Best of Sydney Eats: Asian food only
Amazingly, in the 3 days I spent in Sydney, I only ate Asian food. From banh mi to boba, the city has it all. Here are a few of the more memorable meals:
Din Tai Fung is in Sydney! This famous Taipei-based restaurant chain has a very popular store located in the World Square shopping plaza between Pitt and George Streets. It was packed with Sydneysiders of all backgrounds. I had the classic xiao long bao, and a couple personal favorites, black sesame bun and soy milk. Now I've been to Din Tai Fung in 3 countries!
On my first night in Sydney, I was searching for a place to eat and found this restaurant called Da Xi Bei in Chinese (the Great Northwest). The name alludes to its specialty, food from Xinjiang. Interior decor included plastic grapes and vine leaves strung across the ceiling. Amazingly with the fluorescent lighting, it was highly evocative of my time in Xinjiang, since grape vines on terraces were some of my most memorable images.
I had braised hand-pulled noodles with leeks and lamb on top. The noodles were excellent; they had a strong bite, which is often lacking with hand-pulled noodles. The flavor was a bit salty and one-dimensional though. The portion size was enough to take back to the hostel and microwave for breakfast the next morning.
On my last night in Sydney, I was headed towards another Japanese restaurant when hunger called out and I popped into this intriguing little store. Called "Pepper Lunch," it's apparently a franchise from Japan. A bit gimmicky since everything is served on hot cast iron (like my curry rice with beef), the taste was fine but nothing I'd go out of my way to eat.
