yum cha

Apr 30, 2011 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Indentured Labour: Camy Shanghai Dumpling House’s secret, part 2

Last time that I mentioned Camy Shanghai Dumpling House, I conjectured that the popularity was due to its open secret status and cheapness. At least now we know where the cheapness comes from: not paying their staff. From the Herald-Sun: Mr Chang worked 13-hour days from 9.30am-10.30pm with only five-minute

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Apr 21, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

City Hall Maxim’s Palace, Hong Kong

When people play the standards well, it is still exciting. To be sure, City Hall Maxim’s Palace isn’t the sophisticate jazz stylings of Lung King Heen but those culinary riffs wouldn’t exist without a benchmark. In Hong Kong dim sum, that ticking metronome is Maxim’s. They make the classics in

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Apr 18, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 9 Comments

Lung King Heen: 3 star dumplings

Scallop and prawn dumpling, Lung King Heen It’s a strange thing to live in the bottom half of the planet that has no Michelin stars. In some ways, it has an internal logic for Michelin: the guide’s ostensible purpose was to get people out into the provinces by car and

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Nov 03, 2008 | Post by: Phil Lees 1 Comments

Red Emperor, Melbourne

Har gau from Red Emperor, Melbourne I always thought that only tourists ate on Southbank. It’s the wrong side of the river for me; that strange cultural divide that bisects Melbourne wherein both sides can say that the other is the morally and culturally wrong side. Since the Casino that

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Mar 29, 2008 | Post by: Phil Lees 9 Comments

The outing of Camy Shanghai Dumpling House’s secret

When salmonella went feral a few years ago at a favorite Turkish restaurant, hospitalising a wardful of unlucky diners, I felt the urge to eat there out of solidarity with the owners but sadly, the health inspectors had put paid to my plans. The joy of returning to a previous

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