In the Mood for Thai, Paramatta

Paramatta is not a suburb on my go-to list unless the reason of visit is to eat! I was on the hunt to try out Temasek for a long time now and we decided to visit the place a day after boxing day and foolish us, we didn't check weather they open or not and unfortunately they don't!

Bebski, Mr.P and I were starving and so we just entered any restaurant we can see nearby. Luckily, we found this thai place on the corner and they were swarmed with people having lunch and the smell of the stir fries and the burnt smoky wok lure us straight in.

We looked through the lunch menu and we made up or mind what to order.

For me going to Thai restaurant, it will always be either pad thai, pad see ew or anything with pork belly in it. Unfortunately they don't serve crispy pork belly here and so I got the Hokkien Noodle in Oyster sauce. The noodle still has its chewiness and the oyster sauce along with the sweet soy sauce covered the noodle nicely. The chicken was well marinated and not to mention the portion was humongous!

Chicken Hokkien Noodle $9.90

 Bebski and his Satay sauce stir fry! He got the chicken in satay sauce stir fry which also came with a pile of veggies! He was starving and basically got no choice so he gulp everything off the plate ...

Chicken in Satay sauce $9.90

 Mr.P got the green curry with chicken that also comes with steamed rice. I thought that the curry was prettu mild and that it needs more punchy curry note in it :)

Green Curry Chicken $9.90

The foods was alright, not bad for a quick lunchie... :) Bit disappointed though cause Temasek was closed but it's just gonna be another reason for me to visit Paramatta again ^^

Genki Ramen, Artarmon

This is my first time visiting the suburb of Artarmon. Bebski & I decided to try Genki Ramen as I saw posts from various food bloggers and we were very curious on the curry and the ramen.

The place itself is located near the train station. The area is filled with Japanese goodies from restaurants til Japanese Supermarket. 

For starter, we ordered the Gyoza. The fillings were generous and meaty. Not too oily unlike in other places. The size was pretty big as well.

5 pieces for $6

We decided to order both Ramen and Curry Rice. We got the Tahkana Ramen. Noodle in broth soup with spicy japanese pickles and roast pork. It was not our favourite :( The soup just lacks those rich flavour and the takana was a let down :( This is the first time we didn't finish a ramen!!

Tahkana Ramen $11.50

 For the second dish to share, we ordered the curry rice which consist of Japanese style beef on the rice. This is also our first time having curry with beef slices in it instead of chicken or pork katsu. It was surprisingly delicious!! In my opinion, their curry sauce is one of the best. Every time we went out to eat curry rice, I will end up not finishing the sauce as it was too much, but this time, I can finish the whole thing!!
Highly Recommended!!

Curry Rice $11.50

Next Balance Thai, Balgowlah

Wednesday, 5th Dec 2012

It was one of those days when my bf got a day off and he visited me at work and we had lunch together :) It was always exciting to have someone accompanying you for lunch during working days. I always spent my lunch time in front of my computer watching Kdramas :p 

We went to Stockland Balgowlah and were looking around to find a place to eat. We don't feel like having sushi or sandwich. Then we look at this Thai place called Next balance Thai.

I had the chicken Pad see ew - Thick fried rice noodle with eggs vegetables and sweet soy sauce. It was good especially with the addition of chilli powder. 

Chicken Pad see ew $12.90

 My bf - a guy who can't get through the day without rice :P

Chicken with oyster sauce stir fried $11.90

The restaurant was ok but not great. May be I have to try other dishes..?

Ablaze Grill, Enrertainment Quarter

Went to Fox studio a couple of times for some events or just dinner, and came across Ablaze Bar & Grill that seems nice and very crowded at night. So whose ever birthday is next, we were thinking to give it a try..

Finally, the day has come and it was my boyfriend's 24th :) There were four of us .. my brother, sister, boyfriend and myself. It was a surprised to walk in the restaurant as it was pretty empty.. Well that may also be because it was still 6PM and a Tuesday too ;p

We look up the menu, there were a variety of meat from the 'Grills' menu to choose from and thankfully, there is an option of the 'Mix Grill Platter' where we can taste a bit of everything... We were starving and might as well fill up as it was my bf's treats :)

So we got it! but before that let me present some pictures of appetizers that we ordered too ^^

                                                            Lemon Lime Bitter for mee ^^

                                                                    Garlic Bread ($6.90)
We were expecting a regular garlic bread and sort of figure out the taste *we thought*, but it was surprising for us that this garlic bread may look ordinary, but the taste is very delish! The bread were warm and crusty on the outside and moist and soft on the inside :)

                                                                    Chilli Calamari ($17.90)
The chilli calamari was actually a crispy baby calamari served with garlic Aioli.. For the price, I think it was a good portioned for 4 of us ;)

                                                              Mix Grill Platter ($36.00)

And here it is... the 'Mix Grill Platter' ($36), which consisted of Grilled chicken, Steak fillets, Pork ribs and char-grilled chorizo sausage, served with veggies and chips with dipping sauce/ It doesn't look as what we thought it would be, but tasted pretty decent and filling too. The Chicken breast is quite dry but the rest is yummy!^^ 

So Overall, it was a good night, fun times chatting and here is some shots of my bf opening up his pressies :)

The Entertainment Quarter
Shop 211, level 1
Bent Street
Moorepark 2021
Ph. 02 9360 0097
http://www.ablazegrill.com/

Petaling Street: Malaysian Hawker Food, Haymarket

Finally I got a Food Technology JOb!! It was for a maternity leave coverage for 6 months or may be more depending on the person when is she coming back :) I am so happy... Yet sad.. I have to leave my part time work in subway for awhile. Well Maybe I can continue working there on the weekends:)

So to celebrate my hapiness..... I am treating my siblings and my bf to dinner in my newly found malaysian restaurant in Haymarket. Going into the restaurant, you can see the cook and some food displayed through the glass windows. We were then brought to the second floor of the restaurant downstairs. It was pretty packed when we arrived.

All of us were so hungry and because its my treat, I would like to try as many dishes as I could, and because I know everyone's stomach can fit many foods... So I order mostly everything I should say? hehe

A Very refreshing drinks to accompany you rmalaysian dishes. Sweet and aromatic tea. Unfortunately not enough milk tea in a glass :) It was sooo goood!

Malaysian Teh Tarik

 I like the fragrance gingery rice with the rice texture just right, a bit dry and hard. The chicken is quite cold. May be that's how Malaysian eat this dish. I am not a fan of cold dish T.T

Hainanese Chicken Rice

 Asam laksa - as the name denote. The soup was sour and tangy! but it was refreshing and the noodle is chewy^^ My siblings does not like this dish but I don't mind it :)

Asam Laksa

 Cheongfun is a thin roll of rice noodle which is bland in taste if eaten by itself like white rice. THis dish is accompanied by fish balls and simmered with a sweet black sauce with dried shrimp and chilli on top. I am not familiar to the taste of the dish and hence I'll give it 5/10 hehe..

Malaysian CheongFun

We got another entree which is Roti Kosong, It is a malaysian roti canai with the curry soup to dip ^^.. Mamak roti is still the best to me!

Our favorite dish of the night. All of us agreed on this one. It is mince pork and Bean curd Hotpot. Egg tofu deep fried till golden brown with mince pork cooked with oyster sauce with baby corn (Thank GOD its not canned!) and put on top of fried eggs in a hotpot... Sizzling hot and yummy!!!

As a ritual Char kuey teow is a must to order in a Malaysian Restaurant and this was the second best dish! Flat rice noodle with chinese sausage, fish cakes, clamps, prawns, beansprout and chives (Best COmbo) And they have the smoky wok aroma which I always love in a char kuey teow! This dish is highly recommended!

 

Petaling st mee goreng. It has a curry taste to it. My bf didn't like it but I don't mind it :) It was quite nice for me

Can anyone believe all of those dishes were eaten by 4 of us?! look at our table!! Even the waiter told us that we might not be able to finish everything!

The Dip @GoodGod, Sydney

Every time I passed through Liverpool st, I always wonder what kind of pub is it called GoodGod and what is inside. So I did my homework by looking at other food blogs and food reviewer. And so I found out that there is a small bar/pub inside which over Mexican foods. So I gather once again my foodie friends to experience this place together :)

When we arrived, the security greet us kindly asking for our ID and he kinda spoke indonesian a bit, hehe. We have to go down the stairs and the place was quite dark. It was 6PM but most of the tables are occupied. The waitress asked us if we have made a booking.. In my mind I thought people really need to book to eat down here? This small place? What is really special about this place?

So then we looked at the menu and we order 1 dish for ourselves and will order some sides to share.. So these are what we got...

The very yummy nachos. Corn chips with 12hr cooked pork, pinto beans, tomato salsa, jalapeno cream and cheese
Well as the place was quite dark and my camera definitely was not the best one, so it doesn't look really appealing but trust me it is yummy!

Pulled pork Nachos $15

The menu Red Hot Chicken Wing really tempted me to buy them. I was imagining the type of spicy chicken wings that Adam Richman from Man Vs Food had! But it was pretty disappointing in taste for me. The flavour does not come through. It was not spicy :( The ranch dip is really good though..

Red Hot chicken wing $10

 We are the people who can't eat asian food without rice and who can't eat anything not Asian without chips. Sorry if my sentence confused you :P The chipotle mayo was amazing... creammyy goodness!!

Thick fries with chipotle mayo $6

Lev's Dawg is the first dish offered in the menu. It must be either the best or the favourite for being on top. It consisted of a smoky kosher hotdog with green yellow pepper, fresh tomato salsa and chipotle mayo and american mustard :) It's not like your original hotdog. All of the combination works perfectly!

Lev's Dawg $12

The winner menu for tonight.... *Drum rooollllls*.... Southern smoke!! Its the 12hr cooked pulled pork with BBQ beans, apple & cabbage slaw, and BBQ sauce. The pork literally melts in your mouth, the homemade BBQ sauce is divine and the slaw provides the crunchiness needed! Yuuuuuummmmmmmmmm

Southern Smoke $12

There's always room for dessert they said... second stomach they said ^^ *Omg too much 9gag*
We got this dessert called Ice Cold Guac which is a sweet avocado ice cream with strawberry salsa and waffle chips. The ice cream is not sweet for me.. But its good as the strawberry provides some sweet and sour note to the dish which made it balance :)

Ice Cold Guac $10 

Now I can answer myself doubt before. No wonder people need to book to dine here. It was affordable, good portioned, nice atmosphere to hang around. They have live music and dancing floor too :) The food are amazing and the staff are friendly, Highly recommended and definitely will be back ^^


www.thedip.com.au 

Gourmet Tofu, Kingsford

Living in Kingsford is so exciting. Apart from being close to my uni which is UNSW, It also have a lot of restaurant to choose from. Even though it mostly is Chinese and Indonesian food, there is a "hidden" small Korean restaurant run by a Korean husband and wife on the second floor of a small building along Anzac parade. There are no other waiter than the Hubby and the Wife is the cook.

When we got the menu, they only have a set menu of approx $20 each meal or a choice of korean hotpot that are around $40 to share

The food took a long time to be served and my advise if you woul like to try the food to come in off-peak hour :P

Set menu consist of: Rice on a stone pot, Yukgaejang (tofu soup with eggs and some beef) and the stir-fried of your choice
they have chilli chicken, chilli pork, spicy octopus or combination meat.

Chilli octopus meal $20

 I must say though, the Banchan here is so delish! My first visit we can ask for a refill for the bacnhan, but when I visited the second time, the husband said that there can was no more refill for banchan which is quite surprising as kroean restaurant usually provides refill.. T.T

Despite the no-refill policy and the long waiting time, I would definitely come back just to taste the delicious food and besides, it is the closest Korean restaurant we got in the neighbourhood :P