a day out at chatswood.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant
Shop 20, 427-441 Victoria Avenue
Lemon Grove Shopping Centre
Chatswood, Sydney
Tel: 612 9415 3536

Hello Happy
345 Victoria Avenue
Chatswood, Sydney
Tel: 612 9411 4892


"So what exactly did you do in Chatswood today?"

My mind came to a blank when my sis threw me that question when I got home. Somehow the afternoon just flew by. It was my first time in the neighbourhood and I wanted to find out if there were any interesting eats or places around although most people have told me it's just another suburb, except many Chinese live there. They weren't wrong. It is just another regular suburb and there are many old Chinese people sitting around having a chat over tea but I guess it was just nice for me to get out of town and breathe a different "air".

Lunch was at New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant. The xiao long bao was pretty good except that they cooled down too quickly. They still don't beat the xiao long baos at Din Tai Fung Shanghai and the skin could have been a little thinner but the soup and the meat filling were tasty.






















I decided to be greedy and order the XO Sauce Fried Shanghai Rice Cakes as well. Rice cakes are one of my favourite things to eat and I just couldn't resist having it. Although it was pretty good, I just couldn't find the XO sauce that was supposed to be in there. (In case you think I have a huge appetite, I took home most of the rice cakes and had them for dinner.)





















After doing a big walkabout, I ended up having dessert and coffee at Hello Happy, a quaint little Korean bakery cafe.





















Although I won't say that the strawberry cake I had was the best I've ever tasted, being in the shop sorta gave me a happy feeling cos of the decor (must have also been because of the name). I need to specially mention that I loved their chai latte. I've been on the lookout for good chai lattes around Sydney and they served me one of the best that I've drank in a while.





















It was a good day. I didn't do much but at least, the box beside 'visit Chatswood' now has a tick on it.