eatshowandtell » European

Foveaux Restaurant and Bar, Surry Hills

squishies — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:00:55 +0000

My Entertainment Book has been sitting on my desk, untouched save for a couple of raids for coupons in the fast food section, every since I bought it in August last year. F, bored while I was processing photos, started thumbing through the book. He suddenly asked to borrow my netbook and quietly relegated himself on my futon, occasionally emitting lip-smacking noises. Forty-five minutes later, he’s got three restaurants lined up and has already calculated how much to spend to get full maximum value from the Entertainment Card for the first restaurant. I didn’t realise he was that bored!

So the first restaurant he’s lined up is Foveaux and we found ourselves getting there quite early. We were asked and ushered downstairs to a cozily decorated bar room with big comfortable, plush couches and gauzy curtains hanging from the ceiling. It was also quite dim with most of the lights coming from low-wattage bedside lamps, you know, the ones with actual lamp shades!

After kicking our heels at the bar for 15 minutes, we decided to venture upstairs to start on our dinner (I was hungry and too excited to wait any longer). Completely trusting his choice on going for the tasting menu, which was $75 for 6 courses, I barely glanced at the menu as we ordered.

Oysters with Chardonnay Vinegar Pearls and Salmon Roe ($4 each)

(...)
Read the rest of Foveaux Restaurant and Bar, Surry Hills (2,551 words)

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beef, Dessert, pork, poultry, Seafood

Burlington Bar and Dining, Crows Nest

teresa — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:35 +0000

My second visit…

From the outside of the restaurant, the Burlington looks like a small, modern and rather unassuming location. I decide to make a return visit to Burlington to show my international visitor the simple, yet flavoursome cuisine served here.

Upon entering, you would assume the restaurant to be only one room seating around 50 or so people, but to my visitor’s surprise, he was surprised at how large the restaurant was.Don’t be fooled. A trip to the washroom will talk you on a 30 second journey past three separate dining rooms and a full bar!

(...)
Read the rest of Burlington Bar and Dining, Crows Nest (816 words)

2009 SIFF Hats Off Dinner – Restaurant Balzac

teresa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:19 +0000

Are you ready for your “Hats” to be blown “off”?

For the past few years, as October approaches, details for the food festival are advertised. I read through each event intensely and even jot down the ones I’d love to go to. Then it occurs to me that they are on the weekdays, and being interstate during the week, I’m never able to attend. However, this year was different; I was back in Sydney for October! Rejoice!
This year, Restaurant Balzac was once again awarded TWO hats for the 2010 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide Awards. I went to Restaurant Balzac for my birthday three years ago and wanted to reminisce back to that night where I had some of the tastiest bread ever: warm, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Tonight, I was back for the ever-so-long awaited Hats off dinner for the Sydney International Food Festival.

Beach-themed table setting

Getting ready to dine!

The theme for tonight’s HATS OFF dinner was called “From the bottom of The Deep Blue Sea”

Theme for tonight's dinner

Me, (being THE Pescatarian of the EST team, or the “Pest” as they like to call me), this 10-course hats off dinner was perfect as the degustation involved (basically) all seafood dishes. What was more exciting was the theme and inspiration behind each dish. Each course was inspired from some country on each continent. Have a go and guess the country/cuisine from where each dish is inspired from…!

So here goes with the “beachy-themed” dinner…

Pacific Oyster with Vietnamese Dressing

Occasionally, I have that *small* craving for oysters (or perhaps its the attraction to this “aphrodisiac”…) and this starter was such a teaser! The fresh and sweetness of the oyster complimented very well together with the sweet/savoury dressing. It was a nice, light starter to entice our palate for the other 9 dishes to come.

Soon after, the waitress arrived with a plate of complimentary bread. MMM! This is what I returned for!

The bread was just how I remembered from three years before: warm. crunchy. warm on the inside. The butter spread so well on the bread. nomnomnom!

Salt Cod Manresa-style

The second meal of the night. The bland flavours of the beans mixed with the rather salty “Salt Cod” attempted to balance the salty flavour, but I felt it was still a little too salty still. However, when washed down with a sip of wine (supposedly for the next course), it was a lot easier and more pleasure to consume.

Boston Bay Clam Chowder

(matched with nv Jed Wines Sparkling Blanc de Blanc – Argentina)
The first time I had chowder was in San Francisco (home of the chowder) many years ago. Cream-enriched, flavoursome, and warming, tonight’s chowder was just like the first time. The bits of clam was rather fun to find and eat! It had a nice strong seafood flavour, mixed together with a hint of ham.
The matching wine came from Argentina. I was informed that West Australian wine merchants, Jed Wines travelled to Argentina just to produce this wine. This was a favourite for everyone that night; sweet, light and complimented well with the freshness of the snapper.

Ceviche of Line Caught Pink Snapper

(matched with 2008 Tomich Hill Riesling – Adelaide Hills, S.A.)
Ceviche is a peruvian-style dish: citrus-marinade raw seafood. Tonight’s fish was the Pink Snapper. The snapper, being a light-flavoured fish, was enhanced by the tomato-ey citrus dressing. Very fresh & sweet!
The lightly flavoured Riesling matched well with the citrus-y dish.

Linguini of Spanner Crab and Asparagus

(with matching wine 2007 Torbreck ‘Woodcutters’ Semillon – Barossa Valley, S.A.)
“This tastes just like noodles! My favourite”, exclaimed my dad. *shakes head*. The handmade linguini did have a noodley texture but it was still pasta. The lemon-flavoured sauce for this dish was sweet and made the dish simple, yet interesting. This was my dad’s favourite that night.

Poppadums with mint yoghurt

Curry of Prawns and Basil with Poppadums

(with matching 2007 Domaine Coteau de la Biche – Vouvray, France)
The yellow curry itself was light and sweet… although, I felt that if the prawns were cooked in the curry itself so it could soak up the curry, the prawn would have tasted fantastic. There was only 1 small poppadum each to dip with the mint yoghurt. If only we were given more to dip with the curry, or even consumed together with some sort of legume. This dish was just missing this factor, otherwise this may have been my favourite.

'Surf n turf', Lobster and Wagyu

(with matching wine 2007 Pommier ‘Bourgogne’ Pinot Noir – Burgundy, France)
A classic Australia dish. Obviously, the “surf” was the lobster and the “turf” was the wagyu. This was the only meat dish of the night and I was highly disappointed when informed that the sauce had bits of truffle. As you all may know, I’m a HUGE fan of truffle; the smokey/burnt flavour is my favourite due to its uniqueness and it fascinating taste. My brother and dad inform me the wagyu was not very fatty which perhaps made the beef a little tough to slice, however, it was perfectly cooked.

The brother slowly and carefully enjoying his wagyu...

By this time, I was pretty full, but there was still dessert to come…

Coconut Caviar with Mango

I have and will always love sago. The mango sago drink readily available in Hong Kong @ Hui Lau Shan makes me love sago even more. The use of the sago in this dish was very similar to “caviar”. My brother was merely disappointed when he realised it was not REAL caviar. At first, I thought it may have been caviar and I wondered how they could work caviar in together with mango (a sweet taste). This was a nice refreshing re-dessert to ready the palate for dessert.

Sand, Cones and Umbrellas

(with matching wine 2008 Josef Botrytis Rieling – Tamar Valley, TAS)
I thought this was the most creative dish for the night. The “sand” was crushed shortbread and sugar, the “person” under the umbrella was a handmade waffle with a raspberry swirl ice cream. This dish was so fun to eat! Dipping the cone in the sand… The waffle was crunchy and not too sweet to be eaten together with the icecream, and the sand was not too sweet to be dipped in. MY favourite of the night!
The matching wine was very good as well. It was not too sweet, and very easy to drink. This was my favourite wine of the night too as it went so well with the dessert together.

Tea with salted caramel chocolate seashells

The night ended with a pot of green tea, enjoyed together with salted-caramel chocolate seashells. The sweetness of the caramel was downplayed by the salt. I didn’t think too much of salted caramel, but the seashell had a unique taste. I found this very interesting to eat.

The service was adequently attentive and there was a nice (not-too-long-not-too-quick) break between each meal. This allowed for better digestion of each dish and I quite liked this. I didn’t leave the restaurant feeling like passing out from food coma, so the quantity was perfect for everyone that night. With a price tag of $160pp (or $185pp with the matching wines), I would have expected better quality ingredients, but the creativeness to the theme of the menu made up for this. I enjoy the french/english-style of the food at Restaurant Balzac, but next time, I’ll go for the a la carte.

Restaurant Balzac
141 Belmore Road,
Randwick NSW, 2031
Tel: (02) 9399 9660
Fax: (02) 9399 6929
Web: http://www.restaurantbalzac.com.au/

Open…
Tues to Sat – from 6pm
Friday Lunch only – 12pm to 3pm
Last Sunday of every Month – from 6.30pm (Seasonal Degustation only)

Wowcow and Just Another Restaurant, Darlinghurst and East Sydney

squishies — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:57 +0000

It’s been long overdue, but I finally managed to catch up with an old friend, Sam. He’d been asking me to come out to eat for a while, but the timing hasn’t been very good (terrible excuse, I know… sorry Sam!). Happily, we nominated a night where we were both free and had a pre-dinner dessert first, naturally.

Wowcow

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

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

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

SIFF Let’s Do Lunch : Fix St James, Sydney

squishies — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:50 +0000

Sydney International Food Festival, or inevitably abbreviated to be known as SIFF, is finally here! With my going back to work next week in Chatswood – ever so far away from some of the Let’s Do Lunches I’ve got my eye on – I scoured the SIFF website trying to narrow my choices down to just two restaurants.

Because of my excitement, we got there before they actually opened for service, which is from 12 noon to 3 pm. The bartender was apologetic and asked us whether we wanted a drink while we waited outside until they opened.

While we waited, sipping on our drinks, we noticed that Fix St James had a Quick Fix meal, which was 5 courses to share for $35 (requiring a minimum of 2 people). Realising that we were actually contemplating ordering the Quick Fix meal and thus getting distracted from our main purpose of trying their Let’s Do Lunch, we resolvedly looked away from the sign.

Cheese-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers ($4 each)

(...)
Read the rest of SIFF Let’s Do Lunch : Fix St James, Sydney (475 words)