Dragon Den, Darlinghurst

Vietnamese food craving got me looking around the city. Other than Haymarket, there are a couple around Darlinghurst which looked pretty good. After looking up reviews on Eatability, my friend Q and I decided on Dargon Den and off we went on a Thursday night. The restaurant was particularly empty on a Thursday night, perhaps people were elsewhere doing some late night shopping. It was perfect though, perfect for a good catch up :)

Prawn paper rolls for entree. The prawns were slightly tough and the individual portions were way too huge. The accompany sauce was sweet and tangy, which was much needed for the bland paper rolls. The mint leaves had a very light taste, making this entree rather plain and mild.

For mains, we decided to share a salt and pepper calamari. I found the calamari slightly salty, while Q found them delightful (if I remember it right). The veggies were really crunchy even though the calamari was rather tangy and tough. 

We also shared a chicken pho, as opposed to the common beef pho, for a change. As with all Vietnamese pho, it came with a plate of fresh sprouts, mint leaves, lemon and chili. 

The chicken pho was honestly the most salty pho I've ever had. I'm not sure what is it in the stock that made it so salty, but it made me crave for water so badly. Maybe they do beef pho better since the stock was pretty addictive, but unfortunate for me I went home feeling slightly ill after so much salt intake.

The search for Vietnamese cuisine continues. 

Dragon Den 
259 Victoria Street 
Darlinghurst NSW 2010 
Australia 
Website

Masaka Japanese Dining, Ultimo

Passed by Masaka Japanese Dining on Broadway so many times, the thought of dining in there sorta never crossed my mind. On first look, there was this huge advertisement board in front of the shop which has deals on it that entice me. But nevertheless, I never walked in or even thought of entering the restaurant because it always seemed closed all the time or I rarely see people in and out of that place. But finally, we tried Masaka after walking up and down Broadway countless of times, not knowing what to have for dinner. The menu offered a wide variety, we had quite a tough time trying to decide.

We decided to have gyoza for entree, which isn't the best that we've tried but it's good enough. Out of the 5 pieces we had, three were fried to perfection and the other two were a little soggy. 

Then we had two handrolls - salmon and unagi avocado. They fared average but was pretty disappointing that the unagi handroll fell apart after the first bite. 

Pork tonkatsu ramen. The ramen was also average, but the breaded pork were tasty! The thinly sliced pork pieces were crisp and juicy, only pity the black sauce that came with it was way too little. They should totally serve a bigger bowl of sauce just for the tonkatsu. 

The last we had was udon-suki, which was overflowing! This took the longest to come, surprise surprise. The veggies weren't soft, seems somewhat uncooked since they were on the top of the entire claypot. The soup stock was salty, but just enough to make the taste buds shout yum. Also, I ordered pork udon-suki but came chicken udon-suki instead. I didn't make a fuss over it (lucky I'm not allergic to chicken), was way too hungry to be picky about it so I just let it pass. 

Dining at Masaka wasn't too bad an experience, but I doubt we'll be back again soon. The wait for food was way too long even for simple dish like handrolls. On top of that, the mistake made in one of our orders even though tiny but it's still after all a mistake. 

Masaka Japanese Dining
163 The Broadway 
Ultimo NSW 2007 
Australia

Chefs Gallery, Sydney

I apologize for the extreme lack of proper entries of my food adventures. The first semester of uni hasn't gone too well for me because I was majorly ill and sick most of the time that I skipped most of my classes and slept most of the time. My immune is terribly down but when I feel that they're up for it, I'll have a go at the close by restaurants and eateries around where I live. I'll definitely be making for the lack of proper food posts and many other adventure stories.

Up now, we finally have a proper review of another restaurant and its food. It was a while away, but I'm sure I remembered my experience at Chefs Gallery. 

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A signage outside the restaurant reminded us of the lunch deal that we could be in for! All noodles for $9.90, I was pretty sure we wouldn't get such a deal in the city. We're excited to try their lunch specials on a Friday afternoon, but disappointment got to us when we realized the lunch deal was only applicable Mon-Thurs. Nevertheless, we sat down anyway because we were so famished at almost 3 in the arvo. 

Sweet and Dark Pork A$15.90 - We picked this out of the "Chef's Choices" but was rather disappointed that this came as a little dish. There were probably only five or six small pieces, which makes this dish really pricey. It works out to be about $3 per piece for pork ribs, honestly I wouldn't pay for such price. Disappointing also was the pork ribs felt like they were drenched in massive amount of sauce and they weren't marinated well. 

Sweet and dark pork (A$15.90)

Curry Diced Chicken Noodles (Egg Noodle) A$12.90 - On the menu, this dish looked like it had a bit of soup rather than the dried looking thing that we received on our table. That aside, the noodles were mildly spicy which would be nice on a cold winter day. But yet again, the noodles felt like a separate dish from the curry in a way where I could imagine the chef throw in the noodles at the very last minute. No taste of curry within the noodles except for the little miserable bit of sauce that made up for it. 

Curry diced chicken noodles (egg noodle) (A$12.90)

Handmade Noodles Wok Fried with Shredded BBQ Pork in Premium Soya Sauce A$11.90 - This came looking promising although the portion was really small. The noodles had a slight wok taste but sort of lack the BBQ pork flavour in it. It would have been more pleasant if they fried the sesame seeds together with the noodles rather than just having them as garnishes. 

Handmade noodles wok  fried with shredded BBQ pork in premium soya sauce (A$11.90)

Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed with having to pay for overpriced food in Chefs Gallery. We've seen long lines during their dinner times, but having tried them now we doubt we will ever queue to enter for dinner. I mean, since there is a line for dinner there should be some quality and quantity which makes people wanna go back for it, shouldn't it be? I'm not sure, I rather be paying more for somewhere with both acceptable quality and quantity. 

Chefs Gallery

12/501 George Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Australia