Chonsiam

Being an Asian, having seen Asian Food in a Western County brings comfort to me, especially when the weather is cold. Walking pass the streets while on our way back to the hotel, we spotted a menu plastered on the wall outside Chonsiam.

Chonsiam

The "Special" indicate on the menu was quite straight forward with reasonable pricing, thus we went into the eating place without too much thinking.

Streets

Interior was small with limited seats and narrow aisles. Being dressed extra in winter clothing, I had to be additional careful not to topple over other table's food while making my way in.

Chonsiam

This is perhaps the cheapest food I ever had during my trip in Sydney. The special promotion of a bowl of Boat Noodle only cost me at $4 AUD. Although the portion may not be big, ingredients were ample with diced chicken, fish cakes, meatballs, vegetables as well as noodles in black herbal broth. Beating the cold & wet weather outside, I just wouldn't mind to have such down to earth meal. One pet peeve about the cheapest bowl of noodle I had was that I was quite thirsty after having this.

Boat Noodle - $4 AUD

Finding food in Sydney isn't an issue just that perhaps the exchange rate is a killer during then and with a plate of fried rice from the streets shop at $11.90 AUD. In Chonsiam, the team was mainly Thais and with such, the authenticity of their dishes are more or less guaranteed. The plate of fried rice was simple, good enough to keep a stomach full on a cold day without going hungry.

Thai Fried Rice - $11.90 AUD

Rating: 3 / 5

Chonsiam
Location:  38 Campbell St, Haymarket NSW 2000, Australia

Spice I Am

Each night as we looked down into the roads from the hotel, we were amazed by the crowd of the eatery even at wee hours. Out of Curiosity, we did a online search and was surprised by the number of positive reviews that the restaurant has attained. Not only that it was noted as a Multi Award Winning Restaurant for its Thai Cuisine, possibly the best Authentic Cuisine outside of Thailand in Sydney.

Along the streets

Interior was contemporary designed with beautiful decors and arranged with wooden dining tables as well as chairs.

Internal Dining

With limited area in house, the seating were extended to pathment area just in front of the shop. Though dishes were hot and spicy, due to the cool weather outdoor standing heaters were placed to keep patrons warm.

Spotted the man in the picture who gave me a thumb up?

A signature dish of Spice I Am that not to be missed no matter how sinful it is! The dish is superbly stirred fried with chilli and Thai holy basil with the crackling crispy pork belly. The sweet and spicy chilli sauce give a good finishing touch to the dish. Yummy!

Pad Prik King (Crispy Pork Belly) - $19.50 (AUD)

We only "whacked" 2 of the signature dishes as we were quite full (Sydney has so much of great food). We had ordered Mussaman which came in thick mild savoury curry with beef cooked to its soft tender perfection together with onions, potatoes as well as peanuts.

These two dishes went very well with bowls of white rice.

Mussaman - $22.50 (AUD)

We were really lucky to have such tasty Thai Food within steps to our accommodation and luckily we had it during the last night of our stay, if not we would have miss something out in Sydney. Having tasted Spice I Am, I would say the Thai Dishes were not a common sight of what we had in Singapore. 

Servers were polite and friendly though a fair bit of waiting time was required but it's all worth while for a scrumptious dinner like this. As such, I wonder when can I ever return back again.

Rating: 4 / 5
 
Spice I Am
Location: 90 Wentworth Ave. Surry Hills Sydney 2010 Australia
Operating Hours: Open Daily Except Monday
                             11:30 am – 3:30 pm (Lumch)
                              5:30 – 10:00 pm (Dinner)

Website
 

Chat Thai

How amazing it was as we walk down the Thaitown in Sydney. It simply opens the doors in Australia to the South East Asia Food Culture which is so close to our hearts. Chat Thai was one of the reputable Thai Cuisine place that many raved about. Not mentioning the crowd and the awards they have got all these while, the queue was like never ending.

Chat Thai

While queuing, I was rather curious and looking through the glass panel observing the staff handling the food stuff. With hats and gloves worn, the standard of hygiene is never an issue here.

Staff at Work

Finally we got in and had our own table with their menu.

Menu

Atmosphere was dim and cozy with elegant glass doors featuring the mezzanine and traditional Thai Songs playing softly in the background which make the whole place seems so upmarket even though the whole restaurant was pack full of bustling sound from the patrons.

Interior

 Drinking water was served in cups like this.

Cup

 Fresh Spring Rolls starring smoked fish sausages, chicken and crab with caramelised tamarind relish caught me by surprise with its tangy and sweet taste.

Fresh Spring Rolls - $12 (AUD)

The green curry of chicken came with apple eggplants, kaffir lime leaves and basil. Curry was luscious that gave a whiff of fragrance. Pairing it along with a bowl of Jasmine White Rice at $3 AUD will be perfect.

Gaeng Keaw Gai - $15 AUD

 Stir fried thin rice noodles served with chicken, bean sprouts, dried shrimps, garlic and chives in tamarind and palm sugar sauce were delicious.

Padt Thai - $14 AUD

Was missing some Asian Dessert, Cheng Tng, that I have decided to for for its chilled little bowl of Tao Tung. It came with a heap of shaved ice and let's take a look at what's beneath it.

Tao Tung - $6 AUD

It was a mild sweet soup with herby taste made up of longan juice and a variety of beans, seeds and jelly like toddy palm, mung beans, chinese red dates, longan, aloe vera jelly, azuki beans, pearl barley, lotus seeds and tapioca balls. It was refreshing and cooling, similar to what you can get from Ching Tng.

Tao Tung Ingredients

We must have been missing Singapore's desserts that we ordered the chendol like drink here. The drink was in milky green, made up of sweet fragrant coconut milk and silky pandan jelly.

Lodt Shong Singapore - $5.50

We were really lucky to have ourselves a seat in there despite of the huge crowd. For those who are going for Thai Food in Thai Town, Chat Thai is recommended if you have a bit of budget. What's more tax is exempted over here too!

Rating: 4 / 5

Chat Thai Thaitown
Location: 20 Campbell St. Haymarket
Operating Hours: Lunch  : 10am-5pm
                                Dinner : 5pm-10pm
                                Supper : 9.30-2am

Pancakes on the Rock

Pancakes on the Rocks is strongly advocated by most of the on-liners from forums who had been to Sydney. Out of so many outlets they have, we visited the one near to the tourist attraction which is located in Harbourside Shopping Centre.

Pancakes on the Rocks

Upon hearing the word "Pancakes", it excites my taste buds. To put pancakes together on the rock was something out of my imagination. I wonder is it enjoying Pancakes on some rocks?

Trading Hours

Pancakes on the Rocks is a family restaurant that offers a wide selection of dishes, not restricting to just their legendary pancakes but also their mouth water BBQ Pork Ribs.

Menu

As expected, queues were form gradually during dinner times and we waited quite a while to be seated.

Please Wait to be Seated

Restaurant might look empty but those were meant for those who did reservations.

Interior

Interior

Cutlery

Cup of  Marshmallow Cocoa was rather soft but level of cocoa was rather concentrated with the sticky marshmallow foam.

Marshmallow Cocoa - $3.50 (AUD)

Tandoori Chicken Pizza? It's kind of amazing to see such combination. Tender pieces of chicken breast were marinated in Tandoori style. With spanish onions, sweet potato, cashew nuts and mozzarella cheese, topped with mango chutney, minted yoghurt and coriander. Surprisingly, the base of the pizza was soft and fluffy, giving another level of experience in enjoying pizza.

Tandoori Chicken - $17.95 (AUD)

 Served with golden potato wedges and mixed lettuce, the dish is definitely filling to the stomach with such generous rack of pork ribs grilled with the choice of marinade, barbeque, teriyaki or even honey soya. Yummy!

Pork Ribs - $29.95 (AUD)

It's hard to leave the place without having pancakes in the stomach. Thus we had their famous pancake stack - the short stack. There were choices of one pancake to four pancakes to choose from, namely Single Pancake (one Pancake), Short Stack (2 Pancakes), Regular Stack (3 Pancakes), Long Stack (4 pancakes). The pancakes come with a choice of whipped butter, cream or ice cream served with Maple Syrup. Since they were known for their pancakes, I would say there is no doubt on their pillow soft stomach filling pancakes dressed with icing sugar.

Short Stacks - $7.95 (AUD)

As a tourist, I have checked one more item off from my visit listing. The experience dining in Pancakes were of average. Environment was nosy and packed with people. I dont mind visiting them again if I happen to be back in Sydney again.


Rating: 3.5 / 5

Pancakes on the Rock
Location: Shop 230 Harbourside Shopping Centre, Darling Harbour
Operating Hours: Sunday to Thursday 7:00am - 11:00pm
                                Friday / Saturday : 7:00am - Midnight

Website: http://www.pancakesontherocks.com.au

The Little Snail

Being a tourist in Sydney, its hard not to get hook on popular food in the City especially when you are a foodie. I would say that The Little Snail is one of the best meals we had in Sydney for lunch. We got to know of this place through Trip Advisor Mobile Application as we were touring around the area for sight seeing and luckily such recommendation didn't go wrong.

The Little Snail

The restaurant is quite accommodating in the sense that it was actually full house and we got our tables without any reservation. Environment was a bit noisy with chattering from the tables, however I do enjoy such French Culture Dining Restaurant with bright and airy ambiance. What's the best part was that we had some glimpse of afternoon sun shining onto our table which really warms up the Winter Season.

Wine Menu

Food Menu

Since it was lunch time, we took up the 3 courses set meal at $38 AUD. For the entree, one of us have King Prawns. The 2 pieces of prawns were we coated with batter and deep fried served with lemon mayo and sweet chilli. Since we already knew it was a French Cuisine, we already prepared for the portion of food served.

King Prawns

Sides like breads can be order at an additional amount and we totally love the fragrant and well toasted Garlic bread as well as the french Baguette.

Garlic Bread $4.50 (AUD) & French Baguette $2.50 (AUD)

If you are worry that French Cuisine might not give the enough energy, do order side like their Creamy Mashed Potato to fill your stomach.

Creamy Mashed Potato - $6 (AUD)

 Another Entree we had was Pate Maison with armagnac (a distinctive kind of brandy) flavoured duck liver pate with marinated champignons, date chutney and port vinaigrette. Since it was served in a paste form, the best to enjoy them maybe spreading them on top of the bread.

Pate Maison

Perfectly cooked salmon was delicious and juicy served on sweet peas risotto and sauce vierge.

Citrus Marinated Tasmanian Salmon

Succulent Beef Tenderloin was more than what we asked for! Serving in red wine jus for $3 surhcarge was simply justifiable as such combination was really heavenly. Other than that the dish was served with potato millefeuille which caught my total attention especially on thin layer of slice potato stacks that made up such dish.

Fillet Of Beef Tenderloin

Desserts aesthetics were too pleasing to the eyes that I couldn't bear to eat them but on the other hand if I drag on, the large scoop of hazelnut and praline ice cream will melt soon. Its base was made up of a layer of crunchy shortbread topped with the ice cream and topped with Grand Marnier Caramel.

a layer of crunchy and crumbled shortbread topped with a large scoop of hazelnut and praline ice cream and sugar coated on top of the ice cream placed with squiggled grand mariner caramel. Yummy!

Chef Churned Hazelnut and Praline Ice Cream

Just can't stop praising about how excited I was to see such sweet little stuff on the plate. It looked like a bar of chocolate standing upright on the plate topped with Strawberry, well, the chocolate was actually hollow and acts like a wall, filled with savoury mousse. Unique and give a little surprises to diner like me.

Kahlua Infused Chocolate Mousse

Dont be fooled by such deceiving small servings of the French Cuisine as they can be very filling to the stomach.

If you are looking for some French Cuisine in Sydney The Little Snail’s repute for an authentically French culinary experience will definitely stands up.

Rating: 4 / 5

The Little Snail
Location: 50 Murray Street Pyrmont NSW - Sydney
Website

Mother's Chu Taiwanese Gourmet

Strolling down the streets in China town of Sydney, I'm rather surprised that we had chosen Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet as our dinner. Just that such thought had never come across my mind as I thought we would have some western or Australian food for the first night.

Zhu Ma Ma

Perhaps I was convinced by the crowd and the facade of Mother Chu's. The helpers were rather friendly and welcome us into the eating place.

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet

 Interior of the restaurant is rather different, there are tables surrounding the perimeter of Mother's Chu Taiwanese Gourmet Kitchen.

Dining Area

Menu was simple and nothing fancy with a book with different pages of Taiwanese Cuisine.

Menu

With 3 oysters in a bowl and condiments like vinegar, coriander and pepper, the taste of a bowl of authentic Oyster Mee Sua in Sydney is definitely not a dream. Mee Sua was quite tasty in its sauce.

Oyster Mee Sua

Salted Soya is something we dont get to have often in Singapore for Taiwanese Cuisine. I'm rather amazed by its availability. Soya bean drink was on slightly on a saltish side topped with spring onions as well as You Tiao. Though it is special, I find that I still prefer the old usual sweetened soya drink.

Salted Soya

Beancurd has all the characteristics of what it supposed to be. Smooth and silky to be enjoyed with a sugar syrup.

Beancurd

Simple yet satisfying dinner in Sydney for our first night there.It's quite interesting to know that we still can enjoy some heartland food back from home in Chinatown of Sydney.

Mother's Chu Taiwanese Gourmet
Location: 1/84-88 Dixon St, Kien Hay Centre, Sydney NSW 2000