Author: Ardi

Brewtown Newtown

Review:

This week’s review came from a cafe famous for its Brewnuts, you might probably know it more as cronuts (for those of you who really are clueless: a love affair between croissant and doughnut). The cafe is called Brewtown Newtown. The location was actually rather obscure and not in the main street. However, it did not deter food lovers to line up just to get a seat in this place.

These days, I am not so keen to line up for food. When I got a Friday off, I went to the cafe for lunch and got the seat pretty easily. The café’s décor is the trending warehouse-y one.

Latte (espresso with milk) – $3.50

I always have a soft spot for establishments that roast their own coffee. You can just tell its freshness!

Cronut

As mentioned above, this was the sole reason why I was so interested in going to Brewtown Newtown in the first place.

They have quite a selection of cronuts, but we still like the original cinnamon cronut.

Toasted sandwich – $14

The Australian-style steak sandwich came with caramelised onion and beetroot. It looked a bit more like a gigantic bruschetta than a sandwich.

Toast and homemade jam – $6

Because of that ‘peanut butter jelly’ song, we ordered the toast and jams for the little one. He totally skipped the peanut butter and just concentrated on the jelly and sourdough.

Elvis burger – $16.50 – Ground Beef, Savory brewnut, Canadian bacon, gruyere and mayo served with chips and relish

Little did I know that apparently this was what made people lined up: a savoury-version of the cronut!

The chips and relish were really good. Then on the same plate, you also got a cronut burger. It is just too ridiculous to put it in the same sentence!

The final verdict for Brewtown Newtown

Cronut, coffee and burger. These three are the things people look for in Sydney these days and Brewtown Newtown has them all… and they did it quite brilliantly.

Rating for Brewtown Newtown:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $24 main course

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

6 – 8 O’Connell St, Newtown 2042

02 9519 2920

http://www.brewtownnewtown.com/

Nov 25, 2015
Sansu Yuzu
Product Review – Sansu Yuzu

What is Yuzu?

To be honest, I am not sure what it is and I have never seen the actual Yuzu fruit. Borrowing from Wikipedia, Yuzu’s point of origin is the East Asian region and it is believed to be a hybrid of sour mandarin and Ichang papeda.

My first exposure to Yuzu drink was when I went to a Japanese restaurant with the same name in Pyrmont a few years ago. At that time, I ordered the Yuzu tea and I instantly fell in love with Yuzu. These days, I am always interested in ordering dishes/drinks with Yuzu in it, if available.

A little blurp from the maker

Sansu are the first company in the world to offer Yuzu as ready-to-drink fruit drink – allowing you to enjoy Yuzu anywhere. Its intense flavour is the perfect accompaniment to any meal and a great alternative to alcohol.

With bumpy curves and a tangy taste, a hybrid of a lemon and grapefruit, Yuzu offers an intense citrus flavour with unique floral undertones. It has three times the Vitamin C of an orange and an abundance of flavonoids that act as powerful antioxidants. Its taste is powerful, with rich aromatic notes. It is both a delicate and refreshing flavour.

Yuzu’s scarce production quantity and high costs have limited its usage. However, Sansu has made this rare, exquisite fruit more accessible in a ready-to-drink format. Sansu fruit drinks were first launched in London in 2014 to introduce Yuzu to a new audience. It has rapidly grown in popularity and is now stocked in leading retailers, restaurants, cafes and bars across the UK.

All the juice ingredients are not from concentrate. All flavours are sweetened with grape juice and there is no added sugar, preservatives, flavourings or colourings. Sansu fruit drinks are available in four delicious flavours:
- Original
- Yuzu and Blackberry
- Yuzu and Pear
- Yuzu and Pink Guava
How does it taste?

They are actually pretty sour with only a hint of sweetness. The original Yuzu is our most favourite from the four.

The ones with pear and pink guava actually overpower the Yuzu flavour. So, those two taste more like pear and pink guava respectively.

Contact Details

Thirst for Life

17 Fred Street, Lilyfield NSW 2040

02 9810 0804

[email protected]

www.thirstforlife.com.au
Nov 20, 2015
BCD Tofu House

Review:

For this week’s review, we had to travel pretty far to enjoy this Korean restaurant. My friend told me that his Korean friend would only go to this place for Korean food. The restaurant is called BCD Tofu House and it’s in Epping.

They have seven different Banchan (side dishes). It is always nice to have more options than just a plate of kimchi!

Haemul Pajeon – $15 – Seafood and green onion pancake

One thing that we always looked for in a Korean restaurant: seafood pancake! Nothing really stood out from this particular pancake, but it wasn’t bad either.

Ox Tail Soup – $15

It was predominantly ordered for the kids as the tofu soup was more on the spicy side. They seemed to be enjoying the ox tail with vegetables and glass noodles.

Beef Bulgogi and Tofu Soup – $25

This is what you are here for: Tofu Soup. They have quite a few options for the tofu soup, including a mix and match with other dishes. Obviously our choice fell on the most common name in Korean dish: Bulgogi!

Their tofu soup is really good – as expected given the restaurant name. I felt that the Bulgogi was a bit overcooked and dry.

Spicy Braised Beef Short Rib – $26

My favourite for the night. Although the dish was pretty spicy (I have a very low affection to chili), I could not get enough of it.

I failed in taking picture of this dish in close up. If you look at the picture below, it’s the one on the left.

Special Rice (Youngyang Dolsotbab) vs normal rice – $3

For all of the dishes above, you have a choice of having it with normal rice or Special rice (for $3 more). The special rice is an interesting Korean-style dish with (I’m pretty sure) nuts and fruits.

The final verdict for BCD Tofu House

I can understand why people travel to Epping for a tofu soup. The tofu soup from BCD Tofu House was pretty good.

Rating for BCD Tofu House:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $26 per set

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

74 – 76 Rawson Street, Epping 2121

02 9868 4300

Nov 17, 2015
El Bulli Surry Hills

Review:

11 courses dinner, $60 price tag, for two people… I will let that sink in for a minute… To put it into perspective, each tapas at the restaurant ranges between $8.50 and $26.50.

That was the Groupon winter special at El Bulli Surry Hills. Instead of the full recommended retail price of $153, we get all of these tapas below for just $60!

Chickpea & Chorizo – a tasty broth of chickpeas, coriander and chorizo served hot

The usual plate of tapas with chickpeas and chorizos on tomato broth.

Pan con Queso y Jamon – toasted ciabatta served with a wedge of manchego cheese and slice of jamon on the side

Aceitunas Mezcladas – a selection of black, green & stuffed olives spiced up El Bulli style, wait for the kick!

These two were served together with the bread on the side. Jamon and cheese were the perfect pair for the bread. Also, loads of different olives in a bowl… love it!

Croquetas de Jamon – croquettes filled with white sauce & ham rolled in breadcrumbs, lightly fried & topped with alioli

Salt & Peppered Chipiones – lightly seasoned salt and pepper crispy squid served with lemon and alioli

Another jamon dish, but this time it was made into little croquettes. It was paired with salt and pepper squid and alioli (pay attention to the word ‘alioli’, it’s not a typo).

Patatas El Bulli – deep fried chat potatoes served with an emulsion of fritas & bravas dressing – house favourite

Patatas bravas is one of the most common dish in a Spanish tapas restaurant. It was also one of the first tapas dishes I’ve ever tried, made by a Spanish friend a long time ago! El Bulli spiced it up a bit and called it Patatas El Bulli.

BBQ Alitas – bbq hot and spicy chicken wings marinated in chimichurri & peri peri sauce

I usually liked chicken wings. However, I was not a big fan of this. Probably overshadowed by the other ten dishes on the night.

Medallon del Rey – eye fillet medallion on a bed of caramelised onions topped with a creamy blue cheese butter

Pinchitos de Gambas – grilled prawns skewered and infused with a Mediterranean saffron and cinnamon sauce!

It was interesting to see that they decided to bunch up two of (what I thought to be) the highlights for the night in one dish. Both the eye fillet and prawns were nicely done.

Mejillones en Salsa Picante – Giant pot of chilli mussels cooked in a traditional Spanish salsa, pumped up with shallots, basil, chilli & garlic

It took a while before the last two dishes arrived.The first want was rather spicy with quite thick salsa.

Almejas Tallarinas con Jamon – South Australian Pipis pan fried with jamon served in a white wine and lemon sauce with a dash of cream

The pipis was a little light on the cream.

The final verdict for El Bulli

Would we pay a full price for these tapas at El Bulli? Possibly No! However, $60 for 11 tapas is a hell of a deal!

Did you know?

To our surprise, El Bulli Surry Hills is actually a pretty big restaurant. The interior was very dimmed with virtually no sunlight in the venue.

Rating for El Bulli Surry Hills:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $60 for 2 people

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

504 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills 2010

02 9319 5199

http://elbulli.com.au/

Nov 10, 2015
Majestic Harvest

Review:

Majestic Gourmet Grocers is a pretty interesting place. It is located in an old cinema building in Petersham that have been refurbished. The restaurant side of the place is called Majestic Harvest. They also have the grocer/gourmet market next to the restaurant.

Kids Spaghetti – $8

The kids spaghetti is a pretty good-valued meal with quite a big portion. It is not on the dinner menu, but you can request one.

Seared beef fillet carpaccio – $18 – with button mushrooms, a la Greque, rocket, parmesan and truffle oil

This has got to be the most generous serving of beef carpaccio I have ever seen. It is also full of things that I like!

The beef was cut a lot thicker than the usual beef carpaccio.

Zucchini flower – $18 – w/ ricotta, pine nuts, basil, burnt butter muscatel, lemon

It was a stark contrast to the carpaccio in terms of serving. However, the zucchini flower delivered a better-tasting dish.

Roasted Spatchcock peri peri chicken – $24 – with kale, green beans, chickpeas and tomato, lemon & mint yoghurt dressing

I ordered this menu because there seemed to be a confusion whether it was a spatchcock or a chicken. I think it ended up being spatchcock with peri peri sauce.

The spatchcock was surprisingly spicy! It also had the reigning healthiest vegetable in the world, kale.

Braised lamb gnocchi – $21 – with rosemary, olives and preserved lemon & pepper

I think the lamb gnocchi was the hero dish for the night. It was everything I expected it to be!

Rocket salad – $8 – with pear, walnut, snow pea and blue cheese

I quite like this salad. It was quite rich and multi textures.

Roasted fig feuilletine – $15 – with pistachio nut mousse, pomegranate syrup

We ordered the dessert because we had such a lovely dinner. However, the dessert was sort of a letdown. Despite the interesting description, the elements did not go well together. The overall dessert was warm and I think it could be better with a scoop of ice cream.

The final verdict for Majestic Harvest

It is always uplifting when a restaurant gives you a great service. Majestic Harvest also had a pretty good lamb gnocchi.

Did you know?

Midway through the dinner, one of the attendant actually came to our table to excuse himself. It seemed that his shift had ended and we started to have a little chitchat. I’m pretty sure he went to every table he attended before finally departing. It is quite an interesting experience and we were quite appreciative of the gesture.

Rating for Majestic Harvest:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $50 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

49 New Canterbury Road, Petersham NSW 2049

02 8097 2222

Majestic Harvest on Facebook

Nov 4, 2015
Boilerhouse

Dining Experience:

A pretty unusual dinner invite arrived in my inbox from esPoiR Communications. It was a themed dinner titled ‘Rich Man, Poor Man: Food Through the Classes´. The dinner is based on the food offerings served to the different classes of passengers that stayed at the Quarantine Station back in the late 1800s/1900s.

Having seen Heston Blumenthal’s themed dinner on TV, I was pretty psyched in going to my very first themed dinner! The dinner was prepared by Chef Matt Kemp who has worked in and owned some of the best restaurants in Sydney.

There was an MC dresses as a crooked captain guiding us through the dinner with a story of disease spreading in the dining room. He then tried to pinpoint which class was infected.

Canapes – Oysters Rich Man Poor Man Style – Oyster with Caviar & Leek and Potato Oyster Shooters

Drinks of Class – Beer, G&T, Bubbles

The canapes were actually served on the other side of the restaurant near the wharf. The three different drinks represented the three typical classes of passengers arriving at the quarantine station: Bubbles for first class, G&T for second class and Beer for the third class.

There were only two types of oysters: The upper class with Caviar and the lower one as shooters. I prefer the shooters than the ones with caviar as the latter was too dry and pretty warm for oysters.

Poached Smoked Haddock Fish Cakes with Wild Weeds with matching Bella Riva Pinot Grigio

The first course was the dish historically served for first class passengers. It had all of the elements of expensive entrée with sophisticated name and salmon roe at the top of the fish cakes.

Beef Braised in Ale with Cabbage, Carrots & Suet Dumplings with matching De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate Grown Shiraz

It was meant to be a third class dish. However, I’m pretty sure back then it was served and presented nowhere near this dish. The ingredients actually illustrated the difference in class. They used ale-based sauce and suet, or some might know it as beef or mutton fat.

Whole Saddle of Mutton, Neeps & Tatties, Garden Mint Sauce with matching Bella Riva Sangiovese

The third dish was designed as a share plate (I am wondering why it is not being done for the third class) for second-class passengers.

This dish was my personal favourite for the night. The fatty and crackle-like edge was so good when enjoyed with the garden mint sauce!

The chef asked us to plate our own dish… so here it is!

Pimms Jelly with Cream & Fruit – Middle Class Sweets

Again, it might not reflect a true ‘middle class’ back in the days with its presentation and edible flower. However, you would see how simple it was when compared to the desserts for the upper class passengers.

High Tea – Selection of Traditional & New Idea Sweets – with matching wines Deen De Bortoli Vat 5 Botrytis

High tea is the custom observed by the wealthy classes in England in the 1800s. It represented the upper class delicacies perfectly with the matching Botrytis.

The final verdict for Boilerhouse Harbourside Restaurant

Although it was not in the same stratosphere as Heston Blumenthal’s themed dinner, Boilerhouse’s was pretty amazing!

Did you know?

Boilerhouse Harbourside Restaurant is part of Q Station Sydney Harbour National Park in Manly. This place

There are a whole range of activities that you can do at Q Station, including Ghost Tours for every age… and for your bravery level!

Details:

Q Station, North Head Scenic Drive, Manly 2095

02 9466 1511

http://www.qstation.com.au/boilerhouse-restaurant–bar.html

Oct 28, 2015