random & NomNom: Chanoma, TenkoMori, Senyai; Regent Place, Sydney CBD

Went to watch Pacific Rim today with 1/2heart, and boy what a movie it is. If you are into sci-fi, please do yourself a favour and watch it now. I personally like this movie way better than World War Z or Man of Steel.

We grabbed some grubs at the nearby Regent Place, a small interconnecting shopping and eateries hub that connects George St, Kent St, and Bathurst St. Haven't been there for a while and now the place is livelier than ever.

my apologies, random citizens, for the shot of your faces/profiles.

TenkoMori is one of those quick-to-serve Japanese eateries - no fuss and cheap. While a few other establishments focus on Udon, Rice/Don (like Menya Mappen and HanaHana), TenkoMori brings Ramen cheap and fast. The concept is pretty much the same - you order the ramen as 'base' - and they have quite a selection too - then add some side dishes (additional fee, of course), which include a selection of tempura, takoyaki, salad and desserts.

Black Garlic Tonkotsu Ramen, with a side dish of half-boiled flavoured egg

Chanoma - a Japanese cafe that has replaced the previously well-known Azuma patisserie. But for the better - their green tea drinks and desserts on their menu are drool-worthy.

And I highly approve their matcha shiratama float - an iced matcha drink with matcha soft ice cream. The matcha flavour left slight bitter aftertaste true to its matchaness nature (if there is such a word), and not too much milky aftertaste that I absolutely dislike.

Matcha Shiratama Float with ricecakes & wasabi flavoured french fries

 They also serve Japanese hotdogs - well, really just hotdogs - but Japanese always could make something so simple taste good and look appetizing.

Chanoma Cheese Dog

27/7/13 - updated 

Their Matcha Latte is delicious and has quite strong matcha taste. 

Teriyaki Chicken Dog with avocado and Wasabi Mayo

For dinner and as our last stop, we went to Senyai - a Thai small eatery located on the lower floor of Regent Place (Kent St. side). I had to say it was quite a disappointing experience, despite the nice selection of dishes and promising look of the place.

We ordered deep fried fish that costs $29. For this price, I expected a full fish - such as snapper or bream, deep fried to crispy goodness, and seasoned with a special sauce they should homemade. What we got was a few deep fried battered white fish fillet - not unlike frozen ones that could be gotten for cheap at the fish market - smothered in normal sweet chilli sauce, perhaps too much sweet chilli sauce that they actually made my tongue numb in protest (not because it was spicy, but because it was too much of the sweet & sourness that would be OK to be consumed in small quantities, but not this much). The only thing that made this dish 'unique' were pieces of canned lychees & rambutans & chunks of pineapples strewn over the plate that didn't really add any flavour to the fish.

The Morning Glory vegetable dish stir fried in chilli fared better, but for $16, this left us somewhat unsatisfied. We have had better version and about double the portion for about the same price at Albee's Kitchen in Campsie.

1/2heart said their tomyum fried rice tasted good (he went there once for lunch), and I guess I will be coming back to this place to try other Thai basic dishes (pad see ew, padthai, fried rice, etc). but probably will avoid coming during dinnertime when the price is more expensive than their lunchtime counterpart and especially when tonight I felt significantly ripped off.

Don't get me wrong. I am willing to pay the price for good quality and tasty food, but this place doesn't cut it for me. For the similar price range, I would rather dine at ChatThai or Home, or @Bangkok.

NomNom: Tokonoma; Sydney, Surry Hills

Most people would probably already know of discounted deals sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Cudo, etc, by now. They constantly advertise deals on various items, and even holidays and fine dining.

Fine dining using coupons/vouchers could be hit and miss. I have had some goods ones, but equally some bad ones as well. With the bad ones - you get subpar food and service than you would receive if you paid full price.

Fortunately, no such thing with Tokonoma. The classy dimly lit restaurant is a perfect place for a quiet romantic night, and with the voucher we purchased from Groupon ($89 for degustation course for two people), it was even better.

I butchered the pictures while trying to make them brighter, as I only relied on my iphone to take them -_-. The place is dark and I couldn't get proper photos.

But hey, the food is more important.

Salt and Pepper Calamari, Kingfish Carpaccio, Nigiri, Sushi Roll

The most memorable from the above dish would be the carpaccio - firm tasty fresh kingfish slices drizzled with tangy and sweet ponzu sauce.

The seared pork belly was very delicious and tender, but I definitely prefer the scotch fillet. They cooked it to perfection - raw in the middle and sweet on their own. 

The rest of the dish are good too - Zucchini kushiyaki, Sashimi, Scallops, and Dessert of Ice Cream and Cream Brulee.

The Cream Brulee had a very fragrant vanilla smell and taste.

Service was attentive and the food kept coming at constant - but not rushed - pace. 

For $89? Well worth the money. I plan to come back to eat a-la-carte and try their other menu on offer.

Tokonoma

490 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

Tel: +61 2 9357 6100

travel: South Korea 2013 Day 8: Seoul: Lotte Department Store, flight back home

Finally got the chance to update this blog for the last day in Korea.

You know, we were a bit worried for the past 2 days during our trip - because the almighty (insert sarcasm here) Kim Jong-Un started making threats around those days. But South Koreans were like - meh, business/pleasure like usual for us... .

In any case, no one really wishes for another war to break out. With armies and weapons owned by the countries in this era, the result will probably be the end of our civilization.

31/03/13

We went to Lotte Department Store connected to Euljiro (il) ga subway, mainly because it is close to Myeong-Dong, so we could do last minute shopping :P

*sigh* I really envy department stores in Asia... . So full of nice goodies... .

flower salad. Soooo pretty. I wonder how they will taste...

what is that green thing? the same with the others? I thought that was some kind of super small watermelon?

 

our considerably simple lunch of fish cake udon, various fried food, and dumplings

After buying some snacks for colleagues and relatives back home, we walked to Myeong-Dong (barely 5 minutes). It is crowded like usual, although not so much compared night time.

Myeong-Dong is full of trendy shops and a lot of cosmetic/beauty shops. And there are more than one of the same shop/brand in the vicinity. But the one that is most memorable to me is 'Nature Republic'. Not because I am a fan of their products, but because of their big-ass posters and advertisements of Jang Geun Suk plastered everywhere. And 1/2heart finally fully understand the meaning of androgynous.

1/2heart asked me after observing the huge display of Nature Republic advertisement featuring JGS, "Is she an actress or Kpop singer?"

I was like, "That's a man."

and the face 1/2heart made, then looking back at the poster, then looking back at me, then the poster....

Priceless.

Even after looking at a full body display of JGS (which clearly shows his flat chest, though I must admit he has very lean features...), 1/2heart still remarked "a girl! with very flat chest".

I think needless to say, 1/2heart underestimated the androgyny of Korean male artists....

Anyway, flight back to Sydney was flawless, and I had Ssambap for dinner. (yummy).

rest lounge at Incheon airport

travel: South Korea 2013 Day 7: Seoul: Namsan Tower, Hongdae

Our trip is closing to an end and today is the last full day for us to spend in Seoul, as tomorrow night we will be flying back to Sydney. Planning to just relax and stroll around the neigborhood (and try to not swipe the credit card for more shopping..).

We went to Seoul Tower / Namsan Tower, than can be reached by taking the cable car (you can also walk all the way up, but hey, I am lazy) which location located around 10 minutes walk from MyeongDong.

the cable car station

Upon reaching the station at Namsan Tower, you can see the guards dressed in their traditional attires ad simulating their guarding duty during the old days. There is also a free service to try on Korean hanbok.

Hey, Free and I are best friends

Damn. How short are we compared to that guard

We opted to visit the Teddy Bear museum also located in the tower (you have to visit the museum first before going up to the observatory). The ticket for both the museum and the observatory costs KRW14000 per adult. The teddy bear museum showcases the old era and modern era of Korea - teddy bear style.

Love it. The extra details they put into the dioramas are crazy.

the poor bear! she fell and broke the dishes

Then the modern era...

guess who

Observatory is pretty meh... . Been to HongKong and Taipei, I think I have started to think all high observatories are pretty much the same. However the view would have been gorgeous in the midst of spring time (where all trees should be blooming flowers or ripe with greens and can be viewed from up high). But apart from that, there are only tall buildings around. Viewing this during night time when the city lights light up would be better I think... .

But trust the South Koreans to make the best of everything and make them as cute as possible. Check these pictures out: those are locks hung on the trees and fences, written with affectionate words of couples, families, and friends. Some are so rusty indicating they have been there for a long time. We were tempted to add a lock of our own, but could not think of words to write... :P

Then we headed back down via the cable car and had some KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) at TwoTwo. You cannot miss this place when heading back to the station.

Total damage: KRW16000 (for half garlic chicken & half spicy chicken)

MyeongDong is always alive

After heavy but heavenly lunch of fried chicken, we headed to Hongdae (Hongik University station) to go to Trick Eye Museum. I think it is enough to visit this place just once. Be creative, take lots of pictures, move on.

There won't be many pictures posted in this blog for our visit to the Trick Eye museum as they are mainly of us being idiots and I prefer being idiots around my circle of friends, not on a public blog... :D
But basically the place has lots of 3D pictures that you can pose with to create comical effects depending on your pose.

Hongdae is full of trendy young people and it certainly is not difficult to find someplace to eat. We had dinner at a place called 'Meat-ing' - a korean BBQ all you can eat that only costs KRW10800 per person for dinner time (lunch cost around KRW9000 I think, forgot how much exactly). Cheap or what. They have all assortments of meat, side dishes, and fruits as well. My camera battery went dead though (and we left the spare at the guesthouse). We took some pictures via iphone, but I am too lazy to upload them now :P