Hanaichi is one of my favourite restaurant in Australia. Without Hanaichi’s food, I would not have survived my university life. They provide delicious and cheap food which supports me mentally and financially. I might be exaggerating, but part of them is true.

Hanaichi offers two options to market:

1) Quick-fix meals
2) High-class sushi dining

This post will focus on first option – Quick Fix Meals

Why are they successful?

Hanaichi operates at busy food courts at Brisbane CBD, which is geographically awesome. Especially during lunchtime, the crowds will flood the food courts.

The food tastes good too. You will likely notice the disproportionate numbers of crowds queuing up at Hanaichi during peak hours, which indicates the popularity of the food.

What I like about the service is the serving speed

The foods are prepared earlier, and they “finalise” the food when you order.

E.g. This is way they prepare the food

1. prepare rice
2. cut fried meat into pieces
3. add curry sauce and carrot pickles
4. serve

… And the price

4 years ago. One normal sized curry chicken only costs $5.20. Then 2 years later the price becomes $5.80, and now the price is $6.50.

The popularity and crowds did not reduce although the price has raised significantly over the past few years.

$6.50 per meal is still considered cheap by Australia standard.

Cutlery, tissues, and plastic bags are prepared for your convenience. Take as many as you want.

Even most of the fast food restaurants like McD and Hungry Jacks prepare meals wayyyy slower than Hanaichi.

If you order a curry chicken from Hanaichi, how long do you need to wait? I bet it’s no longer than 90 seconds. I am very impressed.

The Food

Hanaichi offers only limited types of food. I guess it’s no more than 10 options. Mainly includes rice, ramen and udon.

I personally tried all the food. But nothing really stands out. If you stand in front of ANY Hanaichi restaurant, you can see 80% of customers will order my two favourite dishes.

Recommendation

You won’t go wrong with two of my favourites:

1) Curry Chicken
2) Hanaichi Chicken

Conclusion

Hope you enjoy the food from Hanaichi. I can guarantee you will enjoy the meal there like I did for past 4 years at Brisbane. Well, you can say that I pay for Hanaichi’s mortgages past years…

Address

Wintergarden Shopping Complex
Shop E128 & E129
171-209 Queen St
Brisbane City 4000 QLD
# Phone: (07) 3221 1450

Feeling hungry yet?

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Hanaichi Japanese Restaurant is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

You don’t often see people queuing up, just for sushi rolls. But that is exactly what happens at LR Sushi every day.

Despite being very passionate about Japanese food and with numerous sushi roll joints in the city, I would only queue up for the sushi rolls at LR Sushi.

What is so special about LR Sushi?

The sushi rolls sold here are larger than your average rolls and not to mention more generous in their fillings. As many as 20 workers crowd in a small kitchen to churn out at least 3000 pieces of sushi rolls everyday.

Standing in front of the cabinet, you’ll be blown away by the colourful spread of freshly made sushi rolls.

What are the crowds’ favourite?

Amongst the popular favourites are Salmon and Avocado, Tuna and Avocado, Californian Maki, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese, Unagi, Crispy Chicken, Honey Pork, Mushroom and Tofu, Soft Shell Crab and Cream Cheese, Tuna and Sesame and Teriyaki Chicken.

The price ranges from $2.00 to $2.80 a roll.

LR Sushi’s provides excellent value

Look at the generous sizes of the filling! You get even more than what you pay for. The salmon slabs are fresh and huge, the chicken and pork pieces are of significant sizes and the vegetables crisp and fresh. Despite being crammed with all the goodies, the rolls still hold together very well.

Unlike other sushi roll joints, LR Sushi gives pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi for free! This is awesome. It always puts me off having to pay $0.20 for a packet of wasabi or pickled ginger, when I usually have at least 3 packets of each. You can help yourself to as many sachets as you wish.

Location of LR Sushi

Due its popularity, LR Sushi now has three branches in Brisbane city:-

• Felix St (near the corner of Mary St);
• Queens Plaza on Adelaide Street; and
• MacArthur Central on Queen Street.

So if you’re in the city and you see a lead to a long queue, don’t be alarmed. Chances are they are just hungry sushi lovers going for their sushi fix. I might even be one of them. You should join in the fun. They are worth the wait.

This is a guest post by Teresa Ngooi. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here. You can contact her by email.

Where Shall I Eat Today? – LR Sushi is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

If you are looking for good food and good value for your money, Little Hong Kong is the place to go. Just like Yang Mama (Yang’s Cuisine), Little Hong Kong is situated in the famous Market Place in Sunny Bank.

When you step inside, you will realize that the restaurant is actually little small and cramped. But due to its oriental type of furnishing and decor, it is very cosy and you will ease in almost immediately. You will feel like you’re in Hong Kong!

Little Hong Kong serves:

As the name suggests, this place serves up a range of excellent Hong Kong cuisines, based on the concept of traditional food sold by street vendors and in little eateries in Hong Kong. They are well known for their varieties of congees and noodles and their selection of BBQ and roast meat.

How good is the food?

Trust me when I say, that their meat are so succulent, juicy and tender that it melts in your mouth!

The value that Little Hong Kong provides

I rate this restaurant to be value for your money because of this:-

Look at their generous portion!

Personal Experience at Little Hong Kong

I tried the Roast Duck Dry Noodle which only costs $10.80.

I usually share a dish with my friend, with an additional side of a wanton or dumplings.

The restaurant also provides free tea and water. So you can basically have a full meal for under $10.

Little Hong Kong is actually under the same management of Little Singapore. Little Singapore is another lovely restaurant which serves up pretty good Malaysian and Singaporean cuisines.

I will write about my experience in Little Singapore next. Meanwhile, go knock yourself silly at Little Hong Kong.

Address:

Sunny Bank Market Square
Shop 23A, Corner of Mains Rd & McCullough St
Sunny Bank Qld 4109
Phone: (07) 3344 1177

This is a guest post by Teresa Ngooi. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here. You can contact her by email.

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Little Hong Kong BBQ Restaurant is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

There used to be a famous food court in Market Square, Sunnybank, called Xiao Tai Bei (???). The food court serves mainly Taiwan cuisines. It used to be my favourite hang out place until other new restaurant appears around, such as Little Singapore and Weng Kei.

If this is your first visit, you could have trouble spotting the entrance for this food court. The stairs are beside a grocery store and it’s a bit dirty and gloomy, like a scene in ghost movie. You can ask around if you can’t find the entrance. I promise you won’t see any ghost.

However, the last time I visited this food court was 3 years ago. So much has changed since then. I rarely return to this food court mainly because there are no food worth returning.. I haven’t tried all the food so its an unfair statement..

I guess its the external competition that leads current condition. Used to be a steak stall with huge portion with cheap price. The quality slightly below ‘good’, but the huge portion makes it up. I was looking forward to eat that huge steak but unfortunately it was not open.

I had no other choice, Yang Mama seems like the only stall who is still serving food. Customers are queuing up for takeaways..  I decided to give it a try.

The food shown on menu are enticing. I had trouble choosing which set meal to order cause it all looks so good. I came with empty stomach because I prepared to eat that huge steak.

Based on the menu, there are so many choices to choose from. I stood for for quite some time to make decision.

From what I noticed, only two employees are working inside the shop. You can easily recognise Yang mama because she’s the only middle age woman who is sweating herself in front of hot stoves, I assume that’s Young Mama (never clarify with them). Remember to say shout ‘YOUNG MAMA YOU’RE SO PRETTY” to get some discounts.

I ordered fried chicken with rice. Only set meals are served, don’t expect to find à la carte cause they don’t serve such dish. I personally like Taiwanese set meal because its usually packed with different side dishes, mostly vegetables. The rice even comes with meat sauce gravy on top. You can eat the rice at its own!

The chicken is crispy, salt and pepper as I expected, and the side dishes are great. Not one of the top spot to eat, but I consider it as satisfying.

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Yang Mama (Yang’s Cuisine) is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

If you have tried the Honey Soy Chicken Recipe and found that after licking your plate clean of the honey soy gravy, you still have some leftover rice, do not fret. You are well on your way to preparing your next simple DIY student dish – Fried Rice!

The best part about making your own fried rice is that you are at liberty to add or vary any of the ingredients, according to your liking. Being Malaysian, I like my fried rice spicy and flavourful! Here is a simple recipe for you try:

Ingredients needed:

• 3 cups of overnight Rice
• 2 tbsp Canola or Peanut oil
• Half an onion
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• A handful of prawns and/or any kind of meat (you may use chicken breast sliced into strips)
• A handful of frozen peas
• 1 tsp of Chili paste or sambal (depends on how spicy you like it)
• 1tsp oyster sauce (optional)
• Half tsp of Chicken stock powder
• Dark soy sauce (for colour)
• Soy sauce and Pepper to taste

Directions:

• Heat pan and add in the oil. Ensure that the pan is really hot before starting to cook.
• Once the oil is hot, sauté the onions and garlic until golden brown
• Add in prawns and/or meat and fry until fragrant
• At this point, you may wish to add a dash of salt and pepper or even a tsp of oyster sauce in order for the meat to absorb some flavours.
• Add the frozen peas and continue to fry for a further 2 minutes.
• Once all the goodness comes together in your sizzling pan, you are ready to add your overnight rice. Mix well.
• Add the remaining ingredients of dark soy sauce, chilli paste or sambal and chicken powder and fry until fragrant.

I like to serve my fried rice with some salad at the side and a sunny side up egg. It just feels more authentic =)

Remember, there is no hard and fast rule to making fried rice. Depending on what tickles your fancy and what you have in your fridge which is close to expiry, let your imagination go wild!

If you have other variations and suggestions to making your version of the best fried rice, do share it with us!

This is a guest post by Teresa Ngooi. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here. You can contact her by email.

Simple DIY Student Recipes – Fried Rice is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

When doing your groceries at the supermarket, you will often see pre-marinated Honey Soy Chicken wings being sold by kg’s. Needless to say, this is a very popular marinate and one of Australian’s favourite dish to serve up on the barbeque on a Sunday afternoon. Even an Australian brand of crisp, Red Rock Deli manufactures Honey Soy flavored chips (This is a must try!).

So really, this is the easiest recipe to duplicate and instead of spending money on pre-marinated meat, you may wish to DIY it. In fact, you will find that they taste even better than those sold and Coles and/or Woolworths, as you get to vary the amount of honey, depending on sweet you like your wings. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients needed:

• 12 chicken wings
• 2 tablespoons of Hoi Sin Sauce
• 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce
• 1/3 cup of Tomato Sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons of Honey (depends on how sweet you like it)
• 2-3 tablespoons of Sweet Chili Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of Sesame Oil
• 4 cloves of Garlic crushed (More, if you like the pungency of the garlic)
• 1 Chicken stock Cube (optional)

Directions:

• Marinate the wings with all the above ingredients.
• Refrigerate overnight.
• Pre-heat oven to 180ºc.
• Roast the wings, uncovered for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Enjoy the one wings on its own or serve with rice.

If served with rice, I like to sprinkle some Rice Seasoning for taste, and as a form of garnish. This is a Japanese ingredient and it goes very well with almost anything! It is essentially made out of seaweed, sesame seed and “bonito”. You can find this is any Asian Market.

Your end product will look something like this.

This is also a good option when you intend to invite some friends over for dinner as chicken wings are awfully cheap and the marinate is made out of some very basic ingredients, which you should have in your kitchen. Do try it and let me know how it goes!

Extra

If you have leftover, don’t waste it! Teresa is smart enough to prepare another recipe to transform the leftover into a brand new one dish. She is so smart!

Teresa Fried Rice

This is a guest post by Teresa Ngooi. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here. You can contact her by email.

Simple DIY Student Recipes – Honey Soy Chicken Wings is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

Yuuga Japanese restaurant is one of my favorites. This restaurant serves fresh food and the ambiance is awesome. they have awesome customer services too!

The Front End

You can easily spot this restaurant. They stand out with awesome traditional Japanese theme front end.

The Ambiance

The restaurant is air conditioned. The temperature is comfortable despite the hot weather outside, and an opened-kitchen. Well ventilated.

I love the interior design; huge effort has been put into the decoration. I enjoyed my time observing the infrastructure and decorations of the restaurant. The lighting’s are well placed (yes I notice those as well, lol)

The majority of the customers are Japanese, I felt like I am at Japan for a moment. Hehe.

From what I’ve observed, the foods are quite authentic, based on the numbers of Japanese dine in that restaurant. I don’t see many locals dine here, but I could be wrong.
This is definitely your favourite place if you love authentic Japanese food and culture.

The Food

My friends and I are big fans of raw food, we ordered sashimi meals. I ordered a plate of salmon sashimi with rice.

What can I say? The salmon is so fresh! You can judge on the freshness of salmon based on the texture, shiny, colour and smell. All scored max score from me!

The price is a bit expensive, but I would not say it’s overpriced. The experience and the food will make up for it.

Address

38 Cavill Ave
Surfers Paradise QLD 4217
(07) 5539 0993

Where Shall I Eat Today – Yuuga Japanese Restaurant is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

Finally, I have the chance to visit Ajisen Ramen at Brisbane. This restaurant recently opened their first branch at Brisbane. I was so excited. I am a big fans of ramen. Yummy.

The last time I had Ajisen Ramen was at Melbourne two years ago. The dining experience was unforgettable – the excellent soup, springy noodles and succulent char-siew (roast pork) along with diced spring onions. Deadly combination.

First branch at Brisbane!

The Ambience

When I enter the restaurant, I thought I was in Chinese restaurant. Hmm. That’s weird. This is probably one of the Japanese restaurant that doesn’t looks like one. The ambience is so… different.

Usually, there are many Japanese art and paintings on the wall, includes Japanese characters and and kanji. But not this restaurant. Probably this restaurant caters more towards backpacker customers (famous backpackers accommodation beside). Westernization perhaps?

Anyway.

The kitchen is displayed to customers. You can see the hardworking employees preparing the food while the main chef stood in middle and gave orders. The main chef looks like Yakuza boss. Heh.

I was told the toilet is extremely clean too. It’s almost unprecedented clean in terms of restaurant toilets. You might want to have a visit (and explore).

Waitress have big smile and friendly, and they are responsive too. I guess this is part of the Japanese culture. Most of the waiter/waitress in Japanese restaurant are diligent and serve well.

… not to mention, the waitress are good looking too :)

Another thing I like about Japanese restaurants. Comic books are usually provided and you are welcomed to read while wait for foods. It’s a bonus if you can read Japanese… so far I haven’t found any Japanese restaurants with translated comics.

The comic I showed above is a freaking funny hahaha.

The Food

I cannot remember the ramen names. But I can rest assure you that the taste are similar, and I am not going to describe how each ramen tastes. You probably can guess how it tastes like after looking at the photos. There are three main ingredients in ramen, and it’s consists of:

1. Noodle (ramen)
2. Soup
3. Toppings (egg, pork, spring onion etc)

I like the menu design! It’s straight forward and easy to read. Each flavor of ramen has clear picture, along with short description. You probably have problem deciding which ramen to eat because all looked so delicious.

Here’s my advice: just pick the one that attracts your attention the most. It’s going to take you forever if couldn’t decide A or B. I encourage you take advice from waitress too, they probably know which one are popular picks.

The price is slightly more expensive than usual, given the portion and the ingredients. One bowl of ramen cost around $13-$15. One can easily reach $20 if you order drinks and side dishes. Apart from that, everything is good.

The Address

2/414 George St
Brisbane QLD 4000
(07) 3211 5409

Join the discussion

How was your dining experience at Ajisen Ramen? Please share in comment box below.

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Ajisen Ramen is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

Pho Hien Vuong restaurnant is one of my favourite restaurant of all time. I have been dining in restaurant for past 4 years, and I honestly tell you, I am not sick of it yet! Everyone in my circle of friend knows this is my favourite restaurant.

And I have been ordering the same dish for past four years. Incredible? Yes I think so too. If I ate my mum’s same dishes for more than 5 times, she will receive complain letter.

The Front End

Pho Hien Vuong restaurant easily attracts your attention because they installed a big ass colourful neon lights. Cow and chicken! You won’t miss it.

I usually refer this as the “Vietnamese restaurant beside toilet”, heh. None of my friends refer this restaurant as “Pho Hien Vuong”. It’s too hard to remember.

The restaurant recently extends further, taking a car park space outside the restaurant.

Recently they opened a second shop around the corner too, serving exactly the same food. The restaurant is usually packed during peak hours.

The Ambience

Simple chairs and table. Nothing fancy. You won’t have any problem navigating the restaurant because it’s one big rectangle. The counter is in the end of the restaurant. You need to pay the bill at the counter. Remember your table number before heading to counter – you will need it as reference.

I like the big mirrors on both sides of the restaurant. It makes the restaurant looks wider. And customers like to look at mirrors when then come in, and before go out.

The Food

You will receive a plate of raw beansprouts, mint leave, chili and lemon. These are compliments from restaurants, usually served in every Vietnamese restaurant.

Feel free to consume these ingredients on your main dish. It is free.

In this post, I am only introducing a  favourite dish of mine. I wanted to take more photos of other food, but my friends were ordering the same dished. Probably influenced by me. Heh.

Crispy Chicken with Tapioca Noodle – This is my Top#3 favourite food in Brisbane. The soup is so-so-so-so good. Flavourful soup that keeps me drinking more. Pieces of spring onions with tiny cubes of friend pork fats, these combination itself can send me to cloud nine.

The tapioca noodles are chewy, just the way I like it. Noodle texture is similar to ramen and udon, the chewy part is one of the reason I picked this noodle instead of egg-noodle or clear-rice noodle.

They only choose chicken Maryland (thigh+drumstick) to fry, which is the best part of chicken to be deep fried,especially when the skin is intact! Lightly flavored with salt and pepper. Perfect combination!

Address

Located in the busiest spot in Sunnybank food area – Sunnybank Marketsquare. There’s only one Vietnamese restaurant, you won’t miss it.

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Pho Hien Vuong Vietnamese Restaurant is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com

Umai is a Japanese restaurant. Opened not long ago. We spot the advertisement in a local Chinese newspaper. Decided to give it a try.

Umai
adj. (Kanji=??) clever; skilful, dexterous; expert

The Front End

The Ambiance

The first impression I had is, “wow, amazing lights” Definitely a new touch of freshness. Occasionally expose in fresh surroundings, excites me and my taste buds ^^ I personally think its better than typical restaurant which has bland walls.

The Food

If an authentic Japanese restaurant do not serve sushi, I *assume* they serve good noodles. From what I observed, ramen is the main attraction of Umai. I ordered this noodle without thinking much.

Pork Ramen – The soup base is thick, and taste pretty good. Egg is half cooked, and it plays an important ingredient for any good ramen. The pork meat tastes good too, the lean meat and fats blends together well. What I am not satisfied is the portion. Good food is never enough (trying not to be too picky ^^”)

The noodle… nothing special. I prefer more “springy” ramen. This ramen noodle is tasteless.. and doesn’t mix well with the soup.

Probably there is a reason for the big spoon (shown above). Put noodle and soup into the spoon, and slid into your mouth. Satisfied.

Grill Teriyaki Chicken – This dish has more chicken meat than rice (awesome), and the chicken is cooked perfectly. Add some dry chili flakes, and start your engine!

The chicken meat is not dry because it’s all chicken thigh. Extra teriyaki sauce covers the chicken as well as the rice.

Big portion, well cooked chicken thigh, good amount of sauce, perfect.

Japanese Omelet Noodles – Typical Japanese fried noodles, I guess? Nothing really special. The noodles are pan fried with soy sauce, meat and vegetable. Then, the noodle is covered inside omelet (tasteless). Sprinkle herbs, mayonnaise and tomato sauce for decoration.

Nah. I don’t like.

Deep Fried Prawns – $6 (I think) for four pieces of prawns are not worth it. The prawns are covered in flour and deep fried. Sprinkle with some dry fish flakes and covered by mayonaise. The taste is bland – I only taste mayonaise. Not recommended.

Conclusion

I feel myself returning to this restaurant soon. From Umai restaurant’s menu, they seem to offer special meals which are not available in other Japanese restaurants. Definitely going to try other dishes.

You can drop by this restaurant if you want to try something new and exciting. Just don’t expect “excellent food”. Expect “good food”.

Address

The restaurant is in the middle of a carpark. Drive around the car park and you can easily spot it. It’s beside an Asian supermarket.

Participate

Do you have experience dining in this restaurant? Share with us!

Where Shall I Eat Today? – Umai is a post from: http://www.brisbanestudentguide.com