Mamak

Mamak

15 Goulburn St, Haymarket

(Ph) 9211 1668

Mamak was one of the restaurants recommended to us to try in Sydney. We knew they don't take bookings and the line is usually fairly long, so we came here at 6pm and lucky there were only 2 groups of people in front of us. 5mins later the line was down the road already - phew! We were so excited while waiting, watching the chefs spin out the rotis paper thin and frying it - so hungry!

The 5 of us had to squish at a 4 people table - actually, they don't really have tables bigger than 4 so we had to make do. We decided to get a few mains, some satay and some roti to share - satays and roti are famous here =)

First came the Rojak - a Malaysian style salad. Prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, freshly shredded yambean and cucumber, topped with a thick spicy peanut sauce $14

This was the best main dish - the prawn and coconut fritters were very crunchy, the cucumber was super fresh and was delicious with the peanut sauce =) and what is yambean?!

My brother wanted Kari ayam - Classic chicken curry cooked with freshly ground spices and chunky potatoes $16

Big chunks of chicken and potato - curry was a bit too spicy for me but was tasty with the roti =)

We always get Nasi Lemak on Air Asia flights - they never taste great so we decided to try a genuine one here. Nasi lemak - fragrant coconut rice accompanied by an ensemble of sambal, peanuts, crispy anchovies, cucumber and hard-boiled egg. Arguably Malaysia's national dish $8.50. Dad decided to add sambal prawns/cuttlefish for $4

The coconut rice was so delicious but wow! Sambal is RIDICULOUSLY spicy =/ Even Dad said it was spicy for him haha... don't know how people can eat and enjoy this?!

I liked the rotis more =) Roti telur - classic egg roti $6.50

I wonder why they squish this roti up into a ball? I guess it gets it more fluffy inside? Soft yet crispy YUM =) They give you 2 curry sauces and a small blob of sambal sauce *shivers*

We also got the Roti telur bawang - egg and onions, a must for omelette lovers $7

This one wasn't as special - it was really like an omelette pancake.

Since we thought 2 wouldn't be enough for the 5 of us, we also got the Roti planta - a rich buttery roti $6.50

Super buttery and fluffy and crunchy - recommend =)

We also got a mixed plate of satay. Satay - grilled over flaming charcoal for that authentic Malaysian flavour. Served with a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. $16 for a dozen - mixed chicken and beef.

We were actually soo full by now, lucky the satay aren't that big. Actually thought they were a tad too dry, but was still tasty with the peanut sauce.

We of course had to get some Malaysian drinks. Teh tarik - classic Malaysian sweetened tea, "stretched" for a frothy topping $3.50

The famous Teh Tarik - frothy and creamy and sweet!

Since P was slightly sick, he got the Teh halia - teh tarik with a hint of ginger $3.50

It was really just like a teh tarik with a hint of ginger - super like!


The curries were making me quite hot so I got a Teh ais - ice milk tea $3.50

It's not as rich or creamy as the Teh Tarik but still had the same taste - so much nicer than western tea!

We were soo full but there's always room for dessert =) Ordered the Roti bom - a truly indulgent roti served thicker, richer and sweeter $8.50 (allow 20mins)

This is like the one we had at Pappa Rich, thick, crispy caramelised sides with a fluffy soft inside - I can't decide if I like it with icecream here or with condensed milk and sugar at Pappa Rich.

The best dish came last. Roti tisu - paper-thin, extra-crispy and served tall $9.50

How fantastic does this look? Super thin and crispy dusted with sugar - wish I had room to eat a whole one by myself this was so unique and delicious =)

Food~
8/10 - delicious! Especially roti tisu <3 a must have!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - quite loud and squishy in there - they need tables that cater for more than 4 people!

Service~
3/5 - it's very busy so the waiters are always running around doing everything

Will definitely come back here next time I'm in Sydney!

C.
xo

Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant

84 Broomfield St, Cabramatta

Yumcha again! This time we wanted to venture out to the suburbs since we had a car and since we had  gone to The Eight at Chinatown a few days ago already. We had been to Iron Chef at Cabramatta last time we came to Sydney - from what we remember there was a large variety of foods and it was all quite tasty. So we decided to come here again - plus P said he had never been to Cabramatta and wanted to come see what it's like =P The car trip took so ridiculously long though - like nearly 45 minutes from the city omg =___= if we had known we wouldn't have bothered!

Took forever trying to find a park - how could there be such a big restaurant and no designated parking or carpark around?! Didn't have to wait at all for a table though - weird.

Ordered some normal dishes like beef balls, chicken feet and ox tongue puff - not bad but not that spectacular either.

Dad got a plate of pig hock - it's just skin and some tendon I don't understand why you would bother eating it =/it's quite bland though there is a sauce to dip it in. I guess it's kinda like chicken feet but at least that has black bean taste etc =P

Got some BBQ pork buns (juicy meat and very soft bun) and some beef intestines (yummy and chewy!)

The plates of roast meat looked very fresh and crisp -  we were deciding between roast pork or roast duck - got duck instead. Crispy skin and soft delicious meat - Dad was saying we should have got half a duck instead of just one small plate =P Even the peanuts were full of flavour and soft mmmm

Crispy Taro puffs - these were a bit disappointing. The insides weren't very tasty, not sure if it was off or there were just some very strange marinades inside or something =/

We asked the manager (or a waiter who was dressed like the manager) to order us a Runny Sand bun (流沙包) but he zoomed past us and didn't even acknowledge he heard us - rude to the max! =/

But the buns came so he must have heard us say the order =/ Anyway, these buns actually weren't that good. They were more like Egg Custard buns (奶皇包) which I really don't like 'cause it's too creamy and milky =( Boo! Runny Sand buns are my favourite yumcha dish now <3 craving delicious ones at Shark Fin now - still are the best ever!

Pork dumplings...

BBQ pork rice noodle rolls...

Blackbean spareribs...

Nothing too special - were all alright dishes.

Food~
5/10 - was alright, nothing was that fantastic except the roast duck. Not worth travelling the 45mins here for!

Atmosphere~
2/5 - rowdy Asian yumcha atmosphere

Service~
1/5 - such poor service from the manager! It actually happened twice - we got his attention to put an order for the rice noodle rolls and he fully walked passed us again and didn't say anything or acknowledge us saying anything! The food came but still! So rude =/

Not sure if we would bother coming all the way out here next time we're in Sydney...

C.
xo

Golden Times Chinese Restaurant

Golden Times Chinese Restaurant

Wests Ashfield Leagues, 115 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield

Dad loves seafood especially lobster. Last time he came to Sydney he found an ad in the Chinese newspaper about lobster special at this restaurant and had tried it and thought it was delicious and well worth the money. So this time he decided to bring us here again.

The restaurant is at the Wests Ashfield League Club - it's the most lavish and fancy sports club I've ever been too. Massive building, 2 stories high, chandeliers and all. All guests must become temporary members to go inside for the restaurants or pokies or whatever. Dad said last time they came they had to manually write their name, address etc onto a form, but this time, there are 6 computers in place each with a mini scanner which scans your drivers licence and gets all the information and prints it out onto a slip for you. Out of the 5 of us, only mine had the spelling of the name and address 100% correct - they all had either wrongly spelt names or addresses =P Guess the machine's pretty new still needs some tweaking =P

We told the waiter we wanted a lobster and a coral trout but unfortunately on this day, the coral trouts were very small and since they're priced per fish not by weight, it wasn't worth it. So we decided to try a Parrot fish - never had it before but was recommended to us so we gave it a go. Also got a pot of double boiled soup - more like the waiter made us get it but anyway =P

But it was really delicious - full of flavour! I think I had about 4 bowls - love Chinese soup =)

We got the lobster cooked 2 ways - sashimi for half of it, and fried with stock with underlying egg noodles.

How fantastic does this look! =) This is one of the only places we've been to who will do lobster sashimi - it comes served with ice overlying and amongst the lobster. Guess it tastes best icy cold =) The pieces are like little globules, not like salmon sashimi which can be cut nicely into slices. We initially had some without soy sauce first, and to be honest, it wasn't that special. Just tastes like something from the sea but didn't have much flavour and was a bit chewy. When we dipped it into the soy sauce the soy brings out the flavour of the lobster more, but I gotta say, I think I'm not a fan of raw lobster.

The next lobster dish came and my! THIS was delicious! Cooking it just brings out the lobster flavour so well - and it wasn't cooked in rich flavours like garlic or pepper which would have drowned out the lobster taste. Bouncy meat that can be pulled into strips, and I love the layer of skin which tastes like roe lining the inside of the shell =) Look at my perfectly de-shelled lobster leg ^____^

Next came the Parrot fish - it got deconstructed by the waiter before I could take a photo of it. A very meaty fish - very tasty, if it was overcooked would have been tough since there's not much fat but it was perfectly cooked. P didn't like this though - he said he'd rather have barramundi and he likes my soy better - this soy is not as sweet but it brings out the flavour of the fish.

The only dish we ordered from the menu was the Preserved Egg and Salted Egg with Baby Spinach in Premium Soup $22.80

Very fresh and cleansing - love preserved egg and salted egg! We were soo full by then we had to fill our tummy with the expensive lobster and fish didn't have much room for this =(

Food~
7/10 - I would not normally order such expensive seafood myself but my Dad loves it and yes, was very delicious =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite pleasant on this weeknight in a very spacious restaurant

Service~
4/5 - very good service, but then again, we're paying for it =P

C.
xo

Shanghai Stories 1938

Shanghai Stories 1938

Shop 4 The Concourse, 405-419 Victoria Ave, Chatswood

(Ph) 9412 3880

Last time I came to Sydney I came to this delicious Shanghai restaurant called New Shanghai in the Chatswood shopping centre - best xiao long baos and fried dumplings and fried pork buns ever. My parents had just gone back to this restaurant a couple of months ago so this time we decided to try this fancy looking 2 story Shanghai restaurant at the newly built Concourse outside of the Chatswood shopping centre.

I don't know how many bloggers started this post with the line "Shanghai, also known as the Paris of the East, was a flourishing city in the 1930's brimming with elegance and romanticism" - you know why? It's 'cause it's on the website =P But seriously, what a funny name for a restaurant, what happened in 1938 to warrant it being in the restaurant name? Maybe they just wanted a number ending in 8 'cause 8 is just lucky in Chinese? =P

I made a booking for 7pm on this Thursday night, but we were running late so I called them and told them to move it to 7.30pm and they were fine with it, which I was actually surprised about 'cause I thought this restaurant is quite busy.

We all picked a dish to order - I of course got the Shanghai Xiao Long Bao (6pcs) $7.80

Shock horror! One of the XLBs was actually popped! Lucky there was still some soup inside but that's a disappointment =( The Skin was very thin and the soup very full of flavour though.

Mum wanted the Pan Fried Pork Bun with Sesame (6pcs) $8.80

Crunchy bases also with delicious soup and juicy meat inside - love!

My brother wanted the Poached Pork & Vegetable Dumpling in Chilli Oil (10pcs) $8.80

It wasn't that chilli and was nice to have some steamed dumplings for a change which I normally never order.

Dad wanted this starter on the special menu - Szechuan Style Spicy Bean Starch $6.80. Some sort of rice noodles with a very spicy sauce. Didn't really like it, all I could taste was spiciness  =/

Typical of Dad to also want the Slow Cooked Pork Belly Shanghai Style $15.80

We were so surprised how big this was! It's normally like a quarter of this size! And surprisingly it was very delicious! Alternating layers of fat and meat - super soft and drenched in the tasty sweet sauce =)

My brother loves this Shanghainese dish - Prawns & Crackers in Fresh Tomato Sauce $20.80

Pretty much rice crackers drenched in a stirfry - gotta eat the rice crackers before they get soft! Yummy crunchiness =)

And just for some carbs we ordered the Shanghai Fried Rice Cake with Vegetable & Shredded Pork $12.80

This was a massive disappointment =( I don't usually like noodles but I normally love this dish, but these rice cakes were so thick and way too chewy and there wasn't much flavour in the dish. Boo =(

Before the Prawns & Crackers and the Rice Cakes came we didn't feel like we had much food inside us yet - all of the previous dishes felt quite small so we ordered 2 more dishes. Totally shouldn't have we were sooo full by the time these dishes came!

After the delicious buns we decided to also get the Pan Seared Pork Dumpling (6pcs) $8.80

Didn't disappoint us at all! Crispy bases with very thin skin and deliciously juicy meat =)

We saw lots of tables had ordered this dish so we got it to see what the big dealio was - Pan Fried Bean Curd with Prawn $24.80

This was a bit of a disappointment - doesn't look that fancy and it tastes quite ordinary. Just a few pieces of tofu with some prawns on top hmmm.

Food~
7/10 - come here for the normal foods like dumplings which are quite good for value, but not really the main dishes... actually except for the Pork Belly that was very tasty =)

Atmosphere~
4/5 - very nice upstairs in the corner with a view and some sort of privacy - though it meant it was harder to get the waiter's attention 'cause we were in the corner =P

Service~
3/5 - service was quite good for an Asian restaurant, maybe 'cause we were there on a week night and quite late. Although, there was a new waiter there who firstly, gave us the cake still in the box and plastic bag when we said we were ready to have the cake =P then when we asked for spoons and plates gave us tiny cup plates. Another waiter came and apologized to us and told us she was new lol but wouldn't you think when we ask for the cake it'd mean we want to eat it then? lol =P

C.
xo

Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier

Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier

80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont

Finally we get to go to Zumbo! Before they opened one up at Pyrmont it was too difficult to go to their Balmain or Rozelle stores so I always made do with other macarons. But this time, I wanted to come here to order a birthday cake as well as try some of the ZUMBARONS!

Of course I had to take a photo of/with Adriano! We asked the other workers if we could ask him to come out to take a photo and she said he was too busy! =O And why is there a "Dine In" sign there when you can't even dine in there! Except for the Dessert Train which is not open at all hours =/

It looks like a Chemistry lab or something - like a real like Willy Wonka! The product of each formula makes different flavoured macarons =)

And various desserts on display =)

I wanted to inspect the macaron flavours carefully before I ordered but the waiter kept asking me if I was ready to order and I felt really rushed =/ why can't I just enjoy the atmosphere of it all! And there are no tables there to eat so it's all takeaway which is not very patron friendly =/

We ended up ordering 2 Zumbarons to share - Salted Butter Caramel and Peach Iced Tea $2.50 each

The Salted Caramel one was actually too salty for my liking - and I normally LOVE salted caramel! The Peach Iced Tea one was quite tasty - refreshing flavours though I can't say I can taste the "iced tea" component of it =P The macarons have a perfectly crispy meringue top and beautiful feet - if only I could master it!

We also got a V8 Vanilla - 8 layers of vanilla $10 to share.

Beautiful layers! Not sure if I could really taste the 8 layers but it was delicious - and very rich, lucky we shared it between the 3 of us =P There were cake layers, mousse layers, crunchy layers, a salty layer - it was delicious eaten all together, a bit of everything! Would have been cool of the "adrianozumbo" plaque was made from chocolate as well or something though =)

I had preordered a cake to celebrate my brother's 21st birthday =) I was choosing between the Decorated Fondant Bar Cake - A chocolate fondant bar cake covered with macarons, chocolate, meringue and strawberries and the Happy Birthday Cake - Flourless chocolate biscuit, chocolate sabayon mousse, ultimate chocolate brownie, caramel mou, milk chocolate chantilly and cocoa nib nougatine with a White chocolate and Passionfruit glaze.

We went for the Decorated Fondant Bar Cake $29.50 'cause it looks nicer ^^

The Fondant cake was sooo rich! Could only eat a tiny slice at a time - needed some of the meringue and macarons to break up the sweetness =P It's not quite a mud cake but not quite a mousse either - kinda something in between =)

I also got some more Zumbarons for them to try - (in order) Watermelon & Orange, Passionfruit & Tonka Bean, Blackened Vanilla, Salted Butter Popcorn and Salted Butter Caramel (again).

I loved the Blackened Vanilla and the Salted Butter Popcorn - very original flavours and very delicious! REALLY tasted like blackened vanilla and popcorn - amazing =) Wish I had room to try one of each! For only $2.50 each, given that it's one of the best macarons around, it's really well worth the money! Definitely worth it more than the $3.00 Lindt Delices!

If I lived in Sydney I would definitely frequent Zumbo's Patissier!

Food~
9/10 - delicious desserts! Well that's what they're famous for here =)

Service~
1/5 - felt like they really rushed us when we were choosing the macaron flavours, I just wanted to read them properly before I decided what I wanted! =(

Atmosphere~
1/5 - no tables there for patrons to eat is a real downside, we had to bring our desserts to the foodcourt to enjoy =/

C.
xo

The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant

The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant

Level 3, Market City, 9 Hay Street, Haymarket

(Ph) 9282 9988

P's uncle lives in Haymarket so we went to the closest restaurant for yum cha - The Eight. We've been here before, it's pretty tasty and genuine =)

I didn't take a photo of all the dishes we had - like the Prawn Dumplings and the Pork Dumplings, pretty standard.

Spareribs were pretty good.

BBQ pork buns were very delicious - super juicy meat!

For some reason most of the dishes here came in 4s instead of the usual 3. This plate of "salty fruit" had a very crunchy gelatinous outside but the inside wasn't as tasty, there were lots of mushy vegetables =/

Prawn Rice Noodle Rolls - P knows I don't like prawns but he still ordered the prawn one =____=

P was sick so he ordered a Century Egg Congee - I never order congee at yumcha 'cause I always think you can make it at home =P but this little bowl was so full of flavour - especially yummy with the crunchy chips on top =P

Glutinous rice in bamboo leaf - there were 3 in a basket as opposed to the usual 2 large ones. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad, means you don't have to eat as much and means there's more stuff (meat, salty egg, dong gu etc) and less of the glutinous rice which is good =)

Of course have to end with a dessert - egg tarts! I normally like the shortbread crust egg tarts better than the puff pastry ones, but they always have puff pastry ones at yumcha. The egg was very creamy and smooth - yum!

Food~
7/10 - fairly good with a wide range of dim sims =)

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite a big spacious restaurant

Service~
3/5 - friendly waiters walking around with their trolleys of food =)

C.
xo