Rambling Onwards

It's the Year of the Monkey!

Two nights ago, I paid the Lunar Markets at Pyrmont Bay Park a visit with my Yellow Shirts double squad, Lochlantis. It's a bit far from the city, since you have to walk through Darling Harbour and further along to Pyrmont, but the trek was worth it. To be fair, we were driven to Darling Harbour, but hey you could still say it was still a trek from uni.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Yellow Shirts program structure, we have squads of about 9 with a leader, and then two squads becomes a double squads. Each squad has a name and each double squad's name is a combination of the two. My squad happens to be Atlantis, and the other squad is Lochness Monsters... which becomes Lochlantis. It still astounds me how quickly people can become friends in programs like Yellow Shirts and Revue... But that's for another time.

It was really hard to choose something to eat - it was hard to work out what I wanted to eat. After checking out all the stalls, I settled on Ramen Battered Chicken Burger with Miso flavoured popcorn ($14) from Everybody Loves Ramen.

Ramen Battered Chicken Burger with Miso flavoured popcorn (underneath the burger) from Everybody Loves Ramen.

It looks pretty funky with the pink glaze, but it tasted AMAZING. Despite having sweet, seaweed, fried chicken and curry, it somehow all worked and tasted really good. At first I was hesitant, since I didn't want to use my hands to eat something (and I got worried that it would get messy), but I have absolutely no regrets with that one.

The other thing that caught my eye were the Hong Kong Fish Balls, Iceberg Lettuce and Curry Gravy ($6) from The Star's Fat Noodle. This was much worth the price and it was delicious in every way (as expected). The only thing that disappointed me was that I didn't take a photo. Fat Noodle also had really long lines - and I was extremely lucky that one of my friends just happened to be at the front so I got him to order for me.

Someone ordered a Yakisoba Bun ($6.50 I think!) from Kiyamachi Tei and it was a decently sized meal for what they paid. I was very close to ordering Yakisoba before I thought that I should try the Ramen Battered Chicken Burger because it looked really cool.

Yakisoba Bun from Kiyamachi Tei. It tasted good.

For dessert, we were going to go to Black Star Pastry x N2 Extreme Gelato but generally it's expensive and there's not much to it. The Sago Pudding from Mini Pancakes caught my eye, but they looked like they had caramelised fruit in it and I wasn't too keen on it. But then we spotted Mango Sago Pudding ($4) from The Century at The Star... and let's say everyone there was converted to Mango Sago Pudding lovers.
There were a few other things that interested me like Waffles on a stick (there's a huge Lochlantis in joke about waffles), Chips on a stick and Hoy Pinoy's skewers - the last two are amazing, but I already tried them at the Night Noodle Markets last year so I didn't see the point.

We also got to try the Mini Pancakes because they were handing out samples, and they were nice. I can't remember how much they were exactly, but the price would've been worth it if I wasn't so full already.

A super cute display!

There was such a lovely vibe and I had good company, and since we went on a Tuesday night the lines weren't too long either. We also happened to go at the same time as Lily May Mac so some of us got super excited.

I love the rainbow coloured lights! It made everything so much nicer.

Five members of Lochlantis + Alex our squad leader.

Total Bill: $24
= $14 (Burger) + $6 (Fish Balls) + $4 (Mango Sago Pudding)

Food: 3/5
Price: $$
Service: 3/5
Ambience: 3/5

Details and Links:
During 4th to 14th February 2016.
Website: www.sydney.lunarmarkets.com.au
Location: Pyrmont Bay Park, Pyrmont


Happy Lunar New Year friends - gong hei fat choy! May you get lots of red pockets.

With love, Sarah x

I decided to take some time to myself and explore the Night Noodle Market in Sydney's Hyde Park last week, but I mentioned it at my work meeting and we decided to turn it into a little trip which was really nice. So what started as a "I'll drop by and check it out" turned almost into quite a meal because they were all super keen as well.

There was a great vibe - I loved all the lights and decorations, although it was still quite early when I got there and the sun was still up. The music helped create that buzzing atmosphere too.

If you're a big fan of green tea or matcha like me, you're going to love Cafe Cre Asion.

I visited Cafe Cre Asion last Tuesday - I've been waiting a good two weeks to try out this cafe. I've been excited since a friend linked me a review from I'm Still Hungry when we were trying to find a place to eat. The moment I saw the word 'matcha', I was sold - anything with green tea ticks all the boxes for me!

Photo from imstillhungry.net

The place is tucked away in a hidden alley off Sydney's Alberta Street and is about a 5 minute walk from Museum Station. It's quite small - there aren't very many tables so if you go with a large group you might find it difficult to find seats. Although we were sitting on stools at a low coffee table it was still cozy, and the food and drinks made up for it.  

My friend and I ordered the Macha Green Tea Latte ($5) and the Honey Yuzu Lemonade ($5) which you can order hot or cold as we waited for a third friend.

Honey Yuza Lemonade (bottom), Macha Green Tea Latte (top).

What do you do to celebrate the end of uni final exams? Visit a trendy cafe in Surry Hills for lunch with friends of course (also it's the time to go shopping but that's not relevant here).

Devon Cafe is just a few minutes walk from Central station and is tucked up on Devonshire Street off Chalmers Street.

I've been meaning to go there for a while now, but last time I tried it didn't turn out so well. A week and a half ago I visited with some other friends, but we didn't know that the kitchen closed at 3pm and we got there at 3:30pm. The interior of the cafe was pretty hip and welcoming though, so I just ordered an Organic Chai ($4), waited for my friends and left at 4pm to eat somewhere else.

Tip of the Day: If you want food from their main menu, their kitchen closes at 3pm and they only serve coffee and pastries after the kitchen closes until closing.

But Devon Cafe didn't disappoint this time! We arrived at midday and the Cafe was already filling up so there was a short wait for us since we were a group of five. It wasn't long before we were taken to the back area where it has graffiti and fake leaf netting on their walls, which is pretty cool. They also had the menu and cutlery already laid out on the table when we sat down which was lovely as well.

Here's our food menu: