DT and I opted for the Tonkatsu Dog to share as we had just had Gumshara ramen for dinner. The bread was decently soft and the panko (bread crumbs) used for the batter was very crispy. We also noticed some bacon or thinly sliced ham that was wrapped around the sausage which was interesting. The tonkatsu sauce was nice and tangy and overall the flavours complemented each other well. Definitely a very flavoursome and tasty hot dog with some nice crunch.

If you haven't heard of Gumshara then I will tell you that this restaurant which is hidden inside the food court in Chinatown has really awesome ramen. I visited Gumshara on a Saturday night and it was fairly busy with a small queue. The ramen is decently priced and the servings are more generous compared to Ippudo. DT and I ordered the pork spare rib ramen and BBQ pork ramen respectively, each with a half-boiled egg for an extra $1.50. As you may or may not be aware, Gumshara is famous for having very thick broth as a result of boiling the pork bones for days. The broth is full of collagen goodness and also MSG-free which is a bonus.

I was extremely excited when I saw the bowl ramen and boy was it amazing. The broth is so thick which you can sort of tell from the photo and the BBQ pork was very tender and very much full of flavour. The sliced pork is so much better than Ippudo's and there was a lot of it too. The egg was also perfect and runny.

Green Peppercorn has been around for almost a year I believe and it certainly dishes up some great Thai food and also serves a delectable assortment of desserts. Green Peppercorn rivals Holy Basil at Canley Heights and I love how it is much more spacious, which means less waiting time but this place seems to always be busy as even on a Monday night this restaurant was in full business.

I mainly wanted to try this place for its dessert menu.

Their pad see ew is one of the best I have tried. Some will argue that it is too sweet but I found that this was not overwhelmingly sweet for me. I would say that it was the perfect balance between sweet and savoury and full of flavour. There is just something about it that keeps you wanting to eat more after the first mouthful. Pad see ew has definitely replaced pad thai as my favourite Thai dish.

Their menu boasts a lovely selection of gourmet Italian pizzas which you can choose in medium or large. We shared between us an entree, two mains and dessert.

This was a delicious toasted bruscetta topped with diced tomatoes, fresh basil, bocconcini and red onion with caramelised balsamic vinegar. Admittedly, this was the first time for me to try bruscetta and I am normally not a big fan of tomatoes but this was addictingly good. The tomatoes combined with the tang of the balsamic vinegar and the crunch of the bruscetta was refreshingly good.

Judging by the name you would not expect the restaurant to be one serving Korean food. La Grilla is located in Canley Heights and thus a very convenient drive from where I live. I had wanted to try it after seeing the decent rating on Urbanspoon.

Assortment of side dishes

Macarons are notorious for being difficult to make. They only require a few simple ingredients but these delicate cookies are all about accurate measurements and technique. I prefer using the French meringue method because I fail at Italian meringue… The macarons turned out OK, not perfect because I  didn't get smooth tops.

DT and I went here back in December last year to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We had booked 2 months in advance via their online booking system. I originally wanted to dine at Quay because I really wanted to try their famous Snow Egg dessert after watching Masterchef but they were booked out.

Aria was just how I expected it to be, very fancy and upper class and offered a nice view of The Opera House. The wait staff are very professional and extremely well-mannered so the service was excellent.

This entree was a consomme consisting of duck dumplings, shaved abalone and mushrooms. The soup was rich in flavour and was reminiscent of the Chinese herbal soups my mum used to make. The dumplings were tender and the skin smooth in texture and not doughy at all. While the entree was good I don't believe it was worth $39 as it did not amaze me.