A Life in the City Centre - The Bright Side

In a city centre, if you live there, I imagine that one can more easily try new places, whether for a gig, catch up with mates, a quiet time with the special one or experiment the menu at a new eatery. The social media harps on suggesting and trying such new joints and people you know or on Facebook actually talk about them. Okay, so dress up and off you go and reach there in under half an hour (for Sydney or Melbourne that is). No fuss, you can check out what the demographics in that new cool place are wearing or chatting about - and quickly pick up what you want and decide not to. You do not even have to catch a ride on a vehicle, but walk, passing quickly by the jam lock traffic on city streets. The weather can be inclement, but you can duck from one sheltered buiding to another.


If you have moved on from the roast or salad and two veg combo meal for daily consumption, you do find a wider array of choices, especially in the exotic stuff (yes, chicken legs are available, if you ask). Living in the city centre means eventually you know someone from one of the major ethnic immigrant groups in Australia. Hey, we can't stick to our blonde haired partner always, especially when he or she is anyway trying out the new fangled stuff and fusion cuisine themselves. Just realise there are hubs in Sydney (or tribal villages in Melbourne) and it is easy to proceed. Purists say all these multicultural things have been watered down for the consumption of the still mainstream society here. Who cares? We have a taste of the sports, fitness, music, arts, food and trends from varied communities and foreign countries before we decide to spend some money on budget airlines to fly there and try the real stuff.


For migrants, the city centre also easily offers home and soul familiarity in the groups that congregate, especially around "their" food outlets -for example, just hang around the various parts of southern George Street or Surry Hills or Newtown in Sydney. You can catch the latest fad movie and walk home to be in bed within a decent few minutes, instead of facing the challenge of trasnportation back to the suburbs. Hey, what an opportunity to catch those special event movies that begin after midnight! Hair saloons are still abuzz in the east Asian strips of both Melbourne and Sydney after 6pm, even on weekends! There is no need to pay those superlative parking fees that are imposed on hapless visitors from outside the city centre.


You can buy less stuff in terms of groceries and kitchen supplies, for your personal fridge is only a stone's throw away and maintained by the commercial providers. When you have periodic bouts of insomnia due to the neighbouring noise from down the street, you just buckle up and join the revellers. Never mind staying up late, for you literally can be in your work place not long after you jump out of bed the next morning.


Summer is a great time to reside in the city centre. There are festivals, night club events, people who really don't want to go home as it is too warm and the sun sets late anyway. New Year's Eve brings home the true benefits of residing in a city centre, and many mates want to know you better and stay over. If you still do physical retail, instead of on-line buying,you can pop over to real great sales way before the hordes arriving from the outer west. You can buy takeaway from fancy diners and still have them warm on your kitchen counter - no need to microwave them, and besides they do taste odd after being put in a microwave.


In autumn, you can be at the ANZAC Day memorial way before dawn, with lots of time to spare, and I mean at major memorials. The airport is so close to the city centre in Sydney. You can escape to lonely places, those that you cannot even imagine, and on coming back, you quickly join the gravy train of the city centre, and I don't mean those dripping wet and messy stuff cluttered at some corners of some parts of an otherwise great city centre. This is the gravy train of a spectrum of roles to earn money and keep your career moving, provided the economy is doing well, even if you move on to another city. In a city centre, you do have the reality, and at times, illusion, that you are at the centre of action, even if it is just the Apple Store launching another product or if you find yourself lining up again in that queue to reach this hyped up retail outlet. You can get to see or meet or talk to people who have the same obsessions or perceptions about being based in the centre, beneath the sight of tall buildings and fascinating lights.

St Honore CakeShop, Sydney Chinatown - Yum Cha Possibilities

I reckon the Cantonese egg tart (pictured above), or the tarn tart, available at most yum cha sessions and in southern Chinese styled bakeries, is an excellent example of cuisine fusion, at its best, or viewed at the other end of the spectrum, an illustration of copying the Portuguese tart sans the caramel sauce. Or is it actually the other way? Granted that the texture and flavour of the custard can be different between the South Atlantic and South China Sea versions, the pivotal evidence is in Macau's past, where Portuguese adventurers of old came aboard and colonised the place, married the native girls and the rest is history - Eurasians bearing Portuguese names but looking like the average Guangdong person perhaps. 

I was at the St Honore Cake Shop along Sussex Street in Sydney's Chinatown recently (near the side with Paddys Market and the Market City Shopping Centre).  I instinctively looked for my fav yum cha piece, the char siew sou, oven baked pastries with a savoury and yet sweet filling inside of cooked pork bits, diced carrots, spring onions, mushrooms and with a garnish. The proof of quality is in the pastry and how it melts in your mouth.  Some versions include lotus seed paste, peanut, green bean, walnuts and the chemically induced hundred year old duck egg slices, but I avoid those.   They are all topped up by a sprinkling of sesame seeds (image above) and best eaten freshly baked. Good as snacks for lunch time or with tea, they can be oily but definitely delicious when served warm.

Imagine sticky flour dough concealing a hollow or sweet inside, usually with bean or peanuty paste, and served in various colours. Attractive to kids, but they may not keep well for a long period.  This is southern Chinese jian dou or northern Chinese ma tuan (image above) with a crispy outer skin and a pick me up bite.  Its origins go back a  few hundred years from the Tang Dyansty with its capital at Changan.  It is a cousin of the Japanese goma dango and the Malaysian or Indonesian kueh bom.

Another pastry above, but this one has rather sweet centre of another paste and requires a good cup of Oolong tea to wash down with. In Cantonese, it is referred to as the sweetheart or wife's cake, an interesting label, as I do not reckon there is a husband's cake in Chinese bakery.  The outside has to be flaky, so that, unless we don't mind a mess, we have to be careful with this cake, as it breaks apart when consumed, revealing a rather veg sweet inner core.  yes, there is icing sugar used, together with candied winter melon, castor sugar, glutinous rice flour and butter.

I also saw another interesting wrap below at the St Honore Cake Shop.  This is the type of outlet, where you are encouraged to arm yourself with a pair of tongs and an empty tray. You go around the glass shelves, open them when some display attracts and you choose them for counting and billing at the cash register.  There are normally no sitting tables.

Imperial Kingdom Chinese Restaurant, Glen Waverley, Melbourne

I visited the Imperial Kingdom at Glen Waverly, not once but twice, within an auspicious weekend, once for yum cha one day and then for a wedding dinner another evening. I can remember how the restaurant was beautifully transformed for Maggie and Eu-Gene Yeap's dinner reception at this venue. The dishes were carefully chosen for good omen and brought out the best in what the Imperial could offer. Lobster, prawns, crispy chicken, delicious noodles and extensively decorated banquet tables (each with the piece de resistance being the variety of floral bouquets) remain delightfully in my heart and mind's eye.


You walk up a staircase under a cover and reach the foyer of the restaurant. The dining area sits on this upper level, so I could easily see the goings on around the nearby junction, highway and neighbouring activities. Having this so-called bird's eye view delightfully reassures one of securely seated in a strategic lookout, especially during the change of colours from twilight to night. Then vaguely familiar individuals and more reassuringly known friends from the Melbourne area turn up, all dressed up happily and smartly for the occasion. The tables are placed close to each other but then everyone expects that in a Cantonese themed restaurant.


Maggie and Eu-Gene had a lunch reception earlier that special day with a modern Australian feel, complete with the bridal dance, walking under a canopy and letting off some party shoot off cannons. Tonight it was more Canton, although many dressed in Western styles. In contrast, the atmosphere at yum cha time, back at the Imperial, reflected more of the everyday bustle of such meals across the Chinatowns and suburbs of the world. The service, as required and expected, is fast and the tasty servings make me wonder why at times do we need to go downtown for such fare (again). There is ample ground level open air parking for the restaurant, though I am not sure if there is a lift up to the first floor. The yum cha tables had more variety to fit various numbers of people, unlike the ten per table practice for wedding dinners.


Is yum cha better in Melbourne than in Sydney, or Hong Kong and Vancouver? I reckon it depends on what you order from the moving passer-by trolleys - I would identify with fresh ingredients, skill in texture and cooking and how they are kept ready for serving. The skins must not be starchy, the vegetables must be appetising, the deep-frieds not soggy. The choice of teas must be liberal. The decor is not critical, but the taste in your mouth and on your palate as you place that delicate creation for your experience. The variety of sauces available and the quality of cutlery, chopsticks and China often vary between an elegant place and an ordinary one.


At the Imperial Kingdom, I had occasion to try the mango pudding, char siew pau (steamed pork buns), rice noodle rolls (with prawns in soy sauce)- and loved them all. My impressions of the Imperial Kingdom in Glen Waverly, greater Melbourne, are:

Atmosphere: Noisy and crowded.
Location: Suburban.
Taste: No need to go down to Little Bourke Street in Melbourne CBD.
People Engagement: As in any medium to large sized Chinese restaurant.
Service: Satisfactory.
Best Time to Visit: Dinnertime.
Fav Dish Experienced: Char siew so (baked pork filling pastry)and claypot vermecilli with lobster. Would I Return?: Yes.