Miss Fera, Miss Jamie, and I had a date night for a catch up since (A) we haven’t seen Miss Fera a lot since she finished, and (B) we haven’t done it for a while. We settled on going to Bondi Junction (rather than Randwick again) with no plan in mind, but the night couldn’t have worked out any better!

We wandered around and I suggested to have Ramen Kan. While Miss Jamie had it before and didn’t like it, she was willing to give it another shot since she didn’t order ramen last time. So we beat the busy time and got a table straight away, but weren’t given a menu for a while (which was even better since we had SO much to talk about and weren’t in a rush to order).

When we got our menu, we got soft shell crab and agedashi tofu to share. Miss Fera got the Crispy fish noodles, Miss Jamie the tonkatsu shoyu ramen, and I ordered a teriyaki beef udon rather than the other beef udon (I thought I had that one before, but checking back on my previous Ramen Kan post, I realised I had it twice in a row!).

Soft shell crab

Agedashi tofu

Teriyaki beef udon

Tonkatsu shoyu ramen

Crispy fish noodle

The food was a bit on the salty side (especially the crispy fish noodles), and Miss Fera didn’t end up finishing her meal. However, we did enjoy the (very filling) meal!

Ramen Kan
3/25-33 Bronte Road
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Phone: (02) 9387 5691

Map:

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After food, we went into Bondi Junction Westfields with an intention to walk it off… We ended up window shopping (everything was closed), mostly stalking shoes for Miss Fera’s yellow and navy dress. After a funny encounter with one of the securities (who probably think we’re weird or suss or both), we ended up sitting in the shopping center and chatted the night away… it was heaps fun, and like a slumber party without the pillows, jammies, or location. We called it a night approaching 11 PM.

I have seen many positive reviews on Gumshara (including an article from the Sydney Morning Herald a while back, and Grab Your Fork which features an elaborate review on Gumshara), and this place is often deemed as a hidden gem for some authentic Japanese ramen. So of course, Mr AG and I had to try it!

It wasn’t too hard to find, but I understood why it was “hidden” gem; it is tucked away in one of the food courts of China Town, which I admit to not normally visiting food courts. If elsewhere, it may have more potential.

We arrived at 3:30 PM, and apparently their famous thick soup wasn’t available until dinner (5 PM onwards; they needed to prepare new stock/soup), so we decided to wait it out, bumming around until then.

Came 5 PM, and I ordered a token tonkatsu ramen with soft boiled egg and a gyoza side, and Mr AG had a pork rib ramen (since they only made 20 a day), both ramen with thick soup.

Tonkatsu ramen with soft-boiled seasoned egg

Pork rib ramen

Gyoza

Before giving us our ramen, the chef tasted the ramen with disposable spoons to check out the flavour and threw out the spoons immediately. Also, written on a sign was that if our soups were too salty or thick, the chef can adjust it according to how we tell him to. That is customer care! =)

Anyway, we dug in. The ramen was nice and had a good texture, and the soup was indeed thick and flavoursome (both Mr AG and mine were the same flavour). My thin tonkatsu pork was very tender and lovely, but few (3 slices), I loved the seaweed and the egg. Mr AG’s pork ribs were a bit harder to get off the bone, but it was also lovely, and the fat just melted in your mouth!

I read that people found it difficult finishing the bowl of ramen, especially the thick soup since it was very filling. I guess I saw that as a challenge… so, challenge accepted!

And… yes, I finished it. I even beat Mr AG in finishing it faster at the end! Triumph!

Overall, I liked Gumshara, but I don’t think it can be a regular thing with me, especially with the soup (I know I can get bored of it easily, and it’s just a personal thing). However, I will definitely visit it again, or even have it every so often.

Gumshara
209/25-29 Dixon St
Haymarket New South Wales 2000

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Met up with two RC buddies (Ag buddy and Mr ZW) for dinner. After a long time wandering around and deciding, we went for a cafeteria-like Japanese restaurant called Menya Mappen. They serve udon/soba/don (which are apparently hand-made?), side dishes such as seaweed salad and various tempura, and drinks too.  They carry a simple concept, offer convenient value meals (udon from $3.90!), and are efficient/have a high turnover rate of customers (a policy of theirs is that you can’t take seats before ordering).

Hungry, I made up my mind on what to order when I saw this beauty on the menu…

That’s right, I wanted a “large hot bukkake udon”.

Because this was my first time, I had Ag buddy lead my in the self service line. When it was my turn to order, I just couldn’t be mature and order my bukkake straight, so I pointed to the menu. Moving along the self-service aisle of goodies (I took a chicken breast tempura, 2 seaweed salads, and a soft-boiled egg), we got to the end where the guy at the counter calculated the price (mine was $8.80 all up!). It was then that was when I realised I had forgotten to order my udon in the large size! At the end, I was right; if I hadn’t messed up and remembered to order the larger udon, it would’ve been a filling meal. Nevertheless, it was tasty and affordable, and I would definitely go there again (perhaps to try a kake next time… with pics).

Menya Mappen Noodle Bar
11/537-551 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9283 5525

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Next stop was dessert! We headed to LNC Dessert House for a proper catch up (since it Menya Mappen wasn’t quite the place for such things), and to fill any excess space in the stomach (which I had a bit of).

I ended up ordering a scoop of green tea sorbet and a mango sorbet… which I enjoyed but I won’t order together in the future (they didn’t go well together on the same plate… though I doubt many would go with green tea sorbet!). ZW’s tofu wasn’t as soft and fluffy as it appeared (which I remembered when I had this last time), and Ag buddy ordered a milk dessert (we joked that it was heated milk), which was apparently like custard and was light and fluffy. It sounded yummy!

Tofu with mango sorbet (Mr ZW’s)

Green tea and mango sorbet (mine)

LNC Dessert House:
12/339 Sussex Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9283 3823

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We ended the night but not before taking sticker photos (purikura). As always, that was pretty fun! ♥

Finished lab unexpectedly late on Tuesday. I had to ask Mr AG to pick me up from uni, and because I was starved, we decided to look for food that will “fill me up to half full”. I didn’t want to have Thai again, so we were on the hunt for something else.

Alas, next to The Taste of Thai lived a humble restaurant called Sushi Fusion serving sushi train dishes as well as menu stuff.

Honestly though, I had never noticed this one…but I’m glad we caught on, especially if I ever needed a quick sushi fix in Randwick (happens a fair bit actually). And we went in a timely manner; Tuesday was the winter special night with a $3 deal on all sushi train dishes. Everything on the menu was between $3 and $5.50, so that proved a good deal for what it’s worth.

Sadly, I took some poor effort iPhone pictures that night…

Chicken Schnitzel

Dragon Roll

Edamame

Jellyfish and shark fin nigiri

Mini Salmon Rolls

Scallop Aburi

Seaweed Salad Ship

Cooked Tuna

Mini Udon

Banana, Chocolate and Red Bean Roll

So we ended up having 11 plates (we doubled on some dishes) and a mini udon… and I was full by the end of it (so much for “half full; so couldn’t resist!)! I liked the food, though I didn’t have a couple of them in fear of lactose. So out of the ones I had, my favourites were the chicken schnitzel roll, dragon roll, seadweed salad nigiri, and the jellyfish nigiri. I wasn’t a big fan of the edamame and the mini salmon rolls; a bit lacking in flavour. Oh, and we were seated comfortably, unlike some sushi train places we’ve gone to, which is always good! Anyway, I enjoyed it, and would be happy to pop back for some more!

Sushi Fusion
7 Belmore Road
Randwick NSW 2031
Phone: 9399 5388

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We popped into Ramen Kan at Bondi Junction for lunch today. It’s a nice and cosy Japanese restaurant, and I remember wanting to go to the one in China town a while back. It was pretty busy when we first sat down at ~3 PM, but was quieter by the time we left half an hour later. The menu was mainly of udons, ramen, and rice dishes, and they had pre-packaged drinks. Prices were very reasonable.

We ended up ordering these:

Deep Fried Prawns With Tartare Sauce

Teriyaki Beef Udon

Ramen Kan Shoyu Ramen

The deep fried prawns were really nice; light on the inside and crispy on the outside, seasoned well, and tastes great!

My udon was fanastic, I was very pleased with it! Great teriyaki taste, silken udon noodles, and the beef had a seared flavour to it. The salad accompanying my udon didn’t look like it’d be my thing, but when I tried it, the sauce was quite flavoursome, and I liked it! I ended up finishing it!

The ramen  had pork, egg, mushrooms in a pork broth with soy sauce. It was nice too (the pork pieces were few but it was very tender), but I think I prefer my udon.

Overall, it was a good experience; tasty food that was great in value. We will be back =]

Ramen Kan
3/25-33 Bronte Road
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Phone: (02) 9387 5691

Map:

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Had an impromptu meetup with Ag buddy and RC buddy!

We went for sushi train at Takumi (no pics for this). Incidentally, we sat next Ag buddy’s friend but hadn’t realised it until a few plates in. The sushi was good, though we noticed a couple of things after a while. (1) Everything was supplemented with mayo (and I avoid mayo out of paranoia). (2) The same thing kept coming around. (3) We kept making a grab for the seaweed salad ship (but it’s yummy!)…

We ended up downing 30 plates of sushi altogether, and ready for dessert! (Actually, I lie, we were pretty full but wanted to catch up more, so dessert was the way to go)!

And then we had herbal grass jelly at Meet Fresh, while teaching Ag buddy Cantonese… I taught her how to say “eat banana” and “bad boy” among other things, and she made the funniest combos with those words, and they made perfect sense as well. She picked it up fast…

Takumi
Market City, Shop R3.02b, 9-13 Hay St
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9281 7200 ‎

Map:

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Meet Fresh
13 Goulburn Street
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 8339 1031 ‎

Map:

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This is the second time we’ve been to Fat Panda sushi experience at Canley Heights (see this post), and it happened to be more packed this time around. We haven’t made a booking, so we waited a little while for seats, which they were apologetic about.

After a bit, we got seated at the sushi train area, which was good as I was getting hungry and could just pick up some sushi nigiri to eat while watching the sushi chefs skillfully rolled up the sushi, thinly cut salmon and king fishes for their carpaccio (looked so simply when they did it!!), and also scorching some of the nigiri platters!

Overall, we had another great experience. Whilst it was busy (their staff were constantly running around), their service was again impeccable; very friendly, and they made sure we were getting served and that we were happy with everything. Importantly, the food arrived at a timely manner and was delicious! It was also presented very well as well! That’s always a plus! =)

01-06. Various sushi from the sushi train

07. Takoyaki

08. One of the specials, Scallops.

09. King fish carpaccio

10. King fish salad

Last time, everything was salmon; salmon salad, salmon belly carpaccio, seared salmon… this time it was king fish time! I think I do prefer the salmon carpaccio over the king fish, and maybe slightly the salmon salad over the king fish salad… but again, these were great dishes, and there are no complaints!

Fat Panda
233 Canley Vale Road
Canley Heights NSW 2166
Phone: (02) 9755 4888

Map:

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Popped into Fat Panda for Dinner tonight.

I have the biggest love for pandas ^_^ And what a cute sign!

And menu… And wait, check this out!

And check out the panda paraphernalia on the wall! <3

We had a chat to one of the owners (who were really nice!), and told us that she started her panda collection with the panda plush on the lower left corner… and customers helped her build up the collection (including hand-made knits, phone keychains, plush toys, and even a panda shirt not featured on the wall here…)

So anyway, we were greeted with their friendly (and smiley) staffs, it had a great ambiance, and importantly, nice food!

Sake

Fat Panda’s green tea with roast rice: gave it a nutty flavour, interesting

Pork gyoza: admittedly had better.

Jellyfish salad: Tasty, I always like a jellyfish jelly

Salmon salad: Really nice salmon ^_^

One of the specials, something salmon: Again, nice seared salmon

Sushi nigiri set: Again, really nice, especially the scorched fishes.

Salmon belly carpaccio: Super rich, buttery, fat, thinly slice piece of salmon. It was delish!

Mr AG’s creme brulee

Caramelised on the outisde, and super creamy on the inside. AG said it was just perfect in terms of creaminess; not too heavy, not too light. I don’t know about him, but I really wish I could eat it!

Overall, awesome food and service, very happy with Fat panda

Fat Panda
233 Canley Vale Road
Canley Heights NSW 2166
Phone: (02) 9755 4888

Map:

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Had last minute plans for dinner with the Antigen buddy… but she had a last minute cancellation… so I made some extra last minute plans with Mr AG…

So it turned out not too bad

I felt like having something meaty, so I chose Ryu Yakiniku (Burwood) for a Japanese BBQ. And I brought my camera this time, so got some better snaps =)

Menu, soy sauce/toothpick tray

Mr AG’s miso soup that I stole… and had it all, cos I was so cold!

Seaweed salad ship sushi: I always get these whenever I can!

Tuna salad

Premium pork loin

These were very tasty! ^_^ The fat on the pork sparks up the flame, so I gave all the BBQ duties to AG!

Though nice, I think I preferred the Negi-shio ox tongue we ordered last time.

Wagyu strip loin

I felt this was lacking in flavour, and just didn’t really excite me…

Again, I was more keen on the Wagyu tenderloin we ordered last time.

And some cooking before we wiped it off the plate

Ryu Yakiniku
Shop 173-174, 100 Burwood Rd
Burwood NSW 2134
Phone: (02) 9715 5566 ‎

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Caught up with two friends, Miss DZ and Miss JS.

Miss DZ recently went for a trip to Malaysia, and bought me a pretty gift

We ended up going to Tokyo Ria, upstairs in World Square for dinner and chit chat. Pretty place, decent food, nice atmosphere =D

Tokyo Ria
680 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9261 8977

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