Eat Like Ushi

One of the important lessons learnt in the past couple of weeks - where possible, fly Qantas instead of Virgin domestic. Considering the last 3 flights people I know have taken with Virgin have been delayed by a total of 10 hours with barely any communication, the extra price of a Qantas flight might well be worth it.

What else do you do when the flight is delayed by an hour? Go find somewhere to eat that isn't too far away. What do you do when you find it is delayed again by another 2 hours? Then by another hour? Keep away until the last minute.

The silver lining was that going to this cafe at 8am on a Saturday morning was a good choice. Located in Fyshwick only 10mins from the airport, it was a perfect place to settle down and I'd even advocate in the future planning a breakfast here before flying out (on Qantas of course so you can actually time your meal properly...)

- Latte - quite strong and bitter and apparently very good by coffee-drinker standards;
- Soy chai latte - unfortunately a horribly sweet syrup concoction to the point I couldn't drink it;
- Special of Roasted beet & broad bean insalata with goats cheese, poached eggs & fried bagel - delicious salad, nicely poached eggs, a French-toast-style bagel (which was an interesting take) served on a chopping board;
- Special of Grilled Spanish morcilla sausage with potato gratin & poached eggs - crusty chewy bread, potato cheese and some kind of nutty (pistachio perhaps?) crumble, runny warm eggs and one of the few places I've seen around Australia to serve morcilla/black pudding. One of the best breakfast compilations I've had anywhere in the world.

The food is fantastic. The coffee is (apparently) great too. It's an easy choice for a pre-airport meal. Just don't order a chai latte.

Considering how rare it is that I'm not at work on a Monday night, it seemed a good idea to take the opportunity and eat out. The other reason for the excitement is that Canberra is one of the few places that actively entices you to spend your hard earned meal entertainment tax-free dollars during the week by offering 2-for-1 deals around town.

The quiet Civic centre drizzled with rain and made the streets seem even emptier than they already were. Thai food was on the agenda and I couldn't wait for a hot bowl of tom kha to warm me up.

Unfortunately this Thai restaurant didn't have soup on the menu. It could be that they only do it as part of their winter menu, but considering the South East of Australia can have summer or autumn days that are cold, raining and miserable, I would have thought it would be a staple. Additionally the constant humid heat of Thailand certainly doesn't detract from soups and incredible chilli dishes.

Anyway there was still a good variety of dishes that seemed tempting.

- Sweet corn fritters - exceptional flavours with a delicious dipping sauce to match;
- Fish cakes - nice fish pieces rather than the smooth paste that is more common and a delicious dipping sauce to match;
- Special salad of Chiang Mai sausage, herbs and fried rice croutons - a strange dish that was made up for by the herbs;
- Special of deep fried softshell crab on green papaya salad - one of the most flavoursome softshell crabs I've eaten topping a well constructed salad.

There was probably a distinct lack of (heat) hot food selected, although the curries on the menu are all quite standard sounding. Nonetheless I'd come back to try the laab gai, crispy fish salad or a curry. On a Monday or a Tuesday that is.

One of the best parts of being in Asia is the availability and variety of cheap noodle and rice dishes to satisfy you at any time of day or night. Failing that the next acceptable alternative is to be in a place with a large particular Asian community such that they bring their experience and expertise to enable people locally to enjoy it. It usually means a much heftier price tag and a reliance on local ingredients which may miss key herbs or elements. Occasionally it also means it may be an improvement as the meat quality is generally better in the Western world than Asia, so I think anyway.

In any case, living in Canberra makes travel to a place that has a good "Chinatown" section the more exciting. This tends to be Melbourne or Sydney, although I do like the Indonesian-influence in Darwin too.

Relatively enroute from Randwick back to Canberra was Cabramatta, the supposed centre of where Asian (at least Vietnamese) food gives rise. In fact after parking the car, the first person we saw was a lady on a bicycle dressed in traditional vietnamese garb wearing a rice hat. I haven't seen that before. The central area of Cabramatta is host to several Vietnamese restaurants/cafes, bakeries, sweet shops and fruit. Jackfruit at $8/kg? Bargain.

Pho Tau Bay is one of the places people online seem to rate as the favourite in Sydney. Like many noodle places, decor is not a reason to come here. Simple tables, simple chairs, Vietnamese or Korean drama on TV showing in many directions.

My standard selection pho bo tai nam had an interesting broth. There was an almost medicinal quality to it that I initially found quite strange. Eventually it smoothed out to a subtle beef broth. I won't say it was my favourite, but nonetheless good, different and I wouldn't hesitate to eat here again. Also on the menu, bun bo hue was a much heavier flavoured sweet soup stock. There was a distinct lack of chilli in it which was a bit disappointing and I'm not entirely sure why (review online have said similar).

Satisfying and no better option for a feed before an evening drive.

Back in January 2009, three of us were walking through the streets of Kyoto. Feeling a hankering for ramen, we walked into the basement food hall of Daimaru and asked a friendly staff member if they had ramen. She replied that they didn't, but suggested a famous shop just outside and around the corner. This was my first experience with Ippudo. With some hazy details, I remember the ramen was good but not cheap, and they also had possibly the smallest burger I've ever seen which my friend ate in only one or two bites. I probably prefer the variety at the ramen floor in Isetan next to the JR Kyoto station, but Ippudo good is still good.

I don't think I understood the significance of a branch opening in Sydney until I started reading about the endless numbers of ramen comparisons there recently. The choices seem to be between Ippudo, Menya, Gumshara and Ikkyu. Even David Chang had an article giving his two cents worth.

Feeling the emptiness of leaving behind my favourite Bone Daddies, ramen seemed a good idea for an evening feed. In the end I selected Ippudo, moreso for its reputation of tonkotsu (my favourite type) and also that was open until 9pm on this Sunday evening. It also happens to be located in the swankiest Westfield shopping centre I've ever seen, which is a far difference from the mediocre food options at Westfield in Melbourne.

The staff all speak Japanese (although the English is a mix of Aussie, US and Japanese) and the loud floor staff placing orders to the irrashaimase on arrival and arigatou gosaimasu on departure tries to keep things original.

- Shiromaru special - the signature tonkotsu broth called motoaji sounded a bit strange (aji no moto means MSG. Maybe I'm translating it incorrectly.) In any case the special served with additional fatty pork belly, bamboo shoots, seaweed and more was a solid delicious bowl. I do prefer my broth thicker and porkier, but this was still great with ground sesame and shichimi spice. The ramen was marginally overcooked and didn't have as much bite to it, but it didn't really bother me;
- Tori shoyu ramen - a cleaner broth of chicken and soy with bonito that seemed much healthier. Wavy noodles were perfect and seemed an nice alternative if the thick gelatinous tonkotsu isn't your style;
- Ippudo pork bun - identical to the one I had at Shoryu in London and similarly underwhelming. The bun is flat and not so fluffy, the pork slice is thin, and it is served with lettuce. I'd forgot this and save all these efforts for the Chinese-style/David Chang/Yum Bun versions;
- David tofu - a refined version of agedashi tofu which a thin fried shell surrounding silken tofu and served with a thick sauce rather than the usual broth-style. Not as heavy in flavour or texture as the usual. Different and nice.

It's not cheap but this is Sydney in a swanky department store in the middle of town. I'm not surprised. The food is good and I would gladly go back. I still prefer Bone Daddies thick and heaviness with the added garlic I used to add. For that reason I'd probably try Gumshara next time to see if their reputation for the thickest tonkotsu around lives up to expectation.

Next time I would order the shiromaru special again or tori shoyu if I wanted something lighter. I did like miso versions back in the day (rather than salt or soy) but these days I prefer the straight tonkotsu. But I wouldn't mind trying them for a change. There are other things to order here, but they are known for ramen. Stick to the ramen and complement it with a few small things if you want something extra.

Ever since the Luke Nguyen collection of cookbooks has graced my shelves, Red Lantern has been on the list of places to try. His Vietnam TV shows made it all the more enticing with his jazzed up versions of what I'm told is otherwise typical home dishes. It is probably fair to say that his TV show makes use of cheap and readily available ingredients throughout SE Asia, whereas in Australia you pay quite a premium for higher quality ingredients (maybe), general Sydney location and table service.

The few people I know who had been felt it was good but the portion size and price got to them. When comparing against general Asian food sizes and prices, that's not an unexpected opinion. Barely any Chinese people I know would ever eat higher end Chinese. Good thing I'm different.

The a la carte menu does take you a bit by surprise. Banh xeo for $30? How different could it be?

It seemed more reasonable to opt for the degustation menu - Saigon Scrumptious at $85pp for 11 courses.

The inside is nicely decorated with red lanterns and candles lighting up the room. For the amount of light, my phone photos didn't work so well. I'll have to consciously bring the SLR next time.

- Bo Nem Nuong - not nem nuong as I know it, but chargrilled beef rice paper roll. I thought it was a little plain and didn't have the rich variety of herbs that I prefer. The nuoc mam sauce gave it a bit more;
- Muc Rang Muoi - chilli salted squid that was crisp, well seasoned and delicious. Much preferred on its own than with the lemon dipping sauce;
- Tam Cuu - tiger prawn wrapped with pork neck, Vietnamese mint and shallot had a better collection of herbs. Ensure the dipping sauce coats it before eating as it makes a very big difference to the amount of flavour;
- Cha Co Hoi - pan fried salmon, roasted lemongrass and chilli fish cake was excellent. Beautiful thick pieces of fish in the cake with a herb topping enriched with perilla;
- Goi Chim Cut Nuong - tender grilled quail pieces with an excellent salad enhanced mostly by the fennel;
- Ca Nuong Rieng - simple pan fried fish in a very typical Italian-style tomato sauce. I couldn't detect any galangal flavour;
- Tom Xao Mat Ong - king prawns with tamari & honey sauce allowing vermicelli to absorb the salty sweetness;
- Suong Nuong voi Salat Xoai Xanh - grilled pork chops marinated in Szechuan peppers, palm sugar and tamari. Tender pork, sweet, salty sauce, minimal chilli heat;
- Cu Sen Xao Nam - zucchini, mushroom & lotus root wok tossed in black bean sauce seemed a very typical Cantonese dish. The zucchini was the standout vegetable here;
- Vit Quay voi Salat Viet - my favourite of roast duck served with plum sauce and Vietnamese salad. Chewy heavily flavoured duck meat, a delicious cutting sauce. Reminiscent of Longrain's pork hock;
- Red Lantern Dessert Platter - a fancy selection of red sticky rice coconut cream and jackfruit pieces in banana leaf topped with cinnamon icecream, deep fried banana with palm sugar, vanilla bean icecream topped with roasted shreds of coconut, a soup spoon of pineapple bits and the most wonderfully unexpected kaffir lime creme brulee.

Overall it is a little expensive, but you'll pay more from many degustation menus around Sydney/Melbourne/the world. The flavours were more refined Vietnamese, even though I'm probably more used to overloading my senses with herbs and sauces. Nonetheless salads were enhanced by perilla, vietnamese mint and coriander, nuoc mam and palm sugar. I'd definitely go back for the occasion. I'm not sure how big the a la carte servings are, but the degustation is quite reasonable when you compare prices.

After a long afternoon of Future Music Festival followed by a brief mingle with the glittered up crowd of Marquee in The Star, the next day Sunday was always going to be one of quite minimal effort. Since the Airbnb was located right between Randwick Racecourse and Coogee beach, the logical thing seemed to be to take advantage of the sunny 25C weather and rest.

A google search for Coogee fish and chips turned up 3 results: Kiwi Style Fish and Chips (closed on Sundays), Chish and Fips (which google maps located as not at the beach, but it actually is) and A Fish Called Coogee.

Strangely A Fish Called Coogee had the highest recommendations from various online blogs and articles, but also the lowest urbanspoon rating at a mere 65%. The criticisms seem to revolve around nonchalant staff, expensive food and a cooking fee. Given Kiwi was closed and I thought Chish was far away, AFCC seemed the only option. Thankfully it was a very good one.

- fish & chips - $11 for a solid sized piece of fried hoki and some reasonable chips is not that expensive. The fish had a very very thin, dark and crisp batter and nicely cooked flesh with a bit of firm bite. I added some salt and pepper (as the cooks don't themselves) and it was great. It was enough to share between two mildly hungry people;
- Greek-style octopus - so this is where more expensive prices ($3 for 100g) and cooking price ($1 for 100g) comes in. I can kind of understand, as it doesn't take much to build up a big cost (250g for $10 essentially). The octopus was tender and heavily flavoured with oregano and served with lemon wedge. It was nice as an aside and a break from the fish & chips.

The fish & chips are very high quality and not so expensive. If you stick with this and veer away from the raw seafood on display (or are happy to pay for it and the cooking cost), you'll be quite happy and not overly out of pocket. Take it down to the beach and enjoy the sun, the water, capoeira in the background and being alive.

PappaRich is a Malaysia-cuisine based chain of restaurants. It posed a conundrum to me. My friend frequently went to one of the restaurants in Melbourne without hesitation. A family member of mine said it was not authentic and overpriced for what it was, but not terrible. Urbanspoon ratings for Melbourne and Sydney vary between 50-65%. Yet the recently opened Canberra one is rated 85% and has very frequent queues. I suppose you can explain the frequent queues being that there isn't anything like that around Civic (that I know of) and probably nothing that good. You could also say the higher rating is because locals here probably don't know any better, although I do find Dickson Noodle House to be good and better than some of the Chinatown standards (eg. China Bar). It won't reach the cheap prices of other cities' Asia restaurants, but it's certainly cheaper than those around Canberra.

PappaRich in Canberra is full of all sorts. Young, older, Asian, white, Indian... everybody comes and by 12pm on a Sunday there is a small mob outside waiting to get in. On a 40deg day, the place inside the Canberra Centre is remarkably well cooled. Not your typical Malaysia hot humid experience whilst eating chilli food.

The picture menu is very reminiscent of Chinese restaurants in Australia and some in Asia too, with big enticing pictures for the assumption that a lot of their clientele won't know what many of the dishes actually are or look like. They actually do have a nice range of drinks, mains and desserts and seem to cover all three bases quite well.

The ordering system requires you to write the menu item on a piece of paper and press a buzzer for a waiter to collect. The staff are friendly and happily answer questions about the dishes. Some people don't like the ordering system. Go somewhere else then.

- Matcha Rocks (green tea soya, red bean, green tea icecream) - lovely cold slush of lightly flavoured green tea milk and icecream. Kudos for not adding ridiculous amounts of sugar;
- Iced Red Bean - another simple drink presumably combining red bean icecream, red beans and milk;
- Roti Chanai with Tandoori Chicken - roti is a freshly cooked piece with a very mildly crisp outside and a thicker doughy inside. It's very good and I preferred it to the very thin flaky ones other places have. Tandoori was an odd combination (not my choice) but it was reasonable. The sambal sauce it came with was a little spicy. Next time curry beef will be the go for this;
- Pappa Special Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken & Sambal Prawns - it came out ridiculously fast, after about 3 mins. Like all nasi lemaks the ingredients are probably in trays ready to serve. I don't mind - it's how it is usually done. Coconut rice was good, chicken curry tender and tasty, sambal prawns a bit average and soft, sambal sauce good, salty ikan bilis great, roast peanuts topped it off. I'd prefer extra sauce and ikan bilis, but I won't complain. It was a good version.

There's a lot to pick from on the menu that I'd be willing to try to see how well they do. Assam laksa, curry laksa, har mee, wat dan hor, char kuey teow and of course ice kacang. I'll go back.

Dumplings - one of the simplest things to eat, one of the most satisfying, definitely one of the most social, and yet also quite annoying to make yourself (well any more than one variety at a time). Leave them to the experts - Asian usuallly, and I'd also recommend Russian pelmeni if you ever find yourself there.

A small chain I'd never heard of before with a name I'd probably usually stay away from. But in Flemington it seemed like a reasonable idea on a freakishly hot January day.

- Pan-Fried Vegetarian Dumplings - I wouldn't ordinarily go for vegetarian, but there was enough pork ordered also. These were slightly chewy/crispy skins (which is good) and simple vegetarian filling. Nothing special, nothing bad;
- Shao-Long Bao - quite tasy Shanghai dumplings although a couple were torn so lost the liquid inside, and the liquid wasn't searingly hot as it usually is. Vinegar made it all the better;
- Deep-Fried Lamb Spare Ribs with Homemade Sauce - my ribs craze continued here with a wonderful dish of succulent soft rack of lamb ribs topped with a medium spicy chilli sauce.

Next time I would order pan-fried pork dumplings (as I prefer pan-fried over pure steamed) or if you want steamed the ones with Sichuan chilli sauce sound interesting. Naturally a serve of Lamb Ribs also - need you wonder?

Tom Phat has been on the breakfast to-do list for a very long time. Maybe times and tastes have changed, but the roti omelette was one of the breakfast items of the year back in 2007 (although to be fair I didn't read about it until probably 2009). In any case, waiting 4+ years for something that really isn't that far away, and considering how many breakfasts I've had in between, meant that the occasion finally appeared when two people would meet halfway from respective homes which seemed to be Brunswick.

South-East Asian flavour fusion is still (I think) quite new to breakfast. In Asia I'm used to congee, pho, cheong fun etc, but I can only remember one other Asian-inspired breakfast, being the roti (surprise surprise) at De Clieu.

On a near empty Monday morning, I read the menu to see if anything else would appeal to me more. Uncle Ho's Brekky sounds like Vietnamese broken rice. Black Sticky Rice sounds like a standard dessert in Asia (and now courtesy of Dessert Story). Yunnan-Baked Eggs actually sounds delicious and may be what I come for next time. But for a first visit, your hand is forced by the signature memory of 2007.

- Roti-Omelette (wok-tossed free range eggs & roti, bacon, chives, roasted tomato salsa) - it was a nice combination and certainly different from the usual bacon/eggs/sourdough. I think it gets more merit from being creative and fusion than ground-breaking taste. I still think curry can't be matched when it comes to pairing with roti;
- Sweet Corn Fritters (with poached egg, smoked salmon, avocado-salsa, baby spinach & harissa mayo) - nicely assembled stack with fried shallots and a generous pile of coriander and mild spicy sauce. Tasted as it sounds - good.

They also have a lunch/dinner menu that sounds like a combo of South-East Asia (Viet, Thai, Malay). 

I'd still recommend coming to try breakfast - it's at least a change from the other Melbourne cafes all of which have roughly the same menu.