noodleoodle

We didn’t go to Emperor’s Garden for noodles, we got straight into the BBQ duck. It’s the real stuff. Fresh, succulent, flavoursome, melt off the bone. Lovely combined with a cool bottle of Chardonnay, and good value. We also went to their bakery outlet to get some of those Emporer’s puffs that mellie recommended. They were scoldingly hot and morish. We tested a few other pastries they have on offer here. They were all good. This is a decent place for a snack. You can buy take away via windows to the street at both these outlets. It’s something I can’t go past. I had to walk on the other side of the street so I didn’t buy BBQ duck and puffs three times a day.

Emperors Garden BBQ and Noodles - (02) 9281 9899 - 213 Thomas Street Haymarket NSW 2000

Emperors Garden Cakes & Bakery - (02) 9281 5989 - 75 Dixon Street Haymarket NSW 2000

At BBQ King we had BBQ pork and it was magnificent. Crackling and crispy with with a soft moist flesh in on the underside. This is something that is joyfully bad for you. BBQ King seems to have a big reputation. I thought it was a little expensive, but the servings were pretty generous. We had a fried squid dish that was monstrously large. Again the pork was really good. Chardonnay went down very well with this meal, (a little to well thanks to B Styles).

BBQ King - (02) 9267 2586 - 18 Goulburn St NSW 2000

I had an interesting bowl of noodle soup at Silk Road Chinese Restaurant. This is a Chinese Muslim Halal restaurant that has a slight Arabic influence. I thought this would be an interesting place to go as I’ve red that beef noodle soup has Muslim origins. The one they offered me looked great. It was steaming hot with a complex looking broth. plump looking handmade noodles, herbs, tomato slices, and braised beef. It tasted pretty good to, the egg noodles were really good. I’m very fond of the imperfections of handmade noodles, the irregular shapes are aesthetically very pleasing. I also find the textures nice to eat, especially when the noodles are still firm an not over cooked. I liked this place.

Silk Road Chinese Restaurant - (02) 9281 9658 - 13/8 Prince Centre, Quay Street NSW 200

Only a couple hundred meters from the previous eating halls is Dixon House Food Court. Choose one of the three entrances and descend into a sensory stimulation overload. (depending on time of day I suppose).

It was late afternoon and the place was packed, the noise a cacophony. I counted over twenty vendors in this dim wood paneled basement … and there’s a bar! I grabbed a Singha. E and I perused the food stalls. Of note were two Indonesian places and a Cambodian stall. God knows why we ordered a beef noodle soup from a Chinese joint. I guess I’m using this dish as a bench mark. I strangely see a link between all these soups. Each one filling a small gap in a giant beef noodle soup puzzle, which all leads to pho. (I’m getting ridiculous).

Anyway, with all the interesting food about, I was disappointed with this offering. It was of the thickened stock variety and not much care was put into it’s construction. Underneath a crude pile of ingredients was a block of egg noodles that hadn’t even been separated from it’s factory manufactured square.

It was good to have a Singha though, and E enjoyed the atmosphere. Soup was $7.50.

Dixon House Food Court - Corner Little Hay & Dixon Haymarket Sydney

Midmorning breakfast at the Sussex Centre food hall. The lunch rush hadn’t kicked in, but vendors were still busily handing out a steady flow of product. Due to the early hour, E and I decided to try the pho stall, Siagon Pho. We’ve sniffed out four Pho joints around Chinatown and three of them have Siagon in the title. Doesn’t look like well see any Pho Bac on this trip.

This particular Siagon Pho sells a range of rice dishes and offers noodle soup as combination or rare meat. I expect the combination would include a few bits of offal. Our rare beef was of a good standard, there was plenty of them being sold. I noticed a number of staff from other stalls eating here.

The proprietor seemed like a nice chap. I asked him what he thought difference between Southern and Northern Pho was. He noodled (nodded) enthusiastically as if this was a question he had often asked himself. He pulled out a strange electric tennis racket and swiped at a fly. It disintegrating in a zap of electronic flash. E and I ducked. “Sugar!” he said, and went on to tell me that Southerners like to add sugar to the stock in the cooking faze. He also said there was a particular spice that was integral but could not find the words in English, (maybe Star Anise). He told me to go to Cabramatta for pho Bac, I doubted we’d get there this trip. We finished our soup, he stalked more insect pray. Countless bowls of Pho were dished out.

The Sussex Centre food hall has a large variety of food stalls and a bar! There’s Korean BBQ, Malasian noodles, Chinese BBQ/noodles, Japanese Ramein joints and a whole lot of other stuff. I doubt there would be a dish over $10. Our Pho was $7.50.

Sussex Centre Food hall - 401 Sussex Street Sydney

I remember a food hall I used to go. It fed me when I was a student. Ongs, was on Little Burke, a dungeon really. Stairs descended into a low ceilinged maze, housing about a dozen or so Asian food vendors. It was good and cheap. It had a bar, which was a big draw card in those days. What’s changed?

Since the demise of Ongs there has been little of this kind of venue in Melbourne. In Sydney, they seem to be abundant. Our first expedition started badly. E and I had an altercation about our mode of transport. Eventually, I won, and got her into her pram, but in the confusion I forgot the directions.

We entered Chinatown blindly looking for food courts. Without much trouble we found ourselves on the top floor of the building that houses Paddy’s Market. Here there is a complex of more than a dozen mostly Chinese vendors selling a vast range food stuffs. Knowing nothing about any of them, we chose randomly. Golden Towers Seafood Noodles. Glossy photographs behind the counter spoke to us, and it wasn’t a conversation about seafood.

It was Beef Noodle Soup. This one came with pork wontons and braised brisket. The soup had a great tasty stock. It made the previous one I’d had, (cattle-meat-noodles), seem as it at come from a can. Included was Chinese greens, E polished most of these off, which surprised me, she eats mainly pork these days. Our noodle soup cost $7.50.

In the under pass on the way home we had to stop and watch a busking classical violinist. I was seriously paranoid that some journalist was doing a story on how we are all uncultured yobbos. (Today Tonight also copied this story that very day). So in case of hidden cameras, we had to nod some appreciation and chuck in a bit of cash. E really enjoyed it and cracked it when I made her leave.

Market City Food Court - Level 3 2-13 Quay St Sydney