September 11, 2007: Camy Shanghai Dumpling & Noodle Restaurant II

On Tuesday evening Michael, Jack and Emma were booked in for some soccer at the MCG. That didn't appeal to me in the least, but I was happy to join them for a fast and furious dumpling dinner straight after work. We predictably kicked our order off with 20 steamed mushroom and vegetable dumplings ($6.50) and they were as fabulously munchable as last time.

Birchy's rave on the red bean fried cake ($4.90) had me hunting through the menu and insisting Michael share one with me: this is a crispy fried shell filled with sweet red bean paste. A delicate balance is required between waiting for the filling to cool to an edible temperature and not letting the shell lose its crunch, but the rewards are great. Can anyone tell me whether this is a meant to be a dessert? It's definitely a sweet one, yet it's tucked in the menu amongst the spring rolls and other savoury delights.

Thanks to my own curiosity and a little encouragement from Gin, we also ordered a plate of the vegetarian duck ($3.80). In amongst our other steamed and fried foods, it was quite a shock to discover on my first mouthful that this was actually served cold! That surprise overcome, this proved to be one of the best textured faux meats I've eaten. Though it's plenty salty, I'd love it even more if there were a bit of extra flavour - a couple shakes of Chinese 5-spice powder and I'd be in fake meat heaven.

So, Camy and co prove to be more than just the darlings of dumplings. But with two readers' comments already paying off, we might be well served in heeding advice from Jen and Buttons to try the place next door soon...

(You can read about our last visit to Camy here.)

Comments

  1. kristySeptember 24, 2007 at 3:44 AM

    iIt is a dessert. Its also called red bean pancake they sell it at enlightened cuisine with ice cream.

    Will have to give this place a try!

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanh7580September 24, 2007 at 3:57 AM

    It's definitely a dessert. Some places also have a taro version. I prefer the taro version as the taro gives it a more aromatic flavour. If the have a taro version, give that a try as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AgnesSeptember 24, 2007 at 5:08 AM

    The pumpkin cakes are good too - they're quite sweet so pretty much a dessert thing. Although I do know some people who eat them with soy and chilli sauce!

    ReplyDelete
  4. CindySeptember 24, 2007 at 5:28 AM

    Thanks for the confirmation, Kristy and Thanh7580! I'm quite pleased that I sneaked dessert into dinner with Michael. :-D

    I have enjoyed taro paratha at home and I'm guessing they would be quite similar - yum!

    Agnes, I'm pretty comfortable with the sweet/savoury mix - I'll add the pumpkin cakes to my wish list for next time. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. yongtzeSeptember 25, 2007 at 7:36 AM

    Yes it's a dessert. Try the one with lotus seed paste too if you can find it (e.g. Sambal Kampung in Chinatown). It's delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  6. CindySeptember 25, 2007 at 4:02 PM

    Hi Yongtze. :-) I have never tried lotus seed paste before - thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
  7. StooSeptember 26, 2007 at 2:13 AM

    oh, great!!
    I haven't had dumplings since i went veggo, they were one of my favourite city lunches. These look fantastic so I'll have to find some excuse to try them out :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. CindySeptember 26, 2007 at 5:35 AM

    Enjoy, Stoo! Given that Harriet managed to put away 50 of these, I'm sure you could happily eat a plate of 20. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnnaSeptember 27, 2007 at 10:40 PM

    If this is the place I'm thinking of, it's one of my favourites. 10 of us ate there several times for a total of $100 each time. And we were STUFFED.

    I don't care how many times it's been shut down, nothing I've eaten there has played havoc with my sensitive stomach yet :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. CindyOctober 3, 2007 at 12:04 AM

    So you're stuffed for the measly sum of $10 per person, and devoted to this restaurant despite the rumours of bad, bad hygiene? Anna, we MUST be talking about the same place. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  11. thanh7580October 4, 2007 at 6:50 PM

    Camy's is famous. I think someone started a Facebook group called "I've eaten at Camy's and survived the experience". They are notorious for their bad hygiene and cheap prices. It's the cheap prices that keep drawing most people back. I'm pretty good with things being slightly dirty but they are definitely on the dirty side. I tend to wash all my bowls and chopsticks down with hot tea first, just in case.

    ReplyDelete
  12. CindyOctober 5, 2007 at 4:43 PM

    Thanh, there is indeed a Facebook group - I'm one of its 600+ members! It was started by Melbourne Gastronome Claire.

    ReplyDelete
  13. kham_ingApril 4, 2008 at 4:21 AM

    i've been eating here for years, and i can't say i've ever suffered a bout of food poisoning, nor have i ever heard of such a thing. the establishment is often shut down as a result of OH&S (ie. a staircase without a handrail) as opposed to food hygiene and handling standards. such rumours seem to be the result of stereotypes and little else.

    ReplyDelete
  14. CindyApril 6, 2008 at 1:34 AM

    Thanks for chiming in, Kham_ing! I've not had a bad experience yet and the vague stories don't seem to be doing Camy's business any harm.

    ReplyDelete

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