Most of my friends know that atleast once or twice a year I have to take a trip to Australia and this year is no different. I have just returned from Sydney and Melbourne. And for the first time in a very long time this trip was purely for pleasure. I had decided to take a real vacation but with a little business mixed in one or two days out of 10. My vacation itinerary is very simple, visit good friends, eat good food, drink good wine and sleep in late. I have relatives who live in Sydney as well as many very good friends. One of my best friends in Sydney owns a very small Thai restaurant in Sydney’s red light district of Kings’ Cross. Whenever I am in town he would have to come pick me up from the airport and go directly to eat Congee at a Chinese restaurant called Super Bowl. Their congee here taste just as good as the ones that I love in Hong Kong and much to my surprise cheaper than in Hong Kong.

My friend Khun Wat owns a restaurant called Banglane is indeed a very good cook. The Thai food he cooks here is very authentic and very simple. He is very lucky to be in Sydney where the raw materials he uses for his menu is so good, especially seafood. I don’t know of many cities in the world where seafood is so fresh and yet fairly reasonable in price. Today, I am going to write about seafood in Sydney and write about my gourmand experience in eating the best and the freshest seafood in Sydney. I want to write about the fresh abalone, lobster and Baramundi Cod that I had at Regal restaurant on Sussex Street in Chinatown. In Western food culture, abalone is not on the top ten lists of highly prized delicacies. But in Asian cultures, especially Chinese food culture it is considered one of top. Abalone is a one-shell shellfish with a suction cup that attach firmly to the rock under the sea. You have to pry it loose from the rock to harvest it. Most abalone is sold already cooked and canned. The meat of the abalone becomes very tough when over cooked and most Chinese restaurants rarely cook fresh (live) abalone.

Most are braised or dried and cooked in a sauce for days to make it tender. What makes that abalone so highly prized is the fact that it is hard to find. It is considered by many Chinese people and consequently Asians to be good for both your health and your soul. Some even considers it as an aphrodisiac. For me the abalone has a very distinct flavor and scent that reminds me of the earth and the sea. I must admit that I love it very much but it is very high in cholesterol and I really have to watch myself when in Sydney.

Khun Wat always ask me where I want to eat whenever I am in Sydney and he always gets the same answer. Regal Chinese restaurant on Sussex, and yes, I want to eat their fresh abalone served shabu shabu style tableside. There is a certain ceremony involved in ordering abalone. First they will go select fresh abalone from the tank in front of the restaurant to the specific weight that you want. They bring it to you to see the live abalone before they take it into the kitchen to slice it very thin and place shredded iceberg lettuce in the inverted empty abalone shell and sliced abalone on top. A small portable gas range is place in the middle of your table and a ceramic put containing concentrated chicken broth is put on top of the fire to bring to boil. Each diner gets a small sauce bowl containing soy sauce mixed with broth, Chinese wine, julienne green onions and sesame oil.

Once the broth boils, the waiter comes over and picks up a few slices of abalone with his spoon and for and quickly run the meat in the boiling liquid, it does not take more than have a minute. Then he serves the blanched abalone by putting a few slices into your sauce bowl. You just dip each piece with your chopstick into the sauce and put it in your mouth. What heavenly flavor and texture! It is not touch but bounced slightly between your teeth. I have not had fresh abalone better than this not even in Hong Kong and it is much cheaper! Once all the abalone is blanched they put shrimp and pork dumpling into the broth to cook and serve this wonton like soup in a bowl over crispy shredded iceberg lettuce. Writing about makes me want to go back to Sydney again.

I truly believe that if you want to have good Chinese seafood you do not have to go to Hong Kong but Australia and New Zealand is the best. Their waters are clean a perfect environment for fresh and chemical free food. There are many other dishes at this restaurant such as the lobster sashimi, which comes out of the old water and serves raw in lumps very sweet and almost crispy in texture. Their steamed Baramundi Cod, which is one of the best tasting fish in the world, is also found here. You have to order it in advance but the meat is sweet and melts in your mouth. You have to know how to steam it or you could really ruin a perfectly good and expensive fish. At Regal Restaurant the really know how to cook not only fish, abalone, and other seafood but their Dim Sum is also sensational.

Regal Chinese Restaurant

Address Sussex Street, Sydney