Get in ma belly, Wagyu and Sashimi Heaven.

Cheat Sheet
Nishiki Wagyu Yakiniku
270 Pacific Highway, Crows Nest, NSW
Cuisine: Japanese BBQ/ Buffet
Costs: $$$
Tips: Good for special occasion, good for couples or even a small group e.g 6-10. Go early round 6pm when it opens before it gets busier. If you're going for the buffet go for the $60 per person, the sashimi and wagyu is mouth watering and worth the upgrade!
Recommendation: Buffet C menu. In house green tea and sesame icecream!!! The Waygu Beef Skirt.



Me and my friend came here to celebrate a special occasion and I'm glad we chose this place in Crows Nest. My friend recently got a proper decent paying job (FINALLY!!) I decided to take her here to celebrate. We were both starving so a buffet is a reasonable choice when it comes to value for money.


Likes: Buffet Menu C, that Wagyu beef is just unbelievable......The "melts in your mouth" moments try it combined with your dips on the table. You cook it the way you like it and honestly it can't go wrong. The unlimited Sashimi, we went crazy with this stuff. Fresh and simple can't ask for more. The fact that the icecream is made in house surprised me. The sesame icecream definately got my attention. I've eaten icecream from all over the place, Norgen Vaaz, Hargen Daaz, Gelatissimo, N2, Streets ice cream, Messina, Ben and Jerrys, Wendys, New Zealand Natural and I've worked at 3 different icecream place so I consider myself quite the icecream connoisseur. The service here is also spot on,

Dislikes: Oysters are limited to 2 per person. =_=" I love oysters but it was clearly started in the T/Cs, we obliterated 4-5 platters of sashimi as revenge.
Overall Verdict: A very nice Japanese buffet, abit on the pricey side but worth it if it's a special occasion. Would definitely come back but just not any time soon.

Week 2 #Project52

Tacos with Amigos @ El Loco, Surry Hills

Cheat Sheet
El Loco: 64 Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Cuisine: Mexican
Costs: $
Tips: Good for groups and a quick/cheap feed.

I've been wanting to check out this place for so long. Located in the trendy Surry Hills, El Loco is a nice Mexican joint found inside a bar.

Likes: Cheap food!!!! $5 tacos, very filling, variety of fillings, nice decor and lighting, indoor and outdoor seating.

Dislikes: Apart from cash this place accepts credit and debit cards with 1% surcharge (=_=)"

Overall Verdict: A very nice place for cheap Mexican food, close proximity to Central Station. Great for Uni students on a budget.

Week 1 #Project52

Project52

I first heard of project52 through a friend on Facebook. Basically it’s meant to be a weekly photo collection for 52 weeks. The idea is that it captures people’s ups and downs and special moments and shares it with others. I liked the idea but unfortunately I’m not a good photographer.

What I do love is good food, sharing it with other people and enjoying the whole experience.  Hence I started my own Project 52.

Instead of photography it would be slightly different…..
Project 52
I will be visiting a new restaurant/bar/café every week for 52 weeks.

I hated going to the same place every time with friends.
Sure we know everything on the menu and we are guaranteed that it would live up to our expectations but it gets boring. I’m a thrill seeker and there’s just something special about discovering a new place to hang, enjoying fine dining and taking the risk of trying something different. Life is short.

For me, I get to
i) Try out new food I’ve never eaten before

ii) Visit new food places I’ve never been to
iii) Enjoy the experience by catching up with old mates and friends
iv) Creating memories throughout the Project 52

I didn’t do it for facebook/instagram likes or whatever social media attention. It’s not about how man Likes or comments, that don’t benefit me. I’m already enjoying what I’m doing.

Unfortunately 52 weeks of dining out has its consequences
i) The extra calories D:
(tastes good? Yeah it tastes like 4 km on the treadmill to me)
Hence to address that I will hit up the gym more…..hopefully
ii) It’s not the cheapest project/hobby

But if I was going to spend money dining out, I might as well try something different.  

At the end of it, I will look back and just say, hey I finished something fun in my life that most people haven’t.  I’ve enjoyed food, shared it people I care about and created wonderful memories which no amount of money can buy.

Draft Plan of 52 Week Challenge
1) El Loco
2) The Treehouse
3) Ryo Ramen
4) Pho @Cabramatta
5) Chur Burger
6) The Grounds of Alexandria
7) Jamie's Italian
8) Bourke St Bakery
9) Chef Gallery
10) Cafe Sydney
11) Black Star Pastery
12) Mad Spudes Cafe
13) Cow & Moon Artisan Gelato
14) Spice Temple
15) Sokyo
16) Jazushi
18) Pho 236
19) Bar H
20) Suminoya
21)Quay
22) Tetsuya
23) Xeno's Cafe Restaurant
24) Nishiki Yagyu Yakiniku Restaurant


I'm still missing 30 places but this list is not in order, there will be places out of Sydney and I'm super excited.
Challlenge Accepted

" Don't ever let someone tell you than you can't do something. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can't do something themselves, they're gonna tell you that you can't do it. You want something, go get it. " (The Pursuit of Happiness)

Not eating at home

Before I post up all the food porn of my adventures, many of my friends ask me why I don't cook or eat at home.
Growing up as a Chinese, I hate Chinese food, I hate my mums cooking. The things is, her cooking is amazing. At parties my mums special Szechuan cold noodles and handmade dumplings are always popular, it is consistently demonstrated at dinner parties when her dishes are the first to run out. But if you;re like me and ate almost 21 years of fried rice or Asian cuisine you would hate it too, no matter how spectacular it is. Of course my mum is a very loving person will try to accommodate my tastes but she likes to improvise, that usually ended with her dangerously drifting away from the recipe, often due to 'healthy' reasons. Just imagine Italian spaghetti with Chinese Bok-Choy and you'll understand what I mean.

Another solution is to cook and sometimes you just a can't achieve restaurant standards at home. My 2min Shin Ramen is nothing compared to Gumshara in Eating world. In the end apart from my laziness and hate for dish washing along with my curiosity to always try something new, I ended up eating out at many places, which hopefully if time management prevails I will share soon.

Growing up

As I grow up, money was always a huge factor in my life as most of you readers can relate. Go to school, get a part time job, get a degree, hopefully full time work etc etc.
I still remember on school excursions to Darling Harbor Sydney, I would see all these nice water front restaurant and out of curiosity I will browse on the menu outside and WOW...... $15 for dessert is damn expensive! This was coming from a boy who was washing dishes for $6 and hour at 13 years old.

As time went by I started earning more, I got smarter, instead of working at a hot and sweaty pizza shop, I moved to an ice cream shop, bit by bit I worked my way up to where I am today. With time and experience you start to learn what is most important to you. Money comes and go, as to your study, the people you met and even friends. What is always consistent is food, it brings people and culture together and most importantly it makes me happy to enjoy food. Its a luxury that brought me plenty of good memories. Other people may like music or have fine tastes in expensive art, just like them my hobby is good food.

When I was young

In the beginning......
 

In a land far far away, in a small town, there was a popular pizza shop franchise, don’t want to name it because I don’t want to get sued. A young 13 years old boy, not even legal was sent off to work for his first part time job. His Chinese parents had no worries in letting their son work in child labor, hopefully it would teach the boy the value of money and get some free pizza.

The Pizza Shop was small, it barely fits the massive pizza oven and it made the room heat up like the Sahara desert in summer. Being young, the boy had to start off in the bottom of the food chain, one shift a week doing dish washing. The 3 hours of it was rostered during peak time when order dockets came pouring in during Friday night dinner. For $6 an hour the young boy slaved away in the heat while washing dishes. One plate and pan after another. 10mins and about 20 pans later, $1 in the bank, sweat pouring down from his forehead, he was thirsty. He looked across the room at the fridge, the frosted window sparkling and tempting him to grab a drink. Bottles of 350ml coke was $2, a much needed refreshment yet it costs 20mins of dish washing.  The young boy put his head down, sighed under his breath and continued cleaning up the pile of dirty dishes.

The child learnt many lessons that day and at the end of the week he got paid $18 for his hard work.
He eagerly rushed to withdraw money from the bank, brandishing his new bank card like a sword he stabbed the ATM machine hoping to get some cash out.

>Sorry the lowest this ATM can disperse are $20 notes.<

His heart crumbled, $2 short, so the young boy left with an empty wallet until next pay check.

Just incase you didn't know, that was the younger, dumber version of me. Everyone starts off with a humble beginning, I look back at mine and still laugh at it.