Wandering Fel

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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.

Sound of Music musical at Sydney Australia

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.

Lindt chocolates from Coles at World Square Sydney

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.

Cake display from Dovetail in Sydney Australia

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".

Chocolate cheesecake from Dovetail at World Square

Dovetail is located at:

9/644 George Street

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 7AM - 9.30PM

Sunday 7.30AM - 9.30PM

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.

13D Australia Summer Trip: Chat Thai, Sydney

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.

Waiting for table at Chat Thai Sydney Australia

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.

Iced Thai Tea from Chat Thai Sydney Australia

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.

Crying Tiger from Chat Thai Sydney Chinatown

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.

Phad Thai from Chat Thai Sydney Chinatown

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.

Chargrilled scallops from Chat Thai Sydney Chinatown

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

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.

13D Australia Summer Trip: Town Hall an Queen Victory Building, Sydney

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).

Queen Victoria Building at George Street Sydney

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.

Statue of Queen Victoria in front of QVB Sydney

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.

Glorious stained glass windows inside QVB Sydney

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.

The Queen Victoria Building at George Street Sydney

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.

Dome and clock of the QVB at Sydney Australia

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.

English royalty diorama shown by the Royal Clock at QVB

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

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Wandering Fel

13D Australia Summer Trip: Dovetail, Sydney

13D Australia Summer Trip: Chat Thai, Sydney

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