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Sydney Table - July 2008

Xenos Cafe Restaurant - Crows Nest

July 23rd 2008 10:32
Xenos has been in the dining scene of Crows Nest and serving modern Greek cuisine since 1969. I have dined at Xenos quite a few times over the past couple of years and I think I was only once a little disappointed at this otherwise all rounder restaurant.



There are the general flavours of a Greek restaurant to choose from - the Souvlaki, the Moussaka and the Meze Plates, but my heart and appetite always settles for the mouthwatering Greek style slow roast lamb. (Yes, I have a thing for lamb!) Hot steaming lamb roast with baked potatoes is always great for a cold winter night, and I always make sure to get some seasonal vegetable on the side to fulfil my greens intake for the day.


If you aren't into the meaty Greek food, perhaps one of the pastas will tempt you. I recommend the linguine prawns for a light creamy flavour that most people love.

Not only are the main dishes excellent, the desserts at Xenos are famous too. You can even rock up later for a dessert and coffee run after a meal else where. The dessert menu has a variety of flavours and styles of sweets to choose from, with homemade creme brulee and Break and Butter Pudding among my favourites here. Should you feel like a little bit of hard liquore, they also have a selection of after dinner liquores available.

No bookings required, but on Friday and Saturday nights, advanced bookings recommended.

Xenos Cafe Restaurant
7 Burlington Street,

Crows Nest, NSW 2065
www.xenosrestaurant.com.au

Trading Hours
Breakfast: 7 days from 7:00 am
Lunch: 7 days from 12:00 pm
Dinner: 5 Days from 6 pm
Closed for Dinner Sunday and Monday nights.
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A bunch of us decided to have a good breakfast session and someone mentioned the eggs benedict at Mosaic, cafe/restaurant in The Westin Hotel, is divine and that we will sure to love the hollandaise sauce with it. Apparently it's the best thing in the world.

So, with high hopes I arrived at The Westin hotel and took my seat at the table. The Westin is a beautiful hotel built on the foundations of Sydney's heritage and its interior is just beautiful. The concierge is friendly/helpful and everything a concierge should be, plus he is good looking so that always helps for a first impression. However, after that, I was really disappointed at the cafe. After sitting down for about 20 mins no one bothered to ask us if we wanted menus or wanted to have the buffet breakfast which was on offer. Not even to ask if we wanted any coffee or tea. So having to ask for the menu, we waiting for our coffees and eggs benedicts to arrive.

Just for the record, I ordered mocha as my coffee and eggs royal which is poached eggs with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce.

The place look a million dollars and that was what disappointed me about the cafe - the food and the service was probably only worth 10 bucks.

The hollandaise sauce was lumpy, and was like a slab of mashed potato sitting on top of two poached eggs which are sitting on top of two english muffins with some smoked salmon pieces in between. That's really it. The plate looked too big to accomodate the food and there was no attempt in plate decor and extra bits and pieces that usually make up the impressive silver service dining. I mean, hollandaise sauce is meant to be creamy. This was simply unacceptable, not to mention it had cost $26.

Onto the coffee shall we? Burnt, and without character. Not just the mocha, the rest ordered Cappucino and even them were a little annoyed that for a hotel restaurant of their status, they could have tried harder. And worse is they charged $8 per coffee for it.

I haven't been there for lunch and dinner, but if they can't even do the most simplest meal out of the day well, I don't know how much I trust them with more complex menu options.

By all means, STAY at The Westin, but don't eat in Mosaic. Simply not worth it.

Mosaic - The Westin
No. 1 Martin Place
Sydney
Click for website
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Sydney's Altitude Restaurant

July 4th 2008 11:49
I am going to admit, I am lazy. So, instead of repeating everything I've already written about the Altitude Restaurant on level 36 Shangri-La hotel in The Rocks, I am going to link you to my entry I wrote about this restaurant.

However, in summary - the restaurant does, have one of the best 'non-spinning' views of the harbour, and the food is fantastic but the snobbiness can put you off if you happen to want to request for a window seat - depending on who you get on the phone, sometimes you might be told that they can't book you a window seat because they have been reserved for special clients.

Link to my post on this restaurant here -> Planet Eye: Sydney Guide

Altitude
Shangri-La Hotel Sydney
Level 36, 176 Cumberland St
The Rocks
www.altitudesydney.com
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