Category: City

City of Sydney covers numerous areas. It can mean CBD, Chinatown or any other part of Sydney, except The Rocks

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
Sushi Tei Restaurant

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $150 for 4 people

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

Sushi Tei Restaurant is one of the few success stories in Japanese chain restaurants. To be honest, when the Sydney branch opened I did not give the credit they deserved because I felt the Indonesian branches were an average and with the slightly more expensive price tag in Sydney, I thought the fee was not justifiable. Luckily, compared to my first visit, this one was so much better Japanese Cuisine.

In this place, you can order boxed sets or Donburi-style plates. However, the best feature of this restaurant is its diversity of choices. You literally choose from more than 100 types of dishes here. It ranges from fresh Sashimi, grilled gyuniku, to soup-based ramen. To illustrate this, we ordered 10 different dishes from (almost) each of its menu pages.

We started off with a simple Chawan Mushi, soft boiled white eggs with a chockfull of fillings, including the ever-present Naruto (fyi, it’s not a manga title!). Next was Salmon Maki, six mini rolls of Salmon Sushi wrapped in nori. These first two were staple dishes in a lot of Sushi places around town. Unfortunately, my knowledge of good Sushi rice is limited, thus I can only say it was rightly vinegared.

Our next two dishes were Chuka Kurage and Chuka Iidako. It is a little bit difficult to explain, but essentially they were Jellyfish and baby octopus. However, some people might not like the slimy and squishiness of these dishes. Shortly after came Wakame Salad. It was a sea of greens.

Our first main attraction of the day was Shiretoko. 6 kinds of Sashimi Moriawase were beautifully arranged in a shell-themed plate. The main attraction of it was the Swordfish and Sea Urchin. There was no better compliment that a Sashimi could get except by saying they were incredibly fresh.

If you think that last one looked nice, you will be evenhappier with the next one. Aso Sushi was one hell of a Sushi Moriawase. 19 slice of Sushi (granted that 6 of them were the same kind) in pleasingly pretty colours. It was the most comprehensive sushi moriawase on the menu but unfortunately sea urchin was excluded from it. I would also really love to have scampi on the menu.

We also ordered, the always in good standard, Unagi Yanagawa. It was essentially, eel and eggs with burdock roots. It’s great when accompanied by rice. Meanwhile, there was another dare-to-be-different dish of Zaru Chasoba. It was an ice-cold, green tea soba with its clear soup. I liked the freshness that it brought to the mixture.

We saved the best for last, Gyuniku. Three lightly-grilled beef slices wrapped up generous serving of Golden Mushrooms combined in perfectly yummy teriyaki sauce. These elements gave us a crunchy mushroom texture and soft, tender beef. They were so good we actually ordered a second plate, enough said!

The final verdict: There are hardly any Japanese restaurants in Sydney as comprehensive as SushiTei. They could cater to just about everyone. In addition to that, the taste also did not disappoint, they were actually surprisingly better than Ithought. It could be a little bit expensive if you are not careful with what you order. Lastly, the one dish that you should always order is Gyuniku.

Did you know?

Sushi Tei originated from Singapore and is one of the most well-known restaurants in Indonesia. They provide nice and fresh seafood in a country where the products are notoriously hard to get.

Details:

1 Chifley Square, Cnr of Elizabeth St and Hunter St, Sydney 2000

+61 2 9232 7288

http://www.sushitei.com.au/

Oct 20, 2011
Jordons Seafood Restaurant

Update: Jordons Seafood restaurant is now closed

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $40 per person

Place: 9/10

Review:

As you might already know, Darling Harbour was the best to be when it comes to enjoying the night. Jordon’s Seafood Restaurant is located at the heart of it and right on the corner with 270^o view of the harbour.

We went thru the aquatic-themed menu and we saw vast assortments of dishes. If you’re stuck there and you don’t like seafood (why do u come in the first place?), you can still get steak or even vegetarian stuff. But today, the review will be all about seafood and we were interested in the items specially highlighted in a box.

Our starter was a simple Mixed Leaf (with Persian fetta, marinated olives, roasted tomato and capsicum). It was a nice and colourful salad.

For our first share plate, we ordered Sushi / Sashimi Combination (main size). When the platter arrived, we were pleased with how it was presented. On the plate there were 10 assorted sushi, 9 sashimi slices, seaweed and something yummy (that brown thing on the left corner of the plate). Upon our tasting, I discovered that the sashimi wasn’t as fresh as I’d like them to be (but don’t worry, they’re still edible).

Our second platter of the day was Jordon’s Deluxe Seafood Platter (for two). We were quite shocked with the size of the dish and thankful that we did not order the bigger one. It was a massive two-tiered platter full of seafood. We were advised to finish the top tier first since they were the ‘hot’ dishes.

We had a bowl of mussels, then a couple of marinated Balmain bugs laid on a big square of nori. Next to the bugs were some cooked oysters. We also got a whole lobster. In the middle of it were 4 sticks of deep fried seafood with fish and chips on the bottom. The lobster and the bugs were cooked perfectly. You could rip the meat off the shell without too much effort, but the mussels weren’t the best I’ve ever tasted. And that’s only for the first tier.

For the second tier, we have an assortment of cold dishes. You wouldn’t miss a couple of Blue Swimmer crabs sitting in the corner. Then there were four fresh oysters and some chilled prawns. On the other corner, there was a bowl of Singaporean Chilli crab with some fresh fruits. Lastly there was a bowl of marinated squid and mussels with cocktail and tartare sauces.

For most part, they were yummy. There was a strange note on the Singaporean Chilli Crab. I have never tried them cold and unfortunately I didn’t like it. If only the crab was freshly cooked then that tower would be great.

The final verdict: Jordon’s is the kind of restaurant that has much better settings and ambience than the food itself. It’s quite pricey if you compared the price per its taste, but if you add the scenery factor, then it kind of made sense. Nothing really stands out on this occasion but they were satisfying.

Did you know?

The restaurant is located in the prime location of Darling Harbour. Few restaurants beat its scenic harbour/city view. Darling Harbour is also known as one of the few places in Sydney which stores open until 9 PM for most nights. FYI, stores normally close at 5 or 6 PM on all days, but Thursday.

We chose this restaurant because of the Entertainment Book. This book contains 1000s of discounts on restaurants, amusement parks, cinemas, even Coles! They are only sold at participating foundation (I bought mine at Cancer Council) for $65 – portions of it are donated for the cause. I strongly recommend you to buy this book and have a bit of adventure yourself.

Location:

197 Harbourside, Darling Harbour, NSW 2000

Website:

www.jordonsrestaurant.com.au (Jordons Seafood restaurant is now closed)

Jul 5, 2011
Madang Restaurant

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8 /10

Price: $15-$30 per dish

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week, I will take you to one of the famous Korean restaurants in Sydney, Madang Restaurant. There is always people waiting in line at ANY dinnertime except when they just open or possibly late at night (they open past midnight). Sometimes the queue can be quite intimidating and it can also be seen as an indicator of how good the restaurant is.

We ordered five dishes – with the free-flowing Kimchi – and I think it was a little too much for the five of us. Had I been able to withdraw one of my orders, I would really have difficulties in choosing one. Unfortunately this review will have a freely translated dish’s names.

For our first dish of the night, I remembered the Korean name since this was the only dish that I constantly ordered here. It was Ggan Pung Ki (Deep Fried Chicken with special Korean sauce). I really like this dish – sweet and crunchy what else do you want? On top of that, the serving was really generous. Then came the Soft-Shelled Crab. Smaller in size when compared to the first one, the crab was cooked perfectly. The yellow sauce created a different dimension to the crab.

The next dish to arrive was also a ‘staple’ order in Korean restaurants, Seafood and Shallot Pancake. The pancake was flavoursome and jam-packed with seafood. Everything was perfect but one minor detail, it wasn’t crunchy enough for me. I know it might be a personal taste, but I like my pancake slightly crunchy. We also ordered the always-challenging Cold Noodles. It was noodles dipped in ice-cold broth with vegetables, eggs, and beef slices. Very rarely people would love to eat this dish. I quite enjoy its uniqueness.

For the big main event, normally you can choose between barbecue and soup. This time, we opted for the soup – Beef and Mushroom Soup to be exact. No less than four different types of mushrooms were served along the beef, vegetables and glass noodles. I believe in wintertime, this was the perfect dish to warm up our night. Its gigantic size might proof a little bit intimidating for some people. I love the different textures of mushrooms in this pot.

The final verdict: Every dish served that night was flawless. They weren’t mind-blowing, but enough to warrant a better than average score. In regards to the dishes,The chicken would standout against the rest.

Did you know?

Madang’s BBQ is also an option you should seriously consider. The dishes were slightly more expensive than the options in this review and for me personally, I have another place cheaper that I can go to for a nice Korean BBQ.

Location:

371A Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Jun 15, 2011
Saap Thai Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Saap Thai has closed its doors for good.

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Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price: $10-$15 per dish

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week we are going to review one of my favourite Thai restaurants in town and it is surprisingly the first Thai restaurant I’ve ever reviewed (I think Blue Ginger doesn’t fall to the category of ‘pure’ Thai). Another surprise that I found was that Saap Thai Restaurant actually opened till midnight (possibly to counter some Thai restaurants near the area that open till quite early in the morning!).

One of the great traits of Thai food was that they are fully customisable. You can swap veggies, beef, chicken, pork, and seafood with no problem and the original taste of the dish will still be there. I wrote the following in the order of our preference and sense of completeness.

The first dish to come at our table was Chicken Pad See Ew. In a few words, it was sweet soy sauce rice noodles. It was a nice serving of one with slightly too much oil. Then came Stir Fried Beef in Cashew Nut. This one had a more vibrant flavour with combination of vegetables and mushrooms. Unfortunately the rice bowls came after these two dishes, so we had to wait a bit to start eating.

After the rice came my most favourite (not purely) vegetable dish in the city, Deep Fried Morning Glory Salad. This dish was so good that we decided to order for a second plate before the night ended. It was basically deep fried morning glory with an authentic Thai-style sauce and topped with seasoned minced beef (or pork) and fried shallots and coriander. Although it looked red, it wasn’t actually spicy.

The next dish caused a little bit of confusion in our group. It was Som Tum Goong – loosely translated to Green Papaya Salad with Prawns. For chilli haters like me, I said this dish was really mild (as compared to the next two), but most people in the table agreed that this one was the hottest of them all. Regardless, the dish was really refreshing. The dish was actually the traditional Thai salad dish with amazing combination of flavours.

If you don’t like chilli, I suggest you to avoid the last two dishes. Green Curry Duck was possibly the hottest curry on the menu. It might look pretty harmless from the outside, but it surely can work you out. The last dish of the day was Steamed Fish with crazy hot sauce. The sauce was actually the Thai’s sweet fish and peanut sauce, with overabundance of chilli. It was nicely decorated, but too hot for me.

The final verdict: I know I don’t give a high rating on this one, but this is actually the most affordable (and nice) Thai dishes you can get in town. I give a much higher rating for its Deep Fried Morning Glory. I think this dish was brilliant. I could not find any vegetable dish better than this one around the city (you can take out minced beef).

Did you know?

Thai restaurants are always infamous for their hospitality. I have yet to find a restaurant that disappoint me, in terms of waiters/waitresses’ politeness to customers. There are massive senses of modesty and it was really pleasant.

Location:

378 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Jun 3, 2011
Lime Street Cafe

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Unfortunately, Lime Street Cafe has closed its doors.

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Rating:

6.0 / 10

Taste: 6.5 /10

Price: $30 per couple

Place: 7.5/10

Review:

This week, we were fortunate enough to score one of the ‘deal of the day’ websites. It was a $30 per couple meal for the value of $70 at Lime Street Cafe. At first we were puzzled on the kind of food we’d had, but it turned out we could order anything from the menu up to the value of $70. That really drove our interest through the roof. The food themselves seemed reasonably priced for a King Street Wharf restaurant.

We ordered three appetisers and a salad. The first to arrive was Lightly Fried Calamari with rocket salad. It was too similar to my homemade deep fried calamari on a bed of rocket with a slice of lemon. Then we had Marinated Lamb Skewers. Although the skewers were pretty small, it was complemented with nice sauce.

The next tapas didn’t look as appetising. It was Prawns, chorizo and rocket with balsamic dressing. The chorizo was really dry and the salad was almost identical with all the sides of the day. Luckily, the prawns were to die for; it was cooked really perfectly. Similarly, Chicken Caesar Salad looked a bit of ordinary but it was the best tasting out of them all so far.

When the pizzas came, we barely had a room on our table for them. We ordered Pizza Pesto Chicken and Marinara. Unfortunately, both of them really looked and tasted like Pizza coming out of those pizza chain restaurants. The pesto looked more like clusters of green goo with no visual on the chicken. Thanks to the squids, the Marinara looked a bit more presentable, but it was still on par with those ordinary pizzas.

Our table was even more crowded when Seafood Risotto arrived. Yet again, it looked really bland and the risotto tasted like… well… steamed rice. Fortunately, we remembered the prawns’ taste from the previous dish and it was still the same. I really have no comment for the last dish of the day, Beef Lasagna. It’s just another ordinary dish. Not bad and not good…

The final verdict: Granted that we did not have to pay full price for these dishes, but the taste just did not deliver. The first three dishes created the illusion that the nights were going to be a ‘great deal’ but eventually the Pizzas and pastas were sub par.

Did you know?

It’s worth checking all those deal of the day sites, granted that you might get a sub par experience once in a while, but it’s really worth to find out how they are with half the price, rather than paying the full amount.

Location:

60 Lime Street, King Street Wharf, Sydney, NSW 2000

Website:

May 26, 2011