Right out the front, as per its UK sisters, you pass by the hand made pasta machine and produce – it’s made fresh daily!

Even in Sydney, the decor is like I stepped back to Canary Wharf – the furniture the same, the tea towel napkins the same – the chain completely consistent and like it was plucked straight out of the UK !

I loved this graffiti wall.  In fact, there are a few spray paintings around the place that create a funky urban uber cool environment.

We were seriously lucky to score the table right next to the open kitchen. Shouts of “yes chef!” and high energy cooking happening in there – the head chef keeping a watchful eye and cleaning dishes as they went out.  He was also so kind to respond to my questions of “Whats that?” “what’s that?” – you know, sneaking a look of what food looked like before I had to committ! haha.

We finally ordered after a final check of the menu. And promptly, out came two little pails of complimentary bread.  Who offers free bread these days?? The sourdough, pita, grissini and house baked foccacia was drizzled with pesto and served with balsamic and olive oil.  Definitely could have wolfed more of this down!

What was a soda?  For $4.10 I had to find out.  It was lemongrass and ginger cordial topped with sparkling water. It certainly did have a kick to it! I couldn’ really taste the lemongrass though, but it was otherwise like a nice refreshing ginger ale.

I had to order the arancini – as I did in London, and again, it could have been air freighted over as it looked exactly the same!  A dreamy dusting of parmesan on top and house made tomato sauce accompanied it.  There were 3 balls – for $9.50.  They were crispy on the outside but I found the balls to be slightly dry in the middle – and I thought that for that price maybe a 4th ball could have been offered instead of putting paper in the bottom – or at least making all 3 balls the same size instead of giving 1 that was smaller than the others (the back one).

These were the Italian nachos – deep fried pillows of ricotta ravioli.  We watched the girls hand make these out the front!

And the calamari with garlic mayo – $12.  It was more a tapas size than an entree size.  Really garlicky and awesome flavour – again, a little more would be better – or charge a bit more and get a bit more?  It wasn’t really enough to share, more like a side dish.

And the meat board for one.  Just like in London served on a wooden plank balanced on tinned tomatoes as a stand, there was mix of meats and some pickles and salad.  Bonus points for allowing single person serves!  At $13, I thought this was good value.1

Being the start of spring swimming costume season, the girls decided that we should go for entree sized pastas instead of having a main sized pasta – all those carbs at night need to be worked off right?    I was happy with the serving size of mine – the slow cooked cuttlefish.  All the pastas are handmade and were so fresh – yet still able to have that al dente texture.  I have to say that I haven’t had cuttlefish before, and it smelled and tasted a little fishy for my liking.  I loved the sauce though – rich with olive oil and stock ($13.50 for entree size).

Next time though, I will definitely definitely be going for the mushroom ravioli.  Don’t feel sorry for vegos here because here they feast!  Even the bread crumbs look meaty!  And great value too.

I have had boar just twice.  Once at the Spitalfields markets and the other time at Spiedo – Alessandro Pavioni’s new digs at Westfield Sydney.  And here is the second place I’ve heard of in Sydney that has it. Wild boar sausage with lentils.  I have to say that at $22, maybe a bit more sausage could have been offered, but what it lacked in size it made up for in flavour.  Very Jamie style!

The sides were very well priced – this crunchy salad was $5.50 and was a beautiful mix of red and yellow beetroot, radish and carrot with lemon and mint dressing. It lacked seasoning a bit so I just added my own and also some of the olive oil/balsamic from the bread.  It’s approximately the size of  a typical rice bowl.

The absolute stand out dish for me that you must must MUST MUST try (get the picture? ) one of – per person that is!!! – is the polenta chips. WOW. Crispy on the outside, well seasoned and soft on the inside.  I’m sure that if I drank beer these would be an awesome snack. The best I’ve ever eaten!!

Well Jamie’s Italian, Sydney certainly did live up to my expectations. It really took me back to my holiday and felt like we were enjoying something that Jamie himself created and would be proud of.  It was so much like the other restaurants – but I don’t say that in a bad chain way – but in a reliably good way.  I certainly will be back.

Here’s another umm… cocktail? hehehe.  Also $16.  Very refreshing and dry as requested I was told.  Cool glasses huh??

The only two food offerings were jaffles:  $7.50 each and served on these gorgeous grandma style plates – vegetarian one with cheese, tomato, basil;

Or a cup of curried nuts – $4.

Compulsory deco – the deer head on your way down! hehehe

See you every Friday at Grandma’s!

Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living once put out a list of fine dining features that make a nice restaurant more welcoming. Those added touches that make you feel at home without looking for every opportunity to make a few more dollars.  Xanthi scored immeditely on two of these as you sit down – tap water offered (most fine diners offer you sparkling or still ie not free); and soon after – crusty bread and olive oil for dipping as you peruse the carefully planned menu.

All the dishes were beautiful earthenware tapas style plates.  I would love some of these at home!

The waiter suggested we order something from each section of the menu to share.  Dips/mezze, flat breads, mains and desserts.  Well with just two of us we thought we would order it Aussie style and treat it like one entree one main each.  We tried firstly the eggplant – two baby chargrilled lebanese eggplants (whole) and served with tomato sauce and some tzatziki.

When I went to Greece a year and half ago, there was one restaurant in Oia, Santorini that we kept going back to – fond memories – and one thing we tried there were zucchini fritters.  So for nostalgic reasons, this is what I had to order.   The pattie was great, but the oil wasn’t hot enough, so they were very very oily.  Three fritters came on top of a chickpea dip.  Yum though, but not good on the waistline!

Next, our selection from the Apo tin plastira – which means ‘From the wooden board’.  Xanthi’s site notes:

A plastira is the board that the women of the village use to stretch and roll out filo. The wood is made from pine trees and its properties make it the best surface to stop the pastry from sticking and tearing as it’s carefully stretched and thinned.

Our pastry is handrolled and made fresh. Baked fresh and served straight from the oven. Please be patient. Waits can be up to 30 minutes depending on demand.

Luckily, we didn’t have to wait so long, but intrigued we were by the rabbit stifatho – rabbit braised in tomato, honey, cinnammon, clove and red wine sauce and then shredded.  Hmmm….. eat bugs bunny?? Never tried it!  But gosh, they sure harped on it enough on Masterchef for me to be curious!  What came on our plate did not resemble bugs at all – but in fact looked like slow cooked chicken, or indeed pulled pork.  The pastry wasn’t light like the filo we get in the supermarkets – but it was definitely savoury and substantial.  As for bugs…. I would describe it like eating fishy chicken.   Maybe my palate is unsophisticated but it was definitely a bit seafoody.  Not in a delightful way, but interesting way.  I think I will leave elmer fud to eat dat wabbit!    I thought it was extremely pretty and good value for $16 though!  I did like it more than i like escargot though.

Now the REAL reason why I was desperate to try Xanthi was the pork belly baklava!  When excitedly telling my colleagues about it, the reaction was generally “Ew”. I think they associated baklava with dessert.  Pig dessert? Hmm.  But for me, I knew it had something to do with slow cooking, and something to do with savoury flaky pastry.  And it was also pretty.  It was two squares of pork belly, topped with two pieces of perfect crackling, with some prune sauce which added a sweet edge to the rich pork.  For my liking, I would have preferred the pork to be braised first – twice cooked. It wasn’t, which meant the fat could have been rendered down a bit more.   Perhaps a bit more stalk should be cut off the microherbs too – if I were to be really fussy.  But again, at $18, there really isn’t much to fault.

All in all, these 4 dishes plus a coke cost a tiny $55.   I’ll have to come back again for the baklava ice cream.  There are so many interesting things to try, and although there could have been a few things to be done to make it perfect ,hey it was opening week, it did well and I will be back!      Being next to Chat Thai and the food court, it was noisy though, so don’t go expecting a quiet intimate meal.  But do indeed go for the ouzo cart

And next time – the whole spit roasted beast! Yuuuummmm!!!!

They set the bar high – this is yum cha fine dining style!  The usual pram jam and rampant children running dangerously around steaming hot trolleys might not be featured here – instead it’s likely to form a suit crowd. Verified by the waiter who said that it was packed out during the week. Well the proof is is in the dumpling – the prawn dumpling in fact. The yardstick by which all yum chas are measured!  The pricing here seems to be at a small premium for the upmarket experience, most are extra large at $9.50 a pop. but you do get 4 of each, unlike some cheeky yum chas who now give 3!    I loved the prawn dumpling.  The skin was correctly translucently but al dente. Not soggy at all, and the prawn filling had the appropriate texture and also this delicious seasoning that is usually simply pepper in other restaurants. Thumbs up!

The fancy sister of har gau is the scallop dumpling.  They look like little “cheeks” if you know what I mean! hehehe.  They were plump and nice.  But my only gripe is that a bit of cheap seafood extender is also in the filling.

Next, the other staple for comparison – the siu mai – or pork dim sum. Dotted with some roe on top.  The meat had some texture but my one didn’t have much prawn.

The lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice was good too. Also at the extra large price though.  The rice was gooey and perfect, but personally a bit more sauce would be excellent!

The scallop wontons were hot and crispy – served with mayo. I was a bit miffed that it too was $9.50 and also, had a bit of seafood extender in there.

This was my fave though – the vegetable dumpling. Vegos around the world cheer – because usually they have hardly any offerings at yum cha.  Chinese stick prawns inside vego things as that is perceived as being generous and more hearty.  But this triangular dumpling needed nothing of the sort. Finely chopped mushrooms, bamboo, water chestnut and carrot were taken to a new level with coriander and sesame oil.

And for dessert – some baked taro buns. Usually these sticky brown buns are filled with char siu.

So we ordered a steamed char siu bun to make up for it

And finally, some deep fried sesame balls filled with lotus seed paste.  I have to commend the really friendly staff. They were not pushy at all like some other yum chas. The lady really acted like a friend, saying “Try this, it’s only priced as a small, it’s really nice!”.  It was indeed a serious change from the frantic (but fun!) pace of other yum chas where they try to churn you out.  It’s absolutely worth paying a small premium for this service!  What else would you expect from this regal dim sum house in such a beautiful building as QVB!

Looks like the CBD yum cha scene is hotting up more – with Sky Phoenix having opened a few months ago in the Westfield Sydney, and the closure of beloved Regal Restaurant.  

When you are seated, you are presented with some fresh made foccacia and chilli oil for dipping. Nice. The bread is so soft and fluffy with a just lightly crispy crust with a slight oily texture to the touch.  The chilli oil could have done with a bit more of a kick for my liking, but that’s just me, and would most probably have masked the bread!

So for entrees, I had the salami entree.  It was $14, and I was a bit disappointed with its simplicity.  Three slices of salami lightly fried served on a bed of polenta.  A bit more polenta would have been great – or at least another carb provided or even a veg, as the salami is very full bodied and salty to have on its own.

What I should have gotten was the scallops from the specials menu, served with roasted baby beets including my new favourite thing – heirloom varieties, so pretty!  The dish was scattered with pomegranite seeds and served with rocket.  Good to have the balance of veges, and you have to agree – such a pretty plating up, which contrasts to the rustic simplicity of the normal menu. Are you getting the contrast?  The scallops would not look out of place at a three hat restaurant!

For mains – we only had two courses each because we were in a hurry for the theatre – again , a tale of two menus!  I chose the ragu which I was informed was veal, pork and chicken. Yum.  I was confused as this arrived in front of me – the meat was minced instead of slow cooked chunks   It was a HUGE serving! Yum though! But as I continued to eat it, it sat in a pool of red oil – it certainly wasn’t low fat… probably a bit too much oil that perhap could have been better off integrated into the sauce so that it doesn’t split out.  Having said that, the pasta was cooked perfectly.

And once again, food envy – as my friend’s lamb ragu was exactly what I expected mine to be like!!  Melt in your mouth lamb chunks stirred through delicate thin ribbons of hand made parpadelle!!

I guess what you get for an extra $10 is hand made pasta and also real tender meat.  :(  I was really really surprised though, I would have expected the regular menu to be better!  I hesitate to want to pay $34 for a pasta dish though.   In short, if you do go, do yourself a favour and go for the specials menu which is ironically better than the regular menu.

Beneath the stained glass arched entrance is a clear glass display of beautiful pieces of fine cake art.  It is soooo hard to choose from – tiramisus, mousse cake slices, gigantic macarons sandwiched with ganache, and their signature three texture chocolate mousse cake to name but a few..

They also have a good selection of family sized cakes, all too delicious to eat – topped with gorgeous strawberries, macarons and other jewels of adornment.   The style is less crazy, definitely not plain classic, each one a beautiful work of art that seems too good to ruin by eating.

What paticceria in Sydney would dare not offer a macaron. These chubby cuties sandwiched generously in ganache and irresstible in their pastel beauty.

I’d say that once word of this places gets around, there certainly won’t be many cakes for FoodieChat to photograph!  And the lady behind the counter was so nice, urging me to take piccies – unlike an unnamed new bakery in the Strand which haughtily said “we will be having professional photographers do our publicity”. Obviously unaware of the power of you guys, my readers!

If you can’t eat cake all the time, and let’s face it, breakfast is definitely offlimits, they also offer a selection of danishes, croissants and banana bread. OK, so still cake like, but everyone eats these

If you have time to eat in, definitely definitely try their cafe menu.  The paninis and sandwiches are gorgeous, true to their Italian style, and very good value at $14 each.  Oh, and there’s also the amazing antipasti too.  I can definitely see this place becoming one of my regulars.  But maybe i shall have to force myself to take the stairs each time, just to make myself deserve that last bite of cake  Marie Antoinette would certainly feel at home here!

Just in time for the Sydney International Food Festival, Bacco is also offering high tea for $45 per person.

www.bacco.com.au

Chef’s Gallery just popped up next to KFC next to the Lumiere building in Sydney.  It seems to have offended an earlier Taiwanese dumpling place which apparently has put up a sign on its front door saying that they are not affiliated with any other restaurant in Sydney! Touche! Personally, I think it’s brilliant that in Sydney we now get many different interpretations of Chinese food, which was once just fried rice and sweet and sour pork.  Our palates have developed and we are becoming so open to trying new cuisines from other parts of China.   But anyway, back to Chef’s Gallery!   The service is quick, but you are not merely a number and not rushed out.  Even the busy staff who are run off their feet (note the long queues) always remember your requests and respond to them.  And did I mention clean?  Marvel at the open kitchen, where you can watch staff craft their wares.

Something healthy to start with – steamed pork and cabbage buns.  Perfectly round, with a moist pork filling.

Something substantial – the sweet and dark pork ribs – 5 lip smackingly delicious pieces of lean pork on the bone. It was a favourite of the group!

Green noodles – spinach noodles with calamari, prawns and straw mushrooms.  I loved the al dente texture, but in contrast to the flavoursome ribs, may do with a bit more salt.

Now this is something that I haven’t tried before – Chinese roti served with pork floss.  I loved the sweet pork, it had an interesting light as air texture, and it went really well with the roti that had crispy bits, and wasn’t oily like some of its asian relatives.  Yuummm.

These prawn dumplings were hands down the best har gaus I’ve ever had.  The prawns were really “meaty” and were not “fishy” at all.

However, its pan fried version was to die for!!! I had three of these  They too were meaty, with crispy bases that weren’t oily at all.  Sooo full of prawns.

Shallot cakes with ham – the pastry was light and flaky – look at the height of these things.  They can easily be oil logged in other places, but done very well here, served on a doily hehehe.

Lightly pan fried pork buns.  Dusted with black sesame and shallots, I believe these were the same as the steamed versions just lightly toasted on the bottom.  And again, without being oil logged like some other places.  How perfectly smooth and round are they!

The soy braised beef is a standard on Asian banquet entrees.  I didn’t try any as it’s not something that’s to my taste, but I’m told it was okay!

Same with the pickled cucumbers not being my cup of tea too. Sour stuff “shudder”! hehehe.

Pork belly is rolled around cucumber and served with a garlicky sauce.  I would prefer it warm myself, but very tender pork.

Here’s another thing I haven’t seen either – spinach egg tofu, topped with pickled veg, in a soy broth – Yummo!! Give me more of this!!

Silken egg tofu that’s in fact green inside still! It’s deep fried such that it’s crispy on the outside but still creamy and smooth on the inside. Yum- how do they do that!

My personal favourite. The prawn and pork wontons served with handmade noodles in a spicy sauce.  I loved the tangy spiciness of the sauce, and the al dente, thin and perfectly cooked hand made noodles.   Others found the heat a bit much, but I just think they need some chilli training because it could have done with even more in my opinion! hehehe

If you still have room for dessert at this stage, and let’s be realistic – I didn’t, try the piggy buns. They are devastatingly gorgeous – pink little snout, bow on one ear and black sesame seed eyes.  Too cute to eat!!!

And pumpking dumplings – how intricate are these as well!

A glutinous rice flour outside is wrapped around a lotus seed filling.  Perfect amount of sweetness too.

And finally, the red bean pancake.  Thin and not as oily as some, it was very delicate with a layer of redbean paste in the middle.

The owners have created such a nice decor.  The room is lined with glass boxes with artefact style pieces illuminated simply and stunningly.

What was also surprising to me was how the owner, Yardley, came and greeted me – knowing that rewas kinda in charge of ordering for my table of 14 (yes, there were 14 of us who devoured the lot!), and asking me if everything was to our liking.  She really seemed to care and loved hearing feedback as much as I loved talking to her about the concept – a new one that she has created, and how she carefully handpicks staff to suit her vision.  Note that as usual for Foodiechat, we paid for our meal and the above comments are all independent and honest  Sadly, I’m not famous enough to be invited to eat for free hehe

Located on the corner of the main drag of the pedestrian part of Chinatown (corner of Liverpool and Harbour streets), next to Mamak, it is famous for its taro pearls.  Syrupy bases of shaved ice are topped with all manner of asian specialiaties including Azuki beans, mung beans, lotus seeds, tapioca pearls – the combinations are endless, and you can also have silken tofu based desserts too.  And both can be served hot or cold.

The famous taro pearls are also served with sweet potato pearls.  Steamed taro/sweet potato is rolled with glutinous rice flour and served in syrup.  I don’t know if it was my serve, or because of the hot business on that day, but my pearls were slightly too chewy and not sweet enough.

Shaved ice, pearls, beans, and the taro/sweet potato pearls with azuki beans peaking at the back – a refreshing summer’s treat. And bowls so huge – don’t eat lunch first, as it is a meal in itself!

This is the signature herbal dessert.  Don’t be put off by the “herbal” description.  Have you ever had grass jelly? It’s like that.

A bed of very finely shaved ice – it’s so fine it’s like snow! It’s covered with grass jelly at the pearls.  Extra toppings are $0.60 each. And costs $5.50 itself.  I was ssooooooo full after eating this after my lunch.  I’ll know next time to share or go on an empty stomach!  can’t wait to see what’s next in Haymarket!

Bring on the summer!!!  http://www.meetfresh.net/

Well, try I did.  And it was even better than I expected.  From the window I actually had no idea what type of food it was – it was definitely Asian – in fact, it turned out to be Thai.  Home Thai – as in home cooked style food.  But I don’t know whose home has such amazing food every night – maybe a palace?  It was so hard to pick what to eat, but guided by the photos in the extensive menu, and sneaking glances at what arrived at other tables, we settled firstly on the Pad Thai. Did I mention this place is cheap??? $10.50!!  Authentically with sugar, peanuts and chilli powder on the side, fresh and cooked beansprouts.  And not oily but also not gluggy!  Did I mention the staff all use ipads to take your order?  A bit too cute – because it failed on our occasion and the waitress didn’t want to hand write our orders cos it wouldn’t go through.  Luckily it went back online after around 10 minutes. Oh , and also the waitresses wear LV side satchels.  Were they also from Thailand?

Highly recommended: the banana flower salad, topped with 6 gigantic prawns. It was text book perfect. Crunch, salt, sour, spicy all in one bite through fresh chillis, fish sauce, coriander, peanuts – YUM.  And the prawns were so generous.  Served on an artfully carved leaf too.

We finished off with two desserts – $6.50 for this mango (Fresh!) with sticky rice and coconut cream.  Umm… not sure if the kitchen mixed up the sticky rice, because it was salty  They also have sticky rice as a rice choice too.  So not really a fan of this dish.  Perfect texture of rice though.

And definitely couldn’t go past the dessert sampler. A steal at $5.50!  Banana fritters and various sticky rice and coconut puddings.

Another word of warning – don’t wear nice clothes, cos you will STINK afterwards!  But it is SOoooo worth it.  I can’t wait to go again.   Awesome food, and well priced too.  The Haymarket dining scene is looking up and lifting up in standards!

We also opted for a sticky crispy skin duck with tamarind and orange ($33).  Viet style duck a l’orange I guess?  It was very sweet and sticky, and yummy, but bits of it were a bit too deep fried till they became like duck jerky!  But the garnishes were so beautiful and fresh, and the sauce very fragrant.

Regrettably, we thought we knew better than the waiter.  He (wisely) recommended that we opt for something different than our caramelised beef rib, as all our dishes were sweet.  He was right!  It would have been good to order something with a different element (salty for example), as the flavours were quite similiar.    Not so generous this one, but lip smackingly delicious all the same.

There is in fact a very good value set banquet menu, which is very popular to groups, it seems like group thing is something they do very well.  The staff are extremely nice and friendly and knowledgeable (Apart from not being able to cope with a quick seat swap!).  If you live in the area walking distance, or don’t mind catching the train, it’s quite a nice little funky place to try.  If you drive – maybe give it a miss, unless you are blessed with parking luck or can eat in an hour!