JONGA JIP EASTWOOD

WHERE: 13 Railway Pd, Eastwood, NSW

Just around the corner from Rowe Street , lies another Jonga Jip right across from Eastwood station.  The line outside of Jonga Jip 2 was just as long as the first one. Outside of the restaurant looks smaller than the other one, however there are plenty of seats upstairs. 

 

Kim Chi Stew $13 

Kim Chi Stew was just delicious. The taste of the soup was just perfect in flavour and there is an immense amount of vegetables, meat, rice cake and pork inside the steaming bowl.  We finished the whole soup, not even one slurp to spare. 

Beef Marinated Short Ribs $21 and Pork Belly $19

There was room for dessert. A small cup of froyo. Three flavours include: Acai Berry, Berry and of course Taro!

Much love from J&C

IT'S TIME FOR THAI KINGSFORD

WHERE: 2/309 Anzac Pde, Kingsford


WEBSITE: http://www.timeforthai.com.au/


Now we all love a good Thai meal once in a while or maybe even more. It's time for Thai is located on the busy strip of Kingsford on Anzac Pde. If you have been to Kingsford, you will know there are plenty of different restaurants. Housing mainly Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese Restaurants. Today both C & I decided to go back to our regular visit.

J was going to order his regular Tom Yum fried rice (it's a winner), however decided to order the BBQ Chicken with rice. C decided to order the Crispy skin chicken with rice, which I personally would strongly recommend.

The chicken has a thin coating of batter just covering the meat. Every bite just simply melts in your mouth, also they provide a serving of sweet chilli sauce and a small bowl of soup. Sounds like quite a cliche dish, but honestly haven't tried anywhere else that can match it - yet.

Crispy Chicken with a side of rice $12 

BBQ Chicken with side of rice $12 

The BBQ chicken was not bad, chicken was really succulent and was marinated in a soy marinade, the skin had really nice colour and was bursting with flavour, this was also accompanied with a sweet chilli sauce to dip the chicken.

All up, the meals cost $24. Most dishes with a side of rice is usually $12, however you can also get a sharing plate if desired.

Marinated beef, but portion is not as big as other dishes. 

Tom Yum Noodle Soup. Really delicious with thin rice noodles.  

SERVICE: Pretty fast service. Menus and jug of water is provided as soon as walk in. As soon as you enter you are greeted by staff and ushered to a seat. You will rarely see this restaurant empty and at times have to wait to be seated. We both have been here at late times and the staff will generally let you stay or at a minimum take takeaway orders for those desperate hungry people, hoping to get their munch on.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 7/10


FOOD: Tried the majority of the dishes on the menu. Would not recommend the roti, as it is hard and not that soft. Most portions of food are large in size and will be plenty for sharing.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 8/10


ATMOSPHERE: Busy atmosphere. Most weekday evenings are filled with University students and families. Immediately as you walk into the restaurant you can see an open kitchen on the left, which i personally like. Time for Thai has quite a large capacity and houses numerous tables.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 6/10

It's time for Thai is our go to restaurant, not because of its portion size, operating hours but also the taste of the food.

IT'S TIME FOR THAI KINGSFORD

WHERE: 2/309 Anzac Pde, Kingsford


WEBSITE: http://timeforthai.com.au/


Now we all love a good Thai meal once in a while or maybe even more. It's time for Thai is located on the busy strip of Kingsford on Anzac Pde. If you have been to Kingsford, you will know there are plenty of different restaurants. Housing mainly Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese Restaurants. Today both C & I decided to go back to our regular visit.

J was going to order his regular Tom Yum fried rice (it's a winner), however decided to order the BBQ Chicken with rice. C decided to order the Crispy skin chicken with rice, which I personally would strongly recommend.

The chicken has a thin coating of batter just covering the meat. Every bite just simply melts in your mouth, also they provide a serving of sweet chilli sauce and a small bowl of soup. Sounds like quite a cliche dish, but honestly haven't tried anywhere else that can match it - yet.

Crispy Chicken with a side of rice $12 

BBQ Chicken with side of rice $12 

The BBQ chicken was not bad, chicken was really succulent and was marinated in a soy marinade, the skin had really nice colour and was bursting with flavour, this was also accompanied with a sweet chilli sauce to dip the chicken.

All up, the meals cost $24. Most dishes with a side of rice is usually $12, however you can also get a sharing plate if desired.

Marinated beef, but portion is not as big as other dishes. 

Tom Yum Noodle Soup. Really delicious with thin rice noodles.  

SERVICE: Pretty fast service. Menus and jug of water is provided as soon as walk in. As soon as you enter you are greeted by staff and ushered to a seat. You will rarely see this restaurant empty and at times have to wait to be seated. We both have been here at late times and the staff will generally let you stay or at a minimum take takeaway orders for those desperate hungry people, hoping to get their munch on.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 7/10


FOOD: Tried the majority of the dishes on the menu. Would not recommend the roti, as it is hard and not that soft. Most portions of food are large in size and will be plenty for sharing.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 8/10


ATMOSPHERE: Busy atmosphere. Most weekday evenings are filled with University students and families. Immediately as you walk into the restaurant you can see an open kitchen on the left, which i personally like. Time for Thai has quite a large capacity and houses numerous tables.

RATING:
J: 7/10
C: 6/10

It's time for Thai is our go to restaurant, not because of its portion size, operating hours but also the taste of the food.
http://timeforthai.com.au/

KINGSLEYS STEAK AND CRABHOUSE WOOLLOOMOOLOO

WHERE: 10/6 Cowper Wharf Roadway, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

Website: http://www.kingsleys.com.au/landing?referrer=/

This time last week, we celebrated our one year anniversary. J made a reservation on the day for 8:45pm, at their next best available time. Originally both of us wanted to visit a steak house but J was feeling pretty excited that this premise serves both steak and crab, as C always mentioned she wanted to eat crab. J who usually is not big on seafood, wanted to take a risk and give those crustaceans a go. YES! IM A RISK TAKER!

Walking along the wharf towards the restaurant, you are greeted with a long line of restaurants, ranging from Italian to Asian cuisines. The feel on the night was really lively, filled with conversations, laughter and romantic dinners. 

Pina Colada $17 

This Pina Cola drink is to die for!! It tasted really refreshing and alcohol wasn't too overpowering. 

We were offered house bread. The butter was creamy and delicious. 

Atmosphere: Nice location by the water. We decided to dine inside which was a lot cosier than outside with the outdoors heaters. Not long into our entree, the waitress offered us to move to a bigger table, had she realised we ordered a crab and steak to share which needed more space than usual. 
It was a lot more comfortable sitting on a bigger table. 

Ratings:
J: 8/10 
C: 8/10 


Service: Service staff were really friendly and polite. Picking up J's jacket after it had fell on the floor twice without him knowing. The bibs were placed around our necks by the waiter. We were approached several times by staff asking if everything was okay and if we needed anything. It shows that they had attention to detail. 

Ratings:
J: 8/10
C: 9/10 


Food:
We had trouble deciding which entree to get because they all sound delicious. Wagyu fingers it was! Found it a bit salty and relied on the crispy noodles to accompany the saltiness. For main we chose the Singaporean Chili Crab and medium rare Rib Eye steak. For the side we wanted the eggplant… but sadly it was sold out. No one would understand our loveeeee for eggplant. The alternative was the potatoes with roasted garlic and rosemary salt. 

Wagyu Rib Fingers $17.90

The Eye Fillet Steak with the green pepper sauce was cooked to perfection. The meat was easy to slice and the meat just melted in your mouth. It was tender and not too chewy but portion size was quite small. 

Eye Fillet  $39.90 

 

Roast Kipfler Potato, Garlic, Rosemary Salt $9.90 

C would have preferred it if the chilli in the crab sauce was a bit more prominent and had egg like the tradition Singaporean mud crab, rather than a tomato based sauce. However there was a decent amount of crab meat and generosity of the sauce. 

Singaporean Chilli wok fried with a hot sticky tomato, black bean, chilli sauce. 

Market Price 

Ratings:
J: 8/10 
C: 9/10 

Overall, the experience at Kingsley's was pleasant. Cracking open the crab got a little messy but it was all in good fun and would definitely be a night to remember. 

Much love J and C  

ESSEN RESTAURANT AND BEER CAFE BROADWAY

WHERE: 133- 135 Broadway Ultimo NSW 
Phone: 02 92113805

Website: http://www.essenrestaurant.com.au/


It has been a while since both J & C had been to Essen, home to Northern European cuisine. Both of us had been eagerly waiting to eat some schnitzel and Friday was the night where it all happened. We had read reviews about different places, however we knew the schnitzel was good at Essen so we decided to revisit and play it safe.

Essen is located on the main road and is hard to miss as it is written in big gold letters. There is street parking nearby and if worst comes to worst, Broadway shopping centre is fairly close.

If you are hungry, this is the place to go. If you are worried about portion size, Essen will definitely wipe any concerns you have for stingy servings. With any schnitzel order, it is accompanied by a serving of rosti (crunchy baked potato) and a white cabbage salad with a sprinkle of what appears to be chilli powder (it isn't spicy for those weary of chilli). 


Atmosphere: As soon as you enter, you are greeted by friendly European staff and the atmosphere really feels as though you are in medieval pub. The restaurant has stone and varnished wood walls, an odd barrel or two and of course a bar. 

Ratings:
J: 8/10 
C: 7/10 



Service: We were greeted by a lovely staff member directing us to a table near the front window. We were given a jug of water and menus. We asked if there was any gravy but unfortunately the "jus" (red wine) was not close to a gravy. The staff offered a different alternative and suggested that the mushroom sauce was more creamier and thick in consistency. The staff were always friendly and attentive.  Food did not take long to come out. 

Ratings:
J: 7/10
C: 7/10 


Food: We decided to order a veal and chicken schnitzel and for entree we ordered crumbed camembert with a cranberry compote dipping sauce. The crumbed camebert is always a good option as we love our cheeses. The deep fried piece of cheese just melts and oozes into your mouth. 

Crumbed Camembert with Cranberry Compote $11

The veal seemed a bit dry. However the chicken was cooked just right and the meat was tender and moist. We have asked for an extra serving of mushroom sauce for both and the servings were generous. One schnitzel in and our tummies were already feeling full and found it difficult to finish.   

Jager Schnitzel- Veal $22.50   

Jager Schnitzel- Chicken $22.50 

extra creamy mushroom sauce and white cabbage 

Rosti (side serving of potato)

No matter how full we were, there is always room for dessert. C has been having a big creme brulee addiction of late. Much to seize her delight, creme brulee was on the menu. TOO much sugar on the side of the brulee that has not been torched. Dessert isn't Essens strong suit. 

Creme brulee $11

Ratings:
J: 8/10 
C: 8/10 

Overall this place is worth giving a go for a nice hearty meal accompanied by a few cold German beers or a party as there are plenty of seats located upstairs. There is also regular food challenges for the big eaters.  

Much love from J and C. 

THREE WILLIAMS REDFERN

WHERE: 613a Elizabeth St, Redfern, NSW 2016

Both C and J decided to visit Three Williams after C had heard about this notorious cafe. On a Sunday afternoon we drove to Elizabeth St, hoping to see what all the fuss was about. Much to our delight, there was a parking spot for us on this rainy day. As we walk past a couple of artsy looking furniture stores, we almost missed Three Williams, expecting the cafe to be only small in size. We peered through the glass window and was amazed at how big the space was, filled with people - happily scoffing down food and coffees. 

As soon as we entered we were greeted by a friendly staff member who advised us we would have to wait about 20 minutes as there were a couple of other patrons also in the queue. Within 5 or so minutes, a table opened up and we were able to take a seat and glance upon the menu.

The menu consisted of a couple of pages, one including a breakfast and lunch menu and another containing drinks and coffees. We were greeted by a friendly fellow who asked if we wanted anything to drink and we decided to get our usuals, Mocha and a latte to start. 

White Coffee $3.50 

Atmosphere: We sat in between other diners close to the kitchen and had a good glimpse of our surrounding. The feel to this place was very relaxing, dim and had a modern touch. As we walked in, we could not help but to overlook and scan the whole room with the counter and coffee machine strategically positioned in the lower centre of the room, while the kitchen being further behind. There were tables aligned from left to right from each corner, which was very neat. The feel to this place was crisp and structured. 

Ratings:
J:  9/10
C: 9/10 


Service: Food did not come out after 15-20 minutes, considering how busy it was on a rainy day with five kitchen hand, we did not wait fairly long. After having to order our meals, the service attendant also suggested the crunchy brioche french toast for dessert, but we decided to see how we were feeling after eating our meals. When exiting we made our way to the front counter and C could not go past without collecting one of their business cards. 

Beautiful Single Origins Roasters Coffee.

Ratings:
J: 10/10
C: 10/10 

Food: Prior to looking at the menu after having seen numerous pictures of round deep fried looking balls posted on Instagram, were the fish croquettes. These fish potato balls were amazing accompanied with the aioli dipping and a squeeze of lemon. The one that stood out for both of us was called the Merchant, which made it quite the obvious number. It is always C's idea to choose the other dish, which was the smashed avocado with baked beans. Glad there was sea salt on table as it needed a bit of seasoning. It seemed like we were given a whole avocado by the generous amount of serving which soon enough filled us up from both these dishes. 

Fish croquettes with lemon and aioli $3 each 

The Merchant $13 (Fried egg, cripsy bacon, pickled slaw, ranch dressing on a bun.) 

Spicy smashed beans with avocado and poached eggs on toast $16 

Perfectly poached eggs. Runny, just the way it's suppose to be. 

Ratings:
J: 7/10
C: 8/10 


Would definitely come back to visit to try other things on the menu and particularly one of the smoothies as many patrons did order cold drinks that afternoon. Overall absolutely RATE IT! Until next time.

Much love from J and C