Foodie's Paradise: Instagram Edition #1

So, I got an iPhone over Christmas, and of course, no iPhone app collection would ever be complete without Instagram. Having browsed through most people's photos, I've deduced that there are a few categories of pictures which never get old: selfies, cute animals and...FOOD.  

I was an Instagram skeptic...but I think I've been converted. Join me and indulge my descent into sinfully delicious consumerism. Enjoy! 

 

When I went back to China, we visited the ancient City of Xi'an. This city is home to the Terracotta Soldiers, but also some of the tastiest food in China! They make amazing noodles with the most indescribable elasticity and texture that make them so different to all other noodles. Here we ate cold chilli noodles and a special jelly noodle thing that sounds really gross, but trust me, tastes farking AMAZING! (I will be uploading my China and Singapore food posts, so keep alert!)

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This particular restaurant we visited in Xi'an was on a stretch of road reknowned for its Muslim culture and eateries. My mum looked up some good places to eat beforehand, and this steamed bun place was a hot one. The buns were so tender and meltingly soft because they cooked in a bath of liquid within the bun, which kept everything moist. We had like 4 different fillings from pork to mushrooms and lamb and ERMAHGERD EVERYTHING WAS DELICIOUS!

So if you know me, you know that I LOVE banana chips. They are so addictively crunchy and a dried banana chip just has a much more intense flavour profile - the banana-ness just shines through! While in China, we passed a pop-up stall full of these dried, roasted snack foods. Amongst the spicy peanuts, wasabi peas, roasted chestnuts (!!!), I FOUND THIS TEMPTING STASH OF BANANA CHIPS! Needless to say, my reunion with banana chips was beautiful.  

I am the Senior Resident at a floor here at my College at ANU. We had a Mexican night for a floor function last weekend and it was AHMAZING. The salsa was so good and so simple - it's crazy what a bit of lime juice can do! I loved the colours and vibrancy of the dish! So many layers of texture and taste! This is definitely a recipe worth saving for my personal collection...

MIOS DIOS!

There is a great little Vietnamese place called iPho in the "centre" of our city. I call it "centre", because every Canberran knows that it is pretty small and dingy to even remotely resemble a CBD. Anyways, this place has really authentic Vietnamese food which, most importantly, is DELICIOUS, CHEAP AND LARGE PORTIONS! They also let you self-serve your own condiments like fish sauce, chilli sauce etc, and I always love to go overboard and saturate my meals in a puddle of sauce. This particular dish was a lemongrass grilled pork vermicelli bun salad. 

iDELICIOUS! (So lame)

When I was back in Auckland, I also had some Vietnamese at Hansans. This is like, exactly the same dish as above but with lemongrass BBQ grilled chicken. STILL AMAZING!

 

In Auckland, my friends and I always get Thai because it's the only hing our diverse palates can agree on. A few years back, my friend found this cute Thai place tucked in a little alleyway in the middle of the CBD. Deejai Thai has really great ambience. It's really tucked away from the hustle and bustle and the atmosphere is just so...chilled. My friend and I shared this chicken cashew stirfry. What can I say? CASHEWS ARE DELICIOUS!

 

 

For anyone that's taken a trip to the South Coast of NSW, you'll know that there is a very special little bakery. Not just any bakery, but THE BRAIDWOOD BAKERY. This bakery must have the best business of any bakery in the world because it is packed to the rafters every day. The pies at this place have passed into road trip folk-lore. If you don't make a stop, YOU HAVE NO SOUL.  

This time, I opted for a Steak n Pepper pie and it really packed a good spicy punch. Only grumble...not enough sauce...but I'm sure you all knew that. ;)

Perfection in a pastry.

My dad came to Canberra over Easter and we had lots and lots of yummy food (thanks Daddy! :P). Back home in New Zealand, we go yumcha-ing every single Sunday as part of our family fun-times. So naturally we had to get yumcha when he arrived! We ate at Prince in Belconnen. Expensive and the food was average, but it's yumcha, so you'd have to do something DISASTROUS to screw it up.

LOOK AT THOSE BEAUTIFUL SHRIMP DUMPLINGS!

At my college at ANU, we often have formal dinners celebrating one thing or another. The recently launched Tuckwell Scholarship was celebrated here and the leadership team was invited to attend! The food was TO DIE FOR. Below we have a beautiful specimen of crispy skinned salmon with risotto, broccolini and finished with a lime wedge and a red sauce of some sort. Well played Bruce Hall, well played.

Stay tuned for edition #2...hopefully coming sometime before the end of the semester!


Peace out,

Ruohan xx