Sung’s Kitchen

It is undeniable that I love Fridays. One, there is no work the next day. Two, I get to catch up with my lovely friends. Three, I get to enjoy and share food and drinks with my lovely friends! One of my favourite Chinese restaurant has to be Sung’s Kitchen (118 Franklin St, Melbourne). With crab season almost over, Sung became our obvious dinner choice this week as all of us are working around the city area.

The night started with a short drink at Golden Monkey with Mister (@Th0i3), Mr. L, Mr. A, Miss I & Miss W. There was a miscommunication and I ended up at Golden Mountain which is on the Spring end Of Melbourne CBD and had to walk all the past Elizabeth to get to my glass of white wine! I didn’t mind the walking as I needed to clear my head after a pretty crap day at work. And I enjoyed walking down narrow Hardware lane. The buzz is fantastic. The music, the chatter, the waiters reading out the specials. So much live! So much laughter.

Walking along hardware lane

Golden Monkey is a bar that serves Asian tapas & they do make a mean expresso Martini I was just happy to finally have my glass of wine after walking from one end of the city to the other! I love the red dark Chinese decor. Will definitely be back here again to try out its tapas.

Golden Monkey

We left the place and headed towards Sung’s as Mr. K & @stickifingers were meeting us at the restaurant.

Crabs were definitely on the cards. Mister stopped the waiter when he pulled a snowcrab out of the tank so that we could take a photo of the 2.5 pound crab.

Snow crab at Sung's

We ordered 2 bottles of David Traeger Verdelho 2007 and sipped on it while waiting for our dishes to arrive. First up, Mud Crab cooked in a Northern style sauce. It as meant to the most spicy of all the sauces on the menu. It was spicy but not as hot as I thought it would be. We had 3 serves of crab and it came with chinese egg noodle at the bottom of the dish. The chatter stopped and replaced with silence except of the ocassional mmmmmmmmm. The sauce was thick with dried shrimps, chilli sauce, garlic, ginger, parsley and CRAB. I wish we ordered the buns to mop up the sauce. Perfect. I could have the whole plate to myself!

Mud crab with Northern style sauce

Next came the Shantung cripsy duck (Boneless half duck on top of shredded lettuce with herbs & soy vinaigrette). When you bite into it, you get the crunch of the skin and then followed by the slightly fatty juicy bits and end with the succulent meat. Very delightful mouthful of duck goodness

Shantung crispy duck

I love tofu and I love this dish – Shrimp roe bean curd. The beancurd is pan fried and simmered in a sauce of dried salty shrimps.

Shrimp roe bean curd

And another of my favourite is the Stir-fried string beans with minced pork and garlic. Just very home-cooked, oily and crunchy!

String beans with minced pork and garlic

This is one of the highlights for me – Wasabi beef with sweet peas. The beef was tender and with every bite, you get the tingle of wasabi taste. But it never overpowers the taste of the beef and instead enhances it. And the al dente sweet peas adds texture to this perfect beef dish.

Wasabi beef with sweet peas

The Stewed Pork Knuckle with dates is ordered everytime we are here. The meat falls off the bones easily. The meat and sauce holds a sweet and rich flavour. This is definitely one of the signature dishes here.

Stewed pork knuckle with dates

Last of the savory dishes and one of the speciality was the Shanghai scrambled egg white with fish & shrimp. The least likeable dish for me. I felt that it was quite bland and I could taste any fish? Was the fish blended into with the egg white? It was suppose to be fluffy egg white but the texture tastes of the last few dishes, this definitely pale in flavour.

Shanghai scrambled egg white

Miss W took the liberty to order desserts. 2 serves of Shanghai Almond pudding, 1 serve of Egg white puff with custard & pine nuts and 1 serve of Peking soffle balls stuffed with banana & red bean paste.

Shanghai Almond Pudding

Egg White Puff with Custard & Pine Nuts

Peking Soffle Balls with banana & red bean paste

The Shanghai Almond pudding is my favourite. Not as sweet and has a sticky texture and nice almond flavour. There was a debate on which is the sweetness and no general consensus was made. But our least favourite was the Egg white puff with custard and pine nuts. Just a weird combination and taste too floury. I didn’t think much of the soffle balls. Too sweet and too much pastry as well. I will stick to the Almond pudding and the fruit platter next time.

My lovely friends

We had the noisiest table as usual. Laughing, eating and talking. We are a crazy lot but we have a lot of fun togehter. Thanks again for a lovely Friday. I had a very rough day and you guys put the smile back on my face. Rock!

Of course I will come back here again and again. Great food, afforable and no MSG. And I will be back here to try the yumcha. I hoop it will be as good as its dinner run.

What is your comfort food when you are down?