Night Noodle Markets | Crave Sydney Food Festival

Long time no post! I've been doing assignments and catching up on readings for uni and stuff. This meant that I did not go anywhere or do anything worth blogging about! 

However, last Thursday my friends and I headed over to Hyde Park for the Night Noodle Markets. We got there around 5:15, maybe, and the first thing we did was trying to find and fight for a table. We did and then as we were waiting for other people to arrive had to answer numerous "Is anybody sitting here?" inquiries. The lines weren't too bad. The food was ok. I only went to the Longrain and Spanthai stalls. In my head I was weighing whether the food and the price were worth it because a lot of the stuff was overpriced for what they were.

 

From Longrain. $12. Sausage and coleslaw basically. I wish I had gone for the soup dishes instead because I regret paying $12 for a sausage. XD

 
One of my friend's bowls from Longrain. I don't know if it's the curry or the soup dish but it was way better than what I had.

 
From Spanthai which I'm guessing was a fusion of Spanish and Thai food. $13 for 2 dish combinations. Chicken pad thai and chicken saffron rice. Really liked the chicken saffron rice. Pad thai was just normal pad thai.

But really you come to it not so much for the food or the overpriced alcohol but to enjoy a spring night in Sydney, outside, with friends. 

And here is where I would insert some photos of my friends but yeah, anonymity and such precludes me from doing so. XD 

I would also insert photos of Hyde Park but lots of my photos turned out quite blurry. Still such a noob with my dslr. 

So, Saturday is almost gone now. I had planned to write up some notes this weekend ...

Also, I bought tickets to GANTZ and GANTZ: Perfect Answer for November 19 for the Japan Film Festival. Excited and like, finally!

Sukjai

Blogging to distract self from mounting pile of assignments and oncoming exams ...

This is from a couple of weeks ago. Right after I went to see The Lion King in 3D, which I highly recommend only to see it in cinema form not really for the 3D.

Sukjai is a Thai restaurant on Pitt Street in Sydney. On this particular Saturday night it wasn't too crowded. It's dimly lit inside, which I liked, but was kinda terrible for taking photos. I liked it because it gave the dining experience a bit of an intimate feel. If you know Pitt Street, then you know that right next to Sukjai is another Thai restaurant. My friend was deciding which one to go to and decide on Sukjai because of its walls.

I love when restaurants are decorated interestingly and I love groups of frames like that. It gave the restaurant an artsy feel. Melbourne-like. In trying to google the name and address of this restaurant for the purposes of this blog post I stumbled across the review by SMH where in the opening paragraph was this

someone utters the three magic words every Sydney diner wants to hear: ''It's like Melbourne!''

That was my first impression too. I wonder if anyone in Melbourne walks into a restaurant and goes "It's like Sydney!" Once, again am terrible blogger and did not remember the names. I don't know the names of the dishes except the green curry. But I suppose that was rather obvious.

Between 4 people, we had 3 dishes plus rice and it ended up being 13 dollars per person when we divided up the bill at the end of the night. Reasonably priced. Green curry very spicy but very good. Yeah, not much of a review or anything. If you want to eat at a pretty and atmospheric, Melbourne-like Thai restaurant then Sukjai is for you. Much better than the Thai-looking-like-a-fast-food-restaurant that I pass on the bus on the way to the train station. It's set out like an Oporto or a Macca's, where you order at the counter but for Thai food. It doesn't look too nice inside. Anyhoo ...

I was supposed to be starting an essay today ... but woke up so, so late. Hope the weather in Sydney clears up for the weekend! I want to go out!

• Find Sukjai at 415 Pitt Street, Haymarket 2000.

Wassup ...; The Lion King 3D

I sometimes use that as a greeting, just so you know. Exam over and done with. Lots of pending assignments and neverending reading still left. But I'm currently on mid-sem break so all of that is next week's problem. So, this post is about Saturday! As you all know, if you were in Sydney, that Saturday was a pretty crap weather kind of day. After the really lovely and hot Friday us Sydney-siders were treated to rain, wind and cold. I did not feel like going out at all but I had promised to see The Lion King in 3D with a friend all the way in Westfield Bondi Junction.


I think the first time I watched The Lion King was on a pirated VHS. Yeah. My dad had 2 VCRs and his friends would come to him to make copies of videos. Then my dad would make an extra copy for us. (OMG, we sound so pov XD).

I have not rewatched it since I was a kid so I was wondering how it'd hold up. And ... IT WAS AMAZING. STILL. After all these years. And I may have shed silent tears in the cinema. The cinema I was in had a few little kids in it watching it for the first time. And they'd talk and ask questions. Like "Where's his dad" "What happened to his dead?" "They can't kill him!" "Remember!" "OMG it's his dad!" My friend and I kept hitting each other when a song would come on. It was really lovely, nostalgic experience. Came out of it feeling all warm and bubbly. It really hasn't lost its magic.

I don't think it was necessary for it to be in 3D. I think a re-release with a few touch ups if needed would have been more than enough. 3D really didn't add anything more to this film, except a few more bucks. The film is perfect on its own. It doesn't need 3D. Now I'm gonna try to find my VHS copy and a VCR to rewatch. XD

Just one more ...

Have a horrible 9am exam tomorrow that I'm currently cramming for. Just that then I can blog about something. I don't know what exactly since I've been doing uni stuff and nothing interesting this whole time. XD Want to change blog design/layout too ...

Although, as soon as tomorrow's exams are over I know I still have other assessments that are due relatively soon. And a whole list of real life things to do as well ...

 Posting using the new blogger interface. How do you like it? It looks cleaner and nicer to me. Hopefully, it's easy to use as well ... seems like it so far.

 Lunch (pasta and chicken, me thinks), more coffee and study. Must not get distracted.

Procrastinating ...

Currently in assignment hell.

Just wanted to let you know.

Yeah. More coffee and back to it.

Think I'm gonna hand this in a day late. Ah, well. Better than handing it in on time but crap.

Also, I hate Mondays.

It's been a while

and I haven't updated due to sheer laziness.

And now that I have a whole bunch of things to read and assignments, I'm procrastinating by blogging.

A group of my friends and I got tickets to the K-Pop Concert in November. We'll be sitting in VIP seating. We didn't think the standing/mosh pit looking area was for us. And I don't really want to stand for that long! By the row letter I don't think we're that close to the stage. Definitely not front row but it's still closer than I suppose the other tickets. Can't believe I spent $289 on it. I don't really know the groups all that well. XD

If you've been watching the Korean variety show I Am A Singer, some of the singers of that show are coming down to Melbourne and doing a show at the Sidney Music Myer bowl on 12th October. I don't have a source or link to it. My friend who is a massive fan of that show found the info. A group of my friends want to head down to Melbourne for it and then stay for the weekend. I'm tempted to go but, oh, money. Haven't been to Melbourne for a couple of years and it's so fun to go with a whole bunch of friends. Ah, so tempting!

Yesterday, I headed off to Downing Centre to see my tutor cross-examine a witness. I felt so out of place dressed so casually in this building full of suits. Firstly, I had no idea what room he'd be in. It's just by sheer chance that I even figured out where he was. My friend and I saw a couple of traffic matters. We took too long a lunch and thought we missed seeing our tutor in action. By chance, we wandered and looked for another open court to sit in and he was in there. We missed most of it but at least got to see the cross-examination of one witness. And in his arguments he mentioned things that I now know! I couldn't believe that I was seeing stuff taught in the classroom in practice. Gave everything we've been studying a lot more context. I was slightly more motivated. But that was yesterday. At the moment, I'm a bit, meh. Damn, self.

And now, some photos:

THURSDAY



Sukiyaki don from Sakae on Liverpool Street. We had wandered around for ages and were so hungry. The first Japanese restaurant we went to was full and had a 15 minute wait. But we were starving. All I had eaten that day was coffee and that's not even a food. It's been a long time since I've had donburi and miso soup. It was so so good on a somewhat cold night.


And don't forget the beer.!

FRIDAY




Ramen from Ajisen Ramen on Liverpool Street. This is where I had my long lunch. We were trying to figure out what time we had to go back. Then we got paranoid and ate our food pretty fast. So, did not get the chance to properly enjoy my gyoza ramen. :(



I went to Kinokuniya yesterday and oh, so many things I wanted to buy! There is a sale that ends today. 20% off books and there's some other discounts on stationery as well. I was so surprised to see this, Nippon no Arashi there. My friend bought it for me and I owe her. I haven't even known her for that long and she bought it for me. It was priced at $23.88 but with the discount it was $19.10. So yays. I've flicked through it so far but the size of it is so cute. I just find the size and look of it cute. :) So many Japanese magazines I wanted to buy. Magazines with free bags or with Kis-My-Ft2 or Ikemen desu ne cast on the cover.

Things I'm looking forward to this week: sleepover on Thursday night! It's mid-sem break for UNSW students. I'm not a UNSW-er anymore but I have Thursday and Friday free so yay!

Also, Doctor Who "Let's Kill Hitler" on ABC1 7:31pm tonight, if you still haven't seen it!

Okay, that was sufficient time wasted. Back to studying.

CeCi Korean Restaurant; SQ Restaurant

Last Sunday I had meant up with a few friends including some newcomers to Sydney. They hadn't been on a train in Sydney before and suffice to say, they weren't impressed. We met in Strathfield because they hadn't been and they were told that it was pretty Korean (one of them was Korean and the other fluent in Korean). I've only really eaten Korean food in the city where, I was soon to learn, it is quite overpriced.












Once again, bad blogger, did not take note of the names. The newcomers had ordered in Korean and I just didn't remember. The portions are big. I was expecting that tiny little bowl that you get in city Korean restaurants but these were so big! The bowl of rice cake and dumpling soup (not pictured because I didn't take a great photo of it) was $12 and was huge! We didn't even finish all of it among the four of us. We ordered 2 soups, 1 bibimbap and some tofu pancake thing and then we split the bill it was $12 per person. So impressed for the value for money. Must eat not in the city more often!

Also, if in Strathfield and in need of $2 ice-cream go to SQ Restaurant.












We were enticed by all the different flavours depicted on the colourful poster but alas, they only had chocolate and vanilla. Which is fine since I love vanilla but I would have loved to try melon flavoured ice-cream. The ice-cream comes int that tub thing and then she does something with the machine for the ice-cream to come out all swirly. (oh, I cannot right for anything right now XD). She gives you a small spoon so it lasts you pretty long!

• Find CeCi Korean Restaurant at 37 The Boulevarde, Strathfield.
• Find SQ Restaurant at 4 The Boulevarde, Strathfield.

This Friday Night: Star Bar; CitiSuper Dessert Bar; Glee 3D

On this horribly windy, rainy and practically schizophrenic Sydney day I headed off from the comfort of my home to the city to meet a friend to watch Glee 3D. I was skeptical because the TV series itself is not so great. But, I'm jumping the gun. Let's go chronologically!

We arrived at the cinema at 6 and lined up to get tickets. My friend thought that there was a session at 6:10. And there was but in Gold Class. So we had some time to kill until the movie session at 7:20. We headed to 2nd level of Star Bar. I've never been to Star Bar before. The 2nd level is spacious and lovely. I had a Hahn Super Dry for $4.90 and my friend had schnitzel and prawns with salad. I forget for how much but less than 20 bucks. I didn't eat because I had already eaten before I left home but oh, how that food was tempting. Looked so good!







For dessert we headed to that relatively new, I guess, Asian supermarket Citisuper. They also sell crepes and dorayaki. Dorayaki, according to wiki, "is a type of Japanese confection, а red bean pancake which consists of two small pancake-like patties made from castella wrapped around a filling of sweet red bean paste." Citisuper has 4 different fillings: chocolate, red bean, custard and (I THINK) green tea. My friend wanted a crepe but he wasn't confident that he'd finish it before the movie started. It's 1 for $3, 2 for $5 and 4 for something ... I didn't remember and my photo doesn't capture that last price! They were bigger than I thought they would be and much more filling. It's sandwich like and I was worried the filling was just going to leak all over my hands. The combination of the warm pancake and the cold custard was so amazing. Just what I wanted. So we stood at the entrance of Town Hall station finishing off our dorayaki. The photo I took of mine was blurry. So just use the example next to Doraemon for your reference. It looks so much better than that though. XDD





Glee in 3D was so much better than I thought it would be. I am not up to date with series but I don't think you really need to be as long as you know basically the characters and the relationships. Darren Criss is so good live. So is Lea Michele, Amber Riley and the girl that plays Santana whose name escapes me at the moment. The actress who plays Brittany is such an AMAZING dancer. Though, I thought her outfit for her solo was probably not appropriate for an all ages concert. There were children there!

Concert movies work best for 3D. I really don't like 3D for high concept films. I think it's unnecessary. BUT for concert movies it works so well. The confetti, the streams, the crowd, the performers ... it's worth it. I see the value of 3D because you feel more a part of it. In other films, it seems kinda useless. It's not really for any particular effect. For concerts it makes you feel like you're there. I so wish Arashi had a concert 3D movie. That would just be amazing. The closest I'd probably ever get.

It's not just performances, it's interspliced with interviews of fans and in particular a mini-documentary on 3 specific Glee fans. Glee, is not life altering to me. My high school experience was not really clique focused in the way that American high schools seem to be. So, I didn't particularly have a complex about being popular and accepted. I wasn't popular. Maybe I was a nerd but no one hassled me or teased me about it. It just wasn't how my school was. At least to me.

Watching it with a crowd makes all the difference to your experience of this movie. People gasped, sang along, clapped. Made watching it so much better. And this kid ... stay for the credits! Oh, is this a spoiler? Ah, who cares. He's so cute!

• Find Star Bar at 600 George Street, Sydney.


• Find CitiSuper Dessert Bar by Teamo at 580 George Street (HSBC Centre), Shop LG 09, Lower Ground Level, Sydney. 

The White House, UNSW

I'm a bad law student. I had all the intention in the world to go to class after 1 drink. But hanging out in The White House made it feel more like Friday than a Monday.

So a friend of a friend of a friend said that there was a new bar type place at UNSW, my alma mater. At the end of a post like this I would usually add an address. But it's not really on a street. You kind of have to get directions from someone who knows vaguely where it is. The White House's website/blog is not very helpful with directions either! Unless I completely don't know how to navigate a website.

Easiest way to find it is not the way we found it. Walking in the opposite direction. The best direction is that it's opposite the Fig Tree theatre. Or, if you're coming up from lower campus go towards the Quad lawn and turn left into where the Goldstein building is. Look for a 2 storey WHITE HOUSE. Get it? XD

On the wall as you enter. Guess that building's been there all along.

Cider - $6.00.
So good it deserves 2 photos. Better than 5 seeds. Doesn't take like alcohol at all.

If you head upstairs there's a cocktail bar and some very interesting looking furniture.

The drinking "glasses" for the punch.

Glass of Golden Ale - $4.60.

I loved drinking here. Loved the design, furniture and atmosphere of the place. I do not remember this building being there when I was at UNSW. I'm sure it was there but probably not all renovated and pretty like this. There are board games that you can play. Cheap and/or old versions of Connect 4, UNO and Guess Who. Upstairs behind the bar are a stack of board games to choose from as well. We had intense games of UNO and Connect 4. CONNECT 4. I lost one and won one. And, my gosh, you really need to pay attention. Everyone has different rules for UNO. I don't think anyone's every read the rules for UNO. We just all get taught right? 4pm - 5pm is Happy Hour with bottled beer (they have Heineken, Hahn Super Dry, Becks from memory) priced at $4. 

I'm hoping to go again. Since I've graduated from UNSW I haven't really been back so it was so nostalgic getting on the 891 and having to stand all the way. It's such a nice place to drink and oh, how I miss you UNSW!