Asian Education - On the road again

I have been chronicling my forays into new-for-me Asian cuisine and venturing for the first time into some local restaurants as noted here.

It has been a great adventure.

For my birthday my colleague Jennifer agreed we should go on another Asian Food Adventure (which I wish had a better acronym ;)

So we went off to Dinesty.

Nope that is not a typo.  Or rather, it's not MY typo.  It is the actual name.

In a totally unprepossessing strip mall off No.3Rd I was expecting another dull, uninspired interior.

I was delighted to find a beautiful space with an amazing collection of teapots displayed at the entrance, a glassed in kitchen that is mesmerizing to watch and a modern interior.  As always the tables were jammed in close together and as the lunch crowd grew so did the volume.  It was a lively and lovely space.

The menu was huge and with colour photos of every dish and an English description of the dish.  Very non-Asian user friendly.  The service was efficient but not overly friendly as is the norm I am discovering.

And the food.......the food.

 Devoted as I am to the XLB's at Shanghai River I try them at each place I go now.  These little bundles of soupy, porky, doughy delight have to be done right (aficionado that I am now).  The ones at Dinesty were smaller and I was immediately suspicious but it did make them a lot easier to eat and that is a huge point in their favour (nothing worse than piercing the XLB while trying to get it to your mouth and losing the soup all over your blouse).  They were, in fact, delicious and just might have edged into first place.  Only a few more tasting will be required to verify this.

 The shanghai green beans were salty and crisp and porky.

The shanghai noodles were the best I have had anywhere.  SO good they were eaten before I took a photo!

The beef roll - my newest Asian food friend was fantastic - a crispy pancakey roll with well seasoned beef and some green onion... SO good.

 A totally fantastic meal......

And as Jen was eager to stall me from returning to my office (so as to give my staff time to organise the birthday prank - which was, in fact, an epic, if hilarious FAIL)  we wandered into the nearby Asian Grocery Store called City Fresh.  I found a fabulous bamboo steamer for the Steamed BBQ pork buns Lindsay churns out of our kitchen these days and some Milo (a drink from my childhood which my kids love too).

It was fun to wander around and see all the different items on offer.  Also getting close to Chinese New Year the decorations are up.

A great lunch....Thanks Jen Chen!