Astor Epresso

Everytimes I pass by this cafe, it is always packed with people. From the picturesu below, you can see how beautiful of the local cafe can be :)

Astor Epresso
166 Glebe Point Rd., Glebe NSW 2037
Tel : (o2) 8065 4414

Azuma, Chifley

Azuma is one of the most famous fine dining Japanese restaurant in Sydney, being claimed as Tetsuya's favourite place. We were keen to try but opted for lunch since the lunch set is affordable.

1 pm. The place was packed with office people.

Azuma Bento : Sashimi, Sushi, Tempura, Wagyu Beef steak, Azuma's. 'Amuse-

Bouche', Blanched Seasonal Vegetables, rice and Miso soup $40.00

I was extremely happy when this bento was brought to the table, very beautiful, don't you think?

Sashimi : fresh as it should be

Sushi : I had been wanted to try their sushi for long time. First bite in my mouth, wow, so nicely smokey flavour. I dipped it in to soy sauce a little bit and found it quite salty (I dipped very very little) then I tried eating it without dipping, it already has been seasoned with salt. Asking me whether I like it, yes I do but not my favourite. Will you guys laughing me if I say that I prefer the aburi sushi at Makoto? hahaha cuz I like the one that sauce and mayo :P

Tempura : 2 prawns and a piece of sweet potato. I love the prawn, it was super fresh and cruchy. The batter, however, was too thick and oily.

Wagyu beef steak : nicely smokey and the sauce was complement the flavour very well. Taste like char grilled pork "Moo Ping" in Thailand. I want it to be more fatty so it can melt in my mouth though.

Amuse Bouche : a piece of grilled fish (I am not sure if it is miso flavoured cod but I really like it, very buttery and moist), a piece of deep fried soft shell crab (I like and it does spicy), a bread-crumb prawn (again, the prawn was so fresh), a meat ball ( I don't know what it is but it tasted like typical Japanese typical meat ball in sweet sauce), broccori (too full to eat) and a half of strawberry.

Blanched Seasonal Vegetables : very refreshing.

Miso : lots of veggies and tofu inside, however, not my liking. I like the plain miso soup with only seaweed and tofu. I found this one is too oily to eat when it cools down.

Super happy faces with our bento !

After that, of course I took Nut to see Bacco and our super small kitchen :D

For me, I think the bento's look is nicer than its taste. Don't get me wrong, the food here is nice but maybe I expected too much.

Azuma Japanese Restaurant
Level 1 Chifley Plaza, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney 2000
Tel : (02) 9222 9960

Taste of Shanghai II

I went to do the group assignment at my friend's house in Chatswood. After finished, I was just walking shopping around Westfield and met Seok by chance. Long time never seen him so we decided to have dinner at Taste of Shanghai, World square.

It was around 5 pm. not so many people yet.

Their lunch set is quite interesting, I might come here to try some day after work.

Since I was not hungry at all, we just ordered a few. Soek chose the chicken and salted fish fried rice. Not bad at all, it was not oily and very big portion. But we hardly find the salted fish.

I told Seok I wanted to try Xio long bao.

It was good, the filling was flavoursome even the skin was a bit thicker than the one in Din Tai Fung but I was satisfied (only if it was hotter, it would be perfect, I like piping hot !)

Soek was taking photo of the food..haha, first time I saw that :)

Taste of Shanghai

Shop 9.07, World Square, 644 George St, Sydney

Tel: 9261 8832

La Grande Bouffe

Feel like having French breakfast, Nut and I went to La Grande Bouffe at Rozelle (actually our initially idea was we wanted to go Rozelle market and Adriano..haha)

Inside was packed of seem-so-mature-people.. only 2 of us are like asian girls..hohoho (yeah, i still call myself girl :P)

Chamomile tea (T2) $3.30

So strange that a coffee person like me had to drink tea cause my reflux ..haih

Fresh Baguette with home made jam $5.50

The hi light of the meal. It was toasted til very crispy and tasted so nice.. even we thought it was almost over toasted..but yeah.. one of the best baguette I had so far in Sydney.

Braised Ham hock with Puy lentils and poached egg $15.00

It was different from what I expected but it was nice. The ham hock was tender and melt in your mouth. The lentils made the dish healthy. The broth was light and flavoursome. I enjoyed the dish but Nut thought it could have been done better.

When you break the egg and yolk run through the broth, the flavour was totally changed.. become richer (but I prefer the light version one).

I quite like the food and wanna try more of their dinner but the place is very noisy... I think it is because of the building material?

Le Grande Bouffe
Shops 1 & 2
758 Darling Street, Rozelle NSW 2039
Tel : (02) 9818-4333
Open 7 days, Breakfast from 7.30am, Lunch from 12pm, Dinner Tuesday- Saturday nights from 6.30pm.