La Mesa, Chinatown

This is my first time experiencing Philippine's cuisine in Sydney. Having quite a number of filo friends, I am always curious what's their authentic foods taste like. So Mr.G, my previous colleague recommended this place called La Mesa for an authentic Filo foods. I've heard about this place before in Dee Why and apparently after 10 years being located there, they move to a more convenient location for everyone, The City! :) So I went out with my colleagues to have a catch up (dinner full of pork) and a karaoke night out..

We arrived at 6:30PM and the place was filled with some local filo family and also a couple tables of westerner. The decoration of the place is homey and I read from their website, they sourced the interior from the Philippines!

Not long after we were seated, Mr.G flip through the menu suggesting what dishes to order for us to try. I am agreeing to everything and especally to Crispy Pata which is a deep fried pork leg. We'll get back to it later. Ms.N was pleading for garlic rice and also Lechong Kawali which is another pork dish.

But to start with, I had Okoy which is a deep fried vegetables patties served with chilli vinegar sauce. I don't know what to expect and what to compare it with but I quite like this dish.

Okoy $7.50 (4 pieces)

 We also ordered Deep Fried Quail Eggs! The eggs are deep fried in a special batter and again served with chilli vinegar sauce. For me, it tasted like a crunchy eggs but I love quail eggs, so no complain about it ;p

Fried Quail Eggs $7

 Mr.G asked me if I'm adventurous enough to try this dish called Dinuguan, pork neck cooked with pork blood jelly and cooked with Vinegar sauce. I said Yes and I lovee this dish! I didn't eat the blood jelly though but the pork neck was so tender and the sauce was really good, creamy and rich! It was a really good match with the garlic rice!

Dinuguan $18

The second main to arrive is Kare Kare, Oxtail cooked in peanut sauce and served with eggplants, pumpikin, snake beans and a side of Bagoong (Philippines Shrimp Paste). The oxtail are soft and melt off the bone, the soup was really tasty eaten with the shrimp paste :)

Kare Kare $21

 As most of the dishes that we ordered are pork, Mr.G ordered a seafood dish called Adobong Pusit which is a marinated squid, sauteed with garlic, onion and fresh hot chillies. This dish is hot hot hot! But I like it spicy :)

Adobong Pusit $16

And here is the garlic rice! The rice is fragrance and what I like from it is the crispy golden garlic pieces on top of the rice. It gives a nice crunch and flavour to the rice ^^ The large portion of the rice can feed approx 3-4people

Garlic rice (L) $4.60 

 And here comes the long awaited dish, Crispy Pata!! The signature dish in La Mesa. Pork leg deep fried with crispy skin while the meat is still tender and juicy :) It is served with sauce made from soy, garlic, vinegar and onion. There were 6 of us and we ordered 2 of this! Don't get me wrong, the portion was generous but we are just a bunch of pork lovers!

Crispy Pata $20

 Another favourite dish of mine from La Mesa besides the Pata is Lechong Kawali!! A tender deep fried pork belly served with Mang Tomas (A traditional gravy sauce). No words can describe how amazing this dish was! Crispy, tick! Fatty, tick! Juicy Pork meat, tick! I highly recommended this dish!!

Lechong Kawali $16

 Ms.I needed her veggie intake and so we ordered Chop Suey, mixed vegetables with tender chicken pieces and quail eggs made with traditional sauce. I thought I heard 'Chop Suey' before from a lyrics of a rap song or something, didn't know it was a dish! haha.

Chop Suey $16

 After the hearty meal and while we were chatting, suddenly Mr.G asked me if I have the gut to try Balot (developing duck egg embryo that is boiled alive). I was really terrified of the thought of eating an embryo! But, we ended up ordering one to try.

I must say this is my first eating challenge ever! I tried a bit of the embryo with the white part of the egg.. it tasted just like plain ordinary eggs but with different texture ... It will be my first and last eating balot. I cant T.T

It was a great night out. We talk and laugh alot. I really miss working with this lovely people!!

Apart from my friends, The food in La mesa are yummy, I would like to go back for Lechong Kawali and would love to try other new dishes :) The portion are generous as well and I think the price is reasonable.
Thanks Mr.G for ordering and booking the place for our gathering ^^

UNSW - Mathews Food Court and Around

While I still have my days off before I started working in Subway, I decided to revisit my favourite lunch spot in UNSW my beloved Uni :) Even though it was during semester break, some shops in the food court were open. I went to Mathews Food Court which is located on the Upper Campus. I usually go for the Kebab in Quad Food Court but that day I was sooo craving for the Stock Market Salad.

My previous post before was' East and West Munchies', this post should have a title of "East and West Salad" haha! Two of my favourite salads; Vietnamese Beef Noodle salad from Tropical Green (The Pavillion) and Do-your-own salad from Stock Market (Mathews building).

So my first stop is Tropical Garden. The shop served non only salad, but also juices, pho, spring rolls and all other Vietnamese delicacies. Even BBQ pork bun!

 What I love from this Beef noodle salad was the tender and juicy beef, marinated and grilled perfectly. The veggies are also my favourite, a simple lettuce, carrot and cucumber! I do ask for no mint though hehe.. The chilli was hot as well!A very generous portion for the price and with the spring rolls edition, the dish was just shmackingly yummeh! The pork bun was soft and warm, a great complement to the salad. The filling is not much but who cares if the bun is perfect ;p

Beef Noodle Salad extra Spring Rolls $10 , POrk Bun $1.50

From eating this tasty salads, I move on to Stock Market. As I was so full, I got the salads to go. Bebski and My sister also told me to get them some! I heard from my sis that even her friends from Mac Uni came to UNSW just for this salad! Well, GOOD NEWS is that I just found out that they have TWO other shops in the CITY!!! woohoo :)

So how it works: 1. Choose the salads (just lettuce or mix leaves), 2. Choose the size (Reg 7.90, Large 8.90), 3. Choose 7 toppings (chicken and tuna addtin add $2), 4. Choose your dressing, 5. Enjoy with their Sourdough

I always got the Regular lettuce and my toppings are always 2 eggs (I know!), Parmesan cheese, croutons, peas, grilled capsicum, crushed nuts with extra Tandoori Chicken and Chili flakes! and I love their Italian Sun dried Tomato Dressing, OMG I'm literally drooling writing this post! haha. It may look simple but I dont know why this salad is so addictive~~~~

Another Gem in Mathews Food Court is Laksa from Satay Delight. The Laksa is the favourite from this place; cheap price and generous portion. The soup is very warming for this cold weather and the richness of the soup is another plus point for this dish. The negative is that at some point you just can't take it anymore because you're too full, haha!

For the laksa, you can choose the meats to go in here and the tofu puffs is the best bit for me! Especially after it's been soaked in the creamy spicy soup!

Oh I just Love UNSW!! :)

http://www.stockmarketkitchen.com.au/

Little Vietnamese Food, Wynyard

After a busy week of dealing with tax paperworks and a sick day yesterday, I finally have the time to blog again! Thank goodness :) When I was on my way to lodge my tax return, I came across this little eats in Wynyard station just across Maccas called Little Vietnamese Food, there were quite a number of people going in and out of the place carrying Banh Mi in their hands. So I thought, it should be a good one to try :)

 So we went in and they serve a variety of Vietnamese foods from Banh Mi, Noodle Salad and Pho. I definitely drools over the sign of "Grilled Pork Belly Noodle Salad". So I got it! The pork was really yummyyy ~~ it was more like an authentic Vietnamese pork chop with their punch-ful spices. The Nuoc Cham has a good tanginess to it but the unfortuante thing for me is the I forgot to ask for chilli :( It was a great filling meal!

Grilled Pork Belly Salad $10

 For Bebski, he got Banh Mi Thit or the pork roll. The bread was fresh, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The portion of the meat was okay. It looks empty on Beb's Banh mi cause he pretty much just want coriander and cucumber in his roll ;p And also, they didn't use fresh chillies here, they used powdered which another unfortunate thing :( But the Banh mi still taste good overall and yeah, I could imagine why people choose this as their quick lunch fix ^^ You got your carbs, protein and fibre in one go!

Banh Mi Thit $5

PS: If you dont like raw bean sprout, you can ask the lady to cook the beansprout for your salad ^^
I might try the Pho next time I visit this place! :)

Three Williams, Redfern

I finally got the chance to try this place out. Mr.P told me that he took a day off last Wednesday for his intern briefing and so I thought it was a great chance to visit Three Williams during weekdays to escape from weekend queues :) We arrived at 12:30PM and the place was quite empty.

We were immediately seated at the back of the restaurant near the kitchen. And thankfully at that spot the lightning was alright..

The place is very spacious in my opinion, which is a good thing so everything looks neat and organised unlike other places that is overly crowded with tables that it's hard to move and doesn't look too good from the outside ^^

So first we ordered our coffee hit of the day. Mr.P as usual got the Mocha. He thought that the mocha has more choc milk note than coffee. I do think that it needs more coffee note to it :)

Mocha $4

 Mr.M and a new friend of mine Mr.T got the flat white. I didn't taste it but it seems that they're just fine ^^

Flat White $3.50

 For me, I got the Chai Latte. It has a good cinnamony herby note but again too milky to my liking. I would love to have more spice in it :)

Chai Latte $4

 Now let's move on to the foods. I got a recommendation to try out the fish croquettes and chips which I did. The fish croquette was deep fried to golden crisp, with smooth potato-ey lemony filling inside. For me the aioli complement the croquette really well!

Fish Croquette $3ea

 I was hesitant at first to order the chips. For $7 I thought might get something else but I don't want any regret for not trying it so I ended up ordering. And Omg it was so goood! Fluffly and light in the inside and just the right crisp on the outside of this amazing beer battered chips! The exact same chips as the one in Streetsoul Burger. And again their House aioli was creamy and delish!

Chips $7

 Mr P & Mr. M ordered The Big Williams which consist of a potato hash, sausages, bacon, grilled tomato and eggs of your choice on a sourdough bread. When it arrives, I saw a smile on Mr.M face as he never had any luck with portion size in brunch spot until today ;p But another unfortunate thing happened to him -- one of his egg was overcooked, poor him... Apart from that, the Big William tick every boxes a big brekkie should have!

The Big William $18

 For me and Mr.T, we ordered the Beef Narnies which is filled with glazed beef brisket, slaw, gherkins and chipotle mayo. There are a lot of texture in this simple dish. The beef brisket were tender and juicy, the amount of slaw and gherkins were just enough to give that tanginess to the dish and I though that it needs a little bit more of the mayo :) But apart from that, it was a great dish, especially dipped in the House Aioli :)

Beef Narnies $15

Then we reach the Grand Finale of our brunch, it's time for Crunchy French Brioche! I was curious for a long time now why does this thing is so famous even until today, after many many reviews about it... Well, it is never too late to try yummy foods :)
The thick slab of brioche is dipped in eggs, covered with panko breadcrumbs and pan fried to this cripsy crunchy goodie.. It is topped with a dollop of yoghurt, walnuts, fresh berries and drizzled with just enough maple syrup. There were a lot of texture and flavours in this one dish! And now I know why it is very popular and I personally highly recommend it ^^

French Brioche $15

Found this kids corner with a huge chalkboard available for little kiddies to scribble and be creative without having their mom yelling at them "vandalising" walls ;p

Overall, coming to Three Williams has been a great experience to me. With a good company and great foods what more can you ask. On top of that, this place has the best customer service for me. The staffs are all very friendly, attentive and never stop smiling~ The service are fast too.

Second Visit:

Third Visit: