AmyHuangSwiss Quirkiness
February 28th 2007 00:57
Mmmm, half a kilo of MSG. Yum.
And if you look towards the bottom left, risotto croissant, apparently.
| 58 |
| Vote |
E-mail Subscription
Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:
Vimu Subscription
Read more from me!
ASHUANG: my personal website
Amyee's 2 Cents
My opinions blog. Including reviews of various things I see fit
Other Orble sites:
Travel String
Travel destinations and discussions from a passionate traveller!!
Project Job Search
Discussions about careers, employment and the job market.
Travel Debate
Discussions and debates on travel related topics.
Spotlight Posts
[ more ]
Recent Posts
[ more ]
Members
Popular Posts
[ more ]
[ more ]
[ January 2007 ] [ March 2007 ]
Sydney Table - February 2007
Mmmm, half a kilo of MSG. Yum.
And if you look towards the bottom left, risotto croissant, apparently.
Add Comments
Thailand Quirkiness
February 27th 2007 00:41
Self explanatory, really.
Finally someone who recognises that Asian sizes are so much smaller!
And you've had cheese stuffed crust pizza, but sausage?
| 67 |
| Vote |
Comments (2) Benzin
February 26th 2007 00:51
480 Crown St Surry Hills 2010 - 9360 5546
Benzin is one of many offshoots of Sailors Thai; David Thompson's restaurant which was spawned from the famous Darley Street Thai has borne many children, including Sailors Thai Canteen, Oceanic Thai, a proposed new venue in Potts Point; and Benzin. Benzin is in the spot where Fuel used to be, and still has a showroom around it. It has a nice open kitchen, but not many tables, and it's a little daunting to be seated amoungst so few tables huddled to one side of such a large room, and being almost pushed onto the footpath. Interspersing tables between the cars, using the entire room, and closing the front windows that face onto the street, would be a good idea. No one wants to eat on Crown Steet. Anyway, the food is definitely sofisticated Thai, with refined flavours, and makes full use of textures. Although it's very expensive for Thai food, there are some very interesting, different, and exciting dishes. Sorry, some of the photos are blurred.
Starts off with chicken peanuts mix with salmon roe wrapped in a betel leaf. Fantastic cruch, but very sweet.
Curry puffs. Standard fare, but done very well. Good quality pastry, fresh oil, and a nice sweet and chilli dipping sauce.
This was one of the hits of the night. Minced chicken with deep fried watercress, fantastically crunchy and a great contrast of textures. With mint and a lemon chilli salty dressing.
Som tum (green papaya salad) with coconut sticky rice and crunchy caramalised pork. A good som tum, correct. Great rice and pork. Together works very well. But I've had better som tums before.
A great crunchy dry curry of something; I cant remember if it's meat or fish, and I cant tell by the crappy photo. Still very nice, but very very dry. Crisp basil leaves on top, and mixed in with green beans.
In all, Benzin is worth it for the hard core Thai eater or foodie looking for something different and interesting, or looking to impress. But for Thai novieces it pays to start at your local. And it's much cheaper.
Benzin is one of many offshoots of Sailors Thai; David Thompson's restaurant which was spawned from the famous Darley Street Thai has borne many children, including Sailors Thai Canteen, Oceanic Thai, a proposed new venue in Potts Point; and Benzin. Benzin is in the spot where Fuel used to be, and still has a showroom around it. It has a nice open kitchen, but not many tables, and it's a little daunting to be seated amoungst so few tables huddled to one side of such a large room, and being almost pushed onto the footpath. Interspersing tables between the cars, using the entire room, and closing the front windows that face onto the street, would be a good idea. No one wants to eat on Crown Steet. Anyway, the food is definitely sofisticated Thai, with refined flavours, and makes full use of textures. Although it's very expensive for Thai food, there are some very interesting, different, and exciting dishes. Sorry, some of the photos are blurred.
Starts off with chicken peanuts mix with salmon roe wrapped in a betel leaf. Fantastic cruch, but very sweet.
Curry puffs. Standard fare, but done very well. Good quality pastry, fresh oil, and a nice sweet and chilli dipping sauce.
This was one of the hits of the night. Minced chicken with deep fried watercress, fantastically crunchy and a great contrast of textures. With mint and a lemon chilli salty dressing.
Som tum (green papaya salad) with coconut sticky rice and crunchy caramalised pork. A good som tum, correct. Great rice and pork. Together works very well. But I've had better som tums before.
A great crunchy dry curry of something; I cant remember if it's meat or fish, and I cant tell by the crappy photo. Still very nice, but very very dry. Crisp basil leaves on top, and mixed in with green beans.
In all, Benzin is worth it for the hard core Thai eater or foodie looking for something different and interesting, or looking to impress. But for Thai novieces it pays to start at your local. And it's much cheaper.
| 86 |
| Vote |
Flavours of Thai, at The Spot
February 22nd 2007 00:24
39 Perouse Rd Randwick 2031 - (02) 9398 4599
Having just been to dinner around The Spot (you know, that place in Randwick where The Ritz is) and inspecting what looked good, I can say that Flavours of Thai definitely looks interesting. We ended up going to Chaopraya which we didn't like at all, but should have gone to Flavours instead. Now I'm just going on the menu here cos I haven't eaten there, but I definitely will when I can. Looks more modern, but I respect them for having some more unusual dishes on offer. When I go I'll be trying the crispy fish salad, roast eggplant salad, pad prik gang, and hor mok.
So this isn't an iron clad endorsement, but if you're in the neighbourhood, give it a go, because on first glance, it looks a goer.
Having just been to dinner around The Spot (you know, that place in Randwick where The Ritz is) and inspecting what looked good, I can say that Flavours of Thai definitely looks interesting. We ended up going to Chaopraya which we didn't like at all, but should have gone to Flavours instead. Now I'm just going on the menu here cos I haven't eaten there, but I definitely will when I can. Looks more modern, but I respect them for having some more unusual dishes on offer. When I go I'll be trying the crispy fish salad, roast eggplant salad, pad prik gang, and hor mok.
So this isn't an iron clad endorsement, but if you're in the neighbourhood, give it a go, because on first glance, it looks a goer.
| 56 |
| Vote |
Specc Cafe and Restaurant
February 21st 2007 00:35
344 Clovelly Rd Clovelly 2031 - (02) 9664 7888
Specc is a modern cafe/restaurant in Clovelly, in a nice modern set up. It's a front room with a semi-open kitchen lining the back wall, and the waiters are all very friendly. And as a bonus, it's in the Entertainment Book. The food is a modern mix, heavily meat based, but with Euro flavours. Costs $50 a person for 3 courses, but very good quality.
Pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with sage browned butter sauce. Best dish of the night, the sauce isn't too heavy for a butter sauce, but very fine, and goes brilliantly with the fresh ravioli.
Pasta with prawns, capers, leeks and a lemon cream sauce. Very well cooked spaghetti with fresh flavours, and prawns good quality.
Pork fillet with spinach and apple sauce. Great idea, nice spinach, but pork a little dry, and sauce a little sweet. Still, thats usually the problem with pork.
Veal loin with parsnip and celeriac rosti, asparagus, and pepper sauce. Excellent sauce, great meat, but not a fan of asparagus generally. Which is ok, cos I didnt order this dish! Interesting rosti, lost some crispiness under the sauce, but still good. I still cant understand why everyone makes rosti as a kind of potato cake, when it should be loose slivers of potato (or celeriac or whatever).
Can highly recommend Specc as a quality place to eat locally; and apparently it does excellent alfresco breakfasts and lunches during the day. If you count yourself as a Clovelly, or even simply Eastern local, go check it out.
Specc is a modern cafe/restaurant in Clovelly, in a nice modern set up. It's a front room with a semi-open kitchen lining the back wall, and the waiters are all very friendly. And as a bonus, it's in the Entertainment Book. The food is a modern mix, heavily meat based, but with Euro flavours. Costs $50 a person for 3 courses, but very good quality.
Pumpkin and ricotta ravioli with sage browned butter sauce. Best dish of the night, the sauce isn't too heavy for a butter sauce, but very fine, and goes brilliantly with the fresh ravioli.
Pasta with prawns, capers, leeks and a lemon cream sauce. Very well cooked spaghetti with fresh flavours, and prawns good quality.
Pork fillet with spinach and apple sauce. Great idea, nice spinach, but pork a little dry, and sauce a little sweet. Still, thats usually the problem with pork.
Veal loin with parsnip and celeriac rosti, asparagus, and pepper sauce. Excellent sauce, great meat, but not a fan of asparagus generally. Which is ok, cos I didnt order this dish! Interesting rosti, lost some crispiness under the sauce, but still good. I still cant understand why everyone makes rosti as a kind of potato cake, when it should be loose slivers of potato (or celeriac or whatever).
Can highly recommend Specc as a quality place to eat locally; and apparently it does excellent alfresco breakfasts and lunches during the day. If you count yourself as a Clovelly, or even simply Eastern local, go check it out.
| 63 |
| Vote |
Paddington Inn Closed
February 20th 2007 05:50
The Paddngton Inn bistro is closed for a while, for renovations. Damn shame; hopefully it will open soon. Anyway, just a heads up.
| 60 |
| Vote |
Una's Restaurant
February 19th 2007 00:13
340 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010 - 9360 6885
They also have another restaurant in Double Bay and Ultimo
Wow heavy food. But they have deep fried camembert! Wow I don't know what people were doing in the 70s and 80s, but how they could eat this, I don't know.
Anyway, Una's does European food, from Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria. Inside it has very old school traditional decorations.
They have schnitzel, goulash, sausages, smoked pork hock, rosti, sauerkraut, dumplings and so on. Just like nana made, hey? Very decent quality, tasty, but heavy. Don't bother with more than one course. Have a look.
I love sauerkraut, and smoked pork. But the rosti is not as good as expected, and soooo oily. I much prefer grandma's.
Schnitzel. Decent, but it's just chicken. But huge!
Goulash and dumplings. Pretty good, and I'm not a fan of goulash normally.
Sauerkraut and rosti again with a sausage. Eh...
Check it out; lots of food, very filling, and not that expensive. But make sure you choose wisely, and please don't over order.
They also have another restaurant in Double Bay and Ultimo
Wow heavy food. But they have deep fried camembert! Wow I don't know what people were doing in the 70s and 80s, but how they could eat this, I don't know.
Anyway, Una's does European food, from Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria. Inside it has very old school traditional decorations.
They have schnitzel, goulash, sausages, smoked pork hock, rosti, sauerkraut, dumplings and so on. Just like nana made, hey? Very decent quality, tasty, but heavy. Don't bother with more than one course. Have a look.
I love sauerkraut, and smoked pork. But the rosti is not as good as expected, and soooo oily. I much prefer grandma's.
Schnitzel. Decent, but it's just chicken. But huge!
Goulash and dumplings. Pretty good, and I'm not a fan of goulash normally.
Sauerkraut and rosti again with a sausage. Eh...
Check it out; lots of food, very filling, and not that expensive. But make sure you choose wisely, and please don't over order.
| 60 |
| Vote |
Ristorante Martnelli
February 16th 2007 06:32
Canberra restaurant, fantastic food, but unbelievably shocking service. There is one guy doing the whole room, and organising bread, and helping in the kitchen. They're short on menus so it takes half an our for us to see one, another 15 before we can order.; Then an hour and a half between entrees and mains. We've had two courses and we've been there for over three hours. We were so bored we tried to go around the neighbourhood to find a pack of cards to play with. But by that time at night the all night store next door was closed. So we took inventive photos of our empty plates from the entrees, which were still on there an hour after we finished eating:
But they have fantastic food. A wonderful eggplant parmigiana:
And such a good spaghetti carbonara, wow.
Great minestrone soup:
Veal shanks or beef cheeks:
And the lable still stuck on the baking dish from the canelloni. Nice one:
But seriously, good food. Just make sure they actually have some staff on.
| 60 |
| Vote |
Ottoman Cuisine
February 15th 2007 00:45
Ok so I've still got some left over posts about Canberra; this one is particularly relevent as Ottoman has recently opened a branch in Sydney. It's a very good restaurant, with inventive modern Turkish, but very expensive. So let's have a look:
Borek: fetta and herbs wrapped in filo, which was fantastic and simple.
Also had the signature 'Dolma: fresh atlantic salmon rolls of cray, prawns and fish; wrapped in vine-leaves, lightly battered served with a savory piquant sauce', which was complex, modern an interesting. Sorry, no photo.
Wonderful delicate white fish poached vegetables and a garlic mayonnaise.
Tomato cucumber and capsicum salad with lemon olive oil dressing,
Fantastic savoury meatballs with a tomato onion chickpea parsley sauce.
This was a wonderful dish, probably the dish of the night. Looks deceptively simple; veal with eggplant, spices, and a tangy lemon garlic yoghurty sauce. Really delicious and tender.
The less Turkish sounding steak with mash and red wine jus. But once again some decent garlic makes it good; although less impressive than the others.
Lamb rack with lentils and garlic confit. Tasty lamb, but the best part is the lentil sauce, wonderfullly savoury; I could eat this by the ladleful as a soup.
Chocolate slice with raspberry icecream.
Baked custard with mastik flavour cherries in liqeuer.
Moist semolina and orange cake with orange segments and orange sauce.
A sweet looking birthday cake for someone else, unfortunately.
The inside.
And all the awards.
Enjoy!
Borek: fetta and herbs wrapped in filo, which was fantastic and simple.
Also had the signature 'Dolma: fresh atlantic salmon rolls of cray, prawns and fish; wrapped in vine-leaves, lightly battered served with a savory piquant sauce', which was complex, modern an interesting. Sorry, no photo.
Wonderful delicate white fish poached vegetables and a garlic mayonnaise.
Tomato cucumber and capsicum salad with lemon olive oil dressing,
Fantastic savoury meatballs with a tomato onion chickpea parsley sauce.
This was a wonderful dish, probably the dish of the night. Looks deceptively simple; veal with eggplant, spices, and a tangy lemon garlic yoghurty sauce. Really delicious and tender.
The less Turkish sounding steak with mash and red wine jus. But once again some decent garlic makes it good; although less impressive than the others.
Lamb rack with lentils and garlic confit. Tasty lamb, but the best part is the lentil sauce, wonderfullly savoury; I could eat this by the ladleful as a soup.
Chocolate slice with raspberry icecream.
Baked custard with mastik flavour cherries in liqeuer.
Moist semolina and orange cake with orange segments and orange sauce.
A sweet looking birthday cake for someone else, unfortunately.
The inside.
And all the awards.
Enjoy!
| 33 |
| Vote |
Thai Restaurants Website
February 14th 2007 02:32
There's a new website which lists Thai restaurants in Aus and NZ which have vowed to uphold the true Thai way of cooking, apparently. Now it's not a bad list, but doesn't seem complete. Still, it's a good idea, they've set it up with a sign for the restaurant to bear, kind of like the heart foundation tick. It just needs more momentum.
The list is probably a good guide in theory, although I ate at Chaopraya yesterday, and at best it wasn't anything special. And it's meant to have won (unrelated) awards. So still use your opwn judgement with any place on the list.
The list is probably a good guide in theory, although I ate at Chaopraya yesterday, and at best it wasn't anything special. And it's meant to have won (unrelated) awards. So still use your opwn judgement with any place on the list.
| 29 |
| Vote |
Straits Kitchen
February 13th 2007 00:53
476 Anzac Pde Kingsford 2032 - (02) 9663 3588
This place was brought to my attention because of the Hainanese chicken rice, but I've been there twice and still haven't ordered it, because the rest of the menu was so good!
Straits Kitchen is a Singaporean restaurant doing a bustling trade with the UNSW uni students from down the road. There is something about this place that I love. It might be the food that looks familiar, but turns out to be just slightly different, that makes it intruiging.
To look at it's not much, a very ordinary setup, plain room in the front, possibly a room in the back. But it has a kind of charm that makes is special.
The chicken curry with roti is fantastic, but you have to like oily food, because dipping fried bread into a coconut milk curry is asking for a heavy meal. But oh, what flavours. It's the perfect combination of fatty, crispy, salty and spicy.
Next we had stirfried okra, although you can have any number of vegetables in this manner. Dry, chilli, and still crunchy, its a good break from the heavy curry.
This is the chicken hotpot with vegetables over rice. You need to mix it all together before serving. It has a rich, sticky soy flavour, and looks impressive, but I prefer the curry, or the look of the chicken rice.
And an interesting, sweetish stirfry/curry of prawns and onions with a tomato sauce is ho hum, but thats really our fault for ordering it.
The secret here is to go for the obviously good dishes, and avoid the ubiquitous offerings. Check out what people around you are having, and go from there. The menu is long, so theres plenty to investigate. And so you should.
This place was brought to my attention because of the Hainanese chicken rice, but I've been there twice and still haven't ordered it, because the rest of the menu was so good!
Straits Kitchen is a Singaporean restaurant doing a bustling trade with the UNSW uni students from down the road. There is something about this place that I love. It might be the food that looks familiar, but turns out to be just slightly different, that makes it intruiging.
To look at it's not much, a very ordinary setup, plain room in the front, possibly a room in the back. But it has a kind of charm that makes is special.
The chicken curry with roti is fantastic, but you have to like oily food, because dipping fried bread into a coconut milk curry is asking for a heavy meal. But oh, what flavours. It's the perfect combination of fatty, crispy, salty and spicy.
Next we had stirfried okra, although you can have any number of vegetables in this manner. Dry, chilli, and still crunchy, its a good break from the heavy curry.
This is the chicken hotpot with vegetables over rice. You need to mix it all together before serving. It has a rich, sticky soy flavour, and looks impressive, but I prefer the curry, or the look of the chicken rice.
And an interesting, sweetish stirfry/curry of prawns and onions with a tomato sauce is ho hum, but thats really our fault for ordering it.
The secret here is to go for the obviously good dishes, and avoid the ubiquitous offerings. Check out what people around you are having, and go from there. The menu is long, so theres plenty to investigate. And so you should.
| 35 |
| Vote |
Captain Cook Hotel
February 12th 2007 00:33
162 Flinders St Paddington 2021 - (02) 9360 4327
What better way to start back than with The Captain Cook Hotel - the king of the cheap pub steaks. Once you've been to the Cook, you cant go anywhere else. They've got a wide menu of specials, pasta and the like, but you really want the steak. $8 gets you 300gs of rump with chips and salad, and your choice of sauce.
What makes this steak stand out the most is the quality of the meat. For 8 bucks (used to be 7!) including sides, cooking, service etc, you'd be forgiven for expecting a rubbery piece of fat; or at least a dodgy piece of meat like what you can get at some pubs or RSL clubs. But this steak is really good! If I got a bit more salad and a fancier sauce, I'd easily pay $20 plus if this was served in a fancy restaurant.
But the reason I like the Cook is that it's got a nice atmosphere, it's clean, with the right amount of seediness for a pub, while being a nice place to hang out. They exhibit the artwork of local painters on the walls, they have a pool table, and a nice chill out area. The captain cook is by far and away my pub of choice, and trust me, the food doesn't hurt the cause. Not in the slightest.
What better way to start back than with The Captain Cook Hotel - the king of the cheap pub steaks. Once you've been to the Cook, you cant go anywhere else. They've got a wide menu of specials, pasta and the like, but you really want the steak. $8 gets you 300gs of rump with chips and salad, and your choice of sauce.
What makes this steak stand out the most is the quality of the meat. For 8 bucks (used to be 7!) including sides, cooking, service etc, you'd be forgiven for expecting a rubbery piece of fat; or at least a dodgy piece of meat like what you can get at some pubs or RSL clubs. But this steak is really good! If I got a bit more salad and a fancier sauce, I'd easily pay $20 plus if this was served in a fancy restaurant.
But the reason I like the Cook is that it's got a nice atmosphere, it's clean, with the right amount of seediness for a pub, while being a nice place to hang out. They exhibit the artwork of local painters on the walls, they have a pool table, and a nice chill out area. The captain cook is by far and away my pub of choice, and trust me, the food doesn't hurt the cause. Not in the slightest.
| 43 |
| Vote |
Well It's Been A While...
February 11th 2007 06:19
But we'll see how we go, hey? No promises.
Thanks to all the people who continued to check the site repeatedly, even after not so much as a hint of a post. Thanks for your commitment, and I'll try and repay you with at least a month or so of (semi) regular posting.
I've been overseas (Thailand and Switzerland) for the better part of the holidays, so might just have something to write about.
Anyway, let's get going.
Thanks to all the people who continued to check the site repeatedly, even after not so much as a hint of a post. Thanks for your commitment, and I'll try and repay you with at least a month or so of (semi) regular posting.
I've been overseas (Thailand and Switzerland) for the better part of the holidays, so might just have something to write about.
Anyway, let's get going.
| 35 |
| Vote |
More Posts
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
[ View Blog Summary ] [ Create A New Post ]
Moderated by AmyHuang
