Posts in Review

Pineapple Room, Hawaii

Hawaii Review Travel November 29, 2013 4 Comments

Furikake Crusted New Zealand, All Natural Ora King Salmon on Ochazuke Risotto.

Located inside Macy’s at the Ala Moana Shopping Centre, the Pineapple Room is Alan Wong’s casual dining counterpart to his fine dining restaurant on South King Street. Not having dined at either, I was originally a bit reserved about all the reputation surrounding both restaurants, especially when I read that the Pineapple Room is borne of a chef at Alan Wong’s expressing a wish to run his own restaurant.

I ordered the Tasting Menu – I always find that the best option if you don’t know what to order.

Ho Farms Tomato and Watermelon Salad, with Hawaii Island Dairy Goat Cheese and Li Hing Mui Dressing

Miso Garlic Butter Fish (Black Cod) with Curry Kabocha Potato Salad, Karashi (Japanese Mustard) and Gobo (Burlock Roots)

Braised Beef Short Ribs and “Taegu” Shrimp, with MAO Farms baby vegetables

Walalua Chocolate Candy Bar, with Macadamia Nut Praline Crunch, Hawaiian Salt Caramel, Chocolate Ganache, Triple Chocolate “Brownie” Cookies

The food was excellent – the butter fish was divine and the watermelon salad was amazing in its simplicity and elegance. And did I mention the melt-in-your-mouth short rib? – but what really blew me away was the service. If you don’t know already, I really like asking questions, and the service staff not only answered every question I had about the food, they even brought out the sous chef to talk to me about the menu and its development. I had particular questions about the Sea Asparagus – which taste kind of sea salty and capery – and they even sent out a note at the end of the dinner with alternate names so that I could find out more information if I was interested.

The Pinapple room provided me with not only a great dinner, but a fantastic dining experience. Definitely one worth repeating if I was in Hawaii again. Yes, you can get more affordable food on the islands, but this is a place to treat your family and yourself to a nice dinner out. With a true passion for food clearly evident in every member of the staff, this is a dining destination for eager foodies.

Leonard’s Bakery, Hawaii

Hawaii Review Travel November 24, 2013 3 Comments

You’re walking down Hawaii’s eat street – Kapahulu Avenue – after a full dinner. The night life is bustling, and people are spilling onto the street. At the end of the road, a neon sign beckons you, like the neon signs of Vegas calls to gamblers in the wee hours of the night.

“Come,” it says, “I have doughnuts.”

Malasadas, to be more exact, are a Portuguese dessert that consists of deep fried balls of yeast dough that are then coated in sugar. Variations – which are the spice of life – include different coatings (Original, Cinnamon and Li Hing – which is the flavour of Chinese dried plums), and fillings like Custard, Haupia (Coconut) and Dobash (Chocolate).

You can hardly go wrong with deep fried balls of dough, and Leonard’s Bakery is all kinds of right. They take your order, and deep fry them on demand, so you always get hot Malasadas. A crispy toasty ball of goodness is encrusted with sugar, and gives me the kind of high that rivals the memories of being a kid. I also love the filled Malasadas, which add a velvety custard-based filling to this deep fried cloud of decadence. If you’re in Hawaii, do try their flavour of the month – I had macademia whilst I was there, and while it didn’t taste overwhelmingly like macadamias, it was still a delicious creamy filling.

Mmmm..doughnuts.

Waitan, Haymarket

Review November 16, 2013 6 Comments

Peking duck was a dish that was developed for royalty in ancient China, and once you know the process that goes into making it, you’ll understand why it was a royal dish. Chef’s used to blow air – yes, mouth to duck – into the duck to separate the skin from the meat, before par cooking it in a master stock, drying it for 24hrs, glazing it, then roasting it in a brick oven. It’s not a recipe I would really attempt at home – I keep wanting to but am still daunted by the task – which is where places like Waitan come in for my Peking Duck fix.

Waitan is decked out in the opulent style of ancient China. One room actually features booths styled like the lazing areas of the rich during opium times. Prints featuring chubby women – chubbiness used to be associated with wealth, and so beauty – smoking opium pipes adorn the walls, transporting you to a romanticised version of old money during a past time.

But as much as I like interior design, we all know that my tummy will always lead me to the food. And lead me it has.

Waitan features open kitchens – for the more voyeuristic of us – and built near the back of the establishment is a hung oven for Peking duck. Flames leap as browning succulent ducks shamelessly parade in front of you, seducing the hungry diner.

But with all these theatrics, how does it taste? On launch night, Waitan served up canapé versions of their best dishes for us to sample. Peking duck pancake was of course one of them, together with fresh offerings from the oyster bar, wagyu beef steamed buns, prawn spring rolls, and prawn skewers with a Singapore chilli crab sauce.

And to finish the night, there was a black sesame cheesecake.

The food was executed in a classy way, but I’m not sure whether it really hit the spot for me. I’m very impressed that they actually built a Peking Duck oven, and am equally impressed with the 10 million dollar fit out. But is it food that you can’t get any where else in Chinatown? Perhaps not, especially with the accompanying price tag. But it’s definitely a place where you would wine and dine someone you’d like to impress, and is offering very decent food with extremely lush surroundings.

If you’re more business minded, then there are also private rooms upstairs from the main restaurant with a huge selection of fine wines.

Note: Tammi of Insatiable Munchies and her dining partner dined as guests of Waitan and Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

We ate at:

Waitan
405 Sussex St, Haymarket New South Wales 2000
(02) 9212 7999

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House of Crabs, Redfern

Review November 2, 2013 11 Comments

Oh crab, oh how you lay, with your legs crossed coyly, smothered in cajun sauce. I want to romance you, seduce you, connect with you…

I’MMA EAT YOU.

House of Crabs is the new hot place in town, with its unabashed obsession with seafood – particularly shellfish and crustaceans. The moment you step in, you’re thrust into gluttony and kitsch, and a LOT of fun. A HUGE crab greets you as you come up the stairs, and the little red booths and marine themed decor encourage you to let loose and have a chuckle.

The boil is what you ome here for, and the idea is simple: pick a type of seafood, and pick a sauce. There are snacks to help make it a meal and add to the experience, and while it might be tempting to think that these are but mere side-kicks, genuine thought has been put in to make them delicious and interesting.

The Redfern Prawn Roll came highly recommended, and didn’t disappoint. A soft, glazed, sweet bun was filled with succulent prawn and juicy mango – a celebration of summer. A creamy mayo bound it all together, and the lettuce kept it light and refreshing. The bun conveniently soaked up all the juice, and did a great job of holding together what could otherwise be a very messy meal.

The BBQ Octopus taco didn’t do as great a job of holding together, but was delicious and juicy nonetheless. Tender slices of octopus held the barest hint of a bite, and the fine slices of jalapeño and tangy dressing gave it a lot of sass. This was a messy one, but I’m not sure that you’d order a taco to be demure.

In the spirit of gluttony and excess, we also ordered the Lobster Fries. Shoe string fries were topped with lobster gravy, salty bacon bits and melted cheese. While the lobster gravy didn’t taste as strongly of crustacean as I would’ve liked, it was a very tasty dish, and addictive even when cold. I did much prefer it with the addition of the tangy hot sauce that was at the table, but I do like my chilli.

The Buffalo Cucumbers ($5) were – I think – meant to be buffalo wings, but with cucumbers. Lightly pickled slices of cucumbers were covered in a blue cheese sauce, and mixed with peanuts. This particular snack wasn’t quite as impressive as the others, but were refreshing and a good accompaniment. As far as pickled veggies go, I much preferred the jerk cucumber I had at Queenies, but that might be more because I like my food with a bit of a kick.

And for the main event, we chose Snow Crab with Cajun Sauce ($34 for 500g). In case you were wondering what 500g meant, we got pretty much a whole crab for it. You were encouraged to dump the crab out into the centre of the paper lined table, and just dig in. Gloves were provided if you wanted to be polite, but I gave up within the first 2 seconds because I love licking the sauce off my fingers. The cajun sauce had a slight hint of spice and a whole lot of attitude, and left me wondering whether I should buy home a tub to have with bread. Speaking of which, all the boil orders come with bread, for you to soak up those yummy juices in the bottom of the bag. DELISH.

The only dessert was the Nepolitan Ice Cream Waffle Sandwich with raspberry and almonds, and it was HUGE. This is definitely a dessert to share, and I was pleasantly surprised. I usually wouldn’t touch Nepolitan ice cream with a ten foot pole – because I just end up finishing all the chocolate anyway – but the tart raspberry coulis convinced me otherwise. A satisfying end to the meal.

In all, there were things that I wished that were stand out to me that I wish there were more of – extra sauce for the crab and extra raspberry for the dessert – but I had a really good time at the House of Crabs. The staff were really friendly, and the food was fast and delicious. The bill ended up slightly on the steep side – $107 between the two of us, including 1 beer – but we also ordered heaps of food. We walked away satisfied, but not stuffed, and were just left with memories of a really good night.

Great for a Friday night out with your friends, and a fantastic place to have a good food, some drinks, and more than a few laughs.

We ate at:

House of Crabs
(02) 9699 3177
305 Cleveland Street
Redfern, NSW 2016
Upstairs at The Norfolk Hotel

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Parramatta Lanes

Review October 28, 2013 5 Comments

I’ve finally popped my Parramatta Lanes cherry!!! After missing the previous years because, well, life got in the way, I finally managed to make some time to go! My mission was to stuff my face with good food, and I wasn’t disappointed!

There were 8 stops in total, hidden in Parramatta’s little laneways – hence the name.

The first stop was The Piazza – Town Hall Lane. A fantastically whimsical tram greeted me the moment I entered the laneway, looking like it came straight out of Alice in Wonderland.

La’Toosh is an old tram converted into a food tram – with a decked out kitchen and all that – and travel around much like food trucks to festivals and food events. They serve a range of coffee, teas and drinks, as well as sweet and savoury crepes.

Smoked Salmon and Spinach Crepe $15

The crepes range from $10-$15, and because I went there so early, the kitchen wasn’t quite ready and there was a bit of a wait. The staff were amazingly nice, and the coffee was excellent. The is great for a light meal, and it was hot and fresh.

But La’Toosh wasn’t the only one that was in the Town Hall Lane. There was also Grasshopper, which was a bar served built with milk crates. Super cute!

Stop #2 was the UNE Future campus, where Veggie Patch Van was conveniently parked.

Haloumi Burger, $10

The Haloumi Burger was tasty, with a generous amount of haloumi. The onion jam was a touch jarring for me, personally, but otherwise it was an enjoyable burger.

But the next sandwich for me, was the most memorable of the night.

Stop #3 was at the Craft and Cider Garden at Erby Place. Cantina Mobil made an appearance but after seeing people all atwitter about Smokey O’s BBQ I decided to go with that.

If you are a fan of slow cooked meats and go nuts over pulled pork, let me tell you that you ain’t tried nothin’ till you’ve had Smokey O”s pulled beef. There is almost all the dark flavour of beef jerky, but with the moistness of the slow cooked beef. IT WAS PHENOMENAL. I actually felt like getting a whole container of that beef and calling it a day. And accented with pickles and with the heft of the bun? It was transcendent. LOVED IT.

I also had it with some 69 Summer Ale from the Riverside Brewing company. It was light and fruity, and a fantastic accompaniment to the pulled beef.

I then moved on to the aptly named Laksa Lounge, in the Roxy Carpark. With appearances by Temasek, Spice and Lan Lans Shanghai Dumpling, this was a stop I should have made earlier on in the evening. I was absolutely stuffed by the time I got there, and only ended up ordering a Pad Thai and a Thai Iced Tea from Spice.

The pad thai was nice, but at that point of fullness, the Thai Iced Tea really hit the spot for me. If you haven’t already had it, Thai Iced Teas has an extremely strong tea base that can be sweetened with condensed milk. It usually is extremely sweet to start out with, and on this particular evening, the lady at the stand actually offered to add more condensed milk to my drink. It was like Thai Iced Milk Tea concentrate and was definitely a more a dessert item than a drink for me.

With my appetite satiated and my tummy full, I wondered back to the Connection Arcade, where I saw a fantastic take on container gardening.

Rachel from Vintaged Garden upcycles everything from Wine Boxes to wine glasses. Everything can be a little garden, and they have very smartly used the wine corks for little signs for the plants!

I really loved the way Parramatta Lanes was really organized for us to explore the hidden alleyways of Parramatta. Overnight, Parramatta seemed to be transformed into our own little version of Diagon Alley, with magical hidden worlds spread throughout Parramatta CBD.

All we need now is the floo network!

Night Noodle Markets

Review October 23, 2013 3 Comments

It’s that time of the year again! SMH’s Good Food Month has rolled around again, and the whole of October is filled with amazing food from all around the world. The Night Noodle Markets are a must-visit for me every year, which gives me my need-for-variety fix in one place.

This year there was an appearance of the Ramen Burger (pictured above) from On Ramen. The Ramen Burger – brainchild of Keizo Shimamoto – features a patty (beef, pork rib or tofu) sandwiched between two “buns” of crispy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside Ramen.

At about $12.50 a pop, the Ramen Burger seems to be coasting more on its reputation than what you get for it. It’s tasty and all, but TINY, and therefore, overpriced. Worth a try though, just so you can see what everyone is on about.

I then moved on to Jackie M’s stall, where you can get all the Southeast Asian delights for your Asian food fix.

The Otak Otak, $4.50, is soft and moreish, and I guarantee that you’ll want more than one. Flavoured fish paste is barbecued in banana leaves, imparting an earthy fragrance that you can’t get any other way.

Jackie M herself was on the front lines of her stall, braving the blazing heat and smoking woks to bring us our food. And if you don’t have the highest respect for her already after knowing that, then you should read this.

Infuzions was another stall that stood out to me – amongst the sea if dumplings and pad thai (some good, some bad), it was nice to see someone with a menu that wanted to try something different. I had the Apple Somtum with squid, and it was actually a really cool dish.

Somtum is one of my favourite salads – involving green papaya, chillies, garlic and all those fabulous Thai flavours – and this apple version carried all of the sweetness with none of the heat. Which is good if you’re not a chilli sadist like I am. The calamari was hot and fresh, which I give them props for, and was otherwise a nice salad to finish the day off with.

Pop down to the Night Noodle Markets while you still can – it’s running every evening at Hyde Park till Saturday night.

What does it mean to be Singaporean? Singapore Day 2013

Review October 14, 2013 6 Comments

A single serving of chilli crab at Singapore Day 2013

I find that it’s rare as an adult to look forward to a full weekend. Most people I know have such a packed week that having many plans on the weekend isn’t such an attractive thing. I feel for you man, I feel for you.

But what if it was a weekend filled with food?
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Ginger and Shallot, Eastwood

Review October 8, 2013 2 Comments

Sometimes you want a change. Sometimes you want something new. And sometimes, you want familiar, comforting food in a new environment.

And that’s how we ended up at Ginger & Shallots. Every time I passed by this bustling, always-busy restaurant, I see fresh hot food getting brought out to tables of happy families and friends. Safe choice right?

More than safe, it turns out. The food was indeed hot, fresh, and incredibly tasty.

Salt and Pepper Squid, $17.90

After reading a few reviews, I ordered the salt and pepper squid as a base comparison. It was fresh and crispy, but just very slightly under salted when you compare it to places like golden century.

What was really nice though, was the Soft Shell Crab Vermicelli with X.O. Sauce.

Soft shell crab, $24.90

When I first saw this dish, I thought that it would be overpriced and not as satisfying. Boy, was I wrong. The portion is massive, and would have been more than enough for the both of us for lunch, without the salt and pepper squid. It was flavourful, crispy and well seasoned. I love the springy texture of the stir fried vermicelli, and it brought back old food memories in all the best ways.

Service-wise, the staff can get bowled over by the sheer amount of customers, but they are quite efficient once you get their attention, and there’s a very no-nonsense attitude to it. It was a really enjoyable lunch, and their specials look worth trying out the next time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

We ate at:
Ginger and Shallots Chinese Cuisine
02 9874 8066
Shop 25/1 Lakeside Rd Eastwood, NSW

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My Chocolate Shoppe, Kiama

Review October 5, 2013

I think high tea has somehow fallen out of popularity. I wonder why, because I’ve had fond memories of high tea from when I was a kid. My parents would bring me to high tea at a hotel, where everything was shiny and dainty and…mini! As a kid, I thought that high tea was about kids, because everything seemed to be kid sized – itty bitty cucumber sandwiches anyone? – but now I know better.

High tea – in my opinion – isn’t so much about the food, it’s about the experience. It’s about the dainty. It’s about the sipping tea and lunching with your friends.

My Chocolate Shoppe is one of the many shops along the main street of Terralong. It’s quaint exterior suggested a much more homely feel than the big chocolate shop boys like Max Brenner and San Churros, and the staff were warm and friendly. When I ordered the High Tea, $22, the staff seemed a little confused, so I guess it might not be often ordered, but it was brought out promptly, with minimal fuss, which restored my faith.

While I appreciated that it was a good selection of what this little cafe had to offer, somehow I expected a little bit more from it. The savoury selection was average at best – the sandwiches and tarts were a touch dry – and the chocolates were incredibly rich.

Which made them good chocolates, but also made them difficult to finish without something between to cleanse the palette.

But the piece the resistance…

This place has got some rockin’ scones. Soft and crumbly, and smothered in clotted cream and jam. Sometimes scones do leave you with a dry feeling rolling around in your mouth, but this had a fantastic bite and did not leave a chalky aftertaste at all!

If anything else, I would suggest just ordering the scones. From what I understand, the scones are made fresh daily, and at $3.50 a pop, I think it’s well worth the visit.

We ate at:

My Chocolate Shoppe
106 Terralong St
Kiama NSW 2533

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Jean’s Chilli Chicken, Eastwood

Review October 1, 2013 3 Comments

There has been a lot of brouhaha revolving around Korean Fried Chicken, but I think that there hasn’t been nearly enough recognition for it’s fiestier cousin – the chilli chicken.
I first had chilli chicken in Strathfield, after a night out at the bar with a few friends. The slow burn from the Korean Kochujang really hit the spot, and pieces of juicy chicken created an incredibly moreish and addictive mouthful, and left me loving that burn.

So I absolutely had to try the chilli chicken in Eastwood, after my Korean friend recommended it as being “very chilli, but very good”.

And it did not disappoint.

I ordered the chilli chicken with cheese, and it arrived in a sizzling hot plate with oozing, melted cheese draped over the top like a trophy wife. Fiery and decadent, the combination of punchy chilli sauce with chicken and cheese is surprisingly filling, even before you consider the sides.

It came with a lightly oiled rice that was dotted with various flavours like sesame seed, seaweed flakes and flakes of fish. The plastic gloves meant that you were meant to roll your own rice balls, which added to a sort of ‘hands-on’ element to the meal, though you could just as well eat it out of the bowl.

Creamy pasta salad and crunchy pickled radish both soothed and cleanse the palate from the relatively heavy – and heavenly – chicken. I wish there was more radish, but I’m really a pickle sort of girl.

In all, it was a very satisfying and filling dinner. The chilli chicken, which cost $38 at the time that we went, is really a meal for at least two people, but could easily feed 3-4. The staff are friendly and not in-your-face, which means that you’re left to enjoy your food in peace. There isn’t eftpos at the counter, but you can choose to pay at the bar of the hotel that the eatery is located in – which is where you’d have to order your drinks anyway.

Great for dinner, but better in a large group. Jean’s Chilli chicken is also open to the wee hours of the night, making it a perfect way to end a rousing evening out.

We at at:

Jeans Chilli Chicken
02 9874 1100
115 Rowe Street Eastwood, NSW

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