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.

Jazushi

Review:

Before I visited Jazushi, I had always had a doubt about this restaurant, mainly because of its name. Furthermore, Surry Hills isn’t the easiest place to reach by car on a weekend. So, when my friend planned his birthday there, I knew I would not miss the opportunity!

We opted for the degustation menu and I am also posting pictures of the Vegetarian option as some of us ordered it. The Jazushi set menu is priced at $55, whilst its vegetarian counterpart is $7 cheaper. Unlike other restaurants, Jazushi presented their degustation as shared plates.

Salmon and Kingfish Carpaccio – Asparagus with Saikyo sauce

You know you will have a great night when your first dish is already impressive. The carpaccio was very fresh and perfectly complemented with the basil oil.

Asparagus with Saikyo Sauce

Green Tea Noodle Salad

Both set menu was the same for the second dish. It was another light and refreshing dish for the night. The noodles were al dente and perfectly matched with the salad.

Grilled Silver Cod – Lotus Root ‘Kinpira’

Despite the size, the grilled silver cod was excellent. It was very tasty! If only I could have the whole plate!

Lotus Root ‘Kinpira’

Camembert Tempura

I could not get enough off the Camembert Tempura. It is so finger-licking good! Do I really need to say more about it?

Vegetarian option also got the same stuff.

Sushi – Vegetarian Nori Rolls

To be honest, the Sushi was the most standard-looking dish of the night. The quality was still there tho. The vegetarian rolls looked slightly livelier.

Vegetarian Nori Rolls

JFC – Breaded Mushroom

JFC is probably one of their signature dishes. Jazushi’s fried chicken came with homemade tartar sauce and yuzu citrus sauce. They were pretty good but other dishes were a lot more awesome!

Breaded Mushroom

Kakuni ‘Kurobuta’ Pork Belly – Tofu Steak with Teriyaki Sauce

When you slow-cooked (especially over night) pork belly, you will get this melt-in-your-mouth sensation. That’s what you get with Jazushi’s Kakuni.

In terms of presentation, the tofu steak was definitely more inferior to the pork belly.

Tofu Steak with Teriyaki Sauce

Wagyu Sirloin Steak – Nasu Grilled

Wagyu sirloin steak is only available for the degustation menu. It was a bit too small to my liking, but it was a nice steak.

I wasn’t fast enough to take the picture of Nasu Grilled.

Dessert

The dessert for the night was Green tea crème brulee. It had a nice caramelised top with smooth green tea cream.

The final verdict for Jazushi

I think Jazushi has become my newest favourite. Everything was spot on and the degustation has a really good value for money!

Did you know?

We ordered several a la carte menu, and we particularly enjoyed the seared sushi.

Rating for:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $55 for Jazushi Set Menu ($48 for Vegetarian option)

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

145 Devonshire St, Surry Hills 2010

+61 2 9699 8977

http://jazushi.squarespace.com/

Feb 18, 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
Chao Praya Thai

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Review:

Chao Praya Thai at The Spot, Randwick is probably one of the first restaurants in Sydney I have ever visited. However, I rarely go to Randwick for a meal these days. On this occasion, I went with quite a large group of friends. Some of us are vegetarian, so I include a little vegetarian section towards the end of this article.

The first dish of the day was Salt and Pepper Calamari Rings. My son thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it. We have other entrees in the vegetarian section.

Salt and Pepper Calamari Rings

Our next dish was Larb Bhet. Larb is a spicy minced meat salad that mainly uses mint leaves, lemon juice and chilli. Bhet (or bped) is duck. Pad See Ew Chicken was sort of a ‘safe bet’ when we ordered because the dish was so simple and kids would usually eat them.

Larb Bhet – Minced baked boneless duck sprinkled with lemon juice and just a touch of chilli, garnished with mint leaves – $16.90

Pad See Ew Chicken – Stir fried rice noodle, egg and Chinese broccoli with black soy sauce Thai style – $13.90

The most unique and best dish of the day was the Green Curry Salmon. It was the first time I had curry with salmon, and it was beautiful! The fact that it was priced at under $20 made us felt a lot happier! Our last main course of the day was Masamun Beef Curry. We usually try to find this dish when we go to Thai restaurant because it is possibly the mildest curry of them all.

Green Curry Salmon – Grilled salmon top with green curry sauce and mixed vegetables – $18.90

Masamun Beef Curry – Chunky tender beef slowly cooked in thick but mild tasty curry with peanut – $14.90

Since there were already too many dishes ordered, we only tried two desserts. The first one was Mango and Ice Cream. It was literally half a mango and a scoop of ice cream with a bit of whipped cream and caramel. The Deep fried Ice Cream was a bit more sophisticated.

Mango and Ice Cream

Deep fried Ice Cream

Vegetarian

They have quite a selection of vegetarian entrees. On this occasion, we ordered three of them: Satay Tofu, Curry Puffs, and Spring Rolls.

I did not try the main dishes, but they are the variation of Panang Curry and a choose-your-own noodles dish. The noodles dish was a choice of vegetables/meat, noodles, and sauce.

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The final verdict for Chao Praya Thai Restaurant

Chao Praya Thai restaurant is perfect for your everyday Thai fix. They also cater for vegetarian diners. One of their interesting items on the menu was their green curry salmon.

Did you know?

I wrote about another ChaoPraya Thai restaurant in Gold Coast. However, they are not connected to each other.

Rating for:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $12 – $19 per main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

33 Perouse Road, The Spot, Randwick 2031

+61 2 9399 5509

http://www.chaopraya.com.au/

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Feb 4, 2015
Cafe Sydney

Review:

Cafe Sydney is probably one of only a few restaurants in Sydney with the best view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Since we came to the restaurant with a rather large group, we opted to have shared entrees and skipped desserts altogether.

Entrees and Side Dishes

When I see Pepe Saya butter, I tend to want to order them. At $3, the sourdough roll with Pepe Saya butter is a pretty good deal. However, the ones that we could not get enough off were the garlic naan and spiced caramelised onion naan.

garlic naan and spiced caramelised onion naan

Our first entree was unanimously voted to be ordered: Carpaccio of wagyu beef, truffle dressing, caper, aioli, baby rocket. It was a light and refreshing entree.

Carpaccio of wagyu beef, truffle dressing, caper, aioli, baby rocket – $27

Our second entree was Tathra rock oyster with Vietnamese-style dressing and salmon roe. According to the menu, the oyster was unique to Nelson’s lake in NSW.

Tathra rock oyster, Vietnamese style dressing, salmon roe, cucumber – $5.5 each

We also ordered Dutch cream potato Lyonnais, caramelised onion, béchamel. It is a pretty good addition to your main dish, considering that the main dishes did not include any carbohydrates.

Dutch cream potato Lyonnais, caramelised onion, béchamel – $15

Main Dish

There were quite a few main dishes ordered on the night. Due to proximity issues, I could only take pictures of four of them.

Our first dish was Crisp Berkshire pork belly. However my friend said it was lacking the crisp.

Crisp Berkshire pork belly, morcilla sausage, pork confit croquette, celeriac, cherry, pecan, watercress – $39

The award for prettiest and most exciting dish went to the Blue eye trevalla. It was served with pumpkin gnocchi, peas, pipis and tapenade butter.

Blue eye trevalla, pumpkin gnocchi, peas, pipis, tapenade butter – $44

I was interested with the Tandoori roasted Tasmanian ocean trout with saffron cucumber, coconut, onion bhaji, and raita. They were golden on the outside and a pink inside!

Tandoori roasted Tasmanian ocean trout, saffron cucumber, coconut, onion bhaji, raita – $39

The dish that I ordered that evening was the Beef tenderloin with roasted oyster mushroom, cavalo nero and creamed spinach. I liked the combination of creamed spinach and roasted mushroom for my steak!

Beef tenderloin, roasted oyster mushroom, cavalo nero, creamed spinach – $39

The final verdict for Cafe Sydney

Restaurants tend to overcharge when they are on premium sites. Cafe Sydney balanced that with decent quality food! However, I do not recommend you to come in for early dinner.

Did you know?

We went to the Cortile at the Intercontinental Hotel for desserts as Cafe Sydney used time limits on their tables.

Our group likes to unwind there for a few desserts and drinks.

Macarons

Creme Brulee

Pavlova

Rating for:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $35 – $48 for main dish

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

5^th floor, Customs House, Alfred St, Circular Quay

02 9251 8683

http://www.cafesydney.com/

Cafe Sydney:

The Cortile:

Jan 29, 2015
Mancora Peruvian Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Mancora has closed its doors for good.

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Review:

There was a discussion in the Sydney Food Bloggers facebook page about restaurants in Marrickville. The details were a bit sketchy but it ended up with Gaby from Lateral Eating suggesting that this week’s restaurant in review, Mancora Peruvian Restaurant, was one of the better Peruvian restaurants in Sydney.

We went there for lunch the weekend after the New Year. The streets were so very quiet and lots of restaurants were closed. I have been to a Peruvian restaurant before, so I know what I wanted to order. Having said that, the first two dishes were recommended by the chef as both of them were the ‘must have’s in Peruvian cuisines.

Peruvian sarsa criolla cassava

Our first dish is deep fried cassava with salsa criolla (that purple thingy), grated cheese and that yummy yellow sauce that I guess it was some kind of cheese sauce. I usually am not the biggest fan of cassava, especially when it’s hard to chew. However this cassava was so crunchy and delectable! This is technically a side dish, but I guess it looked more presentable as an entree.

Ceviche Clasico – $23

Diced blue eye fish marinated in key lemon juice with a blend of garlic, chilli, cilantro, Spanish onion & crushed white pepper. Served with caramelized sweet potato, corn & cancha

The chef told us that Ceviche was THE Peruvian dish. Apparently, it even has its own National Day of Ceviche in Peru on the 28^th of June!

We were amazed by the ceviche and it metaphorically begged to be eaten! What’s more enjoyable was that the taste met the delicate presentation.

Arroz D’Mariscos – $28

Marine cocktail mixture with crushed white pepper, Spanish onion & scampi (small lobster). Topped with parsley, lemon & parmesan cheese.

For our first main, the scampi obviously stood out! In addition to the scampi, they also put some seafood into the mix.

Arroz D’ mariscos is probably equivalent of Spanish’s paella. The distinction is that they don’t use Arborio rice.

Jalea Puerto Bravo – $26

Marine mixture of fried calamari rings, baby octopus, fish, prawns, mussel & black crushed pepper. Served with small portion of Peruvian sarsa criolla cassava, cancha, salted slices of dried banana & tartar cream.

Jalea Puerto Bravo is the Peruvian version of the seafood mix you found in fish shops. They have quite a distinct batter. It was soft, but not soggy and had quite a bit of crunch about it.

Oh, and what about that salted banana & tartar cream as your dipping sauce?

The final verdict for Mancora Peruvian Restaurant

It was a very enjoyable afternoon at Mancora Peruvian Restaurant. We love everything served on that day.

Did you know?

I am in love with a Peruvian / South American drink called Chicha Morada (or Purple Corn). If you see it on the menu, ORDER IT!

It is quite interesting how Mancora differentiate weekend and weekday menu. I am actually quite interested in their weekday menu as it has more exotic items in the menu! Usually restaurants divide made the distinction between lunch and dinner menu.

Rating for:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $20 – $30 per main dish

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

107 Addison Road, Marrickville 2204

+61 2 8065 6337

Jan 13, 2015
Est

Review for lunch menu:

Our rare moment without the little guy was spent for lunch at Est. Restaurant. They have quite a flexible lunch arrangement of two, three and four-course lunch. You can also request for degustation menu, but I think it’s a bit too much for a lunch period. In this occasion, we had the three-course lunch with an extra plate of oysters to start the lunch with.

I am pretty sure I don’t need to describe the menu in full details as the name of every ingredients is already listed.

To start

Six freshly shucked rock oysters, ponzu dressing ($5 each)

As six oysters would have been an overkill (especially for my wife), we decided to share this dish. Presentation was simplicity at its best and the ponzu dressing was pretty good!

In addition to the oysters, we also got the usual bread and butter. However the bread and butter was too ordinary to remember.

Course 1

Moreton Bay Bug, orange, green shallot, fennel, watercress puree, puffed quinoa.

The bug was presented very nicely. I love how all of the flavours worked well together. For Your Information, Moreton Bay bug is known as flathead lobster outside Australia.

Lamb consommé, slow cooked lamb belly, green peas, pickled radish, mint oil

When I saw it, I knew immediately that this dish was the one I should have ordered. The lamb belly was presented like a roast pork belly. I have never seen lamb cooked this way and I was even more impressed with how it tasted! It was presented beautifully and the consommé was fabulous.

For the first course, the slow cooked lamb belly beat my Moreton Bay bug anytime!

Course 2

Slow cooked rangers valley wagyu beef tri tip, spinach puree, salsify, spring onion, rye crumb, red elk.

My first impression was that the steak was actually quite small (I blame my tummy!). As soon as I tried everything on that plate, I was actually very impressed with the taste of the beef and the charred taste of the onion and rye crumb. The spinach puree gave an extra dimension of freshness to the plate.

Murray cod fillet, shaved abalone, snow peas, black fungi, ginger – green shallot vinaigrette

The vinaigrette was a high-end version of the usual Chinese restaurant’s steamed fish with ginger and shallot. However, the Murray cod fillet was beautiful… like really beautiful!

Both dishes were on par in terms of quality and taste, but I guess I am leaning towards the Murray cod fillet as it was slightly bigger than the wagyu beef!

Sides of spring asparagus, ricotta salata, marjoram, extra virgin olive oil ($11)

You can choose a selection of sides to accompany your main(s). We chose spring asparagus for this and was pretty pleased with it. They actually gave a near perfect amount of asparagus for us to enjoy.

Course 3

Strawberries, rhubarb granita, ginger cream, sorrel sorbet, hibiscus wafer

I thought granita was the highlight for the dish, but I think the two sorbets stood out more. It was a highly refreshing dish with the curious addition of ginger cream.

Peach, fresh peach juice, pistachio, summer berries, lemon verbena sorbet

I am not a big fan of peach, therefore I cannot make a fair judgement of what to like between the two. However, I am willing to try the mango with goat’s milk yoghurt the next time we visit Est.

Drinks and Petit Fours

At the start of the service, there was a trolley full of champagne. I guess it made sense as most people were here for a special occasion (except for a few people who looked like big bosses of big companies having normal work lunch).

There were still a plate of petit fours and a small birthday cake to end the day, but I am not a big fan of chocolate.

The final verdict for Est. Restaurant

Est. restaurant thoroughly deserved the two hats status for their lunch menu. Service was fabulous and food certainly did not disappoint. The best dish of the day was the slow cooked lamb belly.

Did you know?

Est. restaurant is Merivale’s flagship restaurant. The group owns several top market, high-rating restaurants in Sydney including Mr Wong that we reviewed earlier this year.

Rating for Est. Restaurant:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5/10

3-course lunch: $95

Place: 9/10

Details:

Level 1, Establishment, 252 George Street NSW 2000

+61 2 9240 3000

http://merivale.com.au/est

Jan 1, 2015