Dan's House @ Haymarket

We all love a good meal deal, and one of my uni friends found a great one for Dan's House which is a Chinese Cuisine restaurant with a speciality in peking duck, and other duck based dishes. It is a new restaurant that has been open since Late April 2012. The deal allowed us to pick 2 entrées with peking duck as the main dish, and a dessert to share.

Sugar cane smoked duck breast with lychee and mango jelly

As soon as I saw this on the menu I wanted to try it, the idea of lychee and mango with duck sounded tantalising. The result, was good but not great. I found that the texture of the mango jelly was too hard, which didn't quite work with the soft duck. However, the lychee sauce with the duck and the cucumber worked extremely well. If the mango jelly was a bit softer, it would have made the dish great.

Sichuan numbing chicken with fresh fruit salad

Now this entrée was tasty! After doing some quick Google research, the term 'numbing' comes about due to the use of Sichuan pepper as an ingredient. The chicken was cooked with perfection, but the marinade is what made the dish. It had a perfect balance of sweetness and spice. That marinade could accompany any meat. The strange part of the dish was the fruit salad for 2 reasons, first we were unsure how to eat it with the dish, and secondly the fruit purée at the base. 

We ended up just blowing the fruit salad into our bowl and eating it with the chicken (which was a good result). However, the ingredient of the purée was difficult to figure out (I was supposed to ask the waiter, but I forgot too). It tasted like rock melon, but at the same time it didn't, and it had a slightly rough texture. We were both confused.

Peking duck with complimentary soup

Mmm peking duck. We both love peking duck, and this definitely hit the spot. No words can really describe how good peking is. In summary though, soft duck meat with a slightly crispy skin and vegetables all wrapped up results in a great main.

Chilled mango sago cream with pomelo and vanilla ice cream

When this dish came out I was actually unsure on how to eat it, lucky for me, my friend knew how. We split the sago cream into 2 portions, and dumped a spoonful of ice cream into each bowl. The sago cream had bits on mango, but the pomelo is what made the difference where it added the bitterness, resulting in a bittersweet dessert.

The overall dining experience was exceptional, where the wait staff reminded me of people you would see at Yum Cha. This means, that as soon as they saw any dirty plates on the table they would take it away.

Good food, good times!

Loving Hut @ Cabramatta

I have to admit, I am a lover of meat, the thought of eating at a Vegan restaurant would have never occurred to me, and the fact that I actually went to one is absolutely astounding. Loving Hut is an international restaurant (located in 26 countries), and continues to expand. The menu provides an array of vegan dishes, with the 'meat' dishes looking a lot their real meat counterparts. It was definitely a dining experience to remember, and will definitely go again.

Vegetarian Peking Duck

Peking Duck is always a crowd pleaser, but this time its mock duck meat. There is a textural difference compared to its real meat counterpart, where in this case it had a crispy skin. There was also slight differences in terms of presentation where the traditional peking duck dish is served with shallots, cucumber and hoi sin sauce, as Loving Hut add pickled carrot and coriander. The pickled carrot added an extra kick to the dish. Definitely my favourite dish of the day.

Sizzling vegetarian honey soy chicken

This was interesting. The sauce had a great taste, that wasn't to sweet or too sour and went great with the sizzling vegetables. What made this dish interesting was the 'chicken', it may be the first time that I find food hard to actually describe. There is that line of 'it tastes like chicken' but this didn't taste like chicken. It was chewier then normal chicken, but still contained a soft texture. Try it, and hopefully you can understand what I mean. It's actually indescribable.

Fried seaweed rolls

We ordered this because it sounded interesting..but it wasn't very nice. The outside was crunchy, but the inside was mushy. I have never tried a fried seaweed roll before so I guess I have nothing to compare it too. I wouldn't order this again though.

Spicy Tofu

Unfortunately, this was too chilli for me and I thought my chilli tolerance wasn't that bad. I tried one, and my mouth was on fire. I tried another piece in hope the result would be different, to my dismay no difference. It was harder than the traditional crunch of fried tofu that I usually eat and the tofu itself had more stability.

Vegetarian Bun Rieu - Vietnamese tomato noodle soup

This was another good dish. Tasted exactly the same as its meat counterpart, if anything possibly better in terms of the vegetables provided in the dish. It contained the same burst of flavour, where there is a mix of sweet and sourness to the soup resulting in a great balance. An ideal dish to order in this recent cold weather.
Good food, good times!

Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant @ Cabramatta

As per usual Cabramatta is filled with wonderful food and of course Iron Chef is one of these locations. During the day between 9/10am to 15/15.30 (depending on the day) they provide a wonderful Yum Cha service which often has line during the peak time of 11.00 to 13.00.


However, this post is about there dinner service. We had dinner at Iron Chef for a special family occassion which was composed of 13 people. It was a great night filled with fun times with the family and a whole bunch of great tasting food!

Selection of crispy skin suckling pig with bbq pork, roast duck, soya sauce chicken and jelly fish platter

This was a great starter as it has a selection of all the special starters on the menu. It was a large platter which the staff then separated for individual servings.

Complimentary soup

Peking duck with hoi sin sauce

Peking duck is one of Iron Chef's specialities, everyone who tries Iron Chef's Peking duck, absolutely enjoy it. There used to be a special on Tuesday nights where there was 50% off Peking Duck, but I am not sure if that special still occurs. 

Roasted young pigeon

Sang choy bow

The Sang choy bow was made with the left over duck from the peking duck, mixed with rice and bamboo.

Salt and pepper crab

I love crab, and with that I loved this dish. I was devouring every little bit of crab meat that I could grasp my hands on. It was filled with flavour and had a tinge of spicy to it which made it delectable!

Wasabi beef

 The wasabi beef combines the wonderful taste of wasabi with a sweet teriyaki like marinade. It adds a Japanese twist to a basic Chinese dish.

Salt and pepper crispy tofu

4 types of Chinese vegetables steamed in bamboo basket

Braised soft e-fu noodles

Steamed fish

Dessert: Che with assorted biscuits

Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant is a lovely place for the morning Yum Cha service. But the dinner service was wonderful. The staff were constantly available to cater for all our needs. It is a restaurant for all occassions, and should provide different food for everyone taste buds, and new food experiences for those who stay on the safe side.

Good food, good times!