Miss Chu (Vietnamese Tuck Shop in Sydney)

The highlight of our Fridate last week was lunch at Miss Chu, a Vietnamese Tuck Shop located inside a building at Regent Place. We passed by the restaurant a couple of times before but can never get seats. We arrived at exactly 12 noon for lunch on Friday and lucky us! We got ourselves a decent table.

The table was actually an ironing table which has cutleries and condiments and two sets of list for ordering food and drinks. 

The Husband pointed out immediately that they serve Iced Vietnamese Coffee because he knew how fond I am of their sweet and milky coffee. 

We started off with Tiger Prawns and Green Mango Paper Rolls. It was so fresh and filling. 

The Husband had Lemongrass Beef with salad and brown rice. This was delicious as the beef was tender and had the strong taste of Lemongrass.  I loved this. 

I had the Caramelised Pork Belly Stew with Asian Greens and Brown Rice. Another beautiful dish, the flavour of the pork left a wonderful taste on my mouth. It had a bit of chili but it was only mildly spicy. 

My rice dish came with an egg that seemed poached and fried at the same time. It's perfect!

This was a wonderful dining experience. I loved our food and enjoyed every bite of it. I'm very glad we found a Vietnamese restaurant in the city that serves great food. 

Miss Chu
501 George Street, Sydney
Phone: 02 9283 0357

Forte Room (Liverpool, NSW)

I attended a training program related to work last week and it gave me a chance to have coffee and breakfast at a cafe near the training venue.

Forte Room has a modern but cozy ambience with warm lighting that will relax you while you enjoy your meal. 

The walls are adorned with quotes about food, a good backdrop for photo ops.

They have a breakfast offering of coffee and a sandwich of your choice for only AUD$7.00. I had a cup of long black (they charged me an additional 50c) and a huge Bacon and Egg Sandwich. The meal was good and comforting as it was freshly-cooked after I ordered. Their coffee was strong and leaves a bitter aftertaste, more than enough to wake up my senses in the morning.

I noticed a shelf full with magazines and board games. A sign that they like patrons to linger and have fun while in their cafe.

 Other than cafe food, they offer lunch, dinner and catering. The place can also be rented for private events. 

Forte Room
3/107 Moore Street
Liverpool NSW 
Phone: (02) 8798 6460

My Sweet Memory's Bingsu

Other than Salted Caramel yogurt, my other refreshing discovery last Summer was Bingsu.

Bingsu is a pretty dessert or snack from Korea eaten during Summer. It is usually made up of ice shavings, milk, fruits, red beans, cereal flakes and ice cream. This is similar to the Philippines' Halo-Halo. I discovered this during one of my trips to My Sweet Memory Cafe. 

On the light of discovering something new, My Sweet Memory now has a new branch in Chinatown (708 George Street, Sydney). The Husband and I visited the place last month and found it quite different from other stores. Their interiors seem more vintage and the ambiance more like a bar.

The only thing we don't like in this new MSM are the chairs. They're aesthetically cute but quite uncomfortable to sit on.  But the coffee is good and they're adding more food on the menu. My favourite branch is still the one in Strathfield and Townhall but I wouldn't mind getting a cuppa here in case I'm in Chinatown.

When in Manila...Eat! (New Food Discoveries in 2011)

The gastronomical experience below happened during our 2011 vacation in the Philippines.

It's the 4th day of March and it's now Autumn here in the land down under. The season started off with lots of rain and the temps have gone down a few notches that we are now grabbing our light jackets on our way out the door. 

Today also signals the start of our month-long countdown to going home---Manila. Yes! The Husband and I will spend a few days in the Philippines to have our much-needed leave from work. I'm excited and a bit agitated about travelling again. Excited because I can't wait to not work, travel again, see airports, spend time with the Husband, our families and friends, rest and eat! I'm a bit agitated because at this state, well, we still have a few things to finish before we go on holiday--there's work, getting stuff organized and packing suitcases which we hope won't go over the weight limit. But all in all, we are happy that things are slowly falling into place and things will be settled in time for our vaycay.

There's always that expectation when we travel that we'd find new dishes to enjoy and love. The Philippines is fast becoming a food haven with so many new restaurants sprouting one after another. During our 2011 vacation, Manila did not disappoint in satisfying our tummies as we discovered a few good dishes from new restaurants (new to us at least).

Via Mare (Manila, Philippines)

AWCL visited Via Mare in April 2011.

There were so many things that I wanted to share when the Husband and I vacationed in the Philippines in 2011. We're about to go back to Manila again in a few weeks and I have this nagging feeling inside me to blog a few food and travel experiences we had then. So today, I went back to our 2011 photos and started resizing them. My fingers are aching from all the photos I processed. This week, I will be sharing snippets of our 2011 vacation.

I'll start with some of my favourites from Via Mare. Our family loves eating at Via Mare, specifically the one inside Landmark (Makati City). I can stay at Via Mare for hours and I wouldn't mind. Before we left Manila in 2011, we spent about 4 hours at Via Mare on our last weekend.  We started from lunch until meryenda. That's how comfortable we are eating at Via Mare and that's how much we loved their food.

I always order fresh Buko Juice upon arrival.

The Husband enjoys their Arroz ala Cubana which comes with a lot of banana slices.

My favourite rice dish is the one with Vigan Longganisa which always has a crunchiness.

We also enjoy their Adobo Flakes.

One of the best Arroz Caldo I've tasted. Whenever I'm feeling under the weather, I always order this.

We always partner the Arroz Caldo with a bowl of Tokwa't Baboy (fried tofu and pork). 

For dessert or afternoon tea, we enjoy their Puto Bumbong and Bibingka.

More food adventures in the Philippines in the coming days.

Dinner at Mizuya (again!)

A week after having dinner with friends on my birthday week, the Husband and I went back to Mizuya the following week because I craved for their Spicy Karaage. It was that good!

I was early so I had time to take photos of the restaurant. They have a bar-type dining for patrons.

And a cubicle-type of dining area which gives patrons privacy while they eat.

Our dinner.

Takoyaki Balls (deep-friend octopus and potato dumplings).

The Spicy Karaage that satisfied. I could have this everyday.

The highlight of our dinner was getting a small plate of Crispy Chicken Skin. Soooo good! Thin crispy chicken skin served to us fresh from the deep fryer. This is a great partner to beer or rice (coz I'm Pinoy like that! Pwedeng ulam! Haha). This is definitely not healthy but a once-in-a-while indulgence won't be too bad. And be sure to share! 

That was one fun and delicious dinner. Since it's still Summer here in Sydney, we went out and it was still light. I shared this photo in my IG account but I'm sharing it again here because the sky was just too blue and beautiful that day. 

Mizuya Japanese Restaurant and Karaoke

Basement, 614 George Street

Sydney NSW 

Phone: 02 9266 0866

"Sweeten Thy Soul" (Dinner & Desserts with Girlfriends)

Ended the month of January on a happy note as the Husband and I met up with good friends Meds and Charyn for dinner. 

The plan was to try out this family restaurant in Westmead but it turned out that they were closed for the evening due to an event (oh well, maybe next time). So we trooped down to Parramatta to have dinner there instead. Thanks to Charyn's suggestion, we got to try mouthwatering pizzas, a comforting risotto and a decadent sticky date pudding at Restaurant 317.

I started off with a refreshing glass of Mojitos with lots of fresh lime wedges. It was so hot that day and this made it all better. 

Got ourselves a Cheese and Olive Starter Pizza made of Provolone Cheese and Olive Tapenade.

For our mains, we had the Margherita Pizza and Italian Sausage Pizza.

All of us enjoyed the Chicken Risotto in creamy sauce, mushroom and shallots. I loved this.

The pizzas and risotto were very filling but we can resist but order their Sticky Date Pudding. It's too sweet for my liking but since there were four of us that shared this, it wasn't overwhelming. It had a lovely butterscotch sauce and delicious vanilla gelato which made the sticky date pudding more enjoyable.

 A few steps away from Restaurant 317 is Chocolateria San Churro, one of my favourite dessert places in Australia. We came here to have a hot Spanish chocolates and some churros. Our Spanish chocolates that night: the original and thick Classic Spanish chocolate, the Madrid Mocha which had a shot of espresso (I recommend this to coffee lovers) and the nutty Avellana which has a hazelnut flavour.

"Sweeten thy Soul" is what you see in every cup at Chocolateria San Churro. Very fitting phrase to describe why it's important to me to be with loved ones. As good food nourishes the body, it is the people we love who feed our soul. :)


Restaurant 317
317 Church Street, Parramatta
Phone: 1300 317 317

Chocolateria San Churro
287 Church Street, Parramatta
Phone: 02 9633 1566

Birthday Dinner at Mizuya

One of our group of friends organized a birthday dinner for me (awww thank you dear Hanes!) and it was held at a Japanese restaurant and karaoke bar. It was my Husband and I's first time at Mizuya. We always pass by this establishment on George Street but thought it was just a karaoke bar. We discovered that it was also a good place to catch up with friends while enjoying great Japanese food.

We went there solely for dinner so there was no need to book a private karaoke room (maybe next time?), however, eating at their dining area felt exclusive as each table looked like little rooms/cubicles. I should have taken a photo so you can see what I'm talking about but never worry as Hubby and I will be coming back there soon to eat again so I'll take photos then.

Each cubicle has a touch-screen monitor where we get to order what we like. The monitor showed the name, amount and photo of each of their dish. This is so convenient and non-fussed. Once we tapped on the dishes we liked, the orders came arriving at our table. 

We had a feast that night as the food just kept on coming...and vanishing into our tummies LOL. 

Garlic and Chili Edamame

Silverfish with Seawood Salt

Seaweed Salad

Soft Shell Crab

Tonkatsu

BBQ Salmon Steak served with bean sprouts and broccoli.

Spicy Karaage (my favourite!)

Spider Roll made of cucumber, avocado, crab stick, egg omelette, soft shell crab and topped with chili powder.

And of course we had noodles!!! 

Mizuya offers great desserts too. 

The Mizuya Dessert Trio: Japanese Cheesecake, Green Tea Brulee and Champagne Jelly.

The Shiramata Sundae made up of Green Tea sundae and Sweet Red Bean.

Everything was soooo good! The seafood and sushi tasted fresh and the meat dishes were perfectly cooked. Every dish was tasty and flavourful. The desserts gave us that sweet finale which we all loved.

Mizuya Japanese Restaurant and Karaoke

Basement, 614 George Street

Sydney NSW 

Phone: 02 9266 0866