Category: Cities

This is a category for cities. All about food have reviewed restaurants in cities like Sydney, Singapore, Bali Island, Surabaya, and Bandung.

Arisun

Rating:

7.5 / 10 Taste: 7.5/10

Price: $25 per person

Place: 7/10

Review:

Arisun was the restaurant I always passed by on the way to Darling Harbour, until one day my friend suggested us to go there. Ever since that day, we always go there for a quick fix of fried chicken.

Did I say fried chicken? Yes, but not that kind of chicken joint you see in every suburb. The price seemed to be a bit much for a bowl of fried chickens, listed at $30 a bowl, but you did get a whole lot of chickens. Our favourite was the Sweet Soy sauce deep fried chicken. They were cooked to golden brown perfection and delight-ably crunchy. On the other end, you can get yourself Hot and spicy chicken with cheese: Melted cheese poured in a deep fried chicken with hot and spicy sauce. The cheese one will surely fill your tummy in no time.

If you want ultra-fast service, try one of their hotpots. They will bring it to you as soon as your waitress leaves you (I think they already have them prepared in the kitchen). My most favourite here is the Beef and Enoki Hotpot. It was a massive pot of soup with a generous serving of enoki and bulgogi (Korean beef). It was also filled with glass noodles and all kinds of vegetables. A seriously great options for winter.

The other two that we have tried so far are the Sausage Hotpot and Spicy Rice Cake, Mixed Tempura Hotpot ($24). Both of them were hot and spicy. Personally, I didn’t like either of them since there was a monotonous feel to it. The tempura one for example didn’t remotely look like a tempura. It’s more like fish cakes. The two tone noodles (rice noodles and instant noodles) were questionable at best.

Last but not least, their Seafood Black bean Noodles ($12) are to die for! I think this is THE gem that most food blogs missed out. It looked kinda gross with the dark colour goo, but taste wise, it was fantastic. There was also a vegetarian option for this.

The final verdict for Arisun

Well, there is only one verdict, isn’t there? Chicken! The front page of the menu said it, the first page of the menu showed it… There was one other dish I would recommend: Black bean noodles! I came back to Arisun because of these two.

Did you know?

Like any other Korean restaurants, it can be quite expensive if you eat in with just two people. However, if you are with a group of people, the cost can be significantly lower.

I don’t suggest their Seafood pancakes since they weren’t as good as other seafood pancakes in Sydney.

Details:

1 Dixon Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: +61 2 9264 1588

Dec 21, 2012
Mie Kocok Bandung

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $7.50-$10.50

Place: 6.5/10

Review:

Started in 2003, Mie Kocok Bandung has served my friends and families well for as long as I can remember. It can be quite busy on Sunday afternoon in the restaurant. Other than that, you will most likely get a table. I know the restaurant name is Mie Kocok Bandung, but I have never ordered their Mie Kocok. Mie kocok if translated literally is ‘Shaken Noodles’.

With the entrée, I always ordered the first one: Pangsit Goreng. They are ten deep fried wontons with chicken fillings. The wontons worked really well with the accompanying sweet and sour sauce. I liked its crunchy texture and on top of that it was the perfect dish to build up your appetite for your noodles. Alternatively, you could also order Siomay Goreng, fried fishcake served with spicy peanut sauce. This was also a sweet dish and was actually considered a main dish in the city of Bandung.

For our first main course, in the menu listing there are a bunch of combinations that might confuse some people. To break it down quite easily, it was an egg noodle with mince chicken and chicken soup called Yamin. You can then choose if you want it sweet or savoury, I chose sweet. Lastly you choose what you want with it, you can have meatballs, wontons, tendons, or combination of them all. I always like the Combination Sweet Yamin (Yamin manis komplit).

Mie Panorama is very famous in Makassar (city where the restaurant owner came from). The description from the menu said it was egg noodle topped with BBQ Pork, steamed chicken, fried and steamed chicken wonton.

I might give you a brief description of the next dish as some people might not appreciate it. It was an Oxtail soup. The dish is very well known, especially in East Java. It was a boiled and seasoned oxtail with vegetables (carrots and potatoes) and melinjo in clear soup. The long boiled oxtail was very tender.

My personal favourite in Mie Kocok Bandung was its Lo Mie. Lo Mie is egg noodle with thick and sweet soup base. It came with the usual add-ons: meatballs, minced beef, mushrooms, bean sprouts and green veggies. This would be one of the most filling (and possibly cheapest – $10 a bowl) noodles you could find in Sydney.

The final verdict for Mie Kocok Bandung

Mie Kocok Bandung is one of the well-known Indonesian restaurants in Sydney. Personally, I love their Lo Mie and Pangsit Goreng.

Did you know?

There used to be three Indonesian restaurants in Maroubra road, however two of them shut down this year with only Mie Kocok Bandung remaining. Recently, a new Indonesian restaurant opened up, but rumour has it that it isn’t that good.

Details:

Shop 1, 108 Maroubra Road, Maroubra 2035

Phone: +61 2 8347 2322

Mie Kocok Bandung on Facebook

Dec 1, 2012
Sizzler

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $28-$37 per main course
(+ unlimited salad bar)

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

Two years ago I reviewed its ‘alleged’ copycat in Surabaya, called American Grill. I finally got the chance to review the self-proclaimed legendary salad bar’s restaurant, Sizzler. We visited Sizzler St George in Kogarah. The venue was incredibly spacious and was perfect for a pretty big group. The only downside is you can’t book in advance.

So, how does it work? When you enter the restaurant, the menu pages are printed on the wall for easy viewing. When you ordered one of the main courses, you are entitled to unlimited and free access to their ‘legendary’ salad bar. You can choose to have the salad bar only for $24.50. I will explain about it towards the end of the review. You can also order refillable drink for $3.95. You are entitled for either hot drinks (coffee and tea) or soft drinks (including water).

Since I am a big fan of rump steak, my obvious choice was Steak & Big BBQ Garlic Prawns combo ($37). It was a smallish (200 gr) rump steak grilled to your liking with a side of mashed potato with (luckily) three big grilled prawns and mushroom sauce. I was quite content with the steak despite of the size. Alternatively, you could also order Steak with Salt & Pepper Calamari ($31). Instead of the prawns, you were served with a handful of calamari. It is a nice alternative if you dislike crustaceans.

The heaviest dish on the menu is the T-Bone Steak. It was listed on the menu as 500 gr, although part of it is the weight of the bone. It also came with complimentary sides and sauce.

There is also a rather special menu (more expensive than regular rump, at $34 ^_^): Royal Blue Rib Eye. The description stated grass-fed MSA royal blue rib eye. I wasn’t really sure what the difference with the rump steak was. It, did, however came with sweet potato fries, steamed broccolini and a choice of sauce.

Now, let’s talk about the legendary salad bar. You will be offered cheese toast as soon as you’re comfortable on your seat. There is one giant table full of food in the main salad bar. In this part of the bar, you can get fruits, salads, condiments, and, my personal favourite, jacket potatoes. If you need more carbs, there is also the pasta and soup area on the salad bar.

The dessert bar isn’t as big as the main salad bar, but it sure is pretty famous amongst ladies and kids. In addition to the desserts in the picture, you could also get soft ice cream and all kinds of jelly beans, marshmallows, chocolates to go with your ice cream. You can be as creative as you can be with the dessert.

The final verdict for Sizzler

Sizzler is definitely one of the more cost effective all you can eat restaurants in Sydney, although technically the all you can eat portion is only the salad bar.

Details:

Cnr Princes Highway & Jubilee Avenue, Kogarah

Phone: +61 2 9553 8657

http://www.sizzler.com.au/

Nov 18, 2012
Khing Thai

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7/10

Price: $40-$60

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

Before you go nuts on the total price here, I must say that we ordered way too much for our tummy’s capacity. The whole fish was so big that we didn’t even finish a quarter of it! Let’s just rewind a bit, and I’ll explain in more details…

We went to Khing Thai restaurant because we were told by our friend that this restaurant was worth a visit. We were very impressed with the place. It had a nice and cosy feeling about it. They had a nice open kitchen setting (like any modern Thai places these days) and comfy table (and sofa) seating arrangements.

Soft Shell Crab – $9.90 – Deep-fried and crispy salt and peppered soft shell crab served with mixed salad and pickled ginger

The first dish got me thinking ‘I was right to order four dishes’ since it was a solitary crab. It was nice and crunchy with the usual optional sweet chili sauce.

Thai Fried Rice – $10.90 – Traditional Thai fried rice with egg, onion, cherry tomato and Chinese broccoli sprinkle with ground white pepper

The thought began to shift when I saw the fried rice’s portion. The picture didn’t really do justice since it was only compared to the size of plate. We could have just ordered two plates of fried rice and still left with a full tummy!

BBQ Chicken – $14.90 – Sliced chicken breast, grilled and marinated in turmeric powder and traditional Thai herbs served with mixed salad and sweet chilli sauce

Our next dish was a generous serving of BBQ chicken. They were perfectly grilled slices of chicken breast. You had a choice of making it sweeter with the sweet chili sauce or saltier with the soy chili sauce. If you ordered Thai Fried Rice like me, I suggest you leave both sauces and just enjoy it as is. The chicken itself already had a char-grill sweetness to it.

Whole Fish Khing Soy Sauce – $24.90 – Khing Thai’s homemade soy sauce made with young ginger strips, crushed garlic, soy bean, onions and shallots

We were in awe when the fish was brought out. It was one gigantic fish on a plate! They said we were lucky that the fishes in the market that day were all big. The fish’s size didn’t compromise its taste. It was perfectly steamed and very rich in flavour.

The final verdict for Khing Thai

Although it might be just above university students’ price range, Khing Thai delivered larger-than-usual dishes to make up for it. Coupled this with nice seating arrangements and you got yourself a decent place to eat in Kensington.

Details:

1/240-268 Anzac Parade, Kensington

Phone: +61 2 9662 0900

http://khingthai.com/

Nov 4, 2012
Kitchen by Mike

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Unfortunately, Kitchen by Mike has closed its doors in 2016. Chef Mike opens a new restaurant called No. 1 Bent St.

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Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

Price: $11 – $54

Place: 7/10

Review:

Kitchen by Mike fantastically transformed a very old warehouse into a rustic, communal-type restaurant. Interestingly enough, they only served breakfast and lunch seven days a week. Their menu is constantly changing depending on the seasonal product available on the market. Instead of the usual table service with menu, Kitchen by Mike displayed all dishes they cooked today in a display table.

On the left most of the table were stacks of sourdough bread and a fattening-looking butter. It was a quite pricey Sourdough slice and butter ($3.5). However since my last sourdough disaster, this one tasted so damn good. To top it off, the butter was delicately soft and tasty.

The only meaty dishes for Kitchen by Mike were the first couple of dishes on the table. It was really hard to miss the Ham, Cumberland sauce and Champ since it was intimidatingly massive. The addition of Cumberland sauce gave it a nice and sweet flavour and champ (mashed potatoes with spring onion) added a smooth complexity of the mashed. At a price point of $11.5, this dish is really worth buying.

For the same price, we could also opt for Roasted chicken, sweet corn, and Harissa. Harissa is a chili (piri piri) sauce originated from Libya or Tunisia.

The bulk of their dishes are salad. They are both cheaper and vary in colour and taste. Although I am not a big fan of it, I still managed to order two dishes. Cabbage and walnut apple salad ($4.5) was the better of them two. It was a crunchy type salad with delectably refreshing. Woodfired butternut squash, pomegranate and coyo was the more expensive one at $5.5 and not the one I particularly liked.

Kitchen by Mike also catered for small eater where you could get a whole range of sandwich, tart and tartine from the next part of the menu.

Finally, dessert time! There were five options for this but our eventual choice went to Olive oil sponge cake with strawberry ($7) since we really couldn’t take that much for a lunch. I remembered my son really loved this dish but I just couldn’t get past our earlier dishes.

Even after tasting that many dishes, there were still a lot more that we didn’t try this time. There was a Chorizo and Chickpea soup in a pot that we could not see. Other salads, including Watermelon Salad, looked oh-so-healthy. There was also a massive looking pizza that was most likely be Margherita Pizza.

The final verdict for Kitchen by Mike

Kitchen by Mike is interestingly different than any other restaurants. Not only they are closed for dinner (with the exception of private functions), they also didn’t have a fixed menu. You can see and choose the dishes you want to eat.

Did you know?

Kitchen by Mike is connected to a furniture show room, Koskela. This joint space created a spacious effect to the restaurant.

Details:

85 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery NSW 2018

+61 2 9045 0910

Oct 26, 2012
2012 Sydney International Food Festival

2012 Sydney International Food Festival, also known as Crave Sydney, is an annual event that is held throughout the month of October.

In 2012, the list of participants and sponsors is already a mile long. If you go to their website, you can search the festival program for any events that you might fancy.

There are six main or feature events for the 2012 Sydney International Food Festival

1. World Chef Showcase

2. Showcase Dinners

3. Breakfast on Bondi

4. Barbecue Madness

5. Night Noodle Markets

6. Shoot the Chef

Website:

http://www.goodfoodmonth.com/

Oct 15, 2012