Half Yearly (Jan-Jul) Food Favourites

Life Update

How many times have I left my food blog for months without posting? Probably too many to count haha. As always, real life has been busy and stressful since I've graduated but haven't found a paying job to feed myself lol. The good thing is, I've finally started my practical legal training and so I'll be looking for a part time job whilst I try to finish that.  Basically, I'm poor and stressed haha! But I'll still eat LOL.

If anyone is still reading this blog, to accommodate my on and off periods and my stress, I've decided to make it easier on myself. Instead of doing restaurant reviews, I've decided to try and post monthly on what foods/dishes from what restaurants/places I have visited that I most enjoyed for that month. So basically, it'll be all about praises where I can reminisce about the best food I had for that month and what I would actually go back and eat again in the future. This would be more beneficial to me as well since it's difficult for me to remember what food I've actually enjoyed that much, so yeah, if I'm posting about it from now on, it must mean that I absolutely loved it!

Lil Miss Collins

13 Wentworth St, Parramatta

Poached Chicken Breast Salad ($16)

Breast chicken, walnuts, snow pea leaf, baby kale, apple, chickpeas topped with berry compote seeds topped with chef's dressing

I still remember this salad. I legit ate this in February but I still remember it because it was that good and I usually hate salads. The chicken was so tasty and tender, it was unbelievable and the dressing just made everything work so well with each other, it was so delicious. It didn't feel heavy, but I was full. Perfect balance of saltiness to complement the freshness of the salad and the dressing, I actually really want to go again just to eat this hahahah.

King-T

Shop 18/127-133 Burwood Road, Burwood

Mixed Fruits Green Tea ($6.50)

This was the first time I've ever drank the popular mixed fruits teas and I can honestly say that I'm sold! It's so refreshing and sweet! The green tea was also subtle but apparent making the tea have a great balance of sweet and the tea taste, I'd say it's on the sweeter side though. But really though, the price is not bad and it's super fresh and tasty, hard to pass this one when you're in Burwood! The line can be really long at times though!

Cafe Zodova

28A South St, Granville

Chicken Schnitzel ($15)

The other time, I decided to try a local cafe and I was really craving a chicken schnitzel so I just went for it instead of my usual brunch options. I'm so happy I did though because I did not choose wrong! The schnitzel was nicely crumbed, tender, and full of flavour even by itself, I wouldn't have even needed the sauce because the chicken was just cooked so nicely! The only sad thing was that it's not a gigantic schnitzel but that's fair enough hahaha. Chips were nice and crunchy too but a tad too salty, which makes the salad perfect to cleanse the saltiness of the chips haha! Great overall meal and would definitely recommend if you ever came along~

Kanzo Fresh Sushi TO GO

Shop 6/55-67 George St, Parramatta

Salmon Lover Platter ($49)

12 pcs nigiri, 8 pcs sashimi, 8 pcs large, 6 pcs medium and 12 pcs baby roll

Fyi, I've been to the restaurant but I like the takeaway store with limited seating much better. Anyway, this platter is awesome. It's relatively cheap and so worth it. My bro and I have ordered it takeaway quite a few times already and most of the time, the salmon is quite fresh. It's got a variety of salmon prepared in different ways and personally, I love the baby rolls the most because they have the perfect salmon to rice ratio. Otherwise, solid platter if all you love is salmon and can't get enough of it lmao, I've shared this with my brother and we finish it quite easily for our dinner haha.

Cuppa Flower

1/15 Allen St, Waterloo

Giant Tempura Soft Shell Crab Croissant ($23.80)

Fried eggs, fish roe, sriracha mayo

Isn't this so beautiful?! The moment I saw it on Instagram, I knew I had to order this and happily, it really does taste as good as it looks! It's so worth it (even though it sounds expensive) because the crab is a very generous portion and really complements well with the mayo and croissant. It has a very nice crunch and flavour to it when eaten altogether and the croissant is sooo soft and crunchy by itself as well. Everything was done so well in this dish that I'm still so mesmerised by it just looking at the photo. It's extremely filling btw, I barely finished it haha! Egg was runny and yess,  about the crab again LOL, it was so juicy! Absolutely recommend! It was a trek to get to Waterloo but it was worth it <3

New Shanghai Night

267c Liverpool St, Ashfield

Pan Fried Pork Buns

I can't remember the price but all the food here was pretty cheap, we had 6 dishes and it was ~$70 total. Anyway, if you don't mind the cramped space and the loud atmosphere at the usual Asian restaurants then you must come here! The buns are sooo good, it has a good amount of "wok air" where the bottom is nicely crisp and the top is so soft. The meat is super juicy as well! I don't think I've had a pan fried pork bun I've been so satisfied with in so long, super super recommend~! The line can get a bit long though, so watch out for that. Otherwise, the pan fried dumplings and steamed dumplings were really great too! I'd say I love this much more than New Shanghai and Taste of Shanghai.

Xi'an Eatery 西安诱惑

183D Burwood Rd, Burwood

Biang Biang Noodles ($12.80)

I love this restaurant, like legit my favourite restaurant in Burwood right now, mainly because of these Biang Biang noodles. I thought they were going to be overhyped noodles on Instagram but NOPE, so good. It's so chewy, and thick but so easily slurped up. The taste is amazing as well with it being nicely mixed with meats and other veggies such as tomatoes making it not heavy at all! I could literally have another bowl lol. The noodles are definitely the highlight and are a must try! Other dishes worth mentioning would have to be the pan fried dumplings because they were very light and tasty as well, thin wrapping, juicy meat, sooo good! The pulled pork burger was also pretty nice.

Vinh Phat Chinese Seafood Restaurant

12/10 Hughes St, Cabramatta

Egg tarts

I used to love Rhodes Phoenix egg tarts for yumcha the most but NOPE, after visiting Vinh Phat (15-20mins line on a Saturday afternoon, it looks long but line moves quite fast), I have found my favourite egg tarts. They're so huge as well omg. It's so creamy, sweet and legit melts in your mouth, I had two because I saw them come out with fresh ones omggg, so worth the calories! The pastry is quite thin and flaky so it doesn't take from the creaminess and just makes it taste even better, love love it! You can't go and not try these!

Whew! Finally done! These are the foods I've enjoyed the most in the past half a year I've disappeared haha, so hopefully I'll be back next month with more~! I'm getting hungry again after writing this up lmao.

JUAN - Bowl & Tea, Redfern

First post of the year!~ I came here last year but I've been busy applying to the College of Law and doing assignments and looking for someone to take me in for my PLT hahahah so yeah, things will be slow as usual XD I haven't given up on my blog yet though! It's always nice to come back and see what I think about foods I've eaten before hahaha.

On to Juan, it's a neat little place that requires bookings since it's a rather small-sized shop with few staff and I'd say it's more on the expensive side as well. It's very clean and sorta artistic though, which I like, it's got a good vibe.

Honestly, I can't remember if this was Chicken/Pork Katsudon but anyway it was around $18 iirc and dangg the egg was good. Loved it. As for the, yeah I'm pretty sure it's pork now hahaha, the texture varied. Some were rather tough and dry (might also be because it got cold as I ate it I guess or maybe just the meat-fat ratio was unbalanced since it was quite meaty) but the first few pieces I ate were so good. Texture was crunchy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside, nearly melting in my mouth. Sauce was more on the salty side but made it flavoursome. I'd say the rice and egg was the highlight though because that was perfect~ 

The Wagyu Beef Rice Bowl was probably better in terms of appearance than the taste. Wagyu tasted rather plain and not very smooth. Portion size was also really small. My brother and I weren't a fan of this one, unfortunately.

Just a photo of tea! My brother's girlfriend's sister got the tea that is best accompanied with the wagyu XD Just wanted to say that the tea cup was so pretty~

Think I got the peach iced tea and my brother's girlfriend got something similar but different flavour. To be honest, I didn't like this lol, I couldn't taste the peach at all and probably could barely smell it. The syrup helped with the sweetness but tbh, it reminded me of Lipton Iced Tea without that dry aftertaste. I'd say it was more of a sweet syrupy iced water.

The Sakura Matcha Tiramisu was so yumm~ It's so soft, spongey and full of matcha goodness. It's quite on the soggy side but I don't mind that~ You can apparently smell sakura from it but I couldn't really tell hahaha. Definitely recommended~

Overall, I'd say the atmosphere, the plating and interior was really artistic and nice but the food is rather average The only thing I'd really recommend is the tiramisu just because it's so pretty, soft and sweet!