Shanghai Dumpling, Old Town Kopitiam & Orientalism
One of the greatest things about Melbourne is the abundance of cheap “ethnic” food, especially of the Asian variety. Shanghai Dumpling is an old haunt of mine and I’ve been to Old Town numerous times but the presence of Lainie always somehow makes me want to take pictures of things and blog about them. Guess she has that effect on people.
David & Camy’s Shanghai Dumpling House 25 Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne, 3000 (03) 9663 8555Shanghai Dumpling is one of those Melbourne institutions. I have a love/hate relationship with the place. The love is mostly related to the awesomeness and cheapness of their food. We’re talking like $6.50 for a plate of 15 delicious fried pork dumplings and something similar for a big heap of awesome fried noodles. I won’t lie, when I get to know a place well I have my staple dishes which I order all the time. At Shanghai Dumpling it’s always 15 Fried Pork Dumplings and either the Dan Dan Noodle or the Shanghai Fried Noodle.
As for the hate, it largely stems from the clientele. I don’t want to sound like a hater, and I realise that I too am a white man in an Asian restaurant, but some of the Aussies that frequent the place are just so very annoying. Sample conversation: “Omg the dumplings here are so good and cheap and like the service is really shit and the weird Chinese man screams at everyone and they keep playing Celine Dion over and over… it toooootally adds to the character, hahahha, let’s all laugh at the weird Chinese man.” Umm yeah so Orientalist much? It really irks me how Melbournians like to point out odd things about other nationalities and then comment that it “adds to the character” and that it amuses them. There is nothing respectful about turning others into a circus act for your enjoyment, it doesn’t mean that you’re tolerant because you don’t hate them, it means you’re racist. Sorry.
But enough of the rant and onto the food. Shanghai Dumpling is one of those places which I’ve been going to for so long that I always order the same thing. In this case, it’s always a plate of 15 fried pork dumplings and either the dan dan noodle or the shanghai fried noodle. Below you have the aforementioned, fried pork dumplings, your humble blogger believes them to be the best fried pork dumplings in Melbourne (having tried Shanghai Noodle House, Shanghai Village and HuTong), which, for $6.50, is a mighty meal.
Next up we have the Dan-Dan Noodle, the sauce for which is a wonderfully spicy (though I remember it to be spicier somehow but perhaps my tolerance was just not as high as it is nowadays) pork mince with whole chillies and bok choy.
Overall Shanghai Dumpling is still the original and still the best when it comes to dumplings, and the selection of other Northern Chinese food on the menu is still super-delish. Because of the place’s cult favourite status, you will have to deal with annoying clientele, and because of its brusque, rude services and definite lack of hygiene, you will have to deal with a less-than-stellar “dining experience” (unless you think it’s all part of the ‘charm’ and ‘character’ and then write a romanticised book about it), I’ve also heard some horror stories about people being kicked out randomly before receiving their food on account of the kitchen closing, I’ve seen cockroaches there for sure and several of my friends have seen waitresses stealing dumplings off the plate before it’s served (count your dumplings!) So all these stories aside, the place still comes recommended due to the quality and cheapness of their food.
Old Town Kopitiam 195 Little Bourke StMelbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9639 6098
The second restaurant I visited with Lainie was the Old Town Kopitiam on Lt. Bourke Street. I’m a bit of a coinnoseur of Sinagporean/Malaysian food (if I do say so myself), on account of the many trips I’ve made to the countries and the amount of meals I’ve had at kopitiams, food courts, restaurants, mamaks and the whole shebang. Trawling around Melbourne looking for good Malaysian food is sort of a pastime, and a rewarding one at that since, due to the diaspora here and the abundance of Malaysian international students, it can fairly easily be found.
I’d been to Old Town before (no idea if there’s any connection to the chain in Malaysia itself) and remember being fairly impressed with their Char Kway Teow. For those not familiar with the humble CKT, it’s a Malaysian classic and the name literally translates to “Fried rice-cake strips”. The dish consists of flat, wide rice-noodles stir-fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, whole prawns, deshelled cockles, bean sprouts and liberally chopped up Chinese chives. Variations abound, the Penang one, fried in the dark soy sauce, being a mainstay and favourite. It is stir-fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, giving it a characteristically rich taste. My favourites usually appear sans cockles and include fried egg and Chinese sausage (Lap Cheong), fishcakes are also prominent. The Old Town version included all my faves minus the cockles, awesome.
The place was trying to go for the whole old-school Ipoh-style old kopitiam vibe, complete with the cups featuring blue designs, as in Ipoh and the many copycats all over Malaysia. We had the cham, a mixture of coffee & tea, much like the more well-known yuan yang of Hong Kong.
So that’s it from me this post guys. Soon I’ll be posting about Dead Man Espresso and Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. In the meantime, check out the new google map I’ve created for the Melbourne Zeitgeist, it’ll include all the places I blog about and other cool places that are must-see, must-drink, must-eat, must-try in Melbourne… because you know I have impeccable taste 
Outpost
Word around the traps was that St. Ali had opened a new cafe called Outpost on Yarra Lane, the small street off Toorak Road right next to South Yarra station. A friend has an apartment near there so I had noticed before that there was some construction going on, I was hoping for a good cafe, as I always do, but didn’t expect one would eventuate – yet lo & behold, it did… as Lainie and I discovered one warm spring afternoon.
Outpost is literally tiny, it looks like it seats around 10 people on it’s two tables (one inside, one outside) and around another 5-8 if crammed on the barstools around the joint. Obviously it’s going to cater more for nearby corporates who want to get a take-away cuppa (sort of like BBB does).
The decor of the place is pretty cool, at first glance it seems like the usual minimalist, shiny-surface-heavy modern cafe style, all glass and metal, but upon closer inspection, the attention to detail is quite commendable. For example, the colours chosen in this corner, pastel greens and mosaic tiles, potted plants and old wood, give the place a comfortable feel, like you’re in your neighbourhood auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s that beautiful vintage French stove you see there, that stove is just amazing.
Coffee-wise, this being a St. Ali cafe with St. Ali beans, of course it didn’t disappoint. Our coffees were served by 2009 cup tasting champion and fourth-place (I think?) barista Aaron Wood. First up, I had a strong 3/4 latte which was perfect, a nice rosetta being the icing on the cake.
Next up was an espresso which I didn’t photograph, but believe me it was delish, perfect, very well balanced, crema-dominated and loverly. And after that Aaron treated us to some of their cold drip coffee. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how the thing works, all I know is that the coffee is extracted cold and that it works well with coffee that’s a little old (like maybe 14 days since roast). It tasted very different to regular espresso coffee, or siphon even, but not all together unpleasant. Here’s a pic of the contraption.
All in all, full marks on the coffee, the service and the place. I suggest you all go down and check it out.
Victorian Barista Championships
The final weekend in Melbourne is normally dominated by the AFL Grand Final on Saturday and parade on Sunday. Most people were thus glued to their TVs, in pubs or at the footy itself on Saturday and many turned out for the parade (I assume) on Sunday. Though I like Aussie Rules and if the Bombers had been in involved in the Grand Final (fat chance), things might have been different, but my love of coffee prevailed over any feelings I have for the Cats or Saints and I chose to spend the weekend away from all the footy at the AASCA Victorian Barista Championships held at the Melbourne Showgrounds as part of the Royal Melbourne Show.
First, a note on said Show. Normally when I hear that Australia has an obesity problem, I wonder where it lies. Walking around the leafy inner-northern suburbs, the affluent south and the CBD (the places I generally spend the most time in) you really don’t see many obese people. I discovered where they are however, they are all at the Royal Melbourne Show, jostling for Bertie Beetle showbags and dagwood dogs. Seriously, this many fat people i have never seen all in one place! Rolling along with their fat children, fat spouses, fat hands with fat fingers clutching fat sausages and donuts, dripping in sugar and fat. If this seems like a tirade, it probably is. I hear some people are genetically pre-disposed to obesity, I also am no saint when it comes to healthy eating (or living in general) but sometimes, it really is unhealthy and quite disgusting.
Rant aside, we were mostly safe at the barista champs from the onslaught of the general public at the Show. Not good for AACSA but good for me, I guess. The competition stretched over two days with latte art and cup tasting on the Saturday and the barista competition proper on the Sunday. I missed the latte art, never being a fan of early Saturday morning rises, but witnessed the cup tasting and most of the barista comp on Sunday.
At the cup tasting, each competitor had a formidable set of 24 cups of coffee in front of them (don’t worry they didn’t have to drink them all, merely a spoons-worth from each one that they could spit into a spittoon!). They were in groups of three, with each group having two coffees that are the same and one that was different. The task was to pick the odd one out and they were judged on the number correct as well as the time taken to complete the set.
A flurry of frantic slurping, spitting, raising and shuffling ensued! Pictured below is Luca Costanzo from Coffee Review Australia.
The winner on the day was Aaron Wood from St. Ali with a total of six cups correct in the heat and four in the final (out of 8 in each, yes it is harder than it sounds), with Remy and Hamish (who’s from St. Ali) coming in second and third respectively.
Now onto the main event.
While I did hear a few whispers of things here and there about the quality of the coffee on offer by the venerable baristi participating, I didn’t get to try any, as that was the domain of the judges. I do have some photos I took, having infiltrated the big-lens-equipped, DSLR-wielding photographer pack at the front with my humble point & shoot Canon Ixus.
The structure of the competition involved each barista serving up four cappuccini, four espressi and four signature drinks to the judges (of which there was an imposing panel of six for each candidate, two being dedicated technical judges).
The first competitor, and a personal favourite, was Talor Browne from Seven Seeds/BBB fame. She has got to be the rockstar candidate among baristi, with her brilliant sense of style, coffee plant tattoo and million-dollar smile. Her signature drink was served in a cupcake holder! Her presentation was themed around airplane service, her playing the air hostess and the soundtrack being soft jazz. Is she the coffee-wielding Girl from Ipanema?
The next barista I saw was Jake Sullivan from Auction Rooms in North Melbourne, with his dainty bow-tie and the green-bean-coffee-sack apron addition being a rather nice touch if I do say so. His signature drink was procured from a siphon (which you can see in the background of the pic below) and his proud boss was also in the front row, awww.
Next up we have Ryan from WA’s Five Senses with a Sumatran bean.
Followed by Kris Wood from South Melbourne stalwart St. Ali’s cohort.
Followed by Caleb from Five Senses
Last up was Josh from Coffee Beat who’s signature drink looked amazing, though I forget what was in it.
In between, we were entertained by Will from Cafenatics in QV who won the Latte Art competition the day before and was randomly pulled from the crowd during a delay… and well his latte art was pretty awesome, including a cup with four rosetti (the one pictured below is the one with bubbles).
After Josh came time for the decision. A brief delay ensued, an issue was raised by the technical judges and they had to get the head World Barista Championships judge on the phone for it to be resolved. But we were soon to know who the top 3 would be! In 3rd we had Talor Browne from Seven Seeds, 2nd was Kris Wood from St. Ali and the winner was Caleb from Five Senses!
I enjoyed writing this blogpost over an espresso and two magics at surely the best cafe in Melbourne, Seven Seeds – how very fitting. If you guys want to see more of my pics from the event, check out the facebook gallery. 
500 Days of Summer
OK disclaimer 1 – this is not a review, merely thoughts on the film. Disclaimer 2 – I generally tend to like movies more often than I hate them. I’m not really a very critical movie critic. My general rule of thumb is, if a movie makes me think or makes me feel something, be it anger, fear, euphoria, happiness, sadness, love, etc. (there’s always too many adjectives to really be adequate to describe emotions of course) then it’s a good movie. However if I feel boredom & disgust (thank you Michael Bay and Transformers 2) then it’s probably not a good movie.
Having said that, I’m not generally a huge fan of rom-coms. I mean I’m a guy, right? So I’m fairly typical in that sense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a romantic (as well as a cynic) but I just don’t like the formulaic nature of rom-coms. In fact this film is the third rom-com in history I can say that I like, the other two being Garden State & Love Actually. So I guess that’s more of a big thing.
Anyway the film sort of takes after Garden State (and even a touch of Amelie somehow) in some respects. I mean it has the whole, quirky loner who doesn’t fit in falling for the girl that seems special/different, etc. There’s also the mass of pop culture references, mostly to cool indie bands/things (ie. The Smiths, Carla Bruni playing in the car, The Graduate, etc.) and other random cultural references too (De Botton, Dorian Gray, ‘bananafish‘ which is a reference to a reasonably obscure JD Salinger short story which I happen to love).
Those cultural references are part of the reason why this film appeals to me (even though I know this is probably straight out of ‘Stuff White People Like‘ but what can ya do). But I have to say the coolest thing about the film is the screenplay. I’m not going to pretend that I’m a good movie critic, I have no idea how well executed it was by Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Zooey Deschanel, but the screenplay itself was really awesome. The dialogue and the lines of thought, the whole concept of the romantic loner who reads Salinger & De Botton and listens to indie music, well yeah I could kinda relate. I could also relate to the views on love, fate & coincidence, etc. Did I mention the film was well shot by the way? Did I mention the literary references? Ok seriously how can I not love a film in which the main character reads De Botton and refers to Salinger short stories.
Oh yeah and much like Garden State, sountrack = awesome, including the likes of Regina Spektor (who I still am not sure how I feel about, but her music’s great), The Smiths, Carla Bruni, Doves, etc. But yeah enough rambling from me. I’ll be listening to the songs for a while and musing about life.
For some added interest my facebook status about the film generated some amateur reviewing, so for your reading pleasure:
Shaz:
Personally, other than a few very clever scenes (expectation vs reality – classic), I felt it didn’t live up to the hype. I love Gordon-Levitt, but Zooey Deschanel was more memorable in all her10 minutes in Almost Famous.
I dunno. That movie was just okay, for me. Not another Garden State, or anything.
Muna:
aahh..I agree with shez to an extent, it had its moments and i loved the non-linear depiction of events..awesome soundtrack, and definitely a refreshing change from those romcoms with Katherine Heigl/Kate Hudson in them..:) ooo I can’t wait to watch Mao’s Last Dancer..
Frances:
i’d rate: 3.5/5
it lacked character development on Zooey’s part- she was too much of an object, not enough of a person. If I was meant to hate her, I didn’t enough. Loved the sketched scene.
Thought it was a cross between Prime and Eternal Sunshine (etc). Thought the trailer was misleading. Waiting for Dorian Gray.
So there you have it folks, disagreements aplenty but I don’t care much for hype or whatevs. I loved the film.
Don’t Ban The Can
There’s a bunch of stuff I should probably blog about but I’m going to drip through it slowly (if I can be bothered at all, been terribly lazy and there’s still The Zeitgeist Politics and all that). There’s also my very late entrance into the world of Gossip Girl. Yes people, 2 and a bit seasons later, I’ve finally found the time to watch it… and get addicted. Season 1 Ep 5 right now, getting there getting there. Oh yeah and there’s that study thing…. but anyway….
Went to an interesting event the other week, Don’t Ban The Can in Croft Alley. The organisation is basically based around promoting legitimate street art and graffiti and trying to prevent it from being banned or criminalised (or reversing bans & criminalisations where they are). The event went down in Melbourne’s Croft Alley, the rubbish-strewn, smelly alley many people know as home to The Croft Institute.
The event included live painting, tutorials, a DJ, a sausage sizzle, Croft-sponsored Coopers & lots of good times. Here are some happy snaps of some of the artists in action:
The day was awesome but because of all the people milling around and all of the unfinished (partly finished, nearly finished, in the process of being finished) works of art, Lainie & I decided to head back the next day and see how it all looked without the people and the weed smoke in the air. Here’s the product of that excursion:
So the can has not yet been banned, a dark, smelly little alley has been transformed into a dark, colourful, smelly little alley, and after all that, I’m sure that smooth but dangerous surgeon, Doctor Croft is laughing even harder
Kickstart with Steppenwolf
Time to kick-start this baby again after having shifted over to my dedicated Politics (with a middle eastern focus) blog at Zeitgeist Politics (check it out if you haven’t already).
To be fair, I’ve been doing considerable amounts of interesting stuff lately including the Don’t Ban The Can Festival on Saturday, street art spotting, interesting book reading, gigs, movies, new cafes, shopping, etc. There’s also been lots of cool stuff on the net lately that I’ve discovered. Bah I need an outlet for these things, especially since my license was suspended starting from Sunday last (thank you Victoria Police) so I’ll be… having more free time on my hands to blog I suppose.
So yeah:
Upon reading Steppenwolf (note the delectable popular penguins copy I have… sigh), a multitude of thoughts came to mind. Am I the Steppenwolf? I certainly share Harry Haller’s disdain for bourgeios society (though not to the same degree, i still enjoy many of the things he loathes and mix with the bourgeois on a regular basis) and have a tendency to get depressed at the pointlessness of it all (though no suicidal tendencies, thank God)… I have that lone wolf thing in me and I also have the intellectual superiority complex going on a lot of the time. So what of it?
It appears the book was met initially with disdain for its liberal attitude to random sex and recreational drug use, and then later embraced as part of the ‘free love and drugs’ movement of the 60s. It is also seen as a damning indictment of the bourgeois, though I don’t really personally see how. In fact, it does little condemning of the bourgeois and seems to be a broader condemnation of intellectuals and the Western ego-centric point of view, far more steeped in Eastern philosophy and far more lamenting the Steppenwolf’s (and there are many among us) inability to derive pleasure from life, always concerned with inevitable things like war, death and self:
Of course, there will be another war. One doesn’t need to read the papers to know that. And of course one can be sad about it, but it isn’t any use. It’s just the same as when a man is sad to think that one day, in spite of his utmost efforts to prevent it, he will inevitably die. The war against death, dear Harry, is always a beautiful, noble and wonderful and glorious thing, and so, it follows, is the war against war. But it is always hopeless and quixotic too.
Hesse’s use of duality and multiple aspects of personality and consciousness were fascinating, as well as what could be called an early dose of magic realism, surrealism and dream sequences. It’s a book concerned with the psyche, the human condition and the myriad possibilities that yet remain unexplored to most of us. Certainly worth reading.
Presenting The Zeitgeist Politics!
I’ve decided to start a blog dedicated to global politics with a focus on The Middle East
Titled: The Zeitgeist Politics
URL: zeitgeistpolitics.wordpress.com
Please head over there for all that political analysis you crave!
This will henceforth be my personal blog for all non-political endeavours
If the World was a Village of 100 people
Many AIESECers would have seen powerpoints and cool vids depicting global demographic data framed under the concept of if the world was a village of 100 people, what would it look like. Toby Ng Design has taken these statistics and converted them to really interesting, simple but beautifully designed pictures. Check these out, and if you haven’t seem them before, they do make you think.
It’s interesting to see that Christians are still the dominant religion, I would’ve thought Islam would probably be more dominant by now but I guess if you lump together Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, etc then you’d have a sizeable amount. What I find misleading is the Atheists/Others category, I mean that includes Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha’is, Jains, Sikhs and many other fairly prominent religions, so how many atheists are there really in the world?
This is another interesting one. 6% of the world’s population apparently control 59% of the world’s wealth and they’re all from the States? Again considering how many billionaires there are in non-US countries these days, that is somewhat surprising (Carlos Slim anyone?)
Also I find the language one interesting, unsurprisingly Chinese rules the roost but by that much? Damn. And Hindi second at 8%? Russian scored pretty highly up there as well. I would’ve guessed differently but I guess demographic statistics for this kind of thing are pretty hard to agree upon.
I’m not sure what the source for the stats are but I’ve definitely seen them before, either way I think the design is really cool and check his website for more of it.
3 Cool Cafes in Melbourne
Some of you may be familiar with my previous post about 5 Cool Cafes in Europe. The fact is, I’m a coffee fiend and can think of few better ways to spend my time than lounging around in some cafe reading something interesting, having a good conversation or just chilling.
Melbourne is my home city and it’s a city with a thriving coffee culture parallelled by few cities in the world (few that I’ve been to anyway). This means that this cafe post will be much more rigorous than the last one which was a bit random and far from exhaustive. Melbourne also has such a wealth of cool cafes that I’ll probably do a follow-up post at a later stage. So first up here goes:
1. Brother Baba Budan
359 Little Bourke St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
(03) 9606 0449
Almost a hole in the wall but big enough for a few counter tops & one communal table at the front, BBB seats around 20 people max. it’s a corporate a favourite with offices nearby but people come from all over the city and surrounding suburbs to enjoy their famous locally roasted coffee. BBB is probably the best coffee in the CBD (Central Business District) if not Melbourne. It’s run by the guys who used to own St. Ali’s (though the relationship between the two is a bit murky for me) in South Melbourne (see post below). Truly an amazing cup, run by friendly and very capable baristas, try ordering the ‘Magic’… that’s an insider’s tip 
2. Switchboard
11 & 12 Manchester Unity Arcade
220 Collins St., Melbourne, VIC 3000
Switch really is a hole in the wall, though they do manage to provide good toasted sandwiches along with the coffee machine that takes up half the space in the aforementioned hole. Run by two great guys, Switch has a back alley outdoor area covered from the rain and a cosy little room to sit in also. It’s located in a historic building and is a bit difficult to find (as most of the best places in Melbourne) but the coffee Switch serves up compares only to BBB in terms of quality (as far as cafes in the CBD that is). Oh yeah and the guys at Switch, the bloody lucky bastards, close the place up at 3-4pm most days so get in early if you want some of that goodness!
Photo Credit: 51 Mondays
3. St. Ali
12-18 Yarra Pl
South Melbourne, VIC 3205
(03) 9686 2990
Located in a small laneway that runs parallel to Clarendon St., in South Melbourne, St. Ali has had an excellent reputation for coffee for quite some years now. St. Ali was also one of the original cafes to start the explosion of quality micro-roasting here in Melbourne. It’s a pretty big place and, as usual, attracts many of the office works from the surrounding offices (a fact of life in Melbourne is that often to survive as a cafe you need to bring out the corporates… but yet another reason why white collar work in Melbourne has its perks).
Not only is the coffee excellent but they also have a pretty decent food menu and St. Ali is therefore a great place to go to for brunch or lunch, not just for an espresso hit. The cafe also engages in some really interesting coffee-related business, including St. Ali’s customised tampers (for your machine) and a even a coffee project in Nicaragua. You can get more info on everything St. Ali related on their blog, but maybe just dropping by is also a good idea
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