THE FOODIE HOUSE - NORTH RYDE, SYDNEY

The Foodie House
Macquarie Centre
197 Herring Rd
North Ryde, Sydney

We felt like having a spicy lunch and being a public holiday, where a lot of restaurants are closed, we decided to head to the Macquarie Centre.

The Foodie House caught our eye and after reading their menu's thought that this would be a good place to grab a nice lunch - with spice. We both chose dishes that were on the "lunchtime" special.

Mlady had a laksa and chose the vegetarian/tofu variation for this.

It did not take long to arrive and when it did it smelt delish. Mlady had the beauty of the laksa being a lovely "soup" with all it's goodies.

This consisted of the noodles, baby corn, mushrooms, pieces of carrot, sliced bits of onion, pieces of shallot and of course wonderful soft tofu.

Mlady of course used the chopsticks to eat the tasty spicy vegetables and noodles and the spoon to enjoy the wonderful "soup". This was a really satisfying dish that tasted delicious and ticked all the boxes.




















Sir ordered the Crispy roasted pork served with rice. There was a good pile of pork on the plate. It was nice and tender with a mildly flavoured dipping sauce and a small garnish of salad.

It was accompanied with a good sized serving of rice on the plate as well. The combination was tasty and with its side of soup it was a very substantial meal.

The Foodie House is a quaint place with a street stall appearance to it even though it's inside Macquarie Centre. The food is freshly made, fast and tasty.

THE MISSING PIECE - NORTH RYDE

The Missing Piece
Macquarie Centre
197 Herring Rd
North Ryde, Sydney

We spied The Missing Piece at Macquarie Centre and it looked impressive with its selection of cookies, scrolls and cronuts.

We'd heard good things about this place and so we decided to grab a few bits and pieces to take away.













There was a good selection of cronuts and cakes but the scrolls took centre stage and stole the show here.

Mlady chose a Nutella and banana scroll

The scrolls were simply amazing - fresh and full of flavour. Mlady loved hers and thoroughly enjoyed devouring every bit of it.





Sir chose (no surprises) a salted caramel scroll.

He's a BIG salted caramel fan and had no qualms of having to eat the salted caramel scroll.

The caramel just oozed out of the spiralled layers of the scroll as he bit into - nice!

It was such a good way to have a sweet hit.



















We also decided to grab a cookie as well - especially as it was billed as "Worlds Best Muesli Cookie" - we're suckers for a pitch like that!

The cookie really tasted like a good cookie should and held together very well when you broke pieces off.

It was fresh and you could taste the lovely oats and the sultanas sweetened this very yummy cookie.

The Missing Piece certainly doesn't seem to be missing out on willing and loyal customers. There was a queue when we went past earlier! They seem to handle it well though, and their selection of drinks and food had everyone there happy. We'll have to drop back some time and stay to try more of their things. 

 

OPEN KITCHEN HE TAI YUM CHA - NORTH RYDE, SYDNEY

Open Kitchen He Tai Yum Cha
Level 3 Macquarie Centre (outside the centre)
Cnr Herring and Waterloo Rds
Macquarie Park, North Ryde, Sydney

Even though Open Kitchen is described in it's name as a yum cha restaurant, they have a far more expansive menu.

They do of course offer yum cha during the day and are at their busiest on weekends where there is often a queue at peak times.

It's a little hard to find because it's listed as being on level 3 of Macquarie Centre but it's actually part of but outside the centre. Ask if you're not sure because it's worth finding. We started with some green tea while we looked at the menu.

We started with a serving of sesame prawn rolls - plump prawn pieces inside crispy fried thin pastry covered in a generous coating of crunchy sesame seeds. They arrived hot in a serving of three and were certainly tasty. We also had some lovely BBQ pork pastries - crisp pastries filled with a rich mix of tangy pork.





















Prawn dumplings are a favourite of ours for most yum cha sessions - especially steamed ones - and a serving of four meant we didn't have to fight over an odd number or cut one in half! The same applied to the tasty English spinach dumplings - which were actually prawn and spinach.





















Finally it was on to their xiao lung bao - four steamed thin pastry pods filled with a delicious light soup. These were really good. We also finished with some steamed pork and prawn shumai. These were packed and a more substantial and filling dumpling - going perfectly with the small dipping bowl of chilli sauce.

We enjoyed the food at Open Kitchen. It was fresh, tasty and arrived quickly. Service was efficient and the place is big but nicely set out. Ordering is from the menu rather than from passing trolleys, so it's a bit different - but it still works and it certainly seemed popular with a queue to prove it.

PASSIONTREE VELVET - NORTH RYDE, SYDNEY

Passiontree Velvet
Shop K3415 Macquarie Centre
Cnr Herring and Waterloo Rds
North Ryde, Sydney

If you like looking at pretty food, then eating it, this place is somewhere you'll love. The Passiontree Velvet name is probably better known north of the border in Queensland, but they've now thankfully spread their wings and travelled south.

A shopping centre isn't where you'd normally expect a place like this but it certainly doesn't seem to be a problem for the many people visiting. In fact, it probably makes it all the more accessible.

Nestled in the newish part of Macquarie Centre, this place stands out with its huge almost glowing display of beautiful cakes and macarons. It causes people to stop, stare longingly and then invariably buy.

We started with some lovely coffee. It's always a good yardstick for any cafe/cakery and it was bruchtime as well.

It also gave us a bit more time to decide what to order, as well as a chance to go and gaze longingly at all the goodies on display inside their long front counter.

It's a sweet-tooth's paradise here with so many choices. Some are individual servings while others are for sharing.

The very intriguing baked stuffed avocado caught our eyes and intrigued our appetites straight away as it sounded a bit different.

It was avocado halves lined with smoked salmon and baked with an egg in each half.

There was a hint of chilli and some cracked black pepper too and it was served with two pieces of toast - pane de case to be exact.

Then the high tea for one arrived. It was a two tier stand with long rectangular plates.

The bottom level had sandwiches, a fresh scone and a lovely salmon bite.

The top level had the sweet stuff and they really looked good. They also tasted great too!

Each one was a work of art - beautifully presented and hard to resist.

Even though we'd basically had brunch and a high tea it was impossible to resist some of the smaller treats on display.

So we made the easy choice and decided not to resist!

We had the salted caramel popcorn eclair and the popular strawberry cheesecake eclair. Both were delicious - light fluffy pastry with great flavours for the fillings and toppings.

The tea at Passiontree Velvet is a real focus. We spoke with Chris Sheldrick, who put this place together, about it and heard all about their passion (pun intended) for serving great tea.

They also use clear glass teapots too - so they can see if you need a top up and offer it asap. It's a great idea and they also look really cool as well. If you want herbal tea don't fret - they have plenty as well. 

The focus here is on cakes, macarons, tea's and high tea's, but they actually offer a lot more than this - including very tasty cooked breakfasts and lunches. You can mix, match and share too and even take away what you don't finish.Passiontree Velvet. They have a killer macaron tree too if you're looking for a great gift or event idea.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Passiontree Velvet. Big thanks to Bec for looking after us and to Chris for inviting us.

  

SAMBAL - NORTH RYDE, SYDNEY

Sambal
The Park, 285-297 Lane Cove Rd
North Ryde, Sydney

Sambal is a Malaysian restaurant on a busy strip on Lane Cove Rd and whilst it is probably seen by many it's a hard place to stop. However, it is well secluded from the hustle and bustle that goes on outside it's doors and offers both indoor seating and a pleasant courtyard to dine in. We dropped by to see what their food was like on a cold Saturday night - and so the warm indoors was of course our choice.

We started with an old favourite - Loh Bak. The serving was two rolls of tasty lean shredded pork seasoned with 5 spice powder and leek then wrapped into rolls with bean curd sheets and deep fried. It's like a pork sausage roll but much leaner with a much thinner outer layer. These were very tasty and the dipping sauce went well - even though they were great without it too.

We tend to grab some satay chicken skewers at most Malaysian restaurants - and this was no exception. They were thin and tender and came with a very tasty chunky peanut satay sauce slathered on top.

Then we moved on to the Choon Piah. These delicious traditional nonya spring rolls were filled with pork, crab meat, onions, cabbage and water chestnuts. They were then deep fried and served with dipping sauce. Very nice! 

Then it was time for the mains - and a bit more spice. First up was the Kapitan chicken curry - a milder dish made from freshly blended herbs cooked with chicken pieces and coconut milk and served with a dash of lime juice. We really liked the flavours of this. Then we had another old favourite, beef rendang. It was bite size pieces of beef cooked in curry spices till dry and topped with fried shredded coconut. It was rich, hearty and packed with beef and plenty of taste too. 

We ordered a few rices to soak up the sauces - some Nasi Lemak (or coconut) rice and some good old plain rice. The Nasi Lemak proved more popular than its simpler rival on this occasion!

A huge plate of Penang char kway teao also arrived and was also used as both a side dish and another main course in its own right. This is such a great dish and so versatile - packed with chicken, sprouts and noodles in a tangy sauce.

Seafood didn't go missing either with a deep bowl of Assam prawns. This is prawns sauteed in a rich and thick tamarind sauce.

There were a surprisingly high number of big juicy prawns in the dish.

The surprise packet was the Tau Eu Bak. It was big tender braised pork pieces and tofu cooked in dark and light soya sauce, garlic and hard boiled egg.

Then the finale - dessert. We had several servings of the house specialty - their sago pudding. These tasty sago pearls arrived in a bowl bathing in coconut milk and covered with gula melaka syrup. It was delicious.

We also grabbed several servings of assorted nonya kuehs - their home made treats. We were delighted to find that two used pandan as a base whilst the third was made from a type of sweet potato. They were certainly worth trying.

Sambal was a surprise. It's not easy to get to but worth finding.

Their food was fresh, tasty and packed with rich flavours. Service was fast and friendly and on a fine day or summer evening it would also be lovely to dine al fresco there.

Sir and Mlady's visit to Sambal was supported by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme.