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

Capital Grill, Circular Quay

And so another birthday arrives...

and with it an excuse to eat out also arrives!

So that is what brought us to Capital Grill, a very chic and relatively new dining establishment in Circular Quay.
As soon as we arrive we were dazzled by the intimate but classy setting and fantastic service...

BUT it was of course, the food (albeit slight overpriced and a little slow to come out) that impressed us the most. Capital Grill put the best of Modern Australian cuisine on show for us. It invigorated our taste buds and proved to be a wonderful birthday treat.

The linguini marinara ($19). Where do I start....
Well, the seafood was unbelievably fresh. And each component of the dish was cooked to perfection. A hint of garlic lingered delicately around each strand of pasta, effectively tying this dish together without being overpowering or distracting from the flavour of the seafood.
However there was a down side... two mussels, one scallop, one prawn and a couple of pieces of salmon was simply not enough seafood for the price of this dish.

Salmon Burger with caper aioli ($23).

Risotto, mushroom medley and truffle oil ($18)

Teriyaki grilled salmon with dashi broth and asparagus ($28)

Wagyu Beef Burger ($23)


Grilled snapper with roasted cherry tomato and tomato goner broth ($30)


Wagyu sirloin steak (marble score 5+) with potato mash, port jus and mushroom ragout ($25)
What can I say... it was yummy ^_^
I rarely order steak dishes when I go to restaurants and this is one of the few that I enjoyed.
This piece of steak was served on a large serving of soft creamy potato mash that was most certainly filling. The only thing I was disappointed with was that I asked for the meat to be cooked medium but it came out welldone. Despite it being cooked longer than I wanted the steak was still tender and delicious :) and it worked well with the mushrooms and sweet port jus.


Clearly the above wasn't enough.... so we proceeded to order everything on the dessert menu.

Peanut butter ice cream with butterscotch sauce and burnt butter toast ($14)

Lime Cheese Cake with mixed berry compote and ginger toasted walnuts ($14)

Flourless Chocolate Fondant with summer berry reisling and sweet marscapone ($14)

MANGO MARTINI fresh mango and grapefruit, pomegranate frozen vodka liqueur ($17)


CREME BRULEE with valencia orange lime granita ($14)

The desserts were divine, to die for, sinful, refreshing.... we could just go on and on. The waiters brought out all the deserts at once and spread them across the table, placing the chocolate fondant with a candle in front of the birthday girl. We sang happy birthday as our mouths watered and then followed it by constantly shuffling around each desert so that everyone could dig in deep and retrieve a big spoonful of deliciousness. The peanut butter ice cream was well balanced as it's salty nuttiness complemented the sweet butterscotch. The creamy richness and of the the lime cheesecake and the tartness of the compote left us wanting more. The chocolate fondant had the most gooey and dense chocolaty centre. The mango martini offered a refreshing change from the richer, more decadent desserts. It brought a refreshing burst of flavour to our palettes. And the creme brulee... well, when it cracked through the top, we were greeted with the most creamy and strongly vanilla flavoured custard.

Well this dining experience eventually came to an end and we were glad to see that Capital Grill left our birthday girl very satisfied.

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Capital Grill and Bar
Shop 600, 1 Macquarie Place, Circular Quay NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9247 4445
Website: http://www.capitalgrill.com.au/



[THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED]

Mamak, Haymarket

After walking away many times because we could not be bothered or was too hungry to wait in the massive line we finally decided its time we try (lucky the line wasn't that long and we had our easyway keeping us happy).

Because it was busy the service was a bit slow (the waiters are not going to ask you if you're ready to order unless you put your hand up or get their attention somehow) but we finally got our orders going.

Roti Canai $5 Original roti served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce.

We started off with freshly made roti! Soft and thin, it was perfect with the dipping sauces and a must have at Mamaks.

Nasi Lemak $7.50 Fragrant coconut rice accompanied by an ensemble of sambal, peanuts, crispy anchovies, cucumber and hard-boiled egg.

Then we moved on to coconut rice, one of my favourite :)
It seems like a simple dish yet it is so yummy! The crunchy anchovies and peanuts gaves it texture and the cucumbers were a refreshing accompaniment.
Along with our rice we had lamb curry. Lamb was cooked until tender and the sauce was rich in flavour. Definitely a delicious dish worth trying.

Kari Kambing $15 Spicy lamb curry slow-cooked until tender.

Despite the long line, the delicious food was definitely worth the wait. :)


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Mamak Haymarket
15 Goulburn Street Haymarket NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9211 1668
Website: www.mamak.com.au

Taste of Shanghai, World Square

Hi folks! Welcome to our blog's first official post! :D
Here's a recount of our lunch at "Taste of Shanghai" in World Square :)

The restaurant offered a large range of Chinese dishes, from dumplings & pork buns to soup noodles, stir-fry dishes, hotpot and live mud crab! :)
There were also Daily Lunch Specials (one for each day of the week) that were all under $10, but none of us felt like eating Tuesday's particular dish, so we all ended up choosing something from the big, brochure-like menu.

Now, finally, THE FOOD! :D :D

The first dish to arrive was the Drunken chicken. It was a cold dish, served as an appetizer, with a very light taste of alcohol embedded throughout the chicken (hence the name :D).   

*NOTE: This is NOT what the ORIGINAL dish looked like! Haha we totally forgot
about taking pictures & started eating it right away .... oops! XD

Shanghai steamed pork buns: the bun's inside "soup" wasn't as hot as Coralie would have liked, but overall, the bun's soft, stretchy outer skin & the pork filling inside tasted delish! :D I might try the pan-fried variety next time though, just to compare! hehe

Shanghai steamed pork buns (8 pieces, $8.80)

Next was the rice cake, which was served with pieces of shredded pork and stir-fried with shallots & preserved vegetables. The pieces were nice & firm and could get very, very chewy (which could be a good or bad thing, depending on your tastes).   

Rice cake with pork & vegies ($9.80)

Noodles & Noodles! :)

Stir-fried noodles with prawns and shallots





Combination stir-fried noodles

Both of the stir-fried noodles were very similar, with the same type of noodle, same sauce and the same size serving. Probably the only difference is in the COLOUR, caused by the different vegetables. The Combination noodles had bok choy, random carrot pieces, mushroom combined with the pork, while the stir-fried noodles with prawns + shallots had (surprise surprise!) generous servings of prawn and shallots, and huge amounts of chilli sauce which Shefa added it.

Both noodle serving sizes were prettttttty large - definitely very filling! I gave up eating my noodles a couple of times throughout the meal (but somehow managed to finish it all in the end, and with room for dessert! haha)

... oh, and more NOODLES!

Hmmm, not sure what this soup noodle was called ... but it supposedly had A LOT of noodles! (as compared to other restaurants with heaps of soup and less noodles). The soup was also super duper boiling hot - see the bubbles? Mmmmmmm, we all love fresh food that's straight off the stove!!

Hope you all enjoyed our first post!
Look forward to more food adventures to come! :)


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Taste of Shanghai
644 George St Shop 907 World Square Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9261 8832

Website: www.tasteofshanghai.com.au/