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

Sergeants mess - Mosman

A couple of our friends had a simply amazingly gorgeous daytime wedding at Sergeants Mess on the weekend. Spectacular views and beautiful weather saw to two lovely people joining together in love. This great occasion was also celebrated with great food.

Canapes were passed around prior to the meal - oysters, seared tuna, and fish cakes. All tasty - possibly because we were absolutely starving. Entree-wise, there was an alternate drop of lamb and prawn. As I don't eat lamb, hubby took the lamb dish - a braised lamb shoulder with lentils, harrisa and rocket. The colours of this dish weren't spectacularly amazing, but it was gobbled up by all around the table.

braised lamb

I had the prawn tortellini. Two big tortellini - a squid ink pasta shell filled with tons and tons of prawn was served with grilled octopus and tomato. It was quite lovely and delectable. Completely devoured by me due to my hunger.

prawn tortellini

In terms of mains, there was an alternate drop of veal and fish. The Parmesan crust veal was tasty and tender, served with with a smooth potato puree and drizzled with a tomato and tarragon jus. Walnuts, whiltlof and watercrest made a tasty salad on top of the protein.

Veal

The barramundi was crusted with eschallot and was also served with a smooth potato puree. Neatly cooked asparagus and a creamy buere blanc sauce complemented the fish nicely.

Barramundi

Dessert-wise, a range of small versions of panna cottas, opera cakes, and the like were carried around by dutiful waiters.

All up - beautiful people, beautiful venue, tasty food, awesome weather - what more could you ask for on a Saturday afternoon?

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 23 + ? / 40

Sergeants Mess
Building 20, Chowder Bay Road
Chowder Bay, 
NSW 2088
Tel: (02) 8978 9200

The Deckhouse - Woolwich

One of our friend's weddings was hosted at the Deckhouse at Woolwich. It was at one of those spectacular venues that the moment you arrived, you just absolutely wished there was more sunlight because the view was breathtakingly stunning (as was the wedding itself ofcourse!).

Whilst everything was amazing, lets take a bit of a closer look at their food. There were a few canapes going around - some good, some just misses the mark (sorry no photos!). For instance, the oysters and the salt and pepper squid were both yummy but the peking duck pancake was unfortunately a bit fail.

As per usual, all the dishes were alternate drop. For entree, there was the quail or the scallops. The quail was wrapped in prosciutto and was served with a mixed leaf olive salad and balsamic glaze.  Many people couldn't tell that this was quail. And personally, I liked the seared scallops a bit more. The scallops was served with parsnip fennel puree which was really tasty and smooth, crispy pancetta and a mixed herb salad.

For mains, there was a fish and a beef. The Barramundi fillet was served on a bed of lemon risotto with a buttery and dill sauce, and zucchini. It was cooked okayly well - particularly the butter sauce haha! The beef tenderloin came with a baked blue cheese souffle and a potato stack all in a rosemary lemon jus. This was alright too if memory serves me correctly.

Dessert is almost always a course that is forgotten at weddings because they tend to be served after the dance floor is opened. However, I was glad we came back to the table for these. The chocolate fondant was deliciousness and was accompanied with a milk icecream. The honeycomb icecream parfait was also sweetly delicious and served with mixed berry and a delicious peppermint toffee bark. I think that the desserts were the highlight of the meal~

So all up, the food here is decent. It's not amazingly awesome - but you don't expect it to be at weddings :)

The Deckhouse
Clarke Road
Woolwich Wharf
NSW 2110
Tel: (02) 9817 4394

The Wharf @ Pier 2 - Walsh Bay

We attended a wedding reception of a lovely couple recently at The Wharf in Walsh Bay and I have to say - I have not been that part of town for yonks! The restaurant boasted a lovely, unobstructed view of the harbour bridge and Sydney-siders all round were taking photos of this iconic monument.

One of the benefits of hosting a wedding at this venue has got to be the flexibility they offer in table arrangements. You can have tables as long or as short as you want - which is awesome to accommodate for the differing numbers of friends and family you have from each aspect of your life. The wait staff at this venue were quite courteous and polite and the food (whilst slow in coming out) was surprisingly yum.

The bread was just that - bread. Nothing exciting or awesome. Not warmed or toasty. Just bread. Luckily, the entrees were more spectacular. Alternate drop of pork belly and seared scallops were on offer. The pork belly, though small ish, was succulent with a crisp crackling. The egg plant in between the meat and crackling layer was reportedly quite odd, as was the accompaniment of the sticky rice with burnt(?) black rice crisps. The scallops were seared well and just very oh so slightly overcooked (but forgiveably so). It came with tasty shaved fennel and some baby raddish.

bread

pork belly with sticky rice

seared scallops with fennel

We got to chose our mains. Either the steak or the fish (or the vegetarian option). We also got asked by the waiter "is medium rare OK?" which made me think - WOW they cook to order? After a friend asked for his steak to be cooked for an option other than medium rare or well done we realised - they weren't so flexible after all. Just the two options were available - medium rare or cooked through? Hubby's steak was actually really tasty and actually medium rare. Succulent ish and nice. I was completely blown away by my salmon. It was also actually medium rare as promised!!! Wow - it was fall off the fork, melt in your mouth goodness. Crusted lightly with pistachios, I think the only thing it lacked was the crispy skin. But perfectly cooked salmon at a wedding - the lack of crispy skin is forgivable. The fish came with some silver beets which were meh. On the side, green beans and potatoes were also offered.

steak - medium rare

salmon with silver beets

It took absolutely forever for dessert to come out (or so it seemed) and by the time it did, some of our friends had already left (photos are bad coz the lights were out for dancing~). More dessert for the table! And fortunately so coz dessert was spectacular! There was the chocolately mousse cake thingy with strawberries which was rich, creamy, smooth and amazing! The other option was the panna cotta with yummy fairyfloss bits on top. Hubby loved the panna cotta and I loved the chocolate mouse cake. Perfect. We also had cheese cake and chocolate cake bought to the table (yes - cake overload!).

chocolate mousse cake with strawberries

panna cotta with fairy floss

It was an enjoyable wedding reception. One with probably the best western wedding food I've had yet. I wouldn't mind returning for just a normal breakfast/lunch time meal.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 24+?/40

The Wharf @ Pier 2
Pier 2, 13 Hickson Road
Walsh Bay, NSW
Tel: (02) 8084 5770

Sky Phoenix - Sydney

One of my high school friends had their wedding at Sky Phoenix not long ago. I had not been to this restaurant previously, but as my impressions of Rhodes Phoenix is relatively good, I was quite excited to visit this relatively new venue.

The wedding itself was relatively nice and quiet. The typical high ceilings and dimmed lights may have helped bring on that calmed subdued atmosphere. The moment all the serious wedding stuff was done, the food came out really quickly... one after the other... without much break in between.

There was the usual stuff - cold platter with bbq pork, suckling pork, roast duck and jellyfish.

Big large prawns with snow peas were next.

Then there was a deep fried ball of taro with a scallop inside. This was interesting as it was crumbly on the outside, then a smooth and mushy inside this layer before you got to the scacllop. I guess that the scallop seemed a little out of place... would have liked it more on the side or not at all.

Sharks fin soup was average this time.

There was lobster a-plenty. Hubby and a few of my friends enjoyed this sea creature very muchly~

There was also abalone with lettuce and the steamed coral trout to wrap up the seafood component of the feast.

Crispy skinned chicken, noodles and a relatively interesting fried rice came at the end. The fried rice had flying fish roe scattered throughout? Didn't really add anything... but was just a funny combination.

Dessert-wise, there was the wedding cake, fruit and these cute looking fried custard dough balls and pastry.

So I guess all up, pretty standard wedding feast food is served here. It was served crazily quick though. You hardly had enough time to eat one course before the next was on the table. But, it doesn't seem like too bad a place for an Asian wedding :)

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 19.5/40

Sky Phoenix
77 Castlereagh Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9223 8822

Zilver - Haymarket

Our friend's wedding banquet was at Zilver, a lovely Chinese restaurant situated opposite Capitol Theater and Market City. The bride and groom were awesomely beautiful and handsome like they usually are and the food at this Chinese banquet did not deviate much from the norm.

First off was the crispy suckling pig with jellyfish. This was alright. The skin was crispy and the meat was tasty and salty. It's not the best suckling pig we've had and the looks of the pieces could have been improved. The jellyfish portion would have also been much better if it were bigger... but these seem like just my personal choices as everyone else seemed to enjoy this course.

suckling pig with jellyfish

The next course was prawns sauteed with beans and macadamia nuts. I liked the prawns - they were yum. I like macadamia nuts too. However, in my mind, prawns and macadamia nuts don't really go together. It's more an 'asian' thing - chuck the prawns in with prestigious nuts so it makes the whole dish more grand :)

prawns with macadamia nuts

The next dish was interesting. Scallops were enveloped with taro paste and deep-fried. This resulted in perfectly cooked scallops with mushy and crunchy bits. Not sure if taro and scallop go together... but on their own, both are delicious!

Deep fried taro scallop

My favourite course was next - the sharks fin. There was a good amount of sharks fin in the broth (not too much, and not non-existent). There was a bit too much chicken bits in it but - and they got a bit annoying after a while. But in general, the consistency and the taste of the sharks fin was really yummy.

Sharks fin soup

Lobster cooked in supreme soup was the course my hubby and various others on the table were long-awaiting for since the start of the day. I was disappointed by this dish... The lobster pieces were TINY! The all-meat pieces were about the size of a 20cent coin and the leg pieces were so small that there simply was no meat in them. My hubby still liked it though and argued that at least the taste of it was good.

Lobster cooked in supreme soup

The next course was the abalone with chinese mushroom. The abalone piece was tender and infused with sauce. The mushy was super huge and again, cooked reasonably well. If I were one to like abalone and chinese mushroom, I think I would have enjoyed this dish muchly.

Abalone with Chinese mushroom

Instead of the usual crispy skinned chicken, we were served with roasted pigeon. Again, the portions were rather small so everyone's pigeon piece sat rather conspicuously on everyone's plate. How could we eat something so tiny and fragile? We just did.

roasted pigeon

Steamed fish was next. It was steamed well. The fish meat was soft and tasted quite fresh. If only they could dish it out in a way which made it look more impressive...

steamed fish

Noodles and fried glutinous rice came next. I opted for noodles. This was not yummy. It was tasteless and soggy and plain...

Noodles

Dessert-wise, we had fruit, little chinese cakes and biscuits, wedding cake slices and red bean soup. Nothing surprising. Not spectacular but by this stage, we didn't really care - we were full and ready to go home.

Red Bean Soup

It was a wonderful and awesome wedding. Banquet food - wise, it was average. You got your normal 10 course meal... some were good and yum, some were slightly disappointing. But I guess when you go to a wedding, it's not really the food that your meant to pay attention to :)

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 20.5 + ?/40

Zilver
477 Pitt Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9211 2232

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