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Melburnian-turned-Sydneysider Jennifer Wong was recently in her former home to not only perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2023 but to enjoy the cuisine of the city.
"Dining out is such a big part of my days and nights when I travel for work," Wong says. "I have such a lovely time with friends sitting at the back tables of restaurants, taking our time with refillable tea, and eating away."
Breakfast scrolls and coffee
"There's this Japan-inspired bakery in the city that was recommended to me by ABC host Beverly Wang. It's called ."
Located in a small laneway, the bakery is unassuming and she would have "walked past it if Beverly didn't take me there".
It offers what she considers perfect breakfast fare: coffee and pastries.
"There was this scroll that was as big as my face. It was a honey and black sesame scroll, but the most delightful surprise was it had this bit of salt in it, so the honey and salt made for such a gorgeous combination.
"I'm not a fan of eggs or any of the sort for breakfast. For me, coffee and pastries hit my happy, sweet spot."
MATCHA GOODNESS
Matcha tiramisu
Oodles of noodles
Another dish that always hits Wong's sweet spot is noodles.
"There's this place called on Little Lonsdale," she says. "Dao refers to a small knife they use to cut dough that looks like a heavy loaf of bread. They say that they do 200 noodle strands a minute."
You can combine the noodles with a wide range of ingredients. "I had mine with tomato and eggplant. They were so good that I still think about them now that I'm back in Sydney."
She also recommends the restaurant's shredded potatoes and a cold mung bean noodle dish that has a refreshing liquorice flavour.
Another noodle restaurant Wong frequents for late-night eating in Melbourne is , which offers northern Chinese halal food.
"Thanh 'Fruit Nerd' Truong recommended the place to me. He basically did the ordering and I was the beneficiary of his good taste."
ABOUT BOWLTIFUL
Bowltiful serves up halal-friendly Lanzhou food
"I've been wanting to go there because of their pun-y name and I was so delighted to find that they had a really refreshing, very tart cold, Hawthorn tea drink that goes well with a big bowl of braised beef noodles with pickled vegetables at 10:30 at night."
The night she was there, Wong said the restaurant was playing Taylor Swift on repeat. "I don't know if it was because [Taylor] just announced a breakup…I would gladly [give her a] virtual bowl of noodles. It's just what she needs."
Jennifer Wong eating out with Thanh 'Fruit Nerd' Truong. Source: Jennifer Wong
Pretty little cakes
For desserts, Wong can't resist a spot she used to frequent when living in Melbourne. Brunetti.
"It just baffles me how can do all the things they do. I just find so much joy in seeing their variety of colourful cakes."
"And I love the idea of, you know, if you don't want to eat a whole opera cake, they've made it into a tiny little square. And then they have these tiny little eclairs. I just love food that makes me feel like a giant."
