Ippudo at Central Park, Ultimo

Ah winter days are over, and that means the days of hot bowls of ramen are coming to a close... But my adamant love for ramen demands that I squeeze it in as much as I can before the weather gets much too hot to handle steaming hot ramen! Australian summers, you are just much too brutal. I was kindly invited by Sana on behalf of Ippudo to try out their newly opened branch in Central Park Sydney - definitely a convenient location for you USYD and UTS students. She was an absolutely delight to speak to and went over the menu with us, sadly informing us that the pork buns are not currently available on the menu. Ah well, there are other items to try!

L to R: Iced oolong tea, $4.00 / Homemade lemon lime & bitters, $5.00

Warm days mean cool drinks! I was glad to taste an unsweetened iced oolong tea and lemon lime bitters are always a refreshing drink to have on standby at any restaurant really.

Seared salmon sushi, $13.00

Salmon has got to my favourite fish. And when it's seared, there's just this delicious smoky flavour that's hard to beat. Naturally, this dish had to be ordered! Plus our curiosity over the mentai mayo really got us. It turned out to be a very welcome addition indeed, adding a lovely creamy zing to the palette. And we all know that avocado and salmon is a classic combination. Fatty salmon and more healthy fats from avocado? Don't mind if I do!

Extras plate

 Since we ordered the ramen specials, both came with its own plate of extras including a soy egg, bean sprouts, seaweed, bamboo shoots, black fungus, chopped spring onion and extra chashu (win!).

Miso tonkotsu special, $25.00

I absolutley love corn in my ramen because it adds that little burst of sweetness that goes really well with the tonkotsu broth. I found that the addition of miso to the tonkotsu broth made this one quite incredibly salty. Whilst still tasty, it was a tad much after a while but at least we had our oolong tea and lemon lime bitters! The noodles were cooked with just enough bounce - the perfect texture :D

Shiromaru special, $23.00

The original tonkotsu broth was less sodium based than the miso tonkotsu version and I preferred this one a lot more. As before, there was nothing to fault with the way the noodles were cooked and along with all those toppings, I was one happy ramen eater. I would recommend you put the egg in the soup to warm up a bit as it does come cold on the extras plate. What I did like was that the yolk inside was still soft and definitely not overcooked!

Blue Mountains, $13.00

And of course one cannot finish dinner without dessert. Though Gingerbreadmanne and I were incredibly full, we couldn't go past this green tea sundae. Who can resist green tea icecream, red beans, mandarins, oranges, apricots and coconut jelly? The icecream was so smooth and creamy and despite our initial thoughts of only having a few spoonfuls, we managed to polish off the entire thing (no ragrats, not even one letter).

At this stage, we were incredibly full and so very, very content with all that was eaten. Service here was incredibly efficient and the staff were nothing short of friendly with all the Japanese greetings - love that subtle touch of authenticity to add to the dining experience! You can find our more about Ippudo Central Park here.

Crystal Noir and friend dined as guests of Ippudo Central Park courtesy of Motoyama Sana of SD Marketing. Opinions however, are entirely her own.

Ippudo
Lower Ground, Central Park

28 Broadway Chippendale, NSW, 2008

Opening Hours

Monday - Wednesday: 11:00am - 10:00pm

Thursday - Saturday: 11:00am - 11:00pm

Sunday: 11:00am - 9:00pm

Ramen Hunting in Sydney

If there's one dish I have just a little bit of a slight obsession with, it's got to be ramen. I am not kidding you when I say I really love ramen. Probably not as much as Naruto (anybody else ever watched this anime/read the manga?) but close enough I'd say. I did eat it for breakfast, lunch AND dinner on one of my days in Tokyo these past holidays. Yet I come back to Sydney to eat more of it! The hunt for excellent ramen in Sydney continues.

I would never really make an extra trip up to the Northern suburbs if I didn't really have to but one night I found myself in North Sydney and a quick search up on my phone told me Ryo's was nearby in the area. Ramen for dinner it was!

Ramen in tonkotsu soy sauce flavoured soup with roast pork, nori, egg and shallots, $13.50

I believe tonkotsu soup is always the way to go :P This one had a touch of soy added to give it that extra kick of saltiness. The noodles retained a good amount of bounce and I really couldn't get enough of the tonkotsu soup - the broth is the most important element in a bowl of ramen! It wasn't as thick as the likes of Gumshara (which is definitely on the heavy side) so it was very easy to down. I always get an egg if it doesn't come with the ramen but luckily this one did! Still soft and gooey so nothing but positives about it. I would have to say it's one of the more authentically Japanese ramens in Sydney.

When we left, there was a massive line waiting outside so that says wonders about its popularity!

Ryo's
125 Falcon St
Crows Nest, NSW, 2065

Opening Hours
Monday - Sunday: 12:00 noon - 2:00pm and 5:00 - 9:00pm



Another one that has received raves from the blogging community resides in the humble food court of Sussex Centre in Chinatown. Who says you can't get good food in food courts? This food court has undergone a renovation and is actually surprisingly clean compared to what it used to be. You'll find Ramen Ikkyu huddled in the far corner so it could be easily overlooked if you don't know what you're looking for.

Pork rib ramen, $20.00

For twenty bucks, you're sure getting your fair share of meat. JUST LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT PORK RIB. It was amaaazingly soft and tender with lovely fatty parts throughout, and they cut it off the bone for easy eating but don't fret! The bone is still given to you for some caveman chowing :P (We all know the meat on the bone is the most flavoursome). This broth here has a mix of chicken, pork and seafood and is very discernable on the palette. I have to say that my preferences lay with the classic all pork broth (tonkotsu all the way!) but this one was still very delicious. And of course, if you haven't heard of the kaedama, I'm sure that this free extra serving of noodles will tempt you for a visit to Ramen Ikkyu! I would go back for that pork rib alone :D

Ramen Ikkyu
Shop F1A 401 Sussex St
Haymarket, NSW, 2000
Sussex Centre Food Court

Opening Hours
Monday - Sunday: 12:00 noon - 8:00pm

Gumshara, Haymarket

"I love ramen," I said whilst slurping on awesome ramen, not giving a care in the world how I looked.
"Have you been to Gumshara?" my friend asks. 

And thus the legendary ramen of Gumshara was brought up again. I have heard its name far and wide, heard it was good, and that it was the collagen-rific soup of dreams but with all the hype, can it really live up to its name? So it was that one hungry afternoon, I made a pit stop with my sister to try this amazing soup that cooks for hours and hours upon their stove pot in the small kitchen of Eating World food court.

Gumshara is an unassuming little joint, with a little shop front. As long as we can order, that's good enough for me. I was very insistent upon trying the thick tonkotsu soup, but they don't serve that until 5pm ie dinner service. What a pity that was - so disappointing!

Garlic tonkotsu ramen noodle, $11.50

I settled upon the garlic tonkotsu ramen because how can you go wrong with garlic oil? ;) Best stuff ever! So how was it? Can I just say that the soup is the stuff of dreams? With an awesome hit of garlic! Love it. If this was the thinner soup, the thick one must be super intense! This was still sticky enough from all the collagen boiled down from the bones that you could feel it sticking to your lips. The flavour was strong and the noodles were awesomely springy. Of course I also had to nab those eggs first before my sister could even try to steal them. As everyone with siblings knows, first come, first served! Mm, googy eggs... And those ribbons of fat on the chashu! So tender and melt in the mouth... I really wonder if I could down a bowl of the thicker soup. I guess it warrants a revisit to test my limits!

Gumshara Ramen
Shop 211 25-29 Dixon St
Haymarket, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours

Monday: 11:30am - 8:30pm

Tuesday - Saturday: 11:30am - 9:00pm

Sunday: 11:30am - 8:30pm

Ramen Zundo, Sydney CBD

Whilst I love a good bowl of pho, there's something about collagen-rich soup that has me craving ramen. K and I were on a mission to convert one of our fellow friends who is a ramen hater after her experience at Ajisen Ramen. It was nonsense that she didn't like ramen! So to Ramen Zundo we went, intending to convert that hate into love.

Ramen Zundo was packed when we wandered in for lunch. We managed to luckily snag the last available table. They have a loyalty program where if you order enough times over $10, you will receive a free dish. There is an open window with a view of the kitchen so that you can see the chefs hard at work creating your meal.

Zundo black, $11.80

I have a penchant for garlic so I picked the tonkotsu based soup with galic oil yay! The soup is nowhere near as thick or rich as Gumshara, but still absolutely delicious. There were beansprouts and shreds of cabbage which I found to be a welcome change to feel like you're being healthier and eating your veggies. And that chashu! It was so tender and melt in the mouth from the fat... I could eat pieces and pieces of that chashu alone!

Double soup, $11.80

K opted for the double soup, which is a combination of both the chicken and pork broth, creating a soup which is much lighter. For some reason, I thought there seemed to be a slight seafood-like taste to the broth despite the fact that there is none! That googy egg also looked so good, glistening atop the noodles.

Zundo white, $11.80

My ramen hater friend ordered the classic tonkotsu. The verdict? I can say with happiness that she will be joining our ramen adventures in the future :D Absolute love for the soup and chashu. I think K and I succeeded on our mission that day.

Next time I'm coming back, I am going to order extra chashu :P

So do let me know, do you prefer to have a richer soup like ramen or something lighter like pho?

Ramen Zundo
Shop 1030 World Sq 644 George St
Sydney, NSW, 2000
http://www.ramenzundo.com.au/

Holy Basil 2, Sydney CBD

Wanting to see the Vivid Festival, my family decided to eat out in the city beforehands. Holy Basil always has great food and close by to where I work so I headed off there right after I finished to meet the fambam!

It was my grandparents' first time eating Thai food and they requested nothing be too spicy so I definitely ordered on the mild side of the menu. And of course little pots of green tea for them!

Kai Yang (Laos charcoal BBQ chicken), $13.90

 The first to come out was the grilled chicken which had a lovely marinade that had been grilled to little charcoal-y bits. Delicious on its own, but you could always dip it into the sweet chilli sauce or chilli sauce if you're after that kick. We didn't expect the bowls of rice we ordered o be quite that large - it could easily have served three people per bowl!

Pad see ew (with chicken), $12.90

After enjoying the pad see ew last time, along with the fact that it's a favourite of my sister's, it definitely was a must order! The smoky flavour that permeates the noodles is what makes it so special and I really do like it, albeit the fact that it's just a tad too sweet for my tastebuds.

Gang masaman (beef masaman curry), $16.90

Massaman curry is a very mild curry that's quite creamy from the coconut milk in the recipe as well as the final drizzle on top. It's the best stirred through rice!

Som tam (green papaya salad), $10.90

I definitely wanted to introduce my family to the Thai papaya salad, requesting it to be very mild. I love how my grandma still found it extremely spicy haha! They were surprised that it was actually green papaya, as it's not something they've ever tried before.

Crispy fish (with green mango salad), $44.90

This was what I was looking forward to all night though! I could seriously have eaten it forever...They fillet the fish, cut it into individual pieces which are then crumbed and deep-fried. Nothing is wasted as the head and tail is given to you as well! The batter was very crunchy and extremely moreish as they definitely weren't shying away from the pepper :D It went very well with the green mango salad on top which was my preference over the papaya salad. I thought it was the perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty. I didn't get any hit of chilli, but that wasn't missed with any of my relatives! The family also enjoyed how refreshing this salad was. I think they just couldn't quite get used to the slight pungency of the crab paste used in the papaya salad!

I don't think any of us were particularly in the mood for any dessert so we passed on their house special deep-fried icecream. I should probably check out the rest of their dessert menu next time!

Holy Basil
Shark Hotel 127 Liverpool St
Sydney NSW 2000
http://www.holybasil.com.au

Opening Hours
Daily
Lunch Hours: 12:00-3:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm-12:00midnight

Tenkomori Ramen House, Sydney CBD

Who doesn't love a good bowl of warm, steaming ramen? There's something about slurping the noodles that's so comforting. Ultimate winter food don't you think? Even though it's not winter yet, Sydney's had some pretty crazy weather that's been all over the place lately and despite it currently being summer, there's been some cold wintery days too! Though it has been heating up this past week... What is with that?

Tenkomori is the brother store of Menya Mappen and Oiden where you line up cafeteria style, pick your ramen base and add on anything else that takes your fancy from the hot bar or cold dishes!

Tonkotsu butter corn ramen, large $7.30

I love tonkotsu based ramen! Mm, pork collagen... This was particularly good because the butter made it that much richer. Look at the pool of yellow the melted butter left behind! I also loved hunting for those little pieces of corn.

Chicken kara-age, $2.20 & takoyaki, $2.00

Fried chicken! It tasted good but for some reason it was cold :( I always can't help but grab myself a stick of takoyaki. Love that stuff!

Tonkotsu curry ramen, regular $6.30 & mushroom salad, $1.80 (I think)

I was really interested in this ramen because I've never eaten curry with ramen before and I wasn't sure how the two would pair. It actually tasted good! If you like Japanese curry, you'll love this :) And those mushrooms that have been marinated were quite sweet, pairing very well with the spicy kick from the curry.

If you're up for something quick, and something cheap then this place is it.

Tenkomori Ramen House
Shop 16 Regent Place, George St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Taste Of Shanghai, Ashfield

Seeing as we are a healthy Asian family with a healthy appetite for dumplings, I decided to take my family out for dumplings for my mother's birthday! Ashfield is close by, and there are lot of Shanghainese restaurants so naturally that was where we headed.

Shanghai style smoked fish in soy sauce, $10.80

I'm not sure if you all know, but us Shanghainese are very big on having a sweet element to our dishes. In a lot of the meat dishes that are soy-based, sugar is often added. I think this is how my extreme sweet tooth came to be. These pieces of fish had that extra sugar kick I was expecting and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

Grilled onion pancake, $6.80

I grew up eating these spring onion pancakes (my mum makes a mean spring onion pancake - I have cravings for them all the time!) so I had high expectations for these. The flavour profile was very different from the ones my mum makes and the pastry much flakier and fragrant from the oil (I'm suspecting it's because these are deep-fried). While I prefer my mother dearest's version, these definitely were one of the better ones I've had in Sydney.

Shredded pork with cabbage stir fried rice cakes, $10.80

I normally love nian gao, but these rice cakes were quite oily and lacked flavour. If you're feeling like eating rice cakes, I'd head over to New Shanghai just across the road because they do a fantastic stir fried rice cakes with XO sauce!

Beef and bean sprout stir-fried noodle, $10.80

These flat noodles definitely outshone the rice cakes. While the rice cakes weren't great and were quite stodgy, the flat noodles were had that wonderful smokiness that your get from the wok. If only there were more greens and less oil!

Mixed vegetable noodle soup, $9.80

I was surprised how good all the variety of mushrooms were in the mixed vegetables! It was quite salty but when eaten with the noodles and soup, it all balanced out pretty well.

Pan-seared pork dumplings, $9.80

These dumplings had an awesome crispy skin at the bottom and so much soup inside - just as good as the first time I had them here! The marks of a well made dumpling :D I hate it when I bite into the dumplings and it's all dry inside because the soup has leaked out from cracks in the skin...

Pan-fry pork buns with sesame, $9.80

I love sheng jian bao! There's just something about the fluffiness of the exterior... These ones were pretty decent, but for some reason, the bottoms were very thin and there was a lot of dough at the top! It's supposed to be the other way around so that was slightly odd for me while I was eating it. But the bottoms were crispy, and the meat inside was juicy so not much to complain about at all!

The overall bill was extremely cheap - the perks of eating Chinese food out, hey? :)

Taste of Shanghai
264 Liverpool Rd
Ashfield, NSW, 2131

Opening Hours
Daily from 10am until late

Chefs Gallery, Sydney CBD

Been keeping busy catching up with friends this past week. Last night was no different where we hit up Mizuya's happy hour (3pm-7pm) for some pre-dinner drinks before eating (:

Clockwise from back right: Hanabi (usually $13.00), Toblerone (usually $11.00), Sex on the beach (usually $13.00), $10.00 during Happy Hour

Mm, the Toblerone was really good - but definitely the ugliest out of the three! Just goes to prove that we shouldn't judge anything by how it looks. We scooped at it with spoons :P Bailey's definitely hits the spot. Though the honey at the bottom hardened because of how cold the drink was... The Hanabi was a good combination of sweet and slightly tart with vodka, peach liquor, blue curacao, peach syrup, apple juice and lemon juice. Sex on the beach was pretty standard - a mix of vodka, peach liquor, orange juice and cranberry juice. It was then time to leave for our dinner at Chef's Gallery.

Prawn and pork wonton noodles in a Shanghainese style spicy sauce, $13.50

I love the texture of the noodles at Chef's Gallery because they make them fresh every day. The texture is pretty amazing. The wontons were definitely be one of the best I've had out. The skin wasn't made of the usual egg and flour mixture, but instead was of the translucent rice kind. The prawn and pork innards were deliciously seasoned too. Loved the spicy sauce which gave the dish a light kick.

Shredded Peking duck with cucumber an hoisin sauce rolled inside a fluffy Chinese roti, $15.90

Had some pretty high expectations for the Peking duck roti because I love Peking duck and I love roti so I definitely was expecting something spectacular if they were modernising the traditional Peking duck pancakes. I was not disappointed! The hoisin sauce was spot on and was loving the duck rolled in the roti.

New Macanese style mini burger, $13.90

Aren't these mini burgers the cutest? The bun itself was deep-fried to a gorgeous golden brown and was so incredibly crispy... It did ooze a fair bit of oil when bitten into - definitely not good for my arteries but who can complain when it tasted so good? A small slice of pork, sprinkling of pork floss, and topped with lettuce and mayo, hardly anything could go wrong with this combination!

Tears of joy, $12.50

We ended the night at Adriano Zumbo. I think I come here too often... But I was lured in by his Tears of Joy cake which was only available for a limited time of 2 weeks or until sold out!! So yep, bought it. Ate it. Was super delicious... Cake got slightly smushed when I swung my bag around...

Innards

Look at all those intense layers! Encased inside the white glaze and chantilly caramel, there is coconut kalamansi creme, tempered chocolate disk, coffee brulee, raspberry gel, hazelnut dacquoise, more coconut kalamansi creme, and more tempered chocolate disk, salted toffee, hazelnut lime feuilletine and hazel dacquoise with white choc backing. So many!!

I think I ought to frequent Zumbo's less often...

Menya Mappen, Sydney CBD

For a quick meal fix before watching The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Which was really good! If you liked the book, you'll like the movie because Stephen Chbosky who wrote the novel also directed it!) yesterday, the boy and I went to Menya Mappen! Some hot noodles were exactly what I felt like eating because it was cold and windy outside. I really don't know what's happening with Sydney's summer... What I love about Menya Mappen is how quick everything is served. It really functions like a well-oiled machine. Looking at the concise menu, I easily took my pick. Spicy pork it was!

For those of you who haven't had a Mappen experience, you order at the counter with this guy who then speed cooks your noodles too! Take your pick out of regular or large, depending on how hungry you are or how big your appetite is. Check out all those strainers for easy draining of the noodles.

You will then slide your tray along and pass all that tempting tempura calling out your name in all their oily goodness. The noodle dishes themselves are really cheap but adding on a few pieces here will quickly add up so don't go too crazy so there won't be any surprises when paying at the counter later on!

Regular bukkake spicy pork miso with soba, $5.90

At the end where you pay, you can also take a scoop of tempura flakes or spring onion. I chose spring onion because who doesn't like the freshness of spring onion? The noodles were cooked exactly how I liked them - still retaining a bit of bite. The spicy pork mince was awesome too! Though the spices combined with the heat radiating off of the heater to keep all that tempura hot really started to get to me halfway through my bowl. It was getting really hot! I would really suggest you to sit far away from the tempura bar unless you like overheating haha.

Sweet potato tempura, $1.00 ;  Takoyaki, $2.00

I have a neverending love for sweet potato and sweet potato with a super crunchy tempura batter on the outside? I'm totally won over. Takoyaki is always delicious and $2.00 for the whole stick was too cheap for me to resist.

Menya Mappen will always be my stop for a quick noodle fix if I'm craving for a warm, comforting bowl of noodles (:

Menya Mappen
Shop 11, 537 - 551 George Street
Sydney, 2000, NSW
9283 5525

Opening Hours
Sunday - Wednesday: 11:30am - 10:00pm
Thursday - Saturday: 11:30am - 10:30pm