Spice Temple

With special thanks to company’s old company for bankrolling this extravaganza, I was quite happy to mooch. And mooch I did, sipping zodiacally ordaned cocktails (Horse, but without the hay) in perhaps the nicest Japano-chique basement in Sydney. Northern style lamb-fennel dumplings begin this treat, delicately flavoured innards for a multi-textured pan-fried tender-crispy shell. A breif sake-interlude before the hot and numbing favourite, crispy duck, was unexpectedly ousted by the surprise champion, Yunnan style mushroom hotpot. Dazzling assortment of shitake, enoki, oyster, cloud, wood-ear, and hereto unidentifed sponge one which soaked up and subsequently brothsploded your mouth with umami-laden soupy goodness. Shame about the duck, a slab of one-dimensional flavour and uninteresting texture, where a lighter hand on the black-vinegar, or patience in roasting the notoriously tough meat might’ve saved it. Paired both with the house fried rice, but the duck just left sour tastes and memories.