Review: Stra Pocha, Strathfield

Someone should have warned me about the ring of fire I was going to get.

...and we didn't even order the famous "Fire Chicken".

A couple of weeks ago we arrived at the doors of Stra Pocha for a last minute surprise dinner for a dear friend who was in need of a bit of Cheerios. Situated on the bend of Everton Street, right across from Strathfield station on the "non-plaza side", this little place was definitely a very convenient place to meet and just settle down for a good time.

On most nights this place is pretty filled, and booking in advance is definitely recommended. One of the perks of the place are the little private dining rooms which they have where everyone gets to sit on the floor and dangle their legs in the the pitch of darkness under the table.

Unfortunately for us, we only got a comfortable little booth tucked in a cozy corner of the restaurant.
Like most Korean restaurants, after orders are taken, individual side dishes such as kimchi and potato salad are quickly distributed. I don't know about you, but these little dishes have often saved me from certain death from starvation.

Kumja Tang-Spicy Pork & Potato Soup - Medium - $42

For the night was had the Kumja Tang-Spicy Pork & Potato soup. I think when we saw the word 'spicy', we really did underestimate just how spicy the soup would be. I mean, c'mon, it was only rated ONE chilli (aka. mild). Little did we know our tongues were soon burning - not that it stopped us from devouring it though - the soup itself was definitely worth the pain, and the meat off the pork bones were certainly to die for.

Whole Chicken Pieces & Baby Octopus on Hot Plate - $40

And well, if we were dying from a ONE chilli rating, then you could probably imagine what it was like trying the Whole Chicken Pieces and Baby Octopus on Hot Plate. If you're wondering, it had a TWO chilli rating.

Ooooooh. Gangster.

Luckily, we soon learned that there is nothing in the world that a glass of Shoju cannot fix. In other news, the rice cakes in this dish was definitely the highlight for me. I'm a sucker for rice cakes.
Ooooh, grill.

Now the reason why I chose Stra Pocha was to relive my memory of its delicious BBQ. FYL originally complained about how Korean BBQ's always make your clothes stinky by the end of the night. To me, that simply interprets into a night of fun in clothes-you-don't-really-care-about-so-you-just-throw-them-into-the-washing-machine-when-you-get-home. The formula in my head is simple.

Clothes vs. Food?

Is that even a question?

Marinated Juicy Pork Ribs - $38

Now where was I...oh right, reliving the memory part. I've been to this place a couple of times before - perhaps a few years ago, and I remember it distinctively for its selection of wonderfully marinated meat and seafood. Alas I could not resist and ordered the Pork Ribs.

A big plus of this place is the huge serving sizes. At $38 per serve, it may seem steep when you first order, especially if you go by the standard sizes served at other restaurants. I would say that for 3 girls and 2 boys, the amount we had satisfied us perfectly. No wastage, no complaints of stinginess.

*Sizzle Sizzle*

So was I disappointed by this visit? No, definitely not. Not by a long shot. I would probably rate this place higher than Suminoya in terms of BBQ alone. Suminoya still kicks major backsides in the realm of unlimited sashimi and awesome salads. (I'm keeping this blog PG rated, for those who are raising their eyebrows at me.)

Please don't start egging my house. Each to their own okay? Just chill.

At least TC's Mr. Smiley Cupcake agrees with me.


Stra Pocha
19-21 Everton Road
Strathfield, NSW 2135
Tel: (02) 9745 5959

When food brings people together...

BBQ's are fun. Especially when the people who are in charge of the BBQ have absolutely no idea what they are doing and before long everyone is reduced back as if they were children again. Messing around with dirty bits of coal and firestarters, we resembled a bunch of headless chooks scurrying around in attempt to work the mechanics of a coal BBQ.

Look. We're Asian. BBQ working skills just isn't inherit in our blood.

Everyone at there that day grew up as little kids together. It's weird that now one of us is getting married and most of us are all grown up and doing our own individual things. Despite our ages, I think if someone had been watching us that day, we really were just a bunch of big kids. JX continued his ritual of bullying me...and I to SL...and then SO-Y ran around lost amidst all the commotion.

Big kids. Yes?
Everyone contributed a little on the day. JX and his fiancé contributed the house and the meats and the BBQ itself. SL forgot his part...which were the potatoes, but that was almost entirely in character and expected. My little addition was a simple mixed leaf salad and avocado with a Japanese dressing to go with it. I'll post a recipe for it when I finally get my hands on the last ingredient, which I think may need to be shipped from Hawaii.

Gosh.
These were Alice's Szechuan Lamb Skewers. They were heavily flavoured with cumin, and an absolute delight to munch on.

Unfortunately, the first batch of chicken wings were utterly charred. They still tasted good nevertheless - we just cut off all the burnt bits and continued on. There was another batch of wings on the way anyway.

Luckily for us the weather was extremely warm and beautiful that day. We somehow managed to strike gold by choosing one of the warmest winter days this year. 28°C in August?

Oh how I'm going to die during Summer this year. Dang you global warming!

Apart from being outside of the house and enjoying the great weather, the other thing I look forward to during a BBQ is the plate of SNAGS waiting to be munched on. Nothing beats a good sausage sizzle with some mustard and caramelised onions. They make BBQs what they are today!

The teriyaki chicken was the last to appear and we were seriously filled the to brim by the time this arrived. The meat was soooo extremely tender and juicy and I was so sad I had not left enough room to enjoy more of it.

JX happily said that this would become his lunch at work the next day. I think I wanted to kick him.

After the food we sat around and caught up on the various happenings in life. Then we moved on to Wii and rediscovered the fun of Raving Rabbids and Mario Kart.

Oh my goodness. Someone buy me a Wii already!

Review: Suminoya, Sydney

If there ever was a competition for the closest place to Heaven on Earth, I would personally make CERTAIN that Suminoya was on the shortlist.

The idea of this place is sheer genius. An all-you-can-eat Japanese BBQ which, for a mere $49 (for the Premium buffet - do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT just opt for the cheaper version. You'll regret it and have it haunting you in your nightmares for the rest of your culinary life) you can eat ALL the Japanese style BBQ meats, as well as fresh salmon sashimi, various salads, grilled eel and other seafood your stomach can handle for 2 hours.

And it is because of this place, that the new term "food babies" was discovered. I believe the official entry in the Oxford English Dictionary is this:

Food Baby: n. (pl. food babies) The phenomenon where one's lower abdomen protrudes out of the top of one's jeans/skirt as a result of overindulgence in food, leading to a physique similar to a pregnant woman. Many resolve this issue by loosening their belts/not wearing a belt to begin with. - "Oh gosh I feel my food baby growing."

Garlic Butter Prawns
I think we order like 10 foil cups of these babies. Oh gosh they were so nommilicious! Possibly not as flavoursome as your typical plate of garlic prawns, but good enough to satisfy the temptation.

Let's all take a minute of silence to admire its glory under the exhaust fans.


Excuse the blurring. I'm still a newbie at shooting in low-light.
This was my bowl of Seafood Salad. I know a lot of people might flame me for the following declaration, but I'm going to do it anyway, just because I've just had 3 glasses of wine and I feel like I'm invincible.

"This is possibly my favourite dish at Suminoya. And I would have it every night if I could."

There, I said it. I have confessed my sin and I feel better already.

The bowl of salad contains a few slices of raw salmon, sliced prawns, marinated seaweed and mixed lettuce, drizzled with a deliciously light Japanese mayo dressing. I definitely recommend this to provide a bit of contrast to all the meat you eat at the place. The tanginess of the dressing really cuts through the richness of the meats.

The above picture shows one of possibly 10 plates of fresh sashimi we had. By 10 I really think I meant 20, 'cause we really demolished them good. We ordered roughly 5 salmon and 5 kingfish on each plate, and I think the rest of the table demolished 3 plates by the time I finished photographing everything so that WW ended up having to put a slice of salmon on my plate before it ran out again. Beef Harami & Beef Loin
I personally prefer beef harami over the beef loin because I believe it tastes sweeter. WW begs to differ and says that he couldn't taste any difference. Pity I don't have a picture, but the uncooked harami comes to the table looking like it's been marinated in a slightly darker sauce, while the beef loins looks a very bright red - almost as if it hadn't been marinated at all (but I'm pretty sure it had). Either way, I'm pretty content eating either one. They're my favourite meats on offer (yes, over and beyond the Beef Tongue).

I was told that this was the Mixed Seafood. To this I responded a shocked, "WHAAT? BUT THIS IS JUST SCALLOP TRIMMINGS!"

I ate it anyway. What's in a name anyway? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

So...when it came to dessert, I believe to call us over-to-top would be quite the understatement.

Here, my fellow troopers, is the map of our planned attack on the dessert region on the menu. It would require us demolishing mountains of Lemon Sorbet, guarded by the lone Coffee Jelly in the north-western region of the battlefield, until we reach Mount Green Tea & Vanilla Ice Creams with Red Bean. There is to be no stopping for breaks in between as our target will not stay in position for long. This is an ambush! There will be NO leniency for incompetency!

Clearly I've never been in an army, or cadets, or anything of the like. But my whacked up imagination takes me places. It's like I can be high without having to spend money, smoke bad stuff that kills my lungs, or inject chemicals into myself. Economical isn't it?


That's my Coffee Jelly. The white stuff on top is condensed milk, which makes it only the more yummier. Some people think that the coffee jelly is too strong, and really quite bitter. However, I started drinking double-shot unsweetened cappucinos before I learnt how to ride a bike (true story), so I was game enough to try, despite the look on DW and MW's faces.

I had my coffee jelly with this - Green Tea Ice Cream. The combination could only be described as...the-O-word-in-a-teaspoon.

Haha. I kid you not. This stuff was good. Even with the corn flakes (yeah what the heck right?) and red beans.

And so who finished all the Lemon Sorbet on the table?


Well...there's five right there. And RY finished them good.

Seriously.

No. Seriously.

We completely annihilated the army of ice creams and sorbet. We nommed that stuff good.

Suminoya
1 Hosking Place, Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9231 2110

P.S. Definitely book. There's usually a 6:30pm session and a 8:30pm session. While you can eat for 2 hours, orders will only be taken in the first hour.