Thainatown, Sydney

Yentafo noodle soup

"You should try Thainatown," I told a friend who'd confided he was sick of his usual dinner haunts.

"I said I feel like Thai food, not Chinese," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I said Thainatown, not Chinatown."

And that's the cutest thing about this little Thai eatery. Just saying the name to someone new makes you want to smile. Especially if you deliberately throw in a fake Oriential accent.


Iced Thai tea $2.80

On my most recent trip to Thainatown, I was keen to try Thai tea, a black tea that is sweetened with sugar, poured over ice and topped with condensed milk. Layered into a glass like a creamy sunset, the tea was sweet and almost fruity tasting - like a rockmelon or cantaloupe, although maybe this was just taste by colour association.


Boat Noodle Soup $4.70 (small)
Rice noodles with blended herbal soup base
with pork and Chinese broccoli
(a beef balls and intestine version also available)

G-man and J-girl both had the small boat noodle soup, both feigning full stomachs from a late lunch they'd consumed earlier. I'd had the boat noodle soup last time, and even though I'd thoroughly enjoyed the tangle of noodles and greens in the dark earthy and herbal soup, I was keen to try something new.


Yentafo $7.50
Rice noodles with pink base "yentafo sauce" with
calamari, blood jelly, pork, fried tofu and morning glory

The G-man pointed me towards one of his hometown favourites: yentafo, a noodle soup made with red tofu. It was ordered in a flash.

The soup was a pale golden colour, livened by a pretty splash of red yentafo sauce. The red hues occur naturally from the wheat malt that is used to ferment the tofu.

Rice noodles were slurped alongside slices of pork, slivers of fish cake, sponges of deep-fried tofu and bobbing balls of pork. Cubes of cooked pork blood provided iron-richness, their hearty rustic look contrasting with delicate curls of fresh calamari, imprinted with precise lattice knifework.

The soup was spicy, sour and subtly sweet. A jumble of morning glory greens lay hidden beneath, a tangle of coriander and green onions added liveliness on top.

Nourishing and delicious, in any kind of accent.


Table condiments: sugar, chilli, fish sauce and salt



Thainatown
91 Goulburn Street, Sydney
(near corner of Pitt Street,
opposite the Masonic Centre which is next door to World Square)
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 0090

Open 7 days 11am-10pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Thainatown, January 2007

Thai--Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket
Thai--Longrain, Surry Hills
Thai--Ploy Thai, Haymarket (closed)
Thai--Satang Thai, Haymarket
Thai--Selina, Fairfield
Thai--Spice I Am, Surry Hills
Thai--Uni Thai, Glebe

Rowda Ya Habibi, Newtown

It's almost three years on, and the prices still haven't changed at Rowda Ya Habibi.

And just like the prices, the decor hasn't changed at all either. There's still the takeaway style servery out the front, the granite-style tables out the back, and the steep staircase--that has everyone hanging onto the bannister--leading you precariously to the cushion rooms upstairs.

Nothing has changed upstairs in the cushion room. It still has the same tapestries on the walls, the same faded cushions on the floor, and the same low-lying tables covered with tapestries and protected by glass. It's not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a welcome quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of King Street below.

Thankfully the quality hasn't changed either. Our group of twelve ordered the Extra Special Banquet: ten dishes including hommos, tabbouleh, baba ganouj, falafel, ladies fingers, fried eggplant, shish kebab, lamb kebab, chicken kebab, green beans and rice...all for the 2004 price of $25.00 (and who knows how long it's been $25 anyway?).


Tabbouleh


Lebanese bread (hoummos and baba ghanoush dips not pictured)


Kofte and ladies finger


Falafel


Lamb kebabs


Lamb kebab with beans (on my plate)


Green beans cooked in tomato sauce


Chicken kebabs


Fried eggplant


Rice (cooked in stock with noodle pieces)

Highlights were definitely the baba ghanoush, all thick and smokey; the light and tangy tabbouleh; the comfort of rice, almost sweet with the taste of stock; and the squeaky freshness of the green beans cooked in a thick tomato sauce.

Chicken was surprisingly dry this time round (usually it's perfectly moist and juicy), and the eggplants were also unusually oily (usually it's my favourite dish). The lamb was as intensely flavoured, almost gamey, as I'd remembered.

It was an undeniable feast though, hungry men included. For $25 in Newtown, this is value that is hard to beat.


Baklava

And even though we were all fit to burst, downstairs on our way out there was still some careful scrutiny of the other options in the servery.


Fried eggplant


Cabbage rolls


Turkish delight (the best in Sydney!)
80c per piece or $5.00 for a box of eight

I love the Turkish delight here. It's homemade stuff, soft and stretchy cubes of bliss. I love to cut off bite-size pieces and then watch in delight as the glistening sugar strands stretch out like honey mozzarella.

The pink squares are plain rosewater, the yellow ones have added vanilla. I've almost finished one box. I'll be back soon for another.


Vanilla turkish delight





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Rowda Ya Habibi
101 King Street Newtown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9557 5368

Open 7 days 10.30am - 12 midnight

Related Grab Your Fork posts:

Rowda Ya Habibi (Apr11), (Dec09) and (Jul04)

Cafe de Macau, Haymarket Chinatown

EDIT November 2010: Cafe de Macau has closed. It has been replaced with Yummy Chinese BBQ

I'm not sure exactly when Cafe de Macau opened, but one day there was once a travel agency and then when I next walked past, it had suddenly become a Macauese eatery.



After less than a month of my first noticing its arrival, we headed here for lunch last week. It was packed. We were lucky to get one of the last large benches, sharing our table with six other diners. By 1.00pm there was a queue of ten people waiting outside the motion-sensor glass door.

Over one hundred people filled the cafeteria-like space, a long room filled with modern white chairs and tables. The open kitchen could be spotted down one end, a bar overflowing with used glasses down the other. Red beams dotted with spotlights overhead make the room seem even longer, and bored diners can always look up at the plasma screens that broadcast Chinese programmes.


Pumpkin soup (complimentary with the lunch special)

One glance at the menu and we can start to see why this place is so popular. $8.30 gets you a dish from a list of thirteen. Also included is the daily soup and you can add a hot drink for 50c.

We place our orders and within seconds, a waiter arrives with two huge bowls of soup. It's pumpkin soup, thick, sweet and starchy with the grit of added potato.


Hong Kong style tea mixed with coffee (50c with lunch special)

I'd always wrinkled my nose whenever my mother talked of tea mixed with coffee. "Everyone drinks it like that in Hong Kong" she'd told me. It never appealed, but it's funny how when it appears on a menu, I'm happy to try it.

A few sips later and I'm still not convinced. It has the bitterness of strong instant with a faint taste of tea.


Baked pork chop with rice $8.30 (includes soup)

Our dishes arrive as we're finishing our soup. B has ordered the baked pork chop - a crumbed pork chop coated in a thick sludge of sweet-and-sour like tomato sauce.


Baked Portuguese chicken with rice $8.30 (includes soup)

I've ordered the baked Portuguese chicken, thinking that if you're going to eat at a Macauese eatery, you are obliged to try something that reflects its colonial history.

Chopped pieces of chicken leg are bathed in a mild and sweet yellow curry sauce. There are bits of carrot, a few slices of Spanish olive and a slice of spicy chorizo that is dusted with coconut. Although fragrant and visually inviting, I find the curry is very mild, bordering on bland and in urgent need of salt.

Both of us are struggling with the enormous portions though. I can barely even finish the chicken, let alone the mountain of rice underneath. The starch-rich soup we'd both eaten may have also had something to do with our reduced stomach capacity.

There are benefits to communal tables, as we sticky beak at the dishes arriving around us. A female diner next to us is having the stewed duck with rice, a huge maryland of duck that looks very inviting. Two diners along and another female is having the stewed duck served in a bowl of soup filled with slippery white noodles.

Next to me a plate of spaghetti bolognaise arrives, thick spaghetti noodles topped with a dollop of bolognaise and served with a side of garlic bread. Her friend is having the Hainan chicken, boiled and served with rice and a saucer of ginger shallot oil.

Around us we spot a plate of the Macauese fried rice, a beef noodle stir fry and plates of Singapore noodle. Also on the menu are the grilled fish fillet in sweet corn sauce, Malay curry chicken (HOT! it warns on the menu), combination fried noodles, Buddhist delight and the most intriguing-sounding Russian beef with rice.


Homemade Portuguese custard tart $1.60

We are so full that have to order our Portuguese custard tart takeaway. The pastry is super crispy but a tad oily I think, the custard is sweet and eggy. It tastes like a cross between a Chinese custard tart and a traditional Portuguese custard tart.



Lunch specials are served from 11.30am-3.00pm. They also have afternoon tea sets served from 3pm-5pm. Along with your tea or coffee, small meal options include a sweet bun, japanese-style udon or portuguese-style chicken fettucine. Prices start from $5.00.

Breakfast sets are served from 10.00am-11.15am and cost $5.90. Of the six choices, the ox tongue with baked beans and hash brown sounds like a must-try to me.


Cafe De Macau New Generation Eatery

EDIT November 2010: Cafe de Macau has closed. It has been replaced with Yummy Chinese BBQ

761 George Street, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9280 2800


Open 7 days 10.00am-11.00pm

BBQ King, Haymarket Chinatown

Prawns with egg

BBQ King always ends up as the easy option for a large group in need of a feed. Up the creaking stairs we go as waiters make haste to push together tables and dispense the appropriate amount of rice bowls, chopsticks and tea cups, all clinking and clunking and rattling their way over.


Beef stir fry with oyster sauce and vegetables

We share a number of dishes. The prawns with egg (pictured at the top) is a highlight; the prawns aren't particularly flavoursome but they have a glossy sheen, and the accompanying egg omelette is soft and silky.

The beef stir fry arrives with a medley of crunchy vegetables that includes carrots, broccoli florets, snow peas and young corn spears. The oyster sauce is thick and sweet, with a little too much cornflour thickener for my liking.


Chinese broccoli

Chinese broccoli (gai lan) is a lovely bright green and full of crunch. Hainan chicken is juicy and sweet, arriving with the usual ginger shallot oil--I could eat buckets of this on plain rice. Char siu barbecue pork is a deep caramelised reddy-orange on the outside, sliced into perfectly thick chunks. I go straight for the end pieces which have extra burnt bits.


BBQ pork and Hainan chicken

We round out our selection with a platter of calamari with spicy salt. Today it' a real winner, tender on the inside and encased with a pale golden batter.

Service is always hard to garner (we had to ask three waiters before our teapots were re-filled) but sometimes that's all just part of the charm.


Calamari with spicy salt

BBQ King
18-20 Goulburn St, Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9267 2586

Open 7 days, 11.30am-2.00am

Related GrabYourFork posts:
BBQ King, December 2006

BBQ at Veruca's

Because sometimes a little charcoal action is just what the doctor ordered.


Vietnamese nem nuong pork mince skewers waiting to be cooked


Barbecued nem nuong


Marinated lemongrass lambchops

Food festivals this weekend

Greek Festival of Sydney
Tumbalong Park, Harbourside Amphitheatre and Urban Stream, Darling Harbour

3pm-10pm Saturday March 24, 2007
10am-8pm Sunday March 25, 2007

Get into your boureki, souvlaki and saganaki. Don't forget to save some room for a handful of sticky sweet loukoumades too.
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Italian Festa on Norton
Norton Street, Leichhardt

Sunday March 25, 2007

The Little Italy of the inner west hosts its annual festival of food, entertainment, fashion parades and its traditional "Waiter's Race". A new Children's World in Pioneer Park will be a welcome addition for parents with young kids.


~~~

Don't say I didn't warn you these festivals were happening :)

If you do make it along to the festivals above, please feel free to leave a comment with a link to your blog post and photos.

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Greek Festival of Sydney 2006

Tan's Malaysian, Ultimo

There's a bargain food court I discovered on Broadway a couple of years ago. You wouldn't know it were there but for a couple of metal sandwich boards on the foothpath advertising cheap meals.



Squeezed in between Mama's Kitchen and the kebab shop are two glass-fronted doors marked with "Broadway Plaza" in a dated orange and yellow font. Enter through the doors and you'll discover a huddle of bain-maries, stainless steel counters and menu boards overhead with backlit photos.

There's a sandwich shop, a burger joint and a Chinese place as well, but I tend to end up at Tan's Malaysian which has pre-cooked dishes in the bain marie or you can order yours freshly cooked off the menu.


Bak kut teh $6.90

On this day I was in the mood for bak kut teh, a sweet herbal soup filled with vegetables, giant sponges of fried tofu and an enormous pork bone that I attack with my bare hands to extricate the tender chunks of meat.

The foodcourt is looking run-down and lacklustre but that's half the charm. Sometimes cheap and simple is all you need.

Tan's Malaysian
Shop 10a, Broadway Plaza
185 Broadway, Ultimo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 6118

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Malaysian eats
Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket
Malaya, Sydney
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo

Other nearby eats
Broadway - Tomodachi
Broadway - Una's
Chippendale - Lansdowne Hotel
Chippendale - LMC Cafe
Chippendale - Toby's Estate
Ultimo - Beb Patisserie
Ultimo - Bourke Street Bakery
Ultimo - Cafe Ottimo

Kazbah on Darling, Balmain

Kazbah mixed mezze plate (for two)
[Clockwise from front]: Lamb cutlet sambousek, char-grilled quail with pomegranate sauce,
grilled Cypriot haloumi, chickpea battered eggplant with orange blossom honey sauce, and
char-grilled octopus with skorthalia

A ferry trip to East Balmain must be one of the most leisurely ways to head towards dinner. A relaxing ride across tranquil waters and then up the hill we climb towards The London for a brief pit-stop for a breather and the excuse to down a few beers. From here it's a short hike up Darling Street towards our final destination, Kazbah.


Table setting



Moroccan is the theme here and we're pleased to discover a large airy restaurant. A few touches like beaded napkin rings and crayons on each paper-topped table are instantly noticed. It doesn't take long for the little kid in each of us to remember the joys of doodling with thick stubby crayons.


Turkish bread with dukkah, olive oil and za'atar

Today is Thursday and we're pleased to discover their current dining offer for Wednesdays and Thursdays: $40 for two courses with wine, or $45 with three with wine.

Mains and desserts are selected from the menu, entrees must be the Kazbah mezzes platter pictured at the start of this post. The lamb sambousek is my absolute favourite - all buttery flaky pastry, tender moist lamb, sweet caramelised onion and capsicum contrasted with a dollop of smooth creamy yoghurt.

Our entrees also come with a plate of deep-fried pitta breads, crisp golden brown shards that are terribly addictive but soon start to weight heavily on the stomach. The tabouleh is refreshing but by the time we've mopped up the tzatziki, babaganouj and hummus I'm almost full.


Fried pita with tabouli, hummus, babaganouj and tzatziki (for two)

Our mains arrive to already distended bellies. The Kazbah tagine is a little disappointing in appearance, a simple white plate with lamb and couscous lacks the spectacular grandeur of the couscous Casablanca. Thankfully I've ordered the latter which is rich and hearty, packed with chunks of carrot, sweet potato and celery. The lamb falls off the bone and the chickpeas are smooth and creamy.

The pan-fried duck breast is juicy and tender, the skin is crisp and topped with dukkah.



Pan-fried duck breast $35.00
with sweet potato falafel cake, glazed figs and pistachio dukkah


Kazbah tagine with carrot-steamed couscous $35.00


Couscous Casablanca $68.00 for two
with slow roasted lamb shoulder, braised vegetables,
sultana jam, tomato broth and condiments


Pickles, yoghurt, preserved lemon and broth

Desserts are predictably sweet. The Kazbah bombe is a wonderful flashback to the Bombe Alaska era, although I wonder whether this two-person dessert is more suited to four or five sugar tooths. The meringue exterior is sweet and the turkish delight ice cream, although delicious, is even sweeter.


Kazbah bombe for two $24.00
with Turkish delight ice cream, blueberries and kurrant vodka




Halawat El Jiben $14.00
Mafroukeh, fresh figs, ashta, pistachio and walnuts

The halawat el jiben is practically coma-inducing too, although the figs and walnuts provide some relief. By the time our Moroccan cigars I arrive, I am almost spent, but still manage a few forkfuls of the light flaky pastry tunnels filled with mousse. No more sugar, my pancreas insists. No more sugar, begs the enamel on my teeth.


Chocolate and halawah mousse Moroccan cigars $15.00
with honey cinnamon ice cream and chocolate sauce


Hot chocolate


Mint tea

The hot chocolate is declared as "very good" but I order the mint tea which arrives in a coffee plunger. There's a complimentary piece of Turkish delight on the side and... you know what's coming.

My pancreas just sighed and worked a little harder.




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Kazbah on Darling
379 Darling Street, Balmain, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9555 7067

Breakfast: Saturday & Sunday 9:00am - 3:00pm
Lunch: Saturday & Sunday 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Dinner: Wednesday to Saturday 6:30pm - Late

Related GrabYourFork posts:
Kazbah on Darling, June 2007 (breakfast)
Moroccan - Out of Africa, Manly