Showing posts with label ramen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ramen. Show all posts
Makanai Chatswood
Finally, after the ever-mounting
number of Japanese eateries I’ve eaten at on Sydney’s lower North Shore,
Chatswood finally has its own ramen joint! Makanai occupies the Westfield shop
space vacated by Korean bakery chain Hello Happy (and Starbucks before them)
and has brought with them not only ramen, but also a front display window
impressively stocked with about ten varieties of onigiri on a daily basis.
Ichimaru
Sydney’s lower north shore is abundant in Japanese eats, which is quite serendipitous for Monsieur Poisson as it means he has easy access to his beloved cuisine on a whim’s notice. Ichimaru opened more than a few months ago now, and was stumbled across accidentally whilst on travels to seek out something else.
The gyoza are nothing to write home about, being of the deep-fried variety which I wish would be advertised explicitly on menus so that I could avoid ordering them as I’m a pan-fried purist. However the soft-shell crab salad proves to be excellent value – for $14 you are rewarded with two crabs which are a little on the heavily-battered side, but thankfully aren’t greasy. A mound of mixed greens and tomato wedges underneath help to make the dish a meal in its own right but the carrot threads, also seen later, are a little unnecessary.
Food to nurse hangovers
It’s hot and stuffy. The sun is blazing outside and rudely creeping in through the blinds. Oh, my eyes! Why is it so bright? You move to roll over. Whoa…the bed, or wherever you parked yourself last night/this morning, feels like a tiny dinghy bobbing about on rough seas. *Bob, bob, bob, bob…* It’s too hot to keep sleeping and you really need something to settle down the party which has been continuing in your stomach and bloodstream despite you stopping hours ago.
Good morning (or afternoon), and a happy new year to you, your stomach, your pounding headache and…so nice of you to join us, Hangover!
Although there are no foods which can miraculously cure hangovers, there are certain foods that somehow make you feel better through nothing other than comfort or placebo effect. If you’re wanting something fast-food yet can’t bear the usual international chains, then Ocean Foods has many deep-fried and more virtuous non-deep fried options. The grilled barramundi with chips (below) is just one of them – it is unbattered and cooked on the spot like all their hot foods. Paired with some sweet, crunchy and not-at-all greasy crab claws as well as a small tub of salad (coleslaw in this instance, pictured below) and you can soothe that hangover whilst having a balanced meal. For something in a more central location, there’s that famous soft-shell crab omelette (unpictured) from Café Ish which the husband keeps raving to everyone about.
Or perhaps you want something a little more pure and soothing. Pho An has any combination of beef, fatty beef, beef meatballs, beef tendon, tripe, chicken, etc in a fragrant Vietnamese beef or chicken broth with slippery flat rice noodles where chewing isn’t even required. Topped with fresh herbs to awaken the senses, stir in chopped chillies for warmth and slurp to restore some much-needed hydration. Noodle bowls are available in small (regular) and large sizes, and your food will appear almost instantly by magic. Peruse the menu at the doorway or ask for a printed menu when seated, as the wall menus are in Vietnamese and Chinese only.
To combine the best of both worlds Ton Ton Regent has ramen, karaage chicken, gyoza and tempura amongst other things, whilst Menya Mappen has udon, soba, lots of fresh crunchy tempura and kakiage, poached egg and small rice bowls all for very affordable prices. And runny eggs always make things better.
Gumshara will give you a thick, sticky, flavoursome and soul-restoring soup where each bowl is taste-tested by the master himself before being served. The noodles are springy and the pork is plentiful. Add a soft-boiled egg and you’re absolutely set for the day. If you want an alternate to noodles the ‘Special Rice’ bowl is serious value at around $8 with a foundation of rice mixed with sesame seeds, soft-boiled egg and vegetables topped with roast pork, and then the whole thing repeated on top of it again – it will satisfy the most ravenous of hangover hungers.
For a variety of eats including deep-fried things, rice, noodles, soups and Hong Kong fusion-style pastas then you simply cannot go past a “cha chaan teng” (茶餐廳). Iced lemon tea rates highly on my long-time loves even though it’s only black tea, sugar syrup and fresh lemon slices. You’ll find sweet drinks incorporating azuki (red) beans and grass jelly as well as Hong Kong-style French toast “sai dor see” (西多士) – typically two slices of white bread sandwiched with peanut butter, deep-fried in eggy batter before being served with butter and golden syrup. Trolley/cart noodles used to be street food sold, well, from a mobile cooking trolley, allowing for personalisation of soup noodles (flat rice noodles, rice vermicelli, Hokkien noodles, flat egg noodles, thin egg noodles, etc) and toppings (dried squid, fish balls, fried fish skin, luncheon meat, ham, pig’s blood jelly, beef meatballs, pork meatballs, chicken wings, mushrooms, etc and an array of vegetables). Not available at many Hong Kong fusion-style cafés in Sydney, Victoria Noodle Restaurant offers a great selection of noodles and toppings as well as other menu items. Try their salt and chilli chicken wings with rice – hangover or no hangover – if you get a chance.
For something healthy and sweet, wowcow serves 98% fat-free yoghurt with active cultures that is smooth and slides easily down the throat. One of Sydney’s earlier frozen yoghurt chains, mix in whatever toppings take your fancy from their display window and pair with cinnamon-sugared wow-sticks (baked churros) for dipping. I spotted Joh Bailey bringing a group of friends here late one night, and don’t forget to crane your head back (provided it doesn't induce too much dizziness) to marvel at the cow feature adorning the ceiling!
Corner of Lyons Rd & Gipps St, Drummoyne NSW
Tel: (02) 9181 4336
Opening Hours: 7 days 9am-9pm
82 Campbell St (cnr Foster St), Surry Hills NSW
Tel: (02) 9281 1688
Opening Hours: Mon-Tues 7am-4pm
Wed-Fri 7am-10pm
Sat 9am-10pm
Sun 9am-2:30pm
Pho An
27 Greenfield Pde (near cnr Stewart Ln), Bankstown NSW
Tel: (02) 9796 7826
Opening Hours: 7 days 7am-9pm
Shop 10.16, Ground floor of Regent Place, 501 George St (cnr Bathurst St), Sydney NSW
Tel: (02) 9267 1313
Opening Hours: 7 days 11:30am-10pm
Shop 11, Ground Floor of Meriton Tower – Skyview Shopping Plaza, 537-551 George St (near cnr Liverpool St), Sydney NSW
Tel: (02) 9283 5525
Opening Hours: Sun-Wed 11:30am-10pm
Thurs-Sat 11:30am-10:30pm
Gumshara
Shop 209, Lower Ground Level, Harbour Plaza, 25-29 Dixon St (Chinatown), Haymarket NSW
Tel: 0410 253 180
Opening Hours: Mon CLOSED
Tues-Sun 10am-10pm
Shop A8, Lower level of Victoria Plaza, 369 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW
Tel: (02) 9410 1822
Opening Hours: 7 days…11am-10pm
Shop 2, 304-308 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW
Tel: (02) 9326 0400
Opening Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am-11pm
Fri 11:30am-12 midnight
Sat 11am-12 midnight
Sun 11am-11pm
happy eating!
Gumshara, 13 March 2010
Picture this: two guys dressed in suits and two girls in cocktail dresses (one in heels, the other sensibly changed into flats) walking through a food court full of people in Chinatown. The party of four avoid slippery floor surfaces and dodge people carrying trays of steaming hot food looking for seats in order to prevent dirtying their outfits. A few inquisitive looks are garnered here and there but, for the most part, people are too busy eating to care. It is past 3:30pm and the food court is still unusually full.
happy eating!
We are at Eating World Food Court, home of the famed collagen-rich ramen broth that is Gumshara. Each pot of broth is made from 120kg of fresh pork bones and water, and requires seven days of cooking to break down the marrow and tendons to release the collagen within. We have time to kill between a wedding ceremony and reception and haven’t had any lunch yet. The location is a slightly odd choice given our attire but we are all keen to try their ramen, especially Idol who lives outside of Sydney and who alerted me to this place to start with.
We start with some crispy-bottomed gyoza. The wrappers are thin and the dumplings are quite a long shape. I’m impressed with the juicy and plentiful contents with none of the loose gappiness when biting into some others.
By this late stage of the afternoon, Gumshara has sold out of its tonkotsu ramen so Idol and I both have the ‘Garlic tonkotsu ramen’ instead, to which I add a soft-centred egg for good measure. The soup is thick, rich, sticky and very warming. The ramen strands are coated individually by this soup and makes for a very filling meal. The pork slices are meltingly tender with their even striations of fat and turn out to be one of the lighter components of the meal. The garlic adds an earthy pungency and I love how there is a massive sheet of nori.
Monsieur Poisson goes for the ‘Tomato tonkotsu ramen’ which is swathed in a much thinner, tomato broth. The tangy tomato helps to cut through the rich collagen in the broth base and it is reassuring to see pulpy tomato pieces towards the bottom of the bowl. The pork is the same as in my bowl but there are a few pieces of baby bok choy to the side.
The soup really is as rich and gelatinous as people say and Gumshara definitely lives up to its reputation. What I was really surprised to find was how un-salty their soup base was. Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of concentrated flavour but just not the usual thirst-inducing saltiness associated with ramen from some other places. I actually slurped quite a few spoonfuls of both Monsieur Poisson’s and my soups, and that really is a refreshing change.
Gumshara
Shop 209, Lower Ground Level, Harbour Plaza, 25-29 Dixon St (Chinatown), Haymarket NSW
Tel: 0410 253 180
Opening Hours: Mon CLOSED
Tues-Sun 10am-10pm
happy eating!
Ryo-Tei (aka Ryo’s Noodles), 22 Aug 2009
A few years ago Monsieur Poisson and I first noticed Ryo-Tei, usually en route to Maisy’s, and wondered what manner of deliciousness the place offered in order to attract a constant group of patrons to patiently wait in an orderly queue outside. The eatery has a distinct garish orange frontage but no obvious English signage apart from the (usually obscured by the queue) red plastic sheet hung outside the window displaying highlights from the menu and the name, ‘Ryo’s Noodles’. The only other signage is a plaque above the doorway in Japanese and a pair of drapes framing the doors bearing the massive kanji characters of 亮亭– neither of which are of any use unless you can read the language. Being in a non-restaurant area away from Pacific Highway just adds to the mystery, however parking is easy to find on side streets.
So after driving past Ryo-Tei for almost a year without knowing its name, assuming only that it served some sort of Japanese food and being suitably intrigued, Monsieur Poisson put his internet searching skills to good use. Many questions were answered when he found this post on Grab Your Fork, and the photo of the deep-fried soft-shell crab alone meant that we just had to go and try it for ourselves. Not to mention the personalised endorsement from Iron Chef French, Hiroyuki Sakai gracing the wall!
We have since had numerous visits to Ryo-Tei but have yet to introduce all our friends to its delights. So one particular weekend when Ms Sourdough was in town we gathered up Weirdo, Dr King and Kiki for a visit and warned all involved to expect there to be a wait especially seeing as there are six of us in attendance. But the surprising part is that there is no queue when we get there – we are the queue! However Ryo-Tei is full inside at only 6:30pm and we do have to wait a little as tables for smaller groups become available sooner to those behind us.
Ryo-Tei’s dining space seats only around thirty people, which partly explains the queues. The two largest tables seat just six, and we manage to get one of these which is adjacent to the front window – you know, the one which attracts stares from people in the queue while you eat! The walls are a bright canary yellow and are decorated with menu items written in Japanese plus the aforementioned soft-shell crab which is not on the orange printed menu.
We order several things to share and soon our table is crowded with plates. There are two onigiri (one roast pork, one mentaiko), two serves of gyoza and four deep-fried soft-shell crabs which are served whole in a tangle of legs. The onigiri are plump and are larger than they seem with the roast pork one being much tastier; and I lament the lack of mentaiko in the other. They gyoza are crisp and juicy while the soft-shell crab is always a hit with its bare coating of batter. On a separate return visit, Monsieur Poisson and I order the ‘Fried Chicken’ which comes with a dollop of beautifully rich and creamy Japanese mayonnaise. A word of warning though: do not be greedy and eat the chicken as soon as it’s set down on the table – such action results in burning the roof of your mouth! I speak, of course, from personal experience.
As if this is not enough food already, strewn across the table we have a couple of ‘Tokyo-style ramen’, a ‘Spicy hot ramen’, a couple of ‘Japanese-style curry beef rice with tonkatsu’ and a ‘Mixed vegies ramen’ (not pictured). I often order the ‘Tokyo-style ramen’ as I like bamboo shoots and, because it comes in a soy sauce chicken stock soup, is great when I want something a bit lighter than the pork bone stock variants. It is also accompanied by a whole sheet of nori unlike most other places.
Of course Monsieur Poisson and I have to have the requisite side of corn!
Kiki braves the ‘Spicy hot ramen’ which I’ve had once before and comes with a serious layer of chilli oil floating on top. The oil conceals a bowl of pork bone stock underneath, both of which help to retain heat in the bowl. The chilli oil offers heat of another kind and coats each strand of ramen as it is slurped upwards.
Dr King and Monsieur Poisson both go for the ‘Japanese-style curry beef rice with tonkatsu’ which comes with a heap of curry studded with beef bits to accompany the rice, a mound of Japanese pickles and a large deep-fried pork cutlet. It is an effort for both of them to finish their meals.
Monsieur Poisson is not a fan of ramen in general but Ryo-Tei is one of the few places where he does enjoy it. Their sticky pork bone stock is a delight and each bowl offers great value in its use of straight noodles cooked to retain some bite (many places use a curly variant), whole sheets of nori, gooey-centred boiled eggs and thick, tender, fall-apart strips of roast pork. If you haven’t been to Ryo-Tei, I highly recommend it.
Ryo-Tei
125 Falcon St (near cnr West St), Crows Nest NSW
Tel: (02) 9955 0225
Opening Hours: Thurs-Tues 12pm-2:30pm (lunch)
5pm-9:30pm (dinner)
Wed CLOSED
happy eating!
Zenya, 18 April 2009
There are so many places to eat at Eastwood and I am familiar with hardly any of them. We were visiting Kiki and Dr King for the evening and, seeing as this is their local area, we entrust them to take us somewhere inspiring. We land ourselves at Zenya; a dark, narrow Japanese restaurant with a small doorway. It’s a Saturday evening and there’s a short wait with us being second in the queue.
We are soon seated towards the back of the restaurant where each table has its own exhaust fan. We check the menu and don’t notice any yakiniku on offer, so we can only assume they belong to the previous incarnation of this shop-space. We settle ourselves into some rather green-hued green tea before we’re presented with our beef tataki. Monsieur Poisson is a particular fan but finds that the dressing is a little lacking in flavour – it needs to be tart and it needs to be slightly oily in order to coat the rare beef. However the fillet is nicely charred on the outside with a hint of smokiness.
This is followed by a ton-toro bento with a rather large side-serve of ramen, which makes for excellent value. The ton-toro is thinly-sliced and is sweet and tender (thanks to the fattiness, no doubt). Otherwise the bento itself is a bit bare-looking with only a few slices of salmon sashimi, salad, a small serve of seaweed salad and a couple of deep-fried gyoza (I prefer the pan-fried variety) with a mayonnaisey dressing. But along with rice and the side of ramen, we are most definitely full.
We pay the bill at the counter and Kiki passes us some mint lollies from near the cash register. She then inserts two into her upper gums and gives us her best walrus impression!
217 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW
Tel: (02) 9569 8588
Opening Hours: Mon CLOSED
Sun-Sat 11:30am-3pm (lunch)
Sun-Thurs 6pm-9:30pm (dinner)
Fri & Sat 6pm-10pm (dinner)
happy eating!
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