Quanjude, World Square, Town Hall

Date Visited: Saturday 14 March, 2020

I love a good Chinese feast with family and friends, so I was pretty keen to try Quanjude. Though I’ve been to World Square many times, surprisingly I have never seen or heard of  this place before. It’s tucked away to the side of World Square, but is actually a huge restaurant, with loads of seating, an upstairs area and several rooms for private groups. Despite being relatively new to Sydney, Quanjude has been around for more than a century, and is very successful overseas in Asia.

As tends to be common with Chinese restaurants, the menu is huge, with a wonderful variety of dishes to pick from. For newcomers, look out for the recommended dishes with the thumbs ups symbol on the menu. Of course, it’s hard to visit Quanjude without trying their signature peking duck!

It’s always amazing to watch an experienced chef slicing a whole peking duck in front of you, and I loved how Quanjude really showcased this. I’ve had peking duck many times before, but it was my first time trying some of the duck skin separately on its own with a bit of salt. It was very fatty and juicy so I absolutely loved it! The rest of the duck was cut up onto two plates that were more than enough for our group of 4. The duck was so beautifully delicious, with the right amount of natural flavour and juicy tenderness.

If you ask about the proper technique to eat peking duck, they will very kindly demonstrate the correct process, and I was really impressed with how our server was able to fold the pancake so cleanly with chopsticks. Put a piece of shallot or cucumber, ample sweet soy bean paste, a piece of roast duck and wrap it all in the pancake – such a delightful mouthful.

Signature peking duck (whole duck) – $88

I’m a big fan of san choy bao as well, which is meat wrapped in lettuce. However, it’s usually with chicken or pork so I was excited to try a duck version. Quanjude certainly knows duck well, and I loved this. Really great flavour in the duck that goes so well with the fresh crunchy lettuce.

Duck san choy bao – $12.8 (2 pc/portion)

Crispy shallot pancake is another Chinese restaurant classic. This one was very simple and there’s not much to it, so it’s a good option for picky kids or as a lighter entree or side dish.

Crispy shallot pancake – $12.8

The peking duck is the star at Quanjude, but these wok fried pipis with vermicelli might have possibly stolen the show. If you want to treat yourself, this is the best way to do it! This giant plate of pipis was polished off by our table pretty quickly, as the pipis and vermicelli were packed with delicious flavour from the X.O chilli sauce. I’d definitely recommend ordering these pipis for your table!

Wok fried pipis with X.O chilli sauce and vermicelli – $68

One of my other favourites of the night was the deep fried barramundi with the gorgeous sweet and sour sauce. I love how crunchy the fish is outside, and it makes this fish so addictive to eat. It is an amazing combination with the sauce and if you haven’t tried this before then you definitely need to. I’d have this over sweet and sour pork any day.

Deep fried barramundi with sweet and sour sauce – $58

Next up – this wok-fried chicken came out glistening and it was as soft and juicy as it looked. Chicken with cashew is also a very popular combination in Chinese cuisine and this dish was done really well.

Wok-fried chicken with vegetable and cashew nuts – $24.8

On the vegetables side, we ordered these bean curd robes with mushrooms and snowpea. I really liked the mushrooms in particular, though bean curd lovers will really enjoy this dish as there is so much of it in this bowl.

Crispy bean curd robes with assorted mushrooms and snowpea – $24.8

We also enjoyed the wok-fried lamb, which came out on a heated grill plate. I was worried it might be a bit dry, but don’t be fooled – it was so packed with flavour and is one of those dishes that tastes so much better than it looks. Definitely a great main dish to consider ordering!

Wok-fried lamb with shallot and cumin seed – $26.8

I was also really impressed with Quanjude’s drinks menu. Though of course it’s pretty traditional to have tea at a Chinese restaurant, Quanjude can absolutely still deliver the goods if you’re feeling a juice or cocktail. Their House Signature cocktail ($22) packs a punch with vodka, midori and a touch of pineapple, such a brilliant combination. The lychee mojito with bacardi is also such a treat, and I always find lychees so refreshing. The mocktails are very enjoyable too, and you may find it hard to pick between the tropical punch juice ($11) and the gorgeous pink lemonade.

Lychee mojito – $22 (left), pink lemonade – $9 (right)

This was such an incredible fulfilling meal; the best kind of food to share with a small group of friends or a huge table of family. My favourite must order dishes were the signature peking duck, the pipis and the deep fried barramundi, which are all sure to wow any table. Major kudos also to the staff, who were all so accomodating and attentive and really made this dinner a great experience. Quanjude reminds me of the Chinese restaurants back in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with its lovely traditional decor and big tables. I really enjoyed this generous Chinese spread and hope to soon see Quanjude bustling full as it deserves to be.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Quanjude, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you so much Alice (@alicechow_n) for extending the invite!

Quanjude 全聚德| 10.11/41/680 George St, Sydney NSW 2000 | 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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Ramen Toriichi, Neutral Bay

Date Visited: Sunday 12 January, 2020

I really love ramen, and I really love Japanese food, so I could not wait to try Ramen Toriichi. Ramen Toriichi is not your regular ramen joint. They pride themselves as the only chicken based ramen specialist in Sydney. I was a tiny bit sceptical as I’m a huge fan of tonkotsu pork based ramen, but consider me converted! Their chicken ramen soup was just as thick, creamy and deliciously addictive as the best pork-based ramen.

I’ll start with one of their signature ramens, the Niniku Red. This was a red garlic flavour ramen and was absolutely amazing! I was so pleasantly surprised by how much flavour was packed in the soup – it was wonderfully rich but not excessively so. I did not want to stop and devoured this so quickly. The only thing that wasn’t perfect about this bowl was the egg. I love ramen soft boiled eggs but this was more hard boiled. It would be the only thing I would want to change. This ramen was also marked as chilli on the menu but was not at all, which is good for me because I can’t really handle too much chilli.

The picture below features the half size serving ($8) while there’s also a full serving for $15. I love how you have the size option so you can adjust based on personal preference or order half to try more of the other dishes!

Niniku red – $8 (half size)

One of the other Toriichi signature specials is their creamy handmade cheese chicken katsu. Featuring four generous pieces and accompanied by some cabbage, this was definitely a very tasty cheesy delight! The lovely crunch of the outside went so well with the creamy cheese inside. If you like melted cheese and chicken you will love this. These cheese chicken katsu pieces were also surprisingly filling. I’ve never seen such a dish before, so would definitely recommend trying this unique concept. An excellent idea and well executed.

Cheese chicken katsu – $15

You can also never go wrong with some gyoza or Japanese dumplings. This was Toriichi Ramen’s homemade spicy chicken dumplings with red garlic. The dumplings were not spicy at all, but they still packed a punch! Cooked to perfection, these dumplings were so juicy inside but with a wonderful crispy outside. I liked the addition of the red garlic, which made this a little different from other dumplings I’ve had. These dumplings also disappeared into our tummies super quickly.

Spicy dumplings – $8.5

I’ve never heard of cucumber miso before but this was the perfect side to have alongside the ramen. It was so refreshing and I really loved the sauce drizzled all over it! I would have never thought of such a dish but it’s so simple and brilliant. I would also recommend trying this, especially as it’s something you have probably never had before.

Cucumber shio – $4

Possibly leaving the best for last, we also tried the deluxe ramen teishoku, with the half size shoyu ramen. I also absolutely loved this ramen. Just as incredibly thick and glorious as the Niniku Red, but with a slightly different flavour profile. I love how this really changed my misconceptions of shoyu ramen not having as much taste. This Toriichi charred soy flavoured soup had such strong flavour to it, in the absolute best way possible.

The teishoku set also comes with a mini chashu don that I really enjoyed. There was the perfect amount of sauce to complement the rice and meat, and rest assured that the meat is not dry at all. I’m also a big fan of agedashi tofu and fresh salmon sashimi, so this was such great value. There’s also a mini salad to finish off this amazing set, which really lets you have quite a fantastic variety.

Deluxe ramen teishoku (shoyu) – $17

Ramen Toriichi is such a hidden gem! The restaurant is extremely cosy and really feels like an authentic Japanese restaurant. I was extremely impressed with the chicken based ramens, and I honestly think is one of my favourite ramen places of all time. Not only do they serve up incredible ramen with diverse flavours, but all the side dishes were also delicious. I would highly recommend trying out Toriichi’s chicken based ramen for yourself and getting converted into a chicken based ramen lover.

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

Ramen Toriichi| 5&6/2A Waters Rd, Neutral Bay NSW 2089 | Facebook | Instagram

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The Rotisserie House, North Ryde

Date Visited: Saturday 30 November, 2019

I was really excited to check out The Rotisserie House because there’s nothing more satisfying than some delicious fresh meats. Walking in, I loved how modern and nice the place was. Though it seemed like there was a lot of takeaway orders, probably from locals, the space is seriously so lovely to dine in with family or friends. There’s an amazing selection of tasty meats from the rotisserie and I could not wait to get started!

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a whole fresh chicken, and now I know exactly where to go when I’m craving one. The Rotisserie House’s full chicken was absolutely amazing and so juicy, not dry at all. The meat was cooked to perfection and full of so much flavour on its own already, though it also comes with complimentary sauce. Honestly, this chicken was so satisfying and something I’d return back for.

Full chicken – $16.90

The dish that really pleasantly surprised me was the lamb souvla, with 250g of lamb served with pita bread. I’m always worried about meat being too dry, especially when it’s cut into pieces, but the lamb souvla here is truly divine. Cooked to perfection, this was basically everyone’s favourite dish of the day as the lamb is deliciously flavoured and really might be the best lamb you’ve ever had.

Souvla portion (lamb) – $14.90

I also really enjoyed these chicken pieces, but it was the chips that really impressed me. I have not had such delicious chips in ages and I know that I will be craving these again soon. They were so crispy and if you’re someone like me that adores chicken salt, this is the place to get it! I have to say I found the chips more addictive than the chicken pieces, so if I could only pick one chicken dish I’d definitely go for the full chicken, which was more juicy and flavourful.

Chicken pieces and chips

I also had the chance to try the pork belly and it was so, so satisfying. The pork was incredibly succulent with the natural pork juices filling my mouth with happiness. Definitely the perfect indulgence every now and again. If you’re a fan of super crunchy crackling, you’ll love this one. The crackling was so crunchy that it was a bit hard to cut with a knife and don’t be surprised if everyone at your table can hear the crack!

Pork souvla

The Rotisserie House also does such a wide variety of burgers! The Rotisserie House burger featured 100% aussie beef with classic burger ingredients of lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, cheese, aioli and tomato sauce. It was a great burger, one that would be great to get with a side of fries, but it was kind of a standard burger and not as impressive as the chicken or lamb souvla.

Rotisserie house burger – $9.40

If you’re craving a chicken burger, the chicken schnitzel with lettuce, tomato and a very generous serving of mayo is a good choice. Though the chicken is cooked well, it’s missing the wow factor, and most of the flavour feels like it’s the mayo sauce.

Chicken schnitzel burger – $8.50

Aside from chips, I really enjoyed the huge spread of fresh salad options that were so tasty on their own. I really enjoyed the pesto pasta and the mixed vegetables, and there are so many great options to choose from there’s something for everyone! There were also a few potato salads for the potato lovers out there, from herb and chilli potatoes to cream potatoes and lemon potatoes. The salads are the perfect healthy sides to complement the meats and can be ordered as small ($7.20), medium ($9.20) or large ($11.20).

Assorted salad dishes – $7.20 (small), $9.20 (medium), $11.20 (large)

It’s safe to say I really enjoyed my meal at The Rotisserie House and will be back for sure! It felt like an absolute local gem and I’m so glad I now know about this place. I would highly recommend all the rotisserie meats – as the name suggests, it’s what they do best, and the full chicken and lamb souvla were definitely the highlights. Please do yourself a favour and try this place out for some delicious, high quality, fresh food!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of The Rotisserie House, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you for the invite!

The Rotisserie House | 16 Blenheim Rd, North Ryde NSW 2113 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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PappaRich, Macquarie

Date Visited: Sunday 19 November, 2017

PappaRich is definitely the place I always go to when I’m craving Malaysian food. This place gets very packed and there is always a huge line outside once it’s past 6pm, so if you don’t want to wait for ages, going early is the best option. I nearly always order the curry chicken with roti canai, which is delicious and my absolute favourite, but this time around we went for something different.

The first pick was the dry curry egg noodles with steamed chicken. The noodles were definitely very flavourful, with heaps of sauce. It was a bit overboard for my taste, but I get that some people might actually prefer the noodles drowned in the sauce. Despite that, the noodles are definitely very addictive, and it feels like it’s all gone within seconds. Even though it’s marked as being a little spicy on the menu, I couldn’t taste any chilliness at all, even though I have a very low spicy food tolerance!

Dry curry egg noodles with steamed chicken – $15.50

As for the chicken, I really liked the juicy skin and the sauce it was in. Whilst it was good, I felt like the inside was a little dry. Perhaps it’s personal preference though, as I most enjoy chicken when it’s super juicy everywhere. It’s not a chicken dish that I would return to eat, but it’s a solid effort.

Dry curry egg noodles with steamed chicken – $15.50

The biryani rice with red chicken and sambal prawns is definitely not the type of food I would go for, but it was nice to try something different. I’m personally not a big fan of the flavours and it was a little too spicy for me. There were a lot of spices in the rice, so some spoonfuls weren’t that pleasant – it was a massive hit of spice and kind of felt like biting into rocks. However, don’t knock this dish down just because of my individual tastes – if you like nasi lemak or spicy food, I think that you would enjoy this a lot more than I did and probably find it delicious.

Biryani rice with red chicken and sambal prawns – $15.50

I also decided to try out a drink as I was craving something nice and cold. This was a blended ribena drink topped with watermelon balls, coconut jelly and lychee. I have nothing bad to say about this, and really loved it. I am a big fan of watermelon, lychee and jelly, so for me, it was the perfect refreshing drink to accompany the food.

Ribena melon – $7.50

It’s no surprise that PappaRich has branches around Australia and worldwide. Their business model is clearly working for them, with extensive variety and choice on their menu, and an affordable offering of delicious food. Service has generally been pretty good, even though it does get busy and sometimes I have to ask twice for table water. It’s nice that they have a little bell on the table that you can ring, just like in many Korean restaurants, so you don’t have to waste time trying to catch the waiter’s attention if you’d prefer not to.

I’ll definitely be back sometime so keep a look out for an update on this blog post, as I need to add in the curry chicken with roti canai! I feel like Malaysian food isn’t really one of the main cuisines like Japanese, Korean and Chinese that people think of when they’re going out to eat, but Malaysian food is so wonderful that it should definitely be at the forefront of more people’s minds.

PappaRich Macquarie | Shop 449, Upper Level 3, Macquarie Centre, North Ryde | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Pho Gia Hoi, Eastwood

Date visited: Sunday 5 November, 2017

This is my go to place for pho in Eastwood. I have been here to Pho Gia Hoi so many times, so it’s no surprise that I’m finally writing about it. Aside from pho, the main association I have with this place is orange. There seems to be orange-ish lighting, the tables are orange-ish, and their small bowls are definitely orange.

Anyway, you can always count on Pho Gia Hoi to deliver a wonderful bowl of pho that gives you all the warm and fuzzy feelings you need, especially on a cold rainy day. Personally, I find the portion size to be super generous, and I always really struggle to finish everything. I love the beef and the broth, and so I can easily confirm that Pho Gia Hoi does indeed deliver great pho.

Raw beef noodle soup – $13

When I’m not in the mood for pho, then my go to is usually crispy skin chicken. I prefer it with dry egg noodles, although you can also order it with soup noodles or rice instead. It’s exactly as pictured – the skin is indeed crispy and I like that it’s generally always juicy. Even if you do happen to get the short straw and find your chicken a bit dry, it’ll be boosted up by the sweet sauce served on the side.

I find the dry egg noodles complement the chicken well and is refreshing to eat in between bites of chicken. They have some bean sprouts in there and some sauce and it’s simple, but is flavourful enough for me. It’s also a very large serving and I’ve never been able to finish the whole bowl of noodles myself.

Crispy skin chicken with dry egg noodles – $13

An alternative to crispy skin chicken, I enjoyed the grilled chicken just as much. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was also fairly juicy, and that it didn’t taste dry at all, especially with the sweet sauce. If you’re a super lazy eater like me, the grilled chicken has no bones so in a way, it’s easier to eat than the crispy skin chicken. Both this and the crispy skin chicken dishes also come with soup. My parents always tell me it’s just MSG and advise me not to drink it. From the one or two sips I’ve had, the soup does taste good in an indulgent way, but I would feel unhealthy having any more of it.

Grilled chicken with dry egg noodles – $13

For an Eastwood restaurant, the service is pretty good, and from my many experiences, the food has always come very promptly. I feel like on average, the wait time for the food is only 5-10 minutes from ordering. The value of this place is even better. For less than $15, there are so many options to choose from, whether you’re feeling pho, dry noodles, rice, beef, chicken, spring rolls or squid. I always leave Pho Gia Hoi with a very full stomach and a sense of contentment.

Pho Gia Hoi | 219 Rowe St, Eastwood

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Night Noodle Markets 2017, Hyde Park

Date visited: Wednesday, 11 October 2017

This is my third time going to the Night Noodle Markets and every year I am as excited as ever. There’s just something that I really enjoy about having so many choices of foods and being able to try unusual foods that I’ve never eaten before or don’t get the opportunity to eat often normally.

Got there just after 6pm, and whilst I knew there were a few things that had piqued my interest, I didn’t really have a set plan of what to eat. Since I was starving and POKLOL was one of the first stalls I saw, we headed straight there. I had really fond memories of the Korean tacos from last year so I just wanted to enjoy them again, which I definitely did. Could have gotten 3 tacos for $20, but in an attempt to save tummy space for more food, we got 2 for $15, one bulgogi beef and one chilli chicken. I enjoyed the bulgogi beef more while my boyfriend enjoyed the chilli chicken more, but both were delicious!

POKLOL: Korean tacos (chilli chicken, bulgogi beef) – $15

Next I wanted to try Cloud Thief’s new school trifecta baos (barbeque plum beef spare rib, chilli soft shell crab, oriental buttery mushroom). I loved the ideas of them, but I didn’t like them as much as the classic baos of pork belly, chicken, etc. The mushroom and rib ones were a bit tough to chew, so a little hard to share. I wasn’t very keen on the sauce on the crab one, but despite these flaws, I still ate all the baos with happiness.

Cloud Thief: new school trifecta baos – $20

We then decided to try the soft shell crab po boy from House of Crabs. This was personally my least favourite item, but a major disclaimer that I am not someone who enjoys chilli food. Since this was covered in chilli sauce, it was a bit too much for me, but if you like your chilli then I’ve heard plenty of positive feedback. Despite this, I can say that I felt this was one of the better value items to buy. For $15 you get quite a generous amount of crab and there’s a lot of bread so this is actually very filling. Since I made my boyfriend eat two thirds of it, he was already full after this.

House of Crabs: soft shell crab po boy – $15

A friend recommended I try Churken’s chicken, and since I adore chicken, I followed the advice. They had 3 flavours but I picked the me soy honey flavour. This was one of my favourites as the chicken was so juicy inside and drenched in flavour with the soy honey glaze on the outside. It was also a massive winner for value for money in my opinion. This was supposed to be the small size, costing $14 (large was $25), but this serving had around 8 or so chicken wings/drumsticks. This was way more than enough since I pretty much indulged in these all by myself. It was so finger-licking good, but I also can’t help feeling that it’s undone all my hard work exercising over the past week.

Churken: me soy honey chicken (small) – $14

Dessert time! My boyfriend had a hard time deciding but ended up trying Aunty Tomsu’s cheesecake (Japanese cheesecake, strawberry & cherry blossom cream, strawberry meringue, strawberries, strawberry gelato). For $12, the portion size gets a pass, and my boyfriend seemed to enjoy it, but it didn’t exceed his expectations. To him, it felt like he had tried better gelato elsewhere, and the cheesecake tasted more like plain cake than ‘cheesecake’.

Messina Gelato: Aunty Tomsu’s cheesecake – $12

Lastly, I had to have a look at what Nutie Donuts had to offer because I absolutely love donuts, but I’ve never really had anything other than cinnamon donuts. Having heard plenty about this place, it was especially enticing because everything they had was vegan (and hence dairy free)! I was way too full at this point to eat anything more, but I had to buy something because their home in Balmain is too much of a trek for me. I decided to get the deluxe donut (Hong Kong bird’s nest donut delicacy: coconut crusted mango donut with a surprise “egg” donut hole) and the yuzu and lychee donut, and they nicely gave me a paper bag to take these away in.

I tried these the day after, and they were incredibly heavenly. If I had no concern for my health, I definitely could endlessly devour these donuts because every bite was addictive and made me want to keep eating. I couldn’t really taste the mango or lychee in their respective donuts though, but I can still confirm that the hype around Nutie Donuts is worth it. I really want to go back and try their vegan ice cream cookie sandwiches now!

Nutie Donuts: deluxe donut – $11 (left), yuzu and lychee donut – $7 (right)

The Night Noodle Markets provides the perfect date night opportunity for a foodie like me. Maybe it was because we went on a Wednesday night, or because we didn’t go to the really popular stalls, but the lines were honestly not bad at all. We didn’t have to line up for most of them, and even for Messina we only lined up for 2-3 minutes. I kind of want to visit the markets again before it ends on 22 October, as there are still more dishes I want to try (Harajuku Gyoza’s long fries, Taiwanese Noodle House’s noodles, Nutie Donuts’ vegan ice cream cookie sandwiches…), but I guess I’ll have to see if I can find the time.

In terms of cost, the total spent on everything above was $94, which is a lot of money for one night. My boyfriend and I were both super full, but it’s still pricey at $38 per person (when you exclude the cost of the donuts that I kept for the next day). However, I maintain that it’s worth it for one night of the year, and I can sympathise with the costs that must be involved in running the markets. The Night Noodle Markets are an iconic event and I’ve enjoyed myself for three years running now.

Night Noodle Markets – Good Food Month | Hyde Park, Sydney, NSW | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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