Biota - Bowral

Biota is one of those restaurants I've always wanted to try. Being in the Southern Highlands, it's relatively close to Sydney but after a yummy meal, it seemed more fitting to just stay the night also. Lucky for us, Biota offers a stay and dine package - 5 or 7 course meal with accommodation (twin share).

We opted for the 5 course meal. The food, service and ambiance combined all led to a really pleasant and relaxing experience. Several snacks were offered before the first course. This included a thing pear 'roll-up' with sheeps milk, goose ham, a cute little bowl of tasty fish roe and summer flowers, as well as an acacia seed eclair that you dip into a warm, raw hen's yolk.

Bread was bought to the table is these warm mole skins - toasty warm house baked dark rye bread rolls with really smooth and delicious cultured butter.

First course was an oyster with leek and cucumber. As my father can't eat raw foods, his oyster was substituted with a confit tomato. The oyster in the dish was really fresh and super sweet. Pretty amazing. I also loved the sweetness in the leek.

Course two was a slab of really tender pork belly, hidden underneath some greens and served with a tasty dallop of eel custard.

The next dish was house-milled single origin wheat noodles with a rooster stock and a dehydrated hens yolk. Dad's substitute was this plate of delicious smelling mushroom pasta.

The last savoury course was lamb. The lamb was all covered with pickled carrots and served with a blackberry sauce. My parents and hubby all loved it.

Pre-dessert was a honey-softie - a milk icecream with honeycomb. It was a really good palate cleanser- subtly sweet and quite refreshing.

Dessert was 'mums roses' served in these really intriguing stone bowls. Good use of liquid nitrogen to make the sorbet. It worked well with the peaches and cream.

All up - it was a really good dining and staying experience. The food, service and ambiance were all awesome and the rooms were also really clean, pleasant and comforting.

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

Biota 
18 Kangaloon Road
Bowral, NSW 2576
Tel: (02) 4862 2005

Hartsyard - Newtown

Hartsyard is a place I've wanted to visit for AGES but for fear of long lines and waits, I had held off. I had seen lots of yummy photos from this place so anticipation was high. Their menu consists of "seed" (entree sized) and "feed" (main sized) all meant for sharing. For the four of us, the waitress recommended 2 seeds and 3 feeds.

The Oyster Po' Boy was recommended to us by our waitress. Crunchy deep fried oysters with mayo and coleslaw enveloped between two English muffin buns. Sliders in size, it was tasty but definitely not worth it's price tag ($24 for two). For $12 a pop, I can think of many many tasty burgers from elsewheres.

We also got their smoked trout from their 'seed' (entree size) menu. The trout was perfectly cooked with a subtle hint of smokiness. Loved the mix of cauliflower, carrot, pickled mix. Also really enjoyed the crispy fish skin. The 'everything bagel' was my favourite type of bagel in NYC and these everything bagel crisps were likewise quite tasty. I thought that the dish worked and was pretty awesome.

Hubby and I like the 'smokiness' of food. One of our friends did not and so I think his enjoyment of the meal went downhill from here. The sweet potato came as pretty as a picture. Really soft and sweetly glazed with smoked honey, and topped with hazelnuts, goats curd and bbq mushrooms, it was a delight to see. I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato, but hubby and our other friend seemed to approve.

The smokiness continued on into our pulled pork. I quite liked it. It was soft and tender. Some people would say mush? The really thick slice of maple bacon was also pretty good. And who can say no to crackling? It was served with some fresh green apple and yoghurt.

Hartsyard is also famous for their fried chicken - so we knew we had to order it. It was a good 4 pieces of chicken. Crunchy outside and juicy meat. Served with a buttermilk biscuit (damper like thing) that none of us really appreciated, and gravy. What can I say? It was good but not $33 worth of good? We can get pretty damn amazing Korean fried chicken for that price!

Last but not least - dessert. We knew that we had to get their famous soft serve however reluctant we were to pay $12 for a soft serve. It better be bloody amazing! As I don't actually even remember the flavour of the soft serve... cinnamon? with a choc doughnut on the side? ... I don't know... you can probably ascertain how much we enjoyed and savoured it....

All up, the food was OK but I was quite disappointed with the experience. This is American bar food cooked reasonably but with a close to fine dining type price tag. Not cool.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 25.5/40

Hartsyard 
33 Enmore Road
Newtown, NSW 2042
Tel: (02) 8068 1473

Besser - Surry Hills

Besser is a casual Italian joint settled among the old collection of Besser blocks. It gives off a relaxed vibe and an old-school style. The waiters are heavily accented but quite friendly. Given the concreteness of the restaurant, it gets super noisy as human voices bounce around the room.

As a party of four, we decided to just order dishes to share. We opted for two entree dishes - the meatballs and the pork fingers. The meatballs were reasonably bite sized and packed full of cheesy flavour. There was also quite a delicious tomatoey sauce that covered the meatballs. The pork fingers were lightly crumbed and eaten with an oniony-yoghurt sauce. There was also an intense mustard flavour to the soft pulled-pork innards.

We chose three pastas. Two of the pastas were part of their specials for the day. Due to the noise and the waiter's accent, I don't quite remember exactly what they were, just that one was a creamy risotto with scampi, and the other was a pappardelle with sausage and mushrooms. The risotto was quite tasty - scampi give or take, but the cheesy creaminess and the al-dente rice created pretty awesome rich flavours all round. The pappardelle was not bad either. Slightly creamy, slightly tomatoey and again, perfectly cooked pasta. Whilst both pastas were delicious, what surprised me most was the gnocchi with turkey that we ordered. Not that it was better than the other pastas. Just that I've never liked gnocchi (like EVER) but this gnocchi is beginning to change my mind. The gnocchi was really fluffy and pillowy - not dense or carby like the normal ones, and the turkey meat added the right amount of saltiness to it all.

Other than the pastas, we also ordered the grilled scotch mushroom (sorry about the photo.... I didn't take it...). Having no expectations of what a scotch mushroom was like, it ended up as a plate of thin grilled scotch fillet steaks with juicy mushrooms and wilted greens. The steak was cooked well - tender enough. But I think I would have been happy enough with just tons of the mushrooms (which was really flavourful as it soaked in all the meat juices) and the wilted greens.

Dessert-wise, nothing really appealed. And, Messina was just next door (even the waiter agreed). So... Messina we went.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Besser
3/355 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Tel: (02) 9331 1611

QVB Tea Room - Sydney

I normally don't expect much from the food at weddings cos let's face it, it's hard to keep consistency when catering for hundreds of people. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how amazing the dinner reception at QVB Tea Room was at a friend's wedding recently. The stunning environment - high ceilings elegantly painted with amazing chandeliers - simply just adds to the dining experience.

For our friend's wedding, we had the entree options of the prawn tortellini and the pork belly. Pork belly had been promised to me at many-a-weddings before, most failing to deliver being either too dry (but with good crackling) or succulent (but the crackling is a soggy mess). It's hard to get it right. But OMG - this pork belly was superb! Really good crackling AND melt-in-your-mouth meat. And that was what everyone around the table was saying. Definitely good effort from the kitchen! The prawn tortellini was also a standout. Really plump and fully filled with prawn, the squid-inked pasta was cooked just right. It came with creamed corn and a tomato salsa. Yup - I could eat more of this dish too!

The mains were likewise, pretty tasty. The roasted barramundi was perfectly cooked with a bit of crunch (skin) and silky smooth flesh. It was served with royal blue potatoes and a really tasty mustard and parsley sauce. The confit duck leg also had fall-off-the-bone meat and a smooth potato puree. Both mains were well received all round.

They were anything but stingy on the portion sizes with a really big bowl of creme brulee and a big slice of lemon tart for dessert. The creme brulee had a good toffee coating (which I Loved!) and the vanillary custard was smooth and just the right amount of sweet. The lemon tart with clotted cream and raspberry sauce was also good. The base might have been a bit bleh but the citrusy custard was delish!

Definitely one of the tastiest meals we have had at a wedding! Oh - and of course, the bride and groom were absolutely stunning!!!!! :)

QVB Tea Room
Level 3, QVB
455 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9283 7279

Automata - Chippendale

There's several new exciting restaurants opening up, some in the up and coming buzzing area behind Central Park on Kensington Street. Automata - with ex-chef from Momofuku (Clayton Wells) - is one of these new kids on the block setting up shop in the newly refurbished Old Clare Hotel.

The vibe is on-trend. Hipster and slightly industrial with funky looking lights and part of an aircraft engine as it's decor. Several shared long communal tables both down and upstairs which seem good for groups but slightly too close for comfort when eating with strangers. Waiters here also give off  that 'I'm uber cool and chilled' vibe.

Offering a 5 course degustation, Automata sets us off with some tasty snacks. There is the really tender and sweet storm clams with a rosemary dashi and cream, as well as fried fish skin with a yuzu kosho. Both are delicious starts for the evening. I found the combination of rosemary and dashi to be a daring pairing - but it worked surprisingly really really well.

The first course was a plate of asparagus, lots of little stumps of them - all wrapped with sesame leaf and with a umeboshi paste sandwiched between the asparagus and the leaf. It was quite interesting. The flavour of the umeboshi is a tad overpowering, but it's not a taste I disliked. Oh - and there's some wakame on top just to make it more visually interesting.

Bread comes in after the first course. This is really soft and warm house made bread rolls with an absolutely amazing pumpkin seed and anchovy whipped butter. I was not eating bread with butter. I was eating butter with bread. This whipped butter is SOOOOO delicious I want it on everything!!!

Course two is a steamed hapuka - perfectly perfectly steamed - sitting on a bed of really smooth and super flavourful cured roe emulsion and topped with a roasted sheet of seaweed. It may not look like much, but it smelt and tasted amazing! The fish just flaked off and was smooth enough to melt in your mouth. I think that this was my favourite dish of the night.

I'm not sure if it's teething problems of if we were just dining (on a Wednesday) at a bad time of the night, but after the fish, service slowed considerably... like really really slowed. Being seated so close to other diners on a communal table meant that it gave you tons of time to eavesdrop (unintentionally) on everyone else's thoughts, feelings and dreams. The first of the meats to come was the slow roasted quail - cooked two ways - served with red witlof, and a burnt apple and caper sauce. The witlof was a pleasant bitter addition to the reasonably well cooked quail. Again - the dish required you to 'unwrap' the parcel.

Again after a really long wait, our last savory course arrived. It smelt AMAZING! It was a slab of inside skirt topped with a variety of mushrooms and embellished with a tamari and brown butter, and a glop of eggplant puree. It was good. It was packed full of flavour. The meat is a little chewy but definitely forgivable because of all the delicious tastes mixing in your mouth.

Last but not least, there is dessert. The couple sitting next to us didn't like it much. I don't think it was sweet enough of their tastes. However, hubby and I loved it! It was a pumpkin seed sorbet (more creamy than a sorbet... it was really just an icecream), with a bitters meringue and dehydrated mandarin. It was a good combo of crunchy and smooth, subtle sweetness and light bitterness. I'm pretty sure we both polished it off.

So all up, this new restaurant lives up to it's hype. Pretty tasty food. Reasonable value for money. Some daring flavours and combinations. Definitely worth a try!

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 30

Automata
5 Kensington Street
Chippendale
Tel: (02) 8338 1708
For online reservations: Click Here

Bennelong Restaurant - Circular Quay

As soon as we heard that Peter Gilmore was starting a new restaurant, my friend had it booked in. My friend is a huge fan of Quay (particularly their desserts) and could not wait to dine in this new restaurant. My hubby, on the other hand, had some reservation. He didn't like the 'fusion' element of Quay. Likewise, my last experience at this venue (when it was the previous restaurant Guillaume), left my wanting more. Lucky for both of us, Peter Gilmore's new Mod Australian restaurant (focusing tons on the flavour of local produce) exceeded both of our expectations!

Being inside the iconic structure, it was a dining experience with wonderful views (and for this sunny afternoon - plenty of young kids plastering their faces to the window). The staff were friendly and nice, and patient enough with our indecisiveness - which is lucky cos I think we all wanted to order everything on the menu. The freshly baked bread, warm, crunchy crusted and with super soft innards helped with our decisions... maybe?

Opting for the 3 course menu, we managed to all order a different entree. Our friend's beef tartare was a hidden gem under a pile of puffed grains, mushrooms, sesame, and seaweed. Like it should be, the egg yolk was placed on top perfectly. The smoked Blackmore Wagyu was mixed with a fermented chilli paste. Getting a sense that this is packed full of flavour?

Our other friend opted for a safe and surely to be amazing entree of scallops. Three delicately and perfectly seared massive sea scallops accompanied with spring vegetables, a creme fraiche emulsion, lemon jam, herbs and flowers - all for a really neat and clean feel to the dish.

My went for an entree of slow cooked quail. This was a soft and succulent square of quail meat hidden under cultured and fermented grains, a brioche cream, really tasty mushrooms and jerusalem artichoke. Lots of crunch. Loads of mushies. It made for a good flavour combo.

Although all three entrees were delish, hubby's entree was the winner - a really big, super nicely grilled Lady Elliot Island bug. Loads of sweetness, perfectly cooked bug. It came with nice little organic turnip cylinders, radishes and flavoured with XO sauce. YUM~

On to the mains - hubby and one friend ordered the duck. Two substantial pieces of Holmbrae duck sat amongst raw and pickled hispi cabbage, black miso, freekah and seaweed. It was good. There was flavour. But hubby thought it was ordinary, especially when compared with his entree.

My other friend and I both ordered fish. He got the King George Whiting - a super tasty little fish in and of itself. It was served with three, again perfectly cooked, scallops, leeks, native parsley, celery heart and ice-plant (a flower). He liked it.

I might be biased, but I think that my fish blew his fish out of the water! I got served a whole John Dory (minus the head) on the bone, with orach, turnips, and umami butter. The seasoning on the fish was perfecto. So tasty! And the fish was cooked just right. Fresh and really tasty. And so much of it! You even get a nice little theatrical hand towel (you know how we used to have those t-shirts which went from being tiny to normal size when you put it in water? it was the same with this hand towelette) to wipe your hands on after you finish demolishing the fish.

 

Oh - and you get these super tasty potatoes and a plate of fresh lettuce with the mains.

Now we were onto a much anticipated event for the meal - the dessert. We ordered the same desserts around the table. The Opera-house-looking pavlova and the creme caramel v mille-feuille. Yes the pavlova that looks like an Opera House was inventive in it's looks - but flavour wise? It's a pavlova with really nice tasting cream and meringue. It had nothing, NOTHING on the creme caramel mille feuille. Such a playfully plated dessert which was packed full of caramelly flavour. Not overly sweet, and with tons of textures and temperatures all mixed in. I can't describe it - you just have to taste one for yourself. It was absolutely DELICIOUS I wanted to lick my plate~

Coffee and petit fours were last. Coffee was good (which is saying a lot for restaurant coffee), and the petit fours were these cute little caramel-filled cookies.

So all up, it was a great meal. Really tasty. Playful but with a lot of heart and emphasis on flavour. Hats are on it's way I think. I would definitely recommend this place and would definitely try my best to return :)

Ratings:
Food - 9.5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 33/40

Bennelong Restaurant
Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9240 8000