AnimeSydney Maid Cafe 2017

I've always wanted to go to a maid cafe, but since Japan is too far away from me, I grabbed my sister to go with me to the AnimeSydney club's version of it :D It was at Sydney Park Pavilion in St Peters and there were people playing cricket on the grass fields with the maid cafe being held on the second floor hahaha! I have to say, the blasting anime music alongside the cricket match going on was a pretty funny mismatch to see hahaha.

I believe this is a once-a-year event that the uni club has been holding in recent years, so I had to come to check it out~! The service provided by the maids were very nice and kind, oh and they were so cute too! Food came out pretty fast as well but considering the simplicity of the food, it came in a reasonable amount of time hahah. But we did have to wait maybe another half an hour after our allocated booking time before we got in to sit down though.

We kinda got lost (we asked the cricket people how to get to the second floor lolol) but we eventually saw this sign and was like "Yay! We made it!" It was such a cute sign hahaha.

Little decorations on the table~ The table was big (6 people) so we shared it with another couple :D

Forgot to take a photo of the interior decorations they did but I guess you can see a bit of it here haha. One of the services that the maid cafe provided was your personal maid that attends to your table specifically and she would play an activity with you. For other tables, I saw them playing cards and for us, we did origami! Our maid showed us step by step on how to fold a bunny~ Since I'm terrible at origami, it wasn't the most relaxing activity but it was nice hahaha~

Mine is the green one on the left! XD It somehow turned out good enough hahaha!

We purchased a set meal each ($25/pp with a main meal, 2 desserts and a polaroid photo with your personal maid!) and mine was omurice for the main~ My maid asked me what I wanted her to draw on my omurice and I didn't know so I just asked for a smiley face hahaha! The rice was better than what I expected, rather warm and actually had a few pieces of chicken and peas etc, it was a nice basic meal~

Oh! We also sang along with a group of maids with words like moe moe power to make our food taste better hahaha! It was kinda weird but fun at the same time XD They were really cutee~

My sister was jealous of my smiley so she borrowed the ketchup bottle to draw her own face hahaha! My sister had Japanese curry for her main but there were barely any pieces of meat (that tasted like mystery meat lolol) with mushy veggies and she said her rice wasn't cooked properly hahaha. So that was quite disappointing. The curry was probably one of those from the packets at Daiso tbh~ it was very bland~

My dessert crepe was matcha with red bean which was kinda weird because it was literally a blob of red bean in the middle and that was all, so I was literally eating a bit of crepe with a concentrated amount of red bean paste (that was super sweeet). I think it would have tasted better if it was spread out instead since there was no balance to it at all.

My sister got the nutella version which tasted much better but with the same problem above haha. Maybe it was because the nutella wasn't as sweet as the red bean paste (possibly diluted nutella hahaha).

For the last dessert, we got a parfait~ It's not as crazy pretty as the ones in Japan and looks more like a sundae but it's definitely more of a parfait since it's filled with cream and chocolate/strawberry alongside crunchy corn flakes. The chocolate definitely tasted much better since it had pieces of brownie/cake as well whereas the strawberry was rather bland and a bit sour; mostly heaped with lots of cream and that's all.

Overall, if you're coming for the experience, it's quite worth it considering the vastly different atmosphere, service and fun you get from the anime music, games with the maid, dancing performance by the maids (it was pretty entertaining!) and a polaroid for memories! The food was definitely rather shabby so as long as you don't mind that, it's all good~ XD I would recommend checking it out next year!

Mikazuki, Parramatta

Yayyy! Parramatta is opening more Japanese restaurants! I've already been here like 3-4 times just because Mikazuki (169 Macquarie St, Parramatta) is so close to Parramatta Station since it's like right across from Arthur Phillip High School and is right next to UWS/WSU. It's a decent place that's a tad more on the expensive side but not too more than average so I really like it! Service is nice and the food comes in 10-15 minutes which I am always glad for.

Nabe Udon ($15.50)

Soy dashi flavoured white wheat noodle soup and seaweed in a pot topped w/ shallot, seaweed, naruto maki, soybean curd, tempura prawn and onsen egg

I really like the udon hereee! It's so springy but also soft making it really easy to eat and enjoy! Great for Winter and with the onsen egg mixed in, the soup is a bit eggy but filled with dashi flavour making it really lightly flavoured but not plain at all! The tempura prawn is also very big and legit, it's sweet and filled with seafood flavour and not soggy at all. Everything else is as usual since you literally just put it in to cook it so of course it was good~ I've eaten this twice already just because I've been so colddd and this warms my soul lolol.

Spicy Seafood Poke Bowl ($18.90)

Hawaiian style cube sashimi in spicy sauce and sushi rice topped  w/ seaweed, pickled ginger, avocado, nori, sesame, greens and roe

At first, I wasn't really sure whether I would like this but whoaa this was actually pretty good! Te sashimi was fresh and mixed with the spicy sauce and rice gave it a bit of a spicy but flavoursome mix. It's not very spicy at all so it's all right even if you can't eat spicy food especially since the seaweed and avocado hep to break it up from the spiciness as well. I'd recommend this~

Takoyaki ($7.50)

Octopus balls drizzled with garlic aioli, Japanese BBQ sauce, tuna shavings and seaweed paper

This isn't the cheapest of takoyaki but it most definitely is legit with the big pieces of octopus that are in the balls. It's nice and crispy outside but super hot and soft on the inside. I really liked this~ I really wanted another onee hahaha.

Large Tonkotsu Shoyu Karaage Ramen

My brother had this and thought the soup was rather salty and average for the price it had. 

Tonkotsu Miso Chashu Ramen ($15)

I wasn't a fan of the ramen either as it was pretty average, nothing special. It's not too thick so that's good but the chashu wasn't very crispy or very soft either. The noodles were very basic packet kind of noodles but the egg was perfect~~ Runny but not crazy watery kinda runny which is what I lovee~ Soup base was average in that it wasn't very good but not enough to hate it I guess? Basically, average overall.

Soft Shell Crab Roll ($12) and Crunchy Roll ($14.50)

The sushi were rather expensive for what it was considering that the rice was quite cold and more akin to boiled rice rather than sushi rice? The tempura was crunchy but it doesn't have that much meat to it and the soft shell crab was average in that it was soft but nothing special.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend the sushi or the ramen but I think the udon and rice bowls are quite delicious considering the limited options in Parramatta for Japanese food. I'll definitely continue to come here since it's so close and I love takoyaki haha. I can't wait to try all the other dishes~