Motto Motto Japanese Kitchen, Macquarie

Date Visited: Saturday 27 November, 2021

Japanese is one of my favourite cuisines, so it’s no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed this spread at Motto Motto. It seems many others had the same idea of dining here – the restaurant was very popular during our Saturday lunch, though not unexpected given Black Friday weekend sales. Motto Motto launched their brand new menu late November 2021, so I was definitely excited to try some of the new additions.

One of the highlights on the new menu is the kaisen donburi, featuring sashimi grade salmon from southern Tasmania, seared scallops, prawns, fish roe, avocado, edamame, and more! It was so incredibly fresh and you could really tell the ingredients were of high quality. If you love sashimi seafood you will definitely enjoy this bowl, and eating this made me feel super clean and wholesome. The side of ginger along with the miso soup also helped make this such a nice cohesive set meal.

Kaisen donburi – $19.9

I also tried the karaage chicken donburi and look how impressive it is! I love good karaage chicken and the serving portion was spot on – there’s enough pieces to make this bowl incredibly filling for the vast majority of diners. The runny egg here was absolute perfection too. Egg yolk and rice is always a heavenly combo – if you agree then this is probably the don for you.

Chicken karaage donburi – $15.9

Japanese inspired burgers are another exciting addition to the menu and this lobster and prawn number was definitely tasty. The lobster and prawn croquette went really with the yuzu Japanese mayo. The amount of mayo was super generous – almost too generous – so make sure you like mayo if you decide to order this one.

Lobster and prawn burger – $16

If you prefer something with a bit of a kick, the spicy chicken karaage burger would be a great option. Featuring hot and spicy Japanese fried chicken with spicy Japanese mayo, it had a nice amount of crunchiness and different textures to keep it interesting. It was indeed a bit spicy for me, but my spice tolerance level is extremely low – so it is probably not too spicy for most people.

Spicy chicken karaage – $14

I always love pork gyoza and these were absolutely delicious. The filling was so juicy and bursting with flavour. One of the recommended sides to order here for sure!

Pork gyoza – $8.9

We also had some good old edamame as a really nice fun snack on the side. Very good portion size and something that’s easy to keep going back to throughout the meal.

Edamame – $5

You can never have enough karaage chicken so I like that you can also get this as a side dish. I find that juicy crispy chicken always tastes so good with a little dip in the mayo. Always so satisfying.

Chicken karaage – $6

Lastly, you must order the soft serves here! They had black sesame and matcha during my visit and I loved both. The flavours were perfectly prominent and balanced well, and the amount that you get for the price is such good value. These soft serves are the best way to finish off your meal here.

Black sesame soft serve – $3.5 (left), matcha soft serve – $3.5 (right)

Also enjoyed these lychee drinks. Both the lychee soda and lychee ice tea were super refreshing, and I was told these are two of the most popular drinks here. Playing with the glass marble in the lychee soda bottle is also extra fun.

Japanese glass marble – original lychee – $4 (left), Pokka lychee ice tea – $5 (right)

Overall, I absolutely love Motto Motto – their menu has an excellent variety of classic Japanese favourites and exciting creative dishes, the ambience is super cosy and the service was prompt and friendly. On a previous visit I’ve also tried the ramen, other donburi and Japanese fries, and can vouch for these being delicious too. Would happily recommend dining at this Japanese eatery whenever you’re in Macquarie Centre or around the area, and they also have locations at Castle Towers and Marrickville Metro.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Motto Motto Japanese Kitchen, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you to The Atticism for arranging the invite!

Motto Motto | Shop 3444, Macquarie Centre, Corner Herring and Waterloo Roads, Macquarie Park NSW 2113 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Valet, Cabramatta

Date Visited: Monday 7 October, 2019

This has long been on my brunch list, not only for the aesthetics of the food but for the interesting ideas on the menu. I couldn’t wait to try the Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries and find out what the beach balls actually tasted like. Cabramatta is a bit of a trek for most people and finding parking around the area is a task in itself, but it is well worth the effort. My first impression of the cafe was that I loved how plush all the chairs and sofas were. Very spacious and makes you feel like royalty.

Being quite a warm day we opted for some cold drinks, including the tropicana smoothie. The smoothie was a lovely creamy mix of house-made mango jam and mango blended with honey, yoghurt and ice. I had the watermelon and lychee cold brewed tea, which was super refreshing. There was quite a generous amount of lychees in the drink itself as well which was a pleasant surprise.

Tropicana – $8 (back left), watermelon and lychee fruit tea – $7 (back right), butterfly pea flower lemonade – $7 (front)

My friend ordered the homemade lemonade with butterfly pea flower syrup. You know it’s a gimmick but it’s still fun to watch the pouring of the butterfly pea syrup change the colour of the otherwise ordinary lemonade.

Butterfly pea flower lemonade – $7

Croissant for breakfast is a pretty standard choice, but Valet really elevates the humble croissant with two wonderfully runny poached eggs, a unique salted egg yolk hollandaise, smoked salmon and golden flakes for decoration. Even though I adore salted egg yolk, the dish didn’t leave much of an impression on me. There’s also a lot of greens on the plate which you may or may not love. It was still a nice dish, but everything together wasn’t fully cohesive so it didn’t wow me.

Golden moon – $18

Another classic with a twist were the Asian baked eggs with Vietnamese meatloaf, Chinese sausage and Thai pork mince, served with toasted sourdough. I loved the Asian flavours added to this dish and it was certainly very heartwarming comfort food. I feel like I would’ve loved even more of the baked eggs to go with the amount of sourdough given.

Aunty’s baked egg – $15 – df

One of my favourite dishes of the brunch were the beach balls and I really enjoyed these deep fried sweet potato mochi balls. The edible ‘sand’ and butterfly pea flower custard went so well with the mochi balls and this was such a delight for the eyes and mouth. Such a genius idea and so well executed as well. I have such a big sweet tooth I definitely ate more than my fair share of this dish.

Beach balls – $16 – v

For something more filling we tried the katsu sando as well. The chicken katsu was a bit dry and the flavour was a bit lacking, so it was a bit disappointing. Knowing that there are other places that can do a better katsu sandwich, I wouldn’t order this one again at Valet. We did love the fries though, which had awesome seasoning and were a very generous portion size.

Katsu sando box – $17

Another highlight of the brunch was the deep fried soft shell crab with Singapore chilli sauce, bread and fries. For something you just want to stuff your face with, this is the kind of dish you need. Though the chilli was relatively subdued, I was happy about that as I can’t really handle super strong chilli. Loved the soft shell crab in the delicious sauce on its own and didn’t really find myself needing or wanting any of the bread. Considering how filling this dish is and how there are several decent crab pieces, it is definitely one of the best value for money dishes on the menu.

Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries – $18 – df

For dessert, this matcha plate is so stunning. With a matcha brownie, matcha crumble, matcha sauce and matcha ice cream it is definitely matcha happiness. All the elements definitely tasted better together than on its own. The brownie needed the ice cream to cut through the denseness of the brownie, while the matcha crumb added lovely texture to every bite.

Sundae in Tokyo – $15 – v

Valet was such a fun brunch experience and there was something about almost every dish that made me really excited to try it. I love the Asian inspired flavours they’ve added into classic dishes, as well as the creativity in reinventing Asian food for brunch. Though not all the dishes were better than my expectations, it was still an enjoyable meal and my favourites were the beach balls and the Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries. Such a clever menu, I’d be happy to visit Valet again!

Valet | 38 Arthur Street, Cabramatta NSW 2166 | Facebook | Instagram

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LUHO, Crows Nest

Date Visited: Sunday 19 January, 2020

I love some good modern Asian food, so I was pretty excited to give LUHO a try. I don’t recall when the last time, if ever, I have been to Crows Nest, so this was a fantastic reason to visit and check out the area. Walking into LUHO, I really loved the relaxed stylish vibe of the decor inside, but there’s also outdoor seating as an option.

We visited today to try the bottomless rosé lunch, which is $55 per person. The lunch features five dishes and is available Friday to Sunday. Something to note is that the dishes really involve various Asian flavours – I usually associate edamame with Japanese, spring rolls and san choi bao with Chinese and mee goreng with Indonesian. Places that sometimes do multiple cuisines end up not doing any of them well, so I was definitely interested to see how LUHO would do. Also, I really love how pretty and well designed the bottomless rosé lunch menu was!

We kicked things off straightway with some La La Land rosé. I’m not one for drinking on an empty stomach so I only had a sip or two before eagerly waiting for the food to arrive.

La La Land rosé

Starting us off was the edamame. I’m not the biggest fan of these beans, but I know some people love them. Probably the dish I was least excited for but I can admit that they can sometimes be fun to pop into your mouth. We ended up eating our food out of order, so the edamame worked quite well as a refresher in between the dishes.

Edamame

I wasn’t sure what to expect for the prawn wonton tacos, given that tacos are not really in Asian cuisine. However, I was absolutely blown away from the first bite. I fell in love with these tacos and was so impressed by the incredible prawn and sauce fillings. I also thought it would fall apart as soon as I ate it, but it actually kept its structural integrity pretty well. If you visit LUHO, these tacos are a must order. They were so good that I would have loved to have more than one!

Prawn wonton tacos

I had pretty average expectations of the spring rolls, having had so many in my life, but these spring rolls were definitely elevated up a notch. They were surprisingly brilliant with a super flavourful filling and might possibly be one of the best spring rolls I’ve had. This was another dish that really impressed me and far exceeded my expectations.

Spring rolls

Next was time for the chicken san choi bao, where I ended up getting my hands very dirty from how saucy the chicken was. However, getting your hands dirty is how it’s best eaten, by wrapping the chicken into the lettuce and trying to shove it into your mouth in an acceptable public manner. I also really enjoyed this, though my partner found the chicken quite salty. The flavours were definitely very strong, but for me it was balanced out okay with the lettuce and I liked the kick in the chicken.

Chicken san choi bao

The dishes started off quite small, but rest assured you would definitely be full, especially after the mee goreng. I believe my partner and I are both big eaters but we were struggling by the end to finish everything. These mee goreng noodles definitely tasted very authentic to me, though there was quite a lot of excessive sauce. I loved the big prawns and the fresh lettuce on the side, so it was only the sauce that I wanted less of.

Mee goreng

I can easily say that I was impressed by LUHO’s bottomless rosé lunch. The prawn wonton tacos and spring rolls were especially my favourites. Though LUHO managed to nail the flavours of every dish, the tacos and spring rolls were on another level. We were also so full after the five dishes, so I really feel that the lunch offers fantastic value. The ultimate verdict: Asian fusion done right!

The service was also so lovely, being very promptly attended to and having our glasses getting filled up when near empty, so a big thanks to the staff for contributing to the positive experience. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and have a nice long lunch with multiple dishes to share, and I would highly recommend LUHO’s bottomless rosé lunch. Would be especially great for a date or for a quality catch up session with a friend.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of LUHO, but all opinions and photos are my own.

LUHO| 77 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest NSW 2065 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Hello Auntie, Darling Square, Haymarket

Date Visited: Wednesday 22 January, 2020

Darling Square is the newest place to be, so I am slowly trying out all the wonderful new restaurants in the area. I’ve heard of Hello Auntie in Marrickville before, but it wasn’t until recently that I learnt about their new Darling Square space. For anyone else working in the city, it’s so much more convenient to pop by Darling Square for dinner. What gets me excited is that Hello Auntie isn’t your typical Vietnamese restaurant! Whilst they have all the wonderful classics including banh xeo and pho, I love how they’ve added some unique twists to the menu and brought new life to Vietnamese flavours!

Hello Auntie also stands out with their huge beverages menu with some seriously inviting cocktails, and the Asian-inspired flavours especially appeal to me. Auntie’s Happiest Hour is 5:30pm-6:30pm on weekdays and 6:00pm-7:00pm on weekends, and is such a great deal, with selected $10 cocktails, $15 sake, $10 wine and $8 spirits. I loved the sound of the Pandan Summer cocktail with pineapple, coconut sorbet, campari and pandan rum, so I had to give it a go. First time I’ve ever had a cocktail with pandan flavour. I’m a big lover of pandan, so I easily enjoyed this refreshing and sweet concoction.

I was also lucky enough to try the Red Pocket, a special cocktail from Auntie’s Chinese New Year menu. It’s inspired by a Vietnamese tradition of bringing home a watermelon, with the more red it it is when cut indicating how lucky the year will be. I loved hearing about the story behind the drink and learning something new about Vietnamese culture! This was another cocktail first, as I’ve never had a watermelon cocktail before, but it worked perfectly with the vodka, lime and mint – so perfectly I don’t know why this isn’t a more popular combination. This one tasted stronger than the Pandan Summer, but would definitely be perfect for those looking for a fruity hit with summery vibes.

Pandan summer – $19 ($10 during Happiest Hour) (left); red pocket – $19 (right)

A recommended small dish to try was the beef tartare. This was such a lovely entree with the flavours being fairly subtle and light. I felt that the crunchy texture of the purple rice chips accompanied the tartare excellently, and all the ingredients in this were well balanced. I wouldn’t normally expect to see a tartare dish on a Vietnamese menu, but this was a very pleasant dish to start off with.

Beef tartare, parmesan, chives, crispy shallot, caper, cornichon, purple rice chips – $25 – gluten free, dairy free option

If I see sashimi anywhere, my mind is usually set on ordering it, and this was no different. The kingfish sashimi was beautiful, and the radish pickles and grapes went surprisingly well with it. I would have expected this dish to be on the lighter side, but the wasabi vinaigrette made this feel a bit heavier. The wasabi vinaigrette felt like most of the flavour kick in this dish, and was a little bit strong for me compared to all the other natural elements. It was an unusual combination of flavours that still held my attention and a dish you’ll especially love if you enjoy wasabi.

Kingfish sashimi, wasabi vinaigrette, radish pickles, grapes, chilli oil – $25 – dairy free, gluten free

One of the highlights of the meal was the Banh Khot. I absolutely adored these Vietnamese pancakes and would really recommend this to everyone. They tasted even better than they looked, and wrapping them in the lettuce and dipping them in the sweet chilli sauce was the happiest flavour explosion in my mouth. I also loved the touch of roe, which I don’t believe is a standard ingredient in this Vietnamese dish (correct me if I’m wrong). This is one dish that’s well worth the price and a dish I’d come back for again and again.

‘Banh Khot’ coconut and turmeric pikelets, prawn cutlets, smelt roe – $29 – dairy free, gluten free

Another star dish was the rigatoni and after one bite I fell in love with this Asian inspired pasta. With prawn, scallop and smelt roe, it’s a luxurious main that I couldn’t get enough of. Every spoonful was heavenly and packed with flavour, maybe caused in part from the added sumac. I had to Google this, but sumac is a flowery plant that can be made into a tangy lemon spice, which clearly does wonders for flavour. I was a bit apprehensive on how good this rigatoni would be, but safe to say, I was very impressed and satisfied.

Rigatoni, XO sauce, prawn, scallop, parmesan, tomato, smelt roe, sumac – $36 – dairy free option

The last main were these thick and chewy noodles that reminded me a lot of udon. I love my udon and onsen egg so this really appealed to me. I loved poking the onsen egg and mixing all the yolk, but it wasn’t noticeable in the overall flavour. The menu was not lying when it said it was tossed with fermented chilli, as this was probably the main flavour of the dish with some cheesiness added in. I didn’t enjoy these noodles as much as the rigatoni, but the rigatoni set an extremely high standard and chilli isn’t my usual go to. However, I still found these noodles addictive and it’s certainly another set of uncommon and inventive flavours.

Thick and chewy noodles tossed with fermented chilli, pork, smoked tasmanian cheddar, onsen egg, katsuobushi – $27 – dairy free option

Lastly, I will never say no to ending a meal with dessert, and this passionfruit crème brûlée tart easily exceeded my expectations. The balance of the passionfruit custard with the smooth vanilla cream and pistachio crunch was sensational. I was so full after all the dishes I’d already had but had no problems cleaning up this dessert plate. Hello Auntie often switch out the tart flavour to keep things interesting, and I’d certainly love to try some of their other flavours as well, such as yuzu or durian!

Passionfruit crème brûlée tart with vanilla cream – $15

It’s very easy for me to say that I was super impressed with my visit to Hello Auntie Darling Square, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole dining experience. The service was so accommodating and incredibly friendly, with the waiters and waitresses being very patient with my slow decision making and also being more than happy to offer suggestions. The highlights and must orders for me were the rigatoni, Banh Khot, and the crème brûlée tart. Definitely some amazing food to be had, and I would highly recommend that you #payyourauntieavisit for a memorable meal!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Hello Auntie, but all opinions and photos are my own.

Hello Auntie| Shop 2/16 Nicolle Walk Darling Square, Haymarket NSW 2000 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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X23 Cafe, Chippendale

Date Visited: Sunday 6 October, 2019

I’ve been meaning to visit this cafe for awhile, as I love the idea of an Asian fusion inspired brunch. With elements such as pandan, sambal, chilli crab and rendang on their signature menu, it’s enough to get anyone’s mouth watering! I went with a friend on a Sunday morning around 11am and was surprised that the cafe was empty aside from one solo diner. Though it’s a fair walk from Central station and at a fairly obscure location, it’s a beautifully designed modern cafe that deserves more visitors. It got more busy closer towards lunchtime though, with the place almost full by the time we finished up.

Starting off with drinks, I chose one of the X23 specialty drinks, a taro latte with soy. This taro latte was extremely flavourful and definitely one of the better ones I have had. I was also pleasantly surprised with the super cute paw that was on the top! It was similar to a marshmallow lolly and was a really sweet addition.

My friend opted to try the winter special Mandarin orange oolong tea. Unfortunately, this was far below expectations as it did not have much flavour. It was very watery and we both struggled to taste the oolong or the orange. There were lots of sago balls at the bottom but those were also very plain. Even though it looks really pretty, we did not feel that it was worth the $7.

Mandarin orange oolong tea – $7 (left), taro latte – $4 (right), with soy – $0.5

X23 have a specialty menu and a more standard menu of brunch classics. I always feel that it is better to try the specialty dishes at any restaurant, so one of our first picks was the X23 red eggs. This was probably the most generous scrambled egg dishes I have ever had. Flavoured with homemade spicy sambal sauce, the eggs were certainly the star of the dish. I am super weak with chilli but it barely tasted spicy at all to me. Adding sambal into the classic scrambled eggs was such a clever and unique flavour combination that worked so well.

The portion size was so generous. I wonder how many eggs went into this dish because it certainly felt like a lot. The egg was so filling that I didn’t even really eat that much of the croissant. The few crab pieces were also good but I did not pay too much attention to it compared to the egg. As this is such a heavy dish, I would definitely struggle to finish it myself, but it’s a great one to share.

X23 red eggs – $19.5

Having recently returned from a Singapore trip, I have fallen in love with salted egg yolk, so the salted egg yolk prawn pasta was a must order. The black squid ink linguine with butter glazed prawns and mushrooms was presented strikingly against the yellow salted egg yolk. I really loved this dish. The linguine was deliciously immersed with the glorious salted egg yolk – you could really taste it. I can certainly see why this was marked as one of the suggested dishes to get and I can see why you would pay $29 for this. This was one of the dishes that we pretty much universally saw every table order.

The dish was also marked as being chilli, but it was not chilli at all. The prawns were also quite big and lovely, even though there were only four pieces. It looks like quite a small dish but there is quite a good amount of noodles once it is all unravelled. However, my friend claimed that our dish had less noodles than two of our neighbouring tables. I can’t confirm if this was actually true or if we loved it so much we just wanted more. This was the favourite dish for both my friend and I, and we both wholeheartedly agreed that we would return just for this dish.

Salted egg yolk prawn pasta – $29

We ordered a third dish because I really wanted to try the pandan waffles as well and I didn’t want to not order the eggs or the pasta. These pandan waffles with homemade kaya jam and vanilla ice cream were delicious. Sometimes cafes put ice cream with waffles just to have something hot and cold, but the pandan and vanilla actually complimented each other really well. Admittedly, the kaya was very subtle and not really noticeable, but the consistency of the waffles were perfect and this was another winning dish for me. The lychee and seasonal fruits were lovely as well.

Pandan-lah – $19.9

Having not brunched in over two months, this was definitely the way to get inspired again from Sydney’s brunch scene. The specialty menu is truly original and I love how X23 have rejuvenated the standard brunch dishes with some classic Asian flavours. With such a diverse menu, it is a strong way to stand out from other cafes. There were so many delicious sounding dishes that I would love to have also been able to try. The three dishes we ordered between two was definitely more than enough and we were both struggling at the end with no regrets. I greatly enjoyed my brunch at X23 and am a huge supporter of the Asian fusion concept.

X23 Cafe | 102/18 Park Lane, Chippendale NSW 2008 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Yuan’s Hot Pot, Haymarket

Date Visited: Saturday 2 June, 2018

I’ve eaten hot pot at home with family many times, but surprisingly, this was my first time experiencing it at a restaurant. Hot pot is honestly the perfect meal for a cold winter’s day, and feasting on lots of food is the best way to warm up. I’ve heard that there’s quite a few hot pot places around Chinatown, but today, lunch was at Yuan’s Hot Pot. The restaurant is located super conveniently on George Street, just a short walk straight down Eddy Avenue from Central station.

The first thing to order is the soup base. It’s really cool how you can pick a double flavours soup base, which is ideal when the table is split between people who like spicy and those who don’t. My table had the red chilli soup and herbal pork bone soup, though apparently their tomato soup is also really recommended. There are 5 double flavour combinations to choose from, and as they’re all similar pricing to the single soup bases you might as well get a double flavour soup base. The spicy soup had three chillies next to it on the menu, and I’m usually a strictly one chilli kind of person, so it was definitely very spicy to me! I could just about tolerate a skewer if it wasn’t soaked in the chilli soup for too long, though I mostly stuck to enjoying the herbal pork bone soup.

Red chilli soup + herbal pork bone soup – $15.80

There is also the option to add a ‘character’ to your spicy soup. For $4.80, you can add a Hello Kitty or a bear to your soup, or Hello Kitty with a crown, a panda, or Doraemon for $8.80. I believe they are made from chilli infused butter, so when the soup is poured over it, they sadly begin to slowly melt. It’s super cute though and makes for such a great photo and video! This is definitely something you can’t get when doing hot pot at home.

Hello Kitty with crown – $8.80, assorted skewers – $0.80 each

One of the cool things about Yuan’s Hot Pot was that you could order meat and other dishes from a menu, but you also had the option to head to the back area to grab your own side dishes and choose from a wide selection of skewers. These dishes and skewers are in three large open freezers, around a small table set up with different sauces and condiments. I loved how you could really tailor it to your own tastes, with sesame sauce, chilli sauces, peanuts and garlic to name a few.

I was really impressed with the variety of skewers available. Naturally, there were many meat skewers, including beef and chicken, and variations of it, such as beef wrapped in enoki (mushroom) and meat balls. There were also other options, such as squid, fish balls, tofu, and vegetable skewers.

We grabbed quite a few skewers to try, but at 80 cents per skewer, it does add up. Some of the skewers are also quite small, with only a small piece of meat on it or three leaves of bok choy, so it might not be the most economical food option. I know that I can buy a bunch of bok choy for $1 at my local Asian grocery store, so paying 80 cents for three leaves doesn’t seem worth it at all. Some of the skewers were also tangled up with each other, making them a little hard to grab, but I don’t really see any way they could make the process much easier, so this is just a minor comment. The skewers themselves tasted great though! They’re fun to cook in the soup and there is really something for everyone.

Assorted skewers – $0.80 each, assorted side dishes – $8.80 per plate

Assorted skewers – $0.80 each

Some of the side dishes we grabbed included tripe, fish dishes, lotus roots and beancurd. I believe most of the side dishes were $8.80, but I cannot confidently confirm whether that was the case for all of them. The fish on the right is from the menu, and I think it might be the filefish ($12.80). I feel healthier eating fish rather than red meat, so the variety is welcome. I’m not a fan of tripe nor lotus roots, but others on my table devoured all of it.

Tripe, fish, fish

Lotus roots

From the menu we also ordered scallops, which was $12.80 for 4. The scallops don’t have any flavour on their own, but cooked in the soup it was an enjoyable bite. We also loaded up on the meat, with beef slices ($10.80) and pork belly slices ($8.80) from the menu. The quality of the meat is good, but I didn’t notice much difference from the $3-5 packs I buy at my Asian grocery store. This kind of food is probably cheaper to buy on your own.

Australia fresh king scallops – $12.80

Snow flake beef slices – $10.80

We also tried the deep fried rice cakes with brown sugar. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed these! I loved the texture and the flavour, and it was a delicious side dish to have alongside all the meat. I could definitely have eaten the whole dish myself.

Deep fried rice cake with brown sugar – $6.80

I was quite full at this point, but you always need dessert to finish off! Their ice jelly was the perfect way to end such a hot meal. To me, it actually wasn’t that sweet. Rather, the flavours were more subtle, with the syrup balanced out with the jelly and watermelon pieces. It’s quite a lot for one person, so I found it perfect to share between two. At $3.80, this dessert was definitely worth the price, and a super refreshing way to end the meal.

Ice jelly (sweet) – $3.80

I also had bottled prune juice with the meal, which I believe was $3.50. I’ve never had prune juice before but it was really tasty and the flavour was not too strong or too subtle. Overall, it was a wonderful first time hot pot experience, and I would definitely recommend it for a fun meal out. Four is probably the optimal number of people, so you can make the most of the variety of foods. However, it is pretty easy to go overboard with the skewers, and side dishes, so it could end up quite a costly meal.

The restaurant itself feels a little cramped – if you’re near the wall, you’ll have to get the person next to you to move so that you can get out. With tables and chairs back to back, and everyone bustling to and from the self serve area, it’s definitely busy and perhaps a little hazardous. The back area itself is also quite small, so when the restaurant is near or at capacity, it would probably be a bit of a struggle moving around. Aside from that, I loved the the interior decorations, as it set very Asian-inspired vibes. The service was also excellent when we went, with the servers very attentive to our needs. If you’ve never had hot pot outside the house before, Yuan’s Hot Pot is a great place to give it a go!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Yuan’s Hot Pot as part of FCBA (Website | Instagram), but all opinions and photos are my own.

Yuan’s Hot Pot | Shop 1B, 733-735 George St, Haymarket | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Street Food Cafe, Canley Heights

Date Visited: Saturday 12 May, 2018

Canley Heights is very out of my way, but I still jumped at the opportunity to try this relatively new Vietnamese place. Even though we went at 3pm, I felt really lucky that I was able to find a parking spot on one of the side streets pretty quickly. It’s quite far from Canley Vale train station, so driving there or taking a bus seems like the best way to go.

Street Food Cafe delivers exactly what its name indicates – tasty and oh so satisfying street food in a casual setting. It’s the perfect spot for a small snack or for a feast like we had. What a spread, right? This is probably only about half of the food that we were treated to!

One of the main events was this awesome platter of skewers. I didn’t try every type, as much as I wanted to. It would not have been sensible given how I wanted to try a bit of everything else as well! The skewers included chicken (lemongrass, chilli, satay, honey teriyaki, thai coconut), beef, pork, lamb, salmon belly, prawn, baby octopus, ox tongue, heart and giblet, and tofu mushroom veggies. Of the skewers I did try, the salmon one was my favourite, and was seriously heavenly! All the rest of them were also so good, and you know I’m a foodie when I think it would be a fun challenge to try and eat this skewer platter myself or shared with someone.

Assorted skewers

One of my favourite dishes were the savoury crisp crepes, otherwise known as banh xeo. These had either pork or prawn in them, and I really liked how simple but flavourful it was. It seems like a great healthy snack as there’s lots of bean sprouts and carrots in it, and is served with lettuce as well. This is something I’d be happy to eat again.

Savoury crisp crepes (banh xeo)

Next up were the glorious pancakes, or banh khot. Though I’ve eaten out at Vietnamese restaurants quite a few times, I’ve never seen or heard of this before. However, I’m always keen for trying new food! This was gone in a mouthful but it packed a punch. Glorious is a good adjective for these mini pancakes. A really great dish, easy to eat, and easy to share.

Glorious pancakes (banh khot)

This soup was another one of my favourites of the meal. The bread looked hard, but it was actually really soft! It was really delicious dipping the bread in the soup and I liked this dish so much more than I initially thought I would. The soup had such yummy flavours, and I believe it’s tomato based if my memory is correct. There’s also some tripe in there if you’re a fan.

Tomato tripe soup with bread

I ended up trying one of their ham combo rolls the next day as leftovers, and it did not disappoint. Though not the prettiest food, it was surprisingly really well balanced between the bread and the ingredients and I really liked everything they put into it. I’m sure the BBQ pork roll would be just as tasty, and these rolls make such an easy and filling meal!

Vietnamese ham combo roll, BBQ pork roll

Now for the onslaught of salads/vermicelli, starting with the salmon salad. The use of salmon reminded me of Japanese style food, and I’m not much of a connoisseur, but the salmon tasted good to me! The prawn sugarcane vermicelli was also really nice, though I think the tofu vermicelli was a little too spicy for me, so I only tried a mouthful. The dry beef papaya salad was something a little different but not really to my personal taste, though I still enjoyed trying it. I liked how the sauce was on the side for all these dishes so you could use the sauce to your liking. Any of these bowls are definitely a healthy, lighter food option to go with.

Salmon salad

Prawn sugarcane vermicelli

Dry beef papaya salad

Tofu vermicelli

Now for some quintessential Vietnamese street food: rice paper rolls. The prawn and pork rolls are pretty classic, and they tasted great with the amazing sauce. For me, it’s the sauce that makes all the difference, as the rolls themselves have quite a natural flavour. They also had egg sausage rolls, which I haven’t tried before, and unfortunately missed out on. However, they look tasty and I imagine they’re less common in other places!

Prawn and pork rice paper roll

Egg sausage roll

Lastly, if you aren’t full enough yet from all the above food photos, these rice meals will surely get you there. The ones we had included grilled salmon teriyaki, lemongrass chilli chicken and caramelised ginger pork rice. Unfortunately, by this point I was way too stuffed to be able to try any of these, but they sure look good!

Grilled salmon teriyaki rice (front), lemongrass chilli chicken rice (left), caramelised ginger pork rice (back)

In terms of drinks, a chai latte with soy was actually the first thing I had at this place. On the day, it was pretty cold so I really wanted something warm to drink. This had the right amount of chai flavour and was so comforting to start the meal with. They have an amazing selection of smoothies and other drinks, and if it was warmer I totally would have gone for one of the cold drinks!

Chai latte with soy milk – $

Lastly, finishing off the whole meal were these assorted dessert cups. They were very sweet, but still felt healthier than a large slice of cake. I think it’s an acquired taste, so perhaps not everyone will enjoy them, but why not give them a try and find out? I believe they included ingredients such as jelly, nuts and longan, making it fun to eat.

Assorted dessert cups

I’m sorry I haven’t got the prices for all this food! I was clearly too preoccupied with photographing and eating the food, and taking a photo of the menu must have slipped my mind. However, I’m under the impression it would be quite an affordable place to eat out at, and you’d only be limited by how much food you can eat.

The best part of eating out with a large group of people is that you get the opportunity to try so many dishes. When I eat Vietnamese I shamefully tend to stick with beef pho or crispy skin chicken with rice. However, Vietnamese food encompasses so much more than those two dishes, and Street Food Cafe was the perfect place to really explore this beautiful cuisine. It’s the kind of food you’re happy to eat until you’re too full to eat anymore. I love how this place brings a type of Vietnamese food that you don’t see everywhere.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Street Food Cafe as part of FCBA (Website | Instagram), but all opinions and photos are my own.

Street Food Cafe | 278A Canley Vale Rd, Canley Heights | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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