Thursday, June 10, 2010

Gumshara ramen, 32cm ice cream and other stuff in the city...

We rarely ever travel out to the city- we only really go there once or twice a year. If it isn't for something important, or for a school excursion, then it's most likely for food. Guess why we were here this day?

I'd been itching to start eating from the moment we walked out of Emperor's Garden and so within a few hours, we stopped by Gumshara Ramen- one of the main reasons why we made this trip to the city. I'd been pestering my parents to take me here for a while, after reading the excellent reviews that all Sydney bloggers were giving this- I just had to try it!

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Tonkatsu Ramen $8.50

It was still slightly early (I think), and so the food court isn't too full. Between the four of us, we only ordered two bowls of ramen, saving our stomachs for other food (we also ordered a pad thai from another shop but I forgot to take a picture!). After a short wait, both our bowls of ramen arrive, and I eagerly wait to dig into the thick flavoursome soup. Unfortunately, this excitement is followed by a slight disappointment as we realise that there is barely any steam coming out of the bowls. My first sip confirms this- the soup is warm. Perhaps slighlty warmer than 'warm' but definitely not steaming hot, the way I like all my noodles to be. The soup itself is pretty good- it's tasty and definitely unlike any other ramen soup I've ever tasted, although it wasn't as good as I'd expected it to be.

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Garlic tonkatsu Ramen $10.50

We enjoy the garlic tonkatsu ramen better than the other one, perhaps because of our love for garlic and the fact that the soup is slightly more flavoursome than the other one. Again, it is nowhere near as hot as we'd like it to be, which we find to be the mainthing we have against it. The soup is very very thick, which I don't mind too much (after all, that's what's so special about it!) but which my parents don't really like. Leaving, with very sticky mouths, we head over to Dixon Street food court for part two of our lunch.

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We somehow manage to forget to bring water along, which is why our mouths are stick sticky from the ramen broth. Which is why the sight of sugar cane juice being sold beings much delight (well, to me and my sister anyway.....we love sugarcane juice!) A large cup of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice was the perfect accompaniment to our food. This one had a little squeeze of lime juice in it too, giving it a little something, although I prefer just sugar cane juice.....

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I'd stopped here for lunch once with my friends after wandering around trying to find somewhere to eat. Walking down into this food court, we could immediately smell Asian food- the disctinctive smell of wok. It's awfully stuffy in here though, but I guess it's bearable when you're eating good food! Last time, I'd had a pad thai for $5 (the price was really what lured us)but never really had a chance to savour it because we were running late. It wasn't the best I'd ever had but for $5 it wasn't bad and had a really good 'breath of wok'. This time however, we noticed that the price had increased to $6, which was still pretty good for a pad thai (but it doesn't sound as good as $5 =])

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Pad Thai- $6

The dish arrives and I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this last time- the noodles are awfully thin. Although pad thai noodles are usually thin, they're not this thin- it really doesn't taste right! The pile of sloppy noodles don't look or taste too bad, but are lacking a bit of flavour and the breath of wok wasn't really as good as last time. Nevertheless, it's pretty good value and it isn't too bad although we did wish that we had ordered the hige sizzling dishes that everyone else in the foodcourt had ordered.....

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We then wander over to Darling Harbour, and walk around a bit, taking pictures and feeling much like a tourist despite the fact that I'd been here at least 10 times before.

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We pass The Fudge Shop, and it brings back memories of how I used to just stand there, watching the people make fudge. I couldn't quite remember what fudge tasted like (I'm pretty sure I've only ever had it once, and it was here too!) and decide to buy a slice.

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But there are too many flavours to choose from!

After a couple of minutes of indecision, I settle for a slice of the choc chip fudge. It was soft, super sweet and so delicious! It wasn't cheap though, with the slice costing around $4.50- but I ate it super slowly, and it ended up taking me a week to finish it. I'll definitely have to try making fudge one day......

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32 cm ice cream! $2.70

I'd been wanting to come here ever since reading about the 32cm on these blogs. It wasn't exactly the easiest place to find, and even when we found it, they told us that they only served the ice cream at 2:00pm. We came back here later because I wanted the ice cream so badly =]

We order a chocolate and strawberry ice cream ($2.70) and are delighted when we get it- it was so tall and pretty! Sharing it between the four of us (although the majority of it got eaten by my sister) made it way too easy to finish. We found the best way to eat it was to slurp off one layer of ice cream at a time- it comes off really easily, and makes it really easy to share!

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3 colour drink $4.50

Dehydrated, and tired after walking around for quite a while, we decided for one last stop before going home- market city food court. First we order a drink, this time, a three colour drink, which is unlike any other three colour drink I've had- it's got a lot of coconut milk! But it's delicious all the same. Despite the inviting smells of sizzling dishes (which did not smell as good as the ones in the food court before) and varaious other good food, we settle one yet another pad thai (our third one this day!)

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Pad Thai $8.50

....and a pad see ew which I forgot to take a picture of (how forgetful can I get!) This pad thai was definitely the best so far. Although the colour wasn't as intense as the others had been, the taste was better- a good combination of the tangy pad thai flavour mixed with just the right amount of sweetness was enough to satisfy our stomachs for the trip back home =]

Gumshara Ramen
Eating World Food Court
Shop 209, 25-29 Dixon Street
Chinatown

The Fudge Shop
Shop 267, Harbourside
Darling Harbour, 2000 NSW
Sydney, Australia

Smile Korea Mart
630 George Street, Sydney

14 Comments:

chocolatesuze said...

bahhahaha helen's post is gonna haunt me forever! was so sad i couldn't finish the icecream!

ann low said...

Lovely post! WOW! That ice cream looks really tall!

Maria said...

You should visit the city much more often!! I still haven't had an ice cream I couldn't finish... Mind you I haven't tried that one!

SteelCityFlan said...

Oh my gosh, I want that 32 cm ice cream NOW! It looks like so much fun >_< Our class went on a picnic recently and our super-cool teacher took us to a fudge shop downtown beforehand so we could pick some out. We got peanut butter, dulce de leche, and raspberry cheesecake. I was so excited to try them but then really disappointed...fudge is way too sweet for me =/

Wonderful post, as always!

Angie Lives to Eat (and Cook)! said...

32cm ice cream? Thought I read wrongly and had to reread =D That is alot of ice cream for such a small price!

tigerfish said...

I am still thinking how to eat the ice-cream...from the side or from the top?

Von said...

Hi Chocolatesuze!
Ngaww....I'll have to try having one to myself next time =]

Hi Anncoo!
Thanks!

Hi Maria!
I should, but other than eating, there's nothing much I want to so there....but I'll be going there a lot next year if I get into some uni in the city =]

Hi SteelCityFlan!
Thankyou! Yeah, it's really sweet- but I only eat it a nibble at a time =]

Hi Angie!
haha. yeah, I was surprised at the price too!

Hi Tigerfish!
It might topple over if you eat it from the side =]

grace said...

what a gustatory adventure! i cannot abide tepid soup--that's completely unacceptable! and wow, that tall tower of ice cream is amazing--thanks for sharing!

Xiao Yen Recipes said...

First off..the 32cm ice cream! My gooness, how'd you do that? Secondly, I love pad thai. I always order this dish at any Thai restaurants.

Von said...

Hi Grace!
Thanks! Oh good, I'm not the only one =]

Hi Xiao Yen Recipes!
Haha...I dunno. If I tried it, it'd probably topple over before it got to half way =] I always order pad thai too!

Simon Leong said...

that 32cm icecream is such good value. i'll have to get one of those one day. looks big enough to share.

My Little Space said...

Oh dear, what a treat! And that ice-cream really caught my eyes on it. Can you actually finish it in time...I mean before the whole thing melting away? hehe....
Regards, Kristy

Cooking Gallery said...

Oh, damn, damn, damn! You make me miss Sydney so badly! I used to live in the city and visited Dixon food court quite often ;). That Gumshara ramen must be quite new, isn't' it? Because around 3 years ago, I don't think it's there.

Yi @ Yi Reservation said...

wow that 32cm ice cream looks amazing....what's more amazing is that price tag...now way I can get this much of ice cream for 2.7$!!

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