Chatswood Night Market, Chatswood

Have you ever been to Chatswood night market?
It is located at the main street of the shopping centres, open every Thursday and (sometimes) Friday.
When it comes to night market like this, you have to pick the best from the best, rather than wasting time going round and round.
First thing first, garlic prawn. If you see a red-yellow stall like this in the picture, queue there, it is the garlic prawn stall. It is Spanish, so it has churizzo as well. You can choose a range of menu from bread rolls to just garlic prawn, or combination roll with the churrizo. I think the sauce was really good. You can also get the additional dips that are available on the table. They are like pesto and Spanish BBQ sauce, so they are quite sour; but very refreshing.

Second one, Takoyaki. If you see the black stall with some Japanese inside, queue there. You can choose between octopus, prawn and crab. I think the octopus and prawn are the best. And they are very cheap too, only $1 each. You have to buy it in either small ($4 with 4 balls) or large ($8 with 8 balls). Very nice.

Third one, drink. That night I got the sugar cane drink. You can choose between original, lemon, ginger etc.

Overall, very nice experience! Just done come when it rains....

Yakiniku Kashiwa, Crows Nest

Yuke

 Japanese barbeque, what a classic! In Sydney, there are a lot of Japanese restaurants. However, when it comes to the quality of the meat, you can't fake it. So, here I was, in Yakiniku Kashiwa, Crows Nest for my friend's birthday dinner. The quality of the meat was very good. However, it depends on how you cook it though. If you don't cook it well, no matter how good the meat, won't taste good..

Anyway, we ordered ox tongue, wagyu beef skirt, pork tube (marinated pork intestine), chicken thigh fillet, chicken cartilage, special combination (liver, intestine and tripe). To be honest with you, I did not what we were ordering. If it was me, I would never, ever, ever order intestine. But I did not know, so I just ate it. Then, it turned out, they were all good *except the chicken cartilage (soft bone) I just could not eat bone (how can you eat bone???). Anyway, I just found out when I wrote this, because I googled the menu.. Oh my... I thought they (the intestines) were squid...........

However, it was very good, surprisingly. The marinate was beautiful. Especially the wagyu beef skirt. I think it was the highlight of the night!

Not forgetting the yuke! Yuke is a raw beef meet, with raw yolk, shallots and Japanese vinaigrette. For some, it is disgusting, for me, it is delicious! But do not order more than 2, it starts to get yuck. I think the yuke is very good. The beef is very tender. If you try yuke quite a lot of times, you would realise that sometimes the meat was not very good, tough. A very good yuke is when it is tender and not smelly.

The restaurant is quite small though. Not very good for a big group. And do not wear your best dress, it is full of smoke inside. But of course, beautiful-barbeque-smell smoke. The price? I have to agree that it is quite pricy. But will definitely come back!

Miss Chu, Sydney

 Vietnamese restaurant with different approach. Here in Miss Chu, the feeling of Vietnamese cafe has been brought to Sydney. From the simple-unique decoration to the authentic foods, all was just different. On that day, me and my friends went there. Because I am a pork lover, I ordered Hanoi Pork Belly with rice. My friends order chicken satay, lemongrass beef, salmon. For appetizer, we all ordered peking duck roll.
The foods came, I was salivating, seeing the pork belly. They look so fluffy and not that oily... And indeed, it tasted so. Then, with the brown rice and the quinoa, it was just perfect. The salmon was pretty good too. I thought the beef and the chicken satay were quite average. Don't forget the peking duck pancake. I think they are fantastic. Well, it was not complete at all without dessert!! I ordered the Mango and sticky rice. It was quite disappointing I have to admit. It looks like it was pre-packaged. Anyway, the other dessert, the lychee and cucumber crush, it was quite unique, and I think it is worthwhile to try.

The thing is, the sitting place is quite small, so this place is suitable for small group. Will be absolutely back for the pork belly..!!

Chinta Ria Mood for Love, Sydney

Squid

Chicken and Snow Peas

Hey Everyone!
I have posted Chinta Ria Mood for Love. Now I am gonna post for Chinta Ria Temple of Love. This restaurant is located at Sussex St Sydney. It is quite difficult to find (for me..) It took me around 45 minutes going round and round Darling Harbour to find this place.. Anyway, probably it is just me. However, when I got into the place, it is quite unique. It has a big Julaihood (one of the Buddhist God) statute at the front. At that night, we sat outside though.

Beef Rendang

Fish and Eggplant

Char Kiew Tiau

For you that don't know, Chinta Ria sells Malaysian-Indian-Chinese-fusion food which resembles the races in Malaysia. So the menus are dominated with spicy-curry foods. There are some menus that are quite popular, which are the squid, fish and beef rendang. That night, we ordered chicken, fish, squid, beef rendang and the char kiew tiau. I like the SQUID the most. I do not know what it is called (I was actually late so I did not see the menu orders, I tried to find it in their website but it does not seem to have squid... O.o).. Anyway, if you are desperate, just show them these pictures, hope it helps. The next special is the beef rendang. It was medium rare. This was actually the first time trying beef rendang in a medium style. Normaly it is stewed for long long time, hours. But this one is different and worth trying. Other foods are quite average, but quite pleasant to eat.

The service is good, and surprisingly, the price is cheaper than Chinta Ria Mood for Love. Worth trying!!

Laksa House, QVB, Sydney

Laksa House is located inside the QVB. It is at the lowest level of QVB, close to the extension to the train station. It is suitable (I think) for the big eaters because the portion is so big.

Laksa

Nasi Lemak

Anyway, of course because it is a LAKSA house, then I had to order laksa and my brother ordered nasi lemak. It was very quick for the dishes to come out. With the nasi lemak, you can choose what 'toppings' you want to put. Beef rendang, lamb curry and beans were chosen.

The laksa was pretty good.. It was very big though. I think the soup was nice, just right. At that time, I ordered combination laksa. It has seafood, beef, and chicken which I think pretty generous for the price. With the nasi lemak, it was quite average I should say. Beef rendang and the beans are OK, but I think the lamb curry was excellent. The nasi lemak itself is quite good. But I could not really taste the 'coconuty' taste in the rice. However overall it is quite worth it for the price.

Jonga Jip BBQ, Eastwood NSW

 LOOK AT ALL THE SIDE DISHES!
Jong Jip BBQ is a Korean BBQ restaurant located at Eastwood. There are 2 Jong Jip restaurants in Eastwood, I do not know what the difference is. But they are all good. But I went to the one next to Eastwood hotel and NOT the opposite the train station. It offers a long of ranges of BBQ from ox tongue, short ribs, brisket, etc. Anyway, I ordered short ribs that night. And see how many side dishes I got! I think the BBQ was good, but the sides dishes are better! I think they have the best side dishes ever. I got a lot and tasted good. The baby potatoes are the highlight! Also the spicy bean curd! Anyway, just try it yourself.
Also, with the BBQ menu, you have to order 2 minimum.

Sushi Bay, Carlingford, NSW

My life is back!!! After a week of dreadful exams... Finally.. I am able to write again!!!!

Soft shall crab sushi

Grilled prawn

So, during exam, I have managed to come to several restaurants, including Sushi Bay, in Carlingford. It says that it is actually Japanese sushi, however, it tastes and looks so Korean. Every sushi they offer, they have Korean sauce to go with it, it tasted sweet, like a teriyaki sauce. Fortunately, this restaurant has sushi train!!!! Sometimes I am so upset coming to sushi restaurants without sushi trains, or the sushi train is turned off.

Fried Unagi

Aburi Salmon

 Anyway, some interesting menus were there. So I tried the fried unagi. It was a bit different. I mean... fried unagi?? We normally have fried salmon skin, or unagi sushi.. But it tasted good.

Then, I tried the grilled prawn with sauce on top. I think that was the highlight of the night. It tasted just right. The prawn was not over or under cooked. The sauce also has a very nice flavour to complement the prawn.

Aburi Scallop

I also tried the aburi salmon and aburi scallop. DO ORDER ABURI SALMON AND SCALLOP AT SUSHI PLACE! Anyway, they are my favourites, I always order them as the benchmark of sushi restaurants. I found their aburi salmon and scallop are quite good, quite unique with some sort of sweet sauce at the top, tasted like teriyaki sauce.

Soft shell crab roll

Now, the exciting part, the soft and shell crab sushi. There are two types: the big one with only avocado, sauce, rice and salmon roe, and the other one was the roll, with rice, lettuce, mayonnaise sauce and everything else. I think the big one, looks good, but does not taste that good, the other one tasted better. I really like the mayonnaise sauce they have. Sometimes mayonnaise can be quite overwhelming but this one does not.

Overall, the service was quite well and the food was alright. I will go back next time. However, it is quite pricy.....

Ginger and Shallot, Eastwood

Shan don chicken

Rice porridge... What's so special about it?

Porridge

It is kind of when you are sick, and you want something warm, but then you are too lazy to make soup, then you make rice porridge..
Well, but for me, even I am not sick, I'm still happy eating porridge..
Ginger and Shallot is a Chinese restaurant in Eastwood (near the carpark), popular for porridge. They sell any kind of porridge, pork, beef, chicken, preserved egg, they have it all.

So, that night, we ordered pork and preserved egg porridge, cakwe (seriously, I do not really know the English for this, I googled it and it says Char Kuay, well...just point the picture in the menu), salt and pepper squid, and shan don chicken.

Cakwe

All I can say is all yummy! Eating it all together, plus the soy sauce dipping, it was just yum. The only negative was the salt and pepper squid was a bit smelly. But I think it did not really matter, it was still good. I think the best was the shan don chicken. The sauce of the chicken was really good. And different with any other restaurant, here you get a lot of sauce on the chicken.

The service was quick. It opened until night time too. Also, there is a discount set menu in the morning (before 11).

Max Brener, Westfield Building, Sydney

Pink Granita

Hey guys,

Italian Tiramisu

Max Brener has been so famous for the chocolate. Now, what about the other products? Last week, I went to this 'bald man' place. Me and my brother, I ordered Italian Tiramisu and he ordered Pink Granita. Pink Granita is basically a crush with strawberry and passionfruit. The Italian Tiramisu looks so good with the chocolate decoration on the plate. However, when I ate it, I was so upset. Tiramisu should have a cheesy-taste as its base as it should be cheese cream.. I could not taste any cheese. All I tasted was cream. So, do not order this!
The other one, the Pink Granita, on the other hand was very refreshing. So, it is very good on a very hot day. However, compared to other shops that sell crushes, it was a bit so-so.
Maybe, pancake is always the best choice eating in Max Brener.

Chinta Ria Mood For Love, Westfield Building, Sydney

Hey everyone! How's weekend?

Sassy Roll

Have you heard about Chinta Ria? In Sydney, there are two restaurants under Chinta Ria, the one is Chinta Ria Mood for Love (Westfield) and the other one is Chinta Ria Temple of Love (in Darling Harbour). I have not been to the one in Darling Harbour, hope it is as good as the one in Westfield.
So, I went to Chinta Ria Mood for Love (catchy name, isn't it?). When I went inside, the feeling was so cozy. It is not big, very nice when you go with a small group.
So, we ordered Sassy Roll as on-tray, Sambal Fish for main and Durian Pudding with Black Sesame for dessert.

Sambal Fish

First order came out, it was the Sassy Roll. So it is basically a minced chicken rolled with bean curd (there are some water chestnut inside as well) served with dipping sauce (chili basically). It was so delicious. I think the winner is the chili! Without the chili it would not taste that great.
Then, the sambal fish came out. Fish that you get depends on the fish of the day. It is fried and served with Malaysian sambal. The first time I tasted it, it was OK, just OK. But then after I dig more, yumm... The sambal kicked in. At the end we finished the fish and we were still eating the sambal.. That is how good it is.

Durian Pudding

Then, the dessert came out. Durian!!!! I love durian.... Durian is an exotic tropical fruit. For you that haven't seen or tasted it, go to Indonesia/Malaysia, durians are very good there. In Eat, Pray, Love, I still remember Javier Bardem said it smells like foot. Well..... You never know if you don't try. The Durian pudding I think is a bit sweet for me. However, the taste is beautiful. I think it is more like a custard instead of pudding.
And the winner is (*drum roll*), sassy roll!!! I ordered that twice that day! And asked for the dipping sauce twice as well.. The crunch of the water chestnut lifted it up as well.
So, I'll come back for the sassy roll of course.
Be cautious though, that it is a small restaurant, so if you want to come with a group more than 8 people, you had to go with a banquet menu which costs $55 pp, which I think is quite expensive. However, probably worth it because the foods are nice.
Looking forward to try the one in Darling Harbour, Chinta Ria Temple of Love...

Laduree Macaroons Sydney

 Honestly, I was not a big fan of Macaroons. I thought they were just sweet, nothing special. However, after trying a lot of macaroons, now I know why people like Macaroons. It it not only the sweetness, but the flavours and the textures that have to be right.
Laduree is the new macaroons place opens inside Sydney's Westfield. It has a like a very soft, pastel appearance. Actually, they do not have many flavours. I think it is only around 8-10 the most. I might be wrong. Anyway, I asked the person there, which flavours are the best. He answered chocolate and vanilla. Then, I bought chocolate (the chocolate one of course), the vanilla (the white one of course), the pistachio (green), Cherry Blossom (light pink), Raspberry (dark pink), and Violet (the violet one). I agree that the best flavour is the vanilla. It is very delicious. So, here is my rank:
1. Vanilla
2. Pistachio
3. Raspberry
4. Chocolate--> dark chocolate, not sweet
5. Cherry Blossoms --> This smells like perfume (I think it is made from rose water)
6. Violet
The price I think is normal for macaroons, but for a new place, it is quite expensive. Suggestions: do not buy the box, as it is extra charge, buy it only when you need it, for gift etc. Then, buy more of the vanilla!!! It is very delicious.

Hong Ha Vietnamese Bread, Mascott

 Hi everyone!
So, last Tuesday I went to Hong Ha Vietnamese Bread at Mascott. It is quite interesting because I never really had Vietnamese Bread before. There are ranges of menu that can be chosen from. The popular menus are pork roll and chicken roll. I went for pork. Basically it has carrot, pork, cucumber, coriander, shallots and onion (which I asked not to put in because it is smelly..) and the sauces which are some sort of custard and red sauce which I do not know what it is. They also ask you whether you want to put chili or not. For me, of course yes!

The first bite, I think the taste was a bit weird. However, eating it more and more, it tasted good! It was very refreshing with all the vegetables inside. The custard and the red sauce also give a very nice flavour to it. I honestly think that the pork was actually a bit smelly. However, for you the pork lovers, it does not really matter!!
Overall, it was very very good. I really want to come back to try the chicken roll!

Peking Duck, Eastwood

 Hi Everyone!!
Last Sunday I was at Peking Restaurant in Eastwood. Not hard to guess what they sell, the Peking duck. Peking duck is popular with its crispy duck skin and succulent duck meat. It is normally eaten with the rice pancake, shallot, cucumber and the hoisin sauce. So on that night, we ordered peking duck, shredded beef, fried fish with sweet corn soup, beancurd and peking chicken.

The duck was served in two ways. The first one is the duck with the rice pancake, the second one was we can chose from san choy bow or the duck noodle. We chose the duck noodle because the san choy bow will only serve for 4. Then, the duck was cut in front of us. The skin and the meat was taken for the pancake and the rest will be made for the noodle. Surprisingly, out of a big duck, not much that we can eat. We only got about 12 set of duck pancake and the noodles with not-so-much meat.... However, it tasted  really good. I think the skin should be crispier, but the taste was delicious.

The shredded beef was very crispy. The sauce and the carrots complement it very well. I think the beancurd was a bit average. The fried fish I think is a bit too salty that I could not really taste the sweetness of the soup. However, the Peking chicken was really good. The sauce suited the dish very well.

Overall, it was quite a good experience. However, I think the Peking Duck itself was too expensive ($43.6) for what we got. The other dishes were alright though. I will come back there for the shredded beef!

Search for the Perfect Meal

Beschico, Epping

Hi Everyone!

I just went to Beschico Restaurant at Epping. The speciality of this restaurant is CHICKEN, cooked in Korean style. When you got inside the restaurant, you would notice a big TV, showing Korean show. Like what I watched today was PSY concert in Korea.

Well, this restaurant was not so crowded, but that's what I like from this restaurant, you can feel the family feeling inside it. Then, we ordered crispy chicken with chili sauce, boneless deep fried chicken and the 'Topoki', the rice cake.

 The most popular chicken is the deep fried chicken with the chili sauce. Even though it says chili sauce, I can guarantee you that is not spicy at all. And also, it is still very crispy despite of the sauce. The sauce is quite thick and has like a sweet and sour taste to it. But anyway, it tastes really good.

The topoki is very good as well. It is very chewy and added with delicious sauce. However, the sauce is quite spicy. It has 2 options, whether using the chicken or the seafood. But I think seafood topoki is the best.

The next one is the boneless crispy chicken. It is basically a seasoned deep fried chicken. Even though it sounds so simple, but it is very crispy. Along with the sweet chili sauce and the lemon sauce served, I think it was pretty good.Still, I think the winner is the chicken with the chili sauce. If you go there, please do not miss this. It is also very close to the station.

William Blue Brasserie, North Sydney

 Hi Everyone!
So, yesterday I went to William Blue Brasserie at North Sydney. It is actually a restaurant made for the college, William Blue College. Their area of expertise is their hospitality, including cooking.  This restaurant is a fine dining restaurant, where the students cook so they can have like a training in a restaurant industry. Because it is the students who cook, the price of eating here is very cheap, I spent $28 for a fine dining experience, which is great.
 When we came, it was not actually a big restaurant, but you got a feeling of fine dining restaurant, the tables, candles, wine glasses and so on. You can also see the kitchen which was quite interesting. Then, there are some menus that we can choose from the 3 meals menu, on tray, main and dessert. So, I chose King salmon pastrami, celeriac, apple and crab remoulade as the on tray, Roast pork, colcannon croquette, apple sauce and crackling as main and Sauterness custard, bitter caramel, poached pear and honey Madeleine as desserts, and as the sides I ordered Rocket, cherry tomato, bocconcini and pesto salad.

After ordering, we were served with a piece of bread with butter which was quite good to fill the empty stomach. Then, the first dish came out, the on tray, salmon pastrami. I tried it and it was quite plain, then I drizzled the lemon around it, then it came out very good! So, don't ever forget the lemon! The texture of the celeriac, remoulade and the salmon itself mixed really well. I just can't get enough of it.
Then, the next dish, as main came out. I was so excited with the crackling because it looked so crispy and at the end, it does taste very good. When you cut it with the knife it just cracked (I so wanted to just eat it by hand, but well, fine dining you know..). The apple sauce was such a compliment to the dish with the sauce as well. The cabbage also went well with the overall dish. But, I think the croquette is too heavy, I don't know. Then, the rocket salad came out. I thought it was not very good. It was so blend, lacking some sort of vinegar or something. The bocconcini did not have a strong flavour too. So it was a bit blend. And interestingly, in the menu it says pesto, but I could not see or taste any pesto in it.

Then, the heavenly dessert came out. When it came to the table, I was so excited. I wanted to just tuck in. The poached pear is very good, cooked very well. But I think the star is the sauterness custard. Unlike any other custard that I have tried, this was not sweet, but quite bitter, maybe they put some liquor inside but it was so goooodddd... Especially when the all three elements are combined, it went very well. The texture of the custard is also very smooth. It was just heaven.
So, overall, it was not bad at all for $28! The menu is changing every semester so it will be exciting to have a second visit next time.
Also remember that booking is necessary. Booking can be done through their website William Blue Dining.