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.
How can I call this a review? I have no recollection of eating here, but the photos are present on my computer to prove that I did. I don’t even know what we ate. Evidently some kind of garlic naan (a staple), some kind of curry, and some kind of chicken on a sizzling plate.
It looks like this meal was eaten with my partner after a particularly long day at work, the same day during which I got into a fight about putting enteral magnesium down a nasogastric tube, and also the same day when we got bubble tea towards the end of the day with the other registrars and interns and sent a group selfie to my then consultant, who was appalled at us all still being there at that time.
Looking back at this selfie, I think adapalene has made my skin demonstrably worse over the last 9 months.
PEGFEEDS, a food blog, but the food and the blog components are separate.
Don’t worry, I think there’s some regular content scheduled to be posted tomorrow.
I went many times to Milkwood Bakery but with varied levels of enjoyment.
The Portuguese Tart ($4.20) had a nice and crispy and crunchy pastry, but I didn’t enjoy the (lack of) warmth to the filling and found it overall to be a bit oily for my taste.
The Vegan Carrot Sesame Cake ($5.50) was chosen as they had run out of their far superior regular carrot cake (reviewed down below). I liked that as compared to their regular carrot cake a small portion was available, and though it did not taste as rich or as good as the standard option it was ultimately not bad, especially as they had hamstrung themselves with the strict avoidance of any dairy.
I enjoyed the pastry component of the Beef and Pork Sausage Roll ($7.20), which was oily and flaky. The meat was thick and well textured, but in my opinion too salty to tick every quality box.
The Wagyu toastie ($13.50) had a pastrami like wagyu meet with cheesse and beetroot. It was alright, but not the best toasted sandwich of the Shoalhaven area.
I enjoyed the chocolate exterior of the Lamington ($3.50) but really quite hated the texture and taste of the sponge.
This carrot cake is actually very good. The cake itself was nice and moist with an unusually large helping of walnuts, with good flavour, and I also quite enjoyed the frosting. It is certainly much more pleasant than the vegan version also sold at Milkwood. I only wish that this could be sold in a smaller portion, though we had no difficulty inhaling this delicious cake in its entirety.
The Beef BourguignonPie ($8) was pretty good, though I’m not sure it was exactly $8 good. It was quite mushroomy, and perhaps I would give it a higher rating if I were a paid shill for Big Mushroom, who look like they’re splashing out on the social media influencers these days.
And finally, the Blueberry Custard Tart ($6.50), with its shortbread crust. I’m sure it is clear by now that I have a lot of opinions for someone who can’t bake himself, but this crust felt just a bit floury for my liking. Was a big fan of these huge juicy blueberries though.
As I was preparing to leave the safe confines of Western Sydney for a three month stint on the NSW South Coast my Thai friend and colleague told me about his favourite restaurant in the area, LEAF. This was high praise coming from a guy who has spent significant periods of time living and working in the Illawara, across both Wollongong and Nowra. Love Eating Asian Food, as unusual as it is as the name of a restaurant, does describe me well, as frequent readers of this blog will know. I came here with DTC and my partner for our traditional pre-handover dinner.
These crabmeat siu mai ($9.90) were really not bad. I was particularly impressed by the wrappers, which I can’t confirm but felt handmade. The filling was fine and crabby, and I can actually believe that it was crab.
The Malaysian Nasi Goreng Fried Rice ($18.90), complete with chicken satay skewer and a fried egg, was a completely normal staple. Doesn’t quite hit the mark of Sydney-based specialty Malaysian restaurants, but very edible.
Same vibes about the Malaysian Chicken Laksa ($18.90), though this was quite a difficult dish to share as we were essentially sharing a bowl of noodles between three people eating on plates.
In keeping with LEAF in Nowra’s theme of pan-Asian dining, the Vietnamese Pancake (banh xeo – $18.90) also has its country of origin in its name on the menu. It was not the most traditional rendition, but actually not bad, with good cripsiness of the thin crepe like pancake as well as good flavours and a bright and fresh sauce.
Apparently a staple dish for DTC, the Mango Sticky Rice ($9.90) was something new to me, and actually quite enjoyable. I’ve never had the combination of sticky coconut rice and mango before, and it was quite a treat. A bit odd about the little golden shovels that we got as spoons though, but maybe that’s traditional?
COMMENTS While I don’t think LEAF in Nowra particularly excells in any one dish when judging by international standards, you could certainly do worse if you’re in the area and looking for a vaguely Asian meal, of any persuasian. My friend GD was right, even if his recommendation was based on his experience as a guy who eats three frozen macro-balanced meals a day. Not bad. Rurality bonus.
LEAF in Nowra Unit 1 / Building B/111 North St, Nowra NSW 2541 (02) 4402 7286
When we first ate at Swanky Noodle back in 2019, we were very impressed by the dingy decor, the no fuss service, and the excellent Northern Chinese cuisine. Flash forward to 2023, and we found ourselves back at Swanky Noodle for dinner in between acute stroke calls, a particularly interesting part of the public health service where a non-radiologist is tasked with reading a CT Angiogram, CT Perfusion, and non-contrast CT Brain and making a decision as to whether or not someone should get thrombolytic therapy within the course of minutes.
Good as ever was this Hot Stewed Beef with Noodle Soup ($13.80). It was a large and well priced bowl, with chewy, twangy housemade hand-pulled noodles in a richly umami soup. There was plenty of very tender beef, and it’s easy to see why this is one of their most popular dishes.
Less good were these pan-fried dumplings ($13.80), which most importantly were pan-fried, rather than boiled, like we asked for. The boiled dumplings were great back in 2019, but pan-fried dumplings are just lower effort in general. They were very meaty.
The spring pancake ($13.80) I also didn’t love, mainly because they were dryer than expected and filled with vermicelli, complicated by the fact that of the two separate guys in the kitchen one guy had cooked the filling but the other guy had forgotten the wrapper until a bit later. The equivalent of this dish that we had back in the day was full of chives (I have photo evidence from the 8th of September 2019) and much better.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The beef soup noodles were as good as ever, but the other things we had were complicated by mishaps and also just not being what we wanted. It is true that we visited half an hour before closing, but we weren’t the last table to enter and be served, and would’ve rathered a maximum of one accident per meal. I’m upset because I had really quite fond memories of this place. If only we had stopped at the noodle, the fondness would’ve remained
Unfortunately my dinner at A Bowl of Noodles did not live up to the expectations set by following their social media over the past year or so.
The Yellow Croaker Noodles ($23.80), one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, did not amaze me. It had unfortunately and probably unavoidably quite a fishy smell to it, though to its credit it did not actually taste fishy. The flavour of the soup was quite light, umami, and pleasant, though pleasant not to the degree that we wanted to finish it.
The Pan Fried Pork Buns (sheng jian bao 生煎包 – $11.80) were fine on the outside with good dough and crispiness, but oddly gooey on the inside. I won’t go so far as to say uncooked, because I don’t know for a fact and I didn’t get sick after my meal, but these buns were generally unpleasant for me.
The chive and pork dumplings (10 for $13.90) were actually very good. They stood alone as a dish that met expectations and were the highlight of the meal.
I kind of felt that the xiao long bao ($9.80) would be a dish that I could trust that a Shanghainese specialty restaurant would do well, but I was of course mistaken. These XLBs were quite dry and devoid of soup, without even any holes in the skin that could explain it. I’ve had much better steamed from a box from the frozen section of my local Asian supermarket.
COMMENTS. I didn’t find what I was looking for.
A Bowl Of Noodles 一碗面 735 George St, Haymarket NSW 2000 0415 483 140
