Tomislav - Darlinghurst

For hubby's birthday this year, I booked for us to try Tomislav. It was a small, intimate restaurant - dim litted and with an open kitchen. For that Wednesday night, Tomislav was also there to teach a masterclass. We were seated just as the class finished. There were 2 waitresses for the whole restaurant and these waitresses were responsible for EVERYTHING - from answering the phone, to taking you to your seat, to getting your order, to bringing out your order, to clearing you table...absolutely everything! So whilst they were friendly and nice when their attention was on you, it was really really really hard to get their attention (as there were so many table and things they had to attend to). As such, we were up for a very very slow paced meal...

We started with their famous rice crackers. There are two flavours - sour cream and chives, and salt & vinegar. We chose the salt & vinegar version ($10) and it was yummy and playful. You get to spray the vinegar on yourself - as much or as little as you liked. The vinegar concoction isn't very strong and also brings along a subtle sweetness to it all. The crackers themselves were really thin and crispy. I think they're made of those viet rice paper sheets deep fried? I'm not sure why I think that... must have read it somewhere.

Rice Crackers (salt & vinegar) - $10

We were a bit torn between the 4 course meal or the 8 course degustation. At the end, hubby settled for the 4 course (which in retrospect, was a very good decision given the crazily slow pace of dinner). Even though we were ready to order and we flagged the waitress over wanting to order, it probably took a good 20 minutes before they allowed us to order our food. Looking around at some table which arrived after us, that seemed to be the norm.

The bread and butter came - butter on a fake stone cube and the sourdough bread looking ordinary. However, when you buttered your bread, a hint of coffee flavour crosses your palate which I found quite interesting. I couldn't tell whether the espresso flavour lay in the butter or in the bread. After tasting each separately (and copping a querying eye from the hubby when I scooped the super super crazily smooth butter into my mouth), I still couldn't really decide. Thing is, I felt as though the coffee flavour came from the crust of the bread... but it didn't make sense because Tomislav churns their own butter but just buys bread from the bakery... so if anything, they will be in a better position to flavour the butter. A question for me to ask them next time, when the waiters are less occupied.

butter on a stone

"coffee" tasting bread

I have to apologise for the crappy quality of my photos. Yes, I am a noob when it comes to taking photos of food on black plates in a dim atmophere and I don't realise it until I put it on my computer (cos it looks decent on the display of my camera).

Anyway - first courses. I picked the fried crystal bay prawns. The small prawns reminded me of popcorn chicken. They were lightly seasoned with seaweed flakes and swam in a pea and ham soup. The prawns were beautifully cooked and tasted delish. The soup with thick and crazily pea-tasting. If you don't like peas - do not order this dish! Luckily, I do like my peas and I did enjoy this course.

Fried Crystal Bay Prawns with seaweed and pea & ham soup

Hubby went for a venison tartare. This was a thin round disk of venison, beautifully seasoned, dotted with a small quail yolk and a small hint of mint crumbs. Crispy flatbread cracker thing added that textural crunch to the dish.

Venison Tartare, quail yolk, mint crumbs

My second course was a poached hen's yolk served with powdered (frozen?) foie gras and green peas. The foie gras, whilst powdery looking, went all smooth and creamy the moment it entered my mouth. Mixed with the gooey tasty yolk and the texturally firmer peas, it was really quite a good experience. The plate it came on also made it look cool and warpy :)

poached hen's yolk, foie gras, green peas

Hubby's 2nd course was the roast quail. The quail came with a sour cherry and XO sauce. The meat was succulent and cooked well... pink ish but not too pink.

roast Red Gate farm quail with sour cherries and XO sauce

Next up, in terms of mains, hubby decided on the roast lamb belly. I could have easily mistaken the looks of this for a pork belly (but probably more finness looking). It came with a wasabi powder, which was really subtle in taste, and a grilled pineapple. There was a creamy white sauce that I'm not sure what it was but I think it all came together nicely.

Roast lamb belly, wasabi and grilled pineapple

 The standout dish for the night was definately the braised beef short rib. This was OMG awesome. The short rib was soooooo succulent and sooooo tender and soooooo tasty. A bit of the beef with a dab of the crazily buttery soft smooth polenta (which really just seemed like butter), and I was floating in beef bliss! So delicious. There were also thin slices of buttered and herbed king brown mushrooms.

Braised beef short rib with soft polenta and king brown mushrooms

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the Heston-inspired tripple cooked crinkle cut fries ($11). Sadly, we weren't that impressed with it. Sure, it was crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside... but wasn't really all that much better than fresh chips from other places (e.g. El Jannah).

famous hand cut chips

Dessert-wise, hubby went for the cheese - the tarago river blue cheese which came with a pickled tamarillo pie and clotted cream. The cheese was really strong but very creamy and nice... when eaten in small portions. The pie was interesting - kind of like an apple pie but not.

Tarago River Blue with pickled tamarillo pie and clotted cream

My dessert was yummier. It was a vanilla cheesecake with apple ice shavings and roast apple icecream. The cheesecake was flavoured just right. Smooth round ball of smoothness with a crumbly buttered base. The icy-ness of the apple ice shavings and the flavoursome icecream added the temperature difference in your mouth. Although I'm not a fan of the apple taste, I was still a fan of this dessert.

Vanilla cheesecake with apple ice and roast apple ice cream

Coffees were ordered. Averate tasting long-black and cappuccino. No petit fours came with it which for a restaurant of this calibre, was a little dissappointing.

coffee

By the end of our meal (which started at 7.15pm), it was around 11pm. That was for a four course meal. Imagine the length of time required for the 8 course degustation! So only come here when you're feeling leisurely... wasn't really the fault of the waitresses... they were nice and friendly... but probably just worn thin having to look after everything (including making our coffee)!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

Tomislav
2/13 Kirketon Road
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9356 4535

Jonga Jip BBQ - Eastwood

Wanting Korean food one day, my hubby and I walked the streets of Eastwood to find a restaurant we had not eaten at in a while. We settled for Jonga Jip BBQ but decided against barbequed meat and instead, ordered a soup each.

First off, a plethora of side dishes came and scattered across our table. There were heaps of side dishes! Interestingly, there was this lettuce salad with a black sesame watery mayo sauce. Not sure if I liked it or not. My favourites would have been the seaweed salad and the tofu/fishcake strips :)

Loads of side dishes

I had ordered the Beef tripe soup ($12). I can't eat stuff that's too chilli and I asked the waiter whether or not it was a spicy soup. I don't know if he didn't understand me or if he didn't care - he said it was normal and seemed to indicate that the soup wasn't very chilli but when it came out, chilli and pepper filled the soup. There was tripe and some intestine looking things which I couldn't have contested to, but it was the chilliness that threw me off. Hubby was nice enough the swap his soup with me :)

Beef Tripe Soup - $12

The soup I stole off hubby was the beef rib soup ($12). This was a clear soup but packed full of flavour. The beef ribs were really soft and tender and succulent. An egg white was also cracked into it making even more appetising.

Beef Rib Soup - $12

The food here was pretty good. and side dishes are a plenty. From memory, the barbeque here isn't bad either. Might come back when my stomach is craving side dishes :)

Ratings:

Food - 8/10

Service - 6.5/10

Ambiance - 7.5/10

Value for money - 7.5/10

Overall - 29.5/40

Jonga Jip BBQ

87 Rowe Street

Eastwood

NSW 2122

Tel: (02) 98585160

Tuscany Ristorante - Leichhardt

Hubby and I were absolutely famished one Saturday morning (probably closer to midday) and were looking for something to eat. Out of the whole entertainment book, hubby opted to go to 'Le Pain Quotidien', the Leichhardt branch... which also happens to be the shop that no longer exists >.< Hence, as we were both starving, we entered the first restaurant we saw nearby - Tuscany - which sits just outside Norton Plaza, where we parked.

We both decided on pasta dishes, and just in case that takes forever to come, garlic bread was also ordered. The garlic bread was really really really buttery. Maybe a bit OTT on the butter as I felt as though I could squeeze drip the butter out of the bread. It was tasty though, and the bread was soft and the crust was crunchy. Either it was good, or we were both too hungry to know any better.

Garlic Bread

Hubby's lasagne came as quite a big stack. It looked hefty and substantial with loads of layers of pasta and meat sauce. It was tomatoey and relatively tasty. I think it would have tasted even better with a few less layers of the thick pasta sheets.

Lasagne

I ordered their Ravioli Paradiso - which was essentially ravioli with prawn meat inside, served with a prawn bisque. I was sold by the sound of prawn bisque and was a little disppointed that prawn bisque was scarce on my plate. The ravioli filling was quite tasty but the pasta was a little thicker than I would have liked. The sauce was really rich and tasty but as I said before, I would have appreciated a bit more sauce.

Ravioli Paradiso

Overall, it was a relatively pleasant experience. The atmosphere was classy and nice. The waiters were polite. The place filled with delicious aromas every time someone's food came out - that's got to be a good sign. And with the entertainment book discount, lunch came to under $30~ (but I guess it would have been quite a bit more without that discount)

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

Tuscany Ristorante
55 Norton Street
Leichhardt
NSW 2040
Tel: (02) 9568 2220

Rowers Retreat - Haberfield

Situated in a fantastic location overlooking the bay, I was surprised by the restaurant/cafe's furniture and "look". It was all a bit dingy and old-fashioned... yet, when you have a crazily good view, almost all can be forgiven.

Food-wise, hubby ordered a  'Cozze Pazze' ($21.50). This was a big bowl of mussels tossed with garlic, capsicum and Napoletana, covered with a pizza crust and then oven baked. I ordered a chicken cottage pot pie ($20.50) which was a nice pot of house made pie with chicken, leek, carrot, peas and bacon in a creamy sauce served with a nice potato mash on the side. As we were hungry and unsure how long the food would take to come, a simple garlic bread was also opted for.

And lucky for us we did order the garlic bread. Not that it was crazily yummy or nice. Rather, it was a little bit burnt and the bread was a little chewy... but I was still so happy to get it into my stomach as our main orders of food took crazily long to arrive.

Garlic Bread - $3.50

When it finally did arrive, our food was heavenly delicious. My chicken pot pie was hot and creamy, the puff pastry top was nice and flaky and the mash was smooth and creamy too. Mmmm YUM!

Chicken Pie - $20.50

Hubby's mussel bowl was also really delicious. There was a rich tomatoey broth which smothered yummy perfectly cooked mussels. This was encapsulated by a pizza crust top (sprinkled with salt and rosemary) which made it really yummy too :)

Cozze Pazze - $21.50

So what we have here is a beautiful view with super tasty food. Yes the decor needs some revamping and the service needs to be a bit quicker but... worth the wait anyway?

Ratings:

Food - 8.5/10

Service - 6/10

Ambiance - 7.5/10

Value for money - 7/10

Overall - 29/40

Rowers Retreat

UTS Haberfield Club
Dobroyd Pde Haberfield
NSW 2045Tel: (02) 9797 8448

Sushi Tei - Sydney

A rainy miserable looking Saturday morning calls for a good sleep in. Add in extra time to debate about what activities can be done on a wet and windy day, a side trip to the markets at the Entertainment Quarter, and we've got ourselves a super late lunch. Lucky for us, Sushi Tei does not close its door between their lunch and dinner service. Famished, we both wanted to order way too much food than what we could stomach. Luckily, the waiter advised us on reasonable portions and we ended up crazily full without an astronomical bill. We initially wanted three different appetisers, but after much ponderance, opted for just the chuka kurage (jellyfish). This was really tasty and flavoursome, the texture was good and it definately whet our appetite.

Chuka Kurage (jellyfish)

A sashimi salad ($11) was also ordered. We opted for the sesame dressing to accompany this (which was a really good choice, according to our waiter), and were surprised at the bit pile of raw fish that atopped our greens. Tasty and fresh :)

Sashimi salad

On the specials menu, there were tempting photos of otoro (fatty tuna belly). We fell for the bait, but really, when our other experiences of Otoro were our (biased) memories from Japan, this Otoro was set to fail from the very beginning. And miserably it did. No 'melt-in-your-mouth' goodness was felt.

Otoro Nigiri

A sushi platter was also ordered. Small california rolls, sea-urchin, salmon roe and flying fish roe ships, and a selection of fish on top of nigiri... Nothing too impressive. The salmon roe was of particular disappointment as it didn't seem fresh at all.

sushi set

Sushi Tei also had their special spaghetti range. Falling for the promise of an 'onsen' style egg, I decided to order the spaghetti with teriyaki chicken. This spaghetti came as a kind of spaghetti soup. Sure the egg was delicious and the chicken was good... but the package as a whole was a bit odd. I think I'll stick to their creamy based 'onsen' style egg pasta next time :)

chicken teriyaki spaghetti

We were well and truelly stuffed by the end of the meal. Some hits and misses with the food. Not a bad place to hang when you're stuck at an odd time between lunch and dinner.

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

Sushi Tei (Chifley Square)
1 Chifley Square
Cnr Elizabeth and Hunter St
Sydney 2000
Tel: (02) 9232 7288

Air Coffee - Castle Hill

Most of the time, my church friends and I tend to spend hours thinking of what to eat after church such that we normally don't get to eat until 2pm on Sundays. This weekend was different. One of our friends who work locally recently found a decent cafe closeby. Hence, we exodused to this cafe.

The coffee blend offered here was quite good. Smooth and creamy but unfortunately, relatively cold :(

skim mocha and regular cappuccino

Food-wise, there was breakfast and lunch options. There were also simple cakes, pastries and a fruit salad option. A few of my friends decided on a roasted salmon rocket salad. It was meant to come with potatoes... but if it was present, it must have been in the sauce. When my friends ordered it, they were expecting a bigger or heavier dish with a bit more salmon. Instead, they seemed to find it too salty (with ample capers and pickles) and very little fish.

salmon salad

Another friend opted for a bruschetta with asparagus, poached eggs and ripe vine tomatoes. I was very surprised as to amount of tomato that was available. It looked fresh and tasty.

bruschetta with asparagus, poached eggs and vine tomato

My hubby opted for a simple ham and eggs on toast. The poached egg looked gorgeous. But in general, it was a pretty simple put-together of two slices of ham, capsicum/tomato thing from a jar, poached eggs and bread. Nice.

ham and eggs

I have to say that my dish far outshone all the other dishes. I ordered a salmon with herbed eggs on toast. This was a crazy amount of smoked salmon sitting atop a heavily mayo-dressed herbed egg salad on two large pieces of toast. I donated a slice of this to my friends who had the salad as I couldn't even finish one slice of this. It was really heavy and extremely filling. Tasty though! Definitely value for money.

salmon with herbed eggs on toast

All up, it was quite a decent meal in a chillaxy place. Wouldn't mind coming back here every now and then.

Ratings:

Food - 7/10

Service - 7/10

Ambiance - 8/10

Value for money - 7/10

Overall - 29/40

Air Coffee

Unit 1/ 10 Salisbury Road

Castle Hill

NSW 2154

Tel: (02) 8850 4017

ZenQ Desserts - Chatswood

Feeling like a snack after a friend's wedding which was around Chatswood, I eyed this dessert place as we drove past in the car. I'd been talking about and craving mango snow ice (ice which is shaved in super thin slices that when you spoon it up, it's as light as eating snow) for a while and as they had a picture of this dessert in the window, ZenQ Desserts was the only logical place for us to eat.

ZenQ Desserts

It was an odd time in the afternoon for desserts - not quite 'just after lunch', and at a slightly weird hour for desserts before dinner. Yet, there were still a few patrons in the shop. My hubby ordered the milk pudding with grass jelly and pearls. This was an average dish... nothing too special or spectacular. The pearls were chewy, the grass jelly bought about a slimy refreshingness to the dish whilst the milk pudding added the sweetness you'd want.

milk pudding with grass jelly and pearls

My mango snow ice came with a few idle cubes of mango. I would have appreciated more mango, but I guess in our current economic climate and non-mango season, it would have been too big an ask. The snow ice was soft and fluffy but didn't quite taste as awesome as the ones from HK. The flavour of the ice was a little off from what I had in mind, but it was still fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

mango snow ice with fresh mango cubes

Not a bad chill out place. Average food. Most people were craving for the large toast cubes with cream and fruit fillings or honey and stuff... maybe we'll come back and see what that's like... maybe.

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

ZenQ Desserts
Shop 223, Westfield Chatswood
Chatswood
NSW 2067
Tel: (02) 9411 6882