Gumshara Ramen,
Eating World Harbour Plaza Shop 209 25-29 Dixon St 
Haymarket, NSW
Haymarket, NSW
Archive for category Restaurant
Gumshara Ramen, Sydney
Posted by tzuyang in Restaurant, ramen on December 6, 2011
Gumshara Tonkotsu Ramen (thick soup)
Gumshara Ramen, Sydney
Sydney is filled with eateries especially Chinatown. Urbanspoon seemed to have good reviews so here I am on a freezing cold summer night. The dish to judge ramen joints is the Tonkotsu ramen. The two critical constituents of a good ramen dish being the broth and the noodles. So many places attempt but so few places get it right. Hakataya, Brisbane, Taro’s Ramen, Brisbane (blog post pending) gets it right. Bringing me back to Kyoto, Japan.
Gumshara is located in a food court within Chinatown. Not much sign or fancy decors except for a wall of photos of each dish. There were a few people waiting in line. As the noodle enters the bowel, somebody stirs it to ensure it is well separated.
The ramen has to contain the thickest soup I have ever tasted in a ramen. It might be a bit too thick. There was plenty of pork bone flavour for sure, but it was missing something. Possibly umami. The noodle was perfectly cooked along with good quality cha shu meat. (The half cooked egg was extra). Is it good? yes. But not for ramen beginners.
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Paris
Posted by tzuyen in Paris, Restaurant, Travel on October 28, 2011
“Paris! The food will be great!” – most people would say. I would completely agree with patisserie – there is no other places like Paris for the most amazing sweet, cakes and desserts. Much of the Western world communicate using French terminology during pastry making. French food is also (obviously) the best in France. Bistros and brasseries, the traditional French fair can be found in so many (too many) corners and streets. Moving out of these zones, however, I find Paris a little lacking compared to Melbourne. There are good Japanese and Vietnamese no doubt but not as prevalent. In Melbourne, the number of different cuisines, easily accessible, is phenomenal. Forgive me if I am wrong as I have only been here for 2 months.
So, French food is good here. Joël Robuchon is “a star” – with 27 Michelin stars – the most in the world to date. He is also a restaurateur as he owns/operates many restaurants around the world. To see him cook when you eat is probably going to be extremely rare. But the point is, you already missed that time. It was more than 30 years ago when he was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France – a very prestigious recognition that he is the best in the field. His work modernized French cuisine and also brought in influences from Japan, where he also taught.
A month ago, I had the pleasure of eating at the L’Atelier in Paris. A bar-style seating, informal, not stuffy and serving fine-dining – a major shift in French food. One could chose individual dishes or take the degustation menu (menu découverte). Naturally, we took the later since this it would be a long time before I return to Paris again. I thought the food was excellent. The garnish for the pork was a little too salty and the coffee, caramel dessert a little ordinary. The foie gras was seriously beyond awesome – and why not stuff it into the quail! The famous pomme purée was full of buttery smoothness. A small portion is all you need. Service was great and the advantage of bar seating is the ability to dine alone easily or to break up the conversation a little. By the way, I believe after school (if I did finish my 3rd term) I have the opportunity, if I am good enough, to do a 2 month internship here. Quel dommage! I only have time to finish the second term.
Bar-style fine dining
Amuse Bouche - I think it was a cold crab soup
Crayfish
chestnut veloute
Foie gras - seared. Certainly the best foie gras I have had.
Poachd egg, chanterelle mushroom
Fish
Pork
Quail, stuffed with foie gras, potato puree with truffles. This mash potato is a famous signature of Joël Robuchon. Nearly 50:50 butter to potato
A simple, light and delicious raspberry desert.
Coffee, caramel dessert.
Poulet de Bresse (Bresse chicken) at Le Splendid Lyon
Posted by tzuyen in Paris, Restaurant, Travel on October 2, 2011
Following a recommendation from Syd, we walked across the town of Lyon to get to Le Splendid for their roast Bresse chicken. The bird from Bresse is probably the most well known of the ‘expensive’ chickens. AOC labeled to ensure origin and breading methods are exact, the bird has a singature red crown, white plume and blue feet – quite French. At Le Splendid the cover of their menu is a bright caricature of the bird, revealing the restaurant’s specialty of the poulet de Bress with morel sauce. The setting was a classical brasserie with a light-filled, warm interior. We ordered the roast chicken with additional morels. The bones were trimmed for the touch of class we learnt at school. The meat was tender and moist, even for the breast. Definitely more flavourful and better texture than the average bird. Complimenting the chicken was a pile of whole morels in a buttery and creamy sauce. Absolutely delicious. Stunning setting.
Divine chicken with morel sauce
It is the best roast chicken I have had and easily beats what Cafe Vue or PM24 offers. But was is out of this world? It is still a chicken. Don’t get me wrong, it is excellent but I just want to stress, I still ate a chicken. I certainly have had chicken in Taiwan with very good flavour and bite. The local description is “soil chicken” – indicating they are older and, presumably, able to roam freely. Distinctively, I remember they have dark feet too. The Bress chicken is certainly one of the best chickens available for purchase but I want to point out that after all, it is competing with a fairly neutral-tasting field of birds anyway.
On another note, I never grew up with roast chicken. To many, the smell and the taste represents more of an occasion with family on Sundays. The wonderful feeling of sitting around a table discussing the week’s news and events is peppered with requests for which part of the chicken to tear up and what’s for dinner. Licking fingers. Crunchy potatoes. At least, that’s what I think a roast chicken does one’s memory. For our meal at Le Splendid, topped with a glass of wine and dessert, all lit up by the giant windows next to us will last in my memory for a long time. France is beautiful
High ceiling, art-deco lights, tiled floors, open kitchen
Chocolate moelleux with coffee ice cream - a very good chocolate moelleux
On a side note, I have been trying to perfect a roast chicken and have come across a few interesting resources apart from books. Thomas Keller keeps is simple and seasons the bird with salt, pepper and thyme only. No basting. Heston Blumenthal goes a few steps further and brines the chicken to give it extra moisture. He also carefully tasted different breeds of chicken in UK to find the best one. As he started cooking, the skin of the bird is blanched and chilled multiples times before drying to prepare a crispy skin like Peking duck. The chicken is then cooked at 60 degrees Celsius for 4 and a half hours before finally browning the skin. And if this wasn’t complicated enough, the people on thecookingissues blog (from The French Culinary Institute of America) decides that different parts of the chicken deserve different cooking temperatures with the sous-vide technique. Although they applied the technique to a Turkey, the principles are the same. The bird they served up looked amazing.
Oh, did I mention the price of the raw chicken?
Sold with the distinctive label, head and feet attached - 12-13 Euros per kg in the market
Our plate of roast chicken was 25 Euros, plus optional extra morels for 7 Euros – not bad at all.
Le Chateaubriand
Posted by tzuyen in Literature, Paris, Restaurant on September 26, 2011
I chuckled when I read in The Age that diners in Melbourne are lining up for hours at some of the more well known restaurants. Ironically, The Age and a particular TV show seem to be the very reason why eating out in Melbourne could feel more like planning a holiday with a friend to Europe. The idea of a ‘state-media’ source of information is not appetizing. In contrast, would you believe that we had not made a reservation and ate at the 9th best restaurant on the S.Pellegrino list? Le Chateaubriand has one seating for reservations and a second one, depending on their capacity for walk-in diners. We waited in line for just under 2 hours to be seated, though the first few in line were seated in about 1 hour. As the first seating started to clear, we took their tables. The line was far shorter than the one outside Mamasita or Pho Chu The.
This is Paris. People here seem not to care where is the ‘in’ place to eat. I was able to make a reservation for dinner at L’Atelier by Joel Robuchon at Saint-Germain for roughly 2 weeks in advance. The casual, fine dining restaurant has 2 Michelin stars and is again high up on the S.Pellegrino’s list. A friend of mine managed to reserve a late lunch on a Sunday by calling on the same day. Try that with Movida on a Sunday and have the reception staff think you are either joking or obviously a tourist.
There were about 15 people in the que. The chef came outside at about 9:30 and counted the numbers and told the last few people that they wont be able to get a seat.
Waiter outside having a smoke. How French.
Let’s talk about Le Chateaubriand. Inaki Aizparte is a self-taught chef who often serves up dishes with few, contrasting and sometimes challenging ingredients. If eating is seen as art, then his food is post-modern art. Art doesn’t have to be aesthetically pleasing or technically flawless to leave an impact. A classical Dutch landscape is soothing but the melting clock in the Persistence of Memory by Dali has more impact. By the same analogy, the S.Pellegrino’s list is not about the best tasting food in the world. Chefs, food writers, critics from around the world vote on what is ‘best’ and not who serves up the most expensive truffle. On that basis, restaurants that push boundaries, leave diners with exciting memories and perhaps challenge our perceptions will get noticed. If there wasn’t progression, we would all be eating potatoes thinly sliced and fried in foaming butter and garlic (our recent demonstration at school) – not that there is anything not tasty about that!
So, forget the reviews that say “food was horrible, cold, tiny and expensive” or “for a restaurant placed 9th, it served up inedible food”. One comes prepared to have their conceptions challenged. Throw away the stuffy, traditional French setting and sit in a relaxing, warm dining hall with a wine bar. This is what we had on the Thursday 22nd of September. Five amuse bouches, 3 mains, a cheese plate or 2 sweet dishes. Judge for yourself.
Amuse bouche - choux pastry with cheese, ceviche shot and fried fish.
Beans and parsley. Clean and not overpowering.
Consomme, radish, foie gras and coffee beans.
Herring (I think), carrots, physalis (a yellow fruit resembling a small tomato but with a very concentrated tomato and mildly tart flavour)
Sea bream, celery, pourpier, manzanilla - a mixed salad of unusual leaves with a slightly grassy taste and succulent texture.
Milk fed lamb, artichokes, anchovies, burnt lemon. Multiple cuts and textures of lamb, including sweetbread and kidney.
Cheese or dessert - Fourme d'Amber (a blue resembling Roquefort), Brillat Saverin (a wonderful soft cheese with a very floral and light bitterness), Ossau Iraty (a firm sheep milk cheese)
Lait Ribot (a white milk based sorbet like fromage blanc), herbs, brown butter.
Chocolate and mushrooms. Very good quality melted chocolate with a fruity and earthy note that is dragged on by the mushrooms. It's a concept dish. Most people who recently wrote about the restaurant was not impressed with this one. I liked it. But then again, I did not think this was a dessert in the traditional sense.
At the end of the meal, the cheerful man from Peru who we met while queuing up summed it up. He looked very happy from the wine he had enjoyed. Gesturing with his finger in rapid movements across his chest:
“It was a such an experience. The food was like pa! pa! pa! pa!”
Shira Nui – A photographic journey through sushi art
Posted by tzuyen in Photography, Restaurant on August 7, 2011
There are certain experiences that are just worth documenting. In my opinion, the best nigiri sushi in Melbourne comes from Shiranui. The unassuming shop front with the noren (door curtain) and the simple, lightly coloured wooden interior and shushi counter does nothing to detract from the experience. You can simply avoid the rest of the world and your neighbours. It’s all about you, chesf Hiro-san and the nigiri sushi. The chef and his gentle, yet efficient stroke of the fish. The sharp and decisive movements of the knife. The gentle rocking of the body as his hand rapidly twists and turns a thumb-sized volume of rice. The “no soy” and “with soy” orders. The quiet mumbles between him, his wife and his assistant chef.
It’s not tea that he drinks from the cup during service.
One day Hiro will no longer be there. I think he is truly forming each nigiri with passion and love for the art.
Chef Hiro-san
Clockwise from top left: starter usually with pickled vegetables and fish, dory?, pickled mackerel, salmon
An audience, chef Hiro-san and his assistant
Beef, ark shell, tuna, salmon belly
The king fish belly (below, top right) is my favorite. Never walk away from this place without eating this. You may as well not bothered to make a reservation in the first place!
? Chu-toro, king fish belly (F*@$en the best), oysters, sesame crème brûlée
"unknown fire"
Wonton noodle soup in Hong Kong
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant, Travel on August 6, 2011
A good noodle soup is one of the most comforting one-dish meals for me. I don’t mean cheap, artificial, dilute, overcooked noodles type. There are too many of these everywhere around the world. What I mean is a hot, flavourful and not too salty broth that taste like it was made with care and attention. Noodles firm and cooked with a bite.
This is another transcendent moment in the noodle world. Hong Kong. Wonton noodle soup. This version has a broth of pork and shark bones. Clear, umani savouriness and slightly sweet. The noodles are hand-made by the traditional method of pushing dough with a large bamboo pole. Look at this video (12:20, continues in part 2 for a few more minutes) from Anthony Bourdain’s show. It is beautiful and moving to see such art still taking place in a city that could define capitalism. The noodle has such density that it almost taste crispy as it breaks in your mouth – a texture not found in most other shops. Wontons here were also great – porky parcels made right at the shop window front.
A few left in this world
Shop front
Best ramen in Australia
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant, ramen on November 1, 2010
Update: More pictures, including from Taro’s Ramen.
It’s a big statement from me. But I would like to think I have tried a few bowls of ramen in my life without being completely obsessed (ok, a little) about it. In the 8 years I have been in Melbourne, many soups bases have been devoured. On the Brisbane front, My brother lives there so he would be pretty in touch with which ramen shops are singing out. In Sydney is my friend and along with my pre-visit research, I have tried a couple of places with good words said about them. I am going to first admit my limitations and will be more than excited to hear about other places to see some porky goodness.
Best ramen in Australia?
A better view of heaven
I have made a couple of posts on ramen in Japan, including the best ramen I have tried to date. In Melbourne, Ramen Ya, Momotaro Ramen (great soft-boiled eggs) are my favorites. Sydney has Gumshara Ramen and Ichi ban Boshi posted by Grab Your Fork. One thing I have yet to try is Ichi ban Boshi’s limited-number tonkotsu ramen. I tried waiting for one last year by getting in early, ordering food and then asking the waitress that when the special ramen was ready I am also ready for round 2. Sadly it was too far away and I would be sitting there for another 45 minutes twiddling my fingers. This year I went to Gumshara ramen which is stuck in a crowded food court in Sydney’s Chinatown. Their limited 20 serve pork spare rib with thick soup was hand-down the most pork-rich soup I have ever come across. The first spoon full was so intense that I wasn’t sure it it was soup or something gravy-like. But the flavours were just too much to take in a bowl. Maybe I was already feeling hot and greasy from walking all day. Notably, Gumshara has choice of thin and thick soup base. My friend suggested a thin base might be more balanced.
Hakataya Noodle Shop
But this is where Melbourne and Sydney’s ramen fade in comparison to… Brisbane’s Hakataya Noodle Shop in Sunnybank (first shop in Surface Paradise called Nagahama Ramen Hakataya). The shop is small (good), menu short (good), had a japanese style curtain at the entrance (good) and the tonkotsu ramen is just bloody good. Soup is porky all over, yet clean and slick and PERFECTLY seasoned. I think the hardest thing about tonkotsu soup base is getting the deep, porky taste while maintaining a clean and almost light taste. A bit like how French cooking might add cream/butter to ‘lighten’ the sauce up. The noodle is wonderfully dense and bitey (and free second serve to add to the soup. Shavings of pork (chashu) floating on top. There is a line outside ever day and so there should be. My brother has tried the shop in Surfers Paradise and he thinks the one in Brisbane is better.
Hakataya Noodle Shop, Shop 27b Sunnybank Plaza (Cnr Mains Rd and McCullough St)Sunnybank, 4109, Brisbane, Australia. (07) 5526 7055
——
Update: Taro’s Ramen
3 trips back to Brisbane later and I finally tasted Taro’s Ramen. The first one they were closed for holidays. The second time closed for other reasons. I was getting rather worked up every time the umami and tonkotsu taste buds were rubbing their hands together – only to have to wait some more. When I did get to eat it, it was certainly delicious. Soup was complex and porky. Clean and refined at the same time. It was probably less porky and more complex than Hakataya. Noodles were thin (my favorite type) and had a good bite. Importantly, the half boiled egg sit on top with a rich, amber glow that is only seen the moment before sun sets on a hazy afternoon. Splendid. Taro’s Ramen and Hakataya are easily the best 2 ramen restaurants I have tried in Australia.
Taro's Ramen
363 Adelaide Street Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
(07) 3832 6358
Mamasita – the tube is faster
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant on August 27, 2010
Do you remember how many hours they told you?
Been there (photo), done that? If you didn’t go for lunch, you probably waited outside 7-Eleven for 20 minutes before being told to come back in 2-3 hours (ie. go watch a movie, or visit a few bars before thinking about getting a call).
The Epicure had an article on how popular Melbourne restaurants are getting harder to get in. What do you think? This was my comment:
TV shows, internet and newspapers are all making celebrity chefs and now celebrity restaurants. I acknowledge that one cannot know how good a restaurant is until someone else has been (review, friends, word of mouth) but there is a disproportionate hype in the restaurants featured on, eg, Masterchef and Epicure. Fixable? not really. The hype is just a side effect of our desire and ability to eat better. Chose wisely. Use multiple review sites and opinions. Sure rock up to a bar or no bookings restaurant if you are two. But for a group of friends, book a restaurant.
Out of the no-reservations restaurants in Melbourne Mamasita is perhaps the most difficult to get dinner currently. It’s popularity and infamous queues have been the topic of discussion and some angry posts. I went a month ago not knowing what to expect. Was it worth the wait? No, but I had good company for the drinks and conversation that spanned 3 hours. Good food? Pretty good. Since Mexican food is not common in Melbourne, the restaurant has hit a niche market by combining the unique food with a bar/casual dining area that Melbourne boasts about. My favorite was the choice of 4 tostada plate. It’s a small sized corn chip base with various toppings. The best one came with a slowly cooked sweetcorn and black beans.
Tostada plate of 4
The surprise of the night was the corn simple grilled, topped with a queso (or cheese), chipotle (smoke dried jalapeño) and a squirt of lime. Simple but really spoiled by the fact that you cannot get this as ‘street food’ in Melbourne.
This 'street style' corn is delicious but ruined by the fact that you need to wait for hours
So overall the food is enjoyable and not often found in Melbourne. But they really should turn the music down to sub-night-club level. How long should you bother waiting for? 25 min max. Maybe the time worth waiting for should be the new rating system for restaurants.
Attica
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant on June 11, 2010
Attica is frequently talked about by Melbourne’s food journalists in the last few years. This year it made it to the top 100 in the San Pellegrino’s restaurant list. The ‘trend’ seems more important on the list because there would be more than 100 restaurants in the world that taste better in my opinion. Attica’s style is based on a careful blend of local good produce and classical and molecular techniques. The food still tasted really fantastic, but the ‘thats unusual’ or ‘I’ve never seen this before’ factor played an important role. The food has come a long way since 3-4 years ago.
Veggie dish of carrot, capsicum pureé
Butter, smoked olive oil emulsion
That smoked oil emulsion is so good on bread – one of the more unusual bread spreads. But nothing comes close to Tetsuya’s truffle, Parmigiano-Reggiano, butter combination.
mushroom and abalone soup
Snow crab
potato cooked in it's own earth, salt bush
My favorite dish. Potato was cooked sous-vide and had an incredible soft yet a good bite. The salt bush was a good garnish
bass grouper, garlic, rosmary
tomatoes and asparagus
One of the sweetest tomatoes I have tasted. In Japan I heard that you can find super sweet tomatoes (measured on the Brix scale)
beef, sea grass, white cabbage
apple, olive and warm shredded wheat
More like a apple crumble but done really well. Tasted great, but looks bland and boring though
Merrijig Inn
Posted by tzuyen in Restaurant on April 5, 2010
Starters: smoked ocean trout with horseradish snow and caviar
Merrijig Inn, Port Fairy. Been wanting to go since last year since I was working on the south west part of Victoria. It’s in the old fishing port area where small boats are tied to the white tipped stumps by the river bank. It’s a charming little area, though very quiet and certainly doesn’t have a business/shops/restaurant strip to keep this area buzzing. Locals may prefer it this way, but I can imagine if there were many more people living here, the riverside would be a wonderful place to have lots of shops and accommodation. I am thinking of Dinan in France.
Overall the food was good and actually decent value. The starter of smoked ocean trout was delicious. My favorite was the crayfish – tasting like the ocean and very fresh. There was some repetitions throughout the menu (sea lettuce used in 3 dishes, samphire in 2, black fermented garlic in 2). Although they were mainly used as garnishes, it’s a bit annoying to see it multiple times, and then realizing that sea lettuce and samphire grew just about everywhere I looked on the coastline. The blue eye fish was devine with the truffle oil and some sort of consumé. The pork was flawless, but I wish more chefs can pair it with something other than apple. Yam, popular in Japan, could go well with pork, along something acidic. The beef was tender and well cooked (sous vide style, or ‘under vacuum’ in French, not ‘under pressure’ as suggested by the waitress). The meat was accompanied by ‘field herbs’ which didn’t work well for me. The steak had a full flavour that drowned the delicate scents the tiny herb springs could provide. Dessert was refreshing and I love the basil granita.
The interior was warm and like a nice home. It’s really something special and worth taking someone special to. Ask for the table near the window and watch the quiet street and skies darken as you eat. If anyone can tell me what the accommodation is like, I would love to know.
Starter: cauliflower soup
Crayfish, roe, coastal herbs, “sea foam”
Abalone, shellfish consommé, black garlic, radish, samphire
A warm and cosy interior
Eye, calamari, peas, black garlic, sea lettuce
Western Plains suckling pig, apple, fennel, morcilla
Eye Fillet, roast garlic, roasted milk skin, ash, paddock herbs
Peaches 3 ways, sheep’s milk gel, basil granita