Din Tai Fung, Chatswood

Intrigued by the concept of rainbow dumplings, I decided to take the plunge and visit Din Tai Fung for the first time. Located in a relatively isolated corner of Chatswood Westfield, the restaurant draws the eye with their ~kawaii~ dumpling mascot.

Entrance of Restaurant

Upon entering the restaurant, customers are greeted by a large view into the kitchen where chefs are carefully crafting endless amounts of dumplings:

Kitchen

Mr Wong, Sydney CBD

Coming from an Asian background, the problem with eating at a Westernised Chinese restaurant is that you come knowing what true Chinese food and flavours should be like versus the bastardised version that is served to cater for Westerners. Sometimes it can be good... and sometimes it can backfire in your face. Hence when I was told that we would be celebrating DrL's surprise birthday dinner would be held at Mr Wong, I was a little hesitant for not only would the meal be expensive (it is two-hatted and located in the city) but it was surely going to be an interesting experience eating 'high class' Chinese food.

The evening started out with a short trek from Wynyard station, past the curious crowds lingering on George and Hunter Streets looking up at the gigantic crane with a close encounter with the neighbouring buildings (the bystanders obviously had nothing better to do besides filming the entire incident on their phones) and through some inner roads of the Sydney CBD to the mysterious Mr Wong restaurant, which is actually in a reformed historic brick building accessible via a small laneway. Even though we had arrived just after opening time, there was already a thick, long queue outside the restaurant doors, filled with eager customers awaiting to be let through the glass doors and into the establishment.

Entrance of Restaurant
(This was from after dinner around 8pm. Still line of people waiting for tables)

Mowbray Eatery, Lane Cove

Last month, Sydney Public Relations extended an invite to MSG Cafeteria to visit Mowbray Eatery, which recently opened along the busy Mowbray Road in Lane Cove. As it's a relatively new cafe, there is limited information available online but all of the reviews that I came across online were positive so this place looked highly promising, especially with their focus on serving seasonal and fresh ingredients on plate.

So on the night of our visit, I picked up Ally on route to the location and arrived with minutes to spare before our booking.

Entrance to Cafe

Kirribilli Woodfire Kitchen, Kirribilli

Nestled in a cozy nook opposite Milson's Point train station is Kirribilli Woodfire Kitchen. Mr A and I went there on a complete whim on Sunday for a late lunch after seeing the colourful Jacaranda-lined McDougall Street, sprouting clouds of purple foliage in mid October through to November. (If you are going to venture there for instagram-worthy photos, please do keep an eye on the road and not hold up traffic).

Honestly, I had no intention of blogging about this place when we first walked in - another pizza and pasta joint, what's new? So apologies for the bad photos taken with my phone #nofilter

The restaurant has a casual dining ambience and also does takeaway and deliveries. Despite it's small size, the menu is ambitious. Basic pizzas are around $18 for a medium (11") and around $24 for a large (13"). Pastas are also at the $20 dollar mark with other mains such as T-Bone steak at $29 and salads in the high teens.

Afraid I wasn't going to finish a pizza on my own, I opted for a 11" vegetarian pizza whilst Mr. A chose Gorgonzola gnocchi.

Pilu at Freshwater, Freshwater

This foodie outing started with (very) late lunch booking at 2:30pm (the other choice was 12:30pm but our group would never have made it there in time). Our group made the trek out to the Northern Suburbs on a bright and sunny day with a nice cool breeze, unlike the previous day, so it wasn't overbearingly hot. Fortunately, I was able to find free street parking within 200m of the restaurant and therefore only had a short stroll down the hill to the restaurant.

On arrival, there was you walk along a pathway, past a long line of jasmine bushes and small courtyard overlooking the Freshwater Beach, and through to the main entrance:

Pathway to Restaurant

Courtyard Overlooking Beach

Front of Restaurant

The Dining & Co, North Ryde

For the catch-up between the former three musketeers, we decided to have lunch at The Dining & Co, which was recommended by MoosesDigest's sister.

Outside of Cafe

The Dining & Co turned out to be a relatively new cafe hidden within the inner streets of North Ryde. The interior is very hipster with clean wooden tables and chairs, large mirrors along the back wall to reflect the sunlight from outside, and black metal frames to display plants and decor.