Sushi Gallery - Adelaide, South Australia

We've never actually tried the sushi from Sushi Gallery on Payneham Road (if you want sushi, you'll need to pre-order or go for lunch), but every dish we've ever eaten there has been fantastic. This little gem of a cafe is run by a Korean family who really care about the quality of the food they serve.



On a busy night you may have to wait up to 45 mins for your food to arrive, but you will be rewarded with a delicious, affordable and satisfying meal. Food comes with complimentary cold water and kimchi (pickled vegetables w/chili). The Bulgogi Donburi (front $10.90) & Japche (back $13.50) are pictured below. The noodles in the Japche are made of sweet potato...refreshingly different.



One of the better known Korean dishes is the Bibimbap. It's a bowl of white rice with sliced veggies and usually sliced beef and a fresh or fried egg on top. The Bibimbap at Sushi Gallery is the best we've tried. Here's one that comes in a hot stone pot, the Dolsot Bibimbap ($12.50).



Another recommended dish is the Ttukbaegi Bulgogi ($12.50) which I'm still trying to learn how to pronounce. It's seasoned beef with Korean sweet potato noodle and vegetables in a hot pot.



Yet another option is a Chicken, Pork or Fish Katsu ($11.50). From what I can tell, this is a Korean take on Western fried foods. Very tasty!



For dessert, I recommend a trip across the road to the Lucky Mart Korean shop for an ice cream or packaged dessert. (note: they close at 8pm) We usually go for the Melona ice cream but we recently tried the Corn ice cream and it was both strange and awesome at the same time!



Sushi Gallery for lunch or dinner (closed Sun) and Lucky Mart for dessert makes for an awesome Adelaide Korean meal combo.

Update 5 Feb 2012:
We've been back to Sushi Gallery a couple of times recently to try the sushi at lunch. It's the best sushi I've had in Adelaide and made fresh after you order. Delicious! A must try for all sushi lovers.


Avocado Shrimp Roll ($9.50)


Teriyaki Chicken Roll ($6.90)

Katz's Delicatessen - E. Houston Street, NYC

No visit to Manhattan is complete without a stop at a Jewish kosher style deli. One of the best known and most popular is Katz's Delicatessen, established in 1888. They coined the phrase "send a salami to your boy in the army" during World War II and were featured in the movie "When Harry Met Sally" among others. You can see signs mentioning both of these claims to fame in this photo.



The staff are quite pushy when you open the door, trying to get as many people in and ordering as quickly as possible. We were handed a little white ticket and told to hurry up to the counter to place our order. We took the advice of our server at the meat counter and went for the pastrami on rye. Excellent choice! Hand sliced meat, fresh bread and absolutely delicous. We also got some pickles on the side which I was anxious to try. There were two types of pickles made on site, a typical kosher style dill (the greener coloured ones) and a very sour pickle (the browner ones) which tasted like nothing I've ever tried. Fascinating to me because I love pickles. I still prefer my Texas style dill pickle, but the sour one was mouth-wateringly good.



Lucky for us, we had spoken to a local who told us if we were going to Katz's, we should tip the guy at the meat counter when placing our order to get more meat in our sandwich. A $5 tip did not go astray. We got this ridiculous pile of meat in our sandwich as a result of our generosity! It wasn't a cheap sandwich in the first place (about $15 I think), but we shared it between the two of us and certainly felt we got our money's worth.



An awesome pairing with the pastrami on rye is a Dr Brown's soda. Dr Brown's is now owned by Pepsi but still made locally in College Point, New York. The name apparently goes back to a doctor who used to treat immigrant children in the area and developed a kosher seltzer containing celery seeds, which was the precursor to one of the 6 flavours available today called "Cel-Ray." Somehow celery flavoured soda didn't sound too appetizing so we went for Black Cherry instead. The other Dr Brown's flavours are Cream Soda, Orange Soda, Root Beer and Ginger Ale. You can get a Coke or Pepsi pretty much anywhere, but Katz's is one of the few places where you can get a Dr Brown's.



After our sandwich, pickles and Dr Brown's soda were gone, I took our white ticket up to the drinks counter and ordered a New York Egg Cream. This is a concoction I had heard of many times before but had never tried for myself. I got vanilla (they also have chocolate) because I thought it was the more traditional option, but apparently chocolate has its own Brooklyn Egg Cream tradition. The other ingredients in the drink are...no, not egg or cream...just milk and "seltzer" which is carbonated water. Simple, but delicious. There's something about the mixture of the milk and the seltzer that just works really well.



People, there's a reason why Katz's has A) been around since 1888, B) is featured in numerous films and folklore, and C) is generally packed with tourists and locals alike. They're good at what they do and it's a real New York City experience. I hope they'll be around for another 123 years.

Shake Shack - Madison Square Park, NYC

On our first ever visit to Manhattan, the top of our itinerary list was Shake Shack at Madison Square Park. This is the original location and still the best. Unless you happen to live near another location, don't waste your time anywhere else.



When we arrived, the line looked a mile long. We had already walked a long stretch of Madison Avenue to get there. It was hot and we wanted food fast but we decided we would wait. This might be our only chance to experience the legend of Shake Shack. About an hour later, we finally reached the window and placed our order.



About 10 or 15 minutes later, the buzzer went off and our dreams came true! This meal was extremely satisfying and well worth the wait. Be warned, weekends and nice weather days can be very busy. If you want to avoid the longest lines, check the Shack Cam first and allow yourself plenty of waiting time just in case. But like I said, totally worth the wait. I'm drooling just looking at this photo.



The Shack Burgers are as close as you can get to perfection. Soft potato bun with a bit of a crunch from the grill, perfect meat to bread ratio, melted American cheese, Lucky's tasty bright red tomatoes, crisp fresh lettuce and that Shack Sauce. To die for! I also happen to love their crinkle cut fries. Yeah they're from frozen, but they're golden, crunchy and oh so delicious. To top it all off, Shake Shack has frozen custard! We went for the Black & White Shake and were very happy with our choice. On a later visit we tried the Chocolate Truffle Cookie Dough Concrete and this was a meal in itself. A concrete is thick enough that you have to eat it with a spoon. Yes please!



Shake Shack in Madison Square Park was one of the highlights of our trip and along with pretty much everybody else who has ever been there, I highly recommend it.