“I have no food,” Eric declares as I plonk myself down on the couch on a Tuesday evening. I look at him incredulously and retort, ‘What do you mean you have no food?!” In our de facto household, Eric is the brilliant cook and I’m the eager eater. When we’re not out for dinner or…
Category: Cheap Eats
The Mandoo, Strathfield
It took me a while to get into Korean food because I only perceived it (inaccurately) to be laden with meaty delights. I’m much more of a veggie-lover, so the idea of Korean BBQ just didn’t appeal to me. Luckily, in the last decade or so I befriended a few Korean friends, and especially Jeff…
The Best Indonesian Restaurants in Sydney (and What You Should Order)
People often ask me what my favorite Indonesian restaurant is in Sydney. And in general, my response is it depends on the dish. There are plenty of great Indo restos, but each has their own specialty. Sometimes the menu is padded out with other Indonesian staples that people know and love, but they might not…
Lestari Resto, Ultimo
I spotted Lestari after a visit at Brainwave Cafe and was curious to see pork on the menu. Pork at an Indonesian restaurant is quite rare – in Bali, it’s easy to find because of the predominantly Hindu culture, but whenever I’m in Jakarta, I generally only find pork in Chinese or Western restaurants. Lestari…
Willis Canteen, Ultimo
Gado gado is my all-time favorite Indonesian dish. A great gado gado is predominantly defined by the peanut sauce (or the bumbu as Indos would say). In Sydney, most Indonesian restaurants take shortcuts, creating the sauce using peanut butter. But the legitimate way is to make it from scratch using peanuts, grinding it with an ulekan (mortar and…
What to Eat and Do in KL, Malaysia
I’ve been to KL three or four times before, but only a couple of days each time. This meant that I only ever saw the inside of shopping malls and a few touristy destinations like the Petronas Towers and the aquarium. A three-day trip to KL over the Easter long weekend was our chance to properly…
Yang Guo Fu Malatang, Chinatown
We were having ramen and Indo food at Dixon House Food Court when Daph and I were side-tracked by the long queue at Yang Guo Fu Malatang. I spotted this queue many times before, but I never dared to actually try it out because there isn’t a menu displayed, staff only speak Mandarin, and the whole…
Brainwave Cafe, Ultimo
Brainwave crosses Thai cuisine with cafe food, delivering on many fronts: fantastic value, friendly staff, and did I mention soft serves? The staff explain the specials the moment we walk through the door. Scrawled on a chalkboard, we know right away we’ll be ordering them. I’m sold on the hot chips with pulled pork (for…
Chinese Noodle House
So I’ve already written about Chinese Noodle House over at Weekend Notes when I first went in 2011, but I’ve since then probably been another 20 times. It’s without fail one of my all time favorites in Sydney. And I still order the same dang things as that first time I went four years ago, though I’ve…
Do Dee Paidang, Haymarket
The spicy noodle soups at Do Dee in Chinatown are dictated by levels 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. We’re unsure of what happened to level 4 or 6. After weeks of of toing and froing (yes, this warranted discussions weeks before we actually went for lunch here!), I end up settling for Do Dee Devil spicy…
Sarah vs Carbs 