Chocolatte - Randwick

Ever been to a place where you thought it would be awesome - and then was dissappointingly let down? It happens. It's horrible.

But not this night. Out of the blue, I had been craving coffee. Being around the Randwick area, I had remembered that from our uni times, there had been a chocolate cafe close to the chicken shop in Randwick. I think that this place had changed names and owners several times since I've been at uni, but luckily, the chocolate cafe still existed on this night.

To be honest. It looked dicey. Super dice in fact. No aircon, some of the lights didn't work in the cabinets, the tables were largely unwiped, and the seats were pretty much all broken (e.g. the "leather" had ripped from several seats, revealing only the ugly yellowish spongey insides).

Chocolatte

After much deliberation (and some urge to run from the place) I decided to order the 'mocha crush', and my partner ordered the 'coffee milkshake'.

When it came to the table, it looked like just the ordinary drink. But ZOMG it was JUST to my liking. It was awesome! Icey, coffee-flavoured with a hint of chocolate, not too sweet, not too milky, it was like perfect!

mocha crush

My partner likewise enjoyed his coffee milkshake muchly. It was a tad sweet for my liking, but with the cream on top, it was milkiness and light coffeeness. I was so impressed that I had even wanted to order a cake from the place and my partner was about to order another of these drinks... but on second though, we'd decided against it. Why? No clue. Cos we really should have :P

coffee milkshake

All up, I was impressed. Wow. Such a dicey shop. Slightly dicey looking asians making coffee and chocolate drinks. But oh so yum. There's also a range of chocolate dishes at this place (e.g. waffles, fondues, cakes, etc) for you to try if you wish.

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Chocolatte
56 Belmore Road
Randwick
NSW 2031
Tel: (02) 9399 6644

Restaurant Balzac - Randwick

My partner and I had been meaning to try out Restaurant Balzac for a while. A long long while. However, being a typical Gen-Zer where everything is in 'whateva/wheneva/doesn't matter' mode, we had somehow managed to put off visiting this restaurant during the whole 6 years I was studying down the road (at UNSW). Instead, we make the trek back to familiar country - and was running a typical 15 minutes late (we did have the courtesy to inform them) - only to be met with a rather flustered wait staff on the phone telling us about how busy the restaurant was BUT he guesses he can hold the table for us.

Guesses? Well, service was not starting off well. In fact, as we were seated, it took around 15 minutes before we were presented with the menu. But I guess the guy wasn't lying. There were soooo many people and rather loud voices were echoing off the sandstone walls. A shame really, as the ambiance (if it were quieter) was a romantically soft-litted room with comfy seating, albiet a bit too close to the next table.

Anyway, we opted for the degustation ($95 per person, $140 with matching wines), but I really really wanted to try the chocolate fondant here and so we changed it (with a surcharge of $10). My partner decided against the matching wines for this meal and instead, asked what beers were available. The waitress kindly said that she will return with an extensive beer menu - only to never return with it LOL.

Restaurant Balzac

For a French restaurant, the bread was pretty dissappointing. Almost (but not quite) as bad as Italian bread. White and wholemeal was offered but the soughdough was a bit too tough (not soft and warm and awesome like how French people normally do their bread), and the crust was definately not crusty. We did get a heap of yummy spreadable butter though.

sour dough with creamed butter - white and wholemeal

The starting canape for the night was a cube of pressed corned beef with a parmesan Gougere (french savoury choux pastry puff) with precisely dotted mustard drops. The corned beef was done nicely. Stringy soft tender salty tasting beef was complemented almost perfectly by the drops of mustard. Not sure if I liked the cheesy puff with the beef, but the elements separately definately did wonders. The cheesy puffs were alright, and they reminded me of those we had at Taillevent (which were really omg awesome).

pressed corned beef, parmesan gougere

For the amuse bouche a tiny cup of Jerusalem artichoke veloute was offered. TEmpting to down it in one go, but why would you not want to savour the moment? It was sooo smooth and soooo creamy, kind of just melts down your throat. The truffle bits on top didn't do too much for it though. Personally, I think that people are only obsessed with truffle because of its rarity. Make it common-field and no-one would really care about too much.

Jerusalem Artichoke Veloute with Truffle Mousseline

Next dish was just as awesome. Ocean trout done four ways. The two on the edge were cured and the two in the middle were smoked. The trouts were accompanied by fennel, spanner crab, lobster bits and other things that I don't quite remember as the waiter who introduced it spoke really really quick. Whatever it was I was eating tasted amazing! The smoked ones bought with it more of a flavour explosion but the dish as a whole was very refreshing and delicious.

Cured and Smoked Ocean Trout with Fennel and Spanner Crab

The onslaught of good food continued with the dory. The steamed dory was accompanied with a pea and spring onion emulsion, a bit of spring oniony buttery foam, peas on the bottom and strings of deep fried salt and pepper cuttlefish on top. This was soooo good. The spring onion buttery emulsion was to-die-for. Tasted soooo good, must be extremely bad for you. The fish was well cooked. My partner said that it would have bought a bit more omph if it was grilled, but personally, steaming the dory meant that the texture was smooth and soft, the sauces matching perfectly and bought good contrast with the deep-fried cuttlefish.

Mirror Dory, Pea and Spring Onion Emulsion with Salt and Pepper Cuttlefish

Next came the scampi and pork. Lightly grilled and lightly salted scampi was subtle and light yet delicious. The pork belly had super soft tender meat with crunchy crackling. And in the middle of this was the cassoulet of suckling pig. The tomatoey bean stew with salty tasting bits of suckling pig, deep fried basil and some crumbling of some sort was definately my partner's type of dish.

Scampi and Pork Belly with a Cassoulet of Suckling Pig

There was a choice of two mains. My partner opted for the roasted rack fo lamb with lentils whereas I chose the short rib of beef. The lamb was a nice pinkish flavour but my partner said that he's had better. My beef on the other hand ... WOW. Falls off the fork, melt in your mouth goodness. The bordelaise sauce with the beef was sooooo good, it must have been doing some kind of dance in my mouth. Sooooo tender and sooooo succulent. The parsnip fondant and the bone marrow accompaniment (which I usually would have loved and savoured) were readily forgotton and overshadowed by the loveliness of the beef. YUM. More please :)

Roast Rack of Lamb with 'Petit Sale aux Lentilles'

Short Rib of Beef with Sauce Bordelaise and Parsnip Fondant

After the main came our pre-dessert. This was a shotglass of blood orange jelly with spiced panna cotta, almond puree and crunchy toffee on top. First bite into this and I was like... hmmm... not sure I like it. The blood orange was intense. The spice kick came on a bit too strong. But you know what? After the first bite and your palate has a bit of time to recover from the intensity that comes from this small shotglass, the flavour grows on you. I found that I actually finished off the whole thing in no time.

Blood Orange Jelly with Spiced Panna Cotta and Almond Puree

The dessert on the degustation was the poached meringue with bay leaf custard, rhubarb cubes and blackberry swirls. The whole thing reminded me of the snowegg featured in the Masterchef finals. The caramelised toffee substance on top provided perfect crunch. You could tap tap tap on it all you want. The meringue was soft and airy and some fruity substance lived in the middle. It was better than I had expected.

Poached Meringue with Bay Leaf Custard, Rhubarb and Blackberry

Nonetheless, if the two desserts were to compete for my liking, my chocolate fondant would win hands down. Supposedly the best chocolate fondant in town, it was pure indulgence. Warm and soft, with a gooey spewing out chocolate center. It was deliciousness and accompanied with peanut brittle sprinkles (but with banana >.<), and porter icecream. I could have 2nds and 3rds of this anyday!

Chocolate Fondant with Peanut Brittle, and Porter Icecream

Last but not least, our coffees with petit fours. Don't know why but Sydney coffee just isn't quite there... As my partner says, Sydney coffee has the art (as Sydney-siders are about appearances?) and Melbournian coffee is about taste (as Melbournians are about quality?). LOL Ok - maybe I am just biased, but why does Sydney coffee lack that smoothness that coffee ought to have? Petit fours-wise, the mini raspberry macaroon was good. The meringe was airy light yet crunch comes from the outsides and the creamy middles were just that - creamy and sweet. The chocolate truffle was really awesome and dark and smooth and everything! Good finish to the night I think.

Coffee and Petit Fours

So all up, this busy busy restaurant did well food-wise. Almost every dish was immaculately executed, delicious tasting and temptingly presented. Service-wise could be upped a bit. Slightly noisy but that's not really the restaurant's fault. And as for price? So much awesomely done food for less than $100 is pretty good (and even better value when you have the entertainment book).

Ratings:
Food - 9.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 33.5/40

Restaurant Balzac
141 Belmore Road
Randwick
NSW 2031
tel: (02) 9399 9660

El Bulli - Randwick

Spanish - two nights in a row.
I am all Spanished-out and you will not see another Spanish fooded post in a while (hopefully!).

To celebrate the end of our clinic days for 2008, my lovely clinic colleagues and I dined at El Bulli. Just last night, I would have thought that Encasa was a bit too cozy and loud and noisy - but after El Bulli at Randwick, Encasa seems spacious. But that's okay - friends like to be nice and cozy (and somewhat squashed).

El Bulli at Randwick

Before I even sat down, some of my friends were busily Sangria-ing already. Compared to the Sangria last night? mmm... more fruit involved, and tasted more alcoholy. But really, more of the same - and jug-fulls more were ordered throughout the night.

Sangria

I loved the menu - quite elegant looking.

First to come - after the Sangria - was complementary bread with mayo for dipping. One of my friends found mayo on bread a weird concept but I love it (I do it at home and my dad also finds it wierd - but if it gets served at restaurants, it must be kind of normal!). The bread was very nice and soft and fluffy. Mmm - or maybe I was just so so so hungry by then!

Complementary bread with mayo.

As it was a very busy night and my company and I were all dying to dig in the food - I was unable to note what we ordered, or how much it cost, or even know if I snanpped everything. Everything kind of just happened at a blur. Or maybe I was just so elated to be finished for the year that I was unable to focus or concentrate on anything! So apologies for being grossly broad and inaccurate in my description of food tonight.

Anyway, we ordered mushies. These had what felt like mince inside, and topped with cheese. As a fan of cheese and mushies, I found these quite deliciousness.

And this, was the Tortilla Espanola. Much like the ones at Encasa, they were potatoey goodness.


A vege plate - comprising of things such as carrots, eggplant, spanish onions and zucchini. Mmm... it was drenched in some sort of oil so the healthiness factor - the veges and the oil might just cancel each other out! :)


Now this was a puzzling dish - my friend told me what it was, but I forget. Inside these pastry puff things, was some sort of mushy beefy type thing. I know, it sounds weird from my description, but really, it tasted pretty good.


These potatoes were nicely baked then mixed with tomato chilli salsa type sauce and although they had lost it's crunch, it was quite yummy.

Now for something I never had before - paella balls. Paella (without seafood) shaped in a ball and deep fried (a bit too golden) and topped with a sour creamy type white sauce. They were... uh... interesting...but I believe you can give it a miss.

And now, for my favourite dish of the night - octopuses! Drenched in herby, garlicy oil, they tasted super unhealthy but super yummy. Lots of garlicy flavour immerced in soft and tender bitesized octopuses.


Chicken Skewers. Chargrilled and topped with flavoursome mayo. Some pieces were quite gigantic, and were twice or even thrice the size of some others. The kitchen hand sure needs some practice!

And after waiting atleast 20 minutes, our chirozos came out (one plate, instead of our order of two). Nonetheless, by then, the restaurant had become so rowdy that we just couldn't be bothered to do anything about our missing dish. All that aside, the chirozos were quite tastey - as you can see, one of my friends were too eager to fork some before the photo could take!


We decided to fake a celebration and sang happy birthday when the waitresses walked around - in hope of getting some freebies (eg. desserts). To our dissappointment, none came. We did, however, recieve complementary port wine.


In all, the decor of the place was pleasant - dimmed, candlelit, cushoiny and very very snug (a bit too snug). The walls were painted with a spanish feel and the restaurant was definately buzzy - or loud - and packed! There was hardly any room to move at all!

Nonetheless, the food was decent, and slightly less pricey than Encasa (I think).
What I think would draw me to this restaurant again, would be it's name - if I can't eat at the real El Bulli, atleast I can eat at the fake one~! :)

Ratings
Food - 7/10
Service - 5/10
Ambiance - 5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 24/40

El Bulli
40 St Pauls Street
Randwick, 2031
Tel: (02) 9398 2027

Cocolo Thai & Japanese Dining Bar - Randwick

After a prolonged period of starvation following a busy day at uni, a few friends and I rocked up to 'the spot' at Randwick and ended up at Cocolo, a Thai and Japanese restaurant. For those who are wondering if this is a fusion restaurant... well, the menu has elements of Japanese food and elements of Thai food but the fusion bit is a bit err... awkward... (I shall explain this later on).

Cocolo

One of my friends ordered the Chirashi Don ($9.90) which she described as a 'giant sushi in a bowl'. The sashimi pieces look quite fresh, and as no complaints came from my friend (although this could have been due to our starved exhausted state), I'm inclined to think that this dish was quite alrite.

Chirashi Don - $9.90

Another of my friends ordered a Massamun Curry with Mixed Vegetables ($12.90). The bowl of curry was quite big (I thought) and slightly more watery than I'm used to seeing. Although the curry was quite large, along with the big bowlb of rice, my friend seemed to consider it just as a first dinner - or perhaps as "snack" - as she mentioned that she had dinner waiting for her at home too~ hehehe. But having said that, I must reiterate that we had all had a long exhausting day.

Massamun Curry - $12.90

My next friend ordered the Shio Butter Ramen ($9.90), whilst I ordered the Miso Ramen ($9.90). The ramen is also where I believe, this "fusion" restaurant goes wrong. When I order ramen, I guess I'm expecting half an egg (which this place provides), a couple of thin slices of pork (which here, is substituted by chicken), some corn, bamboo shoots, and shallots (which here, appears to be just a selection of greens normally found in stir-fries). I guess my problem with these substitutions is firstly, the look of the dish - makes it look messy and less appetising, the oddness - I've never had zucchini and brocoli with ramen (outside of my home-made two minute noodles with all the left overs chucked in), and lastly, the taste - the chicken was... urm... wierd tasting. The chicken peices in my bowl had a somewhat sour taste to them - and dunking it in the "miso" soup did not make it any better. So, I just let them be at the bottom of my bowl. Speaking of the soup base, it was alot less "miso-y" than expected. My friend also commented that her buttered-up soup was a bit odd as well (which is understandable as butter in ramen must must MUST be accompanied by corn!).

Shio Butter Ramen - $9.90

Miso Ramen - $9.90

In all, I must say that I didn't really like the "fusion" in my ramen, and the next time I come here, I think I'll stick with a pad thai or some sushi. Although the food wasn't brill at this restaurant, my company was - and without my lovely friends, I definately would have went home dissappointed by the meal. The service was average and the ambiance... nothing brilliant but I think we WERE the noise, so no complaints from me! :)

Ratings:
Food - 5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 22/40

Cocolo Thai and Japanese Dining Bar
20 Perouse Rd
Randwick, NSW
Tel: (02) 9326 3855