The May lunch was held in a restaurant serving Cantonese style of cooking in a northern Sydney suburb. 33 ladies attended the lunch and were treated to an extensive menu of 5 entrees and 5 mains which was a great representation of the Cantonese food.
On arrival the aperitif was an Arras Sparkling from Tasmania and was a crisp and clean starter before the meal.
The five entrees were :
Roast Duck & Garlic Chive Dumplings
Prawn, Water Chestnut & Bamboo Dumplings
Hervey Bay Scallops with XO Sauce
Handmade Cheong Fun with Peant & Hoisin
Vegetable San Choy Bao with Hot Sin
Roast Duck Dumplings
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Prawn, Water Chestnut Dumplings
Overall the dumplings were considered full of flavour and delicious. A couple of comments : The wrapping for the duck dumpling was thought to be a little overcooked and the filling for the prawn dumpling was too blended together and, therefore, the separate flavours of the ingredients were not able to be distinguished.
Hervey Bay Scallops
This dish rated well and a different way to eat scallops.
Handmade Cheong Fun with Peanut & Hoisin
You had to enjoy Hoisin sauce to appreciate this dish
Vegetable San Choy Bao with Hoi Sin sauce
This dish was considered tasty and rated well.
The main courses started with Salt and Pepper Eggplant
The Salt and Pepper Eggplant was considered to be excellent and crunchy batter, just like fish and chips.
This Barramundi dish was considered tasty and the fish was cooked just enough to still be tender.
Yangzhou Fried Rice with Prawns
Silken Mapo Tofu with Ground Pork
From the ratings this dish was the weak dish on the day and not favoured by most who attended the lunch.
Shandong Chicken with Kale and Red Vinegar Dressing
A comment : whilst being a crispy dish, the Shandong chicken was dry and the chef should have used a sweet & sour sauce instead of the red wine vinegar, which was too overpowering.
After all this food there was a dessert as well – French Toast with Dulce de Leche, Vanilla Ice Cream
This dish was rated as excellent and a fitting end to a good meal.
The wines on the day were :
White : 2019 Riverdale Estate Pinot Gris, Tasmania
2019 Riverdale Estate Chardonnay, Tasmania
These two wines matched well with the entrees, especially the dumplings.
A comment – the white wine was served too cold.
Red : 2018 Mommesin cote de Brouillly Beaujolais France
2013 Gemtree old winery block Shiraz McLaren Vale SA
The shiraz was noted as lovely but did not match the food as well as the Beaujolais
General comments being :
A great credit to the restaurant serving perfectly cooked scallops and barramundi for such a large group
Contemporary Cantonese cooking with great ambience and service.
Overall an excellent meal and the most enjoyable Chinese restaurant I have been to with SLWFS.
Great food and lots of it.
The service was excellent.
Sydney Ladies Wine & Food Society 