Ho Jiak - Strathfield

There's a new Malaysian place in town and it's super close to home. Being inside Strathfield plaza, there was a bit of a hitch in finding the place - as "HoJiak" actually isn't the name plastered ... it has "Penang Express" on the shop front and has that "food-court"-y type feel. Nonetheless, enough people seem to have found the place to make it quite buzzing and happening.

Hubby ordered their Hainan Chicken Rice. It's pleasant. The chicken is average and the rice is also decent. Not dazzling though unfortunately. 

My Prawn Mee was more impressive. Fragrantly aromatic and loads of flavour. It was pretty delicious. The noodles were wonderful in soaking in the tasty soup. I think it could have been improved by having real prawns instead of prawn cocktails... but you know what? I'd take it. I'd order it again. I also wanted an ice coffee but as they'd "run out", I had to opt for the Teh Terik instead (milk tea) which disappointingly, was pre-made, pre-packaged and slightly over-sweet.

 So all up, this is not a bad place for some Malay food. Lots of flavours in the soup for my noodles. But you know what? Temasek (in Parra) isn't too far away and that's also pretty delish! :)

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

Ho Jiak 
Shop 33, 11 The Boulevard
Strathfield Plaza
Strathfield
Tel: (02) 9008 8020

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

Green Peppercorn - Sydney

Thai food is better eaten with friends because you get to sample so much more food. I've been to Green Peppercorn in Fairfield but I'd never been to their Sydney joint. Our friends, however, swear that this is one of their favourite Thai places and come here on a regular basis. We also ordered much of their favourite dishes.

The Charcoal OX tongue didn't look too pretty but it was absolutely deliciousness. It was flavourful, succulent and slightly chewy. Pretty yum, especially with the special dipping sauce.

The chicken feet salad was another favourite. De-boned chicken feet is heaps easy to eat. Slightly chilli but packed full of flavour.

Pad thai is always my favourite go-to dish. The pad thai here was pretty good - slightly too chilli for me when I mixed in all the the chilli flakes, but otherwise, not too bad a noodle dish.

One of the specials was their pork knuckle. It was massive!!! Crispy skinned, caramelised sweet sauce, fall-off-the-bone meat. Cannot complain - I was in pork heaven :)

 Dessert-wise, our friends order their fried icecream every single time. Delicious caramelised sweet sauce, flaky thin filo pastry and a good amount of nuts to add the crunch. Pretty deliciousness.

I wanted to try their mango coconut dessert with coconut jelly, coconut milk and sago. It was really really good. I loved it! Really refreshing, not too sweet, a good combination of flavours. YUM!

All up, a pretty good dinner. Would love to come back again sometime.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Green Peppercorn
Civic Hotel Level 1
388 Pitt Street 
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 8080 7043

Huong Xua - Canley Heights

It's been cold. It's been windy. It's been windy. Perfect weather to curl up in bed. And perfect weather for a hot bowl of pho. As I work in Bankstown, going to Pho An (in Bankstown) on a non-work day did not seem appealing. We were also already frequent flyers at our favourite Flemington pho joint. So for something a bit different, we trekked to Viet town Canley Heights in search for a delicious bowl of noodle and we ended up at Huong Xua.

Being early, we were seated quickly and service was relatively attentive. They order on a smart phone so it initially felt like the waitress was texting her friend whilst taking my order, but all was good as my delicious looking beef ball and beef tripe pho came out promptly. The soup tasted really really clean. Delicious aromas, not too sweet, not too overpoweringly herby, and did not leave me wanting to drink endless cups of water. To me - that's a pretty perfect bowl of pho :)

People all around seemed to be ordering this chicken thing, so we didn't want to be left out. Hubby ordered their steamed salty chicken noodle soup. The plate of chicken wasn't big but it sure looked tasty. You dip the steamed chicken in a salt and kaffir lime type mixture and it makes the chicken really tasty, tender and strangely addictive. The noodles and the soup base were also pretty good.

So I guess we were both pleased with our decision to trek to Viet-town, rain and all. Can't wait to go back for another bowl of super tasty noodle soup! (oh, and btw, we ordered the small bowl. They have this crazy massive bowl and a food challenge for all those big eaters - with the prize being a photo and the joyous pride of being able to keep the bowl)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Huong Xua 
4/219 Canley Vale Road
Canley Heights 
NSW 2166
Tel: (02) 8764 4117

Hakata Gensuke - Melbourne

There's lots of lines for eating places in Melbourne. We lined up at HEAPS of them this trip. Luckily for us, Hakata Gensuke was one long line we managed to side step as we came here a little later than the normal lunch crowd.

The ramen portion here is not big, but the soup is thick enough that the package as a whole is filling enough (for lunch anyway). The three of us ordered slightly different soup bases. I ordered their signature Tonkotsu with an addition of a runny (super delicious) egg. The pork broth was super flavoursome. Thick. Collagen-rich. A tender pork cha-cha slice, black fungus and spring onions came with thin noodles. I got my noodles cooked normal - you could also request them hard or softer than normal. I loved it - hit the spot for my ramen craving.

Hubby go the black Tonkotsu. Lots of garlicy flavour in this. And super super black. The soup was slightly less thick than my signature tonkotsu but was heaps yum anyway. Again, it came with pork, black fungus and spring onions. Hubby got the noodles with goey egg and seaweed (the sides are NOT cheap).

Our friend ordered the 'God Fire'. As the name suggests - it was spicy! You could request the level of spice. My friend (being Korean) ordered a spice level of 3 of 4. It was a huge hit of chilliness. He seemed to quite enjoy the noodles, so I guess it was tasty enough :).

I would come back. But I love ramen - so I'm possibly biased. However, the amount of lines that we see as we go past this place suggests that other people like this place too.

Ratings: 
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Hakata Gensuke
168 Russell Street
Melbourne
VIC, 3000
Tel: (03) 9663 6342

Ippudo - Chippendale (Central Park)

I had been lucky enough to be invited by Ippudo to visit their new premise at Central Park before their opening on Oct 2nd. Situated in the 'dining district' of the complex, the vibe around the place is really chillaxy and awesome - as is the decor of their newly renovated restaurant.

To be honest, when I received their invitation, I was really really excited. Since Ippudo first came to Sydney, I had been meaning to try out their ramen and pork bun. But for one reason or another, my efforts to go had been thwarted in one way or another.

The first thing that you get smacked in the face with when you enter their store is a super crazy enthusiastic "いっらしゃいませ" ("Irrashaimase"). I hope that the staff were only this enthusiastic because it's early days as their welcome chant was so intense that it gave me a fright! LOL :)
We were welcomed warmly with an extensive menu and told to chose anything except.... they didn't have pork buns! My heart sank a little >.<

We made our selection - a beef croquette to share, a Shiromaru Special for me, and a Miso Tonkotsu Special for hubby. The beef croquette was slightly too oily but it was golden brown and crumbed well. The innards flowed out this beefy creamy substance which was unexpectedly meaty in flavour. I didn't dislike it, but it was very different to other croquette's I've had due to the beefiness of it.

Tables around us ordered things like their fish and chips (lighly battered salmon with chips), and salmon aburi sushi. I have to say - I got serious food envy. The sushi looked pretty awesome! I definitely have to try it next time I go there.

Our ramen came shortly after. The "special" bit of our ramen meant that we get a side plate of flavoured soft boiled egg, simmered pork belly, roasted seaweed sheets, black mushrooms (or black fungus), bamboo shoots and spring onions. I know, it's the greedy option but I really enjoyed the gooey nature of the egg and the plentiful seaweed. And the simmered pork belly??? Simply melt-in-your-mouth to die for type of YUM!

For the noodles, you get to choose between soft, medium and firm for the amount of cookedness. The waitress recommended 'firm' to get maximal texture and bounciness in the noodles and I guess, the noodles gradually soak up the soup anyway. As for the soup bases, hubby's Miso Tonkotsu was really flavourful. Not as thick as Gumshara, but you could still taste the collageny goodness about. The semi-strong miso flavour mixed in with the pork soup makes this a very palatable slurp.

My Shiromaru soup is also tonkotsu based. It was less intense and served with thin white Hakata-style noodles. The two ramens were really quite different. My one is the milder cousin of the miso tonkotsu but just as filling. I have no idea how the other tables managed to eat their noodles with their fish and chips / sushi but hubby and I were both super super stuffed by the end of our meal.

I had a tasty meal. I love noodles and this satisfied my noodle cravings. Can't wait til they officially open and I can finally sample their pork buns!

Ippudo Sydney (Central Park)
Level 1, RB07
28 Broadway
Chippendale
NSW 2008

Opening on : October 2nd, 2014

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

Pappa Rich - Chatswood

For a chillaxy lunch, hubby and I found ourselves at Pappa Rich in Chatswood - partly due to much consultancy of the Entertainment Book. We were greeted by friendly welcoming staff and an extensive yummy sounding Malaysian menu.

Took us ages to choose, but we finally decided on a noodle dish each. I ordered a Coffee+milk tea+ jelly drink which I LOVED. I would have appreciated a slightly strong coffee and tea flavour, but the drink did the trick anyway.

Hubby's noodle dish was the Curry Laksa. It was a rich and aromatic spicy coconut brothed noodles (thick eggy hokkien-style noodles) with prawns, mussels, eggplant, tofu puffs, bean curd, fish cake and bean sprouts. It smelt really good ... but... the benchmark for a good laksa has been set really high (thanks to the laksa place at unsw matt building) and unfortunately, this one fell a bit short of that.

Curry Laksa

I really liked my Prawn Mee, which had a really delicious prawn broth to it. It was a bit chilli, but I was determined to soldier on. There were thick egg noodles, prawns, half and egg, chicken, bean sprouts and water spinach. It was quite yummy. Maybe not the most awesome prawn mee I've had, but it hit the spot.

Prawn Mee

All up, not a bad Malaysian restaurant. Not the best but for the price (esp after Entertainment book discount), it was pretty decent.

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

Pappa Rich
63A Archer St
Chatswood
NSW 2067
Tel: (02) 9411 3207

Moon Park - Redfern

My colleague recommended this Korean restaurant in Redfern which served a modern take on traditional Korean dishes. As I love Korean food, I couldn't wait to test this place out!

Being only two people, the waitress recommended 2-3 entree dishes and 2-3 main dishes. We took that into consideration, but we ended up ordering 1 entree with 3 mains. It was a very difficult choice to make as everything on the menu seemed amazingness!

For starters, we were given complimentary home made rice crackers. This was really tasty. Thin and super crisp with just the right amount of saltiness. Very addictive indeed!

housemade rice crackers

The starter that I picked was the zucchini pancake with mussel and calamari ($12). This was quite a big serving with noticeable calamari scattered all around. The pancake wasn't overlly floury - it was more potatoey and slightly lighter than normal - which really, is to my liking. There was also a spiciness to it which seemed to come from kimchi? but the pancake wasn't red in colour... So I guess in conclusion, I'm not too sure what's in this other than mussels, calamari and ample strings of zucchini. I did quite enjoy it though!

zucchini pancake - $12

A main dish that my friend chose was the Imjasutang ($17). This was a cold chicken dish - the chicken seemed to be poached in a broth that made it tasty and tender and was served with thin slices of mushroom, pinenut, date and pickled rose. The taste was more subtle compare to the other dishes of the night.

Imjasutang - $17

I couldn't resist but to try the modern take of the Jjajangmian ($18). This was a small but heaps tasty dish of both noodles and thin calamari strips all mixed in a blackbean sauce. Snowpea bits and kombu were scattered throughout. My bias towards noodles made me enjoy this dish muchly.

Jjajangmian - $18

The other dish that my friend ordered was the Bibim ($22), a modern play on bibimbap. In the bowl was rice and pearl barley, corn, crab, cured egg and nori. When mixed with the gochujang, it was a good balance of flavours. The crab was more delicious than I expected - it was really sweet and added much to all the flavours of this dish.

Bibim - $22

My friend loves desserts, so we couldn't do without. Unfortunately, we were both heaps heaps full already so we decided to get one dessert to share. We decided on the Patbingsu ($13). This was brown sugar ice cream with brown rice milk shaved ice, mixed berries and sujeonggwa - which is a korean fruit punch. The flavours worked well. The brown rice milk shaved ice provided an interesting flavour at first, but I warmed to it after a few spoonfuls. And the little donuts? I enjoyed that more than I thought I would.  I guess Koreans don't really do desserts superbly - but they did try their best!

Patbingsu - $13

I really enjoyed this meal. The decor of the place was plain and simple - nothing much to it. With the hard walls and floors, it did make it slightly too noisy and less conducive to conversation, but the quality of the food made up for it I think!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Moon Park
34B Redfern Street
Redfern, NSW 2016
Tel: (02) 9690 0111

Mappen - Sydney

For a quick afterwork bite, hubby and I decided to head to Mappen. We were pretty surprised to find quite a large crowd at this udon place but as its such a quick and easy thing to eat, customers came and went really quickly.

Hubby had the beef udon whereas I got greedy and went for the Bukkake Double Otama (ie. two half boiled eggs). I was reminiscing the awesomely smooth yet chewy udon we had in Tokyo, but compared to that, the udon unfortunately fell a bit short. Nonetheless, Sydney-udon-wise, this was probably pretty decent. Hubby's beef udon with the beef stock was pretty tasty. My soft boiled eggs were also quite deliciousness (though, it could have been a tiny bit more runny). The sesame flavour in my soup/sauce was unfortunately, a bit too overpowering.

beef udon

Bukkake Double Otama

Tempura-wise, we had the chicken, the fish-cake and the prawn. My favourite was the fish cake (but I am biased). The tempura batter was pretty crunchy and tasty though~

tempura

I guess Mappen will satisfy my udon craving briefly... until we get to go to Japan again!!! :P

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

Mappen (Sydney CBD)
Shop 11, 537-551 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9283 5525

Tan Viet Noodle House - Eastwood

By pure coincidence,I was walked past the new Tan Viet store in Eastwood a few weeks ago. They weren't open yet, but hubby and I were super eager to go for some awesome crispy chicken noodles when they did finally open.

On a late-ish Sunday, hubby and I went to pay it a visit. There was a small line but we decided to wait anyway. Luckily for us, we didn't need to wait long at all.

We knew exactly what we wanted to order. Crispy chicken noodle soup x 2!!! Drink-wise was a bit tricker as hubby wanted the 3 bean drink - but they were sold out. Then he asked for the young coconut drink - again sold out. He finally settled for the lemon soda, which was actually really refreshingly yum. I went for my normal - the iced milk coffee. Delicious as usual!

And the main meal? The same awesome quality as that which is found in Cabramatta! This means we no longer have to drive 45 mins when we crave crispy chicken noodles!!! The chicken skin was super thin and crisp. The chicken itself was tender and flavoursome. And the noodles? Also spectacularly cooked (the egg noodles that is). The broth was clear and didn't taste too colluded by msg. Loved it!

The price of this meal is substantially more than your average price of a meal in Eastwood. However, I guess when we cancel out the price of extra petrol that would be needed if we drove down to Cabra, it's still worth it :)

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Tan Viet Noodle House
209 Rowe Street
Eastwood
NSW 2122
Tel: (02) 9858 5167

Law Fu Kee (羅富記粥麵專家)- Hong Kong

Featured in a Honkie magazine wonton noodle soup and congee place that had opened for 50 years. And so, we decided to go and see how it is. Law Fu Kee (羅富記粥麵專家) is in Central and luckily, it wasn't too hard to find. As it was quite early in the morning, we didn't have to wait to be seated.

Law Fu Kee

We decided to order their wonton noodle soup and their sliced fish congee with chinese donut. Like all these places, you have to order in a snap (nil thinking time) but as a result, the food comes really quickly too. The wonton noodle soup was pretty good. Chewy and tasty noodles with small fresh delicious wontons. And the congee looked impressive. It was silky smooth on the top layer which, when eaten with crunchy chinese donuts, was a definite treat. Funnily enough, near the bottom of the congee bowl, the congee got a bit watery and less silky smooth...

wonton noodle soup

sliced fish congee

chinese donuts

So it's not a bad joint for a quick local bite. The congee starts off being really delicious but unfortunately, the awesomeness fades as you scrape the bowl.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money -8.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Law Fu Kee (羅富記粥麵專家)
Ground Floor, 142 Queen's Road 
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 543 3881