Located in the yuppie populated suburb of Waterloo, Pu’er is a contemporary Chinese tea house serving unique dim sum and share dishes along with exceptionally high quality tea imported from China.
Tonight was our first visit and we were shown to our table by Quinton, our charming host for the evening. The first thing that caught our eyes were the beautifully crafted ceramic tables, each hand painted and imported from China. They were to provide a nice backdrop to the beautifully presented dishes to come that night.
First order of business, the entrees and they came with 3 sauces; soy, dark vinegar, and Sriracha chilli.
These didn’t look like traditional pot stickers, more like softly pan fried mini glutinous buns. Taking a bite into them, they had the texture of savoury mochi balls filled with a perfectly cooked mixture of 3 kinds of mushrooms (shiitake, champignon and straw). They went beautifully with the dark vinegar and a dab of sriracha.
Our second entree arrived shortly, Gyozas with a serving of 6 along with pickled ginger. They were very much like Gyozas you get from any good Japanese restaurants, and they were delicious.
From the Street Food section, we ordered 2 plates.
The Hong Kong Mini Burgers were very unique. A small piece of pork schnitzel with house smoked chilli paste, hoisin sauce, and baby cress were wedged between two pieces of mantao, deep fried to a golden brown.
More a bao than a taco, but we aren’t complaining, just trying to discover the secret ingredients to their ‘secret mayonnaise’, that went so well with the duck, shaved cucumber, and spring onions. Probably the highlight of my night!
The shared plates were to follow, and dislike for the dishes is bound to happen when you let your guests pick them!
There’s nothing like some Pu’er and spice infused with tea eggs that reminds me of home, and mother’s cooking! The pork was not too fatty served with a sticky, sweet sauce. It really wasn’t as heavy as a dish as it looks!
Admittedly the chicken was more than just a little bit dry. Perhaps we would have more readily wolfed the dish down if it had been served near the start of the meal, but being the last dish served, we really expected a little bit more from it to really end the night well. In saying that however, we did manage to still polish off the dish, despite the generous portion of half chicken!
Something for me to wash it all down with, after a recommendation from Quinton, and a good recommendation it was!
No meal is complete without desserts!
The sorbet was served in a young coconut, with coconut water, and black sticky rice. We were told that this is the most popular dessert, and the best they had on the menu and it was definitely a good choice. Apparently the order is to start on the right, and move left, but we found that creating a gigantic mash of everything together also worked well. The sorbet was light and refreshing and mixed perfectly with the black sticky rice, with the coconut water helping to wash it all down.
With the coconut and kaffir lime sorbet being the most popular, we were also told that this was probably the least tastiest of the four choices on the menu. Determined that our initial choice was the correct one, we went ahead and ordered it, but alas, we were proven right, yet again! Lucky for me though, as I am not that big of a fan of red bean. There was a tiny amount of red bean in the centre, that any lover of it would have been disappointed by. Not a bad way to end the night!
The Food Zoo dined as guests of Pu’er
Pu’er
20a Danks St,
Waterloo, NSW 2017
The Food Zoo 