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
Apple In a Bun 