It's been a while since I've written up a review but I'm back. It may only be momentarily, but I'll try to be more consistent because I have so much food to show to you guys after my month of non existent food blogging! Anyhow, after a very, very long time of eyeing this place, I have finally made the visit to Devon on Danks. With all those flaky cronuts flooding my instagram feed, I was so excited to finally get my hands on one for myself. 

Cappucino I always have to start off my brunch adventures with some sort of coffee so I opted for a Cappucino. I'm not the best at describing coffee nor distinguishing between a good blend and bad blend but the guy sitting at our share table had at least 3 coffees throughout the duration of our meal so hopefully that tells you how good the coffee was. 

'Naked' Bruschetta- $14.50

People would usually describe me as an indecisive person when it comes to food but on this particular occasion I was even more indecisive than usual. Everything caught my eye but I ended up ordering a 'Naked Bruschetta'. I'm not a big fan of beetroot but this dish may have just turned beetroot around for me.

The beetroot is the hero of this dish but the combination of the goats curd on the piece of walnut bread along with the kale crumble brought balance to the dish and made it very enjoyable. Let's also not forget the beautiful egg that lies on top of everything. If you love all things beetroot then this is definitely the dish for you!

Devon's Breakfast Burger- $16.50

My dining companion opted for Devon's Breakfast burger which contains wagyu brisket, hash potatoes, smoked beans, tasty cheese, cucumber pickle and of course a fried egg on top to complete the dish. When they first brought out the dish I gave my friend "the look" because the burger was so small in comparison to the serving board. Generally, people order chips with this or bacon so that explains all that space. Despite the emptiness, my friend said it was really filling and looked deceptively small. They really enjoyed it and said they would have another one if they could. 

Coconut Cronut- $6.50

Introducing the heroes of the meal. The cronuts otherwise known as 'Cronnies' are of course the thing that I was most looking forward too and they did not disappoint. We tried both the Coconut and the Salted caramel and popcorn cronut. This left me in a food coma but I have no regrets because they were so flaky. So crunchy and just pure goodness. My iPhone does not do these cronuts justice because they are much flakier in real life. If you even do visit Devon on Danks, make sure you grab one!

Salted Caramel and popcorn Cronut- $6.50 I really enjoyed my time here and the staff is so friendly. It was quite busy even though we went on a weekday and that's always a good sign. I highly recommend the cronuts so if you're ever in the area, definitely check this place out.
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Palsaik is a Korean restaurant hidden above the city of Sydney in Haymarket. When my friend discovered this place online, she said we had to go and that I had to write a blog post about it because there wasn't that much information about this place online. It is such a hidden gem, and when you can get such an amazing set meal for a good price, I just want to share it with you guys.
We ordered Combo B which was a beef BBQ set for 4 people. For $88 you get an entree of Seafood Pancake, a Kimchi Hotpot, 4 different types of meat for the BBQ and 4 bowls of rice. As with any Korean restaurant, you also get an array of side dishes. The Kimchi hotpot that you see pictured above tasted as amazing as it looked. I just couldn't get enough of that soup. 

Seafood Pancake

 The Seafood Pancake was pretty big considering it was only an entree, but it was a great way to start off the BBQ meal. 

With Combo B you get Wagyu Chuck Eye Roll, Wagyu Rib Meat, Wagyu Chuck Flap and Marinated Flank Shirt. The meat arrives on a metre long wooden board and my first instinct was to take a photo of it. Our waiter didn't mind too much. I guess she's use to it by now. 

Just seeing all the meat there made me so hungry so we began to BBQ everything. Funny thing is, none of us knew the gas had gone off for the BBQ so we sat there for a very long time grilling our meat over nothing. Once we changed out the gas , the meat kept coming. I made a few lettuce wraps and drowned my meat in the dipping sauce. Looking back at these pictures makes me so hungry.

I highly recommend that you order a Combo set when you visit Palsaik. I really want to try their 8 flavours of pork belly because that's what they're known for, so I am definitely revisiting this place sometime in the future. 

Level 1/2, 710 George St

Chinatown, NSW 2000

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Spicy Aroma has quickly become a favourite among my family, with my family visiting the Canley Heights restaurant 4 times in the past month. This is mainly because my Mum loves Thai/Laos food and when she is introduced to a good restaurant, she will keep revisiting it time and time again. 

Every time I hear Waterloo, the ABBA song starts playing in my head. I had checked out a few reviews of Pu'er even before I was contacted by Siev about dining here as a guest. I was pretty excited about trying this place out because I never really venture out to try Asian restaraunts. 

I've seen so many instagram posts of this place but I had just assumed that it was in some far off place with a massive walk since I don't know the Newtown area very well. The best part about this place is that it is literally right in front of Newtown train station.  Convenient location with good food. What more could you ask for?

I have always been a fan of hot green tea but I was never really a fan of things green tea flavoured, that is until recently.  I was offered the chance to sample the Washoku Selection at Chanoma. Washoku Lovers is a free membership card with many perks :)  It's quite amazing that it has taken me so long to try this place out since I always go past it when I visit Regent Place, but I am so happy to finally try this cozy little cafe/dessert/hotdog place- so many things in one but they do it all so well. 

Second Visit

Brioche French Toast- $14.50

I feel like a lot has changed with Buttermelt cafe since my last visit or maybe it's the same but I didn't pay that much attention. With this second visit, my whole perspective on Buttermelt Cafe has changed. I finally tried a sweet item from their menu and I loved every bit of it. The Brioche French Toast was amazing. It was soft and fluffy and the mascarpone cheese (it tasted like yoghurt.. I don't actually know was mascarpone is meant to taste like) combined with the berry maple made the dish sweet yet sour. The fresh strawberries on top made the whole dish perfect. This was a pretty gigantic portion of french toast and when they first brought it out I was just wondering how I was going to finish it. Definitely try this! 

Brekkie Burger- $12.50

First off, let me just say that, that egg was on point. The chopping board with the cute newspaper laid on top makes this burger quite photogenic. I did not get the right angle on this but seriously, so pretty. You can never go wrong with the combination of bacon, egg, lettuce and avocado spread so this burger was so good. Although there's only 3 polenta chips on the side, it is deceptively filling. I've never had polenta chips prior to this occasion but I thoroughly enjoyed them and I was completely stuffed after eating this.

I am definitely revisiting this place to try the rest of their burgers and of course their stack of pancakes. I'm glad I came back to Buttermelt to try a few more of their dishes because I can now say that this is a place I'll be frequenting more often! :) 

First Visit

 Remember when Strathfield was the home of froyo? Gone are the days you can pop into Stratty and grab Moochi or Noggi which is odd since they were the beginning of the whole froyo craze. Now that Moochi has moved out, a quaint little cafe has popped in its place. With Jayeslee constantly raving about Buttermelt Cafe in their vlogs, I just had to try this place out for myself. It's such a cute name as well like it just rolls of your tongue. Butter. Melt. Buttermelt. Genius.

I have never done an Indian review before on this blog. Actually, I've never had Indian food until this very day. This restaurant came highly suggested by my Indian friend who said it was his family's favourite and go to whenever they were eating out. This of course got me very intrigued because being the Indian food noob that I am, I don't really know what's good or not, BUT I can say this. From now on, you'll be seeing me around Indian food a lot more. The first thing I notice as I enter Neelam Restaurant is the aroma of the food and spice. 

This is the first cafe I have visited without any prior research done or instagram stalking done. It was one of those instances where I just really wanted eggs. My dining companions had eaten here before and loved it so I was more than willing to try this unknown cafe. Crema Espresso is that really red cafe you see on level 2 of Westfield, Parramatta. I've always thought that this was just a coffee place and never really took notice of it, despite all its redness. I'm so glad I tried this place out though. 

WHY HELLO AGAIN! Sorry for the lack of posts this past month, I've just had a pretty hectic month which left me no time to eat out, but now that its over, I can restart my food frenzies and continue making food babies. 

There's not many Surry Hills style cafes lying in the western suburbs so when I saw this place on people's blogs, I had already fallen in love with Paper Plane Cafe. As usual I lead my dining companions in the wrong direction as we try to find the cafe. I'm terrible at reading maps. I'm surprised I haven't wandered into Narnia at any point in my life. We finally reach the cafe and are greeted with a massive chalkboard wall and miniature pot plants from Ikea. It was like being in Surry Hills but not. Anyhow we reach this cosy cafe and are seated kind of slowly despite their being no lines and tables free. Mind you, this was a weekday... 

Left: Ice Coffee-$7, Right: Strawberry Lemonade-$5 I guess Paper Plane Cafe took the advice from bloggers and reviewers who have been complaining about the paper straws because they now serve there drinks with plastic straws that won't dissolve in your drink. The ice coffee was pretty strong but the ice-cream and whipped cream on top made the coffee sweet.  I had a tiny sip of the Strawberry Lemonade and it was quite enjoyable. 

Paper Plane Burger- $13 The Paper Plane Burger was an interesting item which caught my eye. Peanut butter was spread across the top brioche bun and BBQ sauce lined the bottom of the burger. Bacon, cheese, a beef patty, lettuce and tomato then made up the middle of the burger. I know this whole combo sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but the Peanut butter and bacon combo just works. It makes this burger one of the best burgers I've ever had. As for the side of "bad boys" aka really big chips, I couldn't finish them because the burger was surprisingly big but they were great! I highly recommend this burger to anyone who is trying out Paper Plane Cafe. 

Chicken sliders - $11.50 My dining companions chose the pork and chicken sliders for themselves and loved every bit of it, saying and I quote "this was worth the wait". They loved the fries served with their mini burgers as well. 

I believe we waited half an hour for our food and drinks was around 15 minutes. I'm not too sure about those timing estimates but I was starving by the time everything came out. Despite having an electronic ordering system I found the service at Paper Plane Cafe to be extremely slow. Whether it was lack of training or lack of staff I'm not too sure but the customer service is definitely the Achilles heel of this fantastic place. Nonetheless the whole hipster cafe feel is brought a little closer to home with Paper Plane Cafe making it a must visit. Their food is amazing so give it a try if you are ever in the area. 

Shop 5/2 Horwood Place

Parramatta, NSW 2150

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Coco Cubano is one of those places I venture to at Uni since it's conveniently located on campus.It was my first time visiting Central Park and my dining companions and I decided we would eat at Coco Cubano after a few too many hours being stuck in the library since they had never been here. Initially we were going to visit Autolyse but since I'm the type that needs pictures to decide on what food I'm going to eat, otherwise I have no idea what the dish would taste like (definitely going back to Central Park after I stalk some blogs) 

Chicken Tortilla- $12.90

This is something that I've had numerous times before on campus and it tastes just as good at their Central Park location. The chicken was moist and tender and the wrap was crispy. There was enough sauce in it just to cover the chicken but not so much that it is dripping out he bottom of the tortilla. There is also Guacamole in this tortilla, making it taste even better. 

Eggs your way- $9.90 My friend decided on this dish because she was craving poached eggs. Eggs your way is basically a dish where you can choose whether you want eggs poached or scrambled. It is served with a piece of sourdough bread and a side of tomatoes. My friend loved the sourdough bread. Only thing she disliked was the serving size.
The only thing that I could probably fault Coco Cubano on is their price to portion ratio. That is probably not a real ratio but for the sake of this it is. Their pricing is a bit more dear than most places. Is it worth it? I'm a bit meeh on that but I guess it's up to you. I enjoyed my meal and the staff were super nice and food came out relatively quickly, but if I was super hungry, this would not be the place I venture to since the serving sizes are quite small. 

Lower Ground Floor

1 Central Park Ave 

Chippendale, NSW 2008

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When my friend first showed me photos of the cheesy chicken at Stra Pocha my first reaction was OMG look at that cheesy goodness and then it was something along the lines of "asdlkacjfdbjivcsfd we're going here very soon". The day finally came and my tastebuds were ready because I heard of how fierce the Fire Chicken was. This only made me anticipate it even more. I would like to say I handle my spiciness pretty well, but this was a whole different level. 

Fire Chicken with cheese Fiery chicken be very fiery. To sum it up "If pain was a taste, this would be it" as said by one of my friends at the table. Despite my tongue feeling as though it had just been torched, it truly is a beast of a spicy dish that keeps you coming back for more. The cheese, chicken and chilli paste (?) (not sure how they reached that killer amount of spiciness) combo tastes surprisingly nice. The cheese is so stringy as it is served on a sizzling hot plate. Play with the cheese while it is sizzling hot and wrap it around each piece of chicken.The cheesy goodness is even better in real life, trust me. Underneath all the chicken lies a piece of bread that soaks up all the juices, chilli and cheese from the chicken. 

Hotpot Unfortunately my memory fails me here because I don't remember the name of this dish but the hotpot had ramen with cheese on top. The soup from the hotpot, to my surprise actually settled down the spiciness from the fire chicken. I genuinely loved this hot pot and wouldn't mind a taste of it right now. 
The pricing was in the $30 range for both these dishes. You are definitely getting your money's worth from these dishes. It's even better when you go with friends. The service was decent, although I wouldn't be the best judge because we were the only table there at the time. Overall, I enjoyed my meal and had a good chicken fix for the week. I will definitely revisit, but maybe not the fire chicken for a while cause the struggle was real with that dish. 
19-21 Everton Rd Strathfield, NSW 2135

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Long time no post. I'm in the home stretch of my exam period with only 1 more to go! I have been in hibernation for the past two weeks but here's a review on something I wrote a couple of weeks back from my trip to Ippudo. 
After many, many months of saying "We need to go to Ippudo", I have finally tried the famous ramen place located in the food court level of Sydney Westfield. I was most excited to try the pork buns but was saddened by the fact that they weren't serving it for while. (Cue Anaconda).  I asked the waiter when they would be bringing the pork buns back and he said in approximately 3 weeks, but by the time this post has been published, I believe that the buns are back on offer. HOORAAY!  

Akamaru Shinaji- $16 It is definitely a lot pricier than other ramen places, but I don't mind because this bowl of ramen was perfection. The noodles were perfectly cooked and the soup was thick but not as thick as the famous Gumshara (Noone can beat that God-ly thickness of a soup). Still I loved the soup. The Ippudo original tonkotsu soup was beautiful and the garlic oil added even more flavour to the soup. Go for the special version of this which offers extra sides because when they were bringing out to other tables, a sense of regret set in. 
The staff were super friendly and attended to you right away. They were really cheerful and made a great night even better. I was quite fascinated with the wave wooden roof above us OH and the soup spoons they hang off the walls just add a little something extra to the interior. I would say that Ippudo has more of communal seating unless you're in larger groups. I loved Ippudo and I can see why everyone is raving about it. I will definitely be coming back to try those pork buns but that's not all because I want to try all their ramens. I'm officially on the Ippudo bandwagon. 
Westfield Sydney, Level 5 188 Pitt St Sydney, NSW 2000

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I never venture out to Chatswood on my weekends because it is so far from where I actually am but when I had some commitments to attend to in Chatswood, I decided to stop by Marukame Udon because I was reading reviews about it and the majority of people loved the place.
Funny thing is as I was about to enter into the store, one of the workers comes out and offers me a free sample of their Bukkake Udon. I was already set on this meal so once I tried it I was 100% that this place would be amazing. Marukame Udon takes on a canteen style just like Menya Mappen. The one thing that this place does differently is that their noodles are hand made. 

Bukkake Udon with a slow cooked egg- $5.90 (M) I ordered a medium Bukkake Udon with a slow cooked egg, As for my pick from the sides I chose prawn tempura because I can never go to a canteen style udon joint without some sort of tempura. I kind of overkilled on the toppings, but it made the udon taste even better. 
The noodles were soft and thicker than the usual udon noodles you see around, given the fact that they make their noodles inside the restaurant. The soup was delicious, very similar to that of Menya Mappen. I wish they gave me just a tiny bit more soup because I finished the soup before I actually finished the noodles :( Still a great meal nonetheless. The tempura was crunchy just like tempura should be. 
The service was amazing and you are greeted loudly both when you enter the store and leave the store. I really enjoyed my time here and will be visiting here again the next time I'm in Chatswood. Definitely try it if you have a love for udon!  332 Victoria Avenue Chatswood, NSW 2067
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After postponing my trip to the Night Noodle Markets for a few weeks now, I have finally made it to Hyde Park to join in the celebration of food among many, many others (the lines were crazy). This was actually my first ever visit to the Night Noodle Markets (say what?!) what kind of food blogger has never visited the night noodle markets? I'm a bit late to the party, actually extremely late but I'm so glad I jumped into the markets before it's final night, which is tonight.

3 set Gua Baos- $20 Top to bottom: Silky Tofu, Braised Pork Belly, Twice Cooked Pork Belly My number one priority was Wonderbao, our lovely visitor from Melbourne. Luckily for me, I had found seating right next to Wonderbao. The queue was already forming and this was exactly at 5pm. Yes it's definitely popular with everyone at the markets. Happiness is ensured as I receive my 3 set of Gua Baos. One of each. 
Each one was pillowy and soft. The hoisin sauce on the Twice Cooked Pork Belly is heavenly and makes this glorious bun even better. The pork belly was half fat and half meat, but it was so beautifully done so no complaints here. The Braised Pork Belly was drenched in sauce and topped off with crushed peanuts and coriander. I think my favourite of the three Gua Baos was definitely this one. I was pleasantly surprised by the Fried Tofu. The skin was crispy yet the insides felt so silky. Guess that's why they call it Silky Tofu. No false advertising to be found here. 
Wonderbao, please open a store up in Sydney so that I can eat you all day everyday because I don't know what I'm going to do without these buns in my life. 

Pork skewer- 2 Skewers for $10 The next stop was Hoy Pinoy another visitor from Melbourne. Just follow the smoke and you'll find yourself at the foot (well technically the back of a very long line) for some Fillipino BBQ. I didn't line up myself (thank goodness) but when I walked towards that area at 8pm, the lines were cray. I ordered the Pork skewer whilst my friends ordered the Chicken Skewers. They loved theirs and I loved mine. Would totally have bought more if not for the lines. These smokey, marinated skewers are definitely worth a try because I don't think I have ever had anything like it. Please make a store in Sydney!

Korean Tacos with Chilli Pork- 2 for $15 or 3 for $20 Korean Tacos?? My first reaction was confusion and then curiosity and then I found my self on the line at POKLOL. This was the first time I heard of this particular Sydney Fusion restaurant. The 'Korean Tacos' sign definitely perked my interests. I got the Chilli Pork Taco which is a soft taco served with Korean spicy marinated pork with Kimchi slaw, shallots, sweet tangy pickles, coriander, crispy shallots and spicy mayo. The filling of the taco was tender. All the ingredients just blended together so well. Although the shallots were raw, the taste of it wasn't overpowering and the whole filling just balanced so well. The spiciness wasn't too overpowering either, just the right amount that hits you after you eat the whole taco. 
Although the lines are somewhat scary, they are well worth the wait. If you haven't been down to the Night Noodle Markets this year, definitely make a trip down there today otherwise you'll have to wait for a whole year and you do not want to miss out on this party for your tastebuds. 
Hyde Park Sydney, NSW 2000 ♥

A thai review twice in a row? YEP. My love for Thai and Laos food is becoming excessive, but you can never be too in love with food. I have been a fan of Holy Basil for a very very long time. Ever since that first moment I tried fried icecream with my family in Canley Heights, I have yet to find a place that does fried icecream better. We'll get to the infamous Fried Icecream a bit later but the points to take away from this bordering essay style intro is I love the Canley Height branch and was curious as to if they would do anything differently at the CBD branch.

Left:Ox Tongue -$11.90,  Right:Laos Pork sausages-$11.90 Excuse my dodgey photography skills here. I was too excited to dig in that I didn't angle my photos properly... Let's start of with my favourite, the Ox Tongue. It was cooked beautifully and remained tender. The serving size was actually pretty decent as well. At Holy Basil they serve their Ox Tongue in thicker slices than other places, which is a big bonus in my books. 
I enjoyed the Laos Pork Sausages quite alot. Normally I don't really get this dish unless someone else wants it but I think I will be getting this more often from now on because they were delicious.

Chicken Pad Thai- $13.90 I'm living the Pad Thai life all day everyday recently. I really enjoyed this Pad Thai especially because there was so much sauce and goodness in the dish. There was also a fair amount of chicken pieces scattered through the dish. I could barely finish this dish because there was just so much noodles in this dish.

Thai Beef Salad- $14.90 I didn't try this myself, but my friends loved it. Just look at all that meaty goodness!

Holy Basil Fried Icecream-$13.90 The Grand Finale of this epic meal was of course my favourite and might I say the BEST FRIED ICECREAM EVER! The outside is so crispy and the batter covering the icecream is thin unlike many other restaurants. I just love this so much and this is a definite must have for all those going to Holy Basil.
Overall, the staff was friendly and service was wonderful. As Holy Basil is located in Shark Hotel, the bar is right next door so you can hear the hustle and bustle of the bar. We had reserved seating that night so I can't comment to much on the wait but whilst we were eating, I could see many people waiting to be seated outside of the restaurant. Portion sizes are on the larger size which is always a bonus for such great food. Shark Hotel 127 Liverpool St Sydney, NSW 2000

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