Sri Mahkota

This is a quick one for the month. I have a few in the pipeline, but haven’t uploaded pics and stuff. I was recommended to Sri Mahkota by one of the readers. First impression when I was there, a lot of people so it must be good! This was lunchtime in the weekend. It’s a small place, located in the industrial area of East Tamaki (ish). The food they sell is pretty much the standard Malaysian dish. However, I realised the fish head soup was quite popular – I see lots of big bowls.

However, keeping to my conservative side, I chose the same ol’ stuff. Samples below:

Char Kuey Teow.

Nasi Lemak.

Curry Puff.

To be honest, I didn’t come out of Sri Mahkota with a “wow” and I forgot how much each dish was! But the dishes above wasn’t anything special (sorry). The food isn’t horrible, but not something I’d drive 10-15 mins for and wait outside. Perhaps the dish above is too common / bland.

My rating is a 7.5/10.

Ming Garden Chinese Restaurant (Te Anau)

My apologies for the absence. I’ve been away for these reasons (1) laziness, (2) irresponsibility, (3) work, (4) recent holidays and (5) lack of material.

Anyway, a quick post for today. I was at Te Anau for the long weekend. I had a craving for some Chinese food (it was one of the very few Chinese restaurants there). I ordered the roast pork fried rice for $9. It was a shocking dish, the crappiest dish I’ve had. It was low quality. But I guess I can’t complain too much since it’s in the middle of nowhere.

But to be honest, make your own fried rice if you’re craving it in Te Anau. Ming Garden does a shocking piece of work.

Tanpopo

I got recommended by a friend to this place a while ago, it’s Tanpopo around the corner of Anzac Ave and Beach Road. It’s very difficult to spot, and on top of that, it’s hard to find a parking space. Anyway, I had a couple of samples, see below:

Shio Butter Corn Ramen.

Shio Ramen.

The Shio Ramen is $10 and the Shio Butter Corn Ramen is $11.50. There’s really nothing outstanding to say about this place. The environment is kinda plain and that goes with the dishes. Perhaps it’s the lack of variety because they only had ramen and nothing else. The pricing is about the same as any other Japanese ramen shops.  The staff is quite friendly. To me, it wasn’t worth finding a parking for (Sorry!). To be honest, if I was to park around there, I’d just go to Saigonz which has the best Vietnamese noodle soups!

Anyway, my rating is a 7/10. There’s no negatives but no positives as well. Good for ramen if you’re craving that kind of dish in that particular area.

The Don

When you mix cheese with Japanese food, it’s surprisingly good. The Don is one place I’ve noticed using this technique (there’s probably more of this and people need to tell me!). The Don is located on High Street and has been highly recommended in other blogs. I’ve been here a few times and have taken a fair amount of photos. Here goes:

Chicken Namban Don.

Pork Cheese Katsu Don.

Pork Katsu Don.

Soy Sauce Braised Beef Udon.

Prawn Cheese.

Beef Cheese Roll.

To save writing up prices of the meals that will certainly confuse you all; the meals costs $11 or $11.50, the Pork Katsu Don and Beef Udon at the higher end. The side dishes (tapas) such as the Prawn Cheese and Beef Cheese Roll cost $7 and $6.50 respectively. So expect to pay around that per side dish, which isn’t too bad. Oh, they’re only available after 5pm.

Overall, I’m impressed with the dishes. No disappointment on my visits there and environment is good for a quiet meal. The pricing and quality of the dishes are above average with just the right amount of variety. My rating is 8.5/10. The cheese can be overwhelming (and I believe fattening). A must try though. =)

Vivace Espresso (Christchurch CBD)

This is quite a random one. So here goes.

I was at Christchurch about a month ago and wanted to find good breakfast in the CBD on a Sunday morning. It was extremely difficult and the only place that looked damn good was  Drexel’s Breakfast Restaurant, and they were overcrowded and only took bookings!! Anyway, suprisingly, 2nd choice wasn’t too bad. Vivace is located on the same street as Drexel’s, Hereford St. The meals ordered were:

Big Breakfast.

Pancakes with blueberry and banana.

Latte Bowl.

The Big Breakfast costs $17.50, and pancakes costs $15. Both meals were fantastic but took a while for them to prepare.  The latte was good too.

Highly recommended but needs work on the timing for serving their meals. My rating 8/10.

Nite Spice

Nite Spice is a discreetly located Indian restaurant on Khyber Pass Road, very near Selera. Apparently, it is one of four branches in Auckland. Of all the foods I’ve eaten and packed into my already bloated stomach, Indian food is quite a a rare one for me. Nite Spice apparently has a lunch time deal which gives you a curry, naan, rice and a drink! So I went there immediately for a try. Samples below:

Butter Chicken.

Lamb Saagwala.

The combo is $10.99, and I thought it was fantastic. The curry doesn’t appear to be mass-produced like the ones you see in the food court. Furthermore, they had a variety of curries which I can’t remember but all can be seen in the Menu on their website.

I was impressed with the overall package, you get a good drink, delicious curry, good ol’ favourite naan and rice. I can’t complain and will have to give this place a favourable 9/10. I think it’s a great option for lunch if they keep this combo deal going.

Giapo

This place is quite a goodie. It’s very near the Burger Fuel on Queen St. Giapo serves gelato in traditional and fruit flavours. I’ve only been there twice, but have been impressed. The triple chocolate (?) and tiramisu flavours are very good. Below is a medium cup for $7:

Medium Cup Gelato.

Highly recommended, 9/10. They have a facebook page as well.

Food Junction – Tastes of Malaysia

If ya’ll didn’t know, today is the Malaysian National Day (Hari Kebangsaan), so I will post something Malaysian.

I found this place thanks to a friend of mine. We keep in touch in the strangest ways; random texts at odd times of the year but hardly meet up. He’s probably a better reviewer and writer than me. Anyway, this recommendation of his is quite a pleasant surprise. My first thoughts of Food Junction – it’s in friggin’ Manukau! That’s far!

Although far, the Food Junction is located at the Te Irirangi off ramp on SH1, very accessible if you think about it. It will take about 10-15 mins from the city. The Food Junction is a food court with a lot of a variety, but for this occassion, I am targetting the Malaysian store – Tastes of Malaysia. The first thing I spotted is the fresh roti they make – which is the second time I’ve seen (after the Sri Lankan place at East Tamaki).

Samples of some of their dishes below:

Mamak Mee Goreng.

Roti Telur.

Murtabak.

The Mamak Mee Goreng is pretty good, and costs $9.50 It’s… dare I say it, better than the one at Sri Puteri in Panmure. It’s not wet, but not dry – just right and flavoursome.

The roti is probably their “flagship” product – the roti telur costs $9.50 and the murtabak costs $10. Both rotis are great, but I preferred the roti telur as it is not “heavy”. The curry sauce was fantastic, with at least one drumstick in there.

My rating for this occassion is a favourable 9.5/10. I am definitely going back again!

Kang Nam Station 2

I have this in my draft for a bit too long, so it’s time I took it out for the world to share.

Kang Nam Station 2 is somewhere near the Auckland City Library and SkyCity Cinema. That probably didn’t help as there’s probably like 3 to 4 Korean restaurants around there. It’s not the one directly opposite Borders or the library, but in between those two, right around the corner. It’s not hard to spot and they apparently have two parkings available.

Kang Nam Station has an original (no. 1) which is quite nearby I believe. Actually, I don’t know where the original one is, but I’m thinking somewhere near the row of Korean shops on Upper Queen St. It’s a weird restaurant because when you enter the place, there’s a pokie machine section on the right hand side. I don’t know why, maybe it’s like some Korean dual business thing. But pokie machines in a restaurant can be a bit weird, and plus, those machines attract a different kind of crowd.

Some samples of the food are shown below:

Steamboat package.

Bulgogi.

Bibimbap.

The price of the Bulgogi and Bibimbap are $12 each, and they were pretty good. I do, however think they’re getting a bit stingy with the side dishes. But otherwise, for the price, they have good meat dishes.

The steamboat package from memory comes in three or four types – I can’t remember what they were. This one above cost $35. For this one, I got everything, vegetables, meat, rice, soup and also noodle. It’s very filling and tastes great on a cold winter night.

My rating is a decent 8/10. The pokie machine section can be easily ignored and the slight stinginess is bearable (as most Korean restaurants are going that way unfortunately). However, the positive is relatively cheap, great tasting Korean food.

Angie’s Kitchen

I got recommended to this place and heard lots of good things about it. Angie’s Kitchen is located very near to AUT in the CBD. Parking is quite a pain to find, but on the weekend it’s alright. The place is also a halal restaurant which is pretty good.

Samples below:

Kapitan Curry Chicken on Rice.

Braised Beef Noodle Soup.

Teh Tarik less sugar (with a free apricot biscotti).

Kopi  less sugar.

I thought the Kapitan Curry Chicken was very good, but the braised beef noodle was plain. The mistake was probably not selecting “traditional” Malaysian food, i.e. Nasi Lemak, Laksa or whatever.  The price of the food was above average, I don’t remember it being less than $10, so not a cheap option. The coffee and tea drinks didn’t taste that great.

My rating is average, 6.5/10. The pricing didn’t help.

Eat Asian Food Hall @ East Tamaki

The East Asian Food Hall is one of those noticeable food court when you go towards Botany Downs. It’s on the right hand side when going towards Botany Downs. Most of the shops in the food court are standard i.e. Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese etc. But this one has a Sri Lankan shop which makes roti!

The Sri Lankan and Indian shops were sampled. Pictures below:

Roti Delight.

Lamb Madras on Rice.

The Sri Lankan Rotti Shop sells a range of roti and for Malaysians, it does feel quite at home.  The Indian shop is right next to it, but I can’t remember the name. Funnily enough, the Indian shop also sells kebabs.

The Roti Delight which was $8.50, came with some curry and had mutton filling. The Lamb Madras ($9.00) was not bad, the meat was tender. I have to admit, the standard is quite good. I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Usually I don’t give ratings if I can’t remember the price but for this occassion, overall they get an 8/10. Highly recommended, especially the Sri Lankan shop.

Wagamama

Fusion is overrated. It’s a good excuse to charge double the price of a typical Asian meal. But that’s what I think.

Wagamama seems quite popular as I see the Link Bus ads all the time (brainwashed?). This particular one I popped into is on Nuffield St in Newmarket. There are others in the CBD and Sylvia Park. Anyway, samples below:

Koumi Chicken.

Ramu Kare Lomen.

Tori Kara Age.

Pricing-wise, the Koumi Chicken was $18 and Ramu Kare Lomen was $18.50. Note, first choice for the chicken meals weren’t available for some reason, so selection was limited for that night (not good).  The Tori Kara Age was $10. The Koumi Chicken was very plain, which was very disappointing. For the price, it was not worth it. The Ramu Kare Lomen was not bad, as I was a fan of coconut-based curry. The Tori Kara Age was also not bad. Overall, taste-wise, nothing to worship about.

I thought their pricing was a bit too much but they were fusion, so they could do anything they want in terms of price. Perhaps the environment was the reason to go to Wagamama, but I didn’t feel it.

My rating is 6/10. Wagamama ain’t worth it unless you have a voucher to burn, or you really can’t find anything else open (they seem to open quite late).