Lunch time eats, North Sydney (Part 1)

The first time I worked in North Sydney was about 7 years ago and there was limited choices for lunch, I remember getting really excited when a Vietnamese joint opened up in the food court underneath Aldi. Lots of companies are choosing to locate their offices to North Sydney and as a result more and more lunch time choices are popping up. I have 3 places of each Cuisine to choose from for Vietnamese, Malaysian and Chinese, as well as an abundance of baguette/sandwich places. My only complaint now is we are missing a dumpling joint!!!

Here’s a snippet of the places I like to venture out to eat in North Sydney during office hours.

I think May’s Laksa House serves the best Hainanese Chicken rice this side of the bridge. Yes, it is a big call. Their chicken is moist and tender with the chicken rice is not overly oily which some restaurants seem to do. The great thing is a variety of chilli sauces to accompany the Hainan Chicken. Oh and there is self-serve prawn crackers whilst you wait to collect your meal.

Hainanese Chicken Rice - $8.50

Nasi Lemak - $8.90

When it’s cold and I crave for something spicy and comforting, I go to Malacca Straits Thai. Their tom yum noodle soup always help clear any onset cold I feel coming on. The only bad thing is the lack of ventilation and you end up smelling like Asian food court after your lunch break.

Vegetable Tom Yum Noodle Soup - $7.50

It’s next door neighbour, Andy’s sushi serves up cheap sushi (3 for $5) and stone pot bim bim bap. Fresh ingredients and love the rice being stuck to the bowl and scraping it off to reveal crunchy rice.

Bim Bim Bap - $10

The further along this was the first Vietnamese shop in North Sydney. They started off with a limited menu of just Pho but now have rice paper rolls, vermicelli bowls and spicy beef noodle soup. This combination is usually reserved for vermicelli bowls but it surprisingly works wonders in noodle soup.

Combination noodle soup - $9.90

Excuse the photo after I had dug into the meal! The pork chop is slightly dry but still quite flavoursome with a slight lemongrass marinade.

Grilled pork chop with tomato rice - $9.90

 

Located in the AAMI building food court, there is this Chinese takeway which does awesome rice and noodle dishes. Their servings are huge and my takeaway serving allows me to eat it for lunch and dinner on the same day. If you come after 12pm, you will be guaranteed a wait of 15minutes for your stir fry. They have a specials board which used to be in Chinese only and I had to ask the lovely ladies to interpret for me. In dish in particular is this salted chicken rice. Chicken covered in salt and steamed. The chicken is silky and tender, served with ginger and shallots. It’s a nice simple dish which reminds me of home cooking.

Salted Chicken Rice - $9.00

There you have it, if you work in North Sydney and need some inspirations check out the places I frequent. More to come!

 

May’s Laksa House

Berry Square

Level 2, 77 Berry St

Malacca Straits Thai/Andy’s Sushi/Pho Express

99 Mount St

GMP Asiatic Gourmet

85 Walker St

Toan Thang, Flemington

I have been going to this little eatery in the laneway of Flemington shops since I was a uni student. Being a uni student on a budget, this place was cheap and the servings was huge! I always had to eat half and take half away. 10 years on and I still go to Toan Thang for my pho fix because Pho An is just too far away!

It’s 12:30pm on a busy Sunday and the queues are out the door and past the BBQ restaurant next door. Don’t be fooled by the long queues as they have a pretty slick operation and it moves quite quickly with the asian ladies barking out seat availability. Just a warning, be prepared to share a table with other patrons.

Their menus are displayed along the two walls in chinese and english with big pictures of what’s on offer. They offer Vietnamese noodle staples such as beef and chicken noodle soup, dried vermicelli, pork chop rice and many more.

Even though it’s a cold winter’s day, I ordered the pork chop vermicelli. It is essentially a noodle salad with bean sprouts, pickled carrots, shredded lettuce,chopped coriander with peanuts served with a dipping sauce consisting of fish sauce and lime juice. The crunchiness of the bean sprouts provides great texture against the soft vermicelli noodles. Their servings of pork is generous and even though I prefer the traditional char grilled pork, this deep-fried version is just as tasty.

Pork chop with dried vermicelli $9.00

The ox tripe and beef noodle soup is rich in beef flavour and slices of raw beef are layered on top of the noodles. I sometimes find some restaurants with their soup base is slightly sweet, Toan Thang does not have that issue.

Ox tripe and beef noodle soup $8.50

Pho accompaniment

I am a sucker for spring rolls especially the Vietnamese ones which has wood ear mushrooms in them to provide the extra crunch.

Spring rolls $6.00

And of course, a refreshing drink to slurp it all down. Great way to get the fizzy taste without all the calories in a canned soft drink!

Iced soda lemon $3.00

Prices here have only gone up by $1 since I first went here, this place really offers value for money.

Toan Thang
9/90-95 The Crescent, Homebush NSW
Monday -Sunday 9am to 8pm