I don’t know quite where The Old Dong Dong Noodles went but a visit to Dong Dong Noodles at Kingsford reveals a block packed with options and a brightly neon sign and an equally brightly lit new looking eatery packed with people. We’re greeted with a delicious looking window full of BBQ duck and pork-or a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. My Mother in law, a lifelong vegetarian, with parents that were vegetarian could not believe that they would string ducks up like that in an attempt to appeal the food to people. And I’ve yet to describe the idea of carving up a Peking Duck at the table to her, I think she would probably faint at seeing that.
It’s surprisingly larger than you’d think with a back room as well as the front room. we’re seated in the back room and given our large 210 item menus. My husband can’t help but comment that Gordon Ramsay would probably tell them to cut down their menu size. I’m dithering as I want to try some BBQ Duck but I want to try some tomato rice and some wonton soup. A closer look at the menu reveals many of the dishes, especially the noodle soup dishes are overlapped so that we actually found wonton noodle soup with BBQ Duck ($8) as well as a myriad of combinations. We also order a bowl of West Lake Shredded Beef souop ($4.50) and a plate of Roast Chicken Tomato rice ($6.80 plus 80c for tomato or “red” rice instead of plain rice).
Roast Chicken Tomato rice ($7.60 or $6.80 with plain rice)
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It’s a cold, wintry night that brings us to Bite Me Burger Company, and one in which we’re pressed for time having spent the half half hour looking for a park in Paddington. Ever since the Wagyu burger at Plan B, I’ve been trying to find other Wagyu burgers to try. Call it my latest obsession. So with only 45 minutes to order, eat and go, we enter Bite Me Burger, a small, red lit small Burger place on Oxford Street in Paddington with a neon red Coca Cola type sign. It’s bustlingly full, there is a football game on at the stadium nearby and we explain our impending movie dilemma to the staff. They suggest that we pre-order our meals as it can sometimes take up to 20 minutes for the burgers during a busy period and by then a table should be free.
Sure enough, we’re seated within about 5 minutes and help ourselves to water. There is a large communal table as well as two high tables at the front. We’re seated at one of the front tables but not the very front. Once when we sat there everyone stopped and watched what we ate which made us feel like monkeys in a zoo exhibit.
Everything is visual merchanised to within an inch of itself, the fork and knife come in a sleeve that says “Hold Me”. The ketchup is in a tomato squeezy and of course the salt and pepper co-ordinate.
Onion Rings $4.50
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Congee is the chicken soup of Asia. When a child, teen or adult is sick, out comes the big pot and a large batch of Congee is made. For those unfamiliar with it, it’s a soupy rice porridge into which other ingredients are added like egg omelette, mince, meat, eggs, fried bread sticks, shredded BBQ chicken as well as soy and ginger. It’s whatever you really fancy and I can imagine many a mum found it useful as that meant she could add whatever she wanted into it.
This recipe is by Elizabeth Chong, but you needn’t follow the topping suggestions, you could really add anything to a Congee. Of course I found it from Vogue forum where many avid cooks congregate to exchange recipes and talk about shoes. Because I made it for vegetarians, I stopped before adding the mince although I’ve shown the recipe in its original form should you want to make it for meat eaters. Adding the stock makes it so much more flavourful than plain water.
One thing that she doesn’t specifically mention but I adore is a packet of Hainanese Chicken rice spice paste of finely ground oily paste ginger and sesame oil which is traditionally served with chicken rice. It’s made by Asian Home Gourmet and is sold by the 50g flat packet called “Hainanese Chicken Rice Spice Paste”. It’s worth hunting for this as it’s gorgeous with the congee. Crispy or crunchy things often fare well as accompaniments to Congee and I tried to find deep fried breadsticks but to no avail. Things such as the aforementioned BBQ chicken or stir fried chicken are also great with Congee
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Pinangsia is an area in West Jakarta in Indonesia. It sounds more like the name of an exotic bird to me. I’d heard that Pinangsia Noodle House has some rather strange opening hours, just Wednesday and the weekends. I thought surely not, how on earth can they remain competitive with hours like that? So I rang them on a Wednesday night and sure enough, they’re open Wednesday and the weekends but with Friday throw in as well. I ask the friendly voice on the other end whether it’s cash only or credit card and she says that it’s cash only. “Our meals are usually $7 to $8 so they wouldn’t meet the credit card minimum anyway!”. Being on Anzac Parade, Kingsford, it caters for Indonesian students from the nearby UNSW as well as the occasional food loving non Indonesian.
Walking in, we see that there is a large central share table as well as side tables seating 4. There’s a self serve fridge of drinks and a section with help yourself condiments and water. There are small gold framed pictures of the dishes high up on the wall and of course, tissues boxes on every table to serve as napkins. It’s about half full at 7pm this Wednesday night and we choose a table and sit down. Our menus are quickly brought to us, with 2 pages of pictures and the rest in Indonesian with English translations underneath. It’s a little confusing but I am guided by the helpful “thumbs up” icon designating which dishes are recommended.
We order the Mie Ayam karet thick (or thin) chicken egg noodles with meatball soup (or fishball) $8, the Ayam Goreng Bumbu Bali (grilled chicken Bali style) $7.50 and 2 fried meatballs ($1.60 each). They ask us whether we want white or dark meat and while I usually like white meat, dark meat is much more moist so we choose dark as I find that chicken can sometimes be dry in Indonesian cuisine. We also order a Murtabak to share with the peanut, chocolate and cheese filling ($5.80).
Mie Ayam Karet thick (or thin) chicken egg noodles with meatball soup (or fishball) $8
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Would you believe me, Dear Reader, when I told you that the humble sausage roll had broken the $7 price barrier? You might be even more surprised when I tell you that at $7 it was worth every lip smackin’, finger lickin’, slowly savoured bite. The sausage roll in question is from Justin North’s “Plan B”, the tiny hole in the wall cafe next to Bécasse. I was put onto it by Y from Lemonpi who had visited earlier and told me about their fantastic Wagyu burger and $7 sausage roll. The most expensive sausage roll I’d had was the sausage roll at Bourke Street Bakery and even that was hardly what you’d call expensive at $4, and a lovely sausage roll it was. But I wasn’t too fussed about trying this one as it was almost double the price. I had no idea that Plan B existed, so tiny hole in the wall it was, I even dined at Bécasse right next to it without knowing of its existence and that it has been there for as long as the restaurant has, for 3 whole years.
Cake selection $3.50-$4 each
There are 3 tables outside that seat 2 people each, so it’s definitely more of a takeaway your lunch back to the office and read blogs during your lunch-hour kind of place. Apparently the new logo’d umbrellas call out its existence a bit better to passing trade. It’s small but it is stylishly outfitted of course. You’d expect no less from Becasse. I’ve rung ahead to pick up my lunch as we’re stopping through the city. I ordered a Wagyu burger (made with 600 day grain fed Wagyu beef) and a sandwich with pork and apple. The crisp pork belly, hoisin sauce and spring onion was out unfortunately so I made do with the pork and apple although I did toss up between that and the coronation chicken. I’d decide on a cake when I got there and I could see them up close.
Sandwich selection, $8 each
My wagyu burger was lost, apparently there was a miscommunication between the cafe and kitchen and my burger was just put on the grill when I arrived to collect it. Two suits who are standing up inside having finished their burgers get up to leave. I see the range of prepacked sandwiches and a plate of cakes and biscuits as well as designer drinks (I don’t think they even had Coke). The cakes look particularly good. The menu on the website seems to have changed slightly for the seasons. Whilst they had a caramelised mango tart, now it’s caramelised apple.
My burger is still running late and a man comes in from an outside table asking for a paper napkin. He happily declares “I’m covered in crumbs but it was all worth it, that was the best sausage roll ever! Worth every crumb!” and wipes the imaginary crumbs off himself and exits. I need no more convincing and I add a sausage roll to the order. I also buy a caramelised apple tart and a candied lemon and vanilla cookie for good measure. I get a coffee takeaway and it is fantastically good, one of the best coffees I’ve ever had (if not the best). It eventually all comes together in a brown handled paper bag and the lovely girl behind the counter apologises profusely for the delay.
Wagyu burger made with 600 day grain fed Wagyu $10
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“Whaaat cuisine?” My friends ask when I tell them of our next proposed eating adventure. I’m talking to Queen Viv and Miss America and telling them about the restaurant I’ve pegged for our next outing. They’ve never heard of it and to be honest I hardly knew about it, which only added to it its allure. We’re told that stuffed lungs and tongue are on the menu so on that tenuous basis, we book. We also have Michael and Terri along for the ride. Michael is excited about the idea of trying lung, Terri decidedly less so.
We’re booked in for 7pm this Saturday night and the place is packed. There is a table of 6 next to us that fits on a table of 4. A man at the table is wearing a patterned jumper in a most …unusual pattern, which catches Queen Viv’s eye. “Look at his jumper!” she whispers. Yes it is indeed an eyesore. The restaurant has the requisite grapevines with bunches of grapes on the ceiling as well as tapestries on the walls and pictures of people that we’re not sure the identity of.
Prune drink $2.50
There’s a self serve fridge where Michael brings back a bottle of Coke for Terri and a Prune drink for himself, not for any dietary need but because the bottle looked so interesting. It’s not like a typical prune juice, the scent of sweet Osmanthus giving it a peachy or apricoty scent.
We’re searching the huge double sided menu for the lungs and there don’t seem to be any. We’re out of luck apparently, it’s not on the menu anymore so we order what seems to be a lot of dishes but we’re fascinated by so many of them and the kitchen delivers these literally within minutes.
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Anzac Parade, Kingsford is littered with student priced eateries ready to cater for the hordes of students from the nearby University of New South Wales. What it is light on, is a restaurant for the non student, the person whose budget could extend a little further. That’s where Ratu Sari fills a gap, an Indonesian restaurant that looks a bit spiffier than the utilitarian student dives (and please know, I use the term “dive” without malice, there is often great food to be had at these places).
We’ve booked for an early dinner as we are seeing Rose and Ronald off at the airport and need to be in and out fairly quickly. I wasn’t sure if I needed to book but I did a couple of days before for 6pm and even though we’ve arrived at 5.45am on this Saturday evening there are already 3 tables ordering or eating. We sit down and there are 4 waitstaffers rushing about bringing dishes and food from the kitchen. It’s hard to flag one down but where one doesn’t hear us, another hears and summons another to take our order. I ask for some recommendations and we end up ordering a Soto Ayam (Chicken soup $9.50), Prawns Kapitan ($18.90), Ayam Goreng Pemundi ($15.90) and Lontong Salad ($12.90). I can’t resist when I see the name of a drink, the Cherry Blossom drink so I order that too ($5). We let our waitress know that we need to make a flight so she assures us that she will let the kitchen know about this. She’s efficient, if not exactly stop and chat friendly.
Cherry Blossom drink $5
During the next 5-10 minutes, when it’s nearly 6pm, a surge of people arrive and the restaurant goes from having a few tables to becoming completely full with many large groups. The clientele is mixed and consist of larger groups of Non Indonesians to family groups of Indonesians and Chinese. During this time, my Cherry Blossom drink arrives with a layer of syrup at the bottom (raspberry rose flavoured but fairly hard to pin down), a layer of milk with milk ice shavings and then jelly-like basil seeds on top. It’s sweet and refreshingly good and everyone tries some and enjoys it.
Ayam Goreng Pemundi ($15.90)
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“Will NQN ever shut up about her birthday?” I hear you ask. I totally hear you and understand what you are saying and I will cease and desist with the birthday babbling just as soon as I’ve finished with writing about my last birthday dinner. My third dinner was with my parents Rose and Ronald. We do a separate dinner with them you see as they don’t like traveling outside of the Eastern Suburbs (certainly not crossing the bridge, it’s a mental barrier) and they both like Japanese food. I’ve heard that Rise is like “Tetsuya for everyone” in that it is fusion cuisine, but at a more reasonable price. I remember my one and only visit to Tetsuya very fondly so I am keen to try this alternative.
So at 6pm we’re standing at the mysterious looking red door of Rise and are greeted with smoky Jazz music. The small restaurant is dimly lit and already one third full and we’re led to a table right by the window. There is only the Omakase degustation on offer tonight so that takes the drama out of ordering and while admiring the simple pebble chopstick rests, before long we’re greeted with our first course. The menu is Japanese influenced by Chinese and Korean cuisine unlike Tetsuya which is French Japanese. Since the restaurant is dimly lit we didn’t feel we could use the Flash as it would’ve made for quite the strobe light show for the other patrons, therefore the photos aren’t anywhere as good as we wanted. So let me apologise in advance before proceeding with the food.
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If you start to see a pattern of me reviewing restaurants around the Kingsford way, you are indeed sensing a theme. My husband and I are houseminding for my parents who live in the Eastern Suburbs and we thought that while we were here, we might take advantage of the fascinating eatery studded strip of Anzac Parade.
Tea Inn is a Taiwanese Fast Food and Tea House that I haven’t been to for years. It’s just the order this one afternoon when we need to eat something sustaining but quickly. I don’t eat McDonalds so this is the next best thing. It’s full with students and young people no doubt from the nearby university.
Bubble Pearl tea is like the Coke of Asia, the chewy fat pearls of tapioca sucked up through the fat straws in a satisfying way. My husband loves these so we order the most interesting coffee combination: Pomegranate Coffee with pearls $3.80. We also ask what is good and authentically Taiwanese. The waitress suggest the Sa Cha Beef and rice ($8) and the deep fried chicken in salt and pepper with noodles ($8). For dessert we choose a shaved ice dessert topped with peanuts, sweet lotus seed and black plums for $5.80 (any of the sweet toppings can be ordered in a singular shaved ice for $4.80 each). The menu is huge and seafood dishes top the range at $14-$15 whilst other meats such as chicken or pork dishes are $12 and there are also Laksas ($9.5) and noodle dishes ($8) as well as 2 pages of drinks and desserts of the shaved ice variety.
There are even $5 dishes such as pork mince on rice for the truly frugal and a ridiculously cheap afternoon tea menu featuring dishes from $4.80-$7.50 which includes a drink.
Pomegranate Coffee with pearls $3.80
We’ve asked them to hurry as I need to make a beauty appointment and within minutes, our dishes are making their way to the table. The Pomegranate coffee is surprisingly delicious and lightly tinged pink. It’s not particularly strong in pomegranate flavour though but it is good-it reminds me of Japanese iced coffee or coffee jelly. Curiously, the cups of water we ask for are a little salty in taste!
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Does it seem like to you that there are suddenly now numerous places to eat Malaysian /Singaporean food? It seems only a few years ago that there were only 2 or 3 restaurants. Walking through Chinatown and World Square, it looks like many more have sprung up. Not a bad thing, you understand of course. Quite good in fact for a Malaysian/Singaporean food lover like myself. A little further afield, tucked away behind Thornleigh station off West Pennant Hills Road lies a small restaurant that has been offering Singaporean and Malaysian Hawker style goodies for a few years now. At almost an hour’s drive away, it’s not exactly nearby to us so we made it a Sunday adventure to drive out to Thornleigh and check out some other foodie eats and enjoy the drive to the outskirts of Sydney.
Chicken and Prawn Laksa ($13.80)
Arriving at 6pm when it opens, we’re greeted with a welcoming sight. It’s rapidly filling with Singaporean/Malaysian clientèle (always a good sign for authenticity). We order a Roti Canai with Lamb curry ($11.80); Chicken and Prawn Laksa ($13.80) and a bowl of Chicken Rice ($2.50) and for dessert Ice Kacang ($5.50). Alice, who takes our order is friendly and happy to recommend dishes. The Laksa arrives quickly, within 5 minutes, and we dive in. There’s a mix of Hokkien noodles (my favourite) and vermicelli noodles (my husband’s favourite) as well pieces of soft chicken, large prawns, tofu cubes and fish cake. A scarlet orange pool of oil floats across the top and diving in to retrieve the long noodles risks a scarlet splash on your clothes but it’s well worth it. The taste is rich, creamy and subtle, not as pungent as some Laksa and the beautifully soft and toothsome chicken (from the Hainan chicken rice) is a particular highlight.
Roti Canai with Lamb curry ($11.80)
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