Takoyaki, Friday night markets

Blog feels neglected. Lots of things going on at the same time and I have poor time management.

But anyway ...

A couple of weeks ago before watching The Hunger Games a few friends and I went to the night markets in Chinatown for some food. I didn't take a lot of photos. The thing I wanted to eat the most were these takoyaki. I always walk by, look at the line and get discouraged but it doesn't take long. There's prawn, octopus and vegetable fillings at various prices, which I don't quite remember right now. You order, get a ticket and wait at the other side for your food. There's different types of sauces and wasabi available that you can add.





Yes, that is us eating night market food on the tables outside the McDonald's near the Entertainment Centre.

And I probably won't be blogging 'til after my last assessment in like 2 weeks but I wanted to blog something ... XD

Arisun, Chinatown

In celebration of end of semester a couple of friends and I went to Arisun for some chicken and beer. It was nice and sunny still at 6pm so it was nice to see the sunset as the night progressed.

 

We were confused what these were. We knew they were towels but they were so dry and small. Then someone had the bright idea to add water to them and they expanded and became wet towels for your hands. There are different sets you can order of chicken and beer as well as other stuff on the menu. We order set 5 which cost $80 altogether. It comes with chicken, 3000cc of beer, 1 bottle of soju and this vegetable and noodle platter thing whose actual name escapes me.

 

The waitress moved too fast! The above vegetable and noodle dish was all presented nicely and I was too slow to take a photo and she started mixing it for us already!

 

Chicken was hot (warm not spicy) and crunchy and FRIED. It comes with little dishes of cut radishes (I assume), salt and pepper and a bowl for your chicken bones. You get a choice of chicken for your set. Either Sun's Original chicken, a soy sauced based chicken or a spicy chicken flavours (I forget the names, as always. I must take pictures of menus next time). We opted for the original flavour.

 

We also ordered a bottle of Korean rice wine 막걸리 ($12) which they opened then transferred into this teapot and we get little bowls to drink it out of. We also ordered some seafood pancake ($20) to eat with it. This was good seafood pancake. Very crispy and not too soggy like it can be at other restaurants.

 

I would like to go again and try some of the other dishes and chicken varieties and to drink more! Maybe post-exam time ... XD

• Find Arisun at 1 Dixon Street, Haymarket.

Hotplate Steak House

Long time no blog! I feel like it's been a long time. XD

On Tuesday night my friends and I made our second visit to Hotplate Steakhouse in Chinatown after ice-skating at Canterbury. I was such fail on the ice. Such, such fail. My first visit, which I blogged about, was in February. My friends and I have been calling it the Taiwanese Steakhouse. But I don't think that is its actual name. On this second visit I brought my DSLR and yay for better pictures!

The first time we went there it had just opened so it had a discount on the price of the sets. No such luck this time. The menu for the hotplate feast set was largely the same. The only difference being was that they brought out the sorbet earlier, the salad had a different dressing and they no longer pour the pepper sauce on the steak hotplate. They give you a dish with the sauce and you pour it as you like. I ordered the New York sirloin steak as my main and this time they didn't ask how I'd like it to be cooked. It turned out fine anyway, not well done, not rare.

The set is $19.95 and is pretty good value for money. You leave full. And on this particularly night I was that kind of sick kind of full. We had binged on KFC after ice-skating and were still a little bit full from that. XD

Wah, what a lazy blog entry this is ... more pics than words!
 

• Find Hotplate Steakhouse at 42 - 48 Dixon Street, Haymarket.

Last Friday Night: The gu-E; Lindt Chocolat Cafe

My friends and I made plans for Friday night dinner. The gu-E at the top end of Dixon Street, the end furthest away from Market City, was where we ate. It seems to be relatively new. I think it used to be a Japanese restaurant and I remembered always wanting to try the yakiniku there but obviously I never did.


The gu-E is a Korean BBQ and degustation restaurant. There's a choice of a set course or a la carte. It's much prettier inside than your usual Korean restaurant. They don't have TV screens or music playing KPop, which my friend was really quite missing. XD They asked us which water we'd like. Still or sparkling. We opted for still and I heard my friend say "tap water". It came out it bottles. I forget if we had to pay for it, because I didn't get a good look at the receipt, or if it was complimentary. The waiter poured the water in our glasses for us. They came back to do this several times. At times they did the barbecue for us. Turning and cutting up the meat. They also distributed the kimchi jjigae for us into our individual bowls. I don't remember them doing it to any other table. Although, I don't think any other table was having barbecue.

A meat platter. I think it was from a separate menu than the one I found online. But yes, meat platter. At first it didn't look like much but in the end it turned out to be quite filling among 6 people.

Kimchi jjigae $15.00

Normal kimchi jjigae is what it tasted like. But I mean, how different can it taste? We seem to order it every time we have Korean food.

Side dishes. Only really the ate the kimchi and that cabbage looking thing in the top right corner.

Beef, mushroom and dumpling hot pot $33.00

This was pretty good for a cold winter's night. Those mushrooms were amazing and tofu! I love tofu. Glad we ordered it in the end because I was saying "no" to it because we never finish hot pot when we get it but we finished this one!

We split the bill evenly and it ended up being around 20-something dollars each. But were hesitant in ordering a lot of dishes because it was pricier than your casual Korean restaurant. But, hey, that left money and room for dessert!

On the way to the Lindt Cafe we walked through the newly opened Darling Quarter. Last time I walked past here it was all blocked off but now you can see grass and benches and a wide, wide walkway.

Lindt Hazelnut Waffle $16.00

Hot fudge sundae $16.00

And thus I left the city that night feeling full and heavy and bloated. XD Yay, for Friday nights! But now it's Saturday and I have nothing to do. ;P

• Find The gu-E at 34/1 Dixon Street, Sydney 2000.
• Find Lindt Chocolcat Cafe at 104-105 Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

I woke up in time to see a friend I haven't seen in like 1 1/2 years!

I kept on snoozing my alarm but I got an SMS at around 9am telling me to wake up and get dressed. So, I made myself coffee, checked twitter then got dressed. My friends and I were heading to the city to see a friend of ours from undergrad uni days who had been living in Japan for the past year and a half, though it didn't feel that long. (By the by, yesterday doesn't even feel like yesterday. I know I went to dinner and dessert in the city but I don't feel like it was yesterday.)

Meet my friend!

I made it in time for yum cha and for the longest time we were standing outside this place just waiting for others to arrive.

Our usual yum cha place in the city is Marigold. I love dumplings. Love, love, love. All sorts of goodness inside.

After yum cha we headed over to Capitol Square (got some sticker photos and played some games) and to Galaxy World, souvenir store and Morning Glory in Market City.

Kinda want UGG boots now.

Then we headed off to Chinatown for Friday night markets! Amazing smells, sights and sounds! I should go more often!

Twisty Potato? I think that's what the stall called it. Remember Arashi no Shukudai-kun and they had the machine that made this food and it was censored becauase it was still being patented? YEAH. LOOK IT SPREAD. I LOVE IT FOREVER BECAUSE OF ARASHI. Only $3.50 at the Chinatown Friday night markets. Comes in different flavours too.

We then back to Capitol to kill some time while waiting another friend. Walked around and saw all the pretty, expensive Japanese phones in the stores on the second level beyond all the games and sticker photo booths. But eventually it led back to the games. Well, just one - pachinko. Still don't know how it works.

Around 5:30ish we headed back up towards Town Hall area, said goodbye to our friend who's going back to Osaka on Sudnay and had dinner at Pepper Lunch. Been so long! Had the beef curry - $9.90. Want to try the J-Curry next time. My friends had it and it looked so so good!

J-Curry.

Beef curry - not yet mixed.

Beef curry - mixed.

Headed for drinks up and across the road at the Pavilion Hotel where my friend was working behind the bar for the night. We only got to see him once before he had to work at the bar downstairs. I did not know how to take a good photo of these drinks. No idea. Tried so many times. XD

Such a long and busy Friday. I so thought that I was going to be home much earlier. Like, while it was still daylight. Ended up at home about 10pm which is still relatively early compared to other people's Fridays. How was yours? Straight back into uni work. Must study. Been bludging all week!

• Find Marigold at 5/683-689 George Street, Haymarket, NSW.
• Find Pepper Lunch at 537 George Street, Sydney, NSW.
• Find Pavilion Hotel at 580 George Street, Sydney, NSW.