The Cube

Another work trip to Sydney which happened on Thursday and Friday. I took the opportunity to extend through to the weekend as my manager said it is allowable. Not great weather but as it wasn't pouring so still good enough to make a trip to the mountains. 

Many years ago, I went to Katoomba and Leura but I wanted to be a little more quiet this round so Blackheath was my choice this round. I don't know why I make questionable decision of not going to the more famous Grand Canyon Walking Track even though it really wasn't that much of a longer distance. 

Anyway the journey was easy as I was staying just across from Central Station so it was just a train ride away. I took the 7:16 AM train and reached Blackheath just before10:00 AM due to some signal issues at one of the stations. 

After a toilet break and grabbing a croissant from the service station, I walked towards the Govetts Leap Lookout. I must've taken a wrong turn because a certain part of the walk involved going through some rocks that didn't really look like a well trodden path but all was well as I got there. 

My trip to Sydney coincided with the start of 2026 Vivid Sydney. I went there on the Saturday after returning from a day trip to the Blue Mountains. I was tired but that was the only night I could catch the lights so I dragged my lazy self walking from Central Station towards the other end of the city. There are a lot more to the program but I only did the lights event, and only part of them in Circular Quay. The other event I was interested in was the drone shows but it was scheduled on the days that I couldn't make it. Latest news mentioned the shows have been cancelled though. 

The new Sydney Fish Market has opened recently so I decided to pay a visit. The scary seagulls haven't got the memo that the fish market has moved yet, so it wasn't scary and needing to protect the precious food from them when I visited. I went in the morning after checking out from the Airbnb and had a very luxury king crab breakfast. 

The plan was to walk from the airbnb in Central to Sydney Fish Market and then to Marrickville to try out Lazza. Long story short, Lazza didn't happen because I got there at 1:40 PM and their kitchen was closed by 1:30 PM. I feel that was a little early for the kitchen to be closed but plan B was to check out the organic food market. I read that a particular Mexican food stall has good authentic Mexican food but I didn't see it when I got there. So next in plan was Vietnamese food. 

Lv 2.01/252 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

I got the sirloin gyukatsu as that was the popular one. It was delish. I got greedy eyes and also ordered warabimochi as dessert. 

68 Erskine St, Sydney NSW 2000

Despite the popularity of salt bread, I have never tried it. So this was the first time I tried salt bread. Very fluffy inside but I feel it's a bit pricey. But this is Sydney. 

This place is growing on me. I followed a friend to his usual tuff and this round I ordered the month's special - beef burger. 

Wesley Mission Building, 220 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000

I ordered nasi minang kapau komplit tunjang because friend said I should try the beef tendon. I'm not a fan of the texture but that's my issue. The food was very tasty and good chilli kick. 

Shop RG016, 500 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I got myself a snack after returning to Sydney from the Blue Mountains so that I won't be starving when I walked back and forth from one end of the city to the other end. 

Entrance from Campbell Street side, Shop G06/323 Castlereagh St, Haymarket NSW 2000.

I also haven't tried boat noodles before so decided to try this. Unfortunately I don't like the flavour profile. 

249 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

I ended up with Vietnamese group after missing out the kitchen opening hours for Lazza and the food stall in the organic food market. I was hungry so grilled pork with rice and salted coffee. 

This was an overdue trip from 2020. The destination changed from Thale Noi to road trip around Chiang Mai to road trip around Bangkok to just Bangkok. What a coincidence that I returned to Bangkok within a 10 year gap. First trip was in 1996, second in 2016 and third trip in 2026. This round I was travelling with my uni mates and there was no itinerary. We decided what we want to do on the same day but the title summed it up. Such a blessing to travel with them, I was the lazy one who tagged along. There were also friends who took up the task of taking food photos and distributed them. I must say all the food we had were tasty. 

17, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Our flight was delayed and by the time we reached Bangkok, we were starving and headed straight to lunch. They have a few branches and we were told by the Grab driver that the one we wanted to go doesn't have air con and harder for drop off. So he sent to us to another branch which was still near to our hotel with air con. Not pictured are a stir-fry kailan and bean sprouts. 

We went twice but to different branches. Kakigori is not great for sharing if one is not eating off the plate of the shaved ice. I prefer Thai tea, hojicha and mango sticky rice out of the 5. 

We went to the Siam Paragon outlet. 

Stir fry edible fern

I think this was stir fry pumpkin with salted egg and crab meat

Green curry with chicken

Deep fried seabass topped with crispy lemongrass

Spicy tom yum soup with shrimps and young coconut (clear soup)

Sun dried wagyu served with sticky rice

Breakfast at a food court in Pratunam area
One of my friend is used to having breakfast so a few of us joined him for breakfast while a few slept in. Cash is still required in Bangkok, especially in food courts and road side stalls. 

 

994 Phetchaburi Rd, Makkasan, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

Coffee after breakfast. We found out that this is a shared space with Earthy Dispensary when we were there. Coffee was good but even better if you like milk coffees as the barista won 4th place in a national latte art competition. We didn't know until we saw his latte art on one of our orders. When another friend came to join us for coffee later, we made him order milk coffee for the latte art. :D

There were 5 of us who went initially and 3 orders for americano. These came first and we were impressed because usually latte arts in cafe were the usual flower or leaves.

Then this came. 

So when another friend came, we made him ordered a milk based coffee and got this. 

15 ซอย ราชดำริ1 Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

I think our photos are now on the wall at this shop as the owner happily also took a picture of us with his camera when we asked him to take a picture of us -__-"

I don't usually eat pork knuckles, in fact I don't remember when was the last time I ate one before this. So I was surprised that it was tasty and I am not against it. We also ordered some braised tofus to share and a coconut drink each.  

19 21 Ramkhamhaeng 19/1 Alley, Hua Mak, Bang Kapi, Bangkok 10240, Thailand 

The portions were on the smaller side which was why we had more dishes but they were tasty. 

It is a live band pub in Ekamai. We were probably the only group of people who rocked up at a pub wearing shorts and t-shirt because this wasn't planned. When we got there and saw how well people dressed up, we 'blamed' the friend who suggested and booked a table there. Well, not that any of us brought anything that isn't t-shirt and shorts to change to even if he mentioned it earlier. 

We still rocked up for breakfast the next morning and the pa tong go (deep fried crullers) with sangkaya (pandan coconut custard dip) were so good. 

41/16 Phetchaburi Rd, Thanon Phaya Thai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

Another day, another cafe. See the difference on the latte art? The coffee was good too but the latte art not as impressive as the other one. 

We went to the outlet in Iconsiam. I know most people would go for boat noodles at Thong Smith but I was feeling for pad kra pow. Drinks of sugar cane and chrysanthemum. Marian plum was in season and we kept on seeing it everywhere and were curious what it was. So when we saw this dessert on the menu, we ordered it to try. None of us really like the taste unfortunately. 

We went up to see the waterfall after lunch, walked through Starbucks Reserve and Pop Mart. Purely window shopping as none of us bought anything. 

Then we went for more food. I think most of Swensen's outlet in Malaysia have closed down so we went into one in Bangkok. I find their ice-cream is more on the sweeter side.

On the way out of Iconsiam, one of my friends made a stop and got a box of this to share. It came in a mixture of savoury and sweet fillings. The one I got was a savoury filling.

We went to the one in Central World after a round of snacks shopping in the nearby Big C. The food was good but on the pricier side and didn't even have free water. Second round of After You was dessert from dinner. 

Omelette with crab meat

Stir fry bitter beans with shrimp and shrimp paste

Clear tom yum goong soup with prawns

Sizzling pork in black pepper sauce

Steamed sea bass in spicy chilli lime soup

Fancy bottled water

 

My friends travelled back to Malaysia from DMK but my flight departed from BKK to Melbourne. I had my lunch at McDonald's and got myself a Samurai pork burger with cheese truffle fries.