Posts tagged Sydney

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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Jazz City Milk Bar, Darlinghurst

Review July 16, 2013 4 Comments

Sometimes, dinner is such a mission.

After hearing so much about the Jazz City Diner and its decadent Southern goodness, I was chomping at the bit (literally, I was that hungry!) to get to this hole-in-the-wall delight that everyone’s been raving about.
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Sky Phoenix, Sydney

Review May 15, 2013 3 Comments

Sydney, especially in Chinatown, has a fair few decent Yum Cha places. The Phoenix chain of restaurants are especially reputable, with many restaurants dotted throughout the busier suburbs in Sydney.

Sky Phoenix isn’t particularly outstanding, but it’s got decent food, and decent enough service.

It’s definitely consistent, and it’s a great option in the city, especially if you’re meeting friends for a shopping trip, and feel like going for some dim sum.

We ate at:

Sky Phoenix
77 Castlereagh St
Sydney, NSW 2000

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Lindt, Martin Place

Review March 5, 2013 2 Comments

One of the ingredients to a great girls night out is definitely oodles of chocolate, and the Lindt cafe has been a favourite meeting spot for many a girls night out for me. So imagine my excitement when I got an invite to the reopening of a completely revamped Lindt Cafe at Martin Place!

Yeah. I was that excited!

The Lindt cafe, as it always is to me, is a sophisticated Willy Wonka Wonderland. Gold and marble adorn the interior, and it’s understated in its luxury and opulence. And this sophistication is reflected in the chocolates as well. Lindt chocolate never disappoints, and the people I know who aren’t a fan of chocolate because it can be cloying, always end up a fan of Lindt because of their fine balance in flavours and textures, and variety.

Of course, chocolates of every incarnation were proffered to us upon arrival.

They even had a brand new station where vats of tempered, molten chocolate sat, and strawberries, macaroons and pralines were covered in lush, silky chocolate of every kind. I especially loved how the chocolatiers were available for us to talk to, and food nerd that I am, I was so happy with the effortless way they answered my questions and explained to me the finer points of chocolate.

One of the chocolatiers said that they sometimes had to stop work on the finer chocolate work on really humid days as the humidity can be enough to cause the chocolate to seize up. Besides which, chocolate is really best to be set at room temperature (about 20C) and that sort of humidity can cause a really ugly chocolate bloom – which can be caused by the sugar reacting with the moisture in the air.

I also had a chat with Thomas Schnetzler, one of Lindt’s Master Chocolatier, who talked about the challenges of following the Lindt traditions right here in a (sometimes) hot and humid Australia. I’ve heard that some chocolate companies – in order to work with the climate that Australia has – sometimes change the recipe of their chocolate according to the region. Lindt however – according to Thomas – staunchly refuses to change their recipe, and instead chooses to apply technique and equipment to allow the quality and standard to be unchanged throughout the world.

So besides eating amazing chocolate straight out, what else can you have in a chocolate cafe? Chocolate with coffee of course!

Now I may not be the biggest connoisseur of coffee, but the mix of dark chocolate with rich coffee actually made a really nice drink. It was served towards the end of the night, and it was a great pick-me-up.

And guess where that chocolate came from?

Australia’s first chocolate on tap! With sophisticated machines imported from Italy, the chocolate is kept liquid and warm, and when it comes time to clean the machines, chocolate is used to flush out the machines, because any drop of water might ruin the chocolate.

And the piece de resistance for the night? Customizable chocolate slabs!

Yeah yeah, I know that some people might be unimpressed because it’s just chocolate writing on chocolate, but think about all those generic chocolates gifts that you give people throughout your life. Now, instead of giving them a card and a box of chocolates because you don’t know what to get people, you can give them a card written on chocolates! How cool is that?

Of course, what kind of food blogger would I be if I didn’t get one myself?

Thank you again to Laura from Trish Nichol Agency and Lindt for the invite!

Red Lantern, Surry Hills, Sydney

Review September 24, 2012 4 Comments

Don’t you love it when food adventures bring you to unexpected places? The night started out with a plan. The plan was called Porteño.

I had watched the most recent episode of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain had sampled the delights of Porteño. A sudden, irresistible need to gorge on whole animals that have been through the rites of fire and salt engulfed me. I needed meat and I needed it NOW. And so off we went.

Danny, Cara, Sam and myself headed off down the dark streets of Surry Hills, keeping a nose out for the distinctive aromas of sizzling unadulterated meat. We turned down Cleveland St — we were so close! But why couldn’t we smell the meat?— and were met by the disappointing sight of closed doors and sealed windows.

WHYYYYY????????!!!!!!!!!!

Wasn’t it only closed on Mondays? But it was a Sunday! All sorts of indignant desperate thoughts flew through my stream of consciousness as sweet dreams of pig’s heads were dashed and shattered before my very eyes.

So, disillusioned and hungry, we set off in the direction of Crown St, hoping to find some other food to serve as our rebound. Surely a rebound love could not ever meet our impossible expectations? But oh was I wrong.

Deep red walls and an exotic exterior caught our eye. We had somehow arrived at Luke Ngyuen’s Red Lantern. Hope bloomed in our hearts like plant in spring. A new exciting experience awaited!

Between the four of us, we decided to share two entrées and two mains for maximum food variety.

From left: Goi Vit Ung Khoi Tra ($26), Goi Kho Bo ($22)

The Goi Vit Ung Khoi Tra proved to be an absolute favourite. Tea smoke duck breast sat atop a medley of pickled vegetables. Every bite was an explosion of tangy crunchiness followed by the soft embrace of juicy duck. If I remember correctly, the duck is marinaded, seared then smoked with green tea — thank you SBS food! — and the whole process brings a myriad of salty, meaty flavours that bring me so much joy.

In comparison, the Goi Kho Bo ended up being only okay. Don’t get me wrong, the marinaded and dried Black Angus beef was just the right amount of chewy and tasty, but because it followed that spectacular duck, it didn’t stand a chance. It’s something that I would order again, but just not as a first choice. Even while I was enjoying it, my greedy hungry eyes kept going back to the duck and the equally exciting juices that sat at the bottom of the plate.

Now that we have gotten a taste of something that really excited us, we were afraid. What if nothing else matched up to the gorgeous duck? Our mains then descended upon the table.

From top:Thit Cuu Nuong Xa ($32), Thit Heo Nau Mam ($34)

The Thit Cuu Nuing Xa was a chargrilled, marinaded lamb that was gracefully escorted by fresh, crunchy greens. We were surprised and delighted by the addition of strips of tart green apple, and in my opinion, it lightened the dish and provided balance.

Next to the rich colours of the lamb, the Thit Heo Nau Mam — which was a braised pork shoulder in lemongrass, shrimp paste and coconut juice — looked a little…ordinary. But having had pork braised in coconut juice previously at Luke Ngyuen’s Fat ~~Duck, whoops Freudian slip~~ Noodle, my heart still held plenty of hope.

And it did not disappoint. Rich flavours softly cajoled and serenaded my taste buds, while the pork shoulder melted seductively into my mouth. While. It did not bring the same kind Ida excitement that the duck did, it definitely made me want to sink slowly into my chair and expire in exquisiteness.

The problem with such good food is that you often feel like there wasn’t enough, and that was the feeling I had the whole time through. Yes, we were four people sharing four dishes, but for the price that we paid I did still get the feeling that it was not somewhere that I could keep going back to often. It was definitely the kind of dinner out that was more of a treat than a constant comfort.

Mmmmm duck.

We ate at:
Red Lantern on Crown
545 Crown St, Surry Hills NSW
(02) 9698 4355

Chinese New Year 2012, Belmore Park

Review January 30, 2012 1 Comment

Last year I had a look at the Chinese New Year Festival at Belmore Park, and thought I’d go again this year. Even the intermittent and very grouchy weather couldn’t dampen (haha!) my spirits!

Somehow, though, the festival this year didn’t have the same bustling atmosphere. Sure, there were a lot of people, but it felt like there weren’t the same number of stores, or that the stores were wayyy more spread out. And there weren’t the same randoms! Where are the bunny people???

Anyway, entertainers aside, the only interesting stall that I found this year was this one:

I have no idea what the background really is, but anywhere that I can get a serving of noodles for $4 is well worth a shot! (Mappen still has a special place in my heart)

For a grand total of $10 combined, Sean got his dumplings…

…and I got this

This bowl of 凉粉 (cold noodles) was surprisingly good! It suited the warm, humid weather well, and had a refreshing zing to it. A light addition of chilli oil made it interesting, and the jelly-like slippery noodles made the kid in me giggle. Quite fun to eat.

For that matter, it was really fascinating to watch them make! The noodles came off this translucent dome

Some guy with a hand grater carefully grates off a pile of noodles.

When you order, it gets put into a container with the relevant sauces, and you get a noodle dish!

I think part of the reason why I like it so much is the novelty of eating it – I must admit that it’s not something that I’d enjoy a massive bowl of.

Oh and the dumplings? They were ok. Not mind-blowing, but really we didn’t expect it to be. But they were at least better than the random “Dim Sim” *shudders* places that they had there.

I miss spending Chinese New Year at home!!!!!!

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The Bellevue Hotel, Paddington

Review November 13, 2011 5 Comments

The lovely people from the Trish Nichol Agency and The Bellevue Hotel invited myself and a couple of other bloggers for a tasting session after the big revamp of the upstairs bar. It’s really nice in a gentlemen’s club sort of way. Luxurious leather armchairs, dark wood shutters, and lots of old world charm. The whole setting made me feel like dressing up in a 20’s flapper dress and wear my hair in a short dutch bob – not that it’s flattering on me, but you get the idea. I immediately got the impression that it would be great for a murder-mystery party. It is really unfortunate that the pictures I took of the interior really didn’t do the venue any justice, but the photos on their website gives a great idea of the feel of it.

What I did get photos of though, is the food – what kind of food blogger fail would it be if I didn’t?

We had the Meat Short Board, $35, the Mixed Short Board, $35 and the Mixed Long Board, $45, for maximum variety.

The Meat Short Board had Little Pig Sliders, Veal, Pork and Sage Meatballs, and Lamb Cutlets with Salsa Agresto.

There seems to be quite a lot of debate online as to what a “slider” actually is, but from what I can gather it’s firstly a burger. Many say that it’s a mini-burger, and some disagree, but I haven’t seen a slider that wasn’t some form of burger-type food, so let’s go with that.

The meatballs and lamb completed the line up, with the meatballs carrying a light spice and the lamb nicely pink on the inside.

The Mixed Short Board had Patata’s Bravas, Salt Cod Brandade with Anchovies, Capers & Toasted Sourdough and more Little Pig Sliders.

The Salt Cod Brandade with Anchovies was my favourite of the lot – this is my first time eating a Brandade – it being basically an emulsion of fish and oil – but I’m pretty sure that as a lover of fish, it’s something that I’d be quite happy to try more of in future. And for those who are afraid of anchovies, rest assured that this is not the fishy, overly-oily cheap tinned versions that you find in inconspicuous corners of bad supermarkets. Yes, the dish is still relatively fish-y, but nothing as bad as the rep that anchovy seems to have.

And finally, the Mixed Long Board had Stuffed Mushrooms, Veal, Pork & Sage Meatballs, Garlic Prawns & Tomato Hot Pot and Salt & Pepper Squid with Fennel Aioli

The Salt and Pepper squid was the favourite at the table, and was nicely cooked, with a nice crunch on the batter without the squid being overcooked.

Now, if you’re familiar with the blog you’d be wondering why I’m not going into detail about each dish and how it made me feel. The thing is, the food was…okay. Besides the squid and the brandade, everything else felt slightly under-seasoned. Now I’m a big lover of salt, so take from that what you will, but besides the seasoning, I felt that the food was just a touch..empty. It felt to me like whoever made those platters had a broken heart. Maybe he/she was having a bad day? The sliders – which we heard so much about – seemed to lack a wink in its eye, and the garlic prawns seemed to lack…the garlic. It was nice enough, but not something that would make me walk away planning the next trip.

What would make me want to plan the next trip back, though, was the ever-helpful Ian-the-bartender. I must admit that it might be a slightly biased experience since we dined as guests, but he seemed to be like a genuinely nice guy. He even proffered a great food idea – smoked salmon and baked beans. On a side tangent, it really works! And now you know where that idea came from.

But back to the topic at hand. The conclusion that we had come to at the end of the day was that – in all fairness – we food bloggers are quite a picky lot. We spend so much time dreaming about fabulous food that have been augmented by fabulous memories, that anything short of that does disappoint us slightly. To a regular pub-going public though, it’s got great execution and is great food to pick at with a beer (I’m paraphrasing from Sara since I don’t really drink). Most of our respective partners would be quite happily munching away and polishing off the platters, so maybe it’s just us.

Either way, it’s good to-share food, and the venue’s great for a cozy party. Has anyone else been? What did you think?

We ate at:
The Bellevue Hotel
159 Hargrave St Map
Paddington, NSW 2021
(02)9363 2293

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Tambourine of Insatiable Munchies and the other bloggers mentioned in this post dined as guests of The Bellevue Hotel and the Trish Nichols Agency.