257 Home Kitchen

I actually hardly come to Eastwood, so didn't know this restaurant existed. Came here with relatives for some Shanghainese food. This place is well lit, clean with modern decor, and staff were quite attentive. Not gonna lie, I don't really eat Chinese food out since I feel like places aren't really clean, in terms of food/table stuff.

food spread

names of stuff we ordered

didn't have heaps of soup, but decent bit of meat inside and skin was quite thin

love a pan fried bun with a crunchy base

I found it was really cool how they just get a live fish then add some batter and deep fry it, so that the skin ends up 'popping out' and can pull a part out and have deep fried fish. The sweet and sour sauce went really well with it. Would recommend, even though it's turning something healthy into not healthy at all...

Dishes in general were quite nice, well portioned, not overly salty and decently priced.

Yasaka Ramen

Last year when I would occasionally get a lift from uni to Town Hall, I would drive past this ramen place. I didn't even know it was a popular ramen joint in Sydney (I'm still 'under-educated' about Asian food in my home city). Got there on a Tuesday night at around 7pm and there was a line, but only about a 15-20min wait so not too long. I thought they only had downstairs bar seating, but turns out they have tables up stairs.

 

food spread

Yasaka ramen w/ tonkotsu shio base-$14.80

I normally go for the shio base as a baseline comparison for other ramen places. The broth is one of the thickest I've ever had. The first few sips are good, but if you try to drink it, it's way to thick, heavy and salty. 

Grilled kakuni ramen w/ tonkatsu miso base (signature ramen): delicious slow cooked soft pork bone flame grilled to give it a crispy texture on the outside while still soft and juicy in the inside-$19.80

Two large chunks of meat here which were so flavourful. The miso base was also tastier but more salty. I liked the bits of corn to give it some sweetness and relief from all the sodium.

ramen lift

The noodles are a bit harder and have more bite to them. I think I prefer a slightly less dense noodle, but really depends on personal preference. My favourite is still the Micheline star Tsuta from Tokyo. It's a lighter base and noodles were perfect for me. I guess different regions in Japan do slightly different ramen, so if you like thick broths, this is the place to go. 

Pinto

I’ve been wanting to come here for a while since I saw their mont blanc cake dressed like a Christmas. Came here for breakfast even though their selection for brekkie isn’t really amazing, and most of the stuff was just toast. Wanted to try some stuff which is only available during lunch time, so may be back. However, there were so many flies during our meal, had to cover the dishes with some extra plates. At one point a fly flew into the soup, normally I won’t drink it but I still love trying stuff  so had a small sip. Half the time we were there trying to swat flies away. 

food spread

The ice purple potato latte ($9) could have had a stronger sweet potato flavour. The colour was vibrant but the flavour wasn't, and it was more on the watery side. Would have liked it a bit thicker/milkier. The hojicha latte ($6.50) had a nice bitterness to it, but I felt like the roasted flavour of the tea could have come out a bit more.

Japanese breakfast set: steamed rice, pork belly, miso soup, small size dishes (tofu), soft boiled egg

tofu

The Japanese set is cute with it’s individual dishes, just like how they would do it in Japan. Whenever something like this comes up, I always think of how many plates they have to wash after just one meal. Guess that’s why they have industrial dishwashers…The food wasn’t amazing (maybe I’ve been too spoilt with so much authentic and delicious food from Tokyo last year). The pork belly was moist and flavourful which went well with the plain rice. 

cakes

 

mont blanc -$9

Mont blanc was average, and I don't think it's worth the $9. Didn't really have much chestnut flavour, and had a bit too much cream for my liking, which is ok if it had flavour but it didn't. It was just lacking in general compared to other mont blancs I have (Angelina mont blancs are still my fav).

strawberry shortcake-$8

This cake wasn't that amazing either, if I tried this without knowing the price, I would've just pair $4 for it. The sponge is light, but at the bottom the moisture from the cream already made the sponge slightly wet and not light. The cream was average as well, not too sweet but could be lighter in texture.

beef onigiri-$5

inside

This onigiri is pretty much average compared to other onigiris I've had from takeaway sushi shops. Sometimes you see stuff online and people are paid to advertise them, but on this blog is just honest opinions, and this was pretty average. Could have more beef, or beef with something extra inside to not make it so monotone. 

Tan Viet Noodle House, Viet Hoa Hot Bread, OneZo

I hardly come to this side of Sydney, so when I do, I try to eat more than one meal here.

Herbal Duck with Noodles-$16.50

I don't know the proper name for this, but I like how they gave a decent serving of duck. The herbal soup wasn't too herbally, no where as herbal as those Chinese medicines. Helped made the duck less dry. The serving was massive, had half the noodles and the other half still fit into a takeaway box.

Crispy chicken

The crispy chicken was indeed crispy. Also a massive serving of rice.

Pork roll-$4.50 and some other roll for free (worth $3.50)

cross section

I've actually been here before but never blogged about it, so blogging here just so I can remember I've tried this place before. This place is considered more expensive compared to other places for $3. Bread could be crispier, but filling was decent, wished there was more pate though.

Got just normal milk tea with pink pearls, 2 for $8 from memory. It didn't have that nice tea fragrant flavour of milk tea, and the pearl texture wasn't really that chewy. Found this milk tea tasted more like milk.

menu

The Cuban Place

First time having cuban food, although I’m not really sure what Cuban food entails. It's sort of like Mexican but not really. You actually go upstairs to go to the entrance, which had surprisingly quite a lot of seating and relatively expansive for a CBD restaurant. Thanks Dandelion for booking the group dinner. It was a ‘surprise’ location for dinner, and she took us here since they had 50% everything from a Dimmi deal, and it’s also nice to try something different (this post is more than 2 months delayed...)

food spread

 

entrance

Didn't realise this restaurant was just behind the QVB on the other side of the road.

Can't bribe me to give 5 star reviews. also, it's only a draw to win, you don't even get a voucher if you give 5 stars. only honest opinions here.

I think we sort of over ordered since it's half price and we wanted to try a few things. Didn't take a photo of the menu at the time, only a photo of the receipt.

Drunk crab taco-$14

It's not cheap for a taco, but you do get a whole soft shell crab. The crab was deep fried well, and the taco (tortilla?) was nice and soft. Paired well with the guacamole and tomato.

Toastadas de camaronês-$16

This was a prawn and octopus (?) on top of a tostada. This was quite nice as well, but expensive since you only get 3 pieces.

Linguine with tomato and quinoa sauce, okra, parsley & a duo of Parmesan and Manchego cheese-$16

The linguine was pretty average. It didn't have much flavour, not much sweetness from the tomato and under seasoned, just like my mum's 'healthy' and bland cooking. I also think Dandelion could make a better pasta with her mad cooking skills.

Pescado varadero:Sustainable fish of the day with Varadero sofrito confit, kipfler potatoes and crispy leek-$34

They didn't say what fish it was, but we figured it was barramundi. It was just on the tad bit overcooked, but I liked how it was garnished with crispy leeks. There was a decent amount of potatoes hidden under as wel..

Quesadilla chorizo-$22

Loved the toasted wrap/bread stuffed with cheesy chorizo, one of my favourite dishes from the night. The chorizo wasn't overly salty either.

Lamb-$32

Lamb was booked well and not dry. From memory, it was well seasoned and tomatoey in flavour.

Pork ribs cuba libre-$36

These ribs were just a tad bit dry, but they did come with a pesto/mint sauce. Meat would have been cooked with more marinade.

Yuca chips-$8

Had to Google what yuca was. It sort of tastes like taro and polenta but without the grainy texture, and it's quite light inside. Tasted quite healthy with a good crunch and not drenched in oil.

dessert

Lava Galleta: white chocolate and macadamia cookie with guava ice cream-$15

Wish the scoop of ice cream was bigger, since we ordered this dessert mainly for the ice cream. The guava flavour was subtle but quite nice. The cookie was too sweet.

Cafe y Caramelo: coffee and chocolate mocha dome with candied peanuts, sweet peanut roll and salted caramel ice cream-$15

This dessert was also overly sweet, and couldn't really taste the coffee in the dome cake. We shared this between 5 people and still found it sweet. The ice cream was already melting when it got to our table, and had more caramel than salt which didn't help with the sweetness. Candied peanuts weren't;t really necessary.

Total price of food was $208, so after half price for 5 we paid around $20 which is cheap for dinner and the amount of food we had. Full price, I wouldn't go again since the food wasn't amazing.