In contrast to the multitude of Shanghai-style dumpling restaurants along Liverpool Road, the Sydney Beijing offers an authentic Northern Chinese style restaurant experience. Think sizzling meat plates and tasty veges, think Peking Duck, think lots of rice. And they happily cater for bigger groups - last time we had a huge table upstairs all to ourselves!

Sometimes a little overshadowed by its neighbour Shanghai Night, the New Shanghai is an excellent restaurant with delicious meals at great prices too. It has a huge menu that includes its own slightly unique dishes - try the interesting steamed dim sims or the hugely popular mini pork buns.

Approximate cost: $8-$15

Arguably Ashfield's most well-known Chinese restaurant, due to its excellent prices and delicious food! I come here often for dumplings and more, and am always satisfied. It's great for a cheap meal by yourself (try a small $4.50 wonton soup maybe) and also great for big family dinners, where you can try a huge range of their dishes. Definitely recommended.

Approximate cost: $8-$15

The woman who runs this is great and so full of good advice. It's a wonderful little shop packed with great products and information. Many leading brands are stocked, and there's plenty of clothing, costuming, accessories, shoes and more.

My favourite non-Chinatown yum cha! The food is delicious and very well-priced, it's particularly great for big groups of people because you can try so many dishes between you all. Try to sit as close to where the food comes from as possible, as it seems to always rotate in the same direction so the same tables always get first choice...

Approximate cost: $5-7

I went to the bistro for a late dinner and was really happy with it - the meals there are great, and the atmosphere is lovely. Not outrageously cheap but perfectly reasonable. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food.

Awesome gelato - I've had it plenty of times, and last time I ate in and the pasta was delicious. Lots of seating available (but it was all full anyway!)

Australia's preferred airline? Probably. It's definitely mine, and if price wasn't an issue I'd probably fly Qantas much more often than not. For long distance flights it's always my first choice, and I know I'll feel as comfortable and as safe as possible when I travel Qantas.

Jetstar can usually be relied on to have reasonably priced domestic airfares with decent service and as much comfort as can be expected for the price. I'll happily fly with them again and again, but probably only for shorter flights.

I always feel safe with Virgin Blue - I like how they present themselves as a company and all flights I've had with them have gone smoothly. The prices are surprisingly reasonable and often compete with the budget airlines. I'll definitely use them again and again.