Rise - Darlinghurst, Sydney

Japanese fusion restaurant with very fancy-pants Japanese maitre d'. LOL just kidding, he was wonderful. There aren't many Japanese maitre d' in Sydney that acts like what a proper maitre d' should act like - most of them are very relaxed and casual, but this maitre d' at Rise is 'serious business'. Very posh and proper. He's a good sommelier, too.

Oh - as you'll notice, I'm putting a Japanese translation of the menu even though Rise doesn't actually write their menu in Japanese. Why did I do that, you ask? Good question. Hm. Now why did I do that...hmmm...let me think, let me think. Probably because names of dishes, when written / said in French, Japanese, or Italian, sounds much better than in English?

Okay, that's a stupid reason. Actually, the REAL reason is - I love to translate stuff. LOL
Anyway, I might do this for every one of my Japanese food-related posts in the future, so hope you don't mind!!

Note: I actually did put up some Japanese contents in my previous posts, but there are lots of computer-illiterate people who complained that the Japanese characters didn't display correctly in their browser. Rather than telling each one of them to change their encoding, I'm embedding the Japanese characters on the image this time...hope it's okay...

Tuna tartare, guacamole & witlof salad
(Maguro no tarutaru, wakamore to vittroofu no sarada)

-> Hm, interesting. So this is basically a tuna roll sushi without the rice, dressed in a strange dressing. (LOL what's wrong with me today??) Okay. The guacamole doesn't taste like guacamole - perhaps it's too light, it just tastes like mashed avocado. The tuna is wonderful, though.

Rating: 6/10

Potato cream soup with prawn tempura & tofu
(kuriimu potaajyu ebi tenpura to toufu shitate)

-> Ahh...the potaajyu (potage). One of Japan's favorite fancy-pants French soup (another one is the vichyssoise). Nearly every European-style restaurant in Tokyo has this on the menu. Anyway, this soup is delightful. I wouldn't imagine that potage (or potato creem zouup for you, Anglais peeple *in French accent*) would go so well with tofu. The tofu is kind of like agedashi tofu (with the sticky gelatinous skin) and the tempura is dressed with a sweet sauce. Very nice.

Rating: 8/10

Ocean trout, sea bass, and Sydney Rock Oyster sashimi
(Nijimasu, suzuki, shidonii no iwagaki no sashimi moriawase)

-> Excellent - and nice presentation as well. Love the chilled shot glasses. The Ocean Trout comes with a sweet-ish soy sauce and wasabi, and the sea bass comes with a...I actually have no idea what sauce it is - it's kind of sour and lemon-y and a tad milky.

Rating: 8/10

2007 Nepenthe, Adelaide Hills
Pinot Gris (South Australia)

-> As far as I know, Pinot Gris tend to go well with Asian meals, and that's the reason why I asked for this wine. To think of it, I've been drinking lots of Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio lately...don't know why...maybe I like the crisp and acidic taste to it.

Rating: 7/10
Compatibility with food: 7.5/10

Rise is located at a very, very obscure street just off William street in Darlinghurst - It's seriously obscure, if you aren't looking for it, you'll never know that it even existed there. Even the entrance is obscure - double non see-through solid red doors that are always closed, so the restaurant looks like it's closed all the time. Decor is quite chic, I guess (kind of like New York-style) - the place is surprisingly small (although they did close a section of the restaurant). The service is very, very good - one of the friendliest services I've ever experienced in Sydney (or maybe I just happened to be served by a good waitress).

The Chef is Okazaki Hide - and I heard he worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy before establishing this restaurant. Apparently, Rise is nicknamed "Baby Tetsuya's" (nah, they don't deserve that nickname just yet, IMHO)

Duck and bamboo shoot with hoisin sauce in wonton cup, grilled eel rice paper rolls, and steamed baby octopus with "ume" plum vinaigrette
Age wantan ni ireru ahiru niku to menma hoishin soozu fuumi, unagi no kabayaki raisupeepaa makimono, mushi tako ume no vineguretto soozu fuumi

-> The duck is nice - kind of like Peking Duck served in crispy wonton cup (duhH, both dishes use the same sauce, hello!). The eel is kind of a hit-and-miss, I think they shouldn't have used rice paper because it conceals the flavor of the eel. The baby octopus is just weird.

Rating: the duck 7.5/10 the eel 6/10 the octopus 5/10

Steamed scallop, mung bean noodle & ginger shallot sauce
mushi hotate to ryokutoumen, shouga to negi soozu fuumi

-> I assume that all of this is steamed in one go. As a result, the noodle is a bit mushy, and the sauce is not strong enough (a little bit too tart, too) even though the scallop is perfectly done.

Rating: 6.5/10

Braised pork belly rolled with savoy cabbage,
eggplant ragu & gochujang miso sauce
Buta no kakuni no rooru savoia kyabetsu, nasu no ragu to gochujyan miso soozu

-> This dish is...really 'out there'. For many reasons, really. Firstly, when this dish arrived, I thought, what? Rooru kyabetsu (rolled cabbage)?? What is this, granny's obento? It's kind of...too plain and simple, because for those people familiar with Japanese food (and by Japanese food, I mean food that the Japanese actually eat in Japan - can be anything, doesn't have to be Sushi or Teriyaki), rolled cabbage is kind of like standard katei ryouri (home-cooked meal). And what's with the gochujang miso sauce?? (gochujang: Korean hot paste made of chilli and glutinous rice which are fermented) Is this an attempt to marry Japanese and Korean cuisine (my least favorite kind of fusion food)??

My head was filled with hundreds of complaints and reactions, and suddenly...a waiter approached and handed over...a bowl of RICE.
What the hell?? So they're suggesting us to eat this granny's obento food with RICE and mess up the beautiful arrangement of this dish? This is like, rubbing salt to a wound!
Okay. OKAY. *relax* So there are TWO interpretations of this phenomenon. Firstly, it's quite common for restaurants in Japan to serve rice on the side of everything - even in European restaurants. Because rice is a staple food (as an Asian, I always try to eat rice as often as I can for fear of being too whitewashed LOL!), and the Japanese really stick with this principle on "rice being the staple food" - that it is perfectly understandable for people to eat rice with...everything. I mean, everything. Even steaks, mac-and-cheese, pies, potatoes (double carbohydrate, hello), everything - like, in steakhouses in Japan, they DO serve rice on the side if you ask for it.

This isn't weird if it's in Japan, I guess - but this is Australia - I felt kind of weird eating rice with what looks like a French food. I mean, unless the rice is fully integrated to the dish, it's weird, know what I mean? Heck, even in Indonesia it's weird. People will stare at you if you ask for rice at a steakhouse!!

(maybe I should just shut my yap and don't eat the rice If I don't want it - it's not like they FORCED me to eat the rice)

Anyway, back to the topic - the other reason is (and this is ultimately the more feasible reason), the presence of rice signifies the end of the course meal. This is very Asian - in every Asian banquets / course meals / etc, the very good, very expensive stuff (abalone, shark's fin, bear's paw, Buddha Jump over the Wall Soup, sea cucumbers, whatever) always come out early in the course. Then, this is followed by the less-fancy stuff (beef, chicken, duck, etc), and for the finale, it's always the tummy-fillers like rice or noodles. Kind of makes sense, really - I mean, who wants to fill up on rice and noodles at the beginning of the banquet when all those nice food are waiting for you?

Okay, now let's talk about the dish...
Despite the negative images and comments in my head, the dish turned out to be quite yummy. The pork belly is soooo perfectly cooked, it's tender, juicy, and sweet. The eggplant ragu goes very well with the pork and the sauce is quite delightful - excellent miso-gochujang flavor ratio. In short, it's delicious.

Rating: 8/10

Panna cotta with kumquat, blood orange & pink grapefruit granita
Pinku gureepufuruutsu no guraniita to panna kotta kinkan to buraddo oranji soe

-> This dessert is yarisugi (trying too hard). LOL. There's too many different textures here, they don't exactly get along very well with each other. The panna cotta is sour (made with sour cream instead??) but the grapefruit is even more sour. I find it hard to acknowledge this as a single, integrated dish - it's a messy dessert.

Rating: 4.5/10

Moral of the visit: I haven't changed my mind - fusion food can be very, very tricky. Attempt with care.

Din Tai Fung - Sydney

Chao p'ai hsiao ts'ai
Cold appetizer of tofu, and seaweed in vinegar dressing

-> Must order #1. Delectable, delightful - will make you crave for more.

Rating: 9.5/10

Suan la t'ang
Hot and sour soup

-> It's nice and thick, with all sorts of delicacies inside. Tasty!

Rating: 8/10

Hsieh fen hsiao lung pao
Steamed crab meat and pork dumpling

-> Must order #2. I usually order the normal hsiao lung pao (xiao long bao, in hanyu pinyin romanization), but this one is damn good as well. The restaurant's raison d'etre - world famous. Somehow, the ones in Jakarta or Singapore is better compared to Sydney's.

Rating: 9/10

Hsia jen jou ssu tan ch'ao fan
Prawn fried rice

-> Better than expected. very fragrant.

Rating: 8.5/10

Chi p'ai mien
Noodles in soup served with fried chicken

-> The chicken could be a little bit crispier, but the noodle is very nice. Perfect texture. The soup is simple yet delectable.

Rating: 7.5/10

Hsia jou cheng chiao
Steamed shrimp and pork dumpling

-> Delightful. The pastry is firm yet tender to the bite, and the soup inside the dumpling is simply sumptuous.

Rating: 9/10

Strawberry ice

-> Just okay. Basically it's just shaved ice + condensed milk + strawberries + strawberry ice cream + strawberry jam. That's a lot of strawberries.

Rating: 6.5/10

As you might have heard, I'm crazy about Taiwanese food lately.
...and notice that I used the Wade-Giles romanization for the food names instead of the Hanyu Pinyin? (for romanization of Chinese characters, the archaic Wade-Giles method is still used in Taiwan - although now it's mostly replaced by the new Tongyong Pinyin, while the Hanyu Pinyin method is used in China and rest of the world)

First thing I would like to praise about Sydney's Din Tai Fung is the service. It's exceptional. Smiling faces, polite gestures, and enthusiastic even though the restaurant is EXTREMELY busy - and they're all Chinese!
How weird, right?
Seriously, the staff are so well-trained and courteous - in fact - you can't find Chinese people that behave this way outside...Hong Kong Disneyland.

Everybody knows that services in Chinese restaurants, especially in China, aren't the most courteous around. But we're kind of used to it, anyway. Even in nice restaurants, the waitresses may be extremely professional, but friendly they are not. Not always, anyway.
Services in Chinese restaurants in Australia are no exception. Remember those horrible yum-cha ah-ma waitresses? Jeez louise, they're rude. Caucasians might be very irritated by this, but being Asian, I'm used to it. I'm always a bit pompous towards those rude waitresses, because my restaurant rule: if you're rude, then I'll be rude.

As always, the queue is horrendous, but don't let that deter you from dining there. The wait is usually not that long - 15 minutes maximum if you're willing to share a table (don't worry, it's quite fine - the rectangular tables are spacious). They set up a free self-service Chinese tea stand for queuing customers (aw, thoughtful!), and you can even decide what you'd like to order while you're queuing, so your food will come faster. Once in awhile, those friendly, cute waitresses will check up on you with smiling faces, offering recommendations, etc. Very nice. And did I say they're cute? heeheehee they are! Very pleasant xiao jies (young ladies), very courteous and polite. Heeheehee. *smitten*

...also, I was quite taken aback when they refer to me as xiansheng (sir). I mean, it's RARE to see a Chinese restaurant staff who would call people 'xiansheng'. Most other Chinese restaurants staff would normally just avoid calling you. They also replied 'hao' when called, or after taking order. 'hao' means 'good', but in this context, it means 'yes, certainly'. How polite!

Maybe some of you thought that I'm making too much of a big deal out of this, but it IS a big deal! Chinese waitresses are good people, really, but courtesy and politeness is just not in their blood. The thing is, some Caucasians would mistakenly attribute this apparent rudeness to having a bad nature, which is not always the case. Chinese waitresses are just....like that. They're a bit odd. But we Chinese customers are used to them.

However, there are some exceptions when things become inexcusable, such as discourteous-ness in 5-star restaurants and hotels in upmarket areas / cities. If they're rude, their manager would get an earful from me.

All in all...I love Din Tai Fung. The Jakarta and Singapore ones are better in terms of food (compared to Sydney), though. The Jakarta and Singapore branches has twice as much menu items...and more interesting desserts...

Daruma - Haymarket, Sydney

A rather hurried lunch. The place is kind of objectionable because it's packed with noisy teenagers (most likely UTS Insearch students on lunch break - the restaurant is, after all, located on the same building as UTS Insearch), but the staff is amazingly friendly. The okusan (proprietress) personally greets every guests from her cashier desk, which makes you really feel like you're in a small family-run restaurant in Japan.

Oyako don and udon set

-> Definitely something that one can consume on daily basis. It's light, un-pretentious, perfect for frequent consumption (without eventually getting sick of it)

Rating: 7.5/10

Agemono set

-> Deep-fried stuff. Chicken, fish, prawn patty. The main dish is nothing to rave about, but what I particularly like is the agedashi tofu, which tastes really home-made (believe me, I know). Food just like mama makes it. Well. It's not that my mama is Japanese, but you know.

Rating: 6.5/10

Cho Dumpling King - Haymarket, Sydney

I don't usually like Taiwanese food (with the notable exception of holy Din Tai Fung, which in my opinion is God's gift to human being), but I'm slowly adapting to the Taiwanese tastebuds. I have to admit, Taiwanese xiao chi (street food, literally translated as "little eats") is rich in variety and most of them are in fact very good. I guess my dislike of Taiwanese food started when I visited Taipei and Kaohsiung years ago, while all I ate was beef noodle soup. I hate those beef noodle soup. I thought that that's all the Taiwanese eat. I vowed never to eat Taiwanese food again.

Then, I discovered Din Tai Fung when I was 17 or 18. That's when I started my xiao long bao addiction. I don't care what people say (wink wink, Cla), Din Tai Fung's xiao long bao is STILL the BEST I've ever tasted.

There's this Taiwanese restaurant in North Jakarta called "Iton" in the Muara Karang area, which sparked my interest in Taiwanese xiao chi, particularly the xiao cai (literally means, "small vegetables"). Xiao cai are basically variety of cold dishes served in tiny plates, and can consist of vinegared tofu, sweet tofu, stewed pork belly, jellyfish, seaweed, etc. Flavors range from just plain sour to spicy and fragrant.

"Iton" is quite a specialized restaurant - you either like their food or not. Taiwanese food is not really popular in Jakarta, therefore there aren't many Taiwanese restaurants that serve real Taiwanese food in Jakarta. Most Taiwanese restaurants (like the ubiquitous Eaton Restaurant & Bakery) even have to resort to changing their menu dramatically - from beef noodle and xiao cai to the more popular Singaporean dishes such as char kway teow and hokkien mee. Indeed, Singaporean food is far more familiar to Indonesian tastebuds compared to Taiwanese food.

In Sydney, things are slightly different.
With the number of Chinese students, migrants, and holiday workers in Sydney, there's always reasons to open up Taiwanese eateries around town. Places like Mother Chu's (Dixon st) and the newly opened Ten Ren Tea come up to mind. They always enjoy good business from predominantly Chinese customers.

This restaurant, Cho Dumpling King, can probably be venerated as an institution in Sydney.
Ever since they opened years ago, it's nearly impossible to get a table straight away - no matter what time of the day. Well, given, the restaurant only has around 6 tables seating less than 20 people, but still, queues are horrendous - sometimes up to 30 customers at a time. That's why many people prefer to take-out.

It's funny - even though the place is called "Cho Dumpling King", in fact, they don't serve dumplings. Ironic. Well, they USED to serve dumplings, but those dumplings just take too damn long to prepare - and with the horrendous queue of hungry diners, they'll never be able to cater to that much people. Dumplings take quite a long time to prepare and serve, and unless you have facilities like Din Tai Fung, you'll never be able to manage orders from huge crowds.

Dumplings aside, I quite like their food, especially the xiao cai.

Lu rou fan
(Minced pork over rice)

-> I love it I love it I love it. Quintessential Taiwanese dish. The aroma...it's spicy, garlicky, with a hint of star anise, and topped with pickled daikon (obviously a Japanese influence). You're supposed to mix the pork mince and the rice evenly before eating. This dish is very substantial - even though the portion seems rather small, you'll get full. (or, you can order the large size - they have 2 sizes).

Sweet tofu with enoki

-> It's good. A little bit too sweet, in my opinion - but good nevertheless. I have no idea what's the real name of this dish - but it's basically a xiao cai variety made of tofu soaked in sweet soy-based sauce and enoki mushroom. This method of cooking tofu is actually quite common in Asia - even in Indonesia, there's this Hakka-Shandong-Indonesian food commonly known as "Usiang niuju" (not to be confused with Chinese "wu xiang niu rou"), which is basically a dish consisting of stewed tripes, tofu, and eggs. The tofu in "Usiang niuju" is similar to this Taiwanese sweet tofu. The sauce is reminiscent of those fried gluten in cans (also a common Taiwanese food product).

Deep-fried Pai Gu
(deep-fried pork ribs)

-> Nice and tender. And bone-free. The crumb is mixed with what seems to smell like five-spice or star anise, and topped with hum choy / kiam chye (salted mustard leaves).

Fujiya - Sydney

This place is certainly the most popular izakaya in the City area. The food is okay, but the service is really really slow due to the fact that they're severely understaffed for such a big and crowded place. They only open for dinners, and expect an hour queuing time plus another hour wait for your food to arrive if you dine on weekends.

Strictly speaking, the food is nothing special compared to other izakayas in Sydney. However, their convenient location and spacious venue made it popular among drunken Japanese students. As expected from an izakaya-style restaurant, the place is as noisy as Tsukiji fish market when packed on weekends. Prices are on the higher side considering the rather small portions, and some waiters do not even speak English well.

However, they do serve a wide variety of cocktails and chuuhai, most of them really yummy and do justice to their original counterparts in Japan.

One word of advice - order everything you can possibly expect to consume in one go - because as I said before, there's a looong waiting time for the food to arrive. Ordering extra stuff would cause frustrations as your appetite might wane by the time the extras arrive. And also, don't expect all the food for your party to arrive at the same time. Really frustrating, I know - especially when it's highly possible for you to finish your food before your friend's food even arrive.

...or just go to other places. There are better izakayas like Ju Ju in King's Cross.

Sushi & Sashimi Boat

Gyoza

Tempura set

Beef Teriyaki set

Mochi spring roll

Takoyaki Gratin
(Note: not as good as it looks.)

Agedashi Tofu

Strawberry Cocktail

Grape Chuuhai

Kingsford Chinese Restaurant - Kingsford, Sydney

A Big group impromptu makan-makan (eating out) that took almost half the room of the tiny, cramp, but popular restaurant (5 tables in total)!

Shandong Chicken

Long Beans with belacan
(a must try!)

Tofu with Broccoli

Salt, pepper & chilli calamari

Sweet & Sour Pork

Chinta Ria - Cockle Bay Wharf, Sydney

It's Eat Like a Cow's first birthday commemorative lunch par-tay!!!!
Actually, I think dinner is more suitable, but due to serious time constraints of our *very* busy blog writers, a lunch is all we could do. I suggested this place simply because I haven't been there for 3 years. This restaurant is one of the most crowded restaurant in Sydney, and reservations on weekend dinners are impossible. It's also arguably the most prominent Malaysian restaurant in town. Even during lunch, this place is jam-packed with hungry yuppies that we're limited to an hour of meal time! (after an hour, we're expected to shoo away to give our table to queuing customers)!


The place is dubbed, "Chinta Ria - Temple of Love" and they're not kidding about it. They actually put a giant-sized Laughing Lucky Buddha statue inside (I'm not a Buddhist, but I wonder if it's appropriate to put a Laughing Buddha statue inside a restaurant!)
All in all, it's a kitschy, gimmicky place, I suppose - but the food, although surprisingly expensive for its kind - is quite delectable.

Nasi Lemak
(Coconut Rice)

Roti Canai Ayam
(Mamak-style flatbread with chicken curry)

Sambal Prawn
(Prawns in chilli sauce)

Ayam Ria

(Literally means: "happy chicken")

Tofu Cinta

(Literally means: "Love Tofu". In actuality: Tofu with minced chicken and belacan prawn paste)

Ikan Bakar Cianjur - Cipete, Jakarta

Dinner today!
This small (yet famous) restaurant chain first opened its doors in the small town of Cianjur in West Java. After enjoying much success and a cult status over there, it expanded to Jakarta, opening its 'flagship' restaurant a couple of years ago. Ever since then, customers flocked the place from as far as the East Nusa Tenggara province.



The restaurant serves Sundanese (West Javanese) food. The main characteristic of Sundanese food is a good balance between sweet and savory, and also, plenty of grilled and deep-fried stuff. The spices are subtle and not as complex as, say, Javanese food, so, for lovers of simple and less-spicy food, I'd recommend this one.



And oh, the restaurant is the reigning champion of West Javanese cuisine competition in Indonesia. Quite deservedly so, I'd say. Their food is top-notch.



Sayur Kangkung

A simple and hearty dish. the kangkung (water convulvulus, or kong xin cai, as the Chinese call it) is lightly sauteed in peanut oil with whole garlic cloves and just a dash of salt. Sounds simple, but actually very tricky to get the texture just right.)

Rating: 8.5/10
Verdict: It's delightfully light and tasty. Simplicity is the key. Many restaurants add extra ingredients to complement the kangkung, such as quail eggs, prawns, etc, but I think kangkung is best cooked without anything else.



Ikan Gurame Goreng (deep-fried gourami fish)

-> The restaurant's specialty. Ikan Gurame (Gourami fish) is considered the staple fish in Sundanese cuisine. Many inferior Sundanese restaurants serve fried Gourami fish that was frozen, but excellent ones like this restaurant have their own live fish tanks somewhere in the restaurant. Gourami fish is very tricky to breed, because if the water condition is wrong, the meat (when cooked) will have a rather unpleasant odor known locally as "bau tanah" (literally means, "smells like soil"). This restaurant is so committed to serve the highest grade of Gourami fish available, that if there's something off about the fish, they will replace it with another one immediately.

Rating: 9.5/10
Verdict: This gourami dish is deep fried until crispy on the outside, yet moist and soft on the inside. This is very, very hard to acheive. One cannot simply season the fish and deep fried it to get this perfection. The fish is incredibly tasty, with a bit of saltiness and just a tiniest hint of worchestershire sauce. Perfect when eaten with kecap manis (Javanese thick & sweet soy sauce).



Tahu Goreng Cianjur (Fried Cianjur-style tofu), served with Kecap Cabe Bawang (relish made of sweet soy sauce, bird's eye chili and red shallots) and Sambal Bajak (Bajak chilli relish)

A variation of the famous Tahu Goreng Sumedang (Sumedang-style fried tofu). Sumedang is a town in West Java famous for its crispy and chewy deep-fried puffy tofu that is incredibly, hollow on the inside.

Rating: 8.5/10
Verdict: This Cianjur version is not hollow on the inside, but fleshy and moist instead. Tastes incredible.



Karedok

Not to be confused with the omnipresent Gado-Gado (Indonesian salad with peanut dressing), Karedok is the Sundanese take on the salad with peanut dressing. The main difference is, the vegetables in Gado-Gado is cooked, but in Karedok, it's raw. Moreover, Karedok has more bite to it and definitely more spicy.

Rating: 6/10
Verdict: The dressing is not thick enough, so the dish becomes a tad soggy. The vegetables are not chopped fine enough. And also, they don't add enough basil leaves.



Nasi Putih (steamed rice)

The Sundanese take pride on their rice production, which amounts to almost 50% of the national rice output. There are hundreds of types of rice varieties in West Java alone, yet the Kepala Pandan Wangi variety is one of the most loved in the nation, which is served in this restaurant. The rice has a hint of Pandan (Pandanus leaves) fragrance to it, and served in the famous Sundanese-style bakul (rattan bowl)

Rating: 10/10
Verdict: Sundanese restaurants should be experts on cooking perfect steamed rice. Otherwise, they shouldn't bother to run a business at all.



Es Shanghai

Desert made of various sweets and fruits, topped with shaved ice and sweet rose syrup. Does NOT originate from Shanghai, China.

Rating: 5.5/10
Verdict: I don't like it because it's sour-ish. And the raisins is an odd addition.