Weekend Food Escapes: Sydney Noodle Markets, Hyde Park Sydney CBD

Sunday 16 October 2016

Sydney Noodle Markets, Hyde Park Sydney CBD

The Noodle Markets are back and I'm really happy with all the choices I made this year. My tastebuds were very happy and all my money magically disappeared. AHHH!!!

My tip to you is to go to the Sydney Noodle Markets early if you want to avoid the queues and to ensure you get table. I head there at 4pm on Saturday and leave before all the crowds come.

The Sydney Noodle Markets are cardless this year which is great. These lucky cats "maneki-neko" will hopefully bring me lots of luck.

I start off with a trip to Hoy Pinoy as the smell of the delicious skewers were invading my nostrils. I order two chicken skewers (2 for $12) and two of the pork belly skewers (2 for $12).

I'm impressed by the large turn over of skewers that they go through. Look at that epic line of chicken skewers! The skewers consistently deliver that smokey, delicious flavours. The glaze has a nice sweetness to it. I could easily eat more skewers but I've already spent $24 on the 4 so far and I want to make sure I have more stomach room.

I also stroll over to the bar and order some drinks ($8 each). I don't get ID as per usual which makes me feel old. Cry me a river.

I immediately want to order everything on the menu by Mr Bao. However I refrain and end up ordering two baos for $15. I order the Crackling Pork Belly bao and the Kaarage Chicken bao.

I grab a table in the sun. I also ordered a BBQ Pork bun. The BBQ pork bun was very delicious! The only thing I'm taken back by is the $4 price tag for a dish that you'd typically spend maybe $1.20 in a restaurant. The baos are small in portion but the flavours are so amazing - I was tempted to order more. I refrain. I will become morbidly obese otherwise.

WOW! I absolutely LOVED the two baos. The kaarage chicken was so crunchy and was accompanied with a purple cabbage and slightly spicy sauce. The pork belly bao with cucumber was so crispy and flavoursome with a hoi sin sauce with a big chunk of crackling.

There's always room for dessert and I head to Messina as I'm tempted by their asian fusion desserts. I order the "Only on Sundaes" for $12 (below, left). It has salted coconut sobrt with black sticky rice and lychee tapioca with lemon grass and white choc ganache.

The Turron Not (below) is also $12 and is bright purple. This dessert has a deep fried banana and brown sugar gelato which is wrapped in filo pastry. There's also cream and kalamansi puree with coconut crunch. I quite like the Asian flavours in both desserts. I prefer the "Only on Sundaes" though.

So that's another year of the Noodle Markets for me. Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit again as there's so many other stands I wanted to try but didn't get the chance.

I loved all the food I tried. Amazing variety with tasty flavours.

Here's some info from the website if you're looking to check it out.