36 Lennox St
Newtown, NSW 2042
http://www.risingsunworkshop.com/
https://www.facebook.com/risingsunworkshop

So I heard about this pop up ramen/motorcycle repair shop from word of mouth. I have to say I do love the workshop, open-air, eclectic vibe to the place. The staff know their stuff, are friendly, and the place has a down-to-earth, relaxed, dare I say ‘trend-setting’ vibe to it.

Now down to the food. There are three types of ramen on offer:

• The Darkness ‘bones, earth and smoke’:  shoyu tonkotsu or pork style broth ($15)
• The Light ‘equal parts of air and ocean’: Chicken, bonito and 3x salt broth ($15)
• The Monk ‘walks a miso road’: Miso based broth (can be veg or vegan) ($15)

Upfront, I enjoyed all of them, but I think I would go for ‘The Light’ again and again. In all three I loved the beautiful, just-set, egg. The yolk is gorgeous and runny inside still. The pork belly in The Darkness and The Light is tender and melt-in-your-mouth. I particularly want to make note of the bamboo shoots and the mushroom, which I think have been marinated in a vinaigrette of some sort. It is not like your average mushroom, it packs a punch, and particularly in The Monk, I think gives a good balancing, fresh, full-flavoured element to a vegan dish.

The Darkness is a very full-some broth, made with smoked ham hocks and pork tonkotsu. This is very delicious, slightly heavier than The Light.

The Light is very interesting. The flavour isn’t as rich as The Darkness,  but as you go for a second and third and fourth mouthful, the flavour really develops. You can taste both the chicken and fish stock (bonito, kombu, mackerel and sardines), and it has more of a smokiness to it, than The Darkness. The three types of salt incorporated into The Light stock are truffle salt, Murray River pink salt and black Hawaiian lava salt.

Third, but by no means last, The Monk is actually, I think, the most skillfully executed out of the three ramen. It take a lot of skill to be able to deliver a full-flavoured stock without meat/bones of any kind. I have seen other establishments struggle with miso-vege stocks. The broth has a slightly heavier consistency to The Light and The Darkness, but very well executed.

Apart from the ramen, customers can get coffee, tea, drinks, cakes – and yes I was eye-ing the chocolate muffins with potato chips – such a clever idea, but I was too full. The other pastry delight on offer is of course the famous John Scroll from Dulwich Hill: Strawberry Fields Patisserie.

Street view:

Definitely a place I would come back to again!

Food: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Ambience: 8.5/10
Service: 8.5/10
Overall Score: 35/40
$

210 Devonshire Street; Surry Hills
New South Wales, Australia 2010
+61 2 8933 1639

If you are after decent Japanese, a massive amount of food and value for money – I definitely recommend Suzuya. $18 gets you miso soup, a small tasting of glass noodles, agedashi tofu, entree, main and rice.

For tea we were charged $1 for the pot. Cant complain about that!

The miso soup, a small tasting of glass noodles and agedashi tofu:

All three are nice. The miso soup is what I would expect. The glass noodles with strands of carrot is tasty and well seasoned. The agedashi tofu is probably not as smooth or melt-in-the-mouth as I may have liked, they use the firm instead of silken tofu, and the outside skin is a bit rough, but overall not bad flavours.

For the entrees we choose:

Salmon and avocado sushi roll and sashimi plate. Geeze these are  big portion sizes! In the salmon and avocado sushi roll, they clearly use the scraps/off cuts of salmon, however they are very, very generous with the amount of salmon and the size of the sushi rolls. I dare say it is almost as big as a main portion. The sashimi was impressive, fresh, and a very good sized portion.

Next on to the mains. We ordered tempura and katsu chicken (which also comes in a pork option). The mains were also large. The tempura consisted of two prawns and a variety of vegetables. Very well cooked. The Katsu chicken was a very large portion, the chicken was succulent, crispy on the outside and came with some side salad.

Highly recommended!

Food: 8/10
Value for money: 9.5/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Service: 7/10
Overall Score: 32/40
$

Surry Hills: Suzuya (2)

1/405-411 Sussex St, Haymarket NSW 2000
(02) 8218 1000
waitan.net.au/

The decor is fairly traditional with slight modern twists. The tea cups are rather interesting, different to your average Chinese restaurant, but not dis-similar to a tea-house. The leaves are in each individual’s tea cup, the water is poured, you leave it in there for a while to brew, then take the tea leaves out. No common table pots of tea here.

All the food was of high quality and standard. We ordered:

• Shanghai Styled Smoked Fish
• Crispy fish skin coated with salted egg yolk
• Malaysian Chicken Curry
• Braised beancurd brew
• Eggplant and pork hotpot
• Deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk
• Dessert tasting plate

I really loved all the food, delicate and well cooked. My favourite dishes were the crispy fish skin coated with salted egg (Tung Lok Seafood Resturant still ranks as the no. 1 for this dish, but Waitan still does a superb job), the braised beancurd brew, and the deep fried prawns with salted egg yolk. (The prawns were just so fresh, plump and succulent. It was delicious.)

Food: 8.5/10
Value for money: 7.5/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Overall Score: 32/40
$$

1 Bank St, Pyrmont NSW 2009
Phone:(02) 9660 9888

Fisherman’s Wharf Chinese Restaurant is a favourite of mine. This time we ordered:

• Cod fillets with butter sauce and cod roe on top – perfect dish. The cod is melt in your mouth,
• beancurd and salt fish hot pot. Not one of my favourites, but still very competently executed,
• Sweet and sour pork spare ribs- delicious,
• Salt and pepper squid, and
• Red bean soup, Chinese biscuits and fruits.

Sydney CBD: Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant (1)
Sydney CBD: Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant (Yum Cha) (2)
Sydney CBD: Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant (3)
Sydney CBD: Fisherman’s Wharf Chinese Restaurant (4)

Food: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Ambience: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Overall Score: 36/40
$$