Thursday, July 29, 2010

Golden Chopsticks, Glen Waverley

Gaz and I decided to try out a new restaurant yesterday. The one we wanted to go to was closed and we were en route to another restaurant when we spotted this one in Glen Waverley we've not tried before. So, in the spirit of things we stepped into this place serving northern chinese cuisine to have a try.

The first dish that arrived was crispy pork spare ribs with garlic ($15). It smelt heavenly, but was a tad too greasy.

It wasn't a 100% lookalike with the picture shown on the menu but then we were warned that the actual dishes may differ from pictures shown in the menu, and 'please allow for substantial!'. I didn't really know what the last bit meant, but anyhow....

Gaz ordered a serve of potstickers - 12 for $7.50. Golden Chopsticks' way of preparing these dumplings are similar to Hu Tong but taste wise, Hu Tong's are better. I thought it was a little bland but the texture of the dough was relatively better than other restaurants. Not as hard.

Lamb with cumin... If you looked closely it was as though someone had accidentally tipped the whole container of cumin seeds into the dish. I've had better dishes somewhere else... the cumin overpowered the taste of everything else and after a few bites I was too nauseaus to eat anything.

Gaz bravely picked at pieces of the otherwise tasty lamb but even he couldn't persevere in the end and we left half the dish uneaten which is very uncharacteristic of us.

In fact, this last dish left such a bad taste in our mouths that we left the other dishes unfinished too. I just wished the chef hadn't put so much cumin in the dish!!


I don't think we ordered the right dishes because after we've ordered, we noticed many people had ordered big bowls of soupy stew. We did not ask what they were, but whatever it is, it looked like the popular dish there. Our dining experience was definitely marred by lamb dish and perhaps my overall rating of 3/10 would be substantially increased if we ordered the 'right' dishes.

Update: This restaurant is now closed.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Paul the Octopus

I wonder if Paul the Octopus will be able to predict who wins the Australian election this year? Will it be the Labour or the Liberal party?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Like a Hamster

The past week has been really tiring for me. Working 12 hour days is far from an ideal situation but it must be done. It has been quite challenging with me juggling 2 persons' jobs and being new on the team myself. I feel much like one of the people ascending the neverending staircase in Escher's drawing below! This situation will likely continue till end of August, when vacancies can be filled. I truly hope I don't burn out before then!!