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.

The Smelly Cheesecake Cafe, Lidcombe

Mini update on life

It's been two whole months! Apologies for the MIA but I guess I always disappear around this time...and as per usual, it was because of uni. Basically, International Law and Company Law were quite tedious and I had to concentrate on studying, but I didn't stop eating lmao so I have quite a few posts coming up! (around 7~) I even stopped reading manga aiyaa, gotta catch up on that too T_T Next semester will be the last semester of my JD and my sister's wedding will be coming up in December as well, so if I disappear again, forgive me. But I'll try to keep this up somehow, I have some visual novels I would like to recommend after all!

Back to the cafe (17A Joseph St, Lidcombe)! I've been here quite a few times for cake (which I definitely recommend!) and the service is pretty quick and the environment spacious. Great for lunch and dessert but I believe it's more busy in the evening. I'd recommend this place for a nice chill chat with cake lovers~

The Smelly Big Breakfast ($16)

crumbed eggs, butter, avocado, mushrooms, kransky, bacon,  mac and cheese, roasted cherry tomatoes, polenta chips & sourdough

I didn't realise that they had a big breakfast and it's cheaper than other cafes! So, of course I had to go check it out as a big brekkie lover~ The thing that I was most impressed with on his plate would have to be the kransky sausage, I've had so many cheap crappy sausages from other cafes so I was very happy that this was a nicer one! Bacon was pretty crisp but soft as well, which I enjoyed and the bread wasn't too hard. The avocado was mixed with boiled egg or something and was very smooth and fresh, so that was an extra plus! There was only one piece of mushroom but it was juicy and soft!

The crumbed egg is basically a scotch egg and I've never had one before so can't comment much about that but I do prefer my usual scrambled eggs instead of this. Polenta chips were rather weird with the mushy texture that seems like a chip but tastes rather like raw potato or something, it's hard to describe but I didn't like it. Don't like cooked tomatoes so that was a no and the mac & cheese was too creamy for me. Another minus would be that plastic paper under all the food that broke when I was cutting my food and needless to say, I do not enjoy eating random bits of paper/plastic.

Overall, it was a nice brekkie but I only liked half of it so I can't say it was the most enjoyable. To this day, I think the big breakfast at XS Espresso in Wetherill Park is my favourite, it was perrrfect! I might have to try it again to see if it is still my #1 hahaha~

Green Tea Cheesecake (~$7)

This is probably the most popular cheesecake in this shop so I really wanted to try it~  This is probably the most desirable texture I want for a cheesecake. For me, Uncle Tetsu's is too fluffy that it tastes like a cloud and as if I didn't eat anything at all. Whereas, normal cheesecakes are very heavy and although I like it, I'm not the most fond of it. As for this cheesecake, it has the best of both worlds (for me anyway~) It's light and fluffy on top but it still has that creamy cheesecake taste that is dense but not heavy on the bottom. So when you eat it together, voila! It's perfect LOL. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it any better but I'd definitely recommend trying this. It has quite a strong green tea taste accompanied with that slight bitterness though so you might wanna try a different flavour if green tea isn't your thing.

Mango Cheesecake

Same texture as above that I like but mango flavour! More than a sweet taste though, it has that sweet and sour fruity taste to it. I think I would have liked it more if it was sweeter but it was still nice~

White Chocolate Cheesecake

I reallyyy love this one! It's heavier than the other two but it's just so smooth and creamy with a aptly sweet chocolate taste that I can't help but enjoy it. The biscuit crumbs on top add to this without being overly sweet and gives it a nice crunchy addition. It was paired nicely and I really enjoyed it~ I've eaten it twice already hahaha~

Flat White (S $3.50)

Just a photo of this! I've actually never tried a flat white before and I forgot to take a sip of it from my sister haha, think it was average~ She was sad that there was no lactose-free milk though.

Mocha (S $4,20)

My mocha was pretty nice. Nice balance of chocolate and coffee with a light tinge of sweetness. I usually don't like it too sweet or too bitter so this was just right~!

Overall, coffee is not bad and breakfast was okay but the highlight is most definitely the cheesecake! Even if you don't have anything else, you definitely have to try the cake! There's one in Strathfield and Lidcombe so I'd recommend trying one of them~

Haven Tailoring Coffee Joyously, Surry Hills

My sister gave me a voucher to come here (a while ago LOL, such a late post) and so I came along to try the beautiful instagram-worthy egg waffles for my breakfast haha. It's located very near to Central station at 30-34 Chalmers Street, Surry Hills and I didn't need to wait in line on a Friday around 10:30-11am. Service was quick, nice and attentive. Chairs weren't the most comfortable but it was okay haha.

Dragon's Breath

I think that's what it was called, it's been a while so can't remember the name of the drink haha. But, I assume it was the oolong tea with apple and honey. My bad memory can probably be attributed to the fact that it didn't have a strong taste of any of those and was rather watery as time passed. It was more of refreshing subtle blend of everything. A tad sweet but near non-existent, a light and refreshing drink paired well with the sweet egg waffle.

Zucchini Hotcakes w/ Truffle Oil ($16.50)

Green peas & zucchini hotcakes, sugar snap, carrot stir-fry, fresh chilli, feta crumbs, black truffle oil, fluffy yoghurt dressing

Friend really enjoyed this. Especially the zucchini and truffle oil. I ate a bit but was too overwhelmed by the zucchini and dressing that I couldn't take more than two bites. Don't think I like savoury hotcakes with zucchini or corn or whatever.

Tiramisu Egg Waffle ($16.50)

Espresso infused marsala reduction, whipped cream. mascarpone mousse, dark chocolate baked cream, fresh strawberries, classic plain waffle

Waffle was very nice and soft with a bit of chewiness. It paired well with the cream, mousse and baked cream. Didn't like the cocoa lol and strawberries were sour. Wasn't overly into the mousse since it was quite sweet but that dark chocolate cream, although baked was really nice with the waffle.

Nutty Cold Brew ($6)

Friend enjoyed it, I hate bitter stuff so it just tasted like bitter water to me LOL

Overall, really enjoyed the atmosphere and service here. It's so close to Central station as well so that's a plus! I really wanna try the other egg waffles, I think that was the main highlight for me hahaha.

One Tea Lounge & Grill, CBD

Long overdue post as usual~! I went to One Tea Lounge (73 York Street, CBD) for our 20th friendversary and we got a bit lost because someone was blocking the door LOL zz. We also promptly rushed to see Aladdin by riding an uber back to Capitol Theatre hahaha! It was a good day.

As for service, it was swift and prompt. I didn't even need to really book a table since when I went on a Thursday night, there were a few empty tables. I was happy that the food came fast~

Cookie Shots (2 for $16)

Choose cookie (matcha, chocolate brownie, red velvet or taro) + choose beverage (matcha latte, nutella latte, red velvet latte, taro latte)

Chose matcha and chocolate brownie w/ matcha latte. Matcha latte wasn't sweet at all and retained a light bitter taste of matcha that I surprisingly enjoyed. It paired well with the cookie since the cookie has all the sweetness and the latte makes it soft and easier to eat. Quite hard by itself but very nice together! They're smaller than I thought but that's okay~

Matcha Volcano Cheese Sizzle ($25)

Fusion of koshikari sushi matcha rice w/ wagyu beef, stir fry, red radish, egg and matcha cheese on a sizzling hot plate

So good. Totally recommend this. Everything cooked to perfection on sizzling plate. Looks disgusting when mixed but has a good subtle matcha taste with tender wagyu beef that melts in mouth. Such a weird but good fried rice.

Peking Duck Waffle Fries ($17)

w/ housemade spicy hoisin and fried shallots

Too spicy for me but the waffle fries were nicely crisp. A different and interesting dish but not my type.

Popcorn Curry Chicken w/ Matcha Mayo ($11)

Pretty nice, could have been more tender but still good. Didn't really like the curry flavour with the matcha mayo and matcha mayo overpowered everything anyway lol. Tasted a bit more like wasabi mayo instead. All right dish.

Left: Japanese Highballer ($18) a twist on a classic whisky highball. kakubin whisky topped with house-made matcha soda for refreshing & sophisticated edge with notes of apricot, honey & vanilla

Right: Splice up your Life ($18) a green tea twist of the iconic midori splice cocktail that so many love. midori topped with green tea infused pineapple juice finished with a sweet decadent layer of whipped cream. It’s sweet and creamy and the perfect drink for the ladies! (from website)

Left definitely tasted better but right still good. Kinda creamy and sweet whereas the left was just nicely balanced and had a nice mix of everything to make it very sweet and refreshing.

Overall, I think the food is kinda pricey for what it is but still worth a try! I mean, they do have rather interesting things on their menu and I thought there might be a matcha overload, but surprisingly, there wasn't, which I am very glad for hahaha. Atmosphere is nice for a good chat over some matcha themed food.

Leaf Cafe & Co, Lidcombe

Lalala, I'm so behind with these posts~

Leaf & Co (7/92 Parramatta Road, Lidcombe Centre) became an unexpected favourite of mine after visiting last year. Not the most convenient for me though since it is located in Lidcombe Centre, across Costco. Service was friendly and swift though so I would really like to visit and try other food again haha.

The Spread!

Stranana ($7.50), Passion Mango ($7.50)

Stranana (strawberry, banana, milk, honey) and Passion Mango (mango, banana, passion fruit)

Sooo yuumm! My friend enjoyed the mango and I absolutely loved the Stranana! Such a good milkshake omgg, it was a bit frothy and creamy but not too much of an overload as I slowly drank it. Tasted sweetly like strawberries and was quite milky. I really enjoyed it and would totally recommend it! I want another one!

Chicken Schnitzel ($16)

With mushroom sauce and steakhouse chips

My friend recommended this and omg, her recommendation was on point because I really loved it! The schnitzel was very crispy and golden on the outside but the innards were so juicy and rich. It was so good! The accompanying mushroom sauce also made the chips and schnitzel even more enjoyable. Definitely recommended. 

Grilled Vegetarian ($12)

Grilled kumara, grilled zucchini, snow pea tendrils, crumbed chevre, caramelised onion, pesto mayo on sourdough

My friend got this one. We weren't all too keen with the name of this sandwich but surprisingly, my friend said it was really good! I also have to say that it looked really juicy and delicious as well hahaha.

Overall, I really enjoyed the simple cafe layout alongside the drinks and food here and would definitely come again in the future for some more brunch <3

Ho Jiak, Strathfield

This is supeer late but better late than never right? LOL

Anywho, I'm surprised that Ho Jiak (33/11 The Boulevard, Strathfield) is sooo close to the station! It's one of those shops you just walk by in the Strathfield Plaza and immediately forget hahaha. They have some seating but not much so be prepared to be fighting for those seats that are catered for all the little food shops in the plaza. They may not be the most comfortable but seats are seats haha! The food came rather quickly as well so that's good!

Roti Canai with Curry Chicken ($12.80)

I realllyyy like the roti here! So soft and crispy! The chicken was also seasoned nicely without a strong spicy taste, instead it was quite balanced with a bit of spicy enhancing the flavour but not going crazy. The texture of the chicken could've been less rough but the sauce makes up for that <3

Flying Hokkien Char Mee

Thisss is what I came for! Hahaha! As you can probably see, I can tell you that this dish tastes as salty as it looks LOL. That sauce is quite crazy that it was quite difficult to eat through this without water for sure. Definitely more of a gimmicky dish than a good tasting one. Noodles were nice though.

Indomee Goreng ($13.80)

Unfortunately, this dish was quite overpowering with the spices as well T_T I do like the sauces and textures of the dishes but this was too salty for me as well. I enjoyed it but I couldn't eat too much of it haha.

Overall, if you don't mind some rough seating/food court kinda style seats, then this would be a nice place for a quick fix of roti that I immensely enjoyed. The milk tea here was also really good! I enjoyed that the most haha. Otherwise, I can't recommend the other two dishes since they're quite condensed and drenched with the overpowering taste of salt.

Mr Wong, CBD

My other posts are superrr late so I thought I might as well do this one first hahaha. A few days ago, I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen in a year and she wanted to try out Mr Wong (3 Bridge St, Sydney) for lunch and so after a bit of getting lost (LOL) we finally made it here from Wynyard station! It wasn't very far at all, we were just lost hahaha. Service is quick and helpful but they're very busy so it's a bit hard to get their attention. I'm not very fond of these restaurants that have such low lighting that it feels like I'm gonna fall asleep any minute though loll.

This was from their CNY menu and I can't exactly remember what it was but it's basically a dumpling ($15 D:) with mashed prawn, potato(?) and maybe lotus root inside covered by a spirally layer bread crumb texture outside. The top is coated with some caviar and gold leaf I presume.

IMO, since I'm cheap (LOL) $15 for a dumpling is a difficult thing for me to ever think is worth it so take that into consideration when I state my tastes haha. But, personally, I wasn't very fond of the outside layer, quite crumbly and bread-ish. I guess I'm just not a big fan of a lot of stuff mashed together inside a dumpling. It wasn't bad though.

BBQ Pork Rice Roll ($13)

Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed this one! The highlight is most definitely the chewy but extremely soft texture of the rice roll. I hate it when the rice roll breaks so this was really good! Kinda regretting the BBQ pork choice though because prawns would've tasted much better haha. Sauce could've been more sweeter imo since it's a rather normal salty soy sauce.

  

Sweet and Sour Crispy Pork Hock ($29)

  

My friend saw a lot of photos of this online and so we asked the waitress what it was and she told us it was pork hock! I was surprised! I wasn't expecting much even though the photos looked good but I loved the texture of this one too! It was so crispy but also soft and crunchy drenched generously with a sweet and sour sauce. The only negative would be that it was more sour than sweet but definitely pretty good.

Wild Mushroom Dumplings ($12) 

I don't have much to say about these ones since I wasn't that fond of them haha. They don't taste anything special haha but it was very soft and neatly melted in my mouth hahaha.

Scallop and Prawn Shumai ($12) 

My usual favourite for any yumcha would be dim sim and so this was a must! Sadly, I didn't think this was anything special either, the texture of the meat was probably too mashed up for me to really taste the goodness of the dim sim that I love.

Overall, I'd say that the dumplings are rather average from my experience and so from what I tasted from the pork hock, the highlight of Mr Wong may lie in their food dishes instead because dangg the textures of these foods are so good. Not sure about their choices of sauce blends (or it's catered for the Western tongue, who knows~) but I think this place is worth a try if you're eager. Dinner or a big lunch might be the more wise choice though.

Social Hideout Cafe, Parramatta

I've been wanting to try out more cafes in Parramatta since I live so close to there and should explore it a bit more hahaha, thus I ventured to Social Hideout (2a/20 Victoria Road, Parramatta). It wasn't very far away from the station but probably around a 15 minute walk since it's sort of close to the Riverside Theatre. Luckily, there was no line when we arrived around 12pm on a weekday. Service was quite quick but I'm not very fond of their table sitting arrangements haha.

The Hayne Plane ($21.50)

Poached eggs, avocado, baby spinach, thyme mushrooms, smoked tomato, turkey, smoked salmon, sourdough

Looks pretty good aye! My brother said it was pretty okay, not bad. Fresh and nice~

Wagyu Burger ($18.90)

Wagyu beef, onion jam, aioli, tomato, American cheese, crunchy chips, Japanese milk bun

On the other hand, my sister was rather disappointed with her burger since it tasted rather average and her crunchy chips weren't crunchy at all haha. The milk bun was soft but nothing special either.

Social Hideout Breakfast ($19.90)

Poached eggs, bacon, sausage, hash, thyme mushrooms, roasted tomato, sourdough

After this platter, I realised that I really don't like poached eggs or I especially did not like these ones because that egg yolk was soo runny, it was like water leaking and I could not like it. Bacon and hash browns were really crisp and nice and the tomato wasn't too soggy (yay!). Mushrooms were all right but the bread was dangg hard, I gave up on it hahaha. But the worst were those sausages! It tastes just like those cheap 10 or 20 in a pack sausages that are a bargain but taste like fake sour meat and I was so disappointed in it considering a big breakfast these days is $20 and I cant' even get a decent sausage, sigh.

Overall, it was nice to go try it out but considering the distance from the station (I'm lazy) and the mostly average food, I think it's not somewhere I'd like to go back to, tbh.

The Charlim, Lidcombe

Happy new year! First review of the year yee~ I actually came here a while ago but completely forgot to review it! Hahaha, I came here for dinner with my friends but they have said that the lunch menu at The Charlim (Lidcombe Centre, 92 Parramatta Road, Lidcombe) is cheap and great as well! 

There's no line here but it is quite lively and the service is quick and nice! It is also quite spacious and I love that vacuum thingo tube that comes from the ceiling to suck in all the Korean BBQ smoke! Makes my life much easier and doesn't make my hair smell so much like it either. To be fair, they're located in Lidcombe Centre though so they probably had to have that haha. Anywho, convenient place for lunch and some shopping for groceries!

BBQ Beef Set ($90)

I can't remember the price but seeing the menu online, it seems like it's this one. We shared this with four people altogether with another three side dishes and we were plenty full! The meat was nice, tender and fresh but since we were noobs at BBQing our own meat (other people always do it for us! HAHA) the waitress helped us out a lot by coming over every now and then to cook it for us lmao. That was really nice of her and we all got a good share of meat.

Seafood Shallot Pancake ($15)

Quite a normal pancake that I enjoyed but I think there was a lot of shallot and not quite as much seafood. There wasn't much taste to it either so I dipped it in some sauce too. I usually don't prefer to dip it in sauce so yeah haha.

Steamed Egg ($10)

This was really nice and fluffyy! Not as fluffy as the steamed egg my Dad makes (he is a chef as well after all~) but this was still pretty good. Nice, simple and yum.

Fried Dumplings ($10)

Out of all the dishes, I think I enjoyed this one the most, it was crunchy but filled with soft meat and tender meat juices. I happily indulged in it hahaha.

Our meal came with all this! Sauces and two big bowls of salad and veggies.

Look at all those veggies haha!

The only disappointing thing would have to be the side dishes. I wasn't much of a fan of the radish or cauliflower which were more on the sour side. Kimchi was sour and spicy as well. which I wasn't very fond of.

Overall, I think this is a nice place to enjoy some Korean BBQ and some dishes for quiet but still lively dinner or lunch, especially if there are things you would want to grab at Coles, Woolworths, Priceline, Target or Daiso Japan since they're all in this one place making it super convenient! I enjoyed dining in this place and the food was pretty good as well, I'd definitely want to try their lunch specials next time!