Hawker Lane, Chatswood

Westfield Chatswood’s Hawker Lane food court recently opened, and upon visiting on the first trading weekend, it was already filling up at 11am. The décor takes you right into Asia with cultural architecture and bamboo seatings.

You will not miss the bright Hawker Lane neon light ‘from the fresh food market inside Westfield. But could also be easily accessed through Charlotte Lane, off Anderson Street.

Kayter Co's coconut

Upon entering, I was welcomed with Kayter’s Co’s coconuts, with coconut chocolate toppings would be the only sensible thing to recreate these fresh coconuts to freak coconuts! A sip and we are definitely reminded that summer is here, thirst-quenching water helped refresh our palates for each dish we devoured.

If you spend over $20 at on a meal, make the most of it and claim your free Kayter coconut from the reception desk at the fresh food market!

The food adventure starts at One Tea Grill Express, and get a buzzer as there is about a 25-minute wait. No time wasted, and a quick pop over to Lamb & Cumin for some skewers. The wagyu skewers were tender, seasoned to perfection but such a great soft bite.

The lamb seasoned with cumin was tasty, and was not overpowering. However the tenderness of the wagyu definitely was a winner.

It actually wasn’t long before our buzzer from One Tea went off, and we were welcomed with 3 sliders. I feel like I have been living under a rock, though knowing about ramen burgers, I have never actually had one. I know, what is this blasphemy!?

The pan-fried ramen had a great crunch, the beef was juicy but what I loved most was the kick in the sauce. A little messy and definitely one that is hard to tackle when fresh with the burning heat from the ramen.

The chicken burger had a nice and soft mantou bun, the chicken could have been a little crispier, but there was that same spicy kick in it and had allowed me to forget the loss of crisp in the chicken.

If you order the matcha mantou burger with your meal you may need to tackle your burgers quick smart as you wouldn’t want your ice cream to melt too much. We nomed our burgers as quick, the mantou bun is deep fried to a tee, giving enough of a crunchy bite before getting into the soft insides. What is matcha without it’s partner in crime, red bean – a small circle of red bean paste sits on top of the ice cream.

Laksa from Jim’s Malaysian gave a great kick, but I totally love how tofu puffs soaks up the soup. I love the way the soup bursts once you take that first bite.

Curry puff, also from Jim’s Malaysian, reminded me of Albee’s curry puff, only a smaller version. The barbecue pork pastry had a generous amount of meat inside and held all sweet flavours with every bite into the flakey pastry.

Despite the dishes being only sample sizes, my stomach was telling me that it had enough food already. But there was so much more I wanted to try! We can not pass fried chicken when we see it, so an 8-inch fried chicken with thai sweet sauce was ordered from Cheers Cut. While the chicken is not as juicy as Hot Star, the sweet sauces were a great compliment to the fried goodness.

A nice refreshing drink from Gong Cha helped me feel like I could conquer a tiny bit more food…

Pork rice paper rolls from Madame Nhu were tasty; the pork was soft and had enough flavour. However it would have given a great hit if they had offered some sauce.

And because we can, we dropped by Aqua S for their Royal Milk tea, which tastes just like bubble tea, only without the pearls. Not seen underneath was the lemon tea, while it was not as smooth in texture; it was definitely bringing the citrus tea. It’s a battle of the teas.

It seems Chatswood is the place to be with their new food district in Interchange and now Westfield’s new Hawker Lane. Would you be visiting Chatswood soon?

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JFW attended as a guest to sample Hawker Lane’s restaurant. However, all comments are based on JFW’s own opinion.

Thanks to Julia from Sibling Agency and Westfield Chatswood for the invite.

Papi Chulo, Manly

“We’re all nearly 30!” That receives an instant rejection – perhaps in denial.

“How old are you again?” Because we never assume one’s age.

“25.” I really wish …

“25?! Really… are you sure? Not 26?” Someone was brought back to reality…

These comments were thrown around the table from various people.

Yes, we have gotten to the stage where this is a conversation that gets brought up more often than not. Yes, this may happen at every birthday meal. Yes, I finally understand why I was told once you turn 25 – every year you are 25.

Legit. Every time I answer with “I’m 25” I honestly believe it. I forget that I am no longer 25, because deep down that is the age I would just want to stay at.

So, on a lovely Sunday afternoon with a party of 12, we [NSF] were at Papi Chulo celebrating Miss CC’s birthday with what we do best. By eating.

Smoked hot wings with comeback sauce $16

The chicken wings were delicious and I must say, I was impressed with the amount of wings present in this serving. But what the real winner for the wings was the comeback sauce. A mix of chilli and mayo but there was a touch of pepper spice too, that is, on my palate. We simply loved this sauce to bits!

Roast Cauliflower, romesco, parmesan, brown butter crumbs $15

Cauliflower with Parmesan was delicious. I’m not much of a Parmesan kind of girl, but the cauliflower was cooked so well. It was soft and could only just feel like it melts in your mouth with a soft bite. The breadcrumbs scattered amongst the sauce offered an amazing textural bite.

BBQ baby octopus with grilled zucchini flowers, spring onions and soft herbs $19

The octopus was nice, but it didn’t blow my socks off. The octopus was soft yet chewy. I mean I didn’t have a tug-a-war eating it.

The food was served really fast, and I was impressed given how busy they were.

Papi Chulo BBQ platter: half rack lamb, 150gm each of wagyu brisket, chopped pork and pork belly, bread rolls $86

Pickles (comes with platter)

We opted for the meat platter, well because it has everything. The wagyu brisket would have to be my favourite, the charcoal smokey flavours mixed with their barbecue sauce was simply AH-MAZING!

Curly Fries $9

Who would ever say no to fries? Let alone springy, curly ones! And we kept that awesome comeback sauce for this! Bringing these fries to a whole new level!

Vietnamese Coleslaw $8

The coleslaw was a nice healthy touch; a nice refreshment breaking the smokey meat platter flavours for our next few dishes.

Balmain bugs, konbu butter $39

The balmain bugs were good, cooked perfectly. But nothing that made it stand out to me when I have been enjoying the wagyu brisket!

Baby snapper, lemongrass, chilli, macadamia and herbs $36

Now, this fish … wow! I mean, how can I explain this enough for you to order this when at Papi Chulo. Who would want to order fish when you’re there for that brisket! But this is a really tangy, spicy, and refreshing dish. It was a very Vietnamese tasting fish, it is definitely worth trying.

Warm chocolate cookie, vanilla-malt ice cream, butterscotch sauce, macadamia brittle $14

If only … if only we ordered two serves of this!!! I had one spoon and we passed it down the table and never saw the light of it AGAIN! The cookie was so warm, which was so pleasant to eat with the icy cold ice-cream drizzled with butterscotch sauce – which is to die for!

Banana split $14

Banana split was nothing too special. Honestly, all I could taste was the banana and cream.

BUT ALAS, hello to the Strawberry and Watermelon cake from Black Star Pastry! This is such a decadent cake! Layers of goodness, the rose water was not too overpowering and the watermelon adds a hit of refreshment throughout the cake. I believe I may become addicted to this goodness!

OH! And you know this is the place to be when the first thing you see are other foodie enthusiasts! It was great to bump into you Nessyeater, Annie and others which I am not sure who to identify!

Lastly, I wish Miss CC a wonderful birthday and may we have many more years of eateries to come where the next topic would perhaps be started as “Well, we are all about 40…” Let’s hope by then, we leave our ages behind us… I mean age is just a number, right?

Hit: Wagyu brisket, baby snapper, warm cookie
Miss: BBQ Baby octopus, Balmain bugs, Banana Split

Luna Park: Romance Discovery

My aunt(s) and mother are crazy photo fanatics. And now that Vivid has ended, they need to a way to satisfy their itch to snap. So, Luna Park it is.

I guess this is just a ‘through my lens’ post. Note: there may be more blurry shots than clear. Because I love bokeh shots (Thanks to my aunt for teaching me the "art" of it)!

HOWEVER, I have always had a love for ferris wheels and I always want to try and capture it well. But nothing ever snaps well (because I am such an amateur).

So, looking at the ferris wheel from all sorts of angles I was suddenly hit with a thought, a feeling. Ferris wheels, to me, is really romantic. I don’t know why, how or what – it was just so pretty to look at that it just made me feel a sudden pang of romance.

And yes, those that know me well, know that I am a hopeless romantic. It’s not my fault, I seriously swear it was Disney’s fault.

Believe me, there is a difference between being instilled with the idea of how romantic a ferris wheel is to actually being hit with the feeling. I admit, I used to be thrilled at the idea of it, but that night - the feeling was rather enlightening.

So standing in the cold for 2 hours had my hands frozen, my body shaking. I needed something hearty, thinking hard what would be in the Northern side of Sydney - ipot over in Chatswood dawned on me!

THEN ALAS, the next day, I received two postcards from Miss CC in London and Miss EC from Singapore. See the similarity in the two postcards? They sure know me well.

"We loved with a love that was more than love" - Edgar Allan Poe

ipot Chatswood

It’s that time of year where our bodies make us crave for something warm, hearty and filling! It’s hot pot season!

Not knowing what we should devour when in the Northern side of Sydney, I suddenly remembered Nessyeater posting about ipot opening in Chatswood, and so we made our way over there.

We were pretty much the last people to have walked in, and I’m pretty sure the wait staff were a little deflated seeing us walk in. But they were really accommodating.

So, I’m not sure if anyone is familiar with ipot, be it in Chinatown or Chatswood. But this is basically getting a little pot to yourself and you get to choose your own soup base.

A little sauce bay is available for you to choose, mix and create your own favourite dipping sauce for your food.

Spinach soup $8

On this lovely evening, I went with the spinach-based soup. It made me think of Wicked the musical with the ghastly green! It is more towards a bland like soup, but gives you that nice refreshing vegie soup feeling.

Prepare yourselves for massive food porn, as we love to order lots of food (read as over order).

Prime Queensland Rangelands Beef $10

What is hot pot without fatty beef! Look at the ribbons of fat! Like yum!!

Crisp Enoki Mushroom $6

I don’t know, I really don’t like mushrooms. But there is something different about enoki mushrooms that I have an exceptional love for. Perhaps it’s the texture and it really doesn’t have that mushroom taste.

Udon $5

Bean Curd Puff $5

I love puffy beancurd, because it soaks up the soups so well, and it just takes in all the flavours.

Pork & Prawn wontons $5

Pork & Prawn Dumplings $5

Wontons, dumplings! Bring them all on!

Chrysanthemum $5

Tasamanian Salmon $8

Hot pot is great, it really warms you up. Though I love the concept of ipot how everyone gets their own pot to cook in and their own preferred soup base. There is still something very warming about the fact that we do share a pot and eat together. Or maybe the banter when people start stealing one another’s food gives that whole feeling.

The feeling of love, family, and closeness.