We spent time at the Chinatown Night Market yesterday, revelling in the hustle and bustle of the evening. The weather was pleasantly mild and everyone seemed to be in an optimistic, “first day of the new decade” mood, particularly this elderly gentleman hula hooping on stilts.
There were lots of food stalls, selling all sorts of delicious things to eat…
…and some interesting wares for sale!
These gorgeous boxes each contain a single hand-tied tea flower….
….which blossoms in boiling water to create jasmine tea.
The highlight of the evening was watching Master Au create his dragon beard candy – a famous Chinese sweet which, until 1911, was eaten exclusively by the emperors of China. There are very few artisans left who possess this skill, and it was almost hypnotic to watch him in action, turning a wheel of hard candy into hundreds of white strands, which he then wrapped around a peanut and sesame filling.
I’d made some well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions about eating sensibly – what better way to ring in the new decade than by breaking these in a truly spectacular fashion!
. . . . .
Sydney Chinatown Night Market
Dixon Street Mall
Chinatown, Sydney NSW 2000
Open every Friday, 4pm – 11pm
www.chinatownnightmarket.com.au
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love the look of that candy! Happy New Year Celia!
Happy New Year, Jo! Oh, I wish you could have been there to watch him in action. I took a video clip as well, but had trouble uploading it. The candy is very nice – a little like a peanut brittle in flavour. What’s Chinatown in Bristol like?
Chinatown in Bristol, hmm. We have Water Sky which has the big wholesale/retail grocery store in the bottom and the restaurant on the top floor and various Chinese restaurants, like Dynasty which serve dim sum and there is a Chinese association, http://oca888.org/default.aspx I think in King Square, but not a ‘district’ like you have, or like in London for that matter.
For a big city, you are right, we should have a Chinatown – it would be wonderful if we did. But this is a port city with no fish market; the one I knew in my student days down in the old centre is now a dutch pancake restaurant. We don’t have much in the way of Japanese and top quality Thai restaurants either. They exist but they aren’t as good as they could be….
I guess no Chinatown I can understand, but a port city with no fish market is amazing! :) You’ll have to come to Sydney, and we can go out eating for a week…
Great fun! Such beautiful colors!
I made your parmesan cracker recipe and they came out FAMOUS! So good!
Thanks!
Marilyn.
Marilyn, I wish you could have seen those beautiful cardboard boxes up close. They were so lovely, but at $6 each (for a single tea flower!!), I couldn’t bring myself to buy one!
Glad the parmesan cookies worked – thanks for letting me know!
Cheers, Celia