CONCLUSION

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

The climax of Chopstick Chowdown Challenge was more of an anti-climax. We turned up ready for the last restaurant only to realise we had already been to the last restaurant. So we went back for a third helping of chilli fish.

Now when I walk back along Victoria St, I see new restaurants have sprung up. Others have disappeared. But this is the kaleidoscopic nature of this vibrant strip which we have had the pleasure to thoroughly sample.

It only took about 16 months but we did it! We completed the challenge of eating at every Asian restaurant on Victoria St between Church and Hoddle Streets. And what an epic experience it was. We delighted our palates, we tried foods we never thought we'd try, we made some wonderful discoveries. My mouth waters again as I go through the blog and am reminded of our culinary experiences. It has also been a portrait of friendships (some transient, some enduring), social experiences and the banter that comes with a group of people sharing a meal. People may come and go but true friendships and good food remain!

However, for those who like their conclusions less philosophical and more mathematical, here are the stats.

THE STATISTICS

Participants: 29
Restaurants: 36
Dishes eaten: 196
Number of bowls of pho consumed: 19

BEST RESTAURANT

I performed two types of statistical analysis on the ratings I had from participants for each restaurants:
i) the mean of the top 3 rated dishes
ii) the mean of all the dishes minus the top and bottom ranked.

In both cases, the top ranking resturant came out the same. Drumroll please...

#1 YU XIANG LAPOPO

It seems we just couldn't get enough of that chilli fish. But Victoria St is known for its Vietnamese restaraunts, right? The runner up (or best Vietnamese restaurant) according to the first analysis was...

#2 (i) THANH HA

And according to the second analysis

#2 (ii) THANH THANH

The bronze medal winner was the same...

#3 QUAN 88

Other restaurants making up the top 10 were...

Ying Thai
Vinh Vinh
Tom Toon Noodle House
Binh Minh
Oriental Spirit
Saigon Rose
Thy Thy

Although I have allocated winners, it is only according to the results of this little experiment where ranking were often very close and scores affected by variables (such as who attended, how generous they were with their ratings, personal tastes, experiences on the day, etc). At the end of the day it is a matter of personal preference but hopefully I have managed to capture a sample of the best picks on Victoria St.

BEST DISHES

Overall the dishes which scored the highest (the mean participant rating on the night) over the course of the challenge were:

#1 Vietnamese Salad - Vi'em Cafe (9.1/10)
#2 Pad Kee Mao - Tom Toon Noodle House (9/10)
Chilli Fish Bowl - YuXiang Lapopo (9/10)
Coconut Beef - Quan 88 (9/10)
#3 Peking Duck - Binh Minh (8.9/10)

At the start of this challenge I promised to find you the best pho and a list of other dishes. Here are the results.

Best Pho
#1 Thy Thy
#2 Thanh Ma

Best Ricepaper Rolls
# 1 Tran Tran
#2 Vinh Vinh

Best Spring Rolls
#1 Binh Minh
#1 Thanh Ha
(Special mention for Quan 88's duck spring roll special)

Best Peking Duck
#1 Binh Minh
#2 Pacific BBQ House

Best Green Curry
Tom Toon

Best Satay Skewers
Oriental Spirit

Personally there are some dishes that stand out in my mind, that I continued thinking about for days after. So here are my special mentions:

• Soft shell crab - Thanh Thanh
• Peking duck - Pacific BBQ House
• BBQ pork with Chinese broccoli - I Spicy
• Whole fish with spicy sour sauce - Ying Thai
• Szechaun mud crab - Xiao Ting Box
• Chilli fish - YuXiang Lapopo

Thanks again everyone who participated, especially Steph (for saying "let's do this" and putting in the most ChChCh appearances) and Craig (for being our most enthusiastic and consistent participant once recruited from England).

There is a gap on Sunday nights now - a time when you want to savour the last moments of the weekend and not think about the impending working week. Maybe we can begin a new challenge...the mission to find the best Indian food in Melbourne...Curry Chowdown Challenge?!?

#36 YuXiang Lapopo (395-397 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig

The twists and turns of the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge continue. Just as we thought we had reached the last restaurant, it seems a new one has popped up. The rules of the challenge state that we will eat at every restaurant we pass going forward (without back-tracking to new restaurants). So in we go to Lapopo.

Steph thinks she saw a 50% special here a few weeks ago. I didn’t even notice the restaurant until we saw people standing outside when we were leaving Vinh Vinh at the last instalment. It certainly looks brand spanking new. Spacious, white, shiny surfaces – it reminds Craig of a car showroom. The décor is minimalist and seems carefully designed. White dragon statutes at the door, a golden ornament here, a wall of wooden boxes there. This place has class.

The staff have walkie talkies and ear pieces and are apologising that it is Christmas season and the place is a bit hectic.

Craig said earlier in the day that he feels like chilli. Luckily the signature dish seems to be a massive bowl of chillis. Our motto: when in doubt get what everyone around you is ordering. We ask the waitress and she says it is fish in chilli.

During our culinary odyssey there have been some dishes that I keep tasting and thinking about long after we have left the restaurant. This is one of those! We feel like we are fishing as we rescue delicious little morsels out of a volcano of chillis. My first impression is that it is not that hot (as long as you avoid munching down on the chillis and szechaun pepper seeds). But the dish seems to get hotter, as though the infusion of chillis is accumulative. It is lip tingling good. Crunching down on a peppercorn releases an aniseed flavour and gets the saliva flowing. I enjoy this szechaun speciality immensely.

We love our xiao long bao, so take any opportunity to order it. Lapopo's are very good - delicate skins and a filling bursting with hot, flavoursome soup.

We also order salt and pepper prawns from a specials menu. The batter on the prawns is so light it reminds me of Japanese tempura and doesn't have any oily, deep-fried feeling to it. The seasoning is delicate yet tasty. Another lovely dish!

This new restaurant cannot be faulted in the dishes we try and leaves us with mouth-watering memories of a giant bowl of chillis and fish. We will definitely be back again.

Ratings
Szechaun chilli fish 9/10

Salt and pepper prawns 8.6/10

Xiao long bao 8/10


Addendum

We return to Lapopo soon after to give Annabel a dose of chilli fish. They seem to have refined their service (or perhaps for the benefit of our Anglo tastebuds) taking the time to scoop out the chillis and peppers from the bowl after serving. It shows just how many chillis go into this dish as we are left with moutain of chillis in a bowl and a slotted spoon to continue the task if needs be. Despite the removal of the chillis, the dish seems hotter than last time. We persist with sweaty brows, tearful eyes and runny noses. It makes you feel alive and is still delicious.

Waiting for our dishes a young man dining by himself at the table next to us starts up a conversation. He tells us there is a deal going on where if you order the chilli fish, you can get chilli prawns for only $1.99. It is advertised in Chinese at the door. Craig, never one to forgo a good deal, orders the prawns (even though the chilli fish in itself is enough to feed us). The prawns come out (you guessed it!) covered in chilli and, in an inspired move, on a bed of chips. It is the size of a main and an incredible deal for $1.99! The prawns are complete with heads and shells, which makes it a bit fiddly (don't accidentally rub your eyes!) but still absorb the wonderful chilli flavours (more watery eyes). I love the chips which soak up the chilli oil and are a great accompaniment to the prawns.

And just in case you haven't had enough chilli, the kind people at Lapopo give you a container of chilli oil to take with you!

Thumbs up again for Lapopo and a special thanks to our friend at the table next-door for altering us to their special offer.

#35 Vinh Vinh (387 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Mark, Lauren

Another Victoria St special – a Vietnamese restaurant with a name that contains the same two words. Better not get our Vinh Vinhs and Minh Minhs and Thanh Thanhs mixed up! Another restaurant with tablecloth-less hard tables and chairs. But this is not just another Victoria St restaurant.

The palm trees on the front sign are particularly inviting. The specials are on brightly lit boards and there is much to tickle our taste buds. So much so that we can’t decide, hence much of the order comes off the specials board.

The cuisine is mainly Vietnamese with a touch of Chinese. We have the obligatory rice paper rolls which are of an excellent standard. We also get one of Steph's favourites, satay skewers and the dim sims off the specials boards to round out a tasty and extensive entree.

Number 27 lands us on crab and asparagus soup (and a conversation about the effects of asparagus on the scent of future discharge). It another one of those soups that it is difficult to get excited about as I feel the same effect could come from a tin.

There has been a lot of pho eaten on our way up and down Victoria St and Vinh Vinh's stands up strongly.

The peking duck comes out with all the pieces to build your own wrap. It is fantastic. Delicate morsels of duck with a bright, crispy skin, crunchy vegetables and the delicious hoisin sauce which goes quickly.
The most unique item we get off the specials is the BBQ scallops. They look impressive. A massive tray of slightly charred scallops in their shells, floating in a shiny sauce. I can't quite get a taste for the sauce but the scallops are evidently fresh.

Without having done the statistical analysis, I would say this is one of the best overall restaurants. Whereas at other restaurants we might have one or two outstanding dishes and the rest being average, at Vinh Vinh everything is very good.


Ratings
Rice paper rolls 8.2/10
#27 (crab and asparagus soup) 6.4/10
Pho 7.4/10
Dim sims 7.1/10
Satay skewers 7.5/10
Special (BBQ scallops) 7.3/10
Peking duck 8.7/10
Salt and pepper squid 8/10

#34 Xiao Ting Box (371 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Annabel, Steph, Rob

When I tell Annabel where we are going, she says "is it immature of me that I find that funny?" I don't get it. "Xiao-ting box...shouting box," explains Annabel. Ah, I see. Sort of.

I've been here before. In fact, a bit over a year ago this is where Steph and I made the decision to do the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. And it has taken 33 restaurants to get back here. I remember us marvelling about the delicious dumplings and how they were almost as good as Camy Shanghai ("dodgy dumplings"). It is nowhere near as good as I remember.

We practically have to yell to get the attention of one of the three staff just standing around at the back so we can place our order. We are excited. A vertiable feast of dumplings coming up!

Number 27 comes out first. It is chicken with wafer thin discs of garlic on a sizzling plate. The sauce is very tasty. Unfortunately we have no rice to soak up the sauce with. When we finally get it, we have no spoon to get the sauce onto our rice. Fail.

The highlight of the night is the szechaun crab. A whole mud crab, roughly hacked up into a few pieces, still in its shell which has taken on a red tinge from the mound of chillies on top. As do our hands, which are the only devices we have to crack open the shell and get to the meat. It is grand fun. The flavour is terrific and even if you don't get much meat it is satisfying enough to lick the chilli flavours off the shell. Yum and fun!

First up from the dumplings are the vegetable dumplings. They are stuffed with an indiscernable mush that has a nuclear green tinge to it. There is tang to them that no one can put their finger on and Annabel categorically says she doesn't like them. The fried pork dumpling are a bit of mess and one looks half eaten before we have even touched them. The xiao long bao, which are supposed to be full of aromatic juices, lack flavour.

Ah well, the dumplings may not have lived up to expectations but wow that crab was good. And at $16 - a bargain!


Ratings
Sizzling chicken with garlic 7.5/10
Special (szechaun-style crab) 7.9/10
Fried pork dumplings 6.1/10
Vegetable dumplings 4.8/10
Xiao long bao 6/10

#32 Beijing Little Restaurant (309 Victoria St)

Attendees: Steph, Beata, Craig

Beijing Little Restaurant appears authentically Chinese. By authentic I mean it has dishes that Westerners wouldn’t usually eat, such as gizzards and intestines. Plus we seem to be the only white people there. The specials are handwritten on bits of paper and stuck on the walls. Although it say restaurant out the front, the table number welcomes us to their ‘hotel’. Identity crisis?

Please let it be gizzards, I say as we count down the menu to 27. And so it is! Stir fry gizzards. They don’t look too bad from the photo. The waiter doesn’t want to give them to us.

“You know what this is?”
“Yes.”
“Insides of the chicken.”
“Yes.”
“You know organs...intestines...”

Yes, yes just gives us our gizzards! He comes back regularly to check on us. He says the stir fry method is one of the best for cooking gizzards so we are lucky. The taste is not too bad, per se, it is more the hard, chewy texture that is off-putting. Steph speculates that perhaps this is one of the joys of eating gizzards and our waiter confirms that this what the Chinese like about them. It is better if you crunch down hard from the beginning, instead of treating it like chewing gum.

We order some pork, celery and water chestnut dumplings. Pan fried. They are too salty for my liking. The vegetable dumplings are better.

The dish of the night is the tofu with szechaun sauce. “This is how all food should be,” says Steph. “Spicy and tangy and with lots of sauce.” Morsels of tofu float in a colourful sauce with specks of chilli and it is delicious.

From the specials we get the beef and cabbage stew. It is the biggest bowl of stew I’ve ever seen. I realise we have over-catered for the three of us. Lucky that we aren’t full from the gizzards. The stew has chunks of beef and cabbage with cellophane noodles (that are virtually impossible to dish out) in deep brown broth. The broth is also on the salty side and has a bit of curry flavour to it (or satay according to Steph).

So we mark down another weird and wonderful Victoria St dining experience. If you’re feeling adventurous, I think there could be some discoveries to be made at Beijing Little Restaurant. Or hotel.

Ratings

Tofu with szechaun sauce 8/10

#27 Gizzard stirfy 6.2/10

Vegetarian dumplings 6.3/10

Pork and celery dumplings 6.5/10

Special (stewed beef with cabbage) 6.8/10

#29 Binh Minh (40 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Craig, Steph, Rob, Imogene

Binh Minh marks a milestone in the Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. It is the last restaurant on the south side of Victoria St before Hoddle St. Hence it marks the official point where we turn around and make our way down the other side of the road.

It is busy and we are given a table upstairs. As soon as we walk in we are greeted with delicious scents of garlic, sweet soy and chilli. With the smell making my taste buds tingle, I am looking forward to eating.

The specials board is tantalising (albeit partially rubbed out, leading to some conjecture about whether it actually says duck or something less appetising). Along with lobster and peking duck there are dumplings. Bonus!

Number 27 is a wonton soup with xa xiu. This turns out to be Vietnamese for BBQ pork. The wonton are quite delicious, the soup has a balanced stocky flavour and the BBQ pork is tender.

Rice paper rolls are declared to be some of the best we've had with big colourful prawns and a good balance of flavours. The spring rolls are of the delicate and tasty variety, served with iceberg lettuce and a sweet dipping sauce.

From the specials, the prawn dumplings are plump. Wonton wrappers filled with minced pork and prawn. The dipping sauce of kecap manis and a dollop of chilli sauce make this a great entree.

The satay sticks are an impressive sight making an enormous wagonwheel on a giant plate. It looks far more than 5 skewers then I realise they have been cut in half. There is a ton of chicken on each skewer (along with a slice of onion and carrot) and the chicken is plump but the sauce is not as tasty as might be expected.

Chilli and lemongrass eggplant sounds like a hit from the menu but in reality lacks flavour. The dish is contaminated by slimy and a heavy soy based sauce.

At Binh Minh it is DYI peking duck. Bonus points for this novelty! What you get is a plate of duck, a plate of wafer-thin wraps and a plate of vegetables (shredded carrot, sliced spring onion and cucumber). Now compile and wrap it yourself. I’m so into the wrapping that I forget to note the taste. All good it seems. The duck is tender with wonderfully shiny maroon skin.

Binh Minh is one of the best overall dining experiences we have had on the Challenge.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls 7.9/10

Spring rolls (vegetarian) 7.9/10

#27 wonton soup with BBQ pork 7.4/10

Satay skewers 6.5/10

Special (prawn dumplings) 8/10

Peking duck 8.9/10

Eggplant with chilli and lemongrass 7.1/10

#22 Saigon Rose (86 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig

A newspaper article announces “laminate gone” and indeed Saigon Rose gives an upmarket impression. Tables are a dark wood, the back of the restaurant is carefully decorated with patterns of wine bottles and a large marble counter. Clean lines and strategically positioned lighting. Waiters take up their position and are ready to serve.

It’s all very clean, crisp and precise. But there’s a lack of atmosphere. One of the joys ChChCh has been the chaotic, no frills restaurants with their haphazard, bustling service. A few strains of contemporary music can be heard but no one in Saigon Rose seems very excited.

The specials board has rather floral descriptions. The soft shell crab is ‘flash fried’, the pork belly ‘comes on a bed’. The menu itself takes a minimalist approach, utilising white space and neatly categorising dishes, with a limited number in each category. I’m not sure what cuisine this is. Saigon implies Vietnamese but there is no pho and there are dishes on the menu with Cantonese sauce. I can only deduce it is Vietnamese/Chinese.

There are no numbers so we count down to 27 and come upon spinach soup with a choice of chicken or seafood. It comes out in a small Saigon Rose bowl (it’s all branded here) and seems to wobble. “Gelatinous”, I declare. But upon tasting it turns out to be better than expected. There are generous chunks of soft squid and scallops. It has a faintly grassy flavour but I find it’s gone before I know it.

The rice paper rolls are good, moist enough and slightly warmed. However the dipping sauce is rather bland.

From the specials we take the soft shell crab. It doesn’t have the crispness I would have liked and it lacking any distinctive seasoning. At entrée size, for $18, you only get two big pieces.

Intrigued by the banana chicken we order another entrée. Breaded, fried chicken is stuffed with melty banana and comes with a red dipping sauce. It looks great but on tasting I am again left wanting more seasoning. I don’t know if there is some aversion here to strong flavoured dishes in order to attract the Western audience.

Pick of the night is the sizzling duck with peking sauce from the house specialities section of the menu. It is a generous serve and the duck is tender, complemented by a sweet and spicy sauce that makes me want to keep eating.

While Saigon Rose is carefully manufactured and difficult to fault, its precision left me slightly cold.

Ratings

Rice paper rolls (pork and prawn) 7.6/10

#27 (spinach soup with seafood) 8/10

Daily special (soft shell crab) 7.2/10

Banana chicken 7.7/10
Sizzling duck 7.9/10

#19 Vinh-Ky (114 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Steph, Craig

This restaurant has a black and white theme and after a few moments of absorbing the surrounds I discern it to be one of the more upmarket eateries on the strip. Steph sighs in exasperation at yet another encyclopaedic menu. There are banquets offered but we create our own in yet another excessive sampling of dishes.

There’s a few odd service elements. The waitress memorises our order and impressively doesn’t miss a thing. When I ask for spoons for the pho, we only receive two, leaving Steph to eat with the ceramic spoon in the main bowl. Having left the lid of the teapot upturned as the universal symbol for more tea, the waitress simply turns it back over without refilling. At a random point during the meal, the waitress brings out steamed rice and dishes it into bowls for us (without waiting for consent) only to bring out the fried rice we actually ordered two minutes later.

The table next to us has a dish come out wrapped in foil ...flaming. The waiter lifts each side up with tongs fanning the purple and orange flames. Not sure what it was but I wish we’d ordered it for the theatrical value.

There are no pork and prawn rice paper rolls so we opt for the straight prawn which come with a dark and very soya sauce-flavoured peanut sauce. The spring rolls look fresh and crispy but have an oddly sweet filling of mashed corn (or pumpkin, as Steph suggests).

Pho is served without its usual accompaniments but even myself, a lover of condiments, acknowledges it doesn’t need anything added.

Number 27 is from the entree section and is grilled beef with lemongrass and comes on a bed of thin rice noodles. It doesn’t look like something that would feature in a Donna Hay cookbook but has a wonderful chargrilled flavour.

The scallops which we chose from the specials (opting for XO sauce) look magnificent. Still in their shells they are lightly cooked with an oily and spicy dressing. For a moment we wonder where the sixth one is and discover it under a forest of coriander.

Finally another special (restrained of us considering initially Steph wanted to order the whole specials menu) – seafood hotpot. The seafood is squid, fish cake and some prawns topped up with tofu, carrots and sweet corn. I find the texture somewhat off-putting. It is stewed in a viscous, bland sauce. The squid is rubbery, the tofu is saturated and the whole thing is slimy.

We are stuffed but satisfied with the overall quality of the evening's meal.


Ratings
Prawn rice paper rolls 7.7/10
Beef pho 7.5/10
Vegetable spring rolls 6.2/10
#27 (grilled beef with lemongrass) 7.3/10
Daily special (fresh scallops with XO sauce) 8/10
Daily special (seafood hotpot) 6.5/10

Detour #2: Trang Restaurant (59 Hardgrave Road, Brisbane)

Attendees: Beata, Bobbie, Bo, Candice


A combination of work and pleasure brings me up to the sunshine state. A visit to a Vietnamese restaurant in Brisvegas provides an opportunity to give the ChChCh formula another whirl outside Victoria St. Bobbie and I impulsively take on the challenge single-handedly. Bo and Bobbie swear by Thy Thy from their Melbourne visits and it's time to see how Brisbane's Trang shapes up.

On a warm autumnal afternoon we have drank ourselves sober with a carton of cider and are hoping some Vietnamese food and a couple of bottles of red will serve as a pick-me-up.

It's lucky a reservation has been made as all the outdoor tables are full and people are spilling out onto the footpath. I am desperately thirsty and wanting to wash the taste of cider out of my mouth but in our tucked away corner table it seems to take forever to get the waiter's attention.

Bobbie and I embark on the challenge with rice paper rolls. These are of the average variety, relatively tasty but nothing to change states for.

Next up are the mussels with chilli from Trang's specials. They seem to be fresh and have the taste of the sea. The sauce is more on the sweet-chilli side with bits of red capsicum. These are taken care of quite quickly.

For number 27 we have counted down the Chinese section of the menu and ended up with braised duck with mushrooms. The duck is quite fatty but the abundance of vegetables is notable. There are 3 types of mushroom (button, shitake and chinese) and as Bobbie says these are "juicy and delicious".

It seems that all the food has come out and is practically finished. A bottle of wine has been consumed but where is our pho? I fin

ally manage to get the waiter's attention and it seems it has been forgotten. Chopstick Chowdown Challenge will not be complete without pho! It comes out a few minutes later and is very enjoyable.

During the re-ordering of pho, spring rolls have come out and despite full bellies it is our duty to taste-test them. The main descriptor that comes to mind is 'stringy'. When asked to do the ratings, Candice comments "they're not very tasty, I give them an 8." Maybe Queenslanders are more liberal with their ratings!


Ratings
Beef pho 8.3/10
Rice paper rolls 7/10
#27 (braised duck with mushrooms) 8/10
Special (mussels with chilli) 8.3/10
Vegetarian spring rolls 6.8/10

#13 Minh Xuong (154 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Paddy, Penny, Andrew Be

I’m apprehensive at first glance. Let's be honest, the place looks a little dodgy. The old neon lights around the sign. A couple of lonely roast ducks hanging in the window.

Inside it is sparsely decorated and as we look around for specials Andrew comments, “this is the only place we’ve been to with nothing on the walls.” Blank, cream walls stare back at us with a small number of paper lanterns as the only decorations. The meagre clientele looks hungry for a cheap feed. The tea comes in a stainless steel pot as opposed to the thermos we have become accustomed to.

We are excited about number 27 - jellyfish with shredded chicken. None of us know of jellyfish as anything other than something you squelch under your feet at the beach. When we order the waitress fires back that they are out of jellyfish. "It's unlucky number 13 then," Penny offers. Suddenly we are ordering braised pig trotters. When in Rome...

The food comes out all at once, with a disregard to the concept of entrees and mains. We scramble to make room for all the dishes.

In his first week of Chopstick Chowdown Challenge, having passed the inititation of finding the restaurant from minimum directions and securing a table, Paddy decides to dive straight in with the trotters. The meat is tender, the skin is slimy and it is all drowned in a ginger-flavoured gravy. Having had limited (by limited I mean zero) trotter experience, I feel they have done a good job. It is akin to a well-cooked casserole. Andrew avoids tasting the trotters and squirms at the traces of hair on the skin. Paddy quips “I’m sure the pig would have no qualms about eating you with hair”.

The peking duck is dry and so underwhelming that the meal is complete before I realise I still have piece left. It includes julienned raw carrot and sweet, floppy translucent strips. This is not what I expect of peking duck. Andrew questions where the sauce is. It seems to already be inside the pancake wraps. There goes our option of smothering something in sauce.

From the specials we choose the szechaun beef. It is advertised as hot but we beg to differ. In fact a dollop of chilli sauce is just what this dish needs.

I am not impressed with the pork and prawn dumplings in broth. The dumplings taste of sub-standard meat while the broth has no taste.

The pick of the night is the black bean chicken claypot. It comes out still sizzling and hits the perfect balance of flavours and saltiness. Furthermore the chicken melts in your mouth.

When it comes to ratings, Andrew refuses to rate the trotters, saying his prejudices will get in the way. Penny scribbles 'boo' on the voting card. When pressed he said he would give it 5 for novelty value. I discount this from the final count.

Despite a few gripes, nearly all the food is finished. Paddy happily stands out the front and gives it thumbs up.

Ratings

Pork and prawn dumplings in broth 4.6/10

Peking duck 6.3/10

#13 (braised pig's trotters) 7/10

Special (szechaun beef) 6.9/10

Chicken and blackbean claypot 8.1/10

N.B. Bonus points for finding the incongruous Anchorman reference in this post.

#9 Bien Bo Hue Co-Do (196 Victoria St)

Attendees: Beata, Mark R, Andrew Bl, Andrew Be, Penny, Steph, Luke

It is our biggest turn-out at Chopstick Chowdown Challenge and Co-Do has us squeezed onto a centralised round table, which makes it difficult for the waiters to get to the other side of the restaurant. As Steph says there are many distractions here: the plasma screen (which seems to switching between the Terminator, music video clips and Vietnamese soap operas), the mirrors, the people…Probably the biggest distraction, however, is our group because I notice how quiet the restaurant is when there is a momentary lapse in our raucous conversation.

Warning bells ring when a resturant defines itself as Vietnamese-Chinese. Is it a case of when you try to be good everything, you end up being good at nothing? The menu is extensive and has all the usual suspects categorised by main ingredient. This restaurant distinguishes itself by having box of tissues on the table, assumedly as a replacement for serviettes.

Number 27 is vegetarian spring rolls, which are stuffed with corn and make me think of the corn version of the Chiko roll you used to get at fish and chips shops. The sweet chilli dipping sauce though is great, and has a real chilli kick that you don’t get very often. The rice paper rolls are not dry, which rates them above most we’ve had so far.

There are slim-pickings when it comes to specials on the wall. Duck soup is a good name for a Marx Brothers’ film but might be difficult to share in such a big group. We are left with “sugar cane prawn”. This turns out to be reconstituted prawn in batter impaled with thick, fibrous sugar cane. It is all difficult to chew and largely tasteless.

Those of us with pho experience are quite pleased with this one. The beef is remarkably tender and there is something particularly tasty about the broth. The lack of fresh chillis is compensated by a dollop of chilli jam, which satisfies me.

I’m enjoying the duck trend at Chinese restaurants so we order the “sizzling duck with plum sauce”. The duck is battered and of teeth-breaking consistency. Duck fail. Other dishes we order are coconut and lemongrass chicken (brightly yellow and creamy); the Westerner’s favourite, Mongolian beef (it didn’t taste ‘Mongolian'); and sizzling garlic scallops (the pick of the ‘sizzlers’). Someone suggests you need to bring your own fan as every sizzling dish blows steam in Luke’s face, who happens to be sitting at the only accessible place at the table.

The food takes a back seat as we dissect the rules and definitions of dating. Mark lays down the law saying “it’s not a date unless you go to the movies”, leaving us questioning how many dates we’ve actually been on. Of course it doesn’t count as date when two people already want to see the same film and decide to go together. And remember one person buys the tickets and the other the popcorn.

We learn that boys think going out for coffee is a date. Same goes for a business lunch. But what do you do when you find out half an hour in that she has a boyfriend? Downshift from witty banter to telling disgusting stories about trips away with the boys.

The company was great but the food was ordinary. However perhaps it has done its job in brining people together, as we continue to sit around long after the food is gone…waiting for the water we have asked for seven times.

(N.B. This blog does not endorse Mark Rose’s rules of dating.)


Ratings
Beef pho 6.8/10
Rice paper rolls 6.8/10
#27 (vegetarian spring rolls) 6.2/10
Special (sugar cane prawn) 3.6/10
Sizzling duck with plum sauce 6/10

#4 Rice@Richmond (10/242 Victoria St)

Attendees: Steph, Beata, Imogene

(Disclaimer: Two-third of this week's contingent may have been intoxicated after spending the day at a winery festival, therefore take no responsibility for judgements made).

It has all the ingredients of an Australian Asian restaurant. Waving gold cat statue. Check. Bamboo plant. Check. A karaoke show featuring bad ballads playing on a plasma screen (their version Unchained Melody is particularly notable). Check.

The tables and chairs are solid wood, which is a nice change. At the back of the restaurant there is a wooden "bar". Well it says bar but I cannot see any bottles of alcohol. The table behind us slowly fills up with an Asian birthday party, while we drool over the idea of food.

There some confusion when we open the menus. Where are the rice paper rolls? No pho? Oh, we’ve stumbled upon our first Chinese restaurant in Chopstick Chowdown Challenge. Time to change the standards we order.

So we order a heap of food (is this becoming a theme?) The waitress returns after a couple of minutes and suggests that we have ordered too much food for three people and asks if we’d like to cancel something. Too much food? We’ll be the judge of that! Our stomachs feel bigger than ever and we stick with our order.

Complimentary seaweed peanuts are placed on the table. Interesting. Unusual. Steph happily comments “anything salty is good”.

All the dumplings are garnished with tangles of long, long strings of carrot. “How do they get the carrot so long?” Imogene questions in amazement. We are dumpling connoisseurs and these quite good.

The waiting staff is very attentive and polite. They stand at military-like attention as we take our first bites of food and fill up our tea as soon as our cups are empty.

We discover that Imogene is our barometer for MSG. Her allergy will tell us the next day whether there is any MSG in the food by displaying red welts. I question whether it is wise for her to be participating in the ChChCh but she is says it’s fine because she can fix herself with anti-histamines. Rice @ Richmond claims to be MSG-free on the menu and the sweet and sour pork is an unusual dark yellow sauce. Aha,Imogene says, because it is the MSG that gives it the radioactive bright red colour we are accustomed to. Meanwhile Steph is pulling out phantom statistics on the rate of circumcision in Australian men.

Number 27 is a “shredded pork and noddle soup”. This is no pho and tastes rather like chicken Maggi noodle soup with added broad bean essence. But we’re embracing the saltiness tonight, right? However the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce takes saltiness to the extreme. Have they mistaken soy sauce with oyster sauce? It is too much for even my wine soaked palate. Plus it’s more stalky than leafy.

I had my doubts about Rice@Richmond. Perhaps it was its faux ‘hipness’ for the internet savvy generation, with a name that looks like an email address, but overall the restaurant is better than expected.

Ratings
Fried pork dumplings 7.3/10
Steamed vegetable dumplings 8.3/10
Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce 5/10
#27 (Sliced pork and noodle soup) 5.6/10
Special (Sweet and sour pork) 7.3/10

Next stop...Pacific House