House of Crabs, Surry Hills

After so many failed attempts at organising dinner here, we finally managed to secure a booking for a chilled out Friday night. When booking, reservations for more than 10 require a deposit, there are two sessions for either 6 or 8PM. These restrictions are quite disappointing as the restaurant seemed hardly busy! On a brighter note, the service was lovely and the set up is really cute though with either booth seating, table seating or shared tables.

Complimentary spicy popcorn

Assortment of mocktails

Mocktail shared between two

Lobster fries with thousand island salsa and chipotle mayo ($14.00)

Crab, blackbean & chorizo balls ($15.00)

Lobster fries – with lobster gravy, bacon & corn ($12.00)

Moreton bay bug – 500g ($34.00)

SA Mussels ($19.00)

King Crab – 500g ($45.00)

Fried chicken ($22.00)

Waffle sandwich ($12.00)

Banana pie – oreo cookie base and caramel centre ($10.00)

The Food Zoo: I have to say, the experience was quite mixed at House of Crabs. Perhaps a bit over-hyped by my friends? I was genuinely disappointed with the lobster fries… I was thinking there would actually be lobster pieces in the fries but it was only lobster gravy… And then I couldn’t taste any lobster at all. Nevertheless my friends will know that I do really enjoy any form of fries! The dessert was unique and to be honest, my favourite dish was the fried chicken *gasp*shock*horror* I loved the idea of getting your hands dirty but honestly, the effort to reward ratio of eating crab is just way to high for my liking!

House of Crabs

The Norfolk Hotel
Level 1, 305 Cleveland St
Redfern NSW 2016

Taste of Shanghai, Sydney

Coming from a chinese background, my friends – and sometimes even my family – are not too keen to eat at a chinese restaurant. It’s probably because we have rice and chinese dishes almost every day at home. So when my family decided to go to Taste of Shanghai, the reputation must’ve already been pretty good.

The restaurant is in World Square Centre (closest station Town Hall) on lower ground level diagonally across from Coles. We arrived for a late lunch on Saturday around 2pm and the restaurant was still quite packed! It’s quite difficult to get a waiters’ attention and even then, you are often referred to someone else. But hopefully the food was worth it…

Shanghai Style Style Hot and Sour Soup

A lot of people are suprised that I can’t handle any type of chilli food – I guess I just don’t have that asian gene in me haha. Anyway, although hot and sour soup technically doesn’t have any chilli (it’s mainly pepper as my dad tells me), I loved it. I found it really really chilli but I couldn’t help going back for more even though my lips were burning!

Garlic Bamboo Chicken

One of the more popular dishes, I thought the dish was quite standard. The chicken was a little dry but being swamped in garlic kind of saved the dish for me.

Live Mud Crab with Salted Duck Egg Yolk

If you don’t care about your health and rocketing cholesteral (not that is should be a really big issue for younger readers), this dish has a huge abundance of egg yolk and that orange stuff above (can someone please tell me what it is? Crab brain? Crab roe?) which is absolute gold from a chinese diner’s perspective. Loved it!

Shanghai Pan Fried Pork Bun

I firmly believe this is a must have if you dine at a shanghainese restauruant. Best eaten when hot but be careful, it’s super hot inside when served! Recommended to eat with a spoon as when you take the first bite, all the soup from within will come pouring out!

Radish Pastry

I first discovered this dish in Hong Kong many years ago when dining with an uncle of mine. The contrasting texture of the pastry with the hot crispy white shreds of pastry inside was de-li-cious!!

Black Sesame and Red Bean Leisha Dumplings

A dessert combining some of my favourites: black sesame, red bean and the glutinous rice-ball texture. I think it’s unique to Taste of Shanghai as these glutinous dumplings usually just contain one filling. The only disappointing part is the presentation: it comes out looking flat like someone just threw it on the plate to be served =(

Honeydew milk frappe

If you like easyway, or any type of sweet sugary asian drink, you’ll really enjoy the selection at Taste of Shanghai. You can choose from frappes, milkshakes or just flavoured milk teas. The honeydew milk frappe had too much flavouring but the icy cold drink was perfect to quench my burning lips (from the hot and sour soup)!

Taste of Shanghai
Shop 9.07, World Square
644 George Street
Sydney, 2000
T: (02) 9261 8832