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.

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.

Taste of China and Obun Chef, Central Markets Food Court

After my wildly successful first trip to Taste of China (review available here: http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/taste-of-china-central-market-food.html) I wanted to share their delicious food with friends and family. Today I had lunch with a close mate whom I hadn't seen for some weeks. I suggested we have a taste of Taste of China for lunch.

On the the strength of my glowing recommendation he ordered the chowzhou style fried egg noodles (which, I should add, he loved). Remembering how juicy and tender the BBQ pork was last time I ordered the twice cooked pork with rice hoping for a repeat performance. I wasn't disappointed.



The twice cooked pork WAS my beloved BBQ pork - tender, juicy and sweet but stir-fried in a slightly spicy, savoury bean sauce with loads of crunchy celery, carrot, beansprouts and spring onions. Usually I don't eat all of the massive mountain of rice served up with most food court dishes but I didn't want to leave any sauce behind so drizzled it generously over my rapidly disappearing rice. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I licked up the rest of the sauce with my fingers.

The sauce was quite rich so the crunchy pickles provided a refreshing contrast to the pork. Although my friend declared the lettuce broth to be delightful I once again rated it bland rather than refreshing.

This friend of mine has a weakness for obun. When he dines in the Market Food Court he likes to have a sweet obun to finish his meal. I'm not too fussed about them but there was a new flavour on offer at Obun Chef - lemon custard. Now, I do have a real weakness for lemon curd so I ordered an obun in the hope that the custard would have big citrus punch.



It didn't - it had a slight lemon tang. Not what I had hoped for but much better than the great ham and corn obun disaster of 2011 and certainly a flavour I'd order again.