Student Foodie VLOG

I say we have something different for you guys today, here's our first VLog!

Check out our trip to Espresso Organica and Blacktown Maccas

Michael - Film Espresso Organica, arrange final film

Tanios - Film Espresso Organica, audio

Parth - Film Blacktown Maccas, audio

Enjoy and we wish you many scrumptious food adventures!

TK Something Korean BBQ

  TK Something

This was my first Korean BBQ experience and it was definitely a different one! You pay $30 for all you can eat - chicken, pork, ox tongue, ribs, octopus, - you name the meat, you can order it! The meat is swiftly delivered to your table then off you go cooking it on a nice hot charcoal cooktop. The waiters were on the ball with swiftly changing our trays and you can order as many sides as you want. For desserts, go and grab yourself a creme brulee or a pannacotta from the fridge (and go back for seconds if your belly can handle it). Overall the service was really prompt and fast as well as the quality of the food. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to try the new type of Korean barbecue and the best part of its all you can eat. There is also a Creme Brulee eating contest see who can eat the most. 

~Parth Kulkarni

Overall Rating 8.9/10 

Durban Dish

Durban Dish 

If you love South African cuisine you will surely love this restaurant. Located in Baulkham Hills which is towards the north-west Sydney area. We had ordered a whole feast which had different delicacies from different areas of South Africa. Although the meat was properly cooked through it could have been a bit better in the presentation. The service was pretty bad as they were low on staff on the night we had gone so i cut them a bit of slack. The prices weren't that bad around the same as any other restaurant.   

Rating 5 out of 10 

~Parth Kulkarni 

Sakae Japanese Dining Bar

 

If you are a lover of sushi and sashimi then you would definitely want to try out this bar. Located in central Eastwood it's easy to get to and there is ample parking behind the shop. We ordered the sushi platter for 2 which actually had a lot of quantity then we expected the rice was different to any other ones that we have tried as well as the fish and meat. The meat was fresher than other sushi bars. We also had Sake (Rice Wine) which had a nice rich taste. I would give the food rating 3.9/5 and the overall food quality and service quality 8.9 out of 10. I would recommend the restaurant to anyone who loves Japanese food and trying out new things. 

Rating 8.9/10 

Carls Jr

Born in California almost 75 Years ago, Carl Karcher had a hot dog cart and a dream. The hot dog cart became Carl`s JR. Now they have expanded out towards Australia, located 9 The Entrance Rd, Bateau Bay NSW. I recently traveled there to experience a taste of California, I had ordered the Jalapeno Thickburger and the Chargrilled Chicken Salad. The burger was not what I was expecting the flavor you could say was encased into the beef pattie and as soon as you bite into it the flavor explodes in our mouth with all the rest of the ingredients. As for the Chargrilled Chicken Salad was exactly what I expected. Nicely grilled and succulent chicken. 

I would recommend this to anyone who loves burgers and salads and loves to try out new food with a bit of spice.

~Parth Kulkarni

Overall 7.9/10

Bondi Pizza – Various Locations

One of Sydney’s most popular casual dining restaurants, Bondi Pizza makes its mark with great food, excellent service and value for money. Their signature range of Pizza’s and entrée’s draws a variety of people both old and young as well as generating a family friendly atmosphere that often delights customers and leaves you and your taste buds feeling more than satisfied. 

All of their restaurants provide a streamlined menu that’s consistent throughout as well as an open and welcoming atmosphere for guests.

The usual order for me is their Salt ‘n Pepper Squid, Marghertia Pizza and a sweet dessert which never fails to fulfil me. Certainly worth the try if you’re ever around, and if you’re in a rush, they do take away as well!

Rating 9.5/10

~Michael

Hurricanes Bar & Grill – Top Ryde, Darling Harbour, Bondi, Brighton le Sans

Looking for a quality steak house with delightful steaks, seafood and cocktails? Then you have come to the right place! Located in a number of areas around Sydney, Hurricane’s serves up tasty entre’s that compliment a main meal of either steaks, burgers, ribs or seafood at the end leaving you satisfied and full, but still wanting more. 

Their signature cocktails are bursting with citrus and are a refreshing accompaniment to your meal. A hearty steak, chips and salad are a treat for the first timer with many options sure to tease. The price correlates to the quality and volume of food received and is most definitely worthwhile.

Rating 9/10

~Michael

Twelve – Newtown

A simple and modern restaurant, Twelve serves a variety of dishes and have a number of weekly blackboard specials available. Sitting in between a full blown and priced Italian restaurant and a cheap run down pizza shop, Twelve provides diners with a casual and comfortable atmosphere while serving up a variety of traditional Italian meals including pizzas, pastas and sweet sweet desserts. Fully Licensed and BYO an option, they have a number of house cocktails available as well as a selection of wines. The best combination would have to be a share plate to start, pizza or pasta to share and then top it all off with a coffee and one of their many in-house cakes. A nice quiet atmosphere suitable for a casual date night.

Rating 6/10
~Michael

Green Gourmet - Newtown

Vegetarian restaurants aren’t hard to come by anymore. Upon walking past you would be tricked into thinking that this is just another trendy Newtown restaurant that isn’t exactly kept up to scratch. The appearance is fooling to the passer-by; however Green Gourmet have created an Asian inspired vegetarian menu that provides mouth-watering dishes containing no meat, but equally (if not more) tastier than their originals. 

The ‘Not Pork Buns’ are not to be missed and are personally tastier than traditional pork buns and are most certainly worth sampling as well as their Thinly Sliced BBQ Cutlets made with soy jerky and the best BBQ sauce you will ever taste. Despite the slightly disappointing atmosphere the food and taste most certainly makes up for it

Rating 9/10

~Michael 

Image From: B-Kyu (http://www.b-kyu.com)

The Italian Bowl – Newtown

Cheap eats in the heart of Newtown for an Italian classic. Serving nothing but Italian pasta and sides, the Italian bowl brings home style food to a restaurant without the added commercial price tag. Be warned though, many nights are busy so if you want to drop in, Monday to Thursday is your best bet, any other time be sure to book! Ordering the food you want couldn’t be easier than 1, 2, 3. Pick your pasta type, choose your sauce and how much do you want? Being able to customise to mix and match to your taste is a sure win for many proving popular with locals and backpackers due to the cheap but quality meal. Don’t go expecting any quiet date nights here, this bustling local pasta stop will have you in and out and fed quickly with a variety of additional veal/chicken meals, salads and risotto’s sure to keep everyone happy!

Rating 7.5/10

~ Michael Cole

Logo From: https://theitalianbowl.com.au/

Espresso Organica – Concord

From tiny little local coffee shop to large well-known local café, Espresso Organica has made a name for itself amongst the community as one of the best for coffee and breakfast in the area. Serving quality, freshly ground coffee with a variety of breakfast and lunch options, Organica is most certainly a place worth sampling even if it’s for a coffee and cake. Breakfasts do not disappoint with large generous servings catering to both the sweet, savoury and traditional breakfast tastes. Disappointing would be the lack of sauces or garnishes like butter, jam or syrup that come with most meals.

Customer service is excellent as well as their generous breakfast pancakes or if you can finish it… Breaky Grande.

Rating 8.5/10

~Michael Cole

Pine INN

The Pine Inn Hotel is a bar/restaurant located in Strathfield, Sydney. From my visit here i can assure you this venue can provide great Bistro, and with their cheap prices you can enjoy a quality meal.

For just $11 I ordered a full T-bone steak, with a side of chips and salad drizzled in a mouthwatering mushroom sauce. This place stands out to me as it is very cheap for what you are getting and provides great quality food. I recommend this place to anyone looking for a cheap filling meal. It definitely caught me off guard 8/10.

~Tanios Azzi

Speedo’s Café – Bondi

A stylish, compact and modern café located in North Bondi, Speed’s café serves only quality food for both breakfast and lunch. With the food appealing almost more to the eye, one would expect the quality to dip slightly, oh how wrong you would be. Upon arrival the volume of people there impressed instantly as well as the vibrant variety of foods sitting in front of them! A stand out was definitely the freshness of all the food served, all accompanied by fruits and gorgeously garnished with edible, that’s right edible flowers. The only downside would be the speed in getting your food and customer service, all not to worry

about if you are there for the food. If you’re looking for a winter warmer their porridge is a great filler or if you need to fulfil the sweet but healthy side, then the coconut chia pot is not to miss!

Definitely a cosy café favoured by locals, with a great selection of delectable foods.

Rating 8.5/10

~Michael Cole

Logo from: http://www.speedoscafe.com.au/

Triple Stack Pancakes; Original Image

The Vogue Cafe - Macquarie Park

You would usually think that a cafe should be outdoors, open space and look really old ? No ? Well then you are going to love this cafe. The Vogue Cafe offer a variety foods and beverages and sometimes even their special menu, these include things like meals, lunches and milkshakes and other beverages. The Infamous Club Sandwich is pretty big in size and will definitely fill you up, particularly because of the bread is going to give you a huge carbohydrate hit. I reckon if you were considering buying the club sandwich might be worth splitting this with a friend, especially if smoothies are going to be ordered. The chicken schnitzel remained fairly juicy but the bacon was perfectly cooked. To my taste. The wedges were double-fried in the way good wedges should be, beautifully crispy on the outside but were slightly dry and lacked the crispiness. I would recommend this cafe to anyone its suitable for all ages. The price is in the mid range for the food.   

Rating 8/10

~Parth Kulkarni

Pho Pasteur - Blacktown

Pho Pasteur is situated in the Western Suburbs in Blacktown. Pho is mastering the cuisine of Malaysia and their famous delicacies as well. The famous Chicken Laksa never fails to please, the soup is always boiled to perfection, chicken was cooked all the way through as well. I would rate this dish 9/10. We also had ordered the Singaporean Noodles with Oyster Sauce. These noodles are one of this restaurant's pinnacle dish. Perfectly blended with the oyster sauce this dish never fails you, even if you are a first timer. To be honest i wasnt really expecting the excellent quality of the food and it surprised me really. I would recommend this place to those who want to try something new. 

9/10. 

~Parth Kulkarni

 

Seven Hills RSL Club ( Star Buffet )

Let me ask you a question .... Have you ever wanted unlimited foods at an affordable price ? Well no look no further this is the place you are looking for. I paid $25 to have unlimited food from the food bar if you add another extra $5 you can also access the drinks bar. You can get all sorts of cuisine such as Thai, American, Chinese, Japanese,French and many other dishes available to devour. I personally recommend the sushi which his freshly made in front of you and i would also recommend the Pork Roast with Potato Gratin with nice hot gravy. The staff were really friendly and the restaurant had nice atmosphere to it as well. I would recommend this place to everyone who love food and who want to try something new. 

Rating 8/10

~Parth Kulkarni

  

Villaggio Bar Cafe

Villaggio bar cafe is an Italian restaurant located in the centre of Revesby. As they are extremely famous for their su go tou pizza dough that is exactly what we ordered. Staff were extremely friendly which added to the overall experience of the delicious mouth watering supreme pizza we ordered. The restaurant had an Elvis Presley theme making it exciting and fun to eat around. I recommend this place to anyone as it is worth the travel to Revesby. 9/10

~Tanios Azzi

Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL (Cafe club)

Hey guys, today's blog is based on a small restaurant located inside the Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL club known as the cafe club. Arriving with a huge appetite my friend and I decided it would be a great idea to endulge in an enormous sized feed. Having said that we ordered a chicken parmigiana meal, a large chicken burger meal, and a hell of a lot of fried chips. Surprisingly, four large meals only resulted in a total of $64 dollars which was quite cheap, leaving a thought in our mind whilst waiting if it would have been a reflection of the quality of food we were just about to eat. The food turned out to be great with the chicken parmigiana being the better out of the two in my opinion and the wait time was not too long also. I do recommend this place to anyone, and do think the name "the coffee club" does not do it justice.

Definitely better than expected. 8/10

~Tanios Azzi

Thai Pothong, Newtown

Thai Pothong is a Vibrant traditional Thai restaurant  located in Newtown, Sydney plating stir fries and curries, with a range of meat and vegan options.To keep things simple with rating the joint on their quality of food I chose to order the traditional pad Thai dish and it was definitely one of the best pad Thai dishes i have eaten in my life. At the restaurant staff was very kind and brought out water right away without having to be asked, it seemed like they were well organised and also quite hygienic providing wet towels and hand sanitiser for customers to clean their hands before eating which is always a big plus. Overall i believe the Thai restaurant is one of the best and i do definently recommend it to people looking for a healthy lunch/ dinner option and hey ! they cater for vegans as well. 8/10

~Tanios

Frappe Cafe Bar, EARLWOOD

Frappe Cafe Bar is a coffee shop/ food bar located in the heart of Earlwood in Sydney, NSW. Whilst at my visit at the shop I ordered a breakfast burger meal and a flat black coffee. In my opinion the burger meal and coffee where both of great quality however, it was quite messy to eat for breakfast. The coffee was rather strong and had a beautiful scent of fresh coffee beans. The service their was also very good as waiter and bar staff where kind and easily approachable. The quality of the food definitely surprised me and was not expected of a coffee shop. I do recommend this shop to locals of Earlwood and surrounding suburbs as it is close by and can offer some quite decent food with a rather marvelous tasting coffee. My overall rating for this local shop would be a 6.4/10.

~Tanios Azzi

Criniti's Darling Harbour

Criniti’s is a venue providing a taste of Southern Italian Cuisine across various locations in sydney. In this review we will be specifically focusing on the Darling Harbour venue. Before our visit to Criniti’s we planned to order what they were famously known for, their pizza. Upon arrival the staff were very kind, well mannered and helpful, directing us towards our pre booked table. We decided to order a 1 metre supreme pizza as we thought it would be the best to compare to other restaurants or just in general as it is a quite common topping. The waiting time for the pizza to be cooked was quite lengthy, reaching a total of 55 minutes however, the food was heavily flavoured and the dough base was cooked like no other leaving no room for competition on the day. Overall I believe this Venue prices its dishes quite expensive ($78 /pizza), however they do not let the quantity override the quality. The waiting time was the another downfall as the staff were very pleasing to watch work forcing me to leave an overall rating of 6.5 / 10.

~Tanios Azzi

Who Are We? and What is This?

My name is Parth currently studying commerce. I started loving cars and motorbikes at the age of 5 since then I have become a motoring enthusiast and have adored cars all my life. My massive weakness is food love trying out weird new funky flavours and new types of drinks. Lastly I love travelling.

I have a strong passion for fitness and nutrition, having said that I participated in my first bodybuilding competition was when I was just 16. My name is Tanios and I work hard every day at my passion and hope one day I can be fortunate enough to be competing in the big leagues. As well as this I have a major setback! It's my huge sweet tooth for food and food and more food. with the help of my group and mu individual participation I am glad we have the opportunity to indulge in a range of different types of foods to combine one of my passions with the other members of my group to share with you guys some of the top league restaurants, bistros, bars and cafes that we visit.

I’m Michael, I love travelling and just recently went overseas for the first time, I can’t wait to see what else the world has to offer. I also have a passion for photography, sometimes it’s a bit hard to find time to do it but whenever I have the opportunity I take it! Food also brings me pleasure, I enjoy the simple things but also like to be ‘wowed’ at some of the amazing creations chefs can create and I wish to share some of my best food experiences and places with you all.