Ichiban Boshi - Bondi Junction

A girls day out shopping trip led us to Bondi. We knew we would need some serious energy if we were going to shop for the next few hours. We headed down to Ichiban Boshi for a quick meal so we could spend more time shopping.

Tsukemen Egg Ramen

I was actually expecting the dipping sauce to be cold, like with Zaru soba. But this is actually a hot dipping sauce with heaps of corn, bamboo shoots, shallots and soya sauce. I actually found the sauce very salty and overpowering after a few bites. I ended up picking the topping out of the bowl and putting it on the noodles instead.

Dan Dan Ramen

My friend opted for the Dan Dan ramen and gave it her usual thumbs up.

Green tea frappe and peached ice tea

Ichiban Boshi
Shop 1, 171-173 Oxford St
Bondi Junction NSW
Ph: (02)9369 3980
http://www.ichibanboshi.com.au/


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Trumps Tavern - Wynyard

One thing about working around the Martin Place end of town, is the severe lack of Thai food. Sometimes, a girl just needs a good healthy dose of Tom Yum, Pad Thai and thai salads. I heard that Trumps Tavern actually serves decent Thai food, which surprised me. The only time I've ever heard of Trumps Tavern, is usually in the same sentence that contains the phrase "Hangover". Although one story involved a Russian Bouncer at 4:30am?! Long story.

Anyway, I dragged a friend with me to get a Thai fix. Being a Monday lunch time, and the fact that we were there before 12, meant the place was empty. This was a bit of a worry since I'm always weary of empty places in the city during lunch hours. But less than 15mins after sitting down, people started streaming in, and by the time we left, the whole place was packed with a huge line running across the room with people trying to place their orders.

The place is simple in decoractions. A small bar to the left and plenty of tables and chairs with a few couches and stools. To the left of the bar is a set of stair cases taking you downstairs to the pokies area. You can order food and eat down there as well, but it severly lacks any form of ambience. Basically a few tables and chairs tucked into the rows of pokies.

The menu is available at the bar and you line up to place your order at a seperate counter. They also have meal deals now where you can pay an extra few dollars and get a drink i.e. soft drink, wine or beer.

Now, onto the food!

Chicken Pad Kee Mao

The Pad Kee Mao isn't actually on the menu. But seriously, what Thai place doesn't have the ingredients to whip up a Pad Kee Mao? The girl behind the counter was more than happy to place my order and my friend had food envy as she didn't know she could order that! The serve is pretty decent and will satisfy even the big hungry boys around.

Thai Beef Salad

My friend had a Thai Beef salad and gave it a thumbs up.

Chicken Cashew Nut

I came back and tried the Chicken Cashew the next time around it was pretty darn good! Sweet and spicy, with a good selection of crunchy veggies, plump chicken a huge mound of rice. However, on this occassion I was hoping the serves will be smaller. Why? My manager was buying drinks for everyone! I couldn't drink as much as I was so full from all the food! hehe dang! You can never win!

Chicken Tom Yum Goong

This was exactly what I needed. The Chicken Tom Yum Goong was sour and spicy and so so refreshing. The bowl was huge, full of chunky chicken, vermicelli noodles and crunchy bean sprouts. This is probably a good dish to get if you don't intend to drink because the soup is sooooo good! Too much soup = no room for beers.

Trumps Tavern
50 King St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9299 2929


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Jimmy's Recipe

Sometimes on a hot humid day, you just don't want something heavy and creamy. But what do you do when you still want a big bowl of noodle soup? For me, I head to Jimmy's for their Assam Laksa. There's not many other places offering this around the city, with Malay Chinese being one of them. But Jimmy's generally have much more seating during lunch time.

Assam Laksa

Assam Laksa is nothing like your standard laksa. There's no coconut cream and it has a fairly strong fish taste as it uses a fish broth. Its also very light, sour and spicy. Kinda like a tom yum goong but not. The Jimmy's version contained what appeared to be canned tomato sardine (Very different to what I remember they used to serve, which was proper fish fillets) with slice onions, cucumber and pineapple. This dish may be a bit fishy for some people because of the fish they use. I'm hoping its a seasonal thing and eventually they'll have the proper fish fillets back again. Nonetheless, it was exactly what I wanted on a hot muggy day.

Jimmy's Recipe
The Galeries Victoria RG16
Ground floor 500 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 2288


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Kimama - Eating World - Haymarket / Chinatown

Whilst Gumshara is famous for their Ramen with many people visiting just for a taste, just 2 stalls away sits another less famous Japanese stall called Kimama. Being a hot day, the friend I dragged along just did not want a hot soupy ramen. Instead, he opted to try the Katsudon from Kimama.

Katsudon

You know you're onto a winner when after the first bite, there's no time to comment on the food as you keep shovelling bite after bite into your mouth. Surprisingly, this little Japanese joint scored a 8 out of 10 from my friend when comparing to his favourite one in Japan. This is a big thing as most Japanese restaurants score a 5 or a 6 when compared to Japan standards.

My friend was so impressed, that we went back a week later so he can get another Katsudon fix whilst I get to try out the rest of the menu.

Second visit, just as consistently good!

Being another 30 degree day, I really didn't feel like a heavy or hot meal. I spotted a cold udon dish on the menu and immediately ordered that.

The noodles contain seaweed, some sort of mixed vegetable/bamboo shoot, diced daikon and a perfectly barely cooked egg all swimming in a cold vingeary broth.

Digging into the noodles I hit something hard in the bowl:

They weren't kidding when they said it was a cold noodle dish! Look at that ice!

Whilst the noodles were incredibly refreshing, I wasn't entirely satisfied after eating it. Mind you, this is not the fault of the dish. Firstly, I personally didn't like the whole bamboo veggie mix as it tasted a bit too much like Gai Larn for me. Gai Larn is probably one of the few Asian veggies that I dislike. Secondly, I was craving something REALLY REALLY vinegary. Whilst the sauce was nice, it didn't hit my craving.

However, with that said, the egg that came with the noodles is one of the best soft boiled/poached eggs I've ever had.It seemed like the egg was very softly boiled to the stage where the whites has just started to firm up before cracking the whole thing into the bowl. I saved the egg til last knowing it was going to be good. And boy was it good! The egg yolk just bursts in the mouth and is incredibly runny and creamy. I would come back just for the egg! Actually, they do sell just the egg.

Since I was ordering something cold, I figured I need something hot to balance the meal out.

I ordered a side of Karage Chicken with their Teriyaki Mayo. They actually have a few different flavours of Mayo, such as sweet chilli mayo. The chicken was crispy and incredibly juicy and went perfectly with the creamy mayo and a drizzle of teriyaki sauce.

The people in front of me had ordered Takoyaki, which looked absolutely delicious and handmade! (Not deep fried frozen stuff like some other placeS). Next time I'm there, I am definitely ordering the takoyaki. Maybe I should make a meal of takoyaki, karage chicken and eggs? hehe

Kimama
Eating World Food Court
25-29 Dixon Street
Chinatown


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Gumshara Ramen - Eating World - Haymarket / Chinatown

Maybe I went to Chinatown too much in my young days, but I've suddenly developed this aversion to the place. I think it was a good year in between visits to Chinatown. So when Gumshara started popping up in all sorts of conversations, its taken me this long to actually get there. I guess I couldn't have picked a worse time to go try it. Hot and humid and sticky isn't the type of weather that calls for thick gelatinous Ramen soup. But hey, how often do I come out?!

Although the menu is limited, it still took me ages to decide what I want! It was actually the side dishes that confused me! In the end, I settled for the standard Tonkatsu ramen with the soft boiled seasoned eggs and a side of Gyoza.

As I stood there waiting for my Ramen, I understood why everyone raves about the place. The chef doesn't just boil ramen and dump some soup ontop. Every bowl is individually seasoned, taste tested, re-adjusted and taste tested again until the chef is happy. I can see Gordon Ramsay just clapping his hands in glee!

Tonkatsu Ramen

The broth is extremely rich and gelatinous, and every bit deserving the praise that its gotten. There's no taste of msg that plagues many Japanese restaurants around Sydney. However, it was still a bit too rich for me. Luckily they give the option for less rich and salty stocks, I might give that a go next time. The noodles had a lovely bite to it and I loved the little condiments bar they have on the sides where you can add extra sesame, pickles etc.

Seasoned soft boiled egg

I don't know if you can see from the photo, but the egg white surrounding the yolk had barely set and was still wobbling when I picked it up with my spoon. Definitely a must order!

Gyoza

Thin crispy gyoza skin wrapped around a soft pork filling. I don't order Gyoza often, but this was pretty good compared to what I've had before.

For a little food court stall, their ramen is OUTSTANDING. This really puts a lot of other "ramen" restaurants in Sydney to shame.

Gumshara
Eating World Food Court
Shop 209, 25-29 Dixon Street
Chinatown


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Menya Ramen

Never let me order when I'm starving. I was almost tempted to order Menya Godzilla challenge I was so hungry! But the little voice in my head was telling me to stop being a greedy pig and order something else. So I settled for a Menya Value Box instead.

The Menya Value box comes with a small size of the Menya Ramen, Salad, Rice and a choice of a main meal. The main meal is either chicken schnitzel, Karage Chicken, Teriyaki chicken, Teriyaki beef, Today's teriyaki fish or Salmon sashimi (+$2).

Menya Ramen

The soup was flavoursome rich. Luckily it came in a small bowl as it was 30+ degrees and I don't think I could've finished a whole bowl of this soup.

Karage Chicken

Very crispy and moist. Just needs more mayo! hehe

Salad with a baby triangle thingy

Oh, and I was worried that the Menya value box wouldn't have enough food to satisfy my stomach, so I ordered a serve of Takoyaki as well. Its ok, I shared this with my friend.

Takoyaki

I was quite disappointed by theTakoyaki as they were clearly precooked (if no frozen) then deep fried to reheat it. Definitely won't be ordering this again.

The Menya Value box is true to its name. Its good value! For $15, I was so stuffed I couldn't finish the box (let alone Takoyaki as well!). Both me and my friend left the rice pretty much untouched and just ate all the goodies! hehe

Menya Ramen
Shop TG8, 8 Quay Street
Haymarket NSW 2000
(Ph) 02 9212 1020
http://www.menya.com.au



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New Taste Noodle House (Lao Fu Qing) - Ashfield

Whenever I am eating in Ashfield, 8 times out of 10, I would choose to eat Shanghainese. Of those 8 times, I would say 7 times is with Shanghai Nights. I've tried atleast 3/4 of the restaurant in Ashfield, and I consistently go back to either Shanghai Nights or the local Kebab joint, Metro 1.

I was trawling on eatability awhile ago and noticed there was a restaurant in Ashfield called Lao Fu Qing that had decent ratings. I decided to try the place out and couldn't find it! I tried on 2 separate occasions! Today I made sure I double checked google maps before I decided to hunt the place down. Success!


Strangely enough, the restaurant seems to have two names? New Taste Noodle House on the menu, but Lao Fu Qing on the sign outside. Some things have both names on it.


I've actually walked past this restaurant a few times, never noticing the name and almost instantly dismissing it as the modern type restaurant with small serves and bad food served on square plates category. Boy was I wrong!


Before I get onto the food part, I must apologise for the dodgy photos. I only realised when I sat down that my camera had a flat battery! I was completely devastated when this happens, especially when I try a new place! I was almost tempted to leave the restaurant and come back another day with a fully charged camera! hehehe Luckily for camera photos.

Anyway, food! The menu has a entree section and a traditional snacks section. I wasn't too sure what the difference was, so I assumed the snacks section was small serves like the entree section. Based on that assumption, and the thundering noise coming from my tummy, we decided to order 2 snacks and 2 mains between 2 people..... *cough*

Spicy minced pork Dou Pi - $6.80

This came out looking like a murtabak. The chinese name is spicy minced pork in tofu skin. What came out seemed to be more doughy pastry than tofu skin pastry. Nevertheless, the pastry was crispy and oh so moreish. The filling was a layer of sticky rice topped with a spicy, garlicky pork mince. SO GOOD! I'm definitely hoping to try their other Dou Pi dishes.

Boiled Pork and chive dumplings - $8.20

If I thought snack meant small portions then I was wrong. For $8.20, you get 12 of these babies. Big, plump, juicy dumplings. These are definitely freshly made and not of the frozen variety. The chives were a fresh bright green and the pork had a lovely bite to it. And did I mention these babies are huge?

Taiwan beef brisket noodle soup - $10.50

This was a clean rich broth with big flakey chunks of beef.

Hu Nan beef tripe noodle soup with spicy minced pork sauce - $10.50

When this huge bowl came out, I automatically assumed it was a big bowl, lots of soup, not much substance. It wasn't until I dug my chopsticks in did I realise how much food we had actually ordered! The bowl had a huge wack of noodles, chunks of meat and heaps of tripe, pickled veggies, bok choy and........peanut butter. That's right....peanut butter. I had a WTF moment and then went whatever! If that's the way the chef made it, that must be what the dish is like in Hu Nan and bravely stirred the peanut butter in. And you know what? It works! The peanut gives a lovely creaminess to the soup and mellows out the chilli. Were the minced pork sauce was I have no idea. But I did like the chunks of meat! Not bad for $10.50. I actually couldn't finish this bowl and took home a huge container of leftover noodles!

The reason I didn't find the restaurant the first 2 times was that I assumed it was down Liverpool Rd with the other restaurants. Little did I know it was actually up near the quieter end of town. Quite unfortunately actually, because they have really good food! Its actually one of the few restaurants in Ashfield that I'm excited to have found! (I actually rushed home to blog about it, how sad is that?!). The restaurant is clean and comfortable, with plenty of seats for a large group of people. Certainly not something you find it a lot of other restaurants in Ashfield!

New Taste Noodle House (Lao Fu Qing)
243 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield, 2131
(Ph) 02 9716 6838

Tasty House - Ashfield

Tasty House has been in Ashfield for almost 10 years. For some reason we had stopped going there the last few years. I had a real craving for comforting noodle soup, and since a majority of restaurants in Ashfield are Shanghainese with limited noodle soups, Tasty House it was.

Combination seafood laksa

The seafood laksa is a generous bowl of creamy coconut goodness. The soup is rich and spicy leaving a nice heat on the tongue. My only criticism would be that its a too coconutty for my liking, luckily it wasn't my bowl and a few spoonfuls was more than satisfying for me. My friend who loves the creamy coconut milk taste loved the Laksa.

Wonton noodle soup

I couldn't decide between a pho and a wonton noodle soup. So I asked the waiter if I can get pho rice noodles in my wonton noodle soup and they happily obliged. The wontons had a nice bouncy texture and went really well with the slippery smooth rice noodles. I was one happy girl! Looks like I'll be visiting Tasty House again!

Tasty House
297 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield, NSW
(Ph) 02 9716 5668

Xin Jiang Noodle Restaurant - Ashfield

I'm sure you've all seen the Xin Jiang Handmade noodle truck around one time or another. For some reason I keep seeing it in the city? There really isn't any reason I can think of for them to be around Martin Place?

Despite being inundated with fliers and advertising, I never even thought of going even though its 5mins walk from my place. However, one cold freeeeezing and wet winters night had me craving shanghai buns. But all my favourite locals were completely packed out, leaving us the option of finding somewhere else to go.

Xin Jiang Noodle Restaurant is on the quieter end of Liverpool Rd near the public schools. There were 2 other tables when we arrived half way through their meal. I noticed everyone was having a huge bowl of steaming hot noodle soup, which was exactly what I needed!

Handmade dumples and noodle soup

This was so comforting. The chewy noodles, the crunch of the vegetable and the light clear broth. The dumpling filling is actually quite rich and very different to what I was used to. It was also a lot softer than what I was expecting. It was still delicious regardless.

Pan fried pork buns

When I saw these I was so excited! I could get my Shanghai Pan Fried Pork buns! But what came out was far from it. Firstly, these were small. These are about the size of a Xiao Long Bao. The little bite size steamed Shanghai Pork dumplings. The wrapper is also have way between a dumpling wrapper and a bun skin. The filling was the same as the soup dumplings. Rich and soft. But the biggest difference? There was no squirt of scorching hot liquid to give you 3rd degree burns.

Spiced Lamb Ribs

My friend was craving something meaty. We didn't really feel like ordering a hot pot or their sweet and sour meat balls, so we opted for this. This was spiced with lovely cumin, salt, pepper and other herbs. These were really tasty, except sometimes you will pick a piece that is 90% bone and 10% batter. But even when you do get a meaty piece, its quite fatty meat. I would probably order it again, but would want to try some other dishes first.

Xin Jiang Noodle Restaurant
205 Liverpool Rd
Asfield, 2131
(Ph) 02 9799 9989

(hehe That's such an asian phone number!!)

A new bento box!

So when S asked me what I wanted from Japan, I immediately yelled "BENTO BOX!!!". I gave the rough specs of what I wanted. "Decent" lunchbox size, microwaveable, 2 layers / compartments if possible and must be "Japanesey" in looks.I think this was perfect! I love sakuras and bunnies!

My new bento box from Japan

I knew to christen the bento box, I needed something special, this was the best I could do the day I got back from our country trip:

Top: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide, sujuk pide (Turkish sausage), grape tomatoes and a "car" boiled egg.
Bottom: Cucumber, asaparagus and ham rolls, carrots, beans, semi sundried tomatoes and olives.

The only thing with this box is that its not that water tight. The top layer comes with a pretty water tight fitting lid, but if I put that lid on, I can't fit in alot of my salads. I've basically been wrapping both layers with glad wrap and I'm limiting this box to mainly liquid free stuff.

My parents were also away on holidays a while back, so I decided to pack a little breakfast to eat on the train to work. (I am so glad they're back now!) I bought this little box about 3 months ago, but never had a chance to use it as it was too small for lunch. However, its a great size for a light snack.



Left: Strawberries and grape tomatoes
Right: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide and sujuck pide



Left: Lady bug tomato fried rice on a bed of home grown organic lettuce. I also pan fried the left over bits of lamb in lots of cumin.
Right: Salad with tolouse sausage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, beans, asaparagus, semi sundried tomatos and olives.

I like to use really strong flavoured stuff like the olives and semi sundried tomatoes to avoid using a dressing for my salad.

Breakfast box - Same as above, just smaller

Turkish box

Left: Bulgur cooked with tomatoes and lamb kofte
Right: Fresh sliced beetroot, cucumber, carrots and beans. I bought along a small container of hummus. The beetroot was really nice raw, however, one of the bigger beetroots was really bitter. Next time I'm going to use the baby beets only.

Breakfast box

I did a quick stir fry of egg noodles with ham, wongabok, bok choy, carrots and bean sprouts with a dash of oyster sauce. So very very nice. Almost as good as my mums!

Soba and mandu bento

I've decided to venture from the "rice" bento after having it in ever bento box I've packed. I found a packet of Cha Soba in my pantry, which is basically green tea soba noodles. I boiled them up and refreshed it under cold water. After draining them well, I curled them into little bite size pieces, as soba tends to stick together in clumps after chilling. Its a wonderful little tip I picked up from Lunch in a box.


I stored the soba dipping sauce in a little container with a screwtop lid. Hopefully there will be no spillages on my way to work tomorrow. I also thinly sliced a shallot and some seaweed which I'll add to the sauce tomorrow.


When I cooked the soba, I threw in the last of my sugar snap peas into the water to quickly blanch which I then dunked into ice cold water to retain the crunchiness. The pattern on the outside of the carrot was done by scraping it with the tines of the fork. We used to do something similar at our restaurant, except we used an old fashion fish scaler to give it that lovely ridged patter.

I also had a bag of frozen Korean seafood mandu, which is similar to gyoza or dumplings. They can be eaten either boiled or panfried. I always thought there was a bit of work to cook these mandus. Well, not compared to making it from scratch. But I always spent about 10mins to cook any of these frozen dumplings, that is until I went to my Korean friend's place one day and saw her make these. I cannot believe what a quick snack it is.

1. Turn on the stove and wack a pan onto it
2. In the meantime, put a few of the mandus on a plate and shove it into the microwave for about 1min whilst the pan heats up
3. Once the mandu is slightly defrosted in the microwave, pour a little oil into the pan and chuck the mandu in.
4. Pan fry until golden on the outside (usually 1-2mins).
5. Eat

The mandu skin is thinner and seems to be semi cooked compared to traditional chinese frozen dumplings. And because of they're generally quite thin, even if the microwave doesn't defrost the mandu properly, it will cook supremely fast in the pan.

Really quick bento box to pack. The most time consuming was the noodle curling and carrot decorating. I can't wait to eat this tomorrow!

Shanghai Nights, Ashfield - The Super post

So after my last visit to New Shanghai, I had a debate with my friend as to which restaurant is better. After much debate, the only conclusion we came to, was to go back to Shanghai Nights and try the same dishes again to do a proper comparison. Poor us, having to go taste test again ;)

Daikon radish buns

The lovely waitress at Shanghai Nights recommended that I try their daikon buns. Since the daikon is in season, they've made a new bun with grated daikon, chinese sausage and dried shrimp. I actually really really liked this bun. I think I'm so used to Shanghai buns always containing meat, that the daikon radish version is really refreshing. Although it was also very filling, we took 2 of the buns home.

Xiao Long Bao

I think these were slightly better than the New Shanghai version. Just slightly, I would've been happy to get a steamer full of these from either restaurant.

Hokkien Fried Rice

Cold windy weather calls for comforting, saucy fried rice. Mix everything together before eating. Its like the chinese version of mac and cheese in winter.

Pan fried pork buns

This was the dish that had us coming back for another taste test. I think my preference is still New Shanghai, where the buns are much lighter and fluffier, whilst these are slightly thicker. The base is also "crunchy" at Shanghai Nights whilst its "crispy" at New Shanghai. My friend still prefers the Shanghai Nights version.

Salt and pepper pork ribs

These pork ribs were super meaty and juicey. It wasn't as salty as I would've liked it, but I think if I had these on its own without all the pork buns and vinegar, my taste buds would've had a party.

Taiwanese beef noodle soup

I haven't ordered this dish in atleast 5-6 years, and it tasted almost as good as I remembered. I love the crunch of the pickled vegetables against the soft beef that's been stewing for ages.

Pork and crab roe steamed buns

Din Tai Fung was the first time I've had pork and crab roe steamed buns. I liked it, but I had nothing to compare it to. I found the ones at Shanghai Night much tastier, AND you can see the crab roe!

Innards!

How perfect is this picture? The big chunky crab roe in the centre of the pork filling, sitting in a pool of juice wrapped in the thin dough. MmMMmm

Pan fried pork and coriander dumplings

I loved how the dough is just as thin on these dumplings as their other ones. The filling had a bit too much coriander for my liking (And I LOVE coriander). But once you douse it in vinegar, it balanced out really well.

So after all that taste testing, what was the conclusion? There were dishes we love from both Shanghai Nights and New Shanghai. The only way to end our argument was to agree that we'll alternate the restaurants every time we visit. The get the best of both worlds ;)

Shanghai Night
(Directly opposite Ashfield Mall)
275 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield 2131

Ph: 9798 8437