Harry's Cafe De Wheels @ Haymarket, Sydney

NOTE: I just noticed the error on my TITLE. Its Harry's Cafe De Wheels @ Woolooomanyakbooloo, Sydney.... for the correct address just refer to the address at the end of the post.

When we were in Sydney, my cousin who brought us around, jalan jalan cari makan, always used the word ICON. Luckily for us, its not called IKON or something like that, but when he used the word ICON, he meant business. One of these Icons was Harry's Cafe De Wheels.


What is the big fuss about this place. To me it looked like an oversized push cart hotdog stand. Secondly, that stall must have been there a long long time. My cousin surprised me, because we were pumping gas, and he pointed out opposite the Shell Station, "we are going to get some hotdogs over there ..."

This pic is OOF, but never mind, it. Its their trademark , Hot Dog De Wheels. The size of this hot dog is definitely bigger than the ones we get over here. Now you know the true meaning of Gwai Lou hot dog la... its size, if not mistaken, is about 1.5 inches, and 8 inches long... definitely can fill up anyone's tummy... It costs only 5 bucks.. cheapest food i put in my mouth since I arrived in Australia. Most people like their hotdog drenched with Mustard, and Mayonnaise. I like mine to be plain n simple. Never liked the taste of Mustard. The Americans used to tell me every time I am at a hot dog stand, "you don't know what you are missing...." but the thing is, I know what I am missing... my freaking Chili Sauce...

I am not sure what this is called, but its a PIE. Its diameter is about 5 inches and about 3 inches tall. The green stuff you on top is the green pea mash, seats on another thick layer of mash potatoes, with em gravy, The pie which is about 1.5 inches tall, boasts a generous amount of tasty and aromatic beef stew..... The minute they serve them pies on the booth, you are sure to begin salivating... confirm wan, otherwise I give you , your money back.... Anyway this pie costs 4.95. A stall in Darling harbor will serve them up for about 12.95... thats more than double..


This place was so good, we actually came back a second time. We ordered the PIE again, yes it was that nice. But we opted to try out their Chili Dog. Its the same big hot dog, the only difference is that they pour some Chili onto it (some kinda bean sauce, mixed with Mash Potato sauce with some mince meat in it)..... Again, I know how the Americans eat their chili dogs, again drenched in Mustard, and Ketchup... but since we don like mustard.. we took it neat...

This place is a MUST go , and MUST eat place whenever you are in Sydney. Its cheap, the serving is bigger than normal, and its tasty...... Pang Leng Chiang...

Harry's Cafe de Wheels – Woolloomooloo
Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9357 3074
If you need directions, check out this map

Nasi Daging Kepala Batas @ Kafe & Restoran Tanjong (Bangi Sek9)

I was wondering around Bangi Seksyen 8 , looking for food. As I was driving around this area, I saw a big plywood with "Nasi Daging" spray painted on it. So I followed that sign which led me to this outlet. Tanjong. I parked my car, and snapped a pic of it. Impressive sign, but location wise, you can't see this from the main road. Its just a turn off @ Bangi Seksyen 9, to the left of the main road, if you are coming from Kajang Country Heights going towards Bangi.


I had a feel that this restaurant is still new, judging from plywood signs, and the barren interior of this restaurant. I walked in with my camera out, I easilly took about 10 pics of this place. The manager, did not really mind that I was taking pictures rather than ordering my food.

So they have mixed rice.... curry fish head...

They have curry chicken, beef....

Ulam, some kinda spiced fried fish..... but I saw one banner inside this cafe, it read Nasi Daging Kepala Batas... ok I must try that...

I was curious what Nasi Daging is, so I ordered it. It came shortly with somekind of fried rice or nasi tomato (can't be sure), a few pieces of beef , which was quite tender, acar timun and some curry ( instead of dalcar like those they give in beriani gam).

The food tasted a lot better than it looked, I vouch for that. It doesn't really look like much, but their beef was quite tasty... the rice was nothing special, but I am not complaining about it either. Its pretty decent.

I paid RM7.80 for the Nasi Daging and slightly less than RM2 for the drink.

I must say, this area is quite secluded, althought it is just one turn off from the main road. To get better directions, call Roslan.... and do drop by this cafe whenever you are in Bangi....

Roslan Eusof - 017 296 2387

8-G-1, Jalan Medan PB2A,
Pusat Bandar Seksyen 9,
Bandar Baru Bangi,
43650 Selangor

Pizza Uno @ CenterPoint, Bandar Utama

One Sunday evening, we were driving towards Centrepoint in Bandar Utama, aiming to either go try Bernard's stuff, or to go to Pizza Uno, they apparently served good italian at reasonable prices. However when we sat down and ordered our stuff, we found out that their reputation was exaggerated.

Caesar Salad with Smoked Chicken ...tasted quite good, but for the price? I think it was 16 bucks or something. If it is meant for a single serve, then it is just right.

Tropicana Pizza...26 bucks, for a super thin 10 inch pizza, with barely any pizza sauce and very stingy amount of ingredients. You can count the number of olives, the mushrooms also can count. Don't be fooled by the picture...it's looks better than it tastes, really. And to compare , we had a seafood pizza at La Porchetta, Melbourne (will blog about it soon) that was bigger, had more ingredients, definately more pizza sauce and was CHEAPER after conversion!!!

You can see that they stinge on the tomato paste and the cheese, it did not even cover up the entire pizza. The chef was probably sleeping on his job for allowing this pizza to be served. Taste wise, you might as well go order Dominoes, at least you won't expect too much.

Lasagna...ok lar, taste wise, but heck for that small little dish, it costs 20 bucks I think.

I'm so disappointed with Pizza Uno...I remember when it was Pizza Italia, the portions were generous, the topings too and the price was so very reasonable. Now, they don't serve water, but they serve bottled water, at 3 bucks for a small bottle of el cheapo RO drinking water, which was sold for about 30sen in the Supermarket @ Centerpoint.

I left feeling absolutely cheated.

How to get there( though I never wil again) :

Restaurant Pizza Uno
Centrepoint, Bandar Utama
Lot G6 & G7, Ground Floor, Centrepoint,
3 Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama,
47800 Petaling jaya.
Tel: 03-7710-1325 Fax: 03-7722-1606

Other Reviews:

Makan Kings - thought the place was good and price was reasonable

Note: 1. Now I remember, the last time I visited this eatery , it was in March this year. It was when we had a reunion with our highschool classmates. One of our good friends, who did most of the organizing, and ordering of the food also spent quite abit of time complaining to the boss about their service, food, etc....

2. Basically to sum up, Pizza Uno has become famous, these days. They have become LanSi, because they think they are packed always. You reduce the amount of ingredients hoping that customers don't notice.

3. They try to be high class, by not serving water, and equiping their waiters with hands free walkie talkies ( look like Secu), but they put in el cheapo furniture in their restaurant.

4. When I was making pizzas, my manager used to tell me, don't f'king stinge on the tomato paste and cheese.... and put in the ingredients as per the instructions. If you don't know how much to put, there is always a weighing scale in front of you....

5. Now time to try out other places and to forget about Pizza Uno.

Ah Yip Herbal Soup @ The Mines

NOTE: taking a break from blogging about food in Aussie.

Some time back, I was walking around in Mine's Shopping Fair, and I spotted, Ah Yip's Herbal soup. My impression of this place was not very good, because it was not a lot people in this eatery.

In my mind, I whispered to myself, " must the Spices FoodCourt taking away all their customers la." Interestingly enough, they serve lots of soup over here. I told myself, must come try drink some soup. Since nowadays, I hardly eat home, and mom also hardly cook herbal soup....


The first time I got there, it took me awhile to decide what I wanted to have. The menu was very informative, and it described what each soup does for your body. Improve eye sight, refurbish lungs, give energy, etc ( get the drift ?...)

Cordycep Nourishing Soup

Some kinda soup that nourishes your lungs

Some Kinda soup that nourishes your eye, and general health..



The soups price varies, depending on what you want. They have easily about 40 types of different soups for you to chose from. The ones I had which tasted pretty good (had lots of herbs in them) were about 11-15 bucks. Some goes up to about 99 bucks per bowl.

They also have these other deal on, add Rm3 to add a small serving of Vegetable and Chicken and RICE. Thats like a good lunch if you ask me... Right they also have some TEA time deals, which gives you a plate of noodles and a drink for Rm6.90.

I think they do make some pretty decent soups for the price they charge us. Worth a try if you haven't been getting enough soup from your loved ones... hehehehe...

Branches:

City Square KL (03 2163 6737)
The Summit, Subang USJ ( 03 8024 7793)
Sri Hartamas Shopping Center (03 6201 2781)
First World Hotel in Genting (03 6436 0122)
The Mines Shopping Fair (03 8948 7733)
Plaza Low Yat ( 03 2145 5471)
Kompleks Mutiara Jalan Ipoh (03 6250 3638)

Pinangsia Noodles & Rosebery Martabak @ Kingsford, Sydney

Visiting Sydney has somehow opened my eyes, and I realized the real meaning of "multi-cultural" after visiting this city. My cousin's GF had some very good friends in Sydney, and while catching up with her friends, they also brought us to sample some very nice Indonesian style food.

We met at a suburb called Kingsford. I was told that many Indonesians moved here and sort of formed a community in this part of town. As such if you go there, you will here a lot of indonesian spoken in this part of town.

Ok, so we got seated down, and we were handed the Menu... whoa... in Indonesian wan, with English translations. Lovely. To tell you the truth, I don't really remember what we ordered,

but one of them is this big piece of fish ball. Thats actually the size of a tennis ball. It tasted like keropok lekor. Even the chilli sauce was sweetishly spicy, very similar to the ones served with keropok lekor over here.

This picture is very OOF. This bowl of noodles is filled with mushrooms, intestines, choi sum, fu chok (crispy n yummy), pork and chicken. It is served together with clear soup (very much like ching Tong).

This one's mine, I ordered Mie Karet Ayam, Babi Merah. I actually was wondering what Babi Merah is, but when I saw it, I was instantly delighted. The noodles set were about 10 bucks, and it comes with a big bowl of noodles, a lot of ingredients, and a small bowl of soup and meat balls. You can have fish, chicken, beef or pork balls (your choice , I think).

My cousins had this really funny looking duck or chicken. On top of the duck/chicken, it looks like some form of fried onions ( I know for a fact that most Indonesians like to have fried onions on their food ...) .

Then we walked about 50m away, to this other place called Rosebery Martabak for desert. We were going to have Indonesian pancake.

We had to wait about 20 minutes for our Martabak. While waiting, my cousins took the opportunity to catch up some more. While they caught up with each other, I was happilly flipping the pages to some Indonesian magazine published for Sydney. Must quite a big community here, they even got their own Magazine over here.

We ordered a Martabak with peanuts, and chocolate in it. It was for 14 bucks. To me not quite worth it, but my cousins were appreciating every bite they had, I must assume.

As for me, I was not that impressed with how good it tasted, we were just too pre-occupied with thinking that, we actually waited so bloody long for, "just a martabak" and paid so much for it, not sure what we call it here, but we can get something like that for RM2 , without the chocolate, APAM balik or something like that.

However so, Sayang did make a statement, this Indonesians must be rich..... they pay 12 bucks just for that.... fuiyoh !!! For us, we are tourists, its different. I wouldn't mind go looking for martabaks, when I am in Jakarta, but I won't go looking for martabaks again in Australia. Even if I don't convert, I won't pay Rm12 for a Martabak with chocolate and nuts...

They also offer you martabaks, with peanut butter, strawberry jam, apricot, etc... Judging from the waiting time, I must conclude that Rosebery Martabak is a very very popular place in Kingsford.


I would like to come back to Pinangsia again someday to try some of their other noodles. They were yummy, feeling and good value for money. Oh yeah, they give you free chili padi also, to me that was a big plus.

Sydney Fish Market @ Sydney

Sydney Fish Market, is definitely one of the highlights of our visit to Australia. Not only did it open my eyes on how the Aussies ate, we , here twice. On the first day, we came to this market. You can get a variety of seafood, fresh and cooked. A list of well known seafood retailers again providing cooked and uncooked fresh seafood.


The first time we came here, we picked up a nice cooked Lobster (plain), a plate of seafood platter with fish batters, fresh grilled scallops, deep fried calamari rings, deep fried prawns, oyster kilpatrick, grilled mussels, serving for two. We also got ourselves a dozen fresh oysters. So fresh, we actually watched them clean the oysters infront of us. All that for about 60 bucks total. Lets count again, Oysters (1 dozen @ $14), Lobster ( 1 @ $ 22), and Grill Platter ( $25).



Another look at the huge lobster we had. I was told it was very fresh, much better than the one's Sayang had in San Francisco. To me, I really don't know how to appreciate lobsters that much. I still prefer just prawns.

Another crowd favorite which doesn't really appeal to me. I had 2 of them and found them really really fresh.


Ah.. there it is, our grilled and deep fried stuff. Although most of the stuff were deep fried or grilled, you can still taste the freshness in the seafood you buy from this market.

On our second visit, we ordered a fried platter for one, bought two pieces of fish, the Lingfish (top) and a trout (looks like salmon as below), and a lobster mornay. You know what, this is weird, because the white piece of fish above tasted just like a fresh piece of COD. And the orangy fish below tasted like salmon, but actually is some kind of a trout.

Overall , we found the food here to be very value for money. That's the reason why we came back here, again. We obviously will come back to this fish market and glut. Everything here costs half as much as the restaurants in Darling Harbour. So here's the tip, eat all your seafood here, and save your tummy for something else.

Yum Cha @ Zilver Seafood Restaurant, Haymarket Sydney

We must have been driving and driving for countless of hours, that night before. We left Gold Coast after visiting Q1, and Surfer's Paradise beach. No dinner, that night, just some yucky cinnamon scones, kraft cheese and Apple Juice to get us by for the journey.

So reached our hotel at about 5am, and slept like logs until about 12. The first thing on the agenda was to get some real food into our stomaches. Our cousin brought us to this "famous" place called Zilver for YUM CHA...


When we arrived at the place , Haymarket, we found out that it was actually an office tower with a shopping complex kinda layout on the lower floors. It was a Saturday afternoon , and the place was virtually desserted except for the people heading towards Zilver.

When we arrived there, we had to get our number and wait for a table. Really HK style, and not something we see in KL. When a table that can the number of people is available, they will call your number and lead you to your seat.


We were lucky, as this place was packed. Our number got called about 15 minutes later (not bad) and we got a place. This place was FULL. The interior was fully carpeted, abit like our own Tai Thong style restaurants, the only difference is that, the lighting is dimmer here.

The service is quick, but (un)usually rude. They throw their plates to you from across the table. Fling those chopsticks on the table. I mean, its okay if you do it in Hong Kong, but to do the same in Sydney... these flers never change wan...

The first plate of dim sum we could get our hands on were these long beans. It tasted like Long Beans fried with Garlic. Quite nice.


*just edited*
Thats a Char Leung, yau char kwai wrapped in Chee Cheong Fun skin. Really something different. And now I remember, their HK CCF does look the same as ours, the only difference is that this place they don't do mix char siu / prawns. They just serve prawn CCF or char siu CCF only.



Then we of course had to try out a variety of their different stuff. Generally, I gotta say, they do have quality in terms of food served. And I was told that instead of 3 portions normally served in a dim sum platter, Zinger gives you 4. Har Gau and Siu Mai usually comes in 3 portions in a basket right ? They serve you 4 at the same price as in other cities like Melbourne... value for money..


Okay they also serve egg tarts here. Its not yucky, but next time I come here I will not really bother ordering them again. I prefer Tong Kee's egg tarts anytime... but still, I thought in general the dim sum here is about the same standard as those you find in Mandarin Oriental, if not better.

Generally I still am abit amazed as to how this restaurant survives on such a level of service in Australia. The bad service begins from the entrance, no smiles, no greetings, just how many persons ? Its like you are begging them to pay them to eat their food. When you are finally allocated a table, they will throw plates/saucers, chopsticks & utensils across the table. WTF ?

You can see those cart pushing ladies running around, so we'd asked Can you please give me more Chili ? They will return with a killer glare and exclaim, " This requests you ask the waiters !!!". They have a shortage of waiters there, so you just have to sit and wait, and watch the cart pushers walk by. Ask to add water also same.

For one, when you come to KL, you won't get that shit. Unless, you dine at places like Teochew Restaurant, Jalan Ipoh dim sums, etc. But you definitely won't get shit service in a place like Mandarin Oriental.

FOOD is good, but they give you F^&Ked UP Service
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Zilver

• Level 1
  477 Pitt St
  Sydney 2000 NSW
• Phone: (02) 9211 2232

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Their Website

Other Reviews:

GrabYourFOrk

Happy Raya to all my Friends out there

I would like to wish my friends, a very Happy Raya....


Maaf Zahir & Batin !!

Peter's Fish Market @ Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

That day after we finished a rushed visit at Seaworld, my cousin brought us to try out this fish market, practically just a short drive from Seaworld. It was my first experience of such kind, ie visiting a fish market and ordering fresh seafood from it.


So I took the Nikon D80 (one magnificent piece of equipment) and started snapping. Just set it on Shutter Priority and Auto WB, everything seems to jalan fine. Unlike the E300 I am using right now. Ok, enough bitching, back to the food.

I found this place quite an experience, because the fish they have, I don't remember seeing them anywhere before. Then they have cooked prawns (or they actually call them shrimps) not sure.

Wow, that was a nice lobster sitting around in the ice, waiting to be bought. Anyone know where in Malaysia got fish market like this ?


After looking at the seafood, we went for the real cooked stuff. We ordered fish and chips, fried calamari and chips for lunch. The servings were quite moderate, not really huge like those you get in most eateries you can find in the US. We also got a bottle of Ginger Ale (Saxby's, can find in Giant/Cold Storage) and Orange Juice to accompany our lunch.


To sum up, my first Seafood experience at this fish market was okay. The fish wasn't that great, because I expected something else. Its fresh, no doubt. Other than the freshness, I have nothing to say about deep fried fish. It was tasteless (maybe because the fish memang is tasteless wan)...

Everything deep fried, no skill in cooking... but looking at the prices at the board above, better don't complain so much. Why ? Because its Cheap !!!

120 Seaworld Drv
Main Beach, 4217

Phone: 07 5591 7747

Also see:

FungYong's Lunch
Reviews at TotalTravel

Marmalade Cafe @ Surfer's Paradise, Gold Coast

I think I was under the impression that in Australia, everything closes at 5pm. I guess in Gold Coast, this doesn't apply. We made our way back from Brisbane Gold Coast after sundown. The weather has gone from nice and warm to cool and dry ( lovely weather of about 20C).

We were to meet up with cousin's Friend , Albert. I told my cousin I wanted to try 2 things, crocodile meat, and kangarro meat. So they brought us to Marmalade Cafe, in Chevron Renaissance. Owned by Steve and Sandy Tan, but apparently run by their Restaurant manager, Nigel. Anyways, I was quite surprised as to how the restaurants here really do it, because while we were waiting for a seat, my cousin when off to buy some wine to be consumed here. So I guess BYO is allowed.

So we ordered one entree/appetizer and three mains to be shared by the four of us, while I think Albert who is native here, decided to go for some Fish Steak, didn't take a picture of his food, because his arrived last, and I think he must be hungry.

Spring Roll ( Entree/ Appetizer) - about 15 bucks

Grilled Lamb - about 22 bucks

Kangaroo Dish - about 22 bucksCroc Meat , about 25 bucks

The dish I enjoyed the most, must have been the Kangaroo dish. Not sure what it is called but on the menu, Kangaroo meat only appeared once. I really noticed something about the way they prepare food in Marmalade. Their mains are accompanied by some sort of salad underneath. The Kangaroo's salad tasted very Greekish - Mediterranean which was totally foreign to Sayang and Me... some kind of herb in there which made it , yee whats that strong smell.

The crocodile meat, tasted a bit like chicken, but otherwise I'd say its tasteless and felt like rubber in the mouth. If not for the way the kitchen prepared I could have thrown the meat back at Nigel and broke his nose or something like that (the meat was so tough). I think the way they prepared the meat made it much more appetizing. This dish was consumed mostly by me, because the rest of them just didn't like it.

The duck spring roll is a specialty dish, and one that they are famous for I think. It tasted really good, and they served it to us in 5 pieces. Must have been because they were 5 of us. I gotta say too, Albert and Andrew did a great job selecting the 2 bottles of wine.

As you can see, all the plates were empty before the photographer attempted to take a picture of us. Again, don't mean to bitch, but the crocodile meat was something of a unexpected experience, and I would like to try that again someday. Unfortunately for us, its illegal to sell Crocodile meat in Malaysia, but I was told it can be found in Jurong Market for S$70/kg.

shop 36 Chevron Renaissance

Surfers Paradise, 4217
Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner (7 days a week)
Tel: 5504 7353



Also read a Review by Patricia Mossop here