http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF0OevAPRr8
ENJOY, lol
Thursday 30 May 2013
Thursday 9 May 2013
Campbell Restaurant - Chinatown
Hello everyone!
This will short blog post about one of my favourite Hong Kong style cafe restaurants called Campbell Restaurant (previously known as Cafe de Campbell) at China Town.
They cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer many great specials during different times of the day.
We went for a quick lunch not too long ago.
We started off with an Abalone Cream Soup, served with a bread and butter.
The cream soup was super creamy, tasted just like the ones in Hong Kong, and the abalone was the ones from a can, but mainly used to bring a hint of abalone flavour to the soup.
Our second entree was my all time favourite, baked mussels with cheese and creamy white sauce.
Lastly, we had a steak sandwich, served with salad and chips on the side.
My favourite part was the addition slice of grilled pineapple that really brought out its flavour. The steak was cooked medium well, which made it easy to bite through, even in sandwich form.
Overall, I always enjoyed dining here, they never fail to impress me with their food and average prices, and excellent trained waiters.
I would rate Campbell Restaurant 8.5 out of 10
Also, they have really nice coffee and drinks too.
If you drop by China Town, you can always give this place a try.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
This will short blog post about one of my favourite Hong Kong style cafe restaurants called Campbell Restaurant (previously known as Cafe de Campbell) at China Town.
They cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offer many great specials during different times of the day.
We went for a quick lunch not too long ago.
We started off with an Abalone Cream Soup, served with a bread and butter.
The cream soup was super creamy, tasted just like the ones in Hong Kong, and the abalone was the ones from a can, but mainly used to bring a hint of abalone flavour to the soup.
Our second entree was my all time favourite, baked mussels with cheese and creamy white sauce.
Lastly, we had a steak sandwich, served with salad and chips on the side.
My favourite part was the addition slice of grilled pineapple that really brought out its flavour. The steak was cooked medium well, which made it easy to bite through, even in sandwich form.
Overall, I always enjoyed dining here, they never fail to impress me with their food and average prices, and excellent trained waiters.
I would rate Campbell Restaurant 8.5 out of 10
Also, they have really nice coffee and drinks too.
If you drop by China Town, you can always give this place a try.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
Bondi Pizza - Parramatta
Today, I'll be reviewing a restaurant I went to not too long ago, Bondi Pizza. I went to their newly opened Parramatta store. The waiters / waitresses are very nice, we were quickly seated and given menu and even asked if we wanted table water. Hungry as we were, we quickly made our orders.
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Award winning lemon-lime bitters for drinks :)
Came with a slice of lemon as per most finer dining restaurants
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Salt & Pepper Calamari for entree'
Batter was nice thin and crispy with a light touch of pepper and salt.
Most of this dishes flavour came from the ranch sauce provided.
The ranch sauce gave the dish a really nice taste, but I feel it overcame the calamari a bit too much.
 |
| Meat lovers |
The sauce on the meat lovers was a bit too strong for my liking... felt just like an overload of bbq sauce. It was topped with spinach which weakened the taste of the sauce a bit but in my opinion still a little bit too strong.
Then the hawaiian pizza, alot of pineapple, alot of ham with a touch of roma tomatoes, flavour was really well balanced out for this dish and all in all, a very nice dish.
The crust was very thin and crunchy, very nice to eat.
Overall, my dining experience at Bondi Pizza wasn't all too bad. They had very nice pizzas, inspite of the sauce overload and therefore I would give it a rating of 7/10.
Tenkomori - City
Hello everyone!
Today I'll be doing a review about a Ramen house at Regents Place called Tenkomori.
Tenkomori is a canteen-style restaurant, you order your food at the counter, then you moveover to collect your food.
Here's what we tried so far at Tenkomori.
This is the Tenkomori Ramen with tonkotsu soup, topped with corn, egg, seaweed etc.
This is the pork katsu ramen.
Corn Butter Ramen.
You can also order ebi fry and takoyaki on a skewer.
Pan Fried Gyoza.
They also offer rice dishes, we ordered Curry Rice. Japanese curry is very different to the average Chinese and Indian curry, you must try it to see the difference.
I personally think Tenkomori offers one of the best Tonkotsu (Pork Broth) soup bases for ramen available in Sydney. With a bowl of ramen at $4 to $9, price wise this place is very unbeatable.
My Rating for the restaurant: 9/10
-Kumi
Today I'll be doing a review about a Ramen house at Regents Place called Tenkomori.
Tenkomori is a canteen-style restaurant, you order your food at the counter, then you moveover to collect your food.
Here's what we tried so far at Tenkomori.
This is the Tenkomori Ramen with tonkotsu soup, topped with corn, egg, seaweed etc.
This is the pork katsu ramen.
Corn Butter Ramen.
You can also order ebi fry and takoyaki on a skewer.
Pan Fried Gyoza.
They also offer rice dishes, we ordered Curry Rice. Japanese curry is very different to the average Chinese and Indian curry, you must try it to see the difference.
I personally think Tenkomori offers one of the best Tonkotsu (Pork Broth) soup bases for ramen available in Sydney. With a bowl of ramen at $4 to $9, price wise this place is very unbeatable.
My Rating for the restaurant: 9/10
-Kumi
Yummy Chinese Restaurant - Parramatta
Good evening everyone!
I would just like to finish the day with a short blog post on a local restaurant that I always go to, price to quality wise this place is almost unbeatable. You can expect five star quality food for less than $10 (meals are $7-$10). Only for a short, quick and fast lunch I mainly come here though but, they are also open for dinner.
We started with a very simple Sang Chow Bow, the SCB here is prepared with pork, anyways it was really good, lettuce was crunchy, the fried pork inside was really nice and topped with sesame seeds.
This was on special, every day they have two specials for $7.50 and a free can of soft drink. Sweet and sour Pork with rice with a lemonade. Sauce was basically perfect, not too sweet, not too sour, perfect thickness, texture and mixed/fried well into the pork. It also had very sweet pineapple I would like to note.
This is their Singapore fried noodle, needless to say, little oil, fried very well (dry), noodles were all seperated (very important in fried noodles), flavouring was very well balanced (not to hot, not to salty, just perfect) and it comes with alot of additional bonuses (shrimps, pork, capsicum).
If you've ever eaten at a top-level Chinese Restaurant, this is the food you should expect, or atleast similar to it. The colours and texture of each meal is well defined and balanced through the use of other vegetables or meat, more importantly the food here tastes really great and comes really fast!
The shop is pretty small and by no means an expensive restaurant, but the quality of food here is really top-notch.
I would just like to give this restaurant an overall rating of 9/10 for every time I come and dine here. (Service isn't the best as theres only two people working including the chef but the food itself gets 10 points)
-Samuel
I would just like to finish the day with a short blog post on a local restaurant that I always go to, price to quality wise this place is almost unbeatable. You can expect five star quality food for less than $10 (meals are $7-$10). Only for a short, quick and fast lunch I mainly come here though but, they are also open for dinner.
This was on special, every day they have two specials for $7.50 and a free can of soft drink. Sweet and sour Pork with rice with a lemonade. Sauce was basically perfect, not too sweet, not too sour, perfect thickness, texture and mixed/fried well into the pork. It also had very sweet pineapple I would like to note.
If you've ever eaten at a top-level Chinese Restaurant, this is the food you should expect, or atleast similar to it. The colours and texture of each meal is well defined and balanced through the use of other vegetables or meat, more importantly the food here tastes really great and comes really fast!
The shop is pretty small and by no means an expensive restaurant, but the quality of food here is really top-notch.
I would just like to give this restaurant an overall rating of 9/10 for every time I come and dine here. (Service isn't the best as theres only two people working including the chef but the food itself gets 10 points)
-Samuel
Kaizen BBQ - Maquarie
Hello everyone!
Today my review will be about my dining experience at Kaizen BBQ, located inside Macquarie Centre.
I decided to try Kaizen BBQ because I was craving for Korean BBQ that day after uni, and because I was at the point of starving, I decided eat there because it was the only BBQ available nearby.
I wasn't sure at first whether it was a Japanese or Korean restaurant, even though it was run by Korean people, the name of the restaurant was in Japanese, and the food they served was both Japanese and Korean cuisines.
When we went in, we were served by a man who I suspect was the owner of the restaurant. He was extremely attentive compared to the other people working at the restaurant, who seemed to work in a slow pace and hiding away from customers.
After we ordered our food, a waitress served us our complimentary side dishes.
seaweed, assorted kimchi, miso soup and the rice we ordered separately.
Then came our Gyoza. I wasn't sure if they were going to serve us traditional Japanese style gyoza, but I was really disappointed when our gyozas turned out like Chinese steamed dumplings. What's worse was that the skin was thick, and the fillings were tiny that you can only taste the skin. It wasn't gyoza at all because it wasn't pan fried, it was steamed. A big disappointment. :(
This was the Bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) we ordered.
The beef portions were disappointingly small.
This was our wagyu rib meat, again the portion was very small.
Here's how we cooked the bulgogi. I was disappointed that they provide a flat grill pan to cook the meat, a big disadvantage about it was that it would leak the beef juices on our table, as seen on the picture below. We had to inform the waiter and then they just gave us a small bowl to let the juice drip in.
Here's how the bulgogi looked like when cooked. The taste was like an other bulgogi, nothing special, the only minus point was the excess juice on the beef that made it a bit soggy.
Next we cooked our wagyu beef rib.
And here's how it looked medium rare. My partner said the quality of the wagyu was very good, which I don't doubt, but I could taste that the meat was not that fresh.
Overall I would give this place 4 out of 10.
It was a huge disappointment for me and my partner.
All the waiters and waitresses ignored us except for the owner who was trying his best to recommend dishes to us.
Also, you're meant to get free refills for the complimentary dishes, we asked the waitress to refill it but then she never came back.
The prices are expensive for the portions they serve.
And that's another Korean/Japanese restaurant in my uneatable list at Macquarie Centre.
I will not recommend this place for Korean BBQ, it's better to catch a bus down to Eastwood and eat at the quality Korean restaurants there.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading! :)
-Kumi.
Today my review will be about my dining experience at Kaizen BBQ, located inside Macquarie Centre.
I decided to try Kaizen BBQ because I was craving for Korean BBQ that day after uni, and because I was at the point of starving, I decided eat there because it was the only BBQ available nearby.
I wasn't sure at first whether it was a Japanese or Korean restaurant, even though it was run by Korean people, the name of the restaurant was in Japanese, and the food they served was both Japanese and Korean cuisines.
When we went in, we were served by a man who I suspect was the owner of the restaurant. He was extremely attentive compared to the other people working at the restaurant, who seemed to work in a slow pace and hiding away from customers.
After we ordered our food, a waitress served us our complimentary side dishes.
seaweed, assorted kimchi, miso soup and the rice we ordered separately.
Then came our Gyoza. I wasn't sure if they were going to serve us traditional Japanese style gyoza, but I was really disappointed when our gyozas turned out like Chinese steamed dumplings. What's worse was that the skin was thick, and the fillings were tiny that you can only taste the skin. It wasn't gyoza at all because it wasn't pan fried, it was steamed. A big disappointment. :(
This was the Bulgogi (Korean marinated beef) we ordered.
The beef portions were disappointingly small.
This was our wagyu rib meat, again the portion was very small.
Here's how we cooked the bulgogi. I was disappointed that they provide a flat grill pan to cook the meat, a big disadvantage about it was that it would leak the beef juices on our table, as seen on the picture below. We had to inform the waiter and then they just gave us a small bowl to let the juice drip in.
Here's how the bulgogi looked like when cooked. The taste was like an other bulgogi, nothing special, the only minus point was the excess juice on the beef that made it a bit soggy.
Next we cooked our wagyu beef rib.
And here's how it looked medium rare. My partner said the quality of the wagyu was very good, which I don't doubt, but I could taste that the meat was not that fresh.
Overall I would give this place 4 out of 10.
It was a huge disappointment for me and my partner.
All the waiters and waitresses ignored us except for the owner who was trying his best to recommend dishes to us.
Also, you're meant to get free refills for the complimentary dishes, we asked the waitress to refill it but then she never came back.
The prices are expensive for the portions they serve.
And that's another Korean/Japanese restaurant in my uneatable list at Macquarie Centre.
I will not recommend this place for Korean BBQ, it's better to catch a bus down to Eastwood and eat at the quality Korean restaurants there.
That's all for now.
Thanks for reading! :)
-Kumi.
Wednesday 8 May 2013
Jo Ja Ryong Korean BBQ - Strathfield
Last week we went for a dinner at a not so popular Korean BBQ Restaurant in Strathfield (only cause other Korean BBQs in the area seem to have alot more customers...), I am kind of a regular customer of theirs as I have been there a few times already previously (within a few months) due to their amazing customer service and quality of food. The restaurant, called Jo Ja Ryong is located in Strathfield Square where there is a huge concentration of Korean BBQ Restaurants and Frozen Yoghurt shops. All the waiters there are very friendly and superbly attentive and to top that off, they have The Best (I dare say, easily the best if price, service and quality is all involved) Korean BBQ Beef Sydney-wide.
By attentive, I mean literally, if your table is missing something, or you finished a dish off, they would bring it to you, no questions asked, you don't even have to tell them and they refill it for you.
For two people, I would recommend around three dishes
For three people, around four to five
For four people, maybe six to seven. Anyway on to the food...
As per most Korean BBQ Restaurants, upon ordering your food, they will flood your table with side dishes
The most outstanding of these must be the coleslaw they give, some sort of sweet soy, garlic, wasabi sauce. It is by-far the best salad sauce I have ever tasted. On average everytime we come, we would have it refilled three to four times per person (everyone gets a plate of their own).
Then there is the common must-have kim-chi.
Some seasoned and soaked Onion and cabbage.
A sweet sauce lettuce.
And the most important, the plate of additions for the beef (has cucumber, garlic, chilli, carrot and lettuce).
The sauce they provide is a sesame oil in salt?, a sweet soysauce with little touch of chilli and the common miso paste.
For those that don't know, traditional korean BBQ beef is supposed to be eaten by being wrapped inside lettuce with miso paste and you have the option of putting other adds (such as garlic, chilli, carrot, cucumber etc.) to put inside it. This is part where this restaurant excels in, the service on refill rate on the lettuce, miso paste, carrot cucumber etc.
Another thing I want to point out is, the Cos Lettuce they provide rather then the usual Iceberg lettuce. Price aside, their Cos Lettuce is of top-grade as there is no bitterness in them at all making your korean BBQ experience just exceptional.
We started with the beef tongue ($12 one serving), the juice in the beef tongue just pours out even when your grilling. The beef tongue here is yet also exceptional, juicy, easy to bite through just top-notch.
Following we have the marinated beef rib ($20 per serving). Marinated sauce really good, not to sweet, not to salty, just the best I've ever had and the beef is easy to bite, and more importantly Fresh!
And then I think this is their restaurants specialty, the cube roll ($24, most expensive on their price list). Top-notch scotch fillet? (I'm assuming, looks like Snow-flake Wagyu though... but price-wise I don't think they will be offering you that) that practically melts in your mouth. This piece of meat is unreal, it is the most amazing beef I have ever eaten in my life (I love beef! and I've eaten beef at ALOT of places) and yeah, let me just simplify this, it is THE BEST :)
And yeah, that concludes this short dinner at Jo Ja Ryong. I have been to many Korean BBQ places, maybe more than 30 around Sydney, and by no margin has any other restaurant come close to the service (did I ever mention they practically cook everything for you), the quality of food and attentiveness of the waiters here.
In conclusion I would like to give this restaurant a rating of 11/10.
-Samuel
-Samuel
Sicilian Modern Italian & Woodfire Pizzas - Parramatta
Hello everyone!
Today I'll be reviewing about my dining experience at Sicilian Modern Italian & Woodfire Pizzas.
Sicilian an Italian restaurant that specializes in woodfire pizzas and modern Italian cuisines, and is located in Parramatta.
What caught my attention to try them was the size of their restaurant, and the people that were sitting outside feasting on their woodfire pizzas.
When we went inside, the waiter seated us at a couples seat, with a candle on the table.
The restaurant was very dark, and I guess it does give a more romantic feel to it.
The first thing we ordered were 2 Lemon Lime Bitters $4.90
Then came our entree, half dozen of fresh oysters Kilpatrick, with diced bacon and Worcestershire sauce. $16.90. The oysters tasted really fresh, and I really enjoyed the texture of the raw oyster served with diced bacon and the sauce. Honestly, I do not enjoy eating oysters raw, or cooked, but this one managed to satisfy me, I really liked it.
We also ordered a Fettucini Geraldo $24.90, which was marinated prawns and chicken with garlic, tomato and shallots served in a creamy avocado and white wine sauce. We decided to order a pasta just in case we're not full enough, also the description of this pasta was very temping to try. The sauce was creamy, the avocado and the garlic prawns were surprisingly a good combination. Absolutely delicious!
And lastly, our woodfire pizza, which we ordered the Tropicale $19.90. Tropicale is actually the Hawaiian pizza, except the ones they make at Sicilian, are whole a new level. What I liked about the Tropicale was it's roma tomates and parsley on top that gave the whole pizza a taste of Italy. The ham was not diced but was in thin slices, the pineapple was super sweet too. The crust was cooked perfectly, not too thin but not too thick to the point where it was hard to chew.
I had a wonderful time dining at Sicilian. The dining atmosphere was very pleasant, with nice tentative waiters, delicious food, and average prices for good Italian dining.
Overall I would give them 8.5 out of 10.
They're one of my favourite Italian restaurants so far, and I also went there again for lunch.
They have a special lunch menu, their woodfire pizzas only cost $14.90 and comes with complimentary drink of your choice.
So if you ever drop by Parramatta, be sure to try Sicilian.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
Today I'll be reviewing about my dining experience at Sicilian Modern Italian & Woodfire Pizzas.
Sicilian an Italian restaurant that specializes in woodfire pizzas and modern Italian cuisines, and is located in Parramatta.
What caught my attention to try them was the size of their restaurant, and the people that were sitting outside feasting on their woodfire pizzas.
When we went inside, the waiter seated us at a couples seat, with a candle on the table.
The restaurant was very dark, and I guess it does give a more romantic feel to it.
The first thing we ordered were 2 Lemon Lime Bitters $4.90
Then came our entree, half dozen of fresh oysters Kilpatrick, with diced bacon and Worcestershire sauce. $16.90. The oysters tasted really fresh, and I really enjoyed the texture of the raw oyster served with diced bacon and the sauce. Honestly, I do not enjoy eating oysters raw, or cooked, but this one managed to satisfy me, I really liked it.
We also ordered a Fettucini Geraldo $24.90, which was marinated prawns and chicken with garlic, tomato and shallots served in a creamy avocado and white wine sauce. We decided to order a pasta just in case we're not full enough, also the description of this pasta was very temping to try. The sauce was creamy, the avocado and the garlic prawns were surprisingly a good combination. Absolutely delicious!
And lastly, our woodfire pizza, which we ordered the Tropicale $19.90. Tropicale is actually the Hawaiian pizza, except the ones they make at Sicilian, are whole a new level. What I liked about the Tropicale was it's roma tomates and parsley on top that gave the whole pizza a taste of Italy. The ham was not diced but was in thin slices, the pineapple was super sweet too. The crust was cooked perfectly, not too thin but not too thick to the point where it was hard to chew.
I had a wonderful time dining at Sicilian. The dining atmosphere was very pleasant, with nice tentative waiters, delicious food, and average prices for good Italian dining.
Overall I would give them 8.5 out of 10.
They're one of my favourite Italian restaurants so far, and I also went there again for lunch.
They have a special lunch menu, their woodfire pizzas only cost $14.90 and comes with complimentary drink of your choice.
So if you ever drop by Parramatta, be sure to try Sicilian.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
Tuesday 7 May 2013
Tingha Palace - Parramatta
Address: Parramatta Leagues Club / 13-15 O'Connell St Parramatta NSW 2150
Phone: (02) 9890 1688
So today for lunch, we decided to go to visit the Chinese Restaurant at Parramatta Leagues Club for some 'Yum Cha' direct translation 'drink tea' in Cantonese. The location is very nice, ambience all very well done as expected inside a Leagues Club and the whole design of the restaurant was very authentic 'Chinese'. Upon entrance, we were greeted and taken to our table. As per all Yum Cha places, they ask you what tea you want to drink. We chose Jasmine Tea.
I was very disappointed with the tea they gave us, it was the bottom of the packet all crushed up and loose. So whenever we poured tea or tried to drink tea, we'd be drinking the tea leaves. Taste wasn't too bad but honestly, the bottom of the packet of the tea should be separated and disposed of.
Anyways, we ordered a total of 6 dishes
From top down, left to right we have Chicken Feet, Prawn Dumplings, BBQ Pork Pastry (Char Siu Sou), Pan-Fried Dumplings (Guo Tie), Rice Noodle Rolls and Steamed Glutinous Rice.
Chicken Feet was very unique, brought a little SiChuan into a Canton Black Bean Style Chicken Feet.
The Prawn Dumplings also not bad, not the best available in Australia but I haven't ordered this dish in a while due to many locations ability to fail the most common ordered dish in Yum Cha and they didn't do too bad here.
The BBQ Pork Pastry was very crunchy, but I felt the BBQ Pork inside the pastry didn't do its job, it was very dry and lacked moisture inside. And the pastry was just crunchy, it wasn't 'Sou' enough. Wasn't too bad of a dish though.
The Pan-Fried dumplings here were pretty yummy, they looked a bit dodgy at first, I was wondering why the grey skin, but ended up tasting pretty nice. The skin wasn't too thick, nor to thin, the pork mixture inside was very nice and had a nice soup taste in it. Very well done on this one.
Then the Rice Noodle Rolls, they were cooked fresh in front of your face, there is a trolley pushing them around and when you order it, the lady cooks it and fries it for you on her trolley in your vision. Was cooked very nicely and very fresh when placed on the table. Crunchy, smooth yet also thin and not too much oil. A very nice dish well done here.
Lastly was the Glutinous Rice, it was very disappointing. The flavour was awful and bitter (too much leaf flavour), the rice was too dry (not glutinous at all) and they didn't have many side dishes wrapped inside of the rice (not even Salty Duck Egg... which normally comes in all of them).
Overall, I would give this dining experience a rating of 6.5/10.
Food wasn't too bad, much better then many Yum Cha destinations out there, but it definitely wasn't the best.
-Samuel.
Phone: (02) 9890 1688
So today for lunch, we decided to go to visit the Chinese Restaurant at Parramatta Leagues Club for some 'Yum Cha' direct translation 'drink tea' in Cantonese. The location is very nice, ambience all very well done as expected inside a Leagues Club and the whole design of the restaurant was very authentic 'Chinese'. Upon entrance, we were greeted and taken to our table. As per all Yum Cha places, they ask you what tea you want to drink. We chose Jasmine Tea.
I was very disappointed with the tea they gave us, it was the bottom of the packet all crushed up and loose. So whenever we poured tea or tried to drink tea, we'd be drinking the tea leaves. Taste wasn't too bad but honestly, the bottom of the packet of the tea should be separated and disposed of.
Anyways, we ordered a total of 6 dishes
From top down, left to right we have Chicken Feet, Prawn Dumplings, BBQ Pork Pastry (Char Siu Sou), Pan-Fried Dumplings (Guo Tie), Rice Noodle Rolls and Steamed Glutinous Rice.
Chicken Feet was very unique, brought a little SiChuan into a Canton Black Bean Style Chicken Feet.
The Prawn Dumplings also not bad, not the best available in Australia but I haven't ordered this dish in a while due to many locations ability to fail the most common ordered dish in Yum Cha and they didn't do too bad here.
The BBQ Pork Pastry was very crunchy, but I felt the BBQ Pork inside the pastry didn't do its job, it was very dry and lacked moisture inside. And the pastry was just crunchy, it wasn't 'Sou' enough. Wasn't too bad of a dish though.
The Pan-Fried dumplings here were pretty yummy, they looked a bit dodgy at first, I was wondering why the grey skin, but ended up tasting pretty nice. The skin wasn't too thick, nor to thin, the pork mixture inside was very nice and had a nice soup taste in it. Very well done on this one.
Then the Rice Noodle Rolls, they were cooked fresh in front of your face, there is a trolley pushing them around and when you order it, the lady cooks it and fries it for you on her trolley in your vision. Was cooked very nicely and very fresh when placed on the table. Crunchy, smooth yet also thin and not too much oil. A very nice dish well done here.
Lastly was the Glutinous Rice, it was very disappointing. The flavour was awful and bitter (too much leaf flavour), the rice was too dry (not glutinous at all) and they didn't have many side dishes wrapped inside of the rice (not even Salty Duck Egg... which normally comes in all of them).
Overall, I would give this dining experience a rating of 6.5/10.
Food wasn't too bad, much better then many Yum Cha destinations out there, but it definitely wasn't the best.
-Samuel.
Ramen Zundo - City
Hello everyone!
Today we went to try a new Ramen house in the city, that has received many good reviews from blogs and food review websites.
The place is called Ramen Zundo, it's located in World Square in the City.
Inside and outside of the restaurant is nicely decorated in a very authentic Japanese style, that makes you feel like you're dining in Japan.
The dining area was also very spacious, and had a very nice ambiance.
When we entered the restaurant, a friendly waitress greeted us and asked what we would like to order.
However, we weren't ready to order yet, so she gave us two menus.
Unlike other restaurants, at Ramen Zundo you have to order at the counter and you will be given a number stand and the food will be brought to you.
Also, water and glass is also self service.
Here's what we ordered.
Egg Salad $4.60
My partner ordered this, and he said the eggs were really nice.
I'm not a fan of salads, so I didn't give it a try. =D
Small Ramen Set with Zundo White Ramen $14.90
This is Zundo's signature ramen with their rich pork bone broth that is boiled over 12hours.
The soup was very thick and the ramen noodles was really chewy, it's the type of good quality ramens that does not go soggy.
The set also comes with this mini Teriyaki Salmon Donburi.
Zundo Black Ramen $11.80 + 2 pieces of boiled eggs as topping $2
The soup base was just like the Zundo White, except with an addition of baked garlic oil. It made the soup a bit bitter, but it does not lose it's rich pork bone taste. The eggs were splendid, the egg yolks half cooked half raw exactly how authentic Japanese Nitamago should taste like.
6 pieces of Gyoza $7.90
I have to say, their gyoza is the best I've had so far in Sydney. They're pan fried to just right, it was not too burnt, the skin was really thin, the pork fillings was perfect. It was absolutely delicious!
Overall I would give Ramen Zundo 8.5 out of 10.
The ramen was absolutely top quality good ramen. However I think the pork bone soup base was a bit too thick and slightly oily too, but I hope to try their other ramens with different soup bases.
They're really an authentic Japanese restaurant, all their staff were Japanese, and they would greet their customers "Irasshaimase" (welcome) when they enter, and "Arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you) when they leave.
Their service was above average, the staff all looked very friendly and constantly smiling. However, I wished can serve us water instead of being self service, it can be quite the hassle.
I would highly recommend those who love ramen to definitely give Ramen Zundo a try!
Also, they're gyoza's are irresistible, I think I can go there just to eat their gyozas.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
Today we went to try a new Ramen house in the city, that has received many good reviews from blogs and food review websites.
The place is called Ramen Zundo, it's located in World Square in the City.
Inside and outside of the restaurant is nicely decorated in a very authentic Japanese style, that makes you feel like you're dining in Japan.
The dining area was also very spacious, and had a very nice ambiance.
When we entered the restaurant, a friendly waitress greeted us and asked what we would like to order.
However, we weren't ready to order yet, so she gave us two menus.
Unlike other restaurants, at Ramen Zundo you have to order at the counter and you will be given a number stand and the food will be brought to you.
Also, water and glass is also self service.
Here's what we ordered.
Egg Salad $4.60
My partner ordered this, and he said the eggs were really nice.
I'm not a fan of salads, so I didn't give it a try. =D
Small Ramen Set with Zundo White Ramen $14.90
This is Zundo's signature ramen with their rich pork bone broth that is boiled over 12hours.
The soup was very thick and the ramen noodles was really chewy, it's the type of good quality ramens that does not go soggy.
The set also comes with this mini Teriyaki Salmon Donburi.
Zundo Black Ramen $11.80 + 2 pieces of boiled eggs as topping $2
The soup base was just like the Zundo White, except with an addition of baked garlic oil. It made the soup a bit bitter, but it does not lose it's rich pork bone taste. The eggs were splendid, the egg yolks half cooked half raw exactly how authentic Japanese Nitamago should taste like.
6 pieces of Gyoza $7.90
I have to say, their gyoza is the best I've had so far in Sydney. They're pan fried to just right, it was not too burnt, the skin was really thin, the pork fillings was perfect. It was absolutely delicious!
Overall I would give Ramen Zundo 8.5 out of 10.
The ramen was absolutely top quality good ramen. However I think the pork bone soup base was a bit too thick and slightly oily too, but I hope to try their other ramens with different soup bases.
They're really an authentic Japanese restaurant, all their staff were Japanese, and they would greet their customers "Irasshaimase" (welcome) when they enter, and "Arigatou gozaimasu" (thank you) when they leave.
Their service was above average, the staff all looked very friendly and constantly smiling. However, I wished can serve us water instead of being self service, it can be quite the hassle.
I would highly recommend those who love ramen to definitely give Ramen Zundo a try!
Also, they're gyoza's are irresistible, I think I can go there just to eat their gyozas.
Thanks for reading!
-Kumi.
Wednesday 1 May 2013
Shanghai Chef Kitchen - Parramatta
Today, I went to a restaurant nearby for dinner. Ambience, very casual, nothing special to see here but an obvious local favourite as this place is packed for lunch with daily lunch specials from $7.80.
Most Shanghai restaurants provide the 'Shanghai style' meals and at the same time also have the casual 'Canton style' dining (so the mongolian lamb, sweet n sour pork etc.)
At Shanghai Chef Kitchen, this does not differ and so on my visit I went for a 'Shanghai style' dinner. It was pretty quiet today, and so we quickly made our orders.
This was the first dish to arrive on our table, Hot n Sour soup. For $4.80, this is probably one of the best Hot n Sour soups you will get. There is a larger size for $8.80 but we settled at the small size.
Quickly after, came the 'Shanghai Fried Noodles'. As I said, it was a pretty quiet night for them so all the food practically came in 15 minutes, most the 15 minutes probably the time needed to steam the buns.
Most Shanghai restaurants provide the 'Shanghai style' meals and at the same time also have the casual 'Canton style' dining (so the mongolian lamb, sweet n sour pork etc.)
At Shanghai Chef Kitchen, this does not differ and so on my visit I went for a 'Shanghai style' dinner. It was pretty quiet today, and so we quickly made our orders.
This was the first dish to arrive on our table, Hot n Sour soup. For $4.80, this is probably one of the best Hot n Sour soups you will get. There is a larger size for $8.80 but we settled at the small size.
Quickly after, came the 'Shanghai Fried Noodles'. As I said, it was a pretty quiet night for them so all the food practically came in 15 minutes, most the 15 minutes probably the time needed to steam the buns.
The noodles were great. Elasticity of the noodles was very good yet easy to bite through, little bit of pork meat with a relative amount of light and dark soy sauce gave it great taste and texture. The greens were a nice extra, one of my personal favourites.
This is the 'Seaweed Short Soup'. For those that know short soup, that normally uses a chicken broth, but this one has its own special soup base with Seaweed. Unlike the original short soups chicken-broth based soup, this ones lightly flavoured yet very diverse, one of the restaurants specialties.
Some Pork Ear... and many many dumplings!
The soup buns, 'xiao long bao' little dragon buns translated in english were very well made here. Good xiaolongbao's are defined by thin pastry, great tasting soup and pork mince. It is very easy to oversteam the buns, even one or two minutes extra can cause the pastry to pop or stick to the bottom, thus controlling the timing of steaming these buns is very important. The xiao long bao's here were perfectly steamed, and met all the requirements of good soup buns. I personally think they have some of the best xiao long bao's around Sydney.
Last was the pan-fried dumplings. These weren't bad, the meat inside was very nice and the soup squirted when I bit the pastry but I personally thought the pastry was too thick and the meat was too little.
All in all it was a pretty nice casual dinner and I would come back for some more.
My Rating: 7.5/10
-Samuel.
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