Bites: Shun Fung on the River @ Perth

Shun Fung used to be the home to one of the worst Chinese cuisines in Perth.  My first visit six years ago left a lasting impressions of what a Chinese restaurant should not be.  However, I was invited to rethink that phrase a few weeks back when a friend who knows the owners invited me for a tasting session which led on to more.  From what I can see, Eva who owns the places realizes the extent of the damage left by mismanagement as she and her husband only manages the 30 odd restaurants they own back home in China.  With the new management led by her sister Ida and a crew of new chefs with over 1 century of experience, they are here to bring change.  Have that been fruitful though is something my tongue wonders.

 

For the tasting session that day, we were offered a personalized banquet which costs $100 per head.  For this price, there several restaurants including Yu’s at Crown, and the now closed Grand Palace.  For me, this is the point where things should get really serious.  Quality, service and everything else has to be impeccable.  The tasting menu that night consist of a few appetizers:Chinese Kimchee; tasty Chinese cabbage that is marinated in a mild spicy sauce and served tender.  This was a nice rendition of the Korean Kimchee with the exception that cabbage Shun Fung uses has a more tender bite compared to the traditional kimchee’s in town.

The marinated duck wings was another appetizer we had that night.  It was nice but for me, this was definitely not duck wings.  It felt more like the thigh.  The meat was cooked just spot on with a hint of Chinese wine.  With the dip, it was yummy!  Other appetizers which I had but though was rather normal includes the marinated chili and the rocket salad.  Strong flavors but for me, it does not carry the traditional Chinese feel.

 

As we progressed to the main, Eva explains that Shun Fung does not serve A particular type of food, but instead serves various dishes from all the provinces along with China.  She also acknowledges the demand for food that not only taste good, but looks good too.  To put it simply, she has a sharp eye for detail and expects her food to come out looking pretty ;)!Baked oysters with Foie Gras sauce.  This was part of the three season platter.  It was cooked just spot on with a rich Foie Gras sauce.  My main question here will be the use of the Foie Gras.  While the oyster were fresh, the Foie Gras somehow lacked the same richness as the oyster.  When we say Foie Gras, I want rich, decadent, creamy, and fatty.  For all the reasons my doctor does not want me to eat Foie Gras.

 

This was a picture from my past visit with a friend but this formed part of the 3 season platter that was served to us bloggers again that night.For me, this is a MUST order dish.  The dish called deep fried golden radish balls is by no means Vegan.  It has finely chopped seafood such as squid which was cooked to perfection.  It was slightly crisp with a nice melt in your mouth bite to the seafood.  For me, I liked this the best out of the lot.  Feels like something  I would usually order back home that forms part of a Chinese Four Season platter when celebrating an occasion.  Also served with the golden radish balls and oysters were the crispy white bait with an aioli dressing.  While this felt a little too Western for my liking, it was still a well executed finger food which would have gone well with alcohol.

 

Before moving on to the mains, we had a soup course.  For tonight, we had the fine sliced abalone in superior soup.Be it abalone, sharks fin, sea cucumber or bird’s nest, these are things which can cost a few hundreds to many thousands of dollars.  Yet, without the perfect technique, this is no more than expensive rubber.  In modern terms, a tyre.  Here at Shun Fung, I love the superior soup which is made with a milk and chicken broth.  The soup has great smooth consistency with the black fungus, and coriander giving it crunchiness.  My “weny wonder’s why” factor here will be the abalone.  I was thinking more of a melt in your mouth feel like those braised ones.  However, the ones here were more of a textural component which was chewy.  Not bad though not great.

 

When we were finished, our mains started coming out.   The first main for the night was the Coral Trout two ways.  At Shun Fung, the Coral Trout served varies in size and is typically prepared two ways to maximise the use of the fish.  The first Coral Trout course was the steam Coral Trout,  ginger and shallot.

I hate fish, especially smelly fish.  Fortunately, this comes from the sea and did not carry a foul fishy smell.  In fact, this was superb.  The fish was cooked spot on and the mushrooms that accompanied the dish was absolutely tender.  Soy dressing was subtle with a hint of ginger.  It was really yummy.  For me, this was one of the highlights of my dinner there!

 

Once the meaty bits were used, the remained part of the fish was deep fried salt-pepper style.Unlike the former course, these needed a little more effort to eat.  Boney bites made it hard to enjoy but the mild salty-pepper taste gave me all the encouragement I needed. Perhaps this can be fried till the bones are crispy and edible?  I would so very much love that!

 

The next course was the honey mustard prawns.This was another likeable dish that night.  It differed significantly from the typical Chinese buttermilk or ginger oyster prawns but still very moorish!  The most enjoyable bit was not the fresh and juicy prawns but the sauce.  Likening it to Tetsuya’s or Sepia would definitely be an overkill here but for me, the mild potency of the honey mustard was just sublime.  The mustard was potent to the extent where you can feel it but not enough make one choke and cough.  I would have enjoyed a thicker coating as I did not have to suffer any injuries.

 

The beef course for the night is the Diced Wagyu Beef on a Sizzling Stone.While this is not new to me, I found it a little more Japanese than Chinese.  Then again, perhaps this was a good opportunity to have quality meat not coated in corn flour and sauce i.e typical sizzling dishes at Chinese restaurants.  Definitely a nice touch to a classic dish.

 

Szechuan Spicy Chicken

To those familiar with the cuisine, the word Szechuan immediately causes the brain to think of numbness.  The flavor known as “mala” in Chinese means numbing spiciness.  Yet it was numbing not because of the chilies but rather the Szechuan peppercorns.   The dish did that exactly.  It left my tongue with a lingering numbness.  It’s a flavor which I do not really like.  But as I have complained to Eva, I dislikes the overcooked chicken even more.  I mean, who likes stringy chicken?  That definitely is a fetish =/!

 

Braised King Oyster Mushrooms with ShallotsFor me, this was another very likeable dish.  The mushrooms were not the softest but the braising sauce just kept me going back for more.  It was very tasty and having plainly blanched broccolis seemed like the best way to complement such strong flavors. 

 

The last course was the sizzling beans.For me, sizzling sambal belacan or minced pork beans and you are automatically on a home run.  But here, they used “mala”. The funniest thing about it was that the boss is also not a big fan of “mala”.  When I told her it was “Mala”, she immediately declined a serve from her waitress.  In terms of being cooked right, it was.  But it was the flavor that was a let down.  Definite a no-no from me :P!

 

Before we had out desserts, we move onto the dim sim platter.  It was not your typical dim sim but a serve of carbohydrates to prepare us for the dessert.  In more traditional meals especially in China, it is quite normal to serve stable carbohydrates like yam, corn, nuts and sweet potato.  Here, we had a modern attempt of recreating a similar course.

I loved every bit of these tasty morsel and would have easily gone for seconds and even thirds.  For the little darling, this was the only course where her eyes opened big and wide.  From the meticulously layered osmanthus flower jelly to the crisp fried dough, it was all very delicious.  The durian rolls were so delicately put together and its end product was just amazing.  I am from Malaysia and this is always a favourite back home.  More surprisingly, I who normally dislike pumpkin found the golden balls filled with pumpkin puree to be on par with the durian puffs.  To bring it home, the sweet osmanthus jelly cooled my tongue.  This is  definitely a must have.

 

The happy ending for the night is a choice of fried ice cream, red bean pancake or bean soup.  I chose the red bean pancake.

Where do I start hmmmm.  It was nice but I could only find very little praises for it.  This was OK but had no “wow” factor.  It felt rather typical.

 

The little darling had the fried ice cream with caramel sauce.

While I commend the effort of making it look nice, I found the accompaniments to be a little tacky.  A chocolate stick and a biscuit. =.=!  Fortunately the ice cream had good flavor although she would have preferred the crust to be thinner.  It was a little too doughy for her liking.

 

By the end of the night, you would have guessed it.  I was filled to the brim.  Shun Fung tonight appeared as a different persona.  Its food was refined.  Days of the faux Chinese dishes I hope, are sincerely gone.  IMHO, Eva has brought a sense of new direction to the restaurant.  If she is persistent with her way, I can see this place grow quickly in term of popularity.   The food is inspired and fits well for all.  Its price tag of $100 per head might be a little tricky but for those special occasions, it might be worth a splurge.  Speaking to my friends around town, very few would be keen to fork out such sum of money for Chinese cuisine.  At that price, most diners expect a show.  It must tick all the right boxes for service, appearance, taste and everything has to be there.  While I find such requirements almost impossible for Chinese cuisine, Shun Fung might one day break my believe. 

 

Also, with the banquet rooms so private, this is a great business meet up.  Furthermore, Shun Fung is strategically located along the river in the CBD. I believe this will attract business people from a multitude of industries.

 

WenY

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Sydney 2013: Mamak @ Goulburn St, Chinatown

With our Sepia dinner finishing at 11pm, we needed to test Sydney’s proclamation to being one of the world’s best culinary destinations for the last time.  Eateries are still aplenty at this hour but typically consist of Chinese venues and sloppy Pub food.  One word, Boring.  But there was just one thing which Sydney has that Perth do not, and it is not called the Opera house or the Harbor Bridge, it is called Mamak.  This Malay-Indian fusion culinary subculture might be rare in Australia but is a common food enjoyed by fellow Malaysians back home.  Food usually sold includes various type of Roti, curry, satay, nasi lemak and the list goes on.   So when someone who lacks experience in such food comes and decides to quantitatively give a “1 hat” score to this restaurant, I became admittedly, suspicious. 

Flipping Roti to get it spread thinly is vital to making these beautiful food.  When cooked, these little pockets of air forming within each subsequent layer (which have been folded) gives the basic Roti a crisp and fluffy consistency.  The finish though requires painful effort where one slams the piping hot Roti to give it that final smash that creates airways to quickly cool and crisp the layers.

 

At Mamak, the Roti came crisp and fluffy.  It had the basic condiments which includes a small serve of sambal, dhal (vegetarian curry) and a meat curry (sauce only).    For me, the Roti was good and fresh such that it was light and not dense like those frozen ones.  Definitely a game changer although their curry was OK only.  But what is OK for a Malaysian would be a good thing here.  Especially when Sydney is many thousand miles away from home.

 

The next Roti we had was the one with red onions and egg.  Succulent onions in a Roti is already a charm by itself, but having eggs help complete this omelette tasting Roti.  Unlike the basic one, this do not carry the same fluff and lightness but one can distinguish between a good and bad one by identifying the inconsistencies found in the wrapping.  The one at Mamak was decent in flavor though from the half I shared with Andrew, I found large pieces of flour stuck at several areas.

 

The last big dish was an important one, not only to the Mamak food culture but to all Malaysians.  The Nasi Lemak with fried chicken!#Take 1

This delicious rice dish is easily a national icon. Many Malaysians love this true and true with the increasing population of dieting girls being its only enemy. Its rice is simply fragrant with coconut milk and pandan leaf which not only gives it a great flavor, but a certain richness too. Usual condiments are hard to fault with although many will argue on which is the right sambal. Some like theirs spicy, some sweeter and some wants a strong hint of acidity. But lets all settle for; there is no right one. Each race in Malaysia creates a different sambal which changes depending on the places it comes from. North, South, East, West. They are all different. For me, the one at Mamak was good enough to be called Malaysian with its sambal having potent spiciness and saltiness rather than sweet. Anchovies were serve crisp and the roasted peanuts were fresh. This relinquishes the disgusting left-over oily smell that plagues this dish at times.

#Take 2.

The fried chicken came out suspiciously orange and fragrant which made me wonder what was used in the batter.  Maybe a mix of turmeric and curry powder?  The chicken here had a very tasty batter but felt like it needed a bit more sitting time to allows the flavors to seep in.  Still a good bite nonetheless.

 

Over all, my meal at Mamak was a good one.  As a Malaysian, it might be worth 6.5-7.5 out of 10, but as a Malaysian living in Australia, this place settle comfortably for a 9.  While the hype in Sydney revolves around fine dining establishments like Quay, Est., Tetsuya’s, Marque, Sepia and such, it is ultimately such simplistic yet culturally significant places like Mamak and Bourke Street Bakery that keeps the community eating.  It is cheap, good, and convenient.  After all, how many 4 hours meals can one do sustainably? 

 

WenY

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Sydney 2013: Sepia @ Sussex Street, Sydney

Our meals at Bourke St. Bakery along with Tetsuya’s help turbocharge our memorable day of being gluttons.   With us at our high from all the food consumed, we had no intentions of slowing down.  As the day turned dark, gravity played an essential role in preparing our stomachs for the next meal.  Our dinner tonight happened at Sepia in the CBD.  Why Sepia you might ask?  Well, I personally found its cuisine’s description to be the most special compared to the other offerings around town.  I was further convinced when I saw a review written by a fellow friend and foodie, Glenn.  See his post on Sepia here. 

 

Ranked among the top restaurants in the country and given a 3 hat score in the Good Food Guide 2013, Sepia is not short on accolades.  The restaurant as I have seen is motivated to use the best seasonal produce and draws inspiration from Japan.  Our meal was a $160 dollar degustation (also available with optional courses of oysters and cheese for an extra charge).While I decided to not try any oysters that night, Andrew, Bel and Jordan did not hold back.  These freshly shucked Sydney Rock oysters they said were one of the freshest they have had to date.  To add to the compliment, they enjoyed the white wine vinaigrette that accompanied the oysters! 

 

Amuse bouche; Smoked ocean trout consommé, smoked roe, smoked eggplantThis amuse bouche for sure did not lack a wow factor.  It was beautiful to look at and its flavors were unique.  While it was hard to complement its distinctive taste on my first bite, I enjoyed it more as I savored it in my mouth.  The smokiness really lived through the whole experience and it packed mystery in its ingredients.  Some of which I would not have expected if it was not stated on the menu.

 

First course; New Zealand whitebait, braised ox cheek dashi, heart of palm, yuzu, sea samphire, mitsubaWhile I only knew what half the ingredients were in this dish before looking the rest up on the internet, it did not stop me from enjoying it.  The Japanese inspirations in this dish were clear. For me, the highlight here was the perfectly cooked white bait.  I have eaten others which tasted horrible.  The dashi broth here was clear and provided a salty-sweet flavor to the fish.  Also present in this dish was a mild citrus tone that induced a slight liveliness to this dish courtesy of the yuzu!  To finish off, there was a melt in your mouth braised ox’s cheek which sat at the bottom :)!  It was joy~!

 

Second course; Beetroot butter, goat milk chevre, rhubarb, apple balsamic, rye, goat milk crispWith its description so cleverly put together so as to deceive, it made Andrew eat a cheese he did not know exist haha.  For me, this course was visually captivating but its textures and good combination of flavors were even better.  The earthiness of the beetroot along with the sweet apple balsamic help compliment the tart flavors of the cheese. And while, the crunch of the crisps were not necessary it was still a good nice touch that gave the dish a honeycomb feel in your mouth.

 

Third course; Miso black cod smoked over Japanese charcoal, wasabi cream, smoked rice vinegar tonburi, nori, garlic, chive.Firstly, dear Nobu fans please do not even start because the black cod fish at Sepia was amazing.  Having it smoked over Japanese charcoal might seem like an overuse of the smoking technique, but oh boy, cooking seafood over charcoal always help bring out the sensational flavors of seafood.  This was no exception! Just imagine the fish meat flaking of layer by layer each tasting buttery with a hint of miso and smokiness. OMG!  Also, the wasabi cream seemed like a lot at first but when I considered its potency which was very subtle, the cream was such joy that I went back for more and more each time. 

 

At Sepia, the bread course is served as an intermediate course.  Bread n’ Butter!

Whilst the butter looked amazing, its flavors were nowhere near the sensational black truffle butter from Tetsuya’s.  It was just OK.  In fact, it fared slightly under as I found it lacking in the buttery flavors I wanted. EMO:(!  What felt like a bigger disappointment were the rolls itself.  It was hard on the outside and on the inside, it was not fluffy and super soft like I thought I would normally eat.  Not a good bread course IMHO.

 

Fourth course; Butter poached spanner crab, shellfish mousse, pomelo, tarragon, fried garlic and quinoa, noriNow, where do I even start on how awesome this was?  Well firstly, the shellfish mousse was faultless. It was perfectly flavored and its natural taste was still present.  I can tell it was fresh.  Buttery spanner crabs flesh had only a slight resistance when bitten through, proving that it was perfectly poached.  Oh a boring super grain quinoa was made fabulous.  This is a typical plain Jane becoming the hottest girl in school with the addition of spice.  For what it was worth, I’d take my hats off to the chefs.  But first I need to earn one.

Fifth course;  Seared rolled David Blackmore wagyu beef, nameko mushroom, roasted red onion juice, wasabi fried potato and kombu crumb, citrus soy.While all the culinary skills made this dish perfect, it was ultimately the wagyu beef that made my dinner kickass.  It was simply delicious.  It was rolled and seared beautifully on the outside while keeping it medium rare inside. Eating it slowly, the meat was so tender it melt in our mouths. Red onion juice, mushrooms and the crumbs all helped intensify my enjoyment but they were mere elements to a bigger picture.  But then again, it was the effort from all that made this dish memorable.  Definitely the second best dish of the lot from Sepia with only  a marginal difference compared to the shellfish mousse.

 

Sixth course; Seared Mandagery Creek venison, chocolate boudin noir, shichimi pepper, Hachiya persimmon, coconut yoghurt.

Having felt so full and sleepy, part due from the light but mainly the food, the waiter’s description of the food reached my ears like a string of rubbish.  No it was not him, just me.  On the plate was without a doubt another meat course cooked to perfection.  Its meat was nice and red with its consistency simply being tender.  But with a unique combination of fruit, cocoa and spices as condiments, my taste buds verified each individual flavor as boring.  Conversely, as a trio, it tasted slightly curry-ish.  But it was quite enjoyable actually.   Definitely special though not outstanding.

 

Palate Cleanser'; Apple and BlackcurrantWhile Tetsuya’s set a standard for the sorbet palate cleanser, Sephia does something else.  It goes one step ahead and entices its dinners.  A ball of frozen blackcurrant shell filled with an apple-blackcurrant sorbet that was every bit decadent.  All of this oozed out as I cut the sphere into half. It was superb!  The sorbet or maybe not a sorbet was very light and airy.  Flavor wise it managed to grasp the balance between its fruity sweetness and the berry acidity! It was great!  And at the bottom was some toffee which gave good flavor though I would have personally done without it. 

Apple and blackcurrant

 

Seventh course; Coffee cream, mandarin, crisp yoghurt sponge, elderberry, lavenderThe dessert looked simple but do no judge a book by its cover.  Here, the coffee cream sets the stage for a musical with the dehydrated mandarins and crisp yoghurt sponge releasing a delicious crunch that not only served as a textural component, but as a flavoring too.  The elderberries are another important element as it featured its popping berries with great acidity.  All of which take place simultaneously whilst the lavender gently floats in the air.  Put it in this way, it excites all the right senses which makes something great.  Texture, flavor and smell.  And hey, I ate coffee. Something I normally do not do.  Till this day, I am still a coffee virgin.  Have not had a single cup in my entire life.

 

Eighth course; Autumn chocolate forestWhile its ingredients spanned two lines too long, a simple description suffices.  I have eaten a few variations of this but am surprised by the lukewarm reception for Sepia’s Autumn chocolate forest.  Sepia’s rendition of a chocolate forest is extremely good IMHO.  It had all the varying textures of chocolate which were rich and very chocolaty, but at the same time quite well-balanced thanks to a variety of aromatics like the orange and thyme cream.  The sour cherry sorbet itself was light, refreshing and fruity.  It was extremely hard to fault with it although I do not blame some who might criticize it for the lack of being special as this dessert is increasingly being overused by restaurants, some good, the rest horrible.  This was definitely one of the better ones!

 

Petite foursWhile most establishments serve macarons, truffles, bite size cakes and what not, Sepia does chocolates.  It was good to have something different as I am now a little over such typical and unpredictable petit fours.  This was way better.  Each chocolate bits had the flavor we expected.  There was a chocolate and a very good green tea one.  I only sampled two as we were only entitled to two each.  It was such a deprivation I must insist!!  My tongue craved to try all the other flavors!  Unless, we were only meant to have onside of the chocolate so that we could have tasted all.  But then again, that would be rather retarded as the fillings would be one-sided! 

 

While other’s have judged, why not let yourself be the judge?  With countless of praises and mentions, this establishment is easily anyone’s favourite.  Their food is consistently special from start to end though their bread leaves much to be desired.  For me, this is what I came to Sydney for.  Food that is good looking, fine tasting and over all, creates a memorable experience.  No one on this table will forget the palate cleanser or even the beef as well as the shellfish courses.  It was THAT good.  So is Sepia a 3 hatted establishment?  Of course it is.  Maybe even Michelin 2 star if not 3.  This was a great meal which everyone one thought was the better of the two fine dining meals we had in Sydney!

 

Lastly, a description taken from their website http://www.sepiarestaurant.com.au/.

“….describes the cuisine as: "smoky, sweet, crunchy, creamy, soft, gentle, toasty, scented, clear, brothy, earthy, floral. The focus is on texture and contrast even more than taste - there's always a crunch, always a cream. It's like the love-child of Tetsuya Wakuda and Rene Redzepi of Noma; a Nordic kaiseki.”

 

WenY

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