Asian Gourmet - Adelaide, South Australia

New love: a classic eating spot in the Adelaide Central Market called Asian Gourmet. This place has been a family run, Adelaide institution for over 35 years. We were a bit late to the party, but now we're hooked.



You can find Asian Gourmet inside the markets directly across from Camera House. They're open 6 days (closed Sundays) opening at 9:30 or 10:30am each day. Closing times vary from 3-5pm depending on the day and they stay open on Friday nights until 9pm. Seating is available both inside and outside the shop.



The signature dish at Asian Gourmet is the Singapore Laksa ($9.50). The lime green bowl looks quite small, but it comes packed full of goodness - prawns, fried tofu, shredded chicken, bean sprouts, coconut cream, egg noodles and more. It's bigger than it looks and sure to satisfy. I haven't found a better laksa anywhere else in Adelaide. Beware though that the standard amount of chili is on the hot side so some may wish to ask for mild.



It's hard to go past the Singapore Laksa but everything else I've tried so far has been excellent as well. The Fried Seafood Hokkien Mee ($9.50) is full of seafood, in a slightly sweet sauce with a lemon wedge. Delicious!



Another one of my favourites is Fried Mee Hoon ($9.90). This comes with sliced pork, prawns, fried egg, bean sprouts and thin rice noodles. Again, the default amount of chili is on the hot side so keep this in mind when ordering.



We're very fortunate to have the Lo family cooking great value Malaysian favourites for us in the Adelaide Central Markets. We've become regular customers at Asian Gourmet and have even fallen in love with laksa for breakfast!

Note: Cash Only.

Tan Nhu Y Restaurant - Adelaide, South Australia

The area around Hanson Road offers some great Vietnamese options, but Tan Nhu Y (meaning "as you wish, as you like") is at the top of our list. Tan Nhu Y was closed for a couple of years for renovations and reopened in 2010. The new building has large windows facing Hanson Road, letting in plenty of light. Guests are warmly welcomed by owner Hang, a bright and bubbly personality who takes the place from good to great by ensuring her guests always enjoy their experience here.



The restaurant owners are Vietnamese and the chef is Chinese so the menu has an expansive range from both of these cuisines. We've tried a few Chinese dishes which were excellent, but the Vietnamese lunch specials and drinks are what have kept us coming back. The cold rolls are very fresh with a both prawn and pork fillings in every roll. A serve of 3 Cold Rolls is $6.20.



I reckon half the fun of eating at a Vietnamese restaurant is exploring the drinks menu and one of my favourites is the classic Three Colour Bean Drink ($4).



They also offer a nice and thick Avocado Milkshake for $4.



But the absolute pick of the drinks menu is the Tropical Fruit Drink for $4.50. It comes in this bowl of a glass with a spoon and a straw so you can both eat and drink it to your heart's content. The drink contains actual fruit pieces such as jackfruit and lychee plus coconut cubes and various jellies in pretty colours with sweet coconut milk and shaved ice bringing it all together. I haven't seen this drink anywhere else, which is yet another reason why I'm a big fan of Tan Nhu Y.



On to the food...the lunch specials are awesome. Here's the Special Broken Rice (small - $10). You can get it with Pork Skin if you want, but we usually go without. I've not had a better broken rice plate anywhere. It's top notch every time.



A new favourite dish of mine is Rice Vermicelli with Prawn-Pie on Sugar Cane (small - $12). If you dig under the noodles you'll find sliced cucumber, lettuce, and herbs. Pour the sauce and shredded carrot over the top and mix around for a great feast. This dish is also available with Spring Rolls or Steak instead of the Prawn-Pie if you prefer, but this one is my pick of the three.



The pho (beef noodle soup) is also fantastic. If you're new to pho, I'd recommend the standard Sliced Rare Beef (small - $9). The broth is divine with great depth of flavour and has minimal oil. It's a very cleansing meal and leaves you feeling refreshed. Here is the Sliced Rare Beef & Cooked Beef Brisket Pho (small - $10).



A nice finishing touch is the complimentary Vietnamese jellies, which are brought to your table. These are not overly sweet, but rather a more subtle flavour with the emphasis on the texture.



Pay a visit to Hang and her staff and you're sure to have an enjoyable meal. If there's anything you're unhappy with, just let her know and she'll happily replace it for you. Tan Nhu Y is open 7 days for dinner and Fri-Tues for lunch.

BBQ City - Adelaide, South Australia

BBQ City is a consistently good choice in Adelaide's Chinatown. When you're trying to choose between Gouger Street's many offerings it's nice to have a place that you can count on.



There's nothing special about the service or the decor at BBQ City. It's pretty standard for a casual Chinese restaurant. Value however is excellent. If you eat here on a weekday for lunch (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, excluding public holidays), the lunch specials menu has about 20 different choices for an absolute bargain price of $7.50 each. That's cheaper than most food court prices and definitely a step up in quality.


BBQ Pork lunch special ($7.50)

When you come to a place named BBQ City, you can't really go past the BBQ. This is traditional Chinese BBQ at its best. The BBQ pork is my favourite as its so sweet and full of flavour. One BBQ choice and rice costs $8.50, two choices is $9.50 or three choices is $10.50.


BBQ Pork, Roast Duck & Soya Chicken ($10.50)

If you're not in the mood for BBQ, there are still plenty of other good options available. The menu is huge and has a mix of both traditional and westernised Chinese offerings. The Beef Brisket with Noodles came with extremely tender and juicy slow cooked beef and some healthy and delicious bok choy.


Beef Brisket with Noodles ($8.50)

If you're a fan of seafood and noodles, you'll probably like this dish almost as much as I do. The sauce is quite plain but the dish has plenty of great flavour. I love how the noodles get a bit of browning from the wok.


Combination Seafood with Handmade Noodles ($11.50)

The BBQ is also available for takeaway so you may be tempted to grab some to go as well. The food at BBQ City is always delicious and very reasonably priced so I recommend you give them a try. I even read on Twitter that John Cleese ate here last time he was in Adelaide. #bonuspoints #bbqcityftw

Noodle Kingdom - Adelaide, South Australia

If you want some tasty cheap eats with plenty of choices, check out Noodle Kingdom on Gouger Street. As you walk in, you might see some of their fresh noodles being made by hand. Everything is better handmade and these noodles are no exception.



The menu includes more than 100 items such as dumplings, buns, noodles, rice, soups, and more. Because of the huge menu ordering can be a little overwhelming, especially on your first visit. But don't be deterred because regardless of what you choose, you're likely to get a large, cheap and appetizing serve. Service is usually pretty fast too. The menu also includes pictures as well as names of dishes so you can pick whatever looks good to you. Here's the Spicy Pork Fried Noodle ($9.50).



As an added bonus, they also make good quality and reasonably priced bubble teas and other drinks.



Their soups are massive and quite tasty too. Here's a huge bowl of Beef Noodle Soup ($8.50) with more of those hand pulled noodles.



The piggy bank is where you line up to pay your bill.



They also sell their bubble teas and other drinks in takeaway cups.



With handmade noodles, fun drinks, good prices, and a ridiculously long list of Chinese food choices, Noodle Kingdom is hard to pass up.

Bing Boy - Adelaide, South Australia

Adelaide, there's a new kid in town and his name is Bing Boy. The first one is in Southern Cross Food Court and there's soon to be a second location in the new group of Renaissance Arcade food stalls.



In case you were wondering what this Bing Boy "urban asian street food" is all about, the side of the shop defines the meaning of the name:



There are 8 wraps on the menu, priced at $5.90, $6.90 or $7.90 depending on which fillings you choose. All are wrapped in a thin wheat omelette made with egg, green onions, coriander & sesame seeds.



After ordering, you can stand to the side and watch the girls make the wrap. The process looks quite similar to making crepes, but of course the ingredients are very different.



The finished product comes in a paper bag and looks very similar to a burrito. Of course, once you bite into it the experience is like none other. Delicious!


(pictured: BBQ Bing after a few bites)

Bing Boy offers a very unique option and a great break from a sandwich or sushi roll for lunch.

Update 22 Dec 2011: A new location is now open in Myer Centre Food Court (lower ground level). The Renaissance Arcade location is still "coming soon".

Update 20 Jan 2012: The menu has changed slightly. New menu is:


Update 23 April 2012: The Renaissance Arcade location is now open for business!

Update 15 June 2012: Based on my experience, the quality of the meat and general freshness is best at the Southern Cross location. I have had fatty meat at both the Renaissance Arcade and Myer Centre locations. I think the original Southern Cross location is the one to go to.

Camy Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant in Melbourne

OK readers of The Lonely Plate, I've done a bit of traveling and a lot of eating so I've got a lot of posts saved up to share with you. To start off this little travel series, I'd like to tell you about one of our favorite places to chow down for cheap in Melbourne: Camy Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant. It's located on the edge of Chinatown on Tattersalls Lane (a bit of an alleyway) between Little Bourke and Lonsdale. This place pretty much rules because they're fast, really cheap, healthy and they have free self-serve tea! They're always busy and staff can be quite rude at times, but you'll never wait long and you can always count on leaving full and satisfied for a good price.

I'm a huge fan of their Chinese Broccoli. They put this awesome brown sauce over the greens that's a little bit sweet and makes them extra delicious.



Free tea also pictured above - don't forget it's self serve along with the plates, cups, cutlery, etc located in a little cubby area around to the right of the main entrance as you come in.



Being a dumpling restaurant, they have quite a few dumpling choices. I'm definitely a fan of the steamed dumplings over the fried, but this is just personal preference. If you like prawns and don't mind fairly strong spinach flavour, I recommend the spinach and prawn:



Or of course you can't go wrong (unless you're a vegetarian of course) with the classic pork:



If you can eat a lot of dumplings, you can get like 15 or 20 for $6 so don't be shy.

Their noodle dishes are pretty tasty also. This trip we stopped here for a quick, cheap feed with some free hot tea on a cold winter's day before catching our flight to the USA. Next time you're hungry in Melbourne and on a budget, check this place out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Seng Kee Yum Cha - Adelaide Central Market, South Australia

You've probably heard of yum cha which means "drink tea" in Cantonese and refers to the experience of drinking Chinese tea and eating dim sum dishes. (Note: Yum cha is often referred to as dim sum in the US.) The yum cha experience involves trays covered in steamers containing three or four small items each being rolled around the restaurant and offered to patrons. When items are accepted by the table, numbers are stamped or crossed off on a card which becomes the bill when it's time to pay. Because the portions are small and groups usually share food, you can try lots of different dishes. In Chinese culture, yum cha has become a common weekend family experience and many restaurants only serve yum cha on weekends and only until about 3pm. We're quite spoiled in Adelaide because we have some awesome (as good as any restaurant I've tried) and cheap yum cha available at the Adelaide Central Market food court 6 days a week (only closed Mondays). Plus, Chinese tea is free. If you're in Adelaide and you haven't tried Seng Kee Yum Cha, you are missing out!

Dishes pictured (clockwise from top left): siu mai, prawn ha kao, bean curd, and pork spare ribs. *mouth waters*



more Seng Kee Yum Cha photos here