Insadong..

During my birthday month, Jen brought me to his favourite cosy korean bbq restaurant at Eastwood, it's called Insadong. It's more like a family restaurant, so it's rather quiet during the weekday nights. We went there twice in a month.

Some side dishes for us to start out our meal. We went for bbq for that night, so we've ordered for plum wine to go with it.

We've ordered for a deluxe bbq set, a standard meal for four of us with extra rice. There was mussels, beef skirts, squids, octopus, prawns and marinated pork and beef. $60

All ready to go!

I was actually amazed that they actually used charcoal underneath, and with an huge canopy style exhaust fan at every table. The meat tasted better with the charcoal smell. I really like the beef skirts and having it together with the given miso bean paste and lettuce. 

The other time we've also tried the fried mackerel. It was delicious. The meat was moist and tender. Best of all, it wasn't oily at all. Should try that. $21

Or maybe try the octopus ball. It was equally good. 

Ratings: 8/10

Address: 223 Rowe Street, Eastwood NSW 2122

Cupcakes on Pitt..

I've previously wrote about cupcake shops around in Melb, Cupcakes fever. Actually fell in love with cupcakes. Anyway when sissy was around, we've tried out one of the cupcake shop at Chatswood, called Cupcakes on Pitt. We just had our late lunch and off we went for more desserts. The original shop is at Pitt Street, and this is their newly opened branch.

 Totally got attracted by the beautiful decorated shop. 

 Look at the cupcakes tower. Lots of love there.

 Cute box of cupcakes!

 Ta-da! We bought the dark chocolate, chocolate strawberrie and cream and blurberry. I went for the blueberry one, which is quite unusual for me cause I didn't go for the chocolate one. :P But it was good, still prefer the dark chocolate one. The icing part is just mouth watering. We enjoyed ourselves there. 

You can't go passed this lovely decorated cupcakes shop. Don't quite remember how much was it per cupcake. Maybe i'm bit biased here. I still prefer The Cupcake Family in Melb. Their cupcakes is just awesome, moist and always good. I just love the flavour choices there.

Ratings: 7/10

Address: Shop 221A, Westfield Chatswood, NSW 2067

Hello Happy..

It's time for some dessert! Definately can't say no to dessert. Sissy loves this bread and cake shop in Sydney, it's called Hello Happy. You can find this in alot of places, anyway we had a take-away for a few slices of cakes from the branch in Chatswood. Of course you can have a relaxing chill out with a cup of coffee with some breads or cakes just at the cafe corner.

 Courtesy of my sissy for the photos..

 Look at the cakes. Well decorated. It makes you wanting them all!

 After much discussion, we had the green tea with red bean roll, black forest cake and cheesecake. Aren't they pretty? I have to admit that the appearance for desserts is very important element to win my heart. However, it's better to eat them on the same day to prevent it from getting dry. That was what happened to us. I like the black forest cake. The cheesecake was just normal, maybe can get better ones elsewhere. The green tea roll was bit dry when we had it, but it was our own fault. 

The favourite, sweet potato cake. It's totally moist, yummy and not that sweet for me. Highly recommended! There goes one lovely high tea moment during the weekend. The cakes are $4.50 per slice.

Ratings: 7/10

Address: 345 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood NSW 2067

Chat Thai..

Whenever my dear sister come over to Sydney, it must be all about food. Her very first time to Syd, it was totally something like food festival for me. Also it was a nice opportunity to explore new places with her. Anyway this time I'm going to share about our new found place, Chat Thai at Haymarket. It's a thai restaurant with a hint of modern looking interior design. The very moment I stepped into the restaurant, I can see a few large frying woks at the front counter, along with boxes of different desserts. I definately have to mention about the huge crowd of people, we waited for one hour for a table for five. I was starving and wondering if it was really worth it or not. It better be. When we finally got a table and have a look at menu, it was huge decision time. Lots of selections to choose from. 

 

Due to the varieties, we ordered for quite a few dishes to share around.

Chilli fried rice. If you're a huge fan of spicyness like my sister, you're definately going to love this. The fried rice was so fragrant, spicy and mouth-watering. Totally can't stop myself from eating it even though it's spicy for me. There's chicken, holy basil and lots of chilli in there. $13.90 

Thai classic, Pad thai with chicken. It was sweet, and salty thin fried thin noodles with bean sprouts, chicken, eggs, shrimps and ground peanuts. Love the peanuts part, adding some crunchy texture. Nice way to chill down my tummy from the spicyness. $12

Dtom yum tuna. My old time favourite when I have Thai food, something like "tom yum" that we normally have. Anyway this one is the best one I can find so far. The flavour is the closest that can match the ones that I eat in my hometown. Creamy, strong, soury, spicy, appetizing and full of different ingredients in the soup. Totally love it! $20

Honestly I don't quite remember what is this dish, I actually had to check it online. Obviously I got quite carried away trying the soup instead. Anyway it's suki with pork. It's glass noodles stir fried with fermented tofu, chinese cabbage, chinese celery and water spinach. Quite average for this dish, probably cause I didn't like the combination and the fermented tofu was a bit overpowering in the dish. $12

Grilled marinated chicken wing with house speciality sauce. It was from the special menu. Some of my friends think that it was a little too salty for this. I normally like stronger flavour of cooking, so I was fine with the dish. The sauce was sweet and salty, very nice to have it with rice. $10

Glutinous rice with durian pudding on top. It was bit too sweet for me. But the nice, sweet durian flavour is just irresistable. $7

Super delicious and interesting dessert that we had, Par Tuhng Go for about $7. It's a must try! Totally love it. It's fried dough sticks with sangkaya which is made of coconut milk custard and pandan leaves. That mouth-watering sauce is the highlight for the dessert. I just couldn't describe it in words. I had this "i'm flying in the air" kind of feeling when I ate it. And one thing to note is this dessert is only on the menu after 9.30pm. Was it worthwhile for the one hour wait? Hell yes! But I'll definately try to go during other time for my next visit to escape the crowd.  It's open from 10am to 2am. They actually have different branches at other places as well, at Randwick, Manly and Galeries Victoria in the city.

Ratings:  9/10

Address: 20 Campbell Street, Haymarket Sydney CBD

Ichiban Boshi..

I've found a place for delicious ramen! It's Ichiban Boshi along George Street, just opposite of my favourite bookshop Kinokuniya. I'm not a huge fan of ramen, so I haven't tried alot before. But surprisingly enough it tasted really good! It can be really packed at times, but it's just opposite of the bookshop, a good way to spend sometime looking through some new released books while waiting. 

I went with my friend who came over from Melb. She ordered for garlic flavoured soup based ramen with chasyu, bamboo shoots, spring onion and seaweed. The strong fragrant of the garlic just made the soup to be awesome. Strictly for garlic lovers. $12

Jen is ramen lover, so I had to bring him there. He ordered for tantanmen with minced meat, vegetables and egg for $12. The hot and spicy flavoured pork bone soup was just superb!  The spicyness just made the ramen really appetizing. I would love to come back for this!

For me, I chose the Tokyo ramen, $9.30. The classic with egg, chasyu, bamboo shoots, seaweed and corn. The first time I had it, just loved it. The miso soup base was subtle in flavour. The ramen was totally full with texture. It was a really comforting and huge hot bowl of ramen for lunch. Don't feel surprised if you feel thirsty after the meal. However, it was really good ramen place that I'm definately coming back again.

Ratings: 8/10
Address: Level 2, Galeries Victoria Building,
500 George Street, Sydney NSW

The Little Snail..

The last time I came to Syd, I went to Little Snail at somewhere close to Darling Harbour with Jen. Yes that's my very first time heading to French restaurant. Excited! My thinking of French cruisine is pretty much something like fine dining, work of art on the plate kind of thing. Well it's not really like that in Little Snail. Their food portion was fairly huge, presentation wise definately French looking! The very moment that I stepped into the restaurant, there's this really strong French feeling. Probably cause of the interior design and the furniture around.

Looking at the menu. Hmmm.. I went for the 3 course lunch special for $35.

I was trying to be adventurous and ordered for Pate du jour. It's basically duck liver pat flavoured port and brandy served with Melba toast. To be honest, I tried to enjoy it but sadly I didn't at all. The taste of the liver is just too strong for me. 

The legendary snails marinated in fresh herbs and oven baked in garlic butter for Jen! I had a go on this as well and it was yummy, just have to get passed the thinking of "I'm actually eating snails". It was way better than the duck liver I had.

For mains, I've ordered the Prime Australian beef fillet served with potato mash, champignons and red wine jus. A really classic meal, I guess you can say it's bit boring. But it was cooked really well, the beef was juicy and tender. Love the champignons part, it has all the flavours.

Jen ordered the grilled Tasmanian salmon on mascarpone enriched risotto and puree of sweet peas. The salmon was awesome! Definately cooked perfectly, keeping the freshness and juicyness of the salmon. He loves the puree too.

Dessert time. I've ordered the handmade profiteroles with cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. It was just okay for me. I think you can better ones in Lygon Street!

Jen ordered sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream. A nice way to end the meal with a sweet and warm pudding. Well it was definately an enjoyable meal there and also to mention that the service is pretty good. Maybe you would want to skip the peak lunch hours or make a booking for a table.

Ratings: 7.5/10

Address: 50 Murray Street, Pyrmont, NSW 

Phone: 02 9212 7512

Hurricane's Grill & Bar Steakhouse..

When my sister came over to visit Sydney, there's one place that she definately wanted to try it out. That's of course Hurricane's Grill & Bar Steakhouse. It's somehow a speciality in Syd, at least we can't find it in Melb. They have two branches, one at Bondi Beach and one in Darling Harbour. I've only been to the one in Darling Harbour. One very important point, remember to book a table beforehand. The queue can be really long. Do tell me if there's better place for the ribs.

Here's the very huge full rack of pork ribs. $34 for full rack and $28 for half rack. The grilled pork ribs is just awesome. The flavour is just right for me.  You can have it together with baked potato or chips. For the ribs that we had the other day, it was a little burned at the edges. Can say it to be good or bad. It was fine for me, extra flavours on it.

For a change, we've also tried the Boerewors, $29. It's traditional African sausages, with potato mash and tomato onion relish. The sausage is pretty good, and the sauce accompanying it is like BBQ sauce. I like the mash though. It helps to balance up the meaty meal. The relish is like sweet and sour sauce. By the time we finished up our meal, we were all full and satisfied. 

Ratings: 8/10

Address: Harbourside Shopping Centre, Shops 433-436,

Level 2, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Phone: 02 9211 2210

Or 130 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach, Sydney

Phone: 02 9130 7101

Steersons Steakhouse..

Well along my birth month, I've been to some nice places around Sydney for some catch-ups with friends. A very good excuse for me to enjoy a little bit more. First up, it was a nice steak restaurant, Steersons steakhouse along Bridge Street. To be honest we were not expecting it to be so pretty inside and all of us were underdressed. Anyway we were being greeted as we arrived at the restaurant. I've made a booking before that and table was all set up.

Homemade bread to start up the meal. I love it! It was soft and fluffy, tasted awesome with the butter. I guess I was little hungry at that time. $5.50 for the bread.

Then we had an entree for four of us to share. It's a seafood plate for two. There was fried soft shell crab, garlic prawns and calamari. Thumbs up for the soft shell crab. Delicious! Oh, thanks Jack for taking the photo. The dish costs $29.50.

I had the Oakleigh Ranch Wagyu Sirloin from Queensland, 280g for $37.50. It's served with mashed potato and red wine jus. I've ordered it for medium cooked. But unfortunately it was more like well done cooked. So the steak was bit too tough and dry. My other friend ordered the same and it was cooked perfectly.

Highlight of the night, Jen ordered for 1kg T-Bone Steak, Nolans Private Selection Gympie from Qld as well. Huge isn't it? That's for $59.50. Overall we had an enjoyable night trying out the nice steaks, wagyu for me!

Ratings: 7/10

Address: 7 Bridge Street, Sydney 2000