Monday, December 12, 2005


dim sum & elizabeth bay

as a new yorker, i have a certain dysfunctional relationship with chinese food. it's no secret that the chinese food much beloved in nyc is actually quite terrible; there are probably only 3 decent chinese places around.

(and no, for you obnoxious chowhounds, i don't mean your favorite "authentic" immigrant places in flushing where the cockroaches are large enough to be on the menu along with the dried sea cucumbers and fried duck beaks.)

so this afternoon i wandered down george st. to market city for some dim sum, which here in sydney is called yum cha. i dropped a mere A$14 for plates and plates of steamed chicken buns, steamed shrimp dumplings, fried squid balls, and baby bok choy.

the carts contained a lot of fresh sea food, as you would expect: mussels in black bean sauce, crawfish in spicy sauce, etc. along with more standard teahouse items and roast duck.

personally, i think the dim sum capital of the u.s.a. is probably oakland, ca. there's good stuff there.

the yum cha i had today was far superior to any in nyc, but maybe not quite as good as that in oakland. . .on the other hand, i think the best thai food in the u.s.a. is probably in la-la land at a certain section of sunset.

and the thai food in sydney is superior to that. so let's call it a draw in the thai-chinese division!

after the yum cha experience i ambled over to potts point/elizabeth bay to check out some cafes. one spring espresso had been recommended to me for the latte art only.

and the barista, mario, is an excellent latte artist, with some unique designs i hadn't seen before. in general this area reminds me of san francisco's pacific heights for some reason, in overall architecture, people watching, and shop style.

i mean, you can buy a lot of acqua di parma and fornasetti everything, if that makes sense to you. . .

yesterday i wandered over to the world's easiest led ashtanga class at lotus. lotus is probably the most stylin' yoga studio in sydney that i've seen so far; actually, it may be more of a pilates studio that offers some ashtanga.

while the place looks great, it features the seemingly-standard sydney concrete floor, albeit covered in thin indoor-outdoor carpet. plus, the place is massively air-conditioned.

sigh. ashtanga is hard enough -- ashtanga in a refrigerator is double hard. however, the teacher led the sequence at a sleep-walking pace, which made it to my mind triple hard.

no way was i getting warm enough to kiss my shins in those seated forward bends. however, i can't be too harsh on lotus -- they also sell chocolate, albeit not-my-fave green & blacks.

posted by fortune | 10:50 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 3 comments