Oliveto Ristorante & Bar - Rhodes

We live quite close to many yummy looking restaurants but it had taken us a few years to try out Oliveto - an Italian restaurant with a view of the bay. I was thinking that being kind of in the middle of nowhere, the restaurant would be quieter but it was the complete opposite. The restaurant was bustling and super super busy (and really quite loud) at 8pm on a Friday night.

Many items on the menu sounded delicious so it took us ages to decide what to order but at the end, we decided on the antipasto plate to share, a prosciutto rocket pizza with anchovies, and a mixed mushroom pappardelle.

The bread came with olive oil and balsamic. The bread was pretty dense - not my type. But hubby managed to polish it off with the antipasto. The platter came with prosciutto, beef carpaccio, chilli salami, cheese, artichoke, eggplant, capsicum, egg frittata, and olives (both green and black). All the meats were really really good. I especially liked the beef carpaccio - heaps tasty!

After the antipasto, we were both already quite full. There was no way hubby was to finish his pizza. However, it was really tasty somehow - I don't know if it was the cheese or the prosciutto or the anchovies but something in this pizza made it delectable.

My pappardelle smelt absolutely wonderous. Fresh herbs with mixed mushies and home-made pasta. YUM! It was mouth-wateringly delicious. The pasta was perfectly al-dente and mixed with just the right amount of flavoured olive oil.

Neither hubby nor I had enough stomach space to do dessert but looking around the restaurant, dessert looks amazing. As does their grilled seafood (def food envy there). We felt that Oliveto was a heaps tasty Italian restaurant which is well worth a re-visit.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Oliveto Ristorante & Bar
443 Concord Road
Rhodes, NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 8765 0006

Ribs & Burgers - Rhodes

I was starving. And I had a burger craving for some reason. Logical outcome? Finding the closest burger joint possible - which in this case, was at Ribs & Burgers at Rhodes. There was just a small crowd there but the service was relatively quick. Whilst in line, hubby eyed the signage for a Milo thickshake. Milo? who can resist? Not us!

The Milo thickshake did not disappoint. It was super thick and quite milo-y - meaning that it was absolutely delicious! However, due to the thickness of this, if I was to chug down the whole drink, I would not have enough stomach space to eat anything - even though I was starving! I would definitely order this again though - soooo tasty :)

Milo thickshake

Burger-wise, hubby got the original with beetroot whereas I got the cheeseburger (with swiss). The sesame seed bun was good but nothing really to write home about. The patty was juicy but not super tasty, and the rest of the ingredients were fresh. Overall - the burger hit the spot, satisfied my cravings, but it was probably not the best burger we've had. I would come back if I had another burger craving, but if the craving was not there, I might order the ribs here instead.

hamburger with beetroot

cheeseburger

Chips on the other hand, was amazing! Crispy, golden, deep-fried, fluffy perfectly cooked chips. YUM! Chips here are a must!

chips

I have a feeling I will be back - even if its just for the shake and chips :)

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Ribs & Burgers
Shop 53-54 
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9743 0880

Our Wedding Reception - Rhodes Phoenix

Wedding photos give me mixed feelings. On one hand, I get super excited about getting them in my hot little hands and can't wait to flick through them, on the other hand, I am way way way too lazy to sort through them properly. Hence, my hubby and I have yet to sit down together to figure which photos we want in our album. Official photos aside - I have been also sitting on photos of the food from our wedding (compliments to our good friend at TBang Photography).

First off - it was a pretty epic night. We were running slightly late and funnily enough, the waiters/manager of the restaurant wanted to make sure we were able to get food in our stomachs before doing parts of the official program (e.g. speeches, table photos, etc etc). I wasn't too surprised to see that the quality of food on our table was top-notch (as we're the ones paying for everything), but I was amazed to hear and see that all other tables had similar quality food.

First up for the night was the suckling pig and jelly fish platter. Everyone had a generous serving of the crispy skinned thinly meat/fat layered suckling pig and yummy jelly fish. I remember that a few of my non-asian friends came up to me later bemused by the fact that jelly fish could be eaten! It was a yummy dish indeed.

suckling pig and jelly fish

The prawn mince stuffed crab claws came out plump and golden brown. Crunchy deep-fried bread crumbs and tasty prawn mince was gobbled down by all (including my hubby's 3yr old nephew). I love how it managed to remain golden brown across all tables despite the massive amounts of these they had to fry up.

stuffed crab claws

Next up was braised dried scallop with mushies and broccoli. I don't remember much of this - probably wasn't impression-making, but I'm sure veges couldn't have gone too wrong. However, in retrospect, I believe that we had wanted to change the dish to fresh scallops (and not dried scallops) - the restaurant must have forgotten.

braised dried scallops with veges

I do remember, however, that the shark's fin soup with crab meat was awesome! Generous proportions of sharks fin, beautifully coloured, just the right consistency and delicious-tasting! I definately gobbled this one up :) Even my non-seafood eating friend ate this (though I'm not sure he actually enjoyed doing so) LOL

sharks fin soup

There were also lobsters a-plenty. My hubby was super relieved that he had the time to eat this - and it would have been a waste not to, as there was so much lobster! All cooked to perfection. My parents had altered the dish to make it come with thin egg noodles which complimented and mopped up the "supreme sauce" beautifully. Love the noodles :P

braised lobster and noodle in supreme sauce

Next up was the braised abalone with sea cucumber. I'm not a fan of abalone and not a fan of sea cucumber, but I could see that most Asian guests appreciated the taste and texture of this dish. The sauce was strong, but I think it was necessary coz abalone and sea cucumber are probably not the most inherently tasty things.

abalone and sea cucumber

Every table also got a large steamed live coral trout with ginger and shallot. Not sure what the taste or texture was on other tables - but I remember that our fish was spot on deliciousness. Super fresh, super smooth - the fish kind of just slithered down my throat with the perfect soy sauce coating. YUM.

steamed coral trout

I didn't touch much of my crispy skin garlic chicken but I do remember thinking that the kitchen did well to keep the skin crispified.

crispy skinned chicken

Just as the rounding off dishes, there was the fried rice in lotus leaf wrap. Most banquets get the rice and noodles at the end, but we shoved our noodles in with the lobster and hence, only rice in lotus leaf option was available. A very good option if my memory prevails.

fried rice in lotus leaf

Fruits and little biscuit and cake things were also served. Didn't get to touch them but they looked decent :)

dessert

All up, Rhodes Phoenix did an excellent job with the food. The service was also better than most and I love how the environment doesn't bring on that normal Chinese food clattering and clinkering echoey noises due to their high ceilings. Definately a good reception venue if you are stuck with the need to host a Chinese banquet.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 32.5/40

Rhodes Phoenix
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9739 6628

Rhodes Phoenix (4) - Rhodes

Sneak peak at the food which will be served at our wedding.

So not exactly this. But our families had decided to go and have a taste test of the food at our reception. Not really sure why this is necessary because 1/ we're not going to change the venue regardless, and 2/ the quality of food we get on the night when they cook in bulk would probably be different to this anyway. But nonetheless, an excuse to eat abalone and lobster and all that stuff can't be TOO bad :)

crab claw

Lobster was also on the table for the night. I think I must have gotton the 2 easiest pieces to eat. The super large chunks of lobster came out without a fight, leaving me with just fresh tasty and meaty lobster. Tasted sweet and full-on lobstery. The noodles weren't the best... but I guess that's why we're changing those to egg noodles LOL.

Lobster with e-fu noodles

Abalone with sea cucumber was next. I'm not a fan of abalone, neither is my partner. We had no qualms about this. However, the parents said that the abalone was too chewy and came with a 'sourness' (ie. that it was "off"). After informing the waitress who apologised and acted confused to no end, we had a fresh plate of abalone cooked for us. OK - so the 2nd batch of abalone appeared more tender and less chewy, but really, either batch was fine with me. Extra abalone though - woot? Sea cucumber was nice and jelly-like in both.

abalone with sea cucumber

We also steamed a grouper (instead of coral trout) for the evening. The fish was steamed pretty much to perfection. The fish was sweet and tasty. Again, no problems here.

steamed grouper

Now, in terms of scallop - we had an option between dried scallop and fresh scallop. Being not a fan of dried scallop, we have now decided on fresh ones. The fresh scallops were AWESOME. Large, tasty, YUM (and yes, I am biased).

Scallop with snow peas

Last but not least, we had crispy skinned chicken. Nothing too awesome here. Just regular crispy skinned chicken.

Crispy skinned chicken

So all up, what did we achieve with this meal? We locked in the banquet menu. We locked in the drinks menu. And... well... I guess they ought to be more careful with the abalone on the night... I hope? :P

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 31/40

Rhodes Phoenix
Rhodes Shopping Centre
Level 5, 1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes, NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9739 6628

Rhodes Phoenix (3) - Rhodes

Back at Rhodes Phoenix to nut out a few more details about this venue. Why not make a dinner out of it?

We asked what was good to eat for the night and the waiter recommended super large juicy oysters ($9 each). Erm, a touch expense? But I don't think anyone was thinking about that. Hence, we ordered an oyster each.

These oysters were very large and plump. Served with vermicelli, shallot and XO sauce - it was slightly not saucy enough. A bit more XO probably would have made it much yummy - not that it was bad... just not excellent.

XO oysters

I wanted a deep-fried taro duck dish. This was very thinly sliced duck with an inch-thick of mashed taro then deep fried. There was a slight lack of salt if you ate it by itself - but if you added the sauce, it bought along a bit more taste and zing~ What I liked about it is the smooth taro bits. Most people, I imagine, would probably prefer the crunchy deep fried substance which encases the taro and duck.

taro duck

My mum ordered a vegetarian dish comprised of bamboo shoot, mushrooms, black funghi and broccoli. Ummm... lots of veges with clear oyster sauce based sauce? :P

mixed veges

We ordered a live fish... not sure of the english name for it... but they overdid this one. It was oversteamed and the fish skin was broken. Even though it appeared much over-steamed, the meat was still tasty and fresh and subtly sweet. It was very easy to eat such that the six of us gobbled up the >1kg fish in no time.

steamed fish

A combination tofu hot pot was ordered. The seafood variety was pretty good. I liked the scallops particularly. But overall, the tofu hot pot was averagely good.

combination tofu hot pot

My mum wanted a seafood nest. This was a thin rice noodle deep-fried into a nest shape then filled with seafood and beans. The seafood here was really quite good. The squid was tender, the scallop was sweet and the prawns were crunchy - even if all were once a frozen variety. Yum nonetheless. My parents said that the "nest" itself lacked a bit of flavour - but really, deep-fried rice noodles... it's like deep-frying rice, there's not supposed to be flavour in that...right?

seafood nest

Complementary dessert was "lo mai chi" and deep fried sweet red bean pastry. The lo mai chi was stuffed with sweet taro paste and coated with desiccated coconut. This was quite nice. The deep fried red-bean pastry was very very sweet... a bit over the top sweet? It was deep-fried very well though. Not too burnt - it was golden brown.

lo mai chi with taro filling

deep fried sweet red bean pastry

Not too much to complain about. My partner's parents said that the dishes seemed to lack a bit of taste (not salty enough), but I thought everything was nicely subtly flavoured. The service was good - not sure if it was because they were aware of our intentions or if they are normally this good. I guess we will only find out if we return to the restaurant after the big day. As for the ambiance... there just so happened to be a small wedding occuring at the time we dined. Made for heaps of noise and a bit of ruckus.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29.5/40

Rhodes Phoenix
Level 5, Rhodes Shopping Centre
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes
NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9739 6628

Rhodes Phoenix (2) - Rhodes

We were eating dinner at Rhodes Phoenix with a purpose. It was a slightly scary moment for both my partner and I. So scary, in fact, that I felt nervous in pulling out my camera and demanding for each dish to be snapped before being touched. And... as such, not every dish was snapped LOL

These are the photos I could manage on the night. More than just these dishes were ordered but I guess, the overall gist was - the food was good.

As we got seated, the big decision of ordering food was placed on us. I knew my partner silently wanted lobster... but... it was pricey and hence, forgone. Instead, we ordered a live fish variety ($98/kg). This was cooked two ways. One was filleted and stir-fried with veges. The other type was deep-fried then sauced over. I have to say - the fish was really really good. It was tasty. It was sweet. It was really tender. I personally prefered the lighter, less sauced-up version as I think that the sweetness of the fish really shines through. My partner preferred the sauced-up version. Whilst it had bones galore, it was really really tasty.

Fish cooked 2-ways

My choice for the night was a prawn and vermicelli hot pot. This didn't turn out as I had expected. I had expected it to come out in a brown sauce and for it to be drier. But - it came out looking white and soupy. It still tasted pretty good though. Just different to my expectations I guess.

Prawn with vermicelli

Another dish I managed to photograph was the soy-sauce chicken. I like my soy sauce chicken completely drenched in soy sauce, but that's not how normal people like it. Most people probably prefer it like this - tender tasty chicken with soy sauced skin.

soy sauced chicken

There was also a tofu vege hotpot. This was pretty normal. The good thing about it was that it wasn't drenched in inch-thick oil nor was it msg-loaded.

tofu hot pot

The last dish I managed to snap was a pork chop dish cooked in a sweet ish sauce. It was actually pretty crunchily nice on the outside and when eaten with crisp deep-fried seaweed, it was actually pretty damn good.

pork-chops

Other dishes we ordered on the night include stir-fried pork neck and wasabi-ish flavoured beef.
These were both pretty decent.

My overall impression of the restaurant was good. The dishes came out hot, tasty and not packed full of MSG. The portion sizes were likewise good. Ambiance is awesome (for a Chinese restaurant) and the service was so so.

Will we be back? I believe so - along with over 300 wedding guests I believe.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Rhodes Phoenix
Level 5, Rhodes Shopping Centre
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes
NSW 2138
Tel: (02) 9739 6628

Rhodes Phoenix Chinese Restaurant - Rhodes

This post is long overdue... my partner said he'd take care of it... but then conveniently forgot about it :P

Rhodes Phoenix Chinese Restaurant

In search of yum-cha food, my partner and I found ourselves at Rhodes Phoenix, a Chinese restaurant I've heard lots of good reviews about, but have been dying to try out.

On this particular Saturday (as I expect with every Saturday), this restaurant was packed out. Luckily, requiring only a 2-person table, we were happily seated within 15 minutes or so.

We sat, got our tea, and piled our table up with food. One of my partner's all-time favourites is salt-and-pepper squid. Palely deep fried and dusted with salt and pepper and topped with chilli, this dish was quite delectable and extremely addictive. The squid was soft, chewy and very easy to eat. Although I'm not as great a fan of salt-and-pepper squid, I thought this was quite amazing and probably would not have stopped my partner from ordering another plate of it (and that's saying something).

Salt and Pepper Squid

Another of my partner's favourites is the chicken feet in brown sauce. Again, this was quite very much an awesome dish. It was cooked almost perfectly, drenched in an almost perfect proportion of sauce and the sauce was almost perfectly tasting. Mmm... An ordinary dish taken to the ultimate deliciousness level.

Chicken Feet

The pork ribs was pretty much devoured by my partner who loved every moment of the soft tender and well-seasoned meat. I didn't get much of eating this, but the little of it that I did manage was quite satisfying.

Pork rib

Now onto my har gau (prawn dumpling). This was again, awesomely amazingness~ The prawns were super fresh tasting, with that cruchy fresh crisp feeling - not that icky mushy off-prawns taste. The dumpling skin was also very nicely done... not too thick, yet doesn't break at the touch of your chopsticks.

Har Gau

Last but not least, the pork and prawn dumpling (siu mai). This was surprisingly average. Other than it being fresh and steaming, it was just as tastey as most other siu mai's at other places. Still nice though... just not extraordinary.

Siu Mai

Well, as you may have gathered, the eating experience was extremely good. The food fresh and tastey. The service was normal - gave us tea when we needed it. A little pricier than most places. A little more comfy and quiet (due to high ceilings) than most places. Generally, a place I would love to revisit :)

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Rhodes Phoenix
Level 5
Rhodes Shopping Centre
1 Rider Blvde
Rhodes, NSW 2138
tel: (02) 9739 6628