Master Bowl Chinese Restaurant, Chinatown

A short post on Master Bowl in Chinatown.. I've always wanted to try their spicy stir fry dry pot.. My usual go to place is in Hurstville butit may take awhile by train now that I live in Mascot and car-less ;P So Bebski and I decided to have it a go to the one in Chinatown, along with Mr.P

The place is usually crowded during dinner time but last Saturday, there wasn't too many people queuing, so good for us :) We were handed the menu and the writings are mostly in Chinese which none of us have the ability to read, so we just go by the symbols for the dry pot tee hee..

The thing to be careful in this place is not to over order on the dry pot.. The price may seems cheap but It'll pile up to a massive $60 easily ;p

They have other side dishes and noodle dishes as well, but that night we just ordered the dry pot with steamed rice :)

Because Mr.P can't handle chilli that well, we ordered the Level 2 spiciness. With Pork and Beef slices, Crispy Pork, Cauliflower, Sweet potato Noodle, Puffed Tofu, Pork Intestine, and Mushrooms. The taste is similar to the one in Hurstville (Chilli Garden), but I think the price and portion are better in Chilli Garden. And there was too much oil at the bottom of the pot. But we got no complain otherwise cause we went out happy with full tummy :)

 ~$55

O-San Ramen, Chinatown

Another Ramen contender opened up in Chinatown area. I've been eyeing a lot of picture posted about this shop since I was still in Jakarta last month and their Black Garlic Ramen has been the superstar. So I went to try this place out with my foodie troops Mr.P, Mr.Wjt, Mr.M and Mr.Us :)

Mr.Us got this Pork rice ball to start with, it was quite huge for a snack and got generous amount of diced pork inside. The rice itself has quite a bit of taste so it's not totally bland.

Pork Rice Ball

Mr.Wjt ordered the Sumo Ramen which got both Pork and Chicken soup and also comes with 2 pcs of Pork Kakuni. The bowl is humongous! Mr.Wjt do has a huge appetite ;p Apparently to his disappointment, the sumo ramen was full of beansprout instead of the noodle. But the pork was delish according to him, I did try a bit of the lean part but he said the fat was the source of flavour hehe..

Sumo Ramen $12.80

Mr.M ordered the Shallot Tonkotsu Ramen - Pork based soup ramen which does live up to its name, heaps of shallot in the bowl (my worst enemy in foodie world). I can't comment much on this, sorry ;p

Shallot Tonkotsu Ramen $11.80

Mr.Us and I did the research and ordered the famous Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen - with a rich garlicky pork broth. The depth of the flavour was profound and I did add extra mushrooms and seaweed sheets to my bowl and add a lottt of chilli powder that the broth became thicker. yuum! I do recommend the Black Garlic Ramen over the rest! Forgot to mention the tender pork in that bowl, delishhh ~~

Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen $10.80

Mr.P ordered a bowl of ramen but it seems that it doesn't fill his tummy yet so he decided to ordered the Pork Belly Rice Bowl.. I'm not a fan of gooey fatty stuff so I can't comment much on this as well but Mr.P said the pork was really juicy and flavoursome. I bet bebski would love this bowl!

Pork Belly Rice Bowl $6

So the verdict for this ramen shop -- taste is good but not great for me. I still prefer Gumshara and Zundo :)

Ramen Kan, Chinatown

I've been living in Sydney for almost 6 years now and never have I step foot into Ramen Kan in Chinatown until Ms.S suggested a dinner there. I've been to the one in Bondi many times but she said that the menu was slightly different and here, they serve the best Curry Ramen. The restaurant is located on the second floor, you can access it through stairs of lift, but beware, the lift is pretty dodgy ;p

So I went out with bebski, Mr.M and Ms.OS to Ramen Kan on a friday night. Thankfully the place wasn't as crowded as I went last time with Ms.S, may be partly because there was the Night Market in Chinatown which attracted more attention to people.

I got myself a simple yet refreshing drink called Lychee Coco in the menu. Basically it's just Calpis with Lychee and Nata de Coco. Never thought that Nata de coco and calpis can be a good combo! Great idea for house party next time ;p

Lychee Coco $4.30

The thing that I like in Ramen kan is they have 'all $3 dishes' in their menu, a good portion for snacking or as a sides to your ramen or rice set!
As usual, I can never pass the temptation of Chicken Karage! The portion was generous, 3 big chicken pieces, deep fried perfectly and served with Kewpie <3

I also got the Soft Shell Crab Salad which comes with Cabbage, cherry tomatoes and fresh corn drizzled with the house dressing. The serving of the crab was pretty decent in my opinion and what I love most is the corn pieces! It was fresh, thank goodness, cause I hate the taste of canned corn.

Bebski got the Salmon salad from the $3 menu, the salmon was fresh and again generous for the value!

Mr.M got The Hamburg Curry Rice, beef patty topped with mozarella cheese on an ocean of curry sauce and a mountain of rice :) I didn't get to try it but he said it's delish :)

Curry Hamburg Rice $10.50

Ms.S got the Mini Udon (Kaisen) set which consists of a bowl of plain udon, a small bowl of rice topped with fresh raw salmon and tuna and also a small salad bowl.

Mini Udon Set (kaisen) $13.50

The dish of the night, The Karage Cheese Curry Ramen, from the name itself I thought it would be too much for the taste, but it turned out that the curry wasn't as heavy/strong as I thought it would be, it's pretty light and the cheese gives a nice creaminess to the soup. The karage was unquestionable delish and the noodle was the wavy type of noodle which I love. There's no doubt that this dish is the popular one in Ramen Kan!

Karage Cheese Curry Ramen $11.50

For me, I got half portion of the Hot & Spicy (Geikara) ramen. It is a chicken based soup which consists of wavy noodles, chicken pieces, heaps of thinly slices spriong onion and a dollop of chilli paste. As usual, it wasn't spicy enough for me and the spring onion >.< I need to pick it outttt ..

Geikara Ramen (S) $7.90

 The soup was light and that would be my last time ordering chicken broth based ramen ;p Pork broth has more flavours! It was still good but wasn't as great as pork broth based ramen :) I just love porkkk ;p

I'm glad I listened to Ms.S in the first place and try this place out. I do think that Ramen Kan serves cheap, tasty and well-portioned food. Service is always no doubt top notch for Japanese eat spots.

Do try the Karage Cheese ramen!

Do Dee Paidang Thai Noodle Bar, Chinatown

I read a post by Helen about this new thai place that just recently open in Chinatown area. It is located just next to Aarons hotel near Market City. And to speak frankly, I never visited restaurant beyond Market City Area except Kura and Satang thai :)

What tempt me to visit this place is the Spicy Tom Yum Noodle and their level of spiciness. It's no surprise that I'm chilli freak and is always keen to try anything spicy! So I went there last Saturday with Bebski and 2 other friends.

The place was busy when we walked in, the payment counter on the left of the entrance and a dessert bar at the end of the area. It was full with the Thai patrons which is a sign of authentic Thai foods :)

I ordered the Cordial Milk tea which I saw on Helen's post as well hehe... Yes, the bright pink colour is the one thing that caught my attention ;p The drink was milky and not too sweet, but I'd expect some more Thai tea note in it...

Cordial Milk Tea $3.80

For entrée, we tried the Fish cakes. It came in four pieces with diced cucumber and crushed nut on top and smothered with the sweet chilli sauce. I do recommend the fish cake. It's probably the second tastiest Thai fish cake after Lang suan Thai's ;p!

Fish cake 4 pcs for $8.80

Now here come the noodles. The spiciness level starts from 1 which they called Monster, Level 2 Devil, Level 3 Lava, Level 5 Super Volcano and the spiciest level 7 is Supernova. I'm very excited to try level 5 and 7!! Apparently when I ordered I said lv 5 and 7 but the waitress thought I ordered no 5 and 7 on the menu which was level 1 and 3 T.T

So disappointed but the waitress insisted for us to try level 1 and 3 first. For every bowl, you can choose the type of noodle from vermicelli, instant noodle, egg noodle, flat rice noodle and many others. I chose their first option which is the Fresh Thin Rice Noodle. The tom yum soup is not the classic tomyum flavour that u might expect, it was spicy and has that tanginess of tomyum and yet you can't denote it as tomyum! Man, I might be confusing, but u gotta try it yourself and let me know hehe!

The noodle soup also comes with a couple of fish balls, pork slices, couple of beef balls, shallots, coriander and deep fried wonton pastry pieces.

Level 1 $5.50

Level 1 was nothing for me, it was an easy level. Level 3 however is burning! Especially when u eat it while it's still hot. The chilli literally just kick at the back of the throat! I thinkkkk I may still be able to handle level 5... Next time definitely! A good thing about this place too is that you can order the noodle in small portion for $5.50 so you can try other foods as well.

Level 3 - Lava

Mr.P who can't handle chilli ordered Doo Dee Variety which I think is similar to the others but it has no chilli in it.

Doo Dee Variety $6.50

A must order dish every time I try a new thai place :) The pork belly was good but not great. some of the pork were hard to chew but they are really generous with the amount of sauce which we lovee.

Prik Khing Moo Krob $13.90

Bebski suggested to order this dish called Tum Tarb or Tum Karb I can't recall. So you can choose the type of salad in the middle from papaya salad or mango salad and other varities and then surrounding it are delicacies such as While fried fish, Deep fried School of Prawns, Chicken Wings, Pork skin Cracker, some kind of Ham, boiled egg, and veggies. I got the Som tum (Papaya salad) which was really refreshing, crunchy papaya and tangy sauce. I do recommend to get the Deep fried prawns and chicken wings from the entree menu!! It was yummmyy...

Tum Tarb/karb $19.90

The following dish is Beef stir fry in Garlic and pepper sauce which also comes with steamed Brocolli at the bottom. Nothing special in particular but we're just thankful that there were veggies on the plate cause the rest of the dish that we ordered are meats ;p

Beef in Garlic and Pepper sauce $12.90

Pork Ribs is a must order! The pork was so tender and fell of the bone and the sauce basting the ribs was a mixture of the usual Western BBQ sauce with an eastern spice hit! It's a new flavour to my palate but I'm liking it!

Pork Ribs $14.90

We ordered a lot of foods for the four of us. At the end of the meal, the waitress who was about to take our plate was amazed looking at the empty plates on our table and said that she thought we wouldn't be able to finish everything ;p Well, you underestimate Indonesian's belly my friend! hehe.. After those yummy meals, we can still fit this Fried Bread sticks with Pandan sauce to our fully tummy!

4 pieces for $5.50

Highly recommended new eating spot for chilli lovers! They really know how to make spicy noodle soup!!

Red Chilli Sichuan, Chinatown

Red Chilli Sichuan is located in Chinatown just below Harbour Plaza. If it wasn't for a voucher in Groupon, I think I wouldn't have the chance to know this great eating place! Ms.N told me about this deal in Groupon for our catch up with Ms.D and Ms.E from my previous workplace.

The deal includes a bowl of soup each, a choice of drink (Watermelon juice, Wine or Soft drink) and each person can choose 1 from the A la Carte menu and 2 person share 1 Crab with min weight of 800g!! Because there were four of us, we got to choose 4 mains + 2 crabs!!

Fresh watermelon juice came first. A full glass of the juice with no ice and no sugar added. What u get is purely from the fruit.

Next, the soup came. Even though the menu say 'Pumpkin Soup', but we got the sweet corn soup which is even better than pumpkin :) The soup tasted sweet and so good to warm up the body before mains.

I don't know why but they serve the Mantau after the soup. A serving of both steamed and fried Mantau with Condensed milk on the side :) Loveeee the fried mantau with condensed milk! But the steamed one, I'd rather dip it in the Venerupis sauce and eat it that way hehehe..

Venerupis Hotpot or regularly known as pipies. It is cooked with sichuan peppercorn, bamboo shoot, brocolli and ear fungus mushrooms. The sauce is just delish! Piping hot and just hit every tick in my delicious pipies hotpot criteria! This dish is highly recommended ~~

Venerupis Hotpot

 Then we also ordered the Red Chilli Chef special fish fillet. A typical Sichuan dish containing fish fillet in a sea of Chilli oil with beansprout underneath and garnished with Coriander. The fish was silky and flavoursome :)

Fish fillet in chilli oil

 The third main to arrive is the lamb ribs cooked with spicy cumin. A strong cumin flavour which complemented the lamb really well. The lamb is cooked to perfection, so tender that it fell of the bone easily.

Lamb Ribs in Spicy Cumin

 Our table was full of foods, not to mention their huge portion! The 4th main arrived which is the deep fried chicken in dried chilli and we were quite full even with three dishes and the crabs is yet to come!

For the crabs, even though we have 2, we can only cook them 1 way and we chose to cooked it with vermicelli and salted egg yolk. I thought that the vermicelli lacks flavour and the whole dish was just too dry. Luckily, the crab itself was the stands-out. The meat was really sweet and juicy and even though there were no sauce, I don't really mind! This is probably the first crab meat that tasted this sweet in Sydney.

We had a great meal and a great time catching up with my girl friends. We can't finish everything so each of us got a box of takeaway haha!
I even bought another voucher for 2 and last Saturday night I went there again with Bebski :)

This time, I tried the Double smoked Pork slices which is cooked in a lot of spring onions! The pork was well smoked and tasted so much like ham. It wasn't my favourite and the portion is not as much as the other dishes. And for the second dish, I ordered the Venerupis again. Bebski and I are pipies lovers! hehe.

For the crab this time, I was torn between Crab in Black pepper and Butter sauce or Crab cooked typhoon shelter style. I googled Typhoon shelter style and it looked delish, with garlic, ginger and shallot, it will never go wrong. The crab dish was lipsmackingly good! As usual the crab meat was sweet, but what was amazing is that mixture of garlic and ginger crumbed! I mixed it with the steamed rice and the chilli sauce from the Venerupis, what a perfect combo, Mannnn I'm drooling while writing hehehe!

Yes, the picture below is what you get when you buy the voucher for 2 people! 37.5AUD each is such a Bargain! I can safely say that this is the first voucher that I'm satisfied with, be it the food or the service or the portion, yummeh yummeh in my tummeh ^^

Will definitely be back even without voucher! That's how good the foods are ^^