Vivid Sydney

Inspiration, drama and visuals

Intricacies in the financial district.

Mutants at the Rocks.

Environmental concerns at Martin Place.

So zen, so anime, so chic - floating over Chinatown.

Euro candy, Latino fiesta or African rainbow?

Glow of gifts like on Christmas Eve.

Happy moods, red vibes and an inner swirl of letting go.

Lady J Cafe & Wine Bar - Bondi Junction, Sydney

A bit away from the mall and Westfield at Bondi Junction, at the far end of Oxford Street, you come across two very different food concept outlets but located side by side, not exactly conjoined twins but almost. Lady J has an west coast US feel plus Spanish influences, especially in its tables, cutlery boxes and food styles.  The Paleo lists out organic ingredients.  It was a nippy Sunday morning and the obvious choice was for warm comfort breakfasts and a strong but good cup of Gabriel barista coffee.   The decor also had more character at Lady J, with its pervasive wood feel, so it had a more natural appeal on the rather first cool weekend of winter for Sydney this year.  I could not help comparing this to a smaller version of Wollongong CBD's Three Chimneys - hey this was a bar, cafe and modern Australian outlet with a special feel, in Sydney's iconic eastern suburbs.

Service was prompt, friendly and unobtrusive. There are not many tables but they were spaced beautifully.  Fine attentive touches of wall art, accessories and shelved bottles and glasses - they all added to the unique feel.   There was an open air flow view to the street. Oh yes, also Brasserie Bread rolls, sourdough and baked stuff.   I have not been there at night, but I was already advised to try the tapas. My Eggs Benedict, laden with fine avocado slices and a wonderful Hollandaise sauce, was one of the better ones I have come across.   The engaging staff gave a big beaming smile when coffee was requested and even came to say good bye.  My cappuccino was refinedly designed to catch the eye. And then you can go shopping to your heart's content.

What A Ten Dollar Note Means

What difference does a ten dollar note mean? When I first migrated to Australia, that represented more than my budget for breakfast and lunch during a working day in the Big Smoke.  25 years later the same note has less meaning, has reduced value and is worth only a shadow of its former self....or is it?   In plastic form, the Australian ten dollar note looks more sprightly, feels better and is actually more durable than its paper version of many years ago.  I examine one again and notice more security features, better design and a more friendly feel.

When commuter trips have risen in price, coffee and tea with a biscuit can add to ten dollars in a fancy cafe setting you get to enjoy for under an hour. A simple potted plant comes up to more than this amount when you check out at the counter of a nursery. A freshly squeezed fruit or veg juice cup is creeping up to around that for large.   However when you purchase things in bulk, you get more out of this note. In wholesale markets, you can cart away a whole box of your favourite fruit at closing time.  You can travel further on public transport as a pensioner. A cocktail at a bar costs more than this, so with one fancy dish of modern Australian cuisine even at breakfast time.   A child can obtain perhaps three goldfish. You may fill up perhaps at least one-fifth of basic unleaded petrol in the tank of a car.  What was once seen as two dollars may now be five, what was once the power of five can now be only be bought for ten. How much wi-fi capacity you get depends on your provider and perhaps the time of day or night.

Ten dollars stretch better when buying on line for airfares, holiday accommodation and restaurant vouchers.  Ten dollars put aside each day can still accumulate to much in superannuation, loan repayments and a long term nest egg - unless wiped out by inflation, speculative values and health costs. Ten dollars saved can be put to a better use, like creating a smile on a  child's face, a puppy's jump and a grandmother's satisfaction. Ten dollars can be the difference between an unhealthy sugary stuff and a treat in better fruit or eggs.  Ten dollars contributed consistently to a superannuation or home saving deposit may mean nothing when you are 25 years old but offer a satisfying reflection on what you have done right looking back when you are 52.

Ten dollars mean much more when you are raising a child - or a few of them.  ten dollars can give much more satisfaction to teenager and a retiree than a middle aged person.  Financial value is relative but is better measured when it is translated in what it can do in things that money usually cannot buy.  It may represent the slight advantage in having a better performing sports shoe or having a safer option. It can transform the taste in our palate or the aroma in our nostrils.  It may mean a better hair style or a faster choice.  Ten dollars in the nick of time can springboard an individual to commence a different, more promising direction and path.  Ten dollars can bring to reality the fine distinction between carrying on an endless journey of poverty to one with better education and potential.  The same amount can also lead to eventual oblivion if spent on damaging activities and addictive consumption.

They do say the best things in life are free. I say perhaps they can be obtained for under ten dollars.
Entry paid to a reserve or national park.  Watching a movie in a dark hall which influences us for the rest of our lives.  Spending time with children for under ten dollars and teaching them indirectly on financial wisdom.  Ten dollars for a charity run. The measure we place on a barter item or exchange of currency is up to us.  It is not the number that we or society ascribes that is helpful all the time, but the quality of what we can do with less or with prudence.  Do try to conjure up with the best possible thing yourself with your own perceived or actual ten dollars! Then do it.

Gumshara Ramen - Sydney Chinatown

The progress of what was simply street food with noodles and tasty soup, whether it is referred to as ramen in this contemporary age, or called shina soba until the 1950s, is a  fascinating journey of cultural fusion, care for ingredients and continuing innovation. Soba can be unique to what we know as Japanese cuisine, but the ramen is said to be a Japanese way of saying la mian in Mandarin, literally meaning hand pulled noodles.  Depending on which part of Asia you visit, there are various versions of such hand made noodles, apart from the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East.  The mainland Chinese form of such a dish was already cooked in thick and starchy concoctions of gravy.

Today this thickness in noodle soup dishes was confronted by me at the Gumshara Ramen stall in the often crowded but unassuming food court at the end of Dixon Street, Sydney Chinatown, bordering with Goulburn Street.   Never have I seen such gooey richness and concentrated so-called soup accompanying noodles.  There were the usual half hard boiled eggs with outstanding yolks, Nori seaweed garnish and compulsory pork portions. I had looked forward to the version I finally had - not just with tonkotsu broth but with the special magic of fish based stock. It was a revelation - the Japanese had combined the best flavours of the sea with the rewarding essence of the versatile bovine. It may not be to everyone's preference, but I liked most of it, although the bowl I had was really rich, though I would never ask for a dilution of such broth.

A food court with mostly, if not all, Asian dishes usually has people usually sitting tightly together savouring what they love best - and in Australia, this means anything from Indonesian padang rice to Hainan chicken and Korean bim bap.   At times the best food can be found hidden amidst the noise, the clutter and such crowdedness. What would happen if Gumshara had equity backed funding and moved to a fancy setting?   Would the taste be commensurate with what is to be paid? At around ten dollars a bowl, this may be the best bargain in Japanese ramen in Sydney.  Noodles are made from basic ingredients like salt, water, wheat flour and alkaline mineral water.   The proof is in the soup, the recipe behind it and how the soups are made hour after hour.   Whether it contains natural flavouring stuff like skipjack tuna flakes or pork ribs, the proportions do count in the outcomes of the final product.

Gumshara is also noted for its rather obvious chunky offerings of pork ribs on the bone, braised sufficiently to provide opportunities for crunchiness and texture.  The other alternative, also popular with many other competitors of Gumshara, is the cha shu or sliced barbecued or braised pork, some with red coloured rinds.  I avoid the lactate fermented bamboo shoots but do have a soft spot for those season boiled eggs.  Freshly made ramen puts us off the instant varieties and these are often at the opposite ends of the spectrum for satisfying gratification and quality finesse.  The bowl I consumed looked to me comparable to Takayama ramen - but Gumshara has produced its own feel of a rather delicate dish.

So what makes Gumshara different from others? Is it the more buttery and collagen laden broth? The name itself evokes concentration or franticness by one's self and not being recognisant of the people or surroundings around. Is this an effect once one dives into the Gumshara soup? Is the food much more oily than one expects from Japanese cuisine, mostly due to the liberal utilisation of the flavours from pork bone and ribs?  I reckon each has to decide for him or herself and not be taken by the hype but immerse in reality.  I would return to Gumshara but maybe more on an early morning or mid-afternoon.  And ramen is always perfect for a nippy winter's day.

Sanuk, Sea Journeys and Suchart

I recall being invited home to Suchart's family - and after a delicious home cooked meal, lying on the floor with Suchart's brothers for the night sleep over. The tropical air was heavy. The next day Suchart had to drop by a nearby army base and I was accepted, even as a tourist or Suchart's mate, to enter the inner sanctum where military outfits dotted amongst young faces and tough bodies.  Best of all, I can still smell the wonderful aroma of freshly brewed tom yum soup made by Mrs Suchart - in a clear soup with fresh and simple produce from the land and sea.

Boat trips on water figure importantly in my Thai sojourn, for the lovely isles in both the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand played an alluring role to me in romanticisation and attraction of the region.  I was hinted of pirates plying these waters but luckily never met any. On most of these sea journeys, I sat on small boats with friends, fellow backpackers or independently.   The guys steering and running the boats came from economically challenged families but what struck me was their ability to carry an inner sense of personal happiness, no matter what their circumstances. These blokes had sun burnt faces but good hearts. What I hear from others of varying kinds of tricksters in several countries visited did not eventuate for me - no confronting encounters of being asked for more money, claims for fictitious damages and no sudden, momentary distractions on the street so that some accomplice could snatch my bag.  I have not even seen for  myself the throwing an infant act to momentarily divert the attention of tourists in Europe.

Two significant boat journeys remain etched in my memory of Thailand. One was going with three of my home island mates to Koh Phangan, just both of Samui.  We were on the way to climb, hike and chill out at the Marine National Park. Thousands of back packers like us, mainly from Europe, USA, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, have made the same path for the monthly full moon parties of hallucination, letting loose and alcohol laden abandon.  When young foreigners with social security support and richer lifestyles meet with villagers who are in tune with Nature and a harsher economic reality, the outcomes can be interesting. Although the middle class has emerged more strongly in Thailand in the past 20 years, the rich in this nation have got richer  and the income divide has grown even wider - something that has happened in many other nations like Australia and to a greater extent in Russia, Brazil, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore and China.  The isle of placid looking coconut tree plantations in Samui has given way to the demands of commercial tourism, but have the majority of locals gained more than lost?

The other water journey is getting back to the Gypsy Village in Phuket Island's south-west from the nearby outlying limestone outcrops and lagoon isles.  Along the way I felt a hallmark moment, the sea was churning up rougher than expected waters but the horizon showed an inter play of clouds, rain and sun.  I do relish such fleeting moments when experienced and they somehow remain treasured in my heart. Walking down a path in a tribal village in the so-called Golden Triangle may seem trivial, but I am still fond of the scene with piglets, children and vendors minding their business of the day but hanging around me. Trying the seafood at Songkhla beach stalls can be relived when I see the Darwin sunset market. Surviving the coach trip on the highway from Bangkok to Chiangmai was important, as well as the bus trip south with soldiers boarding on at various points throughout the night.   Viewing the silks at Jim Thompson House , walking into a sleazy bar with expectations and sitting for the first time in a tuk tuk - they all stick somewhere with us, even if nothing truly lasting or  exciting resulted  from those encounters.

What does transform my attitude, mindset and lifestyle after seeing Thailand is the sense of sanuk in the Thai people.  I cannot find an English literal translation word for this Thai phrase.   I reckon it is more of a way to react to life, its opportunities and challenges.  It relates to always having a sense of fun, relaxation and letting go. Sanuk occurs when there is a party atmosphere to look forward at the end of a day.  Sanuk  implies it is all right, don't worry and just be happy.  Of course, when things get overdone, safety is ignored and there is negative financial impact, it is no longer sanuk.  Sanuk to me was riding on a motor bike on Thai tropical islands, whether pillion or at the front.  It also greeted me in the form of friendly vendors, feeling no structure of time on a lovely sunny day and sensing the calm serenity inside Thai Buddhist temple complexes. Sanuk is going through the various sensations of Thai cuisine - sweet, sour, chill hot, mango cool and herb refreshing. Sanuk is coming down from a bus to a huge lively food and produce market - at 3am. Sanuk is doing nothing but lying on the sand at a remote place - far from anything we ever knew - and having your new found backpacker mate offering you yarns and a drink.  Sanuk is chatting with a grocery shop owner who speaks your same mother tongue - because she migrated as well.  Sanuk is having the right company and going out all night, with  someone in my group keeping an eye out for us.  Sanuk can be Thailand.