New Shanghai, Chinese, Chatswood

New Shanghai

Lower Ground Level,

Chatswood Chase

9412 3358

Bookings only on Mondays-Wednesdays

I didn't realise New Shanghai had so many branches around Sydney. I guess the good thing is that if you're ever craving a dumpling fix, you've got four different suburb options :) Chatswood, Ashfield, Bondi Junction and Charlestown Square. Huh. Thats really random since Charlestown Square is a regional shopping centre near Lake Macquarie..

If you like Shanghainese food, dumplings or just chinese food in general, you've got to hit up New Shanghai :) I remember there was a period of time where I was addicted with this place and went like five times a month.

We order two soups to start off with because 1) the hot & sour soup is really yummy, and 2) it was a cold night. These were $4.80 from memory.

Chicken and Corn Soup

Hot & Soup Soup with pork and prawns

Yay! Xiao Long Bao or otherwise known as Steamed Mini Pork Buns. Dip these in vinegar & soy sauce and enjoy!

Drunken Chicken

I think this is poached chicken in rice wine. The flavour is quite unusual so maybe steer clear unless you've tried this before.

Green Onion Pancake

I didn't get to try this but it looks really nice and crispy.

Jellyfish and beansprout salad

Jellyfish you ask? Yep thats right. I used to eat this all the time at home and never really questioned it until one day I asked my mum 'What's this?'. She said it was seaweed.. haha. But seriously, its quite yummy. Its crunch, light and has no fishy taste.

Shanghainese stir fried noodles with pork and vegetables

Deep fried calamari with salted egg yolk

This was really good! If you like the taste of salted egg yolk, you must order this. Delicious.

Braised pork belly with sweet soy sauce

Deep Fried Chicken with special garlic and chilli sauce

The verdict? Thoroughly enjoyable :) I wish they would open one in the city though.

The Good: Ridiculously cheap- the meal worked out to be $15each. Delicious food.

The Bad: The wait for a table can be quite long.

Chat Thai, Thai, Sydney

Chat Thai

Level 6

Sydney Westfield Pitt St Mall

9221 0600

http://www.chatthai.com.au/

Bookings Recommended

So. There is another Chat Thai in Sydney.. I bet the question in your mind is- is the line as long as the Haymarket Chat Thai? Sadly.. Yes. We arrived a little before 7pm but there was already a decent line of people waiting for a table.

Is the food as good? Well.. I think I should leave that up to you guys to decide for yourself..

The menu has improved in the sense that it now offers more than the standard thai fare. Anyways. Still worth trying but I think I like the original better.

Fried de-boned chicken wings sauteed with in smoked chilli jam sauce

De-boned chicken! I love it. No need to awkwardly eat this with your hands. Or a knife/fork. I think people who eat chicken wings with knives & forks are hilarious.

Stir Fried crisp pork belly and wild ginger with red curry paste

Hmmmm.. the pork belly wasn't crispy or crunchy.

Spicy char grilled beef salad

This was very flavoursome..

Crisp whole snapper in roasted chilli and garlic sauce

This was really good! Quite spicy but if you enjoy chilli this is really yummy. This and the chicken wings were my 2 favourite dishes of the night.

Red curry of roasted duck with pineapple and holy basil

Overall? It was okay. I guess you get what you pay for.. All up the bill worked out to be $25 each which was quite reasonable since we ordered 5 mains. Not much to say honestly as the experience was quite average.

The Good: The location, price

The Bad: the lines..

Kam Fook, Yumcha, Chatswood

Kam Fook

Shop 600, Level 6

Westfield Shoppingtown

28 Victor Street Chatswood

http://www.kamfook.com.au/index.htm

How was everyone's weekend? Hope everyone had a swell weekend :)

You know Kanye only needs 1minute and 43seconds to go from gangster to pure freakin awesomeness. Which brings me to this Sunday's song. Its not particularly good but it will leave you thinking 'WTF'. So enjoy :)

Anyways, back to business.

The line for this place was crazy long. We were told it would be a 2 hour wait for a table for 5 but luckily we managed to find an 'express' lane..

Beef tripe (I think)

Think I was the only person who ate this. I was really yummy though!!

Pork and vege dumplings

Chives dumplings

Siu Mai

Rice sticks? (Sorry don't really know the name of this)

Stewed pork

We also ordered a few other dishes but I sort of forgot to take photos. I don't actually know the names of the above dishes.. normally I just point to order haha. Which is why I love my Cantonese friends who do the ordering :)

The Good: Fresh and tasty yum cha. Good variety of dishes on offer

The Bad: Extremely busy on weekends

ZenQ Desserts, Desserts, Chatswood

ZenQ Desserts

Level 2, Victoria Street Entrance

Westfield Shoppingtown Chatswood

It seems like asian style dessert houses are all the rage.

ZenQ is a Taiwanese dessert restaurant which has launched its first Australian restaurant in Westfield Chatswood. Currently there are 10 ZenQ restaurants in Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong and Macau and it is the first restaurant to launch outside of Asia.

There were some pretty strange things on the menu. For example.. tuna salad toast dessert. Weird. If anyone has ever tried this please let me know how it was.. I'm both curious but also slightly disgusted.

Menu

We order the watermelon and mango shaved ice ($8.80) which was probably a bad choice. Thanks A.C! BTW remember to invite us to your future yacht parties when you're CEO ok? :D

How did it taste? Like sugar and ice + hundreds and thousands. Not particularly interesting. Personally I found ZenQ overrated.. but that might have been because we didn't try any of the traditional desserts.

The Good: Taiwanese dessert house and wide variety of desserts

The Bad: Overpriced for whats on offer. The oolong tea drink was around $7.

Cafe Cya, Korean

Cafe Cya

G2 624 George Street Sydney

(In the alleyway between MacDonalds and the Metro Hotel)

Sydney

Do you like Korean food? I'm sort of going through a Korean food phase and Cafe Cya is one of my favourite Korean restaurants in the city. The food is always good however the service is sometimes questionable.. You've got to find your own table, ask repeatedly for water and chase up on your order as they are likely to forget/lose it. But the food is good and cheap so I don't mind. You get what you pay for right?

Complimentary side dishes

These are refillable and unlimited (by the way). OH and Cafe Cya is BYO.

Fish Roe and Tofu Hotpot

I love this! I usually order this when I eat Korean haha. The soup is sooo tasty and has just the right amount of chill without burning my throat. I love the texture of cooked fish roe.

Japchae with Beef

This is Korean potato starch noodles with beef and vegetables. I've actually never had beef japchae before but this was really yummy! There's more flavour than seafood japchae as the bulgogi sauce (I think its that?) is infused into the japchae. Really yummy

Chilli Marinated Chicken

This was really tasty and addictive! I don't know how they marinate their chicken but eating this reminds me of the happy feeling you get after eating a full blown MSG meal.

The Good: Cheap! Three dishes for $40. Yummy food and unlimited free side dishes

The Bad: Service is often reminiscent of an Government agency..

Menya Oiden, Japanese, Sydney

Menya Oiden

537-551 George Street Sydney

First of all- some news! I'm on Twitter :) I'm a noob though.. never used twitter before so I'm not too sure how it works. Please add (or follow? all this facebook/twitter jargon makes my head spin) me on http://twitter.com/#!/thehungryduck See you there!

Anyways... sooo.. This morning I went to grab a coffee and noticed a new restaurant next to Menya Mappen. 'What's this?!' I asked myself. Enthralled, like a kid for whom Christmas had come early, I realised it was Menya. Oiden is an addition to the Menya chain and follows the same concept as Mappen except it serves hot piping Japanese rice bowls instead of udon bowls.

I had to try it. It didn't matter that I only had breakfast an hour ago, I was having lunch at Oiden. Hah! The determination of a foodie. On a side note- I wonder if I can claim all these meals as tax deductions..

Oiden is a 'self serve' rice bowl bar- basically you select your main and then you get toppings/additions yourself (just like in an old school cafeteria). Its cheap, the small beef bowl is $4.50 a bowl and the large $6.50. Most of the additions are around $2 each. There is also free chilled filtered water.

This is the restaurant right before noon

And shortly later a queue forms..

There's quite a few options to choose from. Since I wasn't that hungry I opted for the small beef rice bowl. But check out the menu! How cool does cheese beef bowl and ontama beef bowl sound? I'm so trying them out next time :)

Restaurant interior

I order a 'small beef bowl' and the 'small' is actually quite small - Check out the size of the bowl the guy is holding. Its a good healthy portion but I was still a bit surprised since its really small.

Creamy half-boiled eggs ($1.50)

Hot Bar Offerings ($1.50- $2.80)

Cold Bar Offerings ($0.90- $1.90)

Miso Soup ($1.50)

Beef Rice Bowl ($4.50)

The verdict? This is a guilt free lunch that's simple and tasty. A small bowl of rice topped with sukiyaki beef, shallots and pickled ginger.

I also order one chicken karaage ($2). This was deliciously crispy on the outside and tender on the inside :)

My only criticism would be the lack of healthy greens. The only greens I saw were either deep fried (ie asparagus tempura) or seaweed (which doesn't really count). Tsk! I can mentally picture my mum complaining about the oil and fat content..

Anyways I did manage to spot some fresh cold tofu ($1.50) which is healthy and sort of makes me feel better about eating that chicken karaage. Drizzle some soy sauce on top and its delicous.

Overall? Its a novel experience worth trying :)

The Good: Affordable, quick and simple meal

The Bad: Limited options (mostly rice). Also you cant really sit and chat for long.