Mr Meng Chongqing Gourmet, Market City Chinatown, Sydney

Spicy. Initially confusing. And then jaw droppingly addictive. I could be talking about the Chinese dating show If You Are The One or host Meng Fei's new noodle house that's just opened in Chinatown's Market City. There are more parallels between the two than you'd think.

Mr Meng Chongqing Gourmet is Mr Meng's second venture in Australia, following on from his Melbourne opening mid- last year. It's part of an international stable of noodle houses (some franchised) that started in Nanjing in 2014.

Sydney's version is slick and efficient, and one of the first outlets to open in the former level 3 foodcourt of Market City, now rebranded 1909 Dining Precinct and set to host a number of casual dine-in restaurants.


Bean jelly in chilli sauce $5.80

You'll have to order and pay at the counter but staff will bring your meals to your marked table. It means that random add-ons like another drink or dessert will require another trip to the register but it does avoid the whole bill-splitting nightmare at the end of the night for large groups.

Unlike the sounds of the Melbourne menu, there are no chilli indicators to warn diners about the relative heat of each dish. Suffice to say, be prepared for tongue tingling numbness from a whack of Sichuan peppers in every dish. In a good way. If you're really heat averse, order a soy bean milk as an emergency extinguisher.

Bean jelly in chilli sauce is an ideal place to start. The mung bean noodles are cool to the throat, bathed in a chilli sauce that is equal parts sour, salty, spicy and sweet.


Mung bean jelly noodles

There's only a faint hit of tongue-numbing Sichuan pepper here, but it's a great primer for what's to come.


Steamed chicken in chilli sauce $8.80

Steamed chicken in chilli sauce will set your mouth on fire if you find the right piece. The chicken itself is tender, cooked and served on the bone for maximum flavour.


Chongqing spicy noodle with stewed beef $14.80

The main attraction here is the mighty Chongqing noodle, thin round wheat noodles served in a fiery broth laced with soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar and red pepper oil. You can stick with the plain version for $10.80 or choose variations of toppings that run from $12.80 to $14.80.

Stewed beef with noodles

Chongqing spicy noodles with stewed beef is a classic, yielding soft simmered hunks of protein against those springy chewy noodles. 

Chongqing spicy noodle with pork intestines $14.80

If you want to level up, I highly recommend the version with pork intestines. Don't be afraid. The intestines have been rinsed well and have been cooked to an expert softness. They also offer a chicken giblet and chicken heart offering - I'm getting that next time.


Pork intestine with noodles


Hot and sour rice noodle with pork mince $11.80

Hot and sour rice noodles was one of my highlight dishes. These noodles are noticeably thicker and chewier, with a more glutinous density. You'll have to dig around for the pork mince which tends to sink to the bottom of the bowl. This dish felt like one of the spicier offerings too.


Dan dan noodle $13.80

Dan dan noodle is another winner, dry noodles covered in a saucy pork mince with peanuts, shallots and vegetables.


Mixing the noodles with the pork mince

You'll have to get in there to mix it all together. There's a good, but not over-the-top, hit of chilli and Sichuan pepper in this one as well.

Sichuan style dumpling $12.80 for 10

Still hungry? The appetisers menu has plenty of temptations. Sichuan style dumplings are elegantly silky packages, the thin skins wrapped around seasoned pork mince. There's already a generous dousing of black vinegar and chilli, but if you need more, you can use the supplied table condiments as reinforcement.


Beef tongue and beef tripe $7.80

The beef tongue and beef tripe is offaly good too. Your tongue may be on fire by this point but that tripe is so soft and tender, you'll be going back for more.


Deep fried crispy pork $7.80

And because they'd run out of the brown sugar rice cakes (noooooo) we end up having the deep fried crispy pork for dessert instead (hello). The seasoning around these pork strips is super addictive but be warned that about a third of these pork strips will be pure fat. Just fat. Battered and deep-fried. Farewell arteries.

Seeking an adventure with thrills and spills? If you are the one, you'll find it right here.






Mr Meng Chongqing Gourmet
Market City
Level 3 (1909 Dining Precinct), Shop T3
9-13 Hay Street, Haymarket Chinatown, Sydney


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Passata Day

Passata Day. It's the Italian family tradition I've envied ever since reading Looking for Alibrandi. Who didn't dream of a romanticised day of canning with the extended family? And then it happened. Tomato pulp galore on a scorching hot day. Never give up hope, guys. Passata Day dreams can come true! How did it all go down? Read on!


Organic Roma tomatoes 

We started with a pick-up of 50 kilos of organic Roma tomatoes from Sift Produce.


Blanching the tomatoes

A couple of hours and several food shop detours later, we were back at Casa del Pig Flyin aka Passata HQ. After giving the tomatoes a quick wash, we blanched them in hot water to soften the skins.


Blanched tomatoes ready for juicing

The blanched tomatoes were transferred to a bucket, ready for pressing through the passata machine kindly lent by Racy Staci.


Pushing the tomatoes through the passata machine

There was a frisson of excitement when we first turned the machine on. Add the tomatoes to the funnel and press, not dissimilar to an electric juicer.


Passata machine success!

The tomatoes are pulverised and forced through a tunnel with fine holes.


Tomato pulp

The sieve allows the tomato juice and pulp to pass through, cascading into our waiting bucket.


Tomato skins

The tomato skins continue on, exiting the end of the tunnel. We run the skins through the machine several times to get every last bit of tomato juice out.

It's an extraordinary efficient process, thanks to the electric motor.


Reducing the passata to a thicker sauce

Most Italian families would bottle their passata straight out of the machine, but because we didn't have enough bottles we thickened the sauce, reducing it by 70%. This process took the longest - over an hour - mostly because we had to do this in batches due to limited stockpots.


Passata production completed

Et voila! Our thickened pasta was finally transferred to glass jars, ready for canning. Once the jars have been immersed in boiling water and heated through, they should be shelf stable for at least a year, presuming they last that long!


Roma tomatoes with fresh mozzarella

We made passata from 45kg of tomatoes, reserving the best 5kg for eating. Pig Flyin whipped up a tomato-themed dinner for the passata crew, starting with Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fennel tops from the garden and a good dousing of extra virgin olive oil.


Crumbed and fried quail

Two quails were dipped in panko crumbs and deep fried until golden. PFQ - Pigflyin fried quail!


Cavatelli with our passata sauce

Our passata sauce was served with cavatelli. It had such a bright and intense tomato flavour.


Tomato salad with sweet onions and home grown cucumber

More Romas were served as part of a rustic salad, tumbled through with sweet onions and home grown cucumber and fennel tops.


Home grown tromboncino zucchini with chilli passata

A tromboncino zucchini - the first of their crop - was harvested from the garden and simmered in passata. A background hit of chilli made this such a tasty vegetarian dish.


Sirloin on the bone cooked directly on charcoal

And then were was this beauty, a sirloin on the bone from Feather and Bone cooked directly on charcoal. The meat was extraordinarily tender, especially against that caramelised char.

I'm hoping Passata Day will be a new tradition. I cannot wait for next year's!

Yiro Yiro, Belmore

If cheese is your kryptonite, wait until you discover haloumi fries. Say what? You heard us. We’re talking thick cut batons of haloumi cheese deep-fried until golden brown. Where can you get it? Head to Yiro Yiro, yeeros shop and cheese lover’s dream house.


Haloumi fries $9

You can also get the haloumi plate and savour a squeak-fest of pan-fried cheese. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon for maximum zing. Need more cheese? Get the hot chips with feta. That’s a pile of chips with a blizzard of crumbled feta for that extra salty hit. Even the hot food cabinet is likely to hold a cheese pie or two.


Pork belly yiro, lamb yiro plate and haloumi fries 


Pork belly yiro $12

Meat-lovers don’t need to worry. Take your pick from pork belly, chicken or lamb carved straight off the spit. The pork belly is our favourite but the chicken and lamb are no runners up. Go for the portable option, wrapped up in rounds of soft pita bread with salad and a fistful of chips, or make it a meal by ordering the plate. Basically it’s a deconstructed yiro, letting you eat your meat, chips, pita, tzatziki and Greek salad in whatever order, and combination, you like.


Mixed yiro plate, haloumi fries, pork belly yiro and pita bread


Mixed yiro plate $35
Pork belly, chicken, lamb, tzatziki, Greek salad, chips and two pita breads

Can’t decide on which protein? The mixed yiro plate lets you try all three. It’s recommended to share between two people but they must mean two rugby league players. It’s huuuge. If you prefer your meat on a stick, get the souvlaki lamb, chicken or pork. And of course they do a snack pack, the classic meat and chips combo with your choice of sauce.

This yeeros shop is slicker than most, with an impressive street art mural taking up an entire wall. Fan memorabilia everywhere else will leave no doubt you’re in Canterbury Bulldogs territory either.

Rock up on the weekend for the perfect hangover breakfast, and if you’re hankering for something sweet, try the yiro bites, covered in squiggles of Nutella and fresh strawberry or banana. Do you think they’ll add cheese to that? We reckon they just might.

Yiro Yiro
374 Burwood Road, Belmore, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8084 1874

Opening hours
Sunday to Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday and Saturday 11am-11pm


This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.