Alternative Marathon Long Lunch Setup

We arrived to a sadly empty (and rather wet) Llankelly Place, where a super long table would have been set up. I could imagine how awesome if would have looked had the weather been what it was during the week: gloriously sunny. It was lucky, then, that the nearby building management was gracious enough to allow the Marathon Long Lunch to be set up on the premises instead.

The bar that would eventually serve pre-lunch drinks and a quintet from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra were ensconced in a spare space. I thought it was kind of cool to see this elegant and polished quintet playing delicate classical music in a rough and raw concrete room with exposed fixtures; definitely something you don’t get to see every day.

Marathon Long Lunch Undercover

It wasn’t what was originally envisioned, with the tables organised into rows in the available free space instead of the one long communal table, but managing to pull off such a complicated setup, logistics and making it still look pretty in such a short time was really amazing; both F and I were really impressed.

Good Wine, Music and Great Company

Things really kicked off when more and more people started to arrive (or rather run in from the rain); bubbly was poured, caprioskas were made and still more people turned up and packed into what seemed like a rather large room, but seemed to have shrunk over a short period of time.

The torrential rain didn’t seem to dampen the buoyant spirit of the lunch attendees and were further enhanced by the feel-good, toe-tapping music from a siren (one Nicolette Kenny accompanied by her guitarist) and free-flowing wine.

It wasn’t long until I spied the canapés made by Barrio Chino arriving in waves.

Corn and Avocado Tostados

The first we managed to snag was the corn and avocado tostado; I loved the tumultuous-seeming flavours of creaminess, spiciness and saltiness atop of crunchy goodness.

Tuna Sashimi Tostados

My favourite of the two canapés had to be the tuna sashimi tostados though. The tuna was incredibly fresh and perfectly balanced with the dollop of creamy avocado (hidden underneath like a surprise) and the salty crunchiness of the corn chip.

LL San Choy Bau of Chicken, Crispy Tofu and Pork Belly Bun

“Do you want to take photos of the entrée being prepared?” Heath Felton, the director of Felton & Co, asked. My eyes lit up and enthused an affirmative. We were taken into the narrow and twisty passageways of the nearby LL Wine and Dine, ending up with what seemed like Aladdin’s Cave. F and I muttered an awed “whoa” at the sheer number of plates to be done and I had to shake myself from a dazed stupor before getting down to business.

The LL San Choy Bau of Chicken had a spicy lime dressing and topped with pine nuts. For me, san choy bau has always been made with duck, so I thought chicken was an interesting choice. The spicy lime dressing was thankfully not really all that spicy (more like a gentle nudge than anything else), which I thought went really well with the chicken. The nuttiness from the pine nuts softened the sharp zesty flavour, while the crisp lettuce leaf added a refreshing element and more crunchy texture to the san choy bau.

The crispy tofu were served with black sesame and tahini sauce, finished with seaweed and nanami togarashi seasoning. When I saw the crispy tofu on the menu I realised I had mistakenly thought it as the Asian fried tofu. It looked pretty similar, if not the same, at a cursory glance, but on closer inspection there are a couple of differences and on eating it, the differences were unmistakeable. The tofu was super crispy on the outside and incredibly soft, silky on the inside – kind of like the perfect potato wedge actually. The black sesame and tahini sauce added a rich depth to the tofu, while the chilli powder provided a nice little kick that even I can handle.

The pork belly bun was cooked in Hakka Granny’s traditional way – I’m not sure what that entailed, but the pork belly was deliciously succulent and perfectly seasoned sandwiched in a super soft and fluffy bun.

Seared Snapper with Pickled Red Peppers, Crispy Scallop and Snow Crab and Lobster Cannelloni

The delectable main course of seared snapper was presented by Felton & Co. I thought the pickled red peppers brought out the sweetness of succulent and perfectly seasoned fish and the mushrooms added a light heartiness. The well-cooked, roe-topped scallop sitting on a bed of creamy cauliflower puree added another sweet dimension to the dish and we adored the delicately sweet and juicy snow crab and lobster cannelloni, which I think was cunningly wrapped in fennel.

Fun and Silliness Ensues

As the afternoon progressed, the mood was infectiously lively and merry with impromptu dancing and turning tabletop decorations into stylised race-day “hats”.

Anne Crawford, founder and director of Can Too, spoke a little about her organisation, its aims and the wonderful people who’s been involved with their programs.

I learnt earlier in the day that Can Too holds coaching / training marathon programs for people who wants to participate in events like the Blackmores Sydney Marathon to raise money for charity, but didn’t think they would be able to complete such a daunting challenge. Mimi, a 60-odd year old lady, is one such person who participated in Can Too’s 14-week marathon program and she not only finished the marathon, but has been considering the swim marathon program as well – despite (she admitted) being a weak swimmer. Man, I hope that I would be half as active as she is when I’m her age!

Can Too has a partnership with the Cure Cancer Foundation and in addition to the programs, the money Can Too raises goes to supporting breakthrough cancer research.

White Chocolate Sphere, Mandarin Jelly and Dark Chocolate Crumbs

Dessert was sponsored by Bentley Restaurant and Bar; we had dined at Bentley before and if the amazing desserts we had then were anything to go by, the dessert dish should prove to be quite something.

It was quite something alright – quite sensational! I adored how the white chocolate “sphere” looked more like a be-speckled egg and that the eggs looked like it was sitting on a bed of “dirt” made from dark chocolate crumbs.

A Most Satisfying Crack

I wondered where the mandarin jelly was hiding when I saw Mimi crack open one of her eggs and a yellow liquid came rushing out. Oh my goodness! So that’s where they were hiding it! Very sneaky… The sweet-sour “jelly” cut through the sweetness of the white chocolate while helping the dark chocolate crumbs from becoming a bit too dry.

F and I though it was a pretty epic dessert, though considering that it was done by Bentley we weren’t too surprised.

Melomakarona and Macchiato

To finish things off, we had melomakarona – a scrumptiously dense and moist biscuit drenched in honey and topped with chopped almonds – with a little cup of well-brewed macchiato provided by Ithaka Kafenion.

Raffle Prizes... and Heath!

Raffle tickets were steadily being sold during the lunch and some of the prizes (all donated) included any pair of running shoes of your choice from The Running Co., a fully laden hamper worth $250, a massage treatment from Body Conscience and loads of $5 vouchers from the British Lolly Shop.

Score!

We were asked to look underneath our chairs. Not being told what to look for, I patted underneath feeling nothing out of the ordinary and looked over to F to see if he had found anything. He stilled and there was a “rrrrck!” as he pulled something off the chair. Turns out that he was one of the winners of a massive Whitman’s Sampler chocolate box.

It’s crazy how big the box is – it’s been a couple of weeks since this event and we’re still making our way through it!

Turned Out Quite Nicely After All

We learnt that The Cure Cancer Marathon Long Lunch is in celebration of the Sydney Marathon and is in its second year running with twice as many people attending than the first; it is likely to double in size again next year.

The Marathon Long Lunch is supported by Cure Cancer Australia and Can Too and organised by catering company Felton & Co; everything was sponsored or donated – from the floral arrangements by Sticks and Wicks, the 3-course lunch complete with canapés and after lunch treats to the raffle prizes (which I thought was pretty sweet and cool of them).

Although the day had crazy torrential rains, the lunch was so full of positive vibe and energy – a real sense of community – that we forgot how horrible the weather was (until it started to rain sideways for a bit) and had such a ball. The mood was matched with delicious food that impressed everyone – a great indication of that was the majority of the plates going back into the kitchen empty.

The lunch really surprised us with its infectious vivacious atmosphere and great food that we are already looking forward to next year’s lunch – rain, hail or shine!

Tickets to the lunch were $130 (full price), $110 (for half marathon runners) and $98 (for full marathon runners).

Eatshowandtell attended The Cure Cancer Marathon Long Lunch as a guest of Metta Media and Felton & Co.

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, poultry, Seafood

Universal Restaurant Menu

My eating partner in crime is Astroboy, making another rare appearance. It’s taken us months to get our act together only to be simultaneously taken down by illness the exact week we made our booking. Undeterred we finally found ourselves standing outside of Universal on a Thursday night and the only thing that went through my head was, “Damn that wall is orange.” Except I don’t think I used the word damn.

(...)
Read the rest of Universal Restaurant, Darlinghurst (1,391 words)

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Charcuterie Plate - Jamon Iberico, Nduja Salami, Ham Hock and Pistachio Terrine ($22.50)

Who could resist from ordering Jamon Iberico? We couldn’t! The super thin slices of cured meat were deliciously salty, slightly chewy and went wonderfully with the crisp bread sticks and mild-flavoured olives (my favourite kind, I realised).

The terrine on its own had such a strong meaty flavour that it made me hesitate with over-indulging in it. However, when it was eaten with the bread stick, the meaty flavour wasn’t so overwhelming. The crunchy, sweet carrots and slight nuttiness from the pistachios also helped to break up the overly meatiness of the terrine.

Burrata Mozzarella Salad with Grilled Ciabatta, Tomato Basil ($22.90)

I think I have a weakness for soft, creamy cheese, while Minh I think has a weakness for burrata in general. So when we saw this on the menu, there wasn’t much discussion besides gasping: “They’ve got burrata!!!” and that was that (poor Dung just had to go along with the two cheese-crazed foodies).

The salad was generously doused with a 25-year old balsamic vinegar, which added a wonderfully rich sweet-sour flavour, but the obvious star of the dish was the burrata.

It was gloriously creamy and super soft; its subtle flavour didn’t seem to be overpowered by the balsamic, rather it was enhanced by the vinegar and juicy tomatoes. Meanwhile, the crusty ciabatta was the perfect foundation to go with the slight tang of tomatoes and creamy, smooth burrata.

Best cheese salad I’ve ever had.

Alaskan King Crab Legs (600g, $64.90)

We were so fixated on having crab that we barely gave a thought to anything else, so when it came out I think we just about managed to withhold cackles of delight as we converged onto the legs.

I’m a claw girl myself, as the relative amount of effort required to extract the meat is a lot less than any other part (for a lot more too), but I gotta say, these legs were damn fine: they were utterly juicy and so sweet! With a dash of zesty lemon juice and a dollop of tangy (yet creamy) mayonnaise, these legs were easily the best chilled crab I’ve had. They were also surprisingly meaty.

Spiky!

The only downside to such succulent crab meat were the spikes on the legs – they were downright lethal! Peppered amongst our mmm’s of appreciation were sounds of quiet “ow”s. Those little moments of pain was worth it though.

Rib-Eye (Scotch Fillet) - 120-Day Grain-Fed, Riverine Premium Beef, Marble Score +2 (350g, $39.90)

We couldn’t go past having a chunk of meaty beef goodness – though just between you and me, we were contemplating a steak each… okay, maybe it was just me planning to have my own steak.

We chose garlic butter as the accompanying condiment (at $2.90 per condiment or sauce), but in hindsight, I’m not sure if we made the right choice. Perhaps by the time we got around to eating the steak, it had cooled a bit too much and so the glob of butter just kind of sat there instead of melting into a gooey puddle of deliciousness. Other than that little gripe I had, the condiment was quite nice, but the steak I did quite adore.

The scotch fillet was scrumptiously fatty and had an almost melt-in-your-mouth succulence to it. Being perfectly seasoned, I fancy that it didn’t really need the condiment at all.

Roast Cone Bay Barramundi with Broccoli, Baby Capers, Chilli ($32.90)

To be honest, with the options available, I was also tossing up between a steak and a fish – as I automatically seem to think fish to be healthier than steak, but steak… well… it’s just tastier, ain’t it? Luckily for me, the girls wanted to try both and surely between us three we would be able to finish both mains (and indeed we did haha).

The barramundi was well cooked and seasoned with a scrumptiously crispy skin. I love broccoli and it’s a vegetable that I don’t see often at fancy-ish restaurants (I guess it’s too mundane), so I was quite pleased to see it here (they also went so well together!). I was surprised that there was no heat to the chilli, but it added a subtle sweetness to the dish.

Sides

Looking back, we might have overdone it with the sides, but at the time it didn’t seem like it! The Young Greens with Walnut and Shiraz Dressing sounded pretty delicious, but I think we were a bit disappointed with it. While it was good, it wasn’t as great as we thought it would be.

Meanwhile the Roast Eggplant with Persian Fetta and Chilli Jam was as scrumptious as it sounded. As we didn’t have dedicated plates to eat from, we used the mains plates and the eggplant salad bowl instead (actually we didn’t think of asking for spare plates). Minh and Dung were a bit disappointed that there were barely any chilli jam at all on their portion of the salad, but we quickly worked that most of it was left in the salad bowl… which I was eating from. Go figure that the one that’s least chilli tolerant got all the chilli! It was pretty spicy too, infecting everything that it touched. By the end of our mains course, my lips were bright red and felt like it was on fire. It was worth it though. Nom nom nom.

Minh was pretty excited when the Roasted Bone Marrow came out, but all we could taste was garlic butter. Though there was a richness and depth behind the flavour that normally isn’t present in just butter.

The Mashed Potato was absolutely divine. F and I can make a mean mashed potato, but this was really, really good. It wasn’t the fluffy kind; it was slightly dense with a creaminess that was to die for.

Toffee Roasted Pear with Budgi Werri Prunes & Anglaise ($13.50)

The roasted pear was little crisper than we expected (I guess we were thinking more of the poached softness), but all was forgiven when we discovered that hidden inside its hollow core was a big fat sweet prune swimming in decadent, warm dark chocolate sauce. The warm Anglaise sauce was the perfect counterpoint to the chocolate and rounded off the dessert nicely.

Sticky Date & Walnut Pudding with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream ($13.90)

As delicious as the roasted pear was, it came a far second to the sticky date and walnut pudding. I’m not the biggest fan of sticky date pudding and I always seem find something else more enticing on the dessert menu, but I was so glad that we had ordered it – despite the fact we were aiming to order something the table next to us had that looked pretty epic and this wasn’t it.

While the icy cold vanilla bean ice cream was pretty good and the chocolate date and walnut cake moist and quite scrumptious, it was the sweet, warm toffee sauce that tied everything together in an explosion of gooey, rich mouthful that made this dessert absolutely divine. We practically inhaled the dessert.

Kingsley

Kingsley is situated on Cowper Wharf, right next to Otto. Its interior is almost warehouse-like, but with a warmness that just seems to welcome you with open arms.

For the most part, we loved the dishes here and if there’s any dish we’d come back for, it would definitely be that fantastic sticky date and walnut pudding.

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse
10/6 Cowper Wharf Rd
Woolloomooloo, NSW, 2011
Ph: 1300 546 475
Web: http://www.kingsleys.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, Seafood

Not that I take much notice of V Day, as I firmly believe it’s more for singles than established couples (am I being cynical here?), I am not one to pass on a good excuse to use as a last-hurrah / early V Day dinner. So I secretly booked ourselves in for the night before I left and made him close his eyes the entire way to the restaurant (more for my own amusement than anything else bahahaha).

View and Menu

With quite a range of delicious sounding dishes, it was hard to decide what to order. It took us a while, but once done, we relaxed and took in the view bathed in golden sunlight.

Basilmooloo and Mojito ($16)

I’m not much of a drinker, but the Basilmooloo was wonderfully refreshing and sweet (even F liked it! He usually pooh-poohs my “lolly drinks”). Best of all… you could hardly taste the alcohol! It is definitely “drunkable” (as Linda would put it). The Basilmooloo, for those curious, consisted of: Russian standard vodka, Grand Marnier, Chambord, cranberry, lime, strawberries and basil. I know I’m going to try and make this at my next party! Hehe.

Fiori Di Zucchina ($29)

The zucchini flowers weren’t originally part of the dishes we had in mind to order, but as soon as we heard what was in it (the dish wasn’t originally on the menu), we couldn’t resist in ordering it. We were surprised at how big the dish was – being accustomed to much smaller portioned zucchini flower dishes – but we were grateful for the size, as it was utterly delicious.

The zucchini flowers, stuffed with cheese, went so well with the fresh and bright cherry tomatoes, asparagus and capsicum puree.

Capesante Con Purea Di Sedano Rapa E Zafferano E Avruga ($30)

We couldn’t help but “ooh” as the scallop dish arrived – it was so pretty!

I thought it was a pretty decent dish; the scallops were decently seared and went well with the slightly sweet celeriac and saffron puree, grilled zucchinis, avruga caviar and preserved lemon dressing. It was the puree that F disagreed on me with, citing that it “wasn’t his thing” and “ruined” the dish for him.

It was a bit of a pity that the dish seemed to be only skin deep and I hoped that the next dish would cheer F up.

Terrina Di Maiale Con Insalata Di Carciofi E Olive ($30)

I was a bit nervy about this terrine – I mean, it’s terrine made from a pig’s head.. with crispy pig’s ears! F told me to man up, as I’m not likely to see any eyeballs or gruesome stuff like that and that it’s just made from the meat from the head. Annoyingly, he was correct.

The terrine was a lot denser than the past terrines I’ve had – a lot more meatier and heartier – but its accompaniments managed to lighten it up. It was utterly divine when eaten on a crisp olive bread along with a bit of the salad of globe artichokes, caperberries, olives topped with spicy carrot dressing.

I am happy to report that F cheered up immensely with this dish and we both were astounded by the rest of our meal.

Troccoli Con Salmone E Pomodorini (Entree size, $29)

I adored this pasta dish; the home-made troccoli was perfectly al dente, the New Zealand king salmon was wonderfully succulent and tender, and the sweet-sour heirloom tomatoes, crunchy green asparagus, zucchini flowers and baby basil were all so super fresh. The flavours were so bright and all together packed a rather mean flavour-punch! I hardly noticed the chilli that was supposedly in this dish, except for the tell-tale reddening of my lips.

Risotto Agli Spinaci Con Burrata (Entree size, $29)

Every time I see burrata on the menu, I think just how much Minh would go gaga over it, knowing her adoration for the cheese. Seeing it now paired with her archnemesis, the risotto, I wonder if she would be tempted to try it or even *gasp* like it. The mind boggles.

I think F and I love risotto just as much as Minh hates it and for us, this is a perfect example of a very well executed risotto. The rice was cooked just right, the burrata added a delicious roundness to the sauce with the crispy eschallot providing a nice crunchy contrast to the dish. On top of that, it looked so pretty with the cheerfully yellow edible flowers. As Chef Brian would say: yumsters!

Petto D'anatra Arrotolato In Pancetta ($44)

The succulent duck breast was wrapped in pancetta and was also stuffed with muscatels, spinach and walnuts. Underneath the duck was pumpkin puree, purple onions, baby parsley and apple balsalmic. A lot was going on, but somehow they all seemed to meld together quite harmoniously and was wonderfully rich in flavour.

Filetto Di Manzo Con Topinambur, Funghi, Midollo E Foie Gras ($44)

Moving on to our meat dish, we ordered an eye fillet of Angus beef with roasted Jerusalem artichoke puree, mushrooms, bone marrow, potato nest and foie gras sauce. Sounds rich? You betcha it was. While F wallowed in its decadent richness (not literally because then that would be a waste), I struggled. Gorgeously scrumptious as it may be, I was completely overwhelmed by its decadence!

That said, the beef was perfectly seasoned and cooked to a T, retaining its juiciness and tenderness.

Stravaganza Di Cioccolata ($50)

By the time we were ready for dessert, it got so dark for a plate of mostly dark-coloured desserts that we ended up using our table light at its brightest setting as proper light source (in hindsight, I should have done that also to the beef and duck dishes).

This dessert platter (to share) graced us with a veritable bounty: milk chocolate mousse with passionfruit caramel centre, hazelnut mocha brulee, raspberry panna cotta with white chocolate anglaise, and dark chocolate ganache with olive brick tuille and extra virgin olive oil gelato. Definitely yumsters.

It was so hard to pick a favourite, but I was quite partial to the sweet mousse and silky smooth raspberry panna cotta. The mousse was incredibly light and fluffy, which hid a dense, almost savoury passionfruit-caramel centre, while the panna cotta together with a white chocolate anglaise held a delicate balance between sweet and sour.

Outside View

Otto is nestled between quite a few restaurants on this long wharf in Woolloomooloo that there is a danger in being lost amongst the hubbub. However, with its warm, friendly service (my handbag was treated to sit on a linen napkin instead of the ground!) and exceptionally fresh, beautifully presented dishes that Otto shines quite brightly as a gem of a restaurant. Without a doubt.

Otto Ristorante
Area 8, 6 Cowper Wharf Rd
Woolloomooloo, NSW, 2011
Ph: (02) 9368 7488
Web: http://www.ottoristorante.com.au

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Quite possibly.
Nested in the back streets of Elizabeth Bay, near the back of Kings Cross, Blancharu is another gem worth trying in this area. Around the Kings Cross, Potts Point & Elizabeth Bay area, you will find most cuisines to your desire, and the quality is top notch. Specialising in Japanese-Franco cuisine, chef Harunobu Inukai (formerly of Galileo & Bilsons) has expanded his horizons and opened up his own culinary experience for those to not enjoy his one-hatted restaurant quality dishes, but also to escape the flurries of the city and cook in a non-pretentious space.

For the past few months, my dear friend Mandy had completely hyped up Blancharu, and when it was time for me to FINALLY pay Blancharu a visit, her last words were “I hope it lives up to your expectations… I’m scared now!”(...)
Read the rest of Blancharu, Elizabeth Bay (792 words)

© teresa for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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In the recent past, Danks St Depot was my favourite sunday brunch haunt (note: the creamed eggs are to-die-for) but due to my recent desire to save and just plain ole laziness, I’ve had to cut this luxury out of my life. We’ve posted about Danks St twice before: For the early dinner’s club and of course, for brunch. This place is a personal favourite of mine and after a recent Christmas dinner here, I decide to make a second return.

At $50 for 3 courses at one of Sydney’s finest slow cooking inspired restaurants, Danks St Depot encapsulates value, quality and taste in all 3 of the courses (there is also the a-la-carte option if 3 courses is too much). On my last visit, I felt lucky to be living in Sydney. A place to taste the fine & fresh produce of our country as well as dishes inspired by our laid back & carefree culture. I thought it was the perfect place to introduce my overseas guest, D, to a place not only showing off our simple yet tasty Australian cuisine, but also our culture and lifestyles.

Table setting

The Starters (@$18)

After a long day of sightseeing in humid weather, salad was the popular choice for both of us.

Tattoo from Sydney Aquarium

Panzenella Salad with red roasted bell peppers (otherwise known as capsicum), bread pieces, ox-heart tomato & basil, dressed with tomato dressing.

Funny enough, I was flipping through the Danks St Depot cook book and found this salad in there (so I’m using references to the ingredients in the recipe). My dining companion found this salad to be more an “acquired taste” type dish. The dressing had a strong salty flavour to it (perhaps from the anchovies that’s used in the dressing). The sourdough pieces was covered soaked in the tomato dressing. According to the recipe, it is explained that stale bread is used. This explains the toughness of biting through each bread piece! The salad had an anchovy-cheesey type flavour, but it must be my liking for anchovies which helped me devour each bite & lick all the sauce… (yum!).

Local Peaches and Apricots roasted with Pancetta, Chilli and Thyme served with Rocket and Parmesan chunks

This was a warm salad which allowed the sweetness of the fruits to become infused with the pancetta and rocket. The pancetta was not too salty & the hint of sweetness balanced out the flavours. The peach and apricots were nicely roasted, enough to become mushy when consumed. (Yes I ate the pancetta. Did I mention that my new years resolution was to become an “occasional” omnivore? ) D found this dish to be the most memorable dish he would have that evening. He mentions the smoky flavor of the roasted fruit plus the strong-flavored (goat’s?) cheese was a perfect match and a great way to start the dining course.

Mains (@$25)

Lamb leg with Confit Mushrooms, Dried Cherry Tomatoes and Salsa Verde

The lamb leg was a nice cut of meat cooked to exactly D’s specifications. However, he felt the lamb fillet was like a steak fillet, but just gamier. The sauce tasted so much nicer after mixing the mint & caper topping in with the lamb sauce. The tomatoes were very sweet (and surprised my foreign friend. His introduction to organic tomatoes. It brought out the real sweetness to how tomatoes should taste like.) The mushrooms were a little flavourless but its bland-ness was welcomed since the other ingredients had quite a strong taste. Although there was a positive praise for this dish, D mentions he would pass on ordering it a second time, possibly trying out other main dishes.

Asparagus risotto with Woodside goats cheese curd & extra asparagus

In the past, I haven’t been a huge fan of goats cheese due to the usual reason: too strong. However, I’ve had the goats curd from Woodside a few times recently and found it strange that the flavour was not as strong as what I envisioned goats’ cheese to taste like. It is relatively light but you can still taste the goats cheese flavours. This dish gave you the option to take a small bit of the cheese with each bite or mix it into the risotto. My style of consuming this dish was to ration the “tiny, dainty spoonfuls of goat’s cheese” for each mouthful whilst D preferred the “mix it into your oatmeal” style (D believed my style was far more inferior than his style. “Think of the time one saves with the oatmeal method”, he explains), but we did agree that the flavours matched so well. It was worth ordering on any trip to Danks St (In fact, I had the same risotto on my last Danks St dinner visit).

Dessert (@$12.50)

The waitress took to laughing a bit as D took advantage of the $3 cup/$5 bowl warm beverage up sell and ordered the long black bowl earning this “smart” shopper the equivalent to 3 cups of strong coffee in one, some funny looks from staff and most importantly, a wicked caffeine buzz.

Hot Liquid Centered Chocolate Fondant served with caramelised Strawberries and Whipped Cream

If you asked me what dessert I wanted, I would reply “anything chocolate”. If this is also your answer, you’d love this dessert. As we dug into the fondant, the warm liquidity chocolate slowly oozed out and mixed with the strawberry sauce. This lightened the sweetness of the oozing chocolate. The chocolate fondant was dark, rich and moist. I found it was one of those desserts where you pick up your spoon to eat it, and you don’t put your spoon down, until you’ve finished. Licking helped us towards the end, to savour the flavour.

Pain Perdu - Warm Bread and Butter Pudding served with Vanilla Anglaise and poached Rhubarb

I had this dessert for the early dinner’s club. It was a memorable experience. Drenching the bread and butter pudding into the vanilla anglaise soaked up extra flavours. There’s a hint of chocolate and something fruity (maybe orange rind??). My favourite was the toffee top. It gave the dessert a nice crunch, but wasn’t too sweet to overpower any other flavours. During this course, I made a comment about rhubard: “Don’t you think rhubarb tastes like celery, but its sweet?” – Does anyone else believe in this too because I certainly do! I LOVE cooked celery. The rhubarb was a little sweet to my liking. I guess it didn’t help by being drenched with the vanilla anglaise.

I love daylight savings

I’ve always had a positive experience at Danks St Depot, however during the busier times, the service is sometimes not as attentive as they should be, but the knowledge of how sweet the waitresses are, the attentiveness is not necessary.
The head chef of Dank St. Depot (Jared Ingersoll) believes in slow-cooking, and I being of the philosophy of slow-eating felt a natural draw to come and eat here. So, if you do too, perhaps check this place out for breakfast, lunch, dinner… or all 3. And @$50 for 3 courses per person, it’s a steal!

Danks Street Depot
1/2 Danks Street (Cnr Young St),
Waterloo, NSW 2017
Web: http://www.danksstreetdepot.com.au/

Breakfast & Lunch: Monday to Sunday
Dinner: Thursday to Saturday

© teresa for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Wowcow

I love yoghurt (though I suspect not as much as Minh but it’s pretty high up there on my list) and I love ice cream too. So when Sam mentioned a place that sold frozen yoghurt and that we would have to go there first before our dinner, I absolutely had no problem with it. Effectively, I’d have two desserts by the end of the night – a win-win situation really.

Medium Dip 'n' Chill - Super Chilled Yogurt + Wow Sticks + One Topping ($6.95 + $0.95 for extra topping)

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Read the rest of Wowcow and Just Another Restaurant, Darlinghurst and East Sydney (945 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, pork, Seafood

Approaching Universal, I was a little surprised to find that it was a semi-outdoors restaurant. As we were seated at our table, I had some misgivings with the lighting as we had the street lamp streaming in bluish-tinged light onto the top half of the table and a warm orange glow emanating from the inside of the restaurant onto the bottom half of the table. Ugh. I apologise for the weird lighting in the photos, I should have asked to change tables when F urged me to. Sigh. Hindsight is totally 20/20 (or when you see the photos in Lightroom and end up hitting your head on the desk).

Funky menus

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, Seafood

We all know Potts Point is one of those fancy suburbs, but we still found ourselves admiring Lotus’ swanky and tasteful decor. We were surprised at how dim the place was – much to my great, great, great dismay as I fretted whether I’d be able to take decent photos. It took our eyes a while to adjust to the orange dimness.

The Merivale Winter Feast menu offers two choices: a two-course dinner ($35) or a three-course dinner ($39); both with a glass of wine or beer. Wait, a three-course dinner for an extra $4?! We all thought “Why the heck not?! Bargain!” (I know! We’re so Asian… it’s rather terrible, but the pull of the “more bang for your buck” is so very hard to resist).

Both Mong and I didn’t want any alcoholic beverages and our waiter trumpeted that he could arrange a soft drink for us (he literally trumpeted, the projection of his voice was really astonishing). Moments later, true to his word, he plonked down two tall glasses of Coke with ice.

I tried not to dictate people’s choices to ensure that the four of us would cover the entire Winter Feast menu, but really struggled! Thankfully, it all fell into place and all 9 dishes on the menu were covered.

Entrée

Butternut Pumpkin and Parmesan Soup with Poached Free Range Egg and Thyme Crumbs

Mong loved the soup, but when she stirred in the parmesan she thought it made the soup too cheesy. Both Ruby and I are cheese-lovers and exclaimed that it was awesomely cheesy. While Ruby found the parmesan did overwhelm the pumpkin flavour just a teensy bit, I whole-heartedly loved it. Definitely one of those warming dishes, perfect for winter.

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Read the rest of Merivale Winter Feasts, Lotus, Potts Point (835 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, merivale winter feast, Seafood