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.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014

The award season is here! It is the world’s 50 best restaurants 2014. To be named in this site as the world’s 50 best restaurants is probably the highest accomplishment a chef can get.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014

Despite a different winner, there were no surprises in the Top 3 list this year. Noma reclaimed the top spot as the best restaurant in the world. This Danish restaurant came up second last year but winner of the previous three. El Celler De Can Roca from Spain was knocked back to number two. Osteria Francescana from Italy is the third best for the last two years.

Australia’s best restaurants in 2014

Despite falling 11 places to number 32, Attica from Melbourne is still the best restaurant in Australia. Attica is also the only Australian restaurant in this 50 best restaurants list. This year, they even won the Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Australasia.

Quay, the only restaurant that all about food blog has reviewed, fell 12 spots to number 60.

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2014

As a spin-off to the list, they also produced the 50 best restaurants list for Asian region.

This year’s top Asia 50 best restaurants is Nahm from Bangkok, Thailand. Last year’s winner, Narisawa, got the runner up position. Interestingly, Nahm became the top restaurant in Thailand after being the first (and only?) Thai restaurant in London to receive a Michelin star.

Indonesia’s best restaurant in 2014

As an Indonesian descent, I am happy to know that one Indonesian restaurant in on the list! Sarong Restaurant Bali was listed at number 47 in the Asia’s 50 best restaurants 2014. Founder chef, Will Meyrick, was known to be an apprentice for Gordon Ramsay. He used to own Longrain restaurant in Sydney. Looking briefly at the menu, it looked like a mishmash of Asian food.

… and here is the list of 50 Best Restaurants 2014:

1. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark
2. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain
3. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
4. Eleven Madison Park, New York, USA
5. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London, UK
6. Mugaritz, San Sebastián, Spain
7. D.O.M, Sao Paulo, Brazil
8. Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain
9. Alinea, Chicago, USA
10. The Ledbury, London, UK
11. Mirazur, Menton, France
12. Vendôme, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
13. Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand
14. Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan
15. Central, Lima, Peru
16. Steirereck, Vienna, Austria
17. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand
18. Astrid y Gastón, Lima, Peru
19. Fäviken Järpen, Sweden
20. Pujol, Mexico City, Mexico
21. Le Bernardin, New York, USA
22. Vila Joya, Albufeira, Portugal
23. Restaurant Frantzén, Stockholm, Sweden
24. Amber, Hong Kong, China
25. L’Arpège, Paris, France
26. Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain
27. Le Chateaubriand, Paris, France
28. Aqua, Wolfsburg, Germany
29. De Librije, Zwolle, Netherlands
30. Per Se, New York, USA
31. L’Atelier Saint-Germain de Joël Robuchon, Paris, France
32. Attica, Melbourne, Australia
33. Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
34. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
35. Martin Berasategui, San Sebastian, Spain
36. Mani, Sao Paolo, Brazil
37. Restaurant Andre, Singapore
38. L’Astrance, Paris, France
39. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy
40. Daniel, New York, USA
41. Quique Dacosta, Denia, Spain
42. Geranium, Copenhagen, Denmark
43. Schloss Schauenstein, Furstenau, Switzerland
44. The French Laundry, Yountville, USA
45. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem, Belgium
46. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy
47. The Fat Duck, Bray, UK
48. The Test Kitchen, Cape Town, South Africa
49. Coi, San Francisco, USA
50. Waku Ghin, Singapore

May 5, 2014
Lucio Pizzeria

Review:

The first time we went to Lucio Pizzeria was because we asked a simple question to an Italian: Beside your home-cooking, which Pizzeria was closest to the ‘real deal’? The answer was quick and certain: Lucio Pizzeria. It is located on a nice side street in the buzzing suburb of Darlinghurst.

Entree

The best value for your money would be the antipasto misto (mixed appetisers), for $26 you got a whole range of stuff, including prosciutto, arancini, grilled eggplant, and olives. For big eaters like me, I strongly suggest this!

If the antipasto misto sounds a bit too much for you, maybe you can try its Fig and prosciutto, Zucchini or Calamari Fritti ($19). However, the portions were rather small.

Main Course

The unique thing about Lucio Pizzeria is that they only serve pizze (or its variation) for the main course. We have managed to order several of them (Siciliana, Fume, Tartufata, Bufalina) and agreed that the base was the best part of the pizza. It was crunchy and chewy at the same time!

The only other main course is calzone, which looked kinda like a folded pizza. I felt that the calzone had more fillings/toppings than the pizza.

Dessert

If you still can’t get enough of the pizza, feel free to order their Nutella Pizza for dessert. It was created using the same pizza dough as the main course, with nutella topping. If you like Nutella, then this is the dessert for you.

Alternatively, I suggest you to try their Affogato. They gave quite a generous serving of ice cream (two scoops) and a strong shot of espresso. The ice cream was pretty smooth and the extra touch of frangelico is always welcomed!

The final verdict for Lucio Pizzeria

Lucio Pizzeria is currently our favourite pizzeria in Sydney. There was a different feel to the pizza base than any other pizza joints! Granted that you might not be getting a big range of toppings, but that’s what pizze are in Italy!

Did you know?

Lucio Pizzeria does not accept bookings, so I suggest you to come to the restaurant early.

Also, being an Authentic Italian Pizza, they don’t do fancy toppings. So you wouldn’t be seeing something like cheesy burst crust with lobster toppings!

Rating:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.0 / 10

Price: $20 – $25 per pizza

Place: 8.5 / 10

Details:

248 Palmer St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9332 3766

http://www.luciopizzeria.com.au/

Apr 30, 2014
Rockpool

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Unfortunately, Rockpool has closed its doors in 2016. They are now rebranded as Eleven Bridge.

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Rating:

9.0 / 10 Taste: 9.5 / 10

Price: $79 for three courses

Place: 9.5 / 10

Review for lunch menu:

Neil Perry is probably one of the better known chefs in Australia, not only because he has quite a few up market restaurants in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne, but also Qantas’ consulting chef. We went to Neil Perry’s flagship restaurant, Rockpool, for a three-course lunch. Rockpool has just reintroduced lunch menu when they moved to Bridge Street at the end of last year. As expected, we won’t be doing the degustation menu for lunch.

Before any of the dishes arrive, customary (and complimentary) bread and butter were always served. There was also a side of ricotta cheese with a hint of olive oil for an added flavour. I really loved the combination of the butter with a hint of honey and sourdough bread. It really boosted the feeling that it was going to be a nice lunch.

Entrée

For the first entrée, we had rainbow trout ‘grenobloise’ with capers, lemon and butter sauce. The rainbow trout was excellent! The trout’s skin and the little grenobloise bits were really crunchy, but the meat itself was perfectly fried. However, the lemon butter sauce was too sour to my liking.

We also had chirashi zushi of squid, prawn, kingfish and tuna for our entree. The one thing stuck in my mind was this kimchi-looking thing that had very strong taste but without any lingering hot effects. The chirashi zushi had a beautifully balanced flavour.

Main

We originally ordered rib eye (that commanded an extra $20), but then the waiter apologetically said that the last rib eye was ordered just before he entered our order. Slightly not happy (but would have $20 cheaper bill), we then opted to go with Angus beef fillet, poached oysters, potato and prune terrine with a carpet bag sauce. After doing some ‘googling’ about carpetbag, oysters were actually a great combination for the steak.

The next dish was almost like eating a super fancy Chinese dish (that doesn’t involve shark’s fin or abalone), Suckling pig with shiitake oat porridge, preserved eggs, puff crackling and Ceylon spinach. The suckling pig was presented in a bread crumbs roll that resembled crackling skin of roast pork. It was quite a heavy dish with lots of meat and oat porridge. The heavenly bit was obviously when you reached its fat.

Sides

Since we switched the main dish, we also had a slight adjustment to the sides. Eventually, we ordered Rockpool salad with palm sugar vinaigrette. We were so happy that we made the switch! As a big fan of sweet stuff, I truly loved the palm sugar vinaigrette. It was so heavenly sweet and for salad haters like me, coming back for second was virtually impossible! … yet, I had my third and fourth bites!

Dessert

The ‘Strawberries and cream’ ricotta parfait with strawberry compote, crème Chantilly, sparkling wine was quite literally sparkling. I loved the sound of the parfait cracked open. It was actually a bit too sweet and I think that was because of the Moscato they used for the sparkling wine.

For the second dessert, we had Passionfruit soufflé with passionfruit ice cream. Delivered straight from the kitchen, I was recommended to cut a hole in the middle of the souffle and pop the ice cream into it. I loved how full of taste the souffle was. The combination of hot and cold also worked wonders!

The final verdict for Rockpool

Having lunch at Rockpool was probably one of the best lunches we had in life. Granted that having a three-course for lunch might be an overkill, but every dish was executed perfectly.

Did you know?

Rockpool Sydney has an interesting concept for its degustation menu. It starts at $125 for eight tasting item and one additional choice. They also have options for two and three choices as well as their wine matching.

Details:

11 Bridge Street, Sydney 2000

02 9252 1888

http://www.rockpool.com/sydney/

Apr 13, 2014
Maranellos

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: $12 – $16 lunch

Place: 7 / 10

Review for lunch menu:

There are a few Italian restaurants, pizzeria to be exact, in Maroubra Junction. Maranellos was the clear winner from the restaurant location’s perspective since this pizza restaurant is located right at the piazza of Pacific Square shopping centre.

On this occasion, we went to Maranellos for a quick lunch. The lunch menu is divided into three categories, easily named Menu A, B, and C (each with around six dishes to choose form), that has a flat value of $12, $14, and $16 respectively.

It is only obvious that we have to try the pizza on a pizzeria. Our choice fell to Pescatore pizza ($14) with toppings of mixed seafood, fresh garlic and parsley. The pizza was quite good and had the right crunch to it.

We were quite intrigue with the name and description of the next dish, Vitello Funghi ($14) – pan seared veal with button mushrooms and parsley in a white wine sauce. I felt that the dish was pretty sour with quite a strong lemon taste and the potatoes were super hot. I actually liked how the veal was cooked as it still has that tender and juicy taste to it.

Lastly, we also ordered Spaghetti Bolognese from the kid’s menu ($10). Personally, I am not a big fan of Spaghetti bolognese, especially the classic tomato and minced beef one. However, I think that the bolognese sauce tasted just like a regular bolognese sauce.

The final verdict for Maranellos

Maranellos offered a great value for a lunch menu. However, there is really nothing sparkly about the dishes.

Did you know?

We have also tried eating in Maranellos for dinner. However, you pretty much get the same thing for around twice the price.

Details:

51/737 Anzac Parade Maroubra

02 8347 0733

http://maranellos.com.au/

Apr 1, 2014
Chilis American Grill Bar – Singapore

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: S$23 – S$35 main course

Place: 7 / 10

Review:

Chilis American Grill Bar is located strategically right at the heart of Resorts World Sentosa. We went there just after a visit to Universal Studio Singapore because it was just around the corner!

I recommend you to try their Triple Dipper (S$24) as a starter. You could choose three dishes between their starter choices. It would then be placed on a share plate with three sauces of your choice. On this occasion, we chose Texas cheese poppers, Wings over Buffalo, and Southwestern eggrolls. The cheese poppers were pretty exciting with the additional pop from the jalapenos every now and then. The other two were okay.

Chili Shrimp Quesadillas (S$23) was our second dish of the day. Since it is American, they tend to use the word shrimp instead of prawn. Served with house-made pico de gallo and a side of sour cream, the quesadillas could have a little bit more time on the pan. However, the dish was presented pretty nicely.

There is a whole lot of Cs in our next dish: Crispy Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers (S$25). It was a spiced up version (with the addition of smoky honey-chipotle sauce) of the regular chicken crispers that came with sweet corn on the cob and homestyle fries. This dish was my personal favourite in the restaurant.

For the last dish, the name escapes me, it could have been Fajita trio (apologies for that). However, I can tell you that it is sort of a hybrid between quesadillas and fajitas with rice. They also have ribs and burgers which we didn’t try this time.

The final verdict for Chili’s American Grill Bar

Being at the heart of Resorts World Sentosa certainly enticed us to visit Chilis American Grill Bar, especially after a full day of fun at the Universal Studio Singapore. The Triple Dipper would certainly get things a bit more exciting to start with.

Details:

Resorts World Sentosa

26 Sentosa Gateway, #01 – 072-074 Singapore 098138

+65 6835-9077

http://www.chilis.sg/index.php

Mar 28, 2014
Petaling Street | Malaysian Hawker Food

Rating:

7 / 10 Taste: 7 / 10

Price: $11 – $18 main course

Place: 7 / 10

Review:

When I heard that Petaling Street opened in Kingsford, I was so happy. The first time I went to Petaling Street, I tried its Steamed Fish with Radish ($15.80). A whole fish for $15.80 (rice included) was actually quite rare in Sydney! You can actually stop reading here and just order that fish when you go there next time.

They have quite a few options to choose from and luckily I went with quite a big group once. This way, I can showcase what they have. For the entrée, we ordered Vegetarian Spring Rolls ($5.8), Roti Kosong ($6.5) – Malaysian roti with curry dipping sauce, and Chee Cheong Fun ($7.80) – a popular breakfast food that has a combination of rice noodles, fish balls with chilli and special sweet sauce. This is the essence of Malaysian Hawker Food.

If you would like a traditional Singaporean/Malaysian dish, you could always go for Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice ($11.50) – Traditional hawker steamed chicken with chicken flavoured rice and soup. The Hainanese chicken was as expected. We also ordered another traditional Malaysian dish in Petaling Street, the Penang Fried Koay Teow ($11.50).

My favourite dish in Petaling Street (after the fish) is the Mar Mite Chicken Ribs with Rice ($11.80) – Steamed rice served with Chicken ribs in Mar Mite sauce. I tried this dish out of curiosity and it turned out to be pretty good. I love how the marmite actually gave a unique sweet dimension to the ribs. They also gave you the main dish option for $ 16.8.

You could also order Laksa or Mee Goreng ($10.80) but on this occasion, I did not really try them. Unfortunately, just like many other Asian restaurants, service was its weakest element.

The final verdict for Petaling Street: Malaysian Hawker Food

Petaling Street offers plenty of Malaysian food choices. If you can overlook the service, the food they served was actually pretty good and affordable. I love their Mar Mite Chicken Ribs, but I think most would appreciate the $15.80 whole fish more.

Details:

Shop 4, 438-448 Anzac Parade, Kingsford NSW 2032

02 9662 8880

http://www.petalingst.com.au/

Mar 18, 2014