Category: Rose Bay

Rose Bay was named after the Right Honourable George Rose

Catalina Rose Bay Wedding
Catalina Rose Bay Wedding

This is probably one of my most memorable reviews of the year. We went to Catalina Rose Bay to celebrate my ex-work/gaming/foodie mate’s wedding. Catalina has been a Good Food Guide’s one-hat restaurant for a few years.

Catalina was also voted as the people’s award winner for 2015 by Australian Financial Review. The restaurant overlooked a beautiful bay with yachts and sunset view.

So, having a wedding venue that is a combination of great food and great view isn’t that bad, is it?

Travelling Entrée (or some might say roaming canapé) – Catalina Rose Bay Wedding

According to the Assistant Manager, the travelling entrée is not part of the regular menu at the restaurant. We get 10 (yes, TEN!) different travelling entrée. Being a travelling entrée, it was quite hard to get a picture of all of them although they were eventually put on display for the bridal party.

They were all quite simple but yummy entrée. Here they are in no particular order with my best guess of ingredients:
- Smoked salmon with cream cheese and caviar on crostini
- Fresh oysters with lemon and Catalina’s vinaigrette
- Fresh tuna with vinaigrette and peas puree
- Zucchini flower with goat cheese
- Beef with pastry
- Eggplant
- Sausage rolls with tomato sauce
- Mozarella arancini balls
- Battered prawns
- I am not quite sure what the last one was!
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Main Course – Catalina Rose Bay Wedding

What separate Catalina from wedding venues I attended before was its main course. Instead of having alternate main course for the table, they actually asked which of the two you prefer!

Roasted lamb rack with minted pea puree, baby beetroots & tomato jus

I sort of ‘cheated’ and asked the groom whether I should order the barramundi. He told me that I would love the lamb rack… Great advice! The dish came with TWO racks of lamb!

No surprise it was quite a sweet dish considering that it was complemented by beetroot, tomato and minted pea. It was a decent portion for main.

Roasted lamb rack with minted pea puree, baby beetroots & tomato jus

Roasted lamb rack with minted pea puree, baby beetroots & tomato jus

Crispy skin Cone Bay barramundi with spanner crab ravioli, enoki mushroom, avruga, sage & eschalot cream

Being on the main table, I could not find someone that I could pinch the barramundi from. It did look very pretty and (without a doubt) grilled perfectly!

The complements further enhanced the seafood character of the dish.

Crispy skin Cone Bay barramundi with spanner crab ravioli, enoki mushroom, avruga, sage & eschalot cream

Dessert – Catalina Rose Bay Wedding

For the dessert, it was a no-brainer for me. I do not like dark chocolate and I tried hard to find someone who wanted to swap if I did get the dark chocolate… surely I did get the dark chocolate (which I quickly swapped with the other groomsman!)

Unlike the main course, the dessert was served alternately between guests.

Strawberry pavlova with lime curd & strawberry coulis

The two-tone pavlova looked elegantly simple.

Unfortunately when I got to the table, the ice cream was completely melted – we took way too many pictures! I was also quite full from the 10-course travelling entrees.

I did finish the pavlova to the last scoop and I think it was up to the one-hat standard.

Strawberry pavlova with lime curd & strawberry coulis

Dark chocolate mousse with wattleseed ice cream & cocoa tuile

As I am not a big fan of the dark chocolate, I had to ask my friend how it tasted and he said ‘it was nice’.

The technical aspects were quite apparent on the dish.

Dark chocolate mousse with wattleseed ice cream & cocoa tuile

Petit Fours at Catalina

Sommelier Adam and Port

Catalina Rose Bay Wedding

Details:

Lyne Park, Rose Bay, NSW 2029

+61 2 9371 0555

http://catalinarosebay.com.au/
Feb 9, 2016
Pier Restaurant

Update 17 September 2012: Unfortunately, Pier Restaurant has closed its doors in June.

Rating:

8 / 10 Taste: 8/10

Price: $100 pp ($119 degustation)

Place: 9/10

Review:

There are a few restaurants in Sydney with a more stunning view than Pier Restaurant whilst commanding a fantastic dining experience. Pier Restaurant is located in a posh suburb of Rose Bay with a view of the harbour and plenty of boats.

There were two choices of Market Menu or Six-Course Degustation menu. We thought that we would get more variety by ordering the Market Menu and I didn’t really fancy the degustation menu since they only served chocolate for dessert.

Cones of King Salmon – Ocean Trout

Our first dish was cones of king salmon and ocean trout. It was presented on a desk-like plate in a crispy cone. The fish was accompanied by capers, salt, and garlic. It was a really refreshing start to the day. I liked the trout better since it had more flavour than Salmon.

They could also serve kingfish or yellow fin tuna for this cone.

Whiting Carpaccio – soft herb leaves – lime water vinaigrette

Our first entrée of the day was whiting carpaccio. It was a very delicately and nicely decorated carpaccio with a surprisingly generous serving. The vinaigrette complemented the carpaccio well. It was light and had a touch of summer in this autumn season.

Spanner Crab Gazpacho – avocado mousse – almond oil

In contrast, the second entrée was a really heavy one. This was the chef’s representation of the Spanish Gazpacho. It was very rich in flavour and there was also this strong taste. The strong taste was softened by mixing the delicate avocado mousse. The centrepiece of it was soft-boiled spanner crab. It provided yet another dimension to the dish. Lastly, it was accentuated by green leaves and almond oil. Definitely not your typical Gazpacho!

Rangers Valley Sirloin – watercress – chips – bordelaise glaze

We ordered the only non-seafood main course in the menu, medium-rare sirloin. I was again amazed with the size of the sirloin. The steak was covered in black sauce and I had a suspicion that it was Indonesian’s traditional ‘Petis’ sauce. I am glad I was wrong and it turned out to be a nice complement to the steak.

Roasted Barramundi – braised cos – shimeji mushrooms – mushroom consommé

For the second main course, they poured the consommé after the dish was in front of us. This allowed the barramundi to be further roasted whilst on the plate. Cos was used to accentuate the plate on an otherwise monochromatic display. The fish was extra soft and perfectly cooked inside with a very crunchy skin.

Kiwi Fruit Vacherin – yoghurt meringue – apple sorbet – basil – mint

I didn’t need to ask the waiter what’s good for the dessert. The description said it all. It was just great, except for the meringue that looked a bit gooey. This dessert was a busy one. It showed multilayer of complexities, from the crunchy crumble, icy sorbet, basil seed and minty flavour.

Strawberry & Guava Soufflé – strawberry sauce – strawberry crème

My mind was made up even before I looked at the menu because I noticed it when the waiter brought this dish somewhere else. It was an eye-catching presentation with a little pre-serving routine. The waiter cut the soufflé open and poured the sauce in it. It literally melted in your mouth and was heavenly smooth. The cream provided an extra dimension of cold.

The final verdict: Pier restaurant’s dishes were surprisingly massive, compared to other degustation restaurants. It was a really long and satisfying lunch for us. High quality of food and service as expected from this one-hat restaurant. However, there wasn’t anything spectacular to warrant a comparison to a three-hat restaurant.

Did you know?

Pier was one of the top restaurants in Australia with three-hat status from 2007 to 2010. However, the unthinkable happened in 2011 where they lost two hats and had been a one-hat ever since.

Details:

594 New South Head Road, Rose Bay, NSW 2029

+61 2 9327 6561

http://www.pierrestaurant.com.au/ – The restaurant has closed and replaced by The Sailors Club

Apr 26, 2012
Cafe Gundel

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price: $35 per person

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week I am going to take you to a journey half way round the world. Similar in name to the original Cafe Gundel, this Hungarian restaurant is well known for its authenticity in home-cooked meals. They also provided nice Hungarian Beer, Dreher. Considering that the portion is humongous, my friend advised us to order one appetiser, a main, and a dessert per couple. I didn’t really obey this rule and opted for two mains instead (although one was small size).

Before we start, the owner suggested us to taste Hungary’s original Langos. Bear resemblance to Chinese’s yóutiáo(Cakwe),this dish was unfortunately one of the better ones of the night. The extra sour cream and garlic oil created a fantastic combination to the bread’s puffy and crispy taste. For the appetiser, our friend ordered Duck Liver. I understand that the dish might sound a little bit exotic, since it was duck’s liver cooked with onions and spice.

Our two dishes of the night were Veal Knuckle and Veal Goulash. Our friend was right; the dishes were massive! We got two slowly roasted – but not crispy – veal knuckles atop sautéed red cabbage and onion potatoes. The knuckles were very soft and juicy. The Goulash on the other hand, was served with nockerl (Hungarian noodles) and cucumber salad. It certainly had the aura of home-cooked meal. Possibly best served during wintertime.

Our friends ordered Oven roasted Crispy Duck with braised red cabbage & onion potatoes and Hungarian Cabbage Roll with mashed potatoes. We were told that the preparation of this cabbage roll took around 5 hours. The soup in the plate was actually the juice coming out of the meat that was slowly roasted in layers of cabbage. This dish was noteworthy because of the rice element. It was put with the meat inside the cabbage. This was evidently the only traditional Hungarian dish with rice.

We tried to order Apple and Rhubarb Crumble, but they were sold out. We had to settle for the second best in Apple Strudel. Luckily the strudel was great. Nice, warm, crispy slice of Apple strudel served with Vanilla Ice Cream. We were also fortunate to be able to taste the Cherry Strudel as well. This one was sourer than the apple but was compensated with the sweet taste of (possibly) walnut.

The final verdict: It might not be the infamous Cafe Gundel, but it’s a very good place to taste authentic Hungarian home-cooked meals. Don’t forget to order Langos since it’s not on the menu. Taste wise? It was nice, but lacks the wow factor to make it great.

Did you know?

Unfortunately Rose Bay is not a culinary place and more like a residential area.

Location:

U5/698 Old South Head Road, Rose Bay NSW 2029

Feb 6, 2011