Chicken karaage lunch at Hoya

Chicken karaage set at Hoya

Remember my post on Nazimi's chicken karaage not too long ago? If you haven't tried it, you should and then you should compare it to Hoya's chicken karaage - just a few shops away from Nazimi on the same side of the street. To be honest with you, I can't pick which one is my favorite out of the two as they are both different. What I love at Hoya is that the salad dressing, it's home made and I can't really tell what it's made out of. What I do know is that it is very refreshing.

The lunch set for $12

The set at Hoya is more basic than at Nazimi's bento style. In Hoya you get the chicken karaage set, with rice and salad. So if you like variety you might want to try Nazimi's but if you want plenty of chicken karaage, I'd say hit Hoya. For me though, I divide my time equally between the two, and at $12 for the lunch set, it's definitely value for money.

Hoya Japanese Restaurant

119 York St

Sydney, NSW 2000

+62 2 9267 0822

Did I hear "$10 steak?" - pub grub at The Fringe, Paddington

You know that feeling right? The one you felt after you have been stuck at work for weeks for projects, or gotta stay out of your social life to study for exams, or worse because you broke your foot... Well, I had one of those moments last week. Social life had been put on hold due to school projects, exams and a recuperating broken foot. So I tried to sweet talked ieatsweet into going to Absynthe Salon with me and I guess my suave didn't work. Anyway, we ended up at The Fringe at Paddington.

I eat sweet and her liquid of happiness of choice

I've heard of this place before from my brother who raved about how good their $10 steak was. So in the name of a little celebration, taking back my social life, and saving money, we both had the steak which generously include chips and rocket salad, all for $10. It kinda made me wonder if I had been paying way too much money for my other steak? Hmmm... We even got to choose the sauce! Mushroom, pepper or red wine. I was totally impressed, cheap doesn't make it awful for sure! ieatsweet had a glass of stella and I opted for a bulmer's apple cider.

300grm 100 day grain fed rump with fries and rocket salads in pepper sauce

Up close and personal

The steak wasn't bad at all. It was quite good, though don't expect Morton's or the sort. They were also very filling, I couldn't finish mine. I totally love the atmosphere of the Fringe, eclectic chandeliers gave the red brick walls a city feel. Then, the bathroom's waiting room? A total funk with a 70s feel. The staff were also very friendly and hospitable. I can envision many more of these 10 bucks pub grub sessions in the future

The Fringe decor and atmo

The waiting room outside the bathroom, downstairs, totally 70 ish

The Fringe Bar

106 Oxford St

Paddington, NSW 2021

+61 2 9360 5443

Open daily Sun-Tues till 12am, Wed-Sat till 3am

Sydney's best udon thus far.... Mappen!

On-tama bukkake udon (small)

Allright, hands up if you haven't been to or heard of Mappen? Yes, I suppose many of you haven't but if this place has created quite a buzz in the Sydney food blogosphere around September. I have been there numerous of times and in its early stage as much as 3 times in one week, with 2 of them in a row. Hahahaha, I should go to Mappen anonymous huh? Well, I haven't had time to write about this earlier since I was dealing with my broken foot, school works and exams.

Anyway, I was there last week and I ordered my favorite thing: on-tama bukkake udon: udon with par-boiled egg and concentrated sauce. Then as I walked along the line to the cashier, my faith is not strong enough to resist those tempura temptations... Not that I want to anyway! I ended up getting mixed vegetable kakiage tempura and the shrimp as they stopped serving chikuwa for a while now. Mappen management if you are reading this, please bring back the chikuwa tempura!

Vegetable kakiage and shrimp tempura

What I love about Mappen is, not only the interesting concept: noodle and tempura bar, but also the cheap (relatively) price and it's quality. It's a rare feat for any shop to serve cheap and good quality food, but Mappen definitely achieved that. For udon, the most important thing is its texture, what is it's chewiness factor? Mappen's udon is definitely good, the only better ones I've had was sanuki udon from Koya san in Japan. The onsen tamago (par boiled egg)? I've been there many times and it's always on the right consistency.

My only foe here is the tempura bar... it is way too tempting! I can never resist. Beware though, don't eat too much, you'll hate yourself for the amount of food you forced yourself to eat. Or hey, maybe you don't have that problem hehehhe... I like the way they always keep just enough tempura on display so that it never stays there for too long, keeping it fresh so to speak.

Menya Mappen

Shop 11, 537-551 George St

Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9283 5525

Tacos and Nachos from Guzman y Gomez

The other day I had to go to Martin Place to run some errands around lunchtime and I got so hungry after it finished. So as I was thinking of what to eat, I remember that there's a Guzman y Gomez at MLC Place. Keen to skipped yet another Asian meal, I made my way to MLC Place food court.

Triple tacos

There I ordered 3 tacos for $10: one barramundi, pork chipotle and the spicy steak; 2 on crispy tacos and one on soft taco, and nachos filled with beef, salsa, re-fried beans, cheese and guacamole. These were to share guys.... the portion there is quite big so careful what you order especially since Mexican food can be filling too. It's so easy to over order but just be careful not to.

Nachos topped with lovely green guacamole, the only thing missing is sour cream... totally forgot to ask for extra

I loved my steak on soft taco. I didn't try the pork chipotle or the barramundi, but my mom seemed to enjoy them. The nachos, well beans and cheese? Yummm... The only thing that I would like better would be ground beef rather than chunks on the nachos. I love the fact that the guacamole on this nachos meal is included in the price as opposed to other place where you have to add it as an extra.

To be honest, I think I still miss the Mexican places in NYC, but it's good knowing that there's Guzman y Gomez here to turn to. Oh and I do really like that steak taco.

Guzman y Gomez

MLC Centre - Level 6, Shop 14 at MLC Centre Food Court

Martin Place (corner of Castlereagh st)

Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9221 1777

Chicken karaage lunch set at Nazimi

Nazimi's chicken karaage lunch set

Nazimi is one of Sydney CBD best kept secret restaurants that serves good quality Japanese food with good value for money. So far I've only gone for dinner and today was the first time I went for lunch. I was meeting a friend of a friend of a friend. Yes, 3rd degree of separation, who just moved to Sydney from New York, one of my favorite cities in the world. Originally we planned on going to Cafecito, a Brazillian cafe in Town Hall that got good raving from the Sydney Time Out magazine. After getting lost somewhere in Kent St, with both of us entering the address as 473 Kent St into google maps, we found it inside Town Hall Square, CLOSED! *Gasp* I quickly opened my Time Out mag that I brought and it said "open Mon-Fri 7am-5pm". Well, mistakes happen I suppose... So we were hungry and had no idea where to eat... so we walked to QVB and decided to go check out the two Japanese restaurants on York St and settled on Nazimi as Hoya was closed.

We had to wait a few minutes before they opened at 11.30am and we were definitely their first customers. After looking at their menu, both of us decided to go for the Chicken karaage lunch set for $15 which included; miso soup, sushi, entree of the day, rice, salad and of course chicken karaage. A good deal. We were famished and luckily we got served the miso soup right away which helped me from having to deal with a riot in my stomach!

Wasabi, sushi, fruit and veggie salad, and entree of the day

It came in this cute bento box, not unexpected since it's a Japanese food characteristics anyway but it's always nice when your food is presented nicely. I love how the wasabi was piped into a flower shape. The karaage was bite size, crispy and tasty. There were a house karaage sauce that you get with it where I could taste a bit of wasabi in it... or maybe I accidentally mixed some in there.. Oh well I truly enjoyed the karaage. I found some eggplant on the entree of the day corner as well as shrimp salsa and tiny agedashi tofu. The vegetable and fruit salad was in sesame dressing and we both got one piece each of unagi roll and tuna mayo roll. I love it.

Good food, good company... what else could you possibly want for a Saturday lunch?

If you come here for dinner or want to order other things from the normal menu, I'd say go for it. I don't think you can ever go wrong. I've tried many other things and always find myself wanting togo back for more.

Nazimi

141 York St

Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9283 2990

Getting bubble tea fix

On Thursday, I found out from my cousin that apparently Cha Time has opened a new branch in World Square, just in front of Coles. Good news as this shop is really my favorite bubble tea place as they have good selection of tea and nice tapiocas that have just the right chewiness. If you want the tapioca pearl, remember to ask for it at the register as the tea doesn't automatically come with the bubble (despite the pictures that makes you think so!). Anyway, topping is $0.50, so it's not that bad.

To make the news even sweeter, they are having a buy one get one deal till Nov 7, which is tomorrow. So this is why, I am sharing the news with you guys. Get your bubble tea fix for a good deal by tomorrow. If you do decide to go, remember to bring your patience! The line will be long....

Cha Time

World Square Shopping Centre

George st/Liverpool st/Goulburn st/ Pitt St block

Revisiting Chairman Mao

Celery in chili oil to start

Back to Chairman Mao again! After I introduced my mom to this spicy restaurant, it has became one of her favorite. So here we are again. I attempted to ordered different dishes than last time but of course I cannot pass out on the eggplant. Without the eggplant dish, it would be like we never went to Chairman Mao in the first place!

Prune drink to put out the fire in your mouth

Eggplant with green chillies

We decided on the white baits, eggplant with green chillies, lamb and celery soup, and steamed baby taro. At first we were going to order something entirely different which I cannot remember now, but then we saw the table next to us having the baby taro which looked very interesting, you'll see.

White baits Hunanese style

A closer look

If I am incoherent, please bear with me as it is 2am and I couldn't sleep! Insomnia attack... ugh, not my favorite at all, so I decided why not blog? Anyway, back to Chairman Mao, the eggplant - do I need to say it again? Love love love this dish. Love the texture, black bean saltiness and the chillies. So comforting when eaten with steamed rice and yet full of flavor at the same time. The white baits were nice and I was so thankful that they took out the heads! I wouldn't be able to eat in peace with those eyes staring at me... I thought that the fish were a bit tough, but then again, do take into account that I am not really a fish fan overall.

The lamb and celery came in a big bowl...

Closer look, check out how the lamb is bacon-like!

The lamb and celery soup really made my night. I fell in love. The lamb were shaved thinly, bacon-like, which made it so tender. The soup reminded me of Japanese shabu shabu and conjured wintry image. The celery, a simple vegetable was appropriate to complement and balance the richness of the lamb. The soup itself, rich with lamb and celery stock. Delicious! I could see myself ordering this dish next winter, or even earlier! Maybe on these rainy Sydney nights....

Steamed baby taro

If you decide to order the baby taro, take note that this dish takes longer than the others. We were warned that it would take 20 minutes to prepare. It didn't come till we almost finish the other dishes over 40 minutes later. My advice? Remind them ;) The baby taro were so soft and buttery. Dip it to the chili oil it came with for best effect. As always, a trip to this restaurant never disappoint.

Chairman Mao

189 Anzac Parade

Kensington, NSW 2033

+61 2 9697 9189

Open for dinner only

(Booking is highly recommended as the place is always packed)