Zǒu Mǎ Kàn Huā @ Sydney & Brisbane - day 4

Day 4, last day in Sydney; so we will try to see and do what we wanted! We will be flying off to Brisbane the next day:)

I know there is one shopping complex I do not want to miss, not for shopping but to eat the famous Japanese ramen I heard so much about! the complex we wanted to go is Westfield Sydney Shopping Centre.

Again, from where we stay; we are able to walk there!

Westfield claimed they have 3,000+ brands and 1 million + products!  So who is counting??

Layers of spaceship like escalators, shop after shop of branded goods but not even one camera shops! As a matter of fact, all this time in Sydney I did not even see any! Look like camera sales is a dying business!

And then we found what I was looking for :)

Ippudo, also known as Hakata Ippūdō (博多一風堂) in Japan, is a Japanese ramen restaurant chain.

Ippudo was first started in Fukuoka, by Shigemi Kawahara, the CEO of Chikaranomoto Company.

"Ippudo" in direct translation means "one wind hall", and this is named because at the time, there were dark clouds over the Kyushu ramen industry, and the founder CEO Kawahara intended to "blow wind and revolutionise the era".      - Wikipedia

Apart from Japan, you can find Ippudo in New York City, USA. Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Sydney, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

I was right, Ippudo Sydney is the NEAREST to Wellington ;)

According to Ippudo Sydney, the Sydney branch was opened last year, December 6. The restaurant is located on level 5 of Westfield Sydney.

The interior has been designed by Koichi Takada, famous for his designs of restaurants like Ocean Room and Cave restaurant in Maroubra.

For the first time, they will be serving their Shiromaru and Akamaru ramen in Australia.

Our lunch order at Ippudo Sydney...

For me... Akamaru Shinaji which featured Ippudo original tonkotsu broth enhanced with special blended miso paste and fragrant garlic oil. Served with thin noodles, pork belly, black mushroom and shallots. A refined, modern style ramen.  A$16.00

Alvin Gani of Ippudo Sydney putting in the special blended miso paste in my bowl of Akamaru Shinaji ramen :)

L.B. ordered her favorite Hot Stone Unagi Rice - Grilled Japanese eel on rice with original Kabayaki sauce.  A$10.00

We also have a plate of Ippudo Gyoza, 5 pieces of Hakata style pan fried dumplings.  A$6.00

Check out their menu here!


Did we enjoy our food?  Are you kidding? If we have a few more days in Sydney, I will come back at least again and again to taste their other ramen! Ippudo serves the best ramen and I am a ramen fanatic ;)

After Ippudo we walk across to Myers, which is more to our budget!

While browsing for dresses, Le General bump into Rachael and Jeffery; our friends in Karori! Talk about small world!!  They were on their way to Singapore and got 6 hours to kill, thanks to Qantas; so they took the train and came to Myers! We had a good catching up over a flat white and cake, thanks Rachael :)

It was 4pm when I decided we should take the monorail to Sydney's Chinese Garden of Friendship.

First the monorail,  it seems the Australians themselves do not use the monorail! So much so that they are gonna scrape and tear down the whole system on 30 June this year!  At A$9.00 for a day trip, at least we can say we have been on the Sydney monorail ;)

Circular Quay taken from the inside of our monorail.

The Chinese Garden of Friendship (谊园) is a Chinese garden in Darling Harbour and close to Chinatown in Sydney, Australia. Modeled on the typical private gardens of the Ming Dynasty, the garden offers an insight into Chinese heritage and culture.  - Wikipedia

The Chinese Garden of Friendship was designed by Sydney's Chinese sister city, Guangzhou in China. Sydney's Chinatown complements the area's already rich Chinese heritage and culture.

The gardens were officially opened in 1988 as part of Sydney's bicentennial celebrations and they were named the Garden of Friendship symbolizing the bond established between China and Australia. - Wikipedia

 You can hire Chinese costumes for photography, goodness;in this HOT weather?

L.B. under a REAL persimmon tree in the Chinese Garden :)

Far from the maddening crowd... for A$5.00 you can hide among the trees and chill out beside the small lagoon in the Chinese Garden.

Other things you can do at the Chinese Garden.

Since it was our last night in Sydney, we have dinner at a delightful Chinese restaurant we found; 5 minutes walk from our hotel. We had dinner on our second night, at 8.30 pm and it was so crowded; this time round we were outside, 10 minutes before it open ;)

Against the Sydney setting sun, Chefs Gallery at George Street. Our favorite Chinese restaurant in Sydney.

While you dine, you can see the chefs in the glass paneled kitchen working away.

This is Kelly who ushered us twice when we were at Chefs Gallery, her service is ultra efficient and friendly; we never experience our orders arriving so fast! No wonder they are the TOP Chinese restaurant!  You gotto check out their incredible web site too!

Famous Last Words...

Good Bye Sydney, it has been a very exciting 4 nights; we will be back!!

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DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3