Thursday, May 30, 2013

PappaRich Australia (Chatswood)


PappaRich Group was first established at Malaysia in 2005, and not long ago the group opened its first outlet at Chatswood in Sydney. Bun and I headed there with a few dishes in our minds, and we mainly wanted to see how different it was to Mamak.





When we got into the restaurant, the waitress explained to us on how to order. So pretty much you just write the codes corresponding to the dishes you wanted on this piece of paper, and also letting them know whether to have the dessert at same time or after meal. There's always a button on the table to call the staffs when you are ready to order or need any assistances.



Rebena Melon

First thing of the menu (as always) was the drink, and this particular drink has immediately caught my attention. I was totally drawn by the colour of the drink, and the floating fruits that came in very round shapes. Although it didn't really say what was included in this drink from the menu, but I could taste watermelon and perhaps Longan? There were few jelly-like things at the bottom of the drink, and surprisingly they tasted like Jasmine tea. The overall drink was very refreshing with loads of different flavours and textures, and I liked it very much as it also helped to cool down the burning lips after the spicy foods.



Coffee + Milo, Pappa special Nasi Goreng with fried chicken

So these were what Bun ordered, as he always adores the crispy skin chicken. The rice actually tasted really flavoursome, and they were quite moist unlike some of the really dry fried rice that we've tasted before. There was also an egg and a pappadum, the egg was well-cooked and the pappadum was extra thin and crispy like those prawn crackers. I have to mention that the Sambai (sauce) is way spicier than what we imagined, but gosh that felt so good afterwards with all the sweats!




Roti Canai with Curry chicken

How can I walk out of a Malaysian restaurant without a piece of Roti? This one looked way tempting that any others I've seen, maybe because it comes with the additional Curry chicken (both are my favourites)! The Roti had a crunchy edge and a slightly crispy surface, it was quite different with Mamak's one whereas the Roti there was completely soft. The chicken was as juicy as expected, but I prefer it to be dipped in the Sambai as I found the curry sauce itself was a bit light. Mmm...what type of Roti I preferred? I guess I still liked the ones from Mamak a little more as I prefer them soft and easily stretched apart.



Banana fritters with Ice cream

Everything went so well up until the dessert stage, and I still didn't understand what really happened. But the story was, we've ordered this dish and it literally took about 1 hour to arrive at our table. Also, in between all this time, we have checked TWICE on this dish with the staffs! At first we really thought that it was fried food, so obviously it would've take longer to make. But unfortunately this idea was eliminated after another half hour went by and everyone else around us got their desserts already. So when it finally arrived at our table, we didn't even feel like eating it anymore. We found the banana was very bland, and the skin was already soggy and it was funny how we liked the Ice cream better than the Banana. Sadly, this killed the mood and it didn't finish the meal as the way we wanted. I guess if we ever visit them again, we'll just have to order a simpler dessert, like...pudding or something.


Despite of the lateness of the dessert, we could still say that all the other dishes were delicious. I would still recommend this to all the fans of Malaysian cuisine, and we also found PappaRich actually had a lot more varieties to choose from.


Address:
1/63A, Archer Street, Chatswood NSW

Phone number:
02 9411 3207

Opening time:
Sun to Thu 11am - 9pm
Fri and Sat 11am - 10pm


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Papparich on Urbanspoon

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Vivid Sydney 2013

When: 24th May to 10th June 2013
Where: Circular Quay and Darling harbour

I've decided to make a video for Vivid Sydney from Circular Quay this year, it's actually my first video ever so I hope I covered most part of the festival!! Enjoy!!



Thanks for watching!!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Zilver Yum Cha (Groupon Deal)

On last weekend, we decided to go Yum Cha. So before we head out, we spotted this $35.00 voucher on Groupon. It's a 10 course meal for two at Zilver, so we figured it was a pretty awesome deal!


Zilver was awarded the "Best Yum Cha" in 2012 "I Love Food Awards" and featured in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. We thought this would be a good chance to finally visit this hidden gem in Haymarket, and we were amazed to see the incredible amount of people even at 1.30pm.


WOOOHOOO! VIP Seats?!!?! LOL



Here's a full-shot of our food for the day, I just totally enjoyed the outstanding colours when they were combined together.



Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce (1)

This was the first dish and it was served to be shared between two people. These vegetables always gave me nostalgia as I use to eat them when I was still a kid. I love the oily leaves and the crunchy stems, as they had a taste that reminded me of family.



Prawn dumpling (1) (top) and Chives dumpling (1) (bottom)

How could you say you've had Yum Cha without having one of those classic prawn dumplings? They were no doubt one of my favourites! I loved how this filling was completely satisfying, with that bite sunk right into the juicy and transparent prawn. As with the Chives dumpling, I wasn't really a fan of Chives...but I actually quite liked this one! Maybe because the clear skin just went so well with the filling, in which made me enjoy it just like all others.


MUHAHAHA! Close-up shots!



BBQ pork bun (1) (top) and Signature custard fondant (1) (bottom)

I was telling Bun how much I loved this photo above, the yellow colours just contrasted so well with the white buns! I can't believe how fresh both of those tasted, it was simply amazing. The custard inside that soft yellowish coat was absolutely stunning, and it was sweet and mushy just as it should be. I also loved the moment when I split that pork bun and watched the steams squeezing out, the filling was very flavoursome.



Staring at these pictures made me wanting to have them all over again!! ><



Crispy prawn pie (1) (right) and Chicken spring roll (2) (left)

We get 1 extra spring roll per person (YAY!) and this was the plate that was full of fried goodies! Mmmm, we couldn't wait to land our fingers on them...The spring roll was more crispy than we thought and the filling was just to the right amount. However, I still loved the crispy prawn pie more, just because it's prawn :P but also the skin was fried differently with a louder crunching sound.



Nom Nom Nom....!!



Chicken dim sim (1)

It's Dim Sim time! This was probably my least favourite dish if I had to compare it, not because it doesn't taste good, but just not as special as the others. Also I think by the time I reached this dish, it was getting a bit cold already...


Note: Actually there was another dish of Coconut Jelly, unfortunately my brain and stomach must've died by then and forgot to take an individual picture of that...-__-"(top left corner of the picture with all the dishes) Although I can tell you that the coconut flavour was strong, just the way we loved.



Stir fried noodle with soya sauce (1)

Our last dish of fried noodles came not long after we finished everything, although we were pretty much dead already by that stage. So unfortunately, we were only able to finish half of this plate, but the taste was pretty good! The portion was certainly enough to share between two people! Just that I found the noodles gone a little soggy...


We were so pleased with this Yum Cha meal, and it was great to see that Groupon often have these sorts of deals. Hopefully we could find some more similar deals in the future! It was certainly worth it!


Address:
Level 1/477 Pitt Street, Haymarket NSW

Phone number:
02 9211 2232

Opening time:
Mon - Sun 11am - 3pm


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Zilver on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

FBicecream competition

Dear: All the Sydneysiders out there!!

There's a competition running by FBi Radio in collaboration with Gelato Messina to celebrate their 10th birthday! By using doughnuts as a key ingredient, you can decide on a flavour and then submit your entry to fbicecream@fbiradio.com or twitter/instagram using the hashtag #fbicecream! (Entry close on 30th May 2013)

Check out more details about the competition on their website http://fbiradio.com/fbicecream/




GOODLUCK!!!!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

5 ways to be happy!

I walked on the street the other day, and saw many individuals had a frown on their face. Why is it so hard to be happy? How can we achieve happiness? What is "Happiness" exactly? These questions popped up millions of times before, but we never really knew how to answer them. Although here are some of the ways that I feel in which may allow people to be happy...


1. Live like as if there is no tomorrow.
I'm sure we all heard of this one. If tomorrow is the end of the world, what would you do today? Would you still care about what others think about you? Would you still work your ass off with absolutely no attention to your health? Would you still fight with people who care about you over small things? Would you still be complaining about everything around you? So start absorbing that concept into your mind today, and laugh every morning simply because the world has granted you another day.


2. Volunteer to help.
Life is not always about receiving, but as well as giving. When was the last time you made an effort to help someone? How did it feel like afterwards? Whether it's simply helping an old man with directions, or volunteer all the way across the globe, it allows us to achieve a sense of satisfaction. Not everyone have the ability to put a smile on another person's face, so you are very special if you did.



3. We shouldn't want another person's life.
It may sounds like an excuse, or an escape from something you can't reach. But the truth is, each person has their own way of living, and we probably can never have the things that others possess, simply because we are not "them". While you admire the life that others had, you never realised how they actually got there. You probably thought...I wish I was in their position? Don't. Just turn around, and you will see at least one person wished they had your life.



4. Laughter is contagious, and so is anger, jealousy, depression etc.
The more positive friends you have, the more likely you will be a happy person. This is because they continuously feed you happy memories and motivate you to be part of them. Unfortunately, we all have bumped into at least one nasty person in life. Whether it's the bitchy type, betrayal type, back-stabbing type, whatever. Just remember to delete them from your life, completely. Once you have done that, you will realise how great that decision was.


5. The past will always be in the past.
Whatever mistakes you made yesterday, it's all history. We shouldn't hope to go back and change things, or constantly blaming on ourselves. Has anyone seen the Butterfly Effect? That's exactly what I mean. Everytime you try to change things, something else arises. The worst thing that can ever happen is to abandon what you had today to chase for yesterday. So walk on, leave it all behind, because you know the future will always be brighter than the past.


Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!! ^^

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Charlie & Co Burgers (Sydney Westfield)


Burgers. Mmmm yuuuum! Both me and Bun love burgers (not to mention how addicted we were with McDonald's lamb burger awhile ago), so when we heard about Charlie & Co Burgers inside Sydney Westfield, we got very curious.


Coke $4.50

This place was quite big with bright lighting, a little different to what we thought. We found a seat near closing time and ordered an icy coke first to relieve the exhaustion from walking around. They gave us one of those buzzers to wait for our order...



Charlie's Hangover Burger $12.00 (prime Angus beef patty, hash brown, cheddar cheese, fried egg, prime back bacon and BBQ sauce) + Sea salt fries $6.00 (side dish)

Ta-da! Bun and I decided to share a burger and some sea salt fries! The reason we picked the Hangover burger was because...

1. Somehow it sounds disturbing and entertaining at the same time *cough* we love odd names like these.
2. It included ALL the ingredients we would ever wish for to be inside a burger, especially the hash brown. Mmmm..




Gosh the burger was huge! I'm glad we actually decided to share one beforehand...Bun said it was almost the size of his face!


We both totally loved every single layer of this burger, from top to bottom! The combination of hash brown, beef patty and bacon was such a genius idea. The beef patty squeezed out its juice everytime when you bite into it, along with the flavoursome bacon and the soft hash brown...not to mention the heat slowly melted down the Cheddar cheese, and the fried egg that came with a splash of awesome BBQ sauce!!! We were happy about everything, except maybe the bread was a bit too chunky and perhaps this burger was more suitable for breakfast.



Address:
86 - 100 Market Street
Westfield Sydney, Sydney NSW

Phone number:
02 8072 7777

Opening time:
Sun - Wed 10am - 6pm
Thu 10am - 9pm
Fri & Sat 10am - 8pm


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Charlie & Co Burgers on Urbanspoon