Blog Marco

The best value fast food in Sydney is the humble Vietnamese pork roll. Most Vietnamese bakeries sell these pork rolls all day which has a variety of ingredients. I first discovered this food while I was standing in a bus line in Cabramatta - the bus was delayed so I went across the road for a snack... from that afternoon on I would savour this cheap as food as one of my favourite snacks.

But watch out! Bad food handling with Vietnamese pork rolls can lead to food poisoning. You'll often see these people handling money and also making your roll without wearing gloves or washing their hands. Some also don't keep their ingredients cool enough so bacteria tends to grow like crazy in their ingredients. Don't expect hygiene standards to be high when you buy your roll.

Vietnamese Pork Roll Recipe

Here's the typical recipe for a tasty Vietnamese pork roll:

• Fresh Chille
• Crusty Bread Roll aka baguette
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Submitted by Marco on Mon, 17/08/2009 - 1:02pm.

Here is a screenshot of the Lindt Sydney Store Cafe Drinks Menu.

Here is a screenshot of the Lindt Sydney Store Cafe Desserts Menu.

Argh! Imagine being given food with human excrement in it? Well that is what allegedly happened at Coogee Bay Hotel in a current court case. An editorial article by Matthew Evans (who was the chief restaurant reviewer for the SMH) made me even sicker...

Seeing the chef sitting on the toilet as they peeled prawns, perhaps? The slightly dodgy drip tray from the pub being used in the beer batter? The chef wiping the steak inside their Y-fronts or running it around the rim of the toilet because the customer had complained that their medium-cooked steak was still pink? It has happened.

"Of course I've seen chefs over-season food because it was off, using it in curries and the like," says one Sydney chef I spoke to who did not want to be named. "But the worst thing I've ever seen with my own eyes was in England. This guy always came in late. He'd order sea bass every night right on last orders at 11.30pm and then send it back and ask for it to be recooked. One day [the chef] did a huge hock and put a great big greenie under it. The customer reckoned it was the best sea bass ever."

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Submitted by Marco on Tue, 28/10/2008 - 12:13pm.

Eat Here. Corregidor Entertainment Centre & Restaurant

122 Rooty Hill Road North, Rooty Hill. (Located in Sydney's Western Suburbs - Across the road from St Aidan's Church) Call them on 9625 6289. Open from Wednesday to Sunday for Lunch and Dinner.

You can have a look at their menu. Yummy Filipino Food. Yum.

Plus they have entertainment on some nights.

I did a review for Menya before – that's where I got this dish... I forgot the name for this dish but I think its tonkatsu with soba? I'm not too sure. It was nice, the soup wasn't oily but the one hitch is that it isn't too filling. Maybe they need to put in more noodles? By the way, Menya is located in Sydney's ChinaTown.

I regret eating this overpriced dish (was around $8.50). The picture may have looked great but the seafood noodle dish from the Korean fast food place in MarketCity's food court was bad. On the picture it looked enticing and tasty. But all the dish ever gave me was a bland taste with excessive oil. Next time I'll avoid this dish and stick to their spicy chicken with rice. MarketCity is located in Sydney's Chinatown. I much rather eat at Menya or Kura.

Imagine, this bunch of bananas at $2 a pop. P80 (80 pesos) is about AUD$2.10. I gorged on bananas while I was in the Philippines. I miss bananas. I'm too frugal to spend AUD$8+ a kilo (the going rate here in Sydney) for bananas. I guess apples, kiwis and mandarins will have to do.

If you follow this blog, you would have known that I went on a short getaway to the Philippines a month ago. Walking around SM Mall of Asia (the largest shopping mall in Asia) I saw a "Cold Rock - Ice Creamery", which of course is from Australia. Cold Rock serves ice creams with a difference. They basically have you choose an ice-cream flavour, then you can choose what to mix with it - from chocolates, sweets like m&m's, nuts and biscuits like oreos. All this is chopped up and mixed together on a "cold-rock". My first time to taste this delicacy was is my home-town of Sydney (They have a shop in Parramatta). It's great to see Aussie businesses are venturing out into the international stage...

Sydneysiders are not being told which restaurants are breaching food safety regulations. Restaurants found breaching any of these regulations are publicly reported in world-class cities like New York, London, Toronto, Copenhagen, Los Angeles. In Sydney, the council has ruled that it cannot reveal the names and addresses of the restaurants in breach because of privacy laws. The council did release a list to the SMH when they requested the information under FOI (Freedom of Information) laws but the list of 78 fines issued in the past year had their restaurant details blacked out with only the fine amount and the date showing. The SMH report says that "in Toronto restaurants must display a sticker in the window that reveals the results of health inspections with similar systems operating across the US and increasingly in Britain". I guess we just have to trust that the government officials return to these offending restaurants to follow up. I sure do hope that in future that the government publicly report those restaurants in breach of food safety regulations.

I was at this buffet a while back for a cousin's birthday.
It's an RSL buffet. Notice the cheap prices. And keep in mind - you get what you pay for. This isn't one place I would ever plan to go to on my own or with friends.

Bungarribee International Buffet Rating
$$$$ (4/5) for Value * (1/5) for Quality

The Bungarribee International Buffet is located in Blacktown Workers Club in Sydney Australia.

This dish is from the Bungarribee International Buffet.

I know, I know, there seems to be a lot stacked in this one dish. But when your in a buffet line, waiting for about 10 minutes to get to the actual buffet, well you tend to get a bit too much of everything.

On this one dish is Beef, Lamb, Ham, noodles and a bit of pork skin.

This dish was from the Bungarribee International Buffet is located in Blacktown Workers Club in Sydney Australia.

The Japanese restaurant "Kura" is located opposite to the Market City in Chinatown Sydney. It is rather a minute restaurant so I had to order take-away.

Kura Restaurant Rating
$$$$ (4/5) for value ***** (5/5) for Quality

Istana's Parramatta - Even though this restaurant was featured in the Sydney Weekender, I didn't feel to satisfied with the quality of food they offered for the price point that they were offering. Being in the Church St precinct of Parramatta you would expect more from this restaurant.

Istana Parramatta Restaurant Rating:
$ (1/5) for Value ** (2/5) for Quality

Ate this nice Japanese dinner (see photo) at a place called Menya located near my uni. I ordered Japanese pork cutlet - "tonkatsu" with Miso. And for $8.90 this meal is very filling and has the taste of authentic Japanese cooking. (Complete with soy sauce)

If you are ever in Chinatown in Sydney look this shop up. (Its on the fringes of China Town on the southern end)

Tel / Fax : 02 9212 1020
Shop TG8, 8 Quay St.,
Haymarket NSW 2000
(Entrance from Thomas St.,
next Burlington Centre)
Mon-Fri
Lunch:11:30am - 3:00pm
Dinner:5:00pm - 9:30pm

Sat & Sun
Lunch:11:30am - 4:00pm
Dinner:5:00pm - 9:30pm

http://www.yakiniku.com.au/