Believe it or not, this is my first time to Mother Chu’s. For some reason or another, we always end up elsewhere yet I always stop and have a look at the women at the front folding and making dumplings. There’s something so rhythmically hypnotic about the process that keeps me entertained. Call me simple.

One Friday night we find ourselves hungry and in need of a good meal. We walk towards the main area of Chinatown and I see the red sign and say “Ooooh let’s go to Mother Chu’s!”. I have no idea who Mother Chu is, perhaps she’s one of the dumpling ladies. We opt for outside seating as the inside is crowded and try and make sense out of the two enormous menus we are given. It seems there is a section of small Taiwanese snacks and dumplings including savoury shallot pancakes, flaky pastries, and rice rolls.

There are also noodle dishes, rice dishes and meat dishes in traditional taiwanese flavours as well as cantonses style dishes. I’m drawn to the Angelica Mutton soup as I’ve only had mutton once in my life but unfortunately they are out of it. As my husband loves beef noodle soup, he orders a Szechuan version (spicy) $7 with suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra and I order a pork mince with rice $5 and we order some snacks to share including a pork flakey pastry $2.20, beef pancake $2.50, glutinous rice rolls with pork floss $3 and spicy seaweed salad $4. That’s $24.70 she says and holds out her hand. Oh and you need to pay when you order.

Before we’ve had a chance to even contemplate our surroundings, the soup, mince with rice and seaweed salad arrive. We have to ask for water a few times but finally get it fourth time lucky.

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup $7

The Szechuan beef noodle soup has a slick of chili oil at the top and features shanghai noodles, thin slivers of roast beef and an spicy and indeed fairly fiery chili oil infused broth. The noodles are way too soft for me and whilst the beef is nice, the broth is a little plain and seeming flavoured mostly of chili oil. I leave this to my husband who confesses that it is too hot for him and unlike most noodle soups where he will finish every drop of the soup, most of this soup is left behind.

Suan choi (hand made pickled cabbage) $1 extra

The Suan Choi is a small side dish of cabbage, full of flavour and sesame oil and quite delicious.

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Sometimes, when you’re having the laziest of a lazy 4 day weekend, all you can manage to travel is Chinatown for a loadup of Chinese dumplings. Shanghai Night in Ashfield is my husband’s favourite place to eat, probably in the whole of Sydney but we just couldn’t muster up the energy to drive there so it was to Chinese Noodle Restaurant in Chinatown, half an hour closer, that we went. Its an unusual setup, all geared to get maximum table turnover in a tiny but crowded space. There are plenty of people outside waiting for a table and you order from the menu while waiting outside and when your table is ready, so is your meal, or at least most of the dishes you have ordered. None of this wasting 10 minutes precious table space umming and ahhing over what you want. Its strictly eat and go but unlike Shanghai Night, the service is pretty friendly.

We order the Juicy pork buns (like the Shanghai night mini pork buns) $8 for 10; a half serve of 5 pan fried pork buns $4; Pork and seafood steamed dumplings, 16 for $8; Fragrant Spiced noodles $8; Braised Eggplant and Potato $9.80 and Mushroom and chinese vegetables $8.80. Prices are a dollar or two higher than Shanghai Night which is understandable given that its in the city. Like Uighur and Northern Chinese restaurants, there are grapevines stretching out across the ceilings and wall tapestries.

I have to duck off to the ladies while my husband and the Assman wait for our table outside. I have to be escorted there-they don’t give you the keys, they take you there. When I return a few minutes later, they’re already seated and we already have two dishes on the table.

Braised eggplant and potato $9.80

The braised eggplant and potato is full and flavoursome-the eggplant is crispy on the outside and soft inside and coated in a delicious spicy garlic sauce. The potato is similar to roast potato chunks in a chinese sauce.

Mushrooms and chinese vegetables $8.80

The mushrooms with chinese vegetables by comparison is more low key. Not bad by any means but following such a full flavoured dish does not do the mildly flavoured dish any good.

Juicy pork buns, 10 for $8

Our Juicy pork buns come in two steamer baskets with 5 dumplings in each-which is one serving we are told. They’re juicy and very full of liquid but they’re not particularly gingery like Shanghai night’s ones which we prefer. Still its a generous serve of 10 for our $8

Pork and seafood steamed dumplings, 16 for $8

My husband loves the pork and seafood steamed dumplings, the less glamorous, dumpy cousin to the showy mini pork buns. The dumplings are a little bigger than Shanghai night’s and the filling has a distinctly different taste although I wouldn’t have necessarily proclaimed it to be seafood. It doesn’t matter what I think of these though, my husband is fiercely loyal to these and devours every one except for the one I try. Yes luvvies, that’s 15 dumplings as well as his share in other dishes.

Pan fried pork buns, 5 for $4

I try the mini fried pork buns, 5 large upturned golden bottomed wheat flour dumplings with thick chewy skins and pork inside. They’re decent but I admit here that I prefer Shanghai Night’s version better.

Fragrant spiced noodles $8

Lastly I try the fragrant spiced noodles. These are a huge disappointment flavour wise and are not really fragrant, unless you count the scent of oil, soy sauce and chili flakes abundantly scattered on top. The thick, endlessly long noodles are rather fun to play with though and hooking them with your chopsticks and trying to get them into your small bowl is quite a challenge. When Assman tries to hook his in from a great height, we see the staff watching him to see whether he will make it in and of course he doesn’t as they break halfway and they laugh good naturedly. There is no meat in this dish, just a lot of chinese greens so he makes a quick meal of it and all that is left is a soup with 1/2cms of oil floating at the top and a lot of chili flakes.

We watch the noodles being made from the square window into the frantically ordered kitchen and watch them rhythmically loop the handmade noodles into a bundle before plunging them into the boiling water. Dinner and a show indeed!

Chinese Noodle Restaurant

Shop TG7, 8 Quay Street Haymarket NSW 2000
(Entrance from Thomas Street, next to Burlington Centre)

I can’t seem to get enough of ramen nowadays. I didn’t eat it all that much when I lived in Tokyo but now that I am so many miles away, I think I somehow get the urge to recreate some of the memories from my time there and ramen seems to do the trick. Luckily my husband is also a ramen lover. I had read about Menya ramen and it was a recommendation from a NQN reader KLL.

The Prince Centre is a haven to choose from and not for the terminally undecided. We walk in and are greeted by the traditional “Irrashimase!” which always manages to both startle my husband and make him smile. Having pre researched what I wanted to order, we place our order for Tori Katsu ramen $9.90 (Tonkotsu noodle soup topped with deep fried chicken cutlet, boiled bean sprout, vegetarian fungus and sesame), the Chilly Hot teriyaki Beef ramen $9.90 (Tonkotsu noodle soup topped with teriyaki thinly sliced beef mixed with vegetables, served with boiled bean sprout, sesame and chili) and get my two stamps and am on my way, albeit quite far away, to qualify for the free “Monthly Dish” when I order 20 noodle or rice items (after 10 items you can get a free soft drink).

All of their ramen soup stock is Tonkotsu (based on pork bone) which I adore, its thicker, gelatinous consistency providing much needed comfort and sustenance. Just out of curiosity, we try the Buta Mayo Gohan $3.50 (Chopped roasted pork, mayonnaise, dried seaweed, shallot, sesame served on top of a small bowl of rice). The decor is nicer than most ramen places, its modern black and white with curiously, an entire wall full of what looks like twisted up coat hangers although they’re not quite the safety hazard they look as they are springy when touched-a Picasso style mattress inner spring. Prices range from $6.50 for the “plainest” ramen with BBQ pork slices to $9.90 for ramen with much more substantial toppings like the Katsu which we’ve ordered. There’s also soba, udon and bento boxes.

While waiting, we check out the heavily staffed and busy kitchen. There are enormous vats of the Tonkotsu stock about 1 metre tall being stirred with a huge stick. We don’t have to wait long for our meals, it seems to high amount of cooks means that one need not wait very long to eat. Our Buta Mayo Gohan arrives first, a fairly decent sized bowl of rice topped with finely chopped dried seaweed, shallot and sesame on which tender, flavoursome chopped pork sits artistically splayed with mayonnaise. Its filling and delicious for $3.50 the best value meal you can get. Forget McDonalds or any other fast food, this is the way to dine for $3.50.

The ramen arrives next, the Chilly Hot Teriyaki Beef ramen is mine and I dig in with my spoon (which breaks halfway, not my fault Your Honour! I didn’t heap on too much ramen I promise!). The teriyaki beef slices are wonderfully soft and sweet and this imparts a sweetness into the rich pork stock. The chili is a perfect counter to the sweetness and saltiness of the teriyaki and I eagerly help myself to more than my alloted half of the bowl.

My husband’s Tori Katsu ramen looks good although soon after the pieces are swimming in the ramen, losing the crunch. I fish out two pieces from on top to try and its good although as its chicken, its missing that flavour that you get from Pork Katsu. Not to matter, I squirt on a sqiggly line of hot chilli sauce which gives it a boost and I’m happily enjoying them. I try some of my husband’s soup but after the chili, sweet and salt fest of mine, it appears a litlte bland by comparison. He loves his though as he is finding mine too sweet and I love mine so for once, our bowl swap only lasts a minute. As for the million dollar question, how do the actual noodles stack up against Ryo’s Noodles? Well of course, Ryo’s wins again for the ramen itself but Menya’s Tonkotsu broth is definitely my style.

I’m beat, with the pork mayo rice and my sizable bowl of ramen I can only finish 1/2 of it. My husband valiantly tries to finish it but the hot weather, lack of decent air conditioning and finishing his own dish means that he can’t quite make it either. We leave our communal table and good timing it is as there is a crowd gathered at the window deciding what to order and inside the door. We go for a walk to walk off some of the ramen and come across a man cutting out peoples profiles for $2 a piece just near Emporer’s Garden and doing a rather great job at it too. He has a line snaking down the mall. He’s rather popular too you see.

Menya Ramen

Tel / Fax : +61 (02) 9212-1020
Shop TG8, 8 Quay Street Haymarket NSW 2000
(Entrance from Thomas St., next to Burlington Centre)
Open Mon-Fri Lunch:11:30am - 3:00pm, Dinner:5:00pm - 9:30pm
Sat & Sun Lunch:11:30am - 4:00pm, Dinner:5:00pm - 9:30pm
Menu here: http://www.yakiniku.com.au/images/menu_pdf/menya_menu.pdf

“Crocodile what-what?” Tuulikki asks when I tell her the odd name of the restaurant we plan to eat at. It takes her a few goes to get the name right and even then, I’m certain she’s not convinced. But from the number of seated patrons enjoying meals, we aren’t the only ones to have noticed this oddly crocodiled theme Thai restaurant on a strip of town bursting with eateries. The decor is full of dark brown wooden tables, square stools, large sprays of tiger lilies, delicate spun straw orbed lights and …crocodiles. Everywhere. And in every incarnation you could possibly think of. Even our waitress takes our order using a Crocodile pen. We don’t know what crocodiles have to do with Thailand but they have an awful lot to do with this place.

A quick glance of the menu shows that prices are rather low, from $8.50-$12.00 for the most part. There are 8 different varieties of Som Tum (Green Papaya salad) which I adore so I know I shall have to choose one of these. Apparently the difference in each is the topping which ranges from tiny mud crabs (which I’ve ordered) to grilled scampi, soft shell crab and deep fried salmon. I had also read that the BBQ pork with rice although dull sounding, was good. And of course the crocodile chef on the menu just beckons you to order the Noodles Senior style where you choose the type of noodle (hokkien, egg, rice) then choose the sauce (thai basil, chili, chinese, malay or cashew nut) and then choose the topping (tofu, veges, chicken, beef, pork, roast duck, prawn or seafood). We choose the thin rice noodles with malay peanut sauce with tofu.

Looking around at the signs, there are specials that are written in Thai only so there must be a fair amount of Thai patronage. And should you want to call friends in Bangkok, they have two clocks, one set on Sydney time and one set on Bangkok time. The music is pumping and loud, especially towards the middle and back of the restaurant and the plasma screens show Thai singers singing various pop and disco songs like “I Will Survive”.

Som Tum Pu (with small mud crabs) $8

Five minutes after we’ve ordered, our square plate of Som Tum Pu (with mud crab) arrives. Its a small but pungent dish. I personally love it but know that people are usually divided by it, only being swayed when being told how healthy it is. It is indeed tangy and pungent with fish sauce and packed with tiny dried prawns, shredded carrot and green papaya and very salty tiny black mud crabs. Some crab pieces are a little too big and when you’re trying to chew them, it takes a good crunching with your teeth of the larger pieces. The salad itself is good although I must admit I find Sailors Thai Canteen’s Som Tum better (and its not just because it comes with gorgeous caramelised BBQ pork sitting on top).

BBQ Pork with rice $8.50

Our BBQ pork with rice arrives next and its a huge plate with two types of BBQ pork. One the fatty belly pork crunchy and fried to a crisp, and another like thinly sliced Char Siu. The sauce coating the dish is unusual and strong with sweet cinnamon and star anise. I don’t know if I love it as much with the sauce. One of my greatest pleasures is eating Char Siu with plain rice. To me the sauce is too mysterious and a little unbalanced and almost powdery.

Noodle Senior: thin rice noodles with malay peanut sauce and tofu $9

Our Noodle Senior arrive last and its an impressive tangle of rice noodles. Its packed with coarsely ground peanut pieces and vegetables with three fat triangular chunks of deep fried tofu and stir fried egg. I didn’t expect to like this very much as I’ve found most satay noodles drowning in the sauce but this is subtle and nicely flavours giving the right hint of Malay satay sauce but not drowning or overpowering it. Its soft noodles and crunchy peanut and vegetables are perfectly seasoned and its easily the best dish of the night.

We’re stuffed by the end of our meal and still no wiser as to what Crocodiles have to do with Thailand!

Crocodile Senior Thai

768 George Street
Haymarket (opposite Marigold Citymark)
Sydney
+61 (02) 9211 6300
Cash only
No split bills
Open 7 days from 11.30am until 10pm

Nestled between Emperors Garden BBQ and Thailand DVD in Chinatown sits a seedy looking entrance inviting customers to peruse Comic books and various DVDs. You could’ve walked past it hundreds of times and never noticed it or assumed that it would be an X rated bookshop upstairs.

I’ve asked my husband to look up somewhere for us to eat that night as we were staying in the Meriton on Kent apartments (part of the www.lastminute.com.au’s $1 secret hotel promotion). He calls me back excitedly “How about a Comic Book store?” and before I can exasperatedly remind him that we’re looking for a restaurant he tells me about this amazing hole in the wall Comic book store that also serves food and is known for their Hot Beef Noodle soup. He knows that I love quirky and at 6.30pm we set off in search of this elusive gem on Thomas Street, opposite Market City and Burlington centre.

Once you walk upstairs, the seediness is gone. Instead, its the ultimate in quirky kitsch - a comic book store slash internet cafe slash eatery run by the sweetest person to helm a kitchen. From one angle, it looks like someone’s house, from another, its shelf after shelf of comic books, from another its an internet cafe and from another, up in the back, its a small cafe which you’d never know of walking in except for the aroma of fried eggs.

There’s one English picture menu and on the back there are a number of items in Chinese that we can’t read. A glance at the picture menu and we are happy, the much recommended Hot Beef Noodle soup ($7.50) is there as well as a selection of other soup, noodle and rice dishes. I spy a grilled eel dish with soup and at $8.80 its the most expensive thing on the menu of 9 main items. I am in the mood for some sticky eel so I order that too along some with ice water for two. The smiling woman lets us know that the eating area is back towards the comics which is good as I am about to sit down at an internet station assuming that was where one ate!

The eating area is bordered on one side by a huge display of faux flowers in a variety of blooms and there are approximately 12 tables which can seat up to 25 people. At lunch apparently this place is buzzing with students from the nearby UTS, but since its fairly early in the evening, we have the place to ourselves.

Five to ten minutes later, she brings our food and we are even more glad that we came. The soup comes in a wide, fairly deep bowl with a very generous amount of melt in the mouth beef, bok choy, fried fish balls and shanghai noodles. My eel arrives sitting atop a large mound of rice with corn pieces and a cold sauteed bok choy and carrot side and a soup that is somewhere between a miso soup and the pork broth that one often receives in a chinese restaurant before their food arrives.

Everything is delicious, the hot beef noodle soup deserves the raves that it gets, the spiciness is perfect, not too hot not too mild, the spiciness gives it flavour rather than heat. My husband doesn’t look like he wants to give it up and its only when I physically take his bowl away from him that I try some.

My eel is fabulous too, sweet and soft and easy to pry apart with chopsticks. Who’d imagine such a gruesome creature would be so tasty? The sauteed bok choy side is also good.

In between this, the complimentary ice water arrives and its in a cup with a sealed lid with cubes of ice floating in it, much like you get for bubble milk tea (which I later read that she serves too).

There’s no dessert on the English menu but that doesn’t matter, she quietly places a plate of moon cake slices on our table and says “Its the Chinese Moon Festival so please enjoy these” with a warm, broad smile. I immediately see why its so popular with overseas students who are missing home.

Woo-Long Comics World Cafe

Level IB, Shop 215A, Thomas St
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9211 2202
Fax (02) 9211 2202