Micky's Cafe - Paddington

For a quick lunch around Paddington, hubby and I stopped by Micky's Cafe for a quick bite before catching a movie. There were quite a lot of people here, eating and chilling and munching away. It was quite a chillaxed atmosphere :)

We were both intrigued by their thickshakes hence we ordered one each. Hubby's large chocolate thickshake was TWICE the size of my regular chocolate brownie shake (and just like $1 extra or something). The chocolate thickshake was nice and thick and chocolatey with tiny little chocolate chips floating around the bottom of the glass. This looked and tasted quite similar to my chocolate brownie shake. The only difference is that the choc brownie shake tasted a bit 'cakey' as well. Both were really quite deliciousness :)

large chocolate thickshake

regular chocolate brownie thickshake

Food-wise, Micky's beef burger ($16.50) was the plate of choice for hubby. The burger came with a nice juicy slab of beef patty, thick slice of beetroot, some lettuce, a slice of tomato, onion and lots of yummy thick-cut chips. 

Micky's beef burger - $16.50

I craved breakfast and hence, I ordered the Sausages and Eggs ($15). I wanted my eggs poached and they came with two nicely toasted slices of bread, a blob of caramelised onions, 2 sausages and a heap of delicious creamed corn. The corn was probably the yummiest in the dish. It was sweet and buttery and awesome!!! 

Sausages and eggs - $15

This place was featured in the cheaps eat guide - they have these $10 meals on weekdays which look pretty good. The food and drink here wasn't bad. Not a bad place to chill out in the heart of Paddington.

Ratings:

Food - 7.5/10

Service - 7/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Value for money - 7/10

Overall - 28.5/40

Micky's Cafe

268 Oxford Street 

Paddington 

NSW 2021

Tel: (02) 9361 5157

Pho Saigon - Flemington

We've been trying to widen our pho-eating circle, trying to eat at different pho places instead of the ones we've tried and tested to be good. A new venture for us was at Pho Saigon in Flemington. Just before stepping into the restaurant, we bumped into a group of our friends who were just on their way out. They told us that they had a pretty satisfying lunch and particularly recommended the crispy skin chicken. Unfortunately, as we were creatures of habit, the normal pho was ordered, with an entree of spring rolls.

condiments

The spring rolls here had a relatively thicker pastry wrap. The filling was also less awesome tasting consisting mainly of finely mushed pork mince. The redeeming factor, however, was that it was crazily crunchy and deep-fried a perfect golden brown.

spring rolls

Hubby ordered his special beef noodle soup. There were plenty of slices of raw beef, beef tripe, beef tendon and beef balls.There was also plenty of onions to make the soup yummy and sweet. My pho was likewise rather yum. Loads of beef balls and silky smooth noodles and yummy soup. Mmm... I was starving and hence, smashed this.

special beef noodle soup

beef ball noodle soup

It wasn't a bad meal overall. The pho here is quite yummy but... probably our usual hood in Flemington is preferred.

Ratings: 

Food - 7.5/10

Service - 6.5/10

Ambiance- 6.5/10

Value for money - 7.5/10

Overall - 28/40

Saigon Restaurant

90 The Crescent
Homebush West NSW 2140, Australia
Tel: (02) 9746 1692

Sushi Isshin (鮨一新) - Asakusa

This happened waaaay before we saw the film "Jiro dreams of sushi", but I've been going on for a while about how there's these awesome Japanese sushi restaurants where the chef serves you one nigiri sushi piece at a time in an 'omakase' type meal. This revelation met my hubby's closed ears until around a month ago, when he came across an awesome Youtube clip on the 'world's best sushi' and it talked about these sushi omakase (at Jiro) where edomae style sushi is served. Since then, all I had been hearing about from hubby is how we HAVE TO eat at one of these awesome places!

We managed (with the help of our friend's Japanese girlfriend) to book ourselves into two Michelin star restaurants which do sushi in the way my hubby was hoping. The first of the two that we experienced was Sushi Isshin in Asakusa. The place was located a little far from the main street in Asakusa, probably around a 15 minute walk from the nearest subway station. It's tucked away in the small streets which are lined with amazing looking Jap restaurants. Walking into this restaurant, no one really asked our names or if we had a reservation, they just assumed it was us turning up for the right time. This was odd... but it seems like the norm in Japan.

We were quickly seated at the sushi bar. The whole restaurant had around 10 bar seats and a small table tucked in the corner which may (or may not) seat 4. The chef talks to you and serves you personally. The 'talking' bit was a bit strained due to our language barrier but we managed to get the main points across (e.g. 'sushi' 'hai').

We fell into the option of the sushi omakase and with the help of a fellow diner who was sitting next to us (who happened to know a bit more English and also had this amazing sushi app), we eventually figured out what we were eating :) Below are the snapshots of the awesome sushi we were served that night. Soy sauce is lightly brushed on by the chef, so no extra soy sauce dippings allowed. Also, pros eat it in one bite (fish side down on the tongue) and with the fingers... hence, that's exactly how we enjoyed each piece :)

Kohada (spotted gizard shad) - the most popular edomae-style sushi in the kanto region
This fish was amazing in it's texture. I loved how the skin was so shiny and went down the throat really smooth. The taste was quite strong compared to other fish...almost a smokey feel but not quite... 

Makagore (marbled flounder) - really silky smooth

shirawo? (ice fish) - this wasn't too much to my liking. I think it was more stringy in nature.

Aji (horse mackeral) - this was my hubby's favourite. It was really smooth and the ginger and shallots added really good taste to it. For me, it tasted a bit like a really yummy piece of Hainan chicken rice :)

Kajiki (blue marlin) - this seemed to be lightly seared on the edges and ever so slightly marinated with something. The seared bits provided an interesting texture. 

Zuke (marinated tuna) - I believe that this is tuna which has been soaking in some sweet soy based marinade for ages. It results in a truely amazingly flavoursome and smooth slab of fish. Mmm

Otoro (fatty tuna belly) - This was my first experience of Otoro. When people say that it melts in your mouth and it's crazily flavoursome, believe it!

kuruma ebi (kuruma prawn) - according to our dining friend's sushi app, this type of prawn can grow up to 20 cm! It's crzay bit and quite tastey. The chef leaves in the huge line of orangey roe stuff for extra flavour.

Hamaguri (clam) - thicker soy sauce was brushed on. Tasted quite yummy :)

Anago (conger eel) - Yes, I normally don't eat eel (and I normally don't like rice) but being so intimate with the chef means that it would be rude to not eat something. So in my mouth the eel went... and... it wasn't too bad. Tasty, a bit mushy - i'm guessing that's how good eel is meant to taste coz my hubby loved it~

Clam soup with coriander - The clams tasted really yummy... the soup taste a bit sake-ish. We weren't sure if we were just meant to eat to clams or whether we were meant to drink the soup :)

 Kampyo maki (dried gourd sushi roll) - this was officially our last sushi for the night. The gourd vege was marinated in some sweet sauce, making it like a sweet finish for the night.

Bottarga (salted dried compressed roe) - The maki was meant to be our last dish, but as our fellow diner had the sushi & sashmi omakase and he was crazily enjoying and recommending the 'bottarga' grilled slice he was eating, the chef was nice enough to offer us a taste. I was too excited to taste it that I ate most of it before remembering that I had to take a photo! It was really really rich, salty, crumbly and tasted like the yolk of a preserved salted duck egg.

Our lovely chef for the night

 Our introduction to sushi omakase edomae style was amazing! Even though we couldn't talk to the chef as much as other patrons, he was always super nice, polite and smiley. We were expecting to drop 15000 Yen each for dinner (as that's what we had read on other sites) but to our surprise, our combined dinner was less than that price (must be because we got the sushi only omakase, without the sashimi)! Fist Pump Moment!

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 8.5/10
Value for money - 9/10
Overall - 35/40

Sushi Isshin Asakusa
4-11-3 Asakusa,
Taito-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5603-1108

Bassim - Strathfield

When you walk through Strathfield, it's pretty hard to not walk past all the Korean restaurants which seem to be filled with fantastic barbeque flavours. One that's on the corner that piqued our interest was Bassim. We asked one of our Korean friends how that restaurant is and he said that it was 'pretty good'. Hence, one night, we went to test it out.

Bassim

Pretty much from the moment we stepped in, we were starting to think that it was a mistake. The whole atmosphere was crazy smokey (ie. ventilation here is kind of poor), and there are hardly any Korean's eating here (a bad sign). Nonetheless, we were seated and barbeque smelling already, so we might as well make the most of it.

The side dishes were pretty normal. The pickled chinese cabbage and the raddish were yummy. The kimchi was also not bad. The other stuff - lettuce, shallots, sauce - all went well with our chosen barbequed meats.

side dishes

I picked a beef galbi (marinated beef ribs) whilst hubby wanted the samgyapsal (pork belly) and we also ordered a tofu soy based soup. We cooked the beef ribs first, and whilst we cooked that, 4 different waiters came up to us and said that we had to tell them when we were going to cook the pork belly as they have to change the grill for us. I guess that's very very important since we were reminded oh so many times. The beef galbi was well marinated and quite tasty. The pork belly, on the other hand, was less awesome. It was really really thin and when chucked on, didn't leave a lot of pork for you to taste. The soup was tasty and super sizzling hot.

beef galbi

tofu and soy soup

pork belly

So we've had better meats at a Korean bbq and in a better environment. Probably won't be back to this one... not sure what our Korean friend was thinking when he said that it was 'pretty good'.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 5.5/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 25.5/40

Bassim
252/20-34 Albert Road  
Strathfield NSW 2135
Tel: (02) 8756 5689

Oliver Brown - Top Ryde

After our meal at Pier, I was craving just a simple sugary dessert. I've been meaning to try Oliver Brown for ages, so I took it as a perfect opportunity. We ordered waffles (for 2) which came with icecream and chocolate sauce. We also added strawberries to the mix.

After ordering, we didn't get a 'number' tag thing that other people seemed to get, so I was surprised that our dish got to us at all. I was also surprised that we got 2 scoops of icecream as most places would probably offer one. The waffles weren't quite crunchy or sugary enough but the chocolate sauce and the abundance of icecream seemed to make up for it.

Waffles with chocolate, icrecream and strawberries

Wasn't a bad finish to the night. Oliver Brown offers a lot more other desserts and chocolates and drinks. Can't wait to go back and try something different :)

Ratings:

Food - 7/10

Service - 6/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Value for money - 7.5/10

Overall - 27.5/40

Oliver Brown (Top Ryde)

Top Ryde City Shopping Centre

Cnr Devlin St and Blaxland Rd

Ryde NSW 2112

Pier - Rosebay

One year of our lives flew by with a blink of an eye. Before we knew it, it was our one year wedding anniversary. Looking back at this year, it seems as though we had done a lot, but at the same time, it seems as though we really didn't achieve much at all. For our one year celebration, we opted for Pier, a restaurant whose cookbook I've treasured for years.

Almost all tables at the restaurant had a view of the harbour. Unfortunately, the area was pitch black by the time we got there. Although the restaurant was relatively empty, every patron was ushered to the apex of the restaurant... and with the glass walls and non-carpeted floors, it meant that the area was relatively LOUD. We wanted their degustation menu. However, there was a main tuna dish that I didn't really fancy. Most restaurants would gladly do a simple swap... but not Pier. No swaps allowed. Hence, a-la-carte it was!

We started with bread. The bread was yummy... but not the softest crunchiest bread we've had. It also wasn't nice and warm or toasty but my hubby smashed a lot of these bits anyway.

bread

 For an entree, my hubby opted for a tuna tartare ($24). Round-shaped bits of tuna were yummily doused in a vietnamese dressing and served with mustard cress and thin slices of raddish. It made it really tasty and flavoursome.

tuna tartare - $24

I eyed a neighbouring's ordering of their 'cones' of fish. I couldn't resist but to order it too. They had 4 types of cones to choose from ($8 each) - tuna, kingfish, king salmon and ocean trout. I got all but the tuna. The cubes of fish were dressed nicely and served with tiny capers, all encapsulated within a super crunchy cone. My favourite was probably the kingfish one - it was the tastiest. The king salmon was really smooth and fatty and salmon-flavoursome too. All three cones supplied super fresh ingredients :)

cones of kingfish, king salmon, ocean trout - $8 each

For our mains, hubby went for the roasted barramundi ($43). The skin of this fillet of fish was crazy crunchy! Almost as though they deep fried just the skin. They did, however, manage to keep the fish really tender and moist and succulent. The fish was served with braised cos and shimeji mushroom. A small pot of mushroom consomme was poured on top of the fish at the table.

roasted barramundi - $43

My pick for the night was the crispy skinned snapper ($42). Two fillets of snapper were served with raddish, broccolini, pickled cucumber, pistachio bits. The fish was cooked well - it wasn't tough or chewy but rather really succulent. I'm not sure what the pink blobs of sauce was but it was OK...

crispy skinned snapper - $42

As a side, a seemingly healthy option of a zucchini, lemon and chervil salad ($12) was ordered. The zucchini was sliced into super thin ribbons, bits of bean were scattered everywhere and the salad was lightly coated with some vinaigrette. It was quite tasty and appetising really.

Zucchini, lemon and Chervil salad - $12

We glanced briefly at the dessert menu but nothing much met my fancy. I just wanted something with chocolate and icecream without fig or date or anything like that in it. Hence, we took our dessert cravings to Oliver Brown instead :)

All up, it was a relatively good meal. Not the best in terms of the noise, nor the attentiveness of the waiters... but, it wasn't too bad either.

Ratings:

Food - 8.5/10

Service - 6.5/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Value for money - 7/10

Overall - 29/40

Pier Restaurant

594 New South Head Road

Rose Bay

NSW 2029

Tel: (02) 9327 6561

Cafe Otto - Glebe

For a breezy brunch, Cafe Otto in Glebe was visited. Hosting a variety of food on their menu, it was a bit of a task to decide what to have... breakfast? sandwiches/burgers? pasta? seafood? At the end, hubby decided on a steak and I on a baguette.

Our pineapple and mango frappe came, glass overflowing, with icey goodness and a strong pineapple flavour. There was a hint of mango in the mix but pineapple was the predominant flavour. It was coolly refreshing.

 pineapple and mango frappe

Hubby ordered the smallest steak (250g) and opted for mash and veges with it (mainly cos I like mash :P). He wanted the steak cooked medium... but unfortunately, it was more medium-well/well-done. Hubby still thought it was tasty enough. I liked the mash - sooo creamy and buttery and unhealthy but soooo yummy.

 Grain-fed sirloin (250g) with mash and veges - $18

My choice of a smoked salmon baguette was ordered with a side of chips. There was smoked salmon, cos lettuce and cucumber in a super fresh and soft and slightly warm bread roll. It's advertised promise of avocado was scarse to non-existant whilst it's 'wasabi mayo' was wasabi-less. Nonetheless, it was a good delicious roll. The chips were also reasonably good, crispy and crunchy on the outside...each one being quite short but consistent, and not overlly deep-fried or burnt or oily. Nice.

smoked salmon baguette - $9.50 with chips - $3

All up, I think it was a relatively good brunch. If you're sitting outside in their courtyard, remember that it's still a smoking zone (but compared with being stuck in a ventilation-less tiny shop with loads of smoking businessmen, it was relatively tolerable).

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

Cafe Otto
79 Glebe Point Road
Glebe
NSW 2037
Tel: (02) 9556 1519