3 states in 3 days- Sydney: Kam fook

——-11/03/2012——-

Rarely do all my family get to sit down and eat together since we have all moved out of home, so it is great when we are all in the area to go out and eat some seafood… Oh and spend time with each other 

Complimentary soup

Mud crab cooked with ginger and shallot and a noodle base OMG so good! The only bad thing was I had to share it with 9 other people 

Mushroom stuffed with fish I didn’t realise they were stuffed until I flipped it over. It was such a delicious rich brown sauce that made the mushroom extra juicy when you bite into it.

Wagyu Steak with honey and black pepper We didn’t necessarily think the meat was wagyu calibre, it was still tender nonetheless. Perfect amount of honey and black pepper!

Some sort of chicken with sticky rice I don’t really recall what this was but it was really nice flat crispy chicken on top of a delicious bed of rice. I might have to show this picture so I can order it again next time.

Fish soup fungus and vegetables Definitely a Winter warmer. I didn’t eat much of this but I did have the soup with the bok choy.

Yin Yang fried rice A favourite for the young and old. This beautiful rice is presented as the name suggests, in the shape of ‘yin yang’, with chicken, onion and a tomato base side tucked up next to a creamy prawn side. Some people like scooping from one side or the other but I liked both mixed in together. 

Complimentary fruit platter After all the food I guess it’s good to eat some fruit, they weren’t particularly sweet though.

Complimentary sweet soup– red bean soup Mmmmm my favourite Chinese sweet soup served nice and warm.

Complimentary random assorted biscuits Not very overly sweet or maybe I should have eaten this before the red bean soup.

The food was served rather promptly with both waiter and a server for each dish. Everyone got food really quickly which is great because I was starving. I’ve also been here for yum cha and even though it gets really busy, this never has put a strain on the large number of staff.

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Hi there, just to let you know, you’re publishing your posts on urbanspoon months in advance so it’s always stuck at the top for months and months when we want to see new blog posts.

Hi Anonymous,

I’m eating faster than I can blog so I’m about two months behind. I add the Urbanspoon link at the bottom so people can gauge what percentage of other people liked or disliked the same restaurant. Urbanspoon seems to be publishing the date as either: 1). The date I post onto my blog 2). The date that I ate at the restaurant or 3). The date that they think I ate at the restaurant and somehow confusing the day with the month.

This is obviously something I cannot control and I assure you I’m not deliberately trying ‘to get stuck up the top for months’, but thanks for letting me know.

Last morsels

Disappearing act #macaron #sweet #dessert #food #foodporn (Taken with instagram)

Raspberry and salted caramel macarons #food #pretty #foodporn #dessert #pink #sweet #macaron #macarons (Taken with instagram)

So smooth and rich #food #chocolate #tart #pretty #foodporn #foodporn #dessert (Taken with instagram)

Tuesday night is burger night @ the Calwell club!

That’s right! Not only are Tuesdays just reserved for ‘tight arse movie night’, it shall now also be remembered for the delicious gourmet burgers available at the Calwell Club.

I don’t really recall what was on my burger, they had me at ‘wagyu beef patty‘ and ‘home-made tomato relish’. I happily gave away my pickle ‘hat’ to someone more appreciative of it.

For those who have watched me eat a hamburger, I always eat most, if not all of the salad from it first, leaving a delicious meat patty covered in cheese. Even though this burger was very tall, I ate the whole thing without deconstructing the layers (except for the pickle). It was sooooo tasty! The meat, the cheese, the fresh salad down to the roll that it came on was all fabulous.

Due to sheer excitement (and I didn’t think I was going to blog this dinner) I didn’t take note of the price but all three burgers were <$15.00.

For those who can unhinge their jaw a little more than others, they can attempt to eat the Hawaiian burger with egg, pineapple and bacon. Also two thumbs up from another patron.

The third burger choice was a gourmet chicken burger, but I’m not one for chicken on my burger unless it’s a schnitzel, so I didn’t really take note of what was on it. 

With several large tables, I thought it would be a really long wait for the food but the garlic bread arrived at the table before I did (I was too busy asking everyone what they were ordering). The service was very prompt and food came out in a timely manner during a ‘rush hour’ of people. Those who didn’t order from the gourmet burger menu also enjoyed their food (their steaks looked really good). The restaurant has a family friendly atmosphere with friendly service. I also like how they have several condiments (mustards and sauces etc) available for everyone.

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: High tea @ the Swissotel

——-11/03/2012——-

It probably wasn’t the best idea to go to an all your eat High Tea @ the Swissotel before trying on bridesmaid dresses but we had 2 for 1 prepaid vouchers and we’re not all together that often. 

They offer you bubbles after you’re seated. 

Now for the cakes! Everything looked so beautiful and uniform, a lovely spread.

Dark chocolate Lindt fountain.

The scones were really small dense and hard, I didn’t waste my time with them.

A great selection of sandwiches on different breads- white, rolls, wraps and baguettes.

Complete with a wide selection of tea 

and a piano man.

I could show you my countless plates…

but I’ll just show you all the different cakes. 

A great selection cakes and savouries including passion fruit curd tart, dark chocolate tart, fluffy light chocolate mousse, hazelnut cake, jaffa cake, char sui bao, prawn toast, spring rolls, vegetarian and quiche Lorraine.

 

I also stocked up on savouries! Yum yum 

I was unimpressed with their lack of attention to taking away used plates as we had to leave them clumsily stacked to the side and some things weren’t restocked once depleted like spring rolls and prawn toast, so it’s best to get there early and not miss out.

I do like how they change their selection of cakes and savouries because I have been here before. It’s definitely one of the better high teas that I have been to.

Venue: Crossroads Bar, Swissotel Sydney

Address: CBD, 68 Market St Level 8, Sydney, NSW 2000

Phone: (02) 9238 7082

High tea: $55pp Monday – Sunday 2:00pm – 4:00pm 

I was munching on.. Frozen strawberry yoghurt

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: Adriano Zumbo Patissier

——-10/03/2012——-

Okay, you caught me out, 85% of the reason of why I dragged my family out to The Star was so we could go to Adriano Zumbo Patissier afterwards. I wasn’t crazy enough to even attempt to line up for a dessert train, where the number of people waiting clearly outnumbered the amount of chairs on the dessert train, but I did intend on grabbing a few treats to go and share them later with Timmy.

I didn’t want to stand around and play ‘the Hunger games’, I grabbed my goodies to go!

But what to choose?

Hot Cross bun ($2.50) this was so awesome, each nibble contained fruit and tasted exactly like a hot cross bun with a completely different texture and salted butter caramel ($2.50) You could taste the salt which really brought out the sweetness of the caramel, the macaron was nice and chewy and might have been the best salted caramel I’ve eaten (or rival Dream Cuisine‘s)?

Ssnowmanorr– Pate a choux, bubbles tea custard, lychee coconut creme legere, lychee gel, coconut crunch ($9.00) The chewy coconut shell encased a light fluffy custard and in the centre there was sago was in a thick dark lychee custard. The different textures and flavours was fabulous, definitely a cake to try!

Carmello ($8.00) Okay I forgot to take a photo of the description of this but I can tell you it was like an extravagant apple strudel and it was AH-MAZ-ING. It had sweet pastry sandwiching a delicious caramel custard with apples to balance out the sweetness of it all. Hard to cut due to the nature of the pastry and custard so not worth sharing and because it is so delicious, it is definitely not worth sharing!

Good things: they have enough staff to make the ‘take away line’ go quickly, everything is delicious you cannot go wrong with what you choose, everything looks amazing and wonderful and cute custom packaging

Bad things: such a long line for the dessert train and when you get to the dessert train it is easy to spend $80+ without realising it, all the cakes look so good, it’s hard to choose just one.

Venue: Adriano Zumbo Patissier

Address: Shop 1, Cafe Court, The Star, 80 Pyrmont st, Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Entry Via Edward St

Opening hours:

Monday

Store: 11am- 10pm

Dessert Train: Closed.

Tuesday to Thursday

Store: 11am till 11pm

Dessert Train: Closed Tuesday 

Wednesday – Thursday: 6-10:30pm 

Friday & Saturday

Store: 11am till Midnight

Dessert Train: Friday: 6pm -11.30pm

Saturday: 2pm -11:30pm

Sunday

Store: 11am till 9pm

Dessert Train:12pm – 6:30pm

Introducing Sugar Daddy

6-8pm Wednesday through Saturday

Pink and White Plates are $4 and Black Plates $8

Wish List: Quay restaurant

I was recently browsing through the top 50 restaurants in the world and Quay has won ‘The Best Restaurant in Australasia‘ for the third year in a row, but before you jump on the phone to make a reservation to see what all the hype is about, read the following taken from their website:

RESERVATIONS

For reservations please contact us 02 9251 5600 or email reservations@quay.com.au

We are open daily for Dinner service from 6pm – 10pm. 

Lunch service is Tuesday to Friday, taking bookings from 12pm – 2:30pm.  

We do receive a high volume of email reservations daily. Please allow at least 48 hours in which to reply to your request. We do encourage you to contact reservations directly on 02 9251 5600 if you wish to make a booking within the 48 hour period.

The reservations office is open from 3pm – 6pm on Mondays and 10am-6pm Tuesday to Friday. 

We take bookings no more than 6 months in advance.

The restaurant is currently booked out for dinner until end of July 2012 for bookings of two and four guests. Friday and Saturdayevenings are booked out 6 months in advance for bookings of two and four guests.

For all reservations for December please contact the restaurant from 1st June 2012.

We do require credit card details to be provided to secure the reservation. 

Please view our Cancellation Policy

Online reservations cannot be made for groups of 6 or more guests. The maximum capacity for group bookings is 12 guests. 

If you do have any dietary requirements please mention these when making your reservation online or via the telephone. 

Quay accepts the following credit cards:Mastercard, Visa. American Express and Diners Club. 
We do not offer Eftpos facilities.

We look forward to welcoming you to Quay.

Just add Jamie: capital may be latest city to serve up pukka tukka

Just add Jamie: capital may be latest city to serve up pukka tukka

Megan Doherty May 24, 2012

One of the world’s most recognisable chefs, Jamie Oliver, may soon be bringing his ”pukka tukka” to Canberra, with confirmation his representatives in Australia are actively looking for a restaurant site in the national capital.

Pacific Restaurant Group managing director Adam Heathcote told The Canberra Times yesterday the 37-year-old English chef was looking to open at least a second Jamie’s Italian restaurant in Australia by next year and Canberra was in the mix.

There are 27 Jamie’s Italian restaurants in Britain, but only three located internationally: Sydney, Dubai and Dublin. Rumours that a Jamie’s Italian would go in the Canberra Centre at the second-level site of the now-closed Border’s book shop was scotched by Mr Heathcote, who said the restaurant would have to be at ground level, and they still had to find that perfect location.

”We know Canberra people would love us to be there and consequently we’d love to be there,” he said, adding ”it’s certainly a city that sits very high on our Desire to Be There List”.

The Pacific Restaurant Group holds the development agreement in Australia and New Zealand for Jamie’s Italian restaurants.

Mmmmmn’mmmm

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: Flying Fish and Chips

——-10/03/2012——-

The Flying Fish and Chips looked promising, offering a variety of seafood from fresh sashimi to fried fish and chips to oven roasted Tasmanian salmon. 

Grilled seafood platter for 1- grilled fish, scallops, baby calamari, king prawn, grilled Moreton Bay bugs, fat chips with chilli salt ($29.00) I went to pick up my platter straight after my buzzer went off and when I got it everything was pretty much luke warm, although the chips didn’t go soggy. On top of this, the seafood was a bit too salty and nothing really ‘wow’ed me. It was rather quiet disappointing, especially considering I had the most expensive meal by far.

Venue: Flying and Fish and Chips

Address: Level G, Café Court, The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Opening hours: Monday: 11am-10pm

                               Tues-Thu: 11am-11pm

                               Fri & Sat: 11am–midnight

                               Sunday: 11am-9pm

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: Cafe Court @ the Star

——-10/03/2012——-

It was just coincidental that we ended up at another food court later that day. I wanted to check out the new revamped ‘The Star’ after I saw all the flags on the street during the International Crave food festival. We tried to get into MomoFuku but it was hard enough to find the door and when we finally did, it turns out that they were completely booked for two weeks straight.

Would you have noticed a restaurant behind this wall?

We divided and conquered the food court coming back with different things.

Din Tai Fung~

Shrimp and pork Shao Mai ($10.80) Delicious hot dumplings, I like how they still serve it in a steamer even though it’s a food court.

Cha Jiang Noodle with minced pork ($13.80) Really nice noodles with a flavoursome topping.

Dergah Grill~

Chicken kebab ($9.50) This seemed to have a relatively short line which was a plus. The kebab was hot and tasty but nothing special.