SIFF Night Noodle Markets, 2010

I'm baaack! Yes that's right my thesis is finally finished! And since we're right in the middle of the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) what better way to kickstart my newly-found freedom than by trying to go to as many events as possible.

The queue at Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine

The Night Noodle Markets started on Monday this week and I may have picked the worst possible day to go. Though it started out as a nice balmy evening, the rain started pouring down about an hour into the markets and people took cover under the trees in Hyde Park. Nevertheless, we still got a chance to check out all the stalls which consisted of mostly Thai, Malaysian and dumpling/dim sum places, a sprinkling of Japanese stalls and the ever present Turkish gozleme and poffertjes (which had been renamed 'mini pancakes' with an Asian font haha). The Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine stall was just as popular as last year, with lots of people queueing up for the made-to-order noodles.

Both Din Tai Fung and New Shanghai had dumpling makers on site which was quite cool. They stood behind plastic screens with their mouth guards and folded dumplings in front of the waiting queues - it was like dumpling TV! The dumpling-makers at Din Tai Fung looked especially professional, they folded those dumpling skins so expertly and so quickly.

4 assorted skewers from Mizuya: (left to right) prawn kushiyaki, chicken yakitori, Japanese cheese sausage and beef kushiyaki - $13.00

Malay-Chinese Takeaway, Sydney

One sweltering hot lunchtime I met up with Mum at Malay-Chinese Takeaway since I was craving some Malaysian food. I don't know who said that eating hot food on a hot day would make you cooler but it certainly didn't work for me! Although I thought I was semi-delusional for choosing to eat hot and spicy food on a hot summer's day the food was so good that it was worth it in the end.

When we got there during lunch hour it was packed with people but luckily we found a seat reasonably quickly. Malay-Chinese Takeaway has daily specials which are rotated around a 4-week time period. Today's special was mee rebus, which I was thinking of getting, but in the end decided to stick with an old favourite, the char kway teow.

Char Kway Teow - $9.00

Temasek, Parramatta

I've heard many times about how amazing the Hainanese chicken is at Temasek, so I jumped at the chance to go and try it when we went there recently with some family friends. There were a lot of us at the table so we got to sample a wide range of their menu. The food didn't take long to come out but what I noticed was that it came out in the order that we ordered the dishes with our waiter - something to keep in mind for next time! This was quite surprising because most of the time at Asian restaurants the dishes just come out whenever they're ready. 

Beef rendang - $17.80

The first dish we ordered was the beef rendang which has tender, fall-apart chunks of beef that are flavoursome from the spices used in the rendang. The sauce was also great with rice.

Sambal Balacaan Kang Kong - $16.80

Next up was the sambal balacaan kang kong - a vegetable dish with water spinach, sambal and shrimp paste. This probably could have done with a bit more chilli kick, but the shrimp paste and garlic added a heap of flavour to the vegetables. 

Hainanese chicken (whole) - $36.00

Makan@Alice's, Thornleigh

Sometimes I get cravings for Malaysian or Singaporean food but I'm feeling lazy to travel out too far. So my go-to place for nearby Malaysian food is Makan@Alice's which is a mere 10 minute drive from my place. Tonight Sir D and I arrive quite soon after they open for dinner service. Lucky we do get there early as well because half the tables are marked as reserved, and the rest fill up soon after we arrive. We umm and ahh over all the delicious sounding choices they have on the menu, and we eventually order teh tarik, Hainanese chicken and roti canai with curry.

Teh tarik - $4.50

The teh tarik, a pulled Malaysian milk tea, is generously frothy on top and has a distinct tea taste compared to the extra-sweet teh tarik at Mamak. Although my sweet tooth and I prefer the heady condensed milk flavour of Mamak's teh tarik, Sir D prefers the subtle sweetness of the one at Alice's.

Roti canai with lamb curry - $11.80

Mamak, Haymarket

Why is it when you can't have something you just want it even more? This is what happened when I found out that Mamak had closed for renovations, which made me crave the flakiness and puffiness of their freshly made roti more so than usual! Luckily they reopened in July and so off we went to satisfy my roti craving.


We head there around 8.30pm on a Thursday night hoping to avoid the queues and although there was a queue it was relatively short and we are seated within 10 minutes.


While we wait we watch the roti chefs flinging dough around and stretching out til it's paper thin, then wrapping it up again to make the roti. Then the roti is placed on a hotplate where it puffs up and becomes golden and flaky. Mmm...

Kuali, Lane Cove

If any of you have seen the above Youtube video, then the words "I want Shark's Fin soup!" will be very familiar to you. Unfortunately the video is in Cantonese and has no subtitles, but it involves a woman throwing a full-blown tantrum and shouting "I want Shark's Fin soup! Why do you not have any Shark's Fin soup?!" repeatedly, when she is told that the restaurant has run out. A much more subdued version of this from Scrambled Eggs (replacing Shark's Fin soup with Hainan chicken rice) led us to dine at Kuali, a Malaysian restaurant that does serve Hainan chicken rice.


Kuali is located upstairs in the Lane Cove arcade, and although it has received good reviews in the Sydney Morning Herald, we came with some apprehension as reviews on eatability had not been promising, mostly regarding the service. We were however pleasantly surprised as the waitstaff were friendly and accomodating, and not pushy at all.

Kajang Satay: Original Kajang recipe skewer of chicken or beef with delicious peanut sauce and condiments (5 per serve) - $11.00