3 Kingdoms, Box Hill

My temp dental assistant from Laos recommended 3 Kingdoms so on that very same night, we went there to eat. The place was relatively busy for a Friday night but we got seated quickly. The people sitting in the table next to us were eating something which smelt and looked delicious. I had high hopes for 3 Kingdoms. Their menu had Chinese, Korean and Japanese food.

For starters, we ordered fried dumplings, kimchi pancake and spring onion pancake to share.

Usually korean pancakes are presented in the formation of a round pancake with slices, like a pizza. But this was just plonked onto a rectangular plate. Sadly, the starters weren't that impressive. Adding to my annoyance was the fact that the starters came out at uncoordinated times, i.e. we'd finish one starter and then sit and wait until the next starter came out.

And then came our mains. Hubby ordered beef bulgogi which was yummy. The meat was well marinaded and was very tasty indeed.

The couple - Minda and Steve - both ordered bibimbap which is stone pot rice with beef and vegetables topped with a fried egg. They seemed to enjoy it.

As for me, I ordered teriyaki fried fish. And boy, it was a long wait before I got my dinner! By the time it had arrived, Steve and Noah had finished their dinner!!!

Was it worth the wait? NO!!! The fish was salty and the sauce was overly sweet = bad combination of flavours. Sigh. I didn't finish my dinner even though I was hungry from the long wait.

Would I go back to 3 Kingdoms? NO! Service was poor. Long and uncoordinated waiting times.

Shoya Nouvelle Wafu Cuisine

Being total cheap-asses, you may be wondering how we ended up having lunch in Shoya, one of the high-end Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. Well, we were there to celebrate my lovely friend, Minda's birthday. Shoya is situated in one of the lanes in Melbourne's Chinatown and it look deceivingly small from the outside because this Japanese restaurant has 6 levels!

Anyway, Shoya does a number of lunch sets which start from a reasonable $24.80 to $65.

I chose the UME set at $28 which consisted of :-

Savoury egg custard - silky smooth steamed egg topped with an edemame bean which had shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots in the bottom layer - this was simply gorgeous!

Sashimi - Presentation was excellent. The raw fish was placed on top of half a frozen orange - we wondered whether they would reuse it? Does anyone know?? Anyway, the fish was fresh and tasty with wasabi and soy sauce paste.

Tempura - Two prawns and the rest were vegetables. The tempura batter was light and crispy. Loved it.

Grilled eel - The unagi was simply delicious - very moist and tasty bathed in its sauce. The annoying thing was that I only ate a quarter of this because my Husband ate the rest while I was chatting away to the girls. Grrr!

Teriyaki wagyu beef - OMG! The beef was cooked to perfection. The meat was extremely tender and moist with nice bits of fat through it. I took a bite off the chilli and it nearly killed me - I was surprised that it was so hot!

Mixed steam rice - this was bland in comparison to the rest of the dishes

Green tea ice-cream - Yummy goodness.

Although the food was exceptionally good, I did have a few dislikes about Shoya.

1. For a high end Japanese restaurant, you would think they would serve complimentary green tea - but no, they don't.

2. There wasn't enough time for me to enjoy each of the courses because the food came rushing out. I was even more annoyed that the waiter served the ice-cream BEFORE I had even finished eating the mixed steam rice!

3. We were the only table left on that floor and it felt like that they were trying to rush us out. If I'm not mistaken, they brought the bill immediately after the ice-cream; without us asking for it.

In conclusion : Shoya serves high quality Japanese food but needs to slow down and let slow eaters like me enjoy and savour the food.

Would I go back? Yes, but only if it was for a special occasion.

Teru Teru Japanese Cafe, Box Hill

The husband and I celebrate our first anniversary of meeting each other by going to a Japanese cafe for lunch.  We live near Box Hill where there are plenty of places to eat Asian food - Chinese food, Malaysian cuisine, Singaporean delights, Korean and Vietnamese - but as for Japanese, not many restaurants are around in Box Hill.  We randomly stumbled upon Teru Teru Japanese Cafe and thought we would try it out.  It was busy for a Sunday lunchtime - we took this as a good sign - and we were happy to wait 10 minutes till there was a table free for us.

We were quite hungry and seeing as it was an anniversary celebration, we went a bit crazy and ordered a few dishes.  (I say crazy because we are currently struggling financially, so we tend to order cheap dishes and only one dish per person, but not on this day!)

We ordered salmon sashimi - who doesn't love salmon sashimi?!

I like mine dunked in a thick mix of wasabi and soy sauce.  Yummilicious.  The fish was fresh and very succulent.

The hubby ordered a fried chicken special (chicken karaage??).  He loves meat and deep fried foods.  It tasted good with a squeeze of lemon juice.

For our mains, I ordered Tempura Udon.  I love soup noodles.  This one was a tad unadventurous so I added lots of spice to it.

The mixed tempura which consisted of two prawns and mixed vegetables were placed in separate plate which was good, because some restaurants put it on top of the soup noodles which means soggy tempura.  However, I didn't really enjoy the tempura because the tempura batter was rather thick.  It wasn't light and crispy.

Hubby seemed quite pleased with his main of cold noodles.  I forgot to take a photo of his noodles as I was too busy taking photos of my food, but I took a photo of the remains.  You can see the big block of ice which was tucked under the noodles to keep them cold.

We were so full at the end of this big meal.  I think we will go back to Teru Teru to try other items on the menu.  It's a shame that there's no ramen though because I have a ramen craving at the moment.

Sushi Porn At Sushi Rio

There are limited places to eat sushi in Glasgow.  In my opinion, the best sushi place in Glasgow is in a Korean restaurant called Kokuryo.

I was delighted when I landed in Sydney because there are loads of Asian restaurants everywhere - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and even, Laotian.

Sushi Rio is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Sydney.  They do platters of sushi, ideal for sharing with a group of friends.

Pieces of fresh, succulent fish.  A wide assortment - salmon, tuna, oyster, unagi (eel), california rolls, nigri.

You can also order individual dishes a la carte or sit at the conveyor belt and pick whatever you fancy.

During lunch hours, all the plates of sushi at the conveyor belt is A$3 each (does not include sashimi).

I love eating sushi with a thick paste of 3/4 wasabi and 1/4 soy sauce.  How do you like yours?

Food Porn Factor : 9.5 out of 10 - platters provide good value for money




Warning : The toilet is miles away so do not go mid-feast because when you return, there will be no sushi left!

My Salty Encounter With Ryo's Noodles

My Sydneysider friend Mr Pistol ranted and raved about this amazing ramen place called Ryo's Noodles.

We went on a weeknight but it was packed to the max and we had to wait outside for 20 minutes till we managed to get a table for 5.

Two of my friends - Mr Egg and Miss JJ - and I ordered the ramen noodles in chilli pork stock soup

My other two friends - Mr Pistol and Miss Tex - ordered the ramen noodles in pork stock soup

Was it worth it to go all the way to Crow's Nest and then wait 20 minutes for a table? NO!

The ramen itself was good with a nicy springy and chewy texture, but the soup base was bad. The soup was thick with chilli oil and extremely salty. My lips were covered in this gooey oily mess when I was eating it and I spent the rest of the night drinking water to try and quench my thirst after the salty encounter.

We also ordered gyoza dumplings to share. They taste better than they look!

Food Porn Factor : 6 out of 10 - not happy with the heart attack-inducing salt and oil combo!

Ryo's Noodles

125 Falcon Street

North Sydney

NSW 2065

‎(02)9955 0225