Yummy Cuisine: Asian, Martin Place, CBD Sydney (24 June 2014)

Shop 16, Martin Place Shopping Circle, Sydney NSW 2000

Yummy in my tummy

I've been visiting Yummy Cuisine for a few years now and for me their signature dish has always been the Penang Char Tway Teow ($10) with a nice amount of wok hei and good spread of ingredients. They're pretty consistent most of the time. Other dishes I've had a few times and worthy of ordering are the Hainanese Chicken Rice ($9.50) which had moist meat, Ayam Goreng ($9.50) with crispy skin and Wonton Noodle Soup ($9) with nice wontons and al dente noodles. The Penang Har Mee ($9.50) has a good mix of ingredients although the broth is not as robust in flavour as I'd prefer and would love some fried pork fat sprinkled on top for extra yummy flavour but that seems hard to find in the CBD. It's located sort of underground in the passageway between MLC Centre and Martin Place Train Station. Seating is very limited outside but fairly quick in turnaround. Service is efficient and will bring out your dish to your seat when ready so grab a spot after ordering. Keep in mind on a cold windy day you can feel the weather from the open roof area nearby.

Other visit reviews:

• 20 Jan 2010

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Efficient and friendly service, Lots of classic hawker style dishes, Reasonably priced

CONS: Limited seating, Area is a bit exposed to the outside weather if windy, No toilet

MUST TRY: Char Tway Teow, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Ayam Goreng, Wonton Noodle Soup

VERDICT: Cheap and cheerful place that has most of the Asian classics you might be craving for a quick lunch. I haven't tried everything on the menu but that's probably because I keep going back to my favourites.

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Penang Char Tway Teow ($10), 23 May 2014

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Hainanese Chicken Rice ($9.50) — leg moist meat, nice flavour chilli, nice side soup, 23 May 2014 

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Ayam Goreng ($9.50) — crispy skin, nice flavour, 3 June 2014

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Wonton Noodle Soup ($9) — tasty soup flavour, nice wontons filled with visible meat and prawn, served hot, good egg noodles al dente, 5 June 2014

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Noticeable prawn meat inside wonton

Penang Har Mee ($9.50) — lots of prawns, wish there was also crispy pork fat, broth flavour light, nice pork, 2 types of noodles, 24 June 2014

Broth not as robust as I'd like but still enjoyable. Add extra chilli for more flavour.

Limited seating outside

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Ayam Goreng 99: Indonesian, Kingsford (3 Mar 2010)

464 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

It tastes better than it looks

This long-standing student friendly restaurant serves up the very popular crispy chicken of Ayam Goreng ($6) with a no fuss presentation along side the slightly different flavoured Ayam Kalasan Thigh ($6). The skins are crispy as hoped with fairly moist meat although could be better for my liking. Try not to be put off by the small serving of Rendang Curry Beef ($4) which likens itself to a pile (blob) of brown . It’s very tender and flavoursome and has obviously been cooked for a very long time. The cheap Tahu (Tofu) Deep Fried ($2) is simply what you’d expect although something I probably wouldn’t necessarily order again unless I was vegetarian, although you probably wouldn’t be here in the first place if you were.

Equally popular to the chicken seems to be the Sate Kambing and Lontong ($9.50). You don’t often find compressed rice in other restaurants and there’s no shortage of flavour from the peanut sauce, sweet soy sauce and fried onion lathered on top. For an extra hit of flavour add some hot chill and oil in the mix if your taste buds and stomach can handle the fire. Ordering dishes is via writing them up on a piece of paper so I guess if you get the order wrong you can only blame yourself (and your hand writing).

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Very cheap, Tasty options, Mainly Asian customers (so it must be good, right?)

CONS: No fuss presentation of dishes, Can get a little crowded and noisy when busy, Need to write out your own order

WORTH TRYING: Sate Kambing and Lontong

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Rendang Curry Beef ($4)

Tahu (Tofu) Deep Fried ($2)

Ayam Goreng ($6), Ayam Kalasan Thigh ($6)

Hot chill and oil

Sate Kambing and Lontong: Charcoal Grilled Marinated 5 Lamb Satay Sticks served with Peanut Sauce, Sweet soy sauce and fried onion ($9.50)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Self hand write your order

Menu

Help yourself to water in colourful plastic cups

Seating

Opening hours

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Mamak: Sydney's Holy Grail of Roti, Haymarket (19 Feb 2010)

15 Goulburn Street, Haymarket, Sydney NSW 2000
http://www.mamak.com.au

Is this Sydney's best roti?

Before its latest renovations I've been twice to Mamak with family and Malaysian relatives and friends and sadly on both occasions was a bit disappointed with certain dishes like the squid, rojak and a very dryish nasi lemak at the end of a lunch service. I seriously thought the food was overrated by many except for the freshly made-to-order roti. This time arriving at 2 pm I'm glad there's no long wait for a table which is often the case at this very popular restaurant. I sometimes see people queuing outside before it's even opened its doors for dinner. The roti at Mamak would have to be one of the most food blogged in Sydney — it seems like a rite of passage for all food bloggers to visit. I was keen to revisit and try the much loved Roti Tisu I've read so much about.

This time around I thought I'd keep my orders to the classics and thankfully I finally enjoyed what Mamak seems to do best. The Roti Canai came with 2 curries which were somewhat watery but still have enough flavour to be identified. The generous sized Kari Ikan lunch special (fish curry) had decent sized pieces of fish and I actually preferred dipping my roti into this curry which I found more flavoursome. My favourite of the meal was the Ayam Goreng with a tasty and crispy outer shell and tender moist meat inside — just the way it should be. The finger sized Chicken Satay are slightly larger than authentic ones but a lot smaller than westernised ones. They were tender enough with a nice charcoal taste but the peanut sauce was quite sweet and I would have preferred a more smokey peanut taste with more visible crushed peanuts throughout. The traditional onion and cucumber is served with the satay but still no sign of authentic compressed cubed rice cakes (lontong). The reasonably priced Ais Kacang on this occasion was very pleasing with a good hit of rose water which I like. I also really enjoyed the huge dessert finale of Roti Tisu. Both visually appealing and confusing to know how to eat it for the first time. I ended up breaking it down to small pieces and spooning a bit of ice cream on it. Coated in crystalised sugar it's a diabetics nightmare but so addictively yummy — I now know why it's so appealing to so many.

Other Mamak food blog reviews to check out:

• A Table for Two

• Chocolatesuze

• Here Comes The Food

• Nom It Like It's Hot

• Citrus and Candy

• Jenius

• Grab Your Fork

• Eat Show and Tell

• Pigged Out

• Pikelet and Pie

• Tasted By Two

• D Bites

• Raspberri Cupcakes

• Richard Elliot

• Moot!

• Gosstronomy

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Reasonably priced, Freshly-made roti, Efficient service, Authentic-like

CONS: Very popular so expect long queues during peak times which seems like all the time

MUST TRY: Roti Tisu, Roti Canai, Ayam Goreng, Ais Kacang

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Roti Canai $5

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Kari Ikan lunch special $10.50

Ayam Goreng: Malaysian-style fried chicken $3.50 each

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Chicken Satay $8 (6 pieces)

Ais Kacang $5

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Roti Tisu with ice cream $9
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

2 pm lunch crowd

Closing time near 3 pm

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