Swanky Shanghai in city to rival other international and suburbia - Lynn in Sydney CBD

Lynn is the new kid of the block in the city's Castlereagh street within a clubhouse building. It serves Shanghai cuisine with a modern and classy touch. Service is efficient. Above all, the food is in the clouds.


All dianxin (dim sum) and jiaozi (gow jee) whether from the northern, central or southern provinces must go well with a pot of strong Chinese tea.

Smoked fish has been fully infused with spices influence dated since the historical trade links between ancient Chinese and the Persians and Arabs. Be careful of the bones though.

Very well made soft dumpling skin that is neither too thick, hard or easily broken. This spicy chilli oil drenched steamed dumpling is not for the faint hearted.

A must have is the xiaolongbao (small dragon bun / meat dumplings) with tasty stock encaseed within the delicately folded pastry wrapping. Eaten in two mouthfuls per piece to taste the full flavours of the outer, stock, filling and ginger-vinegar sauce.

Panfried meat buns that is lightly browned and not burnt (which is often the case in most restaurants). A pleasure to taste hot gravy oozing from the filling with every bite. Generous sprinkling of black sesame to give the bun an extra boost.

Radish fried buns very similar to puff pastry but has layered texture and a more crispy feel.

Chives and prawn pancake - very delicious

Sesame "pita" pocket bread with filling pickled vegetable, pine nuts, chicken fillet and mushrooms.
An inspiration from Northwestern cuisine? Goes down well with hot tea and soy milk.

Pretty pumpkin and lotus paste dessert

I can forsee a strong rival emerging to challenge the powerful seat currently occupied by Din Tai Fung (the Taiwanese listed global food company). Lynn's menu is very similar to DTF and has a little more to offer in terms of Shanghai specialities.
See : http://ausletters.blogspot.com/2009/11/taiwan-chain-restaurant-din-tai-fung-is.html

This is a good time to capitalise on the introductory offer. With a 20 % discount foodies would get to sample as much of the interesting menu as possible and zero in on your favourites when the price is adjusted once they have won the hearts of the customers.

Though many Shanghaiese restaurants have sprung up in Ashfield and Chatswood, true blue Shanghai people and gourmet tasters will tell you they are not very authentic, the meat is not fresh, the dumpling skin is too thick or tough, or the service is not up to scratch, and some other faults to find, etc.

Lynn is up and running and has delivered on many fronts. The meat is fresh and the dumpling skin is smooth, thin and has a slightly chewy. It will make its mark in no time and give the rest a run for their money.

Good old classical French cuisine - Home of Maurice and Linda in Bagowlah, Manly

Traditional French cuisine which is a luxury in Sydney (and Australia-wide), has largely been overshadowed by modern Australian restaurants. Sometimes, it may be worthwhile driving an hour for better food on special occasions.

Their homely and unassuming service complements the fine foods within fixed budgets - two or three courses from a selection of entrees, mains and dessert.

Choices of seafood entrees : scallop mornay, fresh rock oysters, snails.

French onion soup

Mains : generous servings of meat or seafood

Rack of lamb, very juicy, tender and tasty

Steak - seared on the outside and rare inside with rich mushroom sauce

Can't go wrong with French speciality, the orange duck, though not many places would do it just nice, not too fat or burnt. The sauce is sensuous but not overpowering.

Dessert
Pancake with grande marnier flambe

Freshly baked profiterole covered with smooth rich dark chocolate mirror coating and enclosing vanilla ice-cream inside.

A satisfying classical meal that is delicious and visually appealing without some of the gimmicks or stunts employed by less skilful counterparts.

Reward worthy teachers more will be a first step to slaughter the sared cow to improve Australian education system

That salary should be pegged to performance is a yardstick used across all industries. But political correctness and promises of equality will likely bring down our education system. There is a general reluctance to discuss or push ahead with pay differentiation to reward higher value added performance. Policy makers pandering to public opinion and unions are so cagey that they have long been afraid to roll out the criteria for high quality education. Without assessment, we will never find out the truth and differentiate the better teachers and reward them.

Quote : Previous attempts to improve teacher quality by attracting, retaining, recognising and rewarding accomplished teachers have largely failed. The main reason is that such schemes have never entered the mainstream to form an effective, coherent salary and career structure. Seemingly simplistic measures such as paying teachers on ''merit'' or by ''results'' are also doomed to fail. One-off bonuses don't work.
Salary scales for teachers based on years of service are 19th-century industrial artefacts that peak too soon and too low.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/building-a-better-pay-ladder-20110828-1jgd7.html

Quote : More than 50 per cent of year 8 students in Korea, Taiwan and Singapore achieve high level benchmarks in maths in the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, compared with less than 25 per cent in Australia. Alarmingly, more than 40 per cent of those Asian students reached the advanced level, compared with five per cent of Australian students.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/poor-teachers-set-students-back-years-20110826-1jeh8.html

It is ludicrous, unjust and pathetic that underpaid good teachers have to dig into their own pockets to pay for stationery which should be supplied by parents. Alas, some parents don't even bother or care about their children's education. The school and Education office wants to push the responsibility away, do not want to know or have anything to do with it.

Quote :
NSW teachers say they are spending thousands of dollars a year to buy basic classroom items, filling the gap between the Education Department and some parents who fail to equip their children with a pen and an exercise book.

http://m.smh.com.au/nsw/teachers-spend-own-cash-on-classroom-supplies-20110828-1jgnb.html

Given the high cost of living in Australia, teachers are not adequately compensated for their hard work. Cross country comparison of teachers' pay. Australian teachers are poorly paid. No wonder many have quit or complain that the work is unfulfilling.

http://www.worldsalaries.org/teacher.shtml

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/teacher-pay-around-the-world/

http://www.payscale.com/research/SG/Job=Secondary_School_Teacher/Salary
http://www.teachenglishtaiwan.net/teaching-in-taiwan/teacher-pay/

http://www.therationalradical.com/documents/teacherssalaries.htm

Investing in the human resources in the future generation is our greatest asset. This calls for prompt action and not allowing further degeneration of a longstanding problem.