FOOD!!!!

I've been here for about a month now and be able to get to a handful of places to eat.  By and large, I haven't been any place yet that has blown me away, though every restaurant has some form of wagyu beef and from what I've had it is definitely more flavorful.  At first I had a bit of price shock (and confusion over whether to tip or not), but I've been able to rationalize it lately.  I have found out that you don't have to tip and if you do, 10% is the high end and that is usually only at high end places with excellent service.  Because of this, you can pretty much subtract 20-25% of the bill to get to prices of what they would be without tax or tip.  That's helped with the sticker shock some.

I stopped by the Sydney Fish Market a few weekends ago to check it out.  I was expecting more market, but instead it just felt like a tourist spot to get fried fish.  There were a few markets, but the fish didn't look overly fresh (way too many cloudy eyes in the whole fish).  Granted I didn't buy any, but I would have been hesitant.  I did have a fisherman's platter which was good, but average.  It definitely had more variety that we'd get in the states (oysters and octopus), but the batter was pretty bland.  Rock Oysters are pretty big here (note the oysters covered in "bacon" and cheese - not to my liking at all), but as I watched the guy open and clean them, I was shocked to see him immediately rinse them under water, flushing the liqueur away.

I did stop by Chinatown this week for dinner.  Food was good and fresh, but again the sticker shock.  It was a pretty typical Chinatown restaurant with live tanks all along the wall.  I will say that the seafood they had in those tanks was significantly larger than what Boston restaurants had.  Their lobster's (the spiny kind, not Maine - no claws) were huge.  And they didn't like being in tanks with other lobsters judging by the fighting and desperate attempt to crawl out of the tanks.  At $140 per kilogram (about 2 lbs) I stayed clear of them.

I have a few spots that I want to try closer to the neighborhood where I'm planning on living, so hopefully that will be a little more like what I'm used to in Boston and Chicago.

Other than that I'm just trying to work out furniture deliveries and buying furniture without any credit.  Still don't have a final say on the apartment yet which is worry some since I have to be out of the corporate housing a week from this coming Wednesday, but it will all work out one way or another.  And if worse comes to worse, the weather has been great so sleeping outside can't be that uncomfortable.