Category: Global Cuisines

All About Food Blog loves trying different cuisines from all around the world. Sometimes food has the same name but completely different look and taste.

Jang Ta Bal

Jang Ta Bal Review:

As you can see from the menu below, Jang Ta Bal is not a cheap restaurant. It is probably one of the more expensive Korean BBQ restaurants in Sydney. What about the quality? please continue reading…

Jang Ta Bal is a BBQ restaurant, so as you might expect the menu is dominated by raw meat and seafood. It is quite interesting to see that one person is responsible for all of the meat cutting and portioning for the whole restaurant. It reminds me of a sashimi chef in a real Japanese restaurant. The boss would never relinquish the task to someone else.

Jang Ta Bal still uses charcoal for their grill. I love having BBQ on charcoal rather than electric gas as it has a nicer flavour. They also give out a lot of different side dishes. The waitresses were also quite attentive in changing the grill plate and refill the side dishes.

Beef Set – $69 – Marinated beef ribs, wagyu intercostal, wagyu scotch fillet

If you are in a Korean BBQ place, you don’t want to miss the marinated beef ribs. That’s exactly what we did in Jang Ta Bal. You might probably be able to see how nice the texture was in that beef!

Squid and Shallot Pancake – $16 – Pa Jeon

Squid pancake is synonymous to a Korean BBQ restaurant in our book. We always order one whenever we visit a Korean restaurant.

Wagyu Bulgogi – $24

We ordered an extra plate of meat as we are all a bit of a meat eater.

The final verdict for Jang Ta Bal

Jang Ta Bal has great quality meat and very attentive wait staff. The restaurant itself was probably a bit under-represented for the price point, but who cares? It’s barbecue, your shirt will be smelly at the end of the dinner.

Do you think I should go?
Jang Ta Bal is not cheap. However, if you are looking for the best Korean BBQ in town, then Jang Ta Bal can be one of the candidates! Also, we missed it this time but there seemed to be a lot of people ordering the egg soup when we were there.

Rating for Jang Ta Bal:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $40 – $60 per person

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

48A, The Boulevarde, Strathfield 2135

+61 2 9747 2800

Jan 12, 2018
Hicksons Izakaya
Hicksons Izakaya Experience:

Chef Hiro, Omar and their team at Hicksons Izakaya invited us to try the food at this fairly new restaurant at Walsh Bay. We went there at lunchtime during the festive season. We were lucky as the weather was quite friendly at that time. It could get quite hot and steamy in the area as I have experienced in the past.

Considering that it’s an izakaya, they mostly served tapas-style Japanese food and sushi/sashimi platters. They also serve substantial bento boxes and main dishes if you feel a bit peckish.

Junmai Sake – $15 – Sweet – Carafe 180ml

A nice, sweet and cold sake is what you need on a hot Sydney summer.

Seared Scallops with Honey Ponzu and Fish Roe – $14.50

I love scallops and it’s no surprise that the first dish that I ordered was seared scallops. The scallops were seared perfectly. They also had a very nice honey ponzu sauce.

Seared Bonito – $15

Just like the seared scallops, the bonito fish was also seared delicately.

Teriyaki Chicken Bento Box – $24 – served with Five Sashimi pieces, salad, rice, miso soup & daily special side dish

Our little one ordered this bento box. It was probably a bit too big for his tummy. The teriyaki chicken was quite different than the ones in a typical Japanese restaurant. The teriyaki chicken in Hicksons Izakaya was neither super sweet nor sticky.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew Bento Box – $26 – served with Five Sashimi pieces, salad, rice, miso soup & daily special side dish

The beef stew bento had a similar composition, but the main dish was beef stew instead of teriyaki chicken.

Salmon Fillet – $24 – Seared Salmon Fillet with Yuzu Green Salad

Salmon fillet was probably the best main dish of the day. It went really well with the sauce provided.

Chocolate Sushi Roll – $14

As you probably know, I am not the biggest fan of chocolate. However, I was quite intrigued by the fact that they made a chocolate sushi roll!

We quickly found out that we had to fight over this sushi roll because it was so good.

Macha Ice Cream – $9

For this dessert, it was just a simple couple of scoops of matcha ice cream.

A few interesting things about Hicksons Izakaya
- Hicksons Izakaya is located right opposite of Sydney Theatre Company at Walsh Bay. It makes them a very busy destination for pre-theatre dinner.
- Great view of Walsh Bay
- Get that Chocolate Sushi Roll.
- Seriously… GET THAT CHOCOLATE SUSHI ROLL!!!
Details:

Shop 5/17A Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney

+61 2 9252 2274
Jan 5, 2018
Sven-san

Sven-san Review:

This week we went to quite a unique restaurant. Sven-san is a marriage between Swedish and Japanese cuisines. You can look at it again, it would still say Swedish and Japanese.

If you are planning to visit, it’s probably better to go there by bus, because the location is right at the end of Paddington and just before the centennial park. On this occasion, we selected the Chef Selection Banquet for $55. They also have the $70 version of the banquet.

Without furder ado (because there are a lot of dishes to cover!), here they are:

Edamame bowl, chilli salt

The first dish was a staple in quite a lot of Japanese restaurants: edamame. It was plain and simple.

Duck Croquettes + Hot sauce

I think croquettes are more of a Japanese dish than Swedish. It was quite a delectable dish.

Agedashi Tofu + Ginger floss

From the name you can guess that it is a Japanese dish. It was another light and easy dish.

Smashed Edamame “Hummus” and prawn crackers

I’m not quite sure why they chose to serve another edamame. If they chose something like Smörgåskaviar for the dipping sauce that would have been an awesome dish!

SFC – Sven’s Fried Chicken, Togarashi seasoning and Mayo

Fried chicken and mayo… I don’t think it’s Swedish.

Duck liver parfait, vodka – lingonberry gelé

I think this is the first dish that has a hint of Swedish with the introduction of vodka and lingonberry jelly. However the main is still heavily influenced by Japanese/French flavour.

Chips, Mix salad

These are the staple food to fill our tummy in.

Mushroom fried rice

The Japanese fried rice was actually the last one to come in.

Tassie Salmon Kombu butter, Spinach, Edamame

Salmon could easily be a Swedish dish. However, once again the Japanese influence was more prominent in this dish.

Grain fed eye fillet steak

I think this is probably the one dish that could represent Swedish dish. The pickled vegetables and mashed potatoes are a nice addition to it.

Salmon fish fingers and chips – $12.90
This is not part of the dish. I included this because it was our little one’s dinner at that time.

The final verdict for Sven-san

There seemed to be a lot more Japanese influence in Sven-san’s banquet dishes than the Swedish dish. It would be interesting if it could be more balanced.

Do you think I should go?
Their regular menu looked pretty interesting and I would suggest you try them.

Rating for Sven-san:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $55 pp – chef selection

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

495 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW, 2021

+61 2 9131 8454

http://svensan.com.au/

Dec 20, 2017
Seed Greek Kouzina

Seed Greek Kouzina Review:

We saw an ad board for Seed Greek Kouzina as we walked down a small road in Petersham towards the main New Canterbury Road. It read ‘6-course for $35 every Tuesday and Wednesday’. If you like eating out, I’m sure you agree with me that a 6-course meal for $35 is a very good bargain… oh I forgot to mention: you also get a glass of wine for that price!

Surely enough, we are at the restaurant this week to try this menu out! They officially called it: Tuesday and Wednesday Mid-Week Banquet – $35 pp. The courses were predominantly seafood with only one exception, the salad.

Warm bread + taramasalata

There is nothing more perfect than starting your dinner at a Greek restaurant with warm bread and taramasalata. FYI, taramasalata is a Greek small dish (called meze) made out of fish roe.

GF Crisp fried baby seafood, lemon aioli

Our second course was a shared plate of deep fried small prawns with lemon aioli. The great thing about crunchy prawns is that you don’t need to spend hours peeling off their shells.

Krokettes – smoked mackerel croquettes

Almost at the same time of the second course, they also served smoked mackerel croquettes. It was a nicely done croquette!

Marinated grilled fish of the day (barbounia or red mullet)

From the display perspective, the main course was a tad underwhelming. You got four red mullets to be shared by three people.

Talking about the taste tho… oh boy, it was very delicious!

Lahanosalata (greek slaw) – cabbage and walnut salad

A salad is usually not my best friend. However, their salad was quite filling and decent.

Rizogalo (rice pudding), mango puree, macadamia nuts, vanilla ice cream

They have quite an interesting dessert by Australian standard. Not many people would think rice as a dessert. Personally, I think the rice pudding was nice, especially with the added crunch of macadamia nuts and the cooling vanilla ice cream.

Calamari and Chips – $12

The restaurant does not mind if children share your meal at no extra cost. However, they also serve kids meal if you wish to do so.

The final verdict for Seed Greek Kouzina

I don’t think anyone would argue that $35 for a 6-course meal was a bargain. Seed Greek Kouzina managed to deliver that with quite a decent quality of food.

Do you think I should go?
The banquet was only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. If you are able to come to Petersham, it’s a very good option to have for a hump day dinner.

Rating for Seed Greek Kouzina:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $35 for 6-course meal + one glass of wine/beer/softdrinks

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

88 Audley Street, Petersham 2049

+61 2 95607798

http://seedgreekrestaurant.com.au/

Dec 5, 2017
O!Momo | OMomo Nepali Cafe

O!Momo – OMomo Nepali Cafe Review:

This review was probably 6 years overdue. I promised a friend of mine to visit his momo stall in a Saturday market (yes… such a bad friend!). However, that stall has now evolved into a full-blown Nepali restaurant/cafe in Kogarah, called O!Momo.

Their menu was quite simple: Momo of all kinds and a few other Nepali snacks.

When you order a plate of momo, you can choose any 2 sauces from 5 of their chutneys: Yellow chutney, Green chutney, Tomato Chatney, Red Chutnew, and Badam Chutney. By default, they are all quite spicy except for the yellow chutney.

Monkey Platter – $18 – A sample plate of the following: aloo dum, Sadeko wai wai, Choila, Chicken Lollipop

If you don’t know what to order for entree, they give you an option to try a bit of all of them… and that’s exactly what we did on our first visit. In short, they are: spicy potato, crispy noodles salad, chicken salad, and deep fried chicken lollipop.

Chicken Sadeko Wai Wai – $7 – Noodle salad with chickpeas and puff rice, crispy, tangy spicy

Since we enjoyed the sadeko wai wai so much on our first visit, we ordered just that in our second visit. According to the chef, this dish was not 100% Nepali as he has drawn inspiration from Indonesian’s crispy shallots and noodles.

Momo platter – $20 – 4 pcs of steamed, pan fry, chili and sadeko

Similar to the entree, this should be your choice if you did not know what to order. In total, you will get 16 momos. $20 for 16 momos? That’s not bad, eh?

Tareko (Deep Fried) – $11 – 8 Delicious handmade Nepali dumplings

Instead of 4 dumplings, you actually get 8 dumplings for the individual ones. So if you like a particular style of cooking, you might as well order that instead of the momo platter.

Chilli (Stir Fried) – $12 – 8 Delicious handmade Nepali dumplings

For our second visit, we tried the buffalo chilli momo. They charge $2 extra for buffalo momo. That chilli momo got us hooked from the first time we tried them! The chef explained it to us that they actually triple-cooked this momo. First they steamed it, then deep fried, before stir-frying it with their chili sauce.

Drinks

They have a few drink options, including a Nepali beer. However, on this occasion we chose the watermelon juice.

The final verdict for O!Momo – OMomo Nepali Cafe

I’m not saying this because I know the guy who runs the show… but their momo were very nice! That triple-cooked momo got us hooked from the very first minute… and did I mention we visited them 2 more times after our initial visit?

Do you think I should go?

Definitely! If you are interested in trying Nepali dumplings, O!momo is the place to be.

Details:

126 Railway Parade, Kogarah 2217

+61 2 7900 5603

http://omomo.com.au/

Nov 27, 2017
Righetto Osteria Romana

Righetto Osteria Romana Review:

We have been going to Haberfield a lot in recent months exploring culinary options they have to offer. This week, it’s from one of the Italian restaurants (there seemed to be a million of them in Haberfield!), called Righetto Osteria Romana.

We went there because our friends from Three Arrows Coffee recommended this restaurant. It seems like their special menu on the wall is actually longer than their actual menu.

Complimentary Bread and Antipasto

They gave out complimentary warm bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a starter. In addition to that, the waiter actually gave us a small plate of complimentary antipasto. Their antipasto was actually very good!

Zucchini Flower

We ordered the zucchini flowers before they gave us the complimentary antipasto. They were a bit more expensive than the other antipasto. However, they tasted so good!

Linguine allo scoglio – $27 – Long size pasta with calamari, prawns, clams, blue crab in white or red sauce

If you look at the picture below, that phone was a Galaxy S6. It was barely half the size of the plate! For $27, the linguine was an absolute bargain! I’ll just let these pictures do the talking for me. If you like seafood, this is a must order!

Napoletana – $18 – Tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, olives and capers

Their pizza ranked probably just below the top pizzeria in Sydney. We still enjoyed it tho.

Ice cream

Ice cream + strawberry… it’s a no-brainer for the kid.

Affogato

I love how they served the affogato. It was appetising!

We were very impressed with the service and food at Righetto Osteria Romana in Haberfield Also one of the most elaborate affogato ever! ☕☕ #affogato #foodblogger #gelato #righetto #sydney #italian #pizzeria . . . . . #sweet #instalove #instafood #yummy #healthy #dessert #instapic #instagram #foodporn #instagood #foodie #igers #instadaily #picoftheday #photooftheday #food #love #allaboutfood

A post shared by All About Food Blog (@aaf_blog) on Sep 19, 2017 at 8:43pm PDT

The final verdict for Righetto Osteria Romana

What we like the most from Righetto Osteria Romana was their hospitality. We enjoyed every minute of us eating there. Their ginormous plate of seafood pasta was just the icing on the cake.

Do you think I should go?

Definitely! Especially if you like seafood pasta.

Rating for Righetto Osteria Romana:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $70 for two

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

103 Ramsay St, Haberfield 2045

+61 2 9799 5500

http://www.darighettoosteria.com.au/

Nov 20, 2017