Categories
Japanese

Izakaya Goma – Maroubra NSW Restaurant Review

Izakaya Goma in Maroubra is one of my go-to restaurants for delivered sushi and Japanese food before a night shift. They have a good price to product ratio, and have yet to fail to hit the spot.

The Kaisen Chirashi Don ($19.80) was excellent. A good serving of all our favourite sea animals on top of top notch sushi rice. The salmon roe was yum.

The Wafu Mentaiko Cream Pasta ($14.80) tasted as you would expect and was priced well for what it was. I know I’ve definitely paid more for mentaiko pasta in the past.

Abura Soba

The Abura Soba $14.80 was delicious and made my colleagues jealous when reheated in the tea room microwave. Don’t be fooled like I was though, it already comes with more than enough Chashu – no need to add more!

Sushi Moriawase Shiro Goma

I rarely get assorted sushi packs but took a leap with the Sushi Moriawase Shiro Goma ($13.20) and was rewarded. The serves of fish were thick and generous, and even though I don’t normally like tamago I enjoyed this one.

Pork Katsu Curry

The Pork Katsu Curry ($17.80) was not memorable for me. My girlfriend enjoyed the potatoes.

I enjoy Izakaya Goma and can recommend for some quick and well priced Japanese food. It’s down the road from and perhaps overshadowed by Kokoroya, but ends up being a better value proposition., while making no sacrifices.

Izakaya Goma
693 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035

Categories
Chinese

The Northeast Restaurant 大东北 – Kingsford NSW Restaurant Review

The Northeast Restaurant is a small group of restaurants serving North Eastern Chinese cuisine throughout Sydney. The Kingsford store is open relatively late (until 10PM), and was a great option for a quick dumpling-based meal after work.

Ordering at the Northeast Restaurant was via an app on their instore iPad, and service was quick and efficient (although we were the only ones there at around 9PM).

The Northeast Restaurant Dumplings

We really enjoyed all of their dumplings. The pork mince, egg, and chive dumplings are very similar to the ones that I grew up with. The pork mince with Sauerkraut was also very good, as was the pork mince with cabbage ones. All were very juicy and well cooked. I have a personal preference for boiled dumplings and was glad to see them make an appearance, as I feel like too many Chinese restaurants only offer the option of steamed or pan fried.

The pig ear with bean curd and chives was good but I think by the time we got to them we were a bit too full. They are probably too salty to eat without rice, so if you’re keen to try them make sure you eat them with rice. We still have some leftovers in our fridge.

Overall I can highly recommend The Northeast Restaurant for your Kingsford dumpling needs. Their food is much better quality than Chinese Dumpling & Noodle Restaurant across the road, which is a place I never want to go back to. Five out of five dumplings.

The Northeast Restaurant Kingsford
436 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

Categories
Chinese

Dumpling Hut – Kogarah NSW Restaurant Review

Let’s be honest. Dumpling Hut in Kogarah doesn’t look very appetizing. Their decor leaves much to be desired, but if you can get past this barebones, no-frills visual style you will find very well priced, fresh from frozen pan-fried dumplings.

The pork and chive dumplings are very yummy and delicious. They’re only $8 for 15, and even cheaper if you bring a friend with you. They come out hot and juicy, and are great for a quick lunch.

The service is also good and friendly. I feel like the staff are very dedicated to their restaurant and I really hope they succeed.

I’d love to go again but unfortunately I hardly have time to leave work during the day now.

Dumpling Hut Kogarah
Shop 5/13 Belgrave St, Kogarah NSW 2217
0455 376 304

Categories
Chinese

No.1 Malatang 壹號麻辣燙 – Kingsford NSW Restaurant Review

Wow. What a legitimately bad time for two humans.

No 1 Malatang (壹號麻辣燙) was one of the only restaurants open late on a weekday night in Kingsford. The first thing you notice when you enter is the toilet-like smell, concentrated in the area where you choose your ingredients. We should have turned back then but unfortunately hunger won and we prevailed.

The ingredients weren’t fresh, so much so that when we were waiting for our food to be cooked we saw one of the staff members holding up a tray of raw meat to sniff it to see if it was still good.

Once the meal arrived some of the ingredients (notably the tofu and the quail eggs) tasted unusual.

Towards the end of our meal we noticed that the honey tea which we had paid $3.50 for each had expired five months ago in January.

Overall, dining No 1 Malatang in Kingsford was an awful experience that had us wondering whether we should just leave even though we had already paid the entire time. I am very concerned about the food safety at this restaurant and actually don’t think places like this should exist.

I would strongly advise you avoid this restaurant and instead visit Yang Guo Fu Malatang which is just down the road.

No 1 Malatang Kingsford
522 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

Categories
Japanese

Sushi Rio – Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

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