Category: Newtown

A really vibrant suburb with a host of Thai restaurants

Green Gourmet Kitchen

Review:

This week we are reviewing our first ever vegetarian restaurant in Sydney. In a couple of previous occasions we dined with a group of friends who opted for the restaurant’s vegetarian options. However this time, we went to a ‘true’ vegetarian restaurant.

Everyone in my ‘inner circle’ knows that I am not a big fan of vegetables with borderline hatred to some of them. But on the other hand, I am also an admirer of beautiful and delicious food regardless of ingredients.

On this occasion, we went to Green Gourmet Kitchen in Newtown. The restaurant has the Chinese restaurant’s style with the buffet bar on the side.

Green Gourmet Buffet Dinner – $2.60/100gr for dinner or $9.90 for up to 700 gr for lunch

Green gourmet offers a buffet selection for lunch and dinner. It is actually a better option if there are not a lot of people in your party, especially for lunch time. There are quite a few options to choose from on the buffet bar!

‘Honey’ & Lemon King Prawn – $17.80 – by substituting the original honey with maple syrup and lemon

Our first dish of the day is a ‘honey’ that was actually maple syrup and mock king prawn. The king prawn was quite tasty and the texture was pretty similar to the real king prawn.

Ling Zhi Mushroom in Clay Pot – $24.80 – Stewed in a clay pot with broccoli and fried tofu

The Ling Zhi mushroom dish was supposed to be the one that impressed us the most. However, the priciest dish for the day didn’t quite live up to our expectations.

It was quite ordinary even when compared to the fried rice.

Green Gourmet Fried Rice – $14.80 – with shredded green vegetable, vegan prawn, BBQ Not Pork, bean sprout & soy & wheat protein

They gave quite a generous portion for the fried rice. It is actually nice to eat your dishes as a share plate (i.e. put everything in one plate!).

The final verdict for Green Gourmet Kitchen

For just under $10, Green Gourmet Kitchen’s buffet bar is a pretty good lunch option in Newtown. The waitress was pretty friendly and it is pretty good for an everyday dining.

Rating for Green Gourmet Kitchen:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $15 – $25 for main dishes

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

115-117 King St, Newtown 2042

+61 2 9519 5330

http://www.greengourmet.com.au/

Jun 19, 2015
Cloud 9 Chocolate Cafe Experience

My Cloud 9 Chocolate Cafe experience:

I had to enlist the help of my Chocolate-loving friend, dr Phil (not that guy who regularly appears on your TV screen), for last week’s visit to Cloud 9 Chocolate Cafe. I am really bad at differentiating the kinds of chocolate and I am also not a fan of bitter dark chocolate.

It was an invite from Melissa from Evil Twin PR (such a cool name!) that got us to try Cloud 9. Also considering that I will be in the Inner West more often towards the end of the year.

Melissa described it as premium quality desserts without the expensive price tag. They are right on the spot about the price tag. Their most expensive item, Fondue for Two, is only $11 and you get quite a lot for the price!

Their ‘signature dish’ is the Gelato Sliders. You can choose from six different cookies and three brownies to make up the ‘bun’ for your slider. You will then need to decide which gelato flavour to complement the ‘bun’. They told me that they would have different flavours from time to time.

Gelato Sliders –

Gelato Sliders – $6

You can also have its variant, Slider minis. Instead of cookies or brownies, you get a proper bun, or brioche to be exact, for your ‘burger’.

Slider Minis – $4.5

We ordered this next dish last because we were curious about it. It was Molten Lava Cake. We were glad that we actually ordered it. The lava cake had the perfect sweetness, it’s not bitter and the cake was covered in milk chocolate! It also came with a scoop of gelato (apple shortcake) and strawberries. That would probably be the best $6 you have ever spent in Sydney!

Molten Lava Cake – $6

When I asked dr Phil what he thought about Cloud 9, this was what he said ‘The texture is different. Balance of flavours is just right. There is no grittiness unless it is the actual ingredient (there on purpose)’.

Did you know?

If you are around the area in Valentine’s Day, they have the Love Sliders promotion. It’s a heart-shaped waffle dipped in chocolate and encasing a scoop of gelato.

Details:

199 King Street, Newtown

+61 2 9516 4575

Cloud 9 on Facebook

Feb 10, 2015
Kafenes Cafe Restaurant

Rating:

6 / 10

Taste: 6.5 /10

Price (Banquet): $35 – $45

Place: 6/10

Review:

We had a special occasion this week because it was the farewell party for the longest-serving member of our company, Andrew Thomas. We went to one of the better Greek restaurants, Kafenes Cafe Restaurant. He recommended us to take the Banquet menu for ease of arrangement. The Banquet consisted of five dishes that were supposed to feed the whole group. There are three choices that you can get, ranging from $35 to $45. We were also given a time limit from 6 – 8.30 PM.

According to the menu, the first dish that was due out was the Country Salad. Regrettably, until we finished the dish never came and there was no explanation whatsoever from the restaurant.

The dish that came up first was instead Dips Combo. Three dips of taramosalata (salmon roe), meiltzana (eggplant), and scordalia with (two generous plates of) Pita Bread. They were an okay dips, when compared to my previous restaurant review.

The second appetiser that we had was Spanakopita (Spinach Pie). This one was quite ok, although presentation-wise was quite average. It was crunchy on the outside while nice and creamy on the inside.

We had quite a bit of delay of around 30-40 minutes between our last dish and the next one. The dish is called Prawn Saganaki. It was a chilli tomato Prawn with Capsicum on a bed of rice. It was an interesting dish. Different parts of the plate gave us different taste. Some could be really hot and spicy and others were quite bland.

The last dish on the list was Chicken and Lamb Souvlaki. I personally liked the presentation: Huge lamb and chicken pieces in a stick with some vegetables and pita bread. It looked a little bit too cramped for presentation. They were the first nice dish of the night. They were succulent and yummy – grilled perfectly.

Before we had the dessert, we were warned that there was little time left for it. Andrew insisted that we should have it anyway. It was named Bougatsa. This extra crunchy custard pie literally saved our otherwise ‘unlucky’ dining experience – it did come with an extra cost tho. They were wonderful, although we had to finish it lightning quickly.

Unfortunately, the constant nagging of the waiter turned out to be untrue. As we stepped out of the restaurant, the group of 20 was nowhere to be seen. We were taken aback by the treatment, it kind of remind me of typical restaurant where you were given the bill as soon as you finished eating.

The final verdict: This time I need to disagree with most reviews. Although it has nice Souvlaki and great Bougatsa (with an additional fee), the absence of one dish from the banquet, the poor service and bad time management contributed to the bad impression that we all shared. Unfortunately, I need to give a bad rapport and would not recommend this restaurant.

Did you know?

The restaurant is located just a block away from the Enmore Theatre. It was one of Sydney’s major entertainment venues and held major music events. In present days, it usually holds comedy acts and medium-scale music bands.

Location:

149 Enmore Rd, Enmore NSW 2042

Kafenes on facebook

Jan 23, 2011