The Fish Shop - 22 Challis Avenue, Potts Point

It's local restaurants like The Fish Shop and Busshari that would tease me over away from the beach to live amongst the many food options in Potts Point.  Bondi Beach needs a kick up the ass when it comes to mid price point, a little bit fancy (no thongs and bikinis) dining options.  There are too many Thai, pizza and hipster tapas places.  Merivale can you please expand your portfolio by opening a place at the beach?

 

Anyway I had been wanting to try out this place for a while and the opportunity came up recently.  I had felt like some good light seafood dishes before the warmer weather ends and the soup and stew season kicks in.

 

It was busy on a Friday night but we were able to get a table for 5 easily and weren't rushed to vacate.  The waitress was swift and attentive but maybe she was a bit busy that she got one of our drinks mixed up and then when the correct drink came, it came in a plastic cup?!  Strange. 

 

Two of us had some oysters to start off with.  A bargain at $2.70 each but when they came out they were tiny.  But they were still fresh and creamy and I could've had more!  Others got the potato scallops which looked scrumptious!  Fatter and smaller than the ones you get at the local fish and chip shop.

 

For mains I ordered the special of salmon cutlet with mash and mushrooms with a splash of some good olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.  The mash was so buttery and together with the oily salmon I filled up quickly.  This dish was really simple but delicious.  "It's all about the freshest, in season produce!"  The catch phrase of chef's nowadays.  And it's true.  All you need is great raw ingredients to start with and the skill to cook it perfectly and you have a truly good tasting dish.  The white and blue enamel plates on which the dishes were served  up on adds to the very fishy themed restaurant.

 

I can't remember the price of my salmon as it was on the specials board.  One thing they could do is have it written on the board as the waitress didn't tell us when she was telling us about them. Don't you feel a bit funny and awkward to ask how much the specials are when they are being read out to you?  I do.  It's like you don't want to interrupt  them as they try to remember all of them!



I rate this dish 8.5/10

One of my friends had the special of trumpeter with nicoise salad.  I had never had trumpeter before so I had a taste and it was quite firm and tasted like a mix of swordfish and hake.  Very nice indeed and it was quite a generous piece. 

And of course someone had to have the good old fish and chips, in fact we got two at our table.  It was another generous serving.  I forgot to ask what the fish was but it came with chunky chips and dairy free tartare sauce.  I only remember that this dish was $19 as it was on the menu. 

 

 

We also got the iceberg and cucumber salad, which sounds drab, but it came with the best ceamy dressing ever.  It was so good that I forgot to take a pic of it, but hey, you can imagine those two veges on a plate.  Originally the salad was for my dairy free friend but then when it came out and saw it we wanted to make sure what the dressing was by asking the waitress.  Then she realised it did have dairy in it so she gave us another plate of the salad without the creamy dressing but with lemon and olive oil, salt and pepper instead which was nice of her. Again this salad was suprisingly good as well.  We all noticed that the salt and pepper used was different and much tastier and think it was due to the addition of the underated white peppercorn. 

We didn't have the space for dessert, but they did sound tempting.  So I think I will have to go back and sample some so I can write about it. 

 

The Fish Shop is a great little place for a casual meal if you feel like fresh seafood cooked to perfection.  A definite must try.

Food Stories from Seoul, Korea

Recently I went to Seoul for the first time for work.  I was super excited as I do love Korean food and I always love going to a country I've never been to before.

 

Here are some of the meals I had in the few days I was there.

 

I was wondering the streets of Myeong-Dong, one of Seouls main shopping districts in 4 degree, but sunny weather and my stomach was growling.  Not remembering where I had seen some hot pot restaurants I wondered for a bit and looked at a menu stuck on a wall when I was suddenly whisked into the elevator by an elderly lady shoving the menu into my hand and before I knew it I was in a busy restaurant and sat down at a table.  I looked at the menu properly this time and it was a BBQ and hot pot restaurant, although most people seemed to be BBQ'ing.  So I went ok, I'll have the beef and one rice, pointing to the picture on the menu.

 

The many banchan sides came out.  Some I hadn't seen in Sydney before.  There was a plate of raw garlic cloves, didn't touch that. The bean sprouts were my fave.  Buttery yet fresh.  The dish in the middle with the two browney looking things with sesame seeds is a version of the white jelly things I have eaten at Seoul-Ria.  I still don't know what it is. I think its radish or rice cake??  Anyway the  beef was delicious although a bit chewy.  Wrapped in the lettuce leaf with some chilli sauce & sesame oil, it reminded me of my BBQ experience back in Tokyo. 

 

Next highlight was the ultimate street food.  It was lunch time but I didn't have the time to find a place to eat and I was starving, so I decided to go for it.  I had seen this amazing creation the first day I was in town but my stomach wasn't hungry then.  But this time I walked up to the stall with the creations freshly being deep fried and pulled out 2000 won, $1.70 to pay the lady and pointed.  She smiled, lifted this hot chip covered hot dog out of the oil, pricked it with a skewer, drained it of the oil and asked me if I wanted tomato sauce with it.  Yes! I said, and then she wrapped a few serviettes around the wooden stick and handed it over.  I don't know what to call it, but the hot dog chip steroids looked amazing. 

 

First bite, all chip and sauce.  Second bite, a bit of bread, which was a bit sweet!  Third bite, finally got to the sausage!  I must admit the chips were the best bit.  If there was less bread I think I would've enjoyed this streetfood more.  It was quite hard to eat without getting it all over your face.  Overall a bit of a let down.

 

 

On my to-eat list in Korea is one of my fave dishes, Spicy Tofu and Seafood soup.  I found this in a food court above one of the many fashion malls in Dongdaemun.

 

Again when I ordered the soup I got banchan which I was happy about.  I had never seen beef as banchan before but who cares it was so yummy, with a strong seasame but sweet flavour.  I also got a side of Deokbokki.  Everyday I saw people eating this on the side of the street.  They are little rice cakes shaped into cylinders and cooked in a spicy chilli sauce.  The rice cakes were chewier than I thought, but still nice.  I also could've had a bowl of rice but I told the lady I didn't want it and they thought I was a bit strange.  But lady I just ate that whole plate of Deokbokki and banchan!  Oh well.

 

Then the soup arrived.  Boiling and bubbling hot as it came out in the stone pot.  It definitely warmed me up, although it could've been done with a bit more chilli heat.  There was a good amount of seafood and tofu and I loved breaking the egg yoke into the broth and seeing it cook.   All this was only 6000 won, about $5.20.  Mmmm I feel like this again now.

 

 

On the last day I decided to eat on the street again, this time for dinner in Namadeun.  An area known for the markets that sell everything from spoons to kidswear to cosmetics and also wholesale markets.  There was a lot on offer in terms of food, I didn't know what to get!  I settled on this stall where the lady really welcomed me in, but yes in the end she ripped me off.  So a lesson learnt ask how much before you point at the delicious food you want cooked up and sit down to eat it!!

 

Still a bit pissed off about this whole experience but the food was ok.  Everyone gets a bowl of this mussel soup, which was like a salty, seafoody broth.  Warmed me up quickly while I waited for my pork and shallot skewers and japchae noodles.  Japchae are glass noodles made from potato starch and is very popular in Korea.  It was cooked in a sticky, tomatoey, chilli sauce.  Quite nice I must admit.

 

 

I definitely want to go back and try more Korean food, more unusual dishes, seeing as we are lucky that all the way over here in Australia we do get pretty authentic and good Korean food already.

 

 

 

Wokking Inn - 282 North Road, Eastwood

Gung Hei Fat Choy!  Happy Chinese New Year!  It's the first day of the year of the snake and so I think it is only apt to write about another new Chinese restaurant my family and I dined at.  Despite it also being Mercedes Benz Fashion week in New York.  I would love to share some pics of that but it's fair to say that my food posts outweigh the fashion and also get more reads. . . .  So here is a review of this awesome little restaurant in Eastwood.

We wanted to go here at the end of last year but it was closed for renovation so we went here for my sister's and auntie's birthday a few weeks ago.  My mum knows the owner Helen and knew that they had some pretty awesome entrees and dishes that we had to pre-order.  We didn't want to miss out on the night!

 

Mango and Prawn Spring Rolls, $60. This was the pre-ordered house special entree. It was special indeed! The pastry was really light and crispy kind of like roti bread but the deep fried version and a little sweet but had some salt sprinkled lightly on top. The dipping sauce was mango puree. They were very generous in size, one per person, although I could've eaten 2!

 

You had to see the inside, nice big juicy prawns and fresh mango slithers with a subtle white sauce which was a Chinese style mornay sauce? Kind of.  The mango inside was sweet enough you didn't really need the sauce. 9/10.

 

 

Dried Scallop Poached Chicken, $38.  This was another pre-ordered dish.  It is a course that is served cold.  The display of the whole head always causes a stir amongst us young ones, so my brother covers it with the coriander but to our amusement our Grandad unknowingly eats the coriander and the head is revealed again!!!  Aargh!  Anyway I like this dish cold, it makes it more of a summer dish.  The chicken and soy sauce is flavoured with other spices and is a different take on the Shaoxing wine drunken chicken dish we always have.  7/10.

 

 

Pippies in XO sauce served with crispy vermicelli noodle pancake.  I love this dish although pippes are not the meatiest of sea foods, this dish makes up for it in flavour.  The sauce is thick and salty and the vermicelli noodles are used to mop up this. The best bits are the cripsy edges which always get eaten quickly. 9/10.

 

8 Treasure Whole Duck, $78.  This was the piéce de resistancé!  The dish was massive.  It was so different to anything I have ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant before.  The waitress had cut into the duck before I could snap it unscathed.  The body of the duck was so soft and I was like c'mon what is this? It had no bones and was so so soft to cut up!  The skin was soft and the treasures inside were all so soft as well.  It must have been slowly cooking for ages.  The meat was so tender and flavoursome.  The stuffing comprised of water chestnut, shitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, lotus root and some other ingredients which I don't know.  The duck was surrounded by baby buk choy which made it a more visually pleasing dish.  8/10.

 

Sweet and Sour Pork.  Always a favourite.  The sourness builds the appetite.  The sweet cuts into the fatty bits of pork, which weren't too fatty at all.  The batter was light and crispy.  The addition of pinenuts was new.  Delicious.  8/10.

 

Chilli Soft Shell Crab.  This was my choice.  The little crabs were yummy and the batter which I was expecting to be really hot as it had three chilies next to the dish on the menu wasn't as hot as I wanted it to be despite the dish being covered with a variety of chillies.  It was a generous sized dish though.  7/10.

 

 

Re-hydrated scallops with enoki mushrooms and snow pea sprouts.  The vegetable dish of the night served in a broth which was unusual. The scallops were subtle tasting but added a nice saltiness to the veges.  7/10.

 

All these dishes were eaten with white rice and we were so full by the end as there was so much food, the servings were big.   We all got a take-away container for our lunches the next day!  Yay!

 

Wokking Inn is a hidden jem.  It is quite expensive compared to the other local Chinese restaurants I go to in the suburbs, but it's also a great change of the style of Chinese we are used to.  All up it was $360 for 10 people which is very reasonable by Sydney standards but twice the amount for a regular Chinese suburban meal.

 

Warungs in Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia

Nusa Lembongan is only 25 minutes away from Bali by speed boat.  It is a small island that makes for a peaceful getaway from the hustle and bustle of Bali.  The islands main income is seaweed farming which mostly goes to the Asian cosmetics industry.  You can see it through the crystal clear waters of the island.  The beaches here are much nicer than mainland Bali and  lends itself to activities such as surfing, snorkelling and diving.  

 

While spending time taking in the nature and the quietness we of course had to eat.  Again we opted out of the resort restaurant for every meal and wandered the island for local warungs.

 

 

The first one we went to is called Pondok Baruna Warung.  This is what we had:

 

Gado gado, $3.  Lightly blanched vegetables with tempe (soy bean cake), tofu, egg with peanut sauce.  Standard dish, the peanut sauce was smooth and rather sweet.

 

Vegetable soup with noodles, $2.50.  A broth which was a bit more flavoured with onion.  The noodles were vermicelli.  A more filling entree, still very yummy.

 

 

Kare Ayam, $3.70.  I had to try a curry.  It was very mild and not very hot which I was a bit dissappointed about.  It was like a mild Chinese curry.  The addition of the side sprouts and beans were really buttery and to me was the best bit about the dish. 

 

Ikan Bakar, $4.  Fish fillet grilled and served with Sambal Matah (chillies, shallots and kaffir lime leaves).  This was much better than the chicken.  What made this dish was the Sambal.  It was so intense and hot but went so nicely with the fish.  We weren't sure what type of fish it was but it was of medium firmness and tasted a bit like ling fillet.  The hot chilli lingered around for the whole meal. 

 

There were lots of other dishes here on offer I just wish I had more time to go back and try them all.  Everything is just so cheap and healthy.



Warung 99 Mealhouse - Chinese style, this was stated on the wall.  This was another warung where we had our final lunch before heading home.  It was also like a shopfront selling groceries.  The menu was small with all the traditional items listed, but as we found out, did very much have the Chinese twist to it.

 



 

Ayam Goreng.  Yay! . . .  No!  I was expecting fried chicken as that was what it said on the menu but to our suprise it was fried chicken softened by a heap of Chinese spinach in a typical Chinese style gravy.  It was still tasty though despite the look of it!  It had the flavour of this red spice that I can't quite put my finger on, will have to ask my mum about it but it usually is pared with chicken. 

 



 

Vegetable soup with meat.  The meat we presume was pork bits.  The soup was really refreshing and packed with spinach.  It was reminiscent of what my mum cooked us at least once a week to build up our immune system.  It was definitely less flavourful as the past Indonesian soups we had.  This soup is usually just a heap of greens, garlic, and meat bones with some sesame oil boiled in water. 

 

You can see we also ordered Nasi Goreng, which was just standard. The meal was overall a bit disappointing, but at least we tried a different take on Indonesian home-style cooking we would never have otherwise had.

 

I didn't copy down the prices but it was cheaper than the other warungs, which is ridiculous! 

 

We motorbiked around the island and there were other local places to eat and lots of goodies to be tried.  If we ever go back I'm sure things would change as it is a fast developing island attracting more and more visitors.  I recommend going before it turns into Bali.

 

 



Warung Eny - Bali, Indonesia

Forget about Chinese from Hong Kong I'm hooked on Indo food.  After getting back from our Bali holiday two weeks ago I am wanting to write about the latest things that have gone into my belly.

So Indo food isn't that big here, if you compare it to Thai, but there are some good places to eat it in the suburbs of Randwick and Kingsford.  And to true lovers of Indo food at least there are those places to go to.

Instead of eating at our hotel every night for dinner, we wanted to get out amongst it and eat local food in Seminyak.  I don't get the point of eating Italian when you can get excellent and cheap Indo food when you are in Indonesia!

I didn't take pics of every meal, just the interesting ones.  And sorry photos are crap as I have no photo editing programs at the moment.

We walked to Warnung Eny after finding some good reviews on Tripadvisor.  It was close to where we were staying.   A "warung" is a small family owned shop selling anything from lollies to being a small restaurant.  This was like a little shack front with an open kitchen and about 10 tables. Eny is the woman who owns it and was there serving the customers.  Athough we wanted a local joint it was mostly tourists eating there, but it was still authentic feeling. 

Despite it being hot and us sweating still in front of the three fans they had going, we still ordered the vegetable soup.  We hadn't eaten that many veges since leaving home, you know airport food and lots of rice and noodles already, that we so needed something nutritious.

Vegetable soup, $1.50.  This bowl of liquid was so tasty and buttery for some reason.  We just hoped it wasn't msg, but we didn't have that,  dry thirsty feeling in our mouths afterwards.  Maybe it was just really a well boiled broth with special Indo seasoning?!  The veges, some carrot, mushrooms and spinach were all boiled to a soft consistency, very easy to down, instantly we felt a bit healthier!

Serombotan - green veges with shredded coconut, $4.  Mostly green beans, water spinach and bean sprouts, so delicious!  Loved the presentation on the banana leaf and the hand cut tomato flower!

Ayam Goreng - fried chicken, $3.50.  So good!  This was the first one I had and it was truly delicious, so crunchy and the special touch of buttery garlic sauce on top.  The garlic was chunky but not at all strong as I had expected.  Again it had a buttery taste to it.  I could've had two serves! 

The whole holiday anywhere that had Ayam Goreng I ordered it, and to my suprise each version was quite different.  But this one was the first and the best.

Whole fried snapper with garlic sauce, about $13.  So cheap!  We saw the man scaling and gutting the snapper while we waited and then took it outside to grill over the hot coals.  Again it was topped with that aromatic garlic sauce.  It was fiddly to get all the meat without the bones, but it was well worth it, so tasty especially with a fresh squeeze of lime.

Here is the menu for you to look at all the delicious dishes they had to offer.  I wish we had more time to taste everything here.  So cheap too!  10,000 Rupiah is approximately $1 Aussie dollar.



The family cooking away in the open kitchen.

Ok, so below are pics from our second visit to Warung Eny. 



Bali salad with avacado, $2.  Simple salad with iceberg lettuce, sprouts, tomato and avo with a beautifully balanced dressing mainly made of fish sauce, sugar and lime I think?!   

Nasi Campur, $3.   This is traditionally a dish of rice topped with a variation of meats and veges, depending on which part of Indonesia you are in.  This one had water spinach, curry chicken, fried fish and tofu and the "Tum Bali".

 

Tum Bali, crushed pork with spices steamed in banana leaf, $4.50.  This was tasty but it wasn't steaming hot which I think it should've been, so I was a bit dissappointed it wasn't fresh from the steamer.  It was salty and much like an Asian meatball.  

Fish simmered in curry, $4.50.  This was a light and very soupy curry.  The fish was dense like swordfish.  The spices were mild and more like a laksa tasting curry, lots of tumeric.  Still great.  I never had this taste before.

Giant grilled prawns, $11.  These were the biggest prawns I have ever seen, they were more like mini lobsters!  This time I went outside and took a photo of them cooking on the grill.  The meat was quite tough like lobster.  We thought the bigger one wasn't cooked through enough so we left it on the plate.  Apparently when the plate was taken into the kitchen when we were paying the bill it caused quite a stir!  We must have been stupid tourists wasting precious food!  But we just didn't want to risk getting sick!  As we have been to hospital in Thailand from eating undercooked seafood. 

Lawar Bali - Bali vegetables with sliced tiny baby coconut, $3.50.  Again the veges were beans and sprouts and with the added coconut was really tropical tasting.  Seasoned with fish sauce and topped with fried garlic, this was a great vege dish, I could've eaten more of this too.

I would recommend you going to eat at Warung Eny for traditional Indonesian food.  I really wanted to have the special of Babi Gulung, which is suckling pig, but you have to pre-order that the day before!  I was very disappointed.  Next time. . .