China Doll, Woolloomoolloo

Asian

Being of Chinese heritage, we don't go out to eat at Chinese restaurants as often as one might think. I'm a big fan of the cheap, no-frills Chinese restaurant for a good noodle feed or family yum cha, however we seldom dine at restaurants on the higher end of the price spectrum. But the iconic China Doll is no ordinary Chinese restaurant, so when time came to choose at place at which to celebrate my birthday recently, I knew that that was where I wanted to go.

Bang Tang, Potts Point

Asian

Sometimes even the most unnoticeable places can gift you with surprises. Bang Tang is a case in point. It's a little hole in the wall café that delivers Asian fusion food with a bang.

Tim Ho Wan, Burwood

Asian

When Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan opened it’s very first Sydney restaurant in Chatswood early last year, dim sum fans came from far and wide to get a taste of those revered dumplings and that famous bbq pork bun.

Izakaya Samurai, Neutral Bay

Asian

It used to seem to me that Japanese restaurants fell into either the higher-priced, contemporary dining category (Sokyo and Sake come to mind) or were fast, cheap eateries which offered sushi trains and bento boxes.

New Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield

Xiao long bao, those immaculately shaped pork dumplings bursting with steaming hot porky broth, are perhaps the most famous type of dumpling in Sydney. Din Tai Fung offers the holy grail of pork dumplings, with each crafted to a precise weight and diameter and filled with tasty pork marbled with gelatinous bits, have mouths drooling and queues forming at every joint. 

The lesser known relative to these dumplings are pan-fried pork dumplings, brimming with a similar filling and hot soup but with a fluffier bun wrapper and a bottom fried to golden crispy perfection. These are bigger, meater, more filling - call it the plump, loving auntie of xiao long bao.

Why I love Asian Bakeries: Part 2, Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery

Asian
So do you want to know another reason why I love Asian bakeries? I said in my first post here that it's because there is a myriad of weird and wonderful creations that you can find in them, sort of like a bakery museum!

One of the other things I love about Asian (Chinese) Bakeries is their cheep and cheerful fare and how you'll be hard pressed to find a bakery that is exactly the same as another. Each has their own 'feel' to their baked goods - no two Bo Lo Bao taste the same, no two Dan Tarts have the same texture. Each bakery has it's own take on the sweet and savoury classics.

Why I love Asian Bakeries: Part 1

Asian
Step into an Asian bakery, it's walls lined with plastic display cases that showcase neatly lined rows of golden baked goods, and it becomes clear that this is not the average run-of-the-mill Australian bakery. No, not the kind where a shop assistant is the main connection between the customer and the product. This is a bakery where the customer is left to squander over and help themselves to whatever they desire. Think of it as a museum of sorts. A museum of bread (where, of course, you're able to buy the artefacts). 

Pho Hoang Gia, Flemington

Asian

With the close or relocation of one of our favourite Flemington eateries, we were left bewildered one Saturday lunchtime as to where we were to eat lunch. Sure, there are heaps of cheap and fulfilling restaurants in Flemington where one can slurp down steaming bowls of pho or much away on stir fried noodles, but Khais' eatery in the arcade (near the ever-busy pho joint Pho Toan Thang) was a favourite of ours whenever we were in the mood for a Malaysian fix.


It was in this instance that we instead decided to try out Pho Hoang Gia, nestled in next to another Vietnamese restaurant in the lane way that leads to the car park behind the arcade. It's accessible from the street, but is an otherwise unexpected eatery situated in a rather peculiar location.

From the outside it is an unassuming place to eat lunch, but enter through the side door and you are greeted with a full, bustling dining area full of people munching away at large bowls of noodles and drinking icy coffee concoctions at lunchtime.

The Bulgogi, Chatswood

Asian

Bulgogi is widely known in the culinary world as a  Korean dish of grilled, marinated thin slices of beef. But, contrary to popular belief, it may also refer to something else. The direct translation of this term from Korean means 'fire' (bul) and 'meat' (gogi), hence the other meaning of this famous beef dish, which points right back to its origins - the barbeque, or process of cooking meat on fire.


The Bulgogi sits on the main Chatswood shopping strip of Victoria Street, amongst many other Asian eateries and not too far away from the busy Chatswood Westfield and Mandarin Centre. On weekdays you'll walk by to see a lunch special menu beckoning you from the restaurant's window, which is what brought us here on this fine Thursday for lunch. These tempting specials are listed on a rotation from the hours of 12pm and 2pm, and each day has 3 different specials that feature a range of meats to suit almost every diet.

An adventure in Cabramatta: Bau Truong

Asian
The hustle and bustle of fast cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur mirror the busy lifestyles the people who live in them lead, a hustle and bustle that can overwhelm and confuse you if you get caught up in it. But take a step out of that picture and look at it from the outside, and you come to gradually appreciate the uniqueness and adversity of those cities, an atmosphere that is much different to that of Sydney or any other Australian city.



In the western suburbs of Sydney lies Cabramatta, widely known for its expanse Vietnamese community and as the place where you can find the best Vietnamese cuisine in Sydney. The perfect place for a much-anticipated foodie excursion!



Driving or walking along the main strip of John Street, one will find a number of low-cost, authentic restaurants, cheap knick-knack stores and a plethora of Vietnamese-run grocery stores and bakeries. The atmosphere is not unlike that of the aforementioned bustling cities, further accentuated by the high volume of people walking either side of the street. You catch snippets of Vietnamese, Cantonese and an ever-present hum of conversation that never seems to cease. People walk by drinking bubble tea, avocado shakes and eating pork rolls.



Bau Truong has branches in Marrickville and Canley Heights, but the restaurant in Cabramatta is a bit more low-key than its sister eateries. The outside is simply furnished with a modern shopfront, but step inside and you get an accentuation of the busy street's lively atmosphere (as well as a current of aircon) as patrons slurp on noodles and tuck into plates of rice. The inside of the eatery is long, much bigger than what it appears from outside, and the decor is themed with a light green.

Make your own homemade Bubble Tea!

Asian

I must confess that my first real taste of Bubble Tea was only just this year. And it wasn't even here in Sydney, it was in Japan. I'm not quite sure what EasyWay or Chatime Bubble Tea tastes like - I'm still to try them - but I only know that the milky, sweet bubble tea I tasted in Japan was pure bliss on a hot, sunny day. A bliss that was made even better with the addition of chewy, sticky, jet black tapioca pearls.

My first taste of pearls, however was 4 years ago in Mango Milk Tea. Not such a good combination, if you ask me, and it put me off them for a long long time. Up until now.

An Asian Foodie Fest in the Sydney CBD: Pepper Lunch & Chanoma

Asian

This probably sounds a little crazy but every time I go somewhere new to eat, I get a little tingly feeling that spreads around my body, and this is followed by a strong urge to emit a little squeal of delight. My heartbeat quickens a little and I go all jumpy and buzzy, a knee-jerk reaction triggered by food.