Kitchen By Mike - Rosebery

I know that Kitchen By Mike has a big following. But for some reason, I'd never been a fan. Like  I know that the produce is fresh and made relatively well, but for that price, I think that you can get the same or better elsewhere. However, it does have a large seating area, making it convenient for our group of 10+ to all fit.

So at Kitchen by Mike, their menu goes from breakfast to lunch at 12pm. You line up like a good little school child waiting at the cafeteria and you make your selection. Salads are $5+ and meats are around the $15+ range. Everything you put on your plate adds to the amount you pay at the end of the line.

For this meal, hubby made all the selections. We got a roast chicken and a pork belly, with a cabagge and apple slaw, roasted root vegetable and bread. Came to around $25pp. Really not that cheap for self-service, no presentation style food. The chicken was OK, maybe just a tid bit dry for my liking. The pork belly (was quite a small serve) had good crackling but a ton of fat. If you weren't into eating mouthfuls of fat, there would have been very little of this slab that you could have eaten. The slaw was good. Fresh. Good amount of dressing. And the root vegetable was also decent. Highlight for me was probably the bread and butter. The bread was super soft and delish. The butter was also well churned - creamy and tasty.

Kitchen by Mike is right next to Black Star - so of course that is the obvious dessert choice. I was heaps disappointed that the only cake that seemed to be widely available was the watermelon cake. And if you were buying a big slab like we were, it was the only cake you could purchase. Yeh yeh I know it's big and popular and all that. But I'm not a huge fan and even if it was their best seller, I would want a bigger variety and more choice.

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 24.5/40

Kitchen by Mike
1/85 Dunning Ave
Rosebery, NSW 2018
Tel: (02) 9045 0910

Green Peppercorn - Sydney

Thai food is better eaten with friends because you get to sample so much more food. I've been to Green Peppercorn in Fairfield but I'd never been to their Sydney joint. Our friends, however, swear that this is one of their favourite Thai places and come here on a regular basis. We also ordered much of their favourite dishes.

The Charcoal OX tongue didn't look too pretty but it was absolutely deliciousness. It was flavourful, succulent and slightly chewy. Pretty yum, especially with the special dipping sauce.

The chicken feet salad was another favourite. De-boned chicken feet is heaps easy to eat. Slightly chilli but packed full of flavour.

Pad thai is always my favourite go-to dish. The pad thai here was pretty good - slightly too chilli for me when I mixed in all the the chilli flakes, but otherwise, not too bad a noodle dish.

One of the specials was their pork knuckle. It was massive!!! Crispy skinned, caramelised sweet sauce, fall-off-the-bone meat. Cannot complain - I was in pork heaven :)

 Dessert-wise, our friends order their fried icecream every single time. Delicious caramelised sweet sauce, flaky thin filo pastry and a good amount of nuts to add the crunch. Pretty deliciousness.

I wanted to try their mango coconut dessert with coconut jelly, coconut milk and sago. It was really really good. I loved it! Really refreshing, not too sweet, a good combination of flavours. YUM!

All up, a pretty good dinner. Would love to come back again sometime.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Green Peppercorn
Civic Hotel Level 1
388 Pitt Street 
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 8080 7043

Thai Paragon (Menulog takeaway) - North Strathfield

What's better than being able to lounge at home after a hectic working day? It's being allowed to lounge at home, order your dinner from the comfort of your laptop and have your dinner dropped off at whatever time you please. AND no washing up! :)

After much browsing and indecision around on Menulog - No.1 for Online Takeway,  I decided on a Thai restaurant down the road from us at North Strathfield - Thai Paragon. Thai Paragon is one of those Thai places that I've been driving past day in and day out for the past three years, each time saying that we've got to try it. Browsing the menu on Menulog was very easy. After you choose your  dishes, a confirmation of the order and time is sent to my email (and mobile) promptly. Also - my meal was delivered pretty much on-the-dot of when I asked for it to arrive!

An extensive look over the menu left me with the decision of curry puffs, pad thai, and beef masaman curry. For some funny reason, when it came to the actual order - my pad thai became a soft-shell crab with papaya salad... No idea how it happened, but it gave me a bit of a shock when I opened my takeaway and found no pad thai! Nonetheless, it was quite an enjoyable meal :)

The curry puffs were quite delicious! The pastry was buttery and flaky. The curry bits inside - potatoes, carrots, peas - all mixed with a mild curry, was tasty and hit the spot for me.

curry puffs

My accidental soft-shell crab with green papaya salad was okay too. The crab was deep fried a bit too dark for my liking, but it was still tasty. As for the papaya salad? It was just like any other. My only complaint would be that the box looked a bit meager when we first looked at it...

soft shell crab with papaya salad

The beef masaman curry with the addition of a roti was my favourite for the night. The curry was creamy and flavoured just right. The beef was also super tender and fell apart easily under the fork. Would definitely want seconds of this one!

beef masaman curry

roti

I definitely appreciated having no cooking no washing and virtually no moving after a tough work day. For this purpose, Menulog well exceeded my expectations - easy to browse, easy to order, delivered super promptly. As for Thai Paragon, I wouldn't mind another meal from here:)

Thai Paragon 
Shop G2, 24 Bakehouse Quarter
George Street
North Strathfield, NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 9746 7005
http://www.menulog.com.au/takeaway/north-strathfield
http://www.menulog.com.au/thai-paragon-north-strathfield

Maggie Beer Farm Shop- Barossa Valley

We were in the Barossa Valley so we couldn't resist a visit to Maggie Beer's farm. We must have picked a bad day coz they were PACKED OUT! Arriving around 1pm, there was almost no room to move. But we eventually managed to order and find a table in the corner.

We weren't too hungry and so, we ordered the Pheasant Farm Pate Picnic Basket to share. This came with a Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Pate, a small dish of amazing caramelised onion, freekah salad, and warm and soft wood-ovened bread. It was pretty good!

Pheasant Farm Pate Picnic Basket

I also eyed their chocolate brownie ($2)... and hubby went straight away to get it for me :) This tiny little square was SOOO dense and SOOO rich... it was pretty crazy! Probably couldn't eat more than this tiny little square of this stuff.

chocolate brownie

cooking demo

After the meal, there's a cooking demonstration at 2pm. At this demo, we were told about all the virtues of verjuice and their vinocotto.... made pretty delicious caramelised onion and buttered mushies :)

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Maggie Beer Farm Shop
50 Pheasant Farm Road
Nuriootpa, South Australia, 5355
Tel: (08) 8562 4477

Sicilian - Parramatta

It's been a while since we'd been to Parra and we were amazed at the new restaurants, cafes and froyo places which have sprouted. However, instead of visiting a new and upcoming joint, we stuck with a restaurant which seems to have been there on Church St for years~

Sicilian is one of those places that we'd normally just walk right past. The decor's not too flashy although, their semi-circular couches do look which comfy. As we walked in, the atmosphere was relatively quiet and dim (slightly dead looking) but people did seem to pile in after us. We ordered the Pasta di Palermo ($24.90) and the Cesare Con Gamberi ($24.90)

We were quite impressed with the portion sizes. Both dishes came out smelling spectacular. The pasta was rich and creamy. Definitely not a healthy option but absolutely creamy buttery goodness with loads of chicken, bacon and mushrooms.Some greens and a hint of pesto and garlic was also present.

Pasta di Palermo - $24.90

I doubt that the salad was any healthier. Three jumbo sized prawns came warm and pre-peeled (for easy eating) on top of our nicely dressed ceasar salad. A good amount of shaved parmesan and some nicely boiled eggs. Not bad for an unhealthy salad. :)

Cesare con Gamberi - $24.90

The food here is decent, service is so-so and price is not exactly what I'd call super cheap (unless you are like us and have an Entertainment book voucher). However, it was a good enough place for a lazy lunch if you're in the area.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27/40

Sicilian
292 Church St
Parramatta
NSW 2150
Tel: (02) 9633 2259

L'osteria di Brera - Milan

We were in Milan with some friends to watch the F1 in Monza. Whilst trying to fit in some sightseeing and shopping, we often ended up eating really late dinners. Locals tend to go aperitif hopping for a bit before eating dinner ... but amazingly, we often ate even later than the locals.

One of the restaurants we sampled in the city which hubby and I both thought was excellent was L'osteria di Brera which was situated in a popular late night hotspot. As we were both absolutely starving, we were game enough to order an entree and main each. Hubby's entree was the meat selection appetiser (I nostri antipasti di carne) which came with 5 mixed tastes.There was a variety of cold cuts - ham, salami, prosciutto, parma ham - some buffalo mozzarella with rocket, some marinated beef pieces, bruschetta with olives and cucumber salsa, and some puff pastry thing. He absolutely loved it! I thought it was a really tasty selection too :)

mixed meat appetiser

My entree was the hot seafood salad (Insalatina di mare calda). It was amazingness!!! The seafood mix was really plentiful. Loads of calamari, prawns, octopus, mussels, and clams - warm and on a bed of rocket greens. After smashing this down, I was full and satisfied already.

warm seafood salad

Hubby opted for a main of Lobster pasta. Perfect al dente spaghetti drowned in lobster bisque with bits of tomatoey flavour here and there. It was heaps rich and heaps delish :)

lobster pasta

My scialatielli pasta with mixed seafood (Scialatielli ai frutti di mare) was just as awesome! Really rich seafood bisque sauce with again, loads of mixed seafood. The mussels were heavenly when wetted with the sauce. Pasta was sooooooo yum I could eat it everyday!

pasta with mixed seafood

This was probably my favourite meal in Italy. I heard that this whole street (and the street perpendicular) was lined with good restaurants so bon appetit if you're in the area!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 31.5/40

L'osteria di Brera
Via Fiori Chiari, 8  20121 
Milan, Italy

Tel: 02 8909 6628

Pier - Rosebay

One year of our lives flew by with a blink of an eye. Before we knew it, it was our one year wedding anniversary. Looking back at this year, it seems as though we had done a lot, but at the same time, it seems as though we really didn't achieve much at all. For our one year celebration, we opted for Pier, a restaurant whose cookbook I've treasured for years.

Almost all tables at the restaurant had a view of the harbour. Unfortunately, the area was pitch black by the time we got there. Although the restaurant was relatively empty, every patron was ushered to the apex of the restaurant... and with the glass walls and non-carpeted floors, it meant that the area was relatively LOUD. We wanted their degustation menu. However, there was a main tuna dish that I didn't really fancy. Most restaurants would gladly do a simple swap... but not Pier. No swaps allowed. Hence, a-la-carte it was!

We started with bread. The bread was yummy... but not the softest crunchiest bread we've had. It also wasn't nice and warm or toasty but my hubby smashed a lot of these bits anyway.

bread

 For an entree, my hubby opted for a tuna tartare ($24). Round-shaped bits of tuna were yummily doused in a vietnamese dressing and served with mustard cress and thin slices of raddish. It made it really tasty and flavoursome.

tuna tartare - $24

I eyed a neighbouring's ordering of their 'cones' of fish. I couldn't resist but to order it too. They had 4 types of cones to choose from ($8 each) - tuna, kingfish, king salmon and ocean trout. I got all but the tuna. The cubes of fish were dressed nicely and served with tiny capers, all encapsulated within a super crunchy cone. My favourite was probably the kingfish one - it was the tastiest. The king salmon was really smooth and fatty and salmon-flavoursome too. All three cones supplied super fresh ingredients :)

cones of kingfish, king salmon, ocean trout - $8 each

For our mains, hubby went for the roasted barramundi ($43). The skin of this fillet of fish was crazy crunchy! Almost as though they deep fried just the skin. They did, however, manage to keep the fish really tender and moist and succulent. The fish was served with braised cos and shimeji mushroom. A small pot of mushroom consomme was poured on top of the fish at the table.

roasted barramundi - $43

My pick for the night was the crispy skinned snapper ($42). Two fillets of snapper were served with raddish, broccolini, pickled cucumber, pistachio bits. The fish was cooked well - it wasn't tough or chewy but rather really succulent. I'm not sure what the pink blobs of sauce was but it was OK...

crispy skinned snapper - $42

As a side, a seemingly healthy option of a zucchini, lemon and chervil salad ($12) was ordered. The zucchini was sliced into super thin ribbons, bits of bean were scattered everywhere and the salad was lightly coated with some vinaigrette. It was quite tasty and appetising really.

Zucchini, lemon and Chervil salad - $12

We glanced briefly at the dessert menu but nothing much met my fancy. I just wanted something with chocolate and icecream without fig or date or anything like that in it. Hence, we took our dessert cravings to Oliver Brown instead :)

All up, it was a relatively good meal. Not the best in terms of the noise, nor the attentiveness of the waiters... but, it wasn't too bad either.

Ratings:

Food - 8.5/10

Service - 6.5/10

Ambiance - 7/10

Value for money - 7/10

Overall - 29/40

Pier Restaurant

594 New South Head Road

Rose Bay

NSW 2029

Tel: (02) 9327 6561

WA Japanese Restaurant - Bondi Junction

A couple of our friends had been saying that they had found an excellent authentic Jap restaurant at Bondi Junction and seizing the right moment, they had managed to book dinner for the six of us after a lazy public holiday spent chilling at Botanical Gardens.

Stepping into the restaurant at around 8.30pm, there were still a few tables of people casually enjoying their food out front and quite a lot of patrons having a good time out back. We ordered and were quickly greeted by an interesting appetizer - tempura tofu sushi. The sushi was cold but the texture was still interesting. It had probably lost it's crunch but the firm tofu provided a sort of substance that other sushi varieties may not offer. Then rice also seemed sticker than usual - not sure why that is. There was also a sweet sauce which complemented the otherwise possibly bland ish combination.

tempura tofu sushi

We ordered two salads - the seaweed salad and the salmon aburi salad. The seaweed salad came with a generous portion of seaweed and kelp as well as an abundance of lettuce, cherry tomatoes and I think, beetroot strips. It was sauced well, with a good amount of vinegary taste. The salmon aburi salad was also not bad. The salmon was lightly torched and topped with salmon roe. The chunks of avocado went well with the dish.

seaweed salad

salmon aburi salad

Sushi and Sashimi-wise, we were informed that apart from salmon, everything was sold out - no tuna, no king fish, no prawns, no nothing. Lucky that my favourite sashimied fish is salmon :P The salmon sushi was smaller than usual. Funny thing is, it doesn't look it (esp from the photo) - the salmon still covers the rice really well... but - that may be because the rice lump was likewise tiny, so in comparison, the sushi looked almost normal sized :) The salmon was quite fresh and the sushi tasted quite alright. The soft shell crab sushi was also ok. The crab wasn't quite the fresh crispy type, and the ricce was cold in the sushi... but meh - we were probably the last customers of the night.

salmon sushi platter

soft shell crab sushi

This hunch was confirmed when the waitress came out and apologised that they had run out of white rice. Hence, our following dishes came with brown rice instead. We ordered three mains. A yakiniku beef, a teriyaki chicken and a ginger pork. All the meats were presented in a similar fashion. The yakiniku beef is meant to be wagyu - it was tender and marinated in some sweet soy substance. It kind of tasted like Korean bulgogi which wasn't bad. The teriyaki chicken was very yum. The teriyaki sauce was light yet penetrated the meat well. And lastly, the ginger pork was encased in this sweet gingery sauce - so gingery that each piece probably had it's own little mound of grated ginger :)

yakiniku beef

Teriyaki chicken

ginger pork

Overall - Wa is not a bad Jap restaurant. It seems to be run by Jap people and the foods are tasty enough. It's just your average cozy Jap place - much like Sushi-Ya in Artarmon but possibly in a more convenient location :)

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

WA Japanese Restaurant

63 Oxford Street
Bondi Junction
NSW 2022
Tel: (02) 9388 0404

Hurricane's Bar & Grill - Darling Harbour

Who can say no to meat? And loads of it!

We had a few friends come up from Melbourne and they wished to eat ribs at Hurricane's and as guests - it's their choice. Hurricanes at Darling Harbour was buzzingly busy on a Sunday night. Yet - the waiter was attentive enough to lull around repeatedly until we laid our order.

My hubby and one of our friends decided to opt for a meat platter and a salad to share amongst the three of us. Another meat platter, rack of ribs and salad was ordered for the other end of the table.

The Caesar Salad ($20) came out as large crisp cos lettuce pieces with strips of bacon, anchovies, thingly shaved parmigiano and caesar dressing. The salad was fresh and was quite a good compliment to the mount of meat we devoured.

Caesar Salad - $20

The Hurricane's bbq meat platter ($94.90) came as a massive plate of BBQ basted chicken wings, juicy lamb cutlets, short cut sirloin, boerewors (sausages) and their famous ribs (pork). Under the ribs was a nice pile of chips. The ribs were nice and succulent and bathed in bbq sauce.The boerewors were average, but the chicken wings were YUM. The sirloin was also likeable.

Meat Platter - $94.90

All up, food wasn't bad and service was attentive at times.

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

Hurricane's Grill & Bar
Level 2, Shop 433-436
Darling Harbour
Sydney NSW, 2000
Tel: (02) 9211 2210

Kansai (2) - Sydney

I wasn't hungry. I just wanted to eat... and eat a lot. Hence, when my partner asked me where I wanted to go, Kansai popped in my mind. $38 all you can eat - why not? A small yet decent range of Jap food can be ordered - hot, cold, deep-fried, raw. Only bad thing is the lack of desserts.

Anyway - for this night, this was our selection... Sashimi boat (x2 :P) came with many pieces of salmon, kingfish and tuna. Don't expect top-notch sashimi (it is unlimited afterall). The salmon and the kingfish were far better tasting compared to the tuna.

sashimi boat

Teriyaki chicken skewer... average ish. Can't really go too wrong with sauced up marinated chicken :)

teriyaki chicken skewer

A selection of sushi nigiri were ordered. Scallop was upon my favourite. It wasn't super huge - but it was sweet enough. The scampi was also quite yummy and delightful. The salmon roe ship was OK but the the eel were a little dismal looking... Sushi roll-wise, I opted for half a portion of the rainbow roll. This was quite yummy. Just your average california roll with a slab of sashimi on top. Presentation was a bit poor though LOL.

sushi

Edamame beans were served by the bowlful. Warm and appetising.

edamame

The soft shell crab hand roll came with soooo much rice. I don't think I've ever seen such a plump handroll! Nonetheless, the softshell crab itself wasn't bad.

soft shell crab hand roll

Gyoza and sashimi salad (both in smalled portions) were also opted for. Again, average tasting.

gyoza

sashimi salad

The chefs at Kansai spoke Korean... so you're essentially looking at Korean-made Japanese food. It's not the best tasting Jap food - but it's not a bad restaurant to opt for when all you want is cheap food - and lots of it! Kansai also offers al-la-carte... but if you're going al-la-carte, there are plenty of better Jap restaurants you can choose from.

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 8/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Kansai Japanese Restaurant
B1/7-13 Hunter Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9231 5544