Category: Cities

This is a category for cities. All about food have reviewed restaurants in cities like Sydney, Singapore, Bali Island, Surabaya, and Bandung.

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
Golden Century Seafood Restaurant

Review:

This week we are writing about one of the more famous Chinese restaurants in the city: Golden Century Seafood Restaurant. Despite being in Chinatown, there is usually no shortage of people queuing to dine at the restaurant. Early dinner is your best bet to avoid the queue.

You can see a few tanks filled with live lobsters, mud crabs, abalones and many different fishes. The price for these live seafood is driven by the market, so on a good day, you might actually snap up a bargain!

We were there in a big group of eight and had quite a number of dishes ordered. Unfortunately, as with any other Chinese restaurants in the area, service is not their forte.

Crab Meat and Sweet Corn Soup – $7.00

I thought it would be a small bowl of soup as the big bowl costs 10 times as much. I ordered three of these and three of the next one. It became apparent that we had ordered way more than what we needed.

Fish Head Bean Curd Vegetable in Soup – $7.00

This soup was a bit more ‘challenging’ to the previous one because of the head element in the menu. I actually enjoyed this one more. However, one must be careful of the sharp teeth that the fish has.

Marinated Duck Chin – $10.00

Another exotic dish of the night came in the form of duck chin. It was the lower half of duck beaks with tongues. Despite its appearance, it was actually quite a tasty dish.

Marinated Beef Shank – $11.00

This was the less ‘offensive’ version of the entrée. The same kind of marinate but using the less exotic ingredient: beef shank.

Salt and Pepper Squid – $25.00

The first glimpse of quality at Golden Century was the salt and pepper squid. Presentation was as simple as ever, but it tasted amazing!

Deep fried duck with plum sauce – $28.00

This dish further established that Golden Century’s quality was a cut above the rest. It was definitely the tastiest dish we had that night. It was also possibly one of the best ducks I have ever had.

Beef Brisket and Tendon with Turnip Hot Pot – $23.00

For those of you who need tasty (read: fatty) stuff in your system, this is the dish for you! The sauce was thick and rich but the dish had such a balanced flavour.

‘I don’t even know what this is’ dish

I definitely did not order this dish but the waiter convinced me that I had. It’s some sort of tofu with vegetables. On the other hand, my eggplant order never arrived.

Heavenly Braised Four Vegetables – $20.50

Any dish that start with the word ‘heavenly’ will almost certainly attract people to order! As usual, I am not a keen vegetable eater and this was more of a dish to make a ‘complete’ meal.

Live Perch with Ginger and Shallot – Market Price

It was supposed to be the ‘main attraction’ of the day. Unfortunately the fish was overcooked. The redeeming factor was its delicious ginger and shallot sauce!

Complimentary Desserts

Despite their service (or lack thereof), Chinese restaurants’ best feature was usually their complimentary (it must be costed somewhere!) desserts. Golden Century restaurants actually gave us quite a few (rice bubbles, cake and watermelon).

The final verdict for Golden Century

Golden Century served great food (and possibly one of the best!). However, service is just as poor as any other Chinese restaurants in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the exorbitant price tag and service considerably damaged its rating.

Did you know?

Golden Century used to be a one-hat restaurant. I don’t think it’s a surprise why they lost their one-hat status.

Rating for Golden Century:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $20 – Market Price

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

393 – 399 Sussex Street, Sydney 2000

02 9212 3901

http://www.goldencentury.com.au/

Sep 25, 2015
El Jannah

Review:

When I wrote about a charcoal chicken place in Petersham, a name came up in the conversation: El Jannah. Some people reckoned it was one of the best in Sydney. Jannah in Arabic means paradise, so I was looking forward to the thought of eating charcoal chicken in Paradise!

They have three outlets in Sydney but we went to the place where it all started, Granville. It was a pretty big place for a charcoal chicken joint and there was always a queue when we were there. Their burgers and rolls are pretty good value for money (for around $12 with chips and drink)! On this occasion, we are more interested in trying their ‘eat in’ menu.

Shawarma Plate – $12.00 – marinated beef, parsley, onion, pickles, tomato, tahini and bread

It was the least tasty dish of the day. The overall feel was very salty, especially the tahini. There was also way too many vegetables on the plate ^_^

Coleslaw – $5.50

I love a proper coleslaw (not the kind of coleslaw that KFC has) and El Jannah’s coleslaw is a proper one!

1/2 chicken – $10.50 – with garlic, pickles and bread

This is the very reason why we came to El Jannah. The Lebanese-style is enjoyed with garlic sauce, pickles and Lebanese bread. However, it wasn’t as mind blowing as we had hoped. Also, I would rather have the chicken with chips instead of the bread. The chips were a lot fresher!

EJ Platter – $19.90 – 3 skewers, chips, homus and baba ganouj, garlic and chili bread

The EJ platter was the redeeming factor at El Jannah. Their skewers were very nicely done and worked pretty well with the usual condiments and hot chips! On top of that, they also gave us homus and baba ganouj which added an extra complexity to the dish!

For the skewers, you have a choice between lamb, mince beef and chicken.

You can actually create your own wrap with any of the dishes above.

The final verdict for El Jannah

The chicken did not live up to the hype for me at El Jannah. Their EJ Platter on the other hand was something else! The coleslaw was also worth mentioning.

Did you know?

There were a lot of halal restaurants in Granville that I could see when we were there!

Rating for El Jannah:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $6.50 – $20 per dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

4 – 8 South Street, Granville NSW 2142

02 9637 0977

http://eljannah.com.au/

Sep 21, 2015
Akiba

Review:

This week’s review is our first ever review of a restaurant in Canberra. Our choice went to Akiba, a restaurant located just outside Canberra Centre. Despite the Japanese name, the restaurant is a mashup of Asian dishes. It also seemed to be one of the more popular destinations in Canberra.

Our dishes for the night comprised of Thai, Korean and Japanese cuisines.

Kingfish, coconut, nam jim, coriander – $14

This is a carpaccio-style kingfish with Nam jim. Nam jim is a Thai-based dipping sauce that is a combination of spicy, salty, sweet and sour.

Smoky potato, dill, black garlic, mayo – $9

This side dish was recommended by our table attendant. It was humongous for a side dish. In addition to the smoky flavour, the potatoes were pretty slimy (possibly because of the cooked mayo).

In addition to the smoky potato, we also ordered steamed rice. I know $7 is quite steep but you actually got a large bowl of it and they were nice.

Charcoal roasted T-bone, garlic soy butter, gochutgaru (800gr) – $38

800 gr worth of T-bone for $38 is actually a pretty good value for money. The T-bone was already sliced to a ‘bite size’ (although the middle bits were a bit bigger than what we could chew). Gochutgaru is a Korean red chilli pepper powder that was made into a dipping sauce for the steak. I am quite fussy about steak and I quite liked theirs!

Japanese fried chicken, lemon braised onions, parmesan – $16

This was the only Japanese cuisine on the night. They are usually known as chicken karaage. The fusion bit came from the lemon braised onions with parmesan sprinkled on the karaage. Each element was pretty good on their own, but I don’t think the fusion works on this occasion.

Supercharged – $2

This is actually just an extension of the Japanese fried chicken. It is only a little bottle of Japanese ‘kewpie’ mayonnaise and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. The absence of mayonnaise in the original dish has made this a mandatory. However, if you don’t like mayo and chili sauce, you can skip this altogether!

The final verdict for Akiba

Having an Asian fusion restaurant is pretty risky, especially when there are a diverse range of cuisines in the region. Akiba generally served pretty good dishes.

Did you know?

Akiba has a ‘just feed me’, an 8-course banquet, for $45 pp.

Rating for Akiba:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $14 – $38 per main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

40 Bunda Street, Canberra ACT 2601

02 6162 0602

http://www.akiba.com.au/

Sep 14, 2015
Hawker Sydney

Review:

We were interested to go to Hawker Sydney because of the pictures uploaded by Simon Food Favourites and Jugernaut in facebook. One of them was Goreng Durian (more about it later). Hawker Sydney offers Malaysian street food and is located in the busy Sussex Street.

In addition to goreng durian, there were also quite a few unusual dishes in the restaurant.

Hainanese Chicken – $16 – Poached white chicken served boneless at room temperature for a moist and succulent texture. Served with chilli ginger sauce.

Although it is one of Singapore’s national dishes, Hainan Chicken rice is also a staple in many Malaysian restaurants. It was a pretty generous serving of Hainan Chicken in Hawker and was quite flavoursome.

Okra Belacan – $14 – Stir-fried okra with chillies and shrimp paste.

It is an interesting alternative to the usual ‘kangkung belacan’. I actually quite like this substitution as okra had a bit more crunch than kangkung.

Ikan Bakar – $16 – A local favourite. Grilled stingray with a tangy and spicy dipping sauce (Allow 15 mins).

The next dish can be found in the ‘snack’ section although it took 15 minutes to make. I think it can be more considered as part of the main course. The name ‘Ikan Bakar’ (or grilled fish) gave very little detail of what it really was. We got pretty excited when reading that stingray was the fish they use.

It was more of a nostalgic dish for me as I occasionally ate them when I was growing up in Indonesia.

Apam Balik – $6 – Crispy ‘turnover’ pancake with crushed peanuts, butter and creamed corn. Served with ice-cream.

I am always curious to try apam balik (more commonly known in Indonesia as ‘martabak manis’ – one of my favourite dishes in the world)! Hawker Sydney’s apam balik was quite different and pretty thin and crispy. It is a pretty good dish but did not have the ‘meat’ to make me full.

Apam balik has been declared a heritage food in Malaysian.

Goreng Durian – $8 – Crispy battered Musang King Durian. Served with ice-cream.

This dish is the main reason why we were here. Whilst the durian itself was nice and sweet, we felt that the batter was pretty bland and could use a bit more sweetness.

The final verdict for Hawker Sydney

If you like grilled stingray, Hawker Sydney might be one of only a few restaurants in Sydney that you could get it from.

Did you know?

According to Jugernaut, Hawker is owned by the same people who owned Mamak restaurant.

According to one of the people in Sydney food bloggers community, if you dined at Mamak the receipt can be used as a 10% voucher to dine at Hawker Sydney.

Rating for Hawker Sydney:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $10 – $18 per main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Shop G.02. 345B-353 Sussex Street, Sydney 2000

02 9264 9315

http://hawker.com.au/

Sep 9, 2015