To be completely honest, one of the main reasons why we wanted to visit Sydney, was to eat. Not that we don’t get enough to eat here in Adelaide, but we had heard so much about how good the food in Sydney was, that we just had to go and try it for ourselves.
The Sydney Fish Market was one of the places we really wanted to check out, as we had heard so much about it. For some reason, we got it into our heads that it’ll be like a wet market, but erm, it’s not. It was basically many different restaurants, with a huge variety of fresh seafood, and you can choose to have it raw or cooked in whatever style you want. It was really crowded, so we decided to get our seafood to go instead, since we weren’t very hungry anyway.
Birds scavenging for food at the Sydney Fish Market
Fresh seafood galore
We ended up eating only Asian food there, mainly because we lived so near Chinatown. The Chinatown Night Market happens every Friday night, from 4pm to 11pm, and even though we went for a walk there after our dinner, we still ended up buying some snacks for supper.
Chinatown at night
The East Ocean Restaurant food cart
C read somewhere that the Emperor’s Cream Puffs were really good, so of course, we had to get some. We passed by the stall on various occasions, and each time, be it day or night, there would always be a queue for them. It’s a tiny hole-in-the-wall kind of stall, sandwiched between a dim sum restaurant at the corner of the street, and a very old-school bakery, so make sure you keep a lookout for it.
Emperor’s Cream Puffs
Cheap and good
We miss eating at Din Tai Fung back in Singapore, and were thrilled to find that there was a branch near our hotel in Sydney. It was our first meal when we arrived, and our last before we left. The xiao long baos were as good as we remembered them to be, as were the noodles, and fried rice. We were too busy eating to remember to take photos, so we only have a shot of C’s spicy noodles with shrimp and pork dumplings. Oops.
Noah with the Din Tai Fung mascot
Spicy noodles with shrimp and pork dumplings
The other restaurant which we were familiar with was Ippudo. The ramen and its broth were as amazing as we remembered it to be, and we loved how the egg was perfectly done. I had the shiromaru tamago, which is the original tonkotsu broth, served with pork loin and flavoured egg, while C went for the akamaru tamago, which has a special blended miso paste added to the original tonkotsu broth. Personally, I found his to be slightly saltier than mine, and if it’s your first time eating there, I would recommend getting the shiromaru instead.
Hot and yummy ramen
Our all-time favourite eating place in Sydney was Mamak, which served authentic Malaysian food. It is perpetually crowded, even if you go really early, so be prepared to wait. Thankfully, the queue wasn’t that long when we got there one evening, and we were able to distract Noah by getting him to watch the staff toss the roti canai. The plain roti canai was nice and fluffy, and the egg roti canai came served neatly in slices, something which I am not used to seeing in Singapore. (We also call them roti prata, not roti canai, back home.) The nasi lemak was very satisfying, and C couldn’t stop gushing about how authentic and delicious it was. He ordered the one with the spicy prawns, while I had the non-spicy fried chicken, and both were very good.
Roti canai
Nasi lemak
We had dim sum at Marigold for breakfast, and as with all other eateries in Sydney, it’s best to go early. We love how old-school the place is, with push-carts filled with various dishes, and I was fascinated by two of the push-carts, which doubled up as cooking stations for the vegetables, and pan-fried treats. We particularly enjoyed the pan-fried rice rolls, served with two different sauces, and best eaten hot. We had the usual selection of dim sum, such as har gao, siew mai, and char siew bao, all of which were of good standard, and served hot. Definitely worth a visit if you want to have dim sum!
Cooking on the push-cart
Pan-fried rice rolls
Dim sum for you?
Steamed char siew paus
Carefully scooping out the beancurd pudding
Old-school ‘bill’
Waiting for food
If you’re looking for a quick Chinese breakfast, try Mother Chu’s Taiwanese Gourmet in Chinatown. It’s opposite the Emperor’s Cream Puffs stall, so you can get some of the cream puffs as snacks for later too. We enjoyed the egg pancake with Chinese donut, as well as the glutinous rice roll with pork floss.
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