Golden Century Seafood Restaurant (2)- Sydney

My hubby and I were lucky enough to be invited by family friends to dine at Golden Century the other night. Whilst there, we saw Adam Liaw (masterchef 2 winner) dining with his japanese companions :)

On this night, our hosts did all the ordering. First up on the table was lobster sashimi. This came atop of steaming plate of liquid nitrogen - giving it a "smoking" aura. The lobster sashimi came in big fresh cold chunks of lobster. Lots and lots of it. The lobster chunks were subtly sweet and tasty. Accompanying the giant lobster were small fresh oysters which were super creamy, as well as salmon sashimi which were really quite yummy :P

lobster sashimi

Next up was abalone - large thinly sliced abalone quickly cooked hot pot style. Cooking the abalone this way makes it soft and tender and again, brings about a subtle sweetness which lingers in your mouth. What I like even more than the abalone is the super super awesomely sweet soup and lettuce which results after the abalone is cooked this way.

abalone

There was also XO pipies on the night tossed on top of fried thin rice noodles. The XO sauce was relatively strong and tasty. Yum but slightly more chili than I can take after consuming quite a few of these. Right up my hubby's alley though I think :) It was definitely a plate of fresh yummy pipies.

XO Pipies

After sashimifying the lobster, there's still lobster left in the legs and head and stuff and hence, this was cooked - tossed with supreme soup and scattered on top of really yummy egg noodles. My partner was really really happy cos he LOVES lobster and I guess just giving it to him raw isn't as awesome to him as having it sizzling hot and drenched in tasty sauce. Again, I'm a fan of the accompaniments - the saucy egg noodles.

lobster in supreme sauce

Another dish ordered for my hubby was the suckling pig. Whilst the skin was still kind of crispy, and the suckling pig was tasty I think it tasted kinda average ish. The jellyfish accompanying it was also so so.

suckling pig

Dessert-wise, we got traditional asian cakes and deep-fried flour puffs and red bean soup. T'was OK.

dessert

Golden Century is a place for seafood. Seafood is their forte so if that's what you're ordering, you're up for a good meal. The other dishes, however, is probably just so so.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29.5/40

Golden Century
393-399 Sussex St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9212 3901

Patisse - Waterloo

Following Masterchef and Food Safari hype Patisse has been packed out on most weekends.

I'm actually not a macaroon fan - but seeing all the different colours and flavours makes me really happy... hence, we went macaroon hunting at Patisse only to find............. there's only one flavour left!?!?!?!?!


Apparently, they make their macaroons every wednesday and people buy them buy the 50s or 100s (according to the shop dude)... hence, when I come on Sat (and I've been hunting twice), there's only like 1 flavour left.

Well... I got it anyway. The vanilla macaroon was sweet, fresh out of the fridgely cold, and... mmm... average actually. Slightly disappointed.

Vanilla Macaron

I also couldn't resist the Opera cake. This was really yummy. Layers of coffee syrup soaked coffee cake, chocolate ganache, coffee buttercream and chocolate glaze - it was really really yummy. Slightly lighter and less dense compared to most other opera cakes, it was still really tasty and coffee-chocolately... I gobbled it up in no time!

Opera Cake

I have to say - Patisse is nice. Looks nice. Looks appetising. Is appetising. But not super duperly so. It was kind of average ish - like, Opera cake is nice... but Opera cake at Intercontintal is better I think. So Patisse is a nice cafe, cake, dessert place which is slightly over-hyped by Masterchef.

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

Patisse
G01/197 Young Street
Waterloo
NSW 2017

Tel: (02) 9690 0665

Digi.Kaf (2) - Glebe

It was a rare Saturday morning with no commitments. My partner asked me where I wanted to eat and immediately, Digi.Kaf, an awesome brunch place we went to in previous years floated into mind. Hence - to Glebe we went.

First - coffee. We both wanted Cappuccinos. It was made nicely here. The coffee is almost strong enough and almost creamy enough and hence, almost yummy enough :) Just a tad short of Melbournian coffee.

cappuccino

In terms of food, my hubby picked the baked beans with sausages ($14.50). This was a substantial pile of cafe baked borlotti beans, onion and roasted capsicum submerged in a rich herbed tomato sauce. My hubby asked for the sourdough toast on the side so it wouldn't be crazily soaked in it. The sausages were very rich and aromatic - chewy and yum. And the poached egg was cooked to perfection... the yoke oozed out. My hubby said that this was probably one of the better baked beans he's had for a while.

baked beans with bacon or sausages - $14.50

I opted for the green eggs and ham ($16.90). This was three eggs made super scrambled and creamy with basil pesto stirred through it. This was served on top of a crusty sourdough toast, wild rocket and plentiful generous rashers of crispy grilled prosciutto. The creamy scrambled was really YUM. Soooo creamy - sooooo pesto-flavoury and deliciousness~

Green Eggs and Ham - $16.90

There's a reason why I wanted to come back - great food, good coffee, good service, great atmosphere.

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 31.5/40

Digi.Kaf
174 St Johns Rd
Glebe,
NSW 2037
Tel: (02) 9660 3509

Eastwood BBQ Kitchen - Eastwood

In the past few months, a place we've always gone to for awesome red bean grass jelly icecream float drink had been replaced by a popular honky-style cafe branched off from Chatswood. This place, most probably due to it's newness in the suburb, was packed out both times we visited. The service was variable on the two occasions, likewise the food.

Eastwood BBQ Kitchen

They have special "lunch sets". We ordered their lunch set on both occasions. One time, it was a cream of pumpkin soup with a baked Portuguese chicken rice and drink. The soup was interesting - not your average pumpkin soup. This was pumpkin soup with an asian spin. It had a seafoody taste to it, kinda like your creamy seafood or chicken soup with a hint of pumpkin in it. The Portuguese chicken rice, however, was very yumminess indeed. Potato cubes, carrot, peas and chicken bits with wonderfully creamy tasty sauce which was all on top of some rice.

creamy pumpkin soup
baked Portuguese chicken rice

Another lunch set had been a Russian Borsch with a Baked pork chop rice. The russian borsch was super tasty and delicious and the baked pork chop rice was a wonderful surprise. The fried egg on top adds an additional wonderful texture and taste to the whole dish. The sauce is pretty much just tomatoey enough and the pork chop is wonderfully tender. YUM.

russian borsch

baked pork chop rice

The noodle here are slightly average and slightly expensive compared to what you can get elsewhere. There's their signature rice noodle soups. The one I opted for here was with a deep fried fish puff with rice noodles. This was... umm... average. Not too much taste. Not really my favourite type of noodle. But meh.

rice noodle with fish ball puff soup

The stir noodles with 2 kinds of bbq meat options fared a bit better. The bbq stuff is awesome! Really tasty tender soya sauce chicken with crispy skinned juicy fatty duck. Mmm... The stir noodles were ok... but I've had better.

Stir noodles with duck and soya sauce chicken

Likewise their drinks. This was a milk tea coffee blend and it came out really quite bland. Not enough tea flavour. Not enough coffee flavour... Hmmm..

coffee with milk tea

As I mentioned before, the service is variable. Depends on your luck! Try and come on a non weekend day for better service and food I guess :)

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 26/40

Eastwood BBQ Kitchen
1 Trelawney Street
Eastwood
NSW 2122
Tel: (02) 9858 1366

Shake Shack - New York City

Before going to NYC, I had done my research regarding burgers. One of the highly recommended places for a burger was 'Shake Shack'. Amazingly for us, there was one right underneath our hotel (wasn't intentional I swear!).

Shake Shack

Because Shake Shack was right underneath our hotel, we were able to go multiple times :) We tried their chocolate shake and that was simply superb - rich, thick, creamy and chocolately. On a different night, we opted for their "concrete". We tried one of their specials - the chocolate coco-loco concrete. This was chocolate custard blended with coconut dulce de leche and brownie chunks and this was like... omg thick and super super rich. I think we got through around half of this and we both gave up - it was too crazily thick and rich~

chocolate coco-loco concrete

One time, we tried their Shackburger and a Shack-cago Dog. The Shackburger, though small for American sizes, was packed filled with flavour. Super juicy and delicious beef patty with melted American cheese, lettuce, tomato and their special "shacksauce". This was soooooo good - we were both reminiscing the flavours the whole time we were in NYC (and also now, that we're back). The Shack-cago Dog was a Vienna all-beef sausage dog in a really soft yummy potato bun. This was topped with Shake Shack relish, onion, cucumber, pickles, tomato, pepper, celery salt and mustard. This was amazingly deliciousness too!!! Mmmmm.... Amazing. I'm salivating just at the thought :)

Shackburger

shack-cago dog

The fries here were crinkle cut. This time - we chose to have cheese melted on top - resulting in a cheesy deep fried starchy heap. So yummy but sooo sooo sooo unhealthy feeling :)

cheesy fries

Upon our first visit, we eyed our neighbouring tables who seemed to have this huge stack in their burgers and hence, that was definitely on our agenda for our next visit. The Shack Stack was a cheeseburger and a 'shroom burger combined. The Shroom burger is a crisp-fried portobello filled deep fried patty with muenster and cheddar cheese melted throughout it. So this cheesy mushroom patty plus a juicy beef patty was combined with lettuce, tomato and shacksauce to give us a monster of a shack stack. It was extremely tasty - a little too big to put into your mouth all at once - but yum nonetheless. My partner preferred the normal shack burger to this, but both were good.

shack stack

Shake Shack is one burger joint in NYC that is definitely worth a visit :)

Ratings:
Food - 9.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Shake Shack (the one under Intercontinental)
691 8th Ave,
Southwest Cnr of 8th Ave and 44th St
New York City
Tel: (646) 435 0135

Tosung Firewood BBQ - Homebush

Upon high recommendation by our Korean friend (repeatedly), my partner and I decided to check out Tosung Firewood BBQ which was around the area where we lived. Our friend said that the smoked duck was to die for - and hence, we were all up for a duck night! To our disappointment, duck was sold out for the evening >.< Hence, we had to settle for our usual favourites at Korean BBQs.

First to come was a range of sauces and condiments. We each got a salad and a cold soup. The cold soup was vinegary and filled with veges - I think it's meant to be a healthy thing to drink following unhealthy bbq stuff, or maybe it's to cool our burning mouths down (as we tend to eat the meat straight off the hot plate without waiting for it to cool down properly). There were only three other varieties of side dishes - a sweet potato mash puree type thing (which I didn't really like), pickled onions, and pickled chinese cabbage.

condiments

We opted for one side dish to complement all the meat - Jap Chae ($12). This was a good array of veges with beef all tossed in super yummy potato starch noodles. This was quite delicious - the flavours were all there, it was hot and steamy, the noodles were nice and soft, there was just enough sauce.... Mmm.....

Jap Chae - $12

In terms of meat, we had the ox tongue ($18) and the pork belly ($17). My partner claimed that this was probably the best pork belly he has had in Sydney - and given the number of Korean bbq places he's been to and his love of pork belly - it was a pretty big claim. It was soft, tender, juicy and you could tell that the meat was "fresh", like it wasn't the type that has been sitting around for days before they served it out. There was a good meat to fat ratio - just enough so that the meat kind of just melts in your mouth. The ox tongue was also good. Thinly slices, tasty and chewy but not too chewy - just the way it's meant to be.

Pork Belly - $17
Ox Tongue - $18

As we were in a firewood bbq place, it made no sense to not order any smoked stuff. Hence, out last choice was the firewood pork rib ($25). Coming out pre-smoked and firewooded, you're meant to heat it back up on your stove... and... this was heavenly. Smoky flavour infused throughout the meat, super super tender - the meat just falls off the bone... and it was just amazing! Really yummy ribs - I ate so much of these :) If the firewood ribs are this good - would the duck be even better?

Firewood Pork Rib - $25

All up, it was a good recommendation by our Korean friend. The restaurant seems to be a bit in the middle of nowhere - but there's a big carpark and a lot of Koreans who dine here (which is always a good sign). Definately worth a re-visit :)

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30.5/40

Tosung Firewood BBQ
17-35 Parramatta Road
Homebush
NSW 2140
Tel: (02) 8756 5252

Casellula - New York City

On recommendation by a friend, we had decided to dine at Casellula, a Cheese & Wine Cafe in the Hells Kitchen area of NYC. Being quite a small, cozy yet popular cafe, the place was packed full of people and we had to wait a little while outside in the dark and cold.

Nonetheless, when seated, we could see the charms of this place. Cheese cabinet in full display, lots of people chit-chatting over a glass of nice wine. The whole thing made the place comfortable - like your just chilling at a friend's after work.

For the night, we decided to order 2 entrees and 2 mains. My partner's pick was the Spanish white anchovy fillets which were served with fennel fronds and pickled shallots. Small crusty bread accompanied the salty/sour combination which really, kind of opened your appetite to try other things.

Spanish White Anchovy Fillets

The entree of my choosing was the chistorras in a blanket. Super yummy sausages wrapped in a soft tortilla like pastry and topped with slices of raddish. Not bad... but so far, the dishes were quite small - leaving me wanting.

Chistorras in a Blanket

The first main was the seafood taco. Lots of seafood - calamari, squid, prawns - with red cabbage slaw and a lime cilantro dressing. I have to saw, of the night, this was my least favourite. Not because the flavours of the seafood was wrong. But because the "taco" wasn't really to my liking. Although I am a fan of soft tacos, the consistency of this flour wrap just didn't seem right.

Seafood Taco

My partner's favourite of the night was the Pig's ass sandwich. Super yummy ham thinly sliced, with 5-spoke tumbleweed and fol epi cheese, pickles - all pressed together in the toasted turkish-style bread, with super yummy chipotle aioli on the side. Kind of like an upscale ham and cheese toasty :)

Pig's Ass Sandwich

Being a tapaz style cafe, it was kind of weird seeing food in normal proportions once again (as opposed to American sizes). I have to say, I miss American sizes - but only when it super yummy good food.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Casellula Cheese & Wine Cafe
401 West 43rd Street
New York
Tel: (212)315-2121