Hello all and welcome to 2014 - hope everyone survived the holidays and hasn't reneged too much on their NYE resolutions just yet. (Mine is going swimmingly for once, so feeling much better than I generally do at this point in the new year. Woop woop.)
Today I had my heart set on going to USA Foods, where I acquired a two-pound bag of Dum Dums because people keep telling me they're delicious (and they are! except caramel, don't go there).. so figured we'd better swing by Nha Hang 5 Sao for lunch as it's not far, inspired by my previous lunch there here. They've taken the prawn toast off the menu (which is a good thing if they don't actually have it) but otherwise the offerings are pretty much the same - except there are satay skewers, $5. If you've eaten mock-chicken skewers at Enlightened or somewhere else, you know what you're in for. Tasty and fairly mild (spicy-lovers beware), I'll probably eat them again.
Sweet and sour: done it before, still crunchy and great. I think White Lotus wins though - their deep-fried anything is superb.
Sizzling pepper beef! You guys! In my pre-veg days, I never actually ordered this kind of thing at Chinese restaurants because I was a disgustingly picky eater. Seeing this come out made me smile, it brought back memories of eating at the local Chinese joint with my dad. And it was delicious - some of the best 'pepper' steak/mushrooms/whatever else I've had. Super tender faux-beef and mushrooms, perfectly stir-fried broccoli and baby corn. The sauce was caramelising as we were eating and ended up super sweet and sticky by the end.. delicious. I don't envy the poor guy who cleaned this plate afterwards, though.
Still love this place. Service is fast and efficient - check all dishes for vegan-friendliness though, and be prepared for language barriers. You also need to ask for the vegetarian menu when you sit down. It's an excellent place for a lazy Sunday lunch; you can do your Asian supermarket shopping (the one approx. 20m away has a Vincent Vegetarian Food cooler and a range of the dried products/tinned mock duck etc) and then head in and eat. Good times.
Also, this little sweetheart was waiting for us patiently when we got home, which is a pretty nice welcome!
