Category: Global Cuisines

All About Food Blog loves trying different cuisines from all around the world. Sometimes food has the same name but completely different look and taste.

Sahara by the Park

Sahara By The Park Review:

Sahara by the park is located just outside Westfield Burwood. They had the fine dining section as well as the takeaway ‘kebab place’ setting. This time around, we went to the fine dining area. The restaurant had quite a nice middle eastern decor.

Looking at their menu, it’s a mixture of Middle Eastern dishes with some ‘local’ flavours, like salt and pepper squid and mushroom chicken.

Babaganoush – $10.50 – Chargrilled eggplant w yoghurt, tahini and garlic

If you go to a Middle-Eastern restaurant, you must be familiar with the cold bread wrapped in a plastic bag. That’s usually what you expect, even in a high-end restaurant.

At Sahara By The Park, they have two kinds of bread, homemade Turkish garlic bread served alongside the dip and the communal table bread. However, unlike other restaurants, their table bread was so good! It was warm and fresh. Their garlic bread was an icing on the cake.

For the babaganoush, it was probably a tad too much yoghurt in the mixture.

Shish & chips – $10.50 – Choice of adana or chicken shish

This is coming from the kids menu. It is pretty much the same shish, but only one skewer.

Beef Ribs – $29.50 – Served with chips & salad or roast vegetables

It used to be called 1kg beef ribs, but they greyed out the 1kg bit. The ribs were super tender and juicy. It also came with a bowl of thin sauce.

Although it is no longer 1kg, the ribs were pretty good.

Chargrill Platter – $29.50 – Adana, chicken & lamb skewers served with bread, rice & salad

Chargrill platter is how we differentiate a good shish from the average ones. Their shish could probably be categorised amongst the best in Sydney. They were very flavoursome.

Iskender – $22.50 – Thin slices of marinated lamb, layered over a bed of diced pide bread, topped with authentic red sauce & garlic yoghurt

They were quite generous in the serving for the Iskender kebab. It was served hot on a double plate with over-abundance of meat.

Kunefe – $14.50 – Baked shredded filo pastry, layered w/ unsalted cheese & topped with syrup

One of the things I did not see a lot of in a Middle Eastern restaurant in Sydney is the dessert Kunefe. The kunefe in Sahara By The Park was so good and they put an extra ice cream with it!

The final verdict for Sahara By The Park

We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of food at Sahara By The Park. It started off with the amazing garlic bread and flatbread to the very nice filo pastry, kunefe. It was a very nice experience.

Do you think I should go?

Sahara By The Park is one of the highest scoring Middle Eastern restaurants in my blog. So, yes… you must go and try!

Rating for Sahara By The Park:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $30 – $40 per person

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

100 Burwood Road, Burwood 2134

+61 2 9747 4540

Sahara By The Park

Mar 5, 2018
2-Course Set – Three Blue Ducks Rosebery Menu

2-Course Set from Three Blue Ducks Rosebery Menu Review:

We went to an office lunch at Three Blue Ducks Rosebery the other day. We got the 2-course set menu instead of the usual a la carte because of the number of people in the group. The set menu is $52 and you have a choice of three dishes for smalls and bigs respectively.

They also have the 3-course menu for $65 that would include one of three desserts. However, it’s a bit of an overkill for an office lunch.

Smalls

Sweet potato hummus, charred onions, pickled chestnuts & focaccia

All veggies… definitely not my choice of dish 🙂 I did try this in the past and it was a pretty good starter.

Raw kingfish, Vietnamese mint, paw paw, kaffir lime & green chilli

The raw kingfish is quite an interesting dish. It’s kinda like a mashed up between poke/ceviche in South East Asian style plus pawpaw.

Peri peri chicken skewers, spiced yoghurt & herb salad

If you’re not a big fan of the raw fish nor hummus, then peri peri chicken is your only option. It came with spiced yoghurt. So in a way, it’s kinda exotic as well.

If you are not a big fan of any of them, they are giving you a choice of having the potatoes side for yourself.

Bigs

Whole roasted rainbow trout, smashed peas, watercress & prawn oil

Let’s put an emphasis on the word ‘whole’ here. They are giving you a whole trout fish!

The fish itself was perfectly roasted and very yummy.

Braised beef short rib, wood roasted cabbage & kombu butter

If you are more of a meat lover, I guess this is a no-brainer. Nothing on this list can beat a nice and juicy beef short rib.

Wood roasted cauliflower, smoked eggplant yoghurt, pickled grapes & hazelnuts

One ingredients stood out for me in this dish: pickled grapes. I tried it and it was super sour.

Seasonal Side to Share

Crispy potatoes, rosemary & garlic

They gave a few of these to be shared with the whole table. It could also be used as a substitute if you are not a big fan of the three small dishes above.

The final verdict for Three Blue Ducks Rosebery

It took longer than the usual hour allowed at lunch break to enjoy the 2-course meal at Three Blue Ducks. For $52 in Rosebery, I think the smalls need to be a bit more substantial to complement the bigs.

Do you think I should go?
Considering that the company paid for our lunch, we were pretty happy to have lunch at Three Blue Ducks Rosebery. You can also find Andy Allen, Masterchef winner in 2012, there.

Rating for Three Blue Ducks Rosebery:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $52 for 2-course

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

1/85 Dunning Avenue, Rosebery 2018

+61 2 9389 0010

http://www.threeblueducks.com/rosebery/

Feb 21, 2018
House Bar and Bistrot
House Bar and Bistrot Experience:

One morning, an invitation email came into my mailbox. It was a long and elaborate email from Mauro, the head chef of House Bar and Bistrot. Mauro was a chef in a number of high-end restaurants in Sydney before he decided to open his own. The suburb that he chose to be the place for his restaurant is Potts Point. The restaurant looked like two regular houses from the outside.

According to Mauro, everything on the menu was made in-house with local fresh ingredients. The menu is constantly changing, according to the seasonal availability. He has the non-vegetarian menu as well as the vegetarian menu. This was the non-vegetarian menu that he had when we visited.

Starters on Sourdough Bread

House Bar and Bistrot only has one kind of starter: starters on sourdough bread. The difference was the topping. You can choose five different toppings on that day. The starters are kind of like Italian bruschetta with different toppings.

White Anchovies – $12 – Butter – Lemon Zest

Krauti and Shredded Apple – $12

Sides

If sourdough would never get you full, like myself, then you might want to think about what sides to have.

Although we ordered only Cabbage Almonds sides on that day, you must order their potatoes an onion… see the main section for the reason!

Cabbage, Almonds and Parmesan Salad – $18

Mains

Tagliatelle – Braised Pork Belly – Duck egg – Parmesan – $26

There are quite a few different mains on that day, but this one was one of our choices because it had duck egg on a tagliatelle!

Sirloin Beef Steak – Roast Potatoes, Onions, Red wine gravy – $28

However, the second main really stole the show. We could not stop thinking about that roast potatoes… OMG they were so good! The steak was also cooked to perfection but probably on the lighter side of the gravy.

Desserts

There were three dessert options from both menu, but we felt on that day the coffee gelato was the clear winner. It was smooth and strong at the same time!

Coffee Gelato – $12

Figs Gelato – $12

Menabrea beer on draft – $9

One of the main selling points when Mauro wrote me that invitation email was that he had Italy’s Menabrea beer on tap.

A few interesting things about House Bar and Bistrot
- Sourdough and pasta freshly-made on a daily basis.
- Menus are constantly evolving, according to seasonal availability
- You must really get the roast potatoes.. yum!
Details:

62 – 64 Kellett Street, Potts Point 2011

+61 450 633 892

https://www.housebarbistrot.com
Feb 14, 2018
Hung Cheung

Hung Cheung Review:

For daily commuter around Marrickville Road, there is a Chinese restaurant right in front of the Marrickville Town Hall. It stood out quite a bit as it is the last restaurant in the shopping strip in between two roads. The restaurant is called Hung Cheung and that’s our focus for this week.

Just like quite a lot of Chinese restaurants, they serve Yumcha in the morning and Chinese ‘fine dining’ in the evening with the likes of abalone and fresh seafood. We went there

Steamed Baby Abalone – MP – Ginger and Shallot

Considered as one of the finest ingredients in Chinese cuisine, well-established restaurants usually offer this on the menu. I like it to be cooked with ginger and shallot as it provides me with quite a fresh start to my dinner.

For that day, we paid around $10 for the baby abalone.

BBQ Duck (Half) – $21.80

In a new restaurant, we always come back to what we are most accustomed to. In a Chinese restaurant, BBQ duck would be one of them. Their BBQ duck was quite nice with the plum sauce on the side.

Fried E-Fu Noodles – $15.80

My son was expecting this to be the crispy version of E-fu noodles and so did I. Luckily he still wanted to eat it. The E-fu noodles portion was quite big.

Complimentary Desserts

It is always nice to receive a complimentary dessert from a restaurant. In well-established Chinese restaurants, you could always expect complimentary desserts of some sort.

The final verdict for Hung Cheung

Hung Cheung Chinese restaurant provided us with restaurant-quality Chinese food with decent options and complimentary desserts.

Do you think I should go?

Hung Cheung is quite an established business for people around the Marrickville area. There are not many (if any) Chinese restaurants with a similar offering in the area.

Rating for Hung Cheung:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $59.40 for three dishes

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

338 Marrickville Road, Marrickville 2204

+61 2 9560 4681

Feb 6, 2018
5 All-You-Can-Eat in Sydney That You Must Try

Restaurants, all-you-can-eat in Sydney, and I are like two peas in a pod. I have enjoyed eating in all-you-can-eat restaurants for as long as I can remember. We are inseparable!

I have tried quite a lot of all-you-can-eat restaurants in Sydney for the last decade and I have seen some come and go. However, there are a handful restaurants that I have frequented throughout the years. Here they are (in alphabetical order)…

5 all-you-can-eat in Sydney that you must try

Braza

When I think about Braza, I can imagine their great meat quality. They also have the perfect way to rotate your meat options (you will less likely encounter the same cuts unless you specifically ask for it). The Braza in Darling Harbour also has Brazilian dancers on the weekend.

Braza on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brazadh/

Churrasco

Churrasco is my first ever foray into the Brazilian all-you-can-eat scene. I have been going to this restaurant since they only had one restaurant in Coogee. They started off as pure meat all-you-can-eat with vegetables as an optional extra. However, they have added the vegetables as part of the package since then.

We usually ask for buckets of the chimichurri sauce and tomato salsa as they go really well with the meat.

Website: http://www.churrasco.com.au/

Feast

Feast at Sheraton on The Park is like the high-end version of all-you-can-eat. It is located in a prime real estate in Sydney, facing Hyde Park!

Feast is known for their massive range of cold seafood. When you arrive at the restaurant, you will be greeted by assortments of crabs, oysters, and prawns. Their desserts range is also second to none.

Website: http://www.feastsydney.com.au/

Suminoya

Suminoya used to be the undisputed favourite of ours. However, in the last 8 years, the price has gone up 150% and they took away the charcoal and replaced it with electric BBQ.

They still have the best options for all-you-can-eat. You can have wagyu beef, sashimi and other assortments of Japanese food. They are also the most technologically-advanced with touch screen ordering system… not having to explain what you need and just have food delivered to you is a very nice perk to have!

Website: https://www.facebook.com/SUMINOYA.BBQ/

Wagyu House

In terms of quality, wagyu house will not be able to compete against the other four. However, this Korean BBQ restaurant costs less than half of most restaurants on this list. It doesn’t have many seafood options but it has a massive range of Korean side dishes.

Wagyu House on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ilovewagyuhouse/

Jan 29, 2018
Mentmore and Morley

Mentmore and Morley Review:

I walked past this restaurant pretty often but have not been to it until recently. The price point at Mentmore and Morley isn’t exactly within my ‘office lunch’ budget. We had a chance to taste it when one of our colleagues had a farewell party.

They serve quite a modern-esque Australian cafe dishes with dishes like haloumi and polenta, burgers, and poke. They also serve quite a few local beers.

M&M Burger & Sweet Potato Fries – $18 – 160g prime beef pattie, bacon, provolone, dill pickle, tomato chutney, cos leaves

My friend told me that the burger was pretty good. He would rate it a ‘7’. You can also choose chicken burger instead of beef pattie.

Polenta & Haloumi – $18 – fried polenta, haloumi, asparagus, avocado, Raw Sisterhood sauerkraut salad, fried egg, yuzu dressing

This dish is very pretty! I’m not usually a veggie eater, but I would gladly eat this dish!

Caesar Salad – $14/18 – anchovy aioli, cos lettuce leaves, streaky bacon, grana parmesan, free range egg, sourdough croutons

If you are more into the traditional dish, then the Caesar salad is for you.

Chilled Soba with Salmon – $16/20 – Tasmanian flaked salmon, chilled soba noodles, cucumber, spring onion, sesame seeds, chia seeds, wakame salad edamame, dashi broth, ginger & shallot dressing

Mentmore and Morley had a nice twist to the Japanese cold soba. The dish does look predominantly green and fresh.

Salmon Poke Bowl – $18 – with brown rice, edamame, wakame, enoki, avocado, ginger & soy mirin dressing

Poke bowl is part of the ‘dish of the day’ on the menu board.

The Great Roast – $15/18 – Beets, parsnip, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, shallots, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, pine nuts peas, salsa verde & goats cheese

I’m sure if all salad can look this good, kids will be happy to eat them!

Cape Byron Sirloin Steak – $28 – crushed kipfler potatoes, greek salad, salsa verde & jus

This is the dish that I actually ordered. The steak was grilled to my liking. There was probably a tad too much salt on it even after dipping in Salsa Verde. The crushed kipfler potatoes went really well with the jus.

The final verdict for Mentmore and Morley

Mentmore and Morley served pretty dishes. All of our dishes had that aura of ‘Oh… I don’t mind eating that although I don’t like what’s in it’. However, it is still beyond my normal office lunch budget.

Do you think I should go?
If I don’t live in the area, I probably would go here for weekend brunch.

Rating for Mentmore and Morley:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $18 – $28 main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

55 Mentmore Rd, Rosebery 2018

+61 2 9697 3617

Jan 18, 2018