Review: Hai Au Vietnamese Restaurant, Canley Vale

There are very few places when the dishes you order all turn out to be so fantastically good, but this place is one of those few gems. Normally you have one or two standouts and one that kinda fall short and disappoints, but not at Hai Au - all the dishes have got to be the best of its kind that I've ever tasted. Highly highly rate this place and recommend everyone to go; as long if you don't mind smelling like charcoal by end of the night.

Open Char coal grill - and open as in the whole restaurant was smoked.

One of the most delicious beef salads I've ever had

Charcoal chicken with an amazing sweet chilli dip

Claypot caramelised fish

Scampi in "special sauce"..

Hmm.. what is this mystery sauce?.....

  the special sauce turned out to be crab eggs. Yum! 

David and Kay dig into the special sauce

Totally demolished all the dishes

Missing from this photoset are the following photos which somehow got lost when I transferred them from the phone to my computer.. :(

- the biggest and meatiest mound of soft shell crab I have ever seen

- avocado shake

-soursop shake

- durian shake

... and lastly, we had to take a photo of the name of this restaurant.. "TK something BBQ restaurant". We were trying to figure out how the name must have come about... here's my version of it..

Sign writer: So what is your restaurant called?

Vietnamese Restaurant owner: Ummm... it's TK sumting BBQ restaurant

Sign writer: Are you sure you want that?

Literally writes "TK something"... bwahahhaha

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Review: Jazz City Diner, Surry Hills

For our next outing, V, our appointed queen of dining was craving for some Soul food after watching the New York episode of Masterchef and suggested we try this cozy little diner in Surry Hills. 

The gang was split up all over Sydney - most of us were at the head office in the city but V was in Concord. So for most of the day, the email discussions were spent analysing the items on their menu, with M starting a countdown as 6pm neared.. It would be his first time going to a Diner since moving here from Canada last year, and his growing excitement was becoming infectious - we could wait to have the rootbeer float.

We were hoping that the weather would clear up, but alas no, it was horrible raining for the third day in a row. Getting a taxi on a Thursday shopping night in the city was proving to be difficult, at the rate we were going we had a better chance at getting a last minute table at Tetsuyas than stopping a cab on George St. We ended up walking all the way to Hyde park before finally flagging one down.

 Wet and hungry. and famished too!

 The Menu had a good choice of good ol' southern cuisine

 The uniforms and the setup remind me of Johnny Rockets in the US

 We indulged on sweet potato chilli cheese fries while poor V was stuck in traffic

 our second round of Vanilla thickshakes and Dr Pepper floats (they ran out of rootbeer)

 Cute little mexican softdrinks. The only difference between the three on the ingredients list was the type of food colouring. Sickeningly sweet.

 Backyard BBQ beef burger with onion rings

 Chicken & Waffles, served with Maple Syrup

 The Ultimate Texas Chilli Cheeseburger with tortilla chips

 Fried green tomato salad

 Top left: Southern Fried Chicken burger

and for dessert...

 White chocolate bread pudding with white chocolate ganache

Banana cream pie with caramel drizzle 

Pecan pie with butter pecan ice cream

The venue is small but cozy and the waitresses are friendly and attentive. We love the attention to detail in with their uniforms down to the converse sneakers (which made it a bit slippery for them against the white tiled floors). They definitely got the decor right, and we noticed they put small plaques on the wall of their most frequent diners - apparently dining 10x with a group could get your name on the wall. Want want want!

From a food perspective the highlights of the night were the chilli fries, Dr Pepper floats, Pecan pie and Banana cream pie. The burgers were tasty and fresh but wouldn't go as far to say they were one of the best in Sydney. 

Another fantastic night though, and I don't think I have been this full in a very long time. Two thumbs up! 

Jazz City Diner

238 Crown St, Surry Hills, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9332 2903

Opening hours:

Lunch Tue-Fri 12pm to 2.30pm

Dinner Wed-Sat 6pm to 10pm

Brunch Sat 10am to 2pm

Closed Sun & Mon

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Coming soon: A Tavola - the perfect Italiano

 Fave, fave, fave! Absolutely cannot wait to blog about the fantastic pasta and the knowledgeable waitresses at this restaurant. Exquisite parpadelli, melt in your mouth gnocchi and the best rigattoni..  Much thanks to Vy for introducing us to this place. Twice in two weeks! That certainly says something.

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Shang-ri La Sydney: Wickedly Sweet Chocolate High Tea

"Fulfil your chocolate fantasies as you make your way through chocolate macaroons, chocolate and hazelnut brûlée, chocolate and coffee marquise, chocolate and caramel mousse, and pour cream and hot chocolate sauce on triple chocolate cakes. Choose from dark, white or milk hot chocolate, or simply enjoy the chocolate high tea with a freshly ground coffee or loose
leaf tea.


Escape the cold outside with the sinfully sweet chocolate afternoon tea; perfect for the chocoholic looking for the absolute indulgence. To add to the already sweet treats, you can enjoy the Lobby Lounge's hot or cold Chocolate and Espresso Cocktails from $12.50."


When:  Every Saturday and Sunday from 1 June 2011, 11am - 5pm
Cost:    $62 for a "Plate for Two" which includes five decadent desserts and the choice of a hot chocolate, tea or coffee per person. 

And yes, that is a giant chocolate lollipop covered in milk chocolate and thousands of whole hazelnuts. How do we know? let's just say there were a few missing by the time we left... :)

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