Category: Sydney

All About Food Blog is currently based in Sydney, Australia. It is obviously THE place to be if you want to find food from all over the world.

Bamiyan Restaurant

Review:

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article in Broadsheet about ‘where to eat Afghan food in Sydney’ and not long after that we dined at one of the restaurants in the article, Bamiyan in Five Dock.

Bamiyan restaurant is quite a standout yellow building in the corner of First Avenue and Cashmans Lane. The restaurant was very busy when we got there. Considering that this is our first Afghan cuisine ever, we took our time in browsing through the menu. The following four were the ones that interest us the most:

Seekh Kabab (charcoal grille) – $12.90 – Traditional Afghani Shami Kabab marinated lamb mince grilled on natural charcoal served with salad and chutney.

When half of your entree menu is filled with kabab, you are bound to choose one. Our choice went to Seekh Kabab and it was the right one! It was our favourite dish of the night, despite its not-so-appealing presentation. It came with a chutney that was too spicy for me.

Mantu (Beef-Dumplings) – $13.90 – Afghani favourite meal, ground beef, onions, dumplings with same spice and toppings with yogurt sauce, chick pea tomato and ground mince sauce, garnished with ground mint.

Mantu is a traditional Afghan dish. It is the Afghani version of dumplings. There were quite a lot of elements on the plate and it looked like a hybrid between Bolognaise sauce and dumplings. I usually am not a big fan of yoghurt in my savoury dish. However, this one is very nice!

If you really like it, they are also available as a main for $25.90.

Kabuli Pallow – $28.90 – Traditional Afghani rice slowly cooked flavoured with cumin powder & cardamom, filled with chicken pieces topped with a layer of Julian caramelized carrots, sultana and almond nuts, served with chicken korma.

Kabuli Pallow is the most expensive dish in Bamiyan. There were two plates for this. The first plate is the Afghani rice with quite a lot of fragrance flavour.

There was also a plate of chicken korma as part of the dish. It was an Afghan chicken curry with potatoes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best korma curry I’ve ever tasted.

Banjan Boranee (Eggplant) – $18.90 – Traditional Afghani dish with Fried eggplant covered with cooked tomato sauce and yogurt sauce, garnished with mint.

The eggplant was cooked with onions and green peppers. It was also drenched in tomato and yogurt sauce. It was quite similar in taste with the mantu, except for the absence of meat and dumplings.

Afghani Garlic Naan – $4.50

The final verdict for Bamiyan

Considering that this is our first time ever trying an Afghan cuisine, Bamiyan gave us a very nice impression! The dishes were bursting with flavors and were actually quite filling!

Did you know?

Bamiyan has two other restaurants in Sydney, Dural and Baulkham Hills. However, the other two are a bit too far from where I live.

Rating for Bamiyan:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $16 – $29 per main

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

175 First Avenue, Five Dock

+61 2 9712 7801

http://www.bamiyanrestaurant.com.au/

May 6, 2016
2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This is the second year the Australian Financial Review published the Top 100 restaurants in Australia. Instead of being judged by food critics / food bloggers / some random people, the list was actually made by the top 500 chefs in Australia. Being at the top of the list means that your peers agreed that your restaurant is the best in Australia. I am pretty sure that’s the best recognition that you could possibly get.

Attica is at the top of this list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Australia’s Top Chef award is given to chef Dan Hunter from Brae in Birregurra region in Victoria. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Choice. The People’s Choice winner for 2016 is Akiba in Canberra. We went to Akiba last year and we were pretty impressed with the dishes that they served. Sepia, last year’s winner, was awarded Top Service award for 2016.

From the 2016 top 100 restaurants in Australia list, All About Food have only reviewed 10 of them:

Quay at number 4, Ester at number 5, Rockpool at number 8, Mr Wong at number 11, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 12, The Bridge Room at number 13, Tetsuya’s at number 22, est. at number 39, Marque at number 40, and Golden Century at number 60.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 46 (45 in 2015)
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 2 (3 in 2015)
ACT 1

They also have the more extensive top 500 restaurants in Australia if you are interested to know.

The full list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Attica VIC
2. Brae, Birregurra VIC
3. Sepia NSW
4. Quay NSW
5. Ester NSW
6. Sixpenny NSW
7. Bennelong NSW
8. Rockpool est. 1989 NSW
9. Automata NSW
10. Franklin TAS
11. Mr Wong NSW
12. Bentley Restaurant & Bar NSW
13. The Bridge Room NSW
14. The Town Mouse VIC
15. Cumulus Inc. VIC
16. 10 William St NSW
17. Flower Drum VIC
18. Cutler & Co VIC
19. LuMi Bar & Dining NSW
20. Supernormal VIC
21. Tipo 00 VIC
22. Tetsuya’s NSW
23. Minamishima VIC
24. MoVida, Melbourne VIC
25. Fratelli Paradiso NSW
26. Billy Kwong NSW
27. Biota Dining, Bowral NSW
28. Cafe Di Stasio VIC
29. LP’s Quality Meats NSW
30. Momofuku Seiobo NSW
31. Porteno NSW
32. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney NSW
33. ACME NSW
34. Embla VIC
35. Vue de Monde VIC
36. Firedoor NSW
37. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal VIC
38. Chin Chin VIC
39. est. NSW
40. Marque NSW
41. The Apollo NSW
42. Lake House, Daylesford VIC
43. Oscillate Wildly NSW
44. Saint Crispin VIC
45. Guillaume, Sydney NSW
46. Fleet, Brunswick Heads NSW
47. Africola SA
48. Orana SA
49. Restaurant Amuse WA
50. Silvereye NSW
51. Pilu at Freshwater NSW
52. Moon Park NSW
53. France-Soir VIC
54. Lee Ho Fook VIC
55. Bar Louinhã VIC
56. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar NSW
57. Ormeggio at the Spit NSW
58. Estelle by Scott Pickett VIC
59. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne VIC
60. Golden Century NSW
61. Spice Temple, Sydney NSW
62. Sean’s Panaroma NSW
63. Cottage Point Inn NSW
64. Gerard’s Bistro QLD
65. The European VIC
66. Monopole NSW
67. Long Chim Perth WA
68. ARIA NSW
69. Provenance, Beechworth VIC
70. Coda VIC
71. Lalla Rookh WA
72. Yellow NSW
73. Luxembourg VIC
74. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, Noosa Heads QLD
75. Master NSW
76. 4Fourteen NSW
77. Clarke’s of North Beach WA
78. Esquire QLD
79. Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin NSW
80. Monster Kitchen and Bar ACT
81. Grossi Florentino Upstairs VIC
82. Cho Cho San NSW
83. The Long Apron, Montville QLD
84. The Press Club VIC
85. Lucio’s NSW
86. Ethos Eat Drink TAS
87. Anchovy VIC
88. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup WA
89. Lume VIC
90. Tonka VIC
91. Mister Jennings VIC
92. Union Dining VIC
93. Igni, Geelong VIC
94. Sokyo NSW
95. Peel St SA
96. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield SA
97. Lau’s Family Kitchen VIC
98. Fino, Seppeltsfield SA
99. Epocha VIC
100. Il Bacaro VIC

May 4, 2016
Al Aseel Restaurant – Greenacre

Review:

Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant is consistently mentioned in any “top 10 Middle Eastern restaurants in Sydney” lists… and we are going to put it to the test!

Kibbe Naye – $15 – traditional finely blended raw lamb mixed with burghol, our secret herbs & spices topped with extra virgin oil and mint.

This is the first dish that we were very interested to try. We have eaten raw seafood, vegetables, and beef before. However, eating raw lamb feels like a whole new dimension!

It was presented quite plainly with mint leaves and raw onions. The meat was pretty dense and heavy. Obviously, this is not for everyone to try. But if you are quite adventurous (it was also our first time trying Kibbe Naye!), it was actually a nice dish to have!

Vine Leaves – $10 – rolled grape vine leaves stuffed with rice, tomato, onion & parsley served in a delicious olive oil & lemon juice dressing (4 pieces per serving)

I actually don’t mind eating this vegetarian dish and it was quite filling because of the rice wrapped inside the leaves.

Lamb Shank – $25 – rice cooked with lamb mince meat served with a braised lamb shank & served with yoghurt

I am a big fan of lamb shanks and will always be interested to order every time I see one on the menu. I first tried the combination of rice and yoghurt almost six years ago. I can eat a little yoghurt with the rice, but I still cannot eat a blob of them with rice!

Al Aseel Mixed Skewers – $32 – 2 skewers of marinated bbq chicken breast, 2 skewers of lamb & 2 skewers of kafta served with garlic dip

They have quite a few mix and match for the skewers, but I felt that this is the one that’s worth buying… Six skewers and garlic dip!

It was one of the better Lebanese skewers we’ve ever tasted in Sydney. They were quite big and was perfectly grilled!

For your information, the other skewers give you tabouli, baba ghanouj, hommus and falafel along with 3 or 4 skewers for around $3 or $4 less. So, if you prefer to have a more variety of vegetables, you might want to get them.

The final verdict for Al Aseel

Al Aseel truly deserves to be mentioned in the top 10 middle eastern restaurants in Sydney. Their skewers was very nice and the raw lamb (Kibbe Naye) was truly an eye opener!

Did you know?

There are five different Al Aseel restaurants in NSW (including one in Wollongong). The Greenacre one is the original venue.

Rating for Al Aseel Restaurant:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $30 – $40 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

18 Waterloo Road, Greenacre 2190

+61 2 9758 6744

http://alaseel.com.au/

Apr 28, 2016
Won Jo

Review:

One afternoon we walked around Strathfield trying to find a nice Korean rice cake, or tteokbokki. Our short stroll around the area lead us to Won Jo Korean BBQ restaurant. On this occasion, we actually did not order the BBQ menu. We were interested more on the rice bowl and… obviously… its tteokbokki.

Won Jo served quite a number of kimchi. We had the five dishes below to begin with and when we asked for a refill, they gave us an extra one.

Cheese stir-fried rice cake – $20 (M) or $30 (L)

This is a variant for the dish that we came to Won Jo for. Instead of having the normal sweet chilli rice cake, they added cheese to the dish. It actually dumbed down the chilli flavour – good for people who doesn’t eat crazy amount of chilli like me!

Ginseng chicken stew – $22

Every time I see ginseng chicken on the menu, I am always interested in ordering it. The first ginseng chicken stew I ever had was in Seoul. I went there a long time ago but somehow it was imprinted in my memory.

Ginseng chicken stew is usually served with garlic, rice, and jujube. In Won Jo, they also put some mushrooms in the stew. It was a nice hot soup.

Beef bulgogi with rice – $16.50

Having a Korean beef bulgogi in a Korean restaurant is like ordering a Japanese Karaage. Nothing can go wrong… if it’s wrong, don’t come back to that restaurant!

Garlic Soy Fried Chicken – $17 (half) or $27 (whole)

We actually ordered this in our second visit to Won Jo. Their fried chicken is boneless, which was always nice to have!

Seafood pancake – $15

Their seafood pancake was quite large for the price. There was also quite a few toppings inside the pancake!

The final verdict for Won Jo

It was quite an enjoyable lunch at Won Jo. We definitely got our craving for tteokbokki satisfied.

Rating for Won Jo:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $16.50 – $30

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

33a The Boulevarde, Strathfield 2135

+61 2 9746 7041

Won Jo on Facebook

Apr 12, 2016
Izakaya Masuya

Review:

Izakaya Masuya is located at the very heart of Sydney CBD. It is a nice place to wind down after a hectic day at the office. There are quite a lot of varieties at Izakaya Masuya… and quite a few dishes were uncommon in Japanese restaurants in Sydney.

Oden – $1.80 each – Naruto and Chikuwa

Oden was probably the cheapest dishes in the restaurant – depending on how many you actually ordered. On this occasion, we tried Naruto and Chikuwa as those were the two kinds I enjoyed the most.

Izakaya Hot Pot – $48.00 – Snow crab, prawn, scallop, salmon wing, chicken, Gyoza, sausage, seasonal vegetables with Dashi soy soup

By contrast, the hot pot is one of the more expensive dishes in Izakaya Masuya. It came with a few legs of snow crab – justifying the price tag. If I weren’t in a large enough group, I probably wouldn’t have ordered this. It is so much more fun to pick and choose a variety of dishes!

Chicken liver – $6.80 – cooked in ginger soy sauce and mirin

Probably not a lot of you would order this, but we love trying dishes that are pretty uncommon. The chicken liver at Izakaya Masuya was perfectly cooked. I loved how the sauce and mirin kept it from drying up.

Wagyu Robata

It wasn’t the best wagyu I have ever tasted. It was a tad overcooked to my liking.

Salmon Aburi – $14.80 – 8 pcs

Our opinion was a bit divided for this. I liked slightly charred salmon aburi. However, the little one wasn’t a big fan of it – and he usually likes nice salmon.

Roe Rice

Simple sushi rice with fish roe and seaweed flakes. It is perfect if you need to fill your tummy a bit more.

Originally we only ordered the dishes from the list above. However, we were still curious and hungry enough to order some more!

Duck

These duck fillets are not part of the regular menu. We ordered it out of curiosity as duck isn’t a staple in Japanese restaurants.

Karaage Chicken – $6.80 – Japanese style deep fried marinated chicken

Karaage chicken was the ‘substitute’ dish for the little one’s salmon aburi. It is one of those dishes that can’t go wrong in a Japanese restaurant.

Bonito Tataki – $9.80

Picked bonito tataki purely out of interest and the fact that I was still not full.

Desserts

Zenzai – $5.80 and Green Tea Ice Cream – $5.80

It was actually my first time trying a Zenzai. Zenzai is a porridge of azuri beans with mochi.

The final verdict for Izakaya Masuya

If you work in Sydney CBD, Izakaya Masuya is a good place to wind down. They have quite a large selection of Japanese food and drinks.

Did you know?

I must admit that I actually made the wrong booking for this one. I was supposed to go to Masuya Japanese restaurant that are located just next to it. Somehow, I dialled the number for Izakaya Masuya.

Masuya Japanese restaurant is the more upmarket version in the group.

Rating for Izakaya Masuya:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $1.80 – $48

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Ground Floor, 12 O’Connell Street, Sydney 2000

+61 2 9233 8181

http://www.masuyainternational.com.au/en/izakayamasuya/

Mar 30, 2016
Salmon and Bear

Review:

There were a few distractions around the area that prevented me from trying Salmon and Bear. The restaurant is located in one of the newest shopping precincts in Sydney, Zetland – and I had a few places I wanted to try. I also thought that it was a chain restaurant that I have never heard of.

When I eventually went to the restaurant, I was surprised that the restaurant was 100% seafood restaurant. I thought the ‘bear’ bit refer to meat. So, yeah no other meat but fish here!

Salmon Poké – 21 – Raw cubed salmon in a soy and sesame dressing served with corn salsa and avocado on coconut rice

I ordered poké out of curiosity as this was my first time ordering it. The description resembles chirashizushi with a little twist of tropical influence. Poké is said to be the next big food trend according to Business Insider. It is originated from Hawaii.

It was quite a colourful plate! The salmon was already dressed in soy and sesame so you don’t need to add more soy (a la sushi). To top it off, the dried seaweed garnish gave us the crunchy texture.

One of a few salads that I actually enjoyed eating!

Fish and chips – 18 – crisp battered hoki served with chips, lemon, and tartare sauce

It was quite a simple-looking fish and chips. The portion was quite generous that my friend couldn’t finish it.

Tacos – 6 –come in a soft corn tortilla with cabbage, salsa verde, pickled pink onions, corander, lime and sriracha mayo

They have three different tacos that looked pretty similar with only a slight difference in the filling. On this occasion, I tried the sticky soy glazed salmon. It was nicely done.

The other two are: Crispy fish (hoki NZ) and Crispy prawn and corn

Salmon Bearger – 18 – A smoked and fresh salmon patty with cos lettuce, tomato, pickles, salsa verde and aioli

This is the only menu that has salmon and bear on its title. It was quite big and came with sweet potato fries (they are very nice!). The burger itself was pretty good, but clearly overshadowed by the poké.

Grizzly plate – 28 – choose your fish, your sauce and any 2 sides/salads

This is supposed to be the main attractions at salmon and bear. However, I wasn’t quite convinced. It was clearly the third wheel behind poké and salmon bearger.

The first time we were there, my boss got a really small salmon and tuna. But in our second visit, the size of the salmon was more decent.

Individually, the grizzly plate is priced as follows:

$18 fish– Ora King Salmon, Barramundi, Tuna, Catch of the day

$2 sauce – Salsa verde, lemon herb butter, yogurt & dill, peri peri, tartare, oyster & sesame

$5 Sides – Chips, Chive mash, sweet potato fries, coconut rice

$8 Salad – All beans, asian greens, slaw, corn salsa, Moroccan salad, roasted beg, corn cob, garden salad

The final verdict for Salmon and Bear

Salmon poké was the clear winner for me at Salmon and Bear.

Did you know?

Salmon and Bear sourced all of its fishes from a certified fisheries with sustainable practices.

Rating for Salmon and Bear:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $18+ for main

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

6 Defries Avenue, Zetland 2017

+61 2 9662 8188

http://salmonandbear.com.au/

Mar 8, 2016