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.
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.
One day, an email came into my mail box with a subject: dish’d and Jacques Reymond invite you to experience a delicious evening of discovery… And my first reaction was: Who is Jacques Reymond?
Upon Googling for more information, I discovered that he is a very famous chef who ‘retired’ from his self-titled restaurant ‘Jacques Reymond – Cuisine du Temps’ in Melbourne last year. Over the last 27 years, he managed to collect 80 hats (that was no small feat!).
Dish’d Launch Event with Jacques Reymond
I came into the event pretty early as the expected traffic jam along the way did not really happen. I quickly realised that there were quite a few famous people amongst the crowd. I didn’t really know their names, except maybe a select few like Justine Schofield from Masterchef or Rosie Henshaw from The Voice. Yes… I was getting a little bit starstruck here!
There were three big stalls (five if you include the two bars) setup during the event.
The Comfort Stall
This is the stall I frequented the most when I was there. They had a very yummy Spinach and Mascarpone Pizza. They also had the Lamb backstrap perfectly combined with Chimichurri rice.
Seafood and Pasta Stall
I love the idea of chilled pearl couscous salad combined with marinated scallops.
Dessert Stall
Dessert Stall – Crepe Suzette, Love Apples, Black Pearls
By far, the biggest stall of the night. It had loads of goodies. Despite the irresistible smell of the Crepes Suzzete, I was only able to eat its Tiramisu al mascarpone.
Dish’d: The Story
Dish’d Food store started in Melbourne back in 2011. They delivered a full range of meals from finger food to mouth-watering cakes and tarts.
Their food is delivered for free if you spend more than $80. Obviously, you could microwave it for instant result, but it’s best to follow the other cooking instruction.
Beside Tetsuya Wakuda, Jacques Reymond is probably the only other three-hat chef I’ve ever met. We have not been in luck with the other chefs when we visited their restaurants.
As I mentioned earlier, for almost 30 years, he has won countless awards and hats. 17 of those years were spent as a three-hat chef! His restaurant is now called Woodland House, operated and run by his chefs Thomas Woods and Hayden McFarland.
He joined the dish’d team in February 2014.
[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”3192,3194,3196,3197,3198,3199,3200,3201″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” title=”Dish’d Launch Event with Jacques Reymond” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Ippudo is located on the fifth floor of the buzzing Westfield Sydney precinct. We have visited Ippudo a few times before, but it was always during lunch. On this occasion, we were invited for a three-course dinner meal at Ippudo. They have a lot more items on the menu when compared to the lunch menu.
Entrees
We ordered the Ippudo Pork Bun. Overhearing the loud conversation from the table next to us, this pork bun apparently has reached the ‘legendary’ status amongst food enthusiasts. We think it was quite a nice pork bun to set the mood for the evening. The braised pork was a perfect match with the sauce.
Ippudo Pork Bun – Steamed bun with braised pork and IPPUDO original sauce – $4
Our second entree of the night was Camembert Tempura. I love camembert cheese and I love crunchy stuff. Enter camembert tempura and I instantly got the best of both worlds! It was an interesting combo because both were pretty delicate and were masterfully fried whilst retaining its shape. The only thing missing here was the substitute for the cranberry sauce. Personally, I would love something sweet to accompany the tempura.
Camembert Tempura – Camembert cheese dipped in batter and deep-fried – $8
A La Carte
We were very pleased with the first a la carte dish, Sauteed Tasmanian Salmon. It was a very well-presented dish. The grilled salmon was presented with maitre d’hotel butter with an accent of Japanese shiso. The salmon was complemented with potatoes and asparagus. In the end, the salmon was mainly devoured by my son as he loved it so much. I only got to taste it a bit.
Sauteed Tasmanian Salmon with maitre d’ butter with an accent of Japanese shiso – $15
Presentation wise, the second a la carte dish, Wagyu Steak with Sauce Japonaise, was comprehensively beaten by the first one. However, the taste was quite on par. The steak was cooked according to what we wanted and laid out in a bed of bean sprouts atop a teppan plate. Its strength was in the sauce Japonaise. The inclusion of mirin and ginger invoked my memory about Tetsuya’s legendary vinaigrette. It worked very well with the steak!
Wagyu steak with sauce Japonaise – $18
These two dishes were more than enough to enhance my Ippudo experience.
Ippudo Ramen
It is not an Ippudo experience without their ramen. There are five different noodles dishes at Ippudo.
Shiromaru Motoaji
Description from the menu: Ippudo original tonkotsu broth served with thin noodles, pork loin, bean sprouts, black mushroom and shallots. Classic Hakata-style ramen.
The only ramen in the menu that we have not tried. Judging from the description above, this is supposed to be the ‘classic’ ramen.
Akamaru Shinaji
Description from the menu: Ippudo original tonkotsu broth enhanced with special blended miso paste and fragrant garlic oil. Served with thin noodles, pork belly, black mushroom and shallots. A refined, modern-style ramen.
Akamaru shinaji is my personal favourite. The miso paste worked well together with the fragrant garlic oil! On this occasion, we did not order this because we wanted to try the other on the menu.
Ippudo Karaka Men
Description from the menu: Ippudo original tonkotsu broth with special spicy miso & ground pork.
Karaka Men Tamago – $20
Karaka Men was a pretty simple miso ramen. Unfortunately, I underestimated the word ‘spicy’ in the menu. The ramen was quite spicy for someone who only eats spicy food sparingly.
Tori Shoyu Ramen
Description from the menu: Topped with original chicken chashu, menma, leeks, naruto and nori.
When we first came to Ippudo, we did not see this menu. It was quite an option for people who doesn’t eat pork. Instead of miso-based, this ramen was soy-based (shoyu) and that gave the clearer soup based. However instead of chashu looking chicken, the meat looked more like thinly-sliced chicken breast fillet.
Tori Shoyu Ramen – $15
Vegetarian Noodles
Description from the menu: Topped with avocado, cherry tomato, cucumber, yogurt, mandarin, corn flakes, mixed nuts, and a side of greens. Noodles mixed with a special sesame based sauce and topped with balsamic vinegar.
The vegetarian-version of the noodles was actually a dry one. I am not a big fan of large amount of vegetables, but my wife said that this dish was her favourite in Ippudo.
A few interesting things about Ippudo:
– You are not allowed to have BYO at Ippudo Sydney.
– When you ordered the soup-based noodles, you were offered how well you wanted the noodles to be cooked (Soft, Medium or Hard).
Kazbah restaurant is situated at the heart of Darling Harbour’s Harbourside shopping centre. In that place, there are dozens of restaurants for you to choose. One day, we felt like eating Middle Eastern cuisine and that’s why I am writing this review.
The restaurant has an extravagant atmosphere with dimly-lit, silky smooth vibe to it. Looking at the menu, we decided to go for a three-course meal with a simple entree. Middle Eastern main courses are normally pretty ‘heavy’.
Each of us ordered Char-grilled quail (half a quail) with pomegranate sauce. We also had Rocket and Grilled Haloumi salad. Nice and light entree, as expected.
If you are new to my blog, I usually look for two things in a restaurant: something unique and a dish that the restaurant is famous for. Obviously our first main course fell in the first category: Camel Kafta. Presented in Shish Kebab style, the Kafta was grilled perfectly and I loved how the date sauce gave an extra taste to the meat. Synonym to the grand theme, the camel kafta was showered with generous serving of lentil and Tunisian ratatouille.
Camel Kafta, Brown Lentil Moujadara, Tunisian Style Ratatouille, Date Sauce, Crispy Fried Onions – $34.00
We ordered the other main, Lamb Shank, because of our curiosity. The lamb shank was stewed with prunes, carrots and kidney beans. Nevertheless, we are still trying to find a lamb shank dish as good as the one we had in Port Stephens.
Since my wife is a massive fan of Baklava, we must order one everywhere we go. For this one, this one was not too sweet and quite enjoyable. We also had Turkish Delight but it was pretty sweet.
Baklava (each) – $3.50 and Turkish Delight
The second dessert was rather extravagant and very pleasing to see, Date and Walnut Linzer Tart with carob mascarpone. Two tempered chocolates decorated both sides of the tart with little droplets of butterscotch accentuated the plate. However, I would not recommend you if you already had a full tummy. This dessert was incredibly heavy with a rich taste!
Date and walnut linzer tart with carob mascarpone, butterscotch cream – $14.00
Kazbah Restaurant delivered a nice Middle Eastern feel with well-presented Middle Eastern dishes.
Did you know?
There was one dessert that really stood out when we were there but we did not order. It was called Kazbah Bomb for Two. Flamed with Kurrant Vodka, this dessert should really excite everyone around you.
Also, for some reasons UrbanSpoon’s reviewers think that Kazbah in Balmain is a lot better than the one in Darling Harbour.
Mr Wong is located in a hidden back alley of Bridge Lane just near the corner of George and Bridge Streets. Although it can seat 240 people and is considered a pretty expensive place to eat Chinese, Mr Wong is always pretty busy.
They put a lot of efforts on the decoration of their two-level restaurant and they have quite a number of dishes in their menu. You have a choice between having small dishes of dim sum or a big dinner.
Small dishes (Dim Sum and Entree)
We ordered quite a few dishes in this department (as it should in a Yum Cha place):
Scallop and prawn shumai (3 pieces) – $9.8Prawn har gau – $9.8Chinese mushroom dumpling (3 pieces) – $9.8Xiao long bao (4 pieces) – $12Prawn toast with foie gras and almonds (4 pieces) – $12Prawn and crispy dough rice roll (8 pieces) – $15
They made each dish as we ordered them. As a result, it took quite a while to get what we wanted. However, you can actually taste that freshly-made dim sums beat trolley ones any time! The dish of note was the scallop and prawn shumai. Even my son wanted to order more of this! The prawn rice roll was a bit tricky as they cut 2 long rolls into eight small pieces.
We also ordered a couple of entree: Drunken chicken and Peking duck pancakes. The addition of goji berries in this dish accentuated the taste. I found that the duck pancakes were just okay.
Big Dishes (Roast Meats, Meat, Live Seafood, Tofu and Veggies, Rice and Noodles)
Since we were mainly concentrating on the dim sum and small dishes part, we only ordered a couple of dishes from this department. The first dish, “Mr Fong’s” stir fried chicken, was my least favourite of the day.
“Mr Fong’s” stir fried chicken, water chestnuts, shiitake, lotus root and Chinese sausage – $27
However, the large King crab and sweetcorn fried rice was pretty amazing. I think this was the most posh fried rice ever! A tip: If you are a rice eater like us, please make sure that you ask the dish to be made first because rice and noodles usually come last!
King crab and sweetcorn fried rice, trout roe and crispy conpoy – $29
Dessert
When I looked at the menu and saw deep fried ice cream and butter scotch, I was sold! Mr. Wong’s deep fried vanilla ice cream was a dessert to die for. How can you handle crunchy, hot and cold, sweet, salty and tasty all in one spoon?
Mr. Wong’s deep fried vanilla ice cream served with butter scotch sauce – $14
Shamefully, I forgot to take picture of the last dessert, Mango pudding, passionfruit granita, pomelo and pearls – $14. Instead of the heavy tasting pudding you usually get from a Chinese yum cha restaurant, you got this refreshingly-balanced mango pudding.
Yes, Mr Wong is expensive… but if you are thinking about going, you should already know that. It took quite a while for each dish to come out, but every one of them was executed perfectly. I would certainly come back for its shumai and deep fried ice cream!
Did you know?
Mr. Wong is part of a large hospitality group, known as Merivale. They have several hats restaurants. Mr Wong received the 2014 Good Food Guide award for new restaurant of the year.
You can only reserve a table for dinner if you have six or more people. For lunch time, you can book it with any number of people. They also serve banquet-style menu and mud crab.
“PappaRich Malaysian Delights” was the name mentioned when I asked my circle of friends to name a good Malaysian restaurant in Sydney. However, we were kind of lazy to cross the bridge to Chatswood for a Malaysian cuisine. So, when we went to Broadway and saw the sign ‘PappaRich’, I could not be more delighted. We were also just in time to avoid the queue!
If you went there for the first time, the menu can be quite intimidating. It feels like an endless list of food with big pictures! So, on this occasion, I’ll try to let you know the different dishes you can expect to find at PappaRich Malaysian Delights.
From the first part of the menu, we had Roti Canai with Tandoori Chicken ($14.90). It was quite a simple arrangement of a quarter tandoori chicken, a pretty big piece of roti and two kinds of sauce (spicy sambal and yogurt mint). We then picked 6 sticks of Satay Beef ($13.90), alternatively you can choose to have satay chicken.
The rice department has quite a few choices to offer. At the top of the list, the Pappa Chicken Rice with Steamed Chicken ($13.50) was too hard to miss. A Malaysian favourite that comes complete with tender boiled chicken, fragrant chicken rice, chicken soup, bean sprouts and a combination of chilli, ginger and dark soya sauce for dipping. You can also have a variety of Biryani or jasmine rice with two choices from the following: red chicken, sambal eggplant, sambal prawns and beef rendang. The costs vary between $13.00 to $16.90.
There were also a handful of choices from the Noodles department, unfortunately we only got the chance to try Crispy Egg Noodle ($13.50) – wok-fried egg noodles with egg gravy, prawns, chicken slices and fish cakes. My Malaysian friend told me that a good Malaysian restaurant was judged on the way they created their Laksa. She also said that PappaRich’s was very nice. This last dish was my personal favourite, Pappa Deep Fried Chicken Skin ($6.90).
They serve a lot of traditional Malaysian drinks, such as Ice Blended Bandung (Rose Syrup with Soya Milk) with Grass Jelly ($4.90).
I love a good serve of deep fried chicken skin and PappaRich gave us a great serve of them! In line with the buzz, PappaRich lived up to the expectation. The price tag was justifiable by the big portions they served.
