Japchae

Noodles

I adore noodles. Whether it be rice noodles, egg noodles, soba, vermicelli or udon, in a soup, salad or stir fry, give me a bowl of them and I will be a happy girl. But, despite my deep love for noodles, the bizarre reality is that we don't eat them at home anywhere near as often as I'd like to. All that is about to change; I have finally found the perfect noodle recipe that is quick, easy and relatively fail-safe. 

Ramen Rules at Manpuku, Kingsford

Japanese

A good bowl of ramen is like a piece of art. Every element adds something unique to the finished piece - the noodles, broth, toppings - and all work together in harmony. Creating the perfect ramen is a laborious labour of love, and there is no shortage of contenders for the title of the best in Sydney.

Menya Mappen, Sydney CBD

Cheap Eats

There is nothing quite like the sound of slurping noodles, or men (めん) in Japanese, at a meal time. There is no food group that is quite like the humble noodle. Whether eaten in a hot soup, served cold with a delicious dipping sauce, or fragrantly stir fried, noodles are a carbohydrate that I will never get sick of.

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.

Ryo's, Crows Nest

Crows Nest
Of all the carbohydrates in the world - oats, rice, bread, noodles.... Can you guess what my favourite carb is? It starts with an N and ends with oodles. Yep, oodles of noodles!! Whether it be slippery translucent rice noodles, chewy wheaten egg noodles or thin squiggly vermicelli, nothing tickles my tastebuds more than a big bowl of noodles. Pure bliss for me is slurping away at a pile of noodles, never failing to get a little bit of sauce or soup on my shirt every time in the midst of all my enjoyment. They are my absolute favourite comfort food. Of all time. Full stop.

If the title exists, I am a noodlie. Among my favourites are beef brisket noodle soup (with tendon, of course), Pho, vermicelli salads and Tsukemen. Tsukemen is a type of dipping noodle, similar to ramen but served cold with a small bowl of soup of the side. This style of ramen is typically eaten in the warmer months in Japan as it is more refreshing and less heavy than traditional ramen, which is why I love it so much. To eat Tsukemen, you take a few strands of noodle, dip them into the soup and slurp them up. This way the noodles stay al dente and you can appreciate their wonderfully chewy texture, as well as control the amount of soup you get in each mouthful. All the deliciousness of ramen, but without feeling too hot or heavy afterwards!

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.

Sydney Dumpling King, Burwood

Burwood
Are you someone who love lingering over long lunches, or more the person who opts for a quick, fast meal when it comes to lunchtime? I guess it depends on your day's agenda and current circumstances, but I love doing both. Whether its going out for a family dinner of pizza and pasta, or a quick bowl of Pho for Sunday lunch, weekends are always the highlight of my food week because they're the times when I get to go out and eat something other than a homemade sandwich for lunch. Not that sandwiches are bad, but when you have them 5 days a week they do tend to get a little bit boring.



Whatever tickles your fancy, I find that a number of cuisines either fit into one lunching category or the other. Asian fare, such as Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Malaysian, always makes for a fast, cheap lunch fix, whereas more of the European or Western cuisines - Italian, Greek and modern Australian - will tend to drag out and make for a longer, more expensive and filling lunch. I'm not quite sure whether its the cooking methods of each cuisine and the ingredients they use, or the kind of lifestyle each is associated with, but more often than not it will be the bowl or noodles or rice dish that will take less time to cook and eat than a bowl of pasta or steak and chips. Asian is by far my favourite.

Mint Pho & Cuisine, Burwood

Burwood


Along the main strip of Burwood Road you're likely to find a number of Chinese eateries and shops. A LOT of Chinese shops, in fact - particularly on the southern end of the station (not the Westfield end). It's not hard to find your ubiquitous Asian convenience/grocery store, butchery, restaurant or BBQ meats shop on Burwood Road, which is what draws a large number of the Chinese community to its streets every day. We often visit for a lunch of cheap BBQ Pork and Soy Sauce Chicken with rice at one of the BBQ meat eateries, or to buy some Asian bread from one of the many bakeries along the street.






But what if you felt like something other than Chinese? True, there are lots of good, cheap Chinese eateries scattered along Burwood Road, but a newcomer to the Burwood eating strip is Mint, a Vietnamese joint made modern by its funky, contemporary and slightly less cheap décor. It would be quite easy to miss this small, unpretentious restaurant nestled in among the  plethora of Chinese eateries just up from the ANZ Bank, but upon hearing of it from a foodie friend of mine I was determined to give it a try one lazy Saturday lunchtime. This end of Burwood Road is much quieter than the section of it in and around Burwood Westfield - far more peaceful and much easier to get a parking spot.

The real Ramen experience at Ichiran Ramen, Tokyo (Shinjuku)

Ichiran
Ichiran is ramen on steroids. Gourmet ramen, if you can call it that. An amazing foodie adventure full of ramen, tempura, udon, ramen, soba, rice was the main highlight of our recent holiday to Japan and Malaysia (besides the occasional pizza, which turns out to be not that unusual in Japan..).



One of the most memorable eateries we visited was Ichiran, a popular ramen chain in Japan that focuses on savouring the perfect personalised Tonkotsu ramen experience. So focused on flavour and experience are the creators that most of the seating at their restaurants is single-counter seating at which you are to sit at your own personal booth and be served your steaming fresh bowl of ramen from behind a semi-concealed kitchen that sits just on the other side of the wall partition.

Our discovery of this specialisation eatery started with a queue. We quickly learned in Japan that any place that has a queue must be a hit among the locals, and therefore must serve top-notch Japanese food. One night walking around the dazzling lights and commotion of Shinjuku we came across a line that snaked all the way up the stairs from the basement level onto the street, and all the people in the line seemed to be locals who were waiting to get in for their dinner. Curiosities overwhelming us, we nonchalantly joined the line, the anticipation of what we were lining up for not yet revealed. But alas, once we reached the bottom of those stairs, it became clear that all the commotion and queuing was for the sake of ramen. And why not? The Japanese take their ramen very seriously.

Din Tai Fung and the art of Xiao Long Bao

Din Tai Fung

Being Asian, I'm a sucker for all Asian food - whatever cuisine it may be. We often go to eateries in the suburbs of Flemington, Burwood and Ashfield when we're in the mood for a cheap, wholesome Asian feed and always leave feeling extremely full and satisfied. Din Tai Fung, being the only one of its kind in the whole city, is a little on the higher end of the market and is one of our favourite Sydney CBD haunts.

I don't know whether it's the atmosphere of lining up and waiting for our buzzer to buzz, or the efficiency of the service, or the way you can see the dumplings being made in the steamy windows, but there's always something special about going there.

Cute little Xiao Long Bao man!
A visit to DTF isn't a visit to DTF without ordering Xiao Long Bao - perfectly crafted, pork-filled dumplings that exert a hot, tasty broth when bitten in to - one of their specialties. We've tried various other versions of this dumpling at Taiwanese restaurants around Sydney (New Shanghai, Taste of Shanghai) but it's always Din Tai Fung's Xiao Long Baos that we love the best.