Author: Ardi

Est

Review for lunch menu:

Our rare moment without the little guy was spent for lunch at Est. Restaurant. They have quite a flexible lunch arrangement of two, three and four-course lunch. You can also request for degustation menu, but I think it’s a bit too much for a lunch period. In this occasion, we had the three-course lunch with an extra plate of oysters to start the lunch with.

I am pretty sure I don’t need to describe the menu in full details as the name of every ingredients is already listed.

To start

Six freshly shucked rock oysters, ponzu dressing ($5 each)

As six oysters would have been an overkill (especially for my wife), we decided to share this dish. Presentation was simplicity at its best and the ponzu dressing was pretty good!

In addition to the oysters, we also got the usual bread and butter. However the bread and butter was too ordinary to remember.

Course 1

Moreton Bay Bug, orange, green shallot, fennel, watercress puree, puffed quinoa.

The bug was presented very nicely. I love how all of the flavours worked well together. For Your Information, Moreton Bay bug is known as flathead lobster outside Australia.

Lamb consommé, slow cooked lamb belly, green peas, pickled radish, mint oil

When I saw it, I knew immediately that this dish was the one I should have ordered. The lamb belly was presented like a roast pork belly. I have never seen lamb cooked this way and I was even more impressed with how it tasted! It was presented beautifully and the consommé was fabulous.

For the first course, the slow cooked lamb belly beat my Moreton Bay bug anytime!

Course 2

Slow cooked rangers valley wagyu beef tri tip, spinach puree, salsify, spring onion, rye crumb, red elk.

My first impression was that the steak was actually quite small (I blame my tummy!). As soon as I tried everything on that plate, I was actually very impressed with the taste of the beef and the charred taste of the onion and rye crumb. The spinach puree gave an extra dimension of freshness to the plate.

Murray cod fillet, shaved abalone, snow peas, black fungi, ginger – green shallot vinaigrette

The vinaigrette was a high-end version of the usual Chinese restaurant’s steamed fish with ginger and shallot. However, the Murray cod fillet was beautiful… like really beautiful!

Both dishes were on par in terms of quality and taste, but I guess I am leaning towards the Murray cod fillet as it was slightly bigger than the wagyu beef!

Sides of spring asparagus, ricotta salata, marjoram, extra virgin olive oil ($11)

You can choose a selection of sides to accompany your main(s). We chose spring asparagus for this and was pretty pleased with it. They actually gave a near perfect amount of asparagus for us to enjoy.

Course 3

Strawberries, rhubarb granita, ginger cream, sorrel sorbet, hibiscus wafer

I thought granita was the highlight for the dish, but I think the two sorbets stood out more. It was a highly refreshing dish with the curious addition of ginger cream.

Peach, fresh peach juice, pistachio, summer berries, lemon verbena sorbet

I am not a big fan of peach, therefore I cannot make a fair judgement of what to like between the two. However, I am willing to try the mango with goat’s milk yoghurt the next time we visit Est.

Drinks and Petit Fours

At the start of the service, there was a trolley full of champagne. I guess it made sense as most people were here for a special occasion (except for a few people who looked like big bosses of big companies having normal work lunch).

There were still a plate of petit fours and a small birthday cake to end the day, but I am not a big fan of chocolate.

The final verdict for Est. Restaurant

Est. restaurant thoroughly deserved the two hats status for their lunch menu. Service was fabulous and food certainly did not disappoint. The best dish of the day was the slow cooked lamb belly.

Did you know?

Est. restaurant is Merivale’s flagship restaurant. The group owns several top market, high-rating restaurants in Sydney including Mr Wong that we reviewed earlier this year.

Rating for Est. Restaurant:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

3-course lunch: $95

Place: 9/10

Details:

Level 1, Establishment, 252 George Street NSW 2000

+61 2 9240 3000

http://merivale.com.au/est

Jan 1, 2015
Wagaya Sydney Experience

My Wagaya Sydney Experience

Wagaya Sydney has been on on my radar for quite a while but they were always pretty busy on weekends. When opportunity knocked (courtesy of SD Marketing Global) to review the restaurant, I wouldn’t want to miss it!

Wagaya Sydney is an izakaya restaurant, which technically means they are more of a drinking establishment than a restaurant. The food serves in an izakaya is meant to accompany the drinks. However, it is quite a posh izakaya restaurant!

Wagaya Menu

The first dish of the day was actually chosen by my son: Japanese Style Scallops Spaghetti. I am not a big fan of Spaghetti, but I really don’t mind eating this one (after being granted the permission to try his food)!

Japanese-Style Scallops Spaghetti – $10.90

From the ‘quick nibbles’ section, we ordered Lotus Root Chips and Crispy Salmon Skin. The lotus root chips was probably the best suited dish for izakaya. You can never get enough off it! I always liked deep fried crispy salmon skins and they are actually pretty good to fill up the tummy.

Lotus Root Chips – $7

Crispy Salmon Skin – $5.80

If you are after a rather ‘heavy’ food, then you can choose one of the Sukiyaki options. Beef Sukiyaki was our choice of the night.

Beef Sukiyaki – $13

They also have an assortment of Sushi rolls and you can either order half roll or a full roll. Given my love to scampi, we chose Fried Scampi Roll. It turned out that fried scampi didn’t have the same appeal as fresh scampi. The sushi itself was quite delectable.

Fried Scampi Roll – Full – $12.50

The one thing that made our visit to Wagaya Sydney worthwhile was its Sashimi. It was arguably one of the freshest Scallops Sashimi I have ever tasted! It actually ‘provoked’ me to order another sashimi dish, Crystal Bay Prawn Sashimi.

Scallops Sashimi – $9

Crystal Bay Prawn Sashimi – $7.90

A couple of dishes that we also ordered on the night were Chicken Gristle and Lamb Chop. The chicken gristle are great bite-sized nibbles! The lamb chop was more of a curious purchase and we were glad we ordered it!

Chicken Gristle – $8.20

Lamb Chop – $12

A few interesting things about Wagaya Sydney

– Wagaya Sydney’s membership card has quite a few perks and it works just like the Credit Card point system: $1 for 1 point. The prizes range from a discount voucher to iPhone!

– Wagaya is part of a Japanese group of restaurants, including Sushi Hotaru.

Details:

1/78 Harbour Street, Haymarket NSW 2000

+61 2 9212 6068

http://www.wagaya.com.au

Dec 25, 2014
Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar
One day, a friend of mine shared several images on his facebook page. One of the images shared captured my attention and suddenly I had the urge to try making them! It is baked potatoes with parmesan and cheddar.

Before long, I bought all of the ingredients (the ones I haven’t got in the fridge/pantry) needed to make the baked potatoes and we are ready to go!

There were quite a bit of items to prepare, but the cooking itself was quite fast and painless.

What do we need to make Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar?
1. Australian Brushed Potatoes
2. Parmesan Cheese – the one that came as a block of cheese
3. Cheddar Cheese – also the one that came as a block of cheese. In the picture, you will see different cheddar, but you can use the normal cheddar cheese.
4. Sour Cream
5. Spring Onion
6. Salt and Pepper
All of the ingredients above can be found quite easily in your local supermarket. I did not put any measurements in the list of ingredients as you could freely use as much or as little of them as you want!

The Preparation for Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar
1. When you bought the same potatoes as mine, you would want to clean them up off any soils on their skin.
2. Put them in a cooking pot, but make sure they are immersed in water and add some salt as needed.
3. Boil them in high heat. I add six minutes AFTER the water boiled in the pot before taking the potatoes out.
4. Chop Onion Spring, as needed
5. Sliced parmesan cheese thinly. In the picture I did not cut it thin enough and it didn’t look nice when slipped into the potatoes.
6. Cut the potato into several sections (the more the better), but not deep enough so that you keep the whole figure intact.
7. Slipped the parmesan slices into each compartment (i.e. the sliced part) of the potato.
8. Grate the cheddar cheese on top of the potato.
How do we make Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar?
1. Pre-heat oven to 200^o The term pre-heat means you leave it on for around 5 minutes in that temperature before you put in your potato.
2. Put the potato on the baking tray. Make sure you cover the baking tray with aluminium foil.
3. Put the baking tray into the oven for around 15 minutes.
4. After taking it out of the oven, add a blob of sour cream and garnish with spring onion.
A little tips to make your perfect Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar
1. You don’t need to peel the skin off the potatoes.
2. Boil it a little bit longer if you want to make a softer potato.
3. Don’t grate the cheddar cheese beforehand. They are quite sticky!
Baked Potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar
Dec 17, 2014
Sushi of Masuya

Review:

There was a recent (16 June 2014) change of management to the restaurant we are reviewing this week. Sushi of Masuya was formerly known as Musashi Dining Bar. The new management preserves the former restaurant’s concept of Japanese Izakaya.

The first plate coming to our table was the Sashimi Deluxe Platter. It is only befitting that the first test for a Sushi establishment was the freshness of the fish! The types of Sashimi presented in their Sashimi deluxe platter did not disappoint. The presence of Scampi and beef tataki was a gigantic plus in my good book. They also had the ‘usual’ suspects, such as Tamago (egg), Salmon, Tuna and Kingfish. They also include a little side of tsukemono (Japanese pickles), scallops and squid with fish roe.

Sashimi Deluxe Platter – $58

For our second dish, Deep fried salmon belly, I don’t think it requires a big introduction. The formula is quite simple: Salmon + its belly section + deep fried = happy face.

Deep fried Salmon Belly – $9.80

Wagyu Skewer was a little bit flat and looked a bit uninteresting when compared to the previous dish. It was also a little too well done to my liking.

Wagyu Skewer – $14.80

Our third salmon dish of the day was Spicy Salmon Fin. The salmon wasn’t exactly spicy by our standards but there was still a decent amount of spice.

Spicy Salmon Fin – $9.80

Just when you think you had enough of salmon, we had Salmon Sushi. This one was actually my son’s dinner (he loves salmon so much!).

Salmon Sushi – $8.80

The last dish of the day, Karaage Chicken, was quite a ‘standard’ one.

Karaage Chicken – $8.80

The final verdict for Sushi of Masuya

You should definitely stick to the Sushi and Sashimi in Sushi of Masuya.

Did you know?

At the time of publication (16 December 2014), Sydney was mourning because of the death of Two Sydneysiders (Tori and Katrina) caused by a gunman at Lindt Cafe Martin Place. Our thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families and friends.

Rating for:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $10 – $20 per plate

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

447 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9280 0377

Facebook page for Sushi of Masuya

Dec 16, 2014
Chefs Gallery Macquarie Opening Celebration – Part 2

Review:

In this second instalment of the Chefs Gallery Macquarie Opening Celebration, we focus more on the food that they served on the night. If you want to read about the celebration, please go to my Feng Shui Blessing post.

On Arrival – Chefs Gallery Macquarie

The evening started off with the usual canapés and drinks. Unfortunately, my camera went funny when I took the pictures of some of them: prawn and squid shu mai with avocado, and Jumbo prawn dumplings.

Luckily I managed to salvage a picture of the last entry on the ‘On Arrival’ menu: Spicy wonton chips. This dish is one of those ones that you cannot stop eating unless the plate is empty!

Chapas – Chinese Style – Chefs Gallery Macquarie

In line with the usual sharing tradition in Chinese cuisine, the service that they had for the evening was Chapas, presumably Chinese Tapas or some sort.

Macanese style mini burger filled with pork fillet, pork floss, lettuce and a sweet chilli mayo dressing

It was a light and fluffy start to our dinner service. The mini burger was small enough for me to swallow as a whole.

Shredded peking duck with cucumber, hoisin sauce rolled inside a fluffy Chinese roti

Peking duck was my favourite dish of the night. It was anything you could ask for in a Peking duck with the added extra kick of toasted Chinese roti. The Chinese roti tasted a lot closer to a Roti Pratha than the usual Peking duck wrap.

Crispy soft shell crab with fried shallots, garlic and chopped chillies, served with Chinese salad in a sesame soya dressing

Another dish that I have always enjoyed is a soft shell crab. In this dish, the crab was quite obscured by the garnish.

Crispy pork belly and barramundi pieces. Wrap both pork belly and fish in lettuce, topped with fresh basil and mint leaves. Drizzle with a dash of gula Melaka flavoured with cinnamon and mandarin peel

This dish has quite an interesting combination. It is also compounded by exotic flavours of cinnamon, mandarin and sugar (gula Melaka). You eat it similar to Korean BBQ where you wrap the meat inside a lettuce and dip it in the sauce.

For the next three dishes, it was quite a revelation for me that Chefs Gallery put so much pride on their noodles. Not only that they had special Noodle making session on the Opening Ceremony, they also served three noodles dishes (of different colours!) for the Chapas.

Spinach handmade thick noodles, wok fried with prawns, mussels in shell, baby calamari tubes, Chinese shitake mushrooms, dusted with seaweed and sesame powder.

Personally this is the one I liked best after the shredded Peking duck. From the appearance, it looked more of a seafood dish than noodles. It also had quite a strong seafood taste (too strong for Janni the chef). But, who wouldn’t want to try a green-coloured noodles dish?

Fish noodles served with chicken soup

Although it looked quite ordinary, there was nothing ordinary in terms of its taste. It was quite a unique noodles dish with texture I’ve never tasted before!

Knife-sliced sorghum noodles served with a Shanghainese spicy sauce

The sorghum noodles dish was also pretty interesting. It was slightly pink in colour and was cooked with wonton. I kinda like the taste, but unfortunately I wasn’t a big fan of spicy dishes.

Dessert – Chefs Gallery Macquarie

Signature “Piggy Face” sesame bun and “Totoro” marshmallow arranged in an edible garden setting, beautifully presented and served with ice cream.

We would have enjoyed the desserts a lot more if it wasn’t closer to 10 PM on the night and I wasn’t on my 12^th plate for the day. I have always loved the cute-looking ‘piggy face’ buns since the first time I went into the restaurant. It was delightful to see the playful, shared-plate dessert at the end of the banquet.

Details:

Macquarie Shopping Centre Shop 407

197-223 Herring Rd, North Ryde, NSW

+61 2 9267 8877

http://chefsgallery.com/

All About Food Blog was invited by White Works Public Relations to be the guest for the Chefs Gallery Macquarie Opening Celebration dinner.

Dec 8, 2014
Chefs Gallery Store Opening Feng Shui Blessing – Part 1

This will be a two-part chronicle as I think it’s important to tell the story on the actual procession and not just the food.

The second part (the food review) will be available for my next post. I will update you with the link on this page when it is published.

Chefs Gallery Macquarie

I went to the Chefs Gallery Macquarie Celebration Dinner / Feng Shui Blessing because I was invited by Stewart and Leonardo from Whiteworks Public Relations. The event was attended by quite a few notable names in the culinary industry, including chef Janni Kyritsis. Thanks to Chopinand from ChopinandMysaucepan.com, I was spared the blushes of not knowing his achievements!

There were quite a few attractions before the feng shui blesing ceremony started. We were entertained by Master Calligrapher (which I forgot his name – apologies) demonstrating his skills in writing our names using Chinese calligraphy. A friend of mine gave me a Chinese name “??” a long time ago, so I’m getting that calligraphy made.

In front of the master calligrapher, there was a Guzheng zither played.

After a few rounds of finger food and light refreshments, the procession was opened by the usual ribbon cutting ceremony by the owners.

The table was already pre-arranged and I was sitting next to Chopinand and the guy who sponsored the drinks for the night. On our table, we had three distinguished chefs, including Janni, the MC (Claudia Chan Shaw) and a news reporter. The table was beautifully presented and each of us received a token resembling ancient Chinese gold ingot in gold envelope.

Chefs Gallery Macquarie restaurant was decorated with Chinese Calligraphy all around the restaurant and there was a lot of hanging brushes for Feng Shui purposes.

More information about Chefs Gallery Macquarie centre can be found on their website and this media release.

Feng Shui Blessing

So what is Feng Shui blessing? Feng Shui House Blessing website offers quite an extensive article about the practise.

Claudia Chan Shaw (our host of the night) explained that Feng Shui literally meant wind and water. It is generally used to create a balanced chi for your establishments. It involved several steps including the cleansing rituals and appeasing the Gods (in this instance it included the God of kitchen).

The Cleansing Rituals

Appeasing Kitchen God

Appeasing Gods

Noodle Master Pei Lin Jai demonstrating his skills

The last ‘attraction’ of the night was Noodle making session by Noodle master Pei Lin Jai (aka Chef Panda). Just like in the video above, chef Pei Lin Jai masterfully demonstrated how he created four different types of noodles on the night.

The first was ‘regular’ noodles.

Noodle Making Session by Pei Lin Jai (LJP)

He then made a finer type of noodles.

Up to the point where the noodles were extra fine! They then lit up the noodles that we thought was almost borderline smoke hazard that would set off the smoke detectors.

Noodle Making Session by Pei Lin Jai (LJP)

In addition to those ‘regular’ noodles above, he also created specialty noodles: spinach thick noodles, fish noodles and sorghum noodles. Unfortunately I only had the sorghum noodles pictured below.

Noodle Making Session by Pei Lin Jai (LJP)

With this, I conclude my first part of the review. It is truly an amazing experience watching Feng Shui blessing.

Details:

Macquarie Shopping Centre Shop 407

197-223 Herring Rd, North Ryde, NSW

+61 2 9267 8877

http://chefsgallery.com/

Nov 25, 2014