#letsdodessert

October Good Food Month calls for some much needed food blogging in amidst the existential ramblings of yours truly.

Following a walk to The Star where I met up with J, 'chelle, and A; we had a quick dinner where I finally managed to satisfy my chips craving with a hearty fish and chips at Flying Fish and Chips.

Classic fish and chips (15)

Although the chips were incredibly delicious, roughly cut and paralleling the crisp glory that are Manning Bar chips, I felt like the fish was at times a bit disappointing. Maybe had a generous shake of salt covered it I might have felt differently, but all in all it was a pretty good meal.

Next on we moved on to proceed to do two 'sugarhits'. For the past two nights, J had been galling me with her proclamations of 'sugarhits' to which I had no idea what was going on. Turns out 'Let's Do Dessert' (as it is called now) used to be called 'Sugarhits'; testament to the age of my lovely sister and her friends.

First was a leisurely walk to the Google building (of all places, I didn't think the Google building would be located in Pyrmont though!), where we found Signorelli Gatronomia, which may have just become my favourite restaurant. Quietly tucked away next to what seems at night like a creepy park, the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous. The service was absurdly, ridiculously impeccable, outdoor seating (it's not quite outdoors, more like indoors the Google building, but outdoors in terms of the restaurant if that makes sense) featured high bar tables as well as couches and lounges; tables were lit by faux candles and the echo of laughter and merriment continually softly filled the air by others cradling wine glasses and drinks.

We were treated to the vertical garden, this beast of a dessert which featured frozen nougat, rose blossom loukoum, lychee jelly, raspberry yolk and a pistachio wall.

There honestly isn't much I can say about this except that this is, by far the best dessert I have ever had. I'm sometimes this old lady who doesn't like new things or modern infusions because the taste is a bit too advanced for myself or it's just too bizarre. But wow, wow. the twill was soft and crisp, the combination of the fresh lychee and the pistachio and everything was just perfect. Far from being heavy on the palette, this is honestly just delicious. If you can't make it out to anything this October, make it out to just this restaurant, for this dessert. No amount of hype will kill the glowing reviews I'm giving it. And, for 20$ all up inclusive with the delicious dessert wine provided, it's an absolute bargain!

After an hour or so of talking about politics (it was far more interesting that what it sounds like I swear!), we ventured out to find the Grace Brasserie, where we found ourselves in an albeit bizarre location with uncertainties with what to expect.

But combatting the light delicacy that was the vertical garden, we were pleasantly surprised with the richness of the hazelnut praline chocolate mousse cake with green tea ice-cream, berries and pistachio floss that we were presented with.





All in all it was a lovely night filled with thought provoking conversation, delicious food and an overall need to start a strenuous routine of gym life (especially given that China is fast approaching).

xx

Dinner at Din Tai Fung, Chatswood

Don't be put off by the (relatively) poor Urbanspoon rating, I was almost in tears for the most part of this dinner because the food was so good.

Tofu with pork floss and preserved duck egg

The food comes out exceptionally quickly and following Asian food tradition, everything comes as it comes and there isn't really a set structure of entree/main/dessert. Ordering the tofu with pork floss and preserve duck egg (8.8), I was skeptical given that I (to put it mildly) don't enjoy pork floss; but lo and behold the dish was pretty damn good. The tofu was fresh and the combination of preserved duck egg, pork floss and tofu was strangely really nice. Of course, not a dish for everyone, but the flavour of preserved duck egg was incredibly mild in contrast to everything else - the pork floss is the flavour that seems to come through the strongest. So for me, not my favourite but it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be.

Spicy shrimp and pork wonton

Now we should note that I am extremely picky about wonton. Since I was born (no melodrama here I swear), I have never liked any wonton from any person or restaurant that is not made by my lovely mother. It's something to do with the flavouring, the amount of meat, the flavouring of the meat etc. etc.; but wow the spicy shrimp and pork wonton (9.3) was delicious.If I had a stronger chilli tolerance I would order bowls after bowls of this stuff, but alas I knew I had full dishes to myself to consume and so I had 4 of these and relinquished the rest to my sister who gladly gobbled them up (in conjunction with her own bowl). 

Fried pork dumpling

I will probably never say no to deep fried anything. The same was the case here with the fried pork dumplings (5.8). No fault, the serving portion was just the right size, the Japanese mayo (I'm assuming) was a lovely addition, the meat inside was juicy and sweet. No faults.

Pork xiao long bao 

I won't say too much about the pork xiao long bao (12.8) because there's a lot about them on the food blogosphere but wow they're worth the hype. The skin is thin and just right, the soup juices hot and delicious, everything everything was just right. 

Chicken fillet

My sister was incredibly skeptical that this would turn out really nice, but there was this beaming 'specialty' indicator next to the chicken fillet (10.8) so I got it and no regrets at all. Given this came out at the same time as the xiao long bao and the fried pork dumplings, I went into a bit of a delicious-food-shock having been presented with so many delicious things at once. It was also around about this time that I started tearing up because the food was so good (it might help to add for context that J and I had been surviving on tacos, instant pasta and everything in Heston for Coles food range so all these delicious, fresh things came as a bit of a hit in the face)

Vegetarian bun and Vegetable Pork bun

In all honesty the buns were probably the biggest let down for the night. Mum makes the best vegetable buns (and meat buns) ever, so really, this was sort of a doomed from the beginning.

When we went, wait time was very brief at about a few minutes and we were in. Upon being seated, you're presented with both a 'menu' and what looks like a take-away check list. You proceed to order through checking off what you want off the 'list' and then hail the waiter once selected. Wait time for food was a little longer but it didn't really matter in the end because the quality of the food was such top notch. We were also given a bag-stand-carrier (how does one even explain this?) which was very nice and hailed back to meals spent in Japan.

Anyway, point of everything is go there, go get a food baby, it's very much worth it.

High Tea at Sir Stamford Hotel, Circular Quay

My lord this post has been on a backlog for 5 weeks now (oops)

Reuniting with my high tea gang (backstory: the four of us have been going to high tea together on a quarterly basis since late Year 11/early Year 12), we finally made it to the Sir Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay for an absolutely delicious and lazy Sunday afternoon.

Quietly led through the hotel reception and into The Dining Room, we were allowed to sink into two couches and peruse the menu for a while. Ordering the Traditional High Tea (54 pp) we were accidentally treated to a glass of Moet & Chandon, before being offered our glasses of sparkling wine.
Carefully advised to eat from bottom to top (common sense I suppose, but its testament to the service and detail that the staff were incredibly knowledgeable on exactly what sandwiches were on offer). Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what was what, but the curry chicken sandwich in the middle was absolutely delicious.
Given on many an occasion of high tea, I've ended up not eating half the sweets on the middle tier purely because they just didn't suit my taste; this was far from it. The desserts were absolutely delicious, freshly made (none of that stale taste you sometimes get when desserts have been refrigerated) and not too sweet. 
And oh my lord the scones the scones. They're not much to look at, and it's not the usual savoury kind that I prefer, but my lord these were delicious. Soft and fluffy, buttery and light; fresh cream and jam. What more can I say?

The ambience here is absolutely enchanting (pardon the use of the somewhat archaic term). It's quiet and sophisticated, yet warm and homely. Usually these high tea reunions are a one hour, two hour affair; but we were here for a solid four hours just catching up and sipping on wine. What a classy affair, non?

Will definitely be back one day (after we thoroughly explore all the other high tea venues Sydney has to offer), but lord knows we won't be going back to The Victoria Room Tea Salon in Westfield again (except for their chips, but that's a story for another time)

Dessert at Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst

Following dinner at Mad Pizza e Bar in Newtown, we journeyed to Kings Cross/Darlinghurst on a Monday night to consume the Masterchef-featured cone.

Choc Top: salted caramel gelato soft serve, Italian meringue, gianduja ganache, amoretti biscuits and a sugar cone

Not visibly available on any of the signage, should you want one of these delicious cones of joy, you need to pop round to the cake section of Messina at Darlinghurst, and ask if they had any choc top cones available, to which they respond yes/no and if it's the former, choc tops begin appearing out of a magical fridge.

What can I even say about this icecream. The salted caramel gelato soft serve is to die for. I would eat buckets and buckets of this stuff if I could. The salted caramel taste of the salted caramel is lovely and distinct, saving the gelato from tasting too overly sweet. The amoretti biscuits were a bit damp and the cone itself wasn't immensely crispy but there's nothing much that can be done about that given the icecream within the cone has made it damp in its storage (and I cant really propose any solution at all to this given they take 45 minutes - 1 hour to make). 

At 10$ a pop, they're far from the cheapest ordinary choc tops you can get from Hungry Jacks. But oh so worth it.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was because of the sugar or the general stupidity of the adventure, but from Messina onwards, these two lovely ladies became sober-drunk (0% alcohol consumed, 100% acted like they were drunk), repeatedly voicing the syllables of Wolloomooloo and demanding we take a 'scenic route' of Kings Cross, then promptly telling R and I that they were lost.

Whatever the reason, I'll miss you Sammie HAVE FUN IN UCLA, I will most definitely take you up on my request your offer and crash in your dorm at some point in the next four years; and here's hoping for more psych shenanigans with C and R in the next sem xx

Dinner at Mad Pizza e Bar, Newtown

Adventuring into the night for what turned out to be a completely sober, bizarre reunion amongst PSYC1001 kiddies; our adventures with food led us to eat dinner at Newtown, catch a taxi to Gelato Messina at Darlinghurst; and proceed to realise that the same pizza place where we had eaten at Newtown was no more than 50m away from Messina.

Tuscano: shredded lamb shanks from Victoria, baby spinach, red onion, garden peas, mint, fetta, garlic & lemon

Ordering three pizzas and a pasta to share between four, we opted for the tuscano, funghi and primavera pizzas.

The lamb on the tuscano was lovely and juicy and the assorted toppings of vegetables were fresh and crisp. The provided lemon was a welcome relief to the fragrant spices of what I assume the lamb had been marinated in and the pizza base was perfect.

Funghi: Fat field mushrooms, rosemary, fetta & rocket leaves w/ shaved Parmesan & virgin oil

Being the mushroom fiend I am, I can find no fault with the funghi pizza. The field mushrooms were indeed fat and succulent, the rocket a lovely bitter crunch, the virgin oil dripping everywhere... I will say that for an additional 4$ the virgin oil could be replaced by truffle oil but I completely forgot about this when we were ordering. But no regrets there will always be next time (especially because this is only really a short walk from uni)

Primavera: Crisp cooked base w/ rocket leaves, diced tomatoes, shaved parmesan & sliced South Aust prosciutto

The primavera was exactly how a prosciutto pizza should taste. Although the tomato chunks look a tad too big, they were actually just the right size to create a burst of freshness in your mouth. Rocket, proscuitto and cheese could never fail anything.

Siciliano: Rigatoni pasta w/ Qld prawns, fresh tomato, Garlic, chilli, basil & pangrattato

And finally the siciliano pasta. In all honesty I can't comment much about this beyond the fact that it was pretty good. It was quite spicy though (I completely overlooked the word chilli in the menu) and I didn't end up eating much, particularly because I was inhaling my pizza slices and by the time I got to the pasta I was already pretty damn full.

I loved the vibe of this place, and the cute customer service we received on the quiet Monday night we decided to go in on. All the pizzas were gobsmackingly delicious and I'm interested to see if there are any real differences between all the different other locations dotted around city of what seems to be this pizza "franchise".

Verdict: Will be back

Part 2 of this night's adventure continues here!

Lunch at Grill'd Burgers, Chatswood

Just a quickie food post (and then some blogging of other shenanigans that I've been getting up to in this wondrous month of nothing!)

'Field of dreams' - grilled field mushroom, basil pesto, roasted peppers, tasty cheese, salad & herbed mayo

Craving a burger nearly a fortnight back, I finally got around to satisfying the craving with the lovely Annie, when we made an impromptu trip to Chatswood for both post-exams celebratory food (the trend continues) and my need to gratify materialistic desires.

I remember a while back the first time I tried Grill'd, I ordered the Almighty, a beast of a trad' aussie beef burger whilst A got a field of dreams. Upon entering the cozy little joint in the Concourse a few days ago, all I really felt like was a big grilled mushroom; so unsurprisingly that's what I ordered.

I feel to some degree that I played up the deliciousness of this burger far too much in my head and maybe I was better suited to getting the simple, traditional beef burger or the chicken and brie burger that my C via Instagram chastised me for not getting.

At times I felt the mushroom was almost rubbery in texture and a tad bland for my liking. Although I didn't mind the combination of flavours together, in fact I think it was a great combo, I think for me some parts just weren't working. The cheese could have been a bit more generous and the basil pesto could have been used a tad more sparingly. Chips which were lovely and crisp at the beginning, were not the burning, right out of the oil warmth that I love (on a side note though, this may be because I had to get Joe out, take a photo, then take a photo via my Note 3 for Instagram; and although in my mind this hardly took too much time, the reality of it may be different).

I can't say I was exhilarated this time around, but I feel like it was a series of situations that made my tastebuds a bit strange. After all, I was feeling quite uncomfortable all day and quite tired which was a bit out of the ordinary.

Dinner at La Rosa Bar and Pizza, City CBD

Celebrating the end of Tina's exams and catching up with Nat (there's a general trend here isn't there?), we went somewhere a little bit fancier than the usual by going to a cosy Italian joint in the beautiful strand, La Rosa Bar and Pizza.

Polpettine di Carne con Salsina Piccante alle Olive - Free Range Pork and Parmesan Meatballs with Spicy Chilli Salsa

For starters, Nat and I shared a small range of polpettine meatballs which had polenta 'tater totts' (I can't think of any other way to describe them and a lovely salsa in accompaniment. The pork meatballs were excellent and the salsa was a lovely addition although in all honesty, the meatballs were succulent and juicy enough on their own that the salsa was not an immediate necessity; more like (and as it should be) a nice complement to the dish. The polenta totts were tasty and I could have a bowl of these all day, dipping them slowly in salsa and smacking my lips repeatedly.

Salame di Wagyu - Tuscan Style Mixed Wagyu Beef and Pork

I'm not going to lie, usually I never order salame at a restaurant, but I feel like that predominantly lies in the fact that most average go-to Italian restaurants don't feature options upon options of salami and moreover, I recently re-watched Eat, Pray, Love again and a particular scene of Julia Roberts passing a woman in a restaurant eating figs and salami has been firmly entrenched in my mind.

Anyway, the wagyu salami was so damn good. Not at all sinewy, full of flavour; and when combined with the buttery bread, a drizzle of olive oil, the olives and some of the pickled vegetables; it was heavenly combination of textures and flavours in my mouth.

(Bruschette) Pomodoro e Olive con Ricotta Salata - Tomatoes, Black Olive and Salted Ricotta

Tina ordered an unsurprising traditional bruschette combination; although I only had a bite, the tomatoes were fresh, the amount of olive oil drizzled on was perfect and the ricotta was a great addition to the palette-cleansing starter.

Moscardini Ubriachi - Tomato & Olive Oil Braised “Drunken” Baby Octopus with Fennel, Caper & Parsley Salad

For mains, Tina ordered the baby octopus; but I only got a brief taste of this and I don't think I'm justified in commenting about it given that I've only ventured briefly into the world of octopus through the side-door of takoyaki. Tina did note that it was incredibly heavy on the palette, so by the end of is she had to give a good portion of it to Nat to finish for her.

I can no longer find this on the menu, but the above was my pasta dish of choice; a wholewheat bigoli of some sort, with a pork accompaniment that had been infused with truffle oil. The infusion with truffle was just right (given in my homemade adventures with truffles, I've come to discover that there is such a thing as over-infusing something with truffles), and the wholewheat pasta made me feel like an incredibly healthy aficionado for some reason. Although hardly one of the most beautiful dishes, I still highly enjoyed this.

La Rosa is an incredibly intimate place with dim moody lighting via candles in the early evening, moving onto unobtrusive 'mushroom glowing' lights in the late evening. Filled with romantic couples, birthday dinners and even a hen's night (a classy one I gather); it was a perfect place to sip rose and enjoy an evening catching up with good friends. And with an Urbanspoon rating of 91% based on 305 votes, that's a pretty impressive feat. 

My only qualm may be that our waiter was a tad inattentive and it took a while for him to realise we were attempting to catch his attention to order some wine to start off with; and during the course of the night it was generally fairly hard to wave him over. Albeit this minor detail, I'm far from disappointed by the restaurant; service is, after all, associated very much with the level of 'fine dining' a restaurant possesses. Maybe it was because I've just been to Popolo, but I don't think La Rosa has quite reached 'fine dining' status, although it's pretty close to it.

Dinner at NaruOne, City CBD

Celebrating the end of Lee's exams and catching up with Manda and Ping, we went to NaruOne on Pitt Street in ambition to eat some of the delicious fried chicken that this little restaurant is so famous of.

Choosing a hearty seafood and soft tofu slow cooked stew, it was exactly the thing we needed for such a brisk night. Full of flavour, the mushrooms and tofu were absolutely delicious; however I unfortunately can't give any comment on the seafood given I don't particularly like seafood too much.
Onto the fried chicken, we got the half and half option, of half sweet and spicy and half normal fried chicken. Believe the hype, the chicken was spot on.

Now it's unfortunate that upon heading to Urbanspoon to get the Spoonback HTML coding, I've come across the poor reviews this lovely little restaurant has received. All I can say is at times I feel the price is a tad on the pricier side for this type of food, but for the quality of it, I'm not too disgruntled about it at all. The issue was service that has been raised by fellow patrons was fortunately not too big an issue for me, probably because we had a Korean in the midst of our group who was able to fluidly converse with the waiters about appropriate dish sizes and the like.

Dinner at Marukame Udon, Chatswood

Post exam finals, craving something beyond the usual foods of instant noodles, pies and sausage rolls and 2 am Mars Pods snacking; I returned to Marukame Udon in Chatswood for a second time.

Arriving at nearly 6 pm, I was unsurprised by the varied line of people that all patiently waited outside for their turn to order sanuki-style (or what M calls cafeteria style).

Upon entering, you declare a number for the type of udon you prefer, and what size. Placed on a tray, you then proceed along a row of delicious deep fried goods where you self-serve however many things you want. At the end of the 'belt', you then can order a drink, pay and top your noodles with normal 'condiments', like tempura crumbs (tenkatsu) and welsh onion etc.

Ordering the bukkake udon with soft boiled egg and beef, the medium was well and truly enough. The soup was incredibly tasty and delicious, udon firm and just the perfect portion size.

I would probably suggest to not completely overload your noodles with tempura crumbs however, the first time I came here I overeagerly sprinkled far too much to the extent that the crumbs absorbed all my noodle soup!

I am, however, a major sucker for any tempura or deep-fried. Just note that if you do want any tempura dipping sauce, you can and should ask the person who hands you your bowl of noodles right at the beginning of the 'belt'. Also as an extra tip, go upstairs where not many people go and the atmosphere is more quiet and intimate.

Getting my usual combination, I got a tempura prawn, a cheese hot dog, tofu tempura and a pork cutlet. All the tempura based foods were crisp and the batter was light and just right.

The cheese hot dog was a smokey type of sausage with lovely melted cheese oozing out; and the pork cutlet was ridiculously tender, moist and tasty.

Of course, I washed it all down with a can of Calpis.

If the standard of this restaurant keeps up, there is no doubt at all that I'll keep coming back again and again. Harking the likes of Menya and Mappen on George Street in the city, Marukame Udon is ridiculously efficient, worth the money, well worth the short wait, and most importantly delicious and fresh.

Service is friendly, efficient, and the traditional cheery and enthusiastic Japanese banter greeted us as we both entered and left. Full of young teenagers after school, old couples, families, married couples, couples going out on dates; even though the type of almost 'cafeteria' style of service may seem very casual; the food is far from ordinary.

Dinner at Popolo

It has clearly been a while since I've updated my blog, but here's hopefully a return to regular posts, food porn, being a tourist in my own city and posts filled with existential ennui.

A while back, after a rocky ride in Jade's newly learnt ability to drive a manual, we went to one-hatted restaurant Popolo in Rushcutter's Bay/Darlinghurst where we feasted on absolutely delicious Italian.

Upon entering more than half an hour earlier than our reservation, we were graciously invited to wait at the bar where we proceeded to order some girly cocktails (which I have no photos of unfortunately). It hardly seemed like we had waited too long before we were lead to our table, where we were immediately presented with our waiter for the night and menus to peruse.

The provisional sourdough bread and olive oil was soft and fluffy and everything that I could dream of to the extent that I didn't even wait for the small plates to come out to start tucking in.

It's unfortunate that I can't find what the above dish was called, but it was consisted of these deliciously rich and tasty strips of cheddar, with finely cut pieces of pancetta and a crisp lettuce or radish; that came together into this ridiculously tasty and appetising dish.

The cheese souffle was so good as well, my only cliched criticism is that there wasn't more!

It appears as though this pizza, however, is a deadset staple for the restaurant. Called the capri, it consisted of honey glazed cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil. Although delicious, in all honesty by this point my stomach was about to explode and it was not longer as pleasurable to be cramming this amount of food into my body. 

It's generally fairly amiss of me that I can't even remember most of what I ate this night (given it was in celebration of Mother's Day), but what I do remember is I left this intimate place with a full belly and completely satisfied with the $60-$80 I had paid for it.

Service was exceptional (as could be expected), from the maitre d', to the bartender, to the waiter, to even just the odd passing employee who indicated the way to the bathroom as soon as I left my table.

It was a lovely lovely night, quite intimate with not many seats and many a couple abound; however having said that, there were a couple of boisterous groups a la girls night out; but if anything that just contributed to the almost homely, but fine dining, feel of the restaurant. 

Although the restaurant is tucked into a residential complex and hidden behind a Lexus dealer, the restaurant is well worth the dedicated trip out to Rushcutters Bay.