Etsu Izakaya

Hey hey!

So Mum and I decided to go out for a nice dinner at Etsu Izakaya, it's my second time there - and it's delicious but a bit too pricey so we keep it for special occasions! It was Mum's first time eating here, so I decided to shout her - and we took some photos at Etsu of us and the food. Hope you guys enjoy!

Their menu is super cute, it's nice and simple - origami style portraying the Japanese culture. You fold it out and they have a wide range of menu items  

The drink was really nice, berry flavoured mocktail to share as we both had to drive. They do two different types of mocktails - this one and another citrus flavoured one!

Ordered the Tofu and Greens to start with as our salad, the portion was so big considering it's price - super worth it if you're a salad fan!

We also ordered my favourite Wagyu Carpaccio which was a lightly seared wagyu sirloin 9+ with garlic chips, chives and ponzu sauce. Absolutely love this dish, as I love rare food and the flavouring is completely my style.

Moving on to a dish that I tried for the first time, but it has most definitely made it to my "must order" list. Will definitely order this again whenever I go, it's the Salmon Tartare with eshallots, chives, pickled jalapeno which was served with ciabatta bread (it was even semi-buttered) ahhhh amazing and appetising dish!

Definitely ordered some oysters to share, forgot the exact name - but they were oysters served with dry seaweed and caviar and a wedge of lime to compliment.

So, even there bathrooms were super cute - decorated with Japanese newspaper and manga cut outs!

Next, we ordered the Nasu Dengaku which is Eggplant in Den miso, kizami nori ( shredded seaweed) and negi (welsh onion). I personally didn't enjoy this dish very much as the den miso was way too salty and sweet for me especially without pairing this with rice it was actually kind of hard to finish (even though we did) will probably not order this again, though this might be very suitable for western taste buds.

We also ordered the Soft Shell Crab paired with wasabi aioli and greens, unfortunately I made the same mistake twice in a row of ordering this because of my love for soft shell crab... The first time I ordered this I completely regretted it and sigh the second time I went I completely forgot, but honestly wasn't a fan of this because it always takes them so long to make it - not sure why but when it arrives at the table it's usually no longer hot therefore the oil tastes pretty bad (cause it's all cold). That is the main reason but the sauce and greens it's paired with is really nice if the frying of the soft shell crab could be improved other wise I'm not a fan.

Lastly, to end this meal off on very good note. I obviously ordered dessert! - I ordered the Pumpkin Creme Brulee with Black Sesame Ice-cream which was amazing. Absolutely loved it, you have to ask for the dessert menu and the waiter/waitress will usually tell you verbally since it often changes and the dessert is not part of their menus. Do definitely ask if you go!

Hope you enjoyed this post and got a clear insight on Etsu if you were ever wondering if it's worth going to! Which it is for sure :) Talk to you guys again next time!

- Miss Ting Chen

A visit to the GC

Hello!

So exciting news, Alan decided to fly back to the Gold Coast with me! He hasn't visited since years and years ago when we were probably around (I can't even remember) two? So pretty much counted as the first time visiting the GC, how exciting! So I decided to take some time off work and take him around to my favourite places and of course, my favourite cafes and restaurants!

Definitely took Alan to one of my favourite cafes on the GC. Daark Espresso has definitely become one of his favs in GC too, the coffee was amazing - but then, so is all the food and drinks! Absolutely love this place!

BSKT Cafe is such an amazing cafe also, I've spoken in detail about this place before - best food and atmosphere however, a bit too far from my house but whenever I go in that direction, I will definitely plan to eat there. We ordered the grazing board and pancakes with their cocowhip along with some sweet potato fries to share! Such amazing food, wish I lived closer (but then again, I'll probably go broke if I did...).

Here comes my favourite, authentic Japanese restaurant - the small size of the diner resembles the actual local and family styled restaurants in Japan. Amimoto is the perfect definition of a small hidden gem located in Surfers Paradise, especially famous for their Chirashi Sushi (which I love), but I love the Sake Oyako Don even more! (simply for salmon and caviar). I always order it whenever I go along with their deep friend sushi which is super tasty too!

And how could Alan come to the GC and not pay a visit to Charis Seafoods to watch Pelican feeding (which all the tourists do hahaha), and eat their fish and chips (which didn't even up being as good as it used to...). I still wanted to take him since it's part of the experience!

One last adventure we went on - since Alan loves the nature and loves challenging himself all the time hahaha I decided to take him to Killarney Glen (even though I'm not usually the type to go on trips like this, it was good for a change and I actually really liked it!). We decided to go on this short trip with my other friend, Vicky! Drove there, did the hike down and spent a few hours swimming and chilling before hiking back to the car! Which was definitely not that easy but quite the experience!

Definitely enjoyed Alan's company these few days, thankfully the weather was pretty good on most of the days. Had an amazing time exploring and eating our way through the GC. Hopefully we'll meet up again soon to go on more adventures! Also, hope you guys enjoyed this post :)

- Miss Ting Chen

Hello Again, Sydney

Hello again everyone!

So I visited Sydney again because it felt like I didn't have enough time to do everything that I wanted to the first time I visited - so here are some of my trip photos! Enjoy :)

I spent a long, eventful day with Alan - my childhood friend who now lives in Sydney and two of his friends that are visiting from Taiwan, Monica and Sean. We decided to have a look around the Museum of Contemporary Art first - here are some photos.

Took the most touristy shot ever, with Monica and Sean outside the Sydney Opera House.

Of course, after missing out on this the first time I visited - I would definitely come back for it! Belly Bao, I have waited to try you for so long now, and I finally did it! Had a feast at Belly Bao and it was seriously just as good as expected, we even ordered a second round because we demolished the first round of bao that we ordered! 

Also visited The Bear Bar with a few new friends that I met in Sydney, lovely people really. Had a great time and possibly tried the best cocktail I've ever had (not much of a big drinker, definitely runs in the genes sigh...) Haha so I'm talking about the drink on the left named Snow Candy - and as the menu suggests, it has definitely changed my life hahaha. Possibly the most delicious alcoholic drink ever even tasted let alone finished. Definitely, if you're not a drinker like me - go try it!

Newtown, being one of my favourite places - I would say. Brewtown Newtown was also one of my favourites but also one of the many places I got to try actually. Amazing brunch and lunch options, drinks were nice and their cronuts aka. Brewnuts were amazing ahhh you have got to try it. Sadly, don't have a photo - probably demolished it before even getting a chance to take a snap of it haha.

Surry Hills being such a popular destination - I finally visited! I also ate at a nice little cafe called Rustic Pearl which was lovely. Alan and I both ordered a drink each, went straight for the chai as always and he got a juice. I am definitely more of a savoury eater when it comes to main meals and he ended up getting healthy muesli as his, haha oh the difference! The food and service was both really good, would definitely visit again if I got the chance!

And lastly, one of my new Sydney friend's suggestion we ate at Barmuda during the last few days of my stay in Sydney, thanks Amy! Barmuda was located in Newtown too, pretty much next door to the oh so famous Black Star Pastry (for their watermelon cakes). We decided to eat here, drinks were great - but the potato stack that I ordered was absolutely delicious! Made the right choice of ordering savoury again, could tell everyone eye-envying my food choice during our meal haha!

Andddd, let's just conclude this post with two photos that perfectly depicts our friendship bahaha! Had such a great time visiting Alan and my sis in Sydney, thanks again for being my tour guide.

Until next time, my friends!

- Miss Ting Chen

Recollections of Food

Hey everyone, here's another post completely dedicated to food - and food only.

First place that I tried since I got back from Taiwan was:

Betty's Burgers felt like an American styled diner that specialised in burgers, a bit like in-n-out or shake shack (even though I've never tried either, would love to! but yes, the buns and the style looks fairly similar). It's located in Surfers Paradise, the price was fairly reasonable and the food was nice too. I remember ordering the Pork Belly burger and some chips and onion rings to share.

Here is just some random little cafe we walked into at Sanctuary Cove after a dentist appointment... The food was great, but probably a bit too far to travel just for the food.

Max Brenner c'mon I'm sure if you're in Australia you would have definitely tried this place by now? It's a chocolate restaurant located at many locations. Well if you haven't tried it, then do so! Haha it's just an iconic must try chocolate restaurant, the price can add up to quite a bit but if it's an after dinner dessert where everyone is already 90% full then ordering a dessert pizza like below would be the perfect choice to share.

Soba Soba is a Japanese restaurant located in Southport, I would day specifically focuses on a variety of udon and soba. It's fairly nice and small place, good atmosphere and good price too! A friend and I actually went on their opening day coincidentally and they were giving out free bowls of noodles as a celebration to opening. So we ordered one each of the two they were offering that day - they were both delicious!

Muso Ramen is defs my absolute favourite go to ramen place ever, at least so far on the Gold Coast. I love the range of flavours they offer, their monthly specials and how rich their broth is! I have started to go less and less recently because of how extremely busy they've been getting and having such a small store it usually results to long lines and long waits as well... Also, they've risen the price of their ramen so sometimes we think it becomes a little not as worth it anymore... since the portion is that big. However, the ramen is absolutely delicious - it's the closest I can get here compared to the actual authentic ones in Japan.

Kabachi-Ya is my semi-new discovered little local Japanese restaurant nearby to my house! So glad to have discovered this place they sell a variety of reasonable priced food - including different side dishes like deep fried squid, octopus, tofu salad, takoyaki and pretty much every single traditional Japanese side dish you can think of! Their ramen is nice too, I often get the dan-dan men and the sweet corn and butter ramen is also pretty tasty!

Cafe928 is actually super addictive and amazingly delicious. I couldn't help myself but I literally have been eating here way too often that it legit feels crazy. They're a Korean-Italian fusion cuisine, which is a good twist - another favourite is definitely their drinks, I really love all their drinks that I've tried so far... Chai Latte, Green Tea Latte, Milk Tea, Coffee - anything, you name it! There pastas are my favourite - I love the Seafood Arrabbiata (which is a little spicy), and the Cream Pane is very nice also! With pizzas my go to flavour is definitely their Gorgonzola Pizza because I love cheese and this pizza is extremely cheesy with a hint of Gorgonzola (similar to blue vein cheese) and some almonds and honey to go with. Amazing, must try! 

Last but not least, Wagyu-Ya! Another one of my favourite Japanese restaurants - focusing more to suit Western taste buds I would say. Lots of tapas and great for Japanese styled BBQ with good quality meat, the BBQ always a must - as to tapas I also order beef tataki as I realise it's almost always a hit rather than a miss, how could you go wrong with flavoured semi-raw beef? We decided to pair our BBQ with a bowl of cold noodle to share, which made everything more appetising (or maybe made us feel less guilty haha...) and lastly I always have to order dessert here! We went for the dessert share plate this time - which included my favourite matcha creme brulee, a slice of cheese cake and a scoop of black sesame ice-cream, yum!

Anyway, that concludes my little recollection of some of my favourite food and favourite restaurants! Be sure to try them out if you ever end up on the Gold Coast. Talk to you all soon :)

- Miss Ting Chen