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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Spice World, Haymarket

Date Visited: Wednesday 11 March, 2020

I’ve never been the biggest fan of hot pot but my mind has genuinely been changed after visiting Spice World! I honestly have not had such a good hot pot experience before, and I now know why. You have to get the fundamentals right – having a great soup base and high quality meat – and Spice World definitely delivers on both. I was impressed from the moment I stepped into the restaurant – Spice World is known for their robots handing out mints, and I loved all the Chinese inspired decor, from the roof lanterns to the dragon imprinted comfy chairs.

The first thing that struck me was how many choices were available on the extensive menu! Even in deciding the broth there were so many different options. You can pick either individual or large for share, depending on the size of your group, and you can then also pick single flavour or double flavour. For an individual broth from $9.9 up, you get your own personal hot pot, which I think is extremely reasonable. However, we opted for the large for share broth as the large broths also come with a complimentary puppy or Hello Kitty, or in our case, bear! How adorable is it!

I highly recommend getting a double flavour for more variety. We ended up picking the traditional spicy broth, ensuring to select level one chilli, along with the fresh tomato broth. My spicy tolerance is extremely weak, so I found the spicy broth extremely spicy, even though it was supposedly level one of three levels of chilli. Luckily, I absolutely loved the fresh tomato broth so I definitely had a lot more of that. The broth was incredibly rich in flavour and might have been the most perfect tomato broth I’ve had. They are so generous with making sure the broths are continually topped up and I would certainly come back to Spice World for this broth.

Traditional spicy broth + fresh tomato broth (large for share) – $32.9

The spicy bear started melting once the rest of the broth was poured in, but our attention was soon captured by the Wagyu beef dressed Barbie. It’s so gorgeous – no wonder this is one of their most popular recommended dishes! I thought this dish was only popular for the novelty of it, but I was blown away by just how amazingly delicious the Wagyu beef was itself. The beef absolutely melts in your mouth, and I’m more understanding of the pricing of Barbie considering how high quality the meat is. Another must order from Spice World that makes me want to revisit again.

Wagyu beef dressed Barbie – $38.9

We also decided to try out another of the recommended dishes, the deep fried pork belly. It sounded delicious on paper but unfortunately I was not the biggest fan upon tasting it. Whilst the portion is very reasonable for the price, it tasted a bit strange to me, and wasn’t as juicy inside as I’d hoped. It was very crunchy on the outside though, but that wasn’t enough to win me over and next time I’d pick more wagyu beef instead.

Deep fried pork belly – $10.9

We also tried the fish tofu, one of their handmade dishes. These were great, and were so easy to keep eating in between the meat. I wasn’t originally planning to order this, but I’m so glad we did, as these are a hot pot staple for a reason.

Fish tofu – $8.9

For those who need more flavour with their fish tofu or want some sauce, Spice World’s self-service sauce station is the ultimate dream. There were about 20 or more different kinds of sauces, along with suggested sauce combinations. There’s bound to be something for everyone. The menu includes a $3.9 charge per person for the self-service sauce, appetisers and seasonal fruits. Considering you can help yourself to as much as you want, it’s not too bad at all.

Self-service sauce station

Our waitress also recommended the mashed shrimp with fish roe, which was quite an unusual looking dish. A brilliant recommendation because this ended up being one of my partner’s favourites! Our waitress was so helpful and came by to help scoop the shrimp into our broth. I really enjoyed this, the fish roe added such a lovely texture and it was another easy thing to eat.

I usually want some rice or noodles to accompany lots of meat, so we also ordered udon noodles. At $5.9 it’s a big price discrepancy compared to a pack of udon from the supermarket, but there’s bound to be a premium to pay in a restaurant. Pretty standard udon noodles, but a great way to add some variety to the meal.

Mashed shrimp with fish roe – $16.9, udon noodles – $5.9 (back left)

We were also lucky enough to treat ourselves to these scallops. Admittedly the scallops didn’t wow me that much as they have no flavour and rely purely on the broths. However, the scallops seemed fresh and I loved how they presented them in their shells on the bed of ice.

Scallops on shell (6 pieces) – $18.9

Our last meat pick was the lamb slices served on the 1m plate. I might have ordered this for the novelty of it, but like the Wagyu barbie, I was awed by how good the meat actually tasted as well. This was definitely not your regular lamb slices from the Asian supermarket. The lamb was so high quality and even though there were so many slices on the 1m plate, I wanted to never stop eating this. I would highly recommend these lamb slices!

By then we were absolutely stuffed but we still had some dessert to end the feast. We tried the deep fried handmade rice cake with brown sugar, as it was one of their recommended dishes and I’d had something similar before that I had enjoyed. This was a nice treat but pretty average and there wasn’t anything to really wow me.

Lamb slices served on 1m plate – $25.9 (left), deep fried handmade rice cake with brown sugar – $7.9 (right)

Last but not least were these beautiful swan cakes. The two black ones are purple sweet potato while the other two had a durian flavour inside. Whilst we preferred the purple sweet potato, the durian ones were pretty good too, even though I’m not a huge durian lover. These were so enjoyable to eat and I loved the unique and unusual flavour profiles.

To keep myself refreshed throughout this feast, I enjoyed a mixed fruit iced tea from the Moment for $8.5. It’s so cool how you can order bubble tea or milk tea or fruit tea and it’s delivered promptly to your table from The Moment. Such a great idea!

Swan cake – $16.9

I expected that I would enjoy Spice World, but even so, I was pleasantly surprised by how much the experience exceeded my expectations. I absolutely adored the tomato broth, the Wagyu barbie and the lamb slices and I know it won’t be long until I’ll need to visit again to satisfy my cravings. The service was also impeccable, with constant help topping up the broth and ensuring that you have everything you need. I never knew dining out at a hot pot restaurant would be this much fun, and I would definitely recommend trying it out yourself at Spice World!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Spice World, but all opinions and photos are my own. Thank you Get Social PR (@getsocialpr) for arranging the invite!

Spice World | 405-411 Sussex St, Haymarket NSW 2000 | Facebook | Instagram

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Mas.Que, St Leonards

Date Visited: Friday 15 June, 2018

This cafe has been popping up very often on Instagram, so naturally it meant that a visit was in order! Their menu seems super inventive and full of mixed fusion dishes, with their puppy dessert garnering the most attention – make sure you read to the end to find out how the puppy actually tasted! I went for a late Friday lunch, and we were seated at a table immediately. Most of the cafe was still full, so I imagine that on the weekend it would be absolutely packed.

To start with, Mas.Que does some incredible drinks and all three of us chose one of their specialty drinks to try. My friend ordered the brûlée latte with cinnamon stick, described as a funky way to have your latte. The presentation was definitely on point, and is probably how they can justify the $7.5 price for a latte. The waiter torched the hot drink in front of us and it was something cool to watch, since I haven’t seen this anywhere else. According to my friend, the latte itself was pretty average, so taste wise it wasn’t that special.

Brûlée latte with cinnamon stick – $7.5

Another popular drink is the magical, which is a natural colour changing drink with homemade flavour and lemonade. I really enjoyed this drink! It actually tasted so good that I wouldn’t mind paying $8 to have this again. I believe the blue liquid in the little perfume bottle consists of butterfly pea flower and pouring it into the drink makes it turn a lovely dark blue/purple. It didn’t actually change the flavour of the drink though. Fun fact is that you can add an alcohol shot to this for $6, which could potentially be really tasty, but I’ll have to try it some other time.

The magical – $8

My other friend decided to go for their dragon smoothie, which consists of dragon fruit, banana, apple, lime, honey, and coconut water. I’ve had quite a few smoothies in the past and this one was as good as the rest. The consistency was good and the kiwis on the side made for interesting presentation. I don’t think this was as ‘special’ as the other specialty drinks, but when you’re in the mood for a smoothie, it’ll definitely do the job!

Dragon smoothie – $10

Onto the more exciting part of the food we ate! Having seen this in pictures, I loved the idea of soft shell crab on gold sand congee. Trust me, this tastes as amazing as it looks! I’ve never had crab with congee before but this duck york golden crisp crab was absolutely delicious and us three girls devoured this bowl so incredibly fast. The congee itself was full of flavour and not boring at all. This might be the best congee I’ve ever had, and I’m already dreaming about having this again.

Soft shell crab on gold sand congee – $23

Next was their wagyu tataki and soba. Surprisingly, I don’t think I’ve ever had this dish before, though I know other Japanese places serve it too. I’ve never been the biggest fan of soba, preferring both ramen and udon, but I really loved this dish too. The wagyu tataki is pan-seared marble graded wagyu sirloin (M6+), and it was also topped with a Japanese onsen egg, so there was really no way this could go wrong. There was also a homemade soba sauce to go with it and it was mildly spicy, which gave the whole dish an extra kick. Eating the wagyu, egg yolk and soba together was super tasty and refreshing! I don’t think this dish alone would have been that filling though, so sharing with others or ordering an extra dish or drink might come in handy!

Wagyu tataki and soba – $25

The grand finale was of course the puppy dessert! This is made of nutella and chocolate mousse, and is filled with a honey sponge cake and garnished with biscuit and mixed fruits. After taking way too many photos of this insanely realistic puppy, I let my friend have the honour of cutting the puppy open. It actually tasted quite nice! My friend thought the mousse was a little dense but we imagine it’s necessary to hold the shape of the puppy together. There isn’t that much cake inside, but the little I did have was really yummy. Mixing the mousse with the biscuit crumbs and fruit made this a real delight to eat.

On their menu, it says they have limited stock of this, so that might be something to keep in mind when deciding when to visit. This puppy is also smaller than it looks, but for the novelty of it and the fact that it is actually an enjoyable dessert, $28 is not too bad.

My puppy – $28

Having lunch at Mas.Que was definitely an experience in itself. All three of the dishes we had were something I’d never had before, and I always love that about trying new places. The drinks were very special as well, and I really commend the cafe owners for creating such a unique menu that not only looks good, but tastes good as well! Given that they dabble in a few different cuisines, with some clear Asian influences, it’s even more impressive that the dishes we tried were all done so well.

One thing to note is that their service wasn’t the fastest. It took our drinks alone about 15 minutes to come and then another 10 or so minutes for the food. It’s not that bad, but considering it was past 2pm when we went, I feel like it would be even worse during weekend peak brunch time. Regardless, I wouldn’t hesitate to revisit to try more of their dishes or honestly just order the exact same dishes again as I enjoyed them so much. Located a couple minutes walk from St Leonards train station, this cafe is sure to remain a staple go to on the North Shore.

Mas.Que | 2/38 Albany St, St Leonards | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Coco Rice Thai Restaurant, Ryde

Date visited: Wednesday 15 November, 2017

I love discovering new restaurants so I was really happy to get the opportunity to try this place. It’s in a fairly quiet area, so there were quite a few parking spots available. I’m assuming it was because it was a Wednesday night, but the restaurant was empty. The good thing is that it meant the waiting time for the food was quite short.

I saw that they had pad thai soft shell crab and decided to try it. I’ve never seen this on a menu anywhere but it sounded intriguing and I love soft shell crab. Luckily, it lived up to my expectations and I really enjoyed it. It doesn’t look like much but the portion size was way more than enough for me and there was a very decent amount of 8-9 pieces of crab in there. The crab actually went really well with the pad thai, which thankfully had really good authentic flavours too! The menu said that it was $21.90, but when the bill came, it turned out to only be $19.90, so that was a bonus.

Pad thai soft shell crab – $19.90

When eating out at a Thai restaurant, ordering a curry is always a solid choice. I was eating out with a group, and someone decided to order roast duck curry while another picked the pineapple curry with BBQ roast duck. Turns out that it’s probably the exact same thing. The catch is that on the menu, the roast duck curry was meant to be $19.90, while the pineapple curry with BBQ roast duck, $18.90. However, when the bill came, the roast duck curry was only $17.90, so you can save a dollar depending how you order it..

Anyway, the curry was really good and I enjoyed the lychees and pineapple. There was actually a very generous amount of mixed vegetables and duck, definitely a lot better than some other Thai restaurants I’ve been to. You have to order rice separately, which is standard in Thai restaurants, and here it was $3 per person which wasn’t too bad.

Roast duck curry – $17.90; pineapple curry with BBQ roast duck – $18.90, rice – $3 pp

Pad se-ew is also always a great choice at Thai restaurants, although this one was pretty average. Average isn’t bad though, it’s still great tasting food, just on par with other Thai restaurants I’ve eaten at. Serving size seemed a little smaller than the pad thai though.

Pad se-ew with chicken – $15.90

One of the Coco Rice specials was this eggplant chilli jam (deep fried eggplant with home made sauce). It was a surprise winner, and the outside crunch with the softness of the eggplant inside was so good! It wasn’t too chilli, even for my low intolerance of spicy food. For the amount of eggplant, I thought this was a great value dish. I can see why this is a special, especially since I don’t think I’ve seen this dish at other Thai restaurants.

Eggplant chilli jam – $16.90

Finally, to end things off, sticky rice is a common Thai dessert. Here, they served it with mango or Thai custard. I have nothing bad to say about these desserts as they were both delicious. Even when you’re full from dinner it’s so easy to keep eating these because of how tasty they are!

Sticky rice with mango – $9.90, sticky rice with Thai custard – $6.90

I’m really glad to have found this restaurant, and I know I will definitely be back soon. I love how they have one or two unique dishes that are not common in other Thai restaurants, and actually do it really well. I definitely enjoyed all of the food and it’s such a good restaurant to eat out at with family or friends since the atmosphere is pretty quiet and nice. This is probably one of my new go to Thai restaurants around the Ryde area.

Coco Rice Thai Restaurant | 117 North Road, Ryde | Website

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