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.

2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

This is the second year the Australian Financial Review published 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.

Attica is at the top of this list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia. Australia’s Top Chef award is given to chef Dan Hunter from Brae in Birregurra region in Victoria. On this occasion, Australian Financial Review also asked the public to vote for their top Australian restaurant with an award called The People’s Choice. The People’s Choice winner for 2016 is Akiba in Canberra. We went to Akiba last year and we were pretty impressed with the dishes that they served. Sepia, last year’s winner, was awarded Top Service award for 2016.

From the 2016 top 100 restaurants in Australia list, All About Food have only reviewed 10 of them:

Quay at number 4, Ester at number 5, Rockpool at number 8, Mr Wong at number 11, Bentley (at the old venue) at number 12, The Bridge Room at number 13, Tetsuya’s at number 22, est. at number 39, Marque at number 40, and Golden Century at number 60.

The number of top 100 restaurants by state:

NSW 46 (45 in 2015)
VIC 37
SA 5
WA 5
QLD 4
TAS 2 (3 in 2015)
ACT 1

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

The full list of 2016 Top 100 Restaurants in Australia by Financial Review

1. Attica VIC
2. Brae, Birregurra VIC
3. Sepia NSW
4. Quay NSW
5. Ester NSW
6. Sixpenny NSW
7. Bennelong NSW
8. Rockpool est. 1989 NSW
9. Automata NSW
10. Franklin TAS
11. Mr Wong NSW
12. Bentley Restaurant & Bar NSW
13. The Bridge Room NSW
14. The Town Mouse VIC
15. Cumulus Inc. VIC
16. 10 William St NSW
17. Flower Drum VIC
18. Cutler & Co VIC
19. LuMi Bar & Dining NSW
20. Supernormal VIC
21. Tipo 00 VIC
22. Tetsuya’s NSW
23. Minamishima VIC
24. MoVida, Melbourne VIC
25. Fratelli Paradiso NSW
26. Billy Kwong NSW
27. Biota Dining, Bowral NSW
28. Cafe Di Stasio VIC
29. LP’s Quality Meats NSW
30. Momofuku Seiobo NSW
31. Porteno NSW
32. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Sydney NSW
33. ACME NSW
34. Embla VIC
35. Vue de Monde VIC
36. Firedoor NSW
37. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal VIC
38. Chin Chin VIC
39. est. NSW
40. Marque NSW
41. The Apollo NSW
42. Lake House, Daylesford VIC
43. Oscillate Wildly NSW
44. Saint Crispin VIC
45. Guillaume, Sydney NSW
46. Fleet, Brunswick Heads NSW
47. Africola SA
48. Orana SA
49. Restaurant Amuse WA
50. Silvereye NSW
51. Pilu at Freshwater NSW
52. Moon Park NSW
53. France-Soir VIC
54. Lee Ho Fook VIC
55. Bar Louinhã VIC
56. Icebergs Dining Room & Bar NSW
57. Ormeggio at the Spit NSW
58. Estelle by Scott Pickett VIC
59. Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne VIC
60. Golden Century NSW
61. Spice Temple, Sydney NSW
62. Sean’s Panaroma NSW
63. Cottage Point Inn NSW
64. Gerard’s Bistro QLD
65. The European VIC
66. Monopole NSW
67. Long Chim Perth WA
68. ARIA NSW
69. Provenance, Beechworth VIC
70. Coda VIC
71. Lalla Rookh WA
72. Yellow NSW
73. Luxembourg VIC
74. Wasabi Restaurant & Bar, Noosa Heads QLD
75. Master NSW
76. 4Fourteen NSW
77. Clarke’s of North Beach WA
78. Esquire QLD
79. Muse Restaurant, Pokolbin NSW
80. Monster Kitchen and Bar ACT
81. Grossi Florentino Upstairs VIC
82. Cho Cho San NSW
83. The Long Apron, Montville QLD
84. The Press Club VIC
85. Lucio’s NSW
86. Ethos Eat Drink TAS
87. Anchovy VIC
88. Vasse Felix Restaurant, Cowaramup WA
89. Lume VIC
90. Tonka VIC
91. Mister Jennings VIC
92. Union Dining VIC
93. Igni, Geelong VIC
94. Sokyo NSW
95. Peel St SA
96. Hentley Farm, Seppeltsfield SA
97. Lau’s Family Kitchen VIC
98. Fino, Seppeltsfield SA
99. Epocha VIC
100. Il Bacaro VIC

May 4, 2016
Al Aseel Restaurant – Greenacre

Review:

Al Aseel Lebanese Restaurant is consistently mentioned in any “top 10 Middle Eastern restaurants in Sydney” lists… and we are going to put it to the test!

Kibbe Naye – $15 – traditional finely blended raw lamb mixed with burghol, our secret herbs & spices topped with extra virgin oil and mint.

This is the first dish that we were very interested to try. We have eaten raw seafood, vegetables, and beef before. However, eating raw lamb feels like a whole new dimension!

It was presented quite plainly with mint leaves and raw onions. The meat was pretty dense and heavy. Obviously, this is not for everyone to try. But if you are quite adventurous (it was also our first time trying Kibbe Naye!), it was actually a nice dish to have!

Vine Leaves – $10 – rolled grape vine leaves stuffed with rice, tomato, onion & parsley served in a delicious olive oil & lemon juice dressing (4 pieces per serving)

I actually don’t mind eating this vegetarian dish and it was quite filling because of the rice wrapped inside the leaves.

Lamb Shank – $25 – rice cooked with lamb mince meat served with a braised lamb shank & served with yoghurt

I am a big fan of lamb shanks and will always be interested to order every time I see one on the menu. I first tried the combination of rice and yoghurt almost six years ago. I can eat a little yoghurt with the rice, but I still cannot eat a blob of them with rice!

Al Aseel Mixed Skewers – $32 – 2 skewers of marinated bbq chicken breast, 2 skewers of lamb & 2 skewers of kafta served with garlic dip

They have quite a few mix and match for the skewers, but I felt that this is the one that’s worth buying… Six skewers and garlic dip!

It was one of the better Lebanese skewers we’ve ever tasted in Sydney. They were quite big and was perfectly grilled!

For your information, the other skewers give you tabouli, baba ghanouj, hommus and falafel along with 3 or 4 skewers for around $3 or $4 less. So, if you prefer to have a more variety of vegetables, you might want to get them.

The final verdict for Al Aseel

Al Aseel truly deserves to be mentioned in the top 10 middle eastern restaurants in Sydney. Their skewers was very nice and the raw lamb (Kibbe Naye) was truly an eye opener!

Did you know?

There are five different Al Aseel restaurants in NSW (including one in Wollongong). The Greenacre one is the original venue.

Rating for Al Aseel Restaurant:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $30 – $40 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

18 Waterloo Road, Greenacre 2190

+61 2 9758 6744

http://alaseel.com.au/

Apr 28, 2016
Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe

Review:

This is probably the most bizarre signature dish (for non-Indonesians) that I have ever written. Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe is a restaurant that serves grilled oxtail soup as its signature dish… and Indonesians (or at least most people I know) LOVE them!

These days, you can find grilled oxtail soup in quite a lot of places. However, I daresay Bogor Café in Borobudur Hotel Jakarta is the first one to do it. For this review, we went to its branch in one of the shopping malls in Jakarta.

There are quite a few dishes that use oxtail as their main ingredient at Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe.

Tahu Pong – 45k – with sweet soya – chilli sauce dip

Tahu pong is a typical Indonesian snack that is made of tahu (tofu). The tofu is then deep fried and served with sweet soya and chilli sauce.

To be honest, this one did not really look like the real ‘tahu pong’, which was usually more round with crunchy edge. However, taste wise, it did not disappoint.

Martabak Buntut – 45k – Sweet soya sauce dip and pickles

Martabak is also an Indonesian snack that you can pretty much find everywhere. However, it can be considered as a pretty ‘heavy’ snack. I think most of you would know ‘martabak’ by now (or you can read it from wiki).

The filling for its martabak was oxtail meat. Taste wise, I couldn’t really tell the difference between oxtail meat and regular beef meat. To make a good martabak, it is very important that you serve nice pickles and sweet soy sauce with it!

Oxtail Nasi Goreng – 125k – Fried Javanese rice with oxtail, pickles, stock, melinjo crackers

It is probably one of the more expensive nasi goreng dishes that you can find in Indonesia. It is the same cost as fried rice in quite a lot of Sydney restaurants!

You only got one small oxtail piece and a few shredded meat in the fried rice. Honestly, I think I would rather have three martabaks than this fried rice.

Hotel Borobudur’s Legendary Oxtail Soup Specialties – 160k – Served with steamed rice, melinjo crackers, pickles, chili sambal and lime

This is what we came here for… and yes they now actually put the word ‘legendary’ on the menu. They have two sizes, medium and legendary. The ‘legendary’ size is actually not that big for non-Indonesians. You can have the oxtail stewed in a soup (regular), grilled or fried. Traditionally, Indonesians love stewed oxtail but it also means quite a lot of fat. Grilled (and fried) oxtail on the other hand have less fat.

I’m pretty sure they were legendary because they were one of the first ones to grill oxtails. These days, you can find grilled oxtail in quite a lot of places.

The final verdict for Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe

Although Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe might be the first one to grill oxtails, it’s apparent that they are quickly losing its competitive advantage and become somewhat overpriced nostalgic restaurant… Nevertheless people are still coming in for that reason.

Did you know?

Whenever you are in Indonesia, always on the look for Avocado juice (like the one pictured below). It is such a nice drink to have!

Rating for Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $4 – $20 per dish

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Street Gallery, Ground Floor, Pondok Indah Mall

Jl Metro Pondok Indah, Jakarta

+62 21 2952 9718

Apr 20, 2016
Won Jo

Review:

One afternoon we walked around Strathfield trying to find a nice Korean rice cake, or tteokbokki. Our short stroll around the area lead us to Won Jo Korean BBQ restaurant. On this occasion, we actually did not order the BBQ menu. We were interested more on the rice bowl and… obviously… its tteokbokki.

Won Jo served quite a number of kimchi. We had the five dishes below to begin with and when we asked for a refill, they gave us an extra one.

Cheese stir-fried rice cake – $20 (M) or $30 (L)

This is a variant for the dish that we came to Won Jo for. Instead of having the normal sweet chilli rice cake, they added cheese to the dish. It actually dumbed down the chilli flavour – good for people who doesn’t eat crazy amount of chilli like me!

Ginseng chicken stew – $22

Every time I see ginseng chicken on the menu, I am always interested in ordering it. The first ginseng chicken stew I ever had was in Seoul. I went there a long time ago but somehow it was imprinted in my memory.

Ginseng chicken stew is usually served with garlic, rice, and jujube. In Won Jo, they also put some mushrooms in the stew. It was a nice hot soup.

Beef bulgogi with rice – $16.50

Having a Korean beef bulgogi in a Korean restaurant is like ordering a Japanese Karaage. Nothing can go wrong… if it’s wrong, don’t come back to that restaurant!

Garlic Soy Fried Chicken – $17 (half) or $27 (whole)

We actually ordered this in our second visit to Won Jo. Their fried chicken is boneless, which was always nice to have!

Seafood pancake – $15

Their seafood pancake was quite large for the price. There was also quite a few toppings inside the pancake!

The final verdict for Won Jo

It was quite an enjoyable lunch at Won Jo. We definitely got our craving for tteokbokki satisfied.

Rating for Won Jo:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $16.50 – $30

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

33a The Boulevarde, Strathfield 2135

+61 2 9746 7041

Won Jo on Facebook

Apr 12, 2016
Woodland House

Review:

Woodland House is a two-hat restaurant (based on 2016 Good Food Guide) located in the city of Melbourne – Prahran, to be exact. They have a 10-course, fixed-price degustation menu of $155. Since it’s quite a lengthy list, I will get on right away.

Purple potato chip

It was quite an interesting amuse bouche. Three purple paper-like things were neatly arranged on a log. We were quite hesitant to eat it at first – the risk of looking pretty stupid before we even ate anything. It felt like munching an edible paper – which was quite fun!

Danish and Sourdough rolls with butter

This is available throughout the course should you want them. The Danish is probably why I would want to visit the restaurant again in the future… They were just so good!

Foie gras, kiwi

It looked like a very tiny croquette with a little kiwi decoration at the top. Expectations were quite high after this strong start.

Charred abalone, wood ear, wasabi and ponzu

Well, nothing really wows more than having an abalone as your first course, doesn’t it? It was probably one of the best starts of a degustation course I have ever had. Having ‘abalone’ in your dish’s title usually guarantees an instant favourite. This was also my first charred (and/or grilled) abalone ever.

Rock flathead, puffed quinoa, toasted corn, pickled cucumber

There was a bit of theatrics when the waitress poured the toasted corn sauce (?) into the plate for the second course. There was also a nice crunchy texture from the quinoa. However, it was clearly overshadowed by the abalone.

South Australian marron, chicken liver, finger lime

Third course was quite simple and artsy. To be honest, it was quite small for my tummy to realise what it was. There was a little crunch from the veggies and a strong chicken liver flavour. The marron itself was nicely done.

Pea bavarois, lemon sorbet, almond

Fourth course was the in-between course. To cleanse our palate for the main course that was about to come. It was quite a complex dish with quite a strong lemon sorbet.

Master Kobe beef, roasted onion, nameko and miso

Just like the appetiser, the main course also started off with a bang. Master Kobe is the highest marbled beef that you can get, with a score of MB9+. To illustrate how special (and expensive!) it is, the plate was minimally designed with only three small slices of meat. It went really well with the miso paste and nameko mushrooms.

Kangaroo, grilled kohlrabi, quandong and native fruits

Despite boasting quite a number of native Australian ingredients, this sixth course was a miss for us. The dish was quite bitter and very sweet… quite interesting I must say, but unfortunately it was a bit too strong for me.

White rabbit saddle and leg, turnip, mustard and yeast, polenta

It was nice to see carrot in the same plate as rabbit. The polenta could use a bit more crunch, but it wasn’t as disastrous as the previous one. However, given that the standard of the first few dishes were so high, this one was more on the ‘average’ side.

Coolea, walnut and apple cider

We had a doubt about what was actually in our dish. It was listed as above, but couldn’t work out the walnut and apple cider in the dish. It was quite a heavy one before desserts… or was it a savoury dessert?

Milk chocolate flan, toasted rice, fairy floss

Having a fairy floss was always fun. Although I’m not really sure how you eat the fairy floss with flan and toasted rice. It was more of a decoration than the integral part of the dish.

Fig leaf and smoked coconut sorbet, candied ginger, wild fennel

Now this is a dessert which elements worked really well together. There were quite a lot of elements that were in-sync. It was cold, slightly spicy, crunchy, sweet and sour at the same time.

They also gave us three kinds of petit fours: a jelly, nutty chocolate, and something that looked like dutch pancake.

The final verdict for Woodland House

Woodland House showed some flashes of brilliance in their 10-course degustation. However, it was apparent why they fell short of their third hat. Specifically, the sixth course, kangaroo, was a tad too adventurous for us.

Did you know?

Woodland House used to be known as Jacques Reymond. It was an iconic restaurant that was a three-hat restaurant when the chef for 23 years, Jacques Reymond, retired in 2013.

They also serve vegetarian degustation menu that I have uploaded to our facebook page. The price for 10-course vegetarian menu is $140.

Rating for Woodland House:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $155 for degustation

Place: 9.0 / 10

Details:

78 Williams Road, Prahran, VIC 3181

+61 3 9525 2178

http://www.woodlandhouse.com.au/

Apr 4, 2016
Izakaya Masuya

Review:

Izakaya Masuya is located at the very heart of Sydney CBD. It is a nice place to wind down after a hectic day at the office. There are quite a lot of varieties at Izakaya Masuya… and quite a few dishes were uncommon in Japanese restaurants in Sydney.

Oden – $1.80 each – Naruto and Chikuwa

Oden was probably the cheapest dishes in the restaurant – depending on how many you actually ordered. On this occasion, we tried Naruto and Chikuwa as those were the two kinds I enjoyed the most.

Izakaya Hot Pot – $48.00 – Snow crab, prawn, scallop, salmon wing, chicken, Gyoza, sausage, seasonal vegetables with Dashi soy soup

By contrast, the hot pot is one of the more expensive dishes in Izakaya Masuya. It came with a few legs of snow crab – justifying the price tag. If I weren’t in a large enough group, I probably wouldn’t have ordered this. It is so much more fun to pick and choose a variety of dishes!

Chicken liver – $6.80 – cooked in ginger soy sauce and mirin

Probably not a lot of you would order this, but we love trying dishes that are pretty uncommon. The chicken liver at Izakaya Masuya was perfectly cooked. I loved how the sauce and mirin kept it from drying up.

Wagyu Robata

It wasn’t the best wagyu I have ever tasted. It was a tad overcooked to my liking.

Salmon Aburi – $14.80 – 8 pcs

Our opinion was a bit divided for this. I liked slightly charred salmon aburi. However, the little one wasn’t a big fan of it – and he usually likes nice salmon.

Roe Rice

Simple sushi rice with fish roe and seaweed flakes. It is perfect if you need to fill your tummy a bit more.

Originally we only ordered the dishes from the list above. However, we were still curious and hungry enough to order some more!

Duck

These duck fillets are not part of the regular menu. We ordered it out of curiosity as duck isn’t a staple in Japanese restaurants.

Karaage Chicken – $6.80 – Japanese style deep fried marinated chicken

Karaage chicken was the ‘substitute’ dish for the little one’s salmon aburi. It is one of those dishes that can’t go wrong in a Japanese restaurant.

Bonito Tataki – $9.80

Picked bonito tataki purely out of interest and the fact that I was still not full.

Desserts

Zenzai – $5.80 and Green Tea Ice Cream – $5.80

It was actually my first time trying a Zenzai. Zenzai is a porridge of azuri beans with mochi.

The final verdict for Izakaya Masuya

If you work in Sydney CBD, Izakaya Masuya is a good place to wind down. They have quite a large selection of Japanese food and drinks.

Did you know?

I must admit that I actually made the wrong booking for this one. I was supposed to go to Masuya Japanese restaurant that are located just next to it. Somehow, I dialled the number for Izakaya Masuya.

Masuya Japanese restaurant is the more upmarket version in the group.

Rating for Izakaya Masuya:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $1.80 – $48

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Ground Floor, 12 O’Connell Street, Sydney 2000

+61 2 9233 8181

http://www.masuyainternational.com.au/en/izakayamasuya/

Mar 30, 2016