Menya Oiden, Sydney CBD

Did somebody just say "cheap, self-serve Japanese food"?? My hobo heart flutters in excitement as there is so much that I like it that sentence: cheap (all meals are under $10, unless you get a lot of extra sides and drinks), self-serve (this is half true, as you still need to order and pay from the staff, but at least you can self-serve the tempura and side dishes - less human interaction, yeahhh) and Japanese (one of my fave cuisines!).

Menya Oiden specialises in rice bowl dishes, and like Menya Mappen next door, you line up at the counter with your tray, order your bowl (rice for Oiden, noodles for Mappen) with toppings like chicken, tuna, beef or curry etc., then you can self-serve your own tempura from the hot food bar and side dishes from the fridge if you choose to.

(from left) Takoyaki, small rice bowl with ontama and potato salad (Total cost: under $10)

I'm the type of person who likes to eat a little bit of everything, instead of a big bowl of one thing, so getting a small bowl of rice with different toppings and side dishes (all for under $10) made me a happy girl :-) The rice served with the ontama (soft-boiled egg), flakes and spring onion tasted quite nice. I enjoyed the takoyaki (octopus balls) which had small, chewy, real pieces of octopus inside as well as the potato salad, which was soft and creamy, with small potato chunks mixed in with the mash.

Prawn salad and Japanese curry with rice (small)

Small rice bowl with tuna flakes and ontama egg

Calpico strawberry soda, takoyaki and small teriyaki chicken rice bowl

Overall it was a satisfying meal, and everyone was happy with the food and even happier with the value!

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Menya Oiden

537-551 George Street Sydney, NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9267 1368

Azuma Patisserie, Sydney CBD

Tucked inside the Regent Place arcade on George St, this little Japanese cafe offers a quiet and peaceful haven for one to sit back, enjoy a cup of coffee with a delicious assortment of cakes.

(Clockwise from left): Vienna coffee, strawberry layered cake,  green tea latte, froyo, chiffon cake.

My first Vienna coffee experience was in this very cafe, and I admit, I was initially drawn to this coffee because of the wonderful serving of whipped cream on top of the coffee (sadly not captured in this photo). The coffee itself was quite strong but the cream helped to offset the bitter coffee taste.

The chocolate chiffon cake was an absolute delight to consume. The cafe offers chiffon cakes in many flavours, including Earl Grey, Black Sesame etc. However, strangely enough I did not pick my cake based on flavour, but on which one was the tallest (because tallest = fluffiest in my book :P) and fluffy it was! I love the incredible softness and lightness of the cake, something which I know takes skill and experience to achieve (having attempted to make chiffon cakes myself). The outside crust was slightly dry but the inside was lightly moist and embedded with flavour - I could eat multiple slices if I had the money because it's so light that it doesn't feel like you're eating TOO much!

I can't comment much on the other items in the photo, except that they definitely looked good, and satisfied their respective consumer as well :-)

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Azuma Cafe & Patisserie 
Old location: Ground Floor Regent Place Shopping, 501 George St. Sydney 2000 NSW
New location: 580 George Street  Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 7701

The Little Snail, Pyrmont

Another birthday and yet another reason to eat somewhere fancy. This time its French cuisine at The Little Snail. The option we had for lunch is a set 3 course menu (entree, main and dessert) for $36 per person with a variety of seafood, vegetarian, red meats and many more to choose from. This was actually quite worth it considering a average price of mains on the A la carte menu was in the thirties.

Entrées

Paté Maison
Armagnac flavoured duck liver pate with marinated champignons, date chutney and port vinaigrette

The pate was served with both soft baguette slices and toasted garlic slices. The tangy vinaigrette and champignons complemented well with the pate and I personally like the toasted garlic baguettes more as the crunchyness of the toast was a perfect match for the soft pate. Also, the hint of garlic and butter provided more flavour as I found the pate slightly underseasoned and there wasn't enough sauce on the plate. Overall, this was an enjoyable entree.

King Prawns
Fried king prawns with lemon mayo, sweet chilli and petite mesclun

I didn't have this dish but judging by how it was devoured in a minute, it must have been an absolute delight :)

Vegetarian

Crepe filled with baby mushroom, leek, chives, and cauliflower puree served with Breton sauce
The smell of this crepe when placed before me was enough to make my mouth water. The soft, creamy fillings of the crepe complemented the sauce well. The cauliflower puree is an excellent and much healthier alternative to using cheese and is a must-try for all vegetarians or health freaks! However, I would personally prefer more mushroom in the filling rather than just leeks and chives. Overall, a great start to the meal!

Escargot de Bourgogne
Dozen snails marinated in herb-infused court-bouillon, oven baked in garlic butter

Time for the oh so famous snails~! Ok... where do I start.... it was out first time having snails and it was definitely an interesting and unique experience. The texture of it was soft and mushy and it had a "snail taste" (I'm not really how to describe it >.<) exotic? For those that are adventurest and looking for something new, this is the thing for you!

Mains

Seafood Plate
Of grilled salmon, garlic prawns, salt and pepper squid, chilli mussels, beer battered soft shell crab and mesclun salad

This wonderful plateful of seafood delights was definitely worth its value. The grilled salmons and prawns were cooked to absolute perfection. The salt and pepper squid and soft shell crab were lightly fried till golden and had a lovely crisp. Personally, the mussels weren’t a favourite of mine but that’s only because I have never been a fan of mussels - no matter how they’re served. Not only did the generous serve of mesclun salad create the perfect finishing touch to this platter, it was delicious as well, drizzled with a tasty dressing. Who said you couldn’t enjoy eating your veges? :P

Satang Thai Exclusive, Haymarket

Conveniently located across from Central Station, a 3 minute walk from UTS and ~10 minute walk for USYD, this little Thai restaurant is the perfect place for the hungry uni student on the go. Their menu consists of a range of authentic Thai cuisines with salads, stir-fry noodles and rice served with your choice of vegetables and tofu, chicken, beef or pork.
We, once again, had some difficulty in deciding what to get so we started off with a nice, refreshing drink.

Iced Red Tea with Lemon
Ice cold, sweet, refreshing with a hint of lemon - great for cooling off in the afternoon after a long, hard day of lectures and tutorials. :P

Vegetable and Tofu Pad See Ew
To be honest, this dish wasn’t as I expected. Ordering a vegetarian dish, I had expected to see a variety of colourful vegetables stir-fired with my noodles. Unfortunately, only the usual carrots, asian veges, one piece of broccoli(?!) was served. However, the hefty serving sizes made up for this! :)

Some pork dish…
Ok… I don’t really remember what this was called but apparently it had some really “kungfu-ish” name like pow pow pork or kapow pork? o.O Anyways, it was basically crispy pork belly (which was deep fried) stir fried with some green beans and onion with a chilli/garlic/sweet-ish sauce over a bed of steamed rice. It was a very appetizing dish and I loved the sauce mixed with the rice but the so called “crispy” pork belly was fried until it was hard and was a bit difficult to chew.

Chicken Drunken Noodles
Thick rice noodles stir-fried with bean sprouts, asian greens and basil. Once again, this dish was very appetizing and definitely very filling.
Overall, the prices were quite reasonable and the meals were satisfying enough. However, I think anyone who has tried the cheap and tasty Thai restaurants at Newtown…well, this doesn’t quite make the cut.
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Satang Thai Exclusive
203-204/107-121 Quay Street, Haymarket, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9212 5885

French Riviera, Darling Harbour

Originally opened in Double Bay, this amazing ice cream parlour has now spread across Sydney franchising a cute, little store on Liverpool Street near Darling Harbour. Their most famous order is the Gastronomic Surprise which comes in three different sizes. It’s basically ice cream served in a huge glassed toppled with…more ice cream! Perfect for a hot Summer’s day! Other specialties on their menu include crepes, pancakes, waffles and shakes.
We were lucky to be strolling past the parlour this sweltering hot afternoon. Though our bellies were already filled with rice and noodles from our delicious Thai lunch at Chat Thai (a review will follow!), there is always room for ice cream and dessert!
After spending a very long time examining the extensive menu, not knowing what to order, we decided to get the Peche Melba ($15), the Double Bay ($15), and the TimTam shake.
Peche Melba - peach syrup, vanilla, strawberry sauce, whipped cream and crunchy nuts.
The juicy peaches complemented well with the rich ice cream and whipped cream. The nuts added just a bit of crunchiness to the soft, creamy texture. Deliciouuus!

Double Bay - fresh pineapple, banana, sorbet, orange cognac and whipped cream
This bowl of delight is a must-try for all those sorbet lovers out there! The lemon sorbet was definitely a favourite, with a zesty tang, it will surely refresh and invigorate your tastebuds.

Tim Tam Shake
Words aren’t really necessary to describe how we felt about this drink. Just check out the smile on my face!
French Riviera - a must-try for all ice cream lovers, young or old!

Chefs Gallery, Sydney CBD

Hi everyone!

One more week until Christmas ~ who's excited? :D

Anyway, this week's post will be about our dining experience at Chefs Gallery, a Chinese restaurant located along Bathurst Street, Sydney.

Buzzing with office workers and furnished with wooden tables and chairs, ample natural light comes in through the glass wall facing the street. A large open kitchen encourages diners to view the chefs hard at work making noodles, dumplings and whatnot. Perhaps this is where the name Chefs Gallery comes from—the chefs themselves being on display J

An interesting thing about Chefs Gallery is the concept of Day Yum Cha and Night Yum Cha (because yum cha is normally reserved for breakfast and lunch only). However, this meant that only the first half of the menu was available when we went there for lunch, and we were unable to try dishes in the latter half of the menu—no matter how tempting they looked L.

Oh well, now onto the food! :D

The first dish to arrive was the spinach noodles wok fried with seafood. A vivid green colour (hopefully with natural food colouring), the silky handmade noodles was served with a generous amount of squid, prawn, mushroom etc. Although I couldn’t really sense the “spinach-ness” in the noodles, it still tasted quite distinct from ordinary egg noodles, but its exact flavour is hard to describe in words.
Oops! we started digging in as soon as the food arrived – photos later, hunger comes first!!! :X

Next were the calamari wontons with seaweed, served with spicy dressing. The deep fried pastry was hot and crispy, while the dried seaweed strips complemented well with the calamari filling and sauce. 

Ahhh, what is yum cha without prawn dumplings? We ordered two baskets of this classic dim sum, with the succulent prawns tentatively wrapped in the soft pastry. 

As har gow and shiu mai form an inseparable pair, we chose the chicken and mushroom shiu mai which was bursting with juicy meat flavour upon each mouthful. (Again, we were too busy eating and forgot to grab our cameras, so you just gotta imagine what it looked like! Teehee ^^”)

A batch of vegetable dumplings was also ordered (to satisfy our future nutritionist, Miss Eat-Your-Vegies!). This was a colourful array of spinach, carrot, corn and mushrooms encased in clear pastry and steamed to healthy goodness. 

Aside from traditional Chinese cuisine, Chefs Gallery also develop their own dishes which provide a modern twist to common ingredients. An example is the mixed seafood and Tako fritters served with creamy wasabi sauce. The chefs take you tiao (deep fried bread sticks), put in seafood and octopus filling, and top it off with a tangy wasabi dressing.

And now, the most memorable dish (to me, anyway :P)! These super cute “piggy faced” buns came in pairs—a boy and a girl. I was so hesitant to eat them and when I finally did, I ate their butts first in order to preserve their adorable faces for as long as possible (gee, I’m such a sucker for cute things :3). Taste-wise, these soft and cushiony steamed buns with sesame paste filling were sweet and satisfying despite tasting a bit ordinary. 

In summary, I would say that Chefs Gallery was a delightful restaurant, with a comprehensive offering of traditional Chinese and fusion dishes. We had a yumcha newbie lunching with us, and although there was no trolley lady and the place had a distinct modern feel, I believe it was still a good introduction to the yumcha dining experience.

Chefs Gallery offer quite a few interesting dishes, and if I’m ever in the city at night and craving dim sum, I’d probably pop by this place again to try out their Night Yum Cha menu. 

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Chefs Gallery
Shop 12 (facing Bathurst Street), Ground Level Regent Place Shopping Centre
501 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 8877
Website: http://www.chefsgallery.com.au/

The Victoria Room Tea Salon, Westfield Sydney

The Victoria Room Tea Salon is located on Level 4 of Westfield Sydney. With a cute picket fence enclosing the dining area, this tea salon offers a haven for one to enjoy a fine lunch in the middle of a busy shopping centre.

As the name implies, the tea salon offered a range of teas, which we were more than happy to try out. From Queen Mary to Turkish Apple to Chinese Sencha, we each ordered a different tea which were all served in elegant, floral tea pots.

Tea time, mademoiselle! :-)

An assortment of ribbon sandwiches were ordered, which included chicken, smoked salmon and roast beef combined with herbs like dill and horseradish. Vegetarian options include curried egg and cucumber served with a generous amount of crème fraiche, rich and smooth in texture. 

The tea salon offered an impressive range of scones, and we tried their Rose, White Chocolate & Cranberry and their interesting Lavender scone. All scones were served with jam and butter.

Now, this slice of cheesecake is larger than it appears in the photo.Much, much larger. I only had two pieces of sandwich and some tea, and I was struggling to finish this cake. Not because it wasn't tasty--this raspberry cheesecake with exquisite white chocolate and pistachios decking out the top was damn good! But much too rich and dense for my stomach to accommodate it all. And that random dollop of cream! Ohhh, I had such an awkward time trying to eat the cake and the cream together ..... the cake was already creamy enough, so it was kind of unnecessary.

And the price tag! Although the cake was nice, it was definitely not worth $11/ per slice!! (and since I didn't even finish it, it means I didn't eat all my money's worth, boo-hoo ;__; )

Overall, the Tea Salon was a pleasurable dining experience, with a casual yet refined atmosphere.

The food was not mind-blowingly delicious, but still quite decent. Perhaps next time I'll come back to try their High Tea (from $39) or an actual main meal, though I'd probably steer clear of the cakes this time ;)


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The Victoria Room Tea Salon
Address: Level 4, Westfield Sydney
Cnr Pitt Street Mall and Market Street, Sydney CBD, NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9357 4488
Website: www.theteasalon.com.au 

Mizuya, Sydney CBD (for dessert)

Green tea soft serve available at Mizuya for only $1! ($2 after 5.30pm)
This definitely is a yummy and affordable treat after a meal.
(especially after the fire chilli chicken :P)

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Mizuya Japanese Restaurant & Karaoke

614 George Street  Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9266 0866
Website: www.mizuya.com.au  

Zozo Korean Restaurant, Sydney CBD

Next stop, Zozo korean restaurant! :)
After going through the menu again and again (since we are so indecisive) we decided on a $45 set lunch consisting of fire chilli chicken, seafood pancake and rice soup. And like all korean restaurants our meal came with small plates of kimchi and other side dishes.

Banchan (Kimchi, bean sprout and salad)

The main dish of our meal was of course the big plate of fire chilli chicken which came out sizzling and smelling delicious. If you like spicy food then this is the dish for you because it is HOT! After only a few bites my eyes were already watery. Along with large pieces of yummy chicken there were also the chewy rice cakes and crunchy peanuts which was also delicious covered in the hot red chilli sauce. But the down side of it was while eating we found a small piece of a dish scourer/mesh/scrub with silver aluminium twirly bits amongst the chicken! which is very unacceptable >:( With our chicken we had the pancake which was tasty (even though there wasn't much seafood... I only remember squid/calamari) and gave us a break from the chilli-ness.

Fire chilli chicken

Seafood pancake

The last dish we decided to try was the rice soup (which was not exactly what we were expecting). This "rice soup" is called nurunji/nooroongji/누룽지 in Korean and is made from the crispy layer of rice formed at the bottom of the pan, which is then boiled in water. I heard that it is a very yummy dish but this one just tasted like burnt rice water so we didn't really end up eating it much...

Rice soup

Overall the meal was average and customer service wasn't great, we ordered tea but it never came! (they didn't charge us for it so I don't think they even remember us ordering tea) Also the prices were a bit expensive for such standard food.

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Zozo Korean Restaurant
91-95 Liverpool Street  Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02) 9267 8040

Shinara Grill and Lounge, Sydney CBD

LONG TIME NO BLOG!

Shinara Grill and lounge located on Pitt Street, City.
Our recent korean buffet~
There wasn't as much variety (and not much meat dishes) as other buffets but it was quite nice and was definitely worth it for only $10 (lunch special). Standard korean food were served such as japchae noodles, korean pancakes, kimbap and lots and lots of kimchi!
But the awesome thing is we get to make our own bibimbap! Just get rice and top it up with all the bibimbap toppings and sauce available :)



The only downside is that we only get 1.5 hours to eat and we have to pay another $15 if there is any leftovers on your plate. Of course most of us managed to finish what was on our plate (then we had to watch Elle suffer trying to finish hers :P but she did it! :D).

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Shinara Grill & Lounge
1/338-344 Pitt Street  Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9262 9218