Breakfast in Sydney - Bangladeshi Style

I LOVE SYDNEY .......... Do you know why???
Sydney is the ideal city for anyone who loves FOOD..... it is a city where you can find dim sum better than you would in Hong Kong, Vietnamese pork rolls and pho better than in the street of Ho Chi Minh City, Gyros better than Luckys in Santorini, Ramen and sushi to match those in Japan. The beauty is whatever international cuisine you are craving for.......... chances are you will find them in Sydney and most of the time, it will be pretty authentic.

Sydney was where we had Bangladeshi food for Breakfast when we stayed the night with Saif and Jane. Saif is an Australian, born in Bangladesh and they suggested heading out for Bangladeshi breakfast in Lakemba. I am all for it..... I can't wait to see what is on offer.
I have been wanting to visit Lakemba for a long time. I have always known it to have lots of good Lebanese restaurants and shops. Saif tells me it is slowly starting to become an enclave for Bangladeshis too with loads of grocery shops and eateries opening up.
The restaurant we went to is call - Khusboo

This is the menu - Check it out for yourself.

As you can see, its not a big menu and contains some seriously interesting breakfast dishes..... Brain marsala anyone???? The wonderful thing is, its quite kind to the wallet..........
As we have no idea what is what.... we left the ordering to Saif (I love that........... surprise me !!! )

Steph looked quite relief that the ordering is taken care of

Saif & Jane doing a great job with the orders

So here is what we had

Aloo Vaji, Lopoti and Paratha

The first few dishes to arrive are:
Aloo Vaji - Fried potatoes. These are shredded and fried - Yummy and moorish
Lopoti - A spicy dish with chicken wings, liver and giblet. I have never been a fan of chicken livers unless it is in pate.... but I was surprise on how tasty these are and the texture was really nice. Had a bite to it.
Paratha - Just yummy and good for soaking up all the sauces

Lopoti - Close up

Aloo Vaji - Close up

On top of the paratha, we also had some fried bread - called Luchy. This is like a cross between a papadam and a paratha

Luchy

If there is Brain Marsala on the menu...... Do you think we would say no to it? Of course not. We are travelling HEADCASES. So here it is

Brain Marsala

It was surprisingly very tasty. We all agreed that it is just like scrambled eggs. Saif told us it is Cow's Brain. It is spicy with a really good rounded curry gravy........ absolutely love it.

Beef Bhoona

Saif, being a wonderful host as always........... ordered something 'Normal" to keep Jane and Ander happy. This is Beef Bhoona - Spicy beef. It was definitely spicy, beautiful flavour with loads of cardamon. The meat just falls off the bone. Ander also managed to get an omelette, which was of course spiced with chilli and curry flavour.......... he devoured it before we got a chance to taste it or take a photo of it. A good sign that it was a wicked dish no doubt.

A good sign - not much left

Khushboo also have Bangladeshi sweets to take home

As I looked around, the restaurant was filled with Bangladeshi family - Old and young, starting off their weekend with a hearty breakfast. Others may have bacon and eggs..........there is definitely nothing out of the ordinary to have curry for breakfast...... I am in heaven.

THANK YOU JANE & SAIF for your wonderful hospitality and for introducing us to a new way of breakfast......... when is our next breakfast date?????

Khushboo Sweets & Restaurant
Address: 38 Railway Parade, Lakemba NSW 2195
Phone:(02) 9750 6600

Matsusakagyu Yakiniku Restaurant - Osaka

On our recent trip to Osaka, we stumbled across this restaurant by accident. At the time, we had no idea it was rated number 2 on the Tripadvisor Best Restaurant in Osaka list.
We had planned to visit Kobe to try out some Kobe beef whilst in Osaka. Because our quest to purchase platters and unique service equipment for our catering business took a few days more than we had anticipated, we didn't make it to Kobe.
So on our last night, we decided to seek out a Yakiniku (BBQ GRILL) restaurant and hoping they will have some nice local wagyu beef for us to try.
Walking through an alley near the Hozenji Temple, we came across a bright white sign with M in large letter. The menu out front showed a drawing of a cow. So we decided to give it a shot.

Under this sign was an extremely narrow path, leading into a wooden door - I wasn't sure if that was the entrance as there are no windows or sign to indicate that is the entrance to the restaurant...... luckily for me, a customer was exiting and I had to reverse backwards to let this guy out (There was no room to turn around........ that was how narrow this entrance way was).

I popped my head through the doorway to find a staff member and enquire about a table for 2....... after loitering outside for a few minutes, she found us a table and ushered us in. It was really dark inside. We were told to head upstairs. This floor was full of booth seatings and the smell of the BBQ grills was making me extremely hungry........ at the landing, we were told to go up one more flight of stairs......... at the top we found a tiny doorway to a single room..... Just our luck, we got the rooftop private dining room for the 2 of us. WOW !! I had a feeling this is going to be a pretty special last night in Japan for us.

The menu consists of a few appetisers, salads and then a whole lot of different cuts of beef to cook on the table grill.

The menu also gives you a guide on where a particular cut is from the animal and its marble score. In Australia, we often buy our beef with a marble score of 6 to 8........ with the highest score of 12 available here, it is a must try.

So I left the ordering to Steph and was just happy to sit back and enjoy. Here is what we had.

Matsusaka Marbled Beef Sushi

Kyukyoku - Prime Ribs with a marble score of 12

Maboroshi - Prime Shoulder with marble score of 10

Misuji - Shoulder with marble score of 6

Ichibo

With the beef, we ordered some side dishes. Bimbimbap (rice in a hot stone pot), House salad and a Caesar salad.

A really good trick we learnt from this dining experience is keeping the thick layer of fat from the steak and using that to prime our grill before cooking our meat. The flavour is amazing. 

The 3 types of flavouring for our beef are - Seasoned salt, sesame soy and plain soy

Although the Kyukyoku is deliciously full of flavour and simply melts in your mouth, my favourite was actually the Maboroshi. There is still loads of flavour, but not as rich. 

If you get a chance to visit Osaka, give this restaurant a try. You won't be disappointed. Make sure you book ahead though...... I think we were just lucky to score such a wonderful table last minute. 

Matsusakagyu Yakiniku M
HOZENJI YOKOCHO

1-1-19 Namba, Chuo-ku,
Osaka-city, 542-0076

Nissin Instant Noodle Museum

I grew up knowing instant noodles as Japanese noodles. I guess it was because it was the Japanese that invented this wonderful, convenient meal that has seen loads of college students through their youth whilst living away from home.
While I was researching for our trip. I came across an article on the "Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum" in Osaka.

It sounded interesting and Ikeda where it is located didn't seem too far from Namba where we were staying in Osaka. I thought...... Why not ???? Steph had his reservations.........
So with the vague direction I got from the internet on how to get there. We jumped on the train from Umeda and made our way to Ikeda one afternoon. Just outside the station, there are signs that led us to the museum.

Me and Momofuku Ando

10 minutes walk down a suburban street, we saw the statue of Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles. There are no entry fee for this one in Osaka. I believe the one in Tokyo do charge an entry fee.
We were greeted at the entrance by lovely happy ladies in bright yellow bandannas and aprons to welcome us. The lady who had English next to her name tag gave us a quick run down on how the museum work. We made our way through the interactive displays. There is one displaying the kitchen that Momofuku was working in while testing out his noodles. There were lots of other game machine in the room which were filled with young Japanese children checking out all the interactive machines. There is a giant wall call " The Instant Noodle Tunnel" - This traces the history of the instant ramen product line with a time line and the product display on the wall...... mind boggling stuff !!

This place is just like Willy Wonker's Chocolate Factory. We were waiting to see the oompa loompas working away in the back !!!! The noise is buzzy....... there are loads of school age kids running around, loads of animated cartoon kind of chatter on the speakers.......... We have got to the area where you can make your own Instant Cup Noodle.
You start off with putting 300 yen into a vending machine to get your styrofoam cup. Then you join the queue to wash and sanitise your hand. A staff member then puts a clear lid on the top, so your fingers don't touch the lip of the cup.
Up ahead is a room full of little tables and chairs with colour texta boxes..... just like a pre-school playroom....... we are shown to a table to start getting creative and design our cups.

Steph is definitely more creative than me and is much better at drawing........ so I left that duty up to him. After our creation is complete, we head up to the queue to fill these cups with our favourite flavour of noodles.
Again, it is all very interactive. You hand your cup over to the happy staff (the oompa loompas), they give it a quick air spray to rid of any dust or impurities in the cup. Then they ask you to spin the wheel which transfer the round noodle into your cup.

From there, the cup moves along a conveyor belt to the next oompa loompa, who asks what flavour soup you would like. Seafood, Original or Curry.

Then you are ask to pick 5 condiments to add to your cup....... there are cute fish cakes made in the shape of love hearts (being February for Valentines Day), there are also chicken cake that is in the shape of a cartoon chicken shape).

I can't believe some people are stressing out big time on what to choose !!! its only cup noodles people...... relax !!
After all the flavours and condiments are in the cup. A seal is place on the lip of the cup. Then it gets plastic shrink wrap and there is your very own personalised cup noodle.

Not a bad souvenir to take home to the kids. Beats another snow dome or keyring !!!