PaletTé and Gong Cha

There seems to be a lot of new milk tea places popping up, and some trying to be more different than others. I love the whole sort of pastel coloured themed with and modern decor and lighting, plus a flower wall at the back, most likely for all those Insta foodies out there (yes, I'm guilty of this lol).

Strawberry and watermelon cheese foam fruit tea-$7.50 

 

It's pretty pricey for a drink, since it's essentially watermelon juice, plus blended strawberries and watermelon. I couldn't really taste what sort of tea this was, was there even any tea? Just tasted liked a more watery smoothie. I chose this since I wanted to try the cheese foam, since I can't make that at home. It's got an interesting saltiness which cuts through the sweetness from the watermelon, and makes the drink a little bit creamy. It's definitely an acquired taste like sea salt ice cream.

Other teas in pretty see through bottles

Brûlée Pearl Milk Tea (large)-$6.50

Maybe if I drink this I won't fail... (failing is the story of my life...) I thought the yellow stuff was jelly but it's like a custard flavoured cream. It was quite rich if you ate it by itself, and had a slight salty taste to it. The salt helps to cut back the sweetness ( opted for 20% sugar), but I think it tasted a bit odd. Didn't really taste any brûlée flavour, guess they were trying to use cream for the custard flavour? The cream helped thicken up the milk tea as I found this didn't have enough milk powder (do they even use real milk?) Pearls could be a bit chewier. 

I feel like all these milk tea place popping up are similar/owned by the same guy. I think they do save on packaging with this cup + lid style plus sticker for brand since they don't need the machine to make seal the plastic lids like in other places. I like how the 'layers' are more 'abstract' here when looking through the cup.

  

Buy one get one free

L: Gong Cha signature tea-milk foam green tea (regular) -$5.80

R:Earl grey milk tea with 3Js (pearls, pudding jelly, grass jelly)-$6.40

Coincidentally walked past this Gong Cha at Steam Mill Lane since they were opening. I only drink this stuff if it's discounted/free. Lately there's been a lot of milk tea places opening up, and I conveniently walking past to get a freebie. The green tea one did have a nice hit of tea, and luckily I did opt for little sugar, since even with it, it was still bit bitter. The milk foam made it a bit creamy, and a tiny bit salty, but not like the cheese foam in the other drink.

I really love pearls (even though apparently it's carcinogenic), and the different jellies in drinks. Opted for no sugar in the earl grey. It just tasted like milk tea, and couldn't taste that distinct early grey flavour. I guess I do like my earl grey bitter which was masked by the milk and toppings.

    

Sunflower Taiwanese Gourmet

This is one of BW's fav places for cheap eats, and it is indeed a good place to go just to chat, with clean tables, friendly staff, and cheap Taiwanese food (for Sydney standards, obviously not as cheap as Taiwan). 

food spread

pearl milk tea-~$5

Added it as part of a meal for around $3. It's a massive serving, around 750ml-1L. It's not really sweet and can taste the tea flavour in it. Pearls were nice and chewy.

Taiwanese beef brisket noodle soup-$11.20

A nice serving of noodles, and decent chunks of beef. The soup wasn't too salty, and could taste the beef flavour in it. I would've preferred slightly thicker noodles like I had last yr at some famous beef noodle place. It's still pretty good for the price you pay.

Taiwanese Cha Jiang Noodle with minced pork-$9.70

This is relatively less flavourful compared to the beef noodles, and probably a healthier option. The mince wasn't too fatty, and decent amount of veggies as well. I'm not a massive fan of those asian style tea eggs, but it tasted like what it's supposed to be (I'm a poached egg cafe girl lol).

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 Rabbit Hole Take 2

Walking past and decided to share a snack with BW. Also they are using the Rewards app, so because I checked in, ended up getting a free tea without intending to. Free things are so good when you're least expecting it.

afternoon tea

Tumeric chai latter-$5.50 (got for free)

love the cuteness of this cup

Good hit of tumeric and milk was frothed well, wish the chai was a bit stronger, since there was mainly just the cinnamon on the side.

Apricot tart-~$6

Can't really remember the price, but I liked how this tart wasn't too sweet even though it used dried fruits. The filling sort of had a cake texture. Pastry was nice and thin and not too crumbly.

Juan Bowl & Tea

This place feels like a cafe which would open during weekdays, but it's actually opened more weeknights than lunches. Would recommend to make a booking since there's not heaps of seating, but for walk in there are bar seating. They are quite 'high tech' in terms of using payment systems connected to iPads, and also they show their daily specials on photos on their iPads which I think is quite smart, since specials change and they can save ink since they don't need to reprint menus every day. The menu is super simple, with only 5 items available, 1 of them weren't available on the night but they had a special, so still a choice of 5 for mains, and one entree special, and 2 desserts. They suggest teas to pair with each dish as well. 

food spread

Tonkatsu-rice with onion, 2hrs slow-cooked bungalow sweet pork tonkatsu, free range scrambled eggs, house apple mustard mayo, roasted tomatoes, red cabbage, miso sesame sauce-$23

inside 

It's not cheap for a tonkatsu with rice, opted for the normal koshihikari rice with this. The pork isn't super thick, but it is still a decent area. It could have been a tad bit more crispy/light in terms of the batter, but the pork was moist. Liked how there were two dipping sauces as well. I normally don't like scrambled eggs, but I like the smoothness from Jap style scrambled eggs since they're not really creamy/milky.

Matching tea-organic lemon myrtle: native Australian from QLD rainforest, tangy and sharp, sweetened to taste, provides a refreshing and zesty palette cleanser, great health tonic-$8

It's not cheap for tea, but when tea is in the restaurants' name and they suggest pairing teas, well then I couldn't resist not trying. It did give a nice subtle tang and slight zest to help lighten up the pork, mainly cause deep fried food is generally oily and relatively heavy. It's a nice light tea, but I like teas more flavourful. The only other time I've had a matching tea was in some tea region in Taiwan, where it's an actual tea house with like 50 tea options.

Wagyu: rice with garlic butter sauce, 2hrs slow-cooked wagyu roasted beef, free range onsen egg, crispy lotus root, beetroot miso, wasabi, snow pea sprouts, onion sauce-$24 (extra $1 for 12 grain rice)

no yolk porn from the onsen egg ):

12 grain rice

Beef was thinly slices and also quite tender. It wasn't super flavourful in terms of the meat itself. Was disappointed that it looked like an onsen egg, but the yolk was overcooked from the normal leaky yolk. The lotus root could've been crispier as well. The 12 grain rice is sort of like brown rice and tasted quite healthy, but wasn't really garlicy. The waitress warned us that the onion sauce is quite salty and just pour it depending on our taste, but I didn't actually find it that salty when you mix it with the rice, although it could be more oniony. It's an expensive dish for beef and rice, but it's good quality and nicely plated. 

Matcha tiramisu-$12

the top is so flat

 

inside

I've had a similar dessert in HK, where it was also a matcha tiramisu or some matcha cake inside a wooden box. There was a nice hit of matcha, but not the really bitter type. I think cause they premade it quite early on so it was quite soggy/wet inside. There wasn't much sponge, and a bit too much cream. Some of the liquid from the cream/marscapone/alchool just seeped out over time, and you end up with a watery puddle at the bottom. The dessert was nice, but I've had better tiramisus before.

inside

Careers expo today, and back again at Luna Park. Funny how a few weeks ago my bottle was leaking,  and this week I got 2 new good quality bottles. A Brita bottle to filter out lead (lol, that news article), an a Memo bottle which can fit into my thin bags. There were more freebies than last year rather than just lens spray, and food was decent.

Luna Park

donut wall

Too much sugar so didn't have a donut, but still pretty cool.

surprising amount of people going on rides here

Pearl milk tea (free) and taro milk tea w/ sago (medium)-$5.30

First time I had Coco was in Taiwan, where a small was a large in Sydney, and less than half the price of a medium (i.e. was around $2). Taiwan actually didn't taste amazing since I think the milk isn't as good, the tea flavour wasn't as prominent, and the pearls weren't as chewy. They have opened a new store in Town Hall station, and doing buy one, get one free pearl milk tea. I opted for 30% sugar and no ice for both. It wasn't really sweet at all, and could taste the tea flavour in both. Just wished there was even more tea flavour, and more taro flavour in the other one. I actually don't drink this stuff unless it's free or discounted since it's not healthy (and apparently pearls are carcinogenic).