Sydney: More food opportunities

Back to good old Sydney again. My 6th trip of the year. Some new places visited, some old re-visited for both food or non food. But first up - food, in the order of consumption. I didn't include any that I forgot to take pictures and it is already way long enough (too much food!).


Alice's Makan
580 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

The last few attempts of trying to have food here were unsuccessful. I heard there was a change of hands in management but I'm not sure. I had Hainan chicken rice ($12.5) because they serve breast meat only. Many places in Australia don't give that option, unlikely in Malaysia. It was decent but I was thirsty for quite awhile that day after lunch.

Bar Luca
52 Phillip St, Sydney NSW 2000

I was in the mood for burger and looked up a place for one. This one has a pretty good review and near the hotel I was put up so Bar Luca it was.

I read the popular one was the burger called Blame Canada so Blame Canada ($17) it was. It's a Canada themed burger - beef patty, American cheese, maple glazed streaky bacon, maple aioli & poutine on a BL milk bun. I'm a glutton - I ordered a side of chips too ($3).

Burger was good but so large. Chips got a bit too salty towards the end.


Espresso on Sussex
Sussex Lane, Sydney NSW 2000

I had my eyes on the dragon fruit bowl ($14) which was served of course with dragon fruit (or pink pitaya), granola, chia seeds, toasted nuts and seasonal fruit.

I like the food but a bit unsure of the service. It is one of those cafes that expected you to know what to do. I was clueless, made my order at the counter but didn't realise that I would be given a table number so the food would be delivered to me. When it realised how the cafe operates, I asked for a number. The staff who served me said she gave me a number but I didn't take. Um... but why didn't you just shove it to me? I was confused with how things operates but yes, I would return for the dragon fruit bowl.


Ipoh Town
83 York St, Sydney NSW 2000

It was a smoggy day in Sydney and I wanted to have a quick, fuss-free lunch so it was Ipoh on York (or rather Ipoh Town now).

Decided to try something different compared to my previous 2 visits and ordered char kway teow with prawns ($15). I could taste wok hei but prefer my CKT in thicker (in terms of diameters) rice noodles.

Sasaki
102/21 Alberta St, Sydney NSW 2000

This is one of Sydney's restaurant offering omakase. The restaurant itself is at a secluded corner of a small street, near Cafe Cre Asion and Blaq Piq. They have 2 menus - a $65 short course omakase (hoshi) and a longer one costing $80 full course omakase (tsuki). It was my first visit, so E and S gladly having tsuki with me. The portions were just right. We weren't feeling super stuffed by end of the meal. It was still comfortable, which was a good thing.

Hoshi was a shorter course but also offering 8 plates but here's the menu for Tsuki.

We ordered a yuzu lime bitters each too.

We "upgraded" one portion of Pork & Eggplant to Wagyu to try. E prefers the pork but I liked the wagyu better, probably because I find the pork more on the fat side for me.

Oyster & Yuzu

Cuttlefish & Uni

Tamago Tofu

Katsuo, papaya & spice. This one tasted lke Asian buns, likely because of the butter. 

Hirousu

Bar-cod & cabbage

Takikomi Gohan

The rice was served about the same time the fish was brought to us, despite being displayed lower in the menu.

Pork & eggplant

Wagyu

No picture of the soup though. There were 4 different types of desserts to choose from - a sorbet, a macaron, an ice-cream and a hojicha custard. Hojicha custard it was!

Hojicha custard

York Lane
56 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000

This was almost like a hole in the wall along a small laneway in Sydney. Breakfast in the morning, bar at night.

I had the breakie melt from the menu. It was sauteed mushrooms, truffle oil, swiss cheese and baby spinach served on bread.

Breakie melt ($13)

Seabay Kitchen
143A King St, Sydney NSW 2000

It's a basic Chinese restaurant which interestingly, on King Street across from MLC Center. The staircase opening leading up to the restaurant was narrower than regular staircase, almost like blink and you'll miss it. Most patrons were Chinese and I enjoyed the biang biang noodles with lamb ($14) that I ordered.

Bistro Papillon
98 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000

All these photos of people going to Europe for holidays were making me missing the good food I had in Strasbourg, so I made a reservation at a Bistro Papillon. It has great reviews on Zomato. I was indecisive between another duck dish and the one I ordered, a casserole but went with the latter thereafter.

Cassoulet de canard - confit of duck and pork, smoked sausage, white beans, vegetables and herbs

The duck meat were tender and fell apart when as I lifted them up. It was yum but a little too salty for my taste bud. That said though my threshold may be lower than most, considering there have been numerous times when I forgot to season my food when cooking.

Can't go past a good creme brulee too, so that was dessert.

Cross Eatery
155 Clarence St, Sydney NSW 2000

I had the Cross Sabih which was described as "roasted eggplant, tomato and herb salad, hummus pickles, egg and flatbread". It was good though my initial intention for going to Cross Eatery was because I saw a menu of theirs online that mentioned of acai bowl. It wasn't on offer on my visit, probably already had a change of menu.

Biang Biang
Westfield Food Court

They have a few branches, the one I went to was in Westfield Food Court, simply because of convenience. I visited twice, first for rou jia mo with cumin beef. Their version of rou jia mo was with crispy bread, instead of the usual flat bread-ish texture type and the filling was tasty, though I would prefer cumin lamb for a more traditional taste but it was good. So I returned for another lunch meal for their biang biang noodles. I asked for takeaway both times so I wasn't sure if that affected the biang biang noodles taste but I wasn't impressed. I preferred the one I had in Seabay Kitchen. Yea, I was in a bit of Xi'an food craze phase.

Auvers Cafe
Shop 4, 12 Nicolle Walk, Darling Square, Haymarket NSW 2000

Looks pretty but oh so heavy for breakfast. I couldn't finish it. Yea - I ordered their pancakes which made up of matcha pancakes, premium matcha glaze, sponge, red brean paste and raspberry sorbet.

Lorraine's Patisserie
Shop 5, Palings Lane, 320 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I visited once and got a Ruby Cake, I find it too sweet for my liking. I was told that I should've gotten the Mascarpone Cake because that is their signature cake. So I re-visited the patisserie and got this one but totally missed checking out the description before making my purchase. When I had a taste, it dawned on me that I actually saw this cake on my last visit but decided not to get it because of the description mentioning of coconut dacquoise. It was described as lightened mascarpone, layered with crisp coconut dacquoise, fresh strawberries. This is a personal non-preference issue but I do not like the cake at all. I find the coconut overpowered every component of the cake and too heavy. I could possibly be on the minority based on high reviews and my other colleagues who had tried it seems to like it.

Blaq Piq
11 Alberta St, Sydney NSW 2000

My order was son-in-law with pulled pork, chilli jam and fried shallots. This was good but I find the chilli jam a bit sweet towards the end and preferred if my toast was less burnt. Haha.

This cafe was next to Cafe Cre Asion and I was tempted to have a takeaway matcha latte but resisted as I had a coffee with my meal.

Dulcet Cakes and Sweets
TG4, 8 Quay St, Haymarket NSW 2000

I saw this online when I was googling for Taiwanese taro swiss roll cake. However, there wasn't any on my visit. I got myself a slice of black sesame charcoal crepe cake instead. There was only a grand total of 1 table and it was occupied. So i did a takeaway and walked over to the nearby Market City's food court eating area to eat it. I wasn't didn't any spoon but I managed. I wasn't going to let the lack of spoon to stand between me and the cake. I like this one, maybe I prefer Asian cakes which are usually lighter.

Encasa
423 Pitt Street Sydney

I was craving for some Spanish food and booked in for dinner in Encasa. They have a few branches and I went to the one on Pitt Street. Yes, they hit happy spot.

From top left, in clockwise: Pulpo A La Plancha (Grilled octopus), Gambas Al Ajillo (prawns in garlic oil) and bravas (potatoes)

Yasaka Ramen
126 Liverpool street, Sydney NSW 2000

Ramen is Japanese food and Sydney does them better. Yes, ramen included. This was my spicy black garlic ramen. I think level 2 spiciness, I could do another level up I think but it is recommended to start low.

Radisson Blu room service
27 O'Connell St, Sydney NSW 2000

Haha. I got lazy and ordered a club sandwich for room service, with chips as side of course.

Cali press
Australia Square, Shop 410/264 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I had "The Original" which was acai blended with coconut water, mango plus banana with granola, banana, strawberry, passionfruit, coconut and goji toppings.

Yokocho Yakiniku
Regent Place Shopping Centre
Shop 9.08, Level 9/501 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I ordered boneless beef short rib, scallop butter, assorted vegetables and tuna sashimi. Initially I thought they were going to arrange for someone to sit across from me but luckily I didn't have to share table with another person.

Sanduba
Shop 16/259 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

I had acai bowl plus, which was acai bowl and some toppings. Of all the acai bowls I have tried, I like the one I had from Happy As Larry's the best, and I also like the dragon fruit bowl from Espresso on Sussex.

Ho Jiak
Chinatown: 92 Hay Street, Haymarket, NSW, 2000

Back to Ho Jiak with a friend and shared tau eu bak (braised slow cooked pork belly in soy sauce) and pattaya (Malay style spicy seafood fried rice with shrimp paste wrapped in omelette). Pattaya was a popular order during lunchtime during my uni days in the campus canteen.

Boon Cafe Eatery
1/425 Pitt St, Haymarket NSW 2000

We went to Boon Cafe Eatery for some desserts after dinner at Ho Jiak, I was stuffed to the brim and we still had some leftovers from dinner for my lunch the next day. So I got a drink instead - Anchan (blue butterfly pea iced tisane). My friend ordered the Thai shaved ice dessert. It was ok, I had some of her dessert but I preferred a finer shaved ice.

Side note: Happy new year