Ho Jiak, Starthfield

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Ho Jiak, recently opened inside Strathfield Plaza offers a Hawker Style experience with their mini dining area and a delicious authentic Penang taste in every plates.

I went there with my foodie troops a couple months back

The foods there are well priced and the portion was good as well. To start with, there is nothing better than Penang Chee Cheong Fun. Steamed Rice Roll with Tofu Skin, Fish Balls and Sweet Black Sauce. Love the sweet sauce! And a great start to begin the meals.

Chee Chong Fun $7.80

Next to come is the Bah kut Teh. Pork spare Ribs, Pork Belly and Deep Fried tofu cooked in a Chinese Herbal Soup. The soup is lighter in colour than the one I had in Penang but the taste itself is really good and not too herby as might be offensive to some people. Bakut teh that night was one of the favourite among us..

Bah Kut Teh $13.80

 And the must order whenever you visited Penang or Penang-food restaurant is their Char Kwey teow. With a nice smoky wok aroma and chewy rice noodle is the perfect sign that this is legit stuff! Cooked with cockles, lap tjeong, prawns and egg! I did add a bit more soy sauce and chilli to it cause i love my food salty and spicy ;p

Char Kuey teow $12.80

Nasi Pattaya is Malaysian Fried Rice inside Omelette almost like Omurice in Japan but this one is more complex in terms of flavour in my opinion. Almost every table got this dish and yeah, it tasted amazing ;) It looks simple but hey it's really hard to make a perfect fried rice without ready made paste, in my opinion :)

Nasi Pattaya $12.80

Another fried rice that night but the special thing about this one is the Sambal Durian. Yes ladies and gentlement, there is a hint of Durian inside that chilli paste and I love it. It tasted pretty weird on the first bite cause who put durian in chillies right, but it actually is a good combination after all.

Harmee - Penang Prawn Noodle soup is my personal favourite! Rich broth with perfectly cooked noodle, fresh prawns and sliced of pork belly with boiled egg and fried shallot! You just have to try them. No words to explain ;P I also did put heaps of belacan sambal in it. Yuum

Harmee - $12.80

Overall, I love their foods! We ate our heart out and we were sad cause we didn't get to try the Hainanese Chicken rice and did not get to taste their Michael Jackson. But that means, another reason to visit! The pic below shows how crazy we were, 6 of us and we bought that much, plus the Roti Canai with Chicken Curry that I didn't get to take photo cause we were too hungry and the foods were too precious just to be photo-ed and stared ;P

Sokyo Ramen Pop Up, The Star

I am probably too late to post this up cause apparently Sokyo Ramen Pop up has been going on for a while now... But it will still be running till the end of November, so there's still time for all of you to try it outtt :)

I went there last Saturday Night with my buddies Ms.L and Mr.P, and surprisingly there were no queue as I was told which is good ...

So here are the feast.. They offered 3 choices of Ramen up on the board; the tonkotsu, tantanmen and cold ramen. None of us fancy cold ramen. So we got the other two.

Mr.P and Ms.L got the Umami Tonkotsu 2.0 Ramen - Pork, Chicken & Seafood dashi, pork backfat, Umami Soy Kaeshi, Pork Cheek Chashu, Black Fungus, Marinated Egg, Nori, Yuzu Kosho. The broth was quite thick and rich, filled with all the porky goodness!

I got the Spicy Miso Tantanmen which also comes with Broccolini and tomato. Yes those veggies in tantamen. Never seen before in tantamen, cause they usually put just beansprout hihi.,. But it's a good different though..

I think I prefer the tonkotsu over the tantanmen, Probably I'm used to tantanmen from Ichiban Boshi that is thicker and richer than the one Sokyo made. It's still good though don't get me wrong.. :)

Not to forget we ordered Han's Fried Chicken which was super perfect as a side for the ramen! For the drink, I tried the Yuzu Pop Soda - Yuzu, passionfruit, Aloe Vera Juice, Orgeat Almond syrup and Soda. So fresh and had a strong passion fruit note.

Make sure to visit the place while it last and do come outside peak hours to avoid queue :)
Hope u enjoy it as much as I do ^^

My Delight, Mascot

Two Indonesian Restaurant in a week! We dooo missed Indonesian food soo muchh last week. Sunday is usually my brunch day but last week, I gave in to Bebski cause he wanted to try My Delight for quite a while now. My sister has been telling us to try their Green Chilli chicken and My friends told me to try their Beef Ball soup  / Bakso Abang  abang. So we went and go mad on the foods, as always ;p

First, we tried their Pork Meatball. It was quite cold already but still good. It got a the prawn taste and it's not as empty as the one in Pinang Bistro. But I still prefer the later hands down.

We also ordered the Pork Satay - Indonesian style pork skewer chargrilled with sweet soy sauce. The meat was very generous and the seasoning are just perfect! It does taste like the one we have in Jakarta. bebskii loved it so muchhhh! and I highly recommend it if you wanted to try a very good pork satay.

Pork satay 5pcs $8

 And here comes the Green Chilli Chicken! Oh my Gawd, the green chillies areee too good! it's not spicy, but rather fragrant and really good with the chicken. The fried chicken is not as good as 99 but the green chilli, the best ive had so far in Sydney! Another recommended dish and especially eaten with steamed rice :)

Green Chilli Chicken $8

I tried the Bakso Abang2 - Clear Beef balls Soup with Tendon ball, soft tendon balls, Beef ball with egg inside and a tofu beef ball and vermicelli:) It wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. It's okay, quite good. The problem is in the broth, it needs more punch of flavour. But with a bit of Kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), a bit of salt, vinegar and chilli, everything's changed :)

Bakso Abang Abang $9

To feed my curiosity, we also tried the Combination Noodle it got mince pork, diced chicken, boiled wontons and the best part, crispy pork lardddd.. groarr... The only noodle in Sydney that think smart enough to add this on noodle toppings! Bebski & I would definitely come back here just because of the lard!

Buttt...... If you're unlucky, sometimes they don't make the lard, so it is seasonal. better call first before you drive all the way to mascot if your eally wanted to try it out :) But the seasoning of the noodle and everything else is just perfect! The chilli also great hereee...

We spent ard $40-50 here for everything. But we came out with full tummy and smile on our face. Especially bebski's face :)

Enjoy Mie, Kensington

A new Indonesian Noodle  shop opened up in Kensington not too long ago. So bebski & I decided to try it out one Thursday night. The location of the place was where Wow Bulgogi used to be. They've changed a bit of the interior but everything else are still similar.

So what you do when you enter is to look at the menu, order to the counter and then pick a seat :) There's a self-serve section for cutleries, condiments and serviette.

Bebski and I were starving and we wanted to try everything on the menu but unfortunately they ran out of their Fried meatball. So we just got the Deep Fried Wonton (Pangsit Goreng). Nothing special on the wonton, it's a bit oily in  my opinion and not very generous on the fillings ;p

Fried Wonton $5 for 4pcs

We ordered their Mie Spesial which includes Diced Chicken, Soy Egg, Chicken Giblet and boiled Wonton. I love the seasonings of the noodle and I'm pretty sure they used pork lard or some kind of fat cause the taste is just spot on ;P

The only thing to complete an Indonesian Noodle dish is Chilli sauce! Unfortunately again they put too much water onto the chilli mix, maybe to cut cost but the taste is just too bland. :( But the noodle is pretty itself without the chilli. It's just my preferences hehe..

Mie Spesial $11

I loveeee Gow Gee / Suikiaw n indo.. I got a bowl of gow gee soup for the sides. It tasted pretty good in my opinion.. Pretty similar to the ones we got back in Jakarta :)

Gow Gee 4pcs $6

So the verdict of this place.. Worth a try but bebski didn't like it that much so maybe i'm not coming back.. well at least not with him. he ended up getting a Maccas meal on our way home ;P
Apart from Noodles, they only got one rice variant in their menu. They closed Monday and Tuesday.

Granny's Noodle, Burwood

On a cold day like this, noodle soup is the best remedy to counteract the windy and wet weather and I have been eye-ing Granny's Noodle from the first time they opened back in March. So I went here with hubby and Mr.US last week to try out their foods.

The atmosphere of the place is bright and cheerful with the yellow designs all over the walls and all of the waitress were so friendly which is rare especially in Chinese eatery ;P

The first dish to come is the Sichuan style Soft Pork Bone in Special Chilli Sauce. Stir fry pork with capsicum and onion are the best combination. The dish is so fragrance and the chilli sauce is not too spicy and yet so full of flavours.

Soft Pork Bone $13.80

 Hubby ordered the Pork Belly Noodle Soup. Tried the pork belly a bit, it was so tender and yet fatty. The fat layer was sooo thick .. I'm not a fan of that gooey thing except if they're deep fried to crisp perfection ;P

Pork Belly Noodle Soup $12.80

We also ordered the Fried Chicken Wings. Nothing special about the taste. I was expecting more and the unfortunate thing is some of the wings were a bit under cook. We ended up leaving them behind.

Chicken wings 2pcs for $4

And lastly.. the star of the nightt... Mr.Us and I ordered the number 1 dish on the menu, Braised Beef Noodle Soup. I ordered the special set which comes with Spiced egg and Tofu as a side. The soup is so light and yet rich in flavour, I can really taste star anise and chinese five spice in the broth. I'm not sure if everyone can enjoy the broth. But me on the other hand, I love it!

The portion not to mention is huge... It can easily feed two girls. The beef brisket too has been braised perfectly. It was juicy, tender and just scrumptious! Highly recommended!

Beef Noodle soup $12.80 plus special set $3.20

We walked out warmed and happy .^^.

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 :)

Minh Vietnamese, Dulwich Hill

It's no surprise that there are a lot of Vietnamese Restaurant in Marrickville - Dulwich Hill area.. But this place is especially recommended by a friend of my mom. She said the Noodle in tomato sauce is the must try here and so I went last week to try it out!

As usual, I ordered the spring roll to start with. It was good but not great. the fillings were generous and what I like is that it's not greasy. The nuoc cham was a bit salty in my opinion..

 Chicken Spring Roll $6

Clear transparent chewy Vietnamese vermicelli noodle, topped with a variety of meats from BBQ pork, Prawn, fish cakes, sliced chicken and quail eggs :) The tomato based sauce tasted similar to the nuoc cham but thicker and the amount is just nice to cover up the noodle, It was my first time trying this dish and I loveee it! Tips for this dish, ask for separate sauce if u can't really handle Vietnamese sauce :)

Mr.W ordered a similar dish but instead of the tomato sauce, he ordered the Chicken noodle soup. The broth was full of flavour which is the most important element in a noodle soup!

$13.90

The place was busy but the service is still very good. Highly recommended for a quick dinner or just to warm up during a cold windy day :)