Hi Thai - Sydney Olympic Park

Where does a hungry Shinobi go for lunch in Sydney Olympic Park? A hungry Shinobi goes to Hi Thai of course!

Raff as Kakashi

If y'all are wondering who that hungry Ninja is, it is none other than your friendly food blogger Ramen Raff! A few weeks ago, my Shinobi friends Ichigo Jay, Naruto Neil and I went to Sydney's Supanova 2011 event. It’s an annual event dedicated to Japanese anime, comic books, sci-fi, and video games.  

Team Sailor Moon



Catwoman and Kakashi



Kakashi and Bruce Lee

Naruto and Kakashi

I decided to rock up as my favourite Japanese anime character, Kakashi Hatake (from the Naruto manga). The event was full of dedicated Cosplayers like myself. I was in my element and had my "geek on!". I even felt like a celebrity. Every few minutes, someone would stop this Shinobi to take a photo with me.  As awesome as the event was, there comes a time when a Ninja gets hungry. So, we decided to leave Supanova for a while and go to Hi Thai  for lunch. It  is across the Olympic Park Station  located within the strip of restaurants and cafes. Hi Thai had a modern and laid back feel to it. Perfect for casual dining.

Prawn roll

Pad Thai

Roast duck curry

Roast duck curry was my favourite Thai curry dish and Hi Thai cooks it just the way I like it. A thick red curry consistency with a bit of bite to it's spiciness. I love the combination of red creamy curry, roast duck and lychee. 

Fried ice cream

I ended lunch with a huge serving of deep fried ice cream. I said huge because it's a bigger serving than what I'm used to. It wasn't just big in size, but it also tasted nice. It was crunchy on the outside with vanilla ice cream goodness inside. After eating the fried ice cream, I was a satisfied and full Ninja.

If you are after good casual Thai dining around the Sydney Olympic Park area, check out Hi Thai. My lunch at Hi Thai was very yummy for my tummy! How's yours?  

Hi Thai

6 Dawn Fraser Avenue

Sydney Olympic Park NSW 2127

(02) 9764 3888

Monday to Friday: 9am-9pm
Weekends: 11am-9pm

American Food Trip 2011 - Part 1

There is more to American food than just hamburgers and hotdogs. America is rich in culinary culture. Take San Francisco (SF) for instance, where part one of our American food journey took place. SF has a very diverse and amazing food scene worth exploring. It reminds me of Sydney as it also has diverse cultural and linguistic communities. Amongst the various ethnic communities are Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Filipino. The diversity is very evident in the food that SF has to offer.

I did my SF food research prior to leaving Sydney and what I found looked very promising. We arrived on my birthday and it was the best and most awesome birthday ever! There was no better way to celebrate than indulging myself with good food and be surrounded with loved ones in a great city such as SF. 

Foyer at Hotel Tomo

We first checked in at our super cool Japanese anime/pop themed hotel called Hotel Tomo in Japantown, SF. Japanese animation was shown at the foyer in three different LCD screens! 

Good Luck Dim sums and Susie's Cakes

Our cousins and aunt arrived at our hotel to welcome us. They surprised us with so much food! With boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes. The best cousins and auntie ever!

Boxes of dumplings and red velvet cupcakes

With so much delight and excitement, we dove into the boxes of siumai, prawn gow gee, vegetable dumplings, charsiu bao, and baked pork buns from a place called Good Luck Dim Sum. Look them up in Yelp and you'll find good reviews for both their food quality and price. They certainly tasted good, but it was the prawn gow gees that stood out for me.

Red velvet cupcake from Susie's Cakes

After that, it was time for the red velvet cupcakes from Susie's Cakes. It was just the way I like it, generously topped with yummy cream cheese icing. You could really taste the cream cheese in the icing and the cupcake was perfectly moist.

Clam Chowders at the Fisherman's Wharf and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square

Clam chowder in sourdough bread

A trip to SF is not complete without trying the popular clam chowder. The most common clam chowder at the Wharf is the New England version. This version is milk or cream based. We went to Chowders to have a taste of this comforting dish. Perfect for a cold weather, we slowly worked our way tearing the sourdough bread from the top and dipped into the clam chowder. The chowder had a fresh clam taste. It was thick and creamy with very light acidity. 

After an hour, we went to The Pub at Ghirardelli Square which is located at the other end of Fisherman’s Wharf. The lighting was dim and the décor was what one would expect from a pub. This was where we got to try some of America’s best. 

Evil Bob's jambalaya

Evil Bob’s jambalaya – blackened shrimp, andouille sausage & chicken jambalaya was very rustic with flavours that punch through your taste buds. It made me feel like I was in New Orleans.

St. Louis style ribs

The St. Louis style ribs was my absolute favourite! It was chunky, juicy, tender. The barbeque sauce it was smothered in was thick, tangy, slightly sweet and smokey. It was brine and smoked for six hours. It was awesomely beautiful . 

Beef short ribs

The beef short ribs was very rich in flavour, very tender and was served with candied yams and mac & cheese. Both the St. Louis style ribs and beef short ribs were pretty rich and juicy. 

Truffle mac and cheese

We also ordered truffle mac and cheese. It had three cheeses with truffle oil, bacon & green onions. Wow, it was a whole new mac & cheese experience. Once you’ve tried this, you would never want mac & cheese any other way again. 

Buffalo wings

The buffalo wings was served with blue cheese crumbles and buffalo wing sauce. It was a delight that went so well with the cold weather.  

Espresso burger with fries

The espresso burger won best burger of 2010 in SF. It had espresso and brown sugar dry rub on the patty with blue cheese, bacon strips, onion rings and a touch of garlic mayo on a sourdough bun. 

The birthday boy (very happy!)

If you ever plan to visit the U.S., a stop at San Francisco should be considered. I highly suggest checking out Good Luck Dim sum, Chowders and The Pub at Ghirardelli Square. The Pub is a must (It was my favourite food place out of the whole trip). Part one of our food journey was very yummy for my tummy! Part two of my American food adventure to follow soon!

Good Luck Dim Sum

736 Clement St

San Francisco, California 94118, United States

(415) 386-3388

Open daily 7am-7pm

Susie’s Cakes

2109 Chestnut Street

San Francisco, CA 94123-2708, United States

(415) 474-2253

Open daily 10am-7:00pm

Chowders

39 Pier # 121

San Francisco, CA 94133-1036, United States

(415) 391-4737

The Pub at Ghirardelli Square - Recommended

851 Beach Street

San Francisco, CA 94109, United States

(415) 351-0500

Open Weekdays 11:30am-1:30am; Weekends 9:30am-1:30am

www.thepubsf.com

Taste Baguette - Martin Place

In the last two weeks, 75% of my lunches consisted of Taste Baguette. The baguettes, macarons, pastries and their coffee just keeps pulling me back here. I find myself abandoning a planned lunch elsewhere and I end up getting my baguette fix. One would find freshly baked baguettes hard to resist. There are other branches in the Sydney CBD area but the Ramen League and I frequently go to the Martin Place joint.

Someone once told me that there are two things that keeps customers coming back to a cafe or restaurant. It is friendly service and delicious food. Taste Baguette provides both. They also offer wholemeal and rye baguettes. For those that don’t know what baguettes are, they are long thin loaf of French bread that has a crisp crust.

There is no way someone could pass by this place without noticing, stopping and checking out what they’ve got to offer. The eye catching display of pastry will call out to you and draw you in. The smell of coffee and fresh baguettes will make you want to eat here. The baguettes here are freshly baked every 15 minutes.

The awesome crispy roast pork 

roast pork baguette $9.80 (extra $1 to dine in)

The roast pork baguette comes with lettuce, rocket, brie cheese, honey mustard mayo and pork crackling. The pork is juicy and tender while the brie cheese and honey mustard makes the experience in your mouth creamier. The crispy pork crackling which had a hint of herb (it could be sage or fennel), is the highlight of the show. There is only one word to describe it, “awesome!!!”.

Vietnamese style lemongrass beef baguette $9.80 (extra $1 to dine in)

My healthy lunch choice is the wholemeal Vietnamese style lemongrass beef baguette.  The beef itself has been marinated in lemongrass. It also has pickled carrots, radish cucumber, coriander, spring onion. Again, this is another “awesome” baguette. The beef’s juice which is a product of the marination is full of lemongrassy goodness. The salad in the baguette gives it a refreshing taste.

caramel and hazelnut macarons

Their macarons here are all gluten free. My favourite’s the caramel macaron. It was surprisingly not too sweet and it also leaves a very nice after taste.

ristretto flat white

The ristretto flat white is their popular cup of coffee. It is strong, bold, but not bitter. I prefer having it with skim milk so that the shot of ristretto can be highlighted with every sip. 

If you need a coffee, pastry, or baguette fix, I highly recommend Taste Baguette. My lunch at Taste Baguette was very yummy for my tummy. How’s yours?

Taste Baguette - Martin Place

25 Martin Place

Sydney NSW 2000

(near the MLC Centre)

www.tastebaguette.com.au

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet

There is so much comfort food out there waiting to be explored and devoured. Winter time is the perfect time. Warm noodle soups and congee are definitely in season! So which eatery did we choose? We decided to go to Mother Chu's!

Miso Scott and I visited this established eatery in the Chinatown area during our Friday lunch break. Normally, one would expect a queue and big crowd over at Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet. We were lucky enough to get there early for lunch and were seated straight away.

Even with all the tough competition around, Mother Chu's was able to withstand the heat in the Chinatown food arena for many years. That is all due to their tasty food, reasonable servings, cheap prices and fast service.

Taiwanese style b.b.q. pork noodle soup ($8)

The Taiwanese style b.b.q. pork noodle soup was topped with comforting roast b.b.q. pork slices. The egg noodles were cooked al dente. The broth was very soothing and flavourful.

pork ribs in black bean sauce ($10.50)

Upon noticing the pork ribs in black bean sauce in the menu, we ordered it without hesitation. The pork ribs were breaded, fried and stir fried with mixed vegetables and finished with black bean sauce.

congee with pork and preserved egg ($7.50)

My favourite had to be the congee with pork and preserved egg. The texture was perfect to my liking. It was not too gluey in texture. The taste was up to congee standard. It was also topped with chopped shallots which enhanced its flavour.

pork flaky pastry ($2.50 each)

Miso Scott came up with the best way to describe the pork flaky pastry. It tasted like a better version of a sausage roll. The herbs in the pork gave it character.

iced lemon tea

To wash it all down,  I finished it off with an iced lemon tea.

I will have to give their dumplings a go on my next visit. Next time you are in the Sydney Chinatown area and you are after good Taiwanese gourmet comfort food, give Mother Chu's a try!

My lunch at Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet was very yummy for my tummy! How's yours?

Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet

88-86 Dixon St

Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9211 0288