Singma Noodle Bar, Southern Cross Arcade

Feeling a little under the weather I headed straight to Singma Noodle Bar for some warm, comforting soup. Not feeling like chicken I ordered the pork wonton noodle soup.



Some of the elements of this bowl'o'broth are little underwhelming but the whole is certainly greater than the sums of its parts. The BBQ pork is almost certainly dyed pink around the edges and are more like shards of pork rather than juicy chunks. And I think Singma is being a little over generous by calling the things floating in the soup 'dumplings'. More like wonton wrappers with the merest hint of pork mince.



See - scandalous. Tiny 'dumplings' with just atoms of flavourless pork.



Those criticisms aside - the broth was good - light, spicy and slightly oily; the greens perfectly wilted; and the noodles were plentiful.

This is obviously a flawed soup but I keep returning the Singma because despite the shortcomings they make tasty food.

Ricky's Kitchen, South Cross Arcade

It finally feels like Ricky's Kitchen has reached it's promising potential.

Comparisons to Ricky's Chicken Rice were always initially going to be unfavourable. When I first ate at Ricky's Kitchen - just after he shifted from his chicken rice stall in the China Town Food Court - I was disappointed. The soul of his food seemed to have disappeared. I recall hoping that Ricky just needed to get know his new dishes and kitchen a little better. I'm pleased to report that this indeed seems to be the case.

Firm and fatty with crunchy crackling and scattered with fresh coriander and spring onion the crispy pork was very good indeed. The sauce the noodles were served in was light but full of flavour and didn't dominate or detract from the crispy pork.

What I (and most people I think) love most about eating at Ricky's are the dipping sauces. The green spring onion sauce has regained it's earthy almost mustard-y bite while the red chilli sauce is back to it's sharp, hot almost tropical self. 



Watching Ricky's finesse while slicing and chopping joints of meat for dishes is one of the new mesmerising pleasures of the new open kitchen - and gives you something to do while you endure the long wait for food from this now popular stall. If he continues in this vein Ricky's Kitchen will no doubt achieve the cult status Ricky's Chicken Rice had.

Love Pho Vietnamese Cuisine, Myer Centre Food Court

Presumably I've missed the point by having lunch at a place called Love Pho and not ordering the pho - but today's lunch was decidedly average.

I ordered honey bbq pork, lemongrass beef and noodles.



The honey bbq pork was certainly sweet but it had no discernible texture - neither tender nor crispy nor juicy nor crunchy nor glutenous; the lemongrass flavour was noticeably absent in the oddly fishy-tasting lemongrass beef; and the noodles were very greasy.

In the interest of fairness I'll come back and try the pho and let you know how I go.

Miss Mai, James Place

I introduced a colleague to Miss Mai a few weeks. He cannot get enough of place so I joined him there for lunch today. Browsing the menu I found something I hadn't ordered yet - a pork and spring roll noodle box. Two of my favourite things (pork and spring rolls) together in one meal. Excitement!! Lunch was served in this groovy plastic bowl. Actually, the plastic bowl isn't all that groovy but vibrant orange sticker sure is! 



Choc full of mouth-watering goodies the lid of the plastic bowl could hardly close. Noodles, nuts, fried onions, crunchy salad, fresh herbs, ngoc cham dipping sauce - this bad boy had everything. But lets talk about the heroes of this dish - the pork and the spring rolls. Chopped up and tossed through the salad the spring rolls were crunchy, porky and slightly herby - very well executed spring rolls indeed. Glutinously fatty and tender but with a great crackling crunch the warm pork was the perfect protein to crown this textural and tasty salad.



Everything I've had from Miss Mai has been excellent. So, do me a favour - if you haven't checked this place out yet - please don't. I'd prefer Miss Mai remain mine.

Miss Mai, James Place

Last week I blogged about wanting to return to new Vietnamese eatery Miss Mai to sample their duck (!!!!) banh mi.

Today I fulfilled that promise. And because I'm a fat bastard I also ordered chicken pho.

The duck banh mi was everything I hoped it would be. A generous portion of warm, fatty, juicy duck stuffed inside a crisp, chewy roll with crunchy carrots, cucumber and handfuls of fresh coriander. The too-brown photo below really doesn't do this excellent roll justice.



At $7.50 this duck banh mi is on the more expensive side but absolutely worth every cent. And I really REALLY like that the meat filling at Miss Mai's is warm - it transforms what I'd usually consider a fresh, crunchy summery roll into something warm, comforting and perfect for winter eating.

Because I felt a cold coming on (but mostly because (as above) I'm fat, hungry bastard) I ALSO decided to order the chicken pho. Logically, if chicken soup cures a cold then a spicy, herby chicken pho should kick the shit out it!



I reckon the chicken pho is actually better than the beef pho. The broth was hot and sweet again but seemed cleaner and clearer; the chicken was tender, juicy and ever-so-slightly fatty in a good way; there was more generosity with the rice noodles (my one bugbear from last time); and once again the herbs were fresh, beansprouts crunchy and chillies spicy. I felt greatly restored after eating my chicken pho - it really moved all the gunk out of my sinuses.

I had selfishly hoped that Miss Mai's would remain one of those hidden gems in the Adelaide CBD - but no such luck. Adelaideans seem to have already cottoned on to the fact Miss Mai is serving up some seriously good Vietnamese food.

Pure Vegetarian, Adelaide Central Market Food Court

Pure Vegetarian is one of the places I go when I feel as though my body needs veggie hit when the weather starts to cool down. By that I mean a warm, filling meal of vegetables. To be clearer - not salad. We all know that you don't make friends with salad - this is especially true when the weather is cold.

Today I ordered hokkien noodles with vegetarian fish, spicy eggplant and sweet and sour gluten.



Vegetarian fish - firm tofu wrapped in seaweed, crumbed and fried - may sound a little odd but is in fact one of the two menu items I keep coming for. The seaweed provides an authentic fishy flavour while the tofu mimics the flesh of a firm white fish and the fried crumb creates a wonderful layer of crunch.

The other dish I love to order from Pure Vegetarian is the spicy eggplant. It's got a salty, spicy, umami quality that coats the mouth and makes the gums throb with flavour.

Disappointingly, the sweet and sour gluten couldn't match it with the other two dishes. Probably because the eggplant actually benefits from sitting around in a bain marie and cooking longer while the vegetarian fish sells so quickly it doesn't have time to get old. Because that's what the sweet and sour gluten tasted like - old and stale. Imagine using a piece of cardboard to balance out one leg of coffee table for for 10 years and then coating that cardboard in batter, frying it and dousing it in a sweet sauce and serving it with pineapple chunks. No matter how you dress it up it's still a decade old piece of cardboard - dry, tasteless and utterly without gastronomic merit.

In summary - vegetarian fish and spicy eggplant = good. Sweet and sour gluten = bad.

In all seriousness, do check Pure Vegetarian out. You'll love most of the food - just avoid the sweet abd sour gluten.

Taste of China, Central Market Food Court

Taste of China is a relatively new Chinese eatery in the Adelaide Central Market Food Court specialising in Chowzhou style cuisine. I had been eying it off with anticipation for a while and with great curiosity I ordered the Chowzhou style fried noodles.  I couldn't tell what to expect from the picture on the wall - other than prawns. Let me say now I was pleasantly surprised...

Plump, juicy prawns; tender squid and baby octopus; fish balls with a citrus-y (lemongrass perhaps?) zing; crunchy beansprouts - I can't remember the last time I had a noodle dish this good from a food court. There were two other things that really made me sit up and pay attention to this noodle dish - a deliciously savoury fried patty of mystery meat (either pork or possibly some sort of soy protein - no idea what it was but very tasty) and the BBQ pork. This ISN'T the paper thin, cardboard flavoured BBQ pork found in too many otherwise good fried noodle dishes - but big hunks of sweet juicy meat.

The chilli dipping sauce provided a much appreciated hit of heat while the pickled carrot and radish pickle was a palate cleansing crunch.



The only disappointing part of this meal was the lettuce soup - it tasted exactly like it looked - like lettuce with hot water. Bland rather than light and refreshing. 

Taste of China's menu also offers an intriguing looking aromatic chicken dish which looks to be served with boiled eggs and tofu. I'll be returning soon to taste it with interest. I want to see Taste of China do well and stick around. That first store in the Central Market's Food Court has been occupied by too many different (and failed) eateries of the past few years and from my first impression Taste of China would be an excellent addition to the market's eateries.

Yumalicious, Victoria Square - again

I was so impressed with Yumalicious yesterday (especially the service) that I decided to return for lunch today. And I also happened to be running an errand to the post office which is just nearby.

Today I ordered egg noodles with BBQ chicken, mushrooms and cabbage from their ready to go bain marie. I also scored another FREE cup of chicken and corn soup.



Firm, salty and well oiled (sounds sexy, right?) the BBQ chicken was well flavoured and toothsome. Braised without being mushy the mushroom retained its firm texture and some earthiness. Unfortunately, the cabbage had nothing to recommended it - neither flavour not texture. The egg noodles were a little bland but not at all greasy and did a wonderful job of soaking up the sauce from the chicken and mushrooms.

Today's soup seemed more likely to be out of the can than yesterday's (probably the same soup mind you) but it was heavily peppered and hot and therefore enjoyable.

A pretty good meal for $7.80 but not quite as good as yesterday's. The service was just as friendly though.

I noticed today that Yumalicious also do banh mi so I might try and check that out tomorrow.

Zen Kitchen, Renaissance Arcade

I am a sucker for pho. In fact, I’m a sucker for Vietnamese food, full stop. I love the stuff. Zen Kitchen in the Renaissance Arcade has recently become the home of my lunchtime Vietnamese fix.

Research the origins of pho, I learned that the broth is usually made with charred onions and probably has French origins. The French dish put-au-feu also use charred onions in its broth. Feu is French for fire and is possibly epistemological origin of pho.

To start I ordered spring rolls. Part chicken, part Vietnamese pate, these spring rolls were hot and crispy.

I usually favour the rice dishes over the pho, but because I have a cold (and the best cure for a cold is chicken noodle soup) I went for chicken pho. A generous serve of pho emerged quickly from the kitchen, accompanied by a big plate of bean sprouts, basil and lime. The broth was savoury and the herbal flavours of star anise, cloves and ginger came through strongly (and probably did wonders for my cold). The chicken was slightly fatty, but juicy and tender. I like to dip my chicken in a little soy and hot sauce. Delicious.

Zen Kitchen is great place for lunchtime pho. I can also recommend to banh mi and the mayonnaise chicken.

Apologies for the lack of photos with this entry. I got so excited about filling my belly with Vietnamese food that I forgot to take any. I’ll take some next time. Promise.