Author: Ardi

Sambal

Review:

I rarely eat out North of the bridge. I went to Sambal Malaysian Restaurant in North Ryde because it was a midway compromise amongst our group of friends. It was also rated pretty decently in Zomato.

Chicken Satay – 6 Skewers – $14.80 – Skewers of marinated chicken, grilled and served with spicy peanut sauce and cucumber pieces

There were only four little cuts of cucumber for the six skewers of chicken. The peanut sauce was also not spicy at all.

Hainan Chicken Rice – $22.80 – Boneless chicken steamed to perfection served with rice cooked in aromatic chicken stock

The Hainanese chicken rice was actually pretty decent in terms of both quality and quantity.

Beef Rendang – $21.80 – Bite size pieced of beef cooked in curry spices till dry and topped with fried shredded coconut

The beef rending pieces were slightly bigger than just a ‘bite size’. It was also still quite soupy.

Belachan Kangkong – $15.80 – Fresh water kangkong stir-fried with chilli shrimp paste

It was the only vegetable dish of the day and the portion was rather small.

Assam Prawns – $29.80 – Prawns sautéed in a rich tamarind sauce

It was supposed to be the most expensive dish of the night. However, there was no ‘wow factor’ on the dish and I enjoyed the Hainan chicken rice more than this.

Sago Pudding – $7.50 – Sago pearls served in coconut milk and covered with gula Melaka syrup

I quite liked my sago pudding. It reminded me of the sago I used to have when I was little.

One of my friends was not as lucky; His dessert never came. There was also a dish that I was very keen to try but it was sold out that night. It was Ikan Panggang (or grilled fish). Not just a regular fish, but a skate fish (or stingray).

The final verdict for Sambal

Sambal is a decent Malaysian restaurant if you happened to live around the area. It commanded a slightly more premium price.

Did you know?

Sambal is a Malaysian/Indonesian word for chilli. However, none of the dishes we ordered that night was particularly spicy.

Rating for Sambal:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $29 for main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

285 – 297 Lane Cove Road, North Ryde NSW 2113

02 9889 7977

http://sambal.com.au/

Oct 26, 2015
Pho phd

Review:

PHD in Marrickville is named one of the best pho restaurants in Sydney by Noodlies.com and chopinandmysaucepan.com. This time we didn’t go to PHD, but rather its spinoff that is located just a few blocks away, called Pho phd restaurant. As the name stated, the restaurant specialises more on its pho.

Milk and Soda with egg yolk – $4.50

I must say that this drink is not for everyone… especially when thinking about egg yolk was dunked into your milk and soda! It is really an acquired taste.

There is a drink in Indonesia that is pretty similar to this called STMJ with milk, egg yolk, and honey and substituting soda for ginger.

Thai-style Fish Cake – $10 – Tasty marinated grilled fish paste on prawn crackers, served with sweet chilli sauce

I think $10 for four fish cakes and crackers is a bit steep. It tasted just like any other fish cakes.

Crispy Skin Chicken with Tomato Rice – $13 – Crispy skin chicken Maryland fired to crispy golden brown served with our special dipping fish sauce

Despite being the dish that I ordered, I failed to remember how it tasted. It wasn’t particularly bad and wasn’t particularly memorable either.

Pho with Medium rare beef and combination (Extra Large) – $19 – Pho dish served with tender medium rare thinly sliced premium beef in beef broth and combination of beef brisket, beef balls and beef tripe.

The regular-sized pho is actually the cheapest amongst other pho restaurants I have reviewed in this blog. However, I was more interested in the extra-large pho. It was seriously large!

The final verdict for Pho phd Restaurant

Despity being the younger sibling for the famous PHD, Pho phd restaurant failed to live up to our expectations. The exciting novelty of extra-large pho was quickly subdued by indifference.

Rating for Pho phd Restaurant:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $19 for the pho

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

260 Marrickville Road, Marrickville NSW 2204

02 9090 2869

http://phophd.com.au/

Oct 20, 2015
The Bridge Room

Review:

One of the perks of having a birthday at the end of September is that you get to wait until Good Food Guide is released for the year. You can then book one of the winning restaurants. This year, we went to the ‘double winner’, The Bridge Room. In addition to getting their third hat, they were also crowned Restaurant of the Year in 2016.

We came in for lunch on Friday and the restaurant was decently filled. Without further ado, let’s talk about the food!

Children’s Beef Steak – $25

Well, the fact that they have a kid’s menu still amazes me. On top of that, this has got to be the best kid’s menu dish I have ever seen and tasted in my life. Our little one is also a pretty good ‘reviewer’ – i.e. he wouldn’t hesitate saying ‘yuck’ if it was a crappy dish. In this instance, he devoured everything on the plate.

Fraser Island Spanner crab, pickled and shelled, new season asparagus – $34 – artichoke butter, basil, celery leaf salt

Our first entrée looked so light and simple yet it was elegant and sophisticated! The soft crab meat combined with the delicate seasoning created such a rich dish. When you add artichoke butter and asparagus into the mix, you got yourself a very unique dish!

It is perfect for people who wanted to start their lunch on the lighter side.

Robata grilled raw beef, pickled greens, shiitake mushrooms, puffed jobs tears – $33 – dried mushrooms, miso, roasted peanut oil

I have always known robatayaki to be a cooked beef satay. So, looking at the description of raw robata beef, I was very intrigued. Presented in a dark-themed plate, the raw beef was exquisite!

The beef was rather obscured by the dried mushrooms and was perfectly complemented by shiitake mushrooms and miso!

Wild caught Snapper, burnt celeriac, celeriac softened in butter – $48 – Cipollini onions, sticky chicken sauce

Our first main course was a snapper. The fish was cooked perfectly with crispy skin. It was enhanced by crunchy celeriac and sweetness of onion. The black sauce was the icing on the cake. It bound the dish into a perfect experience!

Ocean Trout, crisp skin, silken eggplant, roasted tea broth – $45 – sesame, puffed rice, organic soy sauce, grilled rock kelp.

This is not a dish that I would normally order in a fine dining restaurant as I would really hate my fish to be overcooked. When the dish came, it looked perfect. The taste? The meat was beautifully cooked and the skin was extra crispy.

There was also another surprise in this dish. They put hot and spicy stuff (I’d guess something like chili seeds!) on the silken eggplant! It added a whole level of complexity to the ocean trout. It was an exciting surprise!

Steamed broccolini, smoked onion puree, sweet pickled onions – $11

Steamed broccolini was the side dish that accompanied our main courses. There was actually quite a lot of them on the plate! I actually loved mixing the smoked onion puree with my ocean trout. It gave that extra sweet taste to the fish.

Burnt caramel cream, candied Packham pear salad – $18 – pistachio crumb, mint, basil, raisins, pedro ximenez

The burnt caramel cream looked a bit more like a savoury dish with all of those edible flowers and ‘salad’.

It was a rather bitter dessert with enhanced crunch from the pistachio crumb. The pear salad and mint balanced the bitter flavour really nicely.

It is suited for people who like complex dish to end the service.

Aerated passionfruit, roasted nougatine, passionfruit ice cream – $18 – passionfruit seed powder, glass biscuit

On the other hand, the passionfruit ice cream gave us a very refreshing end to our lunch.

There are quite a lot of elements on the plate, including tiny meringue-looking aerated passionfruit.

A word of advice: Just try to cut the glass biscuit in small pieces … It was quite difficult to digest in a big chunk!

The final verdict for The Bridge Room

There is no doubt that The Bridge Room deserved the three hats and title of Sydney’s best! Everything was spotless when we dined there!

Did you know?

This is only the second restaurant that we have ever given a score of 9.5, the other one was Tetsuya’s.

You should also order their Berry cocktail with Yuzu. If I don’t need to work after lunch, I would order a second!

Rating for The Bridge Room:

9.5 / 10

Taste: 9.5 / 10

Price: $250 for two excl. wine.

Place: 9.5 / 10

Details:

44 Bridge Street, Sydney 2000

02 9247 7000

http://www.thebridgeroom.com.au/

Oct 12, 2015
Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction

Review:

I have heard about the reputation of Ryo’s Noodles in Crows Nest for quite a while. However, travelling across the bridge just to enjoy a bowl of ramen isn’t exactly at the top of my list.

Fortunately, they open an outlet a lot closer to home. Ryo’s Noodles just (literally) opened yesterday, 8 October 2015, in Bondi Junction! There were no big fanfares that accompanied the opening. Just a simple, business as usual with a few flyers being handed out.

Most of the stuff on their menu is ramen. They have a choice of pork soup, chicken soup, cold noodles and vegetarian noodles. Other dishes include a couple of curry rice and rice balls. But, you should be coming in for Ryo’s Ramen.

Ramen in spicy hot flavoured soup with roast pork, egg and shallots – $13.50

The ramen’s portion was quite big and they use the wriggly noodles instead of the straight ones. As the name stated, the ramen was actually quite hot! There were decent amount of toppings with quite generous serving of soup.

Ramen noodles in pork and fish stock with eggs, roast pork, fried shallots – $15.00

There were more elements in this ramen than the last one. The layers of fish stock was very visible (and possibly quite fattening! ^_^). The soup was also a bit thicker than the previous ramen. I quite liked the extra fried shallots that gave a crunchier taste to the ramen.

Cod roe rice ball – $5.00

I decided to order the cod roe rice ball because I am actually quite a big fan of rice balls. It looked a bit pricey, but the rice ball was actually pretty big!

The final verdict for Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction

I can understand why people lined up in Crows Nest. The ramen at Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction was very nice!

Did you know?

This address is the most reviewed in my blog. Three restaurants have occupied this spot for the last five years. The previous two restaurants have all been great-tasting Japanese restaurants that disappeared quite mysteriously.

Rating for Ryo’s Noodles Bondi Junction:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 per ramen or main

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

106 Ebley Street, Bondi Junction NSW 2022

02 9387 8858

Ryo’s Noodles’ facebook page

Oct 9, 2015
Hurricane’s Darling Harbour

Review:

The original Hurricane’s Grill in Bondi was the second review I wrote back in 2010. Back then, the Darling Harbour’s branch had been opened, but people were still queuing in the Bondi Beach Venue. In 2015, they have 4 Hurricane’s Grill and 2 Hurricane’s Express restaurants.

The Hurricane’s Darling Harbour venue is probably the one I go to the most for convenience purpose. It is still a very popular venue, so go early or expect a queue!

Rocket and Parmigiano Salad – $19.00 – with cherry tomatoes, green olives and red onion with vinaigrette dressing

Rocket is one of only few vegetables that I actually love. Nothing can go wrong with rocket and parmigiano cheese!

Rocket and Parmigiano Salad – $19.00

Op Prime Rib (500gm) – $48.00 – grain fed, prime rib on the bone; one of our finest cuts

As we had quite a large group, I got the chance to try a ‘non-standard’ dish. On this occasion I ordered Hurricane’s Prime Rib… for myself!

It was a pretty good steak… However, considering that it was more expensive than full rack of beef or lamb ribs, I think I’ll choose those two anytime!

Op Prime Rib (500gm) – $48.00

Full rack of Beef Ribs – $47.00 – basted in Hurricane’s rib basting then grilled until tender served with either chips or baked potato with sour cream and chives.

Hurricane’s ribs are the main reason why people visit Hurricane’s Darling Harbour. When I wrote the review 5 years ago, they didn’t have the beef ribs on the menu. So, this is for those of you who are not a big fan of either lamb or pork ribs.

Full rack of Beef Ribs – $47.00

Rump (750gm) – $48.00 – the original “BIG KAHUNA”, aged for a minimum of 28 days and basted in Hurricane’s steak basting.

Rump steak is my father’s favourite cut. 750 gr of rump steak is huge… no joke!

Depending on how big the group is, you can also opt for 350 gr or (an even bigger) 1 kg of rump steak. You can also order extra sauce (e.g. mushroom) for $2.50.

Rump (750gm) – $48.00

Onion Rings

I am not sure why they did not put this in the menu. However, you can order onion rings in Hurricane’s Darling Harbour.

Junior Fish and Chips

It was a simple fish and chips with tartare sauce and lemon for kids. Suffice to say that the little guy enjoyed the main dish that we ordered better than his.

The final verdict for Hurricane’s Darling Harbour

Hurricane’s Darling Harbour is a lot more convenient meeting place than the one in Bondi Beach with the same quality that you would expect from Hurricane’s.

Did you know?

I was going to review Hurricane’s Express in Waterloo, before I found out at the last minute that they closed down a week after my visit to the restaurant!

Rating for Hurricane’s Darling Harbour:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $15 – $35 for main and pasta

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

Shops 433-436, Level 2, Harbourside Shopping Centre, 2 – 10 Darling Drive, Darling Harbour, Sydney 2000

02 9211 2210

https://darlingharbour.hurricanesgrill.com.au/

Oct 6, 2015
Jamie’s Italian Canberra

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Unfortunately, Jamie’s Italian Canberra has closed its doors in 2018.

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Review:

We went to Jamie’s Italian in Sydney CBD just under 3 months ago and were pretty impressed with the quality of the dishes there. So, when we spotted Jamie’s Italian whilst in Canberra, we were eager to return.

The restaurant is located right at the heart of Canberra – Canberra Civic Centre to be exact. That’s pretty much the place where everyone goes out on a weekend. We went there for lunch so there was practically no queue at that time.

Italian Bread Selection – $1.50 – Homemade rosemary focaccia, sourdough, crispy music bread, ciabatta & tortano, all from our favourite artisan bakery. Served with extra virgin olive oil & aged balsamic.

I am not sure why they are even bothered to charge $1.50 for this.

Chicken Lollipops – $9.50 – Three free-range organic chicken fillets, chargrilled & served with a lemony yoghurt, crunchy mixed seeds & baked crinkle-cut wedges

Jamie is a well-known ambassador for great-tasting healthy food for kids – he even had a tv show for it! It is not surprising that the kids menu in his restaurant is full of fun stuff!

The menu can be seen in a stereoscope (or view-master) and the dishes had fun elements like the salad shaker that had the ‘shake me’ sign!

Porcini Fettuccine – $14.50 – Wild mushrooms, mascarpone, garlic, white wine, lemony gremolata, Parmesan & herby breadcrumbs

The fettuccine that we ordered was an entrée-sized pasta. The one thing that got me hooked was that crunchy crumbs. It added an extra dimension to an otherwise simple pasta.

Grilled Angus Rump Steak – $26.50 – Aussie Black Angus rump with garlic butter, rosemary skinny fries & rainbow slaw

I wanted to order the steak but I knew it was too small for me. So, I had to ‘steal’ from one of my guests and swap it for my dish!

The steak was cooked nicely but the rainbow slaw reminded me of shredded paper decoration for parties.

Wild Ruffle Risotto – $25.00 – Finely minced black winter truffle with butter & Parmesan – a real treat

The dish that I ordered for the lunch. With the big hype of truffle over the last couple of months, I just couldn’t help but try this dish. The dish looks like a classic Italian Risotto.

The final verdict for Jamie’s Italian Canberra

Jamie’s Italian Canberra is cheaper than its brother in Sydney. However, I had the feeling that the dishes were a tad less spectacular than the Sydney one.

Rating for Jamie’s Italian Canberra:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $35 for main and pasta

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

125 Bunda St, Canberra ACT 2601

02 6268 0400

Jamie’s Italian Canberra website

Sep 30, 2015