yummy lane @ rowe st., eastwood

There was a time when this restaurant didn't have a front or back door. It was just a resturant in an alleyway and no matter how adventurous I was, I couldn't get a soul to go with me to try it out. Actually I had no idea where the food was coming out from, you could only see a counter at the front, tables and chairs down the alleyway and staff that would triapse up and down the corridor to take your order and at night, everything would get packed up and the restaurant would cease to exist. It's probably been a good 6 months and now Yummy Lane has both a front and back door and decor to suggest that it's more of a permanent fix, or one would think at least.

Quite an extensive menu on offer but in the end, just simple, homestyle Chinese food and I was actually quite impressed with how it all tasted. Here's the braised beancurd with mushroom and veg. A staple dish to order when counterbalancing the meat heavy dishes you would usually order when you eat Chinese food.

You can see how narrow the restaurant is in this photo. The boy is getting a little sick of me taking photos of him :(

HK Style Iced Lemon Tea - not too sweet but reminds me I really need to get my hands on a good recipe; would love to learn how to make it at home.

Beef & Vermicelli with Sacha Sauce. Not too heavy nor gluggy with the Sacha sauce and the vermicelli noodles is enough to fill you up without needing to have it with rice.

Handmade noodle with homemade sauce (otherwise known as Jia Jiang Mien). We were probably a little too adventurous and ordered a bit too much food. Ended up having enough takeaway to fill two plastic boxes.

With a 10% discount on the meal, I was suitably impressed with how it all turned out. Very quick service, decent portion sizes and surprisingly Chinese food that didn't leave me too thirsty after the meal. I'd say two dishes with a little rice is enough to feed two, order 3 dishes and you should have enough takeaway to last you both for lunch the next day. They're reasonably tech savvy with our waiter taking the order on his iPhone and they seem reasonably busy without being frantic so good to know you can turn up and just get a table. Though really, gone are the days when I would wait outside for ages to get a table, I'd much rather be seated and eating!

jasmin lebanese restaurant @ civic rd., auburn

On top of the baking, I've also been doing a lot of eating lately. Many of these places have either been on my list of places to try (from reading about them) or have otherwise come highly recommended by close friends. Among the ones recommended by close friends (in this case Mashi - who I'm ever so glad to have met properly for the first time last year at Sugar Hit), is Jasmin Lebanese Restaurant in Auburn. The lovely girl, recently back from her overseas trip, actually brought us here last Friday for a rather eye-opening and enjoyable feast.

To be quite honest, when someone mentions Lebanese food, I automatically think kebabs. By some stretch, I would've at some point said Felafels but that would definitely be the extent of my exposure to Lebanese food. Dinner at Jasmin did produce a plate of felafels but felafels aside, I was really impressed by the range of dishes that were on offer. 

The Mixed Platter - definitely one to order to try a whole cross section of foods on the menu. 

The beef plate.

The chicken plate. In front are a selection of raw vegies that came as part of our meal. The one that looks like a tiny capsicum x chilli is strangely sour in taste (one that I actually find quite hard to describe). Unfortunately, not exactly my cup of tea but do try it the once and let me know what you think!

The lamb skewers.

The food! The meal is served with baskets of bread and assorted sauces/dips (unlimited servings). I was dipping a lot of my food in the garlic sauce and it was just so tasty! We'd ordered 1 dish per person and we actually didn't manage to finish it all - which was a bit of a surprise as we had 3 hungry boys and 2 food blogging girls at the table!

And what should you be ordering if you come here? If you come here, you most definitely have to order the felafels! The felafels look like any other felafel you would've seen but how they make it here, they are crunchy on the outside and ever so soft on the inside, they taste nothing like the felafels you usually would get in a kebab (which tend to be chewy and quite a mouthful). I would come back here just to eat a few more of those felafels!

For a Friday night, the restaurant was actually reasonably quiet. When we first walked in at about 7.30-8pm, we were probably the second table to sit down. People did steadily file in afterwards but nothing too out of control (which was actually quite a nice surprise for a Friday night as most places tend to get quite packed). A most enjoyable dinner in great company. Thanks Mashi!

wood & stone wood fired pizza @ crown st., surry hills

It doesn't make sense for shops to be closed on a Sunday. There's so many other days in the week where shopowners can take a day off but why of all days, choose Sunday when most people don't have work? So it seems that I had to learn it the hard way that Peter's of Kensington is shut on a Sunday. Drove all the way there (a good 40 minutes) and greeted by a closed door. Argh!

So Peter's of Kensington aside, the trip out to Kensington was accompanied by a nice lunch on Crown Street. There were a number of places to choose and this the one we picked - Wood & Stone Wood Fired Pizza. Planning to only have a quick bite, the 1 hour parking spots just outside suited us fine (there were a handful of spots for a Sunday afternoon - definitely much better than a Friday or Saturday night!)

Potato Wedges with Sweet Chilli Sauce & Sour Cream. The sprinkling of parsley was actually a nice accompliment - an edible garnish!

A half-half pizza - Kangaroo & Peking Duck. Whoever came up with peking duck pizza, you are a genius! Loved it and wood definitely have it again.

Pizza and wedges was ample to feed two. We each ordered a drink and J contemplated the beers which he thought was really, really cheap. Food came quickly to the table and whilst tables around us started to fill up (despite it being after 2pm), the one waitress had the whole floor under control. When we went to pay, the bill hardly made a dent to our wallets which really impressed me for the quality of the food and the service you get here.

I guess the nice lunch softened the disappointment/frustration that Peter's of Kensington was shut (as that was our next stop). Ah well, I guess I need to go on a Saturday next time!

pho sam vietnamese noodle house @ oxford st., epping

It was another Saturday night, J&I and our eating partners in crime, E&E(P) ventured over to Epping to grab some dinner. J's bro had recommended this place for it's tasty yet cheap food and I have to agree, food was uber tasty and extremely cheap! It was great to see how at the end of the meal, we were all rummaging through our wallets for the $5 notes and the coins to make up the bill - it was that cheap.

My crispy chicken with tomato rice. E had the same as me and we were both contentedly full. Chicken is crispy and the rice - let's say I could probably just keep eating that if I lacked any self control!

J went for the Special Beef Noodles and he gave it his thumbs up. The soup is flavoursome and J had to stop himself from downing it all.

We also had a serve of spring rolls to share and each of us got a drink - again, thumbs up! The restaurant was full throughout our meal (we were actually lucky to come in and get ourselves the last table) and the minute we emptied out, our table was reset and the next group was seated. One of the waitresses there is actually one of my parents' favourite waitresses (she used to work in one of those Chinese Cafes in Eastwood). At least that should give me a reason to get mum and dad here! This place is definitely worth a try for those after Viet food - a very extensive menu and quick/fast service and that's also light on the wallet. Tasty too!

eastwood peking restaurant

To my knowledge, this place is called 'Eastwood Peking Restaurant' and translated directly as 'Eastwood Peking Restaurant' in Chinese. It's been around for some time and arguably, the most bustling of places within the suburb (only second to Superfresh - the fruit market outside Franklins, where one is likely to get trampled on!!). If you haven't made a booking for dinner, you're likely to be in a queue for some time. And might I add, once seated, there's literally very little room for movement (as every table in the restaurant is strategically placed to make room of all the space available).

We were here on Sunday for a casual family dinner; lucky that we had booked cause the restaurant filled up within minutes! Dad ordered off the top of his head (when you eat Peking, there's those handful of dishes which you order without even needing to think). Here were some of them.

A small mixed platter.

Justin said it was hot and had a Jumbo-sized Coffee Milk.

A milky soup (not sure what it's called exactly). The even better one comes with won tons!Peking Duck: First Course - Duck Pancakes.Pork, Tofu, Capsicum & Fungi Stir Fry in a Chilli Sauce.Soft Shell Crab + Peking Duck: Second Course - Duck Noodles.

If you can see from the photos, this place isn't big on presentation. Taste wise, it's decent and the food generally isn't too oily (I can't say that about a lot of Chinese restaurants). Particularly commendable is the speed of service; our meal was had in a mere 50 minutes from ordering to having the bill paid. Slowness isn't their nature, although the queue lining up at the door could explain why. I'd say they're turning a table at least 3-4 times every night (highly impressive!). There's actually another Peking restaurant further down the road but for some reason they don't get such a massive turnout.

Japanese Pizza @ Epping Twilight Markets

There's probably a back log of about a billion food events which I haven't gotten round to blog (most of them from my trip to HK, the noteworthy been the toilet themed restaurant I went to in Mong Kok and had a most fun time laughing myself silly and talking about toilets with my dear friends - find photos on facebook!!). Anyways, thought I'd get back to blogging with some of the the foodie things I've been doing since I've gotten back; the first of these being my second trip to the Epping Twilight Markets on a Friday night.

Whilst in HK, Suze had asked if I'd be back for the first lot of markets in 2008 to which I'd replied yes. She was selling cupcakes and not just the one rack, but a whole tableful of them!! (turns out that the other cupcake store wasn't back from holidays so in addition to Suze's shortbread and biscotti, she could sell her scrumptious range of cupcakes (my favourite being the chocolate!!)

The offer on the night: Buy 4 for $10.00, get one free.

So in addition to visiting Suze and hearing about her factory which is happening this year (so happy for you Suze!), J&I thought we'd grab dinner from the markets. Unfortunately, there weren't as many stores cause it was the first markets for the year and presumably not all stall holders were back from holidays. Nonetheless, the Japanese store caught our eye with their colourful takoyaki balls and as we stepped up closer to look, the 'Japanese Pizza' sign was screaming 'Eat Me' (Good good, we could get all our food from the one place).

Japanese Pizza. Basically the whole thing sits on a really thin pancake base, topped with veggies, egg, meat, seafood, bbq sauce and mayo, garnished with a side of fish flakes....gosh, it is the yummiest thing ever!

Takoyaki balls - So yummy and so hot on the inside that both J&I were burning our tongues trying to gobble them up.

And look what I got on the night: a bagful of pressies from Suze!! (And I was the one who was meant to bring Suze a pressie - one which I've been meaning to give her for a long, long time. Argh!) Suze, promise you you'll have it the next time I manage to catch you. And thank you so much for the presents! I love each and every one of them....hahah, I hope the air freshener smells like salmon sushi)

My bag of pressies from Suze.

So if you haven't already, head off to the markets which happen on every second Friday starting at 5pm, ending 9pm. Both times it's been pretty easy to find parking and well, whilst you're there, make sure you pop by and find Suze (she's the one with all the little kids hanging around her :D)

chat thai @ haymarket

I recently got in touch with a primary school friend through Facebook (You've got to love it!). She'd messaged me to say hello and before you know it, we agreed to meet up for dinner in the city after work. She's probably the only person I know that works down my end of the city (everyone's all the way up at Wynard & Town Hall...and well, me, I'm stuck down Ultimo way where there's pretty much nothing except for Market City across the bridge.)

Anyway, after one fantastic Japanese dinner where the two of us exhausted our voices chatting our lives away, we've since managed to meet up again and continue our girly silliness and talks of nothing but also everything. This girl is officially my eating buddy for life! Not only is she fantastic company but she has an appetite for food like no other. She equally shares my passion for food and pretty much eats everything, even chilli! And well, it was definitely one chilly meal at Chat Thai on Campbell Street, Haymarket!

Meet Katie.

We actually only saw this restaurant as we were making our way to another Thai restaurant on the same street. The front entrance had caught our attention and immediately we crossed the road, saw that the menu was much cheaper, looked inside and noticed that the restaurant consisted of a number of levels and was packed to the brim. Then and there, we decided to grab a table and a very lovely waitress managed to fit us upstairs.

Plenty of indecisiveness later, we settled for Chicken Satay Sticks, a green chicken curry and a chicken & bean stirfry. I tried their ice coffee which was on a rather extensive drinks list (mind you, the most expensive drink was only $4).

Chicken Satay Sticks + Ice Coffee.

Our two mains which we had with rice.

Food is superb! Be mindful that their dishes are generally on the spicy side so if you love spicy, you're at the right place. The menu might take a little time to get use to (just the way it's laid out) but a combination of speedy and attentive service, very friendly staff, superb & cheap food, and awesome decor, you'll be won over. I probably spent half my meal looking at the painting that was hanging behind Katie's back (it's very cute!). Anyway, all our things came to $37. They did have to urge us to move on towards the end of our meal (as our table was booked - but hey, this was a Tuesday night that we're talking about).

Try!

zenya @ rowe street, eastwood

Whilst it was still boarded up, I remember peeking through the newspaper-covered windows to see what it was looking like inside. The general tone and feel was similar to another Japanese restaurant I'd been to, utilising the dark black panels, sleek silver exhaust fans hanging over the tops of tables and to save a bit of space, using one wall as the back rest for patrons across all the tables. All in all, it looked like it was going to be someplace decent by the time they opened up.

The week the place opened up, I unsuccessfully tried to organise friends to pay this place a visit. As the following weekend rolled by, I finally gave up and took mum with me. The lure of Japanese Ramen was definitely making my stomach grumble. Actually, any Japanese food seems to have that effect on me. Hmm.... how convenient that this place is just down the road!

Seated at a two-seater (me sitting on a rather spongy 'cube' of a chair), mum and I perused over the menu. Lots of Ramen and more or less, your standard Japanese menu. I'd made my choice, it was going to be Ramen and the Agedashi Tofu (if anything, they're my two staples at any Japanese restaurant).

The prettiest and also the smallest of teapots.

Mum's Karrage Chicken Ramen.

My Spicy Miso Ramen.

Agedashi Tofu to share.

Mum and I both loved the Ramen, room to improve on the Agedashi tofu but in general, the place is worthwhile visiting. Excuse the waiters and waitresses who have yet to get past the hiccups of a newly opened restaurant and well, service may be a tad slow as the chefs coordinate all the tables. However, it's a partly open kitchen so you see what you're getting and really, you know when your meal is next in line. Price wise, meals are extremely reasonable and light on the wallet, there's a decently size plasma screen for entertainment and throughout your meal you'll have numbers being called out in Japanese and the sing-song of 'Irashaimase' as patrons walk in.

I'm not too happy with the orange pieces of paper which they've got hanging outside and on their window. It probably will catch your attention though but really, it's SO ugly! Anyway, ignoring that, head inside and see what you think!

kurai @ haymarket

I've probably been here a zillion times but I got to say though, I love this place! I almost always go for the Katsu-Don but the Karage Chicken, Tofu-Don, Takoyaki, and Unagi are also my favourites. Might I add, that's only a few items off their menu; I'm still getting through it. Their udon and curry rice are definitely on my 'to try' list, will update as I get around to trying them.

Where to find it? This extremely small shop is located just opposite Market City. It might be easily missed, especially when lunch hour calls for a queue of people obscuring their front entrance. I've been in a queue everytime I've been here but rest assured that the wait here isn't as long as the wait at Ichiban Boshi up at Galleries (by far!). Like I said, it's an extremely small shop so really, grab your best mate or even just venture in yourself for a quick bite. Prices are so reasonable that you won't believe it!

Miso Soup + Green Tea.

Katsu-Don & Karage Chicken with Sweet Chilli Sauce. Be warned that both are extremely filling.

Salmon Sushi which looked too good to eat! Might add though, one meal per person is already quite enough (J&I struggled to finish this one)

I'd eat here everyday if I could! Staff are generally friendly and food is always awesome! Downside being that you can't really sit here for long and groups of more than 3 people can't really sit down for a meal (considering the shop only has spaces for about 12). There's also the pay when you order system which I've always found a bit strange. I'd rather get my food first before I have to pay (but that's just me though). To avoid the crowds, I recommend visiting before 12 or sometime after 2pm.

Love this place!

the best chips in the world!

Red Rooster in Eastwood has been around for yonks and to this day, continue to serve the best chips in the world. I'm serious. This is probably the one thing I'd recommend anyone hanging around Eastwood to try and for those that I've managed to convince, they have not regretted it. If you're thinking 'franchise food...no way!' let me tell you that this not your ordinary franchise. Unfortunately, your Red Rooster coupons can't be used as this is one of those stores which hold the franchise name but are not really part of the franchise. As far as I know, it's been owned by a Greek family since the early 90s and continues to be a hot spot for locals.

You'll find queues starting from about 11am continuing to about 2pm, 3.30pm after school, and then a fresh queue of faces between 5 and 7pm. It's frequented by local office workers, construction workers, school-kids, kids going tutoring, other business owners, you name it. Their snack pack is one of their major selling points although it has gone up in price noticeably over the years ($4.20). Their chips are infamous as are their whole chickens (although I'm not much of a roast chicken fan to say). If someone where to count the number of chips which I've eaten from this place, they would freak. I tell you...too many and I'm still eating. By the way, they sell the nicest concoction of chicken salt which you can buy for about $4 (the only problem being that it has a tendency to clump up when you keep it at home).

Anyway, I managed to convince J to have chips for lunch on Sunday. We even called up to make sure it was open. For those interested, they're open 7 days but only till 2pm on Sundays. (If you haven't noticed already, I always have chips with my meals and up against all your leading restaurants across Sydney, these are definitely the best!) Let me know if you're around Eastwood and have the craving for chips, it's my shout!

cafe de amigo @ eastwood shopping centre

A lot of shops have been closing down in the centre but recently, there's been a wave of new tenants come in to occupy the vacated floorspace. Cafe de Amigo opened up just under 2 weeks ago and already, it has sparked much debate as to 'whether the food is good?', 'whether the food is value for money', 'whether macau cafe is cheaper' and 'whether it is worth a visit?' My take is that you never know until you check it out for yourself.

A catch up with the high school girls was long overdue and I proposed to have lunch at Cafe de Amigo at 12.30pm. My mistake; I should've told Emily that lunch was at noon and Mandy that lunch was actually on Friday just so she might remember. Also, I should've kept to the rule that the closest always turns up the latest cause I ended up waiting half an hour for most people to arrive. Fortunately, I bumped into Dobie and chatted with Sarah upstairs at Legends whilst waiting . Can't believe Legends is moving to Beecroft!

Anyhow, for those who missed the catch up, we didn't actually eat lunch till 2.30. Whilst waiting for everybody, we decided on coffee at Centro's and by the time we debated whether to go to Cafe de Amigo (due to assorted negative feedback which people had heard), we finally decided at about 2.ish and still had to wait for a table to seat the 7 of us.


Most of us ordered baked rices. Looking around, it seemed like it was a favourite and usually that's a good indication to me that it's worth trying. We'd gotten wind that their HK Style Milk Tea is really good and I think most of us ended up ordering that in some way or form. I had the Cold Milk Tea and that's definitely got my thumbs up. I love a strong tea and this place makes it to just that perfect amount of sweetness. Emily agreed with me. Here's also the photo of her with her Tomato Stewed Beef (her comments: sauce very watery, beef very rough).

As per feedback I'd got from my aunt, service was slow. There was a definitely a good 15 minute in between the service of the first and last meal. Strangely enough, Mary's Club Sandwich arrived much later than my baked Portugese Chicken Rice. Although I suppose you can put that down to inexperience and really, I think it can be expected that nothing really runs that smoothly in the first 2 weeks of a cafe opening up.

Mind you, by the time we ordered, we were already told that their 'special' was unavailable, spaghetti was unavailable and there was probably something else. Inadequate planning or just too many people going there to try it out? Your call. On the whole, I found the food there to be satisfactory; on par with Macau Cafe in terms of serving sizes and price. I'll probably go back there cause it's another one of those Chinese places to go grab arvo tea or a light meal. Nothing fancy.

Good to catch up with everyone. Glad to see everyone is looking well! Godi, let's go to Melbourne; let me know when you're free!

genki @ atarmon

Lately, I've been fortunate enough to discover a few new places to eat, visit my favourites and most importantly, do this with my closest and best friends. I think this is what makes me passionate about food; the fact that amidst everyone's busy life, there's always time to sit down, forget each other's differences and have a meal. These days, I find I enjoy it so much that even the pace at which I eat has slowed down. Previously I was known to swallow my meal in a matter of minutes but now, I find that I spend half my meal talking and the friends I'm eating out with have already finished what they ordered. I guess the last couple of years has seen everyone move on and do different things; you miss so much of it in the process that catching up is always done hand-in-hand with a meal.

Yesterday morning, I spent a good 30 minutes deciding on where to go with Mandy. There's a real art to choosing a place when you're planning to catch up with a friend. Ideally, the place is central to both of you, the place provides good ambience for chatting, of course there must be good food, and well for two people who've been on holidays in the past month, it is most certainly essential that the choice is economical. After much deliberation and sorting through options suburb by suburb, we settled for Genki in Atarmon. Mandy had been a couple of times, I'd heard about it, and well, it's Jap food; you can't go to wrong with that.

You'll find Genki as you exit from Atarmon Station; next to another famous Japanese restaurant (Sushiya) and amongst various other eateries and small shops. Expect a bit of a crowd if you're planning to head there on a Friday night but otherwise 6.30pm worked out well for us. Given there were just the two of us, it was probably a lot easier for us to get a table than if you had a big group. Mandy's been a couple of times and she advises to go there early to avoid disappointment; after we sat down, we did see people queueing.

Having previously tried Sushiya in Chatswood, I was told that Genki is actually much better and cheaper. Genki serves primarily ramen so for those looking for a bit of variety, Sushiya is probably the better option. Personally, a bowl of ramen always reminds me of eating in Japan so for me, I get a lot of enjoyment from such a simple dish. I mean, there's so much variety you can get in ramen; it would actually take a little while to get to try them all. For my first time at Genki, I actually found my bowl of ramen massive. I struggled with the last strands but the place has got the ok from me. I'd be more than happy to go back and eat there again and take guests with me (I had the Negi-Miso Ramen and Mandy had the Shoyu Ramen). Justin always says that it's the soup which differentiates the good from the bad; I thought Genki did a pretty good soup base. It's hard for me to judge objectively given the two of us had pretty similar bowls of ramen. Lol...I'll post again when I go back there.


The awesome bit to it is that it's a cheap meal. For lovers of Japanese food, it's a place worthy to visit. Very accessible by public transport and plenty of parking on the side streets. Careful with the mozzies around the area; don't let them bite you! Argh, I've got itchy spots all over me!

sushi-ya (chatswood)

The search for dinner took J and I to Chatswood. Having originally planned on Don Cafe where I've been told by the guys houses a rather 'good' selection of adult magazines, we ended changing our minds and heading just a bit further down the road to a place neither of us had been before - still keeping our choice of Japanese. The name actually rung a bell but it wasn't till much later after the meal that I realised it was the same one that K was talking about that's in Atarmon.

Despite it being the eve of Australia Day, coinciding also with night shopping, we managed to find parking quite easy; just outside Nando's which is part of the same block. The restaurant wasn't full yet but should we have gone in another 5-10 minutes later, we probably would've been waiting for a little while or tucked at the dodgy seats in a corridor at the back. Quite a neat little place but you get the feeling also that you're packed in tightly with everyone else. You'll notice a nice collage of fish on the wall as you walk in (although as we were sitting under it, they looked more like daggers and sashimi knives hanging above our heads). Where we sat in the front corner, there was perhaps a 30cm to the next table. Where you hear most of the conversation going on around you, the scariest thing was that our table nearly collapsed as a fellow patron struggled to get out of his seat next to me (so glad that didn't happen!)

On the whole, I really enjoyed the food. When the bill came back, it was a most reasonable one (save for the beer they added onto bill from the next table - that beer was equivalent to a quarter of our meal). Beef tataki was definitely awesome, the Karage chicken pieces could've been smaller but they still tasted great anyhow, the Agedashi Tofu could've been more well cooked on the inside and perhaps, the best salmon sushi in the world - I could eat that salmon all day. For a bill that came just over $40, we were more than well fed. I looked around as to what else was on offer and from what I could see, they were certainly most decent servings in a ravishing display of colours. Definitely a worthwhile place to go back. The place seems to draw in a crowd of all different backgrounds and group sizes; from families, couples, friends, dinner parties, you name it! No room for dessert tonight but I was tempted by the Green Tea Tiramisu!

pho @ flemington

When it comes to food, I find that my friends are actually the ones who tell me what's good to eat and what is actually worth spending my money on. It helps also that I've had the opportunity to meet a large cross-section of individuals from different cultures and backgrounds so there's actually always people to turn to for advice and for the occasional free meal at their homes. In a sense, this has also made me a bit of a picky eater but really, my knowledge of food has grown because of my circle of friends and I can't thank each and everyone enough for it.

Speaking to P in the early hours of the morning, we decided to head to Flemington for pho - a place known for a good bowl of Vietnamese beef noodles at very affordable prices. I've been a couple of times before - my friends tell me that this is the place to go to if you want a good bowl of Viet noodles and I agree with them completely. There's something quite unexplainable about how a bowl of pho at Flemington differs to your local Viet eatery; I've been told it's the soup and how the soup is made. Many of your food court pho noodles use stock and hence makes the soup unnaturally sweet but it's not just that, the temperature of the soup also affects how it tastes (I think a number of us would've experienced a time when the raw beef they add to the soup just doesn't seem to cook and you're left eating raw meat). It's really an art and it amazes me how something so simple keeps pulling me and others back for more.

There's actually a number of shops selling pho at Flemington but my friends and I always seem to go to the one in the alleyway next to the carpark. Here, you'll find a good mix of locals, office workers, the young and the aged, couples and groups; most of whom usually settle for the Pho or the various other infamous Viet dishes including tomato rice, vermicelli noodles, spring rolls and the three coloured drink. The food comes fast and service is generally friendly. Occasionally, you might see a trail of soup on the ground as the waitress stacks bowl upon bowl of noodles as she clears a table. My only advice is to keep your table reasonably clean; previously we had a waitress who was verbally abusive as to our eating habits (although that time, she didn't realise that some of us at the table actually understood Cantonese). A good feed and thanks P for the shout!