Category: 001. Restaurant Reviews

A Weekend of Happy Returns

What are long weekends all about? Chilling out and eating! And boy did I eat and eat this weekend!

Hong Kong Kitchen– Sydney CBD (Thursday dinner)

It all started as soon as I downed tools for the long-weekend (taking Friday off to make it a super long weekend!). I was catching up with my folks, so considering that they were from the ‘old country’ and hadn’t tried Hong Kong Kitchen before – I thought it would be a nice treat to take them to an authentic Hong Kong Char Chaan Teng. I didn’t need to study the menu as I already knew what I wanted, I naturally went with my fave – the Baked Pork Chop Rice with a cup of hot Góngsīk náaihchà to warm-up my freezing bones. My dad had the baked fish pasta dish, while my mum ordered the Corn and Chicken Rice. I think they were pleased with their Chinese-Western style dishes, while my pork chop was an inch thick, but yet so tender! And being covered in melt-y cheese and tomato sauce…..come to think of it, it actually reminds me of the good old Chicken Parmigiana. Needless to say I went home very satisfied- while my parents kicked on to check-out Vivid on their own.

Belles Hot Chicken– Haymarket (Saturday lunch)

And after some retail therapy on the Saturday morning (basically getting warmer clothing to ward off the cold) we finally got a chance to head back to Belles Hot! I had been craving chicken and waffles for weeks and weeks now, so it was a no-brainer that I elected the 3 pieces of chicken drumstick with waffles! But the only thing I had to toss-up between, was the level of heat which I thought I’d be able to tolerate (on a 1-6 scale). And since I’d tried ‘Hot’ (Level 3) and survived, I thought it was time to up the ante- electing ‘Really Hot’ (Level 4), while there were still ‘F-in’ hot’ and ‘Sex Panther’ levels awaiting me if I was man enough. My wife elected Wings and Fries at the ‘Hot’ level and to wash that all down we ordered the Arnold Palmer house drink which was a blend of homemade lemonade and homemade ice tea. Yum!

‘Very hot’ was definitely a level reserved for guys & gals with a good spice tolerance. I knew I was in for a battle when after the first 2 bites my lips started to swell up, my mouth was in physical pain (anywhere the chilli powder/oil had touched), and each of my facial orifices were leaking its respective fluids (not a pretty sight). After drumstick one, even placing the fluffy soft waffle with its moreish sticky syrup into my mouth, caused physical pain on contact. And I love my wife so so much! She offered to swap me one of her Hot wings, for one of my Really Hot drumsticks, to save me from my self-inflicted torture. She said the look on my face, reminded her of the time when I took on the hottest burrito challenge and almost died from it. Haaha.

In the end, we were both suffering with burning mouths. And when we looped back to eat the milder ‘Hot’ wing, in comparison the wings tasted like child’s play! You could almost gift the drumlet to a toddler to teethe on! Haaha. But we survived to eat another meal….. Only a handful of hours afterwards. Hehehe.

Golden Century– Haymarket (Saturday dinner)

As my wife’s uncle from the States was visiting Sydney for the first time – the proper place to dine at was at Chinatown’s best Seafood restaurant- Golden Century! With my folks along for the ride, it was lucky that we had made a table booking for 5, although with the reservation we still had to wait for at least 10 minutes before our table was ready. And as my dad is a planner, he had already devised a list of dishes from studying their online menu, which he dictated to the waitress to take-down.  We had a good variety of meats (pork, duck and chicken), a good selection of veg (broccoli, asparagus, and tofu), and of course seafood (scallops and crab).

After the waitress had taken our orders, the food literally came out faster than we were seen to our table! In less than 10 minutes all 6 dishes were served-up, just as we finished our complementary soups. All of the food were tasty (although a little bit temperature cold), and there was so much food that we each had to take it for the team to clear the plates. The scallops were the highlight for me, they were large and fat, but you could tell that they were originally frozen (Mr. Wong being the Scallop bench-mark where they serve their’s fresh). But on the whole, the food was still a notch above your usual Chinatown Cantonese restaurants – and we liked the complementary desserts, which included fresh fruit, sweet soups, and baked/deep fried goods. And after our dinner together, we headed out to watch the 9pm Darling Harbour fireworks.

Sydney Pork Rolls– Haymarket (Sunday lunch)

As we were planning to have all-you-can-eat hotpot for Sunday dinner, we thought we’d better have a lighter lunch. Our go-to budget light lunch venue is Banh Mis from Sydney Pork Roll on George Street! Their shop has gone through a bit of a refurb, as the service counter is now almost pushed right out onto the street, now like a hole in the wall where you place your orders and watch your banh mi being created from scratch (the ladies asking you if you want chilli in your rolls). The humble pork roll has gone up in price to the round figure of 5 bucks, but where else can you be completely filled for $5? Today we just went with their traditional pork rolls without chilli (still a little traumatised from Belles Hot) and we took these babies back home to have.

We have to admit that the Banh Mis seemed to have less filling within them, compared to their $4.70 days. In the past shallots, coriander and pickled carrots would be falling out of the roll. And the paper-bag in which it came in, would be soggy from all the soya sauce and mayo which would leak out of it. But oddly this time our paper bags were dry and drippings-free. Despite the price hike and seemingly less ingredients, they still hit the spot!

Munich Brauhaus– The Rocks (Sunday Dinner)

After showing our uncle around the city on the ‘I’m Free Walking Tour’ which lasted from 2.30pm to 5pm, the tour finishing up at the Rocks – so it didn’t make any sense to try get back out of Circular Quay with Vivid about to start in a matter of minutes. So we decided to ditch the plans for hotpot back in Chinatown, and we ended up having Bavarian at The Rocks! But I have to admit, I was pretty devastated to find out that the iconic Lowenbrau Keller was gone, taken over by ‘The Bavarian’ chain of restaurants- the Lowenbrau replacement, named Munich Brauhaus. The signs which you could tell that they’re not the same, is when you hear the staffs’ Aussie accents and the music they played was just popular pop-music. But we tried not to let these changes dampen our night, so best way to combat disappointment was with a platter consisting of 5 different ways to consume pork (sausages; slow-cooked with crackling; the whole knuckle; braised with smoky sauce; and inside a fluffy Chinese Bao). And for good measure we ordered sides of sauerkraut and red cabbage, and as starters we had a soft pretzel each.

The food was soo good! The pretzel hit the spot after an afternoon of walking and building up a healthy appetite- the pretzel was quite salty from the large grains of salt and the salty melted butter. And the pork in all its forms were tasty! The star being the pork belly bao, while I’m sure the table next to us were able to hear us crunch into the pork crackling from the slow cooked pork belly.

The set menu for 3 was so large that we didn’t even attempt to tuck into the star of the platter, the pork knuckle, which was larger than my fist. In the end we had to doggy bag the pounds of meat, hopefully the once crunchy crackling wouldn’t be too disappointing after a night of refrigeration and microwave-ation. And when we were done, we shuffled our way along Circular Quay, following the seemingly hundreds of thousands of people who had also elected this night to check-out Vivid.

Now that’s some crazy 72 hours of eating! Now what I have to look forward to, is to squeeze back into my work pants on Tuesday morning. *Cries into hands*. But that’s a true ‘Weekend of Happy Returns’!

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Yubisu Bar & Grill- Haymarket

Best lunch sets in the city? Really? Really really?

Ok, here are the five reasons why I think we’ve never previously stumbled upon Yubisu Bar & Grill before, located on Dixon street in between Hay and Goulburn streets:

One. Obstacles & Crowds– due to the various obstacles and crowds along this stretch of Dixon, by percentages we are less likely to walk along this stretch as we want to get from point A to B as quickly as possible, so we usually avoid this part of Chinatown.

Two. Familiarity/unfamiliarity– Because lower Dixon is the heart of old Chinatown, we presume we know what is along this stretch so we’re not looking out for anything new popping up, but now that we’re looking out for stuff we’re realising we’re actually not that familiar with the shops that line this part of Dixon.  

Three. Nothing good is along this stretch of Dixon– This part of Dixon is known for random clothing stores and touristy stores, but not known for trendy restaurants in the past 5 years, at least we haven’t dined at any of these restaurants in between Hay and Goulburn.

Four. Width– Because Dixon Street is relatively wide we usually walk along the centre of the pedestrian mall, so with the obstacles along Dixon street, you don’t actually see much of the shopfronts.

Five. Keep left– But if we ever do walk along one side of Dixon, we would usually keep left while walking towards Hay street, so we would rarely see the shops along the left hand side when walking towards Goulburn street so the odds are against us walking by Yubisu Bar & Grill (as after the slow passage down, we would usually use another route to get home).

So for these reasons, on this Sunday afternoon we noticed Yubisu Bar & Grill for the first time; as we were studying every stores’ signage as we walked, as we still hadn’t made up our minds what we wanted for lunch after finding Gumshara packed out as usual.

**Note: Earlier this very morning I was telling my wife about Yakiniku (Japanese grilled meats), so when we saw a Japanese restaurant with the words ‘Grill’ in its name, we naturally went in to check-it-out.

Yubisu Bar & Grill is a restaurant located on the second floor, but once you enter the unmanned ground floor foyer you already know that there’s something special about this place! As echoing around the foyer was trendy jazzy music, and as you checked out the list of lunch specials and followed the music up the stairs, I felt I was being lured by the Pied Piper led along by my sense of smell and sound!

After a short wait we were seen to our table, two thick menu folders were placed before us and ordering was done through the iPad which was balancing on our table.

As we were lured in by their Lunch Sets, we focused most of our attention on that section and I settled on the Sunday Lunch Special- Japanese Curry Rice Lunch Set ($18.00, normally $22.50), while my wife settled on the BBQ Pork Belly lunch set ($19.50).

And as we waited for our orders to be processed, we checked out the restaurant. On one wall was a mural of Mount Fuji, and on the ceiling were cartoon-y prints of cherry-blossoms. And their chairs! OMG! It had to be the most comfortable restaurant chair I’ve sat in, in a long time! It had padded armrests at the perfect height, and the back support was equally perfect! Like it was custom designed for me! A 5 foot Asian male! Ahhhhhhh! 

On paper the Lunch Sets seemed a little pricy, but considering that you get everything you need in that single order i.e. main, sides, a drink, and dessert! It’s actually quite reasonably priced, as there is no need to fork-out any more cash. Hmmmm, maybe that’s the definition of a Lunch Set? *Shrugs*.

My lunch set – Japanese Curry (with Crispy Chicken Katsu) came in two halves. On one tray was a stone sizzling bowl containing my rice, curry and actually two types of fried meats (chicken and beef). The curry was what you’d expect from Japanese curry, and having it served in stone guaranteed that right to the last bite 45 minutes later, the food was still just as hot as the first bite! Mmmmmmm.

On the other tray was the sides (green salad, miso soup, Agedashi (fried tofu), green tea Tiramisu, and a choice of hot or cold green tea (which came in advance of your meal)). I powered through my hot meal first before digging into the tofu; and rounded out the meal with the dessert! And I was so full and it was very satisfying – meeting every need in the Maslow dining pyramid of needs (if there isn’t one, Maslow should have developed one!).

My wife’s lunch set was the BBQ Pork Belly. The pork were thinly sliced (like what you’d usually get on top of a bowl of ramen), but this was cooked over a charcoal grill so it was smoky in flavour. But unfortunately the meat was a little tough, so it was hard to tear the pieces of meat into smaller, more easy to consume pieces. So you end up pushing the entire piece of meat into your mouth at one go, which for a lady it was a bit un-lady like. Hey! I did it as well when I tried a piece, needing to cover my mouth with the napkin as I slowly chewed my way through the meat. So it was a little bit uncomfortable for both genders of diners to eat.

Our end verdict, 4.5 Stars from 5! (2.5 from 3 for Food (I was pleased with each element of my lunch set, and although the grilled meat was a bit difficult to eat- but it still had all the right flavours!); 0.5 from 0.5 for Service (like all Japanese restaurants, the service was flawless); 0.5 from 0.5 for Atmosphere (the look and feel of the restaurant was high-class, considering it was located in the oldest part of Chinatown- where most of the stores are a little run-down. And their mood music? It set a trendy cool vibe….. Dare I say…..it felt like Melbourne?); and 1 from 1 for Value for Money (Under 40 bucks for 2 people, where you got everything you could possibly ask for in a meal? That’s a bargain!)).

In conclusion, we were pleasantly surprised to find a trendy and quality Japanese restaurant here on lower Dixon, just when we least expected it! #Expect the unexpected! And these days in the competitive lunch specials market, where all restaurants want your lunch dollars – I think we’ve just found our go-to restaurant when we’re looking for a quality and affordable lunch set meal! #Blessed!

Yubisu Bar & Grill- Sunday 2 June (4.5 Stars)

ENGLISH

PH: (02) 8880 5536

55 Dixon Street, Haymarket

Mon-Wed 12 noon – 4pm, 5.30pm – 11pm

Thurs-Fri 12 noon – 4pm, 5.30pm – 12 midnight

Sat 12 noon – 12 midnight

Sun 12 noon – 11pm

Booking is advisable.

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Nan Yang Tea Club- Haymarket

More like Nan Yang Soup Club…….

It had been a while since I last perused the ‘New’ restaurant collection in Zomato, but scrolling down the list the other day I noticed that Yoomi, GoGo Music café, and Nan Yang Tea Club were the latest new openings in da-city. So after checking Koomi off the list and after going for a stroll around Darling Harbour, we returned back to Chinatown and Market City’s 1909 dining precinct for a late-ish lunch.

Somehow I got it into my mind that Nan Yang Tea Club was a Singaporean restaurant? *Shrug*. So I was uber confused when fact-checking for this write-up, I read that Market City’s own web-site had described Nan Yang’s as a traditional Malaysian restaurant? Official retraction: “Sorry babe for misleading you, as all day long I had sold it to you as Singaporean”. *Hangs head in shame *……… (End apology). If I knew sooner, we probably wouldn’t have come here, as we only had Malaysian last week at Mamak! But double checking where I was led to believe that they’re serving up Singaporean food, I tracked down the Zomato reviewer who had described it as a Singaporean restaurant (when Zomato labelled it as ‘Asian fusion’). Goes to show, you just can’t trust bloggers……… But hey? Maybe calling Singaporean food “Malaysian cuisine” was ok? As it’s interchangeable? *Shrug*.

But when we sat down (thinking it was a Singaporean restaurant), we were pretty impressed by the store’s authentic décor- the seats were these short rotund porcelain stools, the tables were marble-topped, nice wooden floorboards, and the general vibe was  authentic right down to the Singaporean rickshaw (or was it Malaysian? *shrugs*).

And after browsing their menu, we elected their signature dish- Bak Kut Teh ($12.90); a serving of Hainanese chicken rice ($14.90); and a serving of Wat Tan Hor with seafood ($14.90).

We forgot though to check if they actually served a vast choice of teas, being a tea club and all…… But we had skipped over the drinks list as we had already had our beverage for the day, courtesy of Koomi.

The first dish to arrive was the Bak Kut Teh (a broth with baby-back pork ribs – we ladled the soup into our cute little bowls with equally cute little soup spoons, drizzling the accompanying sauce and raw garlic pieces into our bowls for added flavour. Yum! The broth was rich in flavour, with hints of ginger and chilli, and when you got a piece of raw garlic, you definitely were reminded that ‘we don’t usually eat raw garlic’, but perhaps we should, as it was a burst of flavour! I didn’t really know what to expect from this soup, but the baby-back ribs actually reminded me of how my mum makes soup. The pork had been broiled in the soup for many hours, so that the meat fell off the bone when you picked at it. Yum!

The next dish to be served up was the Hainanese chicken rice, some say the telltale of a good South-east Asian restaurant is by the quality of its Hainanese chicken rice dish. As it’s simple, but so classical that it’s hard to hide if you’re serving up a sub-standard version of this classic! And we can see why Nan Yang’s is considered a Fusion restaurant, as the rice was served up in a unique way. Arancini balls anyone? The size and shape of each rice ball (5 in total) were perfect! So you could easily pick them up using your chop-sticks, fitting perfectly into your petite rice bowl, looking like you’d just got a perfectly sized serving of rice right from the kitchen! The rice on its own was flavoursome enough (rice cooked in chicken stock), so much so that I had my third and last ball plain, it was that tasty! And the boiled chicken was perfectly tender, rubbing the ginger/garlic sauce and chilli relish into the white cut chicken pieces- you could add a little or a lot to appease your taste. Mmmmmm. For this dish on its own, we score it 5/5 Stars! And it was served with a small bowl of chicken broth with goji berries. #Healthy!

Our last dish to make its way onto our table was the Wat Tan Hor with seafood (the dishes actually came out in well-spaced out intervals – felt like different courses). By this stage my wife was already raising the white flag admitting defeat, as she was already full from the first 2 dishes. And all of the dishes at Nan Yang’s were quite large in size, considering that they gave off the vibe of being one of those restaurants which placed high prices on meagre portions. But looks were deceiving, as all of their dishes were reasonably priced and serving sizes which resembled dining-out back in the early 00s before eating out became ex-y. So as we scooped the thick flat noodles into our bowls, sharing the seafood equally amongst ourselves (a mussel, 2 prawns, and 3 pieces of cuttlefish each), we ladled the sauce (it was more like a clear soup) over the contents of each bowl to top it off. The dish was unfortunately only so so, the noodles were kind of bland; it did have a smoky flavour from being wok fried, however it lacked the hit of spices which you’d get from “Malaysian” food (as I was still of the belief that I was at a Singaporean restaurant). And at this exact moment, I was lecturing my wife in my epiphany in the difference between Malaysian and Singaporean food i.e. Singaporean food was more like Cantonese food due to the Chinese influences on the peninsular. And I rested my case, when I pointed out that the Nan Jang menu didn’t have any curry options, because this wasn’t Malaysian food!  It was Singaporean food of course! I would have sat back, triumphant in the fact that we had just had our very first dining experience at a Singaporean restaurant! But of course I didn’t…… because my stool had no back (at that point I was completely convinced that it was different from Malaysian restaurants). But I feel all silly now, now knowing that Nan Yang is just another Malaysian restaurant! Sooo embarrassed!

But back to the food…… We tried our best to finish everything that was placed before us. We managed to finish the Hainanese chicken, we picked out all the seafood and veg from amongst the Hor, but we did leave a large portion of the actual noodles behind. My wife said she was so full that I had to roll her out of the restaurant, like one of the porcelain stools when placed on its rotund rolly side.

Our end verdict! 4.0 Stars from 5! (2 from 3 for Food (as the food was really good, but the flavours were  subtle, so a little unremarkable when you reflect back); 0.5 from 0.5 for Service (as all of the staff were polite, efficient and softly spoken); 0.5 from 0.5 for Atmosphere (although they didn’t have any music playing, but the look and feel of the restaurant was something else!); and 1 from 1 for Value for money (the servings were large and priced a few bucks under what you’d usually pay for, so that’s VfM in my eyes!)).

In the end, Malaysian or Singaporean, it felt like a real authentic experience! And it was a surprise to find something this affordable in the swanky 1909 Dining precinct. I’m yet to see the connection between the name ‘Tea club’ to the actual concept in the store, but with 2 dishes served with an intended soup, and another with an unintended soupy sauce- we didn’t dine at a tea club today in my opinion, but we had an enjoyable meal at a soup club! I feel 5% healthier for it! “Mum! I got my Tong Sui today!”

Nan Yang Tea Club- Saturday 1 June (4.0 Stars).

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Asian-Fusion-Restaurant/Nan-Yang-Tea-Club-178355873042555/

PH: (00) 9123 4567

Shop 3, 1909 Dining Precinct, Market City, 9-13 Hay Street, Haymarket

Fri-Wed 10am – 7pm

Thurs 10am – 8pm

Bookings are advised

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Sweet things- Red Ninja Dragon Fruit Yoghurt- Koomi

404 Sussex Street, Haymarket

Being a sucker for all that is new, we found ourselves squished into a tiny multi-purpose store on Sussex Street placing an order for a Red Ninja Dragon Fruit Yoghurt (Asian smoothie) ($6.80). And found ourselves slowly browsing unpriced Asian cosmetics, as we waited for our order to be called.

When our drink was ready, we brandished our new re-useable stainless steel bubble tea drinking straw and pierced the seal and took our first sip of another copy-cat yoghurt drink place, all wanting to capitalise on Yomie’s drinking yoghurt successes.

Squinty faced emoji!

It’s watery (runny), not like a proper smoothie you’d get from smoothie giants Boost.

And the dragon fruit flavour was doing a great job of hiding, just like ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’!

And what you mainly got through your disposable (or re-usable eco-friendly) straw was masticated bits of banana, and the associated furriness which accompanies accidental inclusion of banana peel into your diet.

The drink wasn’t sweet, but sour (should rename this seg ‘Sour Things are Made of These’), due to the Yakult flavoured yoghurt water.

Our end verdict, I guess it’s thumbs up if this drink was the intended outcome, as they’ve created a drink which is entirely unique to them! God help us though, if they were actually trying to replicate a Yomie rice yoghurt, or a Boost juice like smoothie. *Holds face in hands*.  But is it a product which is commercially viable? I don’t think so. It could pass as an interesting drink if put together at home for friends, but probably not as a product you’d sell on the streets of Sydney.

If you wanna try this? I’d probably suggest you get on down here quick smart, as I can’t see them staying in business for much longer. R.I.P Koomi.  

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Mamak- Haymarket

Long live Mamak!

This morning we were rushing around, trying to get all of our Saturday chores done before we could allow ourselves to be first in-line at Mamak Haymarket at 11:20am. But everything took longer than expected, and we only managed to arrive at Mamak at 11:40am! Noooo!

But there were no lines in sight, and we were immediately shown to seats – even allowing us to sit at a table for four, when it was just the two of us. That’s a change! In the past the only way you could avoid the crowds, was to line-up even before they threw open their doors for that day’s trade.

Scanning over their relatively limited menu, we ordered the Teh Tarik (warm sweetened milk tea) – $4.50; Sambal Sotong (stir fried cuttlefish in sambal sauce) – $20.00; Nasi Goreng (mixed fried rice) – $15.00; and 2 pieces of the Ayam Goreng (fried chicken) – $4.50 per piece.

Seated beside the kitchen we were able to listen-in to the pop playlist which the kitchen staff had playing for their own enjoyment (no music was playing in the rest of the store). And the wait staff and kitchen staff sounded like they were all enjoying their slow morning, laughing and joking – seemingly not concerned that trade wasn’t as bustling as it used to be. And after we had placed our orders,  only one other party of four rocked-up after us.

When the food arrived, they all came in a hurry, one after another they were placed on our table. The first to be served-up was the warm sweetened milk tea, under the layer of froth was a very sweet and strong tasting condensed milk tea! Yum!

Next to touch down was the Sambal cuttlefish, but we waited for the rice to arrive before tucking in. The cuttlefish wasn’t as melt-in-the-mouth as we’d like it to be, but the sambal sauce was tasty. It was nose-runningly spicy, but tolerable, as the sauce had a sweetness to it – methinks palm seed sugar was an ingredient?

The Nasi Goreng was ok, a little non-descript, with once frozen peas and carrots mixed in with the diced-up pieces of prawn. But it served its purpose, in absorbing up the excess sambal sauces from the cuttlefish dish.   

While we had been craving Mamak’s fried chicken for a long time (our go-to-dish each time we eat here), unfortunately today’s serving was only so-so. I had the drumstick, which was jumbo sized, with a crunchy fried battered exterior, and with a tender well-cooked interior (which had been lightly marinated). However my wife’s breast piece was dry and over-cooked.

We had planned to also order the dessert Roti at the end of our meal (deep fried roti served with ice cream), but unfortunately we were too full to try their sugary treats in the end.

Our end verdict, 3.5 Stars from 5 (2.5 from 3 for Food (the food was good, but it wasn’t amazing, nothing to write home about); 0.5 from 0.5 for Service (all the staff were polite and friendly); 0 from 0.5 for Atmosphere (if you sat further away from the kitchen, there wasn’t any music to add to the store’s atmosphere); and 0.5 from 1 for Value for Money (Mamak’s prices are pretty standard for the city, not a bargain while not being too steep either- $49 for two)).

We hadn’t been back to Mamak in a number of years now, as we had spent much of our allotted Malaysian dine-out budget on Pappa Rich- but now that all the notable Malaysian restaurants in the city have closed down (Chintoria, Hawker, Pappa Rich, and most recently Petaling St), all we have now is Mamak. It’s good for us (and seemingly good for the hired hand) that Mamak isn’t as crazy busy as it used to be, as it means we can be walk-ups and everyone can enjoy themselves over a more laid-back meal. But fingers crossed that they’re turning over the tables frequent enough to pay their staff and all their overheads. Long live Mamak!

Mamak- Saturday 25 May (3.5 Stars)

https://www.facebook.com/MamakHaymarket/

PH: (02) 9211 1668

15 Goulburn Street, Haymarket

Mon-Fri 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 10pm

Sat-Sun 11.30am – 2am    

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Ippudo- Sydney CBD

Never a slow moment at Ippudo Sydney!

Thinking that we’d avoid the crowds at Sydney Westfield’s Ippudo, we rocked up at 2.30pm to find that there was still a line-up to dine in! What the?

But it was a fast moving line, so by the time we had decided what we wanted to order (studying their online menu on the phone) it was our turn to be seated. When we headed into the dining area, we were a little taken aback by the seating arrangements- it was like going away with a bunch of friends- needing to share a bedroom with another couple? But on this occasion, we had to share a kidney shaped table with a party of 4. When taking our seats, I was tempted to ask the table “Hey? What are we all having?” But obviously I just internalised this, as I’m not that charismatic! Hehehe.

We ordered from the Ramen section of the menu; my wife ordered the Shiromaru Motoaji- Tonkutsu broth with thin noodles, and pork loin chashu ($16 +$2 for an extra boiled egg); I had the Tori Shoyu- Clear chicken broth, with medium wavy noodles and seasoned chicken breast chashu ($16 +$2 for an extra boiled egg); and a Grape Soda with tapioca to share ($7).

Taking in the store’s ambiance, it’s all pretty chic, with a wavy bamboo ceiling and black tiled floors. And in addition to the large share tables, there’s solo study-nook dining tables, and some comfy couch seating against the walls. Just to try another style of seating alone, I’m tempted to come back here! Also there were other segments of the menu we’d like to try at a future visit (sushi, rice bowls, and bao).

And soon our Grape soda arrived – not only was the soda grape-flavoured, but so were the tapioca pearls! It tasted a bit too bubble-gummy at first, but you get use to the flavour after a while.

And after the initial group of 4 left our table, our ramens arrived!

The bowls were modern (like a blossoming trumpet flower); my noodles were nice and thick, wavy like the ceiling; the toppings were all fresh (bamboo, shallots and seaweed); the chicken was thick-sliced and cooked just right; while the broth was a little salty, but nothing a bit of complementary water and grape juice couldn’t dilute. And the star of my dish was the $2 boiled egg! I think the egg was poached in a flavoured broth, so the entire egg right down to the yoke was flavourful! Yum!

My wife’s ramen was the thinner noodle but chewier than mine; instead of chicken she had thin slices of pork, but more substantial than your run-of-the-mill ramen pork slices; and her toppings included slithers of sliced black fungus which added texture. The highlight for her was the pork as it was meaty, without the usual rim of fat.

And when we were part way through our noodles (after 3pm by now), another party of 4 took up the vacated seats on our table and started to peruse the menu. After they made their orders I was tempted to ask them “Hey, do you want to split the bill 6 ways?” But seeing that they each ordered drinks, we would probably lose out on this divisible……So I kept my noodle-ly mouth shut.

In the end, the food was good, can’t fault it at all! But it was the unique seating arrangement which stood out for me.

End verdict, 4.5 Stars from 5! (3 from 3 for Food (Not the best ramen we’ve ever had (in Ramen Vs Ramen- Yasaka Ramen is still No. 1 in our books) but as stand-alone dishes, we couldn’t fault it); 0.5 from 0.5 for Service (we had an entire team of waitresses serve us, who were all polite and efficient); 0.5 from 0.5 for Atmosphere (sharing a table was actually novel, rather than a knock on the experience); and 0.5 from 1 for Value for Money ($43 for 2 is a little steep, but after our meal last week at Mr. Wong’s $43 seems like a bargain in comparison)).

And when we left at almost half past 3, the restaurant was still at 75% capacity and with the early dinner crowd only minutes away, it does look like Sydney’s branch of Ippudo never has a slow moment! We will be back, to try the other segments of their menu, and their other seating arrangements!  

Ippudo- Saturday 18 May (4.5 Stars)

http://ippudo.com.au/

PH: (02) 8078 7020

Shop 5021, Level 5 Sydney Westfield’s, 188 Pitt Street, Sydney

Mon-Wed 11am – 10pm

Thurs-Sat 11am – 11pm

Sun 11am – 9pm

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