Gungho, Haymarket

Gungho, the Eurasian eat in/take away shop for the Gungho Eurasian!

 

‘Twas the end of another university welcome reception, and while about thirty people from our course had traipsed off to SATANG THAI, Jenny, Chris, Grace & I decided to be trendsetters (yeah, totallyyy) and feast at Gungho.

 

Gungho is probably one of those places you could walk past a million times, and never notice it was there – until someone talks about it. It’s a very visual kind of place – all the signs are brightly lit with glowing backdrops. And the good thing about the menus here are that there are pictures of food decorating the words, so you have a pretty good visual idea of what you’re going to get.

The place is about 5m wide (lol), and increeedibly squishy. The few times I’ve been here, I’ve been overloaded with laptop bags and coats, so a piece of advice: don’t come here if you have a lot to carry !!

 

 

Chicken Spring Rolls – $7.50
mixed vegetables with chicken in flaky pastry served with sweet chilli sauce

Chicken, mushroom, carrot, and lettuce packed into a crispy, crunchy pastry with dipping sauce. ‘Twas deliciousss, I love spring rolls ! :)

 

Gungho Salad (vegetarian) – $9
Traditional penne pasta, homemade pesto sauce, with rocket, sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese

Can I just say that the word ‘SALAD’ here was completely misleading ! -_- It was pretty much pasta with sundried tomatoes and a few pieces of rocket salad sprinkled on top …which the description pretty much sums up, I guess.
Too much pesto, though, but it was kind of tasteless and superr oily ..but I loved the sundried tomatoes ! :)

 

Barramundi $16.80
Grilled barramundi served with tartare sauce, freshly squeezed lemon and your choice of steamed vegies, chips or jasmine rice

I don’t know how else to describe this barramundi than to say ..that it melts in your mouth ?! (yes, this fish actually does lol)
Chris’ second debut on this blog: “a strong palate, fresh seafood-type flavour” ..yah =\ haha, but it was pretty good, and Gungho’s chef has the odd ability to infuse garlic in the steamed vegetables !

 

Five Spice Beef Brisket with Rice – $11.80
beef brisket, spice, herbs and special Gungho sauce

Very salty, very hot. If you asked what exactly were the five spices, or what the ‘special Gungho sauce’ is, I couldn’t tell you, but if you’re a fan of kidney-shrinking, ’tis the dish for you! (although I love salt, I’d say that you should still make sure that you mix the rice into the brisket first)

 

Gungho Burger (v) – $8.80
Veggie pattie, eggplant, grilled capsicum, lettuce with sweet chilli sauce, served with chips

The sad thing about vegetable patties is that they never really taste as good as they look. =( Didn’t try this one, though
Chips came with a side of tomato sauce, no seasoning, but salt available at each table to control the flavour hit :)

Chris & I were itching for dessert, and Grace & Jenny couldn’t bear to be left out (despite grumbles about how full their stomachs were), soooo… ! !

 

Gungho Banana Fritter – $6.80
deep fried banana with desiccated coconut, served with vanilla ice cream

Grace had been on a mission to find a place to eat banana fritter in Sydney, and it just so happened that we stumbled across this on the menu at Gungho! Unfortunately, the batter was kind of soggy, and as banana fritters go, I’ve probably had better :( Banana wasn’t very warm, and there wasn’t really much flavour …but maybe it was an off day for them, ‘cos the presentation looks nice ! teheh …but I do wonder, what is the point of the artificial cherry ! Does anybody everr eat them?

 

Green Tea Ice cream – $5.50
traditional Japanese green tea ice cream served with red beans

Mild green tea flavoured ice cream topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of red bean, served in a thick, frosted flower-shaped cup :) yumm ice cream!

Food here isn’t exactly a taste sensation (but that could just be my cold-numbed taste buds talking), but it’s pretty cheap and convenient, so why nott :) They also sell things like taro blended ice, as well as their special Gungho mocktails !

 
Gungho Eurasian Cuisine (visited 01/06/09)
Shop 9, 107 – 121 Quay St
Haymarket New South Wales 2000
Ph: (02) 9212 3228
Fax: (02) 9212 3998
www.gungho.com.au

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Seoul Ria (서울리아), Haymarket

I remember the first time I went to Seoul Ria back in 2007, I was dragged almost unwillingly by my then-boyfriend into a tiny, cramped elevator which smelt oddly like human pee.

Even though the official address is on George St, to actually find Seoul Ria you have to turn into Goulburn St, go past the Baskin Robbins and walk through a pair of dirty glass doors where a lone elevator awaits. (Rape alert, much ?!)

Despite its dodgy entrance, it was a pretty happenin’ place back then (lol), and it still is a pretty happenin’ place now. ;) …and by “happenin'”, I just mean that there’s always a lot of people waiting to eat, contrary to any premature assumptions !

Over 2 years, the complimentary side dishes (banchan) at Seoul Ria haven’t changed much – and if anything, they’re as generous as ever ! :)

2007
various Korean dishes I’m not even going to try and name

 

2009
macaroni pasta, kimchi, seaweed, potato, mung bean jelly (nok du muk, I believe it is called!) lol

I’ve always loved the potato, and alwaysss feeel a little greedy asking for seconds – but I find the waiters at any Korean restaurant always willingly comply with the extra food demands :) (although I must say I’m guilty of getting someone else to ask for me 99% of the timee :x)

 

Jjajang Myeon
Korean version of zha jiang mian, this is black bean paste noodle, Korean style, with diced meat and vegetables :) Always a favourite that I’ll order if I can’t think of anything else to get

The occasion this time round was a girl’s birthday (Juliet!), while waiting for friends to come to the city.

 

Bulgogi – $15

marinated beef scotch fillet . Although the photo makes it look a little dry, it was still as good as ever :)

If anyone can help me out with what the rest of this is, it would be greatly appreciated ! :)

 

Nooo idea what this was ..any takers?

I tried taking this photo at least five times, and EVERY time the photo turned out as some ..overexposed, flashy saucy dish =\.  you can even see the steam !!

 

Seafood noodle soup ?

IMO doesn’t look thaaat appetising, but whoever ate this (Jeff and Sunny, I think?) said it was pretty good ! :)

 

Pork chop ..and salad

I have a photo of this from 2 years ago, and the size of the meat seems to have been chopped in half !! Salad portion is still that sizeable amount, though.

In case you couldn’t tell, the selection of Korean (fusion) dishes at Seoul Ria is wide and varied. Can’t say much re: taste this time, though, considering this was the day after my mysterious lethargy, and food was still my dearest frenemy.

BUTT from previous times, I’d say potato noodle and the Korean seafood pancake is also another of my favourites ! :) (especiallyyyy the noodle, though the pancake, from memory, is kinda oily). This time, we were going to get the dessert, but for some reason they’d run out :( . But if you’re ever in the city and looking for a good Korean feed, this would definitely be near the top of my list ! (Either here, or Dae Jang Kum ..because their raw beef is really good!)

 

Seoul Ria 서울리아 (visited 23/05/09)
Level 2, 605-609 George St
Haymarket, Sydney 2000
Ph: (02) 9269 0222

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Wagaya, Haymarket

Saturday night marked the breaking of restaurant-eating virginity for Rosy and I, as it was the first night we went to the same restaurant TOGETHER since the inauguration of this food blog (even though we didn’t even sit near each other -_-) !

We went to Wagaya, and for those of you who don’t know (and I really doubt that there’s anyone at all), Wagaya is one of those dimly lit dens that you step into …and find nobody around to serve you!
This is because all of their waiters are like vampires in hiding – they don’t come out of the dark (they only start trading at 5pm!) unless there are customers to be served or food to be brought ..thanks to their electronic self-service.

 

the electronic screens where you can choose what to order, featuring the salad that you see in REAL LIFE in the next photo =9

 

 

Soft shell crab salad – $9.90
Deep fried soft shell crab, lotus root chips served with mix salad and topped with Parmesan cheese

Salad was reallyy good, and I loved the soft shell crab ! Probably my favourite dish of the night, because Cindy and I split four dishes among us, BUTT ..picky picky Cindy didn’t like a lot of the stuff.

 

Squid mentai pizza – $8.50
Japanese style pizza topped with squid and cod roe.

One of the things I also love about Wagaya are their pizzas ! They always overload it with cheese <3, and this pizza was no different. Squid, cheese, mushroom and prawns, with shallots and a veryyyy soggy non-existent crust ….a cheesy mess on a black iron plate!

 

Ox tongue nikomi – $8.90

Cooked, tender ox framed with cherry tomato halves in sauce. The ox tongue was super tasty imo, though it reminded me a little of that chewy beef. Cindy wasn’t that keen on it, but I think she was a little disappointed because our other friends ate the grilled ox tongue we ordered, so we were stuck with this

 

here, have a blurry photo from the menu

 

 

Baby abalone sashimi (70g baby side) – $11.90
Fresh live abalone sashimi nestled on a patch of white radish

This is another one of the instances where PHOTOS ARE DECEIVING. The photo in the menu looked normal-sized, and yet the actual SIZE of ALL the abalone was about ..5cm long? Yesss I know it said 70g, but still! haha
It was pretty chewy as well, and I’ve definitely had better abalone at Chinese restaurants (but then, as abalone sashimi goes, it was pretty good)

—

 

Shio Ramen – $8.50
Please excuse the sub-standard photography. The restaurant lighting is really dark and the iphone does not have a flash =_=.

Being the smart girl that Rosy is, she forgot to write down the prices for the dishes =_=. I think the prices are correct after looking around online for a bit (for being so high-tech, why don’t you have a website, Wagaya?!), but I’m sure the actual prices aren’t that far off. The serving sizes aren’t very large at Wagaya, but the prices are quite reasonable and it doesn’t stop the customers as the place is always packed!

One of my life goals is to try the ramen in every Japanese restaurant I come across. Since Wagaya doesn’t specialise in ramen, it’s understandable that it was quite ordinary, but the serving was tiny!

 

Mentai spaghetti – $9.50

 

Wafu Pizza – $7.90

So after looking around, I don’t think there’s a Sydney food blog that hasn’t reviewed Wagaya. I’m sure most of you have tried the Western-Japanese-fusion spaghetti and pizzas offered by Wagaya. And you should. Because it’s much better than their ramen, and are possibly their best mains. The pizzas and spaghetti are deliciously cheesy, and the ones we ordered were topped with chicken and mushrooms.

 

Eel…Katsu? – $???
Item & price remembering FAIL.
Eel Tempura – $9.90
Thank you Vicki :D

Wagaya offers a huge range of entrees and sides (which are pretty interchangeable), but one of the highlights is their delicious eel. The sweet and tenderness of the eel goes wonderfully well with the deep fried batter in the eel katsu, and the cheese and mushrooms in the spring rolls:

Eel cheese spring roll – $6.20

Just a tip, Wagaya is reeeeeeeeeeally popular so if you’re thinking of going, make sure to book in advance because I suspect you’d be waiting for a while if you just rock up, evidenced by the never-ending chain of people sitting by the entrance (perhaps not so much if you don’t turn up at peak hour).

While I don’t think I had the chance to talk to Eden for the entire night except when we bumped into each other while entering the restaurant (she sat all the way at the other end of the table), I’m sure we both had a good time eating at Wagaya and catching up with friends!

 

Wagaya (visited 16/05/09)
Level 1, 78 – 86 Harbour St
Haymarket NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9212 6068

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