Mizuya + Chinatown Night Market, Sydney

Could E-ordering Be The Next Big Thing In Restaurants?

Most Sydneysiders should have heard of Mizuya Japanese Restaurant and Karaoke by now, a place where you can have a unique dining experience and karaoke at the same time. With this new era of Technology and Eshopping, Mizuya has also adopted the concept of E-ordering with their touch screen menu. I personally think it's a very smart way of improving speed and efficiency of the restaurant but also allows customers to take their time deciding on what to order without having the pressure of someone standing waiting for us while we make up our mind.

Some of the reasons why I like Mizuya are the fact that they have small little cubicles that separate each table, also the fact that service is really fast and they serve delicious Japanese food.

Yesterday after work, me and my husband had around 3 hours to kill before heading to Entertainment Centre for a concert. So our first stop was Mizuya.

 

 

(Left) Pork Belly Kushiyaki $5.80

(Centre) Garlic Shoot with Beef Kushiyaki $5.80

(Right) 2 portions of Chicken Fillet Kushiyaki $4.80

Chicken Karaage $6.80

Spicy Soft Shell Crab $7.80

I think their Marbled Beef is my favourite in Mizuya. Served on hot plate, the meat was really tender, sweet and buttery in flavour.

BBQ Marbled Beef Steak $14.80

We also had the simple Takana Pickles Fried Rice that was a good accompaniment to the dishes.

Takana Pickles Fried Rice $10.90

Dinner was finished and we still had almost 2 hours to kill, so we decided to slowly make our way down to the Chinatown night market with a mission of getting their Japanese pancake that I've been craving for.

Queueing in front of the stall and with a Takoyaki  & Okonomiyaki Stall just beside it,  I felt like I was suddenly transported to Japan. As much as I wanted to try the Takoyaki too, the queue was just impossible, there was minimum 25 people lining up all the time. Maybe next time...

 There were many flavours to choose from, such as green tea, taro, custard, cheese and red bean. The choice was obvious it gotta be...

green tea. 

Then, we continued exploring the night market before heading to the concert.

Mizuya Japanese Restaurant & Karaoke

614 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9266 0866

Chinatown Night Market

Open every Friday from 4pm to 11pm

Find out how to get there here

Dinner @ Sydney Indulgence

Last weekend, my husband and I were invited to a very special dinner. We were really looking forward for the dinner because it wasn't just a simple friends gathering dinner, but it was a special dinner hosted by my fellow dessert blogger 'Sydney Indulgence' and her husband (F and A), who happened to be a very close friend of ours. After salivating over the desserts I've seen on her blog all this while, I was particularly excited for the desserts.

With the cosy ambience of their home as well as a customised 3 course menu printed for the night (just like the one you find in restaurants), I felt like walking in to a private restaurant reserved specially just for us. It was a quite and intimate dinner, not only was the food delicious, the conversation and the company were great too.

Starter: German Brown Sourdough with French Butter. 

What could be better than having a warm sourdough with a quality French butter? The answer is 'Nothing'.

Entree: Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

F told me that this Zucchini Flowers were inspired by Jamie Oliver. Stuffed with Ricotta cheese, parmesan, mint, chillies and lemon, she has definitely made Jamie Oliver proud with this dish, as it was really delicious. My husband who is usually very conservative with his food agreed that this crispy zucchini flower was a 5 star food. I would recommend you guys to try out this dish, I'm sure it won't be hard to find the recipe online.

Main: Organic Duck Fillet Pasta 

The Fettuccine was cooked in duck sauce, accompanied with a well marinated organic duck and ceps wild mushroom. It was the first time me and my husband heard of ceps mushroom. The mushroom was really rich in flavour and creamy in texture.

Side Dish: Caramalised Baby Carrots

F can reads my mind, because carrot is my favourite! These lovely orange vegetables were roasted with thymes and garlics.

Side dish: Oven-roasted Truffle Chips

Everybody loves chips! F has reinvented the traditional chips by adding some truffle oil, which gave a nice earthy flavour to the incredibly crispy chips.
We were surprised by the crispiness of the potatoes and F told us that she bought the potatoes from Eveleigh market, I forgot what's the name of the potato but she told us that there are so many different type of gourmet potatoes available at the market. I think I should really make a trip there to check out all the goodies.

Desserts

**Drum roll** Finally the most anticipated moment of the night, F serving what she is best at...Desserts.

There was not only one dessert, there were two!The desserts for the night were:

Vanilla Creme Brulee with Passionfruit and Pecan & Chocolate Tart.

 

The Vanilla Creme brulee with Passionfruit really suits my taste bud, as it's not overly sweet with a hint of sourness and freshness of passionfruit. It was a refreshing dessert to complete the meal. 

Find the recipe of this sweet and sour dessert here.

Then came the Pecan and Chocolate Tart served with creme fraiche on the side. The original recipe was to use golden syrup but F replaced it with maple syrup which worked really well, as me and my husband love maple syrup. With the goodness of chocolate and nuts on top of a buttery pastry, this was a dessert worthy of those hours spent in the gym.

If you like to try this recipe, you can find it here.

 

Thanks to Sydney Indulgence (F) and her husband (A) for their warmest and most generous hospitality. 

The dinner was excellent and it has certainly inspired me to try out new recipes and open up my abandoned Jamie Oliver cookbook. 

La Boheme, Balmain

 
A good meal ought to begin with hunger". (French Proverb)

Finally, I'm back to our Saturday routine...catching up with friends and trying out new place to eat. My husband and I are glad to find another new food enthusiast couple (T and L) to join our dining adventure. Last Saturday, we left the honour of picking a place to them. They decided on La Boheme, a Czech restaurant located in Balmain. T said it's the restaurant that he's been wanting to try.
 

Hidden inside the Heritage listed Working Men's institute. La Boheme provides a unique and intimate European dining experience the moment you walk in. The interior recreates an atmosphere of the old-world Europe. Their menu is extensive and they have a great selection of European beers to choose from.
 

Apart from the stunning interior, there are many other reasons to visit this restaurant:

- If you are very hungry

- If you want the best value for your money

- If you want to try Czech beer (or if you simply love beer)

- If you want a fast and attentive service

Minutes after we made our order, the staff came with a complementary bread rolls and dip, that tasted a bit like pate. We had no idea what the dip called but we all enjoyed the bread rolls and the pate like dip to start our meal.

Entree 1:

We ordered some entrees to share. First entree we had was the Escagort. The French snails were so rich in goodness of almond and garlic butter. There's only one way to describe it "C'est si bon!!!" (It's so good!!!).

 French Snails $ 24.90 (one dozen)  $13.90 (half dozen)

Entree 2:

Second entree we had was the Almond, paprika and herb cheese balls. When this dish arrived we were a bit dissapointed with the size. We thought  the 3 cheese balls were pretty small, but after we tasted it, the three were definitely enough for the five of us to share. It was really rich, perfect with the crispy toasted breads.

Cheese Balls $11.90

Entree 3: 

The last entree we had was the Homemade Duck Pate. The Pate was reasonably fine, not overly strong in flavour. Complemented with a homemade cranberry sauce and rye toast. It was perfect as an entree as you don't want it to be too strong that it might ruin your taste bud before you start the main dish.

Duck Pate $13.90

Main 1:

Most of us wanted to try a bit of everything, so we ordered the Bavarian Feast Platter. The platter includes chef's selection of Duck, Schnitzel, Pork ribs, Sausage with Saurekraut, Red cabbage and Mixed dumplings.

The platter was huge! None of us could actually finish the whole thing. I've done pretty well by finishing the quarter duck and Schnitzel (these two were my favourite). I found the duck meat really tender and flavourful. The Scnitzel was thin and cripsy. The pork ribs tasted like smoked bacon and the sausage was pretty ordinary.

Bavarian Feast Platter $29.90 (for one)  $58.00 (for two)

Don't forget the platter comes with mixed dumplings too. How could I possible feed in all these? I might if I didn't have the entrees. Overall, it was still a pretty good platter.

Main 2: 

Grilled Pork Knuckle. My husband will never go pass pork knuckle when it's available on the menu. He should be happy because like the platter, the pork knuckle was huge (although it might not look as big in the photo). T who claimed to be a big eater couldn't even finish it, but my husband happily polished the whole thing. I had abit of it and I have to admit, it was really good!

 Grilled Pork Knuckle  $24.90

Didn't know what to expect from the main dishes, we even ordered some side dishes to share.

(Left) Mushrooms  Risotto $ 6.50

(Right) French Fries $6.00

Before we started our meal, we were saying that we have to try the desserts. But by the end of the meal, all of us were too full to have anything else. After we left the restaurant, T even suggested that we should take a short walk and for the first time, we did! We actually walked along Darling street for 15 minutes before heading back to the car. That night we went home satisfied and happy.
 

La Boheme

332 Darling St (rear of the Institute Arcade)

Balmain NSW 2041

Ph: (02) 9810 0829

Wow Bulgogi, Kensington

When it's so cold outside, there's nothing more comforting than having a sizzling hot meal. So on Friday night, me and my husband decided to try out the new Korean BBQ restaurant in Kensington. As explained in the menu 'Bul' means fire, 'Gogi' means meat.  Bulgogi is a unique way to have Korean style barbeque which has been enjoyed by the korean people for thousands of years. Also, they named the restaurant 'Wow Bulgogi' because they want to hear the word "Wow" when the customers experience their food and services. So far service was a Wow, the staffs were very fast and attentive.

My husband and I settled with their BBQ set menu A. For $45 you will get SoGalbi (marinated beef ribs), Bulgogi (marinated tender sliced beef), Samgyubsal (pork belly), Ox tongue and Jelbi (lean beef skirt). Everything was good except the Ox tongue, the cut was too thin and hard in texture.

Set menu A $45.00

To balance our meal, we ordered the Haemil Soon Dubu. A hot and spicy soup made with tofu, seafood, egg and vegetable. The soup was thick and pretty rich with seafood flavour, with lots of ingredients to be found.

Haemil Soon Dubu $12.00

Like all Korean restaurants, we were served with array of condiments and sauces to compliment our meal.

When we came, the restaurant was half full, but by the time we finished our meal it was a full house. I guess Wow bulgogi has become the local's favourite Korean restaurant, not that there's many to be found around the area. But is always good to have an additional restaurant to choose from. Just remember, not to wear your best dress here.

Wow Bulgogi

174 Anzac parade

Kensginton NSW 2033

Ph: (02) 9697 9282