Author: Ardi

Tetsuya’s

Rating:

9.5 / 10
Taste: 9.5/10

10-course Degustation: $210

Place: 9.5/10

Review:

Tetsuya’s used to be in the Top 50 restaurants in the world. Over the last couple of years they’ve slid down the ladder, but still in the Top 100. Critics mentioned lack of ‘innovation’ as one of the reasons. Tetsuya’s serve 10 courses of French-style Japanese Cuisine. They also had the best view of replica Japanese Garden and situated on a heritage-listed building.

Sourdough and White Bread with Truffle Butter

Throughout the night, these breads were offered for those of you needing extra carbs. The truffle butter was to die for. The smoothness of spiced butter infused with truffle was so amazing that I couldn’t stop asking for it. My little baby loved it so much too!

Chilled Pea Soup with Mint Ice Cream

Our first course of the night was chilled sweet peas blended to perfect smoothness. It was a very nice and interesting way to start the special night. A refreshing taste combination between pureed pea soup and mint ice cream cleansed our palate before the first savoury dish.

Steamed Savoury Custard with Dashi (Seaweed stock) and Avruga Caviar

Our second course was Tetsuya’s own interpretation of chawan mushi. The delicate taste and the smooth texture of the custard was a perfect harmony, as it melted directly in my mouth. The seafood taste from dashi and avruga caviar completed its beauty.

Marinated Yellow-Fin Tuna with Shishito Pepper and Garlic Chips

The third course was another simple dish of Tuna sashimi with a nice and sweet marinade and shishito pepper. As an Indonesian, I found it really weird to actually mention garlic chips on my dish since we normally put heaps on them in an Indonesian dish. Some leaves of garlic chips gave different texture and accentuation to this dish.

Grilled NZ Scampi Tail with Chicken Liver Parfait & Walnut Vinaigrette

Scampi and chicken liver, all time favourite ingredients! Another delicately simple dish Tetsuya’s presented. It’s interesting to have the walnut vinaigrette to accentuate Scampi’s already-sweet taste. Yumm, such a spoiling moment for my tastebud!

Confit of Petuna Ocean Trout with Shaved Fennel, Unpasteurised Ocean Trout Caviar and Konbu – Tetsuya’s Signature Dish

The fifth course was the legendary signature dish, Ocean Trout. It always lives up to anyone’s expectations. The confit tasted perfect, as the softness of the ocean trout harmoniously combined with the fennel, caviar, and konbu. Definitely one of the best dishes I ever tasted!

Steamed Queensland Spanner Crab with Bean Curd, Foie Gras, and Junsai

Presentation wise, it was plain – just looked like one white cylinder steamed tofu (bean curd). However, we could taste the delicacy of the spanner crab since the first bite! The beautiful foie gras and junsai completed its sweet taste.

Breast of Quail with Quail Leg Rillettes and Hammond

The seventh dish was very nice, with the exception of its size. I am not a big fan of the spring onion, so I had to separate it from the rest of the elements. The dish still worked really well.

Slow roasted De-Boned Rack of Lamb with Sheep’s Yoghurt and Kale

The last savoury dish of the day was a medium-rare, glossy, no-smell rack of lamb with the always perfect accompaniment of yoghurt. It was then softened up with Kale (wiki: cabbage’s family).

Pione Grapes with Grape Sorbet + Bread & Butter Pudding

Our first dessert of the day was a double treat. I really loved the sweet taste of grape sorbet. It was highly refreshing, especially after a nice array of savoury dishes. The pudding was glazed with brulee and it was slightly heavier than the sorbet which I think was perfect, considering most of the bread and butter pudding was very heavy.

Double Chocolate Pave with Cream Cheese Ice Cream & Cinnamon Twigs

The last dish of the day was chocolate. I was amazed by the techniques presented on this dish and I thought the cream cheese softened the pave considerably. Unfortunately, I’m still not a big fan of chocolate. There’s no chocolate that can make me ecstatic.

Chocolate Fondant with Hazelnut and Praline – Birthday Cake

Tetsuya’s gave us a different dish for people who celebrated their birthdays there. On this occasion it was a chocolate fondant. It was softer in taste than the pave but it was still a bit too strong for me.

Petit Fours and Café Latte

Lastly, we also received complimentary dish of Petit Fours (although it’s technically only one) and Café Latte.

The final verdict for Tetsuya’s Restaurant:

Critics can say whatever they want, but for first time visitors (and even return visitor like me), Tetsuya’s still presents the best dining experience in Sydney. Tetsuya’s delivered the 10-degustation without any of them being ‘average’.

Did you know?

Despite being in the Top 100, Tetsuya’s was not listed as three-hat in Sydney’s Good Food Guide this year. I found it weird since especially since only one restaurant in that three-hat category was higher than Tetsuya’s in the world’s list.

Details:

529 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

+61 2 9267 2900

http://www.tetsuyas.com/

Mar 7, 2012
How to Cook Kobe Beef

Review:

This week I am not going to review a restaurant or any particular events, but I am going to share information on how to cook one of the rarest, if not THE rarest, beef in this world. Kobe beef is technically a type of wagyu beef that have marbling score of 6 or more. It also has strict conditions to qualify the ‘Kobe’ status, as seen on this page ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef’. I have never found this beef in Sydney, but by a chance I found it on David Jones Bondi Junction meat department.

Due to its delicate nature, we need to cook it perfectly. It is important to not have the Kobe beef in frozen condition prior to cooking. You might need to thaw them in your fridge for a day if it was frozen. With the seasoning, it’s best to just have a bit of salt and pepper. Marinade is strongly not recommended because you will lose the meat’s distinct texture.

Cook Kobe Beef

After the preparation, everything else is done only in two or less minutes. We want the end product to be medium rare towards rare. Most people start the cooking process with pre-heating the non-stick pan. We heat up the pan with maximum heat until the surface produces light smoke (Important!). We also don’t use any oil since the fat itself will cover it. When the pan is ready, seared the meat on to the pan and immediately turns down the heat. Allow 15 seconds of cooking on each side, then with an even lower heat, cook them for a further 45 seconds – 1 minute for each side.

You can have a side sauce according to your taste, but the Japanese-style sauce is a combination of soy sauce and mirin with a little bit of sesame oil and Grape seed oil.

Details:

David Jones Bondi Junction

Feb 5, 2012
Ikan Bakar Cianjur

Rating:

6.5 / 10 Taste: 6.5/10

Price: <$5 per person

Place: 6/10

Review:

Ikan Bakar Cianjur was one of the few Indonesian chain restaurants that was available in a lot of places all around Indonesia. Since ikan bakar meant grilled fish, one can only deduce that their specialty was fish.

Since all of their dishes were pretty simplistic, I decided to write this review whilst promoting one of Indonesia’s infamous slogan ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’ (4 healthy, 5 perfect). This was meant to promote healthy and balanced meal for the whole family.

The first element of it is Carbohydrate. In Indonesia it has always been associated with rice and/or rice cakes for the Javanese.

The second element is lauk pauk, or main dishes (Google translate somehow showed side dish). We ordered Gurami Goreng (fried carp) and Steamed Snapper. Gurami goreng was extremely crunchy and was peeled to make a wavy pattern. The Steamed Snapper on the other hand was smooth and flavoursome. Funnily, tofu is also part of this element, so I have to include Fried Tofu on this list.

The third element is vegetables. On this occasion, it was represented by Baby Cabbage. Once again, it was just pure stir-fried veggies.

I would like to mention the type of fruit juice that might only be available in Indonesia (or an Indonesian restaurant), Avocado Juice. Fruit and milk would be the last elements of ‘4 Sehat 5 Sempurna’. This was one of my most favourite drinks of all time. It was a simple mixture of avocado, milk and coffee syrup. The Indonesian avocado had a different consistency and feel to that of Thai’s.

The final verdict: Ikan Bakar Cianjur provided an overly simplistic dish with a decent touch of traditionalism. Nothing was practically outstanding except for the avocado juice and steamed snapper.

Did you know?

This restaurant used to be one of the nice restaurants in Surabaya. However, it was downgraded into a common restaurant because of the numerous newcomers and/or competitions from household names in the seafood restaurants.

It also appeared that this chain also had discrepancy in taste. Its biggest branch in Mayjend Sungkono remained the most crowded IBC in Surabaya and seemed to have a more vibrant vibe to it.

Details:

Jalan Jemursari 76, Surabaya

Jan 22, 2012
Na Zdrowie

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $50 per person ($25 main)

Place: 7/10

Review:

Concurrent to the one from my blog ardipradana.com, this will be my first review originally published in this blog. Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

It is nice to start of the New Year with a part of the world I have never been before. Na Zdrowie is an authentic Polish restaurant with a nice brick and wooden interior design. Their table settings and choice of dishes also reflected this authenticity.

The first dish of the day was quite unique. It was called Smalec – Delicious seasoned lard with apples and onions, served with rye bread & Polish pickles. This was definitely my favourite! The lard was served cold with some crunchy elements to it. The combination of lard, rye bread and pickles was fantastic. I felt like eating the whole jar of Smalec myself.

There was also Serek – Fried crumbed camembert cheese with cranberry sauce – – for entrée. Nice and gooey camembert with cranberry sauce… nothing can go wrong! Zurek – Sour rye broth with potato and polish smoked sausage – was a very interesting soup because it was both sour and smoky. The soup was served in a nice traditional bowl and lid.

On this occasion, we ordered three mains. I almost thought these mains were gigantic, but apparently they were just enough. For the first main we had Kaczka – Duck roasted in apples & served with kopytka. It was a perfectly roasted half duck with nice apple sauce. It was also complemented by kopytka (seared potato dumpling) and shredded carrots. I think the apple sauce was a tad strong since it was literally half an apple.

Then came Schabowy – pork loin (or chicken) schnitzel served with potatoes & mizeria. This one was just schnitzel. The only difference on this dish was the Polish cucumber (Mizeria). For the finale, we ordered Pierogi – Traditional Polish dumplings with delicious fillings (Mushroom, cheese, or meat). This dish was strangely similar to the Chinese dumplings with the exception of their fillings (my friend strenuously denied this). This dish actually gave me an interesting insight on what can be put into dumplings.

For the drinks, we originally just ordered the Polish beer, Zywiec. However, half way through the meal, I saw the waiter brought this drink to the table next to me. The drink was called Kompot (not to be confused with Polish Heroin or the dessert compote). It was a clear fruit drink with an ultra-refreshing taste. I am not quite sure what was in it, but I am sure they tasted really nice. According to Wikipedia.com, kompot is a drink made of fruits boiled in water with sugar and left to cool and infuse.

The final verdict: There was a thick traditional and authentic feeling in Na Zdrowie restaurant. Unfortunately, I think the entrée and the drinks far outperformed the main dish. I strongly suggest you to order Kompot and Pierogi. Both are the authentic Polish dishes.

Did you know?

Na Zdrowie has a meaning of ‘Cheers’ in Polish.

Details:

161 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, NSW 2037

+61 2 9660 1242

http://www.nazdrowie.com.au/

Jan 10, 2012
Loving Hut

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: <$12 main course

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week, we are reviewing one of the rarest restaurants in Surabaya, Vegan Cuisine. Loving Hut is the newest restaurant that I discovered out of curiosity. The restaurant is filled with plenty of vegan celebrity pictures and some of its campaigns against meat – which was a bit of a turn-off for me.

Deep fried wonton was our first dish of the day. Six golden brown wontons were laid on a bed of lettuce with a simple sauce of chili and tomato. I was pretty pleased with the likeness to the more meaty wontons. With almost similar components the Fried Enoki was served. The mushrooms were wrapped in seaweed and coated in thin savoury crisp. It was the perfect combination of crispy coating and soft mushroom.

From the vegetable lines, we also ordered Chili Eggplant and Asparagus Soup. Beside the sauce, the eggplants were pretty spot-on. The Asparagus soup was also pretty average. They also served mixed rice dishes, like this Seven Seas Delight with Rice. It has a combination of mock-meat katsu and green veggies. I reckon this would be enough for a simple dinner or big lunch.

For the next one, we ordered Fancy Nut Satay. Although, it was supposed to be fancy nut, I could only taste peanut (which was not considered ‘fancy nut’). This factor aside, the satay was great. It was also grilled like the real deal! Tamie Capcay was our next one and it looked like a massive bird’s nest. It was very thin noodles, deep-fried and served with Chinese-style stir-fried vegetables and seafood.

We also ordered Len Phan Deluxe, I ordered because it was the most expensive dish in the restaurant. When it arrived, we were pleased not only for its size, but also the variety of it. There were six components if you look at the picture. On the right hand corner was what looked like grilled chicken, (then moving clockwise there were) chicken katsu with sweet chili, seafood stick with sauce, calamari and mayonnaise, and bitterballen (meatballs) with chili sauce. Len Phan Deluxe was arguably the most comprehensive and best dish of the night. All of its elements were wonderful.

The final verdict: If no one tells you that it’s vegetarian, you would think that it’s the real deal, especially Len Phan Deluxe! The overall taste for Loving Hut was nice but nothing really mind-blowing.

Did you know?

Loving hut apparently is also a chain restaurant. Its business model is pretty unique. Each of the restaurants has its own menu, completely different menu. I find it pretty strange since the basic foundation of a chain restaurant is uniformity of menu. Therefore, this review is only relevant to the one in Surabaya, Indonesia.

I know one more restaurant that used to have better vegetarian dishes in Sydney but unfortunately that restaurant was brought down to receivership.

Details:

Jalan Sumbawa 37, Surabaya

+62 31 5012990

http://www.lovinghut.co.id/

Dec 25, 2011
Dome Coffees

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: <$15 main course

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

We started off our Indonesian food journey with a stop on Dome coffees. I know this is not strictly Indonesian food – as a matter of fact it’s actually a franchise from Australia. However, Dome coffees in Galaxy Mall presented a unique experience of café with truly edible choices of food (i.e. it’s not just sandwiches and cakes!).

Espreski is Dome’s signature drink. Indonesian-version of espreski is quite different. It is still a blend of espresso, ice cream and crushed ice, but it has different flavours. The most interesting one is Avocado Espreski. The combination of Indonesian avocado and Espreski was truly out of this world. It’s a shame that their Latte(s) are not the normal style (with the coffee on top).

Zuppa soup is probably the most ordered dish in this restaurant. Its massive size (for a soup) and round pastry top should be enough to entice onlookers. You can choose to enjoy the soup and pastry separately or mix the pastry together. I suggest you do the latter one. The combination created reduction for the soup and enhanced the pastry’s taste. Zuppa soup is one of the few soups that I would order in a restaurant (without being given to me freely as a package).

For light snacks, our choice would be the Deep Fried Mushroom since it was crispy and soft with a side of mayonnaise. I don’t really recommend the Cheese Sticks. They were pretty average and didn’t go together with the sauce.

Our first main dish was Peking Duck Pizza, although I’m pretty sure the term ‘Peking’ is used loosely here. It was a pretty unusual topping for pizza, but (upon searching in the all-knowing Google) there were quite a few restaurants serving this dish. Although it looked quite pale, the base was actually quite thin and was supported by additional crispy topping. They also put hoi sin sauce for the topping to enhance and complement the duck flavour (a no-brainer really given the strong taste of duck).

Cordon Bleu has always been one of my favourite dishes, I’d order when there is one. This one was an okay one. It was slightly small, but it has a nice mushroom sauce and crispy coating. The better main dish of the night was John Dory Fish. The fish was surprisingly fresh, considering this is a ‘plaza restaurant’. Then there was the sauce, lemon and capers. It further refreshed the overall taste of the dish.

The final verdict for Dome Coffees

There’s an overall standard to its quality at Dome Coffees. Being a coffee shop, their drinks were fabulous and everything on their Espreski line was nice. Most people ordered Zuppa Soup to accompany their drinks and I think that made the perfect combo.

Did you know?

Dome Coffees Galaxy is (supposed to be) part of an Australian café chain. However, when I looked at the website, ALL of the Indonesian cafes are not listed there. Furthermore,none of the menu listed on the website resembles the menu on these Indonesian ‘branches’, not even its signature drink – Espreski. The only activity I can get from Dome Indonesia is through its twitter @DOME_cafe

This Dome Coffees café also offered free WiFi for its patrons. This service seemed to be the standards for café business in Indonesia these days.

Details:

Galaxy Mall II, 2^nd Floor, No 249 & 296, Surabaya 14240

http://www.domecoffees.com.au/

Dec 17, 2011