Sydney Bloggers' Yumcha at East Ocean
*shriekkkkkk* I just got out from my dearest dearest softest softest bed to find AugustusGloop has already put up the post on Sydney Bloggers' yumcha! *yikes yikes yikes* *panic panic panic* I better be quick and don't slack and post up mine too after all I was given the onerous task to photograph every single dish! I am sure you are waiting to see how the photos went!
So here's it is, first ever Sydney Bloggers' Yumcha:
♥ tabeshimashita @ East Ocean on 27 Feb 2005
I had the strangest dream the night before my first ever meeting with Sydney bloggers or as a matter of fact, any bloggers. I have not in my short humble life met in person, flesh and all, someone that I know from the internet. So I started having nervous hiccups and butterflies in my tummy 2 weeks well before the big big day (for me that is, ShinChan was unaffected).
Anyhow, back to the weird dream. I dreamt that during yumcha, we had nai wong siu long bao (Shanghainese dumpling with chinese custard filling) which looked so inviting that you just gotta have some of that. I woke up with this huge truly happy and satisfied smile on my face, ready to go yumcha! *yay* Okay, I was nervous too but the thought of good food *yum* in the company of foodies like myself just kinda helped push that nervous feeling aside.
There we were, standing under the golden tree in Chinatown introducing ourselves. In attendance were AugustusGloop, BHR, R, R's siblings, Casey, ShinChan and of course Pinkcocoa. That makes seven of us. (Er. The seven samurai?) I didn't know Casey and R's sibling until the day. And if you are interested to know, only ShinChan and R's sibling do not own a blog. And it was R's idea of having a Sydney Bloggers' yumcha. :)
We headed to East Ocean, which seems to be the favourite between us. It was 11.10am and I was surprised to see half the restaurant still rather empty!
The sweet R took on the challenge of ordering dimsum for everyone. She was really quick.
"Ya. This one. *point* No. Not that one. *point* What's in here? *point* Oh. That too. Give me one!"
♥ The East Ocean Feast
R was superb. See what she had ordered for us?
Top Row (l-r):
mango pudding (yes! we ordered them before we even finished with savouries!), beef tripes, beef siu mai
Middle Row (l-r):
gao choy gow (chives dumpling), doa miu gow (pea sprouts dumpling), sin juk guin (fresh beancurd sheet roll)
Bottom Row (l-r):
hak jiu ngao chai kuat (beef ribs in black pepper sauce), san chao lo mai fan (raw fried glutinous rice)
I was put on the task to photograph every single dish. But sorry people!!! Some photos turned out blurry. Well, the one taken by me were blurry but those taken by ShinChan were good. *sigh* My shaking hands are to blame! I should have listened to AugustusGloop's advice and took at least 4-5 shots of each dish. :p
For those who weren't there with us, here's some feast for your eyes!
And for those of us that were there, here's the sweet and delicious memento to remind us of the wonderful brunch!
♥ Hak Jiu Ngao Chai Kuat - Beef Ribs in Black Pepper Sauce.
♥ Beef Siu Mai
Didn't get to eat this. Was this nice?
♥ Ngao Pa Yip - Beef Tripes with green capsicum
♥ Sin Juk Guin - Fresh Beancurd Sheet Rolls
There was also a similar one that's wholly vegan called lo hon zai guin. It's just the same thing without the ham and meat inside. I only found this out on the day when I asked the kind lady the difference between the two.
♥ Inside Sin Juk Guin
I didn't have this. ShinChan did so I took a photograph of what's inside. You see, food photographing has become such a dangerous addiction. I was happy with just the photo shot of the dish but now I want to photograph what's inside the food too! As I was photographing this interior shot, I spotted AG giving me that acknowledging smile! hehe.
♥ San Chao Lo Mai Fan - Raw Fried Glutinous Rice
What raw fried means is the glutinous rice has been stir fried in wok before putting it to steam. Seems like ShinChan had found the treasure: egg yolk in his spoonful of glutinous rice!
♥ Fung Chao - Phoenix Feets (Chicken's feets)
This didn't appeal to too many people. It probably looks scary to many. R's sibling was wonderful. She was not scared to try out anything. Yesss. This is the way foodie should be. She had one of these. I forgot to ask her how she found the feets.
There's a popular story in chicken feets in Asia. When we were young, the adults would tell us not to eat chicken feets because if we did, we would have very bad handwriting. This was popular amongst the Malay where there is a saying that goes "seperti kaki ayam" (just like chicken feets) which means you would have handwriting that is as horrible as the scratches made on the ground by feets of chickens. Same goes with Hokkien culture.
♥ Inside Dao Miu Gow
♥ Hou Yao Gai Lan - Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce
Shame to say I like only the leafy parts.
♥ Char Siu Bao - BBQ Pork Bun
♥ Har Cheong - Prawns wrapped in Rice noodle rolls
I forgot to order zha leong (yao tiu in rice noodle rolls) this time!!
♥ Jin Cheong Fun - Pan fried rice noodle rolls
Served with a sweet bean sauce (hoisin sauce maybe?) and peanut sauce. The more charred it is the better I like it. Just love the crunchy bits!
♥ Sam Sek Gou - Three colours Cake
clockwise from top left:
lo bak gou (daikon cake), wu tao gou (yam/taro) cake, ma tai gou (water chestnut cake)
♥ Wor Tip - Pan fried dumpling
R and R's sibling were quick with this dish. They forgot to let me grab a shot of it!
See the many stamps we got on our yumcha card? That was before we ordered desserts!
♥ Ma Lai Gou - Steamed Malay Cake
My favourite!
♥ Ye Jap Gou - Coconut Jelly
Very soft and fluffy!
♥ Mango Pancake
♥ Hang Yan Dao Fu - Almond Tofu/Jelly
♥ Hang Yan Dao Fu again! Spot the difference!
Why am I repeating this pic again? Give it a go and try to spot the difference.
Are you ready?
Ready for the answer?
Answer to be revealed?
.
.
.
.
The first pic has cling wrap on top right corner, still clinging to the plate. The bottom one didn't. BHR kindly removed the clingwrap for me so I could have a good shot! Somehow BHR reminded me of my undergrad course coordinator!
Did you get it right?
♥ Dessert time!
We were almost done with our desserts. Look how messy we were!
We walked out of the restaurant 2 hours later with a bulging tummy. Our wallets? Well, it didn't shrink as much as we thought it would. The yumcha came down with about A$15.50pp. Not bad, eh?
AG, BHR, Casey, R's sibling and R: I had a very very very very good time with you guys! ShinChan and I were delighted by the wide variety of conversation topics. We thought it might be just talking about food, food, food and food again. Then food and food and food again. Oh well, we did talk about food most of the time. (we did, right?) The thought of group sauna (communal...?) and the old lady's hairy back just stuck to our minds!
♥ pinkcocoa tabete @ Tuesday, March 01, 2005
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