Bamboo Village

[khiemtran]

We're at Bamboo Village in Hurstville. Or at least that's it's English name. What do the Chinese characters say? (There's a hint here about what we're going to eat...)




They actually read "Ba Village Roast Fish" (巴寨烤鱼). [Edit: No, they don't! The first character is 山, meaning mountain. I have seen the restaurant referred to as 巴蜀烤鱼 or Ba Shu Roast Fish though, so I'm not sure if it has two names or if I gotten mixed up somewhere else as well.] The Ba (巴) is from the name of an ancient state (巴蜀 or "Ba Shu") in what is now Sichuan province.



So, what do you eat there? Well, fish of course. You choose your fish, then a choice of four sauces and degrees of spiciness and whatever extras you want with it (everything from quail eggs to luncheon meat), then it comes out in a big tray covered with vegetables and tofu. You can see some baby bamboo and tofu skin there. There was also lotus root and enoki mushrooms. And plenty of chilli...



Hot coals underneath keep it piping hot. You can just make out the fish underneath all the other goodies. It's been split in half and then blackened on a bbq. And it's absolutely delicious!



See?

Comments

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

I got the 'fish' part but I'd never have guessed the first character to be 巴, I thought it was a calligraphic variation of 山 (admittedly, I'm blind as a bat).

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I made the same mistake!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

See above. I think it was 山寨 after all on those signs. I'm a bit confused now. I guess I'll have to find out the full story the next time I go.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought too, and, now that I've done more googling, I think you're right! I wonder if there are two different business names.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

<observes last picture> Task; don't eat your vegetables. What will your mother think?

How many portions was that tray supposed to contain?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Each tray contains one fish (cut into two halves) and is supposed to feed two-three adults (although it varies with the size of the fish). We ordered two trays (one with barramundi, one with blue eye cod) and it was too much for six adults. And the trick is you have to eat at least some of your vegetables, otherwise you'll never reach the fish...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I haven't had breakfast yet, and my goodness, this looks delicious.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, that *was* my breakfast that day. Unless you count a coffee at the pool beforehand.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I think I shall blame ahem, chalk my recent craving for all types of Asian cuisine up to your yummy food posts.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It's really been nice now that we're seeing more different types of regional Chinese food in Hurstville.

But what has the local food been like in Cairo?

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

We had some really blah experiences at first, totally unable to find Egyptian food, only a plethora of pseudo-cuisines: a lot of Italian, some Lebanese, a little bit of "American" fast, Chinese, and Indian. All of that was more or less mediocre. The best foreign cuisine restaurant we've found is a Thai one.

Then, we left our Occidentalized neighbor, heading downtown, and found a dirty little hole-in-the-wall eatery with really good, down home Egyptian food. We've had a couple of good experiences since then. I hope to blog about them soon.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It's funny how Thai has become one of those cuisines you can expect to find everywhere now.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*nods* Used to be, one could only find "Chinese."