Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2008

Bankstown Bites. The most rewarding fooding festival on the Sydney calendar.



I can hardly believe it's been three years since my last visit at the inaugural Bankstown Bites Festival. Since then, the festival has grown in size and popularity. Crowd estimates were set at 15,000 according the Bankstown Council website.

The highlight, of course, was the range of free food tours on offer: an opportunity to explore the culinary delights of Bankstown, meet the shopkeepers, and taste some samples!


Sweets at Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices

The Green Discovery Food Tour took us to my favourite spice shop Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices. The market-style arrangement of spice mountains never fails to impress. Vibrant coloured pyramids of smoked paprika, curry powder, chilli and tumeric radiate heat like an edible sunset. There are cinnamon quills, nigella seeds, harissa paste and spice rubs. The dried mint smells like it was picked only last week.


Spices


Beans and flours


Star of anise


Fresh corn

Bright yellow ears of corn wait to be cooked fresh for you at the entrance. The corn at Valley View is a drawcard for locals; it's hard not to bump into someone nibbling on a buttered and peppered corn cob in the nearby streets. Plump shiny cherries and polished chestnuts also try to lure us, but we continue on, a seafood shop next and then a bakery which thoughtfully provides us with tray full of samples.


Bakery samples


Digging in


Frozen beef slices at Best Value Supermarket

The Red Discovery Food Tour is all about Asian supermarkets and grocery stores. Our tour host, a volunteer who works for Bankstown City Council, takes us patiently through the aisles of Best Value Supermarket. "Cheaper than Woolworths", she repeats with glee. She points out teas, tofus, dumplings and more.

We continue on to a Herb Centre that provides tastings of chrysanthemum tea and pu-erh tea. Our tour ends at the Asian Brasserie at Oscars Sports Hotel where our group is generously provided with three giant-sized plates of freshly cooked dishes: jelly fish salad, Vietnamese spring rolls with vermicelli and salad, and lemongrass chicken. There's nothing but silence and nods of satisfaction all around.


Lebanese desserts from Sweet City

I'd deliberately saved the Pink Discovery Food Tour for last - what better way to end the day than with a belly full of sweets.


Baklava and pastries

We make the long trek down South Terrace to Sweet City first. It's worth the walk. Not only does the owner offer us the choice of sampling any pastry we'd like--a plethora of rose-syrup soaked choices--we also get a crack at their homemade ice creams too - the pistachio is strangely firm and chewy but in a deliciously addictive manner.


A 2kg block of Turkish delight, sliced to order


Date biscuits


Fried semolina biscuits soaked in rose syrup


Rum babas from Sweet Fantasy Continental Cakes

We waddle across the road to Sweet Fantasy Continental Cakes where the samples continue. Here the cakes have more of a Greek and European leaning, with chocolate and cream making regular appearances. We're plied with caramel cake, chocolate cake and mini hot chocolates.

Last stop is Cafe Amoura by the train station for a much needed coffee. It's strong and robust and full of body - much like my belly, I'd come to think!


Yoyos


Hazelnut, orange and roast almond balls


White chocolate and almond coated komakia


Profiteroles

This year's Bankstown Bites Food Festival was held on Saturday 26 July 2008. For further information, visit the Bankstown Bites website.

Businesses visited:

GREEN DISCOVERY FOOD TOUR - Fresh food and spices
Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices
Shop 40 The Appian Way, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 0465

North Terrace Seafoods
120 North Terrace, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 6851

BC Homestyle Bakery
119 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9708 1556

RED DISCOVERY FOOD TOUR - Asian supermarkets and grocery stores
Best Value Supermarket
32-34 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 970 2288

Vien Dong Chinese Herbs Centre
50 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 6989

Bankstown Brasserie at Oscars Sports Hotel
307 Chapel Road South, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel +61 (02) 9707 2458

PINK DISCOVERY FOOD TOUR - Desserts
Sweet City and Hadla Ice Cream
1/222 South Terrace, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 6886

Sweet Fantasy Continental Cakes
Shop 1, 232 South Terrace, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9708 6000

Cafe Amoura
141 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 1930

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Yagoona - Nhu Quynh (fresh tofu and soy milk)
Yagoona - Rodriguez Brothers (chorizo, jamon and smallgoods)

Bankstown - El Bahsa Sweets
Greenacre - Sabbagh Patissery
Punchbowl - Rabeih Sweets (Aug07) and (Mar05)

Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2009
Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2005

Bill Granger's buttermilk pancakes

Do crepe pans really make a difference?

The friendly folk at Kitchenware Direct recently offered to send me a Scanpan crepe pan to road-test, and who was I to argue?

It was also the perfect excuse to test out Bill Granger's recipe for buttermilk pancakes.

Bill Granger's buttermilk pancakes

2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk
75g unsalted butter, melted
frozen blueberries (optional)
vegetable oil to grease the pan

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add sugar. Make a well in the middle, then add eggs, buttermilk and melted butter. Using a large balloon whisk, slowly draw in the dry ingredients into the middle. Whisk lightly, taking care not to over-mix. Small lumps are fine - overmixing will result in a tough pancake.

Allow batter to rest for at least thirty minutes in the fridge. This allows time for the flour to swell, giving a lighter fluffier batter. If the batter becomes very thick, add a splash of milk to thin the mixture.

Gently heat a fry pan (or a sexy Scanpan crepe pan) over medium heat until a few drops of water skitter across the surface (adjust heat until this happens). Grease the pan with a small amount of vegetable oil, then pour in a small ladleful of batter. Use the back of the ladle to make small circles in the middle of the batter, hopefully dispersing the batter into a perfect circle. This action is easier with thinner batters. Otherwise you can lift the pan and roll the batter around until it forms a thin circle.

If making blueberry pancakes, quickly add a small handful of blueberries to the pancake, pressing them in slightly.

Allow the first side to cook for about two minutes, or until bubbles appear on the pancake surface.



Flip the pancake and cook the other side for about one minute. Remove pancake and continue cooking ladlefuls of batter. Keep cooked pancakes warm by placing them on a plate sitting on a saucepan of gently boiling water. Cover the cooked pancakes with a clean tea towel.



So why buy a crepe pan?

It's specifically designed for crepes and pancakes. The thinness of the pan means it heats up quicker than a frypan and also conducts heat well. The shallow lip makes it easier to fold crepes over as well as toss pancakes in the air (it's all in the wrist and the confidence that yes, you can flip it!).

A Scanpan crepe pan seems like an indulgent purchase, but like all Scanpan products, it definitely feels built to last, even if it is a tad heavy on the wrist! Its specificity of use means you'll never have to risk a garlicky pancake or bacony crepe either. Its surface should also remain scratch-free.

And there is something a little bit special about having a crepe pan in the cupboard... I'll take any excuse to make more pancakes!

Shanghai Night, Ashfield

Steamed Shanghai style mini pork bun $6.50
(xiao long bao)

Sydney's best xiao long bao? Search no more.

Despite the class and style of the newly opened Din Tai Fung, it's the cheap and cheerful chaos of Shanghai Night that still wins my heart.

Just like Din Tai Fung, the xiao long bao are handmade on-site. Here, however, it's a family-run affair: a modest production line of two sitting discreetly behind a folding bamboo screen.

The xiao long bao arrive in bamboo steamers, delicate pleated parcels of soup-filled dumpling that billow with steam as they descend on your table. The dumpling skins aren't as thin or as translucent as the Din Tai Fung version, but it's the soup inside that makes me weak at the knees. Steaming hot and sweet with pork, the soup is deliciously addictive, prompting a nervous battle of chopsticks as we fight for the next one.

The price is staggering too. At Din Tai Fung, six pork xiao long bao sets you back $8.80, or $1.47 each. At Shanghai Night, you get eight dumplings for $6.50 or make that 81c each. Who said value for money doesn't make food taste better?


Deep-fried rice cake $3.50

And then there are the other treats. Deep-fried rice cake is right up my starch alley. The flat rice cakes are chewy on the inside, protected by a crust of gold. We dip them in chilli sauce and savour them slowly.


Wild vegetables and pork wonton soup $6.00

We carefully portion out the vegetable and pork wontons. The soup is clear and refreshing, a huddle of wontons floating amongst the sprinkling of green onions.


Pork with garlic chive dumplings $7.20

Pork and garlic chive dumplings are sturdy crescents of bite-sized goodness. We douse them liberally with vinegar and soy. Again, these aren't delicate morsels but hearty village fare.


Shredded pork with green bean starch sheet cold noodle $11.80

The green bean starch cold noodle salad is the sleeper hit for our table of seven. Cellophane noodles of mung bean are slippery on the tongue with a likeable chewiness to them. Tinged a pale brown from the dressing of soy, the cool noodles are constrasted with crunchy shreds of carrot and cucumber, ribbons of pork, a smattering of sesame seeds and coriander garnish.


Chicken with chestnuts in hot pot $13.80

The dishes continue.

Hotpot of chicken with chestnuts is a simple homestyle dish. Small pieces of chicken are salty and sweet, perfumed with the flavour of star anise. The small bits of bone necessitate a little patience to eat the chicken. Treasures of shiitake mushroom and chestnut are found buried at the bottom of our hotpot.


Pan-fried pork bun with shallots $8.50

One of my favourite dishes here is the pan-fried pork bun with shallots. A celebration of guilty pleasures, these pork-filled buns are steamed then pan-fried for a crispy brown bottom. How could you say no?


Shallot pancake $4.50

A serve of shallot pancake is all folds and layers and green onion and crunch. It's rich but good, especially when tempered with generous dabs of chilli sauce.


Savoury soy milk $4.50

Savoury soy milk is a traditional breakfast for many Shanghainese. I'm more used to sweetened soy milk so I find its saltiness a little too foreign for my palate to comprehend. The Shanghainese at our table are homesick but happy.


Sweet white fungus and papaya $3.80

It goes on!

The sweet soup of white fungus and papaya is extremely cool and refreshing. Cooked for a long time, the fungus has lost its usual crunchy texture and become soft and silky instead. It tastes sweet and medicinal, in a good way.


Red bean pancake $4.80

Another Shanghai Night favourite: the red bean pancake. The thin crispy pastry envelopes a generous filling of sweetened red bean. It's not as oily as you'd expect, although one piece each is more than enough for each of us by this point.

We've eaten ourselves stupid. We'd chomped our way through six serves of xiao long bao (that's 48 dumplings between 7 people) and we even have a takeaway container with leftovers we can't bear to abandon. Our dinner bill comes to a mind boggling $25 a head, not much more than the $20 I'd spent at Din Tai Fung for a light--albeit elegant--lunch.

It's poky, it's crowded, it's ridiculously cheap. No wonder I love this place so much.




View Larger Map

Shanghai Night
275 Liverpool Road, Ashfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9798 8437

Open 7 days 10am-10pm
Cash only

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Dumplings - Shanghai Night (Mar 06)

Dumplings - China Noodle King
Dumplings - Chinese Noodle Rest'rant (Jun 07) and (Oct 04)
Dumplings - Daniang Dumpling
Dumplings - Din Tai Fung
Dumplings - East Ocean yumcha (Aug 06), (Aug 05) and (Oct 04)
Dumplings - Uighur Cuisine
Dumplings - Zilver (Jan 07) and (Feb 06)

Ashfield - Ashfield Hotel
Ashfield - Crocodile Farm Hotel
Ashfield - Polish Club
Ashfield - Shanghai Night (Jul08) and (Mar06)

Chocolate cupcakes

You don't make friends with salad, but you will make mates with cupcakes.



These Nigella cupcakes were brought to a barbecue dinner with friends and a hit with everyone. The cupcake batter was flavoured with three tablespoons of cocoa; the buttercream icing made with four tablespoons of cocoa.

The only downfall was my laziness: making a double batch in the food processor meant the sugar didn't quite dissolve properly. Next time I'll be making them one batch a time.

It did give me a chance to use my new piping bag though, and decorating is always the highlight.

The best part about baking cupcakes is sharing them of course, and there are few things that can beat the gleeful childish grins of cupcake-loving friends.



Related GrabYourfork posts:
Nigella's cupcake recipe

Lemon curd (or how to use up leftover egg yolks)

Need a recipe to use up those extra egg yolks?

With six egg yolks in the fridge after a batch of friands, I made a double batch of the lemon curd recipe listed below. Even then I'd wish I'd made more. Extra thick and zingy with lemon, this is heaven in every spoonful.

Use it on toast, in butterfly cakes, in tarts, on sponges, with ice cream or to sandwich meringues.

This also makes a lovely gift--if you can bear to part with it, that is!


Lemon curd

1/2 cup lemon juice
100g butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks + 1 egg

1. In a heavy saucepan, slowly melt butter into lemon juice over low heat, stirring regularly.
2. In a separate bowl (a glass measuring cup may be easier to pour), lightly whisk together the sugar, eggs yolks and egg.
3. Add 2 tablespoons of the lemon butter into the egg mixture (this reduces the risk of scrambled eggs).
4. Slowly add the egg mixture into the lemon butter, stirring constantly. I added a tablespoon at first, then two tablespoons, then three tablespoons, then poured the remainder in a slow and steady stream.
5. Increase the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the mixture thickens slightly. This could take 5-10 minutes. Remember that the mixture will thicken upon cooling.
6. Store in the fridge and slather generously over thick slices of toast or use to fill lemon tarts or sponge cakes.

Variations: Substitute the lemon juice with the same amount of orange juice or passionfruit pulp for orange curd or passionfruit curd.

Blueberry friands

Forget those manufactured oily friands that sit like a brick in your stomach. A homemade friand is deliciously moist with a nutty crumb.

But I always save the best for last - the caramelised edge, of course.

Blueberry friands

6 egg whites
185g butter, melted
1 cup or 125g almond meal
1 1/2 cups or 240g icing sugar mixture
1/2 cup or 75g plain flour
80g frozen or fresh blueberries

1. Lightly whisk egg whites with a fork in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Add butter, almond meal, icing sugar mixture and flour and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Take care not to overmix.
3. Divide mixture evenly into a greased 12-friand pan.
4. Add blueberries to each friand, pushing them into the batter. If you prefer friands without too much "bleeding", use frozen blueberries and make sure they are submerged completely.
   
5. Bake at 180C - 190C for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

Keeping time: 2 days in an airtight container.

Variations:
hazelnut - substitute hazelnut meal for almond meal
strawberry - top the friands with thin slices of strawberry
chocolate - add 100g roughly chopped white or dark chocolate
dark chocolate and raspberry - add 100g roughly chopped dark chocolate and 80g raspberries
lime coconut - add 2 teaspoons finely grated lime rind, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/4 cup dessicated coconut
orange and poppyseed - add 2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind and 2 tablespoons poppyseeds

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Banana walnut bread
Cake--Green tea marble
Cake--Hazelnut bundt cake
Cake--Lemon sour cream
Cake--Shark-shape
Chocolate cupcakes
Chocolate truffle mud cake
Muffins--apple cinnamon walnut streusel
Muffins--lime, white choc & coconut
Muffins--peach almond
Muffins--pineapple and coconut
Oaty date slice
Zucchini walnut loaf

Din Tai Fung, Sydney

Xiao long bao

Din Tai Fung - the most talked-about dumpling house in Sydney at the moment. From its beginnings as a side business for an oil shop in Taiwan, Din Tai Fung is now a global phenomenon with dumpling houses across China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the USA, and now Australia.


Dumpling makers hard at work

It's hard not to get excited at first sight of the glass-walled kitchen that juts by the entrance. Like a team of medics dressed in white coats and surgical masks, the pastry chefs are kneading, rolling and pleating dumplings with relentless precision. There are over twenty of them, heads down, nary a smile, their faces a picture of concentration.

We've deliberately arrived early for a Friday lunch, mindful of its reputation for busy queues. We walk straight in a 11.15am but notice the place gets full by 11.40am.



Inside, the dining room is large, modern and, for a dumpling house, surprisingly spacious. Three enormous lanterns dominate the ceiling, swinging from side to side throughout our lunch, a huge installation of mounted bamboo steamers adding a quirky sense of fun.


Tally sheet for each table's orders

A smiling waitress takes our order on a pink docket, pre-printed with all the menu options. Whilst we wait, we acquaint ourselves with the condiments tray and the laminated "Guide to enjoying xiao long bao".


Vinegar, soy sauce and chilli oil


Your helpful guide to enjoying xiao long bao


Sauteed water spinach with garlic $10.80

Our sauteed water spinach arrives first. Piled neatly on a modern square plate, the dark green leaves are soft and tender, slivers of steamed garlic reinforced by the generous scattering of golden fried garlic pebbles on top.


Shrimp and pork wonton soup $8.80

Shrimp and pork wonton soup is simple and warming, six slippery wontons floating lazily in hot broth.


Xiao long bao steamed crab meat and roe with pork dumpling $13.80

But it's the xiao long bao I'm most excited about. The steamed crab meat and roe with pork is a limited offering, usually selling out. The puddle of soup within each dumpling is clearly visible, the delicate skins almost translucent. At Din Tai Fung, each dumpling is alleged to have at least 18 pleats. I don't bother to check - I'm too interested in eating them!

We transfer these precious parcels to our spoons using our chopsticks, then lift them to our mouths with anticipation. One tear of the skin and our mouths are flooded with sweet soup. The taste of crab is only subtle and I'm a little disappointed at the mildness of the soup, more used to the blast of juicy sweetness from my favourite dumplings at Shanghai Night.


Xiao long bao pork dumpling $8.80

The pork xiao long bao have a little more substance to them. Whilst the dumplings are Shanghai Night have more punch to them, we can appreciate the paper-thin skins of the dumpings at Din Tai Fung. Whilst thin, they are surprisingly strong, never breaking during the steamer to spoon transfer.


Shrimp and pork won ton with spicy sauce (5 pieces) $8.80

Shrimp and pork won tons with spicy sauce have a pleasing chilli kick. Doused in a fiery puddle of chilli oil with garlic and green onions, it's a welcome party on the palate.


Blue Italian soda $4.50

The drinks take longer to arrive than the steamed dumplings. The blue Italian soda is just a fancy lemonade but we do appreciate the top third of the straw wrapper left on for hygiene purposes.


Golden red bean bread $5.80

We finish with a serve of golden red bean bread, like a slice of crustless white bread rolled up with red bean paste, dipped in sesame seeds on each end, and deep fried until crisp. It's generous with red bean, if a tad oily.

Damage for 3 people: $61 with 3 teas and 1 drink.

Perfect for high end dumpling dining, just get there early or prepare to queue.




View Larger Map

Din Tai Fung
Shop 11.04, Level 1, World Square Shopping Centre
(walk up the stairs near Bay Swiss)
644 George St, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9264 6010

Open 7 days 11am-2.30pm, 5-10pm

This has been included on Grab Your Fork's Top 10 Sydney Eats for Tourists. Read the entire list here.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Dumplings--China Noodle King
Dumplings--Chinese Noodle Rest'rant (Jun07)
Dumplings--Chinese Noodle Rest'rant (Oct04)
Dumplings--Daniang Dumpling
Dumplings--East Ocean yumcha (Aug 06)
Dumplings--East Ocean yum cha (Aug 05)
Dumplings--East Ocean yum cha (Oct 04)
Dumplings--Shanghai Night (Jul 08)
Dumplings--Shanghai Night (Mar 06)
Dumplings--Uighur Cuisine
Dumplings--Zilver (Jan 07)
Dumplings--Zilver (Feb 06)