Yasaka Ramen, CBD & Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts, CBD

Previously my sister visited Yasaka Ramen (126 Liverpool St, Sydney) in the beginning of 2016 and around December that year as well and she really enjoyed their ramen. So, we decided to visit again after she returned from Japan. When we first entered into the restaurant, for some reason the floor was really slippery (I nearly slipped zz) and when you go upstairs, the air is extremely pungent of ramen and pork making it really difficult to breathe. Tbh, I really didn't want to stay after that because I actually felt quite sick just sitting there lol. Anyway, we stayed and ordered. The restaurant was relatively busy around 6:30pm but we still got a table for 3 and we got our food in around 10 minutes.

Egg Ramen ($14.80)

I decided to just get something basic rather than the kakuni that my sister and brother ordered. I tried the kakuni and alike my siblings, we thought it was extremely sweet but the meat was very tender. As for the chashu, it wasn't really grilled at all and filled with fat rather than a nice balance of meat and fat. When I took a bite, it was just a mouthful of fat and I literally felt quite sick from eating it. The egg was good though, gooey and soft!

The soup base was similar to the chashu, filled with fat sadly. It was also very thick like goo. If we had to compare it to Gumshara, Gumshara has a good fat and is thick because it's filled with the nutrients of pork bones boiled in the soup for a very long time. Whereas, for Yasaka, it tasted like it had all the crappy fat and goo accumulated into the soup making it super oily and sickening. The noodles were also very plastic-ky making it very chewy but in an uncooked way.

Mango Calpis ($4.50)

This was a breath of fresh air from the fatty soup base. It was lightly sweet and very cooling in the restaurant. It was more on the watery side than the calpis side though and that's probably because of the ice and stuff. I liked it but I might have been influenced from the fact that I didn't enjoy my ramen so this was my only salvation lolol.

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts

Chocolate Tart ($4.20)

Since I really love the cheese tarts here (I like them more than Uncle Tetsu!), I thought I'd try out their new chocolate tart. Unfortunately, this way way too nutty for me and the chocolate tasted like hazelnut chocolate as well so it was an overload of a chocolate nut taste, so unless you enjoy that, this is definitely more of a nut tart than a chocolate tart.

Overall, Yasaka was definitely a disappointment and I don't think I'd like to visit again but cheese tarts (not the chocolate tart T_T) are definitely worth it~~

Umaya, Parramatta

Seeing the new Japanese restaurants opening up around Parramatta, I decided to visit Umaya (Shop 5/134-140 Marsden St, Parramatta) and although my bro already told me it wasn't that good and rather expensive, I still thought that I might as well try it. Since we went on a public holiday, it was very empty when we sat down for lunch. The staff were thus rather quick and attentive. The meals come along with side dishes like miso soup and come to around $18 so it's not too expensive but still rather expensive considering other options.

Oyako Don

Simmered chicken, onion  and eggs in Japanese sweet sake and soy sauce

My sister decided to get something different from the katsudon that her fiance and I ordered and so chose this. Although it tasted all right, it wasn't anything special and had a bit more of a stronger mirin taste than the usual ones I've had before. However, it was rather soft and smooth. There was way too much rice though.

Japanese  Katsu Curry Rice

This was probably the best out of our dishes, I stole a bit from my bro and it was quite good! Not too much rice, quite a bit of curry and it was smooth, tasty, a bit spicy with a balanced amount of meat. My brother finished it off rather quickly haha. However, he doesn't think it's worth price of around $18.

Katsu Don Chicken

Deep fried crumbed chicken fillet and eggs simmered in soy sauce and Japanese sweet sake

For me, I saw the photos on Instagram and decided to get the katsudon and honestly, it's one of the most underwhelming katsudon I have. It was very disappointing considering the heavy amount of rice with no sauce on it and the chicken was really tasteless and mushy. The egg was okay but couldn't save the rest of the dish. I'm not a fan of pickle radish and veggies etc so the sides weren't my thing either. The miso soup was quite salty as well.

Overall, I definitely wouldn't recommend this place and agree with my brother that it's rather expensive and the food isn't great either. I was excited for a new Japanese joint to open but this was disappointingly not worth the trip to go to.

Dessert Kitchen, Haymarket

I was supposed to try the ice stream ramen here but my friend and I were really cold and rather full so we got some rather lightweight desserts instead. It's located real close to Market City, like 5 mins away so super convenient to get to! (Shop 1/78 Harbour St, Haymarket) I don't really remember the prices of some besidse the drinks so can't comment much but service was quick, food came in around 10 minutes and my milk tea probably took another 5 minutes after that.

Matcha and Azuki Bean Waffle w/ Green Tea Ice Cream

Although the prices are rather average, the portion size of this one was quite small but I quite like the texture. If you like your eggettes that are crisp on the outside but light and fluffy on the inside (which is kinda my thing), then you'll enjoy this. The azuki was really sweet and seems like canned ones and the matcha ice cream had a strong taste of matcha along with that bitterness in the aftertaste. I don't mind that so it was rather refreshing with the sweetness of the azuki and the plainness of the waffle. Overall, it was a solid basic dessert but nothing outstanding. 

Mango Serradura Pudding & Hong Kong Milk Tea w/ Polar Bear Marshmallow ($6.50)

I didn't and am still quite unsure what a serradura is but it tastes like shaved ice with bread or biscuit combined together to make up this mashed up iced pudding. Not sure if the icy taste to it is because it came from the fridge or because it's a part of the taste but honestly, I didn't like this at all. Lacked real (or any) mango flavour and not a fan of that texture. 

Isn't the milk tea cuteee? I guess that's the highlight of these hot chocolates and milk teas here since there are these cute marshmallows! Honestly. I'm not a fan of marshmallows but they are rather soft and a bit powdery. It melts rather quick though so take a photo quick. Personally, I prefer the milk tea over the hot chocolate since it has a really strong and nice tea flavour to it with a bit of milk and sweetness. It's not too sweet so that was great~ I would recommend it, but it is rather expensive for how small the cup is and there are other places that are better and cheaper.

Hot Chocolate w/ Kitty Marshmallow ($6.50)

So adorableeee! As stated above, cup is very small for the price. As for the taste, I really didn't like it, didn't taste milky or creamy at all, it was more like a hot chocolate made up of mostly water and chocolate, it was quite watery so I wasn't very impressed.

Overall, I think if you're in for the gimmick of the cute marshmallows, then by all means the presentation will not disappoint you but in terms of taste of their desserts, can't really say I'd recommend the ones I tried because they honestly weren't that great besides maybe the eggettes. Maybe I'll try other desserts to see if there are hidden gems but otherwise, nothing special~~

Hong Kong Bing Sutt, Burwood

Knowing that a new HK cafe/restaurant opened quite recently, I decided to venture to Hong Kong Bing Sutt (17 Deane Street, Burwood) with my sister after checking the photos on Instagram (as usual haha).

We went there around 6pm or a bit later and we had to wait for around 15-30 minutes for 3 people~ The atmosphere is really nice in that it kinda looks like a HK cafe you would see in TVB LOL and service was relatively quick to take orders and serve the food. I don't remember the prices but they were fairly average but more on the just a bit more expensive than the average HK cafe scale.

Hong Kong Milk Tea

This seems to be the most popular ordered drink here so we had to try it~ If you like your milk tea with more of a tea taste and slight sweetness to the point where it probably wasn't even sweet at all, then you'll like this. Personally, I didn't mind it but I do enjoy my milk tea more on the sweeter side. I'm not sure how authentic this is to HK milk tea since I've never tried it in HK but people have said it is.

Baked Pork Chop Fried Rice with Tomato Sauce

If you're a fan of this dish, then it won't disappoint you but it won't wow you either. It's a pretty standard and reliable dish but it is definitely more on the tomato-ey side of things and relatively cheesy. If you like a mush of pork, tomato rice and a bit of cheese, you'll probably enjoy it :D

Curry Beef Brisket

This was my favourite of the bunch! It wasn't too spicy and the beef brisket was extremely soft and soaked in the sauce very well. If you're fond of the curry taste but can't take spiciness very well, then this will be perfect~ It was really good with the rice and we literally cleaned up the whole thing! XD

Soft Shell Crab w/ spices

Honestly, I really didn't like this. The spices, the oil and the lack of meat in the soft shell crab made this whole dish felt like eating a pile of shell with weird smelling spices, so I really didn't like this at all and wouldn't recommend it.

Overall, I don't think this restaurant is particularly special considering the long wait time but it is decent that I guess it's worth a try if you're curious. However, it's not somewhere I would recommend or feel the need to return to. The food isn't bad, it's average but nothing outstanding.