We were lucky enough to attend another wonderful food tour, by ‘Taste Cultural Food Tours’. A unique cultural experience in the heart of the Sydney CBD where we could sample a range of Asian foods in Chinatown, Sydney. Here we tried cuisines from China, Malaysia, Korea and the Philippines.
The tour runs every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and it is a walking tour over the duration of 3 hours. It is perfect for anyone wanting to sample Sydney’s Asian influence, as you get to sample the food whilst having an educational experience. As it is in the city, it would also be perfect for the tourist.
The tour was professionally run by the tour guide named Patrick, who is a student of University of Technology Sydney City Campus, and a frequent visitor of the nearby Chinatown precinct who gave us a lot of insights into the foods, business and history.
One of the features of the tour were that each food place visited was family owned, and has been open for many years, with an emphasis on supporting these hard working and family owned businesses.
The tour allowed us to sample a range of signature dishes and experiences from a number of Asian cultures, as well as learn about the various pieces of street art and monuments, and their significance to the area.
Stop 1 – Petaling street. which is a Malaysian restaurant sampling the Roti Canai, which is Malaysian with an Indian influence. The bread was warm, soft, flaky, fresh, and dipped in the mild sauce for a great taste.
Stop 2 – Emperors Cream Puff. Talk about an institution. It still gets huge queues here and no wonder why. They are amazing, The best bang for your buck dessert in Sydney. Warm, custard filled doughy balls where you can get 3 for $1.
Stop 3 – Topo Tea. We got to have a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, using Oolong Jasmine Tea. Such a relaxing experience as Joy, who was dressed in traditional Chinese attire took us through the smelling, preparation, cupping and tasting of the tea.
Stop 4 – Sparrow’s Mill. Simply delicious was the Spring Onion Korean Fried Chicken. A beautiful crispy batter chicken pieces, with soy sauce and spring onion.
Stop 5 – China Town Noodle King. A beautiful place for hand made dumplings and noodles, with its origins from Northern China. We tried the boiled and pan fried pork and chive dumplings which both had incredible flavours.
Stop 6 – La Mesa. We experienced some traditional Philippino desserts which included the Cassaba, Fried Banana, and my favourite which was the Leche Flan.
A very enjoyable tour, which is perfect for anyone wanting to sample different Asian foods, whilst having an educational experience learning about the history of Chinatown.
We would like to thank Lesley from Taste Food Tours for the invitation to join the tour and where_do_i_eat_pete for the write up.
Thanks for this great post. Will have to go this on a visit to Sydney from Canberra.
Taste tours are a great way to explore food in Sydney.