Mc Lucksa, Haymarket Chinatown

How could you not smile when queueing for lunch at a stall calling itself Mc Lucksa?

There are plenty of options at the level three food court in Market City but today I'm standing at the counter of Mc Lucksa.

I've stood here a few times, lured by the salt and pepper chicken, sambal tofu and brown simmered tea eggs in their prettier-than-most bain marie window. It's cold, wet and miserable this lunchtime, and that means an instant craving for a steaming bowl of seafood laksa.


Seafood Laksa Soup Noodles $8.80

The seafood laksa is a vibrant shade of saffron, scattered with bits of fish ball, fried tofu squares, calamari and three peeled prawns. I've ordered mine with flat rice noodles, and although it's creamy with coconut milk, I'm a little disappointed with the lack of fiery spices and chilli.


Combination Noodle Soup $8.00

B has the combination noodle soup, a clear stock filled with egg noodles, fish cakes, prawn and green vegetables.

It's a lot nicer eating here since the food court renovations here been completed over the past couple of years. Now there's plenty of light streaming in through the windows, new shiny seating and an area of long communal tables for groups large and small.



And the laksa is the perfect antidote to the miserable weather outside. It's a rich meal but one that is finished all the same. Now if only food courts came with beds to snooze on after big lunchtime feeds.


MC Lucksa
Market City Level 3 Food Court
9-13 Hay Street (corner of Thomas Street)
Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
(above Paddy's Market)
Tel: +61 (02) 9211 1922

Open 7 days 10am-8pm

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Chinese Noodle Restaurant, Haymarket Chinatown

Shredded pork in Beijing sauce with mini pancakes $12.80

"I am so sure I could do that."

Today's noodle maker at the Chinese Noodle Restaurant is female. I watch, mesmerised, as she effortlessly transforms lumps of dough into a cats cradle of noodle string.

Thwack! Thwack! moans the dough as it's pounded relentlessly into the counter.

The noodle maker looks bored. She glances around the cramped little dining room, loops the noodles around her arms and then, with concerted resignation, thwacks again, pulling the strands outwards until they become narrower and narrower.

The kitchen window that gives a view of the noodle maker is my favourite part about dining here. The show isn't always on, but when it is, it always make the noodles before you taste infinitely better.


Pork and chives light pan-fried dumplings $7.50
(12 per serve)

And yet, funnily enough, today we haven't even chosen noodles.

CucinaRebecca and I share a plate of pork and chives pan-fried dumplings instead, which magically appear within 90 seconds of being ordered. A dozen of these juicy morsels are served in a haphazard jumble. The bottoms are only lightly browned, a spoonful of pork mince swaddled in a steamed flour blanket.

We also share a plate of shredded pork in Beijing sauce, a dish which had caught my eye as we perused the menu. Well, the mini pancakes caught my eye, really.

The shredded pork has an uncanny resemblance to a plate of worms. It's coated in a thick, sweet and salty bean sauce and we wrap the lot into wedges of savoury pancake along with a smattering of raw shredded cabbage. It's meaty and hearty and reminds me a little of eating a doner kebab.

I notice the bright new tapestries hanging on the walls. The old scenes with the faded maroons have been replaced with new gallopiong landscapes featuring vivid blues and greens and vibrant splashes of yellow. But the plastic grapes still hang overhead and there's always queue every lunchtime.

And the noodle maker. I'm still enamoured. And I'm still secretly wishing I could have a go too.



Chinese Noodle Restaurant
(Chinatown Noodle Restaurant)
TG7, Prince Centre
8 Quay Street, Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9281 9051

Open 7 days 11am-9pm

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Japan photos: Tokyo to Takayama

Photos from Japan Day Six are up!

Highlights: green tea Kit Kats, a scenic train ride to Takayama, the last of the cherry blossoms, and a kaiseki dinner banquet.

Click here for more

Ju Ju, Kings Cross

Tempura

EDIT: Ju Ju has closed

Dinner at Ju Ju.

It's most endearing aspect is the cosy booth seating, Japanese-style. Once you enter, it's shoes off (the smiling but silent nodding waiter offers everyone a plastic bag), before you shuffle across polished floorboards in your (hopefully hole-free) socks. Each booth is a wooden rectangle of seating, a table rises from the centre cut-out, as legs dangle into the "pit".



The surrounding slats afford a moderate sense of privacy. It's easy enough, though, to peer over the slat wall to check out the other diners or try to catch the eye of a passing waiter).

We order a motley assortment of dishes. Some are snapped. Some are just too far away to photograph :)


Edamame boiled soy bean $6.80


Tomato slice salad $6.80

The tomato slice salad is a surprisingly tasty starter. Thick chunks of tomato encircle a central tomato flower, thinly sliced and fanned. It's dressed with a light wasabi mayonnaise that is fairly mild but refreshing.


Sashimi mix main $28.00

I'm very impressed with the presentation of the sashimi which arrives on a fan of dried twigs.

"It looks just like something out of Iron Chef!" I exclaim.

Unfortunately the fish is a little bland and the scallops are still half-frozen. When we politely mention this to the waitress she checks with the kitchen and says "oh, it's supposed to be served half-frozen."

We let them thaw out for another five minutes before attacking them again.


Una don eel on rice $18.50

The unagi teriyaki eel has a deep brown sheen of salty sweetness.

I happily tuck into a piece or two of the crunchy deep-fried karaage chicken.


Karaage fried chicken $8.80


Takoyaki $7.50

Others enjoy the takoyaki octopus balls and the pork katsudon set meal.


Pork tonkatsu set $16.00

I'm feasting on the tempura set.


Tempura set $18.00

There's agedashi tofu, two cubes of tofu deep-fried in a dusting of potato starch and splashed over with a sticky sauce of dashi and mirin. In the back corners are wedges of soft potato and a light garden salad. The main event is the tempura: two prawns, sweet potato, pumpkin, asparagus, sugar snap pea and eggplant, all coated in a lighter-than-air tempura batter.

The eggplant is my favourite. It's sweet and soft and deliriously good.



Ju Ju CLOSED
Kingsgate Shopping Centre
Shop 320, Bayswater Rd
Kings Cross, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9357 7100

Tuesday to Thursday 6.30pm - 1.00am
Friday to Saturday 6.30pm - 2.00am
Sunday 6.30pm - 1.00am
Closed Mondays

No credit cards, cash only
No BYO
Karaoke from 10.30pm until half-hour before close

Last orders 11.00pm (12.30am Friday and Saturday)

Snapped: Sam in Woollahra

Enjoys long walks on the beach, quiet nights in and is never afraid to go shopping.

St James Hotel, Sydney

250gm certified Angus Rump steak with mash and jus $9.95

Wow. I'd heard good things about the $10 steaks at the St James hotel, but even this surpasses my expectations.

The Angus rump steak is perfect. It's seared and sealed satisfyingly on the outside. The flesh is juicy, tender and well-rested within. The steak is cooked to medium rare as requested. It is so far removed from the majority of cheap steaks I've eaten. It's even more tender than some $25 steaks I've paid for the privilege of swallowing.

A generous ladle of gravy puddles over a bed of creamy mash. And at the self-serve cutlery station I've helped myself to a saucer of mustard, all three kinds of course - Dijon, hot English and wholegrain, which I slather on generously to each forkful.

"How's your steak?" I ask G-man.

"Mmmm.... goooood," he mumbles in between mouthfuls.

It's not a huge meal though. I had been starving when we entered, and outside it was cold, wet and windy.

G-man says one word.

"Squid?"

I just grin in reply.


Salt and pepper squid $9.95

We share a serving of salt and pepper squid much to the dismay of our colleagues. In typical fashion, they all pinch a piece anyway once it arrives.

The squid is disappointing. I find the batter too thick, creating a soggy clagging taste between the shell and the somewhat rubbery squid. The G-man thinks it's okay but next time I'm sticking with the steak.

Hmm... maybe two.


St James Hotel
114 Castlereagh Street, Sydney
(near corner of Market Street,
opposite David Jones menswear)
Tel: +61 (02) 9261 8277

Monday to Saturday 10am-2am
Sunday 12pm-2am

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bills, Woollahra

Ricotta hotcakes $16.60
with fresh banana and honeycomb butter

There was only one gustatory must-do when Kelly--sometime foodblogger at The Occasional Epicure--visited Sydney. "Breakfast at bills" was pencilled into both our diaries months ago.

She and RJ brought the rain with them from Brisbane (it's still here!) but at least that meant the breakfast queue on Saturday morning was only 30-minutes in the waiter's notebook. We filled that easily with a meander through the pastry and biscuit displays of Buzzy Bakehouse, a wander past the local butcher (a fast-disappearing thing alas) and a stroll through Wholefoods House.

We were back in twenty minutes as instructed--"just in case", said the waiter--and were seated almost immediately. Our hot chocolates ($4.00) cause a small gasp from Kelly, admiring the polka-dot pattern of Callebaut chocolate buds down the sides of the glass. There was no time for photos, just desperate clutching of the hot milk between our cold palms. We reluctantly stirred, unleashing a chocolate tornado into the pristine whiteness that slowly, eventually dispersed and settled.

RJ is even more excited at the sight of his mocha coffee ($3.50).

This too arrives with a Callebaut curtain, and once stirred through the drink is a deep dark brown in colour. RJ takes a sip and sighs with satisfaction. "I think that's the best mocha I've ever had."

The ricotta hotcakes ($16.60)arrive not longer after. Three plump fluffy hotcakes, stacked up high, arrived on a deep white dish, each shaped in pleasing uneven splodges. The pat of honeycomb butter has slid from its original balcony, now resting at the bottom alongside three chunky spears of banana. We drown the lot in a generous flood of maple syrup.

The hotcakes are soft and spongey, little pockets of ricotta are welcome surprises. It's a huge breakfast really, but then I could always take on a challenge.

RJ is similarly pleased with bills' famous scrambled organic eggs with sourdough ($12.80) and gravlax salmon($5.70). The sourdough is thick but soft in the middle, the eggs are a pale golden yellow, cooked into a gentle ripple of folds like an edible quilt.

"It's the cream. That's the secret", Kelly points out.

RJ just nods and has another mouthful.


bills Woollahra
Queen's Court 118 Queen Street
Woollahra, Sydney

Monday to Friday 7.30am-5.00pm
Saturday and Sunday 8.00am-5.00pm
10% surcharge on weekends and public holidays

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bills Woollahra (Jan 2007)

Makan at Alice's, Thornleigh

Roti canai and curry $9.20
Three pieces of roti canai bread
with lamb curry

It's taken us a while to get to Alice's. On our first attempt (after about a year of intent), we'd arrived to find it closed, ending up at bbq one instead, a tasty consolation nevertheless. After a forty minute drive on our second attempt, we were relieved to find it open, but soon discovered they were operating without electricity due to power failures from the storms buffeting Sydney. Thank goodness Alice was cooking with gas!


Hainanese chicken rice $9.00
Steamed chicken with chicken rice
drizzled with garlic oil and soy sauce

Alice's is a plain little family-run restaurant. The entrance screen door, left ajar, looks just like one you'd encounter at any suburban flat. Once inside you notice the counter immediately on your left, packed with varying towers of Alice's famous home-made kuih, Malaysian sweets predominantly steamed and made from coconut milk.

On the wall in front of you is a proudly framed letter from Maeve O'Mara, thanking Paul and Alice for their participation in an episode of Food Lovers' Guide to Australia. I remember the beautiful kuih from that episode well.

Off to your right is a modest room that feels a little like a converted garage--in the nicest possible way of course. The walls and tables are white and clean, there's a large window looking onto the street (just as well since the lights aren't working today) and an open sideboard is conveniently accessible for our additional crockery and cutlery needs.

We're in need of more bowls and chopsticks because all five of us are sharing dishes today, an attempt to cover as much of the menu as possible.


Nasi Lemak $9.00
Chicken rendang with coconut rice,
anchovies, peanuts and egg

The Hainanese chicken arrives first. The cleaved pieces of chicken are moist and succulent, the rice is faintly sweet with chicken stock. Splodges of sweet and salty garlic paste are drizzled on top; a dish of sweet chilli sauce rests to one side. I'm more used to the plain Hainan chicken served with salty ginger and shallot oil, but N and C can't get enough of the stuff.

The nasi lemak is a typically great contrast of textures. Fluffy steamed rice, creamy spicy rendang and the richness of egg are interspersed with the delightful crunch of peanuts and the honey sweetness of deep-fried baby anchovies. Slivers of tomato refresh the palate after dipping into the extra mound of sambal.


Popiah $8.80
Two fresh spring roll wraps with yam bean,
vegetables, egg and Chinese sausage

Popiahs are an interesting mix of vegetable crunch and sweet bean sauce. Wrapped in sheets similar to a raw spring roll wrapper, I find them cool and refreshing.


Nasi Goreng $9.80
Rice fried with sambal paste, curry leaves,
prawn, chicken and dried shrimp

The nasi goreng is a jumble of rice, prawn, chicken, peas, shallots and corn, mixed through with sweet kecap manis, a thickened soy sauce, and fried until a pale golden hue. The corn kernels are sweet and juicy, and there are enough caramelised crunchy bits to keep me happy.


Char kway teow $9.80
Rice noodles in thick soy sauce
with Chinese sausage, seafood and chives

The rice noodles in the char kway teow are satiny smooth and slippery as only fresh noodles can be. Bits of fried egg, fish cake and Chinese sausage appear randomly throughout mouthfuls, the cleansing crunch of bean sprouts is a welcome constant.

Roti canai is the real crowd-pleaser of the day. The three flaky pancakes are fresh from the frypan, gloriously crisp on the outside and torn apart to reveal delicate layers within. We dunk them generously into the thick puddle of curry which has a delayed chilli kick. The islands of lamb chunks are superbly tender.


Sago with gula melaka $4.80
and coconut cream

For dessert we share a bowl of sago with gula melaka. The sago is a solid mass of starch bubbles. It rests on a lake of gula melaka palm sugar, so caramelly sweet it almost makes my teeth hurt. The coconut milk is slightly salty. The green jelly beans are sweet and crunchy.


Cendol $4.80
Homemade pandan strands, red bean and jelly
in coconut milk and gula melaka

We all adore the cendol, a dessert-like drink that includes layers of green noodles, cooked soft red beans, coconut milk, palm sugar syrup and plenty of shaved ice. We've always called the pandan noodles "green worms". I'm a huge fan of the round tubs of worms and coconut milk you can get from Vietnamese grocery stores.

The worms aren't particularly sweet (cooked pandan-flavoured dough is pushed through a sieve into iced water) but that just makes the palm sugar syrup such a welcome toffee kick.


Kuih

We raid the kuih counter on our way out. Unfortunately there are no onde onde coconut balls left today, but we do pick up boxes of kuih lapis, a soft sticky rainbow cake of steamed red, white and green layers; kuih serimuka, a layer of green coconut custard over coconut sticky rice; and kuih talam, a dark green layer of mung bean jelly topped with a thin salty layer of coconut cream.




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Makan at Alice's
Shop 3, 262 Pennant Hills Road, Thornleigh, Sydney
(turn into Bellevue Street and it's on your left)
Tel: +61 (02) 9484 8288

Lunch Tuesday to Sunday 11.30am - 2.30pm
Dinner Thursday to Sunday 6.00pm - 9.00pm


Related GrabYourFork posts:
Makan at Alice's, Thornleigh (CNY Banquet 2009) and (2008)

Malaysian restaurants
Cafe Kasturi, Haymarket
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo, April 2007
Kopitiam Malaysian Cafe, Ultimo, April 2006
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 26, 2007
Malay Chinese Takeaway, Sydney, April 03, 2007
The Malaya, Sydney
Tan's Malaysian, Ultimo

Not Bread Alone, Crows Nest

Seafood chowder

How do you decide if a restaurant is good?

Eating out is a subjective affair that depends on the mood of the diner and what they appreciate that evening. Sometimes my stomach is won over by the food. Other times it's the head that cheers on value for money. Few manage to win the heart.

Not Bread Alone manages to tug the heart strings on a cold, wet and rainy night. I'm half an hour early, but the staff sweep me inside with a smile. "Come in, come in" they say, their hospitality genuine, their welcome full of warmth.

The rain is unrelentless outside, gusts of wind shriek with bitter vengeance. The enclosed terrace area is like a insulated glasshouse though, heaters overhead on full blast make it toastily warm and cosy.


Antipasto plate $16.50
with smoked salmon, leg ham, roast pumpkin,
roasted eggplant, curry dip, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes,
olives, rocket salad and turkish bread

I share a seafood chowder with M for entrees. We ask for an extra bowl but the chef amiably splits the portion into two small servings. The soup is creamy but not as thick or potatoey as we'd expected. There's plenty of seafood. We each uncover a prawn, a mussel in shell, a giant scallop with roe attached, and plenty of baby clams in the bottom.

Six others share two antipasto plates: smoked salmon, leg ham, roasted vegetables, an intriguing curry dip and sundried tomatoes. The feta cheese strikes me as a little bland but there's plenty of nibble on and go around.


Lamb shanks $20.90
with creamy mashed potato, chef’s greens and jus

Our mains arrive in quick succession. My lamb shanks are meltingly tender, easily falling off the bone. They're not as salty as I'd expect but the mash is thick and creamy, and the beans are a vibrant crunchy green.


Chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto $20.50


Pasta of the day $18.90
with prawns, zucchini and sun-dried tomatoes
tossed in a creamy dill sauce

The pasta is apparently in need of seasoning and the seafood risotto isn't quite traditional in presentation, but M says it tastes great, and there's plenty of seafood in the rich sauce to keep him happy.


Seafood risotto $24.90
a selection of seafood in a rich tomato sauce


Eye fillet steak $25.90
with mashed potato, chef’s greens and a mushroom jus

I've been eyeing the dessert blackboard all night. All their desserts are made by the restaurant, a welcome change for the usual trucked-in factory-made fare (twang!, goes another heart string). They even roast their own coffee (twang! twang!).


Vanilla bean creme brulee with tuille and strawberries $10.50


Blueberry bread and butter pudding $10.50
with butterscotch sauce and ice cream

I end up with the blueberry bread and butter pudding, thick cubes of sugar dusted bread resting on a bed of baked custard. The butterscotch sauce is drizzled over generously by my photography assistant. It matches well with the mild sweetness of the purple stained blueberries.


Flourless chocolate cake with ice cream $10.50

I'm not sure why I'm so sentimental about this place. The food isn't spectacular, the prices aren't dirt cheap and it's only my first ever visit.

But then the menu is approachable, this is the North Shore, and somehow I feel like a long-time local.

It's the last point that gets my heart, I think. Everything's homemade, fresh and served with honesty. It's like the comfort of home without the peril of dishes.

And who doesn't want to feel loved every now and then?


Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and ice cream $10.50

Not Bread Alone
Shop 2, 376 Pacific Highway (entrance on Hume Street)
Crows Nest, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9966 9788

Breakfast: 7 days 7.30am - 5.00pm
Lunch: 7 days 11.00am - 5.00pm
Dinner: 6 days 5.00pm - 10.30pm

James Squire Brewhouse, Sydney

There's nothing quite like the drama of a steak knife thrust vertically into your main.

We'd returned to James Squire Brewhouse for upmarket pub grub washed down with ales. The meals aren't cheap here, with median prices at about $27.00, but that seems to be the standard pricing schedule along King Street Wharf.

There's an element of blokey classiness about the place. There are beer-related quotes painted near the bathroom, but then there are also distinguished looking Chesterfield lounges inside. There are pool tables and foosball down the back, but also an abundance of gleaming wood finishings (the floorboards, the bar, the indoor tables and chairs).

Outside there's a picnic barbecue type feel. We sit on sturdy outdoor wooden chairs but the tables have an disconcerting sticky residue that even adheres to our serviettes.


Half shell scallops $17.50
cooked in garlic butter and served with tomato and coriander salsa

Things start fairly well. An entree of scallops on half shells are fragrant, cooked to a delicate moistness in a bubbling mass of melted garlic butter.


350gm Black Angus rump $29.50
served on roasted chat potatoes with grilled King prawn and jus

The Black Angus rump is cooked as requested, except our table server doesn't distinguish between the medium rare and the well-done version during their distribution, and each person gets the other's. The inadvertent swap isn't realised til they are each half-way through by which time it is all too late.


500gm grain-fed T-bone steak $31.00
with steak fries and Bearnaise sauce

Veruca Salt enjoys her grain-fed T-bone steak, an enormous slab of meat that could have come straight off a brontosaurus and landed on a Flintstones car roof. The grill marks are a little burnt in areas though and the Bearnaise sauce, a congealing mass of fluorescent yellow, looks like it has seen better days.


Crumbed veal schnitzel $20.00
Milk-fed veal served on steak fries and red wine jus

The veal schnitzel is a definite winner though. The thin layer of meat is tender, moist and juicy. A golden coat of batter is full of crunch.

I share mine with J in exchange for half his rack of pork ribs. Just as well, as things turn out.


Pork ribs full rack $30.00
With smokey bbq sauce and steak fries

The full rack of pork ribs, violently punctuated with a steak knife, arrives twenty minutes after the first main is brought out. There'd been a miscommunication between our table server and the kitchen. An incorrect dish is sent back and although the ribs eventually arrive, we notice even a smallest apology doesn't (not even a "sorry about the wait").

Even more disappointing, the ribs are bland. Barely warm barbecue sauce (tangy and fruity in a way that doesn't agree with J) has been slathered over plain cooked ribs. Generous though they are in size, J and I are both left yearning for that caramelised satisfaction of burnt smoky marinade getting all over your fingers.

We move on for dessert, up the wharf to the Lindt Cafe in Darling Harbour. Happiness is a steaming cup of mix-it-yourself dark hot chocolate chasing rich decadent spoonfuls of the pistachio berry dacquoise.


James Squire Brewhouse
22 The Promenade, King St Wharf, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8270 7999

15% surcharge on Sundays and public holidays.

Related GrabYourFork posts:
James Squire Brewhouse, Aug 2006
James Squire Brewhouse, Feb 2005