Cookbookmaniac
  • Wagaya – Modern Japanese Izakaya
    Wagaya – Modern Japanese Izakaya
    Asian Restaurant Reviews

    I am part of a food-obsessed family. My father is a former Yum Cha Chef. My mother is an amazing home cook. All my sisters and I think nothing of opening the fridge at midnight to fry up a meal from scratch. We do not hesitate spending an entire day making dumplings in the kitchen. When I decided to start a food blog, it seemed like I had just announced I was slicing an apple. Gastronmic connoisseurs? Nope, we are foodlovers. We travel far and wide looking for a great bowl of noodles, we pay no attention to the time of day when we are hungry, we bicker about who-ate-what and didn't share it, we gossip about who-went-where and didn't get to go, we fly across the world just to eat and shop, we each have a friend that thinks we are crazy food geeks. Its Chinese New Year and…

  • Lunar New Year – Tet Vietnamese Festival
    Restaurant Reviews

    Vietnamese Lunar New Year falls on the same day as Chinese New Year. It was (and still is) my favourite time of the year as a young child. My sisters and I would eagerly wait for the auspicious red packets to be handed to us from our parents and our older relatives. They were considered lucky money and were given to young children and the elderly. We would always compete with each other on who got the most money and red envelopes by the end of the day. It was a lot of fun teasing the least successful recipient. What were we to do with all this money? Personally, I couldn't wait to spend it all on food, rides and games at the Tet Festival! The carnival was once held at a park in Cabramatta, during the suburbs troubled times. It was occasionally overrun by gangsters and I recall on…

  • Gumshara – This broth is so hearty, it is going to give me a heart attack!
    Asian Restaurant Reviews

    "Hey Pizzaboy, I'm thinking I might do a theme". "Uh oh... like what?" "My search for the best ramen in Sydney" "Ok! I'm in. Where are we going!" You may have read about how Pizzaboy and I discovered and fell in love with Tonkotsu Ramen in Japan. Ever since our return we have realised that there are many ramen restaurants throughout Sydney. It was just a matter of getting out there and finding the one that calls out my name and says to me "I am the one". According to Time Out Sydney, Gumshara is one of the top 5 noodle places in Sydney. That is a very bold statement. Sydney is a city that has seen waves of immigration and now has so many authentic places to dine at, whittling the list to just five seems impossible and unfathomable. "We're going to Gumshara". "Whatshara? Gaa Gaa?" "They boil down…