Makan @ Alice’s
262—264 Pennant Hills Rd
Thornleigh, NSW 2120
$$$–
“Saturday, we’re going to Alice’s”, Chris announced the day I got back from Singapore. He certainly didn’t forget it.. as today, he was bouncing all over the place, eager to get to Alice’s ASAP. As it turns out, he hadn’t been there for 6-7 weeks.. much to his sadness. So it was time to get some SG food into him 😛
I wasn’t as terribly keen as I normally am, for obvious reasons! 2 full weeks of all-out SG food has made me a bit bored of it 😛 But I was excited that they had Popiah (Braised radish, beans, egg, sprouts, Chinese sausage, tofu, lettuce, special sauces in a fresh spring roll wrap) on the menu.. since I’d had it for the 1st time in SG just last week and loved it. I wanted to see if Alice’s made it the authentic way. Verdict? I’d say it’s good, but not all that authentic. I suppose they have to make do with what they’ve got available in Australia.. The popiah skin was a bit thicker than the authentic version, and a bit dry. I also found the chilli sauce a bit different in taste.. and it was a bit strange with the tofu cubes and lupcheong (aka chinese sausage) in it – I think normal popiah doesn’t have it?? But it was still delicious :)~ Unfortunately it was AU$8.50 for 2 rolls!!!! The same thing would cost AU$2.00 in Singapore. Shocking. But since there are no other good SG food places around (compared to Singapore where practically all food stalls have all the same food), I guess their prices can be bumped up since there’s no where else to go for a cheaper meal 😛 Would I get their popiah again? Probably.. 😛
Chris had usual Char Kway Teow.. or as he rattles off like a pro, “Char Kway Teow, medium spicy, with no bean sprouts please”. We also shared a tall glass of chilled Chendol and some Kueh dar dar for dessert. Also bought some Yam Cake (forgot the proper Chinese name!) to bring to work for lunch.
Anyway, as usual, Alice’s is always a winner. I wish they would cut their prices by 50% though.. it feels absurd when I pay $2.00 for the same dish in Singapore, and it costs $10 here. And it’s not like the ingredients are more/better either.. it’s just the fact that minimum wage in Australia is much higher, so they have no choice but to bump up the prices as all the ingredients/etc prices have to absorb that extra cost. Bah!
Kueh Dar Dar and Yam Cake
Chendol drink
Char Kway Teow and Popiah
Popiah
Anyway, spent the rest of the day mooching around Macquarie Shopping Centre.. looking to buy some weights to make my arms leaner (they’re really fatty and flabby, it’s quite nasty). And Chris always wants to use ’em to bulk up. Found a set for AU$50 but I’m going to see if we can score a cheaper set on eBay. We also got a large(!) coffee from Gloria Jeans each, to sip on whilst we were at Borders. First time we got a large coffee each, and the entire point was to get them with SKIM milk, so I’d feel less guilty.. but of course, I stupidly forgot to ask for skim.. so ended up with a massive large coffee with full fat milk! Urk. As you can imagine.. the “diet” is not going so well. In fact, it’s not going AT ALL 🙁
Hey Bev,
Can I ask whatever happened to Strait Gourmet near Alice’s?
I went to both last night looking for a good feed, however, much to my dismay, it looks like Straits have closed down and Alice’s only open for lunch Tue-Sunday… =(
Anyway, hope you guys are surviving this rainy weekend!
Ya, they closed down a few months ago! So now it’s only Alice’s that has the most authentic food.. we’re going tomorrow for lunch 😀 Will you be there too?
I wish I was going but unfortunately not. My second disappointment of the weekend was that the Willoughby Street Fair in Chatswood got washed out, we were looking forward to it for a couple of weeks already. *Sighs*
Hey Bev,
Can I ask whatever happened to Strait Gourmet near Alice’s?
I went to both last night looking for a good feed, however, much to my dismay, it looks like Straits have closed down and Alice’s only open for lunch Tue-Sunday… =(
Anyway, hope you guys are surviving this rainy weekend!
Ya, they closed down a few months ago! So now it’s only Alice’s that has the most authentic food.. we’re going tomorrow for lunch 😀 Will you be there too?
I wish I was going but unfortunately not. My second disappointment of the weekend was that the Willoughby Street Fair in Chatswood got washed out, we were looking forward to it for a couple of weeks already. *Sighs*
it’s quite common to have lap cheong in popiahs 🙂 well, for Sg food here, my theory is that they charge US prices for Sg portions 😛 what a way to make profit eh? another thing you need to factor in besides min. wage are the operating overhead and cost of living.
Ooo I didn’t know that! I like the lupcheong in there, gives it that extra kick.
The profit margin must either me massive, or the ingredients/overheads cost so much that the profit margin is the same as what it would be in Singapore.. dunno what it is!
Looks nice foods and restaurant.
Do u know what times they open on weekend?
Thanks
Believe it’s 11:30 – 3pm on weekends but check out their website at the link above, they’ll probably have more info there!
it’s quite common to have lap cheong in popiahs 🙂 well, for Sg food here, my theory is that they charge US prices for Sg portions 😛 what a way to make profit eh? another thing you need to factor in besides min. wage are the operating overhead and cost of living.
Ooo I didn’t know that! I like the lupcheong in there, gives it that extra kick.
The profit margin must either me massive, or the ingredients/overheads cost so much that the profit margin is the same as what it would be in Singapore.. dunno what it is!
Looks nice foods and restaurant.
Do u know what times they open on weekend?
Thanks
Believe it’s 11:30 – 3pm on weekends but check out their website at the link above, they’ll probably have more info there!
Just had kueh dardar for breakfast! It was only through reading your entries that I started eating them, haha. Can’t believe I’ve been missing out all these while. Anyway, the popiah looks huge or isit the photography angle? I agree that having tofu cubes and lupcheong make it sound quite weird.
Dardar is so yum hey :)~ I just love how cheap they are in SG too.
The Popiah was normal sized like what you’d find in SG, think it’s the angle 😛
Just had kueh dardar for breakfast! It was only through reading your entries that I started eating them, haha. Can’t believe I’ve been missing out all these while. Anyway, the popiah looks huge or isit the photography angle? I agree that having tofu cubes and lupcheong make it sound quite weird.
Dardar is so yum hey :)~ I just love how cheap they are in SG too.
The Popiah was normal sized like what you’d find in SG, think it’s the angle 😛
I made yam kuih two weekends ago. You want the recipe? It’s pretty easy to make 😀
Oh yes please!! I really like it and hopefully it’ll be cheaper to make myself 🙂
Here it is:
http://jesuisariel.livejournal.com/69391.html
Thanks heaps!! Gotta see if the chinese grocers near me have those ingredients now.. but yeah, it looks fairly simple to make, yay 😀
You’re welcome 🙂
Make sure you add quite a bit of water until the mixture is lumpy. Otherwise it’ll be too hard. Not too much water or it’ll be too soft. You have to feel it to see what works. Do cube the yam into small pieces so that they are not too bulky.
The yam kuih is also very yummy when fried till crispy. A bit like chye tow kuih? Very yummy eaten with chili sauce 😀
Maybe it’ll be trial an error ’till I get it right 😛 And ya, I like it pan fried a little too! Yayyyyy
Bah! Who cares about breaking the diet once in a while! Indulge! 🙂
Hehe that’s true.. it’s TOO hard to be good 100% of the time!
Out of all the dishes, the popiah looks really interesting and appetizing.
I liked it most too.. plus it’s quite healthy, a bonus!
it’s just the fact that minimum wage in Australia is much higher, so they have no choice but to bump up the prices as all the ingredients/etc prices have to absorb that extra cost. Bah!
… okay, you go first. 🙂
Hmm.. go where first??
Take a salary lower than Australia’s minimum. 😛
Hehe actually I’m all for lowering the minimum wage.. then everything would be cheaper 😛 But then people on min wage would try and kill me if I was a pollie and did that, so I better not!
I’m sure no one would mind if you decide to ask ebay to pay you less than the minimum wage. Then ebay’s fees would be cheaper! 🙂
*lol* no thanks, that wouldn’t affect petrol/groceries/daily costs which is what everyone tends to care about more 😉
Awww… well that’s just not leading by example, then!
I’m generally opposed to a decrease in the minimum wage, but I promise not to complain too loudly as long as anyone who promotes a decrease in the minimum wage is receiving no more than the new minimum.
I reckon a better idea than minimum wages would be maximum wages! If we stop some of these management/executive types getting paid hundreds of thousands or even millions, then we might see some really major decreases in prices!
I know what ya mean. But if I could be completely selfish, I’ll make the system mimick SG’s where the min page is.. uh.. worth squat, which means it keeps everything else really low as well. But yet there aren’t many poor people there(or at least doesn’t look like it) so I’m not sure what they’re doing to keep everything working?
Heh, all for max wage.. 😉 Reinvest the ‘extra’ few hundred thousand back into the economy!
I think the minimum wage in Australia is already too low. I used to work at the Pizza Hut call centre for $8 an hour when I was 18, and I was casual! I don’t know what they were paying people who were part-time…
The point is, anyone who gets paid $8 an hour, even working full-time can get about $320 a week before tax. That’s barely enough to live off. Meanwhile, some people get huge salaries to the point where they have more money than they can spend.
While I agree that people shouldn’t all receive an equal income, I don’t see why the poor should be made to struggle so hard just to get by so that things can be cheaper. Why not make things cheaper by paying all of the wealthy people just a little bit less?
I don’t really know how things work in Singapore. How long has it been that way for? Maybe everyone has wealth accumulated (inheritance and so on) and it hasn’t become a problem yet. More likely, perhaps the poor just can’t afford to live among the wealthy, so they are effectively invisible.
I think the end result of poverty is a broken society. Things will be cheap, but the crime rate will rise, and some of the people in the society will suffer so that others can live extremely comfortably.
For me, let’s just say if they halved the min wage, I’d be the last person to complain 😛 I’m mainly after low prices for daily spenditures like food, petrol, clothing, etc. Think in SG min is $5? But the population is still pretty wealthy as generally only kids get that. Think the difference is that here, most people are on min wage which is barely enough to survive on alone.
OH, I just realised why, think it’s lower there because the tax is SO LOW; somehow the country can upgrade/improve with such little tax coming in.. maybe because the country’s small and so easier to manage? So either lower tax, lower min wage or max wage – whichever 😉
glad u still manage to find SG food there hehe :] N looks v yummmmmy!
Yeah, fortunately, hehe! I guess it’s worth the extra $$ if it’s unavailable anywhere else 😛
hi bev, whats popiah??
Mmm hard to describe it other than the details I wrote above…! What do you mean?
I made yam kuih two weekends ago. You want the recipe? It’s pretty easy to make 😀
Oh yes please!! I really like it and hopefully it’ll be cheaper to make myself 🙂
Here it is:
http://jesuisariel.livejournal.com/69391.html
Thanks heaps!! Gotta see if the chinese grocers near me have those ingredients now.. but yeah, it looks fairly simple to make, yay 😀
You’re welcome 🙂
Make sure you add quite a bit of water until the mixture is lumpy. Otherwise it’ll be too hard. Not too much water or it’ll be too soft. You have to feel it to see what works. Do cube the yam into small pieces so that they are not too bulky.
The yam kuih is also very yummy when fried till crispy. A bit like chye tow kuih? Very yummy eaten with chili sauce 😀
Maybe it’ll be trial an error ’till I get it right 😛 And ya, I like it pan fried a little too! Yayyyyy
Bah! Who cares about breaking the diet once in a while! Indulge! 🙂
Hehe that’s true.. it’s TOO hard to be good 100% of the time!
Out of all the dishes, the popiah looks really interesting and appetizing.
I liked it most too.. plus it’s quite healthy, a bonus!
it’s just the fact that minimum wage in Australia is much higher, so they have no choice but to bump up the prices as all the ingredients/etc prices have to absorb that extra cost. Bah!
… okay, you go first. 🙂
Hmm.. go where first??
Take a salary lower than Australia’s minimum. 😛
Hehe actually I’m all for lowering the minimum wage.. then everything would be cheaper 😛 But then people on min wage would try and kill me if I was a pollie and did that, so I better not!
I’m sure no one would mind if you decide to ask ebay to pay you less than the minimum wage. Then ebay’s fees would be cheaper! 🙂
*lol* no thanks, that wouldn’t affect petrol/groceries/daily costs which is what everyone tends to care about more 😉
Awww… well that’s just not leading by example, then!
I’m generally opposed to a decrease in the minimum wage, but I promise not to complain too loudly as long as anyone who promotes a decrease in the minimum wage is receiving no more than the new minimum.
I reckon a better idea than minimum wages would be maximum wages! If we stop some of these management/executive types getting paid hundreds of thousands or even millions, then we might see some really major decreases in prices!
I know what ya mean. But if I could be completely selfish, I’ll make the system mimick SG’s where the min page is.. uh.. worth squat, which means it keeps everything else really low as well. But yet there aren’t many poor people there(or at least doesn’t look like it) so I’m not sure what they’re doing to keep everything working?
Heh, all for max wage.. 😉 Reinvest the ‘extra’ few hundred thousand back into the economy!
I think the minimum wage in Australia is already too low. I used to work at the Pizza Hut call centre for $8 an hour when I was 18, and I was casual! I don’t know what they were paying people who were part-time…
The point is, anyone who gets paid $8 an hour, even working full-time can get about $320 a week before tax. That’s barely enough to live off. Meanwhile, some people get huge salaries to the point where they have more money than they can spend.
While I agree that people shouldn’t all receive an equal income, I don’t see why the poor should be made to struggle so hard just to get by so that things can be cheaper. Why not make things cheaper by paying all of the wealthy people just a little bit less?
I don’t really know how things work in Singapore. How long has it been that way for? Maybe everyone has wealth accumulated (inheritance and so on) and it hasn’t become a problem yet. More likely, perhaps the poor just can’t afford to live among the wealthy, so they are effectively invisible.
I think the end result of poverty is a broken society. Things will be cheap, but the crime rate will rise, and some of the people in the society will suffer so that others can live extremely comfortably.
For me, let’s just say if they halved the min wage, I’d be the last person to complain 😛 I’m mainly after low prices for daily spenditures like food, petrol, clothing, etc. Think in SG min is $5? But the population is still pretty wealthy as generally only kids get that. Think the difference is that here, most people are on min wage which is barely enough to survive on alone.
OH, I just realised why, think it’s lower there because the tax is SO LOW; somehow the country can upgrade/improve with such little tax coming in.. maybe because the country’s small and so easier to manage? So either lower tax, lower min wage or max wage – whichever 😉
glad u still manage to find SG food there hehe :] N looks v yummmmmy!
Yeah, fortunately, hehe! I guess it’s worth the extra $$ if it’s unavailable anywhere else 😛
hi bev, whats popiah??
Mmm hard to describe it other than the details I wrote above…! What do you mean?