Category: Brunch

Gunners Barracks Wedding

Gunners Barracks Wedding Reception:

This is the second time that we went to Gunners Barracks for a wedding celebration. They used to be called ‘The Tea Room at Gunners Barracks‘. Gunners Barracks is located on a waterfront in Mosman. I’m sure there are a lot of websites that talked about ‘Gunners Barracks Wedding‘, but we are here to talk about the food.

There were two sets of entree, main course and desserts for this occasion. Of course, a handful of canapes and free-flowing refreshments were also on the menu.

Entree

Tuna Sashimi, Avocado, White Soy, Nori

Rather than the normal sashimi, the first set of entree was actually a lightly seared tuna with a few cuts of avocado and sprinkled with seeds and some Asian greens. It was quite a simplistic start to the lunch service for those having the tuna.

Crispy Pork Belly, Pineapple Jam, Asian Leaves

On the contrary, the second set of entree was quite on the heavy side, crispy pork belly. Instead of the usual Apple jam, they used pineapple jam.

Main

Roasted Fillet of Beef, Potato Gratin, Broccolini, Pepper & Thyme Jus

I would call the first main Steak… I’m not sure why they called it ‘fillet of beef’ as it kinda looked like grilled meat. They chose to cook the steak more in the medium-to-medium-well range, which unfortunately wasn’t my cup of tea.

Pan Fried Tasmanian Salmon, Calamari, Crushed Peas, Sauce Vierge

The Tasmanian salmon, on the other hand, was exquisite. It was quite a delightful dish! The addition of calamari and sauce vierge further enhanced its taste.

Dessert

Dark Chocolate Fondant, Cornflake Ice Cream, Crumbs

Considering that I’m not a big fan of chocolate (yep, I’m weird…), the decision on who would pick the fondant was quite straightforward.

The presentation of lava cake was more on the dry side… akin to the sashimi entree.

Sticky Date Pudding, Vanilla Ice Cream, Butterscotch Sauce

The sticky date pudding, on the other hand, was drenched in butterscotch sauce and super creamy vanilla ice cream. It was pretty heavy and I felt guilty after finishing it… but it was very good.

What do we think about Gunners Barracks Wedding Reception?

Gunners Barracks is probably one of the best venues in Sydney (or Australia) to hold a wedding reception.

View this post on Instagram

Tuna sashimi from one of the best wedding venues in Sydney, Gunners Barracks #sashimi #tuna #wedding #lunch #celebration #celebrate #sydney #weekend #AllAboutFoodBlog

A post shared by All About Food Blog (@aaf_blog) on Sep 28, 2018 at 8:51pm PDT

Details:

End of Suakin Drive, Mosman 2088

+61 2 8962 5900

https://gunnersbarracks.com.au/

Oct 12, 2018
Bluewater Cafe Manly – Breakfast

Bluewater Cafe Manly – Breakfast Review:

This week we are reviewing a restaurant by the Manly beach, Bluewater Cafe. We went to Manly beach quite early in the morning. It was so early that they were still serving the breakfast menu. When I browsed their website for research purpose later, I found out that their breakfast menu was probably the most exciting one. Their dinner menu, on the contrary, only consists of pizza, pasta and burger.

Bluewater is part of a group called, Platinum Restaurant Group. They are specialising in restaurants near the water in Sydney and Queensland.

Ocean Breakfast – $22.9 – Smoked salmon, poached eggs, hash browns and avocado. Topped with tomato salsa and balsamic glaze served with sourdough toast.

Salmon, poached eggs, hash browns and avocados are all my favourite dishes. So, picking this one was a no-brainer. They sprayed the balsamic glaze quite liberally, but I think we could use a bit more of the salsa. Other than that, it was quite a solid dish.

Buttermilk Pancakes – $17.9 – Homemade pancakes with seasonal fresh fruit, mascarpone cheese & maple syrup. Topped with roasted almonds and mixed berries

After I took pictures of the pancakes, I realised that the maple syrup was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, when the waitstaff gave us the syrup, the pancakes were no longer pretty. It was quite an interesting mixture of light and fresh fruits with the heavy mascarpone and berry jam.

Latte – $3.5 – Coffee

The final verdict for Bluewater Cafe Manly

Bluewater Cafe in Manly delivered us quite a solid breakfast. Obviously looking at the beach while eating your brekkie and drinking your morning coffe is always a plus.

Do you think I should go?
There are quite a few different cafes on the main strip of Manly beach. While I haven’t tasted quite a lot of them, I suspect they would have quite a similar quality.

Rating for Bluewater Cafe Manly:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $15 – $24 per dish for breakfast

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

28 South Steyne, Manly 2095

+61 2 9976 2051

Bluewater Cafe Manly

Sep 14, 2018
Maenam Lao and Thai

Maenam Lao and Thai Review:

When we talk about Strathfield, people would associate this suburb in Sydney with the dozens of Korean restaurants in the area. However, I will talk about the only Lao and one of only 3 Thai restaurants on this week’s review, Maenam Lao and Thai.

Lao and Thai cuisines are quite alike. According to wiki, som tam, sticky rice and larb dishes that you can find in most Thai restaurants in Sydney are actually a part of Lao cuisine.

Maenam has quite a diverse range of dishes and luckily we went there with quite a lot of people. So we could order quite a few of them.

The dishes at Maenam

Massaman Beef Puffs (4 pcs) – $8.90 – Massaman beef curry encased in puff pastry served with sweet chilli dipping sauce.

It is quite interesting to have massaman beef in a puff pastry. I love how they did it.

Raw Beef Salad (Larb Dip) – $13.90 – A Lao specialty of chopped raw beef, Asian herbs, tossed in an anchovy lime dressing and grounded roasted rice.

Larb is usually presented with cooked minced beef. This raw beef version was akin to the Japanese/Korean Yukke dish minus the egg yolk. I think this is my favourite dish of the day.

Seafood Crispy Noodles – $17.90 – Crispy egg noodles immersed in a thick gravy sauce with seasonal vegetables.

Crispy noodles dish is one of the first things that the little one will look for (obviously after ice cream). Kids always love the crispy nature of the noodles and the dish usually comes with lots of vegetables and your choice of meat.

Salt and Pepper Soft Shell Crab – $16.90 – Deep fried battered soft shell crab seasoned with salt, pepper and shallots. Add $3 for mango or apple salad (seasonal)

I don’t know why they don’t just combine the soft shell crab with the salad instead of having it as an optional extra. The salad really accentuates the soft shell crab, something that people will miss if they didn’t order the salad.

Crispy Pork Belly – $16.90 – Crispy pork belly in chilli basil sauce topped with crispy Thai basil leaves.

The bite-sized portion of the pork belly looked to be a hit amongst us.

Massaman Curry Beef – $15.90 – Mild and aromatic curry of slow-cooked beef served with potatoes, onion and carrots topped with fried shallots and roasted cashew nuts.

We can’t have enough off massaman beef, so we order the full version instead of just the puff.

Desserts at Maenam

Durian sticky rice – $10.90 – Served with coconut sauce

Durian sticky rice is available in this restaurant. I know some of you will either love or hate durian… so let’s just leave it at that.

Roti by Maenam – $10.90 – Served with a choice of pandan, chocolate or condensed milk sauce and served with a side of vanilla ice cream

I was defeated in the voting between chocolate or pandan sauce. However, the chocolate sauce was also quite a good combination with the roti and vanilla ice cream.

Maenam 3 – $10.90 – A taste of Thailand with 3 scoops of coconut, salted palm sugar and lychee ice cream. Garnished with seasonal fruits.

Three massive scoops of ice creams. I don’t think we should explain it more…

The final verdict for Maenam Lao and Thai

Despite being one of only a few Thai restaurants in the area, Maenam does not disappoint. They have an above average quality of food.

Do you think I should go?
There is another good Thai restaurant nearby, but they are a lot more expensive than Maenam.

Rating for Maenam Lao and Thai:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $20 per dish

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

31 The Boulevarde, Strathfield 2135

+61 2 9746 5882

http://maenamlaothai.com.au/

Sep 3, 2018
Pancakes on the Rocks Darling Harbour

Pancakes on the Rocks Darling Harbour Review:

This will be our third writeups about Pancakes on the Rocks. This time around is from one of their busier branches in Darling Harbour’s Harbourside shopping centre. The restaurant is almost always full and on most weekends you will need to queue.

A couple of years ago when I wrote about Pancakes in Beverly Hills, there were hardly any new thing on the menu, except for the introduction of ‘sidewinder’ wedges. This time around they have a few new items on the menu.

American Style Beef Brisket – $29.95 – Tender, 100-day Grain-Fed MSA, slow-cooked American Style Barbeque Beef Brisket. Marinated and grilled in tangy barbeque sauce, served with golden sidewinder wedges and mixed lettuce.

Beef brisket is one of those deliciously devilish indulgences for us. They are usually full of fat and all of the other yummy goodies – or evil, depending on how you are looking at it. The beef brisket from Pancakes on the rocks was even scarier with their usual barbeque sauce. Let’s just say it’s not for those of you who calories-counted your meal.

Pork Ribs – $35.95 – A generous rack of pork ribs grilled in your choice of marinade barbeque, teriyaki or honey soya. Served with golden sidewinder wedges and mixed lettuce.

Pork ribs have been their mainstays for as long as I can remember. I didn’t realise that you could ask for a different sauce for the ribs. There are better pork ribs out there. However, they usually weren’t accompanied by different kinds of desserts.

Beef Ribs – $35.95 – Tender and juicy marinated and grilled in tangy barbeque sauce. Served with golden sidewinder wedges and mixed lettuce.

Similar to pork ribs, beef ribs have also been there for quite a while now. They were relatively smaller than their pork counterparts.

Pancakes with Nutella – $15.95 – Buttermilk pancakes with Nutella, topped with cream, vanilla ice cream, and roasted hazelnuts.

Pancakes with Nutella – yeah I know everyone is putting Nutella into their menu these days – is actually one of the newer ones. I love how they add a few roasted hazelnuts in what already is a very nutty affair.

The Ultimate – $15.95 – Crepes filled with cream cheese and sultanas, served with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream.

One of the only constants in our visit to Pancakes on The Rocks: The Ultimate. This is the main reason I always come back to the restaurant.

The final verdict for Pancakes on the Rocks – Darling Harbour

Going to Pancakes on The Rocks, you should expect the same quality of dishes throughout most of its branches.

Do you think I should go?
I’m pretty sure Sydneysider already makes up their minds about whether they like Pancakes on The Rocks or not.

Rating for Pancakes on the Rocks Darling Harbour:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $12 – $36

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 230, Level 1, Harbourside Shopping Centre, 2-10 Darling Drive, Darling Harbour 2000

+61 2 9280 3791

http://www.pancakesontherocks.com.au/

Jul 13, 2018
Solo Newtown – Brunch

Solo Newtown Review:

When you heard the name ‘Solo’, most of you would probably associate it with the word ‘single’ or with that Star Wars movie that everyone talked about (for probably the wrong reasons). However, Solo Newtown is an Indonesian restaurant based in Newtown that took its name from a city in Indonesia, Solo – shortened version of Surakarta. Surakarta is a city filled with rich history and traditional cuisines. We have written about the city of Solo and its culinary options last year.

Their menu is separated into three different lot: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As we visited Solo Newtown at around lunchtime, we were ordering from the breakfast and lunch menu. Their breakfast menu is quite a full-on Australian breakfast menu with only bits of Indonesian influence. Conversely, their brunch/lunch menu is more like an Indonesian lunch with nasi goreng, lodeh, and gado-gado as part of the selections.

Nasi goreng – $14.90 – made with spicy basmati rice, tempeh, vegetables and topped with fried eggs

Nasi goreng, or fried rice, is almost a staple in quite a lot of Indonesian restaurants. One thing really stood out for me was the use of basmati, instead of jasmine, rice for the nasi goreng. As a result, the fried rice was quite a dry one, but probably easier to style on the plate.

Add New York Pastrami – $6

If you require more meat, they give an option to add a plate of New York pastrami. It was quite an interesting add-on to a plate of fried rice.

Beef Rendang Jaffle – $14 – Beef Rendang, spring onions & cheese

The one thing that really caught my eyes was the beef rendang jaffle. One element that stood out here was the cheese. I know it’s the ‘traditional’ way with jaffle. However, it has never been a staple in rendang. What you get is this crispy, cheesy, spicy, heavy jaffle. It’s a great way to fill up at lunchtime.

Also, this would certainly appease the needs of that masterchef judge for a crispy rendang.

Latte – $4

There is one item on the menu that is quite interesting: turmeric latte. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling too adventurous for it. Instead, I ordered a normal latte.

Others

Their dinner menu has a lot more Indonesian-influenced dishes. They have things from Indonesian grilled chicken, beef ribs, and other delicacies.

I will probably visit them in the future to review their dinner menu.

The final verdict for Solo Newtown

Hat’s off for the guys at Solo Newtown! They dare to transform traditional Indonesian cuisine to a more contemporary look. I’m not sure if the ‘purist’ will like it as much as we do though.

Do you think I should go?

Indonesian food is probably not as famous as Thai or Japanese in Sydney. However, if you want to try Indonesian flavour in dishes you already recognise, Solo might be the one for you.

Rating for Solo Newtown:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $13 – $22 per main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

415 King St, Newtown 2042

+61 2 9550 5684

http://solonewtown.com.au/

Jun 19, 2018
Sixpenny

Sixpenny Review:

Our restaurant this week is listed as one of the top restaurants in Australia located in a very quiet street in Stanmore, Sydney. They have held two hats status for as long as I can remember. Their chef, Daniel Puskas, is the Chef of the year in this year’s good food guide.

Sixpenny only has two degustation menu: 6 courses and 8 courses. They also cater for children with a 2-course menu for $65 on some days – we actually got 3 for our little one as he really wanted our dessert. As usual, the dining starts with warm bread and butter. Halfway through the service, they gave us a different kind of bread (but not pictured here).

Starter

Lightly pickled cucumber with Rose Geranium, Green Tomato & Cheese Gougères, Sweet Potato Scallop

The starter is not part of the degustation set. They are more like a ‘freebie’ during the service. The trio was wonderfully presented and super tasty. They recommended us to eat from the amazing gougère to the super fresh cucumber and onto the more substantive sweet potato.

Main

There are 4 mains served in the 6-course degustation. This month, the fifth main was the Venison tartare.

Ballina Spanner Crab with Clam butter & Yarra Valley Salmon Roe

The main course starts with very fresh and tasty spanner crab. The crab was very rich and full of flavour.

Dutch cream potato with Oyster emulsion, mushroom powder & button mushroom

This was one of the best dishes of the day. I love the creaminess of the potato and combined with the slightly crunchy raw mushroom.

The crispy kale and zucchini flower added an amazing dimension to it.

Swordfish with Buttermilk, Green Chard & Salted Red Cabbage

Unfortunately, the swordfish was our least favourite of the day. It did introduce the sour element to our dining. However, it was a tad too sour to our liking. The foamy look was also a bit scary.

Rangers Valley Chuck Tail with Mushroom & Marsala and smoked onion

Chuck tail cut is a part of beef that you might not hear very often about. Texture-wise it’s like in between ribs and rump. So, you got the best out of both worlds!

Add the sauce and smoked onion into the mix… and you get yourself a fantastic dish!

They also gave us a bowl of salad for the steak.

Kid’s Menu

In addition to the following 2-course meal, they are also given the same snacks as the adult. The kid’s dessert is also one of the degustation desserts.

Steak

Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Caramel and Almond Sable

Desserts

Mead Vinegar Custard with frozen Raspberries & Strawberry Consomme

If I heard it correctly, it took ten weeks to make the custard. The dessert might look very simple: part frozen raspberries and part custard with strawberry consomme. The combination of the three created one amazing dessert! It was sweet, a hint of sourness, frozen bites of raspberries, and most importantly… yum!

Feijoa Granita with White Chocolate & Dehydrated Feijoa

The second dessert was a bit more challenging to understand. The white chocolate was nice along with the granita. However, the dessert left a lingering taste of bitterness at the end.

The final verdict for Sixpenny

Sixpenny is the best restaurant we visited this year. They deserve the two-hat status for their awesome dishes… and probably not that far off from three-hat quality dishes.

Do you think I should go?
Definitely!

Rating for Sixpenny:

9.0 / 10

Taste: 9.0 / 10

Price: $125 for 6-course and $155 for 8-course

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

83 Percival Road, Stanmore 2048

+61 2 9572 6666

May 30, 2018