13D Australia Summer Trip: Hurricane's Grill and Bar Bondi Beach, Sydney

There are so many good restaurants in Sydney but it seems that whenever we are meeting our friends here, all of them jointly rave about the wonderful ribs at Hurricane's Grill. One of my friends say her experience there was so good up to the point she came back to Hurricane's to have another go at their ribs. Boosted by the rave review and our hungry stomach after conquering 6km of Sydney Coastal Walk, we made our way to Roscoe Street in Bondi, where Hurricane's Grill and Bar is located. The restaurant was pretty deserted around 5.30PM on a Friday evening with only 2 other tables occupied besides us but I suppose that's because 5.30PM is way way way early for dinner even for Australian standard.

Hurricane's Grill and Bar is not a new steakhouse on the block. It has been serving customers since 1995 and it seems to be a popular venue for people to experience the lively and laid back Bondi vibe (with good meal, yumz!). Hurricane's Grill and Bar offers a variety of meat dishes, chicken, burgers and seafood but it's famous for its flame grilled steaks and ribs. Its premium steaks range from T-Bone (AUD 37 for 400g/ AUD 55 for 650g), rib-eye (AUD 55 for 500g/ AUD 38 for 350g), and Sirloin (AUD 30 for 200g). If you are looking for non-beef, Hurricane's Grill offers BBQ chicken (AUD 23 for half/ AUD 31 for whole), lamb cutlets (AUD 42), and seafood platter consists of lobster, calamari, mussels, prawns, octopus, scallops, oysters and fish (AUD 190). 

We were so hungry after walking through Bondi to Bronte coastal walk and we were ready for some meat to uhh, gain back the burned calories. For a starter, we ordered the dish that cannot and should not go wrong, fried calamari (AUD 18). The fried calamari is seved with tartare sauce. The calamary is literally awesome - lightly breaded, fresh and crispy. 

If you cannot decide on which steak or ribs to order, you may want to go for the combo platter. Back then, a combo platter of one steak and one ribs are available for the price of AUD 60 or AUD 65 (I could no longer find this combo in the website but you can probably find in the offline menu at the restaurant). Since the waitress has informed us that it may take a bit long for the steak and ribs to be grilled, we ordered ciders to keep us occupied in the mean time. The Monteith's Crushed Pear Cider (AUD 10) and Magners' Apple Cider (AUD 10) refreshed both of us after the 6km sweaty walk beside the ocean. Cheers, mate!

Finally, the steak and ribs combo is here. Size-wise, the steak seems pretty minuscule compared to that thick slab of ribs. The ribs really taste so good. It's the best ribs that I have eaten so far in my life, being so tender and sweetly huge. The steak is not so bad too but the main highlight of our dinner in Hurricane's Grill gotta be the ribs. We could not choose other side dish because only fries will be served as the accompaniment for the steak and ribs combo. The combo is good enough for two people so if you are not a super heavy eater, let's adopt the concept "sharing is caring" here. 

Hurricane's Grill Bondi Beach's full address:

130 Roscoe St, Bondi Beach

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Daily 12:00pm - 10:30pm

13D Australia Summer Trip: Tamarama, Gaerloch Reserve and Bondi, Sydney Coastal Walk

Our Bronte to Bondi Coastal Walk continued with a simple concept in mind, you are on the right path when the ocean is on your right. Walking from Bronte to Bondi is that easy. The distance of the walk is about 6km (both ways) and you just need approximately two hours to complete the track. Rumours say that you can even spot celebrities along the way. Not that we recognised any during our walk though.

Our next beautiful spot after Bronte is the Tamarama Beach, a beach sits between two prominent headlands on the Coastal Walk with 80 metres of shoreline. The beach is popular for surfing but is it prone to strong currents. Tamarama is often referred to as "Glamarama" because it's where beautiful people hang out. The beach was kinda deserted when we were there, where are the beautiful people go?

I read online that Coastal Walk seems to be the easiest walk to do and by right, there should be many people along this path. To our surprise (and joy, I suppose), we seem to be the only one walking this path that day. Kinda make me remember one of Coldplay's song "Us Against the World". If only, I walked this path with my romantic partner instead of Lee. Oh well, I love you too, Lee. Hahaha. 

Other than beaches, the highlights of Sydney Coastal Walk includes clifftop coastal walk. Do you know that it is considered therapeutic to watch the waves come crashing to toward the rocky beach? Waves upon waves. Waves upon waves. Add the blue effect to them and they look pretty blissful to me. 

This is one of the best photo spot that I found along the way. If I live in Sydney, I would probably do this walk again and again (as it is comparatively easy compared to the rest of the walking tracks in Sydney). 

Another nice photo spot is located at the Gaerloch Reserve. If you are adventurous enough, you can do like what the lady was doing there. Reading a book on a seaside rock anyone? This lady is totally cool and I guess the review is not a joke when it says that Bondi to Bronte Coastal Walk is a great place to be seen. 

 I could finally see the ending of our walk. The terrain of the walk is filled with several stairs once you walk nearer to Bondi, the most famous beach in Sydney. You can actually choose Bondi as the starting point and walk all the way to Coogee but since our dinner venue is located at Bondi, we chose to walk in reverse. After all, there are more food choices available in Bondi compared to the other parts of the coastal walk. One of the main attraction in Bondi is the hip Icebergs Dining Room and Bar which possesses one of the most coveted location in Bondi with its ocean pool overlooking south Bondi's crashing waves. 

The iconic stretch of fine sand and curling waves is what making Bondi Beach an enjoyable place for tourists and Sydneysiders alike. The beach is surrounded by sandstone headlands, which are popular for walking, golfing and whale watching. You can feel the vibe of easy-going lifestyle adopted by the people in Bondi. Picnics and sunbathing seem to be the most popular activities to do in Bondi apart from swimming and surfing. White sandy beach, blue sky, blue ocean, one does not have to be a genius to chill here. 

If you are looking for a good feast and shopping adventure, you may want to make your way to Campbell Parade which is located right across the beach. Make your way to the car park which is decorated by the graffitis and then cross the main street to reach Campbell Parade where a lot of great restaurants and beach fashion and swimwear shops are located. Weekend markets are available too at Bondi and sometimes on a certain Saturdays, you can watch movie in your car because Bondi is a popular spot for drive-in theater. 

Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk fast facts:

~ Walk distance = 6km

~ Duration = 2 - 3 hours return

~ Gradient = easy walk, some stairs

~ Attractions = Bondi Beach, Gaerloch Reserve, Tamarama Beach, Bronte Baths, Coogee bars and restaurants

13D Australia Summer Trip: Bronte, Sydney Coastal Walk

One of the best things about the city of Sydney is that the city has turned out to be a joy for people who love walking. Sydney has many walking trails to offer and each walking tracks provides different kind of entertainment because it has its own unique points to offer. There are so many walking tracks that you can walk on in Sydney but a lot of websites has listed down 10 most popular walking tracks: (1) Bondi to Coogee Walk (2) Grand Canyon Walk (3) Barrenjoey Lighthouse Walk (4) Watsons Bay Walk (5) Narrabeen Lagoon Trail (6) Cremorne Point Walk (7) Rose Bay to Watsons Bay (8) Federation Cliff Walk (9) Spit Bridge to Manly Walk and (10) Katoomba Falls Walk. 

The difficulty level for the above walking tracks varies from one track to another. But if you are a noob in walking and are only interested for an easy walk with a breathtaking view, I would recommend taking the Bondi to Coogee Walk, which is also known as Sydney Coastal Walk. As what the name implies, Sydney Coastal Walk offers you a view of beaches, parks, creek and of course the calming deep blue sea. I did not start the walk from Bondi Beach nor from Coogee. In fact, Lee has suggested to make Bronte as the starting point because otherwise, we might have to rush off our walk to reach Bondi by dinner time. In order to reach Bronte, you have to first make your way to Bondi Junction Station. From Bondi Junction Station, you can proceed to the Bondi Junction bus terminal and take bus no. 378. The bus will make its way through a quiet neighbourhood area and it may not be really clear on where and when to alight from the bus, which is exactly our situation. If you think you will be stuck in the same situation as us, you should turn on your Google Map and alighted at the nearest bus stop to Bronte Park.

  Time Out has described Bronte Park as barbie spots, a term which I had initially no idea what it's referring to. Turns out that means that Bronte Park is relatable to plenty of hotplates (and bbq pits too); and lots of green space for that essential game of cricket (but some people are playing football/ volleyball instead of cricket when I visited Bronte Park). The park is also the perfect spot for walking dogs. Hmm, I better be careful of dog poos then. 

 

Bronte Beach is just located a 15 minutes walk away from Bronte Park. The park gets busy on perfect summer days, so if you want to have a picnic here, you have to get here early I suppose. It was not that crowded when we visited the park on a Friday afternoon though. Despite that there are several families playing on Bronte Beach that day, I noticed that there were no kids spotted playing in the water. I heard stories that Australian waters are not that safe especially when the warning sign is put up. Better be safe than sorry I guess. 

However, there are alternative is you really really would like to play in the water. Bronte is after all considered beach gem in Sydney and one of the reasons of why it is called a gem is because due to the rock formation near the beach, there are spots which are enclosed by the rock, and hence, forming a natural swimming pool. The water current tend to be calmer at these natural swimming pools and the depth is not that deep either, so you can swim safely inside these natural swimming pools. 

 A few distance away from the natural swimming pools, you will see Bronte Baths, an ocean pool constructed in the year 1887. Before the baths were built, the place was originally known as the "bogey hole at South Nelson Bay'. Apparently the Australian call natural swimming hole a "bogey hole". Bronte Baths is also known as the Bond Ocean Pool after lifesaving pioneer, Major Bond. The ocean swimming bath is decent enough for serious swimmers and yet, there are shallower end which is safe enough for kids to swim inside. 

The best thing about the bath? It's totally free. 

13D Australia Summer Trip: Pancakes on the Rocks, Sydney

Friday in Sydney is a huge chillaxing affair where a lot of people can be found lazing on the bench or even on grass on a summer day reading books or drinking booze. Some of the people who were sitting on the bench that day were wearing office attire, I kinda wonder if they really can go out from office anytime they want. After all, we have been hearing so many things about Australian's great flexibility on work life balance. Hmm, is anyone interested in working in Australia, then?

Friday is also the day that people usually do their wandering around the city or even having a picnic because there are more things to see or buy when the weekend market is in town. There are two kind of market held up at the Rocks: the Rocks Friday Foodie Market and the Rocks Market (which is held on Saturday and Sunday). Since we happened to visit the Rocks on Friday, we had the chance to check out the Rocks Friday Foodie Market which is held at Jack Mundey Place. 

The concept of Friday Foodie Market offered by the Rocks is cool and relaxed. You don't see people rushing from one stall to another stall to get food. Even though there are some queue lines spotted at certain spot, people seem to just queue in a chill manner. A lot of homemade food is offered in the Friday Foodie Market from homemade jam, sushi, crusty bread and pastries, chocolate, condiments, oil, fresh fruit and vegetables to even, billtong sticks (which seems to be beef skewers). Lovely flowers for your beloved ones are also available at the Rocks Friday Foodie Market. Do note that the foodie market is only open from 9AM to 3PM so don't come here after 3PM to avoid disappointment. On the other hand, the Rocks Markets which is held on Saturdays and Sundays is open from 10AM to 5PM and it is held at the same place with the Friday Foodie Market.

Other than for the food market, the Rocks is an awesome neighbourhood to explore. The neighbourhood has many historic laneways in the shadow of Sydney Harbour Bridge. In addition, the area also have some of Sydney's oldest pubs and there are buskers performing along the busy harbourfront promenade.

You should definitely make your way to the harbour promenade because from here, you will be able to admire the veiw of Harbour Bridge from closer view. Some restaurants with the bridge and harbour view are located right in the building underneath the Harbour Bridge but we did not eat there because they look so fancy. Hahaha. #budgettraveller

One thing about the Rocks kinda makes me curious though. A lot of my peers have told me that I must not miss the opportunity to eat at Pancakes on the Rocks if I have included the Rocks in my itinerary. I am not really a pancake lover and hence, this raving review about a certain restaurant which specialises in pancake kinda make me wonder "What's so special about it?". But first, in order to be able to find out the magic of the pancake, we had to first find out the location of the restaurant. Despite using the Google Map, it's still hard for us to pinpoint the location, we could only find the restaurant after wandering around the block for a 15 minutes, I think. 

 The creation of Pancakes on the Rocks' concept was inspired by a visit of certain Australians to America. Pancake is a popular staple of food in American restaurants and these Australians wanted to bring that similar love of pancakes to Australia. The first Pancakes on the Rocks was opened in Adelaide back in 1965 and now, the restaurant has many branches across Australia. The original founders separated with one and then moved to Sydney to open Pancakes on the Rocks. The restaurant is set like a family diner in America (based on the TV series that I watch since I have never set my foot in the land of freedom). Pancakes on the Rocks offers a wide selection of both savoury and sweet pancakes. Their savoury pancakes include Potato Au Gratin (AUD 16.95) and Mexican Potato (AUD 17.95). Despite the availability of the savoury pancakes, it seems that the most popular items from the menu are all the sweet pancakes (if the list is accurate) such as Strawberry Patch (AUD 14.95), Bananarama (AUD 13.95), and Chocolate Jewels (AUD 12.95). The serving portion of the pancake seems to be on the huge side, so be mindful when you only have two mouths to feed. Otherwise, you may have an overdose of pancake.

We decided to go for Coco Berry (AUD 13.95) which is described as chocolate pancakes with coconut, cream, vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis (i.e. A form of thick sauce made from pureed and strained vegetables or fruits). My first impression of Coco Berry is definitely "what kind of a mess is this?" The pancake is a sweetness overkill because well if you work the combination in your brain, a chocolate pancake drenched with chocolate sauce alone equals to sweetness overdose in my opinion. Especially when it's not even made from dark chocolate. Thankfully, we only ordered a plate of pancake because I don't think I can eat a whole serving of the pancake by myself.

 Well, you can always go for other option than pancakes such as their gourmet pizza and grill items (e.g. Pork ribs, fish & chips, etc). But to be honest, what's the point of visiting Pancakes on the Rocks if you are not going to try out their pancake, right?

Pancakes on the Rocks is located at:

4 Hickson Road, the Rocks

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Daily 24 hours

 

13D Australia Summer Trip: Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge

Whenever Sydney is being mentioned in any travel guide, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are always included as places of interest. Hence, we did not miss out the chance to visit these two places when we were in Sydney. But first, we need to board the train from Central station. 

You would need to purchase Opal card or train ticket before boarding the train. The train in Sydney is usually double decker train and to our amazement, the seats in the train are reversible. You can adjust them to face whichever direction you want. Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are located near to Circular Quay Station. You can just follow the walking path to both attractions because they are so clearly visible from exit of the train station. 

Circular Quay is very famous amongst tourists in Sydney because this is where the best attractions of Sydney are located. You can begin your adventure by taking a stroll along the harbour foreshore to the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Botanic Garden. If you are a lover of the museum, you may want to pay a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, on the western side of the quay, where the Rocks is located. Most buildings located in the quay are preserved to maintain its historical and grand architecture. You can also board all kind of transportation offered by the city (ferries, buses, trains) from Circular Quay to other attractions in Sydney such as Bondi Beach. You can also catch a ferry to Manly, travel along the Parramata River to Sydney Olympic Park, or head to Watsons Bay for seafood and the view of the harbour foreshore. Some of Sydney's popular restaurants are located around the quay: Aria, Quay, Bennelong in the Sydney Opera House, Cafe Sydney in Customs House, and the Dining Room in the Park Hyatt Sydney. You can also get water taxis, jet boats and even cruises here at the Quay. 

  

While we were strolling at the walkway provided at the quay, we saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge from across. It is the world's tallest steel arch bridge which connects the northern suburbs of Sydney with the city centre. Around more than 200,000 cars are travelling its length each day so it's really a very busy bridge. You can enjoy the bridge in many ways but if you are looking to climb the bridge, you can book a climbing experience with BridgeClimb (www.bridgeclimb.com), which has been running since 1998. The wind can be pretty cold up there so make sure you are prepared for the experience. In addition, you need to be in good health and over 10 years old to join the climb. Climbs begin at regular intervals from dawn, day, twilight and night, and all the equipment you need is provided. The price for the climbing package starts from AUD 238 to AUD 373. The climb will be led by a climb leader and you will be given a photo of yourself on the bridge as souvenir (with no additional costs, I presume). Other than climbing, you can also take a closer look at the Sydney Harbour Bridge by catching a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly, Mosman or Taronga Zoo. Catching a ferry from Luna Park or McMahons Point will take you directly beneath the bridge. 

Further down the walking path, we saw the iconic building of Australia, Sydney Opera House. It is Australia's number one tourist destination and it is one of the world's busiest performing arts centres, presenting more than 2,000 shows 363 days a year for more than 1.5 million people. Ironically, despite its grandious fame, the architect of Sydney Opera House left Australia midway through construction and it is said that he never return to see the building completed. I wonder if he pulled off an "into-the-wild" move back then due to piled up stress on his career. 

Currently, The Unbelievables, a brand new theatrical blockbuster premieres at the Sydney Opera House, filling the concert hall with an interesting circus, music and magic acts. Do book the ticket for the show if you are interested to see how the Concert Hall looks like (because I don't think they open the hall for visitors other than for performances). Otherwise, you may also want to check out the spectacular seven-minute projection of Badu Gili which illuminates the Opera House's eastern Bennelong sail at sunset and 7pm. 

13D Australia Summer Trip: Bourke Street Bakery, Sydney

Cafes in Sydney opens pretty early everyday (usually from 7AM) but they close pretty early too (can be as early as 4PM). So I tried to make it a habit to start the day early. But sometimes, you cannot really believe your own standard of being early. As Lee and I have expected of our own capability, we were only able to get out from our accommodation around 9-ish. Not too shabby and yet, not significantly earlier than our usual waking-up time in Singapore when we are not working. But this timing works out to our convenience because by the time we were having our breakfast, the morning office crowd has dispersed and gone to their respective office buildings. This means we can easily find seats in any cafe for our breakfast fix. Woohoo!

For our first breakfast in Sydney, we are going to Bourke Street where the famous Bourke Street Bakery is located. Bourke Street is located in Surry Hills area and it is a quiet neighbourhood where you can enjoy morning/afternoon/evening walk peacefully.             

Bourke Street Bakery is located at the corner of Bourke Street so you have to walk all the way until you reach the corner. The cafe was opened by a duo, Paul Allam and David McGuinness, who are both bakers and chefs. The cafe is famous for its artisanal breads, pastries, tarts, pies and sausage rolls. Bourke Street Bakery's morning pastry includes classic items like croissant (AUD 3.50) and chocolate almond croissant (AUD 5). Muffins like dark chocolate and raspberry or pear and rhubarb muffin (AUD 4.50) are also available as part of their morning pastries. Sourdough seems to be the nation's favourite bread because Bourke Street Bakery's daily artisan breads include many type of sourdoughs such as Soy & Linseed Sourdough (AUD 7.50) and Wholemeal Sourdough (AUD 7.50). If you prefer to have savoury items, you probably want to give their Pork and Fennel Sausage Roll (AUD 5.50) or Beef Pie (AUD 6) a try. 

I feel like trying all of their menu but that would be kinda impossible for my stomach to handle so Lee and I decided to order one danish and one tart as our breakfast for that day. Our orders are served on a metal tin plates which I find a bit unusual and yet, unique at the same time. It was a breeze to find a table at Bourke Street Bakery after 9AM. Other than Lee and I, there were only two other tables, one occupied by two retirees and their dogs and the other one by a couple which seems too young to retire. Probably they were enjoying their off day. 

  

The Pear Danish (AUD 4.50) has the right balance of fruit, custard filling and pastry. The pastry is heavenly and flaky I enjoyed my every bite of the danish so much. 

The Passionfruit Curd Italian Meringue Tart (AUD 5.50) has a balance flavour of zesty and sweetness. The tart crust is crunchy and it holds up the filling of the tart pretty well without being crumbled easily. I initially thought that meringue will make the whole tart too sweet but the combination of passionfruit and meringue works toward a perfect balance of sweetness. 

  

Bourke Street Bakery is located at: 

633 Bourke Street 

(the corner of Devonshire and Bourke Street)

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 7AM to 6PM

Saturday and Sunday 7AM to 5PM

13D Australia Summer Trip: Dovetail, Sydney

The problem that we found during our trip to Sydney is...we don't know what to do when the clock reached 7PM because most of the stores start closing up at this timing (okay, some even close earlier at 5 or 6 PM). This is the time when we usually end up wandering around before the sun really sets for the day. We saw what seems to be the Broadway of Sydney in our wandering near Haymarket.

A few blocks away, we managed to find a big shopping mall named World Square. The Square is just a short distance by walking from Town Hall station, Chinatown district and other major attractions. The three levels of the shopping mall offers a unique selection of fashion (like Glue Store), homewares, lifestyle shopping and restaurants sich as Din Tai Fung, Guzman y Gomez and Grill'd. The supermarket in World Square, Coles, is also one of the spot that we often visit at night in Sydney (simply because we have nowhere else to go). But if you are into grocery (or chocolate shopping), you may want to check different kind of supermarkets that the city has to offer because different supermarket may have different products. 

Since the theme of our travel to Australia is to celebrate my birthday and his birthday 10 days later, Lee insisted that we should really get a cake because that day was the eve of my birthday. I was telling him that I don't really have to eat cake on my birthday night since I am no longer a child. In addition, there may not be any cake shop which still open around 9PM in World Square. But I was wrong and he was able to find Dovetail which happens to have a selection of doughssant (which seems to be a fusion between doughnut and croissant) and cake. For the doughssant, Dovetail offers a variety of interesting flavour such as Strawberry and Pistachio, Hazelnut, Salted Caramel and Blueberry (all priced at AUD 6.95). 

  

Meanwhile, for the flavour and type of the cake selection, Dovetail offers a variety of selection from Tiramisu, Mango Blondie, Carrot Cake, Blackforest and Vanilla (all priced at AUD 6.50). The price for a slice of cake at Dovetail seems to be pretty reasonable considering the fact that a slice of cake can cost to SGD 10 in Singapore. Gone are the days where I can eat cake on daily basis. 

Eventually, we decided on a slice of chocolate cheesecake (AUD 7.60). But because I was still so full after our Thai food feast at Chat Thai, we only celebrated my birthday by eating the cake for breakfast the next day. Hahaha happy birthday me! The chocolate cheesecake from Dovetail is moist and not so sweet but at the same time, I did not get any fantastic feeling from it so yeah. I make it sound that eating food is an orgasm feat. I suppose that's how you get the term "foodgasm".

Dovetail is located at: 

9/644 George Street

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 7AM - 9.30PM

Sunday 7.30AM - 9.30PM

13D Australia Summer Trip: Chat Thai, Sydney

Before I went to Sydney for my birthday trip, a lot of my friends suggested to eat Thai and Vietnamese food in Australia because (a) they are pretty authentic and (b) they taste so good. When I did my google search for "best Thai food in Sydney", the name Chat Thai popped up quite a number of times in both Zomato and Tripadvisor. It receives a lot of good reviews from the netizens and hence, we decided to just eat Thai food there.

Chat Thai is located pretty near to Chinatown area in Haymarket in Sydney. The first thing that you have to do when you reach Chat Thai is to write your name in the waiting list. The next thing that you have to do is waiting for your number to be called. Since there are only two of us, my number got called pretty fast. We probably only waited for less than 10 minutes. 

Chat Thai is bustling with diners on a Thursday evening. Not a lot of restaurants can achieve "full-house" on a weekday night but Chat Thai does not seem to have problem achieving that. The restaurant was created almost 25 years ago as a meeting place for diners to socialise and chat about thai food, and food in general. I suppose that's how the restaurant got its name, Chat Thai. 

Chat Thai offers a variety of honest and authentic Thai fare to Sydney diners. It splits it menu by starters such as Mhu Bing: Grilled Pork Skewers (AUD 6 for 2) and Todt Mun Bpla: Fried Fish Cakes (AUD 11), grilled and fried dishes such as Gai Yaang: chargrilled turmeric and lemongrass marinated chicken (AUD 12) and Kai Jiew Bpu: golden and puffy crab meat omelette (AUD 22), and noodles such as Padt Thai: stir-fried thin rice noodles and Padt Si Ew: stir-fried wide rice noodles (both AUD 9.90). A wide selection of curries, soup, desserts and drinks are available too at reasonable price. Since Sydney was so hot in late February, we started our dinner by drinking the iced Thai tea. The tea tastes super good. I think it's really the same type of tea that you can find on a street in Bangkok. 

My friend immediately screamed in excitement when she saw the dish named "Crying Tiger". For a moment, I wonder if this restaurant really cooks tiger meat but thankfully, the meat is beef. Crying Tiger (AUD 12) is actually char-grilled beef tenderloin with smoked chilli and tamarind relish. The chilli sauce and the beef goes well together. 

When you are eating Thai food, Padt Thai (AUD 9.90) is a must-order. The portion served at Chat Thai is huge and the Padt Thai is filled with a lot of hearty seafood ingredients like squid and mussels. I love the Padt Thai but I give those bean sprouts a miss. Chat Thai totally does not skimp on the seafood ingredients for its Padt Thai. 

The chargrilled scallops that we ate back then in February seems to have been taken out from the menu. Chat Thai ensures that it keeps evolving and rotating its menu to spice up its offer to the customers so some dishes may have been taken out here and there occasionally. The chargrilled scallops taste so nicely seasoned and both Lee and myself managed to polish the whole plate clean. Hope Chat Thai will bring this dish back on the menu sometimes in the future. 

Chat Thai is located at: 

20 Campbell Street,

Chinatown, Sydney

Chat Thai's Opening hours: 

lunch: 10AM - 5PM

dinner: 5PM - 10PM

supper: 9.30PM - 2AM

13D Australia Summer Trip: Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

 Sydney's Town Hall is the largest and most ornate late 19th century civic building in Australia. One of the good things about staying in the area of Surry Hills is that you can simply make your way to this rich in history and architecturally spleding Town Hall on foot. The Town Hall is still performing its civic duties for the Australian and it is open during Council's business hours, Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm. You cannot just roam on your own without any particular business in the Town Hall as you will be escorted immediately by the Commissionaire at the George Street entrance to the relevant location of the Town Hall. If you are interested in viewing the venues or specific areas of the building, it is recommended that you join a scheduled tour of the building by contacting Fosth@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. One interesting thing that I noted back then from the Town Hall is the display of the rainbow flag. There was a parade celebrating the rights of LGBT and hence, probably the reason of the rainbow flag. If you are looking for a supermarket (where you can stock a year supply of Timtam and Kitkat), there's a big Woolworths located right opposite Town Hall. The entrance to Town Hall train station is located right in front of Town Hall and Woolworths.

If you continue walking toward the next block on George Street, you will see an astonishing building called the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) which has over 180 of Sydney's fashion boutiques, jewellery shops, homewares shops and several cafes and restaurants. The grand shopping mall has even gained praise by none other than Pierre Cardin (I wonder if he will go to such extent like creating a line inspired by QVB). 

 Just like Covent Garden in London, QVB was historically a market in the olden day. The market has been redesigned and refurbished throughout the years until it has attained its grand state of now. A statue of Queen Victoria is built and displayed right in front of the QVB. I suppose a lot of people has referred to the statue of the queen as their favourite rendezvous point here.

If you are already in awe of the outward look of the QVB, you will be even more amazed at the interior display of history inside the building. A 45-minutes guided tour is available for a fee (SGD 16.89) for people who are interested to learn more about the design and history of QVB which includes the glorious stained glass windows. The tours run on Tues, Thurs, and Sat at 11.30am but do note that QVB is closed on New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. 

 QVB houses many various type of stores from accessories like Pandora and Folli Follie, arts and antiques like The Art of Dr Seuss (which is rather interesting, you should pop by when you have the time) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ladies fashion like Karen Millen and Topshop, footwear like Onitsuka Tiger, Asics and Glue Store, restaurants and cafes like Adriano Zumbo and T2. 

  

While you may feel like going to immediate shopping spree mode at QVB, you may want to make your way to the upper level of the southern half of the shopping centre and go closer to the center where the dome and the clock are located. The clock is named the "Royal Clock" and it was designed by Neil Glasser and made in England. When the clock is activated, it displays scenes of English royalty. 

 The Royal Clock activates on the hour from 9AM to 9PM. I did not manage to see the performance but Wikipedia mentions that each performance begins with the music of the trumpet voluntary as miniature trumpeters emerge from the tops of each of the clock's four outer turrets. There are scenes displayed (one at a time) through windows on both sides of the clock that face the railed walkways. Each scene briefly illuminates to display the story of English royal history. One of the stories depicted by the Royal Clock shows the execution of King Charles I. I suppose the history of the royal is not always filled with sweet wine and roses. 

Queen Victoria Building is located at: 

455 George Street, 

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours: 

Monday - Wednesday, Friday - Saturday 9AM to 6PM

Thursday 9AM to 9PM

Sunday 11AM to 5PM