Yakitori Yokocho

The next yokocho chain we had under Regent Place roof was this Yakitori Yokocho.  The shop recreates the sense of Japan's alleyways and is fully decorated with all these old movie posters that kinda transport us back to Japan in 50's era. 

We aimed to nibble a few small dishes and grilled stuff with some beers.  Judging by their menu, to be honest, I was expecting something more.  We ended up trying not so many items.  In that lunch hour rush, the shop was quite full.  However, I saw lots of them enjoying a bento set.  They looked appetising yet the price is inexpensive too.  

Beef carpaccio

Wagyu yakitori

Chicken tight with Japanese leek

Gin and tonic

Carpaccio was in perfect cut, thinly sliced and tasted slight oily and tangy.  While their wagyu skewer were also tender and cooked perfectly.  For chicken skewer, we got some sweet teriyaki on it and it was definitely a nice compliment to those chicken pieces.  Their food actually were pretty good. 

  

Yakitori Yokocho

Regent Place, Level 9

501 George Street

Open: Sunday - Thursday 12pm - 3pm, 4:30pm - 10:15pm

           Friday - Saturday   12pm - 3pm, 4:30pm - 12am

Edomae Sushi Yokocho

Have you heard about Regent Place Shopping Centre near Town Hall station, this area turned out to be like a little Japanese town.  They are filled with a pack of Japanese restaurants and stores selling Japanese sweets and merchandises.  Let alone this Yokocho chains: Edomae Sushi Yokocho, Yakiniku Yokocho and Yakitori Yokocho, they are all under the same roof.  I have visited 3 of them recently.  Let me start with the sushi shop first.  

When the address said level 9, don't get it wrong.  It's actually one level down from street level.  The shop is located just opposite Mido mart.  On the weekend, it's very hard to get a spot, there always be a long queue.  However, on weekday, we were so lucky to get a table right away.  

It is a sushi train shop.  You can just pick up sushi from the conveyor belt or place an order from tablet underneath each table.  They have variety of nigiri and sushi rolls in the house.  Inexpensive sushi, it costs $4.30/plate of 2 pieces nigiri and slightly more expensive on special items.  I could tell that they use fresh fish and other ingredients as well.  However, in here they tend to serve classic and traditional sushi, not those modern and fancy ones. 

 

Sushi train - conveyor belt

Edomae Sushi Yokocho

Level 9, Regent Place Shopping Centre

501 George Street, Sydney

Hours: Sunday - Wednesday 12pm - 2:30pm, 4pm - 8:30pm

            Thursday - Saturday  12pm - 2:30pm, 4pm - 9pm

Little Spoon Fusion Cafe, Chippendale

Chippendale has turned themself into one of the trendiest and hottest suburbs compared to a few years back.  Nowadays, some are even calling it "Hippendale".  There are numbers of funky and creative cafes in the area.  And we definitely needed to go there to try them.  So, one fine weekend morning, we visited Little Spoon fusion cafe, located right behind Central Park.  This cafe serves Japanese fusion food and drinks.  I did check on the internet before coming here and I saw this grilled Angus beef with some sort of green soba and it looks absolutely gorgeous.  I was so sure that I have to try this dish.

 

The place was already packed when we arrived and luckily, we just got their last spot without even have to wait at all.  Good sign..

Turmeric latte

They did a really nice milk froth but for me, the turmeric here was way too strong.  Anyway, it still was a good drink.

I can't really remember the name of this juice but it was super refreshing and delicious too.  I'm sure that it has some mixture of berry juice in there.

Ham cheese burger for my kiddos

Soft shell crab tempura udon

At first from reading their menu, we thought this dish would be a soupy udon dish, udon with a clear soup base like we normally get in any Japanese restaurants.  When it arrived in front of us, we were pretty surprised with the look.  I mean in a good way though.  Although to be honest, before we tasted it, we presumed that it would be a boring dish.  However, after I took my first bite, it completely blew my mind.  I can taste slightly tanginess in it and those furikake and shrimp roes lifted up the whole flavour.  It was surprisingly enjoyable and delicious. 

Angus beef soba

This dish looks exactly like what I imagined.  The beef was perfectly cooked, medium-rare.  There was some kind of spices around the edges of those beef slices and texture wise, it was crispy on the outside and tender inside.  They gave plenty of meat there, it could be for 2 persons, but I can definitely have it for myself too.  For the noodle itself, to be honest, I like the taste from udon dish much better.

Well spent weekend morning with these delicious foods.  My tummy was surely happy.  And we will certainly come back here again.  Octie Appetie.. 

Little Spoon Fusion Cafe

81 O'Connor Street, Chippendale

Ph: 0426 571 179

Open: 7 days a week, 8am-3pm and until 3:30pm on the weekends

A Day In Sydney - Chinese Garden of Friendship @Darling Harbour, Kura Restaurant and Lindt Chocolate Cafe

Sydney is such a beautiful, vibrant and explorable city, I would say.  Mild weather city with so many picturesque landscapes and heaps of fun activities to do, museums and art galleries plus thousand of restaurants to spoil you for a choice and yup the list goes on. 

Not only the city CBD that could offer you with those that I already mentioned, but most of Sydney suburb also has different and unique character on their own.  Its like you could find yourself in a total different country as we know that Australia is one of the multicultural country in the world where all the cultures co-existing in peaceful harmony and lots of the people still maintain and thriving their own traditional way and culture.  

Hence all of these factors has made Sydney a great city and so much fun to explore.  All of them would be too much too enjoy in just a day.  In this post, I have created an itinerary so called "Sydney One Day Trip", just a rough idea to spend a good day just around Sydney CBD.

So let's take a look at it and hopefully you guys will enjoy this post.  Octie Appetie...

 

Chinese Garden Of Friendship, Sydney

Darling Harbour

The southern end of Darling Harbour, near the Sydney Entertainment Centre and adjacent to Chinatown.  

Telp: (02) 9240 8888

Admission fee: $6 Adult

 

It was one of the nice sunny day with cool and comfy breeze outside, we headed our way to Darling Harbour more specifically visiting the enchanting Chinese Garden Of Friendship there.  The entry is cost as cheap as $6 per adult and you can enjoy a whole day sightseeing there.  What I love the most about this place apart from its serenity, is that when you step inside the Chinese garden, you will feel like you have entered into a different world, hide away from hustling and bustling city and feeling so much relax and refresh.  Until you don't realise that you are actually right in the middle of the city !

Chinese influenced style garden complete with pavilion, waterfall and lotus pond.  Or maybe posting some photo shoot with the traditional Chinese costume and indulging in the yummy Chinese dishes in the old wooden teahouse.

Pavilion



Bamboo Forest

Waterfall

Fish pond

Oh hellooo there...



Main Pavilion

  






Kura Japanese Dining
Shop 3, 76 Ultimo Road
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02 9212 5661

Kura 3
6 Dixon Street
Sydney
Ph: 02 9268 0016

Pretty normal to feel hungry after that long walk in the garden.  So not far from there, they have this my all time favourite Japanese restaurant.  When I say my all time fave is I really mean it cos I've been eating here for like more than 30 times, I think!!  The first and original shop they opened was in the Haymarket, typical Japanese bistro, very tiny located around the corner of Market City, serving authentic Japanese feast and they make the best chicken katsu-don and chicken karaage in town.  And few years ago they expanded in another places and now they have 3 restaurant in total.  That afternoon we had our lunch in their 3rd branch which just off the bridge next to the Chinese Garden.



Grilled Salmon Nigiri



Chicken Karaage



Pork Katsu Curry



Killer Chicken Katsu Don





Terikayi Salmon

All the food here are beyond superb, very authentic Japanese cuisine that you could ask for.  I've tried mostly all of them on the menu and nothing that I dislike.  The service is also friendly and attentive.  The price is VERY average too.  No reason that make us not coming back again and again and again...




Darling Harbour



We had abit of walk afterward, and on that day they had this special circus kinda event in Darling Harbour. They were House of Costello, Comedy show, and Performances.  So it pretty busy down here.

Lindt Chocolate Cafe
Shop 104-105, Cockle Bay Wharf
Ph: 02 9267 8064

We ended our day strong with this sweet treats at Lindt Chocolate Cafe, isn't it a great choice??  When it comes to chocolate dessert, everybody would already know what it would taste like.  and this Lindt guy is one of the best in the business.  So no need to explain about this bad boy in a word.  Only a simple thing I would say they were absolutely incredible as the chocolate is very smooth and sooo delicious...


Velour Cake (Chocolate Cheesecake) $12



Lindt Famous Chocolate Waffle $16.50



Hot Chocolate $7