N2 Extreme Gelato, Chinatown Sydney

It looks like a shady chemistry lab. It feels like an underground cavern. It exudes some mystery.  How does liquid nitrogen add to the flavours of gelato?  I am reminded of Dr Who, I recall my high school moments and I notice the chalk on the blackboard. Word of mouth has fed much into my ears and if I am in uni, I would consider this cool, very cool. Overhead lights add to the allure, bright coloured spots and items provide some surprising touches.  It may also feel like the garage school boys hang out. Already operating in both Melbourne and Sydney, I reckon this business model can do well in Asian cities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei.  What, you may ask, another hyped up gelato joint?  It can do well in warm climes instead of the rather cold day when I checked out N2.

To me, it looked like kitchen cake mixers (yes they are Kitchen Aids) but then there was a serious effort of adding this gas like thing on to the mixing bowl.  Ah ha, the UK chef Heston may have had a hand in all these.  The thought did cross my mind that handling nitrogen is not in the same league as preparing juices or ice cream smuck.  It is a more risky league.  I tried the avocado mix. Staff were friendly, the smiling Caucasian guy in the white coat and the naturally beaming Asian lass helping him. I did find the gelato on the thick side but then it was flavourful, did not have icy sheen as some of the competitors dish up and there was quality. Perhaps two can share one order, especially if you visit after a meal.  There is so much choice in flavours and combinations and I do recommend the plain old pandan, cocolichee sorbet, fig and yogurt and the pork floss gelato.  Many commented that the flavours are skewed towards Asian tastes and upbringing, but I suggest to every one to let go, feel the wind and be adventurous.

The venue at One Dixon Street encourages inter mingling whilst also providing funky corners to wait, stare and consume.  N2 is one of the more refreshing gelato and customer hub concepts played out in reality - and the obvious demographic market target is the 13 to 30 year olds.  I may have forgotten my chemistry element symbols but N2 is obviously nitrogen. It is a credit to founder Min Chai's imagination and flair that N2 Extreme Gelato exists - and this is another real life story of a trained accountant going beyond the figures to create a business.  There are extreme queues at certain hours but uni students find it fun, they catch up without having to make over complex appointments.

Din Tai Fung, World Square Sydney CBD

I had been to one of the several outlets of Din Tai Fung in Singapore, but always perceived the first branch in Sydney was a larger version than most of its peers around the world. Feedback I received had been varying, depending on when the visit was made and what was served, but one constant factor was the always fully occupied tables in the midst of meal time. The business was started by a Taiwanese, but the cuisine harks back to the Chinese mainland, with a combination of central and southern Chinese inspired dian xin (or literally, "touches of the heart").   How does Din Tai Fung differ from the stereotyped Cantonese restaurant offering almost similar fare? Maybe it is the siew loong pau, that dainty dumpling which hides a soupy inside, or is it the dan dan hand made noodles, taken in a swirling mix of chili oil laden gravy?  In such equivalents of China's traditional fast food business models, service was relatively fast once you have ticked off your preferences on paper soon after arrival.  As for yum cha, there are no bookings taken ahead and customers come as they are and get seated. They also allow for take aways at the end of the meal.  Even if we came early at 11am, by 1230pm, the place was packed and buzzing.

The day twelve of us had lunch there, the heavens had persistently produced windy and torrential rain, which we could view through the large glass partitions of Din Tai Fung.  Ceilings seem to be higher than in typical Chinatown joints and Mandarin is the preferred lingua franca. There are the old favourites like piping hot steamed buns, with choices like minced pork coated with greens. There seems to be less oiliness in such food when compared with Hong Kong styled lunches. I particularly liked the condiments you can mix yourself on small side plates, with an emphasis on julienned ginger slices and Sichuan chili oil. Like Cantonese food, however, they continue the emphasis on fresh ingredients but the food is overall more light on the palate.  I reckon such degustation of small and varied dishes is a safe bet for recovery after a late and long night the evening before - provided you make sure you order tea and not be pressed by the offer of alcoholic drinks.

There can be various sources of similar food all over the inner western and north-western suburbs of greater Sydney.  The choices at Din Tai Fung may appear more standard and less exotic, but welcomed by mainstream demographics of Australian society. The elderly and the kids are safe with this cuisine, especially when they are steamed and come with stunningly green cuts.  South-east Asians can find these possibly bland, but then there is always the chili oil on standby. Apart from World Square, there are smaller outlets at the Star Cafe Court in the casino complex at Darling Harbour and on level 5 Food Court of the Westfield at Pitt Street Mall.  My top choice items to must have at Din Tai Fung are the steamed pork dumplings; mango pudding dessert; stir fried long beans; churros styled Chinese sesame seed paste snacks; and silken tofu with a garnish of dried pork floss.

Newtown on an Autumn Sunday - Inner Sydney

More than Congee - Comfort Foods

Congee - the word, all at once,  brings up visions of fast food, socio-economic battlers, quick but piping hot breakfasts and warmth on cool weather nights. It is an efficient creation, for hard-earned rice is boiled until it amplifies to a more voluminous mix that is soft and gentle on the palates of the very young and elderly. Ubiquitous in East Asia, but surprisingly not at all in the Indian sub-continent, the history of the congee speaks of thrift, patience, sparing conservatism and caution. The congee is a dish that also calls up creativity and economy in use of scarce ingredients - be they bits of green shallot rings, ground pepper, slivers of tender chicken or thinly cut ginger. Yet, at the same time, the congee is also food that emphasises on freshness, quality and aroma. These days the congee feels right at home whether being served at yum cha sessions, food courts or in midnight cafes. Above photo shows a set of congee-filled bowls ready for consumption, together with a lemon grass leaf infused herbal drink, light soy sauce and vinegar pickled green chili cuts.

The sar hor fun - or stir fried wide rice noodles bathed in a stock gravy and laden with fresh choy sum vegetables, fish cake squares, calamari, barbecued char siew, deshelled prawns and juicy pork cuts.   Cantonese in origin, the success of delivery and outcome for this dish depends on two critical factors - the heat of the wok used and the oomph of the stock gravy. It can be a messy dish to prepare - and as with most Asian food, require ingredients to be prepared before hand, usually cut into precise bite-sized pieces and with stocks to be made.  The choice of ingredients, like the cut of the meat and where it comes from the butchered animal, is significant. Also available with beef and chicken, but rarely with lamb, this dish evokes in me the memory of the siew yeh, or supper, ala Hong Kong and Guangzhou.  East Asians, together with South-East Asians and Mediterranean peoples, love the practice and concept of snacking before bedtime, and in Western countries, you can also see the hubs of eating, drinking and socialising beyond the midnight hour in many ethnic enclaves.  This dish, in my mind, is fondly associated with my Dad driving my brothers and me out for a treat after normally curfew hours (sleeping time!) to a roadside stall to wait for freshly cooked servings, often packed with newspaper cover and banana leaf wrapping.

Banana cake slices (picture below) in the foreground , with slices of Star apples in the background.  I find that such cakes are made with over ripe and aromatic bananas in Asia, a legacy of colonialism and East-West fusion from the 19th and 20th centuries, whilst in Australia, the bananas used are not so ripe and not so mushy. High tea implies cakes with sugar and spice, but banana cakes are more savoury than sweet. Are they better accompanied by a cup of tea, or by dunking in coffee? The penchant for habitually drinking tea became entrenched in Britain after a Portuguese princess married an English King - and coffee beans were introduced to Europe by the Arabs and Moors.  So how did bananas came to be introduced into Western concepts of flour based cakes?  It was in another continent - the USA, when the economic Depression drove ingenuity to  utilise baking soda, baking powder and bananas to create something which could be sold and for which there was a market, when money was hard to come by.  The banana cake recipe was first published in Pilsbury’s Balanced Recipes of 1933. Banana cakes (or for that matter, banana bread, when cooked in a loaf tin) do exude a warm feeling of welcome and warmth when coming home to.  Banana cakes also remind me of school fetes and sports functions. 

Chefs Gallery, Metcentre, Wynyard - Sydney CBD

Fresh, transparent and so Shanghai - from the origins of Din Tai Fung at World Square and the open kitchen concept at the Bathurst Street/ George Street outlet, this business model has now been transplanted to an area with heavy commuter traffic in Sydney  CBD - the MetCentre, which adjoins the busy Wynyard Station.  So I reckon the staff has to work even more faster and be more responsive in a location that has office workers, tourists and families coming out of the train system.  At lunchtime, I have already witnessed queues reminiscent of Mamak's in Sydney's Chinatown and Chatswood.

The food is now familiar to the Sydney market - steamed dumplings, noodles in soup, spring rolls, relatively dainty servings served on small plates and petite bamboo baskets.  The menu can be seen as a combination of yum cha, Shanghai snacks and drinks based on soy and the usual mainstream Aussie soft drinks.  What makes this business work? Fast turnover, practical pricing and  not too confronting food for lunchers and brunchers who do not have too much time to squander.  Here they can have some hot food, as opposed to cold servings of sushi and sashimi ion Japanese take aways. Also open for breakfast, the early morning service has to be touch and go, pick up and take away!

My Chefs Gallery has thrived on food sets, bento styled lunches and tasting variety. Here at the MetCentre, the trend continues.  Open only on weekdays, I reckon this latest joint comes heels on the experience at the food court located on level 5 in Sydney's Pitt Street Mall Westfield.  With more selections available than the latter, this MetCentre is also a first for KaiSern Ching at the northern end of the city centre.  It also offers more accessibility of this type of cuisine to the banking district. This follows the opening of Mr Wong's  in a trendy alley site last year.

Will he cross over the Harbour and Anzac Bridges to the Asian populated suburbs in the  future?