FoodieChat

I stumbled upon this place by complete accident.  Walking over to Marigold, I noticed this completely open kitchen with food displayed in the window to make mouths water and pedestrians stop in their tracks.    And I certainly wasn’t the only one.  In front of the glass display of food and chefs was a long queue crouching beneath a solitary outdoor heater.  Mental note – MUST TRY!  

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!

Two trusted independent sources, a third overheard and verified – Jimmy Lik’s is very good.  Must try. Hmmm… Longrain or Jimmy Liks?  Both are kinda modern asian with a twist, both are actually quite a bit more expensive than traditional Asian food!  OK, Jimmy Liks it is.  It’s in Pott’s Point, on a very quiet street.  Issue number one. Parking – or lack thereof.  We circled the Cross, Potts Point, everywhere is only 1 hour parking!  And on both sides of the street – diligent parking inspectors, so no sneaky overtime parking!  The paid carparks were a bit too far.  Lucky – 20 minutes circling later, some parking outside the school.   We found the restaurant, heaters blazing outside, two entrances – one to the bar, and one to the restaurant.  In the restaurant, communal dining is the go.  Which is great for groups, but slightly awkward for the two of us.  Their method is to seat couples side by side on the long communal table, NOT opposite.  Which lead me to say to the (very hot stranger in front of me): “Despite the fact that I would love to gaze into your eyes all night, I don’t know you, so would you mind if we swapped?”.   Hot guy agreed, and we swapped.  Oh dear. All the staff found this highly confusing, as all night, we got each others’ food served to us wrongly!  And pity, hot guy’s hot girlfriend came along eventually too. D’oh! hehehe.  Anyway, awkward seating aside… the food was quite good.  We tried the corn fritters.  (Have you noticed I have a thing for corn fritters?).  I expected breakfast style pancakes, but instead, 6 round puffs slightly bigger than golf balls.  They stick together with their batter, and are served with an assortment of vietnamese herbs, and a home made sweet chilli sauce.

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. (more…)

First up, let me just say that going to Ripples Cafe, Sydney Wharf on a rainy day is the WORST idea!  Its ideallylic waterfront location on the wharf also makes it a gauntlet for those without umbrella because there is absolutely no cover!  For some moments, it was rainy so heavily we wondered whether the plastic canopy was going to cave in, in fact some parts of it dripped.  But on a fine day, I’m sure it will be entirely spectacular.  Should have known that though, cos the restaurant is 100% outdoors!  Anyway, now that I have stated the disclaimer, let’s look at the delights for those who are lucky enough to go on a fine day!

We were famished by the time we got there, so first up was to order some roasted garlic bread.  Each serve came with four generous wedges of garlic bread with a twist. It was bread with whole baked caramelised cloves through it. And boy was there alot of garlic!  The husband of my manager was said to say “you reek!” when she got home!  But we as a whole team wolfed it all down.  It came served with extra garlic butter, as well as a walnut sauce which was a bit redundant as it was a bit sweet and the bread was sweet anyway.  I would have preferred the garlic to be more integrated into the bread as it was a bit offputting to chew through whole cloves of garlic.

Hunger staved, we could then turn our attention to ordering.  We were having the $29 team lunch, which comprised a choice of one of four courses with a glass of house wine, beer or soft drink; AND tea or coffee at the end.  First choice, was their signature fish and chips.  The fish was hake (ie shark), which is not atypical of fish and chips in Australia, but could be improved by using flathead for example.  They were crispy and served on crispy fries.

Second choice was olive crusted slow cooked lamb.. I don’t eat lamb, but was informed that it was braised so tender it fell apart at the mere touch of the fork, and the serving size was also very generous.   Served with mash topped with ratatouille and a basil dressing, it sounded a bit busy with the jus, but that’s just my opinion, uninformed

My choice was the sirloin with watercress salad and chips.  The steak was very tender and the salad tangy.  I quite enjoyed it!  I particularly loved the giant chips, stacked like a little block of potato jenga (more…)

When asked what is my favourite restaurant, there’s so many categories – favourite what – casual? Formal? Quick dinner?  Outdoor? Cheap?  Well, Bennelong is definitely one of my favourites in the fine dining category.  OK, so it’s not the type of restaurant you can go to everyday, but with their pre-theatre menu, you certainly can go more often than otherwise. It’s $75 for 3 courses, or $65 for two.  Well my sister was generous enough to take me for my birthday (well, I kinda asked if she could hehehe ) as I’d only eaten there once before (work paid) and I LOVED it. I’m also a big fan of Guillaume and his classic French, his precision cooking and just general yumminess (that’s a technical blogger’s term ).  OK, so sometimes it’s really embarrassing to take photos at a posh restaurant, so I did my best with my meal.  First of the rank – the scallops with jerusalem artichoke puree and fried garlic.   Pause.  Relishing the memory. AMAZING. Melt in your mouth scallops, creamy rich puree, delicious sauce.  This entree was certainly generous in proportion and even more fabulous in flavour.

Feeling almost full, I chose the crispy skinned barramundi for my main. It was VERY generous proportion as well (see – the $75 is SO worth it!), and topped with fried leeks, and Guillaume’s famous mash, with fresh peas and exotic mushrooms. 

Dessert was either sorbets, or warm apple crumble – served in its copper baking dish topped with vanilla bean ice cream,

or my choice – the trio of creme brulees (I found the coffee one seriously strong though) with 3 petite madelines for dunking.

One of my most favourite things about Bennelong is the petit fours that come with coffee.  As if you could squeeze in another bite, you get to squeeze in four bites:  Dark chocolate tart, grapefruit jelly, salted caramel and pistachio macaron.  Topped with a sensational harbourview, there really is no better way to enjoy a Sydney evening.

These restaurant deals are one of the best things about the credit crunch. Take advantage of them while they last!