Tag: No Pork

A list of restaurants in my blog that is considered to contain no pork to the best of my knowledge

Salmon and Bear

Review:

There were a few distractions around the area that prevented me from trying Salmon and Bear. The restaurant is located in one of the newest shopping precincts in Sydney, Zetland – and I had a few places I wanted to try. I also thought that it was a chain restaurant that I have never heard of.

When I eventually went to the restaurant, I was surprised that the restaurant was 100% seafood restaurant. I thought the ‘bear’ bit refer to meat. So, yeah no other meat but fish here!

Salmon Poké – 21 – Raw cubed salmon in a soy and sesame dressing served with corn salsa and avocado on coconut rice

I ordered poké out of curiosity as this was my first time ordering it. The description resembles chirashizushi with a little twist of tropical influence. Poké is said to be the next big food trend according to Business Insider. It is originated from Hawaii.

It was quite a colourful plate! The salmon was already dressed in soy and sesame so you don’t need to add more soy (a la sushi). To top it off, the dried seaweed garnish gave us the crunchy texture.

One of a few salads that I actually enjoyed eating!

Fish and chips – 18 – crisp battered hoki served with chips, lemon, and tartare sauce

It was quite a simple-looking fish and chips. The portion was quite generous that my friend couldn’t finish it.

Tacos – 6 –come in a soft corn tortilla with cabbage, salsa verde, pickled pink onions, corander, lime and sriracha mayo

They have three different tacos that looked pretty similar with only a slight difference in the filling. On this occasion, I tried the sticky soy glazed salmon. It was nicely done.

The other two are: Crispy fish (hoki NZ) and Crispy prawn and corn

Salmon Bearger – 18 – A smoked and fresh salmon patty with cos lettuce, tomato, pickles, salsa verde and aioli

This is the only menu that has salmon and bear on its title. It was quite big and came with sweet potato fries (they are very nice!). The burger itself was pretty good, but clearly overshadowed by the poké.

Grizzly plate – 28 – choose your fish, your sauce and any 2 sides/salads

This is supposed to be the main attractions at salmon and bear. However, I wasn’t quite convinced. It was clearly the third wheel behind poké and salmon bearger.

The first time we were there, my boss got a really small salmon and tuna. But in our second visit, the size of the salmon was more decent.

Individually, the grizzly plate is priced as follows:

$18 fish– Ora King Salmon, Barramundi, Tuna, Catch of the day

$2 sauce – Salsa verde, lemon herb butter, yogurt & dill, peri peri, tartare, oyster & sesame

$5 Sides – Chips, Chive mash, sweet potato fries, coconut rice

$8 Salad – All beans, asian greens, slaw, corn salsa, Moroccan salad, roasted beg, corn cob, garden salad

The final verdict for Salmon and Bear

Salmon poké was the clear winner for me at Salmon and Bear.

Did you know?

Salmon and Bear sourced all of its fishes from a certified fisheries with sustainable practices.

Rating for Salmon and Bear:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $18+ for main

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

6 Defries Avenue, Zetland 2017

+61 2 9662 8188

http://salmonandbear.com.au/

Mar 8, 2016
Bandung Culinary Tourism

In the last few years, we reviewed a few restaurants in Bandung. This time around, we would like to write about Bandung’s local food offerings. You could easily find these food in big malls or plazas in Bandung. However, if you want the ‘authentic’ ones that are loved by the citizens of Bandung, we should really hunt for them.

What is Culinary Tourism?

Indonesians love to eat (including me). Their overabundance love of food enables them to create a whole new phrase dedicated to the journey of finding good food. Hence, the term ‘Wisata Kuliner‘ was born. It was hard to find the English phrase for it. However, after brainstorming session with my friends, we decided to use the term ‘Culinary Tourism’ to describe this phenomena because someone has written a thesis about it.

Bandung Culinary Tourism

Batagor

When we talk about Culinary in Bandung, the first thing that everyone mentions should be baso tahu goreng, commonly known as Batagor. Batagor is a deep fried fish tofu that is usually served with spicy peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce. There are two famous batagor restaurants in Bandung: Batagor Abuy and Batagor Kingsley. In terms of taste, we like Batagor Abuy more. On the other hand, Batagor Kingsley is more suitable to have for takeaway.

Batagor Kingsley is located in jalan Veteran 10.

Mie Yamin

Mie Yamin is the Bandung version of Chinese noodles. It is a bit unclear why it was called ‘Yamin’ noodles. We found an Indonesian article about the origin of Mie Yamin in Jakarta. One of the more famous places in Bandung is Mie Yamin Linggarjati in jalan Balonggede. In addition to its noodles, Linggarjati is also well-known for its delicious Avocado juice.

We actually did not visit the Linggarjati restaurant due to the distance. We used the gojek app that is priced quite decently for food delivery service.

Cireng Bumbu

Cireng bumbu is probably the most common dish on this list (you can pretty much buy anywhere and it would taste pretty similar). Cireng is a tapioca-based snack that is deep fried with fillings (usually spicy ones). It is usually sold just outside a restaurant or in food stalls.

What else is available on this Bandung Culinary Tourism?

The following dishes might also be available outside the city of Bandung. However, they have been modified to have the Bandung traits.

Yoghurt Cisangkuy

I’m pretty sure everyone knows what Yoghurt is. The interesting bit about Yoghurt Cisangkuy is that it has been in the same venue for, like, forever! If you ask someone from Bandung, I’m pretty sure the person would know this place. They have a few flavours to choose from and also some light snacks.

Sate Ayam Lavie

Lavie is a name of a baby shop in jalan Imam Bonjol, Bandung.In front of the shop, there is a small stall that sells chicken satay. It’s the perfect place for those of you waiting around!

What I love about Bandung’s chicken satay is the one called ‘sate lemak‘. It is literally just a skewer of fat! Pretty unhealthy I must say, but if you just eat the right amount, they are awesome!

Bubur Sumsum a la Bandung

Bubur sumsum is a rice flour porridge with sweet palm sugar sauce. We bought this from a street vendor usually roaming around the housing complex. What separates Bandung’s from the rest is the use of pomegranate.

Coffee from The Good Life cafe

This cafe might be relatively new when compared to the rest on this list. However, you can’t have a list of Bandung good stuff without a great coffee place! Located in Jalan Anggrek 15, this cafe is pretty obscured and part of a small office house. However, it’s hard to find coffee as good as this one in Bandung!

Obviously, there are a lot more dishes originated from Bandung that we could try. However, we did not have the time to try them all… maybe in the future…

The City of Bandung

Bandung is the third most populated city in Indonesia and is just a few hours drive from Jakarta (depending largely on the traffic!). However, the density of the city is twice as much as the second largest city in Indonesia, Surabaya. That’s why if you want to travel to Bandung, I suggest you to avoid the weekends!

Jan 6, 2016
El Jannah

Review:

When I wrote about a charcoal chicken place in Petersham, a name came up in the conversation: El Jannah. Some people reckoned it was one of the best in Sydney. Jannah in Arabic means paradise, so I was looking forward to the thought of eating charcoal chicken in Paradise!

They have three outlets in Sydney but we went to the place where it all started, Granville. It was a pretty big place for a charcoal chicken joint and there was always a queue when we were there. Their burgers and rolls are pretty good value for money (for around $12 with chips and drink)! On this occasion, we are more interested in trying their ‘eat in’ menu.

Shawarma Plate – $12.00 – marinated beef, parsley, onion, pickles, tomato, tahini and bread

It was the least tasty dish of the day. The overall feel was very salty, especially the tahini. There was also way too many vegetables on the plate ^_^

Coleslaw – $5.50

I love a proper coleslaw (not the kind of coleslaw that KFC has) and El Jannah’s coleslaw is a proper one!

1/2 chicken – $10.50 – with garlic, pickles and bread

This is the very reason why we came to El Jannah. The Lebanese-style is enjoyed with garlic sauce, pickles and Lebanese bread. However, it wasn’t as mind blowing as we had hoped. Also, I would rather have the chicken with chips instead of the bread. The chips were a lot fresher!

EJ Platter – $19.90 – 3 skewers, chips, homus and baba ganouj, garlic and chili bread

The EJ platter was the redeeming factor at El Jannah. Their skewers were very nicely done and worked pretty well with the usual condiments and hot chips! On top of that, they also gave us homus and baba ganouj which added an extra complexity to the dish!

For the skewers, you have a choice between lamb, mince beef and chicken.

You can actually create your own wrap with any of the dishes above.

The final verdict for El Jannah

The chicken did not live up to the hype for me at El Jannah. Their EJ Platter on the other hand was something else! The coleslaw was also worth mentioning.

Did you know?

There were a lot of halal restaurants in Granville that I could see when we were there!

Rating for El Jannah:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $6.50 – $20 per dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

4 – 8 South Street, Granville NSW 2142

02 9637 0977

http://eljannah.com.au/

Sep 21, 2015
Shalom Indonesian Restaurant
I have been going to this Indonesian restaurant since they opened their doors in Kingsford! The name is Shalom Indonesian Restaurant. To be honest, it is quite an unusual name for an Indonesian restaurant.

The menu is pretty much everything you see on the wall above the counter and you have to order and pay the food at the counter. Despite the number of pictures, the menu can actually be divided into four sauces:
- Rujak sauce: This is the default non-spicy sauce
- Hot & sour sauce: Despite the three star logo, this sauce only has a fleeting hint of hotness. I said this as a person who doesn’t like spicy sauce!
- Balinese sauce: This one is probably best suited for people who enjoy occasional hot food.
- Shalom sauce: This one is for the hard core chilli lovers!
Btw, if you are unsure about any of it, just ask to separate the sauce from the dish.

These are the four dishes that we ordered almost 90% of the time.

Beef / Fish Ball Soup – Bakso Sapi / Ikan Kuah – $5

It is a very simple beef balls in a soup. We usually order this for the little one. Add some sweet soy sauce to the warm rice and you got yourself a decent dish to feed your kid!

Deep fried tofu with peanut sauce – Batagor – $5

Although the description said ‘batagor’ (the famous fish-based dish from Bandung), it is actually not that batagor. It is just deep fried tofu that was coated with flour. I’m pretty sure there is no fish involved in it (or probably very little, hardly-visible amount).

However, I still enjoy the dish and have always been my staple when coming into the restaurant. I love the peanut and sweet soy sauce!

Fried beef ball with Hot and Sour Sauce – Bakwan Penyet – $8

This is another extremely simplistic dish. You get sliced and fried beef balls and a boiled egg with the sauce and a plate of rice.

I particularly love to combine this dish with the tofu dish above. It reminds me a lot of food in my hometown.

Grilled beef ribs with Balinese sauce – Iga bakar bumbu Bali – $12

The grilled beef ribs is probably the most decent-sized option in the menu. There are not a lot of places in Sydney that served grilled beef ribs for only $12.

Happy Soda – Soda Gembira – $3

Happy soda is actually just a combination of soda water, condensed milk and rose syrup. But when I was younger, it is pretty much my top three drinks (along with Durian and Avocado juices).

Indonesians love sweet drinks and happy soda is no different. They usually put quite a lot of condensed milk and rose syrup. However, happy soda is served unstirred. So you can adjust the level of sweetness to your liking.

The final verdict for Shalom Indonesian Restaurant

Whenever I need an Indonesian comfort food, I usually go to Shalom Indonesian Restaurant. They may not have the best décor or the fanciest of dishes, but it is the one restaurant in Sydney that felt closest to home for me.

Did you know?

There is another Indonesian restaurant that everyone in Sydney seems to love going to, called Ayam Goreng 99. It is located three shops down the road from Shalom.

Rating for Shalom Indonesian Restaurant:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $9 – $15 for main dishes

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 2 / 458 Anzac Parade, Kingsford 2032

+61 2 9662 4455

http://www.shalom-restaurant.com/
Jun 23, 2015
Green Gourmet Kitchen

Review:

This week we are reviewing our first ever vegetarian restaurant in Sydney. In a couple of previous occasions we dined with a group of friends who opted for the restaurant’s vegetarian options. However this time, we went to a ‘true’ vegetarian restaurant.

Everyone in my ‘inner circle’ knows that I am not a big fan of vegetables with borderline hatred to some of them. But on the other hand, I am also an admirer of beautiful and delicious food regardless of ingredients.

On this occasion, we went to Green Gourmet Kitchen in Newtown. The restaurant has the Chinese restaurant’s style with the buffet bar on the side.

Green Gourmet Buffet Dinner – $2.60/100gr for dinner or $9.90 for up to 700 gr for lunch

Green gourmet offers a buffet selection for lunch and dinner. It is actually a better option if there are not a lot of people in your party, especially for lunch time. There are quite a few options to choose from on the buffet bar!

‘Honey’ & Lemon King Prawn – $17.80 – by substituting the original honey with maple syrup and lemon

Our first dish of the day is a ‘honey’ that was actually maple syrup and mock king prawn. The king prawn was quite tasty and the texture was pretty similar to the real king prawn.

Ling Zhi Mushroom in Clay Pot – $24.80 – Stewed in a clay pot with broccoli and fried tofu

The Ling Zhi mushroom dish was supposed to be the one that impressed us the most. However, the priciest dish for the day didn’t quite live up to our expectations.

It was quite ordinary even when compared to the fried rice.

Green Gourmet Fried Rice – $14.80 – with shredded green vegetable, vegan prawn, BBQ Not Pork, bean sprout & soy & wheat protein

They gave quite a generous portion for the fried rice. It is actually nice to eat your dishes as a share plate (i.e. put everything in one plate!).

The final verdict for Green Gourmet Kitchen

For just under $10, Green Gourmet Kitchen’s buffet bar is a pretty good lunch option in Newtown. The waitress was pretty friendly and it is pretty good for an everyday dining.

Rating for Green Gourmet Kitchen:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $15 – $25 for main dishes

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

115-117 King St, Newtown 2042

+61 2 9519 5330

http://www.greengourmet.com.au/

Jun 19, 2015
Pho by An Restaurant

Review:

A friend of mine took us here the first time to enjoy one of the best pho in Sydney, we referred to it as Pho An. An restaurant (this is the entry listed on Urbanspoon/Zomato) only sells pho, with variants of beef and chicken. Despite this limited menu, people are still willing to queue for it.

When I was there, I usually ordered Pho topped with beef combination. It is the most complete combination that includes rare beef, cooked beef, beef tendon and tripe. I also usually order the large portion. The large bowl option is only $1 more expensive than the medium.

The portion is quite big and I usually cannot finish the soup. Personally, I think the taste is not so different than any other good pho restaurants in Sydney.

Pho topped with cooked beef – $14

I guess the good thing about having limited items on the menu is that they can serve the dishes incredibly quickly. But then, you are also expected to leave relatively quickly!

They give you the beansprouts and loads of chilli for free. You could also add a few other side dishes. The one that I usually order is additional meat or rare beef on the side. You can also try its beef tea.

Additional Meat – $4

The final verdict for Pho by An Restaurant

The price of Pho in An Restaurant can be considered pretty high. However, people don’t seem to mind paying that much.

Did you know?

They have quite ‘funny’ charges such as $3.50 for spare bowl to share or $1 take away surcharge. I must say that the take away surcharge is quite funny as you generally pay less money for take away food.

Rating for Pho by An Restaurant:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $14 – $15 for pho

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

27 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown, NSW 2200

+61 2 9796 7826

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May 26, 2015