This impressive creme brûlée donut was actually flamed right in front of us to create a delicious toffee crust. The donut itself inside was amazing too.
Read MoreTHE FOODIE HOUSE - NORTH RYDE, SYDNEY
The Foodie HouseMacquarie 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.
BOMBAY STREET KITCHEN - GLEBE, SYDNEY
Bombay Street KitchenUniversity Hall Building
Cnr Glebe Point Rd and Parramatta Rd
Glebe, Sydney
Bombay Street Kitchen is street food of India and they are licensed and BYO (wine only). They have been open for only a few months and have both inside and outside seating for 60. Mlady started her lovely meal with an Oyster Bay 2013 Merlot and Sir chose an Indian beer - Kingfisher Lager.
We started with the Pav Bhaji which originated in the 1850's as a fast lunchtime dish for textile mill workers in Bombay. It is now a Mambaian institution and eaten all over India. It's lightly spiced mashed veggies served with a warm buttered bun. We both thoroughly enjoyed this very tasty dish and used the soft bun as a scoop to get to the very yummy veggies. We spread the veggies on the bun and garnished it with the side of onion and chives. A flavoursome dish with bite.
Pani Poori - what a novel and fun dish! This is crispy lentil pockets stuffed with potatoes, chickpeas, spices, tamarind chutney and serving of mint chutney and tamarind water. What you do is - fill the bun with the juice and "down the hatch". We both loved this. It had a good crunch, was so fresh and it also had a good bite to it.
The Marsala fish fry is tender pieces of mackerel marinated in lime juice, coriander and fresh coconut, fried and served with a wedge of lemon. OMG this dish was amazing. So, there were a few bones - what good fish does not have a few bones. The fish was crispy and so fresh and Mlady even sucked the crispy bits off the bones - that's how much she enjoyed it.
We had a serving of Naan which was freshly cooked and buttered and this was presented in a silver bucket. The tasty Naan was used to soak up the various sauces with the dishes that we had.
Instead of having Basmati rice that we usually have we opted for the Lemon Rice This was such a tasty change. it was made up with lentils, lemon and spices. It was presented in a black bowl emphasising it's vibrant colour. The rice was so good you could eat it by itself!
Next we had the Chicken Chennai which is also known as Madras Chicken. The chicken is simmered in a coconut based sauce and garnished with curry leaves. Oh WOW! Great flavours! What a great kick to this dish! It went so very well with the great lemon rice.
Then we had the Lasni Kalambi which is prawns sizzled in garlic, coriander and tomato sauce. Again another great tasting dish with wonderful flavours. The prawns were large, plump and very juicy. we used the tasty Naan to soak up the delicious sauce.
For dessert Mlady did not choose her usual "anything that's chocolate" but decided to go with the Mango Kulfi. The homemade mango ice cream, almond and cardamon crumble was so fresh. OMG this was an amazing dessert - which you really must try!
Sir chose the Lapshee which is cracked wheat caramelised with jaggery and fennel served with smoked yogurt and almond. When we saw the "smoked yogurt" in it's description this aroused our curiosity. This dessert was different and very tasty and another "must try".
Bombay Street Kitchen is a real gem. The food is authentic, fresh, fun and very tasty. Eat here - you'll love it!Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Bombay Street Kitchen and would like to say a big Thank you to Chef Rajoo for taking time out and chatting with us about his impressive background and philosophy on food. Also a big thank you to Manasi for taking care of us on the night.
CHACHU'S - HAWKER LANE IN WESTFIELD CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY
Chachu'sWestfield Chatswood (Hawker Lane),
1 Anderson Street, Chatswood, Sydney
Chachu's is another of the great options that forms Hawker Lane in Westfield Chatswood.
They basically serve fast Indian street food. There's some big flavours and a decent range of choices available, including vegetarian ones too.
The Kathi rolls were delicious - a lot like a wrap but the outer layer was more like a flaky roti but it didn't fall apart. Great flavours here too! The spicy chips were a tasty side and well worth grabbing.Sir and Mlady visited Hawker Lane as guests of Westfield Chatswood. Special thanks to Julia Murray of Sibling Agency for this invitation.
BABA CHARLIE MALAYSIAN - KING ST WHARF, SYDNEY
Baba Charlie Malaysian30 Lime St
Sydney CBD
The Sir and Mlady team met for a Christmas bash at this popular restaurant recently.
Baba Charlie serves a wide variety of Malaysian food, with a few added extra dishes from neighbouring countries as well. We ate a lot, a real lot, and the whole team thought the food was great.
We each had our own particular favourite dishes, but we all agreed it was good Malaysian food in a prime location in the CBD.
Here is a long pictorial run through of the many dishes we had on our lovely finale to the 2015 year.
We ate a lot of food at Baba Charlie, and we'd gladly eat there again. The Malaysian food we had was delicious, packed full of big flavours, great ingredients and with plenty of variety. We worked our way through a big chunk of their menu too!
Sir and Mlady's visit to Baba Charlie was supported by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme.
KRETA AYER - KINGSFORD, SYDNEY
Kreta Ayer466 Anzac Pde
Kingsford, Sydney
Kreta Ayer is a bustling Malaysian restaurant in the suburb of Kingsford, in Sydney's East. It's close proximity to the University of New South Wales makes it a popular choice with students It's always full and most evenings, there is a queue of people waiting outside. This evening The Counts were dining with two dear friends, who's love of Malaysian food is almost as strong as ours making them the perfect companions.
We arrived early on a Friday night and found a table almost immediately (and also avoided the queue which later became quite long). The restaurant has a real street food ambience. There are picnic style tables, with benches or stools. When it comes to Malaysian food, we generally know what we like and what we are going to order before we even look at the menu. Tonight was different though, the menu at Kreta Ayer has over 200 items on it.
Roti is a standard item we order at every Malaysian food experience we have and tonight was no exception. We ordered two servings (we like it a lot) and here at Kreta Ayer they serve it with a lovely curry sauce.
The Roti was delicious, buttery and flaky.
The curry sauce was a great dipping agent too.
Satay Skewers are another favourite of ours.
We deviated away from our usual chicken satay order and went for the mixed skewers which comes with beef skewers as well as chicken.
It was nice to try something different and to our surprise, the beef with satay sauce was actually a good combination.
Next up some Tauhu Goreng. A traditional Malaysian dish which has tofu (deep fried) and is covered in fresh and crispy bean sprouts and cucumber. The tofu is quite tasty on its own but becomes a taste sensation with the amazing sauce it is served with. A thick sauce prepared with shrimp paste, soy sauce and tamarind juice. Not sure what it's called but we loved it.As we finished our starters, we enjoyed a glass of wine from a bottle we bought conveniently at the liquor store just down the road. Kreta Ayer is BYO both wine and beer, which is fantastic. Count N tried an Iced Ribena Soda with Longa, a refreshing and sweet non alcoholic drink. It was bursting with flavour though a bit on the sweet side.
Our first main to arrive was the Malaysian Crispy Fried Chicken. This was a huge serving of golden pieces of fried tender chicken.
They were cooked well and were extra crispy on the outside but soft with very juicy meat on the inside.
It was hard to stop eating this dish.
Next up some Sambal Squid. Now Sambal is a traditional Malaysian sauce made with quite a lot of chilli and other flavoursome ingredients like garlic and ginger and this combined with squid makes a very tantalising dish.
Just a warning folks, this one is quite spicy so be prepared for some squid with quite a bit of kick.
Moving away from the hot and spicy but still on the seafood theme, we also tried the Kreta Ayer Soft shell crab which was crispy and served on a beautiful salad bed. It was a vibrant and fresh dish.Kreta Ayer also caters very well for vegetarians, with quite a few vegetarian dishes on their menu, so don't worry if meat or chicken isn't your thing.
Finally, no Malaysian food experience would be complete without Nasi Goreng so despite us being quite full, we ordered it as a finisher to the evening. Now, when you are eating a good Nasi Goreng, you expect a dish that is full of flavour, has a hint of spice and of course some egg. The one here at Kreta Ayer ticked all the boxes. It was delicious.
Kreta Ayer has a pleasant relaxed atmosphere, a huge variety of food on their menu and and is very well priced. We definitely would consider going back next time we are in the mood for some Malaysian food, you should to.
The Counts, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, visited to Kreta Ayer supported by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme.
LAMB AND CUMIN - HAWKER LANE IN WESTFIELD CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY
Lamb and CuminWestfield Chatswood (Hawker Lane),
1 Anderson Street, Chatswood, Sydney
To put it simply, Lamb and Cumin specialise in BBQ'd meat on sticks. It's all cooked freshly on their premises right in front of you so you can watch it all happening and savour those great BBQ smells. They come in different quantities and in different meats - just choose at the counter and wait for your sticks!
We tried their signature Lamb and Cumin skewers as well as their teriyaki wagyu beef skewers.
Both varieties were very tasty. The meat had been nicely cooked over coals giving it a great mildly smoky taste that you expect from a BBQ.
It was very tender too, which sometimes doesn't happen with skewers.
Lamb and Cumin have three outlets across Sydney all selling these tasty sticks with meat. It's a quick, tasty and easy meal to have or a great starter.
Sir and Mlady visited Hawker Lane as guests of Westfield Chatswood. Special thanks to Julia Murray of Sibling Agency for this invitation.
JIMS MALAYSIA - HAWKER LANE IN WESTFIELD CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY
Jim's MalaysiaWestfield Chatswood (Hawker Lane),
1 Anderson Street,
Chatswood, Sydney
Being frequent eaters of Malaysian food it was great to see this tasty cuisine here at Hawker Lane.
Jim's Malaysia offers hawker (or street) food so it's quite appropriate to find it here.
For a small place they actually offer quite a big range of food here and we were fortunate to be able to sample quite a few of them.
Sir and Mlady visited Hawker Lane as guests of Westfield Chatswood. Special thanks to Julia Murray of Sibling Agency for this invitation.
MADAME NHU - HAWKER LANE IN WESTFIELD CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY
Madame NhuShop FM8, Hawker Lane,
Westfield Chatswood, 1 Anderson Street, Chatswood, Sydney
Madame Nhu has been serving Vietnamese food to the people of Sydney since 2007.
Now boasting five locations, their latest is part of the foodie enclave of Hawker Lane in Westfield Chatswood.
Madame Nhu highlights that they were the first to bring vietnamese summer rolls to Sydney back in 2007. We tried them on our visit and they were delicious. The fresh crisp flavours shone through and the dipping sauce added some extra intensity.
It's so easy to see why these are so popular, but they have plenty of other choices there as well including a wide range of pho.
We were impressed with
the freshness and flavours of the rolls at Madame Nhu. It certainly makes us want to try their other options too and with plenty of other restaurants across Sydney it's not hard to find them.
Sir and Mlady visited Madame Nhu as guests of Westfield Chatswood. Special thanks to Julia Murray of Sibling Agency for this invitation.
HAWKER LANE - CHATSWOOD, SYDNEY
Hawker LaneWestfield Chatswood
Chatswood, Sydney
Hawker Lane is an amazing oasis of restaurants underneath the massive Westfield in Chatswood. You feel like your really in another world here as you pause from your shopping and enter this den of tastes and sounds and delicious smells from the great range of restaurants that are spread across this sprawling area.
The biggest challenge here is what to choose. Our suggestion is to grab a table first - there are plenty of them but they go fast., If you miss out don't fret, they turn over quickly so it won't be long. Then do a lap of honour - to check out whats there. Even if you know what you want, it may well change once you see the great variety here. Of course you can get food from multiple places which works exceptionally well. Maybe a starter or three from some places, a few mains elsewhere and then of course desserts! We were there to try their goodies as part of a media event. Being greeted at the door with beautiful coconuts from Kayter and Co was a delicious start - they certainly knew how to keep foodies happy! With our coconuts piled high with cake, marshmallow, chocolate and biscuits it looked amazing - and so many people kept coming up to us wanting to know where to get them. Hands off - their ours!
Then where to start. We looked around and sampled food from so many places. It was a dance from fried chicken, to skewers, dumplings, Malaysian, ramen burgers, sushi, drinks, sweets, roti wraps etc etc etc. Here's just a few of the names you'll find here - but wait - there's more!
Of course you can visit and try for yourself - and we highly recommend this.
This is one place worth a long slow visit - or several in fact - to get across the massive range here!
Sir and Mlady visited Hawker Lane as guests of Westfield Chatswood. Special thanks to Julia Murray of Sibling Agency for this invitation.
TASTE OF MALAYA - CASTLE HILL, SYDNEY
Taste of MalayaCastle Towers Shopping Centre - The Piazza
6-14 Castle Pl
Castle Hill, Sydney
The Piazza at Castle Towers has always been a popular food destination over the years - and this is still just as much the case today.
It's bustling and busy with some dining there before hitting the movies next door while others just settle in there for the night.
Taste of Malaya, like many of the other places in this precinct, is a longish restaurant. It has a lovely outdoor area for al fresco dining under cover as well as a larger indoor area stretching back from the Piazza.
We started with the roti - as we often do when eating Malaysian. It was a thinner roti than we've normally had, but still with the complexity of many layers and it tasted lovely.
A few glasses of the house red - a very affordable Merlot - capped of a great start to the meal.
Red and roti is such a great combination at any time.
We've had plenty of mee goreng in our time - and it's still a favourite - but when we saw Duck Meat Malaysian Style Mee Goreng on the menu it was an instant choice. There was plenty of duck in this dish. It was a rich and quite tangy meal with a thickish tomato paste around thick noodles and interspersed with plenty of fresh chilli. We both agreed that this was one of our favourite dishes of the night.
Then it was on to another old favourite - beef rendang.
The beef in this dish was slow cooked and so tender it practically melted in our mouths.
The gravy, or curry, was nicely fragrant and rich, as it should be, and we even ladled it on our rice after the meat was gone.
These lightly battered King Prawns were big and juicy.
The sauce they were resting in was a mix of coconut, curry and lemon juice.
It was a mild sauce with fragrant flavour that didn't overpower the prawn meat. We loved this dish and would eagerly have it again - and again!
Taste of Malaya offers an interesting range of both Malaysian and Chinese dishes in a pleasant setting. The food tastes great and arrives quickly in good sized servings. Service is fast and friendly. It's an affordable place to go for a good meal.
Sir and Mlady's visit to Taste of Malaya was supported by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme.
MONKEY KING THAI - NEWPORT, SYDNEY
Monkey King Thai335 Barrenjoey Rd
Newport, Sydney
This restaurant is not your average Thai place with the usual Thai dishes and décor. It’s more contemporary, with some enticing and interesting menu items as well as all your old favourites. The interior is stylish and modern with local artists’ work displayed on the walls. There is also outdoor dining at the front and rear of the premises if you prefer the seaside air.
The menu is well presented and the photos look so tempting it gets your mouth watering. There is a “make your own” section where you can choose the components of your dish, such as meat/seafood/veg, sauce and noodle type. There are also signature dishes and chef’s recommendations and the variety is extensive but not overwhelming. This place also does some great Thai “street food”. They all sound amazing, so it’s hard to choose. What a nice problem to have!
We started with the steamed prawn and chicken dumplings with homemade sauce. They were light and soft in the middle and very good. Dame V loved these and stole one of Dame M's.
As we are seafood lovers, we also chose the crispy soft shell crab with sweet chilli sauce. It’s a popular dish and this one tasted as good as it looked. The coating was indeed crispy and not at all oily or heavy. Inside, the crab was still juicy and it was very tasty.
As we are seafood lovers, we also chose the crispy soft shell crab with sweet chilli sauce. It’s a popular dish and this one tasted as good as it looked. The coating was indeed crispy and not at all oily or heavy. Inside, the crab was still juicy and it was very tasty.
Next, something a bit astringent to freshen the palate – papaya salad (which can be ordered with a side of crispy pork belly if you like.) The combination was a winner. The tangy lemon-dressed salad was really good and so was the pork.We chatted with part-owner Top, who explained that his aim is to provide a casual and friendly atmosphere where locals feel part of the family.
There are lots of regulars here and Top is keen to get their feedback and suggestions so he can continue to meet and exceed their expectations. He supports the community wherever possible which we think is a nice way to do business.
For the mains, we started with king prawns with lime leaves and peppercorns. This was tasty and although there were only three prawns, they were giant ones so it was plenty. If you are a group sharing, you may like to consider the numbers and order extra servings as necessary. It was a delicious dish and you can adjust your intake of those punchy peppercorns to suit your taste.
Lovers of duck will love our next dish – duck with plum sauce and shitake mushrooms with star anise,cinnamon and garlic.
This was such a tasty mixture and apparently a very popular choice here.
This was not surprising at all once we tasted it - it was simply beautiful.
Dessert? Yes, Monkey Love please. That was the name of the amazing deep fried bananas in flaky pastry with green tea ice cream which we devoured next. These monkeys certainly loved it! We will go back for this too!Monkey King Thai in Newport is now open for lunch and offers some great specials accompanied by steamed rice. The banquet menu looks fabulous and also great value. The dinner menu is also very reasonably priced and there is Singha beer on tap. You can even get a signature Monkey King craft Pale Ale which is a bitter style so it goes well with this style of food. For the wine lovers, there is a Monkey King Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 which we also tried. It was a very nice drop. Allover it was a great dining experience which we would highly recommend. We know we will both be back to try some more superb dishes.
Those Dames, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Monkey King Thai. Big thanks to co-owner Top for this invitation.
