Foodie Paradise

My impression on Sydney Fish Market: Big nice stalls in the market selling a wide assortment of fishes in equally nice surroundings.

My visit to Sydney Fish Market did not turn out to be as fun as I have thought it might be. It was actually one of my highly-anticipated spot in my itinerary, so I was a bit disappointed when I was there. I attribute the reason to my preference towards the noisy, colourful, and teeming with life wet markets that is found mostly in Asia. In contrast, Sydney Fish Markets seems a tat boring.

I was hoping to taste some fresh seafood too while I was there, but the seafood I tasted wasn’t really fantastic. I supposed I still miss the seafood that I had while I was in Perth. The only notable seafood that I tried was the raw oysters, which was really fresh. Yummy!

bills (Sydney)
433 Liverpool St Darlinghurst
NSW 2010

Ratings: 7.0/10

Quoting the Financial Times, "Breakfast made Bill Granger famous; specifically, scrambled eggs. Light, rich, and quivering on the plate like jellies of gloss paint, the Australian chef’s eggs have been analysed and eulogised by critics from Sydney to New York to London." Our local "8 Days" magazine had also mentioned that Nicole Kidman had her breakfast there. With such high praises, Nicole Kidman mentions, and delicious-looking cookbooks as shown above, I couldn’t resist a chance to pop by at bills (yes…no capital B here, as Mr. Granger dislikes the look of it) for breakfast when I was in Sydney.

Free range scrambled eggs with wholewheat toast - A$11.80

A cup of flat white

How can I ever resist having coffee during breakfast? I ordered a cup of Flat White. The aromatic cup of coffee had definitely started off my breakfast at bills on a good note. more…

BBQ King
18-20 Goulburn St
Sydney 2000

Ratings: 7.5/10

Roast Duck

Before I went to Sydney, I heard some comments from friends that the roast duck in the Chinatown there is delicious. I was very sceptical about their comments. I was thinking to myself that the chances of me finding great Chinese food will be so much higher in countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and our own Singapore, rather than in cities like….Sydney? Furthermore, I was keener on trying the Modern Australian cuisine while I was there, rather than trying out Chinese food, which I can always try at home.

However, since the apartment in which we were staying was located just a stone thrown away from Chinatown, it became inevitable that my occasional dinner will be settled there, which I did during my first day in Sydney. We randomly went into a restaurant at Chinatown owned by some Hong Kongers. Not surprisingly, the food pretty much sucks. And it pretty much “confirmed” my suspicions that no good Chinese food can ever be found outside Asia.

Then came one day whereby we were wondering what we should have for dinner. Wandering into Chinatown again, we saw BBQ King, a restaurant that was also recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. Again, I was pretty sceptical. Lonely Planet Guidebooks are definitely not a good “where-to-eat” guide.

Yet curiosity got the better of me. As we walked past the shop, I noticed that there is an article pasted on its doors - a food review about some of the best cheap Chinese eats around the world. Three places were mentioned in the article - a Vietnamese restaurant in France, our local Boon Tong Kee, and BBQ King. That article definitely piqued my interest regarding BBQ King, mainly because Boon Tong Kee is my favourite place to savour our local Hainanese Chicken Rice. So how good is BBQ King to be mentioned together with one of my favourite food haunt?

A quick search online regarding BBQ King will show that lots of flak has been garnered regarding its bad service, the lousy interiors which desperately requires a facelift, and its overcharged prices. True enough, this place doesn’t look at all like a popular restaurant in Chinatown from its exterior and its service was lousy at times when I was there.

But food wise?

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Two things that I have a lot while I was in Sydney are its coffee and pastries.

A decent latte or mocha might cost at least S$4 (unless you’re talking about the good old coffee in the kopitiam, which is less than a dollar) in Singapore. In Sydney, at A$2.50 to A$3.50, I usually be able to get myself a decent cup of coffee, so that’s a pretty good thing for a coffee-addict like me.

A cup of Flat White

However, when it comes to pastries, to be frank, I didn’t really like the pastries in Sydney. They’re usually too sweet for my palate. Many times I feel like I’m eating a “sugar bomb” or something. I guess I still miss those lovely pastries that I had while I was in Switzerland. But I have to admit, the pastries all look so delicious and have these “come-eat-me” kind of touch on them that I kept ordering them when I was in Sydney! I did come across a really great pastry shop while at “The Rocks” but I never remember its name because it’s one of those “grab-and-go” session. It’s croissant was delicious!

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The first time I started taking photographs of food was probably when I was in Taiwan for my holidays more than a year ago. It was also my first time discovering the power of digital cameras. And so off I went snapping happily at everything I saw. Many photos, I had to admit, turned out pretty disastrously. To further prove my amateurish skills with the camera, I took the photos at such low resolution that I cannot develop some of the really nice ones when I came back to Singapore.

I definitely think my photography skills have improved since then. Well…perhaps, since every time I looked at those photos that I’d taken on my computer, the number of shaky ones always proves to be more than those that turned out nicely. =\

This sudden inspiration to “exhibit” the first photos of food that I had taken came when I randomly came across this blog on travelling in Taiwan. This lovely blog reminded me so much about my holiday back in Taiwan! How I wish I’m back in Taiwan again this hols.

The food that left the deepest memory in me was 臭豆腐. I ate my first 臭豆腐 the first day I touched down at Taipei. Funnily, I never felt that they were smelly when I was eating them. (My mum was actually standing one foot away from me when I was eating them.) In fact, I quite like eating 臭豆腐. However, few days later, when I was at some of their famous street markets, I walked past food stalls emitting this really terrible stench, only to be told by my mum in an incredulous expression that those “stench” were from what I ate few days before. Well….

Thus with such fond memories of my travel in Taiwan, and also since it’s the first place where I started taking photos of food, I finally picked out some photos that I feel are passable to be shown on this blog, after looking through the big database of photos on my Taiwan trip (about 200 of them??).

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Muar is a town in the state of Johor in Malaysia which is renown for its delicious and inexpensive food. I visited this small town in my recent weekend getaway. It’s not a surprise that I actually put on weight after this short weekend trip!

To get to Muar from Singapore, take bus 170 until its terminal at Lankin in Johor. At the bus terminal in Lankin, cheap bus tickets to various parts of Malaysia can be bought from the numerous booths. The tickets that I bought for my three hours bus ride to Muar cost about RM11. However, at such cheap rates, do not expect a nice and comfortable journey. The coaches are ok, but beware of faulty air-conditioning and rickety seats.

There are two streets in Muar that are more famous for its local food, namely Jalan Haji Abu and Jalan Sulaiman. I will especially recommend the food stalls along Jalan Haji Abu (and also the more famous one among the two). Nevertheless, most food stalls that you may passed along the way also sell pretty decent food, thus there’s no need to confine your meals along these two streets alone.

On the whole, the food is delicious, definitely well above the average standards that you can usually savour in Singapore, though not as fantastic as I had hoped it will be. If you don’t mind eating by the roadside, or buying from street hawkers, Muar is a decent place to visit if you feel like planning something different for the weekend. However, there’s nothing much to see or do as a tourist in Muar, so probably a day trip or a short weekend trip will do for the town.

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