Free lunch at CBD & Spicy Szechuan Noodles

Coca Cola Lunchbox - cute!

While walking around the city today, J noticed a small crowd in the middle of the street. He saw lots of people walking away carrying a small, bright red box. Bursting with curiosity, he joined the queue and received a red box too. It was in fact, a lunch box containing healthy munchies!!

OoO.. An unfamiliar design

Coca Cola Zero!!

Is it right to consider Coca-Cola Zero as a healthy drink? I mean, it contains zero sugar, so that means less carbs right? Of course, nothing's better than plain water. But ugh, I only like my water cold. I always prefer Diet Coke or Coca Cola Zero (for now, haha) to regular Coke anyway. Always. But restaurants in Malaysia hardly ever offer Diet Cokes anyway, I wonder why, surely there's a market for it? I mean I know that diet soft drinks are more expensive than regular soft drinks in Malaysia but surely one wouldn't mind paying extra few cents for it? I know I wouldn't..

I mean there are more people, especially ladies who are health-conscious nowadays. I'm not sure if I'm contradicting myself by saying diet soft-drinks are better than regular soft-drinks, but for a person like myself who likes sweet, bubbly, gassy drinks (such as Coca-Cola), and be able to enjoy them once a while without feeling guilty, I say let's serve more light soft-drinks in eateries!! Be it mamak stalls, trendy cafes or posh restaurants! Haha.

And no, this is not a paid review of Coca-Cola Zero, although I wish it is.

Pumpkin, egg mayo and salad wrap

J said that the salad wrap was pretty average, but that's because he's not a pumpkin-lover. Still, it's healthy and fresh, what's more the box could be re-used again, such as storing biscuits or sandwishes for pinics.. thus, for the conclusion: Nice!!

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Spicy Szechuan Noodles at Red Silk

Here's yet another review of Red Silk Bar and Restaurant. Can you tell already that this is the ultimate favourite lunch spot for J (for those who have been reading the blog since the very beginning, which was just very recently)? He never gets tired of the food there, even when I tell him to try other eateries in the city because I (means the readers-lah) need more variety! SIGH. Wait till I come back to Melbourne next month, then there will be more food reviews on other eateries.. actually not so much also, maybe more towards my home-cooking, because I like to cook a lot. And eat a lot also. Another big SIGH.


I can understand him also, it was just like how I can never get tired of the nasi lemak stall at my primary and secondary school's canteen, even after eating there nearly everyday (sometimes 2-3 meals a day from the same nasi lemak stall (before class, during recess and after school lunch) for 11 frickin' years. And I still dream about her 'chilli masak kentang goreng' until today. Talking about loyalty man. Old habits die hard. Especially when it revolves around good food. Oh yeah~

Ok, let's get on to the food.

Spicy Szechuan Noodles with Vanilla Ice-cream and Red Beans Drink $7.90
Generous amounts of minced pork in spicy sauce on a bed of springy wanton noodles.

Ice-cream

Doesn't the ice-cream looked luscious? The drink was very rich and creamy ... those with a sweet-tooth will definitely like this one! That is if you like red beans of course... I'm more of a 'pulut hitam - black glutinous rice' gal.

Noodles

What makes this difference with Dan Dan Mian? The salty and sourish preserved pickles. Very appetizing and somewhat refreshing to the tastebuds..

Piles of springy egg noodles - Yummo

Very al-dente, the wanton noodles are of a good quality. Eaten with the saucy spicy pork together with the crunhiness of tangy preserved pickles, it was a wonderful lunch, quite different from the usual Dan Dan Mian and wanton mee with BBQ pork.

Are you bored of Red Silk reviews already? Sorry if you are, but (Oh no, not again!!) there will be more to come. Be patient with me yah? Haha. But for those who got some extra free time and there's nothing better to do, you could read my other reviews on Red Silk...

Seafood Tomyam Noodles
Combination Seafood Noodles

Red Silk Restaurant and Bar
101, 1st Fl 200 Bourke St,
Melbourne 3000
03-9663 9922

P.S.: For those who are really free, and wish to do something good today (haha) maybe you could spend some time helping me on this: I have problems with my photos in blogger. After uploading them straight from my computer, I always find that the pics are blurer than what they are supposed to be. I've tried minimizing the pics, but the pics still look bad. Very frustrating for me. Does anyone know why? What should I do? THANKS!!

Sydney Trip - Part 2 (Takoyaki & Starbucks)

Can't wait to see those transformed into cute balls of yum

While we are still tucking into the warm hontous, our attentions were diverted to the takoyaki stall right next door to the hontou stall. This time, it was manned by a young Japanese lady.


It was very interesting to watch. First she will pour the rather thin liquid mixture (I would thought it would be quite thick, like cake mixture.. it was like corn flour mixture that you use to thicken gravy) containing chopped carrots and shallots into each slot.

While the mixture is cooking in the hot grill, she will add small bites of octopus tentacles or whole prawns into each slot. For a good 10 minutes, she will turn them several times to ensure that they are evenly browned.

The left and middle side as shown on the photo contains octopus. The far right which she was handling contains prawns (if you look carefully, you would see the tails poking out). Great way to attract customers, those tails.

We had 3 of each (prawns and octopus). She squirts some mayo, sweet dark sauce and sprinkled bonito flakes (my fav!). The insides are surprisingly gooey, which results in hot liquid pouring out once you bite into them. Hmmmm, I would have thought that it would be chewy since the cooking time do take quite some time. Do they need extra cooking time or is this the authentic way that these balls should be done? They're tasty nonetheless. *shrugs*

Double Chocolate Chip Ice Blended & Green Tea Ice Blended

Eating all those made us thirsty. I've got a coupon for Starbucks Coffee (buy 1 free 1) from the brochure of the hotel we were staying at. We don't have to search long. There were literally like 20 Starbucks cafes all over the city.

OMG. The chocolate one is sooooo delish.. It is wickedly thick, chockful of bits of chocolates, each slurp has to be chewed in order to swallow the big chunks of chocs. They were very generous with the choc chip and the drink does live up to its name. The green tea was just as delish, sweet with a slight bitter after taste. The cream made the drink even richer, sinful but ohh... so nicee. I couldn't find these drinks in Malaysia - not with the same generous and thick concoctions.

We had a very wonderful day, snacking along the way and did some sight-seeing. It was a great holiday (I'll never get tired of Sydney). More to come soon - seafood next (freshly shucked oysters, lobsters, etc..)