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. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
We went to Ho Jiak in Haymarket last night, and happened to see Sushi Rio next to it. The promise of $3.50 sushi drew us in and made us unfaithful to Sushi Hotaru.
Overall Sushi Rio was great. I’m not going to do a detailed review of 14 different items so I will instead review the vibe. It was a very cosy restaurant with a small train around a central sushi preparation area. There was only one sushi chef, who was very responsive to us and the 3 other parties who were dining at the same time. It felt very intimate, like in Japan, to have the one sushi chef catering to us individually.
The fish was fresh and the servings were generous. There was definitely more fish per piece of nigiri than at Sushi Hotaru and at numerous other similarly priced restaurants, and the price was very good for what you get. The two hand rolls we got were both great, and of good size and value too.
All of the nigiri and sushi we had we enjoyed. We also had the kingfish and salmon mixed sashimi (not pictured) which was good too. While the quality of fish was good, the range was slightly limited. It was odd to have kingfish, scallop and oyster and not have tuna, so I suspect that they may have just run out for the day.
The ikura gunkan was saltier and less creamy than I would have hoped. Still, there was a very generous quantity of roe for the $3.50 price for a plate of 2. The taste was probably a function of their supplier rather than a fault with the restaurant themselves.
Sushi Rio did not have uni (sea urchin), however this is commonly missed on Sydney sushi menus.
The green tea is a must have, and if you’re in the mood for alcohol BYO is only $2 per person. This is a sharp contrast to Ho Jiak next door, where BYO is $10 per bottle.
Overall comment: I really like Sushi Rio. It feels like the staff really care about their restaurant, and it comes across in their service and their food. The food is well priced and high quality, and there are a number of other lunch options (for example aburi salmon don, chirashi don) for under $ 10 which would be great if you work in the CBD. I would strongly recommend Sushi Rio to anyone looking for a sushi train in the Sydney CBD.
Sushi Rio 90 Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000 0411 047 996
Albee’s Kitchen is a Malaysian restaurant in Kingsford. Situated close to the UNSW campus, I’m told that it was a very popular spot for students prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I was a big fan of the Kuching Style Claypot Noodles ($14-$15). The soup was perfect and the noodles an excellent texture. This is one dish that I would have again and again.
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Albee’s Hainanese Chicken Rice ($12) didn’t quite fit expectations. It’s hard to articulate why – it just didn’t taste as classic 海南鸡饭 is meant to taste. Maybe because it was swimming in soy sauce.
Karipap
The karipap (curry puff) ($3.50 each) is a fan favourite, very large and stuffed full of ingredients. You will find rave reviews for Albee’s curry puffs online but unfortunately (perhaps because it was a bit cold) it was not to our taste.
After enjoying our first meal at Albee’s (pictured) we tried unsuccessfully to visit again twice. One time at night they had already closed prior to their advertised closing time. We ate at No.1 Malatang instead that night, which was truly disappointing. The other time we went in the morning and they were yet to open, even though it was past their advertised opening time. This was a bit of a let down on both occasions.
Overall some of the dishes are a bit hit and miss, but the inclusion of some true winners leads me to recommend giving Albee’s Kitchen a go.
UPDATE – 25/11/2020
We went back! One of our Malaysian friends happened to be in the area and had a hankering for his favourite Malaysian restaurant. We took this opportunity to gather a few of our intensive care colleagues for a lunch with a menu curated by the sedap master.
Half Hainan Chicken
The Half Hainan Chicken ($18.80) was better than I remembered! The chicken was soft and tender, and if you look to compare with the above image you can see that the chicken to soy sauce ratio is not that as much as it was before.
Nam Yu Pork Rib
The Nam Yu Pork Rib ($19.80) is pork rib, marinated in fermented bean curd, and deep fried. It is quite delicious and brimming with umami taste. They are easy to pick up with chopsticks in a shared eating scenario and I found myself coming back to it again and again.
After having quite good Loh Bak at Ho Jiak in Haymarket I was keen to try Albee’s version. While good, I didn’t quite enjoy Albee’s Lor Bak/ Ngoh Hiang (2 for $18.80) as much. The filling of pork and prawn mince with vegetable just didn’t feel as premium as Ho Jiak’s. The bean curd exterior was also not as deep fried and crispy, which is both a plus and minus. It was still good but not as good.
As a potato lover, the Curry Chicken and Potato Hot Pot (Large) was my girlfriend’s favourite. She really enjoyed the yellow curry soup mixed with rice, and also how the potato fully soaked up the flavours. Even though she doesn’t usually like to have chicken while eating out (she thinks chicken is a non-special animal, having grown up eating a lot of chicken at home) she really enjoyed the chicken here, particularly how fall off the bone tender it was. Definitely a highlight.
Sambal Water Spinach
The Sambal Water Spinach ($17.80) was really no more special than other wok tossed vegetables with sambal mixed in. Quite good with rice. A special mention needs to be made for the sambal sauce at Albee’s, which has a deep umami flavour but isn’t so spicy that it is remote and inaccessible for the weak tongued.
UPDATE 4/12/2020
My girlfriend liked the curry chicken and potato so much that she made us go again. We ordered a bit too much between the two of us, and had plenty to take home.
Wonton Soup
The Wonton Soup ($12) was good. A huge serving that is a meal in and of itself. The soup was tasty but not too salty (as it was at Yummy Duck BBQ) and the wontons large. I enjoyed the bonus greens that came with the dish which added a degree of healthfulness to the meal. If I had one complaint it would be that the wonton wrappers are a bit thick and extensive.
Ipoh Chicken Noodle Soup
The Ipoh Chicken Noodle Soup ($14) was again a huge bowl for a cheap price. It was a bowl of rice noodles in a slightly spicy broth with sliced chicken, prawns, and bean sprouts. I found the mixture of chicken and prawn pleasing as it provides a bit from column A and a bit from column B – good if you’re not looking for a fully prawn noodle soup. The serving of noodles is very generous – don’t feel like you have to finish it all!
Pandan Chicken (3 for $5.80) was yummy and flavourful. Essentially Malaysian style fried chicken wrapped in pandan leaf. You’re not meant to eat the leaf but honestly it’s all deep fried and flavoured so it’s not bad.
Traditional curry chicken and potato with rice
A reprise of the curry chicken and potato but this time with rice and at a cheap price for a solo meal ($12). My partner didn’t actually enjoy this as much as last time. Perhaps the stone pot provides some additional flavour characteristics?
TO CONCLUDE
Albee’s Kitchen provides delicious and affordable Malaysian food. Our group meal came to around $20 per person and we left feeling happy and satisfied. I can definitely recommend Albee’s for your next lunch.
The story as told is that Chase Kojima (of Sokyo fame) goes to the fish markets every weekend of the pandemic to handpick the freshest and best seafood for his new pop up takeaway sushi restaurant.
Simulation Senpai is open for business only two days a week (Friday and Saturday) and for only 3 hours on each of these days (12:30PM-2PM and 5PM-6:30PM). It is online pre-order only and takeaway only (food-court style seating available), but within these strict limits is world class sushi and sashimi at a reasonable price.
Chase Kojima was there to greet his customers when we came to pick up our order on a Friday night. We ate in surprisingly luxurious food court style seating, and I’m told there is a nice park outside for lunchtime picnicking.
Hoseki Bako
The Hoseki Bako ($55) is, as advertised, a box of treasures. It features an assortment of fresh sashimi on Masshigura rice. Every single morsel is unique and delicious. The salmon roe and sea urchin were both perfectly creamy and sweet. The scallops were sweet and delicate, and all of the fresh sashimi was as well. The tartar of tuna and salmon added an additional dimension of texture to the meal and worked well with the rice. The seafood to rice ratio was just perfect.
The Zenbu Don ($65) is a true tuna fantasy box of tuna (akami), medium fatty (chu-toro) tuna, and fatty tuna (toro) on rice. The fatty tuna just melts in your mouth like a dream, and is the best fatty tuna I’ve had outside of Japan. The red portion of tuna (akami) was also the best I’ve had in Australia. I often find akami a bit too metallic tasting, but this was not the case at Simulation Senpai. I think the Zenbu Don is really the star of the show and I encourage anyone missing toro to give it a try. Again the fish to rice ratio is perfect.
The Yuzu Mango Tapioca Pudding ($6) is a surprising winner, with a mild, not-too-sweet flavour to cap off the sashimi. The cartoon label doesn’t do the complex flavours justice.
I simply cannot recommend Simulation Senpai enough. Chef Kojima has truly set the new standard for fast fine dining. I was initially nervous about spending $130 on food court food, but one taste of the toro was enough to put any doubts out of my mind. It is the best sushi I’ve had outside of Japan, and you need to go while you still can.
I’m told that Acre Eatery in Camperdown is one of the many cafes available to staff at the Centre of Excellence™. One of our friends and colleagues from said centre suggested we have lunch here, not knowing that lunch is a $70 per person set menu.
Acre is apparently a farm-to-bowl establishment. Some or all of the plant matter served comes straight from the tiny on-site organic farm, which I expect must be an extremely expensive piece of government subsidised real estate in the inner West.
So first of all, I love small foods in big plates. The Sweet potato fritti, spiced fruit marmallatta fits that criteria well, and also meets the additional hidden criteria of having two words I don’t know. These were basically crispy sweet potato balls that were probably fried but possibly baked. I’m scared to write definitively because I don’t want these inner city types to sue me.
I really enjoyed the Cannelini bean & almond hummus, roasted grapes, homemade lavosh, even though one of our colleagues said she could do it better.
The Local burrata with lemon oil was also great. One of my other friends was very keen on this and I think noticeably sad when they took it away unfinished. There was no explanation of whether it was the cow or the cheese that was local and I think this detracted from the experience.
The mains I didn’t get to take a photo of, but allow me to paint a poor picture in few words.
The Porchetta, celeriac puree, roasted quince was quite good. It was a large portion with a generous serving of pork, and good flavours.
The Pan-fried King trout, braised cabbage, pippies, capers was extremely disappointing. The trout itself was not faultable, however the accompanying braised cabbage and vegetables were reminiscent (in both form and taste) of the frozen cubed vegetable mix that you’d get from the supermarket.
The five of us did not stray from these two mains. There were some other choices available without animal but I guess we love animal.
I would probably not go back to Acre as it stands, but I would recommend it to a friend. There’s only so much of the exact same menu that you can eat and enjoy. Maybe they will change their menu in the post-COVID age.
I wanted to go to Canton Noodle House after work last night. I was so keen that I asked my girlfriend to drive me from work straight to the restaurant to optimise parking time. Unfortunately when we arrived at 8:45 the restaurant which had advertised itself to close at 9:45PM was already closed. So we went across the road to The Good Kitchen instead.
I was initially drawn to the Good Kitchen by a photo of 皮蛋瘦肉粥 on its Zomato page. This implied to me that it would be a quick and easy place to get a quick and easy feed. It was only until we were situated and tea had been served that I realised that The Good Kitchen is very much a legitimate restaurant, complete with its own live seafood tanks (more on that later), and not as accommodating for a quick and easy meal. My girlfriend will attest that I deliberated leaving after looking at the menu, but ultimately stasis was the basis of my decision.
Hokkien Fried Rice
I enjoyed the Hokkien Fried Rice. It was a large portion, with plenty of topping. The flavours were adequate but not what I was expecting from Canton Noodle House.
Spicy Eggplant with Minced Pork in Claypot
We felt that the Spicy Eggplant with Minced Pork in Claypot was somewhat middling. The eggplant we felt was not cooked enough and required too much biting and chewing. My girlfriend, who is the local expert in spicy eggplant and minced pork also felt like it was not spicy enough.
Eight Treasure Tofu in Claypot
I am an absolute sucker for combination braised bean curd hot pot and was sad and alarmed not see it on the menu. The closest I could find was “braised tofu in hotpot”, however upon asking the staff we were dismayed to find that this particular dish was tofu only. Taking a gamble on the Eight Treasure Tofu in Claypot was a great decision. I didn’t know if it would be what I wanted to be, as eight treasure soup is just eight different beans, but it was. And it was good.
It is important to mention that our meal was rudely interrupted by a lobster cage match which broke out in the left lobster tank. I think that when you are a Chinese restaurant your threshold for putting more aquatic animals into a tank is that as long as there’s water on 3/4 of the animal’s surfaces then it’s plenty of room and more can be put in there. While I’m not the world’s strongest advocate for the welfare of delicious crustaceans I do think that overcrowding may have been involved in the 7-way free-for-all that transpired during our meal. We were also witness to a vertical fish in a socially distanced tank far away from the lobsters.
Overall The Good Kitchen wasn’t what I was looking for, but it ended up being what I needed. A protip for new players is that eight treasures is literally combination. I would rate The Good Kitchen four angry lobsters out of five.
The Good Kitchen 171 Forest Rd, Hurstville NSW 2220 (02) 9579 1688
