Walking into Vivaldi Kitchen feels like walking into a friendly home. And that’s exactly what it’s all about in this family run restaurant- hearty home style meals served with warm smiles. The online reviews for Vivaldi Kitchen are nothing short of amazing, and it’s not hard to see why!
Zucchini Flowers with 4 cheeses ($18)
Back in my uni days I used to take a ‘dumpling tour’ in the Sydney CBD on weekends, and one thing I learnt is that, everyone loves dumplings. Lots of them too!
So it’s not surprisingly that Harajuku Gyoza, a cute little gyoza joint in Potts Point, is quite the popular spot for a quick dumpling fix.
Pork and Prawn Gyoza with Ginger and Spring Onion Dressing, Grilled ($9.8)
The menu is mostly filled with different gyoza varieties, as well as some izakaya share plates. Pork and prawn gyoza are like your typical Japanese style gyoza, with soft a soft wrapper encasing a delicate prawn and pork filling. The ginger and spring onion dressing is light and tasty.
Beef with Shiso Gyoza, Grilled ($8.3)
Beef is a much less common choice of filling, but the beef with shiso gyoza is surprisingly tasty, the shiso imparting an unusual but delicious flavour.
Mozzarella Cheese with Semi-dried Tomato Gyoza, Crispy Fried ($9.2)
For someone completely different we also try the mozzerella cheese and semi dried tomato gyoza which is super crispy, with stretchy cheese in each bite.
Tempura Eggplant ($8.5)
Tempura eggplant is fried in a light, crispy batter, the eggplant itself silky smooth.
Our visit to Yummy Chinese BBQ was a little unintentional. We were infact looking for an all you can eat hotpot joint in Chinatown, but these seem to be very scarce these days so when we saw the sign at the door for all you can eat skewers and hotpot, that was about the closest we could find!
It’s a nice setup, and much tidier and cleaner than most other Chinese skewer/AYCE places we’ve visited in Sydney, and there’s a vast spread of pre-skewered meats, veggies and sides on display. We’re sold instantly!
The idea is that you get a large charcoal bbq in the middle of your table where the meats rotate themself to cook- minimal effort involved! You also get a small hotpot on the side for the best of both worlds!
We start with the sides where there is a large selection of chilled veggie dishes.
Then we move onto the meats where there is everything from your typical chicken, beef, lamb to offal.
We find somethings work well on the rotating bbq, other things not so much. Like the sausages which were so soft they fell off the skewer, or the unbalanced chicken which would not rotate. All part of the fun I guess!
You’re also given a net where you can grill unskewered items like enoki mushrooms, corn and garlic bread.
The hotpot selection comes with your typical options of veggies, fish balls, mushrooms etc. Beef and lamb slices are ordered and brought out from the kitchen.
There’s also soft serve for dessert and on the day we visit there’s vanilla and matcha on offer.
You’ll be spoilt for choice if you’re looking for Korean restaurants in Lidcombe, but for something a little different, try PR Korean.
Specialising in chicken BBQ, there’s hot plates filled with chicken cooking in red sauce on every table when we visit. Of course, there’s you usually Korean classics, but if you’re at PR Korean, you’re here for the Chicken BBQ.
Octopus Chicken BBQ ($22pp)
Most are here for just the regular spicy chicken but we went for something little different with the octupus chicken bbq, which arrives as a mass of chicken and veggies. It’s a raw mountain of food that it cooked by staff, which is totally part of the fun!
Cook time is around 10 minutes and we almost thought they forgot about the octopus, but it is added at the end.
Octopus Chicken BBQ ($22pp)
It is definitely on the spicy side so it’s not for those who are sensitive to spice but it’s a super satisfying feed otherwise, with plenty of chicken, cabbage and other additions like rice cake. We eat ours with the side of lettuce, but there’s also optional add ins like rice (which is mixed in to make fried rice once you get to the end) but the pot itself is more than enough for the two of us.
If there’s one cuisine I don’t have enough of it would Greek, so I was excited to join FCBA at their dinner at Platia Greek Taverna, not only for a night of good food but also plate smashing!
Their plate smashing occurs once a month on Friday nights, and is a fun filled night with performances, dancing, and the opportunity to relieve all your stress by smashing plates on the ground (don’t worry, they’re not real plates,it’s not dangerous at all!).
