When I used to live in Sydney (years and years ago...), my mother had told me about this place where it was supposedly THE BEST place to get Lap Cheong (Chinese dried pork sausages). She took me there one time, and then from that point on, she ask me to drop by and send her a batch once every now and then. To be honest, they are pretty damn good...
... even when we had moved out and away from Sydney, she would ask family friends that were living in Sydney to pick up some extra whenever they were going in to pick some up and to package and ship them over to the other side of the country for her! She would always freeze them, and the even bring them to us on the other side of the world to Europe whenever she came to visit!
She would always say that they weren't quite as good as the ones that you could get in Hong Kong but they were a damn sight better than the ones that you could get easily in Europe. I would definitely agree with her there... after all, you get used to the ones that you have access to... and then when she brought over some of these ones, wow... you really could notice the difference!
Anyway, last week... I found myself working in Sydney, and I made sure to put aside some time to drop by the old place and pick up some sausages to take back to Canberra... and to also pick up a few extra for my brother and mother.
Now, whenever I dropped by... I just knew the place by the look and the location... I knew where to walk in Chinatown and that was it. I had no idea of what the name of the place was or any address or anything useful like that... so, this time around... I did the same thing as always. Found the landmark from where I could walk from and traced the same well trodden path to the store...
... except that was last done over 15 years ago. And as much as I would like to believe that nothing ever changes... well, change is the only thing that is constant! So, it was no surprise that the shop wasn't there... to my great dismay!
I called my mother, to see if she knew what happened to the shop... and she described the route that she knew... which was also unfortunately very out of date as well! So, she told me to just drop into one of the Chinese grocers or food shops along the street to ask where the shop was. After all, this place was pretty well known amongst the Chinese community! I actually thought that dropping into some random shop and asking about a dried sausage place that I had no idea the name of was going to just meet with failure...
... but I figured that I may as well try. Only my dignity and pride was holding me back! So, into a Chinese dried fish shop... and I asked if they knew of a Chinese sausage shop that used to be one of their neighbours (I chose the fish place, because I remember that that was there the last time I was around!). Honestly... it felt more stupid than it sounds...
Imagine my surprise when one of the old guys pipes up, and says... Yes, they are on the other side of this building! Odd, I must have gotten my bearings mixed up and turned down the wrong street!
... after thanking them, they said that the shop would be closed... but I ran around to see anyway. Yes, they were closing up... but the nice owners said that I could order something if it was fast.
I was chatting to them, and I asked if they had moved recently... the owner gave me a strange look, and said... well, not recently, but about 12 years ago they moved from their old place on the other street to this place! Well... that explains it, I had remembered correctly as to where the shop was supposed to be... but I was horrifically out of date, as the last time that I visited them was over 15 years ago!
So, it appears that many things have changed and places have moved since I've been away... there are many things that are still the same, but many things that are new, changed and confusing. I'm sure that this will not be the only time that this will happen to me in the coming year or so...
However, more to the point, Lap Cheong were successfully sourced, bought and will soon be delivered to my mother and brother... whilst keeping a few for myself and our family! Sadly, on the way back to the train station... I was going to treat myself to a nice meal at one of my favourite ramen places in Sydney.... unfortunately, it is now a nail salon. Poop...
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