Missing Melbourne

I can't believe 2 months have flown by since we returned from Australia and New Zealand.  Why can't we be on vacation every day.  Maybe that's the frame of mind I need to get thru the grey days,that everyday is a vacation !  Ha easier said than done.  What made me think about Australia again was that I was feeling really hungry for some fabulous Szechuan chicken tonight and it made me think of my quest for the Holy Grail of Szechuan in Melbourne.  If I haven't told you the story let me begin....

While we were down under one of my missions was to find the Szechuan Restaurant that Anthony Bourdain visited while he was in Melbourne.  This was a challenge and one I wasn't going to give up on ! Everytime we headed to Chinatown I was  keeping my eyes peeled for what Anthony Bourdain described as his  favorite best szechuan food in the world restaurant . When we left home I thought I wrote the restaurant name down in my notebook but alas I didn't . I thought I remembered the name as Dai Te or something so we just started searching the streets in Chinatown.  My thought process was if it was so good it should be easy to find-wrong ! Well one night during our wanderings I thought I found it ! Thought is the key word-the sign was in Chinese so I asked 2 employees outside if this was the Dainty Szechuan (the real name not Dai Te ) -yes yes it is. I was so excited that I had finally found it,we went inside and were seated and given the menus. Everything looked so delicious and I was trying to picture the episode from No Reservations and where Anthony Bourdain had been sitting. When the waitress returned I started talking to her about my quest to find this place,like the Holy Grail !. Imagine my heart sinking when she said no they moved along the Yarra River-oh no ! But good news,same owner and one of the same chefs-so in a way I did find it. Can you tell that I will rationalize anything you throw at me !! Dinner was incredible,we had the Chicken Szechuan Wok which was one of the hottest things either of us had ever eaten,but it was sooo good we couldn't stop burning our mouths ! Crispy chicken morsels,a variety of red and green hot peppers,onions and the hottest pepper oil in the world-yummy. We ate and ate and burned our mouths and tummy's some more until we couldn't take another bite. Then took our stuffed selves back to Melbourne Airport content that we had found the restaurant we had searched for.  To read all about our wonderful trip down under check out our blog ,Three Weeks and a Wedding on Travel Pod