Matts restaurant guide - Low Fat

Apandim Ulghur

2009-05-31T22:33:00.006+10:00

Level 1, 8 Dixon St, Sydney 2000 NSW

Of the three Ulghur places I know in Sydney - which are all conveniently located side by side - this is the newest, largest and seems to be one of the most lively. The food is very reasonable price and what you expect - quite heavy, lots of spices and flavour and some dishes are oily.

Below are shots from our most recent visit 30 May 2009. We had some of the staple dishes.

Above, black fungus and vegie.

Chicken kebabs - good but oilier than the other store.

Stir fried prawns - and in the background is the lamb kebabs. Both good. But the lamb was very oily. To be fair that is fairly standard. The prawns we great though.

The star dish - chicken and potato with hand made noodles. It is a huge dish and great value - but compared to the other store they do not include noodles and I think the mix of spices isn't as rich.
Bean starch noodles in a spicy soy sauce mix.

This store has a belly dancer come in each evening, who likes to get people up to dance. This was a different dancer to my last visit.

I dobbed in a friend to dance with her - but they refuse to be shown online... you can hardly even tell that ghost used to be a person huh? :)

Overall, if you haven't been to one of these Ulghur places yet, get a group together, BYO some booze and have a great night. You will be stuffed and satisfied for under $20pp, and they generally let you BYO any drinks you like.

Zen

2008-10-12T23:17:00.002+11:00

Home-made sushi

2008-09-14T21:34:00.004+10:00

For the last two Sundays, we have picked up some fresh fish at Paddy's Market when doing our vegetable shopping, and made sushi for dinner. Today I also got some tiny scallops on the half shell - only $2 for 6! So Kate steamed these, I made sushi, and we had a little feast at home for less than $15!

Not bad!

El Phoenician

2008-09-14T21:14:00.003+10:00

328 Church Street Parramatta - Lebanese/Mediterranean

What a fun night. Four of us went here last night for a catch up dinner. The food was great, the service was friendly, efficient and not pushy. It is not a bargain, but the food was good quality and good sized portions. Oh, and they have belly dancers - including a male dancer!

Three kinds of dips... chickpea, yoghurt and eggplant based.

Tabbouleh and salad

A combination platter for two including seafood, lamb, chicken and fruits. The salt and pepper squid looked heavy, but was divine - thick and tender, and the batter (which looks too thick) was fabulous.
Lamb shish - the stand out dish.
Some prawns hiding on the combo platter
The chicken shish.

Our friend was also dragged up to dance with a belly dancer - but I thought I should preserve his dignity and not show the pics... oh what the hell.

Is she staring at his belly shake? Whatever it was it captured her attention!

Silk Road - Uygur food

2008-08-19T22:45:00.004+10:00

Last Friday Kate and I met with my coworker and her husband for dinner. They are from Uzbekistan, so we tried an Uygur place in the city.

Our main dish was a chicken and potato stew, with broad hand made noodles, see two photos below. It was really delicious - a little spicy but no overpowering. The seasoning was great. The dish was enormous! This large size was $25 - and would probably feed 4 people without anything else.

We had two kinds of meat kebab - lamb and chicken. I think the group preferred the lamb (which was great) but I preferred the chicken as it was much leaner. Apparently the lamb should have been even more oily if traditional, with two pieces of meat to one piece of lamb fat.

The pilaf (fried rice) was just too oily for me. Again, apparently this is even oilier back home, but it was too much for me. And I think the rice was overcooked to start with.

The dumplings were good - nice and light, good flavouring. Some boiled dumplings are too heavy and no discernible herbs - not these.

That 4 person chicken dish didn't last long...

And to finish off, we went for a traditional Uygur desert (kind of) at Passionflower. All very nice.

Delicious variety

2008-08-05T21:20:00.008+10:00

Last weekend we had some fantastic meals.

Saturday lunch we headed to a new Korean BBQ joint in Ryde. We had the BBQ beef rib and the marinated pork fillet. The pork was too fatty for me, but the beef was awesome, and the side dishes were outstanding - see pics.

This one above was great - lettuce and other green leafs, with a sweet apple vinegar.

This was shredded spring onion with a spicy sauce - another of the side dishes.

The beef rib.

That night we met a friend in Parramatta and headed to a casual restaurant on Church street. I think it was called elevate - and it was really really nice.
This BBQ octopus salad was main size - and enormous! So huge.

Kate had a 1/2 and 1/2 seafood pizza, which was really good, and (below) I had steak and prawns on garlic mash. The steak was cooked more than I asked for, but it was really good. The red wine jus was maybe too rich though, considering it is served with prawns.

The following lunch Kate and I went for yum cha at Zilver - loads of nice dishes.
Beef tripe was very good here. (see saga below)

This was a vege only dumpling - oh with a little egg yoke. Very nice.

Back to reality.

For some reason I felt like being adventurous with cooking tonight.

Motivated by wanting to empty the cupboards before my move, and to try something new, I made what maybe the weirdest dish I have ever cooked - or eaten.

It started with some beef tripe (below) - which I couldn't help but buy after trying the great dish at Zilver on Sunday.
Then some tofu - which I browned in the oven.

I boiled the tripe in beef stock as I re-hydrated the mushrooms, slowly over a couple of hours....

I also marinated kangaroo. Actually I had to wash of the marinade it came with, and re did it in black bean sauce.
Stir fried it all up...and served with noodles.

Believe it or not, this was all planned from when I saw the tripe. I thought the black bean sauce would help with the flavour, and I also added water chestnut to give some nice texture to it. Looks ok, considering, don't you think? It tasted disgusting. So salty (from the beef stock i guess) and too much sauce. It made me want to vomit. Seriously.

So if you are ever in a restaurant, and see stir fried tripe, kangaroo, tofu and vege - go into the kitchen and punch the chef in the head for thinking of something so stupid.

Scratchleys On The Wharf

2008-07-06T21:51:00.007+10:00

After four months in Newcastle, we I finally got to one of the town's better restaurants - Scratchleys. Mum is up visiting, and she treated Kate and I to a fantastic evening. See dishes below.

Prawn & Oyster Plate
King Prawns & Natural Oysters with Seasonal Fruit, Dressed with Red Wine & Seeded Mustard Vinaigrette

I asked for the oil on the side - they served without any dressing. I don't want to sound like a total baby, but at $20 for 3 prawns and 3 oysters, I expected more work. The fruit was not peeled or even partially. The crap vein wasn't cleaned out, the prawns weren't properly shelled, and the oysters still had grit in them. Very so so.

XL Hervey Bay Scallops
Served on the half shell, grilled with a black truffle and basil butter - $20 for 5

Kate thought they maybe frozen - I think they were fresh, but a tad over-cooked. The butter was a mess though - the truffle was 1) too strong for scallop and 2) muddy and lacking flavour. Maybe this would work better slightly smoked instead of grilled - and with fresh truffle.

Scratchleys Seafood Chowder
This was mums - I didn't really taste it, but mum said it was good - with lots of seafood. $14

THE MAIN COURSES - ALL EXCELLENT
(all from the daily special list)

Swordfish Steak
Dusted in cajun spices on a chunky mash of kipler potatoes and chargrilled marinated vegetables with straw potato and a carrot and ginger Raitha $35

Kingfish fillet
With sauteed bacon and shallots on potato wedges roasted in seeded mustard and herbs with a basil aioli and sweet soy drizzle $29

Certified Grainge Angus beef sirloin
300g Pan roasted in tuscan spices on mini potato pancakes and glazed winter vegetables with an olive vinaigrette and cabernet syrup $40

Fantastic! This was my main meal. I apologise the photograph is such poor quality, it was the best I could get with the camera at hand. The vegetables included eschallots, beans, and a couple of roasted root vegetables. I felt the potato pancakes were not necessary - they provided good texture, but they did not add to the flavour, and the oil was too much for the dish. The beef (medium rare) was outstanding. Maybe the best beefsteak I have ever had... the supplied knife was dull and worn out, but it cut through the steak like butter. Outstanding.

Overall it was very good - but not a fine dining experience. It was a noisy family restaurant with quite good service. The wine list (by the bottle) was overly expensive, whilst the dishes were pricey too, the mains justified the price. Not sure about the entree's though.

If they allowed BYO, I would definitely go back for blackboard mains again.

Sesames... a taste of Asia

2008-05-31T22:36:00.004+10:00

Sesames... a taste of Asia

52 Glebe Road

The Junction

Newcastle NSW 2291

Ph: (02) 4969 2033

Tonight was our second attempt to eat at Sesames – last time we were turned away. Luckily we thought ahead this time and booked in – last booking for the night.

We arrived on time at 745pm and they were only half full. Obviously expected a full house soon, they were very eager to take our order. It was quite annoying actually, they came by, pen and pad in hand, 3 times in the first 10 minutes.

After tossing up how much we should order, we went for two mains and garlic fried rice. We ordered stir-fried Cambodian style fresh ginger, shallots and cracked pepper with chicken, and an Indonesian lamb curry (rated as medium to spicy).

The rice ($7.50) was very good - we asked that they use minimum oil, and it was actually great. The best of the meal in my opinion.

The lamb ($25.90) was quite good, served with coconut banana, boiled egg and a kind of tatziki. I was a little disappointed that the ‘spice’ of the dish was just diced fresh chilli on top – the curry sauce itself was too mild. The flavour was quite nice, but I think it needed more moisture and more kick throughout the dish. Also, the toasted coconut on the banana was overly mild.

The stir fried chicken ($18.90) was a big disappointment. It was everything a stir-fry should NOT be. The vegetables were soft and wilted, and the chicken tasted stewed. Obviously cooked too slowly, instead of fast over searing heat – it tasted like a badly done homemade attempt.

The big surprise of the night was their refusal to allow us to take the left overs home. We offered to pay for the plastic box, or to bring our own box - no dice. After explaining we didn’t want to waste good food, we spoke to the floor manager who told us it an OH&S regulation that you cannot package food that has cooled, to take away… and that all places that allow it are breaking the act. I will have to check on that, but we kept on eating (way beyond comfortably full) to finish as much as we could.

Including BYO for two ($4pp), it came in at $60.30 for two – no left overs. The price was just ok – the dishes were large but the service and overall experience was not memorable.

Bilsons

2008-02-03T10:57:00.000+11:00

For my recent birthday, Kate took me to Bilsons! I got the fin bouche degustation with matched wines. :)

We started with a cold cauliflower soup with black truffle (as Kate said at the time, the truffle was totally lost in this - didn't add any body at all really)

Warm Salad of Baby Vegetables with Truffled Olive Oil (again, despite the large slice of truffle (centre), I didn't feel it added much to this dish - other than a higher price tag)
Spanner Crab with Chilled Almond Gazpacho - was light and delicious

Black Rockfish Quenelle with Petrossian Caviar - the seafood sauce was great - the texture reminded me of black pudding.

Grilled Fillet of John Dory with Artichoke Barigoule Caviar

Roasted Duck with confit potato and olive 2 ways
Assiette of Angus Beef, Sauce Bordelaise

It was served with a quail yoke - at first I thought the beef was over cooked, but actually it was fantastic. I liked this better than the wagyu beef at Tetsuya.
Selection of Ripened Local and Imported Cheese with Fresh and Dried Fruits

Gâteau au Citron with Yoghurt Sorbet - a stand out course. The citrus was so refreshing.

Assiette of Dark Bitter Chocolate

Coffee, Tea and Petits Fours (That mocha glass was the ugliest thing... my god. Looks like something from a 1980s roadhouse diner.)

Overall it was fantastic - such a wonderful night. I was very spoilt!

assiette

2008-02-03T10:48:00.000+11:00

Second visit to Assiette in Surry Hills for their lunch special. I noticed their rush cover job on the signage (below), or perhaps they feel an association with becasse will help?

Tuna confit nicose salad
Rabbit and fois gras terrine
roast lamb
fish rissotto with poached and fried egg.
creme something-or-other, with rhubarb
assiette of chocolate cake.

Sydney's most exclusive Chinese food

2007-12-29T21:28:00.000+11:00

Saturday 22 December

Kate and I went along for a feast for the Chinese winter festival.

You probably haven't heard of this traditional Chinese eatery before. It is based in a backstreet in Beverly Hills and you need an invitation to get past security. Actually, you just need to know Cherie and Raph.

Anyway, on to the food.

I can honestly say that this was the best Chinese meal I have had outside Hong Kong - maybe even including HK. And that includes the fancy meal I posted recently from the master chef that was visiting Sydney.

Above is master chef Cherie and her helper Evelyn.

Part of the huge spread of food that was offered up.

Sweet corn soup, BBQ pork and duck.

Side dishes - included octopus, beef tendons, jelly fish and other delicacies. Also steam baby barramundi. The fish was SO tender, better than I have had in a restaurant - so moist and tender I couldn't believe it.
The fish again, on left is sweet and sour prawns, and top is boiled salted chicken. Again, probably the softest and juiciest chicken I have ever had. Amazing.
This was slow cooked pork with vegetables and seaweed. I have no idea how this was made but it was outstanding. If I had to pick a favourite dish this is it. Like nothing I have had before, delicate and rich at the same time. Really sublime.
Katie waiting to attack. :-)

Thank you Cherie - it was really an outstanding meal. I couldn't believe you managed to cook all these dishes and time them to be ready together. One of the dishes alone would have been impressive, let alone all of them!

Duke of Glouster - 1kg steak

2007-11-17T22:51:00.001+11:00

Tonight Andrew and I were going out for a boys dinner. We had Thai last night, Yum Cha for lunch and felt it was time for a good steak. We threw that out the window for a big steak - quality/quantity? Tough call. I have had lots of good steaks, but I had never attempted a full Kilogram steak, so we decided to give that a shot.

Surprisingly, it is not a T-bone, were half the weight is in the bone. This was a full kilo rump, each. I got mine with Mex sauce (tomato and capsicum based) and Andrews was with Dianne sauce. Both medium rare. Mine was with jacket potato, drew with fries - $26 each, not bad eh!

Note the size of the phone for scale.

We hit a wall about 60% in. Andrew was in bad shape, I was really quite worried there for a while.

Perseverance paid off though and we both made it through. And made our way to the salad bar. And then desert at home. Tomorrow could be a mess.... I am taking a double dose of Metamucil to be on the safe side...

Tetsuya's

2007-11-11T18:32:00.001+11:00

Tetsuya Wakuda is a celebrity. Not of the entertainment or political ilk, he is a celebrity chef. There is no shortage of famous chef’s these days – Jamie, Gordon, Nigella and Kylie. Unlike Gordon Ramsey or Kylie Kwong, Tetsuya hasn’t had to court the media to become a food demi-god. And he isn’t lisp-ily attractive like Jamie either. The experience of dining at Tetsuya’s is said to make disciples of critics, foodies and doubters alike. Despite this he hasn’t churned out countless cookbooks and knick knacks. He has only one very stylish recipe book that includes his signature dish, confit of ocean trout served with ocean trout roe.

His restaurant in Sydney CBD is internationally renowned – in numerous international critic reviews it is rated in the top 5 in the world. His restaurant has received the highest honor of three chef’s hats from the Sydney Morning Herald for 15 years in a row. This year’s Tetsuya, as well as being the awarded highest score in Australia, was also awarded Restaurant of the year – “in a stratosphere all of his own…” Unlike the other 3 hat chef’s in Sydney, I would probably go weak at the knees if I met him on the street – quickly turning into paparazzi.

Unfortunately this acclaim comes with a prohibitive price tag. So despite Kate and I being huge fans (simply from reading about his degustation menu and hearing friends' comments) we have never been. We got a signed copy of the cookbook, but the long waiting list and high price kept us away.

Well, that was until last night. I surprised Katie for her birthday. It was so hard to keep the secret – I booked in February! I was very surprised to find the menu has changed a fair bit compared to what others have had, and what is advertised on the website.

Would your dream meal include wagyu beef or spatchcock? Abalone or oxtail? Caviar or truffles? Trout or crab? How about all of them!

Below is each of our courses. Note I had matching wines with most courses. :-)

Chilled sweet corn soup with saffron ice cream

[Really refreshing and appetising. The ice cream sounds funny - but its just like adding cream to pumpkin soup - and this was a cold soup]

Smoked ocean trout & avruga caviar with poached quail egg

[Outstanding - one of my favourite dishes of the evening. The texture and flavour were totally out of this world.]

Burnt leek & crab custard

[It fit well with the flow of the courses - light flavours but a heavier texture.]

Tuna sashimi with wasabi oil

[Sensational - finest quality sashimi and a delicate sauce.]

Confit of Petuna Tasmanian ocean trout with konbu, daikon & fennel
seasonal green salad

[No wonder this is his signature dish - fabulous. Faultless.]

Ravioli of Queensland spanner crab with tomato & basil vinaigrette

[I liked this a lot - but I think the crab meat needed something to lift it. Compared to the Raviolo we had at Salt, I think this had better sauce, but less flavour inside the pasta]

Baby abalone with braised ox tail.

[This was my least favourite dish (still great though). I thought the abalone was too tough. I realise this was a transition dish towards heavier flavour and texture so this may have been calculated, but I think it would have been better if the abalone were more tender.]

Twice cooked de-boned spatchcock with olive & caper jus

[Wow. The work to prepare this is mind numbing. Totally boned, then wrapped in skin like a plump little roast. Because it was twice cooked, there wasn't a layer of fat under the skin and it was indescribably tender.]

Grilled wagyu beef with ponzu jelly, lime & wasabi

[This was good, but I wasn't blown away. I actually thought the beef was a little over cooked. You use the wasabi, lime and salt to make your own sauce. At La Rochelle in Tokyo they had a similiar idea but used a rare 'snow' salt that had the texture of icing sugar and a nicer flavour. I think this would work better here too.]

Comte with Lentils

[Such a well calculated course - cleaned the palate for the sweet dishes to come. Really classy.]

Beetroot & blood orange sorbet
Tetsuya’s summer pudding

[Both were great, but the pudding (right) was out of this world. The best desert I've ever experienced.]

Chocolate terrine with mascarpone & cognac anglaise

[Rich sticky and delicious]

Kate had flourless chocolate cake with two gelato's for birthday

Coffee & Petit Four

(Macaroon, date cookie, sweet potato in cocoa & macadamia shortbread).

[All were great, the short bread and the sweet potato were surprisingly good.]

Overall it was sensational and amazingly balanced and timed. And the breads with his signature butter IS all it’s hyped to be – unsalted with truffle and cheese. All of the flavours were so subtle, balanced and the dishes were ordered in such a smart way.

Oh, did I mention we met Tetsuya? He came to wish Kate a happy birthday, posed for a photo at the table and for another he invited us into the wine cellar. Oh, and he gave her a birthday present (really!) – a jar of the truffle salsa to make our own truffle butter, and 2 vinaigrette's – one for salad one for oysters.

So yeah, we are totally like best friends with Tets' now. BFF.

I tried to act cool and like I was ‘someone’ when I asked the waiter if we could meet the chef (using the excuse it is Kate’s birthday and SHE Is a huge fan) – but I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot fan-boy when he showed up. I may have giggled, I’m not sure.

It is no wonder that so many renowned restaurants are French/Japanese fusion - it is such a great pairing. The restraint and gentle preparation of Japanese with the sauces of French - and a mixture of each styles presentation. Stunning. And despite eating every drop and speck on my plates (and more than my fair share of the butter), I didn't feel sick the next day at all!

Was it cheap or good value? Well, if you work it out by number of courses - not as painful to think about. Also, if you deduct the value of the gift... and considering we were there eating for over five hours (!), you can imagine it is quite an experience.

Welcome to Good Food Month

2007-10-02T18:36:00.000+10:00

October is the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month. So expect a lot of entries as we go to new restaurants for their lunch, dinner and desert specials!

Last night we took advantage of the public holiday and went to our first outing - Sugar Hit desert at the Westin Hotel in Martin Place. Before the desert we went for a Japanese casual dinner at Hamachi-Ya in Pyrmont. It was really nice. Below is a picture of one of the two sushi/sashimi boats we ordered. We also had an unagi roll, rainbow roll, and a couple of main dishes to share.

It was fresh, delicious, simple and cheap! I recommend it.

This is Banny and Wilson - as aliens!

Desert was less impressive for me. I actually voted for this desert (of the 10 or so that are running through October) as it has an aloe vera jelly. But it was actually fairly creamy overall still.
It is seasonal berries in aloe vera jelly with citrus curd and pineapple mouse. It also had some kind of cookie separating the jelly and mouse. The mouse was light, but too creamy for me. The jelly was disappointing. It came with a glass of Brown Brothers Muscat for $20 total. (Same as the sushi dinner per person - the sushi was much better value!)

This cute little fellow, is me. And on my lap is Wilson - let's see if I can explain the association clearly. He is Kate's second cousin's fiance's cousin's son. Yes, I think that is right. Cute kid, and very smart. He was good fun.

Mrs Top 8 course French degustation

2007-09-27T07:23:00.000+10:00

Tuesday 25 September we went to an Entertainment card special at Mrs Top at Neutral Bay. It was an 8 course special in Bordeaux style - "Saveurs de Bordeaux".

Above: Amuse bouche - Roquefort cheese, grape, apricot and plum

Terrine de Danglier - Wild boar terrine with Port and redcurrant served with Muscat jelly

Creme de concombres au Pernod: Creamy cucumber soup with Pernod.

Salade d'Avril: Butter lettuce, garlic croutons, toasted pine nuts, Dijon mustard and walnut oil.

Sole au beurre blanc: Fillet of Lemon sole served in white wine, butter sauce

Apple and Rose Sorbet
Filet a la Bordelaise: Fillet of beef with classic complex bordelaise sauce (great sauce).
Obelisque aux fruits de la passion: Passion fruit spire.
(note I kept the odd capitalisations from the original menu)

I was not full. I am not sure if the photos give an idea of the size of each plate and contents, but they were very small. I was going to discuss how this should have been called a 'tasting menu' not a degustation (believing there was a marked difference), but my friend Wiki explained it:

Degustation is a term meaning "a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods.

And that it was - just not wholly satisfying. It was a special deal for $49, and for that I think it was ok value, but not all courses were a standout. The salad, amuse bouche and sole were disappointing. The soup was interesting and the sauce of the beef was great. The desserts were fine - especially the sorbet, and the boar terrine was very nice.

Still a good night, great company and a cosy restaurant.

If I were to use the 30 point rating from the yum cha page, I guess I would rate it at 19 - with high marks for value in the end as they offer free BYO.

All you can eat Seafood Buffet - Sheraton 20 july 07

2007-07-22T00:26:00.000+10:00

For all of July the Sheraton at Darling Harbour has half price on the seafood buffet. I must have had 10 balmain bugs, plus the pork, prawns, oysters, squid, fish, mussels, sashimi, pork neck, chicken, cheeses etc etc...... I think i gained 1 kilo that night. :) Below are a couple of the 6+ plates i took.

Spanish Tapas with Soki & Carter 19 july 07

2007-07-22T00:19:00.000+10:00

Cabramatta - warm up for Vietnam

2007-07-22T00:16:00.000+10:00

Bastille Day - Cullinaire

2007-07-22T00:12:00.000+10:00

I have been lazy

2007-06-24T20:28:00.000+10:00

have had some amazing food, and have not been posting! Sorry, here are some recent highlights.

Most recently..... I went to a French cooking school for the day, or 3 hours anyway, at Caveau in Wollongong. This was a gift for my birthday from Sandrine and Christophe. Below are the 3 dishes I made!

The entre is Marinated prawns with tomato couscous. Such a complicated process, but very declicious. A lot of oil in this one - but I hope to modify it for next time I make it.

Main is roasted pumpkin and fontina tortellini with rosemary beurre noisette (made the pasta from scratch!) Making the pasta was fun, stuffing and shaping the tortellini was hard though.

...and finally mille feuille of strawberries and white chocolate mousse. I didn't use much of the mousse, but it was very yummy - again too fatty really for me, but fun to make.

Below are some mixed pics from Jordan's Seafood.

A Woolworth's Gateau

And Katie's special steamed scallops! Home made!

Not bad eh? Check out this link: http://mattgranger.com/Japantrip.pdf
THere are loads of pictures of food I ate in Japan - including at La Rochelle - the Iron Chef joint in Shibuya Tokyo. Will post these up here somtime too.

Few more recent meals

2007-04-10T22:14:00.000+10:00

here are some other recents bits and pieces - a BBQ seafood plate from Brighton le Sands, and a cute little dessert from Yum Cha...

Sushi E

2007-04-10T22:07:00.000+10:00

Said to be Australia's best sushi bar.

Certainly very trendy, and the food was the best i have had - but it comes at a big price - 3 times our next favourite sushi bar in Sydney. We went for a belated (week late) valentines dinner - i have been slack in updating. Here are some pics.

This was seared Trout belly - it was about $12 for two pieces from memory.

The green tea cup, and trendy soy sauce bottle.

Spoons appetiser - a standout.
Softshell crab roll... forget the name, was awesome though.

Wagyu beef main.
Another roll....
complimentary dessert.

All in all, it was fantastic, but pricey - with a wine and a green tea between two, it came ot $150.

A'Mews - Glebe

2007-01-11T08:32:00.000+11:00

Last Saturday night Kate and I went into A'Mews in Glebe to have dinner to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. It was very nice - we picked it from the 2007 good food guide, and were generally very pleased with it.

Pre entree they offered a complimentary amuse bouche of duck consomme. It was fine, did the trick but wasn't a stand out - nice touch though.

Kate's entree below is a warm salad of leeks, scallops, and black pudding with smoked ham and quail egg ($17). It was very delicious, i though the scallops were well cooked, but could have been plumper.

Above and below is my entree of rabbit loin stuffed with mustard and bacon, marinated mushrooms, celery and apple. The celery and apple form the disc that the rabbit is served on - i was very impressed with this entree - though perhaps not as outstanding as the rabbit I had at Caveau.

Katies beautiful main course of Loin of Lamb with baby lentils, Caramelised pumpkin, Roast garlic and olive tapenade. ($27) It was wonderfully cooked and the flavoured were well balanced. I don't particularly like olives, but this tapenade was restrained and masked the aroma of the olive.My main was Roast Kingfish, crab and fennel bisque, saffron potatos and prawn ravioli. (also $27) Well - the fish was outstanding, absolutely perfectly cooked, and a wonderful piece of fish. The bisque was light and the flavour was good - but obviously quite rich and fatty for my diet. The potatoes were nice, but i did not feel they matched the dish well, and the ravioli was clearly hand made at the restaurant but still disapointing. The ravioli skin tasted quite dry, and the prawn meat filling lacked any zest and was very small.
That said, the service was friendly and fine, and the restuarant (located in a narrow 3 storey terrace on bustling Glebe Point Road). It is a shame they do not allow BYO wine on friday and saturdays, but still i guess that is ok. The wine list was reasonable, with a few choices by the glass. It was disapointing to see that just months after making it into the good food guide they have done away with their old price fixe 2 and 3 course meal options... which means it now costs more too. Still, we had a lovely night, and I would reccomend it.

The Little Snail

2006-12-17T10:21:00.000+11:00

Was a big disapointment.

I have been here twice before, the first time was years and years ago, and i only really remember the company, not the food. At the most recent time was Kate and my first date back in January 2005 - so I'm sure everything tasted great that time! Yesterday Sandrine and I went for lunch to catch up as we haven't seen much of each other since she commenced work. The lunch menu is 3 course prix fixe, and below are our dishes.

Seared Scallops served with Anchovies Pan Braised & Caramelized Tomato and Capsicum Cake. This was not very good at all. The scallops were smaller than the size of a 10 cent piece, there were no anchoies, and the capsicum cake was missing too. The scallops were over cooked - badly, luckily the salad had some flavour.

Snails (one dozen) in the shell, garlic butter. Sandrines entree was nicer - as you would expect, but they were quite small.

Crispy Atlantic salmon served with lime, prawns & mango salad. Here, again, a key ingrediant was missing - the prawns! The fish was nice, but again i felt over cooked and the mango did not seem fresh - amazing seeing cheap fresh mango is so abundant at the moment.
Confit Duck with sweet potato, baby spinach & Orange dressing. The duck and the dressing were good. The vegetables were rubbish, all over cooked and tasted like they had been sitting out waiting to be served since last night. I can only imagine the souz chef is on holidays and left the dishpig to do all of the sides...

We both had Lemon Meringue for desert, it was ok. Nice and light on top, and the base was very rich - too rich for me but sandy liked it (although apparently not as good as her mum makes)hahaha, a fine dining experience my ass... the wine cooler was plastic, and all cracked - actually broken all the way through and sticky taped! The white wine he suggested was a Clean Skin! And still $29 a bottle... it was nice, but what a rip...
Sandrine finished with a Parisian coffee, which has Grand Marnier in it... was strong and goooood. Maybe the highlight of lunch!

Thursday Lunch

2006-12-14T14:22:00.000+11:00

Today I had the day off work, and was waiting on an important call... I have been really anxious to get it for a while today, and felt sure some important information was coming my way this week. I found out at 930am that it wouldn't be until next week.... so my plans of celebrating or consoling myself for the day were replaced with cooking. Above is lunch. It is herbed chicken breast with sweet potato two ways. I boiled and mashed almost a whole kilo piece of sweet potato, blending it with salt, pepper and some honey. And i cut a few large discs which i baked. See below - i tried to present it nicely for once...

So i stacked up a big pile of the mash, and topped it with the three best baked pieces, then loaded it up with chicken. Then i put a mix of herbs, mostly corriander, and honey etc together to make a strong sauce, which i dripped around the edge, and onto the chicken on top.

And of course because i am a pig, and a long way off a real gourmet, i had a side of oven fries! haa... at least i put it on the side! It was good, all very yummy - but the sauce was too sweet and it needed more complexity... not sure how... oh well, next time. At least it looked the part.

Mukunghwa Korean in Glebe

2006-11-17T21:47:00.000+11:00

Best Korean I have had in Sydney. The food, ambience and service are all fantastic. This is not fine dining - it is casual, fun but very delicious and fantastic value for money! Kate and I went along last week and had the banquet, they kindly allowed us to swap one of the dishes for another, and they were all superb. The beef bulgogi was fantastic, and all the side dishes were great too. The home made dumplings were near perfect, and the seafood was pretty good. And the Bek Se Ju was quite nice - much more flavour than the normal SoJu.... Below are a mix of pictures from the night.

Above - the beef...

side dishes, clockwise from top left its a bean sprout dish, sweet flavoured potatoes, vege pancakes and seasoned garlic stems.

spicy seafood stew

a mash up photo kate did on her fancy camera

above and below the bek se ju

The waitress (possibly also an owner) let us keep these two shot glasses! Even before this, she was so wonderfully sweet, helpful and friendly. It really was the best service i can recall at any casual restaurant in Sydney. I cannot recommend this place enough.

Kam Fook Bondi Junction - Yum Cha

2006-11-03T23:15:00.000+11:00

I had high hopes for Kam Fook Bondi Junction - their shop in Chatswood is the business, i had heard good things about this one, and BJ is a nice mall... but i was really really disappointed with it today.
My list of gripes:
- it is over priced
- it is over 'Western'
- the service was crap
- the food was just passable on balance
- and did i mention the service and price?

Ok, so firstly there was hardly any food going around, and the waitresses and floor attendants in general were quite rude - in fact one flatly ignored us, whilst others seemed to choose not to respond or remember orders. Complaining about service at yum cha is odd - it isn't really known for top service - well not the traditional western style that some expect - but it IS known for being very efficient and fast, even if not all smiles and small talk. And I don't want to come off as an ignorant prat (my complaints are compared to the dozens of yum cha places I have been to in Aus and abroad) or like a pompous expert (well I'm at least not an expert), but its my opinion and blog. This was the worst yum cha I have been to, anywhere.

It is trying to be more western - and it's working, with most of the clientele on Friday lunch time western business people and tourists. The seats are plush, a nice view, not too many tables in the place, and it is all quite orderly... everything you don't really want at yum cha! It was not frenetic, energetic, cramped, noising and exciting. It was boring and crap.

The food was far more expensive than their competitors or sister store in Chatswood. The dish of vegies was $8.80 - I would expect around $5-6, and all of the seafood dishes were over $6... Again way too high. And they were not very good! The Har Gow (prawn dumplings) were plump enough, but were not a patch on East Ocean or Marigold, and the prawn rice rolls were ridiculous... at most places, including the chatswood store, they have three whole large plump prawns per roll; here there was 1, maybe 1 and 1/2 diced up throughout the roll - the rice paper was thick and gluggy, and not enough soy based dressing... really poor.

The bill (which initially came overcharging for 1 more tea that we had people) came to $62.40 for 3 people... normally you'd expect to spend under $20pp, and that is eating significantly more than we had that time... we ended up finishing and leaving as we were sick of it. We expressed our displeasure to the manager (i.e. complained), to no avail - except getting the 4th tea taken off the bill.

My advice - skip it. If you don't want to venture from trendy Bondi Junction Westfield, go down to the trendy food court below. Otherwise, go to East Ocean in the City, Ting Ha Palace in Parramatta, or even Kam Fook in Chatswood.

Chicken Feet!

2006-10-09T15:01:00.000+10:00

How to make black bean steamed chicken feet!

Like at yum cha, but without frying!

Get your feet and cut off all the nails.

Then fast boil for 30-35 minutes

then cover in soy sauce. It needs to be dark, so i used double premium soy, and dark mushroom soy.

then leave them, turning occasionally, to soak it all up.

Then mix a few drops of sesame oil, 2 generous teaspoons of blackbean paste and 2 tspoons of mushroom sauce. Add half a finely cut chilli. (to taste)

Here i am just finishing off 3. Put into a bowl, then into a steamer. Steam for at least 15-20 minutes, gathering a fair bit of water in the bowl as you go.

Then mix a bit of corn flour and cold water and add to thicken the sauce. Transfer to serving bowl, spoon over sauce, and eat!

recent cooking

2006-10-09T14:18:00.000+10:00

pineapple and chicken fried rice - looks good huh! That was Kate's creation.

This is chinese prawn and egg. 250g of peeled and deveined prawns (washed with corn starch, salt and water), I wuick boil them to half cook them. Then mix 6 eggs with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and good pinch of white pepper, a few drops of sesame oil. Add a tiny bit of oil, add the white parts of 4 schallots, fry, then add the eggs. As they start to solidify, add the prawns, then just mix around like scrambled eggs. When the eggs are done, remove and garnish with the green part of the schallots. Done!

Est. - Australia's restaurant of the Year!

2006-08-01T16:49:00.000+10:00

After Kate and I graduated last month, my parents took us all out for dinner at Est. (The Establishment) - which is Peter Doyle's restaurant. It was exquisite food, here is some of it.

Above, tranche of duck foie gras, bosc pear, sauternes jelly, toasted brioche 33

This was a special of the night, a crab salad.

salad of duck breast, artichoke heart, girolles, chestnuts, purslane and foie gras, walnut oil 33

grilled white scallops and pork cheek confit, celeriac, jicama, apple and cress salad 33

grilled black angus fillet of beef, bone marrow, wild mushrooms and glazed shallots 46

juniper crusted saddle of venison, butternut, salsify, roasted chestnuts, potato semolina gnocchi 46 - this was mine, perfectly cooked and soo tender.

pan roasted barramundi fillet, on vongole, fennel, confit tomato and lemon 45 (apparently the best barramundi my sister kayo has ever had).

Over all it was all top notch - the service was impeccable, the location very tasteful and all of the ingredients were clearly of the highest order. But I am surprised it was restaurant of the year. The ambience is nice, but its above a overly loud bar, and at well over $100 per person in total, i didn't think the food was THAT good. I am looking forward to trying Tetsuya's and some of Sydney's other fine dining establishments to see how they compare. 4.25 out of 5

More cooking at casa del grange

2006-08-01T16:08:00.000+10:00

what are these called... like potato fritata? It was a tiny bit of pork, veges and mashed up potato, coated in flour and dry pan fried... yum but bland.

A platter of sushi i made...

These ones are kangaroo meat (heavily seasoned and cooked in thin tubes) with carrot, mushroom and Kim Chi!

Some more traditional raw tuna

seared and raw tuna hand rolls..

ABove and below was my first attempt at making caneloni.. it worked well! It was with finely diced chicken breast, and a garlic tomato sauce, with parsley and parmesan on top.

My thai style chicken soup, with soya beans and spice crusted tenderloins.

And this was Kate's creation of black pepper beef with special fried rice!

my home cooking

2006-07-27T23:58:00.000+10:00

I thought i would put up some pictures of recent meals i cooked. Not that i haven't been eating out (contrarily i have been to a few great places recently - including Sydney's restaurant of the year), but we have just moved into a new house and i am so stoked to have a good kitchen!

This is squid stuffed with brown rice, white wine, bacon, pistachio, parsley and .... It was nice, but could use a stronger flavour for the stuffing - maybe safron (?) Nevertheless, I am glad it worked at all, seeing it was an improvised recipe.

This was some Japanese styled seasoned rice, with some Korean style sproutsand roasted carrot as side dishes, and chicken tenderloins seasoned with galangal and ground lemon grass .

This was a joint effort, with seasoned rice, special baby bok choy (cooked in the mushroom water with salt pepper and sugar - SO soft) and shitake mushrooms to share. Then the black plate has egg and sausages (!), and i had roasted eel pieces.

It's SO good to be able to cook! Will probably get tired of it soon though! :)

Masthai Seafood Restaurant

2006-03-19T14:29:00.000+11:00

Last Friday night Kate and I went up to celebrate Kayos birthday. Kayo, Kevin, Kate and I had an absolute feast...

For started i had ginseng and quail soup - and it had an entire quail inside! ($6)

This is steamed king prawns, with schallots, giner and garlic, deslish! But a bit too oily for my palate ($19)

Above is braised scallops with snow peas, it was so good i forgot to take a picture before starting to eat! ($20)

This was singapore style pipi's, the pipis were slightly under cooked, but still nice. And the sauce was great. ($17)

Lovely noodles with sliced duck meat ($13)

Beef fillet with black pepper sauce - deliciously tender! ($18)

And yes, we managed to finish it all easily!

And it came with free red-bean dessert for each of us...

The prices i listed are all approximate, from memory, but it worked out (all in) at $117 for four of us, which was very reasonable i thought. It was good value, good food - not the kind of place you go to for atmosphere, presentation or service, but the food was top notch and good value.

Friendship Oriental Restaraunt

2006-02-15T17:26:00.000+11:00

Hi guys, last night (for valentines day) we went up to Beverly Hills (near Hurstville) for a nice seafood dinner. Check it out. We ended up ordering a lot, and it was all fantastic!

Above is a shark-fin and crab meat soup for two, it was really good, the best of this kind of soup i have had.

This little fella became the centre of of meal, see below. He was about $78 per kilo. We had it cooked with ginger, garlic and schallots.

The Bargain of the night, below, was half a crispy skin chicken with some ymmy sauces - for $1.80! haha, but limit of one per table, and only as an additional dish, still - bargain.
This is braised prawns and abalone! it was fantastic, it was my first time to have abalone, and the mushrooms were the best i have ever had.My first taste of abalone.
All of that food was between 2 people! just kate and i... but we finished it, and rice, and wine! See below, there was very little left after 2 hours of solid eating!

So i would really reccomend this place to anyone wanting to try a chinese seafood restaraunt. The prices were a little higher than others for some dishes ($37 for prawn and abalone) but the quality of the ingrediants accounted for that. And the specials ($8.80pp for the soup, $1.80 for chicken and $85 for the lobster) were all very reasonable. And corkage was just $2.

a solid 3.75 stars! (out of 5)

(short of 4 because the atmosphere, decor and service

were not as good as they could have been)

French Food!

2006-01-20T12:51:00.000+11:00

(I accidently posted this message in the wrong blog! so i have put it back in here as well - sorry!)

You'll notice this isnt the usual creamy sauces and heavy foods associated with French cuisine, but this is the eclectic mix i had whilst in France...

First up some good old sushi - which actually wasn't great, but i was dying for sushi by this stage of the trip.

A delicious mango desert Christophes mum prepared.
I think this was chicken, beef and quail yakitori at the same japanese joint...
a salad with lettuce, fruit and fois gras.
(French) onion soup
Before and after frogs legs entre

I think this was a duck dish... it was a mish mash of meats and gelatine.

And this was something else i can't remember, think it was someone elses meal..

last from hong kong

2006-01-19T10:53:00.000+11:00

Above is the lobster i was thinking of first... but decided he was just too small!I included this one, because as good as the food was, it was the company that made this special dinner so great - thanks again to Karina, Helen, Keiran and Keith (and Doug!) for their hospitality.
Above is a little chocolate cake the girls had at this swish bar we visited on like the 50th floor overlooking the harbour.
Enjoying my lobster, and below are 'Crystal Balls' we had earlier in the week. They are a desert, but not overly sweet. THe black ones had sesame inside, and the lighter ones was the seeds of lotus flowers!

So thats it! I ate lots of other fantastic foods where i couldn't take pictures (including jellyfish and the best sweet and sour fish i ever had!), but this give you an idea of the variety of things i was able to have whilst travelling, despite my limited diet! Now its back to the real world of noodles and sandwiches all the time! yay!

more to come!

2006-01-19T10:42:00.000+11:00

First up this was a massive breakfast meant for 1! Lucky we shared it, it had a bowl of congee that was more than enough for 2 alone, plus rice rolls, tea, a pork bun, Har Gow and dim sim.. huge.

This is the lobster i picked out for dinner the night we ate with the O'Carrol family. They have a special style at that restaraunt, they made the tail into a noodle dish (below) and the head and legs into a congee (further below)

(My congee is looking at me!)

This was ginger, garlic, chilli and eschallot prawns, yum
The funny thing is that despite this being in a little fishing village, most of the seafood comes from Ausralia! There is some small local amounts (not much thanks to the pollution), some from nothern china (the lobster i had) and the rest is indonesia and australia. And whilst the Australian stuff is generally the most expensive, its still cheaper than buying it in Oz!

Yu Seafood restaraunt @ Intercontinental Hotel

2006-01-19T10:35:00.000+11:00

Kate and i had a wonderful dinner at the Yu Seafood restaraunt @ Intercontinental Hotel. Below is the starter we shared, which is a sampler of the seafood delicacies of the house, including lobster salad, handrolls, tempura... fantastic.Here is a close up of the salmon, handroll and squid offerings.
This was my main meal, a big ol' prawn and fillet of Wagyu beef - both cooked perfectly and great pieces of meat.
This was Kates black bean lobster, they cooked the meat in the sauce, and present the shell with the noodles in place of the tail, i thought it looked pretty nifty.
Haha, i had to take a picture of this. When we were in France, an unnamed someone asked for ketchup in a restaraunt and was met with looks of shock and disgust from the other diners and the waiter... not the done thing in french restaraunts. So this one thoughtfully gave us a delicate cup of fancy ketchup so we didn't have to ask like peasants!

Hong Kong yumminess

2006-01-19T10:29:00.000+11:00

Salty squid appetizer
Its no wonder so many people eat out... the supermarkets are a nightmare to shop in, its almost as busy as the streets - check out this isle!
This japanese lunch included a seafood soup in a teapot, sweet jumping prawn sushi, duck breast sushi, and abalone sushi, also had tuna maki and swordfish handroll.
2*1 litre cans of beer... fantastic.
This was a volcano cocktail... with bacardi 151 alight for effect.

last of france, and onto Hong Kong

2006-01-19T10:19:00.000+11:00

Well, here is the Horse meat i had! (Cheval). It took a while to find, but eventually on the last evening we found some, and i cooked it myself at home..

And then ate it for supper, breakfast and lunch the next day!

On to Hong Kong! Whilst part of europe were cheap, and London and France were generally very nice, Hong Kong was definitely the highlight food wise on the trip. The prices were very fair, and the food was overall exceptionally good.

This first picture is from a very big Yum Cha palace in Shatin, the area Kate lives.. much bigger than anything in Sydney.

Above these are scallop rice rolls, delicious - and below is their remains, and two Har Gow (prawn dumplings). Har Gow is my favourite dish at yum cha, and this place was the best i have ever tasted.
This was just weird! It was in a 7/11 in Hong Kong - Diet Body Pleasure...?

and more french food!

2006-01-19T10:08:00.000+11:00

above was at a crepe house, i didnt have this one, but i hear it was good.
This is Morrocan chicken Capel style.Oops, put this in already, oh well it was good!
This was the scallop salad with buckwhet pancakes i had at the crepe house.
The inimitable fois gras.
a bagguette that at the time i thought looked like a smilie face... it doesn't really tho.
Vietnamese, wasn't great, but the soup was really nice especially on the cold day!
Another scallop salad! This was the best one.

more french food

2006-01-19T09:58:00.000+11:00

the infamous creme brulee
a tuna pate that cat made, yummo
a bargain seafood salad at an Italian restaraunt in Nice.
home made bagguete in Monaco
St Jacques scallops entre in the south of france... mmmm

Food Update.

2006-01-19T09:14:00.000+11:00

Hi, finally getting around to posting some food news from my trip. SOrry it has taken so long - it means most of the detail is gone from my mind, but i will share whatever i can remember.

Above is the yummy nut bread with whipped cheese that i had accompanying my Wild Bear that i ate in Estonia, and below is the Wild Boar that i had at the same restaraunt a few nights earlier - it was juicy and delicious.
Below is the pottery beer mug that they served their homemade beers from - great.

The ammenities, the fake old fashion toilet and urinal... novel, but not overly practical.

These dishes were from a Thai/Vietnamese joint i visited in Berlin, i think it was a prawn soup and a lemongrass chicken main... can't remember much else but it was cheap!
More to come...

food food food

2006-01-06T02:51:00.000+11:00

Hi all, sorry i haven't posted much lately, but i have been eating really well (including duck, fois gras, salmon and HORSE!), and i will update with pics and details asap (possibly after i return to Aus).

bring on the 'straight from the ocean' seafood at the local village, and chinese yum cha!!

Tartu - Tsink Plekk Pang

2005-12-15T18:33:00.000+11:00

Ok, this was a cheap meal i had at a cool student restaurant in Tartu. It was chinese-japanese-indian-international. It was chinese shrimp soup, and sesame chicken salad with tofu. Yum! With bread and a couple of beers it was about AUD$12.

(the name Tsink Plekk Pang sounds asian-ish, but is actually the native Estonian language, meaning zink plated bucket! Which is the main decorating theme!)

Wild Estonian Brown Bear

2005-12-14T06:35:00.000+11:00

Yep, i just had my first try of bear meat. I will post pictures tomorrow, but thought i would put up the descriptions now, cos i have little else to do tonight (and this way i won't forget!).

So for starters I had Dried Elk meat with Herbs, and a half litre of Dark honey beer. Yummo. The elk meat was essentially jerky, but it was much better flavour than normal jerky, and was presented well... see upcoming pictures.

For the main i had the bear meat cooked over a fire, with pickled ginger, spelt (?), mixed berries and some other vegies. The ginger was very very mild, as was the garlic that accompanied the boar last time, and the berries were a great compliment. The meat it self was not at all what i expected, the flavour was not over powering at all! It was very tender, even though flame grilled, it felt like it was broiled! The flavour was delicate, and went really well with the glass of Cuvee De LiHermitage Satnt (?) Marcin des Champs (french red wine).

The waitress today was really great. I managed to get a discount, as the menu i got was an old one, and the prices were lower than on the system. She was good about it, and finally didn't charge me for the entree or water to equalise it -- and she gave me a bag of Elk meat to take with me! So, it was a pricey meal anyway, but ultimately it came to AUD$83 instead of $92.

I will be sure to post pictures, as well as others from the trip, in the next few days.

Olde Hansa

2005-12-13T03:57:00.000+11:00

Ok, so last night i ate at the Olde Hansa restaurant (http://www.oldehansa.com/). I can't post the pictures yet, but thought i would write about it whilst i remember. Because it was kind of expensive, i just had a main and one drink. The drink was a light beer with cinnamun, which was quite yummy (if i go back i will try the dark one with honey). It was all served on old styled heavy plates and cups etc. The main i had was fillet of Wild Boar, with sauerkraut and other sides. It was lean meat, and didn't taste too oily (some of the sides did though). The main was AUD$29 and the beer $5.50. I am tossing up gonig back to try the Wild BEAR they have on offer, but seeing that is more expensive (and would deserve a decent glass of wine to accompany it too) i am not sure. If i can relaly economise on food in the mean time (keep today and tmrw to $20 total) then i figure it will balance out! I really want to try it, but would rather eat nice meals with company!

But its BEAR; how cool is that? and it sounds yummy, check out the menu description: " Bear Marinated in rare spices and cooked over a fire in honour of Waldemar II, the brave King of Denmark Also, cooked spelt cakes with herbs on the side" Ok so it doesnt tell you that much at all really, but its still bear!

Anyway, will post pictures soon when i get the chance.

Berlin Food.

2005-12-11T03:55:00.000+11:00

So, here is the crappest value meal i have had so far on the trip (maybe ever!). I got it at a restaurant attached to an up-scale Xmas market, so its no wonder it was over priced, but damn.. It was on the menu as King Prawn noodles with Cognac sauce (or thats how it was translated by the waiter, who also assured me it wasn't creamy!). I would call penne pasta not noodles personally, and it only had TWO prawns in it!!! ANd it was swimming in cream and butter, so i hardly ate any of it. Now, i guess i should have figured a cognac sauce would accompany pasta not noodles, and it would be creamy, but i imagined some asian noodle dish with a citrus sauce that had an extra bite of cognac... not so! and it was 13.50 euro, or AUS$22... which way too much!
So, to fill my tummy two hours later, i had Subway! This is roast chicken with lettuce, onion and cucumber with sweet onion sauce, it was only 3.5 euro, and delicious! :) And here it is a slice of chicken breast as opposed to the processed chicken u get in australia.
And for todays lunch i wanted something German-ish, and seeing bratwurst etc are all too fatty, i took the least deadly option at the stall at the xmas market, which was a pork/lamb/beef (not sure which) fillet with seasoned onions on a round roll, i.e. a steak sandwich - but with nice spices. It was also 3.5 euro, and very yummy.

I am planning to go find somewhere for dinner tonight nearby. There is supposed to be a strip of restaurants around here, so i will try to find something nice/low fat/reasonably priced... fingers crossed.

Cyrano - Budapest

2005-12-08T07:58:00.000+11:00

So i had been scrimping to afford this place, and in the end it was very nice, but not out of this world - but its ok, because it was still good value by Australian standards. That said, it was expensive by Hungarian standards, and they obviously have had to deal with this before, seeing they had a sign on the front door making it clear that they don't serve hamburgers!
For starters i had Fowl Broth with Tarragon = and i wasn't expecting it to be creamy like this, but anyway. It was nice and full of meat, i just tried to avoid the creamy sauce as much as i could. This was 890HUF (AUD$5)
For main i had King Prawn in Chilli and garlic with mashed pesto flavoured potato and japanese ginger. This was three huge prawns atop a pile of mash. It was very nice, the prawns were perfectly cooked, the flavours were balanced and the mash didn't seem overly fatty. This was 3990HUF (AUD$24) Which is fine by Aus standards, good even, but a lot for this area (last nights main course was 900!)

I also had a glass of the house white wine, which was good (but unnamed) and it was 890 also - alcohol in restaurants is a rip off compared to the food. Also, they 'hid' the service charge in the middle of the bill which seemed strange, which equated to $5 itself, so the total came out at AUD$40 for the lot - not bad for a nice meal, but i wish i had have had company - the service here was pretty poor, but it may have just been the one waiter i had. Besides i am noticing how 'alone' i am here, there are SO many couples kissing in the streets, its like Paris! Oh well, thats life.

European food!

2005-12-07T07:03:00.000+11:00

Ok, here we go, here is the start of the food i have tried at restaurants on my trip. I won't try to remember details about them like a review, but where i can i will give titles, prices etc.
The was 3 colored steak, chicken, beef and pork. With potato side dish it was about AUD$9.

These two were my fanciest meal so far, a prawn and crab starter and duck with leek main = with 2 glasses of wine it still only came to AUD$25.

Above is a stuffed chicken breast with traditional sides ordered from a monastery restaurant and bar outside Prague.
This was chicken stuffed with mushroom.

These two were probably the best so far. I cant recall the name of the starter, its finely sliced raw beef with oil and lemon juice (i skipped the oil).The main was a venison skewer.
This is meant to be traditional Czech, its Prague Ham (smoked) with cabbage and potato dumplings)

This is sauted camembert cheese.
Below is my first nice dinner in Budapest - but i am not sure if it is traditional Hungarin - it is Orange flavoured chicken, side dish of potatos. This was about AUD$6 for the main and potatos, with 2 half litre beers, service charge and tip it was AUD$14.

Stay tuned -- i have spotted a michelin rated restaurant in Budapest that is really cheap... so i hope to dine there tomorrow.

Imperial Peking YUM CHA - Blakehurst

2005-11-27T17:16:00.000+11:00

So today i went back to Imperial Peking today for Yum Cha, it was better than the first time i went there, it was fairly busy, and we were seated upstairs, which is a smaller room (see the buliding below). Actually the restaurant layout is not very good for yum cha service...

For those of you who've never been, its customary to drink tea with Yum Cha, its said to help digest the food and disperse the oil. Actually, Yum Cha is literally translated as 'drink tea'.

This is BBQ pork rice rolls - yummy.

Prawn and mango rolls - it was pastry and fried - was nice, but too oily for me, and the mango flavor was not strong enough.
Prawn and asparagus rolls coated in sesame - ok, the prawn flavour was overwhelmed by the sesame though.
Mixed seafood dumpling with corn. The corn was a nice balance to the prawns, but the mixed seafood was limited to school prawns and seafood extender..
Har Gow - Prawn dumplings.

This is my favourite at yum cha normally, but its not great here - too dry.

Sticky rice balls - sticky rice is very common, it has some meat and vegies through it. In this style it is coated in a light egg coating and steamed - quite nice.

I think that is all the dishes we had... It came out to $34 for 2 people, and we were both stuffed and took some BBQ pork rolls home with us. Its nice, and close if you live in Wollongong - but if you get into your Yum Cha, skip this one and go to China town or Chatswood.

Salt - Darlinghurst

2005-11-27T00:30:00.000+11:00

Just to set the benchmark, below was the best meal i ever ate. It cost a lot, but was worth it. This was from 6 months ago, so there isn't detailed comments - but i cannot fault the service or food at all - except the desert was a tiny bit to strong for me. This rates 4 stars (out of 5... it was great, but i must leave room to improve!)

Note the pictures have loaded in funny order, and i dont have every course... but here we go. (the wines listed are those that came as matched for each course of the degustation)

Scotch Fillet Wagyu Beef with Figs & Prosciutto, Asparagus, Truss tomatoes & Zucchini, Balsamic dressing (2003 Sanguine Estate Shiraz)

Cocoanut Broth with Prawn, Mushroom, Nori and Foie Gras. (2003 Palacios Remondo - Spain)

Crab Ravioli, Corn Puree, Sauce Vierge (2001 Lake George Unfiltered Chardonnay - Aus)

Licorice Parfait, Lime Syrup (2001 Domaine ROtier Gaillac Doux - France)

Tempura of Quail With Sesame & Wasabi Dressing, Daikon, Watercress & Carrot (2002 DOmaine Collette Marannay - France)

There are a few courses missing here, including chilled beetroot shots, softly poached quail egg, and seared scallops with GOlden beetroot, fresh motzarella, honey and Thyme dressing.

This 8 course degustation cost AU$125pp - $165pp with matched wines. It was the most expensive meal i have paid for yet, and far and away the best. I am keen to better it!

Zouch Restaurant Young

2005-11-21T22:46:00.000+11:00

First on the bill, Hopping Mad Brewery Ale. This is brewed in Orange in NSW. It was fairly full bodied, not overly heavy though - nice. Lighter than you would expect for the colour. And the sediment was thick, more like granules that the fine mist you get in some coopers. (See below)

For starters, this was the pan fried prawns with tomato and fennel.The prawns seemed fresh and well cooked, but for my money the flavours were not strong enough, it was very middle of the road. And i thought the olive oil butter combo was a bit too much.
This was the Duck Ragu with peper and thyme crepe - again, it was ok but not great. It was very middle of the road, and didn't jump out at me at all. The sauce was 'country style' in that it was mild, medium bodied and no strong accents really. More home-styled than fancy. And the duck seemed lean (most pieces without the skin) which meant they were a bit tuff.
This was my main meal - Rabbit braised with white wine and herbs. Again home styled, and totally lacking any zest for my palate. The meat was TOUGH - perhaps cooked too quick. It was the thigh section and part of the chest. It seemed that the flavour combinations and sides were determined more by local availability than their congruence - every main was served with asparagus and mash

Belgian chocolate Mousse with white chocolate sauce and chocolate curls. This was nice and rich, the sauce was mild - for me the mouse could have been richer in flavour though.

All said, it was a nice restaurant, the food wasn't exceptional but fine, but the atmosphere was refreshingly relaxed and welcoming.

Welcome!

2005-11-19T17:33:00.000+11:00

Hi to all those reading along at home! I am a huge food lover (not as huge as i used to be though!) In fact i would say it is one of my three main passions: film; travel and food. Luckily having had the chance to travel a little, i have been able to try a range of native foods and i really enjoy it: i actually try to have as many local dishes as i can whilst travelling, as well as trying each of the local beers. I also like to splurge on good quality restaurants from time to time. Unfortunately, my passions of travel and fine dining are hampered by the fact that i am a poor student, and that i had gastric bypass surgery back in december 2000 (see here)- which means i have to be very careful about my fat and oil intake. It makes chosing meals at a restaurant hard - duck skin- too fatty, nuts - too fatty, avacado - nope, cream - out... etc etc. But i manage.

Seeing i keep a travel blog too, which i often upload pics of meals i've had, i thought why not make this its own page, and try to be a bit more conscientious about it. So i will try to get details of menu item, restaurant details, price, oiliness etc as well as what i think of the tastes and the establishment itself. So i will try to do this for all the nice places (and the cheap ones) i eat at here and abroad - as much as possible. I hope someone finds it interesting, but either way it satisfies me to keep this kind of record for myself. So anyway, stay tuned and take care!