Harajuku Gyoza

Hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve! It is 2014 now, can you believe it???

On this particular night (still in 2013 ><), me and Bun walked pass this restaurant called "Harajuku Gyoza" at Potts Point. What comes into your mind when you thought of "Harajuku" (a place in Tokyo)? The first thing come up to my mind is fun, a place that's full of creativity and vibrant culture, and somewhere with loads of unique surprises. So when we saw this huge Kawaii ("cute" in Japanese) dumpling character on its exterior wall, we thought it would be cool to check it out!

The restaurant is actually in "Izakaya" style (a casual Japanese place for after-work drinking, usually attended by businessmen), with a bunch of bar chairs surrounding the centre (cooking area) and a few tables scattered around the room. The whole restaurant was mainly decorated in black and red colours, giving that modern and mysterious feeling. The staffs were very friendly and attentive (notice the kitchen staff doing the "peace sign" in the last picture? LOL), and the food actually came pretty quick.

We found those photos printed on the plates :)

Here are the sauces of soy sauce, vinegar and chilli oil. I prefer to use these separately although you should combine all 3 together to get the best flavour.

Pork Belly Kakuni $13.00

This is one of their popular dishes, and it came in 4 chunky pieces on the plate. Our first impression of this dish was...SO JUICY! It was absolutely fulfilling. We loved how the fat took up half or more of the proportion, yet the whole bite didn't feel too oily at all. It was a really good dish to accompany a bottle of beer too!

Pork Gyoza (poached) 5pcs $8.00

Since we were getting the Lobster Tail Gyoza as grilled, we decided to pick a poached set of Gyoza. This little dish of Pork Gyoza certainly allowed us to enjoy and appreciate the ultimate combination of the sauces. Personally, my favourite is still the chilli oil ^^

Lobster Tail Gyoza $12.00

The name attracted our attention, as we were curious of what it would taste like. We found the lobster tail was a little bit light in terms of flavours, although it was nice and chewy. To us, we probably still preferred Gyoza with whole loads of meat + vegetable inside, so we actually liked the pork Gyoza more than this one.


This will be a pretty cool place to hang out after work for drinks, or for those who don't have too much time and just wants to fill the stomach in a rapid speed. I loved how they can incorporate such a cute dumpling character to be the logo of the restaurant and how creative their Gyozas were. For a personal comment: I think the grilled Gyoza always tasted more interesting than the poached version!


PS: For our next post, I will write about my first home-made Gyoza with recipe (Yes, thanks to the inspirations from Harajuku Gyoza!!!) ^^


Address:
9-15 Bayswater Road, Potts Point NSW 2011

Phone number:
02 9356 3834

Opening time:
7 days - midday to late for lunch and dinner


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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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Adriano Zumbo

Sizzling neon lights, vibrant colours, funky settings and creative decorations, these were the first few impressions that we had on Adriano Zumbo at The Star.

In here, you can have Dessert train as well! Yes, just like sushi train. (O-M-G what?!) Unfortunately we didn't have time to try it, but I'm sure it will be an interesting experience.

When we were looking around inside the store, we have fell in love with these display boxes, it almost felt like an incredible journey into the future. We stared at these desserts one by one, and they all looked stunning.



We also found these sights at the front window, how adorable!? The mini wheel was made of funny looking shoes, spinning round and round to create amusement for its audiences. Also the tower of pink and orange macaroons instantly reminded you of childhood dreams...all those wonderful days where our world was full of pretty colours and endless sweets.

We also noticed these emergency glass boxes used to display the Zumbarons, it create the urge to reach your hand inside and grab them and start biting! But how brilliant is the idea of putting them inside there??


Ta-da!! Here are the ones we bought!! *Anticipation* Although...one thing I have to mention to you lovely readers out there...I wasn't happy with the service they provide, but it could have just been me. Their ignorance was quite irritating, just not sure if it was due to busy hours or what, oh wells.



 2-pack Zumbarons: Chocolate doughnut and Peach ice tea flavours $5.00

We got this tiny box containing big surprises, and it was pretty difficult to pick 2 flavours out of the many. The Chocolate doughnut one had a generous amount of filling, and it was very rich. The Peach ice tea was a unique one, even though it didn't really taste like the actual peach tea, it was memorable.






Chocolate Mousse $9.00

No doubt this caught our attention almost immediately, as it had a simple but tempting look. It consist a mixture of chocolate and fruity taste, creamy and stimulating. Umm by the way, do most people pick out the berry first and then start eating other components?







V8 $10.00

My goodness, how on Earth am I going to describe this one to you? I DON'T KNOW!! Let's start on the elements? There were black sesame dacquiose, brown sugar crunch, lychee gel, raspberry sponge, raspberry jelly, liquorice cremeaux, and rose chantilly patisserie. The outer layer was soft and melts into your mouth smoothly, however, the core was...full of different textures. There was the layer that felt like sands, the sour fruits hiding somewhere in between, and the subtle punch of lychee flavours. I had about 5 spoons and I just couldn't stand it anymore...no, it wasn't bad actually, just by this time that I already had enough sweetness in my digesting system and can't take anymore in. Now here's another thing, I can't believe I thought of eating the rose pedal as well (blame on the fact it was too beautiful).


What do I think about Adrian Zumbo at The Star? It's modern, it's unique, and it's exciting! You probably can never see that much colours popping out at one particular store in anywhere else, whether it's the environment or the desserts, they were all full of energy. Although I have to say they are a little too sweet for me...



Address:
Shop 1, Cafe Court
The Star
80 Pyrmont St
Pyrmont NSW
(Entry via Edward St)


Website:
http://www.adrianozumbo.com/


Opening hours:

Mon 11am - 10pm
Dessert train is closed

Tue to Thurs 11am - 11pm
Dessert train: Closed on Tuesday
Wed to Thu 6 - 10.30pm

Fri and Sat 11am - 12am
Dessert train:
Fri 6pm - 11.30pm
Sat 2pm - 11.30pm

Sun 11am - 9pm
Dessert train: 12pm - 6.30pm

*Sugar daddy
6 - 8pm Wed to Sat
Pink and White plates are $4 and Black plates are $8



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