Category: Bondi Junction

Bondi Junction is a one-stop shop suburb. EVERYTHING you need is in this suburb. Big shopping mall, massive transport interchange, and nice restaurants.

Fiesta on Oxford

Update: Fiesta on Oxford is currently closed for an unspecified time.

Rating:

7 / 10

8 for its nachos!

Taste: 7/10

Price: $21per person ($38 1-lt Margarita)

Place: 7/10

Review:

This was my second visit to Fiesta on Oxford restaurant, but it was the first time that I got to eat there. For my first visit – colleague’s farewell party, I had to leave early because of other commitments that day. This time, I got the chance to taste the Mexican food my colleagues been talking about.

It was a great place to have a gathering. They have private rooms for office parties and a whole lot of party stuff (Pinata included!). You might want to unwind with a bottle of Sangria or fruit Margarita. This time, we ordered Strawberry Margarita. It was a little bit too sour for my taste, but it was the right punch.

We were supposed to have the tapas for our entrees. Since there was an unavailable one, our first course was served first. It was called Sizzling Hot Fajitas – Chicken. The good thing about Mexican foodis you can have your dish with any meat, in this case chicken. It’s basically a DIY meal. You get to choose how much vegetables, rice, sauces, and meat you want to put in. The rice and meat were served in a hot plate.

For the second one we got Nachos – Regular Beef. It was the perfect size for the three of us. It looked incredibly ‘guilty’ (i.e. tasty) like all nachos supposed to be, but this one also tasted great. The combination of chips, salsa, and cheese was awesome. The beef was so tender and juicy (and tasty). Guacamole was fresh. I think the beef was really the element that made this dish so yummy.

The tapas were the last ones to arrive. It was a combination of Fish Tapas and Soft-shelled Crab Tapas. The fish had sauce all over it. It was an okay dish. The soft-shelled crab was so crispy and it was accompanied by a spicy sauce. They were still pretty, but I guess it was just too simplistic to be the last dish we saw for the day.

The final verdict: We were really impressed with the Nachos. It was tasty, nice size for three, and fantastic guacamole on the side.The strawberry margarita was a bit too sour for us, but when I tasted the other ones they were okay.

Did you know?

This restaurant might be in the vicinity of Bondi Junction, but it was actually a bit further away from the main shopping malls.

Details:

306 Oxford Street, Bondi Junction, NSW 2024

02 9389 3665

http://www.fiestaonoxford.com.au

Sep 13, 2011
Bondi Pizza Bar and Grill

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $24 per pizza

Place: 8/10

Review:

At first, we didn’t have much confidence for this place since some restaurants have resided here and none succeed. However, there was a beacon of hope when I saw that the restaurants were actually almost full of patrons. As an added bonus, we happened to know the waitress, thus she took care of us beautifully. The restaurant itself was quite family-friendly and spacious.

Without further ado, our first dish of the day was Trio of Dips (Hommus, Eggplants Salsa, and Beetroot). Everyone loved the bread. It was in nice cuts, slightly crunchy. I personally liked the beetroot between the three dips. Shortly after, our second dish arrived, Stuffed Grilled Mushrooms. It was stuffed with Goat cheese and coated with parmesan and balsamic glaze. The issue with this dish was, there was only ONE mushroom. Other than that, the combination of flavours was really nice on this one.

Our salad for the day was Rocket, Pear & Parmesan Salad. Although I’m not a big salad fans, rocket is one of the few vegetables I consider nice. The combination of the three was refreshingly nice. Chilli Prawn Linguini was the only ‘average’ dish of the night. There was hardly anything to remember on the dish.

For the pizzas, we ordered Grilled Atlantic Salmon and Chargrilled Eye Fillet Steak. I assure you, this is not your average Domino’s Pizza. The pizza base was nice and there was an abundance of toppings. I like the steak one better because of the nicely grilled red meat.

Since we enjoyed a decent dinner, we decided to sit around a little longer for the desserts. For the first one, we aimed high and ordered Warm Belgian Waffles, knowing that across the restaurant was chocolate place famous for its waffles. It looked pretty appetising, but the waffle just fell short of my liking. The chocolate was quite good tho. The second one was Our Famous Chocolate Brownie Oven-baked Swirls (or Mini Swirls). It came in three flavours, but we chose banana swirls. It came with vanilla ice cream and melted chocolate. These bite-sized swirls were the best dish of the night.

The final verdict: Except for the pasta, everything else seemed to be alright. The restaurant was reasonably priced – considering it’s in one of the nicest malls in Sydney. I also recommend you to try the mini swirls.

Did you know?

Up till now, I’ve written four out of the five restaurants located on this floor at Westfield Bondi Junction.

Location:

Shop 6009 Level 6, Westfield Centre, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022

Website:

www.bondipizza.com.au

Jul 19, 2011
Chikyu-Ya Japanese Cuisine

Update: Chikyu-Ya has closed its doors for good and I haven’t heard about the Chef reopening somewhere else / some time soon.

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8 /10

Price: $15-$20 per dish

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week, we’ll travel to a restaurant next to my office, Chikyu-Ya Japanese Cuisine. I’ve known this restaurant long before I started working here and it has been my personal favourite. I think they have the best Karaage in Sydney! (and.. no, I don’t get paid for saying this!)

One of the good things about this restaurant is the simple menu. You are not faced with the dilemma of choosing from 100s of things. Simple pictures of dishes that you’d expect to get are shown there and another list of ‘Today’s Special’.

For the entrée, we went for the Sashimi. 12 generous cuts of Salmon, Tuna, and Kingfish were arranged beautifully with sides of seaweed, pickled ginger and wasabi. The Sashimi were as fresh as getting it from Fish Market, comparable to expensive Japanese restaurants.

For the main course we ordered three different dishes. The first one to arrive was Mini Udon and Karaage combo. Two small bowls, Chilli Karaage and Shiitake Udon, were the perfect dish for carbs-minded people. The udon was flavoursome and you can put chilli powder on it to enhance the taste.

The second one was my Karaage with Teriyaki Sauce (dinner size). Generous servings of karaage deep fried into golden brown of perfection. The teriyaki sauce created an added glossy effect and sweet taste. What I like about it was the crunch and the taste that came afterwards. For small eaters, there was also a friendly donburi size or even an entrée size.

The last one was French-inspired Demi-glace Hamberg. It was another classy display of plating. The hamberg was so tender and juicy. It was a dish that was seriously worth considering if you fancy beef more than chicken and/or fried stuff.

As a proof that I’ve always enjoyed their Karaage, here’s my happy face after eating it…

The final verdict for Chikyu-Ya Japanese Cuisine:

What else can I say? Karaage! They have sauces according to your preference: Teriyaki, soy-vinegar, chilli and even curry! You can ask for the entrée, dinner, or donburi size. In addition to that, the Hamberg was also nice.

Did you know?

Some of my friends prefer their curry dishes. They said it was one of the better Japanese curries in Sydney. Unfortunately, I am not a big curry fan.

This restaurant is very famous amongst Indonesians. Discounting myself as one, there is always a group of them in the restaurant every time I visited the place for dinner.

Location:

106 Ebley St, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022

They don’t seem to have one but this is the closest that can give you detailed information for the restaurant: http://www.sydneycafes.com.au/chikyu-ya.html

Jun 21, 2011
Kam Fook

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Unfortunately, Kam Fook has closed its doors for good. In its place, there is another Yum cha place called Zilver.

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Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price: $25++ pp

Place: 7/10

Review:

This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever made and also one of the toughest to predict in terms of the price. I present you Kam Fook. I will review their Yum Cha, which literally means drinking tea (with the accompaniment of Dim Sum dishes). Just like any good yum cha places, be prepared to wait for quite a while if you are not early enough.

In a Yum Cha session, there is a little piece of paper on the table for the waitresses to stamp your orders. Waitresses will come with their trolley to your table offering you little dim sum plates. There are a lot you can choose from and unfortunately they only provided brief description in English. So you would need to be really familiar with the dishes you really wanted or it might be a challenge for you. I will try to cover as many dishes as possible in this review, but most importantly, none of these were bad.

Starting from the basic availability in Yumcha, we ordered Steamed Prawn Dim Sum and Siomay (Shu Mai). These dishes are always available in any restaurants and if you tasted a hint of disappointment, I suggest you pack up straight away. These are the dishes that shouldn’t go wrong.

These next two might rather be unusual for Westerners, Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf and Chicken Feet. It was one pretty messy dish in sticky rice. This one was kinda like Bakcang (or Rouzong) or sweet sticky rice with stewed meat and egg yolk. I’ll skip the chicken feet explanation and only say ‘Yummy’.

From the deep fried department, we ordered Whitebait and Prawn Dumpling. I always need some crunchy stuff when eating, thus this completed our experience.

For the staple food, we normally ordered Fried Rice Noodles with Peanut (and possibly Hoi Sin) sauce and Green Vegetables. Rice noodles were my personal favourite, lightly fried and went really well with the sauce.

There are also special dishes trolleys. On this occasion we ordered Pipis in XO Sauce. You might especially want to skip these dishes (including Peking Duck, Oysters, etc) if you don’t want your bill to skyrocket. I suggest you ordered one or two as a highlight for the day.

One thing that we never miss is the dessert. It has always been Mango Pudding and Pancake. They could’ve done better than just to put the pudding on a plastic cup, but nevertheless that’s the common ‘practice’ in a Yum Cha place.

The final verdict for Kam Fook:

Granted that the price might be a little bit more expensive for some of you, but Kam Fook presented the best thing a Yum Cha place is seriously lacking, Great Service – i.e. u don’t get kicked out as soon as you chew your last bite. I would also contest the term ‘pricey’ since I believe most Yum Cha places charge that amount with significantly less quality and crappy service.

Did you know?

Little did we know that Kam Fook obtained one hat chef for the SMH’s Good Food Guide in 2004. I guess that explained why they charged above average meal.

Location:

Shop 6010, Level 6, Westfield Shopping Centre, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022

May 19, 2011
Kellys Grill

Rating:

8 / 10

Taste: 8/10

Price Range: $26 – $48

Place: 9/10

Kellys Grill Review:

There was much to love about Kellys Grill. Sitting atop Bondi Junction Westfield, it boasts fantastic view of Sydney’s skyscrapers and Harbour Bridge. The design of the restaurant itself is very stylish and posh. The food is, of course, exceptional without the need to queue or wait. Although, It is always suggested to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

As a fine dining restaurant, they offered a full range of cuisine from entrees through desserts, although we usually skip the dessert part in favour of Max Brenner’s. For starters, you always get a fresh-from-the-oven bread. It was a little bit sweet and the size is adjusted to the number of people on the table. Very nice bread to start off the evening!

There are several entrees that you can choose from, including their Mixed Tasting Platter. This time, for entrees we ordered Snails and Lemon Pepper Mushrooms. It is not your average slimy-looking snails. They were out of the shell, baked in a creamy garlic sauce and mature parmesan cheese. The mushrooms were also nice with a hint of olive, lemon and lime.

They have an even greater number of choices for the main course. You can choose to have grill, chicken, seafood, light meals, or even vegetarian. However, as personal favourite, we always order their Lamb Ribs (regular size). It came in as three racks of lamb ribs basted with their African basting sauce, a side of chips and fried onion rings.

The other main course of the night was Pork Ribs. I would say that Kelly’s ribs were more edible than Hurricane’s in terms of their grilling style. Hurricane’s were normally half-burnt.

Did you know?

Bondi Junction is my personal favourite place to hang out. They have all range of stores that you can visit in two 6-story buildings. They always have 2-hour free parking and you can park for free after 6 PM.

Location:

Level 6, Westfield Shopping Centre, Bondi Junction, Sydney

http://www.kellys.net.au/

+61 (02) 9389 8288

Aug 1, 2010
Max Brenner

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8/10

Price Range: $5 – $15

Place: 7/10

Review:

It’s the dessert week and I am writing about One of the best dessert / chocolate place in Sydney! They also open quite late into the night. Max Brenner is THE number one destination for quality desserts, great place, and affordable price. Since it’s all about dessert, I’m going to give you my top 5 favourites from Max Brenner:

1. Belgian Waffle

The thing I love the most about this Waffle is its customisability (Yaay! That’s actually a word). Whether you choose the all-in Tutti-Frutti Waffle – that’s 1 or 2 Waffles with 3 bowls of Strawberries, banana, and Vanilla Ice Cream – or just a single Belgian Waffle covered in warm milk chocolate. This waffle is the answer to all of your pains and sorrows. Dramas aside, the waffle is actually really crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, creating a perfect combination with the chocolate.

2. Chocolate Fondue for Two

The ultimate self-indulgence dessert- if you decided to eat it yourself. The fondue has everything that you could ask for: two pots of heated dark and milk chocolate served with bowls of fresh strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and banana bread on top of a wooden tray with two dip sticks. Make sure you bring an extra tummy to share this with you, otherwise you might as well skip your whole meal tomorrow.

3. Chocolate Dip

Okay, seriously the top three dishes can be ordered according to the degree of enjoyment you want with the chocolate. This one was all about light and refreshing dessert. 6 luscious strawberries arranged beautifully around a small pot of milk chocolate. These are not just ordinary strawberries! They were massive, juicy and taste very sweet.

4. Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

Originated from Poland or thereabouts, Babka is a very nice and soft spongy cake with cinnamon and chocolate fillings. The cake is also served with a small pot of milk chocolate. This cake is perfect as a lunchtime menu because of its muffin-size.

5. Choc-Banana Pizza

Last, but definitely not the least, is the no ordinary pizza. It’s a very unique pizza covered in milk chocolate then baked with all the yummi-ness on top of it.

There are countless of drinks that you can enjoy, from hot to cold, and I’ve tried some of them and they’re all equally nice. However, my all time favourites are still the very basic Milk Hot Chocolate and Café Latte. Served in a hug mug, the Chocolate gives us an extra kick to the already chocolate-y night. And if you need extra caffeine, then the Latte will do the job for you.

Did you know?

There was no Max Brenner in real life. The shop was opened by guys name Max and Brenner.

Max Brenner always open their shops in premium spots in Sydney, from the CBD to the posh Bondi Junction. I personally like to go to the Bondi Junction one for the whole going out experience, from dinner to movie to dessert; it’s all available in Bondi Junction.

If you need to find something after midnight, you might as well go to Pancakes on The Rocks because that place open 24/7.

Location:

All over Sydney – Fave place: Level 6 Westfield Bondi Junction

http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/

Jul 13, 2010