Seafood Bonanza

We had so much seafood in a day last weekend that I am convinced it's not a good idea to let B go shopping alone at the Sydney Fish Market. I was only thinking of cooking seafood soup with rice last Sunday, but B came back from the Fish Market with a kilogram of seafood marinara, a pack of vongole, 1 rainbow trout, a dozen fresh oysters, a pack of sliced salmon sashimi and a box of seaweed salad.

I cooked the rice and seafood soup as main for lunch (check out the recipe), and served the oysters, seaweed and sashimi as appetisers.

My salmon sashimi roses. I love sashimi but was refrained from eating during my pregnancy. I'm so glad I can eat all I want now! Wahahaa.... You can find my salmon sashimi don recipe here.

A dozen of fresh oysters for $10. My plate can only fit 10 oysters so there is no reason why I couldn't slurp a couple before serving. Ha...


Marinated thready seaweed salad with toasted sesame seeds and red pepper flakes for $3. I always enjoy a side dish of wakame, love its toothsome chewy texture and refreshing taste.

Sunflower Café Again..

Hello folks, I have not gone into labour yet. Very soon though... just a few more weeks to go. Mum is coming over this weekend and I'm looking forward to her visit and spending time with her before bub arrives.

Another post on Sunflower café! It is officially my favourite dinner spot now, it's very close to where we live (just downstairs) and we love their pearl milk tea and food. We go there about three times a week and I just found out that my OB (originally from Taiwan) is their regular customer as well.

Here are more photos of their yummy home-style dishes:-


My current favourite - Gigantic serving of Crispy chicken fillet with noodle 香酥雞排麵 $9.20


The crispy chicken that is served separately.


B's regular order - Taiwanese style pork mince with rice 台式肉燥飯 $6.30.


This is one of their popular dishes - Taiwanese style beef noodle soup 台灣牛肉麵 $9.20. You can choose to have their Special beef noodle soup (comes with beef slices instead) for $9.90.


Taiwanese sausage with rice 香腸飯 $8.50

Sunflower Café
147 Broadway
Ultimo NSW 2007
Phone: (02) 9211 5298

Open 7 days

Sunflower Café - Update

Last Friday I went to Sunflower Café again! Ordered chocolate milk shake and crispy chicken fillet with rice. The milk shake is nothing special but the crispy chicken fillet is yummy! Oh I had the beef brisket with rice the other day (no picture though) and it was good as well. I will only order beef dishes when B is not around because he doesn't eat beef.

Chocolate milk shake 巧克力奶昔 $3.50

Crispy chicken fillet with rice 香酥雞排飯 $8.50

Takeru 虎瑠

Had lunch with Christine two weeks ago at Takeru and she recommended chicken namban, which I ordered and has since became my favourite.

B and I went there for dinner last Friday after work and a queue was already forming at the entrance. Luckily I have made reservation and we were ushered to our table right away.

Takeru has new menu! They now serve half-sized mains (at lower prices), so that you could order several dishes at one go. Good for sharing and trying out new dishes.

This was my 6th visit to Takeru and their service and food have not failed me. We skipped our all-time favourite, omu-soba this time and sampled some other food.


B's favourite iced UCC coffee, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. $4.20. He ordered this almost every time we dined at Takeru. Though I should not be drinking caffeinated drinks now and I'm not a coffee drinker to say the least, I was begging to have a few sips and ended up drinking more than I should. The coffee itself is not sweet and the ice-cream serves as a perfect complement.


My current favourite - Chicken namban. Succulent deep-fried battered chicken served with namban sauce (sweet and sour vinegary sauce) and tartar sauce. This dish originates from Miyazaki in Kyushu in the 1960s. I ordered a set meal for $12.90, which comes with a separate bowl of rice, miso soup and picked vegetable. You can choose to have just the chicken and salad for $9.90.


Mentai spaghetti (half-sized) $6.30. You can order a full sized dish for about $11.50.


Hotate ebi garlic cha-han. I like this garlic fried rice with scallops and gigantic prawns. The rice is a bit soggy though, but still a wonderful creation. $11.50

Takeru Japanese Casual Dining

10/11 330 Sussex Street
Sydney 2000
Tel: +61 (2) 9283-3522

Open 7 days

Sunflower Café

B and I always scout around small eateries for food rather than going for big restaurants with classy settings. Not that we don't appreciate fine dining, but nothing beats a casual and cosy atmosphere where you could devour the feeling of home.

We have been to Sunflower Café a few times but I have always forgotten to bring along a camera. Hence, a delay in this posting. This small eatery located just in front my apartment serves simple home-style Taiwanese food and is popular among Asian students. They have a good mix of food, drinks and savoury, along with fast service and friendly staff.

Some food pics of what we had yesterday:-


Pearl milk tea 珍珠奶茶 - $2.00 if you also order a meal. Sunflower specialty iced milk tea with chewy gelatinous tapioca pearls.


Taiwanese style meat sauce noodles 炸酱乾麵 - $7.90. Big serving of noodles with minced pork, shredded cucumber and my favourite stewed egg.


Peach tea 蜜桃紅茶 - $1.50 if you also order a meal. I love this refreshing black tea that is not too sweet.


Pork schnitzel with rice 香酥豬排飯 - $8.50. The crispy pork slices marinated with five spiced powder and deep fried to perfection. The dish also came with some steamed choy sum, shredded cabbage, stewed carrots and radish.

I have set my eyes on the chocolate milk shake and crispy chicken fillet with rice, which will be my order next time.

Sunflower Café
147 Broadway
Ultimo NSW 2007
Phone: (02) 9211 5298

Open 7 days

Birthday Dinner @ Takeru 虎瑠

Located on the edge of Chinatown, Takeru is a modern-age Japanese restaurant that serves a unique blend of Japanese-Western fusion cuisine, and has a perfect setting for a casual, relaxed yet affordable dining experience.

We have been to Takeru a few times and I heart their omu soba, along with other good dishes. It's been a while since we last had the fried noodles and when B asked if I want to go Takeru for my birthday dinner, I was ecstatic and was counting down to my big day (though I was not entirely looking forward to the big three-o).

It was a quiet dinner with B and our little-B. No fancy presents, flowers, cakes and such. Just good food and great company, that's all I need.

 

First came the crispy tasty treat - Renkon Chips. Thin slices of deep-fried lotus roots sprinkled with chili powder. Yum!

 

The highly recommended Omu Soba (omurestsu=omelette, soba=buckwheat noodles). Stir-fried yakisoba with chicken pieces and mushrooms wrapped in a thin omelette, served with mayonnaise and Tonkatsu sauce.

 

Tonkotsu Ramen. Generous bowl of noodles in a rich Tonkotsu (pork stock) broth with cha siu slices, egg, seaweed and such.


To round off the meal, we had a very interesting and delightful combination of black sesame and vanilla ice-cream. The black sesame ice-cream is divine, a little nutty and not too sweet! The perfect finish.

 

The bill came up to less than $35. We left with full bellies and happy hearts. :) Takeru, we will be back soon!

Takeru Japanese Casual Dining

10/11 330 Sussex Street
Sydney 2000
Tel: +61 (2) 9283-3522

Open 7 days

Kris Kringle and Xmas Food Feast

Christmas is less than a week away, and the party season was already upon us as we celebrated the much look-forwarded-to end of year event. Kris Kringle, or the Secret Santa has been the office Christmas tradition and this year, to spice things up a little (amidst the financial turmoil and gloomy outlook), we decided to have an international food feast (potluck buffet)!


Can you guess what gift I have received this year? It's nicely packaged in a green wrapper (though I like red better), spot it!


Lotsa glorious food. They were all good but my stomach was so stuffed and I had to skip dinner on Friday night, even though I am eating for two now.


The food were as good as they looked. As you can see, there are plenty of good cooks (and some lucky ones who marry the good cooks) in the office.


Here are some of the yummy dishes we had:-

Chicken Briyani rice, baked cheesy potato, fried rice, honey marinated chicken, lamb curry, South African sausages, bread rolls, chicken pasta, Russian potato salad, rocket salad, coleslaw, grilled chicken, Shepherd's pie, chicken curry with roti and green bean omelette (made by yours truly).


Some desserts and savouries - Mango icebox cake, Sri Lankan curry puffs, chocolate puffs, almond pudding with longan, brownies, banana and coconut cake.

My favourite food of all is the chicken briyani rice and I had many servings of it, even after the lunch party was over. I guess I'll continue to have cravings for Indian food in the next few months. :)

Nazimi, Sydney なじみ

Konbanwa こんばんわ。

We have stopped attending Japanese language course at Uni of Sydney but remained in contact with the classmates who are continuing the classes. Two weekends ago, we arranged to meet over lunch for a quick catch-up.

Jen-san has asked me to decide on the restaurant and I suggested Sakura or Nazimi, depending on how many people turned up that day. I would prefer Sakura if we have a smaller group but it is too small to accommodate the 10 of us. Well, it can definitely fit more than 10 but the small eatery would probably not welcome a group that hogs the tables for more than an hour.

It's been a while since we last dined at Nazimi and I am pleased that they have kept up with the standard of their food. Here are some pictures of the yummy food we ordered.

John-san's order - Chicken Katsu Curry Rice. It looks so yummy-licious with the colorful presentation and all. I am going to try this the next time I go to Nazimi.

I was craving for some greasy deep-fried food and ordered tori karaage bento box that came with sushi, deep fried dumpling and some tempura-like vegetables. The crispy yet succulent chicken pieces tasted jolly good and curbed my cravings for the day.

Sushi and Sashimi bento box has been the hot favourite, I reckon we ordered 3 to 4 of this bento set.

B ordered Unatama Don (unagi + tamago) - grilled marinated eel omelette served over rice. Interesting combination.

Salad bowl that came with the Unatama Don. B must be happy to see the avocado slices! He buys avocados almost every week for more than a year now, and he can just eat them with bread for breakfast.

Nazimi Japanese Restaurant
Opposite QVB
Lower Ground, 141 York St
Sydney 2000

Phone (02) 9283 2990

Open Mon-Sat
Lunch 11:30am-3:00pm
Dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm

Indian Curries

Indian food has never been my favorite, but funny enough, I've much craving for Indian curries these days, especially lamb Rogan Josh. It's the most delicious curries ever. Yummmm...

I have Indian food about twice a week now. After our hair-cuts at the Korean salon yesterday, we decided to try the Indian curries at World Square. Ordered a super combo meal that costs $9.90 to share. You have a choice of three curries with rice and comes with a plain naan.

Needless to say, lamb Rogan Josh is my top pick, and the other two choices - mixed vegetables and mango chicken curries. Don't really fancy mango chicken curry though, it's a little too sweet for my liking. Nevertheless, I had a satisfying meal, and I know where to go for lunch next week. Can't believe I'm actually looking forward to go to work tomorrow!

Chat Thai

I have not ventured into my little kitchen for a few months now and we have been dining out or ordering take-aways. I'll start cooking again when my condition improves, but for now I am happy eating out.

Thai food is the heart of Asian cuisine in Sydney and the restaurant that we went to yesterday is an extremely popular outlet, permanently packed with diners during peak lunch and dinner times.

Located opposite Capitol Theatre in Haymarket, Chat Thai offers authentic Thai food with good service and value. An open display front kitchen showcases the fresh produce and assorted desserts, while the cooking and flaming wok actions take place in the enclosed kitchen behind.

We reached the restaurant before noon and were lucky to get a table without much waiting. I was amazed by the extensive menu and took a while to decide my order. The food is satisfyingly good, and we will definitely be back again to try the desserts though I don't really have a sweet tooth.

The 3 dishes we ordered came up to a total bill of $20.90. Awesome value!

Khao Mu Daeng ข้าวหมูแดง $8.90

An assortment of barbequed pork, crisp pork belly and Chinese sausage accompanied with sweet and savoury sauce of pickled plum, lemongrass and five spices on rice.

Suki (with or without consomm) สุกี้แห้งหรือน้ำ $9.00

Glass noodles in thick chicken consomm seasoned with fermented tofu with braised Chinese cabbage, Chinese celery and water spinach. Choice of chicken, beef, pork or tofu.

Mu Bhing หมูปิ้ง $1.50 per stick

Skewered and char grilled lean pork marinated in galangal, lemongrass and garlic. Accompanied with nam jim jeaw- a mildly spicy relish of ground rice, roasted chilies, palm sugar, tamarind essence and a hint of tomatoes.


CHAT THAI
20 Campbell Street
Haymarket
Sydney 2000
Tel: 9211 1808

Opening Hours:-
Lunch 11:00am - 05:00pm
Dinner 05:00pm till late midnight

Dralion - Cirque du Soleil

Finally, we watched Dralion yesterday! I received a call from Cirque du Soleil last week informing that the show I have booked in September has been canceled, so we took a day-off to catch the show yesterday and go pak-toh-ing (dating).

Dralion was an amazing show; it's a truly entertaining and unforgettable experience! The captivating two-hour show combined the traditional circus acts with oriental acrobatic stunts, opera singing, theater and beautiful choreography. The mystical characters, colorful and dazzling costumes, live music and special lighting effects swept the audiences into a magical journey of the senses. The acts aside, we love the comedic antics to bits. The "clowns" were funny and delightfully hilarious, and they even put a plant in the audience, part of the Cirque Formula.

Here's the opening of Dralion taken from You Tube, similar to what we have seen yesterday. You can imagine how spectacular it will be to watch it live.



After the show, we decided to head back to Chinatown. Originally we wanted to dine at the Entertainment Quarter (where Dralion is staged) but there were not a lot of Asian choices. We ended up at Emperor Garden BBQ & Noodles in Haymarket, which serves one of the best traditional Cantonese BBQ/roasted meats in Chinatown.

Roast Duck Rice - $14.00

Fried Hor Fun with pork slices - $13.00

Emperor Garden BBQ & Noodles 皇冠燒臘粥麵家

213-215 Thomas St
Haymarket NSW 2000

Tel: 02-9281 9899

Din Tai Fung @ World Square 『鼎泰豐雪梨分店 - 世界廣場購物中心』

Calling all dumpling aficionados in Sydney, rejoice, for Din Tai Fung is finally here! The world renowned award-winning dumpling house has spread its wing to Sydney, Australia. Treat your tastebuds to a delectable experience and into a paradise of delights.

We arrived at peak lunch hour on a Monday afternoon and the restaurant was house packed. Not a surprise, in fact I had kinda expected it. Since its opening in May, there's always a queue at about any hour of the day.

The interiors of Ding Tai Fung and catchy décor of bamboo steamers. The service was prompt and the waitresses were courteous even though it was busy.

Another décor - mounted soup spoons showcased with bright fluorescent lights.

Assorted buns ready to be steamed. Din Tai Fung serves a variety of buns, ranging from steamed vegetable and pork buns to savoury desserts like taro, black sesame and red bean buns.

Pork Dumpling - Xiao Long Bao (6 pcs) 小籠包 - $8.80

The house special. The world famous Ding Tai Fung xiao long bao has at least 18 exquisite pleats on each dumpling. The delicate bite-size dumplings have translucent silken skins and juicy pork filings. They were sensational, bursting in my mouth in a succulent explosion. I was in total bliss.

The pork dumplings were deliciously addictive. We ordered 2 baskets for sharing and they were gone in no time. Interestingly, Din Tai Fung even has a printed step-by step guide to eating the pork dumpling on each table. My way of enjoying xiao long bao - Dip the dumpling in ginger vinegar sauce and down it in one mouthful (that's to avoid squirting the juice all over your shirt, or worse, the person seated next to you).

Fried Rice with Fried Pork Chop 排骨蛋飯 - $12.80

This is another winner. The fluffy fried rice is so much better than the ones served in Ding Tai Fung Singapore. The pork chop is tender to bite and nicely fried, though I feel that they could have been more well marinated. Nevertheless, a delight to eat.

Steamed Beef Soup 元盅牛湯 - $8.80

Another well received dish. The soup has a subtle clean taste and and the beef is tender. Two thumbs up.

Cha Jiang Noodle with Pork Mince 炸醬麵 - $11.80

This is one of the chef's recommendations. I like the springy texture of the noodles, though a little disappointed with the sauce and the serving portion. It's good but not awesome, and I have tasted better noodles.

Wok Fried Water Spinach with Garlic 炒空心菜 - $10.80

The last dish served. I was wondering why the vegetable was late and upon checking, found that they have forgotten our order! The waitress, with her professional smile, gently apologised and asked if we still wanted the order. The simple stir-fried water spinach (or kangkung) topped with golden fried garlic has a pleasingly mild flavour. The leaves were tender and the hollow stems crisp to bite.

Total bill came up to $67.80, including a pot of tea ($2/pax). The 3 smiling ladies happily returned to work feeling all pleased and satiated.

Din Tai Fung 『鼎泰豐』
Shop 11.04, Level 1
World Square Shopping Centre
644 George St, Sydney 2000

Tel: +61 (02) 9264 6010

Open 7 days
11am-2.30pm, 5-10pm