Fat Noodle, Pyrmont

One of the great things about blogging is that it takes me to people and places I probably never would have gone otherwise. Tucked away in a corner of The Star's casino floor is Luke Nguyen's Fat Noodle, and tonight I was lucky enough to be dining with the man himself while we sampled some of their most popular dishes.

Don't be put off by the fact that it's actually in the casino. It may be surrounded by the bright and flashing lights of the pokies machines and cheering punters at the Baccarat tables, but the food is spot on and the prices are very reasonable. Luke tells us that the dishes at his Fat Noodle restaurant are some of the chefs' favourite hawker style foods found in South East Asia. The menu isn't limited to a particular region, but spans Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to bring you favourites like pho, fried rice, char kway teow, laksa and pad thai.

Roasted duck and enoki Vietnamese rice paper rolls - $13

The menu is broken up into small plates, rice dishes, noodle dishes and wok dishes. We start with some small plates including these roasted duck and enoki rice paper rolls, which had plump and meaty pieces of roast duck (skin on, of course) inside the rice paper rolls, with delicate little enoki mushrooms sticking out of the ends. The rolls were served with a sweet and nutty hoisin and peanut dipping sauce, with crushed nuts sprinkled on top for texture.

Tasmanian oysters - $13

The Tasmanian oysters were an absolute treat, served raw and freshly shucked in the shell. The shallot dressing on top of the oysters was surprisingly sweet and the chopped purple perilla leaves provided a fresh flavour.

Seared scallops - $14

PappaRich, Chatswood

It seems as though queueing at new restaurants is the thing to do nowadays. PappaRich has been open in Chatswood for a couple of months now, but it seems as though the queues still haven't subsided and there's still a good forty-minute-or-so wait until you can get a table. Is it the novelty factor or is the food actually that good? A few friends and I decided to join the queue and find out...

PappaRich has a wide range of drinks that spans about 6 pages of the menu! We started with a Milo Dinosaur (definitely something for the Milo lovers out there), some soy milks and barley drinks, as well as a few iced teh tariks.

Iced teh tarik

Seeing as the drinks menu along is 6 pages, it shouldn't be a surprise that the rest of the menu is also quite extensive. Luckily, we were able to peruse the menu while we waited for a seat so that by the time we got a table, we were ready to order. Ordering is done by filling out a form that tells them the dish you want and the quantities, which is then handed over to one of the waitstaff when you are ready.

Roti canai with curry chicken

Movida Sydney, Surry Hills

Dining at Movida Sydney (left); Sangria - $39

I first fell in love with the food at Movida when exploring Melbourne and splurging on a nice meal at Movida Aqui. When I heard that the Movida team were opening a restaurant in Sydney I was super excited, and determined to share the fabulous food with my family.

To say that they are busy is a bit of an understatement. I booked weeks in advance to secure a table on a Saturday night but trust me, it was worth the wait because the food was just as amazing (if not better) than my experience of Movida in Melbourne.

Anchoa - $4.80

The menu is divided up into a few different sections of smaller tapas to larger raciones dishes. The tapas are served as individual portions so it was up to us to select how many we wanted of each. I'd heard so much about the Anchoa dish, which is one of Movida's signatures, that I had to try it this time. The salty Calabrian anchovy with the cool smoked tomato sorbet was an amazing combination of flavours and I would definitely recommend this to anyone visiting Movida.

Cerdo croqueta - $7.50

We tried the sticky pork croquettes with sauce gribiche which were little deep fried pucks of goodness. The sweet and sticky pulled pork inside the croquettes was tender and flavoursome and the sauce gribiche provided a bit of creaminess to the dish.

Pinxto de pulpo gallega - $7.80

The octopus pinxto with potato and paprika sounds quite ordinary but this tapa was out of this world! The octopus was so incredibly tender and I wished we had ordered one each of these so I could have one all to myself!

Bocadillo de chorizo - $7.25

Fouratefive, Surry Hills

Latte - $4

On one sunny morning, a group of us decide to meet in Surry Hills for a lazy weekend brunch. A rookie mistake, because by 11am, it seems as though half of Sydney has had the same idea, and there is a steady queue of people on Crown St waiting for a table. We wait outside FourAteFive for an hour until we're finally seated and by that time, a coffee is definitely in order.

Homemade creamed corn - $17

We're able to order from either the breakfast or lunch menus. I've only ever had creamed corn out of a can, so the homemade creamed corn intrigues me. It's not as sweet as its canned counterpart, but it's definitely more creamy. It's delicious on the organic sourdough toast with the gooey yolk of two poached eggs, and a side of crispy bacon.

Croissant eggs benedict - $18

Dos Senoritas, Crows Nest

While new Mexican restaurants are opening left, right and centre, Dos Senoritas has been around for years serving up authentic Mexican food to Gladesville locals. I'd heard great things about it and had been planning on going, but then I saw that they had recently opened up a restaurant in Crows Nest and I really had no excuse not to go.

Complimentary corn chips and salsa

A bunch of us descended on the restaurant a few weeks after they first opened to try the food. We were greeted with a complimentary basket of corn chips and spicy tomato salsa which they liberally replenished as the night went on. They are seriously addictive, but try not to eat too many because you'll regret it once the rest of the food comes out...

Choice of three tacos with rice and beans - $25