Ramen O'San - Haymarket

What's perfect for a cold winter's night? Something warm, something soupy, something hearty - a bowl of thick, creamy Tonkotsu Ramen! In the past few years, the number of ramen joints seems to have boomed. A newcomer to join this tonkotsu trend is Ramen O'san in the Dixon food court.

It doesn't look like much, but it has this massive menu plastered in front. The person who took my order had some difficulties understanding what I wanted but this was eventually sorted out as I ordered the creamy Tonkotsu Ramen (with thin noodles) with egg and a Sumo Ramen for hubby.

Unbeknownst to me, and much to the annoyance to hubby, the Sumo Ramen automatically came with thick style noodles - which just doesn't quite soak up the soup as well. This ramen was half chicken and half pork broth and had two thick pork belly slices with it. The meat was sub-par compared to other ramen places as it wasn't as tender nor as tasty.

My Creamy Tonkotsu Ramen is different from the normal Tonkotsu Ramen that they offer in the sense that the soup is a bit thicker. It was pretty collagenergic and quite warming. It was extremely filling though, even though it was a relatively small bowl. Must have been because it's so rich and fatty. The soup looked very white and tasted really clean and flavourful. The thin noodles were tasty as was the egg. Unfortunately, that's were the positives stopped. The meat was pretty pale and super thin. Like paper thin. Could have done without it. There was also a large pile of diced onion (raw) which was a bit too intense that it slightly subtracted from the experience. On top of that, there was a dab of chilli in the soup which quickly contaminated the whole bowl. If I asked for chilli, this would have been good. But I didn't ask for chilli and I don't want to taste it in every spoonful!

So I guess that Ramen O'san is an option if you are craving ramen. However, I think I would prefer to go to Ramen Ikkyu, or Gumshara or Ramen Zundo if I was in that area.

Ratings:
Food- 6.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 25.5/40

Ramen O'San 
Dixon Food Court
Cnr Dixon & Little Hay Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000

678 Korean Bbq - Haymarket

A couple of our friends came with us to 678 Korean BBQ a little while ago now. I don't understand why it's called '679' but it's opened by a famous Korean comedian - must be an inside joke. Despite the odd name, this place is PACKED out on a Friday night(I recommend that you come, get a ticket, go out for a walk or a coffee then come back when they call you).

Oddly enough, though it is filled with happy meat eaters, the restaurant is not teaming with the smokiness you would expect. The vents must work super well~ I also love how all the lovely meat is on display for you to oggle over - all really fresh looking. We ordered a couple of wagyu cuts and the pork belly. What happened after that was a bit of a blur. Lots of movement, loads of "omg this is delicious", and lots of eating action.

There was a decent selection of sides. The cold soup that is rather refreshing and whets your appetite. All the lettuce leaves that you want to wrap your meat in. What I didn't manage to capture was the seaweed and this amazing steam egg that you also got - cos it was soooo good, it was gobbled up before my brain realised that I needed a photo. Who would have guessed that pork belly wrapped in roasted seaweed could taste so delish?

Both the wagyu cuts that we ordered were pretty sensational. Really flavoursome and really tender. My friends also enjoyed the pork belly muchly. Really no complaints about the meat.

At the end, we also ordered the beef brisket soup. The soup had a seafood base to it so there were plentiful crab legs, clams, and prawn bits in it. It was quite tasty really.

I expected a nasty bill but it surprisingly only came to $100 for the 4 of us. All of us were full (apart from our dessert stomach) and we had a pretty tasty meal. Not bad :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29.5/40

678 Korean BBQ
1/396 Pitt Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9267 7334

Ramen Ikkyu - Sydney

A couple of our friends tempted us with the promise of delicious ramen. As I have an almost insatiable craving for ramen - we were there! I hadn't been to Ramen Ikkyu before but my friends assured me that the chef (originally from Blancharu) married the perfect broth with the perfect noodles.

When we got there, the head chef was present - cheerful and helpful in demeanor when he saw me struggle with finding the food items that I wanted. Or... did he just find me too slow in ordering?

Our friend talked up the amazingness of the pork rib - supposedly a massive slab of meat. How could hubby resist? When it came out, the pork rib was indeed MASSIVE. It was also super succulent and tender and really really tasty. With a slight charred, bbq flavour, it was a melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat. The rib came with a rich soy-based soup. I think that the pork rib's fat dripped into the soup, making it the soup rich, thick and porky in flavour.

pork rib ramen

I opted for a less epic option - the Ikkyu Salt. The 'paitan soup' is slightly lighter than the tonkatsu soup base of other ramen places. This soup was lighter but still rich and concentrated. It tasted more chicken-like compared to pork which was interesting. Initially, the soup was slightly less satisfying that the tonkatsu soups, but halfway through the noodle slurping, the richness of the soup really got to me. The noodles were good and the egg and bamboo shoots were likewise deliciousness. The bbqed pork meat is also completely delicious! (although I did prefer the chunkier rib pieces that hubby had).

ramen ikkyu salt

Although free kaedama (ie. extra portion of noodles) is offered, none of our party of four required this. However, we couldn't resist but to share some gyoza. The gyoza is pretty succulent and not really charred. There's this thin layer of batter that joins the gyoza together which unfortunately doesn't add much to the dish.

gyoza

All up, this was a pretty delicious feast. We were all ramened out by the end of it (and in search of something sweet :P).

Ramen Ikkyu
Sussex Centre Food Court
Sussex Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9281 0998

Zilver - Haymarket

Our friend's wedding banquet was at Zilver, a lovely Chinese restaurant situated opposite Capitol Theater and Market City. The bride and groom were awesomely beautiful and handsome like they usually are and the food at this Chinese banquet did not deviate much from the norm.

First off was the crispy suckling pig with jellyfish. This was alright. The skin was crispy and the meat was tasty and salty. It's not the best suckling pig we've had and the looks of the pieces could have been improved. The jellyfish portion would have also been much better if it were bigger... but these seem like just my personal choices as everyone else seemed to enjoy this course.

suckling pig with jellyfish

The next course was prawns sauteed with beans and macadamia nuts. I liked the prawns - they were yum. I like macadamia nuts too. However, in my mind, prawns and macadamia nuts don't really go together. It's more an 'asian' thing - chuck the prawns in with prestigious nuts so it makes the whole dish more grand :)

prawns with macadamia nuts

The next dish was interesting. Scallops were enveloped with taro paste and deep-fried. This resulted in perfectly cooked scallops with mushy and crunchy bits. Not sure if taro and scallop go together... but on their own, both are delicious!

Deep fried taro scallop

My favourite course was next - the sharks fin. There was a good amount of sharks fin in the broth (not too much, and not non-existent). There was a bit too much chicken bits in it but - and they got a bit annoying after a while. But in general, the consistency and the taste of the sharks fin was really yummy.

Sharks fin soup

Lobster cooked in supreme soup was the course my hubby and various others on the table were long-awaiting for since the start of the day. I was disappointed by this dish... The lobster pieces were TINY! The all-meat pieces were about the size of a 20cent coin and the leg pieces were so small that there simply was no meat in them. My hubby still liked it though and argued that at least the taste of it was good.

Lobster cooked in supreme soup

The next course was the abalone with chinese mushroom. The abalone piece was tender and infused with sauce. The mushy was super huge and again, cooked reasonably well. If I were one to like abalone and chinese mushroom, I think I would have enjoyed this dish muchly.

Abalone with Chinese mushroom

Instead of the usual crispy skinned chicken, we were served with roasted pigeon. Again, the portions were rather small so everyone's pigeon piece sat rather conspicuously on everyone's plate. How could we eat something so tiny and fragile? We just did.

roasted pigeon

Steamed fish was next. It was steamed well. The fish meat was soft and tasted quite fresh. If only they could dish it out in a way which made it look more impressive...

steamed fish

Noodles and fried glutinous rice came next. I opted for noodles. This was not yummy. It was tasteless and soggy and plain...

Noodles

Dessert-wise, we had fruit, little chinese cakes and biscuits, wedding cake slices and red bean soup. Nothing surprising. Not spectacular but by this stage, we didn't really care - we were full and ready to go home.

Red Bean Soup

It was a wonderful and awesome wedding. Banquet food - wise, it was average. You got your normal 10 course meal... some were good and yum, some were slightly disappointing. But I guess when you go to a wedding, it's not really the food that your meant to pay attention to :)

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 20.5 + ?/40

Zilver
477 Pitt Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9211 2232

Wagaya (3)- Haymarket

My partner and I had just finished watching a movie and he made the fatal mistake of asking me what I wanted to eat. "Jap food" I replied.

I swear I wasn't deliberately trying to be difficult, but at 9 something at night, a Jap restaurant is slightly hard to find (well, an open one atleast). That is, until my partner remembered that Wagaya was open til 12midnight. Hence, there we headed.

We decided to order a salad. My partner chose the mentai potato salad ($7.20) which is essentially a big salad with a pile of cold mashed potato mixed with roe. It was quite tasty. Not too heavy but a good mix of greens and starchy substance.

mentai potato salad - $7.20

I really wanted sushi and so picked the rainbow roll ($10.30). It's smaller than most rainbow rolls. Less filling. But yummy all the same. (Maybe it just satisfied my sushi craving).

Rainbow roll - $10.30

Next up, my partner put on the order the oyster and mentaiko gratin ($14.60). Four oysters topped with roe and cheese and more cheese. Oyster and cheese, what can go wrong with that? :)

Oyster and mentaiko gratin - $14.60

Last but not least, to satisfy my partner's need for chargrilled/deep fried food, he chose the assorted yakitori ($12.50). Prawn, salmon, chicken and beef tongue. The beef tongue was nice and chewy and the salmon was tasty. The other two were very average though.

assorted yakitori - $12.50

It wasn't the best Jap food we've had. Nor the best service. But it was what's open at that time of the night when I wanted Jap food.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Ratings - 27/40

Wagaya
Level 1, 78-86 Harbour St
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9212 6068

Sweeties Paradise - Haymarket

My friends and I have always raved on about how Sydney needs like, proper proper sweet soup places. When "Meet Fresh" opened in Chinatown and there were massive massive lines - I was excited! Yes!!! It's finally happening! But when all of my friends (most whom lined up for AGES) came back with not so good reviews of the food there, I was much less enthusiastic about giving it a go.

Sweeties Paradise

I have to admit though, I was on my way to dragging my partner to "Meet Fresh" until something else caught my eye. Another sweet soup place!!! I think it's newly opened (since Dec last year?) What caught my eye was actually the similarity in the bowls between "Sweeties Paradise" and a popular honky chain "Honeymoon desserts" (滿記甜品). Because of the smilarities on the bowls and spoons that they used, I dragged my partner in and braved an order.

I ordered my usual - Mango Pompelo & Sago Sweet soup (served cold) ($5.50). It came out really thick! OK, so there's not as much mango or pompelo in it as I would have liked, but OMG there's SOOOO much sago in this! I would have been happy with half the amount of sago I received in this. LOL. The coconut mangoey liquid part was very very creamy - not too sweet and not not sweet enough. The pompelo was slightly sparce but the mango (when you were lucky enough to catch a piece) was pretty nice. In all honesty, sweet soup in Sydney is more expensive and not yet as nice as that in HK. But as far as sweet soup goes in Sydney, this is definately probably one of the better ones there are. Not excellent-have-to-go-everyday quality, but definately good-enough-to-return quality.

Mango Pompelo & Sago Sweet Soup - $5.50

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Sweeties Paradise
Chinatown (Dixon St)
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9212 3818

Dixon Food Court - Haymarket

It's Saturday night and I wanted ramen. More specifically - I wanted Ryo's Noodles. Unfortunately (for about the third time now), we've driven all the way to North Sydney only to find it closed... *sighz*

My partner made us go to Gumshara in Chinatown instead. I protested but gave in. Hence, I got yummy Tonkatsu Ramen with added flavoured egg. YUM. The soup was a little bit too souped up and thick... but tasty nonetheless. However, the egg noodles were less yummy compared to other ramens I've had recently. Don't really know what it is, tasted a bit ummm... artificial? I can't really explain it. The egg was awesomeness and the condiments (seaweed, bamboo shoots, shallots, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, etc) were all fantastic~ Not a bad meal on a chilly Saturday night.

Tonkatsu Ramen with soft boiled egg

Eating at a food court meant choice. Choice for my partner to NOT eat ramen. He decided on 'bo jai fan' - rice in clay pot from a shop called 'First Taste' which is something another friend had previously recommended. He was slightly greedy and opted for chicken and mushroom rice with added chinese sausage. He added $2 worth of chinese sausage and it came LOADED with chinese sausage! LOL Where's the rice? In all seriousness, it wasn't a bad rice in hot pot. But it wasn't the best. It lacked that burnt ricey bit that's meant to be on the bottom and the sides. However - for foodcourt quality, it wasn't bad.

Chicken and mushroom clay pot rice with added chinese sausage

Gumshara
Dixon Food Court
Shop 209 Harbour Plaza
25-29 Dixon St
Haymarket
NSW 2000
tel: 0410 253 180

First Taste
Dixon Food Court
Shop 211
25-29 Dixon St
Haymarket
NSW 2000
tel: (02) 8086 3194

Campbell Restaurant - Haymarket

Campbell Restaurant

I don't know why but after an hour of bike riding, all I could think about was coffee - strong yummy coffe of either the Gloria Jean's Voltage type or asian ice-coffee type. Since we'd also not had lunch yet, we opted for a honky style cafe in the city.

The first thing I ordered was my iced coffee-tea mix. It was deliciousness. I love also how they separated my sugar syrup so it wasn't too sweet and wasn't too bland. My partner chose the red bean grass jelly ice-cream float. He loved it (and so did I). There was ample grass jelly, a good portion of red bean, yummy coconut milk and awesome awesome icecream (the icey type that I, but possibly not others, love). He loved it so much that he ordered another one of these (and subsequently felt sick from the milky sugary overload).

iced coffee-tea mix

red bean grass jelly icecream float

In terms of food, I opted for an afternoon tea special. These were french toast bites. Lovely golden deep fried cubes of super soft fluffy bread. It tasted almost like fairy-bread from Japan on the inside. Sooooo soft. The bad thing about it is that I like my french toast with peanut butter. But this was not an option here. I could only either have chocolate or strawberry topping with it >.<

French toast bites

My partner chose the cheesy seafood baked rice. This was very yummy. A good variety of seafood on a semi-fried rice base. Topped with creamy sauce and lightly-browned cheese. It was tasty, filling but not overbearing. Mmm...

Baked seafood rice

Overall, the food here was pretty good. The service was also not bad. A few waiters eyed us as we pulled out and played Monopoly Deal, but none stepped in to stop us which is good. The restaurant is also clean, bright and comfy. Not a bad place to dine.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31.5/40

Campbell Restaurant
1st Floor, 102 Hay Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
tel: (02) 9281 0743

Shan Cheng Hot Pot - Haymarket

Feeling like hotpot whilst out in the city. Lucky for us, there's plenty of hot pot places for us to choose from. The one we chose this time was San Cheng Hot Pot - filled with people - with pretty much every one of them speaking mando. Made me feel as though I was in China :(

Shan Cheng Hot Pot

We sat down and had a good list of things to choose from. One thing was the soup base. I don't do chilli, and my partner does chilli extreme. The perfectness of this split pot is that my partner could have his super extra chilli side and I could have my chicken stock non-chilli soup side.

soup base

In terms of dunking ingredients, I ticked off a variety of "balls" - cuttlefish balls, beef balls, tofu fish - beef tripe, oysters, fatty beef slices, chinese cabbage, bean curd, king oyster mushrooms, corriander and white raddish. Yes - a whole heap of food.

Food-wise, everything was frozen, including the four oysters ($10) which were pretty fail. So hint - don't do seafood here. But everything else, we pretty much do frozen stuff for hot pot anyway so it didn't matter too much.

In terms of the soup-base, my side was pretty good and tasty. My partner's super hot hot hot side was seriously... super hot hot hot! My partner was almost dying from the hotness (and trust me, he takes chilli really well).

cuttle fish balls

beef balls

tofu fish

beef tripe

oysters

beef

chinese cabbage

bean curd

king oyster mushrooms

corriander

white raddish

Overall, food at this place is OK. The soup base was also OK. My partner almost died eating it, but he was also super addicted to it that he couldn't stop eating it (even though it was killing him). The atmosphere here wasn't great - unless you like the feel of being in a super crowded city in China. Service was average and pricewise, our bill came to around $80.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 25.5/40

Shan Cheng Hot Pot
Shop 8a, 363 Sussex Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
tel: (02) 9267 6366