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.

Pempek Clovelly

Review:

Generally speaking if you compare it with the price in Indonesia, Indonesian food in Sydney is very expensive! However, if you compare it to Sydney’s food prices, they are still pretty cheap. One restaurant that I frequented is Pempek Clovelly.

Pempek is a traditional fish cake originated from the city of Palembang in Indonesia. The unique aspect of pempek is that it comes with vinegar sauce. The sauce is a combination of palm sugar, garlic, vinegar, salt, and chili. The sauce is an integral part of the pempek dish. So, if you don’t get the sauce right, you will spoil the taste. For those of you who have never tasted pempek before, I must warn you that the dish is sweet and sour. The sweet and sour taste usually dominates the flavour.

These days, you can pretty much get pempek from any big cities in Indonesia. However, it is still considered a rarity in Australia. Pempek Clovelly is one of the few restaurants that sells pempek in Sydney (or Australia).

They have six different pempek: ball, stick, tofu, skin, fish cake with egg (nicknamed ‘the submarine’) and omelette. Personally, I like the submarine and omelette with an extra fish cake skin. Being in Sydney, Pempek Clovelly separated the chili from its vinegar sauce.

Pempek Omelette – $7.50

Pempek Skin – $2.50

In addition to pempek, they also sell quite a variety of dishes that are only priced up to $10. In this occasion we ordered their Chicken Noodles. It was quite a simple chicken noodles with meatballs, mushrooms and veggies.

The final verdict for Pempek Clovelly

Being a specialist in pempek, Pempek Clovelly definitely delivered one of the best pempek I have ever tasted. Pempek is a sweet and sour fish cake. So you might need to adjust your taste palate to enjoy it.

Rating for Pempek Clovelly:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $2.50 – $7.50 per piece

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

198 Anzac Parade, NSW 2033

+61 2 9697 0009

abc

May 20, 2015
2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This year, the Australian Financial Review started publishing 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.

Sepia is at the top of this list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Its chef, Martin Benn is also recognised as Australia’s Top Chef. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Award. The People’s Award winner for 2015 is Catalina Restaurant.

All About Food have written a review for only eight of the top 100 restaurants:

Quay at number 3, Mr Wong at number 9, Tetsuya’s at number 10, Rockpool at number 12, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 13, Ester at number 14, Est at number 25, and Marque at number 33.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 45
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 3
ACT 1

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

The full list of 2015 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Sepia, NSW
2. Attica, VIC
3. Quay, NSW
4. Brae, Birregurra, VIC
5. Cutler & Co, VIC
6. Vue de Monde, VIC
7. Cumulus Inc, VIC
8. Sixpenny, NSW
9. Mr Wong, NSW
10. Tetsuya’s, NSW
11. Flower Drum, VIC
12. Rockpool, NSW
13. Bentley Restaurant & Bar, NSW
14. Ester, NSW
15. MoVida, VIC
16. Momofuku Seiobo, NSW
17. Garagistes (closed April 2015), TAS
18. The Town Mouse, VIC
19. Cafe Paci, NSW
20. Cafe Di Stasio, VIC
21. 10 William St, NSW
22. Saint Crispin, VIC
23. Porteno, NSW
24. Supernormal, VIC
25. Est, NSW
26. The Bridge Room, NSW
27. Estelle, VIC
28. Lee Ho Fook, VIC
29. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Sydney), NSW
30. Lake House, Daylesford, VIC
31. Biota Dining, Bowral, NSW
32. Billy Kwong, NSW
33. Marque, NSW
34. Franklin, TAS
35. Fratelli Paradiso, NSW
36. Esquire, QLD
37. Golden Century, NSW
38. Monopole, NSW
39. Sean’s Panaroma, NSW
40. France-Soir, VIC
41. Chin Chin, VIC
42. Rockpool Bar & Grill (Melbourne), VIC
43. Coda, VIC
44. Magill Estate Restaurant, SA
45. Restaurant Amuse, WA
46. Bar Lourinha, VIC
47. Orana, SA
48. The Apollo, NSW
49. Lau’s Family Kitchen, VIC
50. Ezard, VIC
51. Pilu at Freshwater, NSW
52. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, NSW
53. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, QLD
54. Pei Modern (Melbourne), VIC
55. Yoshii, NSW
56. Moon Park, NSW
57. Fish Face, NSW
58. Guillaume, NSW
59. LuMi, NSW
60. Africola, SA
61. Spice Temple (Sydney), NSW
62. Provenance, Beechworth, VIC
63. Pendolino, NSW
64. Cho Cho San, NSW
65. Il Bacaro, VIC
66. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield, SA
67. Ormeggio at the Spit, NSW
68. Nomad, NSW
69. Tonka, VIC
70. Grossi Florentino, VIC
71. Urbane, QLD
72. Oscillate Wildly, NSW
73. Sokyo, NSW
74. Gerard’s Bistro, QLD
75. ARIA Restaurant, NSW
76. Gingerboy, VIC
77. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup, WA
78. Luxembourg, VIC
79. Belle’s Hot Chicken, VIC
80. The European, VIC
81. Ms G’s, NSW
82. Bodega, NSW
83. Movida, NSW
84. Moon Under Water, VIC
85. Ethos Eat Drink, TAS
86. Izakaya Den, VIC
87. Print Hall Bar & Dining Room, WA
88. ACME, NSW
89. Spice Temple (Melbourne), VIC
90. Longrain (Melbourne), VIC
91. Epocha, VIC
92. Peel St, SA
93. El Publico, WA
94. Ten Minutes By Tractor, Main Ridge, VIC
95. Aubergine, ACT
96. Longrain (Sydney), NSW
97. 4Fourteen, NSW
98. Buon Ricordo, NSW
99. Da Noi, VIC
100. Lalla Rookh, WA

May 19, 2015
Mappen – Japanese Noodle and Rice Bowl Bar

Review:

If I have to pick the best restaurant to have cheap casual eat out, I would pick Mappen Bondi Junction. It is probably the restaurant that I visited the most in Sydney. It is also happened to be pretty close to where I work.

The restaurant is like a school canteen. You get a tray, order up and move along towards the cashier. In the middle of it there is an abundance of Fried Toppings and Tempura. The temptation is always there to pick quite a lot of them!

Chicken Katsu – $3.30

I have tried quite a few dishes in their menu and I think the top two are the ones below:

Ontama Stewed beef was my ‘go-to’ dish. The regular size (with a couple tempura) is usually enough to get me through the day.

Ontama Stewed Beef – Half boiled egg on Plain Stewed Beef Bowl (lots of stewed beef & pickled ginger on rice – $6.90

Its chicken counterpart is Ontama Teriyaki chicken. It is also quite a simple dish.

Ontama Teriyaki Chicken – Half boiled egg on Teriyaki Chicken bowl (grilled teriyaki chicken & dried seaweed on rice – $6.90

They also serve a few noodle dishes, the cheapest that you can get was Bukkake. It is noodles with Bukkake sauce, shallot and lemon. For only $5.5, you get a very large bowl of noodles. You can choose between soba and udon.

Soba Bukkake – Hot noodle with Bukkake Sauce, shallot & lemon – $5.5 (Large)

So what’s ontama? Ontama (or onsen tamago) is egg boiled in onsen hot springs temperature (just about 70 degrees). The egg has quite a unique property as it’s just about cooked.

The last item that I purchased from Mappen was its Curry, I didn’t take a picture of it because it was for takeaway. I think it’ll be my new favourite there!

The final verdict for Mappen Bondi Junction

Seriously, what’s not to like about Mappen Bondi Junction?

Low price tag? Check. Great taste? Check. Fast and friendly service? Check.

Did you know?

Mappen is part of a Japanese food business that includes Suminoya, Koh-Ya and Rengaya. Unlike its siblings, the restaurant is catered for a daily casual dining.

Rating for Mappen Bondi Junction:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $3.90 – $15.90 for main course

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 5, 183-193 Oxford St, Bondi Junction, NSW 2022

+61 2 9388 0609

http://mappen.com.au/

May 7, 2015
Otto Ristorante

Review:

Otto Ristorante is probably not your average everyday restaurant. Most of us might only come here on a pretty special occasion. They are also listed as a one hat in the 2015 Good Food Guide.

You can choose to have a la carte menu or degustation. However, if you want to try its most famous dish, Spaghetti all’Aragosta, you must order a la carte.

Carpaccio di Manzo – $29 – Grainge Angus beef carpaccio, truffle dressing, aioli, capers, parmesan, baby rocket.

We are actually sharing the antipasto as our main is pasta heavy. The beef carpaccio was nice, but there was really nothing exciting about it. Quite a few restaurants in Sydney have a similar dish.

I also ordered an oyster for the main, but it wasn’t on the fresh side.

Risotto – $29 – Aged acquerello rice, assorted mushrooms, gorgonzola foam

My wife ordered the risotto and we ended up swapping the risotto with my spaghetti (reviewed below). The risotto was very nice, but it was very heavy. The gorgonzola cheese was prominent in the dish. The mushrooms managed to partially balance the cheese flavour.

If you want the main dish size, you need to add an extra $10 for it. However, I recommend you to order as is. The main dish portion was massive for a rice dish!

Spaghetti all’Aragosta – $106 – 650g Tasmanian crayfish, spaghetti, brandy, napolitana sauce, cherry tomatoes, baby basil

Spaghetti all’Aragosta is the cream of the crop for Otto Ristorante. It costs twice as much as the next most expensive main dish in the restaurant.

I wasn’t too excited about the napolitana sauce, but the lobster was fabulous. It was cooked perfectly! I have never been a big fan of lobster as I thought it was an over-priced giant prawn. Having to finally taste lobster that was in line with the price tag made me really happy!

Insalata di Rucola – $13 – Rocket, radicchio, apples, walnuts, parmesan and Fir tree honey vinegar dressing

The salad was a perfect addition to the spaghetti and risotto. It gave us the fresh feel to our otherwise heavy dinner!

Spaghetti Con Sugo di Formaggio – $35 – Spaghetti with white cheese sauce

Gelato Vaniglia – Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce

They have quite a variety of kids menu. On this occasion, my son chose his favourite ‘Spaghetti with white sauce’. He was quickly destroying the spaghetti. I had a chance to taste it as the portion was a bit too big for him. The spaghetti was the same as the much more expensive counterpart above. I also like the simple white cheese sauce. It was heavy and in abundance!

Brulee – $20 – Amaretto brulee, Amarena cherries, candied almonds, meringue, sour cherry sorbet

Looking at the description for the brulee, it was thick with Italian flavour from the amaretto and candied almonds. The Amarena cherries and sour cherry sorbet provided a multi-dimensional approach to the brulee. You can taste sweet, crunchy, sour, bitter, warm and cold all in one bite!

The final verdict for Otto Ristorante

When you see one item is twice as much as the rest of the menu, you expect great things from it. The Spaghetti all’Aragosta from Otto Ristorante had the nicest lobster I have ever tasted.

Did you know?

There are a few one-hat restaurants in the vicinity.

Rating for Otto Ristorante:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $29 – $106 for main course

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

Area 8, 6 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo, 2011

+61 2 9368 7488

http://ottoristorante.com.au/

Apr 30, 2015
The Cellar Restaurant

Review:

This week, we were in a pretty rare occasion that we actually decided to stay, rather than having a return trip to Hunter Valley for the weekend. After some discussions with the family, we decided to eat at The Cellar Restaurant in the Hunter Valley Gardens. It’s also because not a lot of restaurants are opened on Friday night.

House sourdough roll, Olio Mio olive oil, dukkah and beetroot relish – $3

The sourdough roll was accompanies by Hunter Valley’s Olio Mio olive oil. The usual suspects (dukkah and beetroot) completed the dish.

Yorkshire pudding with braised Wagyu skirt and horseradish crème fraiche – $6

We ordered the Yorkshire because a lot of people have been talking about it in Urbanspoon. The portion is pretty small, so sharing is NOT an option. All I can say is: It is awesome and it is a must-order dish!

Indian spiced kangaroo with sweet potato and onion bhajis, pickled carrots, lentil dhal and coriander yoghurt – $26

I am pretty sure there is no kangaroos in India. So, having an Indian spiced kangaroo was sort of interesting. What’s more interesting was that the taste actually worked!

Free range duck confit with beetroot and eschallot tart tatin and Seville orange marmalade sauce – $39

I only tried a little piece of the duck and my wife said it was lovely.

300gr Cape Grim grass fed sirloin with anchovy and parsley butter – $32

It was a bit of a gamble for me ordering this main dish considering that I am VERY particular about my steak. The sirloin steak that came out was beautiful and juicy. The anchovy and parsley butter enhanced the flavour but just enough that I could still taste the quality of the meat.

350gr Angus rib eye cutlet with Café de Paris butter – $36.50

My brother ordered the rib eye but he wanted more on the medium side.

In addition to the types of butter listed above, you can choose ten other sauces.

Brandy snap “taco”, lime and mascarpone parfait and spring berries – $16

When I am in a new restaurant I always look for something unusual to try. The dessert “taco” was something that I had my eyes set on since the start of the dinner.

My curiosity paid off early, the brandy snap “taco” was very pretty. The taste was also not disappointing.

Apricot sorbet, little meringues, candied oranges, kaffir lime and toasted coconut – $16

The apricot sorbet is actually more refreshing than the taco, but I am not a big fan of the apricot.

The final verdict for The Cellar Restaurant

Anyone who can cook the steak according to what I like is automatically in my good book and The Cellar Restaurant is one of them!

Did you know?

Hunter Valley is the wine country tourism for the state of New South Wales.

Rating for the Cellar Restaurant:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $32 – $39 for main course

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Hunter Valley Gardens, Broke Road, Pokolbin NSW 2320

+61 2 4998 7584

http://www.the-cellar-restaurant.com.au/

Apr 24, 2015
Martabak Cafe Australia
Review:

This week, I will review one of my favourite Indonesian desserts, Martabak Manis (Sweet Martabak). Traditionally, martabak (or better known as murtabak) is a savoury dish that resembles pancake. The Indonesian version of martabak is differentiated into regular martabak and the sweet martabak (East Java people sometimes called it as terang bulan – translated literally as ‘bright moon’).

I was introduced to Martabak Cafe Australia by my friend. His ‘sales pitch’ was that their sweet martabak was similar to the famous martabak joints in Indonesia. I have never tasted martabak in Sydney that is remotely close to the taste of the ‘real deal’ in Indonesia. So, hearing the word ‘similar’ makes me happy!

Looking at the menu in the restaurant, half of it is reserved for its martabak manis and the other half is for five other meals in the restaurant. So, you can tell that martabak manis is clearly its champion dish. The grid-like menu might seem a bit too challenging, but it’s actually very easy:
- Choose your base (pandan, or original) and the following combination of flavours: Peanut, Chocolate, Cheese, and Durian
- Choose to have half or full with five or 10 pieces respectively
Their martabak manis was gorgeously sweet! It was fluffy with loads of toppings and big! It truly feels like eating martabak manis in Indonesia.

While we were there, we also ordered the savoury Martabak with Chicken Curry. It is quite an interesting version of Martabak as I usually enjoy martabak in Indonesia without the curry bit. They also have Martabak with beef rendang!

We also had Mie Goreng Udang Bawang (stir egg noodle with garlic prawn, tomato, meatball, garlic chives in special sauce) and Nasi Goreng Ayam (Indonesian fried rice with Chicken). The noodles were nice and had a decent proportion of prawns. My guest told me that the fried rice was a bit too ‘colourful’. There were too many flavours at play.

Mie Goreng Udang Bawang – $12.95

Nasi Goreng Ayam – $10.95

Siomay Bandung is an Indonesian-rendition of dumplings. Instead of soy sauce, we use peanuts and sweet soy sauce (kecap manis).

For those of you who really love Durian, they also have Ice Durian Drink.

The final verdict for Martabak Cafe Australia

Martabak Cafe Australia has by far the best Martabak Manis in Sydney! We actually do not mind paying the slightly premium price.

Rating for Martabak Cafe Australia:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10 (or 8.5 if you just eat their martabak!)

Price: $15 – $22 per martabak

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

439 Harris Street, Ultimo 2007

+61 2 9566 4178

http://www.martabakcafe.com.au/
Apr 17, 2015