August 29, 2023
Generally, when I go to a new place, I naturally compare it with my home. For long-tern residency, I get used to this place, and when I go back home for a visit, suddenly I see my old place with new eyes. Northbridge Plaza, my local shopping centre with Japanese influences just near my home, is one instance.
The northern entrance of Northbridge Plaza. The Dictionary of Sydney says “A large shopping mall, Northbridge Plaza, was built in 1961 on Sailors Bay Road, near Eastern Valley Way. It was significantly expanded in 1984 and again in 2007.”
There is a Street View actually inside the Northbridge Plaza building!
The car park, extending to the left out of shot. AMP Capital says “Northbridge Plaza has a combined car park with Willoughby Council offering 385 on grade parking spaces” although there seem to be a lot more. Notice very few motor-scooters and motorcycles. When I was learning to drive, I used to practice at Northbridge Plaza when it was shut, going round and round the carpark.
Usually, customers get a shopping trolley from Woolworths on the upper floor, do their shopping, wheel the shopping trolley down into the car park, load their car, and then put the shopping trolley into the shopping bay (above, hidden behind the trailer). Tractors (above) are used to transport the shopping trolleys back up to Woolworths.
Inside Northbridge Plaza, there is only one ATM (Automated Teller Machine) above, for the entire complex. Customers overwhelmingly don’t use cash, instead ‘swiping’ a card on the businesses’ EFTPOST machine.
Many shops are clothing stores. I noticed that the shops were all stylish and smart.
The butcher – but where’s the chopping stand where butchers do their work? It’s all hidden out the back; customers could get squeamish. Instead there are rows of intricately prepared meat products. Most customers purchase beef, because it’s (relatively) cheap.
Bakers Delight – “What we do is nice and simple, it’s freshly baked bread!” Sorry for the out-of-focus photo. Baker’s Delight is a franchise; they bake bread on-site. My parents get their bread from there.
A Japanese restaurant, Otasuke, one of two Japanese restaurants in Northbridge Plaza. Yamato, who is now on my email list, was working there. Yamato, unfortunately your photograph didn’t turn out.
Inside the restaurant; this is it – all of it.
I eat there because it’s a set meal (above); note the miso soup. The meal was authentically Japanese, and was delicious. The cost was less than $AUD18 (NTD360), a bargain.
For dessert, I went to Pattisons Patisserie, another chain restaurant originating in Sydney. I couldn’t resist the pastries.
I ordered an espresso and a cherry danish. Total cost: $AUD10 (NTD200), fair for the price.
There are only six flavours of tea at Pattison’s, two of which are not “tea” at all (chamomile and peppermint). On the other hand, the coffee was seriously good:
“Aussies still believe they serve the best coffee in the world. … After a wave of Italian immigrants moved to Australia following the Second World War, they brought with them their love and respect for good-quality coffee beans. Instead of drinking filter coffees like the Americans, Aussies learnt to love rich espressos and cappuccinos, using pressurised machines to create thick foam on top. Over the years, the Italians showed Aussies the beauty of cafe life, and coffee shops began to crop up all over the place. … Something else the Italians drummed into Australians was the importance of good-quality coffee. You can bet they won’t tolerate a shoddy brew now, so poor cafes don’t last long. This is also the reason why big chains such as Starbucks don’t stand much of a chance, with the American brand closing 60 of their 84 shops in 2008 after being hit by catastrophic losses. Indeed, the vast majority of cafes Down Under are independent, and that’s the way customers like it.”
I went to Woolworths, a supermarket. Woolworths is an anchor tenant, which is “a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall … With their broad appeal, they are intended to attract a significant cross-section of the shopping public to the center. They are often offered steep discounts on rent in exchange for signing long-term leases in order to provide steady cash flows for the mall owners.”
Woolworths is a large place. This photo was taken in the middle of the store.
Like tofu in Taiwan, there are a lot of different types of cheeses in Australia. This link is an overview, listing 27 of the basic varieties. Unfortunately, Australia pasteurises the milk in cheese, unlike France.
Ah, kangaroos, the symbol of Australia. They are delicious, especially stir-fried. I’ve eaten quite a lot of kangaroos; not a lot of fat, but still enjoyable.
A sign announcing Rosh Hashanah, a little late: “Rosh Hashanah, first of the High Holidays, is the Jewish New Year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, and a day of judgment and coronation of G‑d as king.”
I went back down to Tokyo Mart, a Japanese grocery store in Sydney. Tokyo Mart has the stuff a homesick Japanese person could want. Even the staff spoke in Japanese.
The above sign is Japanese, but I can read the first two characters on that sign: 東京, the eastern capital, but the pronunciation is Japanese – Tokyo. In contrast, the northern capital is 北京, Běijīng and the southern capital is 南京 Nánjīng; both are in China and pronounced the Chinese way.
The noticeboard of Tokyo Mart, partly in Japanese.
YouTube has a clip, in Japanese.
I bought a bottle of oolong tea (above), but my father pointed out it was picked in Taiwan!
Wandering Richard 