Zowa Cafe
World Square
Chinatown, NSW 2000
$$$–

Brought Mum and Dad to check out Zowa Cafe in World Square the other day, since Chris and I enjoyed it so much the last time. The cafe serves great, unusual food and the cheery interior makes it just nice for a casual meal. The only downside is that the staff are utterly incompetent. They’re friendly and very polite, but just can’t seem to get orders correct, and need a lot of reminders and explaining. It seems they just hired a few uni kids off the street, with no experience (or smarts).. but it’s a small price to pay for a tasty, reasonably-priced meal.

Weird pic of me photo-blogging

Garlic bread – this was pretty obviously the frozen kind, not worth the money

Deep-Fried Chicken Wings – just lovely!

Pork Cutlet Omurice

Baked Fried Rice with Chicken Cutlet and Cheese

Spaghetti with Chicken Cutlet

(previous review here)

Himalayan Char Grill
103 Willoughby Rd Willoughby Shopping Centre
Crows Nest, NSW 2065
$$$$-

Himalayan Char Grill very nearly missed out on my review.. or at least just missed receiving an incredibly IRATE one. However, it is now subdued because the owner did right his wrong 😉 Located in a not-so-fancy building and very fairly no frills, it’s odd that this place isn’t particularly cheap. That said, it does have excellent food and Chris and I used to visit very often when I lived in the area 1+ years ago. For this reason, we brought Mum and Dad there to check it out…

Upon getting a table, we were a bit miffed that we were seated at a tiny table, specifically meant for 2 diners. It was COMPLETELY OBVIOUS we would never be able to fit our plates on the table, but when we pointed that out, we were told “Äll the other tables are booked”. Fair enough. I knew the food was brilliant and so figured they could move us later if need be.

When we ordered, we SPECIFICALLY STATED the food was “to be served together”. Instead, they did the exact opposite and forced us to finish each dish one-by-one before they would bring out the next one – mainly because they couldn’t fit everything on the tiny table (WHICH WE POINTED OUT AT THE VERY START!!!). Because we did not expect them to go against our specific wishes, the initial dish(s) turned cold whilst we waited (in vain) for the other dishes to arrive.

Turns out, the table(s) next to us weren’t reserved after all(though they did claim it was a “cancelled booking”). Instead of immediately scrambling to rectify the issue and apologise and pull the tables over, they did NOTHING. Finally, we asked if we could and they muttered something incoherent. Annoyed, faced with cold food, and all-round pissed off with their INCOMPETENT, RUDE service, we dragged the table over ourselves – since they made NO effort to do so.

When we dragged the table over, it made a screeching sound since it was a cheap table on a cheap floor. You’d think they’d apologise profusely that we had to move it ourselves and that it made such a noise, but NO – the owner STORMED over and demanded loudly to know what we were doing and telling us off.

At this point, I nearly slapped him.

After spitting some fiery words at him, I basically lost my appetite. A shame, because their food honestly is outstanding and different. They evidently have a talented chef, so it’s a shame the staff is so competent and rude.

When we got up to pay, Chris had a few words with the owner and he finally apologised. So because of that, I’m more forgiving.. though I still think it’s pretty mystifying whey they would behave in that way in the first place.

But oh well. On with the food pics!

Himalayan Char Grill

Masala Pappadums with spiced yoghurt ($3.00)

Love how spicy and tasty these are!

Braised Beef Cheeks and Vegetables
OMG the beef cheeks were so melty and soft…..

Swadilo Macha – Fresh fish fillet marinated in garlic, ginger, limejuice steamed and served
on crushed green chilli, fresh coriander and caramelised onion base coconut sauce ($16.90)
Chris’ favourite…. it’s super tender and just falls apart

Sadeko Chicken – Tandoori Marinated diced breast fillet, char-grilled and tossed
with chat masala, mustard oil, Spanish onion and mixed beans ($12.90)
It looked simple and normal, but was super tasty!

Mango Lassi