Sydney: Episode 2

So I went to Sydney again on Friday, that makes is twice in a week now hehehe...

We got there around lunchtime so we popped by Chinatown to fulfill our egg-tart cravings, or in my case (since I had that already on Tuesday), char-siu-soh which is a triangular butter pastry with a BBQ pork filling. Then we walked allllll the way to the Sydney Fish Markets because June hasn't been there before and the last time (and first time!) i went there was more than 2 years ago.

There we got some sashimi, which was 6AUD for 100g of tuna... but they gave us shitty cuts :( I think all the good cuts went to the restaurants. It was really fresh though. Then I die-die also wanted to eat oysters. Christies has the most variety, i think. Their oysters are 14.99AUD per dozen. I asked the cute Jap dude handling the oyster bar which one he'd recommend (heck I can't tell oysters apart wtf) and he recommended these teeny teeny oysters called Kumamoto.

At first I felt ripped off, coz for the same price I was paying I could get 12 gigantic oyters like the ones we usually get at a fancy buffet in a 5-star hotel. Those take up 2 serving dishes whereas these tiny babies barely filled up a single serving dish!!

Lucky for me, it turns out neither June nor Eva wanted to share the oysters (I took a dozen thinking they would want some as well). So maybe it was a blessing that I got the tiny ones. But oh man, they were soooo AWESOME. They were really sweet, light and not over-creamy! I don't really know how to explain it in words, but lets just say I polished off all twelve of those babies faster than eating 12 chicken nuggets. SO GOOD!! And I could have eaten another 12 of them easily, had I been richer lol.

When we left the fish market, I passed by the oyster bar and spotted Sydney Rock Oysters, I took a look at the gigantic creamy blob and shuddered. I think Kumamotos have spoilt me now. Damn.

Next stop: Balmain for.... Adriano Zumbo!! WOOTWOOOOOOOOT!!!

I first forced some friends to go there last year (Balmain is unchartered Sydney territory to us!!) all because I heard there was a magicianpatissier who made fantastic cakes (or works of art!) and macarons.

I wasn't dissapointed. The macarons were yummy, there was a wide variety, and he had the more uncommon flavours going on.. (rice pudding flavour had real smashed up bits of rice grains in it!) such as salt&vinegar and wasabi. The cakes are out of this world, and they have interesting names to boot (I still remember one of them was called Ed Knocked Me Up). Macarons go for 2AUD each. I picked one rice pudding and one gandujia&pinenut and one salted popcorn one, the other ones were mandarin&tonka bean, pistachio, chocolate, earl grey, baklava, salt&vinegar, raspberry, and i cant remember the rest. 

This time we paid a visit to his relatively new cafe, and had a yummy yummy fun dish called The Younger Years, which was a hot fondant cake (the cake was so soft, and the chocolate inside.... ooh) served with a peanut butter gelato sprinkled with crunchy peanut caramel. But the fun bit was it came in a metal kidney dish (the kind they make you pee in at the clinic) along with a syringe filled with vanilla anglaise cream and raspberry coulis, which you stab into the fondant cake and inject!!!

We intended to snap a picture for memories, but that cake dissapeared way too fast (among moans and sighs and countless "so goooood" from June :P) that all I had was a picture of an empty kidney dish with some leftover "blood" dripping from the used syringe. :P.

I ordered a mocha as well. Best mocha I had so far.

I heard Zumbo himself recently got back from France after apprenticing at Pierre Herme. Mm. I wonder what new tasty treats he'd make from all that new experience... *slurps in anticipation*

Third Stop: Dinner at Nazimi.

Nazimi is a quaint Japanese restaurant hidden away on the basement floor of a building opposite the Queen Vic. Building. Its not fancy food, but its simple, authentic Japanese food at a reasonable price. I shared a gyoza with June, and had a Spider Roll (deepfried softshell crab with avocado) for myself. Yum.

Had fun attempting to open a Ramune bottle. Gave up and had to beg a waitress for help haha.

After that we made our way to the Lindt Chocolate Cafe at Darling Harbour. They sold macarons there as well, I bought a vanilla, hazelnut, rose and chocolate one (made with Lindt 70% dark choc). They also were 2AUD per macaron. June and her friend got a hot chocolate each. It smelt so good, the aroma of melted fine chocolate instead of the shitty powdery mix ones that come out of the dining hall hot chocolate machine.

Last Stop: Siu Loong Pau (or Xiao Long Bao) at Din Tai Fung, World Square Sydney

Theres a Din Tai Fung back home at the Gardens, I ate there once before and didn't think it was all that special (hey, i'm a Dragon-i fan ok) but here in Sydney when you want Siu Loong Bao, the only place you're getting good ones are at Din Tai Fung!!

June never had them either so this was an excuse to get lunch there!! We had to wait in line for a while, but it was worth it! 6 Siu Loong Paus for 8.80AUD. And they were so good! Quality wise the soup was nicer than Dragon-i! Commence the moany "so goooooood"s from June heheh. And I ordered a fried rice with fried pork to share, and that was 12.80AUD. So for about 10 bucks each, we had a yummy lunch!

I wish I lived in Sydney instead of a butt-hurting 3 hour trainride away.

Ooh and bought some Gyoza skins. Gyoza making time!!