Little Haveli Indian Restaurant, Ultimo

How was it?
Food: 8/10 

Service: 6/10 

Ambience: 6/10 

Value: $

We had originally planned to go to the Night Noodle Markets, but after being rather disappointed the previous two years, Carrie and I decided to head elsewhere. She took me to one of her fave Indian restaurants in Ultimo called Little Haveli.

Medium Meal $8.00

Rice + Palak Paneer + Butter Chicken

They have a number of special meal deals on offer. You can choose to have either the small, medium or large meal, which comes with rice and your choice of two curries. The different choice of meal sizes reflect the portion sizes. Prices also vary depending on whether you choose vegetable or meat curries. We both decided to order the medium meal (a bargain at $8.00), with one vegetable curry and one meat curry. I decided to be naughty and ordered the naan bread instead of rice - I love naan bread!

Palak Paneer 

Spinach Curry with Cottage Cheese Cubes 

Carrie ordered the Palak Paneer as her vegetable curry. I loved the colour and strong flavour of the spinach. It's always good when the food arrives and it matches it's description! The cottage cheese was lovely and soft and did not overpower the curry at all. 

Butter Chicken

Boneless Chicken Roasted in Tandoor Cooked in Tomato, Cream and Almond Sauce 

The meat curry that Carrie chose was the butter chicken. An oldie but a goodie. It's pretty hard to go wrong with butter chicken, but I know that a lot of places do. The chicken pieces were lovely and tender, the curry was flavoursome, rich, creamy and a little bit sweet. Definitely enjoyed.

Naan Bread

I requested to have naan bread instead of rice (it wasn't on the menu) and they had no problems changing it for me. The naan bread was good, it wasn't as amazing as the one at Thousand Spices, I like my naan bread to have that extra crispness without being hard! 

Dal Makhani 

Lentils Cooked with Onion and Tomato finished with butter & cream 

I ordered the Dal Makhani as my vegetable curry choice. It was simple and delicious. It's practically healthy, minus the butter and cream! The texture was nice and creamy, not too thick though. And I liked the soft lentils. 

Chicken Tikka Masala 

Boneless Chicken Roasted in Tandoor, with Onions, Capsicum, and Tomato

Another oldie, but a goodie. I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala as my meat curry. The chicken pieces were lovely and tender, like in Carrie's butter chicken. It wasn't too spicy, but it did have a slight kick to it, which was most welcome. 

Overall: 

I loved the whole no muss, no fuss attitude at Little Haveli. Not much is given to food presentation, decor and ambience, but it doesn't really matter when the food is not only delicious, the portions sizes are generous and it really is cheap as chips! There's also a little sink inside the restaurant where you can wash your hands after getting down and dirty with your meal - I thought that was really cute and thoughtful!

Little Haveli 

153 Broadway, 

Ultimo NSW 2007 

Tel: (02) 9212 2471

Open 7 Days for dinner 

www.littlehaveli.com.au

About Me

Hi there!

Welcome to The Hungry Girl.

I started this blog in March 2009 to chronicle my many food adventures around Sydney (and hopefully, beyond!).

The Basics ~

I was born and raised in the inner west of Sydney.
I have a Chinese/Cambodian background.
I have completed a commerce degree and am currently working in the food industry.
I will travel for food.

Inspirations ~

The first inspiration for my blog would have to be my good friend K, who grew up in Singapore and is obsessed with all things new, shiny and techy. When we first met, I noticed her weird tendency to take photos of all of our food. At first I was rather boggled by this strange behaviour, but then I started to get in on the act and loved it!

I have also been inspired by some awesome food blogs, which I had been lurking around for quite some time. I never intended to make friends or even meet people through this blog, but I have had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with some lovely bloggers :)

How often do I dine out and with who? ~

You may think that I must dine out every day of the week and am some sort of giant. But I'm not really. On average, I dine out maybe once during the week and twice over the weekend (Friday is included in my weekend. hehe).

I have lovely dining companions who put up with my camera and photo-taking! And no, sorry. You cannot just 'come with me'. I have to actually know you. I do not do any sort of food review tour thing, I have a real job!

Confession ~

1. I don't really know how to cook. But I'm learning. Apparently I will never be a good wife, until I have mastered the art of cooking! Oh dear.

2. I am a massive teeny bopper. Yes, I really do like Zac Efron, I'm not going to lie. But, have you not seen the awesomeness/overly lame/cringe fest that is HSM 1, 2 AND 3? (How good was 3?) My friends still love me for it, I think.

A little bit more.... ~

Aside from my love of food (Japanese especially), I love shopping and travelling. My dream would be to travel to every country to shop and eat. That's all really.

Disclaimer ~

I am not a professional writer, critic or photographer. Just an average person, like yourself, giving their opinion of their experience. My experience may be different to yours, so obviously you will need to make up your own mind.

If there's anything else you'd like to know about me, please leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!

Contact ~
bettythehungrygirl@gmail.com

O Bal Tan Korean BBQ Restaurant, Haymarket

How was it? 

Food: 7/10 

Service: 6.5/10 

Ambience: 6.5/10 

Value: $$

El was keen to try Korean BBQ, so I took her down the little alleyway off Pitt St, into Koreantown aka Korean BBQ Heaven! We decided to skip the 20+ minute queue waiting for Madang, and walked into O Bal Tan. It looked a little bit deserted, but not to worry as we were ushered to a more lively and happening upstairs. 

BBQ Pit 

Korean BBQ allows you to cook your own food and it's a fun way to be a part of your own dining experience. And here's a quick tip: when going to any sort of BBQ restaurant there's no need to shower beforehand, as you'll come out smelling like smoke and meat and other BBQ goodness. So you will definitely need to shower afterwards.. unless you like sleeping with that smell, then go ahead! 

Table exhaust! (Fancy, no?) 

Unsure of what to order, we perused the menu for quite a while. We ordered three items and were unsure of whether that would be enough, and let me tell you - it was way more than enough! Because of all the complimentary side dishes.....! 

Sauces/Condiments 

Sauces/Condiments

Vegetable Soup

The vegetable soup was a lovely surprise. It was served cold, which was a little bit strange at first, but then the tangy, sour and sweet flavours worked really well to awaken the tastebuds for what was to come. 

Cabbage 

We both got a plate of cabbage, which I thought was really nice of them! The cabbage was light and tangy, and I polished this all off pretty quickly! 

Pancakes 

I wasn't sure what this was, but it tasted like some sort of rice cake with shallots inside. It was a tad too oily as the oil seemed to overpower the little pancakes. 

Pasta with Pumpkin Puree 

Another side dish was the pasta with pumpkin puree. I quite enjoyed the pumpkin puree as it tasted like real pumpkin! 

Kimchi 

Gotta have kimchi at a Korean restaurant! It was quite good, just a little bit of the hot and spicy goodness goes a long way! 

Pickled Onions

The final side dish was the pickled onions. They were nice and quite sweet, but didn't really compare to some of the other side dishes. 

Lettuce/Cucumber/Garlic/Onion basket 

for BBQ

Ggom Jang Eo $18.00

In Chore Hagfish Grilled with Chilli Sauce 

Ggom Jang Eo $18.00

In Chore Hagfish Grilled with Chilli Sauce

The first BBQ dish that we ordered was the Ggom Jang Eo (In Chore Hagfish grilled with chilli sauce). Having no idea what this particular kind of fish was like, we took a chance. And it paid off! In Chore Hagfish which are the little spots of red at the bottom of the tray, are similar to eel. Quite slimy and chewy, but delicious when grilled with chilli sauce! 

U-Seul $17.00

Ox Tongue 

U-Seul $17.00

Ox Tongue

I remembered really enjoying Ox Tongue at Suminoya, so I convinced El that she too had to try it! If the thought of eating Ox Tongue freaks you out (it freaked me out at first too!), then try to forget the name and pretend it's just another piece of meat. A lovely, tender, slighty firm piece of meat! So good when it's all sizzling! Definitely our favourite of the evening. 

Pa Jeon $12.00

Vegetables with Seafood Pancake 

The seafood pancake was huge and quite different to what I was expecting! I was expecting little pieces, like at Se Jong, but this was the size of a regular pizza! And it came in a basket, making it look so nice and rustic! It was delicious with the crispy outer and soft and generously filled inner. I love Korean seafood pancake, especially from Se Jong, and I always try to convince my dining partners to try it, sometimes I'm lucky :) 

Overall: 

O Bal Tan definitely exceeded my initial first impressions. The food was good and the prices were fairly reasonable. It's best to share, so that you get the whole experience. The service is quick and friendly, they have buzzers on each table, so they won't come to you unless you buzz - keep that in mind! Don't forget to try the Ox Tongue! 

O Bal Tan Korean BBQ Restaurant

363A Pitt St, 

Haymarket NSW 2000

Tel: (02) 9269 0299

Open 7 Days 

Selina Restaurant, Fairfield

How was it? 

Food: 4/10 

Service: 4/10 

Ambience: 5/10 

Value: 5/10 

I wasn't sure if I was going to write a post about Selina Restaurant in Fairfield because I had quite a bad dining experience there. But I thought I'd do it because the food blog is about all my dining experiences whether good or bad. 

It was a public holiday Monday and the restaurant was quite busy. It looks like your regular hole-in-the wall suburban eatery - cheap, cheerful and authentic. Pictures of Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia), Apsara women, and beaches lined the walls. The tables were lined with pink tablecloth with glass on top. Underneath the glass people had randomly thrown in their business cards, so the tables have now become noticeboards or advertisements. We were shown to our table when we walked in, but had to wait about 20 minutes for them to clear the table from the previous diners and then another 10 minutes to get menus. Not the best way to treat a hungry diner. 

Green Papaya Salad (Laos Style) $8.00

Selina Restaurant serve a mix of Thai, Laos and Cambodian food. According to my source, they are the sister shop of the popular Laos Village, just around the corner (which we originally wanted to go to, but didn't want to wait in line - yes, there was a line!). In hindsight, we should have just waited. Firstly, we ordered the green papaya salad (Laos style), they also have a Thai style papaya salad. It didn't come with any of the tiny black crabs that are normally present in papaya salads. I thought that it was really chilli, which I normally wouldn't mind with papaya salads, but this one was lacking in flavour and substance, so I didn't persevere. 

Fried Rice with Seafood $9.00

Fried Rice with Seafood $9.00

The fried rice was really interesting and definitely my favourite of the night. I saw most tables with a plate of this, so it must be a speciality. The fried rice had a lovely and crispy outer shell, they must leave it in the wok for it to get that way. I thought that they could have been a little bit more generous with the seafood, but all in all it was quite good and I think I would order this dish again. 

BBQ Beef $8.50 

BBQ Beef $8.50 

The BBQ Beef slices were disappointing. When it was brought out, it looked quite nice until closer inspection and I could see layers of fat on each of the slices. I was grossed out. I tried one, it was so chewy and tough that I just couldn't have anymore. 

Overall: 

I was not impressed by Selina Restaurant at all. I wouldn't have minded the wait and the terrible service if the food was great, but it was nowhere near there. Perhaps they were understaffed because of the public holiday, but that should be no excuse. It was a packed house though and there were plenty of locals, so perhaps it was just me or we chose the wrong things! 

Selina Restaurant 

8/9 Dale St, 

Fairfield NSW 2165

Tel: (02) 9725 6999

Open 7 days

Breakfast Egg Casserole

Recently, I read about breakfast casserole's on Kalyn's Kitchen. I liked the idea of throwing anything in as long as you have eggs. So, one morning I had a tin of chickpeas lying around and I could tell that they wanted to swim around in some eggs, make friends with some broccoli, salami and cheese. So who was I to take that dream away from them? 

Anyway...!! It was a Saturday morning, and I was in the mood for something hearty and healthy, so I decided to try my hand at baking a breakfast egg casserole. 

It was super easy to make and it really is up to you what you want to put into your casserole. Here are my ingredients: 

Makes 4 Serves 

(adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen) 

1 x head of brocolli 

6 x eggs, beaten 

6 x small slices of Hot Hungarian Salami 

1 x tin chickpeas 400gr

1 x cup of tasty cheese 

salt & pepper to taste 

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 200°C

2. Bring a pot of water to boil to steam the broccoli. 

3. Cut up the broccoli and throw into the boiled water for about 3 minutes, afterwards drain the broccoli and let it cool.

4. Rinse chickpeas and drain  

5. Beat eggs together 

6. Cut up the salami into small slices 

7. Assemble the chickpeas, broccoli and salami in a baking dish 

8. Pour egg mixture over 

9. Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C

About to head into the oven! 

Ta-da! 

I have to say that I was actually pretty amazed by my own breakfast! (Is it bad to say that? Hehe). The chickpeas added a lovely crunch, and the salami gave it a really nice hot kick! I will be making this again, but I might add 2 more eggs next time because it wasn't as eggy as I would've liked :) 

Sugar Hit @ Perama, SIFF 2009

How was it? 

Food: 8.5/10

Service: 7/10

Ambience: 7/10

Value: $$

So, I haven't made a huge effort with the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) this year, I could list a number of excuses, but none of them would really suffice, but hey, there's always next year :) Anyway, I finally made it to my first sugar hit last night - yay! 

After dinner with some lovely ladies - Karen, Lili, Lisa, Leona and Steph - we all decided that a sugar hit at Perama would be a fine way to top off the evening. The only problem was that the sugar hit at Perama was running from 10pm - midnight, and it was only 8.30pm at this point. So we called up  and they were lovely enough to squeeze us in - thank you :) 

Assorted Shortbreads

 

We ordered a few sugar hits and then a few extra dessert items to share. The sugar hit consists of a taste of four of Perama's desserts and also comes with your choice of beverage (tea, coffee, Greek coffee or Patras Muscat dessert wine) and shortbreads. I didn't manage to try any of the shortbreads, but I do recall some girls moaning at the aromas coming from those little treats! 

Sugar Hit Platter

Yiouzlemedes, 'Triflaki'

The first two items on the platter (pictured above) were the Yiouzlemedes and the 'Triflaki'. The Yiouzlemedes is a fried pastry with manouri cheese filling - 'a dessert from Lesbos', it was served with poached quince and a quince syrup. I really liked the pieces of poached quince sprawled across the top of the pastry, they were lovely but not too sweet. I thought the cheese was a little bit too cheesy for my liking, so it's definitely for the cheese lovers! 

The 'Triflaki' was a created especially for this weeks sugar hit. It is a layered ice cream trifle of vanilla buffalo milk gelato, tsoureki (Greek brioche) soaked in sour cherry syrup and chocolate buffalo milk gelato!! Chef David Tsirekas collaborated with the owners of Gelatomassi to create this beauty. And oh, it was to-die-for. I loved the different textures in the layers, the sour cherry was beautifully sandwiched in and the gelato was delicious. Absolutely loved it! 

Sugar Hit Platter 

Poached Pears in Spiced Red Wine Syrup, Dried Fig Karithopita

The poached pears were a tad too tender for my liking. I remember a larger portion at our infamous Perama feast to end all feasts, and I thought that was amazingly soft. The dried fig karithopita is a walnut and semolina cake soaked in honeyed sugar syrup. The cake was really interesting, the smooth cream in the middle offsetted the sweetness of the walnut and semolina cake. It was definitely a crowd pleaser and the only problem was that it wasn't big enough! Hehe. 

Mystery Dessert! 

We also ordered a few desserts a-la-carte to share, and to everyone's surprise this amazing looking mystery platter arrived! 

We weren't sure what it was, but I can tell you that if there's such a thing as a food orgasm, this particular dessert could certainly induce it! It was amazing! Imagine two rich chocolate cookies with peanut butter ice cream wedged in between them. Awesome, no? Every part of this dessert was to-die-for. The chocolate cookie/biscuit was rich, crumbly, but not too crumbly and the peanut butter ice cream was lovely and creamy. Simply amazing. I could go on and on about it... but I'll stop now! 

Caramel Baklava Ice Cream 

Passionfruit Bougasta 

Passionfruit Bougasta 

The caramel baklava ice cream was delicious, as expected. Love the sweet combination. The passionfruit bougasta was huge and decorated with a swirl of icing sugar on top - pretty! On our two previous trips to Perama, we tried the mandarin bougastas. The passionfruit bougasta was deliciously sweet and a little bit tangy, but I thought that it didn't have that wow factor that the mandarin one had.  But don't get me wrong, I'd never refuse a bougasta regardless of filling! :) Karen said that she could just have caramel baklava and the bougasta  and she'd die a happy woman. I believe her. 

Overall: 

The sugar hit at Perama was great value. The service is always friendly, not to mention the wonderfully creative and delicious desserts! So, you still have a few days til the end of October, so I'd definitely recommend squeezing in a sugar hit at Perama, the diet can wait til Monday ;) 

Perama Greek Restaurant, 

88 Audley St,

Petersham NSW 2049

Tel: (02) 9569 7534 

www.perama.com.au

P.s. Thank you to the girls for a lovely evening. And to Lili - I hope you have the most awesome time overseas, can't wait to hear all about your adventures! Eat lots and be happy :) Love AB xx 

Huong Giang, Marrickville + Gelato!

How was it? 

Food: 6.5/10 

Service: 6.5/10

Ambience: 5/10 

Value: $

A couple of Mondays ago, K emailed me and suggested going for a 'quick pho' in Marrickville. Of course I said yes. Fast forward a few hours and we're seated in one of the newer Vietnamese restaurants on Marrickville Rd - Huong Giang. K was a little bit apprehensive of walking in, possibly due to the fact that there weren't many patrons and it was lit in bright green light (don't know what kind of theme they were going for, but it certainly was not working for me or my photos - so apologies in advance!). 

Assorted veges and beansprout 

Anyway, we walked in and took our seats and had the eager waiter bustling about us, fetching us tea and menus. We both wanted a 'quick pho', but then I saw on their cover that they specialise in Bun Bo Hue, so I had to try it! 

Pho Dac Biet $10.00

Beef noodle soup with rare beef, brisket, tripe, tendon & beef balls

Pho Dac Biet $10.00

Beef noodle soup with rare beef, brisket, tripe, tendon & beef balls

K went with the Pho Dac Biet, although she asked to get it without the tripe or tendon, from memory. We both thought that it was considerably more expensive than the bowls of pho you can get in Cabramatta, but did it taste better? Unfortunately K was not impressed. She said it was ok but that it was nothing special. I managed to taste a bit of it, and I thought it was not too bad, but then I am much easier to please than K. Lol. I thought that the beef soup was quite flavoursome, the noodles were soft and there were definitely generous with the meat. 

Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet $9.00

Special Beef Noodle Soup 

Thick rice vermicelli with sliced pork, beef and blood jelly in hot & spicy lemongrass soup

Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet $9.00

Bun Bo Hue Dac Biet $9.00

The Bun Bo Hue, like the pho, was ok but nothing special. I thought that the soup was a tad too oily and it didn't have that spicy kick that I'm used to having at Gia Hoi. I thought that the noodles here were nicer though (not as slippery!) and I quite enjoyed the sliced pork and blood jelly. Hehe. 

Despite the pretty average meals, we both managed to polish off our bowls! I also ordered some takeaway for my brother. I ordered the crispy fried noodles for him, and he said that it was ok, but it was a little bit bland. I didn't try it, so you can take that as one very picky boys' opinion! 

Overall: 

I think that Huong Giang definitely has potential. I'll be interested to go back in a few months to see if they've improved or made any changes. It's definitely not a bad choice if you're looking for a quick pho or meal in Marrickville. 

So, what's after dinner you ask? Gelato, of course! 

Two Scoops $5.40

Upon K's request, we decided to head up to Newtown to Ice+Slice for some gelato. I hadn't been there in so long, I had almost forgotten how much I loved them! K had the chocolate gelato and lemon sorbet - the chocolate was lovely and sweet, I'm not a huge lemon or sorbet fan, but K thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Two Scoops $5.40

I chose the pistachio which was delicious and had that beautifully rich and real taste of pistachios. The other flavour I chose was called 'innocence' - it was white chocolate, coffee and hazelnut - three of the best flavours in one! Absolute perfection. I was so content with my gelato :) 

Obviously. 

Huong Giang 

287 Marrickville Rd, 

Marrickville NSw 2204 

Tel: (02) 9569 3698

Ice + Slice 

135 King St, 

Newtown NSW 2042

Tel: (02) 9516 4595

Open 7 days 

www.iceandslice.com.au