The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
Towards the start of jobs season 2020 we met up with one of our colleagues from the CoE for brunch at Single O. We parked on a particularly hilly street not far from the restaurant. These are my thoughts as best as I can remember them.
This tomato was quite sour. The biscuit type thing underneath was a bit salty. It was visually appealing but overall I didn’t like this.
This burger, not otherwise specified, was crunchy. My partner got the dressing all over herself like an idiot.
How can I rate a meal I can’t remember? One thing that I do remember is being asked “have you ever dined with us before?” which I thought was a bit pretentious for a cafe.
Maybe it was not that memorable.
Single O 60-64 Reservoir St, Surry Hills NSW 2010 (02) 9211 0665
I met with my friend for lunch at Darling Square a couple of months ago. I had wanted to try Dopa by Devon for a while, and the weekend provided the perfect opportunity as parking was more readily available. I parked at Novotel Sydney Central, which was $9.20 for weekend parking.
I had the Grilled Glacier 51 Toothfish Don, which was $38 for the est with miso soup and some salad and pickles, plus an exorbitant Sunday surcharge. Toothfish is one of the rare and somewhat unknown treasures of the sea, and until quite recently a forbidden animal, owing to a lack of a sustainable way to capture it. It was only recently that an Australian fishery out of Heard Island has been able to apply sustainable fishing techniques to bring the joy of this fish to the table.
The toothfish serving in Dopa’s toothfish don was huge and the texture just so delicate. It really melted right into my mouth, and the taste of the marinade complemented rather than overwhelmed the fish. It was only my second time eating toothfish, and I thought it was equal to the toothfish I had at Sokyo for a much higher price. It was much better than the toothfish I had at Zushi Barangaroo.
While expensive and with a nonsensical weekend surcharge, I really enjoyed the toothfish don at Dopa. I want to bring my girlfriend here soon.
SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATE #1
Dopa Toothfish Don (September 2020)
I brought my girlfriend here. We had the toothfish don (again) and she loved it. There definitely wasn’t as much toothfish this time, which was a bit disappointing, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it. I also thought the toothfish wasn’t cooked as well, but was still better than Zushi Barnagaroo.
Dopa Scrambled Egg and Furikake Don (September 2020)
We also had the Scrambled Egg and Furikake Don ($8). Wow. This dish really went far to show just how good and wholesome a simple meal can be. The eggs were perfectly soft and fluffy, and made for a great topping for the warm rice, and the furikake provided a great tasty addition. To use a now overused phrase, the scrambled egg furikake don really warmed me up from the inside. It was just so wholesome, and cheap!
Dopa Yuzu Green Tea (September 2020)
My partner enjoyed the yuzu green tea more than me.
SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATE #2
Damn it, we went back. This time we were a bit too full already, having had a light meal at A1 Canteen in the morning.
Dopa Mentai Salmon Don (September 2020)
The Mentai Salmon Don I didn’t really enjoy. It was a far cry from the other light, fresh, unami dishes that Dopa serves. The spicy mentai mayo was too thick and overpowering. I liked that it helped to cook the salmon a bit, and I did really enjoy the salmon component. It was overall too tasty and I wouldn’t recommend.
Dopa Wagyu Don A5+ Shallot and Ginger Don (September 2020)
We also had the A5-7 Wagyu Don with shallot and ginger. I thought the thinly sliced beef was quite tender, however I thought that the ginger and shallot, a mainstay of Chinese BBQ cooking, did not work well with the beef. It split the meal into two components in my mind – the light Japanese taste of the beef, seaweed, and egg, and the salty and strong taste of the ginger and shallot to be eaten with rice. My girlfriend did not get to enjoy this dish as she was moving the car and by the time she got back it was cold.
Overall Dopa is one of our new favourite places. It offers well priced, homely Japanese fare. They never have any uni available when I go but I hope one day they will and I will be able to update this post. Yum.
Tempted by the positive reviews on Google Maps, we rolled into Newtown for a very sunny 8AM breakfast at Rolling Penny. Our waiter cheerfully let us know that there was a whole new menu starting today, which disappointed me very deeply as I had already had my mind set on what I wanted. Luckily what I wanted was still on the menu, albeit renamed and with a small price increase.
Rolling Penny Twice Cooked Roast Chicken
The Twice Cooked Roast Chicken ($18) with burnt butter sauce, mixed greens, roast garlic, beer pickles, garlic sprouts on brickfields ciabatta roll is the latest reincarnation of Rolling Penny’s famous chicken baguette. The sandwich had a mild and balanced flavour, with the creamy white sauce accentuating the umami of the moist chicken. The bread was soft on the inside yet crispy on the outside. My partner didn’t like that the pickles interrupted the otherwise warm and smooth taste of the chicken roll, but I enjoyed that they were there to punctuate the blissful smoothness with a bit of sharp tang. Overall the chicken roll is comparable to the chicken baguette at Cafe Mckenzie, and if you like one then I recommend you try the other. I can recommend this expensive sandwich.
Rolling Penny Portabello Mushroom
Excuse the awful photo, but the Portabello Mushroom ($17) with mushroom jerky, braised leeks, smoked mozzarella, radicchio & truffle aioli on a brickfields ciabatta roll looked as good as it tasted. We made the decision to add pancetta ($5), which turned out to be absolutely the right choice. The mushroom roll was incredibly juicy and rich, with lots of cheese and umami flavours. This got old quickly, however, and I found that the pancetta really did a great job at adding some variety in terms of texture and flavour. I would even go so far as to recommending the pancetta as an essential add on to this roll, which unfortunately takes the total to $22, a thoroughly expensive sandwich. I did not like the mushroom roll as much as the chicken roll.
Rolling Penny Divorced Eggs
The lighting and our positioning was unable to suitably capture the visual appeal of Rolling Penny’s Divorced Eggs ($18.50) – 2 poached eggs, salsa verde, romesco sauce, toasted pistachios, Meredith farm feta served on brickfields rye and caraway. The Divorced Eggs was visually arresting, a celebration of bright and contrasting colours with its salsa verde and romesco sauce. We did not, however, enjoy this dish as much as we did the two rolls. The two sauces were good, but too tasty, and the overall ratio of sauce to bread and other less tasty components hung on the too tasty side of the scales. Each mouthful, especially towards the end of the meal, was so drowned in flavour and saltiness that it was difficult to enjoy. The eggs were well poached, and I did peek a giant pot of eggs with an Anova sous vide cooker on the counter. The toasted pistachios were my favourite ingredient of the dish, and added some variety to the otherwise mushy texture of the sauce and eggs. I wouldn’t get this again.
Last of all, the coffee was very good. My partner liked that they gave me a red cup and an orange saucer, and her an orange cup with a red saucer. I didn’t notice.
Overall verdict: I enjoyed the chicken and mushroom rolls thoroughly, although both were quite expensive. I would recommend coming here but it has to lose a point for 1. price and 2. the divorced eggs.
Rolling Penny 583A King St, Newtown NSW 2042 (02) 8056 8897
Slurp Slurp! That was the sound I made as I tucked into my lunch at this Chinese noodle and dumpling restaurant in Rosebery today. Spoiler alert, it was excellent.
The little copper pot rice noodle ($12.80) with pork mince and an additional tea egg ($2.50) was delicious. The flavour of the soup and mince were the right amount of saltiness, and helped along by the copious serving of shallot. The tea eggs were perfectly cooked and a real treat. We had a small amount of chilli added in as well. The rice noodles themselves were very bouncy and 筋道. Definitely easy to slurp. Overall a great dish. My only regret is that I had to share the one egg with my partner.
I quite enjoyed the Pan Fried Shrimp Dumplings (6 for $13.80) the filling inside was light flavoured with a lot of prawn and ginger. It was almost the same as a 蝦餃 but inside of a fried dumpling. Even my partner, who hates prawn, finished an entire dumpling. The dumpling shell was fried perfectly and crispily. I do wish that they had offered a boiled variant however.
The Pan-fried Pickled Chili Coriander and Beef Dumplings (6 for $12.80) are part of their limited seasonal menu. I found the fillings tasty, with a strong coriander flavour. Again the dumplings were well pan-fried, and again I wish there would have been a more wholesome option for this one, like boiling or steaming.
The Steamed Pork and Chives Dumplings (10 for $11.80) were cheap and wholesome. My partner liked them more than me, but I did appreciate that they didn’t drench these ones in oil.
The Fried Pork Buns (6 for $8.80) were really cheap and filling. Like everything else at the restaurant they came out piping hot and fresh, and gave a good splash of the juices inside!
I think that overall Slurp! Slurp! was a very impressive, small, and clean Chinese restaurant. Their noodles were the star of the show, and if I were to go back I’d definitely try and make it through their extensive noodle menu. Their dumplings are good, but their over reliance on pan-fried dumplings over boiled or steamed dumplings makes it less impressive than if they were able to deliver delicious and wholesome boiled dumplings.
The service at Slurp! Slurp! was perfect for my liking. Attentive enough when you want things, but not so attentive like at a Western restaurant where they ask you how your food is every five minutes. Thanks for leaving us alone to enjoy our delicious meal.
5/5 dumperonis.
UPDATE 23/12/2020
We went back to Slurp! Slurp! last night to try a few more items. Our meal, whilst good, was not that great. My partner remarked that if we had had this meal the first time we probably wouldn’t have gone back for seconds.
Minty Beef Rice Noodles
The minty beef rice noodles ($13.80) were, true to their name, quite minty and beefy. I enjoyed the broth with its beefy flavours, and thought that the serving of beef was reasonably generous (however if ordering this again I would option it with extra beef). The addition of a tea egg ($2.50) is an absolute must. While not as good as the copper pot noodles, these minty beef rice noodles had the same kind of noodles, which remained tasty when paired with the broth even after the meat and other toppings were eaten. I can recommend this dish.
The unforgettable ghost chicken ($8.80) ended up being quite forgettable and neither spooky nor very good. It was cold chicken in a salad of onions and cucumber with a tangy vinegar dressing. Though billed as two chillis in heat the dish wasn’t really very spicy at all. The quantity of chicken was small, though I guess just on the cusp of reasonable given the dish’s low price. Don’t get this.
The pan fried shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings ($13.80), distinct from the prawn-only dumplings from last time, were again a very strong dish. Given my goal of trying new dishes I wasn’t going to order these dumplings, however the lady ahead basically incepted me with her order consisting of two servings of these babies. The dumplings were perfectly pan fried, this time in a reasonably open wrapping as opposed to a fully sealed wrapping. The flavour of the filling was good, though I thought not as tasty as the prawn dumplings from my previous visit, and not as prawny. My partner, hater of prawn, ate two whole dumplings – perhaps as she also agreed that these weren’t as prawny as before.
The big wonton in chilli sauce ($10.80) was pretty good but pretty standard. They were indeed quite big, with a large and generous meaty filling. Compared to other similar dishes that I’ve had – for example at Lilong by Taste of Shanghai – this dish was a bit more spicy, with its heavy smattering of chilli paste. Pretty tasty, but wasn’t a standout.
The cabbage and pork dumplings ($11.80)were pretty standard fare. More wholesome than the more fancy pan fried dumplings. I think of equal quality to their pork and chive dumplings.
Wow! So yummy! I’ve been a banh mi fanatic ever since I was a young child living in Burwood. My grandparents would occasionally treat me to some pork roll on the way home from school, from the Vietnamese bakery across the road from the park.
Vina Bakehouse in Royal Randwick brings me back to memories of those early banh mi days, as well as memories of further banh mi days from Wentworthville mall.
The bread is soft rather than crunchy, which I prefer as it doesn’t cut your mouth. The fillings are standard and the quantity of butter and pate is generous. The flavours come together perfectly to make an exemplary pork roll.
What’s not generous however is the price, and at $7.50 for a standard pork roll this is one of the most expensive banh mi I’ve ever had, especially from a legit Vietnamese bakery.
I would not hesitate to recommend Vina Bakehouse and I think it is likely that it will become a common haunt for me.
Vina BakehouseRandwick Royal Randwick Shopping Centre, 73 Belmore Rd, Randwick NSW 2031 (02) 9399 6760
