Bowl n Roll

Duck banh mi-$8

 

inside/cross section

If you didn’t know already, duck is one of my favourite proteins. This banh mi was packed with duck and filling. Duck was a bit fatty in places so didn’t eat all the skin. It’s more pricey compared to other pork rolls, but there was a decent serving of meat inside, and the actual roll was quite large I couldn’t finish it. After a bit of time, the soy sauce did soak into the bread and also at the bottom of the roll, but the bread was nice and crunchy. 

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

Ms G's

This place has been on my places to visit or a while, so finally decided to make the trek to this side of the city. There’s a lot of fusion dishes here, where they take the ‘basics’ of cuisines such as Viet, Thai, Korean, Chinese and Western food and literally mix them up. Being on this side of Sydney, dishes are more pricier than your average dinner.

Tables are small and it’s quite crowded inside with dim lighting, so if you’re after a quiet dinner to chat, this isn’t the place for you. Ended up using iPhone torch light to take photos, and other people around turning heads #noshame

food spread

Cheeseburger spring roll-$6

inside

This sounded pretty interesting on paper, and it was really good. Tasted exactly like a cheeseburger with the beef mince, melty American cheese, and pickles wrapped in a spring roll. It was deep fried well with a good crisp and not too oil.

Squash, peas, butterbeans with pickled radicchio, mint, yuzu and white miso ranch-$18

The salad sounded interesting with a yuzu sauce, but I wouldn’t order it again since I don’t think it’s worth the money. The yuzu was quite subtle, and the actual salad was average.

Vietnamese pork and prawn pancake 'Korean style'-$24

The pancake had more toppings than actual batter and was quite oily. There was a nice crunch from the shrimp heads without being too salty, and still interesting to try. It’s just nothing like your Korean pancake as there was a lot of air in between this pancake, and only bits of batter sticking the toppings together.

Tom yum fried rice with snow crab, kaffir lime & crispy wonton skin-$29

Our favourite dish was the fried rice. I didn’t realise you could buy those Thai Tom Yum paste in grocery stores. I still remember when I went to Thailand around 9 years ago that the Tom Yum soup was way too spicy to drink. The fried rice was cooked well with that dry sort of rice texture without being dry, and there was just the right amount of spice for me to enjoy. Would recommend this dish as well.

red lighting=not ideal for food photos

Switch

All members of the G8s that were in the Southern Hemisphere met up tonight, as Jo correctly put it. I think 6/8 is an achievement, really don't remember when we had 8/8...at least 3 years ago though. 

I played the Nintendo Switch last week but only on Mario Kart, which is a go to classic. Didn't realise how portable the Switch is, with super cute tiny controllers! Didn't realise consoles still cost a fair bit, but $500 now is worth a lot less than $500 13 years ago when we got our first big console...Love how the multiplayer games are team games, rather than versing each other. Overcooking is hilariously fun, a stressful fun if that makes sense. Half the time I couldn't see where I was, but I like how it's relatively realistic, like if the kitchen catches fire then you need a fire extinguisher before you can keep cooking. Thanks Tess and fam for having us over and the delicious home made food!

Vegetarian rice paper rolls

Those wrapping skills which I don't have. Love how it's filled with so many veggies, and don't need vermicelli noodles to fill up the space. Peanut sauce with it is so good. I hardly ever have this stuff, and just walking past places at the shops they're pretty pricey compared to buying the ingredients and making it yourself. Just a whole lot of prep to chop up the veggies etc.

Vegetarian peking duck

First time having vegetarian duck, didn't even know it existed. It taste just a tiny, tiny bit like duck. It's still nice for fake meat though. Loved the cute coriander poking out in the presentation. We also had a 'third course' of the typical Chinese beef and bean sprouts stir fried flat rice noodles. Dessert featured Happy Apple and Dandelion's cookies and an ice cream cake we got Nancy last week lol. 

So good seeing everyone. Once again, we didn't end up playing boardgames but just ended up chatting and talking about random stuff. I think the best catch ups are not what you do, but just talking with people and the company. So great to see Happy Apple!

Didn't realise you don't have to do any more tests to get your full licence...I also never experienced the 'paper' temporary licence, and you just get the licence immediately after you pay for it...how times have changed since I got my fulls over 3 years ago...

Didn't realise how much Castle Towers has changed, since nowadays I don't go shopping, and if I do, it's normally in the city since it's on the way home from uni. Or it's overseas since I feel spending money in Aus isn't as worth compared to spending overseas. So many shops have moved around, I feel like at least a quarter of the shops. You can tell which stores are profiting. Pandora is finally in a larger space, cause the Towers one was always in relatively small shop but always packed with people. I have to say, whoever did the marketing for this year's promo, the green is quite an ugly green. Not as ugly as Baulko olive green, but it's like a dark Christmas green which doesn't really match their sort of stuff. I don't mind the green, but seeing people hold multiple bags of that stuff feels like that green doesn't match it. Nespresso also moved into a much larger space since they used to only have a tiny store which sold the pods, but now they demonstrate machines like the store in the city.

Other shops moved into an old bank fit out which is weird, cause they took out the glass windows, but there's still metal poles in between what used to be the service desk and the actual bank behind it...And what happened to the 3rd floor of Myer...they added an extra floor a few years ago and then took it away..? What a waste of money...Apparently Wendy's ice cream got rebranded...There's also more 'hipster' stores like a place that does men hair cuts, and super spacious with a pool table inside, and selling just a few other guys products. Like I'm pretty sure rent ain't cheap, how do they afford such empty/spacious spaces place have room to put in a pool table?

Other photos from the past week and don't know where to put them. Neighbours from across the road made us cute pot plant cheesecakes as an xmas present. 

 

love the whole pot plant and spade spoon

There was too much soil on top, and had to dig a bit before you get to the cheesecake. It's a more lighter Japanese style cheesecake, rather than your usual cream cheese cheesecake. 

Also, fresh xmas trees were on sale for $20 day at our local Woolies. We would have bought one, if not for the fact that you need a proper xmas tree stand so you can continue to water the tree and it'll actually stand up. We also don't have the space at home, and it's a lot of maintenance since you'll need to keep vacuuming and watering daily. We don't even have time to vacuum weekly to begin with...$20 is pretty good price to have fresh pine smells at home, cheaper than flowers and the tree lasts longer as well.

Someone gave us this to try, and I don't like Vegemite, but here it's only a tiny bit salty to flavour it. It's made of bread 'bagels' instead of potatoes, and a lot harder than normal. Also, Tyrell veggie chips are really good.

Internal placements are finally up for the first 6 or so weeks. Always takes a while to figure out how to read optom timetables, esp with each week changing. Like what if I miss a clinic lol.

Marrickville Pork Roll

First time coming to this side of Sydney, so of course I had to drop by for some of these pork rolls. Even in the morning at around 7:30am, there was a tiny queue which started to form behind us, so I can only imagine how long the lines are at around lunch time. 

Pork roll-$5

inside

I hardly ever have this sort of stuff so I can't really comapre-I think maybe 2nd one this year? According to a Viet friend, it's pretty decent. I though it was quite nice and loaded with heaps of fresh veggies and toppings, and not overly salty with the liver pate/added salt etc. Roll still had a slight crunch/crust and wasn't tough to bite into either. It's probably one of the bigger ones I've had, since in my area, there are non authentic Banh Mi's which are smaller and cost more.

super tiny shop

 

look at all those ingredients

Out West

I'm actually never around here, but when I am, I make sure to grab a pork roll.

Pork roll-$3

The last time I was here, the one closer to the train station waster $4, this place is on the other side of the main street, so I guess it's cheaper. I hardly ever have pork rolls, so can't really judge it. I'd say it's average. Bread could be a bit more toasted but luckily it wasn't tough. Felt like my filling was lacking, and not enough of that processed meat. They also probably could tell I wasn't a local....We also bought a box of fresh rice noodles to take home. Wow, super soft and definitely could taste the freshness compared to those rice noodles you find prepackaged in Asian groceries. It came with a container of sweet chilli, fish sauce, other oil as a sauce (though taking home actual pho would be too messy...)

Lecture was cancelled today, so meeting up for group work in the area, and we decided to go for a coffee break here.

Regular capp-$3.70

Damn, this is one pricey coffee and it's out far west and not Surry Hills. It was also smaller than normal, even though I'm not a regular coffee drinker, the paper cup definitely felt smaller than other typical regular $3.50 capps. Unfortunately, there wasn't much coffee flavour or aroma in it, a tad bit on the watery side, drinking temperature was quite hot (almost but not quite burning your tongue), and not much foam or chocolate sprinkle on top. Not worth the price.

Also took my phone to one of the repair guys who opened it up, and apparently the logistical board inside (or whatever it's called) is completely dead. Parents have a feeling they would have taken parts out of it from the inside so they can use as spare parts....and when my mum takes it to HK, there would be even less of a chance to fix it. Goodbye to all my photos....luckily some food posts photos I had already uploaded onto Blogger, so won't lose those ones...btw, you can't download Blogger from the Apple app store anymore =/

0.5L tub-$12.80
Nonno Carlo-strawberry sorbet with vanilla cream and marsala soaked
Coconut and pandan
Blood orange

Messina has a new app, and if you were one of the first to download it, you got a $10 voucher! Decided to sue this today before exams hit and it expires...We really loved this strawberry special, the cream in it made this sorbet more towards a gelato side. The alcohol was subtle, strawberry was not overly sweet, and chewy biscuit/cake thing gave it some texture. The coconut and pandan was on point as normal, however the blood orange was sweeter than when I've had it previously...Maybe people complained it was too sour...

Free Grill'd burgers

They have this initiative where you sign up to help raise awareness against child abuse, and get free burgers for a bit over a week. I will do a Grill'd post, most likely after exams.

Eating so much this week, so screwed for exams and assignments...