Just Landed!

It is 11.23pm and here i am blogging because I don't want to forget anything that had occured today. I got up at 6.30am this morning (how eager am i?), showered, ate my oats and fruit then made sure i had not forgotten to pack anything. The bus service arrived at our place at 11.15 but beforehand, i got to have a good talk with Drix before we said our minor goodbyes (we knew we'd speak later anyway). The trip to the airport was a tad slow due to traffic and I had so many things running through my head (things i may have forgotten, what I was going to eat on board and of coarse, Drix). We arrived at 12.15pm and thank god for free wi-fi  :) Vibered with Drix for bit before it was our turn to check in. Urgh, I really did not know what my mum was thinking, packing at least 20 pieces of luggage in which we were obviously charged extra as we had an excess of 33kg so multiply that by $25 per kilo and that's how much extra we had to pay! My dad was pretty frustrated with her along with myself, as we all warned her that we had a limit of 10kg for carry on luggage.

 Goodbye Sydney!

 Flying above Tempe Ikea

Well the 4 hour trip to Darwin was terrible! The plane felt as if it was in turbulence mode and the walkway was so narrow. Arriving in Darwin totally felt like I was in the outback. There were trees and bushes everywhere on the outskirts of the city and most of all, it was hot. At least the customs were a lot friendlier than those working in  Domestic Sydney. Luckily we had a stop over of 2 hours as we only had 40 minutes left to transfer to the plane departing for Saigon as our plane in Sydney got delayed for 45 minutes.

Hello to the remoteness of Darwin!

The beautiful sunset in Darwin

The next 4.5 hours was even worse than before. I felt so nauseous on the plane and the food I brought with me tasted so bland. I was tempted to buy the meal they had on board (curry chicken with rice $15) but I thought I might have a chance with diarrhea so i passed. A 2 hour nap and the captain announces we've arrived in the borders of Vietnam. At this point I could not wait to step off the plane and have a good damn shower. The airport is now more improved and their facilities actually include air con now thank goodness. It took us a while to exit the airport as the bastard customs bribed my parents into giving them money for service and all. I would be delighted to swear about this but I'd like to be modest. We got all our luggage and walked outside and saw my aunty, uncle and her kids. They helped us push out the luggage and we waited about 5 minutes for our taxi van to pick us up. While waiting, I saw my beloved car as well and it instantly made me miss home. The area I am staying in is about 10 minutes away from the airport (district 3) and boy it was a mission for the van to reverse into the alley way so we can unload our junk. My body is extremely sore from carrying so much unnecessary carry on luggage and all I wanted to do was have a nice, warm shower. Too bad that didn't really happen as they only use cold water over here :( My grandmother and great aunty came not long after our family settled in and they all could not recognize me. My aunty had prepared us dinner (Hai nam chicken, stir fried shiitake mushrooms & corn, pork roll, Kim chi) and i had about 1/4 of rice with mostly the vegie stir fry and chicken. The topic of the night was basically how unhealthy and sick I look and how my relatives were telling me to put on weight.. It was starting to get late so i went back upstairs, brushed my teeth, washed my face and prepared for bed. Before I did that I realised i received a message from Drix and it made me smile :) Poh's Kitchen was on tv and next thing you know, My eyes start rolling back and I feel like knocking off to sleep. Such a long excruciating day, can't wait to go home and most of all see my bubby!

last day in sydney - Tan Viet Noodle House

It does not feel like I'm boarding for Vietnam in less than 24 hours but reality is, i am. There were so many places i wanted to go to but Drix finished his exams so late and i didn't want to drag him out of the house when he was supposed to hit the books. Well today was well spent with him and to my surprise, he bought me Oroton flats for Christmas! I did not know he had purchased it the day he waited to pick me up at Parramatta. I was contemplating on getting them a couple of months ago but i guess he beat me to it first. Thanks babe, best boyfriend in the world or should i say from the outback ;) That's just an inside joke of ours but here are the shoes :)

We trekked it to many shopping centres today, as we had to go back to Parramatta to exchange the shoes. Drix originally bought me a pink snake skin pair but they didn't have them in my size so i chose these ones which were perfect! We then drove to Top Ryde City to browse around and unfortunately there were too many things which i could not afford aka $290 G-Star Raw skinny legs :( Next stop was DFO. We initially did not plan on making a pitstop there but we did anyway and wow, Oroton had 60% off everything. Made me wonder if i could find the flats that Drix purchased for me but they didn't have them. I was tempted to buy an Oroton wallet for my mum for Christmas but I guess I will have to invest in something more wise and thoughtful when i return from the homeland. Drix was so lucky to find $50 jeans at G-Star DFO. Too bad in the girls section, their jeans were either overpriced or plus sized. Now that we've made our shopping trip, lunch was next. Forty minutes later and we arrived in Cabramatta, bad driver central. We were extremely lucky to find parking in the multi storey car park as our spot was a minor distance from where we wanted to eat. A few steps and we had to queue up for about 5-10 minutes at Tan Viet Noodle House, the restaurant with the best crispy skin chicken!  I'm pretty sure other diners only come to the restaurant for this signature dish just like us. I ordered the crispy skin chicken with dry egg noodles while Drix ordered crispy skin chicken with rice noodle. Obviously there was nothing special about the noodles we had but the chicken was absolutely juicy and flavour some. This time i actually cleaned up the bowl as normally i would eat half and give the rest to whoever is dining with me :9

Crispy skin chicken with rice noodles $12.00

Crispy skin chicken with egg noodles $12.00

We both walked out of the restaurant feeling very full, bloated but most of all satisfied as we had been craving for the dish for a very long time! Today was such a beautiful day in comparison to last week's weather (which was cold, wet and horrendous) and what could get any better than spending it with my other significant half :)

First Entry - Universal Restaurant

So this would mark my first entry for this blog :) Basically I've decided to create a new blog to document my daily (or even weekly if I'm feeling a little lazy) happenings, which i think would mostly consist of food related articles. I wish i had started this earlier, as I have been to many restaurants and yet failed to photograph and even remember the experiences I had at these restaurants! To begin with, the bf took me to Universal restaurant in Darlinghurst for a one off experience, as i have been dying to try their Gaytime inspired dessert! I met up with him at Parramatta after he finished his exam and drove to the city right after. We did get lost trying to find Palmer Street (where Universal is located) due to my map reading knowledge but we eventually got there at 6pm, 30 minutes earlier than our scheduled reservation. Next to Universal were a few other restaurants and what I remember was Phamish and Lucio's pizza. A young girl lead us to our table right next to the bar and entrance to the kitchen in which we were then taken care of by another young guy. We also saw Christine Manfield, chef and owner of Universal hovering around the restaurant greeting diners. The waiter presented us with the wine list; however there were too many unfamiliar alcohols and cocktails so i opted for lemon lime and bitters.

Lemon Lime and Bitters $4.00

 Unfortunately the drink was more concentrated with lemonade rather than Bitters but I was still satisfied :) Moving on, we asked for the food menu. Universal is slightly different compared to other restaurants, where there are no entrees and mains. We were advised by the waiter to order three savoury dishes and one dessert, as the sizes of the savoury dishes are roughly the same serving size. We decided to go for two savoury dishes and one dessert, as the thought of ordering a third savoury dish felt like it might overfill our stomaches :P For the first dish, i ordered the pork belly in broth with barley and chanterelle mushrooms and Drix ordered the jasmine tea smoked duck breast placed on fine Chilli Sichuan noodles. The broth served with the pork belly went well together as the heaviness of the tender pork accentuated with the flavoursome broth and mushrooms.The duck breast that Drix ordered had the right balance of flavours with the noodles, which was infused in chilli (I am not a big fan of chilli!) but luckily i was able to withstand it! His dish also reminded me of BBQ duck and egg noodles you could order in any typical Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant in Cabramatta but presented better of course.

Pork Belly In Broth With Barley and Chanterelle Mushrooms $30.00

 Jasmine Tea Smoked Duck Breast Placed on Fine Chilli Sichuan Noodles $28.00

Our next course arrived not too long after. What I was surprised about was that the time between each course served was faster than other restaurants I have been to. I ordered the rare roasted lamb served on a bed of scalloped potatoes, avocado tempura and curried broth. Although the lamb was the focal point of the dish, i believed the avocado tempura topped it all off. The batter was crunchy while the avocado was creamy and smooth. Drix ordered the Braised Rabbit on Spinach Puree & Gruyere Cheese Vol Au Vent. My dish was enjoyable but Drix's dish was DELICIOUS! He took a risk in ordering the rabbit as he has never consumed it but i guess this time round he was lucky. The puree was smooth and luscious while the rabbit was extremely tender and sweet.  

  Rare Roasted Lamb Served on a Bed of Scalloped Potatoes, Avocado Tempura and Curried Broth $31.00

Braised Rabbit on Spinach Puree & Gruyere Cheese Vol Au Vent $30.00

The friendly waiter asked if we would like to order dessert in which we informed him that we had ordered it at the beginning haha. This was the part where i was extremely excited about, which isn't surprising as dessert seems to always complete the meal. Drix ordered the Mocha bomb while I ordered the highly anticipated dish Gaytime goes nuts. I was astounded by the presentation of both dishes, which were appealing and unique. I couldn't wait to dig into my dessert which consisted of a choc caramel cylinder filled with honeycomb ice cream, salted hazelnut caramel and topped off with caramel parfait. The flavours were rich yet complimented each other due to the sweetness of the ice cream and the saltiness of the cylinder and hazelnuts. This is way better than the original Gaytime ice cream and I definitely reccommend it! Drix's dessert reminded me of a early morning at uni where we would be half asleep in lectures craving a cappucino or mocha. The chocolate mousse was airy and light yet had the right level of sweetness while the intense flavours of the espresso caramel and ice cream complimented the mousse very well. 

 Gaytime Goes Nuts! $19.00

Mocha Bomb $19.00

Our desserts were so enticing, we tried to clean up as much of the plate as possible hehe :)

Our bill totalled $173.00, in which we were charged an extra $2.00 which was donated to a charity. What a sneaky way of adding onto the bill but i guess it went towards a good cause. The staff also returned the incorrect change, which was rapidly fixed. The ambience at Universal was very relaxed and informal, yet service was friendly and satisfactory.