Tim Ho Wan - Burwood

I'd been dubious about Tim Ho Wan coming to Sydney for a really long time. Not just the crazy cues but also the outrageous prices. However, for today - my craving for a vegetable dumpling won out. It also helped that there were close to no lines at lunch hour (around 12.30pm).

We weren't super hungry, so we only ordered a couple of dishes. First and foremost, the spinach and shrimp dumplings ($7.80). This had the most amazingly thin crystal dumpling skin super delicious and plentiful spinach filling. YUM! I could eat plates and plates of this I think.

As per all our yum cha experiences, the pork and prawn dumplings had to be ordered ($7.80). This was a huge disappointment. Really dismal looking. Really not any better than siu mai from elsewhere.

The rice rolls with sesame sauce was pretty tasty. Silky smooth rolls drenched in a sweet sesame sauce. Can't really go too wrong.

The last thing we ordered was one of their specials - the crystal shrimp roll with century egg. I've never steamed rice paper rolls before. Now I know that it just becomes really sticky. An epic slab of prawn meat with a small slice of century egg and fish roe. Hubby quite liked this dumpling but I felt like there was waaaaaayyyyy too much prawn meat in this.

I think that Tim Ho Wan in Burwood is not bad. Extravagant prices aside, the service, ambiance and wait times were all quite reasonable.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 28/40

Tim Ho Wan (Burwood)
Ground Level Westfield Burwood
Cnr Burwood Road and Wilga Street
Burwood NSW 2134
Tel: 0426 788 708

Cafe D'Or - Burwood

For a casual weeknight dinner, my friend and I decided to give Cafe D'Or, a lebanese cafe in Burwood, a go. It was a crazy humid day and stepping into the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was the lack of air con and array of empty tables (which gradually got filled throughout the night).

We ordered 3 dishes to share. We had the Haloumi ($15.90), Fried Kebbe ($14.90) and the Shish Taook ($22.90). The Haloumi came out first and it was pretty good - sauteed cheese, chewy and tasty, served on some rocket and spanish onion.

Haloumi - $15.90

I wish I could say the same for the Fried Kebbe. It was donned "Lebanon's national dish" on their menu - so we had to try it despite not having a clue what it really was. The Kebbes were deep fried torpedo shaped things stuffed with meat (possibly lamb?), onions and pinenuts. It was horribly dry and didn't really taste very appetising. Maybe its just that our tastebuds aren't too accustomed to this yet?

Fried Kebbe - $14.90

The Shish Taook (ie. chicken breast skewers) were not too bad. It was subtly marinated with garlic and some spices and was tender but slightly dry if it wasn't eaten with the garlic sauce. Unfortunately  the garlic sauce plate was tiny and soon ran out.

Shish Taook - $22.90

The food here wasn't great, but the restaurant was quiet enough for a good chat and catch-up. One visit here is most probably enough though.

Ratings:
Food - 5.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 5.5/10
Overall - 23/40

Cafe D'Or
47 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9747 0222

Sahara - Burwood

For a long awaited catch up with a friend who recently went to live in America, we tried to pick one of the quieter places on the main strip in Burwood. We ended up picking Sahara.

For starters, we had the mixed dips platter ($23.50). There was a mix of 6 dips served with super super yummy garlic turkish bread. I'm not sure what the 6 dips were... I could only tell out the tzatziki, the hummus, a beetroot dip and a bab gannouj... there rest were a mystery to me but they were all tasty enough! My friend liked these dips super much. I think he would have been satisfied just eating these all night!

mixed dips with garlic turkish bread - $23.50

We also shared the Shish Tawook ($24.90). These were two massive chicken skewers marinated in garlic and paprika and served with bread and a simple salad. The chicken was really tender and tasty, lightly char-grilled and really just quite awesome.

Shish Tawook - $24.90

For some greens to the diet, we also decided on a beef salad ($15.50). Nothing too special here - chunks of beef with lettuce and tomato and spanish onions.

Beef Salad - $15.50

Overall, it was a pleasant experience. The food was good and served in massive portions. We both left clutching our stomachs in fullness :)

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

Sahara
100 Burwood Road
Burwood NSW
Tel: (02) 9747 4540

Hong Kong Noodle Restaurant - Burwood

To grab a quick dinner, hubby and I decided to pop by Burwood for some noodles. Having the choice of many a noodle joints on Burwood Road, we decided to test out Hong Kong Noodle Restaurant as it was still buzzing with people at the time we were there.

My hubby ordered what he had been craving for weeks - a combination fried noodle ($12.80), whereas I, being a stir noodle fan, opted for a wonton stir noodle ($9.80). I think my hubby made the wiser decision on this occasion. His fried noodles came out looking absolutely gorgeous! Crispy crunchy noodles covered with a mountain of seafood, chicken, bbq pork, beef and veges, and just oh-so-barely touched by the sauce, making it a crunchy yet tasty experience. On the other hand, my wontons were less appetising-looking, being just a mount of noodles, soup-sauce on the side and large round wontons (which tasted just average). Nonetheless, both meals were filling and we both left feeling full and satisfied :)

combination fried noodles - $12.80

wonton stir noodles - $9.80

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 26.5/40

Hong Kong Noodle Restaurant
152 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9701 0668

Fuhong Barbeque Restaurant - Burwood

In Burwood and sporting a chinese style bbq meat craving? Add to that equation pouring rain and a tight schedule? That was us one busy Sunday afternoon.

Due to the rain (and being slightly noob without umbrellas), my hubby and I dashed into the first Chinese BBQ restaurant we spotted - Fuhong BBQ. My hubby ordered the soya chicken, bbq pork noodle soup ($9.50) and I the soya chicken, roast duck stir noodles ($9.50) and we were flaberghasted by the size of the portion. Yes we were both famished but we still couldn't conquer the mountain of meat and noodles.

The chicken was super succulent and tasty - crazily awesome with the ginger and shallot mixture. The pork was nice and the duck was pretty good also. My stir noodles was amazingly YUM (but I love stir noodles so I could be biased).

BBQ meats with noodles

Undoubtedly, we left the place clutching our stomachs but with full smiles on our faces. Luckily for us, the rain stopped also :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Fuhong Barbeque Restaurant
163 Burwood Road
Burwood,
NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9715 2522

Cafe Bello - Burwood

Cafe Bello

I had extreme cravings for pasta. Super creamy cheese unhealthy pasta. Having some business to take care of in Burwood, we settled for Cafe Bello, an Italian cafe inside Westfield.

It was pretty busy for 2pm - and being relatively hungry, we ordered pretty much straight away. My partner opted for a chocolate thickshake ($5.90) and a cheeseburger ($15.90). His chocolate thickshake was thick and sweet and chocolatey. Nicely ice-creamily thick and rather delish. AND it came is a frosty milk-shake cup which was super super huge. I think my partner felt sick after downing this whole Litre of milk/icecream/chocolate mixture :)

Chocolate thickshake - $5.90

I tossed between a mocha frappe ($5.90) or a mocha thickshake ($5.90). At the end, I decided on the frappe. My partner debated for ages what the difference between the two drinks would be. I guess a mocha thickshake would have more milk + icecream, whereas a frappe would have more ice + icrecream? No matter what the answer is, my drink was awesome! Thick enough. Cold enough. Coffee-flavoured enough. And sweet enough.

Mocha frappe - $5.90

My partner's cheeseburger ($15.90) comprised of a thick beef patty topped with melted cheese and beetroot, lettuce, caramelised onion, and tomato heaped with bbq sauce and with chips on the side. I also eyed the works burger (which had also egg, bacon and pineapple on top of everything else) which was like simply towering! I think the burger was averagely good :)

Cheese burger - $15.90

To satisfy my pasta craving, I chose the penne boscaiola ($17.90). Creamy, loads of bacon strips, small bits of mushrooms, shallots and shaved parmesan all creamed up by a white wine cream sauce. Mmm.... YUM. Very satisfying for my craving. Very very filling.

Penne boscaiola - $17.90

Given that we had a voucher for this place (thanks to the Entertainment book), our lunch came to less than $30. Not bad at all. They also had a huge range of cakes in their display cabinets which, if my stomach had allowed, I would definately have tried.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Cafe Bello
Westfield Burwood
100 Burwood Road,
Burwood NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9745 1545

Cafe Aroma (2) - Burwood

Stopping off for lunch in the midst of busy house shopping, my partner felt like eating at Cafe Aroma. The set meals here are $15.80 each and includes soup, bread, a main meal and a drink. There are also set meals (western style) for slightly more expensive.

For this lunch time, my partner opted for a Russian Borsch for the soup whereas I went for a cream of chicken soup. This came with warm soft bread :) The russian borsch was very tomatoey and rich - quite yummy - but I still preferred my creamy chicken soup. Very smooth and very very tasty.

russian borsch with bread roll

cream of chicken soup with bread roll

For mains, my partner chose a baked pork chop rice. There were many thin strips of grilled pork sitting on top of fried rice and topped with a hefty layer of tomato sauce and just not enough cheese. It was pretty yummy though.

baked pork chop rice

I decided on the baked portugese chicken with rice. Oddly, this whole dish was just portugese chicken - super tender and yummy pieces of chicken with potato cubes, onion and peas - and the rice mountain came separate. I prefer mine altogether (as I really don't need that much rice) and again, I like it topped with cheese.

Baked portugese chicken rice

Drinks here were good too. The milk tea and the milk tea with coffee are both yummy. I guess what's lacking is the ambiance and the service - but that's probably pretty typical for honky style cafes.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 27/40

Cafe Aroma
232 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
tel: (02) 9747 4611

Club Burwood - Burwood

For a girls catchup, one of my friends decided that we should reminsce over trivia. Now Trivia is something that goes on at the roundhouse (at UNSW) but in all honesty, in the six years I was at uni, I never went. Why? Because I absolutely suck at trivia.

Nonetheless, I was game. If not to win, atleast to have fun, right? Trivia is on at Club Burwood on Monday nights starting from 7.30pm til 9.30pm. The average age group here was maybe, mid-thirties to forties and fifties even? The age group is reflected in the questions asked (which consequently, we knew not the answers).

We first ordered from the bar upstairs, and took our food downstairs. I opted for a burger with the lot ($7.90 + $2 for chips). This was a pretty big burger - an egg, tomato, meat patty, pineapple, lettuce, beetroot (which I asked for an exemption to), and cheese. Not bad. Big and juicy and yummy (or maybe I was just hungry). One of my friends ordered wedges and that was really really good - super crispy and crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. I appreciated those more than my fries (which, to their credit, was also nice and crunchy).

burger with the lot + fries - $7.90 + $2

It was a good experience. Yes, we knew next to nothing and we won nothing, but it was kind of fun~ Good thing to do on a Monday night (if you're into going out on a Monday night).

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Club Burwood
97 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
tel: (02) 9744 8686

Cafe Aroma - Burwood

Cafe Aroma

Where to eat in Burwood? Well, when with my parents, something Chinesey was on the menu. Cafe Aroma was chosen, even though it was a bit of a trek from Westfield.

I remember that the food here was pretty decent, but the first thing that got my attention when I sat down was - wow... prices are pretty pricey for a honky style casual cafe! We're talking around $15-19 ish for a set meal (soup, main and coffee/tea) which is pretty sky high compared to other honky cafes.

The drink I opted for was an iced coffee with tea. This was really really delicious. Super coffee infused, and ice cold. YUM. I could drink this all day!

iced coffee with tea

We also ordered a hainan chicken rice. The chicken here was really really smooth and tender. There was a nice layer of jelly under the skin of the chicken. You could almost slide the chicken in your mouth and down your throat. Mmm... The rice here is less fragrant compared to other places, but it is also less oily. So may be healthier but also slightly less tempting. And the soup? Just normal.

Hainan chicken rice

The baked pork chop fried rice was covered in tomato sauce. The pork was tender and the tomato flavour was rich as. Although not ovened til golden brown, atleast it was ovened enough for the cheese to melt. Not overlly awesome, but it was decent.

Baked pork chop rice

So whilst not the cheapest nor the nicest looking place, the food here is definately decent and yum.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 28/40

Cafe Aroma
232 Burwood Rd
Burwood
NSW 2134
Tel: (02) 9747 4611

Palm Breeze Cafe (2) - Burwood

Don't come here if you want to be noticed and treated like a human!

This was my second time at Palm Breeze. As my first experience had been rather good, my partner and I rocked in huge ribs for a late dinner. We ended up getting a huge rack of ribs and a mediterranean grilled platter.... and the food was great! The downfall came in the drink - the chocolate thickshake - that my partner ordered.

Not coming as thick as it ought to be, we were ready to be quite forgiving. However, on sipping the thickshake, my partner found black thick hard plastic bits in his drink. What is that??? What was even more astounding is the waitress' reactions. We told the first one - she was like... "err... what?" she then walked away, chatted up the asian dude making the drink... and never ever returned... Yes - she walked past our table repeatedly and pretended to be busy each time... lingered more at the bar to chat up the dude making the drinks... but ignored us. We gave up waiting for the first waitress chick to come back and instead, told yet another waitress. She was like "are you sure it's not the straw?". Yes - we are damn sure it's not the straw. And even if it was the straw, why on earth is the straw falling apart??? She was about to just dismiss us and walk away until my partner suggested "maybe we could get a new one?". She walked away with the contaminated drink looking pissed off and returned a while later with a new one. No eye contact. No apology. No nothing. Ahh... Loving the attentive service~

chocolate thickshake

mystery black plastic bits in the shake

I think that if we weren't so hungry and if we weren't craving for ribs and if we weren't as cbb as we were, we would have done something - stood up and left for one. But we didn't. We stayed. And ate.

Our full rack of ribs ($32) came with salad and a choice of mash or chips. I chose mash in this case. The ribs were GIGANTIC. It was lathered in barbeque sauce, succulent, tender and juicy. Very deliciousness. The orangey sauce... liquidy tomatoey sauce was a bit strange though. However, the mash was very smooth and creamy and unhealthy tasting. To balance the meat and the carbs, the veges was a slightly healthy pile to make me feel good.

full rack of ribs - $32

The Mediterranean grilled platter ($26.50) comprised of a lamb fillet skewer, a chicken skewer and a beef kafta, served with chips, a mediterranean salad, lebanese bread and a variety of dipping sauces (hommus, tzatziki and garlic sauce). The chicken skewer was tender and tasty, and no complaints from my partner about the lamb. The beef was not very appetising (or so thought I) and hence, it was left virtually untouched. The salad was liberally doused with dressing which was vinegary and yum. The chips did manage to get cold very quickly... but were okay nonetheless. In terms of the sauces, our favourite was the garlic by far! The hommus and the tzatziki was just average. All up, this grilled platter combo was average - not spectacular, but not bad either.

Mediterranean mixed grill - $26.50

Overall, the food was pretty good and the portions were huge - filled us til we could eat no more. The service was pretty much non-existant and the fact that they just wanted to ignore our complaint really pissed me off. There was no apology for the drink, no acknowledgement that they were wrong, no discount on our bill... *sigh* So... I guess this cafe should be purely visited for food and nothing more.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10

Service - 1/10

Ambiance - 6.5/10

Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 22/40

Palm Breeze Cafe

128 Burwood Road

Burwood

NSW 2134

Tel: (02) 9715 7222

Palm Breeze Cafe - Burwood

Uni is over!!! :P
As post-uni uni-friend meet ups tend to involve people who live all around sydney, the mid-point for meeting up this time was at Burwood's Palm Breeze Cafe.

I looked at the menu and I wanted to order absolutely pretty much everything! Glancing around at what other people were ordering, I noticed that the portion sizes were pretty HUGE and so, we all just ordered a main each.

Drink-wise, my friend ordered a mango and pineapple frappe. She said this drink was awesome and wonderfully refreshing. My lactose-intolerant friend ordered a soy hot choc - no complaints there either. A diet coke and my awesomeness chocolate thickshake was also ordered. My thickshake was soooo sooo thick! Just the way I like it. Very ice-creamy and slightly too sweet but very yummy nonetheless :)

Mango and Pineapple Frappe

soy hot choc

diet coke

Chocolate thickshake

My friend ordered a half-rack of ribs ($27). This was HUGELY GIGANTIC and piled up like a mountain. Long succulent ribs with meat that just falls off the bone was sitting onto of a mound of crispy yummy chips and topped with barbeque chicken skewers. There was also a big pile of salad accompanied by a tomatoey, subtley chilli may mixture.

half rack of ribs - $27

Two of my other friends ordered veal. There was a vitello oscar ($25.90) which comprised of three hand-sized pieces of veal with grilled fresh prawns, spinach and drenched with hollandaise sauce. The veal was sitting a-top a mound of creamy mash and accompanied with a pile of veges. The other veal dish was the vitello lemon. This veal came with a small jug of light rosemary and lemon sauce. The veal exuded a very healthy vibe to it - none of that juicy fat-ness that you get from a beef steak. The hollindaise sauce was creamy and tasty, and I thought it was slightly yummier than the lemon sauce - which was very quite kind of subtle.

Vitello Lemon - $23.90

Vitello Oscar - $25.90

Lastly, my pasta - pollo al peso ($17.90). My photo does not do justice to it's size. This pasta was tossed in creamy basil pesto sauce, mixed with sauteed chicken and mushrooms and sprinkled with pine nuts. This was very rich and creamy. By the time I was stuffed full, it looked as though I had barely touched my plate LOL.

Pollo al Pesto - $17.90

For dessert, because we were all so full, we decided to share two between the four of us. We ordered the Creme caramel ($8.90) and the Chocolate explosion ($9.90). Contrary to how amazing I found all the mains, the dessert was definately a disappointment. The creme caramel was served with banana and drizzled with condensed milk. Thinking sweet? I'm thinking waaaayyy tooo sickening sweet - so only order if you have a super sweet tooth! The chocolate explosion in real life looked no where near as impressive as it did on the menu. Instead of an impressive warm chocolate melting cake sitting in the middle of a pool of chocolate sauce and accompanied with straweberries and icecream, what we got was more like a cup of cheap watery vanilla icecream with a chocolate pudding that was microwaved minutes before it was served. Very chocolatey though.

creme caramel - $8.90

Not so fab chocolate explosion - $9.90

Overall, Palm Breeze Cafe was a good dining experience. The atmosphere is vibey and the waiters were nice and friendly. I would definately come back for the ribs. And eyeing the seafood platters that came out of the kitchen (plates of seafood piled up like a huge mountain) that should also be an order on our next visit :P However, dessert might just need to be a skip LOL

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32/40

Palm Breeze Cafe
128 Burwood Road
Burwood
NSW 2134
tel: (02) 9715 7222