The Clarendon Hotel

156 Devonshire St, Surry Hills
Rating: Ambience 4, Price 3, Food 4, Service 2.5

As you sip a glass of cabernet-shiraz house wine and sit on a balcony,
you’re peering over an open-air view of the roofs of terrace houses.
The Clarendon offers much more than a cheap-eat, pokies-cranking pub
night. It has an old historic feel, originally established in 1876
competing well with the Balmain pub culture. Unlike most old pubs, it
has a spacious interior, a revamped balcony and a mini beer garden on
the lower floor. Behind the Clarendon’s sleek modern veneer is an
Australian familiarity that makes you feel instantly at home. The
crowd consists of a mix of indie arts folk, uni students and young
professionals ready for a slightly higher-market meal. It is perfect
for a post-Belvoir Street Play feed, a casual tête-à-tête over a beer
or a bottle of wine for birthday celebrations.

The menu at The Clarendon draws its strength from its gourmet
sensibilities. Their meals tweak traditional pub food with a hint of
Middle Eastern, Italian, and Greek cuisines. They offer pastas,
gourmet pizzas, hearty steaks, and a cheaper menu for the frugal, and
less food-fanatic. The only let down about this place is the service,
and most of the options on the menu are slightly overpriced. Certain
members of the staff may treat you with the regard of a wall fly or
act as if you should be serving them.

Regardless of this, Belvoir St Theatre’s Cheap Tuesdays offered just
around the corner would be well matched with their delicious lamb
souvlaki, which is doused in Tzatziki and accompanied by a Greek salad
and freshly fried chips. If you want to stumble home it’s only 200
metres from Central Station. The only thing to keep in mind is that my
student pocket would be empty if I ate there every night.


Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Mamak

Mamak




15 Goulburn St, Haymarket, Sydney
Ratings /5 – Ambience 4 Food 4.5 Price 4 Service 4

I have never arrived at Mamak when there isn’t a queue. As a favourite of mine in China Town, it offers a bounty of Hokka-style Street food; a fusion of Indian and Malaysian cuisines. Starting as a street market business, Mamak has become a familiar name for the Malaysian community in Sydney. They legitimately claim that their food is “exactly what you would find in the streets of Kuala Lumpur.”

Mamak has gained a reputation due to its on-site production of the unique style of Malaysian roti. The sweet smell wafts from the open roti grill at the shop front, showcasing many pastry chefs artfully flattening, kneading, and stretching dough into sheet-thin slabs. These are then folded into rectangles, cooked with oil, and scrunched into a parcel. The product is flakey and light. They can be filled with onion (bawang), egg (telur), or meat (murtabak), served with curry sauce or made into a delicious dessert with custard (bom) or banana (pisang) filling. The chefs show off with their roti tisu, which is fried, and assembled into a crispy cone served tall and pointing upwards.

Mamak also offers Goreng, a great alternative to the tried and tired Pad Thai. Goreng is made with an extra hint of chilli, and lacks the stodgy consistency of Pad Thai. Another option is the Nasi Lemak, Malaysia’s national dish – a platter of fragrant coconut rice, sambal (mild chilli sauce), peanuts, cucumber, fried anchovies and a hard-boiled egg. This works well as a supplement to their delicious curries or stir-fries. The mouth-watering satay is also a must.

For the adventurous palate, the street food-lover, and those with tight pockets who are accustomed to Asian cuisines, Mamak is a diamond in the rough.

Overall rating: 4.5

City Sushi

Source: Sushi House Central Station (near tunnel)
Rating: Sacrilegious
Average Roll price: $2.45

There’s nothing that aggravates me more than a shitty sushi roll. For the lazy and health (waist)-conscious student sushi is a staple that is holy and sacred. Wrapped in its green seaweed mesh, holding the lean meats of a dieters dream, you suddenly have the terrible realization that most of it is rice; one of those simple carbohydrates we’ve all been made to fear. But worse, it’s grainy, and hard. It’s as if it’s been left too long in the open air. Perhaps the fish within has become a welcoming nest for whatever microbe or insect so desires it. You’re filled with a sort of rage. Yes, you’ve got a case of shitty sushi.

What you realise as you explore other sushi restaurants in the central-station district is that they’re cheaper, with rice that’s just right, and meats which seem freshly cooked or cut. I pray one day soon that Sushi House Central Station will lower its prices and use the fresh rice that will restore the sacred staple. For now I recommend Harbourside Sushi.

Verdict: A high price for really hard rice.

Chinese Noodle Restaurant

Where: 8 Quay Street (entrance off Thomas Street)
Overall Rating 4 Price 4.5 Food 3.5 Ambience 3 Service 3.5

This little nook in the wall is a gastronomic gem for both the penniless student and those lovers of authentic Chinese cuisine. It has the fast economy of a restaurant with a secret to success, sometimes conferring a feeling upon its customer of being a money-bag ripe for the reaping. But there is no “Australian Chinese” touch here, no ruinous ‘assimilation’ of flavour or culture that plagues the lazy palette of parochial Australia. It is a walk into a backstreet in global Shanghai showcasing a clientel of Sydney’s cultural diversity.

The dumplings and hand-made noodles are, as I peer into the kitchen, home-made. The noodles are glutinously slippery with the perfect thickness for soaking up their Xinjiang sauce complimented nicely by various meat, and vegetable combinations. The dumplings come in very generous servings of 14, round and plump, both steamed and fried. They are stuffed with different mixes of green vegetable, meat, and egg and have a crunchy underbelly. There is no desire for sweet and sour sauce; you instead desire the acerbic taste of vinegar and soy to counter-balance their starchy delectability.

These two dishes are only a peep into the new flavors that await you - try their braised eggplant with its sapid hint of caramel. A dish equally as good for the spice-lover is their chili and tofu compote, a hearty and warming meal for a winter’s day.

Verdict: a very satisfying eat for cheap.