Hurricane's Grill and Bar - Top Ryde

It was our friend's birthday so we decided to visit Hurricane's Grill and Bar at Top Ryde for some awesome steaks and ribs! For super meat lovers (ie. Bun), this place is like a total heaven. The restaurant was about 95% full when we got there, and just when the giant Christmas tree started to lit up in front of Hurricane's Grill and Bar.

The waiters and bartenders were extremely busy, and diners inside Hurricane's Grill and Bar seemed happy and enjoying their meals. The atmosphere at Hurricane's Grill and Bar was vibrant and cheerful, quite perfect for the festive season coming ahead. We stood there a little to wait for our booked table, while the irresistible sights of ribs and steaks hovered around us a couple of times to make us swallow our own drool.

Garlic Roll $4.50

Finally after we sat down at our table, we decided to pick this starter to kick off our meal. The crust was quite crunchy, so I guess we all loved this as it was gone in a speed of light.

Natural Oysters (half $21.00 / dozen $38.00)

How can we ignore the oysters on Hurricane's Grill and Bar menu? As soon as we saw it, we decided to order a dozen. It comes with fresh lemon and Tobasco sauce for us to indulge, and the oysters lied neatly above the rock salts. I loved that moment when you gulp down the oyster, when the salty flavour hits you with a tiny sting, and they were so fulfilling.


Main dishes (drum roll):

Orders from our friends A and J (below), they seemed very happy with their meal...mmmm meeeeat!!!

Our orders for the night:

Junior T-Bone (400gm) $32.00 (either with chips or baked potato) with pepper sauce ($2.50)

Bun has always been a fan of T-bone steak (median rare), when I asked him why, he always says it had a different taste to other parts (yes, Bun has popped out again...). While he was imagining the steak talks back to him and admiring its juiciness, I managed to take a snap shot. One bite of this was good enough to make you dance around in joy, as it was extremely tender with a tiny bit of fat to compliment. We swear at Hurricane's Grill and Bar, you probably don't even need sauce to go with its meat, it was already so good just by itself.

Beef Ribs (Half $31.90, Full 42.90) either with chips or baked potato (You can also pick lamb or pork ribs)

This was said to be Hurricane's most famous dish, so I knew I had to pick this to have a try. While everyone else on the table having fun eating their meal, I waited another half hour or so until it finally arrived. The waiter gave me one of those (shown in bottom right picture) to me to prepare me for the craziness later on (I can sort of imagine the bits and pieces from the ribs flying everywhere as I get too excited). This certainly entertained the others as I looked like a chubby baby trying to learn how to eat for the first time. I don't know what the "secret sauce" at Hurricane's Grill and Bar is, but it definitely hit the right spot! My hands were covered with this sticky sauce with that bit of sweetness, and I really couldn't resist licking the fingers like what people did on the other table. As you bite off one side of the rib, the beef just started hanging down to give you that amazing second to bite all the rest of the meat in one bite. Mmmm...200% SATISFACTION. Oh, the bonus point? Order it with the baked potato!!


All of us loved Hurricane's Grill and Bar, they were certainly one of the best places in Sydney for meat lovers! We noticed that they actually had burgers and skewers on their menu too...oh well...next time :D


Address:
Top Ryde City Shopping Centre
Shop R 3006 Ground Level
Cnr Blaxland Road & Devlin Street
Ryde NSW

Phone number:
02 9130 7101

Opening time:
Lunch:
Mon - Fri 12pm - 3pm
Dinner:
Mon - Fri 5pm till late
Sat, Sun & Public holidays 12pm - late


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Buns & Balls - 2013 Online influencers dinner

"My Hunger will go on" was invited by Simon from "SIMON SAYS" and Sian from "The Darlin Group" to attend the "Online Influencers Dinner" at Buns & Balls, this was certainly exciting for us to check out this new hang-out place at Kings Cross. Buns & Balls was a little bit away from the main street, so you do achieve that privacy if you wish to have a party or function here. Buns & Balls is said to be "casual and vibrant". With funky street arts on the walls, trendy lighting, pool table, live music, comfortable couches, happy hours and outdoor dining area, it no doubt will increase the heart beat of any individuals who seeks for a fun night out.


So on this particular night, we were allocated to our table outdoor. With colourful light bulbs hanging above our heads and the sun slowly waving goodbye, our intimate dinner at Buns & Balls kicked off.

Cocktails:
Pineapple, ginger beer, vodka & bitters (left), Watermelon, lime and vodka (right) - freshly squeezed, with or without alcohol

I picked the watermelon while Bun went with pineapple, we were not sure which one was better because they were very different in terms of sensation and flavour. I found the watermelon one was very refreshing, with that mixture of sweetness and tingling sourness, it would be a brilliant summer drink. While the pineapple one was rather a little creamy, with quite a strong taste of ginger beer and hints of sweetness from pineapple.

Gourmet Meatballs:
Beef & Pork

This was like one of those classic meatballs that straight away melts your heart. They were juicy, and full of flavours bursting with every bite. Buns & Balls certainly aced this one!

Crispy Tofu served with warm chilli nap sauce

I thought this idea from Buns and Balls was very creative and interesting, they were so soft that they collapse as soon as I lifted them up with my fork. The meatballs then broke down into little square pieces of Tofu, and they were indeed tasty.

Barrumundi Croquette served with Buns & Balls' tartare sauce

Comparing to the previous 2 meatballs, this one from Buns & Balls seemed a little more ordinary. The skin was very crunchy, with that stream of hot air flowing out after the bite with fresh aroma.

Gourmet burger: (you can order gluten-free buns too!!)
Char-grilled beef (Wagyu beef, cheese, grilled onions, tomato, lettuce, mayo & Buns & Balls' burger sauce)

When we eat a good burger, it makes us happy for many days. So when we heard that Buns & Balls was especially passionate about their burgers, our eyes glittered up. The beef burger certainly did not disappoint us from our expectations, it delighted us in so many ways! The ingredients were in perfect proportion, the patty was extra juicy along with the melting cheese and sauce. We loved this!

Sweet potato fries

This was something different, as we had so much experiences eating just potato fries. The sweet potato fries was somewhat more gentle in its taste, and they were less crunchy. I loved the dark brown parts as they provided a little bit of chewiness and sweetness.

Grilled chicken burger (Marinated & char-grilled chicken, cheese, grilled onions, tomato, lettuce, mayo and Buns & Balls' chilli sauce)

Bun said this one tasted a little like Portuguese chicken, for me, it reminded me of those Korean chilli chicken. The chicken was even juicier than the previous beef burger, which made me drool for more.

Fresh Salad:
Char-grilled chicken with a side of chilli sauce

Char-grilled steak with a side of steak sauce

We all agreed that the chicken salad was better than the steak one, I felt it was because the beef was a little bit dry comparatively.

Spicy Louisiana Wings with blue cheese sauce

Oh god, those chicken man...No doubt they were everyone's favourite from Buns & Balls, I swear we could just sit there and eat those all day. The spicy flavour totally sank into the chicken, so prepare to get your hands sticky on this one. I would absolutely recommend this to people if they come to Buns & Balls, they were totally delicious!



Now on the menu that was given us, it said dessert will be a sweet surprise, and indeed they were!

We received cookie and ice cream sandwiches and pieces of Krispy Kreme donuts with chocolate sauce. The funny thing about the cookie and ice cream sandwich was...because the cookies were very hard, the ice cream just creeps right out when you bite on them! That difference in their textures was somewhat amusing. Oh and everyone loves Krispy Kreme donuts :D

We bumped into Ando and Brenda from The Lamstock, so it was time for some happy happy photos~~~ smile!!


In addition, "My Hunger will go on" decided to shoot a short video of Buns & Balls for you to check out their fun atmosphere.




Thanks again to Simon and Sian for inviting "My Hunger will go on" to this intimate dinner, we had a great time. This is definitely somewhere we want to return to in the near future, and most likely with a group of friends for a quick drink to catch up!


Address:
33 Bayswater Road, Sydney NSW

Phone number:
02 9326 9054

Opening time:
Tue - Fri 6pm - late
Sat - Sun 3pm - late

Website:

www.bunsandballs.com.au

 

 

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Batch Burgers & Espresso

There's something fascinating about the traditional American diner style, the New-York themed café and its giant sized burgers. With half of the area inside "Batch Burgers & Espresso" being occupied by the kitchen and constant sizzling aroma crawling to the street outside, the friendly waitress showed us our high bar seats right in front of our chefs for the night.

The menus were almost like they were stamped onto the tables, displaying their impressive list of burgers with familiar names such as Brooklyn and the Miami, and as well as a whole range of side dishes. The workers smiled and greeted their customers, occasionally having a small chat about foot ball and Saturday night drinks. Multiple numbers of takeaway bags filled up the kitchen tables, lining up and shuffling in the speed of light. The chunky mince patties flashed right before our eyes, accompanied by a whole bunch of fries dancing in the frying spots. It was hot, and certainly appealing for a Saturday night dinner along with lively American Hip Hop beats on the background.




Snacks - Chilli Fries $7.00

We had never thought fries could come in this form, where it's covered by small and chopped up pieces of mince along with cheese and spicy sauce. The mixture turned out surprisingly zesty, and every mouthful was full of flavours. Bun loved it, so there goes 3/4 of the bowl. I would certainly recommend this, and it's probably more enjoyable when shared with someone.





Burgers - Spicy Mexican $14.00

While we sat there, I think we heard about 3 others ordering this same burger, so it got to be GOOD! This humongous burger contained chilli mince, smoked cheddar, tomato, Spanish onion, Jalapenos & sour cream with hot taco sauce, so it was an absolute masterpiece I must say. The burger was so big that I found it very difficult to fit into the bite of my little mouth, so I had to slice it apart and watched the precious cheese and mince fell and splat on the plate. The buns has done a good job trying to hold each layer properly in place, despite the obvious observation that the chunky mince patty wanted to shoot out desperately. The Mexican flavour has immersed into this burger perfectly in every single way, and it was just so satisfying to chomp it all down and enjoy that flame left in your mouth.





Very unfortunately, I was way too full after 3/4 way of the burger, and I felt so sad to leave that very little piece behind. We laughed at the mess that I have made on my plate, with bits of cheese and mince tangled together and looked as if they'd come alive in any minute and start wiggling. We were satisfied, more than 200%.

This place will be awesome to come with a bunch of friends to have a quick catch up before heading down to the town for a big night, and you can even start your pre-drinks here if you want. I imagined this place will probably be in a totally different atmosphere if you come for breakfast or lunch, and we have to say the breakfast menu looks pretty welcoming! (NEXT TIME!! ho hum)


Address:
2/3A Broughton Street, Kirribilli NSW

Phone number:
02 9929 8883

Opening time:
7days 7am - 10pm


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Chur Burger

"Does this place sound familiar to you?" One day Bun asked me randomly. "Hummm..." I hesitated as I desperately searched inside the memory storage inside my brain with less than 1mb of space left. DING-DING! That's where Assiette use to be? I started remembering us driving pass by that little restaurant every weekend or so, with the label of "Chur Burger".

So here we were, trying out Chur Burger on a lively Saturday night at Surry Hills. When we got there, the place was full of people, young and old, male and female, casual and semi-formal, families and singles. The diners had one thing in common, as they all loved that vibrant atmosphere where it felt more like a party than a dinner at the restaurant. We ended up picking a seat near the windows, so that we can tease the people outside with our hungry faces.

Milo Milkshake $8.00

Bun loves Milo, and as well as milkshake. The combination certainly satisfied his craving. Before I watched him gulping down that large amount of liquid in less than a few minutes, I managed to sneak a few sips of its sweetness. Mmm...quite gooooood.




Sides - Chips with chilli salt $5.00

Our little bad habit of "can't survive without some fried food" got to us, so we ended up grabbing a bowl of chips with chilli salt. It was funny how we both strangely thought the chips flavours reminded us of those chilli "Kettle" chips. They were hot and fresh, but may be a little too salty.

Burgers $10.00
Top: Grilled beef cheese, tomato jam, mustard mayo, pickle.
Bottom: Grilled lamb, mint sauce, feta, red onion, aioli.

Want to know the biggest difference between the 2? While the beef burger with that melting cheese created that exploding juiciness in the bites, the lamb burger remained consistently dry except for the swirling bits of sauce. Bun didn't like pickles so those were taken out from the beef burger, thus making it even more perfect =3= While I find myself becoming more and more lagged to eat the last bits and pieces, I realised I liked the lamb much more than the feta. In the end, we both managed to finish the burgers as their portion was quite reasonable (not super big)!

In addition, it was both fun and weird to sit next to the window, with people stared at your face while you turn into a perfect advertisement for whatever you were eating. I remembered we were quite distracted as we saw a bunch of people dressed up as fairies, people going on Buck's night, bored-looking dog walkers etc etc. Yes, we should really sit at the middle of the room and just concentrate on our food?!


Address:
48 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW

Phone number:
02 9212 7979

Opening time:
Mon 11.30am - 5pm
Tue - Sat 11.30am - 10pm
Sun CLOSED


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Lord of the fries

The moment we walked into this small takeaway shop, we were overwhelmed by the size of the crowd. Yes, this was "Lord of the fries"! They were fresh and not frozen, with less fat, skin on, and cooked in quality oil. Started as a food truck venture in Melbourne all the way back in 2004, they have then arrived at one of Sydney's busiest street, George Street, just a little while ago.



Before we even visited here, I had my eyes locked on the "French Canadian" deluxe sauce. The sound of shredded CHEESE and hot GRAVY was just too hard to resist, we could almost picture it with drools coming out of our mouth.

Large fries $6.95 + French Canadian sauce $2.50 (Shredded cheese + hot gravy) Total $9.45

When we finally got it...well...I don't know. Shall I say it was a little disappointing? The fries didn't taste that special to me, it was like something in between hot chips and hot wedges. Not too crunchy and yet not too soggy, and we didn't taste much of the skins. As much as we loved the magnificent sauce combination, this box with a price tag of $9.45 in total could still be quite overpriced in comparison.


Every time we walk pass by, there was still a line outside waiting for the freshly made fries. With people smiling and laughing everywhere, we still believe a lot of them indeed loved the fries. However, we just can't really see ourselves going there over and over again just for the fries. Perhaps we can try something else next time??


Address:
537 George Street, Sydney

Opening time:
10am - late



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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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New Zealand Part 2: Queenstown

Hello again! Hope everyone had a great start of 2013 and a good Christmas/New year holiday there! Now I finally get the time to go back writing my posts for New Zealand trip, here's the entry about Queenstown...


After 1 hour something of flight, we saw the realm of endless mountains, transparent rivers, and clear blue sky. The first breath of Queenstown was magnificent, we felt as alive as ever.

I've totally anticipated the moment when we stopped at the Skyline and we just couldn't wait to take a ride on the Gondola. The view was breath-taking, so great that I felt like I'm above the clouds.



We arrived at our table to find a perfect panoramic view of the alpines and flowing rivers, it was unbelievable to dine here.


The restaurant itself was huge, with groups of tourists gradually showing up to fill the tables.

They had a wide range of selection too, although I guess the main focus here is still seafood.


Here's my first plate, full of slices of beef that just got cooked on the spot, the fresh prawns, the potato and vegetable salads, and my favourite salmon and prawn roll wrapped in warm pastry.



I decided to go abit lighter with the second plate, so I grabbed a big chunk of Salmon, plenty of lettuce and cauliflower, another salmon and prawn roll, and a bowl of pumpkin soup (ohhh it's so delicious!). Ummm...ok the little cupcake was an accident (as if!)....actually I couldn't wait so I had to grab one!!



Finally, the plate of flooding desserts! I got the chocolate and caramel mousse, brownie, coffee cake and some other caramel cake. They were quite sweet so I couldn't indulge as much as I wanted to...

It was a brilliant meal and totally worth it, I would recommend this visit to anyone who goes to Queenstown.


Address:
Brecon Street Queenstown 9300
New Zealand

Phone number:
64 3441 0101

Opening time:
http://www.skyline.co.nz/queenstown/opening-time-qt/


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Some of the sceneries along the road trip around Queenstown/Milford Sound:

I took this at a pond I found on the way to Milford Sound, and the trees formed a perfect frame for the mountains in the background.



This is Milford Sound, the eighth wonder of the world?? The view was stunning! Highly recommend a boat ride there!



In a country where there are more sheep than human beings, no doubt they look so relaxed and happy everywhere!



One of our other stop was at the famous Fergburger place, we first noticed this place from Tripadvisor and decided to see why everyone loved it so much!

The place was actually quite small with very limited tables, and it was full of people in every corner! Surprisingly they also had a Japanese menu, guess there must've been alot of Japanese tourists coming to this place too.

The tables and seats are very limited, so we were very lucky to have found one after our order.


Here it is! The burger that's bigger than your face!


We couldn't believe how good the burger tasted, and the ingredients used here were so fresh and fulfilling. The only thing you gonna worry about here is probably how to eat it! I tried bitting it but had an epic fail, you can't seem to consume a mouthful even if you opened your mouth to the maximum width!



Our favourite city of the South Island trip is probably Queenstown, just because we were totally amazed at its sceneries. The beautiful mountain peaks were still covered in snow when we got there, which created numerous photos that could be used as post-card materials! We loved the air there, it was 200% pure and clean! If people ever get a chance to visit New Zealand, Queenstown is definitely the place you wouldn't want to miss out.


Address:
42 Shotover Street Queenstown Town Centre 9300
New Zealand

Phone number:
64 3441 1232


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*To Be Continued*

Coming next: Beauty of Lake Tekapo