Happy Belated Independence Day!

Yes I know it was back in July and now it’s August. Independence Day in the US reminded me of how we spend Australia Day. It started off with a breakfast of homemade margaritas (with my new blender), sitting on the rooftop with my feet burning on the hot roof, beer and rice paper roll lunch then a night of burgers, cheese, wine and fireworks! As you see in the photo above, it feels like NYE in Sydney.

So for the past few months, I have been hard at work eating my heart out. Luckily I don’t own scales so I cannot say whether my body size has been affected by this, but I’m pretty sure it has. That’s one thing to watch out in NYC… the heaviness of the food!

Happy Independence Day!

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Post tags: Hello from NYC, Momofuku

Our first visit to Sojourn was in December 2008, and it was in celebration of the seemly longevity of the blog, at that time it was six friends writing together for nearly a year (since that time Helena has drifted off into the distance and Teresa has abandoned us for the shiny shores of NYC though she has promised us a Mac & Cheese post). Ironically enough we visited Sojourn in 2008 as they were ending their degustation services and switching to ala carte, for their final weeks of service they were serving their $95 degustation once again as a final farewell.

Amuse Buche - Pea Soup with Roasted Pancetta and Chantilly Cream

Anyone who knows me knows that I adore soup and I’m rather charmed by the miniature tea cup the amuse is served in. I’m a little hesitant by the fact that it’s a pea soup, I’m not overly fond of the little green pieces of hell but I’m blown away by the flavour in this tiny cup. My only complaint would be that there wasn’t enough!

Alternate Amuse Buche - Tomatoes with Buffalo Mozarella and Parmsan

Linda has been continuing her non-red meat diet and a number of replacements have been organised for her throughout the degustation, I thought it was a shame that she wasn’t served the pea soup as it would have easily met her requirements without the Pancetta. I sneak a bite of the salad and while I enjoy the tartness of the dressing, still think it pales in comparison to the soup.

Ceviche of Western Australian snapper & scallop with Iberico Jamon, fried capers, crisp shallot & roquette

I’m partial to scallops, especially pan fried so am always a little disappointed when they’re prepared differently. The ceviche is a refreshing dish with the salt from the Jamon blending well with the clean seafood ending with the tart bitterness of the roquette. The silence at the table is a little telling as our respective ceviche are devoured and demolished in seconds.

Angolliti of Yamba prawns with fresh crab salad, fennel puree & shallot dressing

Sometimes I’m utterly surprised by a dish and am blown away by the most unexpected portion of the dish, while the angolliti and fennel puree are enjoyable it’s the tarty crab salad that has me coming back for more. The tartness is almost too much but is the perfect combination with the creamy fennel.

Carpaccio of cured Black Angus beef with cauliflower cream, brioche solder

I can’t help but smile when the Carpaccio comes out, it’s virtually identical to the one we ate almost a year and a half ago and lives up to my memory. The plating with the square cut of beef on the long rectangular plate is a striking contrast and the warm still runny quail egg and brioche solders make me feel as though I’m having a rather decadent breakfast. Sadly Linda still cannot abide raw meat and is infinitely grateful when her alternate dish arrives.

Risotto with Peas & spring onion with brioche

RISOTTO. I feel like this dish is following me wherever I go! I keep feeling as though I’ve missed the boat on this style of cooking but in the interest of trying everything I sneak a bite from the dish. Sweet peas are once again featuring and again take me by surprise in how much I enjoy them, sadly the risotto simply remains a risotto for me and I happy go back to my quail egg.

Twice baked olive & chive souffle with soft goats curd & tomato sorbet

Another blast from the past has arrived and it’s one I’ve been eagerly anticipating the entire night, souffle! The plating for the souffle has changed but the cotton soft souffle is a dream to the mouth with a eggy pillow-like texture paired with the salty goat’s curd and frozen at the end with a sweet sorbet… It’s the hot/cold contrast which I love in this dish and I’ve yet to taste a better example.

En crepinette of confit duck leg with parsnip chips, roasted onion tarts & sherry vinarigrette

I’m on a little bit of a high after the souffle but I’m starting to crash a little as the duck comes out, the saucing and various components on the plate are executed well but the somewhat dry texture of the duck ruins a little of my pleasure, we’ve got a bit of disagreement at the table as Howard on the other hand enjoys his duck. In hindsight I should have tasted his meat portion to see if the texture on his side was any different.

Gnocchi with caramelised onion

Gnocchi used to be one of those dishes I never really got the point of, it’s kind of spongy and strange looking and I couldn’t for the life of me see the fun in eating it. Strangely enough it was Nigella Lawson who changed my mind on Gnocchi when I made up a batch with a cider, seeded mustard and cream sauce – bliss! The gnocci on the dish are deliciously soft and I can’t seem to stop myself of stealing more and more.

Barramundi with skordalia, crisp chicken wings, pancetta, oyster mushrooms & jus gras

The fried chicken was the first thing to grab my eye on the plate and I have no shame in admitting that it was the first thing I ate, nothing tastes better than fried! The fish was perfectly cooked with a lovely sauce to match but the frypan must have been a little hot that night as the skin was so crisp i felt like I was eating a chip, an awesomely fishy crisp but a chip none the less.

Roasted milk fed veal with parsley puree, bone marrow fritters, confit new garlic & sweetbreads

As the night went on we started to notice service becoming slower and slower, the restaurant spans two levels and although I wasn’t able to see the patronage downstairs, upstairs the tables were full of large groups all of whom had ordered the degustation. Feeling under the weather on the day and missing my +1 (Oh Teresa I miss you T_T) I decided to forgo the matching wines and could only watch the other tables enjoying their wine.

On the verge of asking a waiter for a status update, the veal dishes came out all at once. Another blast from the past there was no way I’d ever forget that bright green sauce, sadly the dish did not live up to memory as the meat although tender was strangely flavourless as too was the sauce.

Roasted jew fish with slow cooked garlic, salsa verde and zucchini frittes

Linda’s last alternate dish was another fish dish, which I thought was a strange choice considering the dish preceding it had also been fish cooked in an almost identical style. The Zucchini frittes are an interesting look on the dish and as with the previous fish dish was a good matching with its side components but not earthshattering.

Date & almond Baklava with roasted pear, rose petal jelly & almond ice cream

Baklava is always a winner in my books and after our savory dishes we’re more than ready for the sweets. The sweet flaky layers are a welcome flavor change and the texture of the almond ice-cream has me smiling again. The pinkness of the jelly makes me happy and I feel like a little kid tucking into the jelly suares.

Vacherin of strawberry & mascarpone with strawberry & mind salad

It’s almost with a sigh of relief that we tackle our last dessert. The Vacherin is unmistakable and is my clearest memory of our first sojourn visit, primarily as I don’t really enjoy meringue! Undeterred I pass my meringue portion over to the girls and tuck into the ice-cream. I always use Vanilla as my baseline for my judgement of an ice-cream and Sojourn’s vanilla is definitely a winner, paired with a sweet tart strawberry it’s an ideal way to end the meal.

Dinner over the night has been a mixture of ups and downs with food wavering between acceptable and amazing, service is attentive and polite if a little slow on the night but the customers in the restaurant are clearly enjoying themselves with laughter all around. It’s interesting to see that our dinner the first time around was also 4 hours long, I wonder what it says about us that we were ready to fall asleep by 11pm!

Thanks for the food and the memories Sojourn!

Restaurant Soujourn (Closed)
79 Darling St
Balmain East NSW 2041

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Coming from the west, we took Parramatta Road and then Anzac Parade. Let me tell you, that’s not the best way to get to Centennial Park on a Saturday afternoon. We most probably got stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, where poor Howie was waiting for us, at Taste, all that time.

Dish 1

Restaurant Balzac - Crispy Wagyu Beef with Wild Mushroom and Truffle Foam (10 Crowns)

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Post tags: beef, Dessert, pork, Seafood

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)

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Post tags: beef, Dessert, pork, poultry, Seafood

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!

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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)

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Wowcow

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

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

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Post tags: Dessert, pork, Seafood

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)

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We booked our reservation at an uber early time of 5.30 pm, mainly because we both finished work early that week and didn’t know what to do while waiting for a more “normal” time of 6.30pm or so. It wasn’t surprising that we were the only ones present in the restaurant, but that just meant a nice, clean and uncluttered photo opportunity.

Inside Etch

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Post tags: Dessert, Seafood

The resort that we stayed at boasted a pretty nice looking restaurant and going by our adage of “we’re overseas, we have to eat out at least once” we booked in a dinner at The Hub. It was a bit amusing when F made the booking but realised after hanging up that they never asked what time he wanted the reservation for. Sure enough, five minutes later, the restaurant called back sheepishly (no pun intended) asking the time we wanted for the reservation.

I hadn’t had a proper look at the restaurant when we first checked in, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked quite warm and welcoming – also highly polished. They had these huge windows, but because it was night, they only reflected the interior, but I could imagine it giving way to those glorious white-tipped mountain peaks in the distance.

Bread and Butter

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Post tags: beef, Dessert, lamb, Seafood

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

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

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

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

Entrée

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

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

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Post tags: beef, Dessert, merivale winter feast, Seafood

I have a habit of always returning to the same places to eat even though there are so many other places to dine at. When you’re begging for a pay rise but also struggling to figure out what you want to do in your career, keeping an eye on your wallet when satisfying your stomach is a tough ask. It also doesn’t help that over the years I have developed a finer appreciation for good food, hence the start of this blog. Sure the food has to taste good, but there is also a sense of enjoyment when marvelling the aesthetic brilliance of food. It seems Sepia is one of those restaurants which delivers on both fronts.

Sepia is located on the Northern end of Sussex St which does not attract a huge proportion of the CBD crowd on a Friday night, but judging by the packed house this evening it seems one of Sydney’s best kept dining secrets won’t be a secret for too much longer. There is a nice relaxed ambience when walking into Sepia despite the huge crowd as we were seated promptly by our Waiter. You know your evening is off to a good start when the waiter is happy as well.

Before dining here I did a bit of research and was amazed at the pedigree of the Chefs who worked here. Martin Benn was the Executive Chef at Tetsuya’s and Daniel Puskas was the Head Chef of Oscillate Widly. Surely we were in for a treat ?

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Post tags: CBD, Degustation, Dessert, Dinner, sepia, Sydney

Breakfast has never been so good

I know this might sound like a bit of a daft thing to do, but on discovering it was a long weekend, we bought tickets to fly down to Melbourne… to eat. And I know this is a bit late in coming, but the subsequent posts from me will be detailing our gastronomic weekend in Melbourne.

I’ve never had eggs benedict before and thought that I couldn’t go wrong having my first taste of it in Melbourne, being the supposed food capital of Australia and all. I found European on Breakout Melbourne and their review made it sound quite promising.

I think we came at the height of the breakfast period at 10:30 am, as there weren’t many free tables left and we were seated near the back (I was so sad! It was gorgeous outside and the photos would have turned out so much better).

My lamentations stopped when I realised we were seated right next to the service window. We could see the (seemingly disembodied) heads of the chef and kitchen hands busily working away, with the chef tersely asking for things to be done or if it was done.

Glimpse into the kitchen

It was kind of cool to hear the chef gently berating his cooks for not communicating and one of the waitress for taking plates all willy-nilly.

Eggs Benedict ($17.50)

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Post tags: Breakfast, egg

Located amongst the design industry district on the lower end of Surry Hills, the interior of Foveaux Restaurant + Bar still upholds the look of the warehouse that was occupied there once back in the days. The walls have been retained to give the restaurant a rustic look. One strange thing I find with the interior is the big red fire hydrant located right above one of the tables at the front of the restaurant. The first time I dined here, we sat at that table. The experience wasn’t the same this time. I felt more relax, less cramped, atmosphere felt more serene, more like my table was meant to be there instead of just placed in an available area.
This time round, our table was situated outside the kitchen so we got to see all the hussle and bussle! Exciting!

Prior to tonight’s dinner, I had a peek at the menu available on their website I was being too keen! But what caught my eye was their tasting menu. @ $75 for 6 courses… not too bad! It was 2 nights before my trip to Japan and what better to splurge my hard saved money on than some non-Japanese food before I embarked on my journey. So tonight, 2 of us order the tasting menu and the other 2 ordered from the menu. There is also an option to have the tasting menu with matching wines (choice of either $30 or $50) but we gave that a pass and ordered a bottle of red for the table.

There were too many selections on the tasting menu, so we ordered one of each dish from each course. And because I don’t eat meat, they kindly allowed for the fish meal to be switched so that I got 2 meals of fish!

So here I begin my gastronomic feast for the night…

Complimentary Bread roll

I love when the bread is served warm and crunchy, and tonight’s roll sure ticked both those boxes.

Ceviche of kingfish, crab ice cream with a baby herb salad

(I apologise for the quality of the photo…)

On a previous visit to Foveaux, my friend had informed me that Foveaux’s speciality was their ceviche of kingfish, crab ice-cream entree. I had this on my last visit and it was DIVINE! Ice-cream + savoury sounds like a strange and weird combination but they went surprisingly well together. So this was an obvious selection.
The raw kingfish is marinated in a light lemony juice which highlighted the fish’s sweetness. The coldness of the icecream gave the fish a nice fresh taste. A great marriage of flavour and feeling.

Shaved fennel a la grecque, green olive jelly, radish sprouts, goats curd, carrot paint with a taro chip

Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of goats cheese (curd as they call it here), however tonight the usual strong flavour of the cheese was toned down a bit. The taro chip was quite interesting too as it stayed crunchy and accompanied the goat’s curd very well. The green olive jelly had a nice savoury taste. I think it was the mixture of everything in this dish that detracted the usual strong flavour of goat’s curd. A very nice dish.

Oysters with chardonnay vinegar pearls and salmon roe - $4 each

On my last visit, I ordered the oyster because of the “salmon roe” and I have never forgotten that oyster. So tonight, my same dining partner ordered the oyster once again to relive the moment we both had one of the best oyster in our lives. We love it not only because of the sweet-ish flavour of the sauce but also for the salmon roe. There was literally a party in my mouth!

Salad of warm smoked duck, cured liver, shiso, pickled rhubarb with liquorice cream

The duck meat was very tender and was perfectly cooked – rare. The sweetness of the rhubarb and liquorice cream accompanying the dish was a nice mix to the smokey flavour.

Roasted tasmanian scallops, venison heart, sesame puree, crushed beetroot and la goya jus

The scallop was perfectly seared, half cooked, half raw. And the top was crunchy. The beetroot flavour was the strongest out of all in the sauce and it was a “sweet” match with the scallop. One of my favourites as everything blended so well together.

Roasted trevalla, kohlrabi gratin, carrot puree, braised sea urchin and leek, red wine reduction with salad burnette

I ♥ crunchy fish skin and this was perfectly crunchy. I liked the strong flavour of the sea urchin in the sauce. It was well marinated into the salad and it gave the fish a nice salty flavour. The red wine reduction gave this dish its sweet flavour… for some reason it was very much like a light, watery BBQ sauce flavour (can’t think of anything else to describe it!)

Braised oxtail with pancetta, celeriac, snails, parsley, bacon rice crackers and yellow capsicum puree

My dearest dining partner remembers this dish as “I remember it was really nice but I don’t remember how to describe the taste of the dish…!“. I believe chef Darrell Felstead enjoys using a vegetable puree to enhance his dishes. A very smart idea as the vegetable flavour is always a nice accompaniment to most meat/fish dishes. Also, it adds a nice colour!

Pumpkin custard with mushroom pearl barley, roasted globe artichoke, chestnut mushrooms, candied garlic and hazelnut puree - $32

Surprisingly, this was quite a heavy and filling dish. Lots of mushrooms and vegetables… a vegetarian’s favourite! It was more flavoursome than it looked!

Roasted lamb loin, white miso puree, crunchy wakame seaweed, asparagus, pea sprouts and jus gras

Watching the boys slice easily through the lamb, the meat looked very tender and soft. It was nice and juicy and the ‘jus’ + miso puree gave this dish its special touch.

Baked rainbow trout with Victorian morel mushrooms, clams, winter purslane, sugar snaps and sweet corn purée

I had this fish dish on my last visit to Foveaux. What I love about it is the sweet corn purée. It’s very sweet and corny (Yes I’m being extremely obvious but this had a nice strong corn flavour). The trout is cooked just right and each slice/portion comes right off perfectly. The sauce mixed with mushrooms and clams have a strong salty flavour which mixes well with the sweetness of the puree and the trout. Perfect union.

Pre-dessert: Braised watermelon with sorbet

Pre-dessert is known as a “palette cleanser”, used to cleanse your taste buds from the savoury flavours of the entrees/mains to ready them for the sweet taste of dessert. There was a thin slice of watermelon which gave it a light flavour, and together with the sorbet the overall experience was very “FRESH”! After indulging this sweet, I was ready for what was to come next…

Cherry beignet, caramel milk sorbet, chicory cream and almond puree

I’m not a huge fan of non-chocolate desserts nor do I like cherry, but I must say this was something else…! Beignet is french for ‘doughnut” (or donut ). The deep-fried donut was not too sweet. With every bite of each part of this dessert, the party in my mouth just continued on and on and on…

Tonka bean rice pudding, blackberry conserve, white chocolate ice cream and walnut dust

I’ve never had rice pudding before, so to me it tasted like sweet rice oats. (Note: I love oats!) The blackberry conserve added a fruity taste to the rice pudding and the white chocolate icecream added to the cool temperature of the dessert.

Estate Grown Organic Teas with petit twos $5

I love how when petit twos are served when tea is ordered. It makes the tea drinking experience just that bit better!
Tonight, the petit twos was an almond chocolate cup and toasted marshmellow. This type of marshmellow is my favourite! Its homemade, fresh and not like your average supermarket marshmellow. This is more stickier and less sweet. Extremely yummy!

The busy busy kitchen

For $75, the tasting menu was well worth it. The flavour of each dish was well matched, the variety was wide, servings plenty (not too full, not too little). The service was attentive, professional, informative, flexible and friendly – perfect 10!

My second experience to Foveaux felt much better than the first, and I can tell you… this won’t be the last!

Foveaux Restaurant and Bar

65-67 Foveaux Street,
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Ph: (02) 9211 0664
Fax: (02) 9211 0669
Web: http://www.foveaux.com.au

© teresa for eatshowandtell, 2009. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Sydney City

Having launched our blog earlier this year, we were excited and surprised that it is still running by the end of the year. To celebrate the unexpected longevity of our food blog we decided to hold a Christmas dinner for the contributors to eatshow&tell and their partners at Restaurant Sojourn. What started out as an online food diary with no intention of sharing with the masses for Howard and myself, detailing the meals we experienced internationally and domestically, has now flourished to a fully fledged readable food blog thanks to the addition of Teresa, Squishies, Minh and Helena. Without each of these people, the blog would not be where it is today. Howard and I would like to thank each of you for being a part of the EST team, but more importantly for having a huge appetite =D

Sojourn is a relatively new restaurant, established in February 2006 and managed by Paul and Kim Camilleri. Despite their recent appearance on the gastronomical scene, Paul and Kim have successfully attained a chef’s hat in 2007 and maintained it through to 2008, which is by no means an easy feat. Excited by the prospect of a modern European meal with a touch of French whipped up by passionate chefs, we put the disappointing service of a particular rude waiter behind us and were more than ready for our $95 per person degustation. Mind you, the subsequent waiter who served us throughout the night was fantastic.

Freshly Shucked Oyster with cucumber and Champagne Jelly

Once everyone was settled, a waiter brought us our first course, oyster and champagne jelly. The oyster was undoubtedly fresh, bathed in its own sweet natural brine. As I’m not a big fan of champagne, I found its addition to the oyster distracted me from enjoying the course. Although I’m sure champagne lovers will no doubt love this combination.

Swordfish Loin with Sauteed Cuttlefish, Serrano Ham and Warm Tomato Consomme

Shortly after the remains of the previous course were cleared from the table, the next course arrived. Using the soup spoon provided to us, I attempted to taste the tomato consomme on its own. However the limitation in the quantity of the consomme combined with the large sized spoon made it quite difficult to do so. Looking around the table, I realised that everyone was tilting the plate at an angle, collecting the consomme at the bottom. The consomme had a clean crisp flavour, pure tomato juice with a small hint of chilli. Combined with the fresh thinly sliced swordfish and tender cuttlefish, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a sexed up Thai Tom Yum soup. I was so engrossed in the tango on my palette that I failed to notice the existence of the serrano ham and radish.

Carpaccio of Black Angus Beef with Cauliflower Cream, Brioche Soldiers, Soft Poached Quail Egg and Truffle Vinaigrette

Unlike many of my companions for the night, the sight of the next dish scared the bejeesus out of me. One of very few things that I cannot stomach, raw beef was presented to the table. Despite the beautiful garnishing, I steered clear of the carpaccio. I was told by Squishies that the soft and moist thinly sliced Angus beef was slightly cured, resulting in a pleasing salty taste with texture closely resembling prosciutto. Missing out on the star ingredient meant that I had to lap up on whatever was left on the plate. The deliciously crispy and buttery brioche soldiers dipped into the the too cute for word softly poached quail egg was simple yet outstanding. I guess the saying big things come in small packages holds true in this case.

Alternate Beef Dish: Crab something

For the two trouble makers of the night, you know who you are =p, one who for personal reasons does not eat beef, and the other, a “Vegequarian”, an alternate dish was provided. When their dish arrived, the presence of the foam immediately reminded me of Ferran Adrià’s experimental lab, El Bulli. Aside from visually entertaining, I was told veering from expectations, the foam itself was actually quite bitter. Personally for me that would be a no no. The Ravioli on the other hand was cooked to al dente, closely guarding a small package packed with sweet fresh crab flesh. The ravioli was complimented by the smooth cauliflower cream.

Twice Baked Olive and Chive Souffle with Soft Goats Curd, Tomato Sorbet and Parmesan Wafers

If I could eat cotton balls, I would imagine it’s texture to be like this souffle. Pillowy, spongy, fluffy, this is an anything and everything dish. If the chefs could substitute chives and olive with any ingredients, I’d bet the result would be just as good. This is everything that I would imagine a savoury soufflé to be, not too heavy, not too light, just perfect. Nevermind the refreshing tomato sorbet, the “too sour for my tastebud” soft goat’s curd, or the salty diced olives, just give me the soufflé. Each bite just makes me feel like kicking my chair back and joining this guy.

Pan Fried Barramundi with Celeriac Puree, Crisp Chicken Wings, Pancetta, Sauteed Oyster Mushrooms and Jus Gras

The next dish reminds me of a classy version of surf and turf. Salt, pepper and a fresh piece of fish grilled to perfection served with deboned crispy chicken wings. Unfortunately despite the fact that each individual ingredient was prepared well, I found that as a whole this course was quite bland. There was nothing to jolt my tastebuds. The flavours were quite predictable, just a “shelf filler”.

Slow Roasted Spatchcock with Sweet Corn, Braised Silverbeet, Boudin Noir and Red Wine Jus

Recently I’ve noticed that alot of restaurants have incorporated mini chickens into their menu, notably in the form of quails and spatchcocks. Following this trend, we were next served tender slow roasted spatchcock. Paired with relatively sweet soft braised silverbeet, I found that these two complimented each other in terms of taste and texture. Prior to this, I’ve never had boudin noir before, thus the thought of eating something as archaic as blood sausages was nerve wracking. Upon first bite, with a consistency somewhat similar to mud cake, however drier and grainier, the piece crumbled. I can’t recall whether it’s sweet, sour,soft or bitter, only that it was an interesting experience, though not one that I would like to relive. In contrast to the Boudin Noir, the sweet corn puree was just sublime, velvety, sweet and fragrant. If only there was more to indulge in.

Roasted Milk Fed Veal with Parsley Puree, Bone Marrow Fritters, Confit New Garlic and Veal Sweetbreads

WOW! This dish deserves a standing ovation. I started off with the bone marrow fritters. Crispy golden exterior with a creamy rich centre, the bone marrow fritters are almost too rich to handle if it were any larger. Going back to my dislike of offal, I was once again faced with another challenge. Confit of garlic and veal thymus gland. Doesn’t sound too appetising does it ? However defying expectations and joining the ranks of my favourite foods, the sweetbreads was slightly sweet yet very rich. Immersed in a caramelly gravy, a match made in food heaven. Not to be outdone by the accompaniments, the milk fed veal is just sublime. The piece of steak was lightly pan fried to seal in all the juice, thus with each bite, the morsel just melts in the mouth yet violently ruptures with intense flavour. Paired with the airy herbacious puree, Waiter, Encore please.

Coulommiers with Lentils Golden Beetroot, Walnut and Honey and Thyme Tuile

Looking at the plate presented before us, the first thing that sprung to my mind was a ladder (haha weird I know). It seems like the chef wants to take you on a textural journey, starting from soft and gooey, ending in hard and dry.

Coulommier cheese

When the production of something is so heavily regulated and limited, you know that it is exclusive. Coulommier is an AOC certified cheese originating from France. To be AOC certified, a product must meet a set of strict standards, ensuring the maintenance in quality and limiting diversion from the original. With this in mind, I let each piece linger on my tongue, taking full advantage of the bold flavours of the cheese, nutty and deliciously creamy.

Lentils with Golden Beetroot

Continually climbing up the rung of the textural ladder, we reach the centre, a balance between soft and hard. The mild lentils with golden beetroot had a little more bite to it, not too soft that it will melt, though not too hard that it is brittle.

Thyme Tuile

The top of the ladder stood the mighty tuile. The tuile was light and crispy, fragile to the slightest touch, it could only be consummed by picking it up with your fingers and eating it all in one go. Void of any rich buttery after taste, the tuile was a good contrast to the soft cheese and lentils, although dissapointingly lacked the afore mentioned thyme.

Lemon Sorbet with Rhubarb and Blueberry Compote

Ou palate cleanser for the night was the lemon sorbet with rhubarb and blueberry compote. The icy tangy sorbet did it’s designated job well, a great way to erase the memory of past indentations. So good was the sorbet with the rhubarb and blueberry compote that I thought it was unnecessary to add the biscuit.

Vacherin of Mango and Passionfruit with Coconut, candied Lime, Fresh Raspberries and Vanilla Ice Cream

The Pièce de résistance of the night arrived on a large square plate. Initially looking as if everything had been haphazardly placed on the plate, it soon became clear that this was actually the chef’s strategy. With various shades of the orange spectrum placed on the plate, each accompanied by snow white delights, stunning. From left to right : Firstly, clear young coconut jelly bursting with natural sweetness sided a piece of fresh sweet and sour Kensington mango. Towards the centre of the plate sits the lone radiant raspberry swimming in the sea of passionfruit pulp. On the right is another piece of mango, this time served with two pieces of fragrant creamy young coconut flesh. Towards the far right is the voluptuous vanilla bean ice cream. Aromatic is probably an understatement for this ice cream. With each bite, it feels like you’ve been wacked over the head by a handful of vanilla pods, not only that but once you’re down, the black vanilla pulp is smeared all over your face. A bit extreme, but I would voluntarily go through it again and again.

Patiently waiting in the background is the gigantic vacherin, muscling itself up for the final onslaught. The unforgiving extremely sweet and airy meringue is ready to put your teeth into decay if you dare finish it, while the rich and creamy mango and passionfruit ice cream will just knock you out cold. I’m embarassed to admit that a sugarholic like myself could not handle the beating. I would be in awe of anyone who is able to finish the entire Vacherin on their own, try it, I dare you.

Sitting down with a great group of friends with one common interest, it is not hard to have an enjoyable evening. Add great food into the formula and you’re assured a fantastic night. Four hours of chatter, laughter and dish after dish of artistic and unique flavours, I sense this will be the beginning of an annual tradition. Despite our frosty start to the evening, with the night progressing, the hole in the wall restaurant Sojourn with its hush hush atmosphere has subdued me.

Update

For the two non meat eaters in the crew , these were their alternative dishes.

Alternate Beef Dish: Crab something

Alternate Veal Dish: Snapper

Restaurant Soujourn

79 Darling St
Balmain East NSW 2041
Phone (02) 9555 9764
Web : http://www.restaurantsojourn.com.au

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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One thing that I cannot deny is my love for Oporto and subsequently Nando’s chicken. The pieces of grilled chicken dressed with lemon and herb sauce or the tongue numbing peri peri sauce gets me every time. However having a reputation of being fast food outlets, the authenticity of the way in which the chicken is prepared and the sauce that comes with it always plagues me. To satisfy my curiosity, last Saturday night a group of friends and I decided to try a restaurant that promises to serve traditional Portugese cuisine.

Arriving to the venue about half an hour later than the booking time (sorry guys), I was faced with glares from my starving friends. Deprived of having a couple of seconds to catch my breath, we quickly ordered basically half the items on the menu, not really knowing what they were. I was just randomly calling out names of the dishes, with the waiter quickly jotting down all our orders. Sensing that we had ordered enough, he kindly suggested that we stop, and possibly order more if we found that the food served were inadequate. Once the waiter took our orders to be processed in the kitchen, the whole table was a little more relaxed, and thus the start to a night enjoyed with great food and friends.

Bread and Butter

Olives

To settle our rumbling stomach, the waiter presented us with a basket filled with slices of bread and individually wrapped butter and a bowl of baby olives.

Polvo Grelhado (Main Size) $20.00

After waiting for no longer than 10 minutes, our entree started arriving. First up was the BBQ octopus served with pieces of boiled potatoes. The octopus was grilled whole, then flavoured with salt, pepper and garnished with parsley. Despite the dish being a little salty, the simplicity of the flavour in conjunction with the tender pieces of flesh made this dish quite enjoyable.

Camarao com Alho (Main size) $20.00

The second entree of the night was the pan fried prawns in garlic sauce. The plate was brought to us with the oil still bubbling from the heat. Not wanting to punish our tastebuds, we left the prawns to further cook in the garlic oil, and then to cool down a little. The only dissapointment of this dish was that the prawns were the de-shelled frozen version, commonly available at any grocery store. What the dish lacked in, it more than made up for in the flavour of the sauce. The garlic, shallot and olive oil sauce coated the prawns evenly. The flavour of the sauce was commendable in its ability to achieve what once impossible, draw out the sweetness of the frozen prawns. We were so happy with the dish that we started mopping up the remaining sauce with pieces of bread.

Chorizo (Entree size) $11.90

In deciding whether to order the entree or main size of the chorizo, the waiter explained to us that the only differencce was the addition of chips and salad. Knowing that our actual mains will be arriving with the salad and chips anyway, we opted for the entree size. The chorizo was grilled, then sliced into bite sized pieces, served with some carrot, cauliflower, onion and cucumber pickles. The chorizo, as expected was no different to the spanish ones that I’ve previosuly had, that is, very flavourful with hints of spices. Being brought up on sweet and sour pickles, I found that these pickles were a little too salty and thus did not agree with my palate.

Charcoal Pork Belly

As this was a special on their board, I wasn’t able to note down the price. The first of our many mains, this dish jolted gave my tastebuds a hint of the many more delicacies to come. The pork belly was simply flavoured with salt, then grilled under the charcoal to obtain a crispy skin. Aside the flavours, I found this dish to be very similar to the chinese crispy skin pork.

Espetada a Madeirense $25.00

Salad

Garlic Bread

Grilled Polenta

Next to arrive on our table was this awesome foursome. The skewered beef combo was visually appealing to the carnivores of the group. The diced aged rump was flavoured in a traditional madeira style, then cooked on a skewer over charcoal. Although not observable in the above picture, the rump was served with a piece of bread strategically placed directly under the skewer, to soak up the blood dripping from the beef. For the daring, there would be a bloody piece of bread to be eatened by the end of the night.

The tender pieces of rump was cooked to medium well, resulting in a crusty exterior and soft pink interior, just the way I like it. However I wasn’t able to taste the Madeira styled flavours as promised.

Each of the sides that accompanied the steak were quite good on their own. The salad was very fresh and crispy, helping to create a healthy facade. The Garlic bread was liberally flavoured with the delicious garlic butter. The Polenta was crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the centre. Overall, an impressive spread.

Whole grilled Snapper ~ $25.00

The whole snapper was grilled to perfection. With minimal flavouring and maximal freshness, this was an unexpectedly outstanding dish. Once in a while you come across a beautiful fish, so fresh that its sweetness is quite prominant, thus the only addition necessary is a squeeze of lemon.

Charcoal rack of lamb $38.00

When the waiter placed this dish on our table, it was the first time within the last hour that the table was so quiet. You could literally hear a pin drop. There were ten pieces of perfectly cooked lamb cutlets on our table. Please forgive me readers, for I was momentarily taken over by my excitement. Sitting there in front of us was one of the best lamb cutlets that I’ve had in a while. Once again the simplicity of the flavouring, i.e. salt, pepper, olive oil and possibly oregano, enabled the true star of the dish to shine. Each of the pieces were perfectly seared by the charcoal, whereby with each bite the juices previously retained exploded in your mouth. Talk about a taste sensation.

Traditional whole chicken $23.50

Not long after, the next dish arrived. No doubt the most anticipated dish of the night, served with a side of crunchy chips and soft pillowy rice, we were ready. The pieces of chicken were very moist with crispy skin, although a little salty, however when served with the beautiful tomato flavoured rice, the saltiness seemed to diminish. In comparison to Oporto’s and Nando’s chicken, I can safely say that Silva’s chicken is more moist and flavourful, instead of relying on condiments to mask the dryness of the meat, the chicken is confidently served with simple sides, therefore, once again allowing the star to simply shine.

Bacalhau a Braz $22.90

It is quite safe to assume that after the previous onslaught, we would be full by now. However on the advice of our friend Gness we decided to go for one more. As explained by Gness, who’s uncle is half portugese (lol), this is a very traditional dish. In his uncle’s opinion, Silva’s Bacalhau is pretty high on the list. Arriving onto our table with an air of pungent odour surrounding it, I was apprehensive in trying this dish. Reminding me of a type of dish mum used to make (with shrimp paste), which everyone in the family despised, the memories came flooding back to me. Watching nervously as each person gamely takes a piece of the cooked salted codfish with whisked eggs and shoestring chips, they seem to enjoy it. With one friend announcing, “it tastes better than it smells”. Not wanting to let the team down, I manned up, and took a bite, unbeknownst to me, everyone on the table was staring at me for my reaction. Being a drama queen, I guess they were expecting me to make a big scene, however suprisingly I agree with my friends. Upon eating it, the piece was devoided of the stench, but was replaced by a slighty salty and sweet mix. Edible, however not something I would order again.

Molotoff $7.50

Despite everyone being stuffed to the brim, a few of the sweet tooths requested desserts to complete the night. An item on their dessert menu caught our eyes, what is Molotoff? We were told that Molotoff is a traditional portugese dessert that consists of a baked meringue base that is then drizzled with a caramel sauce. The texture and taste of the meringue is very similar to that of the Pavlova, with the inclusion of the watery caramel to moisturise the meringue. Overall, I found this dish quite average, prefering the meringue to be used in a Pavlova.

Creme Caramel $7.50

Unlike other creme caramel that I’ve had, Silva’s version is not as eggy, therefore making it more palatable. However, the bitterness of the caramel syrup overwhelms the dessert, making it difficult to finish.

Overall we found the experience to be quite pleasant. To accompany 9 people, we were able to explore a wide rande of traditional portugese dishes, some better than others. What suprised me was the similarity I witnessed in the utilisation of the salted fish, which I previously thought was a recipe that only my mum used to punish us. Little did I know that when prepared in a different manner, and with maturation of the tastebuds, it can actually become a delicacy.

Having had the opportunity to taste traditional and authentic Portugese dishes, it is obvious that Oporto and Nandos had implemented the traditional method of cooking the chicken through the usage of charcoal, with minimal flavour. However the differentiating factor are the sauces used. From what I can see, traditionally the chicken was served as it is, whereas the fast food chain’s version bathe the pieces of chicken in their “secret” sauces, which served to possibly mask the dryness of the meats and to appeal to the masses. There is definitely more to Portugese food than what Oporto and Nandos have to offer, however it is up to the individual to step outside their comfort zone, and explore what different cuisines have to offer. At minimum, I would award these folks a Silva medal.

Silva’s

Shop 1, 82-86 New Canterbury Rd
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9572 9911

© Linda for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Another birthday dinner… another FABULOUS meal! This time with my greatest friend and “separated at birth” sister. Each year, we celebrate our birthday together with a great meal. Two (or maybe three!) years ago, we had our birthday dinner at chef Chad Muir’s other restaurant, Restaurant Balzac and loved the food tremendously. The european flavours and soft sourdough tempted us to follow him and dine at the new Burlington Bar and Dining. Recently awarded One Hat (2009 SMH GF), we were keen to try this local eatery.

Apprently, there are only two dining times – 6:00pm and 8:00pm – but we arrived around 6:30 and it seemed fine! I am becoming a daylight-savings lover as the daylight still shone brightly through the open windows.

My “twin” and I are both sourdough-lovers, so when we saw the bread coming, we both secretly and silently sequel with joy. The bread is from Sonoma, a bakery located in Glebe and Waterloo. I’ve been past Sonoma a few times but have never tried their breads. We were served two types: I think there was Rye Spelt and some seeded sourdough (I forget now!). The seeded bread was full of grains… just how I love it!

Sonoma Bread

Their range of wine is quite extensive. I like how they offer 1/2 bottles, which allows us to sample a bigger variety of wines. (My friend loves red, so it was a red wine night. It went very well with the food though!)

Fab Wine

As we are small eaters, we decided to order 2 entrees and a main. The menu is rather meaty but provides quite a few choices. We were surprised that most dishes were under $30! Awesomely great value!

First was… The entree.

Salad of globe artichokes, asparagus and spring onions with shaved pecorino ($16)

This salad was light but tasty. I particularly loved the spring onions. Luckily, it didn’t give me onion breathe afterwards! The pecorino flavour was quite strong but went very well with the artichokes and asparagus (with much less flavour).

Sauteed prawns with corguette, sun dried tomatoes, wild rocket and pasta - Entree size ($16)

“Entree size! Are you sure??”, we both thought. The “entree” serving looked like a main serving! I particularly liked the crumb on the top of the pasta however, the rest was quite average. I kept picking at the crumbs! I’m not sure what pasta it was… it looked similar to a risoni but bigger and longer! I was expecting a long pasta (which I wasn’t looking forward to), but was more than happy to see that it was short.

Baked sardines with Sicilian olive tapenade, tomato and white anchovy salad ($26)

The sardines were VERY tasty! They had a nice “sweet” fish flavour. I LOVED the white anchovy, especially eaten together with the tomato. The anchovy isn’t as strong as the usual anchovy you get in the jars. It was like the tomato’s sourness cancelled out the saltiness of the anchovy. It was SO delicious.

There was no way we could fit in dessert. By this time, my stomach has probably expanded 2 sizes. I think its time for some exercise.

The service was so-so. Actually, everyone was fantastic… except for the one waitress who wouldn’t acknowledge you if you requested for something, or whenever we ordered something. HMM wasn’t happy about this! But every other waitress made us forget about it! On my way to the bathroom, I was surprised to see SO many people seated at the back of restaurant… dining and drinking! I didn’t expect that!

Overall, we had a great and tasty time! Can’t wait for next year and another eatery to add to my North Shore restaurants list!

The Burlington

6 Burlington St 

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Phone (02) 9439 7888

w :  http://www.burlingtonbardining.com.au

© teresa for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Sydney North

We happened to find out about Tealicious House at the information centre in Busselton and made a booking for the next day.

Having been to the usual tea room haunts (namely The Tea Room at the QVB and The Victoria Room in Darlinghurst), we thought we knew what to expect – we were pleasantly proven wrong.

Tealicious House offers about 47 different flavours of tea, where a small glass container sits besides each tea package for customers to smell. It took us a while to choose our own tea and after they had been chosen, we were served a complimentary sample of the tea of the day.

Partial tea wall

Summer, the owner, told us that our second pot of tea (each) were also complimentary. Our eyes just bugged at the thought and greedily plotted which tea to try next – even before our first pots of tea arrived!.

2 Cake Stands for 4 Hungry Girls

While the clotted cream and strawberry conserve were delish on the luke-warm scones, the rest of our fare was just above average. Not quite memorable, but I thought quantity was quite generous (though the rest of the girls thought it was normal serving per person). It never looks like a lot when the cake stands comes out, but we were pretty close to bursting at the sides by the time Summer came around with our second pots of brewed tea.

French Earl Grey

Summer recently opened the tea-house in February last year and she’s been really surprised by the response they’ve been getting. We weren’t too surprised: spoilt for choice with the available variety of teas, the (seemingly) gargantuan serving of food, the sunny and relaxing atmosphere, and the top-notch service (they’re my new benchmark for “service with a smile”)… why wouldn’t anyone want to come back? (Besides the fact that it’s in Western Australia and about 4 or so hours from Perth)

The High Tea cost us $30 per person – something we felt was definitely at a bargain price, as we bid Summer good-bye and rolled out of her tea-house.

Tealicious House
Shop 2/237 Naturaliste Terrace
Dunsborough, WA 6281
Ph: (08) 9755 3308

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dunsborough, high tea, Western Australia

The 2 biggest draws to the bar restaurant for us were: the ribs and the cocktails. The meat’s also wonderfully drenched in hickory sauce and the wide-range of cocktails are usually very well prepared and presented.

Vegetarian Nachos with Sour Cream, Guacamole, Spicy Jalapenos and Cool Salsa

Salt and Pepper Squid Salad – Tender Squid Battered in a Salt and Pepper Coating with Mixed Leaves Tomato and Salad Onion with a Zingy Chilli and Lime Dressing

Oscar’s Chargrilled Pork Ribs with Tangy Hickory Sauce, Mixed Salad & Mash Potatoes

Chicken and Mushroom Linguine

Barramundi Fillet – Glass Noodle Salad of Fresh Coriander, Mint, Cucumber, Shallots and a Tangy Chilli & Garlic Soy Dressing

Umm…Steak cuts with roasted chat potatoes (?)

Oscars can get quite busy on Fridays and Saturdays, where the wait on your meal can be up to 45 minutes. The food is usually quite decent, but the ribs are still the best thing on the menu (even if they’ve really raised the price up since we first started eating here).

It’s matter of luck in getting a good rack of ribs though, where the meat on the ribs would just fall away from the bone (that usually happens more often than not). I’ve had ribs where the meat would stubbornly stick to the bone, but it’s quickly forgiven as the meat’s still deliciously tangy.

Oscars Restaurant
84 Union Street
Pyrmont, NSW 2009
Ph: (02) 9660 5933
Web: www.oscars.net.au

© squishies for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bar, lounge, pasta, poultry, Pyrmont, ribs, Seafood, steak

I’m not a particularly good cook, I prefer letting other people do the work and blogging about the outcome of their efforts.  I try to be objective if there is criticism because I know I probably couldn’t do any better!

A while ago we had bits and pieces left in the fridge. To name a few :

• cooked rice
• BBQ meats from the night before
• veges from the night before

So we decided to experiment and Linda and myself whipped up a few things for an unhealthy brunch. For the record, pastries and coleslaw were made by Linda and the steak/fried rice and the burger was by me. It’s nothing ground breaking so be kind with the comments. To be honest I just wanted to show off the photos

Fish burger with salad and home made tartar sauce

• mayo 200 gm
• gherkins 50 gm
• lemon juice 2 tbl
• spanish onion half diced thinly
• 8 capers
• spring onion
• salt pepper

Pork mince , prawn and Spanish onion / Spinach and Ricotta cheese pastries

Coleslaw

© Howard for eatshowandtell, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: experiment, salad, Seafood