked for 8 to split evenly). I was impressed with the service – they were prepared freshly on the table next door for us on individual plates and the duck pieces were plump, tender and generous. The pancake wrapper was thin and there was a slice of cucumber and a small sprig of spring onion, plus the hoisin sauce. Yum. The three mains came out shortly afterwards – honey prawns, Szechuan beef and sizzling Mongolian lamb. The sizzling lamb was really tender and the sauce was to die for – the right balance of sweet and salty. The beef had a great sweet and sour flavour and plenty of vegetables packed in, but I think the dish of the night was the honey prawns. Yes, I know they’re really unhealthy, but wow they tasted good! The batter was light and crisp and the prawns were so juicy, their seafood flavour enhanced by the honey. Yep, I’d definitely order like that again. Yum!

Ginseng, 15 Flinders Way, Manuka ACT, no website

CBD Dumpling House

Oh dumplings, how I love you. There aren’t a huge number of restaurant offering dumplings in Canberra, but the CBD Dumpling House is (obviously) one of them. We went early on a weeknight and were seated in the window towards the back of the large, airy space. We started with a plate of prawn and pumpkin dumplings, which had a generous 14 dumplings in the serve. The prawns were whole and really tasty, with the tender pumpkin complementing the flavour nicely. The dumpling skins are a bit thick for my taste, but that was my only complaint. Dish number two was the steamed vegetables in a peanut sauce – I think this was actually the highlight of the meal, with perfectly crisp carrots, bok choy, mushrooms and broccoli that was so good it tasted creamy, doused in a heavenly peanut sauce. More please! We finished off with a plate of the shantung lamb, which is definitely not the sort of dish to have if you’re on a health kick. The pieces of spicy lamb are fried to crispy and sandwiched with fat – but gosh it tastes amazing! Reliably good food.

CBD Dumpling House, Scott’s Crossing, Canberra ACT, no website

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/