Cafe Ish - Dinner and Tight ass Tuesday Lunch

(Now closed, but they have re-opened as The Milk Bar by Cafe Ish)

I can't get enough of my favourite cafe/izakaya restaurant. Cafe Ish is one of my happy places. So why do I love Cafe Ish so much? Well, Cafe Ish uses good quality organic produce and the combination of flavours in their dishes are absolutely brilliant. Josh (Chef and Co-owner) and Ai (Head Barista and Co-owner) are both culinary geniuses in my books!

Cafe Ish is a native Australian/Japanese Cafe Bar restaurant located on Campbell Street, Surry Hills (close to Elizabeth Street). It is within walking distance from Central station.

Dinner

Mrs Ramen Raff and I have visited Cafe Ish a number of times for dinner in the past (and I foresee more visits in the future). Every visit was always a delight. Another thing we love so much about Cafe Ish is their excellent customer service. Their staff are always welcoming, knowledgeable of the menu and are attentive of customer’s needs.

Cabbage with wattle seed miso mayo

Fried potato and organic fetta mochi with Davidson plum sauce

Miso soup

Edamame

Seared tuna salad

California roll of crumbed crocodile

Kangaroo, prawn, ginger gyoza

Wagyu ribs twice cooked

I've said this in my previous post and I'll say it again, they serve one of the best ribs in town. Their Wagyu ribs twice cooked are amazing! One must try the ribs here!

Ai's  freaking awesome fried chicken

A new addition to their menu is Ai's freaking awesome fried chicken. The name pretty much sums up how good it is. It has a crunchy outer layer to crisp perfection with a juicy chicken fillet inside. It is dressed with an amazing tangy barbecue-like sauce. The sauce also has a slight garlicy touch to it.

Tight ass Tuesday Lunch

I've visited Cafe Ish three weeks in a row to try their tight ass Tuesday lunch menu.  Ten lunch items for $10 per item! The last two occasions, I had lunch here with my friend Tonkotsu Bexx and some awesome food blogger friends that adore Cafe Ish food as well.

Wattle macaccino coffee

While I waited for my food, I ordered the wattle macaccino coffee which I love so much. It is Cafe Ish's signature coffee, flavoured with wattle seed extract and macadamia. It is my favourite cup of coffee in the world. It is like a ritual for me that I order this special coffee every visit.

Wagyu cheeseburger and fries

The wagyu cheeseburger with fries is another favourite of mine. It has a juicy and flavoursome beef patty with caramelised onion, tomato relish, and cheese. All contained in a bun baked especially by Josh.

Croc in a rock - Crocodile sausage, egg, shallot & organic fetta in toast with tomato relish

Crab omelette set

In my recent visit, I decided to go with the crab omelette set. It is a soft shell crab omelette with rice and miso soup on the side. The omelette with kara age soft shell crab, avocado, shallot, garlic, chilli, soy, ginger dressing and lime. The crab is perfectly cooked and the flavours from all other ingredients compliment the crab well.

Excellent food and superb service can be expected from Cafe Ish. It is my favourite Cafe restaurant and is definitely a happy place for me. My Cafe Ish dinner and lunch were very yummy for my tummy! How’s yours?

Cafe Ish

82 Campbell Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

(02) 9281 1688

www.cafeish.com.au

Opening Hours:

Monday-Wednesday 7:00am - 4:00pm

Thursday - Friday 7:00am - 10:00pm (dinner from 3pm)

Saturday 9:00am - 10:00pm

Sunday 9:00am - 2:30pm

Arisun - Haymarket, Sydney

Korean food is amazing! Especially if it is K-food from Arisun. What I enjoy most about Korean cuisine is how well they use and incorporate sweet and spicy elements in their dishes. These are elements that I like a lot and have experienced in my recent food trip to Arisun.

Arisun is located on Dixon Street (between Goulburn and Liverpoool Streets), right in the heart of Chinatown, Sydney. I love fried food very much and I'm always on the hunt for a place that serves good fried food. Chocolatesuze recommended that I check out Arisun's awesome fried chicken.  So Mrs. Ramen Raff and I decided to pay Arisun a visit.

The staff were very welcoming and pleasant. The place was very casual and neat. Without further ado, we ordered what our hungry hearts desired. We ordered a jajangmyeon and their popular sweet and spicy fried chicken.

jajangmyeon

This was the first time we've tried jajangmyeon and we sure diddly loved it! It is wheat noodles covered in rich/thick sweet and salty black soybean paste sauce with diced meat and vegetables. Y'all must give this dish a go! Serving size was pretty good too.

Kimchi

sweet and spicy fried chicken

Down to the sweet and spicy fried chicken. After my first bite, the reason behind it's popularity was revealed, it was pure awesomeness! No doubt yo! It was like 

Korean-style buffalo wings. The spicy factor was mild. Again, the serving was very generous. Three to four people could easily share it.

We will surely return to Arisun soon to try other dishes. If you haven't been to Arisun and you like Korean food, well, hurry up and give it a go! Their food was definitely very yummy for my tummy!

Arisun

1 Dixon Street

Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9264 1588

Open for Lunch and Dinner Mon-Sun

Meet Fresh - Chinatown, Sydney

When it comes to cold desserts, there is no such thing as the weather being too cold to have such a delight. Especially, if the desserts are from Meet Fresh. If you fancy hot desserts or drinks, they have it too. Let me start by giving you reasons why you should visit Meet Fresh:

1. The desserts and drinks are amazingly good and unique.

2. Desserts are made from fresh and natural ingredients.

3. They ensure that they serve you the best and healthiest handmade desserts.

Taiwan is where the Meet Fresh magic started. Mr and Mrs Fu wanted to provide customers with handmade desserts handled with love and care. This was how Meet Fresh was born with now more than 100 stores and it continues to expand. Meet Fresh in Chinatown, Sydney is a casual dessert house located corner of Dixon and Goulburn Street, right next to Mamak. I have visited Meet Fresh twice in the past and had to queue on both occasions. That's how popular and great this place is. This time around was extra special. Aside from not having to queue up, I was able to sample some of their best desserts with some super cool fellow Food Bloggers like Thang (Noodlies), Simon (The heart of food), Betty a.k.a. Sugarpuffi (Sugar's Sweet Blog) and Julie (I dream in chocolate). Also, a special thanks to Kat for making this all happen.

Here is a list of all the desserts and drinks that we were privileged with to try:

Desserts

Taro Balls  No. 7 (Taro mash+Honey Beans +Pearls) - cold dessert

Taro Balls No. 3 (Red Beans+ Peanuts+Pearls) - hot dessert

Signature Herbal Jelly (Taro Balls) - cold dessert

Tofu Pudding with Lotus Seeds - cold dessert

Supreme Mango with Milky Crushed Ice

Drinks

Camelia Tea (hot) – Newly launched

Lemon Winter melon Tea (cold)

Herbal Ice with Whipped Cream (cold)

Honey Lemonade (cold)

Mountain Green Tea (cold)

Soda Tea Float Series – Mango and Yaleto

All the drinks were refreshingly amazing, but it was the lemon winter melon tea that captured my attention. It is citrusy with subtle sweetness. The winter melon gives the traditional lemon iced tea a more fruity twist.

My favourites out of all the awesome desserts would be the Supreme Mango and Taro No. 7. I have thing for desserts with crushed ice. It has something to do with the crushed ice being a good absorbing medium for juices, syrups and liquids present in its ingredients. The coolness also adds to the refreshing factor of the dessert.

supreme mango with milky crushed iced

Upon my first taste of the supreme mango with milky crushed iced, I felt like I was transported from winter to summer. This dessert is very tropical indeed with mango pieces and a scoop of luscious ice cream over crushed ice with milk. It was an instant hit for me and my taste buds.

taro balls no. 7 dessert

OH YEAH! Says my taste buds to the taro balls no. 7 dessert which had textures and taste that lures you into having more and more spoonfuls of it. Crushed iced beautifully accompanied with taro and sweet potato balls, taro mash, honey beans and black pearls. What beautifully holds it all together is a sweet syrup poured into the crushed ice. It is awesome as it is but I prefer to add a little bit of milk to it.

Signature Herbal Jelly (Taro Balls) - cold dessert

Tofu Pudding with Lotus Seeds - cold dessert

Taro Balls No. 3 (Red Beans+ Peanuts+Pearls) - hot dessert

Meet fresh is a dessert place I see myself returning to again and again. The combinations of flavours are insanely good with the use of fresh ingredients. The servings are generous and the service is fast. The desserts at Meet Fresh was very yummy for my tummy! How’s yours?

Meet Fresh

13 Goulburn Street

Haymarket NSW 2000

(02) 8339 1031

Open:

Mon-Thu, Sun 11am-12am

Fri-Sat 11am-1am

Ms. G's

Aight, So check it! I was recently, at Ms to the G. I guess my recollection of hip hop music playing in the background during my recent visit to Ms. G's got me writing in slang. My homie Pork Rib Potty (formerly known as Miso Scott) and I had lunch at this vibrant joint. It was like a high school flashback session. Back in the days when I was so down with everything hip hop.

Ms. G’s menu was created by the genius Chefs Dan Hong and Jowett Yu. Ms. G's take fusion and modern Asian cuisine to another level.  It is situated in Victoria  Street at Potts Point, which is only a few minutes walk from the Kings Cross train station. There is one word to describe the ambience of this restaurant, and it is "funky". Word! Check the photos out: 

Absolute friendly service is provided by the knowledgeable staff. No doubt about it. So, we looked at the menu and picked what we wanted.

crispy pork belly mini bánh mi

Let me start by saying that the crispy pork belly mini bánh mi was amazing. It was like a vietnamese pork slider. With the first bite, the taste of coriander, carrot and special sauce takes the very juicy pork to a state of balance. Right at the end, the tasty pork crackling made me crave for more mini bánh mi. I heart pork crackling!

fried baby chicken with kimchi mayo

We also ordered half of the fried baby chicken with kimchi mayo. Wish we ordered more because it was so good! The chicken was fried to perfection with a crispy outside layer. The kimchi component of the mayo was very subtle which gave the mayo a hint of the kimchi’s spicy garlic flavour. 

sweet and sour lamb ribs

The sweet and sour lamb ribs was my favourite out of everything we ordered. The meat was very tender that it was falling off the bones. The sticky sauce it was baste with was sweet and sour in taste with sweetness that was honey-like. The basil leaves calms down the meat and sauce's rich flavour.

Stoner’s delight

The Stoner’s delight was just simply awesome! It had doughnut ice cream, chocolate, rice bubble, pretzel, peanut brittle, and marshmallow swimming in a caramel-like sauce. 

green tea cocktail

Well, you don't have to be down with hip hop music to dig this modern Asian restaurant. As long as you dig awesome food with fancy combination of ingredients and flavours, then this is the place for you. Oh yeah, it has a bar too that serve amazing cocktails. Believe that! Our lunch at Ms. G’s was very yummy for my tummy. How’s yours?

Ms. G’s

155 Victoria Street

Potts Point NSW 2011

(02)8313 1000

Kitchen hours:

Mon-Thurs 5pm to 11pm

Friday 12pm to 3pm/5pm to 11pm

Sat 5pm to 11pm

Sunday 1pm to 9pm

American Food Trip 2011 - Part 2

Wassup y'all?! Our American food trip continues! This part consists of day two and three in San Francisco (SF). It is true when people say that the servings in America are big. There are people who gets turned off eating and trying out restaurants at the thought of huge servings.  Not me though! The fact that restaurants serve up massive amounts of food only makes me excited and want to eat more. That's my ramen power at work! Yatta!

Saiwaii Ramen

A trip to a foreign land would not be complete without trying one of the best ramen joints it  has to offer. I'm not called Ramen Raff for nothing. Sawaii ramen is a Japanse noodle house that that serves very good Japanese dishes.

spicy garlic tonkotsu ramen with chunks of pork belly

I ordered the popular spicy garlic tonkotsu ramen with extra chunks of pork belly. It's like a fusion of tonkotsu and tantanmen. The broth stays true to the porky taste of a tonkotsu broth but spicy with a hint of garlic. I liked it but the pork belly was the star of the show! It was tender with a sweet soy type flavour. Itadakimasu!

tonkotsu ramen with pork belly 

The milky looking broth of the tonkotsu ramen with pork belly was rich in taste. The broth was a little less thick and porky than what I'm used to but it was still very nice.

kaarage chicken

The karaage chicken was excellent in texture and taste! The texture was crispy, doughy and the taste of ginger, mirin, and soy sauce in the chicken was well balanced.

Nation Burger

A fast food burger place that was highly recommended by our cousins. They boast to have one of the biggest burgers in the Bay area. Not the biggest burger I’ve seen (as we have bigger burgers in Sydney) but their servings are bigger than what I’m used to. It was midnight when we paid this place a visit.

bacon cheeseburger

The fillings inside the bacon cheeseburger were awesome! It consisted of a huge juicy beef patty, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and melted cheddar cheese.

chili fries

I also ordered the chili fries thinking they were just french fries flavoured with some sort of chilli powder. It was actually a huge container with a lot of french fries, topped with a lot chili con carne and melted cheese. It was more than just hearty, it was heavy but very flavoursome. This was a hit for my tastebuds.

Bubba Gump

One does not just go to America and not go to Bubba Gump. It is a must! Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is a casual dining type restaurant inspired by the film Forrest Gump. After our orders were taken, the waiter did a quick Forrest Gump trivia to entertain us. “What was Lt. Dan’s rank in the army? “ he asked. I was like “umm..Lieutenant?” Yeah! Ramen Raff scores! Back to the food, this restaurant serves Southern and Cajun dishes. Most of their specialty dishes is seafood based.

Cajun Shrimp

Cajun Shrimp served with garlic butter bread for dipping was the perfect way to start dinner! The shrimps were sauteed in a hot and spicy Cajun butter sauce. The Cajun seasoning in the sauce was not too strong but it still gave this dish a bit of bite. Not too spicy either.

dumb luck coconut shrimps

The dumb luck coconut shrimp, was pretty good too. It had a crunchy batter with desiccated coconut and the shrimp was well cooked. Fried shrimp with something coconut is always a perfect combo for me.

dixie style baby back ribs

I could not resist the sight of the dixie style baby back ribs in the menu. It was as I expected it to be! Ribs with tender meat that fell off the bone. It was smokey and tangy in flavour. The ribs were accompanied by french fries that were fried to perfection.

Mama's southern fried chicken

Mama's southern fried chicken is a boneless chicken breast cooked to golden and crunchy perfection. Fried chicken thigh, wings, and drumsticks is more of my taste but this fried chicken breast was great. The meat was very juicy. Oh mama!

So, if you'll ask me whether I would go visit this awesome food places in SF again? My answer is: Yeah man! I certainly would because the food was very yummy for my tummy.

Saiwaii Ramen

2240 Irving Street
San Francisco, California 94122, United States
(415) 665-7888

Nations Burger

www.nationsrestaurants.com

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant

39 Pier Suite M210,

San Francisco, CA 94133, United States

(415) 781-4867