It was a bit of an aimless search until a friend mentioned a cafe that doubled as a games parlour. That definitely piqued our interest and we trooped off to Norita.

Desserts!

Getting our dessert fix, we ordered Green Tea Eskimo ($8.90), Asian Fantasy ($9.90), Nut Crazy ($9.90) and Blueberry Double Baked Cheese Cake ($5.50).

D was a bit disappointed to see that the blueberry cheesecake didn’t come with the mounds of fruit as depicted in the menu (I’m starting to think that most of the time the desserts from Asian places never look like the one in the picture).

The desserts were okay, decent but not fantastic, but then again I guess we weren’t really here for the dessert (though it was a bonus) seeing that we got quite distracted with the games menu and the games themselves.

Tumblin' Monkeys and Pick-Up-Sticks

Simple and quick games like Tumblin’ Monkeys and Pick-Up-Sticks (there’s also UNO!) are about $1 per game, per person. Because we had such a big group, we had to split up to play a couple of the games we had chosen.

While one side was quiet (with the occasional muttering of adding up points) playing Scrabble, the other half went through quite loud games of Tumblin’ Monkeys, Pick-Up-Sticks and several rounds of Jenga. Did you know that you could only use one hand playing Jenga? We didn’t until we actually read the rules – oops. We quickly found out why the other people playing Jenga had such short games (as opposed to our long ass game), though playing with two hands was also quite interesting – some people are quite devious in removing those blocks!

Scrabble, Jenga and Taboo

The longer or more strategic games like Scrabble, Life and Risk are about $2.50 per person, per game.

I personally think you can’t go past Pictionary or Taboo to cater for a large group – it’s so much fun, what with the noise and the good-natured, energetic arguments discussions on whether so-and-so broke the rules by doing/say such a thing. (In the end, Rock Paper Scissors is the ultimate mediator for such an impasse discussion.)

We played Taboo this time around because no one really wanted to draw. I was rather grateful, as I’m a horrible drawer: once I had “croissant” and everyone thought it was a piece of cheese or a crescent moon – needless to say no one won that round. Not everyone knew how to play Taboo, but a couple of the newbies turned out to be a lot better than the seasoned players!

Norita

I love the concept of Norita, with its late hours and noise tolerance – no matter how loud we got, we weren’t shooshed at all! I recently came back with a long-time friend; he was sceptical but keenly curious when I suggested we come here to relax and chat after dinner (and like everyone else, he wondered what sleazy place the stairs were taking him to).

We ended up playing Scrabble – he knew how obsessed I am with Words with Friends and wanted to see how good I actually am. It was kind of funny because we started off playing quite languidly, chatting between our turns, until I realised that our conversation was sliding to a decidedly one-sided manner as he progressively became more and more monosyllabic. I stopped talking just to see what he’d do (in mid-sentence even) and he didn’t even realise!

“I thought this game was a side thing while we chatted,” I teased with grin.

“You. Are. Not. Going. To. Win,” he gritted out, determination radiated from him and I bemusedly quieted down.

Much to his disgust, I won.

My friend quite liked the idea of Norita as well and mused that he should bring his friends here to check it out. Whatever the reason for coming to Norita (we spied a couple falling asleep on the couch, snuggled up to each other), you can be sure to leave with great memories.

Norita
Level 2, 77 Liverpool Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 3753
Web: http://www.norita.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, games

Describing themselves as the Kimchi Crew, Seoul of Sydney is an eclectic group of young chefs who all have one thing in common, a passion for Korean food. Between the lot of them they’ve managed to work in pretty much every single restaurant around Sydney (Bilson’s, China Doll, Flying Fish, Glass Brasserie to name a few). They’re headed up up by Peter Jo who used to manage a restaurant owned by his parents, you may have heard of Madang?

The gorgeous Bar H

(...)
Read the rest of Koreaculum 101, Seoul of Sydney, Bar H (1,829 words)

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Ever since discovering Momofuku, I’ve always wanted to try the Bo Ssam. In the Momofuku cookbook, the Bo Ssam seems very time-consuming to make, no wonder why it costs $200 for the Bo Ssam at the restaurant! Momofuku recommends 6-10 people, so I had to muster up some friends willing to eat enough pork that would turn us into vegetarians for at least the next week. Lucky for me, I have 7 food-loving friends willing to take the dive with me so I could share this experience with you.

Inside Momofuku Ssam Bar

(...)
Read the rest of Hello from NYC #5 – Meat overdose @ Momofuku Ssam Bar (703 words)

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Post tags: Hello from NYC

It’s not a surprise, then, that when he had a craving for Korean (or more specifically, fried chicken at a certain Korean restaurant), he used the excuse that he hadn’t seen any one since “last year” for a catch up dinner.

Not that I mind, of course… I’m no better than C and would also find any excuse to have Korean for dinner. Hehe.

Seafood Salad with Home Made Spicy and Sour Chilli Sauce ($22) and Chicken Salad ($18)

The tasty chicken salad was surprisingly light despite all the tangy mayonnaise liberally coating the crisp katsu chicken and fresh lettuce. I tried to only eat my fair share of the dish, but it was quite hard to, as it sat enticingly in front of me – goading me to eat more.

I was told to stay away from the seafood salad, as the sauce was truly spicy. Seems like I missed out due to my chilli intolerance though! F told me that the octopus and prawns were succulent, the lettuce was fresh and crisp, but the pièce de résistance was the sauce: it had a slight tart chilli flavour with the spiciness coming through straight after. I believe he told me it gave him a “hot, tingling sensation”. Interesting…

Mussel Soup ($15)

I didn’t try this, but I was told that the broth was seasoned quite well and boasted perfectly cooked fresh mussels. A simple, but well done soup.

Fried Pork and Chives Dumplings ($12)

The fried dumplings had a slight crunch to it, despite looking quite crisp, and the meaty innards was decent. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t wow me either.

Seafood Pancake ($18)

The pancake was generously littered with the likes of prawns and sliced crabsticks…

Okay, I have to be honest. I can’t seem to pinpoint exactly why I enjoyed this dish so much, but when I had it a second time ’round, it was just as good! Actually, between my friends and I, we’ve been back to Arisun 4 times in a month and the seafood pancake had never been passed over.

Sizzling Sausage on Hot Plate with Cheese ($28)

Although I knew the sausages were going to come out sliced and curled with lashings of mayonnaise and mustard, it didn’t quite prepare me for the reality of it. The sizzle! The wafting smell of perfectly grilled sausages… the stringy cheese. Swoon.

We came back to Arisun a week later and without hesitation ordered this dish.

Spicy Rice Cake, Mixed Tempure Hot pot ($24)

This hot pot looked so good! So good in fact that I was tempted to try it. However, I was warned off as in true Korean style it was terribly spicy. Sigh. I looked on with mute longing as everyone else dug in with gusto.

I think maybe I am missing out on something being so retardly chilli intolerant. Damn.

Mixed Dumpling Hot Pot ($33)

When our waitress lifted the lid from this hot pot, I didn’t care how hot the day had been – I wanted some, damn it! The pot looked gloriously delicious with its beef (bulgogi?), glass noodles, wontons and vegetables. I was so happy when I found out that it tasted just as gloriously delicious: perfectly seasoned and wonderfully flavoursome. My only grumble would be that the wontons were sneakily spicy – though only lightly so.

Sun's Fried Chicken with Soy Sauce ($30)

This is what we all really came here to eat: the famous fried chicken. And oh, were they as awesome as it was hyped up to be. The succulent chicken was addictive in its crunchiness and scrumptiously soy-seasoned. So simple, yet so good.

Beeeeeer

What better way to follow fried chicken with than a jug of refreshing, cold beer? Hehe, this jug contained about 3 litres of Korean beer – way more than G and A had anticipated and had to share the beer around just to finish it.

Arisun has an amazing range of food on offer, as well as value-for-money lunch/dinner sets (complete with beer, plum wine or soju!). The service is brisk and despite being quite busy, quite attentive and accommodating.

Being a rather large group, we were seated outside, but found one end of the table to be right underneath the monorail. Each time the monorail would go by, “air-con juice” (as my friends called it) would drip down onto the table and those seated there, much to their disconcert. We asked to shuffle our long line of tables away from the rail and was quickly compiled to. So, just a word of warning if you’re sitting outside: ‘ware the monorail!

Arisun
1 Dixon St
Haymarket, NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9264 1588

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: favourites, pork, poultry, Seafood

Going to a Korean BBQ restaurant means the rest of your night is pretty much over. There is no chance you can make it to that trendy bar for a few cocktails while smelling like burnt charcoal and having kim chi breath.

Before I go into how great Se Jong is (not to be confused with Se Joung which is also in Campsie), here are my commandments of Korean BBQ :

• Thou shall not plan on going on a hot date after eating at a Korean BBQ restaurant
• Thou shall not overdose on potato noodles and fried food and getting full before the main course, the meat.
• Thou shall not be greedy and take too much meat and not being able to finish it.
• Thou shall not wear a brand new outfit to a Korean BBQ restaurant
• Thou shall not think it’s cool to recite Kim Jong Il Team America quotes at a Korean BBQ restaurant

Anyway, Campsie is re-known for it’s Korean restaurants. Much like Ashfield is with Dumplings and Granville is for Lebanese charcoal chicken, there are no shortage of Koreans and Korean restaurants in Campsie. It’s a good sign when over 50% of the restaurant is full of Koreans, I feel at ease that it’s going to be a good night because of this. It’s a poor measure, but good enough for me.

(...)
Read the rest of Se Jong, Campsie and a home spring BBQ (582 words)

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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I’m here tonight with Astroboy and Rin because of rumours that the newest Korean restaurant on the Burwood Rd strip is actually a spin-off of my favourite Strathfield Korean restaurant, Ceci. Rin’s been filling our ears with tales of how she saw a commercial for the restaurant on the Chinese Community Channel and how very similiar the decor is.

The moment we step inside, we know the rumours have to be true. The decor is identical, from the 70′s style booths, the wallpaper and faux french wall decorations, even the placement of the cashier bench at the back is exactly the same as Ceci’s. What confirms it all though is our sighting of the owner of Ceci sitting calmly behind the cashier, gazing over her domain.

The owner of Ceci!

“It’s her!”

The owner of Ceci is a remarkable woman, she’s seemingly always behind the counter of Ceci, with her hair artfully curled and make up touched up to a tee. She’s become my constant for Strathfield Korean restaurants and it’s actually a bit of a shock to see her seated here in Burwood Korea House.

(...)
Read the rest of Burwood Korea House, Burwood (891 words)

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It took us a while to figure out what we wanted. We had an hour and a half to eat as much delicious meat as we possibly can, where the last order for meat and other dishes was an hour into our session. So we had to be smart and efficient with our ordering to maximise eating time without over ordering (though we did kind of get a word of caution from our waitress that we were over ordering haha).

Seaweed Salad and Edamame

The seaweed salad wasn’t quite what we expected. Lynda thought that perhaps they had given us the Lettuce with Home-made Miso Dip by mistake because she couldn’t see any seaweed in it, but upon ordering it again, we got exactly the same thing. We found the seaweed, after picking through the salad, and it was undeniably not what Lynda was thinking of when she ordered it (she was thinking of that stringy seaweed salad with sesame seeds). Despite that, I quite like what tasted like soy jelly sitting on top of the mound of lettuce.(...)
Read the rest of Iwa, Chatswood (587 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, chicken, pork, Seafood

This is actually our third time to Se Joung, we do love it so much. Our first two trips actually had more people and more dishes, but unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me. On this occasion I did have my camera, but it was only Linda and I and we only ordered a few dishes. Epic fail.

Anyway, Se Joung is quite a popular Korean restaurant in Campsie. It is quite hard to spot, tucked away in an awkward position near Woolies. Everytime we come here, it is usually packed with Korean’s of all demographics. You will find families, couples and rowdy young groups enjoying their food over a few drinks. 

Banchan (side dishes)

Soon after we sit down on the floor (we chose to sit on cushions cross legged), we are offered complimentary side dishes. I love these for two reasons ; 1. They are free and 2. There are unlimited refills. What makes it even better is everytime I come here, they tend to mix up the variety of side dishes on offer which is great.

Seaweed

This is some sort of marinated seaweed. I wasn’t a big fan of this one, lacked a bit of flavour but the texture was great. 

Kimchi

If you could fail a breath test due to anything with a pungent smell, it would be because of eating kim chi. The kim chi at Se Joung is wonderfully seasoned and crunchy. It goes particullaly well with the bbq/grilled meats.

Potato

Boiled potato is marinated in a soy type sauce. 

Kongnamul (Beansprouts)

These beanspouts havbe a nice crunchy texture and have a dash of sesame oil for flavour

Mains

Pajeon Seafood and shallot pancake ($12)

One of my favourite dishes at Se Joung. For $12, this is excellent value as the sheer size of it is quite impressive. The pancake is always crunchy on the outside and delicately soft yet chewy on the inside. The seafood portions are not as generous as they use to be, but it doesn’t stop us from finshing this dish in a flash. On a side note, it’s good to see that price has only been increased by $1 since grabyourfork’s visit in  2004. 

Bi bim bap

Bi bim bap is usually something I have for lunch, but Linda hasn’t tried it before so we decided to give it a go. There are various versions of bi bim bap, but we opt for the hot version cooked in a stonepot. Once the waitress puts it on your table, make sure to mix it thoroughly and let it cook for a few minutes. Also make sure when you get to end, scoop up the crunchy rice bits at the bottom as they taste so good. Come to think of it, I think I have a soft spot for burn bits as I always go for the burnt bits at the bottom of the wok when cooking fried rice and noodles as well.

I’ll try my best to remember the ingredients ; egg, lettuce, beef mince, spinach, beansprouts and mushroom.

You can’t go wrong with bi bim bap and Se Joung’s version doesn’t disappoint. Make sure you drown your rice in the special chilli sauce they give you as well, it takes the dish to another level of copious amounts of joy.

Marinated beef

Spicy marinated chicken

All the meat at Se Joung is perfectly marinated and consistently tender. The beef and chicken is no exception, the flavours are delicious and spicy. Usually, the waitress happily cooks your meat for you. However if the restaurant is packed it’s best to cook it yourself to avoid overcooking the meat, especially beef. 

Se Joung is one of my favourite Korean restaurants. It’s a good place to kick back and relax, the food is authentic and has a nice homely feel to it. I think it must be due to the cushion seating. However there was only one downfall to our visit which didn’t happen previously. We were given our bill before we even finished eating which is something I frown upon. I kind of understand if the restaurant is about to close, but it was a Friday night at around 9.30pm and the restaurant is advertised to close at 11pm. I’m not sure who’s idea it was, but it looks like not much has changed since grabyourfork visited in 2004 where she saw people being turned away even though they still had 1 1/2 hours before close time. Despite this minor blemish, I’ll still come back to Se Joung because of the food.

Se Joung

68-72 Evaline Street
Campsie NSW 2194
Phone (02) 9718 4039

 Dessert (detour to Woolies)

500 ml for $6.99

Having stuffed ourselves to the brim, we still had room for dessert. When it comes to ice cream I usually look no further than the Homer Hudson range. My favourite is cookies & cream but I heard the choc fudge isn’t too shabby either. I am so glad that Homer Hudson has made a comeback into the Australia market because apparently it was discontinued at some stage, only for it to be re-introduced sometime in the early 2000′s.

What makes Homer Hudson so good ? It’s thick, creamy, chunky and full of flavour. They don’t skimp on anything here, it really does taste like a ‘premium’ ice cream. Mind you, it isn’t exactly cheap. Be prepared to pay $7 for 500ml, but it’s worth it. If I could compare it to something else, it would be perhaps Häagen-Dazs.

It really does taste like they threw in a cookies and cream cake into the tub

Homer Hudson ice cream is stocked in Coles, Woolies, Caltex Servo’s and Domino’s Pizza.

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: campsie

Cravings for Korean food can be easily sated by heading to Strathfield – the hard bit is to decide which restaurant to eat at. Thankfully, we chose rather quickly (our decisiveness was most likely due to our growling stomachs), but when presented with the menu, we fell back to our old ways.

After much debating over what to order with our constraints (Ram couldn’t eat beef and I can’t take chilli as well as everyone would have liked), we finally ordered and only had to wait for a short time before the side dishes came rolling out, followed closely by our meal.

Side Dishes

The side dishes were the usual fare and to be honest, while I love most of these, they taste pretty much the same from all of the different Korean restaurants I’ve dined at; I sometimes wonder if they get it all from the same place. I must say though, I have yet to taste a bad Korean side dish.

Fried Dumplings

Dumplings brings to mind little balls of meat deftly wrapped in some sort of pastry that you’d pop into your mouth in one delicious *nom*. Imagine our surprise when these dumplings came out – they were so massive they didn’t even fit into the saucer filled with soy sauce (I know my eyes were fairly popping out). And they weren’t even round! It just goes to show that some things aren’t always what you expect, especially when it comes to food. The dumplings were filled with moist mince pork/beef and herbs, though it was its crisply fried pastry that was the highlight of this dish.

Spicy Kimchi Pancake/Pie

After much goading and coaxing, I nibbled a tiny corner and ended up gobbling the entire slice. I think this was more of an omelette than a pancake, but I could be wrong. Pancake or omelette, I quite enjoyed this dish and was rather happy that it took two back-to-back slices to make my taste buds shriek for water (which of course didn’t help that much, but the rice did). I have to admit, I haven’t tried kimchi before as all the chilli-redness makes me nervous and if I’m feeling brave enough next time it’s in front of me I will have a go at it.

Fried Rice

We ordered the fried rice to accompany the barbeque pork (below) and I don’t know if it’s a Korean thing or just the chef’s prerogative, but there were prawns and diced potatoes in the dish! Yes. Diced. Potatoes. I was rather excited (perhaps it was only because I have what my mother calls an unhealthy obsession with all things potatoes). The rice was bordering mushy, but that could be forgiven for the sheer amount of vegetables, egg, meat and seafood used and how well they all went together.

Spicy Pork Barbeque with 2 Mushrooms and Ddeok

There were two things about this dish that made me fret a bit: the humongous proportion served and how red it looked. Red food to me always signifies how spicy it is (especially when they look like chilli flakes) – a bit silly I know, but it was one of those things that was made as a measuring stick when I was a kid and has stuck around despite the many efforts made by my friends.

Why was I nervous about the size? Well, there were only 3 of us – granted two-thirds were made up by guys – and we were already well on the way to being full from the previous dishes. But guys being guys, they ploughed through it and somehow managed to finish at least seven-eighths of the meat.

The pork was juicy, even after sizzling on the hot plate for a good 30 minutes, and it was served with 3 mushrooms and about 8 pieces of ddeok to balance out the meatiness of the dish (please note sarcasm). I love meat, but there is a limit! I was very grateful for the dumplings, kimchi pancake/omelette and the fried rice to mix things up a bit.

We had a gander at the dessert offerings, but sadly nothing caught our eye (being exceptionally full makes one more picky I think). Literally rolling and groaning out of Ceci, we headed to the station to go home…

…Only somehow we ended up at Cafe Ca’D'Or, seated and perusing the dessert menu. The Pat Bing Soo piqued our interest and figuring that “king size” desserts can’t be that large, we opted for that (yes I know, we’re such pigs).

King-Sized Pat Bing soo

Sadly, we underestimated the Korean’s seemingly bottomless stomachs. The dessert, as you can see, was absolutely M-A-S-S-I-V-E. When it came out, our jaws literally dropped (I know that mine most certainly did, as well as mouthing something along the lines of “OMFG”) and we were stunned silent for a long moment.

We thought that perhaps it just looked as though there was a lot, when really underneath that layer of fruit would be all crushed ice. We looked and weren’t too sure whether to be dismayed or happy that we were proven wrong: there was more fruit and a lot less shaved ice than we expected.

Perhaps I’m more use to red beans in che form (Vietnamese sweet bean soup-y dessert thing), but I found that red beans with fresh fruit didn’t quite sit on my tongue all that “right”.

We managed to somehow make it halfway through the dessert before really having to stop – before someone blew up. I hate discarding good food (hence the stuffing), but honestly, if I had eaten any more, I would have thrown up (which I think is a big waste of food and and an even bigger no-no in my books).

CeCi is definitely a place to go to quench your raging Korean food cravings. Just remember to bring a huge appetite and an empty stomach. I have never been so full in my life.

I love Cafe Ca’D'Ors’ massive couches that you can just sink in and leisurely enjoy an ice chocolate or massive dessert with your friends. Looking at its decor, it’s definitely a place where they’re in no rush to move you out.

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced the prices for the dishes we ate, but I think the entire dinner, including dessert at Cafe Ca’D'Ors, worked out to be under $30 per person between the three of us.

CeCi
37 The Boulevarde
Strathfield, NSW, 2135
Ph: 02 9746 7710

Cafe Ca’D'Or
4 The Boulevarde
Strathfield, NSW, 2135
Ph: 02 9744 0419

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bbq, Dessert, dumpling, pork, spicy, Strathfield