Taigum Gardens Chinese, Taigum, QLD

Having had endless opportunities to try out various Chinese restaurants around Brisbane, I was very excited to have found a new restaurant to try. It turns out that Taigum Gardens has been in business for 20 years - a pretty big achievement considering it's Chinese food and located in a suburban area of town, so understandably, I was expecting some pretty good food.


We started with deep fried oysters. The batter was fried to a nice golden yellow colour and the oyster inside retained its plump, soft body and juices, when most places would have overcooked this dish.

Deep fried battered oysters

Next came our vegetable dish - stir fried green beans with minced pork and cashews. I really liked this dish. While it sounds simple, it was packed with flavour as the mince was flavored well, add to that the fresh and slighty crunchy beans that had abit of the stir fried 'wok hei' taste. Yummy. The cashews were also something different as I usually peanuts being used as a garnish but this was a good change.

Stir fried green beans with mince pork and cashews

Crispy chicken followed soon after. Apparently this is one of their signature dishes, and I could understand why. The skin was thin and crispy, and the meat was tender and retained all moisture and juices. I tasted a piece of the breast as that’s usually the part to which is hard to cook well. Surprisingly, it was soft and tender almost like the rest of the chicken.

Crispy chicken

Time for more seafood: deep fried salt and pepper sole. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like that muddy fishy taste so I was reluctant to try this dish. It turned out to be quite nice as the texture of the fish was firm, nicely seasoned and didn’t have the fishy taste.

Salt and pepper sole

Deep fried tofu with mince prawn meat. Nice and simple dish to break things a bit. The sauce is usually served drizzled on top of the tofu, but we asked for it to be served separately so that the tofu retained its crispiness until we drenched it with sauce ourselves.

Deep fried tofu with mince prawn meat

Sweet and sour pork was next – we would usually order the ribs instead, but the owner suggested this dish to us so we politely agreed. The sweet and sour sauce had a nice balance of flavours from the fresh pineapple pieces and the capsicum. I found the coating on the pork pieces a bit floury for my liking, and the pork could have been fattier, as the lean meat mean it was a bit on the chewy side. It wasn’t bad, just not great.

Sweet and sour pork

We finished off with stir-fried noodles tossed with bean sprouts. The noodles were fresh and not overly salty, unlike some places. They were quite generous with the bean sprouts too. I like.

Stir fried noodles with bean sprouts

I was pretty full by the end of our meal, but I’ll always room for dessert! The ice cream we ordered was made in-house and flavours included strawberry, vanilla, coconut and mango. They were served in these fancy metal cups which looked like mini urns, with smoke (liquid nitrogen) coming out from the bottom which looked so mystical and fun!

Strawberry ice cream

If you want Chinese food that won’t disappoint, then Taigum Gardens Chinese is the place to go. I must say this place is on the expensive side (for Chinese food), but the portions are generous and the food is of a high quality; it would be a real shame not to give it try purely because of its affordability. Ladies also receive a small surprise at the end of the night too!

Edit - 13/7/2012
I have since been back to Taigum Gardens on several occasions now, and the food never fails to please my guests every time!
Some more delicious dishes I have tried lately:

Hot and Sour Soup - So flavoursome and filled with so much meat, vegies and prawns!

Ginger and Shallot Fried Crab with Egg Noodles ('Yee-Meen') - crab was so meaty and the sauce was just delicious!

Deep Fried Tofu with Fish Fillets and Vegetables

Combination Tofu Pot - The pictures says it all. The portion is so generous and food so fresh.

Shangpaign Kitchen, Sunnybank Hills, QLD

The other day when I was talking to a friend about my Shanghainese dining experience at Bamboo Basket, he drew my attention to another Shanghainese restaurants called Shangpaign Kitchen.
Apparently this restaurant also served really good Shanghai dumplings so I had to try it out!
The shanghai dumplings had a thin pastry and looked similar to Bamboo Basket's. Price wise, you could get two serves (8 dumplings) here, for the price of one serve at Bamboo Basket.

The filling was made from pork mince and had a decent amount of broth inside. The dumplings were tasty and fresh, but I would have liked them hotter because when I took a bite into my dumpling, the broth had started to set (but still lots left!)

Shanghai dumplings

Look how juicy they are!

Next were the pan fried pork buns. This also had a pork filling, however there were also chives inside, which gave a stronger flavour. The buns were pan-fried til golden brown and were not oily at all. I would recommend ordering this when you visit! Note of caution- make sure you have a napkin close by, as the buns are filled with broth and the juices are likely to squirt out (but oh so delicious)!

Shanghai pan fried pork buns

I had to order some dumplings to compare with the ones we make at home but unfortunately I think our home made dumplings won. The dumplings were again pan fried very well, but the pork and chive filling didn't have much taste to it. The pastry was a little bit hard too. You would need to dip these in black vinegar to make them more flavoursome.

Chives and pork dumplings

This was another 'chef's suggestion' - Shanghai style fried chicken. I have mixed feelings about this dish. While the presentation was nice, it was disappointing to see it had more bones than meat. The flavour was pretty average and the chillies in the dish was a garnish more than anything, as it was not spicy at all. It wasn't a bad dish - but I will leave it up to you guys to try it for yourselves.

Shanghai style fried chicken

I'm not a fan of animal intestines, but the others like that stuff and ordered the pork stomach in hot wok. I managed to try some of the other things in the wok like the tofu, and the mushrooms. Again, I felt like this was a pretty average dish. Others at the table commented it had a bit of 'pork smell', which usually happens when the intestines have not been thoroughly cleaned out prior to cooking.

Pork stomach in hot wok

We wanted to try a variety of dishes, so we ordered a seafood dish - deep fried whole yellow fish with special sweet sour sauce. I'm not sure if the translation was correct on the menu, but the fish is actually a whole barramundi. Apart from the shanghai dumplings and pork buns, this was the stand out of the night. The sweet and sour sauce was nice and tangy with a hint of tomato taste. The fish has also been cut and deep fried in a way that, while the skin is crispy, the fish meat has still retained its softness and just cooked. I recommend ordering this one when visiting Shangpaign.

Deep fried whole yellow fish with special sweet sour sauce

Stir fried rice cakes is another signature Shanghainese dish, so we ordered it. The rice cakes were a little bit bland for me as the flavours from the soy sauce has not really infused into the rice cakes at all. Unfortunately, this dish didn't 'wow' me as I hoped it would. I am going to stick to making this one at home, rather than ordering it next time.

Stir fried rice cakes

We ordered hot and sour soup with our meal. I love hot and sour soup, but unfortunately this one did not tickle my fancy at all. I think everyone at the table came to a general consensus that the soup was too peppery and too sour. There was also not enough contents in the soup to make it a satisfying soup (lots of black fungus, tofu, slithers of pork - the way good hot and sour soups should be!)

Hot and sour soup

Our dining experience at Shangpaign Kitchen turned out to be somewhat of a roller coaster ride (if I may put it that way). While there were some dishes which blew us away, there were also some dishes that definitely needs plenty of improvement. I would still recommend friends to this restaurant, but I think you should just stick to the dumplings and buns from the menu (which is what they do best).

Perhaps the chef just happened to be having a bad day when we visited? I would love to hear your experiences at Shangpaign Kitchen!

Bamboo Basket, South Brisbane, QLD

For a long time, I had always thought I would need to visit China or Shanghai to taste the best shanghai dumplings, or shanghai cuisine, for that matter. I never thought I would find Shanghai dumplings as tasty as the ones at Bamboo Basket in Brisbane, but I was certainly impressed when I first took a bite into one of these hot, juicy, little things. 

The dumplings had a nice and thin outer layer ( I was told once that the thinner the outer pastry layer, the better the quality of the dumpling) and the juices inside had the pleasant natural sweetness from freshly made pork broth. The filling was made from minced pork but without the fatty bits usually contained in mince. The dumplings come with a small dish of sliced fresh ginger which you add black vinegar to it and use it as a dipping sauce for the dumplings. I prefer to eat the dumplings on its own to savor the natural taste of the delicious little things.

Shanghai dumplings

Look at the amount of soup that squirted out of those dumplings!

We ordered the pan fried Shang Dong style dumplings.. These looked interesting as they appeared to have been pan fried with a layer of rice water on the bottom which made a nice brown rice sheet stuck to the six dumplings. (I'm guessing they do this to stop the dumplings from burning). The dumplings were tasty and the filling was made from minced pork and chinese chives. These didn't have as much soup inside them, but please still be careful when biting into these as they can get a bit messy too!

Pan-fried Shang Dong style pork dumplings

It was extremely hot on the day we visited Bamboo Basket, so we decided to order a cold dish of shredded chicken, sesame and chilli sauce with clear mung bean noodles. While it was quite a refreshing dish, I would have liked the seasame sauce to have a stronger sesame taste, as this one seemed a little bit watered down and could have been a bit more salty. 

Shredded Chicken, Sesame & Chilli Sauce With Clear Mung Bean Noodle

We couldn't go without ordering a traditional dish of Shanghai style fried noodles with chicken. There were three sauces to choose from and we chose szechuan chilli because J & I like spicy food. The noodles were hand made and were firm but not chewy. It also had lots of chicken, mushroom and vegetables in it which tasted rather nice. Most importantly the chicken was not overcooked! 

Shanghai Style Fried Noodles With Chicken

nom nom nom:

• beautiful Shanghai food - the Shanghai dumplings are a MUST try!
• if you want the best dishes Bamboo Basket has to offer, choose the dishes with a small bamboo basket logo next to them and you can't go wrong!

uggggh:

• staff could have been more attentive (it took me a few attempts to get their attention to get a glass of water)