Pu'er, Waterloo

Pu'er, asian eatery located in Danks St waterloo has been opened since two years ago but I haven't heard about it until I got invited to dine in by Quinton Van Schalkwyk (Just because I hardly explore waterloo area ;p).

My first impression about the place is great lightning and the dining table and chairs looks like what we usually see in ancient chinese movies ;p We were greeted warmly by Quinton and the menu was given to us almost immediately when we sat down.

The menus consist of four sections; Dumplings, Street foods, Share plates and Desserts. Quinton lets us choose 2 dishes from each sections and he said he will discuss what we choose with what is usually popular . Looking at the menu, Ms.S and I were excited of whats to come as we were quite hungry that night..

Quinton recommended Organic Misty Cloud cause I asked for Green tea. He said the third brew yields the best taste as the leaves has opened and the the flavour release will be the optimum. He generously offered other teas as well during the meal but we were too busy gulping the foods along with the cocktail and so we refused tee hee.

The Organic misty in my opinion has a profound nutty note with fruity and freshness into it. It is said that it can be serve as cold infusion as well but we prefer warm on that rainy day last Friday :)

Organic Misty Cloud $9

Sapphire So Good - Gin based cocktail with Coconut Rum and Blue Curacao, best to end the working week with this! Not too sweet and just so refreshing ~~ It is literally so goooddd!!

Sapphire So Good $17

The condiments to accompany our meals, the essential in Chinese Eatery; Soy sauce, Black Vinegar and Chilli sauce.

So from the Dumpling menu, we chose Shanghai (Xiao long bao) bao and also the Pork and Peanut which Quinton agrees with me, it is worth to try..

The dumplings came in three pieces. The pork was juicy and definitely what it should taste like, probably the missing bit is the wrapper, if it could be thinner, it would be perfect..

Shanghai $7

The next one, the Pork and Peanut  - Teo Chew style spiced pork, roasted crunchy nut and shiitake mushroom definitely stole my heart! The combinations of the three was just perfect, best eaten with the chilli sauce.

From the Street foods sections, we chose the Hongkong Mini Burger and Wagyu tacos which Quinton again agreed on.

The Hong Kong Mini Burger consist of panko crumbed pork served with house smoked chilli, hoisin, baby cress and golden mantau. The pork does work really well with the sweet mantau and this dish is definitely a crowd pleaser.... While eating this, I remembered bebski cause I know he would've loveee the crispy sweet mantau :)

Hong Kong Mini Burger 4pcs $15

Wagy Tacos - 9+ Oakley Ranch Wagyu beef, chinese taco buns and four leaf greens. Simple description but definitely the star of the night for both Ms.S and I. The soft homemade buns were amazing and the flavour of the beef is definitely nothing like I have eaten in Sydney. It brings me back to the chinese foods I have in Indo. The flavour penetrates through the juicy tender and beef and the greens just adds a nice texture to the dish. Highly recommended! I even had takeaway today just for the tacos ;p

Wagyu Tacos 4pcs $16

Caramelised Berkshire Pork Belly. When we were discussing which dish to order from the share plates, Ms.S was positive that she wouldn't like it since the pork is not crispy. But once it got into our table and we took our first bite, we were mesmerized by how tender the pork was and the flavour again brings us back home.. The spiced infused tea eggs just and the pork crackles complemented the dish really well. Ms.S couldn't help it but gulping it till the last piece on the plate. I again highly recommend this dish!

Caramelised Bershire pork belly $24

The second share plate dish that we ordered was the Three Cup Drunken Duck - slow cooked with shao xing, soy, sugar, shiitake and fresh basil. Fall off the bone duck meat with a simple flavour. Tips: Do eat this dish first before the pork dish, cause the pork has stronger flavour that it covers the simple seasonings of the duck. I think the duck dish is best eaten along with the soy sauce :)

Three Cup Drunken Duck $26

Here comes the desserts! At this point Ms.S and myself were quite full from all those many dishes we had but as usual, desserts are something that we just can't miss... hehe..

So we picked the Red Bean Donuts with coconut syrup and Quinton recommended Coconut and Kaffir lime leaves sorbet with young coconut, coconut water and black sticky rice.

The donuts has nice fillings but may be because we were too full that donuts wouldn't be the wisest choice for us ;p

The Sorbet on the other hand was amazing, eating all the components together is the best. For me the let down probably the black sticky rice, in Indo we usually had the black sticky rice quite soft and porridge-y but they serve it quite hard. It's just a matter of preferences I guess. But I definitely recommend this dessert!!

Service was great, Foods were great as well (Not because I was invited), but truly definitely worth a visit, price wise I think is pretty reasonable and affordable considering the portion.. Quinton is an amazing warm friendly guy and our overall experience here has been awesomee.. Will definitely come back to try other dishes and not to forget the Wagyu Tacoss!!