Category: Randwick

Randwick was named after the village in Gloucestershire, England, home of its Mayor of six periods, Simeon Henry Pearce.

Zen Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

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Unfortunately, Zen Japanese Restaurant has closed its doors.

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Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5/10

Price: $13 – $29

Place: 7/10

Review:

We decided to try this restaurant because we’ve always been impressed with its layout when we passed by. Zen Japanese restaurant looked very sophisticated, yet at a glance, the price was modest.

Our first menu of the day was supposed (at least that’s what I remembered my friend ordering) to be Nabeyaki Udon. However, when the dish arrived, it didn’t look like the usual nabeyaki udon. It looked kinda like a beef soup with Udon and fully-boiled half an egg.

Moving on, there was also Tempura Udon. This time, it looked like the usual tempura udon that we find anywhere, clear soup udon with four pieces of Tempura. Nevertheless, it was an ok dish.

Chirashi Don was definitely the better dish of the day. It looked jam-packed with nice goodies. The serving of the slices was also quite generous. Strangely, the slices looked fresher than the main dish of the day.

There’s no denying that Sashimi & Sushi Boat was both massive and incredibly eye-catching. They were the usual assortments of Salmon, Kingfish, Tuna Sashimi, Sushi and Rolls. However, taste wise, I think the Chirashi outdid it.

The final verdict: The good thing about this place is its layout and interior design. It is not your average under $20 restaurant. The presentation of the dishes was also nice. However, in terms of taste, unfortunately it’s just an average Japanese restaurant.

Did you know?

Zen is located at the heart of Randwick’s infamous The Spot. There’s a cinema that’s much loved by the students because of its price called Ritz. It was an art deco cinema, built in 1937, and is considered one of Sydney’s heritage buildings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spot,_New_South_Wales).

Next to Zen there’s a beautiful cake shop called The Sweet Spots. You should try their Vanilla Slice and Raspberry Mousse. Yummy!

Details:

20 Perouse Road, Randwick, NSW 2031

(02) 9326 3855

Aug 14, 2011
Corner 75

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price: $20 – $25 main dish

Place: 7/10

Review:

Our review this week was based on a recommendation from our reader. It was a Hungarian restaurant, named Corner 75. The restaurant looks like a traditional Central European restaurant, with its table cloth and overabundance wall decors.

We ordered two servings of Langos and Lecho (Lecso) Frankfurter. The Langos was massive and it was accompanied by garlic oil. Towards the end of consuming it, we remembered that we didn’t get the sour cream and should’ve ordered one. However, if the langos was crispier it would’ve been perfect. For the frankfurter, we were only served two pieces with a lot of lecho salsa.

For the next three, I couldn’t really give you the whole picture since I only tried a small portion of it. They were Veal Brassoi, Veal Fillet with ‘Lecho Salsa’, and Fishpaprikash. Brassoi was the nicer option of them three, and the lecho in veal fillet tasted exactly like the frankfurter starter.

The next two dishes could easily be shared by four people due to their sheer size. First, it was Crispy Roast Duckling with the additional Cherry Sauce. It was half a duck with two scoops of mashed potato and red cabbage. The duck was crispy and very tender. The sauce complemented the savoury taste of the dish. It was slightly too sweet.

The one I ordered was Veal Knuckle. It was one gigantic knuckle of veal. It has the same sides as the duck, but the veal had a different seasoning. Despite of the size, it was actually thoroughly seasoned and incredibly tender. If I were given only a fork, I could easily rip the meat off easily without the help of a knife. You might consider sharing this dish, since I think only a few people can actually finish this on his/her own.

We then moved on to dessert. Our first option was Cherry Strudel. The strudel was very well-presented. It looked appetising and the pastry was crispy. The second one was Gundel Pancake, two walnut-filled crepes with chocolate sauce. The sauce was packed with booze, but the crepes were pretty standard.

The final verdict: Their duck and veal knuckle were the best dishes of the day and I strongly recommend those two. They were incredibly yummy and big. However, I was pretty content with the rest of the dishes. My Hungarian friend pointed out that those two are not ‘Authentic’ Hungarian. The brassoi and lecho were as close as you can get from the ‘real Hungarian cuisine.

Did you know?

This is the second Hungarian restaurant that I reviewed. Both presented ‘home-cooked’ style dishes and had pretty good standards. However, there was an authentic dish missing from this restaurant, Stuffed Cabbage.

There are a lot of exotic restaurants to try in Randwick, from Indonesian to Nepalese. There is one two-hat restaurant in the suburb.

Details:

75 Frenchmans Road, Randwick, NSW 2031

(02) 9399 5712

http://www.corner75.com.au/ (this website is no longer operational)

Aug 4, 2011