Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of eating and celebrations with loved ones!!!

Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant - Sydney - Sydney, Australia

Masuya Japanese Seafood Restaurant

 

It was Miss A's birthday a few months back and we couldn't decide on a place to celebrate her birthday. She suggested Masuya Japanese as she really enjoyed the food on her previous visit so Masuya it was. I've heard a lot about this place and their amazing seafood, especially their sashimi. I, however, do not like raw seafood but there were a few other things I wanted to try.

 

Located towards Wynyard, the area is awfully quite on weekends. I'm so use to the busy work crowds that line the street on weekdays, that I got an initial shock at the lack of people.

 

We booked a few weeks ahead and there were two evening sessions on offer. It was either 6pm-8pm or 8pm - 10pm, we chose the former. A packed restaurant upon arriving at 6pm, and we couldn't help notice that the restaurant was full of Asians, predominately, Chinese. It's not the casual Japanese style of dining but more upmarket with higher prices to match.

  

Their special spin on the 'Lemon Lime Bitters Royal Mocktail ($6.80)' is refreshing with fresh Thai lime, fresh lemon, bitters and Sprite. 'Marco Polo Mocktail ($6.80)' is comforting and soothing for a hot day, filled with raspberries.

 

I'm a big fan of Japanese tempura. In general, the batter is very airy and light. Just absolutely divine. We order an entrée  of 'Tempura Seafood ($14.80)' which I think is delicious. An assortment of seafood and vegetables including two prawns, seafood stick, fish and an onion. I don't know what the onion was doing there but this dish was definitely my favourite regardless.

 

'Salmon Caparccio ($14.80)' is shared by my two best friends. They love their raw fish and usually get the raw salmon, but decide to try something different on this occasion. Thinly sliced salmon topped with salted konbu, dashi ponzu and lime juice. These two enjoyed it so much they saved a piece for me and forced to me eat it. I couldn't stomach it very well unfortunately.

 

'Wagyu Beef Teriyaki ($34.80)' is a 230 gram piece of sirloin steak that has been pan-fried and topped with vegetables, mashed potato and teriyaki sauce. The menu says it has a marble score of 7 which I can't really distinguish between a normal steak and the expensive cut. We opt for it to be cooked medium, but usually it is had as medium-rare. I didn't mind this but I couldn't find anything special about it.

 

'Tonkatsu Pork Loin ($20.80)' was surprisingly good. A special kind of pork called Kurobuta was used, fried to a crispy, golden exterior and served with mashed potato and Tonkatsu sauce. The pork was still so succulent and moist. Yum!

 

 

Had a great dinner despite some minor negatives but will definitely be back to try some other dishes and that steamboat I saw on a few tables. If you're a sushi or raw fish lover, then this is definitely the place for you. Fresh, fresh and fresh. The 'Boats' looked absolutely amazing.

Where?
Basement Level,
12-14 O'Connell St.
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Phone no: 02 9235 2717

Opening Hours
Lunch: Mon - Fri 12:00 - 14:30
Dinner: Mon - Sat 18:00 - 22:00

Website
http://www.masuyainternational.com.au/'
 

Petaling St Malaysian Hawker Food - Haymarket - Sydney, Australia.

Petaling St Malaysian Hawker Food

I’m a big fan of Malaysian cuisine as I love how the food is not only tasty, wonderfully flavoured and extremely easy to eat, but there is just an endless choice to choose from. 

Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food Restaurant is located on busy George St in Haymarket, the fourth branch, with this being the first in Sydney and the rest located in Melbourne. Petaling Street is a famous street in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, well known for the abundance of restaurants specialising in hawker-style food and that is where this restaurant gets part of its name from. My friend C from Penang is a big fan of this place, choosing to dine here anytime she finds a chance to as it reminds her of the food she gets back home.

The food here is the real deal. You’re getting authentic Malaysian dishes at reasonably cheap prices. Please note their portion sizes are much larger than average so do not over order like we did. The good thing about this restaurant is you don’t have to queue as they've got plenty of seating inside. If there is a queue, the wait time is not long, but I've never have had to queue here.

Their menu is spread over two huge A3 sheets of paper and there are even additional sheets containing specials! The options seem endless. From the popular Malaysian dishes such as the Hainan chicken, satay chicken, bak kut teh to more adventurous dishes such as Marmite ribs. We tend to order food that we have tried before and on this occasion it was no exception.

‘Satay Chicken Sticks’ is grilled. Not sure what cooking technique they used here but unable to see or smell any char. 

'Roti Canai Chicken' was spot on. Superb buttery roti was absolutely scrumptious with the chicken curry. One of my favourites for the night.

‘Roast Chicken Rice’ is a winner. My favourite of all and the item I tend to order when I come here. The skin has been roasted to perfection giving it a crispy skin and tender, juicy meat within.  The rice here is not soft like it usually is but has a crispier texture from the garlic bits. Soup has a nice chicken flavour.  Not bad but not the best either. I liked how they served the traditional chilli and ginger sauce on the side.

The ‘Hainan Chicken Rice’ is the most anticipated but is unfortunately a letdown. Everyone is scared off by the pinkness of the chicken meat fearing it may be undercooked. It barely gets eaten. 

‘Mee Goreng’ is nice but not as good as the version at Mamak. To me it lacks that flavour hit. Shockingly, Tutor Girl has never tried this before and prefers the packaged Mee Goreng in instant noodle form.

The ‘Nasi Goreng’ is basically fried rice with the addition of sambal. At this point we’re just too full. I forced myself to try this for the sake of it. Nothing special as it lacked the flavour hit once again.

Various drinks including 'Iced Lemon Tea', 'Ribena with Lemonade' and 'Coke with Lemon'.

The food is good here with some dishes being better than others. Rather than having to travel all the way to Malaysia, you can have it here, though it may not be as cheap or great as the actual fare in Malaysia. We all enjoyed the dinner but might have been too full to fully savour the taste of each dish and the added heat from outside usually deters one from eating too much.

Where?
760 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Phone no: 02 9280 1006

Opening Hours
7 Days a Week
11am - Late

Website
http://www.petalingst.com.au/

Noodle Town - Hurstville - Sydney, Australia.

Noodle Town

 

This restaurant has been open for many years. I've walked past on it on many occasions, regularly stopping at this station on my way home. It is located within Hurstville Central Shopping Centre, which houses Hurstville train station. Finding any information on this restaurant on Google has been a major struggle as there is basically nothing on it, hence my delay in going to the place.

 

As their name suggests, they specialise in noodles but also have a range of other Chinese Cantonese dishes and options such as dumplings, rice, wonton and spicy duck. Most customers order from the bain-marie as they have specials, but the prices are very reasonable for other dishes which are made to order.

 

The interior is a classic example of what you can find in China. From the wooden furniture to the decorations, it feels like you're in a restaurant in China. The cuisine here appears to be Sichuan influenced, an area known to use spicy sauce in nearly everything. The most popular dish here is the 'Braised Beef Noodle Soup ($8.50)'.

 

 

The 'Dan Dan Noodle ($7.50)' is not like the one you would find at places like Din Tai Fung. Huge portion of noodles which have a nice bite to it, topped with minced pork, bok choy, preserved vegetables (mustard stems) and the essential chilli oil sauce. Absolutely delicious and the stock is just so flavoursome. Reminded me of the noodles I had in Taiwan as they also use a lot of preserved vegetables in their noodles.

 

The 'Pork with Preserved Cabbage and Bamboo Noodle Soup ($7.95)' is very similar in flavour to the above except there is the addition of shredded pork instead of the minced, and extra preserved vegetables. Both are equally as good.

 

For those chilli lovers, there are also little containers of chill if you want to add extra. Look at those chilli seeds!

They use different seasonings for their dishes and it is different to the Chinese food I am use to having. The pictures don't do the noodles any justice. It looks rather unappealing but is packed with flavour and oh so cheap.

Will return to try other items on the menu next time.

Where?
Shop 20B, 225H Forest Rd,
Hurstville NSW 2220
Australia

Opening Hours

Monday	9:00am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9:00am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9:00am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9:00am - 9:00pm
Friday	9:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday	9:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday	10:00am - 4:00pm
Public Holidays	10:00am - 4:00pm

Website
http://hurstvillecentral.com.au/

MillioRe Korean Fusion Restaurant - Haymarket - Sydney, Australia.

MillioRe Korean Fusion Restaurant

 

It was the final exam for the semester and we were supposed to go Chat Thai to celebrate the end of exams as a group. One that night however, it was raining so heavily, so we decided to cancel the dinner for another day. My Malaysian friend C and I were hungry nonetheless, so we went to have dinner regardless. The queue for Chat Thai was shocking. More than 10 ten groups of varying sizes had their names on the list so we opted to go across the road to try something else. 

C loves Malaysian food as she originally from Penang, Malaysia. We usually go to ‘Petaling St Malaysian Restaurant’ as it is one of her favourite places. We were so close in going there again but since we were close to Capitol Theatre we went there instead. 

The first restaurant that captured our attention was ‘MillioRe Korean Fusion Restaurant’, bustling with young Koreans and families. Loved how they had Korean drama on the TV’s. For those who know me well, I’m a big fan of Korean drama.

 

There are many items on the menu, I emphasise many here. I don’t tend to eat Korean food as I prefer to have Japanese food but I'm starting to like Korean food much more. They have the traditional Korean dishes from rice bowls to hot pot. But one thing they don’t have here is fried chicken. 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I particularly love about Korean food is the side dishes they bring out also called Banchan which means 'side dish'. No matter what you order or how much you order, they always give you side dishes. Even though I haven’t been to many Korean restaurants, this place definitely servers a cracker of side dishes. My favourites were the green vegetables coated with sesame oil and the kimchi. Polished it all off.

 

The ‘Soft Tofu Stew ($11.00)’ comes with a bowl of fluffy rice. The soup was bubbling away in the hot bowl as the waiter brought it out and from the picture you can see all the steam evaporating and blurring my phone camera! Perfect comfort food for cold and rainy days like these.

 

 

The ‘Prawn Rice Bowl ($15.00)’ comes out looking too good to eat. Sitting within a hot plated bowl, there are a number of ingredients including rice, mushrooms,  beansprouts, carrot, cucumber, prawns and egg. This is all mixed together with the side of chilli sauce. Very yummy and similar to making your own fried rice. A bit unadventurous but the important thing was it tasted delicious.

Honest home style cooking as you can taste the authentic flavours of their dishes. For those who want to try Korean beer or soju, it is priced reasonably well here.

Really enjoyed the food that we had and would definitely come back to try some other things. Cheap prices for  great quality food. Definitely one of the best Korean restaurants I've been to in the City.

Where?
Shop G10,
730-742 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Phone no: 02 9212 2828

Opening Hours
Sunday - Thursday: 10:00 am - 1:00 a.m.
Friday - Saturday: 10:00 am - 2:30 a.m.

Website
http://www.capitolsquare.com.au/food-beverage/milliore_korean_fusion_restaurant.php

 

Taste of the Country - Hunter Valley Gardens Village - Pokolbin, Australia.

Taste of the Country

 

A wedding in the Hunter Valley!?! I hear the sounds of great wine and delicious desserts. Couldn't contain my excitement as this was my first time to the Hunter Valley.

A good high school friend of ours got married in the Hunter Valley and  the ceremony was held at the Hunter Valley Gardens Chapel within the Mercure Resort. The couple looked so happy and it was such a sweet ceremony.

After the ceremony at the Chapel, we were all so hungry, especially me on a empty stomach, so we thought it was best to just stay within the village and have something there. A number of options were on offer within the village but the word 'country' in 'Taste of the Country' captured our attention. I was expecting home-style food packed with flavour.

 

Once you walk in, you can't help but notice the number of clocks on one side of the wall. The interior and pastel blue walls reminded me of being at home.

An extensive menu and an all day breakfast menu is available.

The 'Banana Pancakes ($16.00)' were much smaller than anticipated. A stack of pancakes, more like pikelets, were served as a stack and topped with banana, strawberries and maple syrup with a side of cream. Unfortunately, the pancakes were dense and not fluffy like how they should be. Nevertheless, I was still hungry so finished it all.

 

The 'Beef Burger ($16.00)' was huge. A large party of beef mince enclosed in Turkish bread together with beetroot, tomato, lettuce, onion and cheese. JJ struggled to eat it, cutting it up into four messy portions. She found it mediocre and it actually looked better than how it tasted. The addition of shallots was odd.

The 'Fruit and Nut Delight ($11.00)' was the best value of the lot. A heap of banana and strawberries on top of a toasted fruit bread and then drizzled with maple syrup. Lulu found it nice at first but then it became sickening and a bit too much for her.

'Large Soya Latte ($5.50)' came with a Tiny Teddy. Liked this little addition.

 

Service was decent and wait time for the food wasn't too long as we did go during non-peak lunch hour. Was expecting better for a first lunch in the Hunter Valley but this turned out to be quite disappointing. An average lunch overall but had a great time catching up with my lovely friends.

Where?
Shop 11, Hunter Valley Gardens,
Broke Rd,
Pokolbin NSW 2320
Australia

Phone no: 02 49986605

Opening Hours

Monday - Thursday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Friday - Sunday: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Website
http://www.tasteofthecountry.com.au