Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

The original. The best.

4.5 / 5 yums! 
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Where? 633 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, NSW
What? Under $10

Gumshara, Sydney

Suffering from withdrawal at the mercy of "the Chronic".  This was the next day fix at lunch.  Tonkotsu ramen at its best.

Taste Baguette, Sydney

French bread, Vietnamese filling.  A great interracial combination. Crusty baguette with lemongrass beef, lettuce, pickled veg, cucumber and coriander.

Indo Rasa, Broadway

Ayam Bakar to rival 99.  A piece of Kingsford in Broadway.

Chat Thai, Sydney

Can't chat, cramming my face with crispy pork belly stir fried with red curry paste.

Washed down with a durian and sticky rice pudding.

And I'm spent.

via Abercrombie, Sydney

To my stomach via Abercrombie.

Norfolk Hotel, Redfern

Smashing out $3 Tacos in the company of young hipsters.

That's Tuesday night at the Norfolk.

Beef brisket and pulled pork flavours let down by excessive cooking time reducing the meat to string, the fish & anchiote paste and chargrilled chicken, guac and chipotle make me much happier.

Workshop Espresso, Sydney

It’s been a while since I’d been back to Sydney, the CBD that lacks a decent brew except for a few choice spots. But now Sydneysiders don’t have to travel all the way to Newtown or Rosebery for a quality cup of the black liquid. Oh it’s a trend… and finally the city with the big lights is getting the convenient access to the stuff Melbournians have on tap. From this hole in the wall at The Galeries, get a Toby Estate blend in a great looking takeaway cup that will give you an impressive caffeine buzz.

4 / 5 yums!
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Where? The Galeries Victoria, 500 George Street, Sydney, NSW
What? $3.50 a cup

Ayam Goreng 99, Kingsford

They may have blinged the place up a little with a fresh coat of paint, some new plastic tumblers and laminated menus, but their recipe for amazing Indonesian grilled chicken hasn’t changed one bit. Good etiquette is well forgotten during the assault on the soy sweet yet spiced flavour on the well charred poultry. KFC it ain’t… it’s better. Finger and plate licking good.


4 / 5 yums!
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Where? 464 Anzac Parade, Kingsford, NSW
What? Under $10

Mamak, Haymarket

They may have expanded this Malaysian Sydney favourite a little but that only means you get your roti fix twice as fast. I’d want them to hook it to my veins but liquidising the fried flat bread but that won’t let you to enjoy the elegant fluffy, crispiness. Heaven sent straight from the hot plate. And man do I want it bad.

4 / 5 yums!
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Where? 5 Goulburn St, Haymarket, NSW
What? Around $10

Two Good Eggs, Surry Hills

A minimalist corner café in Surry Hills serving up the usual breakfast things for eating. Toby Estate coffee kick starts the brain, but all the lemon seems to have ended up in the juice of mint, pineapple and apple instead of the toothless Hollandaise. Sonoma bread is quality but not so the over poached organic eggs that were mediocre rather than good.


2 / 5 yums!
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Where? Shop 2, 148 Goulburn St, Surry Hills, NSW
What? Around $15

Zambrero

It’s all about the lime at Zambrero. Fast Mexican is the name of the game here, though I could have sworn reading from right to left was an Arabic thing. Anyways, it’s simple once you read the sequence correctly, choose your shell be it taco or burrito, a meat or not, add a salsa, guac costs extra, then a sauce, a squeeze of lime (though it would be nice if a fresh one could be cut each time) and hey presto. Chicken zacatecas burrito with tomato salsa and gauc is a decent combo, though I’d say that Guzman has the edge.


2 / 5 yums!
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Where? Alinga St, City Civic, Canberra, ACT
What? Under $10

Yoshinoya

It was a nostalgia trip I had to take. Back flooded memories of Japan 2004 and the glorious food on that tour. What I didn’t understand was how Japanese fast food joints existed when there were plenty of awesome places serving practically the same thing just under independent businesses. Not to say that it was a bad meal when we had a go at the commercial places, benefiting from economies of scale and able to produce at a cut price. There was a cut in flavour though.

So how would it be in Sydney? The Yoshinoya has the plastic sterile cleanliness of Maccas and the pricing is also comparable. Bowls of beef (gyu-don), curry, and teriyaki chicken are $6.35 for regular and $7.55 for large, which is pretty good for something that’s freshly cooked. The teriyaki sauce is light compared to the heavy Westernised versions you might encounter but pleasant enough, chicken kaarage pieces however a bit dry and could do with more of a peppery punch.

My understanding of Yoshinoya is now a little clearer. Like Maccas, you know exactly what you’re going to get whenever you order up, consistently average stuff.


2 / 5 yums!
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Where? 43 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, NSW
What? Under $10

Wah Fung BBQ Restaurant

This plain, no frills, no fuss Asian eatery is a good night dinner option for the Redfern foodscape. The menu is a fairly standard Chinese menu including salt and pepper squid, sweet and sour pork, peking spare ribs etc etc but I had my eyes on were the roast meats glistening in the window. Unfortunately, it was disappointing but it could have been a victim of a slow Sunday night. Char siu not made from the finest cut, it was a little bit fatty, the roast pork meat fine but skin lacked crispy crunch. It’s pretty average stuff, but nothing a bit of stiff competition can’t fix.


2 / 5 yums!
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Where? 64 Regent St, Redfern, NSW
What? Around $10

Wagaya

I love touching things, so imagine my delight at the news of Wagaya’s revolutionary interactive touch screen menus. If you’re wondering, yes, I almost had involuntary scrotty movements. You are seated by a human at one of the numerous spaces around the open kitchen in the warm Japanese restaurant that cleverly combines Earthy elements with more modern pieces, but after that, the contact with staff is minimal. Of course, each table is decked out with the screen you really came here for, as you begin scrolling through the massive menu of salads, sushi & sashimi, yakitori, rice, noodles, meats and desserts. It’s surprisingly user friendly, so you should feel pretty stupid if you can’t work it out yourself.

Everything is ordered through this screen. I mean everything, including the free tap water that is even accompanied by a ticket and placed into a cup that keeps track of the delivered orders. As soon as a selection is made, this snaps the kitchen into action, preparing and delivering your dishes with military precision. It’s a very slick operation and surprisingly nothing gets lost in digital translation.

The electronic gimmick aside, the food is actually pretty good and great value. Dried lotus roots that decorate the soft shell crab and unagi rolls a bit over the top, but both nice. Scallop and garlic fried rice in a stone pot takes on a lovely charred flavour, crumbed and deep fried cutlets of crumbed pork come with an oyako-don type eggy, onion sauce, the show stealer is the chicken kaarage pieces with a wickedly flavoured mayo.

Despite the technological brilliance, there’s no way of electronically reserving a spot in the line. You’ll just have to show up and wait or get on the old fashioned blower.


3.5 / 5 yums!
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Where? Level 1, 78 Harbour Street, Haymarket, NSW
What? Dishes average $10

via Abercrombie

Big stomach? Big mouth? via Abercrombie has big sandwiches for you. Battling for monster sanga supremacy…

There is a difference though. It’s fronted by a couple of cheerful ladies who seem a bit pre occupied schmoozing regular clientele whilst churning out the telephone orders. We did feel a little snubbed.

Unsurprisingly, the sangas are priced similarly to competitors North’s and Big Bite and they use the same soft, yet chewy crusted Vienna style bread. The difference is that you’ll have to pay extra for standard fillings such as tomato and salads. Chicken schnitzel ranks bottom of the three sandwich joints, the crust rather limp and the chilli grilled chicken is kind of like a mild peri peri with plenty of burnt bits that’s got nothing on North’s Cajun Friday special.

Big stomach? Big mouth? I’d direct you to North’s Complete Sandwich.


1.5 / 5 yums!
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Where? 1 Abercrombie Lane, Sydney, NSW