sydney Archives - Page 3 of 6 - The Wifey's Corner

May 22, 2017May 21, 2017

Mr Stonebowl Restaurant, Burwood

A few weekends ago we finally paid visit to Mr Stonebowl restaurant that many has people raved about, including my brother and cousins. Their first comment aside from being served delicious food was that it is always packed! And because it does not take reservation, your best bet would be to come a little early for your meal, or a little later. Good thing is the dishes came out quick hence diners turnover are good as well. Bottom line is this restaurant is not a place for diners who want to have long chat while eating. That Saturday, we came at 11 for lunch, just on its opening time. And yes, many tables were already taken then.

Apart from the crowded issue, the dishes are excellent. There was nothing we would complain about the dishes, everything we ordered were delicious. Oh by the way, I guess because of the name, they use many unique crockery (you’ll see in photos below).

Garlic Prawn with Stir Fried Rice in Squid Ink ($18.80) – this is soo delicious!

Crab Meat with Tofu ($16.80) – love that crockery as much as the dish! Very subtle flavour with creamy garlicky and gingery gravy.

Deep Fried Eggplant in Bread Crumb ($13.80) – this is probably everyone’s favorite, those soft eggplants coated in flavorsome bread crumb, yummy. I think most people actually come to Mr Stonebowl for this dish!

Shandong Style Chicken ($15.80) – nothing negative to say about this dish either. Deep fried chicken in tangy, salty and spicy broth, yummy!

Pan Fried Pork Bun ($8.80) – not much to rave about, but not a bad dish either. The skin is not too thick, the meat filling is juicy and burst with flavor and broth once bite into it. It probably just overshadowed by all other super delicious dishes.

Mushroom Stir Fried with Vege ($11.80) – who knows a vege dish can be sooo delicious. The various mushrooms used in this meal add different texture and taste, definitely a winner for stir fried bakchoy dish.

Seafood Fried Vermicelli ($10.80) – generous with seafood and that tasty thick gravy over pan fried vermicelli.

We most definitely had a super satisfying meal at Mr Stonebowl, in fact I already want to go back there while doing this post. Oh by the way, those meals above were for 6 people! Good thing about eating out in groups is you get to try so many dishes at once 🙂

Mr Stonebowl

185C Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Phone: (02) 8970 9605

www.aozhoureview.com/business/mr-stonebow

May 11, 2017

Meet Fresh, Eastwood

Meet our current Taiwanese style dessert, Meet Fresh 🙂 Meet Fresh is the Taiwanese dessert chain that started in Sydney five or six years back (or actually, it might be longer than that). I knew it was popular for their taro and sweet potato balls in bowl of thin sugary syrup. Then it offered the icy shaved ice desserts which also attracted lots of interest. We used to love their mango shaved ice dessert – so refreshing during summer time. And it comes in a huge bowl, make it perfect for sharing 🙂

Unfortunately along the way, we thought the mango dessert was not as tasty as we first tried it. I think they have used frozen mango pieces instead and it was just bland, lack of flavour and fragrant as fresh mangoes. I understand that mangoes are seasonal and therefore they need to have backup plan using those frozen ones. It is just a shame, as they should have just offered the mango dessert during summer time only, which is the time where mangoes are in season.

Ah well, enough of the rant. Since we haven’t been back to Meet Fresh for such a long time, we though why don’t we try out something else for a change. It did not disappoint, we fell in love again! These were taken at Eastwood store, but being franchise chain I am sure they would somehow follow the same standard in every shop.

Surprisingly tasted good as well: Waffle with vanilla ice cream and banana

Without doubt, we ‘d come back for the Signature Herbal Jelly menu. When we first ordered this, we asked it for a cold version but without ice. I guess as winter is coming, the hot version would be a nice option. Love the herbal jelly, it is very tasty and fragrant, just like the herbal jelly topping at Gong Cha. The waffle was not bad at all, crispy on the outside and fluffy inside – served with ice cream, sliced banana and chopped walnuts.

Meet Fresh

175 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122

Phone: (02) 8339 1031

meetfresh.net

February 10, 2017

Manmaruya, Ashfield

We still experience the worst of summer here in Sydney, where temperature reached up to 43 degrees in the west. Last weekend was no exception, it was really hot while we were out here and there mostly all day on Saturday. We spent first half of Saturday looking at property inspections around Ashfield and decided we should grab quick lunch in the area. After all there are plenty of choices to choose from at Ashfield, but we ended up at Manmaruya. Also on the note of Sydney heat, I think I will not do any more baking or much cooking indeed until it is cooler again 😛 So stay tune for more recipe posts probably in a little while…

We got to the restaurant around quarter past twelve and there were still plenty tables available. We ordered the special lunch bento boxes whereas hubby tried their cold ramen.

Those lunch bento boxes are really good value for your money no doubt, huge portion of rice and generous amount of delicious meat with salad and some small side items. As for the cold ramen, it really came like the normal ramen but with cold broth. The broth is so refreshing, it is a little bit tangy but very tasty, just perfect for a hot day. By the way, you can always upgrade your ramen portion to a bigger size if you feel super hungry 😀

Manmaruya Japanese Noodle Bar

217 Liverpool Rd., Ashfield NSW 2131

Phone: (02) 9799 6889

manmaruya.com.au

February 5, 2017

Jongga Jip Korean BBQ, Eastwood

Finally we got to try Jongga Jip in Eastwood after passing it with big crowds in front of the restaurant so many times. Chinese New Year celebration came with excuse to eat out and after all the considerations, we decided to go to this place for its numerous good reviews. I was hoping it would be a nice (read: not so hot) day, but as it turned out to be over 30 degrees in the afternoon – nevertheless still we had good time and great meal. And what is more exciting than having Korean BBQ is those side dishes, right? 🙂

We got there at 6 pm and there were still plenty of tables available. But since it was our first time and it was a weekend night, so we reserved beforehand just to be safe. We were given table at the corner, perfect! Menus were distributed promptly and so were water. We might have over ordered this time as the platters came and there was just not enough spaces on the table. But to be fair, those 12 side dishes already took up so much space on the table anyway… So what we did was hit those side dishes first and let the waiter took them away to clear some space on the table for our order.

Here are what we had there:

On the left are Marinated Pork and Ox Tongue;
On the right are all the side dishes

Left: Assorted BBQ Meat Platter; Right: Seafood Pancake (Medium); Top Right Corner: Jap Chae

Mostly everything were delicious: the ox tongue were thin and tender. So are the marinated pork, very tasty and nice cut hence not stringy. Seafood pancake was huge serving for a medium size and has generous amount of seafood in it. Unfortunately it felt a little floury, but hubby loves it. Jap chae was really delicious and also came in massive serving. I would suggest to rethink before ordering if you are sharing between two people only.

The meat platter was a little disappointing, mainly because the boneless beef ribs were chewy. But aside of that, everything else on that platter was lovely. If we are coming back again, we probably will not order the platter, but rather get the individual plate of the nice cuts we had tasted so far.

Overall we are happy diners at Jongga Jip and would love to come back. Although with so many choices available in that area, it may be a long time until we are back here again 🙂

Jongga Jip Korean BBQ

87 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122

Phone: (02) 9858 5160

Open hours: 10 am – 11 pm

December 31, 2016

Bye Bye 2016 and Welcome 2017

It is now 7.51 pm Sydney time when I started this post, only couple hours left of this 2016 year. I was having dinner and suddenly it occurred to me I should do a last post for 2016 counting all the blessings we received in 2016. As much sad news we have seen in 2016, I am trying not to ponder over these failures, loss or missed opportunities.

So, here it is:

Being given another year of life to experience so much more this year
A generally healthy year for all the family
Mom’s visit was a highlight, the last time she came was almost 6 years ago
Brother’s wedding
New job
New friends/colleagues
Better pay
Moving to new suburb
Short course on online writing
Bali and Melbourne trip, hopefully we can do more in 2017 and new destinations!
Tried many new restaurants, new food ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
A bit better on blogging, definitely aim to be better next year ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ
A better and organised utilization of private health cover
Most of all, I am super thankful for hubby!❤️❤️❤️

So bye bye 2016 with all the happiness and sadness we have experienced through and all the lessons we learned…

And we wish you a very Happy New Year 2017, may it be an even happier, better, and prosperous year to you all…

Lastly, a beautiful (yet very true) quote from New Year’s Eve movie (2011):

Sam: “Sometimes it feels like there are so many things in this world we can’t control. Earthquakes, floods, reality shows. But it’s important to remember the things that we can. Like forgiveness, second chances, fresh starts. Because the one thing that turns the world from the longing place to a beautiful place is love. Love and any of its forms. Love gives us hope. Hope for the New Year. That’s what New Year’s Eve is to me. Hope and a great party!” (IMDB)

Cheers,

The Wifey’s Corner Team 🥂