Bento Japanese Restaurant

Ok yet another place I was supposed to blog about a long time ago yet never got around to doing it. Bento is a Japanese restaurant located in Launceston city just behind the food hall located next to the Village cinema along brisbane street. It's a small shop that serves relatively cheap Japanese cuisine. Went there for lunch quite a few times when I was in the city. If I remember correctly, they have three types of bento boxes which range from about AUD$7-13. They also serve different types of sushi and sashimi, as well as a variety of side dishes like chawanmushi and agedashi tofu. I've never been there for dinner but there is a dinner ala cart buffet which costs about AUD$18? Should be pretty good for poor and hungry students. Haha.

Above is the teriyaki beef and chicken bento. It is served with some seasoned seaweed and coleslaw. The beef is tender but do note that the sauce is quite salty. I think this applies to most of their beef dishes. Their chicken dishes tend to be pretty good though. Rice is soft, a bit sticky and fluffy, which is good compared to some other places over here.

The next bento was the tempura and tofu bento. The tempura was decent, two pieces of prawns and some vegetables. Guess you can't really go wrong with tempura in terms of taste unless you over-fry it, leave it out for too long or get something thats gone bad. The tofu was supposed to be agedashi tofu, but I think they served the wrong kind of tofu. Kind of looks like the kind of tofu they use in yong tau foo which they stuff fish paste in, which is more firm like tau gua (is there a english term for this?). Also served with rice and coleslaw.

For some reason most asian food is expensive in Tasmania and Japanese food is no exception. A sushi roll normally costs between AUD$1.60-$2.50 in Melbourne and Sydney, but it costs AUD$3.50 at Bento. You can also get sushi boxes which costs AUD$7. Well compared to other Japanese restaurants in Launceston, Bento is something students would definitely frequent more because of the price. It's not the most authentic kind of Japanese food but its still pretty decent. Good for the budget conscious that still want a decent meal.

Thai Express Launceston

Long time since I blogged about something I ate. Anyway this is long overdue, I just never got around to blogging about it. There is a food court in Launceston called Food Hall along Brisbane Street and there's this stall called Thai Express. I doubt it has any affiliation to the Thai Express in Singapore though. Ate there quite a few times but after awhile I always seem to eat the same dish. Maybe because I'm a poor student and it's the cheapest one on the menu, but it also tastes good.

It's just called Thai soup noodles and you have a choice of chicken meat or fish balls. It's served in a clear broth with bean sprouts and pad thai noodles. The noodles are soft and slippery and you just slurp it up with the soup and meat. Great for a cold day! After adding the chilli flakes the soup becomes spicy yet some what salty. Not sure if it's MSG or something that makes it taste good but I just drink up all the soup anyway! Haha.

It's best when you add the chilli flakes to it to make it really spicy. Shiokness! Asian food is kinda hard to come back in Launceston so this is one of the kinds of comfort food for me. And at a steal of just AUD$6. I've never eaten something like this before back in Singapore or Thailand for that matter, so I'm not sure how it stacks up to food back home but I think this dish is still decent for Asian food in Launceston.

Food Hall Fish and Chips

I used to think that food courts were something associated with asian societies but I guess I was wrong. In Launceston we have what we call Food Hall! Located along Brisbane Street, just after Village Cinema, it serves a variety of food there. You can choose from western grill to thai to chinese and indian. Of course, who will forget an angmo classic... Fish and chips!

Tasmania is supposed to be known for their seafood by the way, they export a lot of their produce. And this stall supports the local industry. So gotta try something right? Angmo land must eat some ang mo food. Well, I didn't exactly settle for fish and chips because the seafood platter caught my eye.

When you order food here, they give you a queue number. So you wait around for your number to be called and you go collect your food. Seafood platter looked pretty good when they served it. Came with a large portion of fries and salad and coleslaw. You also get stuff like calamari rings, breaded scallop, breaded prawns and fish.

Well can't determine how fresh the seafood is if it's deep fried, but its good and sinful man! The fish was a thick cut, the scallop even had it's roe and calamari was well... Calamari! Just note that food courts in Singapore you'd probably spend about SGD$5 or so for a meal but here it's different. The seafood platter cost me AUD$12 if I'm not wrong. At least it was satisfying. Couldn't finish the fries though, was too much for me. Lucky I had friends who helped me finish it up.

Hoong Fatt Chinese Restaurant

Ok short post this time. Just going to mention this chinese restaurant located in Launceston. Called Hoong Fatt, it's probably one of the only few chinese restaurants in Launceston. Up til now I've tried 5 chinese restaurants here and I reckon that's about all they have. I might be wrong though, would need to explore more to get a definite answer.

Anyway, Hoong Fatt Chinese Restaurant is a small restaurant located close to the city. Can't remember the exact name of the street but it's next time Brisbane Street. The cute thing apparently is that the father and mother run the grocery store next door, and the son and his wife run the restaurant.

I'm not sure how their meals cost at lunch time, but at dinner time it's an all you can eat buffet for AUD$8.90. That's pretty cheap actually, hard to find such value elsewhere. And if you like, they have an add-on to your buffet meal which allows you to take their dim sum (they call it dim sim), a soup, dessert and a drink for just AUD$12.10. It's a bit like an Angmo zhi char stall. Don't expect a lot of variety though, probably only abt 12 dishes to choose from. Surprisingly a lot of Angmos go there to take away food. And they all usually go for the fried rice... Anway, food here is not the best, but for hungry students such as myself, it represents great value for a low price. Eat ahhhhhh!!!