Pho Pasteur, Haymarket, Sydney

Bánh hỏi chả giò seafood spring roll with steamed rice noodle $9.00

How can you not love a dish involving spring rolls? I'm a sucker for bánh hỏi chả giò at Vietnamese restaurants, the perfect excuse to crunch into spring rolls under the guise of eating a salad.

We've stopped in at Pho Pasteur on George Street several times lately, always filled with a gaggle of office workers, uni students,

Balkan Oven Burek Bakery Cafe, Rockdale

Rockdale is worth exploring on foot, a fascinating blend of cultures that sprawls across both sides of the Princes Highway. You'll find Halal butchers next to Asian grocery stores, and restaurants that specialise in Chinese, Thai, Bangladeshi, Greek and Himalayan cuisine. There's a giant used furniture shop on the corner, a supermarket selling Pakistani groceries in bulk, and Lebanese bakeries

Sydney Seafood School: Mark Best

"Noone ever died from good food," says Mark Best, as he adds another generous handful of salt to a pot of boiling water.

The crowd laughs with relief. I'm at the Sydney Seafood School and tonight's class is being led by Mark, chef and owner of three-hatted restaurant Marque.

The Sydney Seafood School underwent a major facelift in 2009, led by hospitality design specialist Michael McCann. The

Greenhouse by Joost, Sydney

Greenhouse by Joost is the latest pop-up restaurant to hit Sydney, an eco-friendly vision that doubles as a unique interactive art installation.

The converted shipping container looks right at home in Campbell Cove, its facade painted with butterflies and children. The entrance on the side is covered with miniature strawberry pots.




Melbourned-based Dutch artist Joost Bakker had always

Stomachs Eleven: Lunching heaven

The best part about a weekend lunch is being able to sleep-in, skip breakfast and scoot to your fabulous host, arriving ravenous and ready for maximum feasting.

I say this because today's was a Stomachs Eleven meet-up, a group of food-loving friends who each take turns to host a dinner or lunch. Today we headed to the home of Silvrlily and Super Mario.


Slicing the vegetable terrine

Pig

Malaysia Kitchen Food Market

Satay
String brightly coloured lanterns across a hidden laneway, add funky mirrored tables and plastic stools in colours of citrus and lime, and you have Sydney's newest food market, Malaysia Kitchen.




For three days only, Sydneysiders will be able to enjoy a tasting plate of three or four Malaysian dishes for only $10, dining al fresco for a weekday lunch or dinner.

Malaysia Kitchen is

Bau Truong, Cabramatta

 Salt and pepper duck tongue $20
So we all know about duck breast, legs and liver, but what about duck tongues? At Bau Truong, these usually discarded organs are dusted with seasoned flour, deep-fried and served up as the traditional Vietnamese dish, Luoi Vit Rang Muo, or salt and pepper duck tongue.

The duck tongues aren't half as intimidating when they arrive - the magic of deep-frying tends

Freebie Friday: Win VIP tickets to Taste of Sydney 2011

Welcome to this year's first Freebie Friday! We're giving away tickets to Taste of Sydney 2011 held again at Centennial Park. Taste of Sydney is one of twelve Taste Festivals hosted around the world, in cities that include London, Milan, Edinburgh, Dublin, Dubai, Cape Town and Amsterdam.

This year's line-up of participating restaurants and chefs are:
Etch and Charlie & Co - Justin North

Cafe Giulia, Chippendale

The biggest problem with Cafe Giulia is deciding what to choose. The blackboard menu stretches across six columns of food and drink items, a bewildering bonanza of choices that renders newcomers helpless with indecision.



Converted from a 100-year-old butcher shop, Cafe Giulia has been a long-running favourite with locals and uni students. Regular lunch-goers know to arrive early to avoid

Golden Moon, Sydney

EDIT: Golden Moon has closed


Peking Duck is my happy place. Part theatre, part luxury, eating a dish based purely on the crisp tiles of duck skin is like ordering a cake and having nothing but the icing for the first course - a deliriously decadent prospect.


Peking duck (2 courses) $49.80

At Golden Moon, the ducks are wood-smoked in brick ovens, visible through the glass windows of the

Tehran, Granville

Tehran, Granville
EDIT: Tehran is now closed

WHAT IS IT?
A suburban restaurant serving Iranian/Persian and Middle Eastern cuisine.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?
A row of colourful cushions on the front benches welcome homesick patrons or diners curious to try Persian cuisine. The menu is a double-sided A4 laminate with 18 dishes, each accompanied by a colour photograph.


Zereshk Polo $10Saffron rice with

Silk Road Chinese Halal Restaurant, Haymarket

There are 116 different dishes on the foldout menu at Silk Road - each dish illustrated with a helpful photo - but I only want one thing. The Chinese hamburger.

"You really want the Chinese hamburger don't you," says Josh, as we work out which dishes to share.

I do. And I'm not budging.



Deciding on the rest of the dishes to order is no easy task, a kaleidoscope of dishes that cover the