❤ Come and Roro My Boat! ❤

So you've either stumbled upon here, or you've been roped in to reading this by me. Either way, welcome! :)

This blog has been a long time in the making. And by that I mean I'm too lazy to get started on anything and even lazier to keep it up. I created this blog around March of last year, right after I moved to Canberra to study at the Australian National University. Back then, I really wanted to document my new university life so that it wouldn't fade into the abyss of time, but, unsurprisingly, it was still blank more than a year later.

But recently, I came back from a trip to Sydney and I had all these wonderful photos I wanted to share. My friends have been harping at me for ages to start a blog, but I never did get around to it. However, my trip to Sydney inspired me to try my luck at this and I hope that you all enjoy reading it. This blog is pretty much where I chuck photographs of food and other cool things. I'm pretty lazy and sloppy when it comes to writing (even writing this much is seriously a chore...) and I'm sure everyone likes pretty pictures more than a poorly written blog post by a tired university student.

Just a little about the me: Made in China, raised in Auckland, New Zealand. 2nd year student at the Australian National University in Canberra. Roro My Boat was the name on my leaver's jersey at high school. It was penned by my amazing group of chums and I thought it would be a fun title for a fun blog.

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But enough of me - onto the good stuff! Below are the food photos from Sydney I'd like to share. Sydney is fantastic - the food is ridic cheap. Seriously, not one day was spent without being in the delightful company of Chinatown eateries and Emperor Cream puffs. One night we passed a takeaway shop selling dinner boxes for $5. Upon seeing this, my friend and I immediately stared at each other in wild disbelief. FIVE EFFIN' DOLLARS. Lordy, it was a fantastic food paradise for students on a budget. Moreover, the portions were gigantic. You would think that the logical way of making a profit would be to serve smaller portions, but surprisingly no; we always got served massive dishes hich could probably feed the 3 of us. In any case, food is always the highlight of any holiday.

Drool away!

My first ever meal in Sydney! Lunchtime on a Sunday, I enjoyed this delicious cold udon noodle dish with cucumbers, spring onion, fish cakes, fried crumbs and seaweed. THE PORTIONS WERE GIGANTIC. IT WAS SO HUGE. LOOK AT IT, IT'S A MONSTER.

This had my mouthwatering; just look at that crispy skin and juicy chicken!

My friend Steph shared a Tokyo Ramen dish with her sister at Ichiban Boshi. This was only $9 and the portions were very generous. This, according to the menu, is the most popular and common style of ramen noodles.  It came with the standard fishcakes, egg, seaweed and meat and it smelled DIVINE.

Another wonder at Ichiban Boshi: the deep fried salmon roll. Sushi and a deep frier were just meant to be together. The batter was very light so the dish wasn't bogged down by a thick batter. The salmon was silky and it was pretty much the most satisfying thing hearing the crunch when you bit into it. IT'S JUST SO BEAUTIFUL! <3

See into the beauty of this sushi roll! 

 

The best bits are the little pieces on the bottom of the dish - they soak up all the flavour.

On the first night we decided to grab some dessert at Pancakes on the Rocks. I've heard so many amazing things about this place and I was so excited to finally taste what the buzz was all about.

The outside facade was deceptive; it looked like some dodgy warehouse. We ended up waiting about 30 minutes for a table. The queue was long but that's always a good sign. We ordered this dish and a Blueberry Heaven pancake stake. OHMYGOSH the pancakes were amazing! They were so rich and soft and melted in your mouth. The walnuts added the crunchy textural contrast and the chocolate ice cream just made this whole this ridonkulously indulgent.



Just your average mocha, but it's just so pretty! 

 

Lunch in Newtown on our second day. This pad thai was only $7.50 and the portions were again, HUMUNGOUS. Easily the cheapest and satisfying pad thai I've ever eaten.

Our friend Claire invited us to Happy Hour drinks at Blackbird in Darling Harbour. 
I got this refreshing cocktail with vodka, maraschino liqueur,  pink grapefruit and lemonade. (With only half a shot of each alcohol - my tolerance is still low as ever...)
This was a perfect way to spend a lazy and sunny afternoon catching up with everyone. We had the comfort of the sea breeze and a lovely view of the harbour. 



My friend ordered this Bluebird cocktail - isn't the colour wonderful? 

The hidden gem of Chinatown - $1.40 BBQ pork buns from the Emperor Bakery! We entered this low-key establishment one night after indulging ourselves in the cream puff stall next door. Again, we were completely balled over by the price. AND THE TASTE. So authentic and fluffy!

We were so enamoured that we had to make a final trip back to this bakery to buy these  buns before we left. So worth it. Probably the best place in Chinatown or like, ever.

On the Tuesday night we were invited to a kitschy but quaint Mexican place called El Loco (or as we affectionately call it, El Coco). This was one of the sandwiches on offer. The picture doesn't show it, but this was very large and quite a mouthful to eat...the pork was literally oozing out from the burger!

More pretty Mexican taco goodness!

CHURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROS!!! For only $7 (!!!) we received 4 MASSIVE HUGE CHUNKS of delicious deep fried heaven. Even better, it was served with a honey orangey dipping sauce, which ended up making the whole thing a calorie counter's nightmare. But so worth it. YOLO I say!

The last meal we ate in Sydney. I opted for a Hainanese Chicken rice dish for $7 from Dixon food court in Chinatown. Even though this foodcourt was relatively small, the variety and cheapness of the place was overwhelming. I walked like 4 times to every stall, each time looking at all the dishes. Everything looked so delicious and SO CHEAP.

So my friend decided this meal for me due to my indecisiveness. What a great choice too - it was a lighter lunch than most oil heavy dishes. The chicken was served with a fragrant ginger infused rice and came with chilli sauce and dark soy condiments. Again, the portions were huge so I took most of it away. It's now sitting comfortably in a freezer back in Canberra. ;)

On the second night we were walking around for yonks in the CBD without hitting the cheap eats streets. So in desperation, we strolled back to Ichiban Boshi for round two of Japanese. The beef was so tender and the rice soaked up all the amazing flavour of the juices.

We had been looking forward to eating dessert in Chinatown for the whole day. After much indecisiveness, we decided on this. It was super delicious and not too sweet, which Chinese desserts tend to be.




After my crazy Tuesday shopping bender, I was hungry and needed a quick fix. My friend recommended this Malaysian place and I bought this beef fried flat noodles dish with egg gravy. Again, I cannot stress how large the meal was - I had to get it taken away. (But so worth it eating it for breakfast the next day! :P)

I cannot wait to go back to Sydney - more food adventures to be had!

Over and out,

Ruohan