B’s coupon was a set menu with pretty nice variety of dishes and choices.

Tuna Tartar

This was just a starter, but the fresh tuna was mixed in with the right amount of creamy mayonnaise, buttery avocado and the salty pops from the roe really had us hankering for more (and it wasn’t just because we were hungry hehe).

Fried Gyoza

Given the choice between steamed and fried – fried goodness always wins, hands down; this is most certainly the case for the plate of gyoza. Some places don’t fry them long enough and so you miss out on that lovely crispy bottom, but these were fried just perfect – moist on the inside and well-seasoned.

Salmon Tataki

The salmon was very lightly seared, so it was pretty much like sashimi (not that I’m complaining, I love salmon sashimi!). I wasn’t sure if the sauce was just soy or a soy-vinegar mixture, but it accompanied the salmon wonderfully.

Assorted Tempura

The tempura batter was quite light and crispy; I liked that it wasn’t too oily either.

Sushi and Sashimi

Both sashimi and sushi were fresh as can be. It was a pity that there was an odd number of sushi, but after some tough negotiations, we came away with the pieces we wanted hehe.

Chicken Katsu

B opted for the chicken katsu, which scrumptiously succulent and crispy and came with a bowl of deliciously steaming miso soup (perfect for that cold, wet day) and rice.

Grilled Salmon

My grilled salmon also came with rice and miso soup. I thought the fish was well cooked (medium rare, just how I like it) and so perfectly seasoned that I hardly felt the need for any sauce.

Green Tea and Vanilla Ice Cream

We were a little relieved that dessert rolled around, as by this stage, we found ourselves surprisingly full. The green tea ice cream wasn’t “gritty” (for lack of a better term) like some past green tea ice creams I’ve had and was quite smooth; you can hardly go wrong with vanilla (and only then, I think, if you really tried).

There’s a few Wasabi restaurants around the town: there’s Wasabi Bistro on Stanley, Wasabi Bar and Bistro located in Kings Cross and Wasabi Bistro in Surry Hills. So best make sure everyone knows which one you’re dining at! Hehe. B and I dined at Wasabi Bistro in Surry Hills, which had a pretty casual, yet trendy atmosphere. The service was great: attentive, but not overbearing. The food was fresh and top-notch – we really couldn’t fault with anything.

Wasabi Bistro
Shop 6B-8, 417-431 Bourke St
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Ph: (02) 9357 2076
Web: http://www.wasabibistro.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, poultry, Seafood

Once settled in our trendy surrounds, we sipped on some pretty nice cocktails as we waited for the first dish to arrive (you must try the MeiWei!); mindful of my light-weightedness and empty stomach, I sipped carefully and hoped I hadn’t turned beet red just yet.

Steamed Pork Wontons with Chilli Oil Dressing

My slight anxiousness of the wontons being a bit too spicy for me was surprisingly unfounded. Sure there was a kick, but it was quite mild and made me feel like I’ve actually increased my chilli tolerance somewhat. That is until S gave me a look when she said “what chilli?” Haha bother.

In any case the wontons packed a punch in flavour – pork was seasoned and steamed perfectly and it left me wanting more.

Pickled Cucumber Salad

I was curious to see what the pickled cucumber salad entailed and was fascinated to see the dish. This is only sounds weird out of context (I hope), but I love black fungus; even as a child I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. I adore its texture: slightly crunchy, but soft and I thought it went rather well with the crisp cucumber bits, topped off with a refreshing tanginess from the dressing.

Braised Beef on Sesame Leaf

The braised beef on sesame leaf was wonderfully tender; the combination of a bright, sweet sauce and fresh herbs really made for a delicious mouthful.

Calamari Salad with Fresh Herbs

The calamari had that perfect soft, chewiness you come to expect and want. The crisp radish and slight crunch of the black fungus added a nice contrasting touch, while the herbs brought a bright and refreshing aspect to the dish.

Deep Fried Tofu with Caramelised Tomato

The deep fried tofu was quite different to what we expected: yellow, slightly wrinkly looking cubes, but what we got were white, crispy tofu. I thought it was a little strange, but to be honest, I was quite delighted in its crunchiness.

The caramelised tomato added a lovely sweetness to the tofu; I discovered that A didn’t care much for tomatoes, studiously avoiding tofu with tomatoes draped all over it – this meant more of that sweet goodness for me, I mean the rest of us… Most excellent.

Crispy Chilli Chicken

S was highly anticipating the crispy chilli chicken, but was a bit disappointed to find that it wasn’t quite as crispy as she (or we) expected. The thick sauce was quite flavoursome and only had a slightly stronger spicy kick to it than the other dishes, while most of the chicken bits were scrumptiously succulent and cooked perfectly (a couple of the bigger pieces seemed a little bit on the raw side).

Caramelised Beef with Fresh Fennel and Radish

This had to be one of the star dishes of the night: the caramelised beef was absolutely divine in flavour and texture. It was slightly sweet, juicy and oh so tender (it was so tender that it seemed to break apart from the lightest touch) while the pomegranate seeds added a nice tart accent to the sweetness of the beef. It was definitely no surprise to us that it was gone within minutes, though much to our sadness.

An iceberg lettuce salad with a tangy dressing was served as a side dish and we tucked into the main dishes with what seemed like a never-ending supply of fluffy jasmine rice (we must have gone through at least two large bowlfuls!).

Peach Sorbet, Apple Cider Sorbet and Peach & Jasmine Tart

S decided to order the sorbets for her dessert. The apple cider sorbet was refreshing, but the peach sorbet blew our minds. It had such an incredible, intense peach flavour, but it didn’t overwhelm the taste buds and lingered hauntingly once it all had gone.

R and I ordered the peach and jasmine tart, which was perfectly heavenly. The tart wasn’t too dense, but rather buttery and flaky; while at first bite sweetness from the peach flood your mouth, a light jasmine flavour comes after quite steathily and quietly that one might miss if they weren’t looking for it.

Combining the peach sorbet with the tart was epic.

Chocolate Truffle and Watermelon Jelly

A ordered the richly dense and decadent chocolate truffles, which she found delicious and generously shared it with the rest of the table.

As we sipped our teas, we nibbled on some watermelon jelly. The flavour was quite strong and we felt it didn’t quite compare to our wonderful desserts.

Busy Chefs at Bar H

Bar H is a cozy, trendy restaurant tucked away on the corner of Campbell and Foster St. The wait staff are lovely and so attentive; the service was quite efficient – we didn’t have to wait long between our dishes at all.

I’ve been dreaming of that caramelised beef and the desserts for a while now, I think it’s time that I wrangle F in for a visit. Hehe

Bar H
50 Campbell St
Surry Hills, NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9280 1980
Web: http://www.barhsurryhills.com/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2012. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert

Mixed Entree Platter

(...)
Read the rest of The Everest Kitchen, Marrickville (379 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2012. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, poultry

Well, just a little lost (I walked into the restaurant next door and got a few curious stares) and felt a little silly when I finally noticed the (numerous) signs indicating where Moo was. Going through a narrow passageway and onto the second floor took me to Moo’s newest joint.

Moo Views

Moo at Manly is cozy, has two floors, really neat finishing touches and a balcony with a sweet beach view from the third floor (or rather Moo’s second floor); I love the rustic furniture (made from recycled materials by Bare Nature).

Chunky Hot Chips with Home-Made Sauces

I’ve never successfully finished the awesome chunky chips with my burger, which is really such a pity because they’re really quite awesome: the crispy shell giving way to the fluffy potato on the inside, never oily and always moist. So awesome I’ve used it twice in that sentence! A few of us have been to Moo before and so know to treat those chips with caution – must leave room for the burgers!

The chips came with four of Moo’s most popular sauces (and with good cause too): aioli, mayonnaise, chilli jam and tomato relish. The aioli was hands down the table’s favourite.

Wagyu Beef Burger

I always have a hard time trying to choose which burger to eat when I come to Moo, while F seems to gravitate to the Wagyu Beef Burger quite often and it’s really not hard to see why.

All the components of the burger, from the juicy Angus Pure pattie to the creamy Tasmanian brie and caramelised onions, harmonised so completely together that I totally forgot that we were going to be served a second burger and practically finished it.

Delicious Moo-verages

Do you find that once you find something you really really like, you latch onto it and order it all the time? The Mooteaser is my go-to Mooshake, but it was nice to try something different this time around.

The Beach Blonde, with its Crunchie bits and caramel and chocolate syrup, was as delicious as I remembered (though not as good as the Mooteaser hehe). We also got to try the traditional vanilla malted milkshake that is the foundation of all Mooshakes. It’s not surprising that the “base” is also delicious, simple and full of flavour, and I can see just how easily it can carry all the fancy trappings of the other shakes Moo has on offer.

I never really thought about getting a cocktail from Moo before but after having the Cow in Mud (as in, happy as a “pig in mud”… get it? hehe) I think I might be switching from the Mooteaser after this! The fantastic cocktail is the perfect blend of Frangelico, Baileys, chocolate sauce and Tim Tams (which I think is the secret weapon that makes the drink go from “yummm” to “kapow!”)… bother, I really would love one right now.

Moo has expanded their beer range to include the Moo Brew Pale Ale – a boutique beer made at the Moorilla Estate, Tasmania. I love the shape of the bottle (I don’t know why, there’s something about it that’s rather pleasing) and the light floral taste is quite nice.

Kangaroo Burger

The Kangaroo burger is a new addition to the Moo gourmet burger range. The succulent kangaroo pattie has a mixture of sage and garlic and wonderfully accompanied by caramelised onions, beetroot relish (to die for), fresh tomato and rocket, topped off with their home-made mayonnaise. Bliss. The burger comes in the usual sour dough bun, as well as a gluten free bun.

I could not, for the life of me, finish the burger so I was glad that I had cut (maybe “butcher” would be a better word) it in half. Our waitress kindly packed our leftovers in takeaway boxes and seeing my coworker lives right next door to Moo (so lucky!!), I popped over with a little present, which he absolutely loved.

Mookies and Ginger Ale

I have to confess, I’ve never tried Moo’s desserts as we’ve always been so full after the burgers, but I think we have to make room for dessert next time we come here for their Black & White “Mookies” (Moo cookies!). These mind-blowing cookies are made from scratch, daily, and we were served ones straight from the oven. Seriously, these are mind-blowingly awesome with its melted white and dark chocolate chunks, crunchy edge and doughy middle. Absolutely yumsters.

Moo Sign

Moo, it seems, has been going from strength to strength – churning out packed full of flavour burgers and now conquering desserts too! Their new place in Manly is so well placed to pop in for a take away burger and enjoy (perhaps rather messily) right on the beach. Something I have a feeling I’ll be doing this summer… then going back for a Mookie and sneak in some ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s nearby. Oh! It’d be a perfect day, I just know it – with such deliciousness how could it not?!

Eat Show and Tell dined as a guest at Moo Gourmet Burgers.

Moo Gourmet Burgers, Manly
Levels 2 & 3, 33 South Steyne (btwn Wentworth St & The Corso)
Manly, NSW, 2095
Ph: (02) 9976 0948
Web: http://www.moogourmetburgers.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Seeing how nice out it was (especially being cooped up in an office all day long), we decided to walk across the Pyrmont Bridge… but not before we (rather, more so F) decided that we should have a pre-dinner dessert from Lindt. After all, he reasoned, it’s been a while since we’ve had macarons AND it’s along the way – though I suspect any old excuse would have done, not that I’m complaining! Haha

Lindt Macarons

I chose an apple and cinnamon macaron, which had a subtle apple flavour but enough to strongly reminded me of apple pie. Meanwhile, F had a banana and chocolate macaron that had a more distinctive flavour – there’s absolutely no mistaking the banana! I couldn’t really decide on which one I liked better, but F had a clear favourite in the banana and chocolate macaron.

Mmm Italian Beer

The coupon came with a free beverage each; F opted for a light and wheat-y Italian beer while I settled for a plain ol’ coke.

Garlic Prawns, Greek Salad and Garlic Bread

The garlic prawns surprisingly came with a healthy serving of napolitana sauce, usually it’s just olive oil, but I think I can get use to having sauce with my garlic prawns. The prawns themselves were perfectly cooked and well-seasoned.

The garlic bread was quite buttery and crunchy (just the way we like it); although it was a bit light on the garlic side it was rather perfect in mopping up the garlic prawn sauce. Yum!

Our eyes almost popped out when we saw just how generous the serving size was for the Greek salad. It was decent as salad goes: fresh, flavoursome and crisp – can’t ask much more than that.

Beef Tortellini

The beef tortilleni boscaiola was made fresh that very day (you could tell!) and I loved that there was so much mushroom! The serving size was again of gigantic proportions and F had to help me to finish it. I also really loved how saucy and creamy it was. Mmm, really wishing I had some right now…

The Darling Special Pizza

The Darling special pizza boasts having oven roasted capsicum, mushrooms, oven baked potato, Spanish red onion, goat fetta cheese, chilli, cabanossi, corn fed chicken, mozzarella cheese, tomato and herbs. Hectic, no? Despite having so many delicious ingredients, the one that really cinched it for us was the oven-baked potato. The last time I had potato on my pizza was at Belmonte’s (easily the one of the best pizza places I’ve been to) and that was way too long ago, so I was pretty excited.

F felt like a bit of spice that day and we asked if it was possible to have half chilli and half non-chilli. Our waiter assured us that it was possible and while most of it was on one side, there were a few rouge flakes that caused all sorts of havoc to my mouth. F thought I was being a sissy (yet again) until he had some… Hah I say!!

But I digress.

The pizza wasn’t soggy and had generous amounts of topping layered with oozing cheese, but there were no potatoes!! I felt a bit let down; perhaps the chef had forgotten it? I don’t know what happened to the potatoes, but it was quite delicious still (though of course, it probably would have been AWESOME with potatoes haha).

Try as we might, and despite F being a blackhole for food, there were leftovers that the wait staff was more than happy to box up for us to take away. My brother ended up eating it all, spiciness and all, and asked where I had gotten it (only to be a bit disgruntled to find that it was from some place in the city).

Strawberry and Blueberry Cheesecakes

We couldn’t possibly fit any more in, so we asked our waitress if we could have half the dessert serving they normally have. Eyes as big as saucers, she asked, “but why would you?” We tried to explain just how full we were, but she waved us off saying, “but you must have dessert!!”. It was all I could do to refrain from meekly replying, “Yes’m”.

Dessert was a blueberry cheesecake (for me) and strawberry cheesecake for F. It was quite creamy with a lovely crumbly biscuit base… and definitely wasn’t a half serving size! My goodness the slices were quite substantial – though it fits in with what seems to be a generous serving size policy they have going.

The Darling Pizzeria is a small, casual diner tucked away between a kebab shop and Oscar’s with an adjoining take away shop front. I thought it was weird at first, but it makes sense to cater for those late night revellers, being so close to the casino and Darling Harbour. The wait staff are quite friendly and cheerful, as well as being unfailingly polite. We found out that they do free delivery of their delicious food to anywhere in the CBD – our waiter candidly mentioned that their biggest customers are from people in hotels. Interesting! I think I’ll be keeping their menu pamphlet in my handbag… just in case.

The Darling Pizzeria
90 Union Street
Pyrmont, NSW, 2009
Web: http://www.thedarlingpizza.com.au/the_darling_pizzeria
Ph: (02)9566 2661

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert

The last couple of weeks has been one of the most amazingly intense experiences that I have ever experienced. Thanks to Fouad, I was fortunate enough to be involved in a couple of Secret Dinners for the Crave International Food Festival. This will be a relatively long post summarising the highs and lows of my journey, so sit back, relax and enjoy.(...)
Read the rest of Secret Dinners: My Experience, Crave Sydney 2011 (1,890 words)

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

We didn’t start the night off very auspiciously either. D and F had met up for a drink somewhere nearby our meeting point, but despite our constant contact as to my whereabouts (I drove up into the city from work) they weren’t there when I arrived! “What is this?! Where are they!!!” I thought rather grumpily. Anxious about getting there on time for parking and securing a good spot at a table, as well as being super hungry (mum always tries to feed me whenever I get grumpy), I grumbled some more when they came rushing to the car apologising for their tardiness.

Of course the grumpiness didn’t last – who could possibly stay in a bad mood when a potentially awesome dinner is nearing? That and I can never stay grouchy for long – it takes waaaaaay too much effort to maintain – besides which, D is just too sweet and F too silly for it to really stick around.

Going down the rabbit hole...

Curiouser and curiouser… said the signs, as we walked up three levels to the dinner. Our sense of excitement grew as we got closer to our destination and whatever our expectations were before tonight were blown out of the water as we rounded the corner and saw the set up.

Inside Wonderland

Alice in Culinary Land was held at Studio Neon and I absolutely adore the decor they came up with. The mish-mash, hodge-podge of different styles of cutlery, crockery and chairs instantly made gave the distinct feeling that we were going to be in for one heck of a dinner.

Table Decorations

Noting the limited light sources, I made a beeline for the candelabra with the most candles. I loved the dribbly bits on the candelabra itself – it just gave off a really cool old-fashioned vibe – though I half-wished that the slim and smooth tapered candles were just as dribbly to go with the look; the tiny roses in teapots just too cute!

Fellow Wonderlandians

It was advised that dressing up is encouraged and remembering fondly of my friend’s hen’s party, where she was Alice and our Wonderland costumes were so awesome that random people asked to take photos with us (biggest compliment one could give a person in a costume really), I excitedly asked F and D if we were going to dress up for this. I was a bit disappointed to hear that they reckon people wouldn’t turn up in costume and so we shouldn’t really bother. Despite this, I thought I’d at least wear the cat’s ears as some sort of (lame) effort. As it turned out, I totally forgot to bring it with me when I rushed out of the house in the morning! So terrible!! I was kicking myself when I realised, but even more so when I saw the rest of the attendees.

They looked so good that even F and D were kicking themselves! Though at least D somewhat vaguely looked like an Alice. Sigh.

Beetroot and Wasabi Macaron

First up was a Beetroot and Wasabi macaron laid out with an “Eat Me” card. F wanted to eat it straight away, while I thought perhaps we were suppose to eat it when the dinner officially starts. F argued that it says “Eat Me”, which clearly is an invitation and should be complied with. Eventually I gave in, as I noticed the other patrons munching on the macaron with curious expressions.

I thought it was a lovely colour even if we couldn’t taste the beetroot, but we could definitely taste the wasabi. It was a delicate balance between sweet and savoury, where the savoury wasabi flavour wasn’t overpowering, but it did heft its weight around and finished off with a roundhouse kick to the nasal passages.

Mmm... Cake

Just as I had spied rows of cake that a kitchen staff was prepping, F nudged me and pointed at the cakes with his chin. Making a face, I made my way over and gazed at the cakes with appreciation.

It did vaguely occur to me that cake wasn’t actually on the menu and while it would be cool to have a reverse-course dinner (i.e. dessert first and finishing off with an entree) it didn’t quite ring true.

Red Capsicum, Smoked Trout, Dill and Cream Fraiche Sourdough "Eat Me" Sandwich

Though we had our suspicions, seeing that the “cake” was really sourdough bread lavishly covered with creme fraiche (and not loads of icing) was just too much fun. As the dining experience is a communal one, we were instructed to slice the loaf so that everyone could have a piece (or two); it worked out that the rest of our dinner would be shared between five. Our wait staff breezily mentioned that the flowers on top are edible before gliding off to serve the rest of table.

The smoked trout was excellent – perfect amount of smokiness and moistness – and was lightly sweetened by the tasty red capsicum. I don’t know how they did it, but there was the perfect amount of cream with each mouthful, where the amount of pickles were just right to balance out the creaminess. I loved how generously thick the layers of sourdough bread was and felt surprisingly (surprising that I was surprised!) full afterwards.

I quietly hoped I would have enough room for the rest of the dinner.

"Drink Me" Hare Tea

As our wait staff cleared the table for the next course, they also served us Hare Tea in gorgeous teapots, which was simply a rabbit consomme. The consomme was quite light yet flavoursome and when drunk with a mouthful of the creamy wild mushrooms or hearty zucchini flower salad, it added a certain delicious depth.

Wild Mushrooms Salad with Zucchini Flower, Dutch Carrot, Watercress, Candied Walnut and Buckwheat

The mushrooms were wonderfully buttery and they were cooked just so; I loved the different varieties they had!

The zucchini flower salad was such a powerful combination of naturally sweet flavours that was balanced with the earthiness of the mushrooms and a light heartiness from the buckwheat. The textures were quite the thing too, from crunchy zucchini flower stems and Dutch carrots to the chewiness of the buckwheat. Having a generous number of zucchini flowers just topped off the dish for F and I, as we both adore zucchini flowers.

D quite liked the flavours of the zucchini flower salad, but she said she found the texture of the buckwheat rather challenging to eat. Interesting! I think she mentioned that she’s not really a big fan of grains, so perhaps that’s the reason why she didn’t warm to the salad as much as F and I did.

Confit Duck, Fennel Panna Cotta, and Goat's Curd and Fresh Peaches with Smoked Ham

While I was waiting for my drink to be poured at the bar, I enthused how much I was loving the dinner and the bartender beamed. “The duck is up next… and it is really so good,” she promised. Excited for this insider’s goss, I hurried back to our spot and relayed the information. We impatiently waited for it to be served and thankfully it wasn’t long til it was brought out.

The generous serve of duck looked just as good as advertised and we couldn’t wait to tear into it. Well, we kind of had to wait, as our waitress explained the dishes and that we should consume the duck with the fennel panna cotta. Fennel panna cotta?! You read right! It’s such a bizarre combination that we found it hard to get our head around it. We tried the dish as advised and oh my goodness… the explosion of flavours that didn’t seem to really go together actually did.

The duck was perfectly seasoned and cooked to utmost fall-off-the-bone perfection, while the panna cotta was incredibly creamy and light. Somehow the two managed to amalgamate into a totally different flavour that’s precariously, yet perfectly, balanced between salty, sweet and creamy. The fennel panna cotta were dusted with dark chocolate crumbs which added a sweet-bitterness into the mix, while the wine-poached beetroot added a lovely zest.

Our side dish was goat’s curd with sweet peaches and smoked ham. This was a lot more challenging to eat, as the curd was quite strong and its sharp tang could get overwhelming. It was tempered, however, with the sweetness of the peaches and a round heartiness from the smoked ham.

Queen of Hearts Chilli Chocolate Cream with Strawberry Sauce

Dinner was wrapped up with the Queen of Hearts chilli chocolate cream dessert layered on top with a wicked strawberry sauce. I’ve been loving the dishes our meal have been served on and this shallow, cauldron-like dish (made from cast iron to boot, no doubt) was no exception.

The chef warned us that it does have a bit of a kick, but it should be manageable. I hesitantly nibbled at a small dollop of chocolate cream and sauce and found the kick actually bearable. Heartened, I scooped up a really big mouthful and … tears sprang up, cheeks flushed and coughing ensued. Holy crap it was SPICY!! Even our newly found Korean friend whom we had been sharing our dinner with struggled to finish the dessert. Ha! F thought I was being a sissy, but no… it was really spicy! I cannot get over just how much punch it had. It was an odd (yet deadly) punch, as in most cases it would be my mouth and lips burning – this spiciness was more like pepper and the heat seemed be localised to the back of the throat.

We spent a good while debating on whether it was the chocolate cream that was spicy or the sauce… or both! We concluded that it was the chocolate that was spicy, where some of the spiciness had infused slightly with the sauce.

“Why are you still eating it!? Stop it!” F scolded (rather futilely I thought), as he saw me eating another mouthful and immediately going for my cool glass of Coke. “It’s so yummy – I can’t help it!” I moaned, feeling slightly tortured. If I was an anime character, I would have definitely looked like this: (T_T)

Alice in Culinary Land

The Alice in Culinary Land pop-up dinner was held during the Crave International Food Festival 2011 and it was an experience that will stay with me for a very long time.

The atmosphere and food were just astounding; the wait staff incredibly friendly and cheerful. At $145 with 4 wine glasses, beer and/or non-alcoholic beverage I thought the dinner really was worth it. The organisers of this dinner set out to create a challenging, yet approachable menu. I thought they did a remarkable job combining unexpected and seemingly unsuited flavours together and for me, it was not only approachable, but definitely most edible and amazingly delicious.

Studio Neon
Level 3, 136 Raglan St
Waterloo, NSW, 2017
Web: http://www.studioneon.com.au/
Ph: 0404 555 098

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, poultry, Seafood

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

Needless to say that I was pretty excited when September rolled around and we finally got to go to Emmilou (so much so I think I came a bit over-dressed! Haha).

Welcome Cocktail and Beerage

I had forgotten that we would receive a welcome cocktail upon arrival until our waiter asked us if we wanted it now nor wait til the rest of our table arrived. I looked at F, who looked at little bit desperate after a long day’s work, and asked if we could have it now while we waited for R and S to arrive.

We learnt that each night the bartender would create something new – whatever he felt like on the night. Tonight, he made a very drunkable concoction of cherry liquor, aperol and Cointreau with berry coulis and cranberry. When the girls arrived, they were surprised I was drinking before dinner but quickly understood why (even though S made a face and said she couldn’t taste the alcohol. “That’s why it’s drunkable, S!” I gently admonished, taking a sip).

Guacamole with Grilled Sourdough Bread and Marinated Green and Black Manzanillo Olives

The delightfully refreshing guacamole with a hint of spiciness (which only seemed to affect me, bah) and the slightly salty olives were a great way to start dinner.

The timing was perfect, as just as we were finished with them, our additional special boards came out.

Higado del Pato - Duck Liver Parfait with Walnuts ($13)

The duck liver pate was smooth, wonderfully creamy and quite rounded when paired with the walnut. The toasted ciabattas were a little overly crunchy, but tasted so good with the pate.

Though I did wish there was more bread to the pate-bread ratio; hate letting good food go to waste and not being able to finish it because it’s just too intense to eat on its own. Sigh.

Calabacines Tempranos - Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Truffle Honey ($21)

I don’t know what it is about zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese that just makes F and I light up. These zucchini flowers were stuffed with a creamy goat’s cheese that had a hint of sharpness and were laid on a bed of semi-dried tomatoes. Visually, it made my heart beat a little faster and made me mmm’ed as its flavour ran rampant on the tongue.

Slow-Cooked Trout with Tequila Jelly and Scallop with Grilled Pear and Peas

When the duo of trout and scallop came out, we all ooh’ed in appreciation. It looked so pretty! I felt bad for R, who waited patiently for me to finish taking photos, while F and S (who knew better than to sit in front of me) were happily munching away.

As scallops are my favourite, I decided to leave that to last and went for the smoked trout first. While the toasted bread was again a little on the crusty side, the trout was perfectly smoked and the tequila jelly added a surprising sweetness. It was all gone in several mouthfuls, which was bitter-sweet as I wanted more, but this meant I could finally eat my scallop.

When I came to scoop the scallop onto my plate, I hesitated and looked around to see how the others managed to get it on their plate. I noticed that S and R managed to get it onto their plates with no issues, while F was waiting for me. Uncertain, I slid my knife underneath, stabled it as best as I could with my fork on top and… it toppled over onto my plate. Everyone burst out laughing while I looked on with slight dismay. “Let’s see if you can do it then!” I challenged F, not being competitive at the slightest. He managed to successfully transfer it over to his plate, keeping it upright, and with such smug easiness too!

The scallop had a pretty decent sear and I loved how the pear brought out the sweetness, while the mushy peas added a very subtly heartiness to the morsel. I tried to draw it out for as long as I could, cutting the scallop into quarters then halving them again as I ate, but sadly it still went too quickly!

King Crab and Potato Croquettas with Whole Grain Mustard Vinaigrette

It’s really starting to hammer in why S love Emmilou so much now. The dishes have such a visual impact that you can’t help but admire it for a second before devouring its deliciousness.

While I couldn’t really taste the crab (which I’m putting down to the croquetta being surprisingly spicy), I loved the how soft the potatoes were without being mushy juxtaposed with the crunchiness of the crumbed shell. Meanwhile, the dab of whole grain mustard seeds added a bit of a different sort of spicy kick to the croquetta and the aioli rounded out the flavours quite harmoniously.

Jamon Serrano with Fennel and Garlic Salami

Damn but I do love me some jamon! Both the jamon and salami had strong hearty flavours and soft texture, which is quite in contrast with the crusty, almost-bland-in-comparison bread. I remember thinking that this dish wouldn’t go amiss at a picnic! I can imagine casually wolfing these down on a sunny, serene day lazing about with friends in the park.

It was rather surprising, but we were starting to feel a little full at this stage. As our waiter was clearing our table from empty plates, he asked us if we wanted to wait for a bit for the pork belly or keep rolling along. We all unhesitatingly responded with “bring it on”.

16-Hour Free Range Berkshire Pork Belly with Spring Peas and Kipfler Potatoes

It took a while for the pork belly to come out and we wondered how long it would have taken if we asked for it to come out later, but all was forgiven when we tasted the dish.

Holy moly it was incredibly succulent and soft. The pork belly had the perfect amount of crispiness to it and fattiness too. The mushy peas was refreshing to the heaviness of the pork and denseness of the superbly crunchy kipfler potatoes (I need to know how to make these!! They were way too scrumptious).

Half way through my portion of the pork, I became a little overwhelmed with food. Perhaps it was the heaviness of the dish, but I struggled to finish the last couple of mouthfuls. R gave up the ghost and asked us if we wanted to finish her portion. F hesitated a bit, but after haggling that he’d have three-quarters of it and she have the rest, he was happily munching on the last bits of pork belly.

There was a very brief moment of insanity where we contemplated not having desserts because we were so full, but thankfully that passed and as a compromise, thought we’d at least moderate it to two desserts and not four.

Churros with Warm Chocolate Sauce ($15)

Remembering the delicious churros with chocolate sauce I had a long time ago, I jumped at ordering it with F heartily endorsing my choice. It was just as good as I had remembered, perhaps even better, with its super crunchiness and thick, sinfully decadent dark chocolate sauce. You know when something’s good when you find yourself licking the remnants off your fingers.

Chocolate Tarte with Beetroot ($14)

The girls chose this for two things: chocolate and beetroot; it seemed so strange and had to be tried out.

For the most part, it did seem much like a very dense and moist chocolate cake, but on the odd occasion there were pieces of sweet beetroot – it was kind of a lucky dip! The beetroot ice cream was pretty interesting, where the beetroot flavour was quite subtle. I thought the gooey chocolate sauce topping really gave the cake that extra oomph from decent to quite scrumptious.

Emmilou

Emmilou is such a laid-back place with a very eclectic choice of music (much to my delight). I loved the casual, yet bold decor (all that red and gold!) and the food looked amazing without being fussy – best thing was: it tasted just as good as it looked.

It was so easy to see why S loves this place so much; this was her fourth time at Emmilou this year! And I wouldn’t be surprised if I come back here for another catch up with friends.

Emmilou
413 Bourke St
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Ph: 02 9360 6991
Web: http://www.emmilou.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, pork, Seafood

It’s been a while since G and I last caught up and a couple of minutes of chatting on the snowfields didn’t quite cut it (especially since I spent most of that time goading him to do a jump despite the fact that he insisted he doesn’t normally do jumps and would go splat). We usually take turns deciding where to go and it was his choice this time, but realising that this would be the perfect opportunity to try out Cotton Duck, I kind of bulldozed him into coming here (though to be fair, he wasn’t too fussed in the first place – thank goodness).

Mini Bread Rolls

As our waiter whisked our menus away after taking our orders, a plate of wonderfully warm and crusty mini bread rolls arrived. What I thought was toasted black sesame seeds was actually something more akin to anise seeds with its sweet liquorice taste flavouring the bread. I normally don’t like liquorice, but the bread mellowed out the strong flavour and it was actually pretty good with the creamy butter.

Babaganoush with Sweet Potato Crisps

We weren’t expecting an appetizer, but we weren’t going to say no to something that looked rather interesting. I don’t know what was in that babaganoush, but it was freaking delicious! On top of that, the sweet potato crisps had a most satisfying crunch. We couldn’t get enough of it and was rather sad when it was all gone. That and it just whet our appetites for our forth-coming dishes.

Surf, Turf & Air - Seared Kangaroo, School Prawns and Crispy Duck Skin ($20)

I was quite excited about the twist on the ol’ surf and turf dish and it’s been a while since I’ve had kangaroo. My friend has said that kangaroo is kind of hard to cook, as it has a tendency to become tough quite easily. Not a chance with this seared kangaroo though – it was divinely succulent and perfectly seasoned. The crispy duck skin was… well, quite crispy and there is a moment of sinful fattiness when bitten into – though it was best eaten with the kangaroo or prawn.

The sweet prawns were cooked just right and I don’t know if we were suppose to eat the crispy shrimps (or at least that’s what I thought they were) whole, but I did it in one happy crunchy mouthful without thinking. I noticed that G wasn’t eating his share of the shrimps and nudged them over to his side of the plate. He looked at it warily, “I’m not sure how you’re suppose to eat that – do you eat it all? In one go?” I shrugged and grin. “Dunno, I just ate it like this *om nom nom nom*.”

What we also really enjoyed was the wide streak of hoi sin sauce smeared across the plate like asphalt. We would dab, swirl and scrape it off with the meat, adding a lovely salty-sweetness to the overall dish and tied together all of the components.

Pressed Pork - Rillette of Milandura farms Pork with Black Caviar Lentils, Root Vegetable Confit and Fresh Bay Leaf sauce ($19)

I have to admit, the pressed pork doesn’t look like much – in fact, I was a bit amused at the cube of pork presented, but I knew that all was not as it seemed from past experiences. Once I broke open the crumbed shell, I couldn’t help but grin as if I had found treasure. Technically, I did find treasure, as the pork was oh-so-amazingly soft and juicy and the deep-fried crumbed shell added a great crunchy texture to the dish. While the root vegetable confit and black caviar lentils were quite flavoursome, the pork was definitely the star.

Wild Rabbit Braised with Trotter, Pearl Barley, Scallop Cream, Gathered Greens and Organic Radish ($32)

Moving onto our mains, G ordered the rabbit and we were rather impressed when it came out. The rabbit was different to the other rabbits I’ve had – then again, I’ve never had medium-rare seared rabbit and I would hope that it would not be the last time. It was insanely tender and I was glad that G’s first taste of rabbit was of this.

The broth was hearty without being overly heavy and the pearl barley was just scrumptious with the salty scallop cream and subtly sweet vegetables. With all the components in one mouthful, we both couldn’t help but moan in appreciation.

Pan Roasted King Salmon with Pea Puree, Peas, Potato Crumbs and Tartare Garnish ($36)

I thought at first the white dollop was mash and gleefully dug into it. The sharp, tangy flavour and its lack of density made me pause and for a split second I thought puzzledly, “Tartare sauce?” A quick re-taste confirmed that it was indeed tartare sauce – well not sauce, rather a fluffy, creamy dollop. “G, you have to taste this,” I pointed at the dollop with my fork. “Awesome mash potatoes, huh?” he teased as he took a little swipe at it. It’s funny how you can precisely pinpoint the moment an awesome flavour just hits someone. I think it’s the closed eyes, the moan of appreciation (yet again), quickly followed by something akin to: “Damn that’s good!”

The salmon, as with everything else, was perfection and I simply adored the pea components (then again, I also have a great love for peas) and the super crispy potatoes. Everything just went so well together… whenever we saw the dish pass us by to other tables, we both sighed a little.

We were rather full by this stage and G was adamant that he could only fit in one shared dessert. I was a bit deflated at this, but agreed to it anyway. G rolled his eyes and groaned, “Fine… we’ll have two desserts. God squishies, you’re going to be the death of me.” I may have squealed a little, but I shall neither confirm or deny that.

Chocolate Fondant with Blood Orange and Caramel ($15)

As I went to dig a sizeable chunk out of the chocolate fondant I hoped that I would be met with some gooey, oozing chocolate. When the fondant broke apart, I couldn’t help but grin in happiness. The oozing chocolate sauce was just about perfect and tasted like heaven.

The blood orange jelly had a lovely sharp tang and the caramel a slight saltiness that paired well with the decadence of the chocolate.

Fragomammella - Goats Cheese Pannacotta, Strawberry Cream, Meringue and Baby Mint ($15)

While I was in ecstasy over the chocolate fondant, G was busy falling in love with the pannacotta. He’s not one for super sweet desserts and I commented that it bordered on being a savoury dish than a dessert. “That is the reason that I love it,” he countered.

I’m not sure why I was rather amazed at just how much the pannacotta tasted like goat’s cheese. It was like eating goat’s cheese that was lighter and less dense, but still had the full round flavour and creaminess.

The sweetness from the meringue and strawberry helped it from becoming a bit too overwhelmingly savoury.

Petite Fours - Caramel Cupcakes

To finish off with our tea and coffee, we were presented with caramel cupcakes: bit-sized goodness that was topped with a passionfruit dollop.

Inside Cotton Duck

I’m so glad to have been finally able to come to Cotton Duck; it was definitely well worth the wait. From the moment G and I stepped in to when we left (at a very much later time), the service was fantastic – the wait staff was attentive and friendly.

The dishes we had were pretty amazing in freshness, flavour and execution of concept. G and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at Cotton Duck, but then again when you have great company with great food it’s not surprising that you would – I think it would be very hard not to.

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, pork, Seafood

It was a bit of an aimless search until a friend mentioned a cafe that doubled as a games parlour. That definitely piqued our interest and we trooped off to Norita.

Desserts!

Getting our dessert fix, we ordered Green Tea Eskimo ($8.90), Asian Fantasy ($9.90), Nut Crazy ($9.90) and Blueberry Double Baked Cheese Cake ($5.50).

D was a bit disappointed to see that the blueberry cheesecake didn’t come with the mounds of fruit as depicted in the menu (I’m starting to think that most of the time the desserts from Asian places never look like the one in the picture).

The desserts were okay, decent but not fantastic, but then again I guess we weren’t really here for the dessert (though it was a bonus) seeing that we got quite distracted with the games menu and the games themselves.

Tumblin' Monkeys and Pick-Up-Sticks

Simple and quick games like Tumblin’ Monkeys and Pick-Up-Sticks (there’s also UNO!) are about $1 per game, per person. Because we had such a big group, we had to split up to play a couple of the games we had chosen.

While one side was quiet (with the occasional muttering of adding up points) playing Scrabble, the other half went through quite loud games of Tumblin’ Monkeys, Pick-Up-Sticks and several rounds of Jenga. Did you know that you could only use one hand playing Jenga? We didn’t until we actually read the rules – oops. We quickly found out why the other people playing Jenga had such short games (as opposed to our long ass game), though playing with two hands was also quite interesting – some people are quite devious in removing those blocks!

Scrabble, Jenga and Taboo

The longer or more strategic games like Scrabble, Life and Risk are about $2.50 per person, per game.

I personally think you can’t go past Pictionary or Taboo to cater for a large group – it’s so much fun, what with the noise and the good-natured, energetic arguments discussions on whether so-and-so broke the rules by doing/say such a thing. (In the end, Rock Paper Scissors is the ultimate mediator for such an impasse discussion.)

We played Taboo this time around because no one really wanted to draw. I was rather grateful, as I’m a horrible drawer: once I had “croissant” and everyone thought it was a piece of cheese or a crescent moon – needless to say no one won that round. Not everyone knew how to play Taboo, but a couple of the newbies turned out to be a lot better than the seasoned players!

Norita

I love the concept of Norita, with its late hours and noise tolerance – no matter how loud we got, we weren’t shooshed at all! I recently came back with a long-time friend; he was sceptical but keenly curious when I suggested we come here to relax and chat after dinner (and like everyone else, he wondered what sleazy place the stairs were taking him to).

We ended up playing Scrabble – he knew how obsessed I am with Words with Friends and wanted to see how good I actually am. It was kind of funny because we started off playing quite languidly, chatting between our turns, until I realised that our conversation was sliding to a decidedly one-sided manner as he progressively became more and more monosyllabic. I stopped talking just to see what he’d do (in mid-sentence even) and he didn’t even realise!

“I thought this game was a side thing while we chatted,” I teased with grin.

“You. Are. Not. Going. To. Win,” he gritted out, determination radiated from him and I bemusedly quieted down.

Much to his disgust, I won.

My friend quite liked the idea of Norita as well and mused that he should bring his friends here to check it out. Whatever the reason for coming to Norita (we spied a couple falling asleep on the couch, snuggled up to each other), you can be sure to leave with great memories.

Norita
Level 2, 77 Liverpool Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Ph: (02) 9267 3753
Web: http://www.norita.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, games

Burch & Purchese Cake Display

(...)
Read the rest of Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, South Yarra, Melbourne (694 words)

© Minh for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

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

He received a coupon deal where at the Swissotel’s Crossroads Bar you can have high tea for two with a glass of champagne for $40. Yes… $40 for two, where normally it would have been $49 per person. I’m not sure why he passed around to his (male) friends – predictably they teased F a little and remarked that only girls love this sort of thing. Poor F… it ended up just us two going, but he was excited nonetheless.

The high tea at Crossroads is a bit different to your usual high tea…

High Tea Buffet

Instead of the wait staff bringing pots of ordered tea to the table, followed by a 3-tiered cake stand filled with delicious goodies, high tea at the Crossroads bar consists of making your own tea (choices are as varied, but of the usual fare) or coffee and taking your fill at what I’d like to think as something akin to the Mad Hatter’s table.

Chocolate Brownies and Orange Scones

It is a glorious spread of delicious-looking sweets, pastries and of course a bowlful of scones between giant bowls of cream and strawberry conserve.

As much as I wanted to dig into the scrumptious morsels laid out on the long table, I couldn’t go past convention to have something savoury first.

Sandwich Platter

Mindful of all the delectable desserts I must sample later on, I ate as many different sandwich pieces as I dared.

I thought it was kind of funny when we approached the platter, F gasped, “They even cut the crusts off!” I love eating bread crusts, but there are times where crustless sandwiches are just better.

The sandwiches were well-made and put together; the more people arrived, the more decimated the platter got. However, the staff efficiently and quickly brought out fresh platters, which was a good thing, as F kept going back for the curried devil egg sandwiches.

I remember last time I was here, they had mini quiches and was surprised to find that they weren’t there any more. F discovered that the hot quiches were tucked away in a corner and they were massive this time. Sometimes bigger is better – these were so fluffy and more flavoursome than the ones they use to have.

Fruit Meringue and Profiteroles

Finally we got down to the business of smashing sampling the desserts.

The fruit meringue had a dollop of whipped cream under the fruit, adding a creaminess to a sweet bite. Profiteroles are one of F’s weaknesses and so I took it on good authority when he said they were quite delicious – the pastry didn’t seem stale and the custard was fresh.

Fruit Tart

I love fruit tarts, though sometimes find that some bakeries over do the glazing to keep the fruit together and on top, leaving a thick jelly coating. The fruit tarts here are delicately glazed; I took one bite and quite a bit of the custard and fruit relocated to the other side of the tart. F teased me to take it easy, but when he took a bite, it also relocated quite suddenly. So while the fruit tart is delicate and elegant to look at, it’s actually quite inelegant to eat! It didn’t stop it being scrumptious with its buttery and crumbly shortbread base, fresh custard filling and fresh fruit topping.

Rocky Road, Passionfruit Something and More Cakes

I know some of my friends don’t like rocky roads because they are quintessentially super sweet – I love it for this exact reason. Also because of the squishy softness of the marshmallow bits. I love how pistachios were added to the rocky road; they really gave the delicious bit-sized pieces an extra oomph.

We weren’t too sure what was in the cup, but it seemed like it was a passionfruit-laced French cream and my goodness was it divine! The cream was so smooth and fluffy and the white chocolate enhanced the natural sweetness of the fruit.

The passionfruit slice wasn’t too bad – being creamy and tart, but the chocolate fudge mousse, as gloriously dark chocolate-y as it was, was the dessert that did me in. It was fluffy with a thin spongy base, but my goodness was incredibly rich.

Cake and Creme Caramel

As you can expect by this stage, I was brimming full of tea and an immense amount of desserts… and I still haven’t tried everything yet; this is despite F and I sharing most of the desserts.

So we didn’t end up trying the cake on the left, and we shared the creme caramel (which was okay – I think it needed more caramel sauce).

Chocolate Fountain, Macarons and Jelly Cups

There were two types of macarons: dark chocolate ganache and pistachios-dark chocolate; both were quite good, if a little inconsistent in shape.

I really wanted to eat chocolate-dipped fruit and sweets, kind of like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but the thought of eating more sweet things make me blanch. Determined not to miss out on any more desserts, I took one of the jelly cups home (much to F’s embarrassment and dismay). Not that he didn’t gain from it – he “accidentally” ate it when I forgot it at his place… so sneaky!

Stuart the Pianist

While we scoffed daintily nibbled at our sandwiches and bite-sized desserts and sipped our tea, tinkling strains of soothing piano music weaved a wonderfully relaxing atmosphere. Stuart, the pianist responsible for our repose state of mind, plays beautifully and would take on requests if he knows the pieces. I don’t remember having a pianist lull us last time I was here, so I thought it was a really great addition to a high tea session.

High tea at the Crossroads Bar in the Swissotel is on Level 8 between the hours of 2pm and 4pm. Last time I was here, it felt like it was more about the quantity than quality, but this time I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicious most things were (definitely more hits than misses).

It is not like your traditional high tea experience, but if you’re up for a buffet of the usual components of high tea, then you’re in for a treat.

Crossroads Bar, Swissotel
Level 8, 68 Market Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9238 8888
Web: http://www.swissotel.com/EN/Destinations/Australia/Swissotel+Sydney/HOTEL+HOME/Gallery/Dining/Crossroads+Bar.htm

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert

Catalina has been on our radar for a terribly long time – we even had booked it once, only to find out later that we had double booked that day and had to cancel the dinner (boo) – so we were pretty excited to finally dine here.

Bread and Butter

While we were enjoying the sourdough bread with lashings of the creamy butter, our first course arrived but one of the dishes seemed… a little different. As our waiter disseminated the duck egg on a bed of fried whitebait, we looked a little puzzled at each other then puzzledly at the dish. We were sure we had ordered something else, but its presence made us doubt otherwise.

F hesitatingly told our waiter that he had ordered the pickled beetroot salad, not the whitebait and our waiter froze with a look of mortification. It turned out that our waiter got another table’s order mixed up with ours and swiftly rectified the situation with profuse apologies.

Citrus and Sugar Cured Kingfish with Horseradish and Pomegranate Dressing

I don’t think I’ve had sugar-cured anything and it was interesting to note the differences from being smoke-cured or salt-cured. The kingfish was quite soft and a little drier than we were used to or had expected, but I found I quite liked the light sweet after-taste.

The sweetness was brought out a little more by the dry sweetness from the pomegranate. While F wasn’t sure of the dryness of the kingfish, but he quite liked the little pops the pomegranate made.

Pickled Baby Beetroot and Goat Cheese Tart with Seeded Mustard, Caramelised Onion and Wild Rocket

When we got the whitebait dish by mistake, F was half-tempted to roll with the mix-up. However, on seeing and tasting the pickled beetroot tart, he was immensely glad that he decided not to.

The tart was definitely the better dish of the two with its super flaky and buttery pastry base, creamy and slightly sharp goat’s cheese, sweet caramelised onions and bright pickled baby beetroot. Despite the butteriness from the pastry and creaminess from the goat’s cheese and walnuts, it was quite light. F thought the pickled beetroot sauce was a thoughtful reiteration of the main components of the dish, where he couldn’t help but mopped it up with the pastry.

Pan Fried Snapper Fillet with Potato and Garlic Mash; Lemon Caper Butter

The snapper was well-cooked and well-seasoned with a pretty nice crispy underside; I quite liked how the accompanied creamy sauce was tempered by sharp tang of dill and capers. We might have been biased, but we loooooved the potato mash – so much so that F thought it may have outshone the fish.

Char-Grilled Riverine Beef Tenderloin, with Olive Potato Gnocchi, sauteed Mushroom and Red Wine Jus

The tenderloin was amazingly juicy, succulent and melt-in-your-mouth tender. I loved the charred cross-hatching – F thought it was pretty standard, but I thought it was the little details that really add up to a great dish. We both however equally adored the soft-pillowed, packed-full-of-flavour gnocchi, where F used them to soaked up all of the tenderloin juices and I unsuccessfully tried to ration them for each bite – it was just too delicious to be sensible! I also really liked the added earthiness and different textures that the mushrooms brought to the dish. Definitely a favourite of the night.

Mixed Salad Leaves, Tomato and Cucumber

The main course came with a lightly dressed salad. I have to be honest, I didn’t eat much of it besides a few cherry tomatoes and cucumber (I seem to have an aversion with eating lettuce in public – I think it makes me feel like a cow haha), but from what I had it was pretty refreshing – a nice break from all that meat.

Classic Lemon Tart with Mascarpone

The lemon tart was wonderfully sharp and tangy, tempered by the thick and creamy mascarpone. For extra zing, I scooped up some of the passionfruit sauce on the plate to go with a mouthful of tart. Yum.

I love my tart base to be light and buttery, so I thought this tart was perfect. F likes his bases thicker and more shortbread-like (which I made a face at when he told me), but he still thought it was a pretty good dish overall.

Honeycomb Parfait with Chocolate Brownie and Caramel

I didn’t realise that the honeycomb parfait would be ice cream, so it made for an utterly awesome surprise when I found out. I loved the dark chocolate brownie as the thin base – its slight bitterness was a nice point of contrast to the creamy honeycomb and sweet caramel on top. But what I thought made this dessert so special was the salted caramel decorating the plate.

I know some friends who abhor salty, sweet things because it’s just “too weird” or “not right”, but I love the strangeness of it all. The salted caramel just seemed to add another dimension to the dish; a complexity to an otherwise pretty simple-looking dessert.

Petit Fours with Coffee and Tea

I can never help but feel slightly disappointed if we only get one thing as the petit fours, but I found out quite quickly that I was fuller than I realised. So I guess it was a good thing we only got one to go with our (my) earl grey tea and piccolo (F’s).

Catalina

Catalina is situated on the busy New South Head Road overlooking the bay, but it being a dark and rainy night, the view was pretty dark and obscured (I did get to see a few seagulls get buffeted by the wind though). However, I can imagine just how glorious it would have looked during a lunch service on a bright sunny day – all that water sparkling from the sunshine would set one at ease I think.

While some dishes were stronger than others, I thought the food was quite excellent overall. The service was top-notch with the wait staff being very attentive without making you feel watched or harried. Catalina is definitely on our must-return-to list.

Catalina
Lyne Park
Rose Bay, NSW, 2029
Ph: (02) 9371 0555
Web: http://catalinarosebay.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, Seafood

I guess it doesn’t matter in the end; he managed to surprise me by taking me to Blancharu – a restaurant that’s been on my to-eat list for the longest time.

I know we’re degustation ‘hos, usually choosing the largest degustation on offer, but this time we actually chose the smaller option: 4-course degustation for $75. We worked out that where the 7-course degustation is a set menu, the 4-course gives you a choice to pick an entrée, pasta dish, main and dessert from the a la carte menu – effectively we would be sharing a larger-sized, 8 course dinner. Awesome!

Once that was established, it didn’t take us long to choose our dishes (for once).

King Crab Mille-fuille, Iceberg Lettuce, Tomato, Crispy Potato, Basil Sauce

We thought the dish presentation was most striking, where the mille-fuille was a rather pretty centre piece.

The crab was wonderfully sweet and creamy, accompanied with the refreshing lettuce and tomato, and made for a light, delicious dish.

Aburi Ocean Trout with Red Cabbage, 'Egg Yolk Zuke', Garlic Foam

Our favourite entrée would have to be the ocean trout though; the trout was so fresh, succulent and wonderfully flaky. Combined with the red cabbage, egg yolk zuke and garlic foam, made for a delicately delicious and refreshing dish.

Organic Soba, Carbonara Style with Truffle Aroma Foam

The soba was hectic – for something that looks so deceptively simple, it was richly decadent in its creaminess and surprisingly heavy.

We loved the fact that you could faintly smell the truffle emanating from the dish. I took a second to breathe it all in before digging in.

I also loved the use of soba instead of an actual pasta noodle – the texture and flavour profile is a little different, but it made the dish all the more memorable and interesting.

Squid Ink Risotto with Beer Battered Calamari

I don’t think I’ve had many dishes with squid ink in them and I have to say that its blackness is a bit confronting. I think F and I both were taken aback with the dish and was a bit hesitant in trying it.

All our doubts disappeared though as soon as we tasted it. It was A-MAZ-ING.

The perfectly seasoned risotto was divinely rich and creamy with a sharp cheesy bite. The batter of the beer battered calamari was super light and crispy – almost like tempura – with perfectly cooked calamari within.

It was super simple, but it definitely packed a punch in flavour. F loved it so much that he’s declared it to be the best risotto he’s ever had (and he’s had a lot!).

Fish of the Day: Swordfish with Capsicum, Carrot and Witlof Salad with Passion Fruit and Orange Sauce

The swordfish was cooked quite wonderfully and was perfectly seasoned. While the salad was pretty good, it was the sauce that blew our minds. It was so zesty, refreshing and had so much flavour; the fish tasted sweeter all the more for it.

Wagyu Beef Sirloin with Sauce Chasseur

The wagyu was so utterly tender and succulent – something you’d expect from wagyu and would be terribly disappointed if it were anything else.

The sauce added a nice saltiness to the dish overall.

Lemongrass Panna Cotta, Pineapple, Coconut Sorbet

Now, I don’t really fancy lemongrass too much (I know weird for an Asian) and I try to avoid it as much as I can, but F seeing it in a dessert really piqued his interest. I was a bit dubious to say the least.

But of course I had nothing to worry about – the panna cotta was out of this world. The sharpness of the lemongrass was hinted at but not quite there, so there was this wonderful lemony zest playing off the creaminess of the panna cotta.

The pineapple added a nice sweet-sourness to the dish and the coconut sorbet was absolutely heavenly.

The components of the dessert worked quite well on their own, but once combined it was simply a spoonful of perfection.

Peach Compote, Verbena Jelly, Vanilla Ice Cream

Sadly the peach compote, while quite tasty in its own right, was totally outshone by the panna cotta. Unfortunately, it was outshone so much… we can’t really remember what it tasted like.

Inside Blancharu

Blancharu welcomes you quite whole-heartedly and has a friendly and attentive wait staff. The food is so fresh and while most of the dishes we had were quite delicious, there were a few that really surprised us and made us really fall in love with its creativity and simplicity.

Blancharu
Shop 1, 21 Elizabeth Bay Road,
Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011
Ph: (02) 9360 3555
Web: http://www.blancharu.com.au/

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, Seafood

Every time I told anyone of the length of the stopovers, they’d pull a face, but as we found out, layovers just fly by when you’re sufficiently distracted. And with Singapore, there’s plenty to distract you with for a good handful of hours (if you’re willing of course).

Merlion and Monobrow Building

Naturally, we had to visit the Merlion (it being R’s first trip to Singapore and all), which was actually quite convenient as the restaurant we were about to have dinner at was nearby.

I had enlisted the help of the Ninja himself and he graciously scared up a table for us – during Chinese New Year nonetheless! (Yes, it’s been a while since then, I do apologise). We arrived a tad early for our booking, but the staff bade us to sit down anyway. Bright-eyed and brimming with badly concealed excitement, we ordered the famous Singaporean Chilli Crab.

Unfortunately for us, what we didn’t count on was the scarcity of crab due to Chinese New Year… unless of course we were willing to eat Alaskan Snow Crab at $180 per kg. As much as we love crab, it was just a bit too much to chew. I don’t know what we would have ordered instead had Ninja not been there with his quick wits, but sure as all heck it wouldn’t have been the delicious dinner we had!

Crispy Cereal Crayfish and Salty Fish Fried Rice

Last time I was in Singapore, I had crispy cereal prawns and I remembered them to be too perfect for words. In switching it up, Ninja had ordered Crispy Cereal Crayfish and it was better than what I had remembered. The cereal oats added a crispness to the juicy and succulent crayfish, as well as a well-balanced sweetness. Though we did find out the hard way that if you eat too many oats by itself, it can get to you a bit.

The Salty Fish Fried Rice would have been a dish we wouldn’t have chosen, but Ninja knowing his stuff, chose the perfect rice dish as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the crayfish dish, as well as the richness of the Deep Fried Butter Prawns.

Deep Fried Butter Prawns

R and I have never had this dish before and just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a plate of it. For something that sounds like a heart-attack-on-a-plate (and most probably was), the deep fried butter prawns didn’t taste like it: you know… the overtly greasy feel, the quickening of the heart. The prawns were nothing like that.

They were still extraordinarily juicy with an utterly crispy batter and the stringy butter (what I originally thought were egg for some reason) tasted quite creamy. It is definitely a dish I would order again.

Sadly that was all we could fit in and while Ninja was off on an assignation during our second stopover, R and I determinedly came back to try their Singaporean Chilli Crab.

We got there super early (we had skipped a couple of destinations we had planned) and ended up reading our Kindles at one of the outside tables for about an hour, as they got ready for service.

While we were trying to decide what else to order (besides the Chilli Crab), our “waitress” came over to take our order. I say “waitress” because she seemed more like a “madam” than anything else.

Seeing that there were only two of us and what we were going to order, she quickly advised, in a matronly bossy way, that was we should get the banquet for two at SGD$139: “best price. 100%. Guaranteed.” With such an endorsement, we could not say no.

Salad Lobster

Our reactions to the salad lobster was a bit mixed. My eyes lit up when I saw the presentation, while R made a slightly horrified face. I asked her if everything was okay and she spun the dish around so I could see what she had seen: I made a face. It looked a bit like an alien and we both got a bit creeped out (if somehow still being amused by it).

We weren’t sure what the sauce was, but it was light and creamy with a very slight tang. It paired so well with the succulent lobster meat and diced apples. We were a bit sorry to see it all go, but we were already looking forward to the crab dish that we’ve been waiting 2 weeks for. And now, we were two dishes closer…

Garlic Fried Vegetable and Shark Fin Soup with Conpoy and Scallop

R and I both love our veggies, so we were glad to have some greens on the menu and I think it’s pretty telling when a restaurant excels at making a simple dish taste so divine.

Although R adores most seafood, she actually doesn’t like shark fin soup, citing that it tastes a bit too fishy for her. I didn’t know this until we were eating the soup and I felt slightly bad that there was something she didn’t like on the menu, but then she added that she quite liked this version.

True it was slightly different to the usual shark fin soup I’ve had at wedding banquets; the flavour was a tad milder, but not by much. There were something extra in the soup though – a moreness to it – that really made it one of the best shark fin soup I’ve had, though I can’t pinpoint what exactly.

Two more dishes down, next up… Chilli Crab!!!

Chilli Crab and Agar Jelly with Lychee

So we finally managed to eat the chilli crab and oh, it was well worth the wait. Apparently we were noobs and we had it with rice instead of bread, but it was still so very good. Not as spicy as I had imagined it would be (thankfully), but still spicy enough for it to have a good kick.

I couldn’t believe just how much meat there was on the crab and it felt like we were eating forever – digging out all the nooks and crannies for the delectable crab meat.

Fully sated, satisfied and perhaps even a little bit messier than we first started, we moved onto dessert. It was a simple affair, which I think after a large lunch, we were grateful for. The lightness of the dish was refreshing after all that food and was the perfect top-off.

Inside No Signboard

No Signboard, as I understood it, is a very sought after restaurant where their chilli crab is considered to be one of the best (if not, the best) in Singapore. We happened to dine there perhaps a little too early for their normal clientèle, so I can’t truly say that their service was quick, but they were quite attentive and fulfilled our orders with speed and efficiency.

Art Installation and ... Ninja Sighting??

Our first stopover was during Chinese New Year and it was pretty cool to see various art installation dedicated to or inspired by the holiday. We took some pretty silly photos over the course of our stay and while I think it’d be hilarious to show you guys, I don’t think R nor Ninja would be equally as pleased.

Paradise (SGD$18) and Flower Blossom (SGD$20)

Oh! I almost forgot. We had some time to kill and needing a dessert fix during our first layover, Ninja took us to Haagen Dazs, which just hit the spot. I think ice cream would make anyone smile, but great ice cream can make any grumpy person happy.

Finally, I could not not show you something that boggled our minds when we first saw it.

R and I visited the Monobrow Building Marina Bay Sands building during our second layover and as we meandered around in the mostly closed shopping centre (it was 10am, way early by Singaporean standards I think) that had a lot of expensive and posh stores in it, we rounded the corner and was greeted by this:

Indoor Canal!

It’s an indoor canal. Like what the heck!!! I mean, you could hire canal boats complete with a boating person to paddle you up and down the strip. Although we know that places like Abu Dhabi would be a lot more extravagant than this, it was our first time actually experiencing something like this (well, for me any way). It fairly blew our minds.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my somewhat sporadic blogging of my trip to Japan (with a mini, side-trip to Singapore)… thanks for bearing with me!

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, Seafood

Nikko

Nikko was so serene, beautiful and intensely cold. I was wearing two socks but even so, I could feel my feet quickly turning into blocks of ice in a matter of moments without my shoes within the temples and shrines. I was really grateful that M warned us how cold it would be and we at least had the foresight to wear our snow jackets. So note to anyone visiting Nikko in the winter: dress warmly, wear super thick socks (possibly with one of those heater pads inside), be wary of ice (cramp ons are a safe bet) and be ready to print out information on the places you visit as there are very little English translations of why something is so important. (I really feel like I missed out there).

Outside Junkadelic

We’ve passed Junkadelic several times on our way to the Metro, it’s cheery exterior (and it being Mexican of all things) piqued our interest. Also, M mentioned in passing that they served pretty decent Mexican fare, so we felt that we should at least try it before we left.

Nachos (Regular, 750 Yen) and Empanada (700 Yen)

The nacho chips were wonderfully crunchy and I loved the abundance of melted cheese. There was not, however, enough of that awesome guacamole. We had to ask for some more, which we also polished off. I still rave on about that guacamole – it was just simply fantastic: bright flavours, not too salty and dreamily creamy.

The empanadas looked a bit different to what we were used to and it tasted a bit different too. However, the description on the menu should have tipped us off that it was a bit different: seafood in bechamel sauce rolled into tortillas and fried.

Inside Junkadelic

Junkadelic was pretty cool, being so cheery outside and in, and the staff was really friendly. It’s a pity we didn’t get to try more dishes (it would appear that when you’re tired, the appetite is also affected – who would have thunk), I would love to come back and try their quesadillas!

Junkadelic
2-21-2 #102, Akasaka
Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Ph: 03-3224-0750
Web: junkadelic.jp/

Outside Akasaka Ittenbari

On our first day in Tokyo, M insisted that we try his favourite ramen place, which he touted to be the best in Tokyo. Best ramen in Tokyo? I was instantly sold.

Spicy Miso Ramen (750 Yen)

Unless it’s a meat dish, R would most certainly pick the spiciest dish on the menu. It looked pretty spicy too! I was told that the ramen was deliciously spicy and had a pretty decent kick to it.

Look how big that bowl is! That’s the standard bowl ramen comes in – there’s also “jumbo” bowls available as well and they are unbelievably huge. Who can possibly eat all of it?! Crazy. But I digress.

Awerse Ramen (700 Yen + Men-ma, 200 Yen)

I’m not sure why, but the rest of us ordered the same ramen – we differed in our toppings though. There’s quite a few on offer such as bean sprouts, more meat slices, seaweed and pickled bamboo (but I think they’re pretty staple add-ons?) for a few bob extra.

The broth was pretty rich and hearty, though a touch too salty for myself, but the noodles were perfect and the meat so wonderfully tender. It was however, surprisingly spicy. There wasn’t a lot of heat to it, but the heat built up as I ate and I found myself gulping down lots of water. My friends looked on with amusement as they didn’t think it was spicy at all. Sigh.

Inside Akasaka Ittenbari

Akasaka Ittenbari is a tiny, tiny restaurant where the ramen is dished out by a no nonsense wait staff and made by quick and efficient chefs. It seemed like one of those places where you order your usual, eat and then leave. No loitering, no shenanigans. A place where you go to sate you ramen craving and leave very well sated indeed. I think I need a ramen fix after this!

At Pierre Herme

On our last day, I dragged R to Pierre Herme. I was determined to visit his Tokyo store, as I missed out when I was in Paris a couple of years back. Determined as I was, when we got to Shibuya I quickly realised, despite looking at the map for a whole week, I had forgotten to write down the directions on how to get there. Geez. It took us a while, but we finally found it and it was like finding gold at the end of a rainbow.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside (sadness, our waitress came out with this massive silver platter with the entire pastry range arranged just so that made our eyes pop), so sadly I had to make do with this shot.

While R went for a pastry that was accompanied with a chocolate mocktail concoction, I had two pastries and oh my goodness, it was like we had died and gone to heaven – they were so amazing! You could taste all the individual components, delicious on their own, but made perfect harmony when eaten together. Nothing was out of place or seemed unnecessary.

I gamely bought 6 macarons to take home for F, hoping that it would last the two days of being in transit. (It did, much to my relief and our tastebuds.)

Pierre Herme
5-51-8 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Ph: 03-5485-7766
Web: http://www.pierreherme.com/content/FR/EN/boutiques/index.cgi?&cwsid=6463ph0A000108ph6824407

Pastries and Bagel from Pompadour

We could not believe just how many pastries and bakeries there are in Tokyo. It’s like there’s one on every corner! And of course, we found it hard pressed to not go in and sample a little of their wide selection.

In the end, our favourite bakery was Pompadour. We were lured in with all the bread and pastries in the display window, then we were made giddy with the wonderful, sweet, warm smell of freshly baked bread and cakes.

Pompadour was not all show and no-go: the sour cherries in custard danish, the flaky and sweet pear and (what we think is) rhubarb pie, and the slightly sweet blueberry bagel were absolutely amazing. The flavours were just spot on and the pastry! Oh.. so good. Just so you know, we had gently heated them in the grill for breakfast the next day, but managed to burn a bit of the pie – so it wasn’t their dodgy baking skills, it’s more like ours haha.

We also had a gooey chocolate-centered brownie-muffin top hybrid topped with chocolate chips, but we kind of ate that deliciousness before I got around to taking a photo of it (sorry).

Pompadour
6-2-35 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Ph: 03-3401-5695
Web: http://www.pompadour.co.jp/

From Monjya Izakaya Smile Kojyo Shinjuku Nishiguchi branch

On our last night in Tokyo, we squeezed in a quickie dinner with some friends before dashing off for a midnight flight back to Sydney via Singapore.

Monjya Izakaya has a massive range of food (which I can’t detail here because I had no idea what we ordered), either a la carte or as a set menu. One of the set menus is an all you can eat for 3,500 Yen. You get an appetizer, salad, 3 types of teppanyaki, okonomiyaki, monjya, dessert and all you can drink. That’s right… All. You. Can. Drink. This includes alcoholic beverages, which my friends most certainly took advantage of.

It was my first time having okonomiyaki and it was so much fun to make, as well as eat! I can’t wait to do something like this in Sydney (if we even do have an okonomiyaki place that is).

Monjya Izakaya is a cheerful restaurant with enthusiastic and friendly wait staff. The food was quite delicious and with an all you can eat and drink set menu for 3,500 yen I know I’ll be back to properly take advantage of enjoy such a feast.

Monjya Izakaya Smile Kojyo Shinjuku Nishiguchi branch
Atlas Nishishinjuku building 5F,
1-15-8, Nishishinjuku,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0023
Ph: 03-5339-7277
Web: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g622511/lang/en/

So, here ends my brief foray into Japan. It’s more like a toe-dip than anything else, I know, so I just can’t wait to go back to try more scrumptious food, snacks and take in the history and culture that Japan has to offer!

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, pork

So it was a bit of a rude surprise that when we got to Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport, I realised that I wasn’t so organised after all. I had our friend’s apartment address, but not much else; no directions, no idea which part of Tokyo where it was. Nada! I think we spent 2 hours working out where we needed to go and trying to get there.

When we finally met up with our friend M, we were a little tired, but rather pleased we made it and maybe also a little bit hungry. Not really sure what we wanted to eat, we roamed around Akasaka for a bit before M made an executive decision and took us to “Watami”.

I actually don’t know where we ate (I stupidly lost their business card), but he said it was “Watami or something like that” and stated that it was a chain restaurant, not worth blogging about. R and I actually quite liked what we had, so I’m going to have to ignore his advice (even though I don’t really know what it’s really called).

Prawn and Avocado Spring Roll (523 Yen) and Salmon Sashimi (500 Yen)

I don’t know about the other guys, but I was a little surprised when the spring roll came out; I was expecting something fried, not wrapped up in what looked like tofu skins. Not that it was a bad thing, it was quite yummy and refreshing. Kinda like a healthy spring roll option.

Scallops and Homemade Crispy Gyoza Dumpling (313 Yen)

After the odd scallops we ate in Niseko, I wondered what these scallops would turn out to be like (kind of hoping that it wouldn’t be too much like what we had). Happily they were pretty normal, if a little over done.

The gyozas made an impression on us when they came out.. they were upside down! They were also wonderfully crispy and piping hot.

Edamame (313 Yen) and Cheesy Rolled Egg with Mayonnaise sauce (523 Yen)

Funnily enough, we’ve been in Japan for a whole week already and we haven’t had what I consider to be an essentially Japanese dish: edamame. It was of course delicious with its light saltiness, though then again, I don’t think edamame can ever be bad.

Meanwhile, the cheesy egg roll was marvellously creamy and a total hit with the table. Definitely R’s favourite dish of the night.

Deep Fried Chicken Wings (363 Yen) and Barkeeper's Homemade Pasta Salad (373 Yen)

To be honest, I don’t think I’ve had so many deep fried chicken before… until I came to Japan and I’m starting to find that I miss the crunchy goodness and succulent meat.

I think the salad was more of an after thought than anything else, but it was quite nice and creamy.

Chocolate Fondant with Frozen Yoghurt and Ice Cream (600 Yen)

We had a little dilemma when we came to dessert. Ideally, three people dining usually means at least 2 different desserts, 3 at best. However, we all had our eye on the chocolate fondant and not really willing to try any other dessert just in case it wasn’t as good as the fondant (terrible, I know).

In hindsight, it’s always good to have a back-up. Not that it was bad – it was awesomely chocolate-y, just not oozing, gooey chocolate like we had expected and for some reason, that disappointed us more than I had thought it would. The fondant not only came with ice cream and cream, but frozen yoghurt! Yum. I thought that kind of made up for the non-gooey-ness… almost.

Walking into “Watami” was kind of funny – it felt like an international incident as I almost blundered into the restaurant with my shoes on and my friends behind me hissing, “Shoes! Shoes! SHOES!!!!“. The offending shoes were placed into a locker and we were given the wooden locker tag block thing before being ushered to a cosy booth; all of which I thought was rather interesting and cool (clearly I’m such a big tourist).

Studio Ghibli!

R and I are massive fan of Studio Ghibli’s works, so it was a no brainer that we would go to its museum in Mitaka (on Valentine’s day no less). We excitedly pointed out recognisable inspirations to each other (almost but not quite squealing) and were equally disappointed that we couldn’t go into the cat-bus; it was strictly for kids (toddlers, even). Although it was smaller than we expected, it was such an awesome experience – seeing the inspirations of our much adored Studio Ghibli animations, learning how they create them and appreciating just how much work goes into one feature. A definite must for any fans of animated movies / Studio Ghibli fans.

Museum of Nature and Science

The next day found us at the Museum of Nature and Science. We figured that it will take us about 2 to 3 hours to get through (like our Australian Museum back at home), but no… we were there for 6 hours. Yes, six!!! I know it sounds crazy, but the museum had more than six levels (across two buildings) and the amount of detail they put into their displays was amazing; half of one of the levels was modelled after a woodland scene (the bottom image), complete with stuffed animals and insects found in the woodlands like deer and warthogs. It was just insane. Also their collection of dinosaur bones (real and replica) was spectacular! There were so many dinosaurs… I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ever!

Okay, okay… I’m likely to keep raving on about this museum, so I’ll leave it there.

Hatos Bar

That night, M took us to his favourite bar. He is currently obsessed with the ribs there, which he vows are the best he’s ever had. A pretty big claim, as I’ve had some pretty awesome ribs.

We travelled for what seemed like forever – going underground, through back streets – but we finally made it and feeling quite ravenous.

Chips and Salsa (700 Yen) and Baby Back Ribs (Half, 1000 Yen)

Hatos Bar’s menu doesn’t quite cater for pescetarians (or vegetarians), so R went with the chips and salsa, which wasn’t like the nachos she was told to expect, but it was still rather tasty.

Meanwhile, M and I tucked into the scrumptiously smoky, fall-off-the-bone ribs. It was seriously divine and crunchy shoestring chips were the perfect finishing touch to the dish. Did it meet my friend’s outrageous claim of it being the best? Mmm, almost; it’s definitely in my Top 3 in any case (and M’s probably feeling a little indignant after reading that haha… Sorry M! Just saying it like it is).

Pulled Pork with Cheese (900 Yen, 100 Yen for Cheese)

The pulled pork look absolutely fantastic and it tasted better than it looked, if that was possible. The pork was wonderfully moist and tender with the perfect amount of smokiness and then topped with that gooey cheese? Definitely yumsters.

M told us that this would be his standard order: half rack ribs with pulled pork and a glass of refreshing beer to chase it all down. It would be perfect had I the stomach space for all of that deliciousness – the ribs itself was surprisingly filling.

Corn Bread (500 Yen) and Brownie with Ice Cream (500 Yen)

To accompany the chips and salsa, R ordered corn bread, which she loved. It came out toasty and with the melted, creamy butter, the corn bread would make her moan with satisfaction (that sounded a bit dirty didn’t it? Sorry… totally unintentional, but it did!).

I’m not sure if the brownies are a fad in Japan right now or if they’ve always sold them, but they’re everywhere! And of course we couldn’t resist the chocolate goodness.

Old school smoker

To get that really authentic, smoky flavour, the guys at Hatos Bar uses a totally old school smoker, which I thought was pretty awesome. I think they said that they’re the only restaurant in Tokyo to use such an old style smoker.

Hatos Bar

Hatos Bar used to be a small art gallery displaying local artists until one idea lead to another and now it’s a cozy place where you can kick back with great food and interesting beer, surrounded by artwork that you purchase. Make that affordable artwork – some pretty neat looking pieces were going for 1,000 Yen! A must visit when you’re in Tokyo – I know I definitely will be back (in any case, I’m sure M would drag me there if I don’t hehe).

Hatos Bar
Prince Corp. 1F. 1-3-5 Nakameguro,
Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Ph: 03-6452-4505
Web: www.hatosbar.com

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dessert, pork

After two disappointing visits in which we were turned away from a fully booked Restaurant Rin, we were finally seated inside (bookings are a must, it would seem!).

There were quite a few choices on the menu and it took us a while to decide what to get, but a short time after we had ordered, the food started to roll in.

Salmon Carpaccio (900 Yen) and Agedashi Tofu (600 Yen)

The fresh salmon carpaccio was deliciously delicate in flavour and balanced so well with a citrus-y tang. Meanwhile the agadashi tofu was wonderfully silky and soft on the inside, encased in a slight crisp shell; the sauce adding a lovely salty flavour to the subtleness of the tofu.

Torikush, Lamb Kushi, Butakush and Torikawa

Eating at an izakaya place without having some yakitori would be simply incomplete. We had Chicken Skewers (Torikush for 300 Yen, 2 skewers), Lamb Skewers (Lamb Kushi for 400 Yen, 2 skewers), Pork Skewers (Butakush for 300 Yen, 2 skewers) and Chicken Skin Skewers (Torikawa for 420 Yen, 2 skewers).

The skewers was scrumptiously salty and perfectly cooked, though the lamb did taste a bit lamb-y.

As much as I love chicken skin on chicken, I wasn’t too sure about eating just chicken skin; it seemed a bit… odd. While it was quite tasty, it also tasted surprisingly fatty (well, fattier than we expected) and was quite heavy / rich.

Tebasaki - Chicken Wings (500 Yen) and Tsukune Ume Shiso - Chicken Meat Balls with Sour Plum (470 Yen)

The chicken wings were pretty tasty, but I kind of half-wished there was more bit more marinade to give it some more oompf. The chicken balls, were interesting – quite moist and well-seasoned.

Karikari Chicken - Crispy Chicken Garlic Sauce (650 Yen) and Torimen - Japanese Noodle Soup with Chicken (600 Yen)

The crispy chicken was scrumptiously crunchy, yet succulent and even more delicious with some tangy garlic sauce (though honestly, nothing could really beat El Jannah’s garlic sauce).

The noodle soup was incredibly tasty and it made me feel so… at home; soup perfectly seasoned and noodles done just right, it was comfort food at its best, I thought. Definitely something I would crave for on a cold winter’s night… or if I was sick (like now… it would be sooooo perfect, right now).

Gobou Sticks - Crispy Burdock (500 Yen) and Ikayaki - Grilled Squid (700 Yen)

Funny thing about the deep fried burdock. V was determined to order the burdock, declaring that they were these little fish he’s had before (while we had no idea what the heck it could be). I think we were more than a little dubious, looking at its picture in the menu, and even more so when it came out. The burdock had a satisfying crunch and it became evident the burdock was not any sort of small fish but unmistakeably that of some kind of vegetable. It was also strangely addictive.

I think we were all surprised when the squid came out – I think we weren’t expecting it to look almost whole (despite being chopped up, that is). One bite was all it took to remind me of why I love squid; its soft chewiness and subtle flavour, enhanced by a mildly tangy mayonnaise.

Hotate Butter - Scallops with Butter (600 Yen) and Kakifurai - Deep Fried Oyster (700 Yen)

The scallop itself was okay, maybe a little bit too “fishy” for me, but the others seem to enjoy it.

I wasn’t feeling too adventurous that night and so couldn’t bring myself to tasting the deep fried oyster. Again, the others seem to enjoy it.

Mmmm Sake

I guess if there was one drink you should have while you’re in Japan, it should be sake; we had ours warm and a little sweet. I thought it was cool that the menu indicated how dry or sweet each sake was and loved that we could choose our own cups!!

Brownie Ice Cream (600 yen) and Ice Cream with Blueberry Sauce (600 Yen)

V ordered just the vanilla ice cream with lashings of the sweet blueberry sauce. It looked delicious and I felt a slight pang of envy at the mound of ice cream.

Don’t get me wrong the chocolate brownie was scrumptiously chocolate-y and moist and of course, it would have been even more perfect if I had that much ice cream with it as well. Haha I’m such a pig.

Inside Restaurant Rin

Restaurant Rin is cozy, wholly welcoming (unless they’re booked out, which they usually are) and offers a wide range of delicious dishes.

Yosaku

On our last night in Niseko, we decided to treat ourselves to an hour long massage at this spa massage place (which was a-ma-zing). Hungry but not knowing where to go, we asked the staff where they would recommend for us eat at. Seeing how cold it was, we took the closest recommendation: an izakaya just around the corner.

Outside Yosaku

Yosaku was smoky and bustling. To fit us in, she asked a couple at a table for six to scoot over so we could be seated. It was right at that moment that two people vacated their spots at the bar. Hastily, we asked if we could be seated there instead, seeing how grumpy the couple were.

There wasn’t a wide range of dishes, but there were enough to interest us.

Eggplant Spring Rolls (300 Yen) and Tori - Chicken (180 Yen)

The eggplant spring rolls were wonderfully crispy and so tasty! The teriyaki chicken skewers were succulent and tender.

Shishitou - Peppers (130 Yen) and Shiitake Mushrooms (160 Yen)

R loves chilli and when she ordered the green peppers, she was a surprised (and perhaps a little disappointed) to find that they weren’t spicy at all. Strange but true; they even look like chilli! They tasted more like capsicum than anything else actually.

The shiitake mushrooms were deliciously juicy and smoky, with maybe a bit too much cracked pepper for me, but R ate it with gusto.

Noodle Salada (750 Yen)

Originally that’s all we ordered… until we saw the two ladies next to us chowing down some really awesome looking noodle salad; it was very much of a “we’ll have what she’s having” order hehe.

And boy, was it delicious. Sure the ingredients were super fresh and the noodles cooked perfectly, it was the dressing that really made the salad: refreshingly tangy with a slight bite and a touch of sweetness.

Inside Yosaku

The warm smoky air completely envelopes you when you enter Yosaku – kind of like a giant hug that’s been puffing away at some pork-flavoured cigar. The staff are so friendly and while the menu is not extensive, the dishes were made with obvious love and care.

We departed Niseko the next day in flurries of snow and with heavy hearts. “To have one more day to snowboard!” we sighed and gazed at the retreating sight of the mountain that would majestically loom in the background as we powered through powder snow and trees. Oh Niseko, how I miss you.

Mt Yotei.. heart!

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