SYDNEY WRAP-UP

I'm finally down to my last Sydney post! PHEW. I can hear all your sighs of relieve from here, lower down your volume! Haha It has taken me 24 posts and two months to get to here, so I can't wait to close this chapter.

In the (almost) two weeks that we were there, we had a main activity each day for most of the days, the epic-est one of all being the Harbour Bridge Climb, which I still can't believe we made a sudden decision to do on the second day. But there were also days in which every one was asleep until we realized we only had about 4 hours of daylight left and we hadn't even gotten out of bed. Hahaha I really dislike the short days of winter. And sometimes the weather. Jo and I were not prepared for it to be that cold, but then again the cold was really nice sometimes, and you don't sweat in the cold, so thats a plus.

We were also taken to eat tons of great food. Here are some other food stops we had during the trip:


Gen has been raving about Messina for the longest time so she took us there for what is supposed to be the best gelato in Australia, and it was really good! We tried The Maltser, Lemon Meringue Pie, Nonno Carlo, Pandan, Have A Gay Old Time, and Salted Caramel with White Choc Chip. I really love The Maltser for obvious reasons, and surprisingly the salted caramel one! Because they really aren't stingy with the white chocolate. They don't give you small white choc chips mind you, they give you white choc chunks! It was so so good.


We also tried Pancakes At The Rocks, which was surprisingly my only pancake meal there, considering how I love pancakes. Didn't think it was that fantastic though! Which I guess was what Gen and Jo tried to warn me about so I didn't get my hopes up. Haha


Gen also took us to have cheap and good sushi at Takumi in Market City Shopping Centre! With her student discount, everything on the menu was $2.50 each. That's really cheap for really good sushi such as the raw and grilled scallop ones or the grilled prawn sushi or even a soft shell crab dish where they serve you the whole small crab. Yum... Now I really want scallop sashimi after looking at this picture. Haha

Almost every night was supermarket night for us because the supermarkets in Australia are simply awesomeeee~ Chocolate gets SO cheap there. I guess its a good thing I don't live there then, can you imagine the temptation? And all the $2 packets of Snickers Pods and $3 bags of Smiths Thai Sweet Chilli Chips... Yup, its good that I don't live there. Haha Maaaan...

Shopping wasn't that great in Sydney. Things were expensive and Singapore has almost the same shops, so we didn't really shop much. Even on the day we allocated to shop at the outlet mall, because it turned out that most of the mall was under renovation. Bummer! I think it also happens to be the season when the clothes aren't great (winter season) so I hardly saw anything I really liked. I did score a few items though, but most of my money went to buying food. And I guess that says a lot. Haha

We also did one other thing that has been missing from my life since I was a kid. We played Bumper Cars at the Market City arcade!! That was fun, although it only served as more evidence for the 'you will probably suck at driving' voice in my head. Hahaha


I will also miss the loveliest beach that gets a well-deserved second mention.

Sydney was good to me. It let me spend quality time with friends, let me meet new people, gave me the freedom of exploration, provided me with all the good food I wanted, forced me walk long distances, pampered me with cool weather and blue skies, pushed me to leave the house and take in all that fresh air. I sure do miss it.

Thank you Sydney! Thank you Gen. Without you, this trip might not even have been possible. And even if it was possible, it wouldn't have been that great without you showing us around and putting up with us staying at your house. :)

Eunice

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RYO'S NOODLES, CROWS NEST

My favourite ramen in Singapore has got to be Ippudo at Mandarin Gallery, and guess what! They have an Ippudo in one of the food courts in Sydney. Jaw drop. But anyway, Gen didn't take us to have that since we have it in Singapore. She took us to Ryo's Noodles in Crows Nest to try out their famous ramen! 


Its a small little shop with an incredibly yellow interior. My Olympus Pen struggles with indoor and night white balance so this made it go crazy and all my pictures are overly warm. Excuse me for that! Back to the shop. Its really cute. I like all the handwritten pieces of paper covering all the walls that show each item of the menu. It has a really warm environment. Both warm as in homey and warm as in warm. You can almost hear our happy sighs as we stepped out of the cold winter night and into this warm little store. Ahhhh.


I think Gen ordered the ramen in sour salt flavoured soup with fried prawn balls and veges. I think. Hahaha


Ramen in miso-flavoured soup!


Ramen in soy sauce flavoured soup with roast pork, nori, egg, and shallots. This was #1 in the Top 5 list, so its no surprise that I chose that. I'm a boring safe choice maker. Hahaha But still it was definitely hearty and satisfying!


Doesn't this picture make you want to have some Gyoza right now? Haha

It was good, but I don't miss this as much because I know I still have Ippudo here. But there are some things unique to Sydney and I'm totally craving for them. Like their chocolate tarts, snickers pie, thai fried chicken etc. Ugh! Hahaha 

Eunice

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FOOD AT NEWTOWN

Time for a food tour at Newtown! Okay, its only two places, but two really yummy places that Gen took us to. The first is The Pie Tin! It is an artisan pie bakery and cafe that will leave you plastered onto their glass display cabinet drooling for more. I mean, look at all those sweet pies!!


And all their savoury pies too!


So because I'm quite the Maltesers Lover, we went for the Malteser pie. The thick layer of light and airy chocolate mousse has Maltesers on it, and in it too, if you're lucky. It was such a cheap thrill to com across Maltesers in the mousse. Right under that lays a chocolate fudge layer that is my favourite part of the pie besides the hidden maltesers. The chocolately tart shell was yummy too. I had a really hard time deciding between this and the Snickers pie, and although this was really good, I really really want to try the Snickers pie now. Whoever is out there, would you be a dear and Fedex a slice over here?


I think, and correct me if I'm wrong Gen or Jo, that we had the beef brisket slow roasted with hickory smoke and field mushrooms pie. I honestly don't remember, I'm just going with which one looks like it in the savoury display. Hahaha See, this is the problem with blogging about something months after it happens. Sigh. But what I can say about the savoury pie is that the crust is really important to me, and this one was pretty good!


Gen then took us to Thai La-Ong for thai food! Everything on the lunch specials menu is 7 bucks there and all three dishes we ordered were simply fantastic.


Pad Si-Ew. Seems like this is the must order dish at all Thai restaurants for us. Hahaha


Chicken Green Curry with rice! 


Fried chicken!!!! Honestly one of the best I've ever tasted! I was even contemplating ordering the dish again just for the chicken but because all dishes came with rice, I didn't. Such a wasteeee I have this epic craving now. Hahaha

Did that make you hungry? Because my stomach is really growling right now. Time to go and get some lunch!

Eunice

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MAGNUM PLEASURE STORE SYDNEY

Before I left for Sydney, I read about the Magnum Pleasure Store, but guessed I wouldn't be able to try it since after discussion with Jo, 7 bucks for a Magnum seemed too expensive. However, after mentioning to Gen, she immediately said she had been wanting to try it too! So we threw all the hesitation aside and went for it on one of our last days in Sydney! The queue was really long but worth it!


We're crazy about popping candy in our treats and were so disappointed that they taped it off the menu. :/


Joash had a white chocolate dipped Magnum topped with crumbled meringue, dried strawberries, honeycomb pieces, one of the chopped nuts, and a dark chocolate drizzle.


Gen had a milk chocolate dipped Magnum, topped with honeycomb pieces, crumbled biscuit and chopped macadamias (I think!). 


I'm not too sure why I don't have a solo shot with my Magnum but this is mine! I had a milk chocolate dipped Magnum, topped with honeycomb pieces, crumbled biscuit, chopped almonds and white chocolate drizzle. It was so so so so good. I really liked the honeycomb. It adds a whole new malt tint to the Magnum that I really love!



Singapore has its own Magnum Pleasure Store, and for awhile now! The one at Vivo City will be open till 30 November, 11am to 10.30pm daily, so you should go down to check it out and get your own creations done! :)

Eunice

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SEA LIFE SYDNEY AQUARIUM

On one of our spare days of our trip we went down to Sea Life Sydney Aquarium to pass time. After visiting this one, I think I'm done with aquariums for a few years. 3 aquariums in the past 1.5 years is enough for me. This aquarium was pretty alright, it wasn't fantastic or anything, I greatly preferred interacting with the animals at Featherdale Wildlife Park. But one thing did make it all worth it for me, and that is the Dugongs (pictured above). I think they are my one of my favourite sea creatures at the moment, up there with dolphins and jellyfish. 

The aquarium has a pair of them - Pig & Wuru - and both were rescued after being orphaned. I have conflicting feelings about this because I find it both heartbreaking and heart warming that they are in the aquarium. Its sad because they are stuck there like a prison swimming back and forth, but Pig was found beaten up after they tried releasing him back into the wild, so its heartwarming to know they were able to find him again and bring him back to the safety of the aquarium. If you like, you can find out more here! Don't they look so friendly though? Don't you just want to hug one? They get all my love.





Eunice

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