Dumpling King - Moonta Street, Central Markets

Many years ago Dumpling King was the scene of a food epiphany for me. Their dumplings became the standard against which all other dumplings are judged. I've had many a dumpling since then - some better but many much worse. Regardless, Dumpling King will always have a place in my heart and when a friend suggested we eat there for lunch I immediately agreed.

Although they were obviously busy we were quickly ushered to tabled (this is almost always possible if you are happy to share) and immediately ordered sweet and sour soup, fried chicken and prawn dumplings and steamed greens with oyster sauce.



The sweet and sour is a very textural soup - thick and almost glutenous liquid; creamy, firm tofu; crunchy black fungus and bamboo shoots; and soft egg. It also has enough heat and acid to get the saliva going and excite the taste buds for the dumplings to come.



Crispy, chewy dough filled with minced chicken and prawns that pop these dumplings are grease bombs with insane flavour - especially after you hit your dumps with some chilli onion jam, black vinegar and soy sauce. I could literally feel the fat running down my chin while eating these. When your family motto is 'adipem est saporem' this isn't a problem.



I'd recommend your order some greens with your dumplings. There's nothing particularly special about them but you need something to take the edge off the grease-bombs.

Although I've heard a lot of people complain about the service I've never had a problem with it - it's chaotic, not bad. So long as you're happy to go with the flow and demand whatever you need (usually more of the FREE tea or a couple of little bowls if you're sharing a meal) you'll be fine. Plus, the food is good and the price is right.

Taste of China and Obun Chef - again, Adelaide Central Market Food Court

I know I usually review luncheon locations but 'cos you can eat in the Adelaide Central Market Food Court at pretty much any time I thought I'd take quick snap of what I'm eating and tell you a bit about my dinner - fragrant pork with rice.

The main reason I want to share my dinner is because Taste of China can do no wrong in my eyes. Served with creamy tofu, boiled egg and a really salty, rich sauce the fragrant pork was beautifully fatty and tender while the chilli flecked sweet vinegar dipping sauce added some sharpness that cut through the rich pork. Likewise the quick pickled carrot and radish.



I've mentioned before that I'm ambivalent about obun but I'm pretty easily talked into them. Tonight I ordered the red bean filling. The obun was obviously fresh but didn't have that tooth-achingly sweet caramel flavour I usually associate with red bean - underwhelming unfortunately.



Again, I know this is technically a dinner review but you could order this stuff for lunch too, so suck it up (both the food and your 'tude (that's gangsta for attitude) towards me reviewing outside my usual reviewing hours) - this was a pretty succinct posting.

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.