Yok Yor Thai Food Factory, Haymarket

The initial plan for this post was meant to just be a photolog (where I just put up a couple of photos with minimal words, for reasons like the lack of memory or information). The reason for that was because I either lost some photos, hence wasn't able to write a detailed entry on my visit to the restaurant, or I was too hungry I actually forgot to snap some photos which will eventually lead to the former excuse. But thankfully, I managed to grab some photos off my dinner partner-in-crime, which explains why some photos are different in colour and filters (I tend to only use filters only when photos come from a phone rather than a proper camera). So, lucky me will actually get to put my memory to good use!

The restaurant in topic today is Yok Yor Thai Food Factory in Haymarket. I walked past Yok Yor countless of times, but it's always a wrong timing when I do. They are located on Castlereagh Street, which is away from the usual Thai street (aka Pitt Street). Whenever I do walk past Yok Yor, it's always the after-dinner walk that leads me there, or late in the night when having supper really isn't an option. Also, Thai food is always a challenge for me. I can't take too spicy food that kills all my taste buds because I'll end up with a sore throat and swollen lips. Sexy much? Yok Yor has a really interesting concept of a food factory, the people working in there are in overalls and it's very much like a construction site! They reminded me of the minions in the movie Despicable Me, how cute.

We needed some drinks to start with, so we ordered Thai milk tea and Thai black coffee. Both drinks are at $3 each, which is the cheapest I've ever had. I liked how the milk tea isn't too sweet with too much condensed milk in it, and surprisingly I liked their black coffee too! I'm not an espresso person, so anything black is not my taste. But their coffee, oh my, it's not too bitter and there is this sweetness within its bitterness. Is there a recipe to make this? I totally need to get my hands on them, yum! The drinks also came in handy with an impeding spicy experience, read on!

The entree we picked was the gai hor bai teuy ($6.20 for 4 pieces). They are fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves, which wasn't quite I imagined it to be. Think Cantonese style glutinous rice wrapped in pandan leaves, that is what I thought it'd be. However, this was a good pick. The chicken was so well marinated - no dryness in the meat, juice flowing out with each bite you take.. Hahaha, I reckon calling it juice is very adequate because it's not sauce and it's flowing out of the chicken! You can actually eat the pandan leave if you like. I've tried both - the first try without the leave, the second piece with the leave on. I prefer the chicken without the leave though, just because barbecued leaves are a tad difficult to tear/bite apart. 

Because of my slight obsession with boat noodles, we had to order the pork kuay teaw rua ($4.90 for small bowl).  It is a traditional rice noodle soup in brown both - the broth contains cinnamon, star anise and occasionally pork blood. There are meatballs, vegetables and pork lard in this boat noodle soup, which is awesome. For $4.90, I can't really complain about anything except that it was way too spicy for me. I could sense the flavours in the soup broth, which was really fragrant, but I could hardly taste much of it. That was a major disappointment, but I would recommend it if you could go past the spice level. 

Another challenge was posed. Being huge fans of pad prik khing, we needed to try Yok Yor's version to see if this could fight against our favourite at Satang Thai. Pad prik khing ($14.50) - which was pork belly tossed in red curry paste, green bean and lime leaves. We have had PPKs in other Thai restaurants, some do it well but was served with raw green beans while some were way too spicy. This was it. Yok Yor's PPK was way too spicy that even K couldn't take more! We packed the remainder home and tried to cook it with heaps of sugar, but that didn't help at all. So, try it at your own risk! Otherwise, I remember the green beans were cooked and the pork belly was crisp. Nothing to fuss about except that I can't even rate it because I couldn't taste it at all. 

We made a right decision in ordering their goong ob woonsend ($14.50), which was glass noodles tossed in soy sauce with braised king prawn in a hot pot. This was absolutely delicious, given that we had some major trauma done to our taste buds in the previous dishes. Having said that, the glass noodles were a tad too soggy and wet that they stick together, so they end up in clumps. Otherwise, the wok taste is sufficient and it was flavourful (finally something we can taste well!). The prawns were a little tough but still juicy though. Not a must-try, but I reckon it's worth trying!

By the end of our spicy trauma, we needed a really light dessert to comfort our taste buds so we decided on their Thai tea ice cream with sweet potato ($5.90). This ice cream is made from Thai milk tea, which was truly comforting on my raging tummies. It was light, not to sweet, which was exactly like how their Thai milk tea tastes like! The addition of sweet potato was a tad weird to me, but it creates a slight crunchy texture to the ice cream which is a nice touch. It's like having bubble tea with pearls ;) 

Home Cafe (Chinatown), Sydney

Happy August, everyone! August is a month of celebration for me because my birthday falls in this month (yay to good food!) and so are the birthdays of my sister A and my brother E (psst, we share the same birthday). I'm hoping this month will be filled with more happiness and less worries and gloominess.

Anyway, back to the review!

When renovations were going on last year, we got excited when they spotted the Home Thai logo on the outer wall! You know, the one with yellow diamond and the word "home" in it. We got excited because 1) it was something familiar, 2) it should most likely be a place with heaps of good food and 3) could it be something different from the usual Home Thai restaurants?

So finally, we managed to bring ourselves to Home Cafe after feeling really hungry and not knowing what to eat. It was no doubt that they were managed by the same group/owners, given the menu, the food and of course, the name. Home Cafe is a two-level restaurant, with an interesting concept to it. They have the rustic sort of furnishing which I love, so it felt really cosy and chill. We were then given the menu, which were essentially the same stuff offered by Home Thai restaurants - we were kinda disappointed.

We had lunch at around slightly after 3, so it wasn't crowded at all. Though we were disapopinted with the menu, we went ahead with our order because we were just so hungry and it didn't take too long for our thai milk tea and thai iced coffee to be served.

We ordered two mains and one entree to share! Sorry this photo is a little warped, I reckon I was trying out the panorama function on my phone :/

For entree, we ordered the duck spring roll ($9.90 for 6 pieces), which was roast duck wrapped with pickled cucumber, pickled carrots, cabbage, coriander, sweet basil and mint and they were served with black bean sauce. 

I remember seeing this on the menu at Home Thai Sussex St, but never got the chance to order it because everything else looked better. The duck rolls were refreshing with the inclusion of mint, but otherwise this was slightly disappointing. It was a tad dry and it would score so much better if they added the black bean sauce in the roll instead, rather than smearing it across the plate. 

One of the mains we had was pad thai woon sen ($9.90) - wok tossed vermicelli with soft tofu, egg, pickled radish, garlic chives, bean sprouts, chilli powder, tamarind sauce, palm sugar and fish sauce. I chose the option to have vegetables since we ordered a duck roll and beef curry. I eat very little spice and this killed way too much taste buds than I ever liked. I didn't think it was this spicy when I ordered it, but I can't fault them either. I should have placed a special order for one without chilli powder, my bad. But otherwise, it wasn't too bad a dish if not for the spiciness. Even K who take spicy food pretty well couldn't take it either. So, the both of us can't really say much about this noodles at all. 

The other main we shared was Masamun beef curry with rice ($13.90) - slow cooked beef with Masamun curry paste, coconut milk, tomato, onions, peanuts, topped with fried onions. We had this a couple of times at the main Home Thai branch, so you can say it is a safe choice. The curry is sweet with a tingling spiciness in it, which isn't too overwhelming for me. Despite the small portion, we had difficulty finishing it since we ordered too much food again, but this curry was the best decision in our meal. 

I honestly didn't think the menu will be same for this cafe-style Home Thai. I've read a little about it on Urbanspoon and it seems like they do coffees pretty well. Apparently, they have a wine bar concept coming up, so I'll be sure to wait for that to happen before I visit Home Thai again. 

Home Café (Wine Bar) (website/urbanspoon)

Corner Liverpool Street and Dixon Lane
Sydney NSW 2000

Seoul Ria, Sydney

I've never thought of going to Seoul Ria for Korean food, I honestly wonder why. Maybe because there are heaps of Korean restaurants on Pitt Street (where there are many Thai restaurants too), so it is always easier to pick from there - okay, this doesn't quite make sense. Nevertheless, a group of friends from home visited Sydney and another friend A suggested that we should take them to Seoul Ria, though technically I'm not qualified to take them there since I've never been there myself.

On my first visit to Seoul Ria, I was equally surprised by the price and the quality of the food. Not that it was surprisingly cheaper than other Korean restaurants, the food was actually pretty yummy. I didn't take any photos that first time because we were all famished and we could only take a group shot before digging in. A group of 10 of us were seated at the back of the restaurant, and it was so difficult to get anyone's attention! I can't remember if there was a buzzer on the side of the table like all other tables, but the wait staff was not that attentive for sure. Also, the staff don't acknowledge that they understood our needs (like asking for a pair of scissors to cut up the meat or for more water..), and sometimes they may end up bringing the extra pair of scissors after we already had two extra pairs. Our total bill worked out to be about $16 per person, which was superb!

Anyway, we visited Seoul Ria again because their seafood pancake was that good. Other than that, I don't ever think I'll visit again for any of their ban chan or dishes or hotpots.

Here are the pictures!

As with all other Korean restaurants, their ban chans are free of charge and you can ask for more whenever you're finished with any of them. Like always, the best way to know if you're ever coming back to the restaurant is to have the simplest dishes that they offer - the ban chan is definitely one way. Sadly, we have had better ban chan elsewhere (read about my favourite Korean restaurant Boom Bi Na here).

Here comes the bomb - the Korean seafood and shallot pancake ($18). Without a doubt, this has to be the best seafood and shallot pancake I've ever had in Sydney. There is a generous amount of seafood and an equal amount of chives/shallots in it and the pancake was pan-fried to perfection. The centre of the pancake was slightly dough-like and soft but not too much that it's not cooked. The sides were also crisp and the pancake wasn't bland that you need to dip into the accompanying sauce. Other than the fact that it's oily and this really can't be helped at all, there's really nothing to pick on this seafood pancake!

On the page for chef's recommendation, we picked their gganpoong gi ($28) which was spicy and sour fried chicken. Some pieces of chicken were slightly soggy, while others are crisp. The spicy level for this dish was beyond me so I could only have a couple of pieces. Otherwise, this dish didn't leave an impression on me.

The last we had was hae mul oden jeongol ($45), which was fish cakes and seafood hotpot. There weren't any pictures showing how the dish looked and it was seriously a gamble. The hot pot didn't turn out the way I thought it'd be, especially with all frozen food on skewers. However, the pot was so full that paying $45 was pretty worth. But I doubt I'll have this ever again because 1) it was so difficult to cook the individual skewers and 2) the soup stock was not that great. 

I wouldn't say service was pretty good when we were there. Despite having the buzzer at the same of the table, some wait staff sorta pretended they didn't see us "calling" for help. Also, we were told that the hot pot comes with two bowls of rice. When the rice wasn't served after a long while, we asked another staff about it and he wanted to add that two bowls of rice into our bills which was ridiculous. Not that we couldn't afford paying for two bowls of rice when our bill was almost $90, but the fact that we were told it was complimentary and yet we have to pay for the mistake by the staff who took our order. After going back and forth explaining the situation and how we were told of the complimentary bowls of rice instead of imaging that it was free, they eventually didn't charge us for it so all is good.. for now. 

Seoul Ria (urbanspoon)
2/605 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Café Cre Asion, Sydney (Again)

Oops, I did it again!

Two of my friends from secondary school were visiting Sydney, so I just had to bring them to my favourite macarons after talking so much about it. When it comes to bringing tourists/visitors around, I am pretty predictable with the places that I'd bring them to. Other than the usual must-haves, I'll also bring them to my favourites if they were keen. Lucky enough, girls will always have a sweet tooth :)

So I brought them to Café Cre Asion, we had a bit of coffee and macarons (duh).

I had my latte with a stolen macaron for photo-taking. I can't explain this soothing feeling I get by looking at this photo..

I bought a box of eight macarons for $21, a piece of them is usually $2.70 each. This time round, I remembered all the flavours and even noted down my thoughts after eating them hahaha #wellprepared. 

1. Caramel Chocolate - I prefer a caramel macaron with a burnt taste, but this one doesn't have that. It's kinda a common flavour, so I probably wouldn't pick this the next time.
2. Lychee Raspberry - The flavours are very light, a little too light to taste any lychee. A bonus is the raspberry jelly that is sandwiched between the shells. This macaron definitely has an interesting texture.
3. Spearmint (with chocolate?) - I don't particularly like mint flavours of anything for the fear of strong mint taste, but this macaron doesn't have that strong fresh mint taste (like toothpaste does). It's light, and it goes well with the chocolate filling (that's how choc mint chocolates always get sold out in supermarkets right?).
4.  Coffee Tonka - Tonka bean is like a substitute for vanilla bean. The macaron shell was crumbly and it fell apart after eating half of it. It's also smaller in size compared to others. I don't have strong feelings for this.
5. Cha Non - This isn't my first time having this Thai milk tea flavoured macaron. It's my favourite amongst all the macarons in this box of eight. It has an authentic Thai milk tea taste and it's light enough that it isn't too sweet. Love it
6. Chocolate nougat - I'm guessing this is the chocolate nougat because of its lighter colour. Honestly, I can't differentiate all the macarons because they looked so similar in colour. I was very surprised that there wasn't much taste in this, which is quite a disappointment.
7. Rum and Raisin - I didn't have this because I don't like rum or raisin. I only picked this to try because it was a new flavour (I'm a total sucker for new flavours). Like all other macarons from Cre Asion, the flavour is very light and it's not too sweet. You should try it if you fancy rum or raisin or both together.
8. Peanut butter - Lastly, the peanut butter. It has a strong peanut taste with real bits of nuts in it and on the shell. Sometimes you can't expect peanut butter macarons to come with real peanuts because for all you know, they might be using Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter as their filling! But this one was definitely not Kraft peanut butter #peanutbutterfan. 

I'm craving for macarons again.. 

Read my previous post on Cre Asion (here) and (here). 

Café Cre Asion

21 Alberta Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Ippudo Sydney, Sydney

Just the other day when I was writing up the post on Ramen Zundo (link), I wrote how I wasn't keen on trying out Ippudo Sydney since I wasn't impressed with the one in Singapore. On that same night, something weird happened (or we were just mere hungry) and that night saw us speed walking to Westfield to avoid the (unimaginable) dinner queue at Ippudo Sydney. We succumbed, tried, and I'm still disappointed, but not totally. If you don't already know, Ippudo is an international chain of ramen restaurant and they have several outlets worldwide. I've read once that the best Ippudo ramen that someone ever had was in Hong Kong, hmm.. I'll be sure to check them out in Hong Kong the next time I'm there! 

Lucky for us, we arrived a little before quarter to six and the line wasn't that long. We waited for around twenty minutes for a table for two, which isn't so bad since it was dinner time. About 5 minutes after waiting in the line, I turned around and oh my, the queue was what I expected to see (they had to segment the line so it doesn't block people walking in and out of the restaurant). I was really relieved that we made in just before the crowd comes in, otherwise I would just skipped Ippudo and head somewhere else. 

I took a couple of photos of the exterior, but somehow I can't find it in my photobucket. Oh wells. 

On the outside, there is a bar with a huge variety of drinks. You can choose to sit at the bar, have a drink while waiting for seats to be ready, or just stay in the line and wait till there is table ready for you. You can't make a reservation for tables, so you have no choice but to queue anyway. The weird thing that night was that, there were so many babies and prams in that restaurant! Seems like Ippudo is a family-friendly restaurant. 

On the inside, I liked that they have both communal/sharing tables (where there is a long table and you may be sitting next to people you don't know) and separate tables for just two or more people. Well, you don't get a choice to decide which you prefer though. Oh and plus point, you don't have to rub backs with other patrons or the wait staff (thumbs up for spacious restaurants!). Clearly, I still remember my experience at Old Town Restaurant (link). 

Now, the table.. 

You have three small bottles of things - sesame, white peppercorn and black peppercorn. Okay, I'm totally guessing that bottle in the middle as white peppercorn but I seriously think it is :P

First to arrive, definitely the easiest to make, the Ippudo pork bun ($4) per bun. We were very shocked to see what the $4 brought us because the bun was really really tiny! The pork bun was cut into half on request, filled with a slice of braised pork and Ippudo original sauce. We only had one of this because we thought it'd come in a bigger size, boy were we disappointed! It also came with a slice of lettuce and mayonnaise, which wasn't stated on the menu. But I was absolutely disappointed - the mayonnaise was too sour and the it was so overwhelming that I could barely taste the Ippudo original sauce. Do I think this is a must-try? I reckon money is better spent on something else. 

Next to arrive was the Italian rice croquettes ($5 for 2 pieces), which was essentially arancini. This was on their monthly specials, so we decided why not? It looked way too promising before I tasted it. It is their special parmigiano rice ball deep fried until the mozzarella melts out with each bite, served with homemade tomato sauce and seasoned with parsley. 

So here's why not. From my memory (haven't had arancini in a long while), arancini has wet innards filled with tomato sauce and rice mixed together. If you can tell from the picture below, this wasn't exactly the case. The mozzarella cheese was barely melting and it solidified quicker than I could finish it, even though it was bite size. On the menu, it even says, "one bite of our croquettes will definitely leave you wanting more". Really!!? The tomato sauce that came with it was barely enough to make the croquettes less dry. Bad choice of the night. 

I don't know what got into K, but he decided he wanted to have more sides. So we also had their Ippudo Teba ($8), which was fried chicken wings glazed with Ippudo special black pepper sauce. You would seriously not have this special sauce anywhere else. The sauce is sweet, but it had hell load of black pepper in it. For three pieces, this dish is pretty decent. 

However, if you're someone who can't take too much spice, this might not be for you. There was so much black pepper that I was almost crying. Also, it's very difficult to get someone to fill up the cup with water again. The chicken wings were not dry on the inside, and we really liked the sweet sauce minus the black pepper. The salad goes really well with the sweet sauce too! 

Their Ippudo gyoza ($6 for 5 pieces) is what I would recommend, although they're the best that I've ever had (the best ones are at Daikichi Ramen, which is closed). The gyozas are bite-sized, which are smaller than usual gyoza, but they are really juicy on the inside. They are kinda expensive for small gyoza, but they are worth having since the other dishes seem... Unworthy. 

Now, onto the main dishes - RAMEN! 

We picked two of their ramens to try - I know right, 4 side dishes and 2 ramen!? Insane, but we just had to try them to persuade ourselves. First, we had Shiromaru Motoaji ($15) - original tonkotsu broth served with thin noodles, pork loin, cabbage, black mushrooms and shallots. Their ramen is of Hakata-style, which has special characteristics of a rich pork-based soup and noodles with firm texture. I'm disappointed in this ramen because the pork wasn't the melt-in-your-mouth kind and the broth was a little too thin/light. 

I've never tried Hakata-style ramen before (or if I did I never knew there was a name to that), but I liked the firm noodles. It doesn't feel like you're eating tough rubber bands, more like chewy rubber bands but not rubber bands, hahaha I don't even know if that makes sense. 

The other ramen we had was Karaka Men ($17) - original tonkotsu broth with special spicy miso and ground pork. I had a little of the broth and it totally hit me in the throat, I guess I just couldn't take the spiciness of it. 

How could we have finished a meal without desserts? Well, we could because we were just too full. But, we wouldn't allow that either. So we picked a dessert to share, also with the intention to try, and chose to have their Kurogoma Panna Cotta ($7) - black sesame custard with creamy sauce. Looking at how it's black sesame and it's also panna cotta, we thought we can't go wrong with it. But.. We should have gone somewhere else for desserts. The good points - the creamy sauce has so much black sesame taste in it! We were expecting probably condensed milk as their creamy sauce so it was a surprise that they infused black sesame in it. Also, the sauce wasn't too sweet and it was really light. The bad parts - the creamy sauce had more sesame taste than the panna cotta. We would barely taste any black sesame in it, which was soooooo disappointing since we're such fans of black sesame (I'm a huge lover of them!). The texture of the panna cotta is pretty good, but it's not gonna earn a brownie point from me. 

I would prefer to head to somewhere else for ramen if I ever need, rather than paying for over-priced ramen that isn't worth the hype. 

Ippudo Sydney (website/urbanspoon)

188 Pitt Street 
Westfield Sydney Level 5 (Shop 5021) 
Sydney NSW 2000

Lee La Thai Restaurant, Sydney

I am guessing Lee La Thai Restaurant is a new kid in town. I've seen that spot change hands many times, from sushi place, to korean, to now Lee La Thai. We've walked past a couple of times; there was once I spotted 15% off dinner which sounds pretty enticing. Not knowing where to head for lunch one day, we decided to drop by Lee La Thai to have a look at the menu and alas, we caved in. They were having weekday lunch menu going for $8 (chicken, pork or beef) and $10 (seafood), but the funny thing was that we went on a Saturday. Nevertheless, Lee La Thai serves pretty good Thai food! I would totally head back when I'm having Thai food cravings.

I don't think there's anything in particular I would recommend because we didn't have exotic dishes, but here's an overview of what we had.

On my first visit, some spring rolls as entree. It came the last and was piping hot, so I'm guessing they made it on the spot.

Also, some roasted pork with rice. 

Pad see ew, which was delicious but also average. 

Pad woon sen, which was nice except that the chicken pieces were really dry on the inside. 

On my second visit, 

I ordered a serve of pork blood noodle soup! I'm an extreme fan of it, not that I love pork blood, but I like the intensity of flavours within the soup. Of course, whenever I think about the blood within the soup broth, I get these shivers down my spine. But heck, just don't think about it!

We also had lad nah crispy noodle ($8.90), which wasn't what I expected. There wasn't enough of the gravy to go around and the dish looks really sad. If only there were a bit more colours, like with carrots and onions.. Maybe for this price, I shouldn't really complain at all. 

Pad thai which didn't quite look like pad thai. 

We always enjoyed our meals at Lee La Thai Restaurant because finally, there isn't the expensive price tag to Thai food in the city! Yay :D Although the dishes don't look appetizing and one of the wait staff was kinda pushy and really curious (she seems to be always listening in our conversations), you can't quite go wrong with the price for authentic Thai food. Thumbs up and will return :) 

Lee La Thai Restaurant

Shop 2, 86 Liverpool Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 11am-11pm. 

Senyai (Thai Restaurant), Sydney

When it comes to having authentic Thai food in Sydney, there are heaps of options around. On the side of Pitt Street closer to Central Station, you'll find many Thai restaurants, even an indoor market named "Chatuchak" aka JJ Markets. Chatuchak is a street market found in Bangkok and it's interesting how they brought that concept into a shop space. Unfortunately, things in there aren't as cheap as what the original Chatuchak offers.

Senyai is a Thai restaurant that isn't on the usual Pitt Street in the city. It's found in Regent Place, which is a little shopping centre filled with gems (retail, food and even services). The spot where Senyai is sitting right now was empty for the longest time. When we saw that renovations were going on last year, we were pretty excited, especially how it was so retro looking with wooden windows and tables!

They served water in these tiny metal cups with handles. #oldschool

We also ordered a cup of Thai milk tea ($4) because it's an extremely handy measure to whether we would visit the restaurant again. The verdict is.. Meh, we had better ones. The tea was just full of sweetness, which is usual for Thai milk tea, but too much milk makes a bland tea taste. So basically, we were just taking in heaps of sugar.. too much sugar.

Their BBQ chicken ($16) sounded really promising - char grilled marinated chicken with Thai herbs and spices served with tamarind sauce mixed salad. Sounds really yummy? Sadly, not. The chicken was really dry on the inside and there wasn't much marinate to taste.

The tamarind sauce did save the chicken a little, just because the chicken was way too dry. The char-grilled skin wasn't impressive as well. And a few pieces of lettuce and there you have it, the mixed salad. We were disappointed. 

You probably can't go wrong with pad thai ($16), so we picked that as well. The serving was small and there wasn't much flavour in it ie it was bland. I've never had pad thai that made me felt so sad before. #achievementunlocked. 

And the plates that they served were all slightly chipped, it can be a health hazard isn't it? I guess most restaurants would continue to serve using chipped bowls and plates to save costs, but they probably should keep those that are only chipped at the bottom rather than the sides. 

On a separate menu, we had their pork noodle soup, which was essentially vermicelli in a soup broth containing pork blood. I'm not exactly hooked onto having this dish but I always feel this urge to order it each time I spot them on the menu. For the price that we paid this for (I think it was around $5 or $6), I would think this is pretty worth. I saw many patrons having this, so I guess it's a favourite among everyone. 

The broth was really thick, but there wasn't enough noodles in it. The pork crackles were crisp and yummy when soaked into the both, but I'm starting to think I can do without it.

Also on the separate specials menu, we ordered a pork dish which I can't remember the name of it now. But I remember we weren't particularly impressed, so it was a #wrongdecision made again. The skin of the meat was so thick and the portion was really tiny. I recall it's about $16-$18, which is pricey.. 

Overall, our experience at Senyai was okay, but we probably won't return even though we live so close to it. I believe our pennies will be better spent elsewhere.

Senyai (website/urbanspoon review)

486 Kent Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Yummy Eight, Sydney

I think I found another favourite restaurant. I reckon there should be no limit to favourite because you simply just can't have only one favourite!

We passed Yummy Eight countless of times and on first impression, I thought they were some kind of restaurant that do Asian desserts (I loooooove Asian desserts and I crave for them all the time). Looking at their menu from the outside, it really doesn't look impressive at all. Finally, we decided to give Yummy Eight a try, looking at the massive crowd in there. For sure, we weren't disappointed!

I can't decide if they are a Chinese restaurant because they fulfill so many elements of Taiwanese cuisine, so I might just tag them as both. It's really close to Chinatown/Haymarket but also close to Town Hall, talking about convenience.. They are located almost next to Ko Foo Korean Restaurant (post to come soon!), so people might miss it totally because Ko Foo is just simply intimidating with their range of food (I fell for it too). Anyhoo, eating at Yummy Eight makes me feel really healthy because they steam most of the food and we really enjoyed it that we'll be back!

I have been crazy over this photo-editing app that makes my photo looking really similar - blur and filtered. And also, I've been really lazy to bring out my proper camera. Who enjoys bringing a bulky DSLR or even a digital camera when there is phone camera and awesome phone apps now?! Now, for the review..

Their steamed meat balls were my favourite of the lot that we ordered. The minced meatballs were well marinated and rolled with generous amounts of glutinous rice, yummy! The mixture of saltiness in the meatballs and the sweetness in the glutinous rice was balanced, I just can't say no to more of this!

You probably can't tell from the photo, but the meatballs were extremely juicy. Yum! 

There is something about preserved vegetables that doesn't catch my eye, I reckon it's the extreme saltiness and sour smell of it. But their steamed braised pork with preserved vegetables totally changed my opinions of it, though I still don't fancy the idea of preserved vegetables. This dish was a little too salty and not as healthy even though steamed. Each piece of meat had thick layers of fat, it was oh so sinful yet satisfying at the same time. I may order this the next time, but it isn't a must-try to me. 

We also ordered a serve of spare rib noodles (small $9.80). We didn't want to be too full from dinner, so we ordered a small serve but hey, it was totally enough for the both of us. You can order the spare ribs as a separate dish because it was definitely on the menu as spare ribs with black bean sauce (something we always cook in our kitchen), so it isn't quite our favourite. Also, the noodles were rather bland. I guess this isn't in our must-try list too. 

I just noticed that every dish has parsley in them! Good garnishing but a little too much? 

Missing the soy milk we have back home, K needed to order their soy milk ($2.80). It isn't as sweet as the ones we buy off drink stalls in hawker centres, but it's good enough. Also, at $2.80 for a hot soy milk in this winter weather, it definitely is a healthier option to bubble milk tea.

I can't think of reasons why I shouldn't visit Yummy Eight again. Our meal was only about $30, service is good and the food doesn't disappoint. I need to take note of their prices again, since I don't remember paying $15 for the meat balls (got this price off their website), but then again, meat balls from Yummy Eight - anytime!



Yummy Eight (website)
G4/345b Sussex Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Opening Hours - Mon-Fri: 1.30pm-10pm / Sat-Sun: 12pm-10pm