Category: Cuisines

Categories
Japanese

Ryo’s Noodles – Crows Nest NSW Restaurant Review

It’s extremely rare thing for doctors to go on strike, and probably something that many in power thought would never happen again in NSW, the last time in the 1980s (led at the time by a young doctor now known as CSY) relegated to fleeting mentions in review articles in the MJA[1].

I was proud to have been a small part of the doctors’ walkout on the 8th of April this year, when, even though I wasn’t actually rostered to work that day, I attended rallies both in Western Sydney and at the Ministry of Health’s lavishly appointed headquarters (beautiful staircase in that building) at 1 Reserve Road, St. Leonards.

The protest of it all aside, it was quite nice to see a number of my friends and colleagues that I had worked with over the years, all gathered in one place to protest the untenable state of working conditions and compensation in the New South Wales public health system – a product of both successive Liberal AND Labor governments, which has led to the ongoing attrition of both junior and senior doctors from the state public health system into private practice, as well as public hospitals in other states which are able to offer better staffing, conditions, and on average 30% more in terms of remuneration. Though a Labor party win was once thought by some to be the panacea that would fix the crumbling health system, I do love a bipartisan effort at neoliberalism and keeping the workers down.

Politics aside, one of the people I ran into at the strike, at the rally, was a former frequently featured co-diner on this blog, WKS, and we took the opportunity of being on the forbidden side of the bridge to catch up over a meal at Ryo’s Noodles.

Ryo’s Noodles, I suspect, had never seen such a large turnout for lunch on a weekday, as various small groups of doctors had filled up almost their entire venue capacity, and then some, with a number of people in scrubs still waiting outside for a table even as we left.

The gyoza ($9) were pretty good, juicy, filled with pork and cabbage, fried and crispy, though possibly a little bit burnt, more burnt than I would have liked.

The karaage chicken ($12), a classic, no notes.

The ramen itself, soy sauce flavour ($20.50) I felt was kind of overhyped, and did not reach the criticisable level of the sides. Ryo’s Noodles had been part of my consciousness for the past 5 years since I first started this blog, and at the end of the day I felt that their star item was just not bad – a bit saltier than I would’ve liked, with good chaashu but otherwise definitely not life changing as some have influencers have sold it online.

Ryo’s Noodles
125 Falcon St, Crows Nest NSW 2065
(02) 9955 0225

References
1.Yong CS. The Australian Medical Association at 50 years. Med J Aust. 2012 Aug 6;197(3):182-3. doi: 10.5694/mja12.11108. PMID: 22860798.

Categories
Italian

Lupa Pizzeria – Wollongong NSW Restaurant Review

I found myself having an extra night in Wollongong, and was craving some pizza. Both unwilling and unable to go to Kneading Ruby, having exhausted their pretty delicious menu back in 2021, we decided on Lupa, well recommended on the internet, which had a couple of open tables for walk-ins on a Sunday night.

The first thing I noticed about Lupa was this cute logo of a wolf providing milk to piglets? wolflets? the founders of Rome? on their window. It was cute but weird, kind of chaotic and modern.

My partner decided on the pizza, which was the quattro stagioni ($24), with tomato sauce, fior di latte, ham, salami, mushrooms, a single artichoke, and olives. Being simple folk who don’t know much about pizza lore, we had expected all of these ingredients to come mixed on the pizza, however this is not how it was. This pizza came in discrete sections, with Wikipedia stating that each section represents one Italian season.

It was actually very good, with a nice thin crust but with strong, non-floppy structure. The salami was quite delicious, likely an artisan variety rather than something more pedestrian. The artichoke was tender, marinated in some kind of vinegary substance, and the mushroom and ham definitely not problematic either. This pizza was so good that even before our pasta came I was regretting not just getting two pizzas.

The orchiette with pork sausage and mushroom ($22) was the pasta special for the night. It was quite al dente (probably too much for me), and I must admit that I didn’t love it, though my partner enjoyed it, possibly even more than the pizza itself. There was no sauce, instead being more of an oil-based pasta with a hint of aniseed flavour amongst the mushroom and pork sausage. I do wish that we had just ordered two pizzas, but I’m glad that my partner go to enjoy this pasta, and I’m also glad that I wasn’t in a situation where a number of patrons on a different table each ate their own pasta and didn’t get to try anyone else’s food at at all.

As we were leaving, our waiter said our visit wouldn’t be our last. He’s probably right. Yum.

Lupa Pizzeria
98-100 Keira St, Wollongong NSW 2500


Categories
Chinese

Jinweide 金味阁 Lanzhou Golden Taste – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I walked into Jinweide expecting a simple menu where I could just say ‘1 lanzhou beef noodle please’, but when confronted with a number of unexpected options, I deferred to the person taking my order, ending up with this Handmade beef noodle, thin (type 3) noodles, less spicy ($14.80)

Despite the high degree of visual appeal, the taste of these noodles failed to impress me. I think the most critical part was that the flavour of the broth was too mild, tasting watery rather than soupy. I don’t think the ‘less spicy’ option was necessarily a factor in this, but just that a bit more salt or even some natural or artificial glutamate would’ve helped. Having said that, the quantity of food for $14.80 was quite good, with a large serving of noodles and beef and soup that I could not finish, only half because I didn’t want to.

The beef bun / roujiamo with lean and fat meat ($8.80) – choices of just lean and just at also available – was not bad, but not great. It was overall pretty juicy and flavourful, with little bits of tendon included, and more spice and colour than from Cheng’s next door. Though I understand the need for a beef variation for our Muslim friends and colleagues, this one was far from the standard of a good pork roujiamo.

Other thoughts
The guys on the table next to me participated in some kind of challenge item where you place a gloved hand into a big box of sliced beef, and the amount that you fish out is the amount that you get to eat. This looks fun, though I don’t know how I would’ve eaten such a large amount of unexciting noodle soup. Overall I feel that 1919 Lanzhou Beef Noodles, further down Burwood Rd, is a superior option.

Jinweide Lanzhou Golden Taste 金味阁兰州牛肉面版权所有
Shop 8/258-264 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 9360 0171

Categories
Chinese

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 unlocked for me something above and beyond what I understood cháng fěn 肠粉 could achieve.

We had the dried cordyceps flower with pork and egg rice paper roll 虫草花猪肉鸡蛋肠 ($16.50). While I’ve had a couple of different cheungs fun around the place, mostly from yum cha restaurants, I’ve never had anything like this in my life. Though it seems small in this photo, the thing was huge and bulging, of adequate size for the price asked.

It was absolutely packed with layers of tender pork mince, multiple layers of rice noodle sheets, as well as soft egg, with each layer melding into one another to form an ultimate combination of creamy umami. The egg component I think was a true winner, adding moistness, textural interest, as well as creaminess to a dish that may sometimes otherwise be a bit bland. Ultra-light soy sauce was available on-table, but unnecessary.

I did not love the pork and preserved egg congee 皮蛋瘦肉粥 ($12.80). While the bowl was large, I felt that it was too sparsely topped/filled, especially with regards to the only minimal showing of century egg, sliced ultra-thinly to maximise visual appeal without actual mass presence, making the bowl closer to a bowl of plain rice congee than a classical flavourful pi dan shou rou zhou.

The fried bread / you tiao / dough cruller 经典非凡油条 ($3.50) was excellent. Freshly fried, crispy, warm, and soft. It’s a shame that the congee was so unspectacular and bland, as it would’ve made a good accompaniment to a more flavourful zhou.

I really don’t know why I was expecting something different when I ordered the fried egg noodles with beef 干炒牛面 ($16.80). I had pictured, for some reason, some kind of saucy Hokkien mee, but instead what this actually was was just gānchǎo níuhé with egg noodles instead of rice noodles. The dish was large, with a mound of voluminous noodles and a weaker than average meat to noodle ratio. The flavour was light, and I regret not adding some of the tableside soy sauce to the mix. I don’t know if my lack of enjoyment of this dish was due to unmet expectations or the food itself, though it did taste better after a period of fridge time, microwave time, and resting and digesting on my part. Either way, there’s probably a good reason this dish is usually made from rice noodles, and it’s my own fault for being illiterate in Chinese.

My partner always orders a soy bean drink unsweet hot 石磨原味豆浆 无糖 ($3) from wherever it may be available. I did not care for it.

Overall thoughts (interim)
The rice noodle roll with egg and the fried dough crullers are my top picks from this restaurant, though I would be hesitant to recommend the other things that I had here.

Update October 2025
We rarely go to the same restaurant twice, unless it’s really good or it’s been a long time, but we went to Traditional Cantonese Taste twice in four months – not because it was truly amazing (though the rice noodle rolls are), but because there are truly quite few restaurants open for breakfast in Burwood. My wife gave me the opportunity to walk through Burwood for 15 minutes to find somewhere to have breakfast at, and all the places we walked past were either not that appealing, or we’d done them to death. Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店 was the call that she made in her frustration of my indecision.

We had the dried cordyceps flower with chicken and egg rice roll 虫草花滑鸡蛋肠, which was pretty good, but probably not as good as the pork mince version. I thought about what the reason for this difference could be, and I think it’s because the chicken chunks were relatively large, whereas pork mince really lends itself to homogeneity and a melding in of flavours and textures between the egg, rice noodles, and meat.

The Rice with pork ribs, chicken and cured meat clay pot 大四喜煲仔饭（排骨, 滑鸡, 腊肠, 腊肉）*$25.80) was I think a new addition to menu, which since our previous visit has been upgraded from a single laminated sheet to a multi page booklet complete with photos. I enjoyed the rice, first and foremost, with the lightly salty soy sauce and the crispy but not burnt bottom section. The protein components, of which there were 4 different ones, were less enjoyable. I felt that both the chicken and the pork ribs had distinct but different ‘agricultural’ tastes, with a strong scent of the animal. It’s rare for me to ever have a problem with the gaminess of meat (especially unless it’s goat), but this was what I experienced. The two types of cured pork were yummy, and my wife graciously allowed me to have more than my fair share of this.

I tried to get us more you tiao but they hadn’t started them at the time I ordered, and the woman who told me she’d let us know when they turned the deep fryer on failed to let us know. It’s ok. We were full anyway.

Overall thoughts (update – October 2025)
My thoughts remain the same. Rice noodle roll with egg good. Other things, not as good.

Traditional Cantonese Taste 老广记石磨肠粉店
101 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
(02) 8528 8962

Categories
Middle Eastern

Babylon Bakery & Grill – Fairfield Heights NSW Restaurant Review

I’m almost certain I had written something about Babylon Bakery already, but I couldn’t find anything in the drafts or in the scheduled posts, and I couldn’t even find any notes taken from the meal, so I guess I’ll just do it again from memory.

We visited Babylon Bakery after seeing it recommended on social media by someone who I hope wasn’t a paid influencer. We ordered a relatively large amount of food to eat in, and unfortunately had to wait a relatively large amount of time (21 minutes) for our food to arrive.

We had a one kilogram mixed skewer pack ($40) which consisted of chicken tawouk, lamb kofta, as well as lamb meat skewers for a total of eight skewers worth. This also came with some coleslaw consisting of lettuce and tomato, as well as some seasoned onion, garlic and hummus dips, and chilli coated bread.

This was a large dish and extremely good value for only $40 with an overall huge amount of food. The chicken was my favourite, being quite juicy and tender, followed by the lamb kofta. The the chunks of lamb meat were less to my liking with a bit of gaminess to them, and overall a bit less tenderness than the other two options.

We also had a fattoush salad (regular size – $8) although, and I didn’t know this at the time, we probably could have had fattoush instead of coleslaw on our kilogram of mixed skewers. This was fine, it was what fattoush iss.

Unbelievably, we also had a chicken shawarma roll ($10), originally intended to be for the following day, but then I wanted to try some. This was excellent with a large helping of garlic sauce, and quite juicy with the pickles – not dry at all like some that I’ve had, for example, from Shawarma Albeik.

Overall
We ultimately packaged up the remainder of our kilogram of meat and took it home to eat the following day. Overall, the value proposition offered by Babylon Bakery was quite good, however I guess they’re not particularly well set up for dine-in eaters with only two small tables on premises. The majority of their orders were for takeaway, and perhaps if one is intending to dine there, it would be better to just order as takeaway, arrive 20 minutes later and then eat there, because sitting there waiting for twenty minutes was no fun. The food is all served in disposable stuff anyway.

Babylon Bakery & Grill
187 The Boulevarde, Fairfield Heights NSW 2165