Jin Yan - Castle Hill

I believe that my parent's have developed a new found love for the Chinese restaurant Jin Yan - which is located within Castle Hill RSL. Proximity may have something to do with it. The fact that you get 10% if you are member (5% at lunch) may have something to do with it. Food being decent may have something to do with it. And the fact that my dad sees the bosses when he goes to Y2K gym may have something to do with it. All these factors combined - it feels as though every time I'm eating out with my parents, this is the place it's at.

One of the many many times we've been here, we ordered the following:

Oysters with vermicelli and XO sauce. The oysters were not super huge but they were decently sized. Plump. Juicy. Flavoursome from the XO sauce but not overlly chilli. And since vermicelli is one of the things I love, and this was topped with vermicelli, I rather enjoyed my oyster :)

Oyster with XO sauce and vermicelli

We also ordered a coral trout - cooked two ways. A lighter version with the fillet bits - with snow peas, shoots and carrots. The fillets were sweet, succulent and fresh (which I guess is what you'd expect from a fish fresh out of the tank). You can add more taste to it by dipping the fishy into the oyster sauce - but I think it tasted better without.

fish cooked 2 ways

The more boney bits of the fish was deep fried and served with bok choi and tofu. It was more heavy on the sauce. Extremely tasty - it got my partner's tick of approval.

Fish cooked 2 ways

Crispy skinned chicken was also ordered. Nothing too special. Crispy skin, deep fried garlicy bits on top and your average chicken really.

Crispy skinned chicken

Mixed chinese veges and fungi and mushies were drowned in sauce. A bit too drowned for my liking but my company seemed to enjoy this.

mixed asian veges

The last dish took YEARS to come out. I think they left it off the order. It was black pepper beef cubes with honey roasted sesame topped walnuts. The beef was average - even slightly on the tough overcooked side. But the walnuts were AWESOME! Honey coated nuts are the bomb! :) I could eat plates and plates of just the honey coated walnuts.

black pepper beef with honey roasted walnuts

Overall, the service at the restaurant is variable - it depends on how busy and how short-staffed they are. Some waiters are nice, some less so. The food is also decent (most of the time atleast). However, it probably doesn't warrant the frequent frequency of which my parents visit this restaurant.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Jin Yan
Castle Hill RSL
77 Castle St
NSW 2154
Tel: (02) 8858 4848

Shanghai Night (3) - Ashfield

It's been so hot lately. It seems to have zapped away our appetite. So when deciding where to eat, my partner and I opted for something simple and cheap.

Hence, Ashfield we went!
Pleasantly surprised to find Shanghai Night to be packed FULL of people yet to be at a decent arctic temperature, we settled in quickly and ordered a few dishes.

Shanghai Night

One was my partner's favourites (he does have many favourites though) - Chicken and corn soup. He decided to go for the one with seafood ($4.80). This was chicken and corn soup cooked to a nice consistency of chicken broth, corn and egg bits, with seafood extender, small prawns and scallop bits scattered throughout. It was very much quite sweet and quite yum.

chicken and corn soup with seafood - $4.80

I decided to be daring and ordered the fish dumplings ($6.80). I ordered the small size (comprised of 12) and I ordered them steamed (as opposed to fried). This was interesting. Kind of like eating fish balls inside a slightly too thick flour wrapping. To be completely honest, it was kind of floury gooey ishly dense and hence, didn't taste very nice on its own. However, it does redeem itself somewhat after you dunk it in the vinegar.

Fish dumplings (small) - $6.80

Last but not least, we had the mini steamed pork buns ($6.80). The skin to this was again, a bit thicker and more floury than I would have liked. The meat this time was a bit coarse tasting but the flavour was there. Again, tastes better with the vinegar :)

Mini steamed pork buns - $6.80

So the food wasn't awesome this time. But the price! We got out of there - both full, and got change for $20. Awesome!

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Shanghai Night
275 Liverpool Road,
Ashfield
NSW 2131
Tel: (02) 9798 8437

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

Honda Ya - Taipei

This was actually our first meal in Taipei. On Christmas night when we arrived in the city, our friend took us to this Jap restaurant. Only problem is, I was sleep deprived, the menu was in Chinese or Japanese, and my ability to decipher Chinese in a sleep deprived state was minimal.

Hence, we opted for the next best option - a set menu. There were set menus of different prices. I think we opted for one that was around AU$50 ish? This is what we got.

Super fresh sashimi small prawns with wakame on the side. These tiny sashimi prawns were super subtly sweet. It was that fresh sweetness. The sweetness kind of lingers on in your mouth. Could have more than just this little plate of this.

sashimi little school prawns

The next was tiny little fishy sashimis. Lots of little fishy - eyes and bones and all. All see through and in this brothy sauce thing. This was not as appetising nor as sweet as the prawns. I don't know if it was partly psychological - but eating it eyes and all RAW... hmm... not too sure about it.

raw fishi

Next was sashimi. Squid, snapper, kingfish and errmm... something in the bowl. I don't remember anymore. What I do remember, however, was that the sashimi was definately decent and fresh and sweet and yum.

sashimi

Next was a surprising dish. Barbequed HUGE scallop in a sweet sauce sitting atop super super crunchily fresh seaweed. It was like, awesome! Scallop and seaweed definately go together. I would have liked my scallop just a few seconds rawer, but really, it was quite good already.

Scallop and seaweed

Next came an oyster. Apparently oysters are slightly expensive in Taipei - hence we get one. A big one though. In a vinegaretty sauce. Again, the main ingredient was freshness~

Oyster

After all the raw stuff came some deep-fried goodness. Tempura fish, deep-fried wonton and deep-fried asparaguses. It was all kinda average. Nothing spectacularly good or bad about it.

tempura

The chiwanmushi (steamed egg) was quite awesomeness! Smooth. Tasty. Cooked with stock. With seafood bits and shitake mushroom. YUM. I could down a few of these too!

Chiwanmushi

Sushi aburi came next. Lightly flame-grilled on top and lightly salted. The sushi had a good punch to it. Not bad at all.

aburi sushi

After the lightly flame-grilled one came another sashimi one. This sushi was also very yum. Fresh. The rice was a good consistency, good amount of vinegar, and just a good portion.

sushi

California rolls came next. California rolls with REAL crab meat (not the imitation ones). Super super fresh and crunch seaweed. My friend thought it was really quite awesome.

california rolls

What came next was a huge bowl of soup. Fish soup with tofu. Mixed shallot, chilli, sweet sauce for dipping the rather big chunks of fish in. I think I was slightly too full by this stage to appreciate it properly.

fish and tofu soup

Miso soup - standard. Not overlly excellent. Not too shabby. I think there was a rice after this as well. I don't actually know what happened to my photos but from memory - there was actually a few more courses after this. (in my sleepy state, maybe I just thought I took photos but didn't really)

miso soup

And last but not least, red bean sweet soup. This is actually really really concentrated red bean sweet soup liquid - such that with each spoonful, you're getting lots of that red bean dissintigrated grain stuff, with whole red beans in it too. Hectic red bean flavour~

red bean soup

We all left the restaurant feeling extremely extremely full. I was extremely full AND extremely tired and although some Christmas festivity (which in Taipei seems to comprise of either being at a bar or club - or both) followed, I was well and truely ready for bed with a super filled stomach :)

Not a bad welcome to Taipei food though.

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

Honda Ya
No. 1, Alley 7, Lane 303, Section 3,
NánJīng East Road,
Songshan District

Taipei City, Taiwan

Get Directions

Tel: 02 2545 8828

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

Kings Henry Court - Penrith

Kings Henry Court was chosen as the destination for the farewell dinner for a super awesome collegue of mine. With an interesting name, the restaurant, which is located within an old church, has interesting decor on all parts of the wall. Paintings, signs, inspirational quotes and words, everything! There's even a novelty type shop (selling signs and "other" things) and a bar out front. The restaurant part is tucked out the back and almost concealed. In fact, from the moment I walked in, I thought I was at the wrong place.

They have a decently sized a la carte menu as well as two set menus (one at $20 and one at $30 per person). For tonight, we had gone for the $20 menu (available Tues to Friday only).

We had a choice of bread - crostini, cheese and chive or chilli cheese. I opted for the cheese and chive. It wasn't presented nicely or anything. Nothing fancy - it was more 'homey'. The turkish bread was soft and warm. There was visible strings of chive noticable and was cheesy and buttery throughout. It's one of those bread you eat as comfort food, which I liked much :)

cheese and chive bread

In terms of mains for the $20 menu, there was a choice of spaghetti, pie, fish and chips, chicken snitzel, or curry and rice. Choosing the chicken snitzel with gravy, I was met with a good sized snitzel - not too gigantic, not too small, decent gravy and a heap of mash. YUM. Unfortunately, the chicken was actually really quite thin and the batter was thick in comparison. The mash was heavenly smooth at first, but once it was cold, it lumpified. But all up, it wasn't bad. I also eyed my colleagues fish and chips - it was a massive piece of fish, stacks of chips and a pile of salad. Pretty decent value I think.

Chicken Snitzel with mash

Now for dessert. There was a choice of orange and poppy seed cake, banana cake and chocolate brownie. Being a chocoholic, there was no doubt that I was going to choose the brownie. It was a little harder than expected, but it was still moist and sweet and chocolatey with (rather big) lumps of walnut inside. I love (almost) all things chocolate and hence, had no trouble polishing this off.

chocolate brownie

So all up, food was decent. Sure, it's not the most well presented, nor the most extravagently exotic flavours. It was casual. Home-style. Comfort-type food. One of my colleagues expressed how awesome the food was the whole night~ And $20 for a 3 course meal? I have to say WOW. I should dine in Penrith more often!

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 9/10
Overall - 30/40

King Henry's Court
74 Henry Street
Penrith
NSW 2750
Tel: (02) 4721 1155

Crinitis - Parramatta

Decisions decisions decisions.
Life is full of decisions.
I hate making decisions.
So when faced with a menu which opens up to be as big as your table and full of words, I was a little taken back. What to eat?!?!? What a hard decision.

My friend and I decided to dine at Crinitis. As it was a Thursday night, the place was quite busy and service was... well... yeh.

Decisions on what to order was definately difficult. But after much deliberation, we decided to order 2 mains to share - the Spiedini di pollo ($36.90) and the 500g pork ribs ($28.90). My friend also decided on a cocktail - the buckle me ($22.90) whereas I, having to work at 8am the next day, decided it's best to be able to drive home and wake up the next day.

So my friend's buckle me cocktail. The name says it all. Tasted peachy yet strong - very quite strong. It comprised of peach snapps, vodka, barcardi, tequila, cointreau, peach ice tea, apricot nectar and lemonade. One sip - it was nice. More than one? Buckle me.

buckle me - $22.90

The food took a little while to come out. The place was a little bit noisy. Hence, it was a little bit hard to talk. Yet, when the food did come out, it was pretty amazingly huge~ The 500g pork ribs were gigantic! Covered in homemade BBQ sauce and grilled to perfection. What more, it came with yummy chips :) Awesome~ (I did have a ribs craving though).

500g pork ribs - $28.90

The ribs came with a choice of salad, chips, potato or veges. As evident, we had opted for chips and veges. The chargrilled veges were actually pretty good. The zucchini was really sweet as was the capsicum.The potatoes were soft and fluffy too.

chargrilled veges

The Spiedini di pollo was 2 super long skewers of chargrilled chicken. The chicken was yummily garlicy, herby and lemony. The meat was a little bit dry and heavy, but tasted much nicer when heaped with garlic aoili :) The chips were good. Salad was normal.

Spiedini di pollo - $36.90

The servings were undeniably gigantic. By the end, we were both clutching our stomachs in fullness. Dessert menu? Unfortunately not this time.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Crinitis
291 Church Street
Parramatta
NSW 2150
Tel: 1300 274 648