New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, Ashfield

For once, Pea Pa is home on the day his mum comes to visit. We decide to go to Ashfield for lunch, because I've been meaning to get my old record player fixed there for about two years, and because Nana Boot loves prawns. It's win-win.

We're not sure whether to go for New Shanghai or Shanghai Nights next door, so we pick the one that looks the busiest. They also specialise in mini pork buns, aka soup dumplings. Yes.

Baby Pea likes it so much he falls asleep, so we get on with ordering far too much food for three people.

Nana Boot can't eat much, so lucky for her the salt and pepper prawns arrive first. They're perfect and I eat them up tails and all.

The steamed rice and eggplant in garlic sauce come out too. Mains before entrees - why not? This is similar to my favourite eggplant dish from Chinese Noodle in Haymarket, but without the same depth of flavour. Solution? Soy sauce - now it tastes the same. Hooray!

Pea Pa and I get the special - steamed oyster in xo sauce. They're huge and meaty.

Finally, the dumplings and shallot pancake arrive. The dumplings are so good, self saucing with the ginger soup inside, though a splash of vinegar doesn't hurt. Vinegar and soy also liven up the lovely shallot pancake, which is the crispiest one I've ever tried.

Somehow we've managed to eat everything except most of the eggplant and half the rice, so they come home with us. The next day, I fry up the last of Pea Pa's radish cake, stir-fry the eggplant with some shallot and a big spoonful of kecap manis, toss them together and have them for dinner with the re-steamed rice.  I swear leftovers have never tasted so good.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant
273 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
p. (02) 9797 7284

Fishermans Wharf restaurant, Pyrmont

Lazy as we are on Sunday mornings, if dumpling cravings strike we don't usually venture further than the Chinese restaurant down the road, but an interview at Fairfax's Pyrmont HQ for Sydney Story Factory volunteers provides the perfect opportunity for brunch at our new favourite yum cha venue in the fish market.

Arriving just after 11am, we're lucky to snag a small table at the back without having to queue. We're immediately offered a plate of takoyaki and don't say no. I first tried these fried octopus balls topped with mayo and bonito flakes at the Marrickville festival a few years ago and have had a soft spot for them ever since.

Apart from our favourite BBQ pork buns, the rest is pretty much a prawnfest - a mini crustacean degustation, with rice noodle rolls, dumplings and funny fat little sweet corn cakes that need a savoury splash of soy to make them interesting.

As you'd expect the prawns are great here. We love the plain har gow with a dab of chilli sauce but the prawn and chive dumplings stand out for their extra garlicky flavour. 

We leave the back way but on our way out to the car park we see the queue at the front entrance now goes all the way to the bottom of the stairs, so go early if you don't want to miss out.

Fishermans Wharf Seafood Restaurant
Level 1, Bank St, Pyrmont NSW 2009
p. 02 9660 9888
w. http://www.fishermanswharf.com.au/

BBQ One Kitchen, Eastwood

Confession - there's no pram in today's post, but there are a few greens on the plate if that helps. On our way to visit family on the north side, Pea Pa suggests a detour to Eastwood for Chinese and hands me his iPhone to search one of his favourite food blogs for tips. The review has our mouths watering but the name of one recommended dish seals the deal - Pei Pa duck. 

Prewarned that the restaurant would be crowded, we come in carrying Baby Pea in his capsule and a nice lady puts us at a table against the wall. It takes a while to get our order taken but the wait is well worth it. Not only that, but there's a bonus dish to keep you going while you wait - a big bowl of ugly/beautiful chicken soup - grey-beige, gloopy and utterly delicious.

Don't fill up too much though, because the portions are huge. For $15 each we get two large plates of steamed rice and greens topped with top-quality barbecue goodies. We've gone for the roast suckling pig twice, one serve sharing a plate with the Pei Pa barbecued duck, and there's a dish of hoisin sauce for dipping.

Maybe not everyone could tuck into tender suckling swine with their own little milk-fed piglet sitting beside them, but I have no qualms about it - in fact I can't imagine anything more heavenly, though later I feel like I've pigged out a little bit too much. The duck can't claim the same crispy skin but it's not too fatty and the moist, flavoursome meat is almost as tasty.

We grab a menu on the way out so we'll be ready to try something different next time we're passing through, though it's going to be hard to resist that little piggy ...

BBQ One Kitchen
Shop 10-11/160 Rowe St (Eastwood Shopping Centre)
p. 02 9874 5323