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.

Juju’s Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Juju’s has closed its doors for good.

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Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7 /10

Price Range: $15 – $20

Place: 8/10

Review:

There’s nothing better to close off the year with one of my favourite Japanese restaurants in town, Juju’s. This is a really nice place to have dinner with friends and families. They also have karaoke on weekends. There are no chairs in this restaurant. They try to emulate a tatami with a twist. You will still be sitting on wooden floor, but there is legroom under the table.

Getting a decision on which food to order is not a simple task. There are a huge variety of dishes on the menu and we decided to have some that we can compare the taste with. They have quite a few options for beverages, but this time I sticked to the good old Hot Green Tea, Genmaicha. We also ordered Grapefruit Yakult.

For the first dish we had Yukke. It is raw slices of marinade beef with egg yolk. Unfortunately the beef was a bit warm and did not taste fresh, but it wasn’t disappointing. Then came the Sushi Platter. It was the exact opposite of the Yukke. It was a decent-sized platter with nice assortments of Sushi.

The unexpected dish came next, Okonomiyaki. It was massive! Okonomiyaki is kinda like a savoury pancake with some vegetables and any kind of meat, then sprinkled with shredded seaweed and generous pour of Japanese Mayonaise. It might be too big for one person to finish.

The Bentos are definitely value for money as well. Whether it was Chicken or Beef Teriyaki Bento, they come with a big bowl of rice, miso soup, a portion of mashed potatoes, salad, agedashi tofu and Japanese pickles. The teriyaki was really nice. However, apparently we didn’t try the chef’s signature dish, Mentaiko Basa.

Last, but definitely not the least, are the dessert. First one was the all-time favourite, Green Tea Ice Cream. You’d expect that in any good Japanese restaurants, the ice cream and red bean would taste pretty similar. Our next dessert was rather unconventional, Tempura Ice Cream. I’ve never seen a dessert like this before. Green tea and vanilla ice cream covered in tempura batter with a hint of coconut put over raspberry sauce. It was a combination of hot and cold dessert.

The final verdict: It was a really nice place to have a good meal, and possibly go to one of the nice bars nearby afterwards. The dishes were nice and there was a quite innovative in Tempura ice cream, with the exception of Yukke. It was nice, but unfortunately I’ve tasted a much better one in a similar restaurant.

Did you know?

JuJu is located in Sydney’s red-light district, Kings Cross. The restaurant is located at the same block as the big Coca-Cola sign (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_Cola_Billboard,_Kings_Cross), one of Sydney’s infamous landmarks.

This restaurant is also pretty famous for a waiter who looked like Brad Pitt (seriously!), although when we were there the last time, he wasn’t there.

Location:

82-94 Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross NSW 2011

Website:

http://www.jujus.com.au/ (it doesn’t seem to work tho!)

Dec 30, 2010
Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant

Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6 /10

Price Range: $15 – $30

Place: 7/10

Review:

First of all, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This week we will have a double review. This is the first instalment of the review.

For the first one, I take you to the world of chili, or in this case, Red Chilli Sichuan (or Szechuan). Located at the heart of Chinatown, this restaurant was recommended by our friend. Upon glancing the menu, we knew that there were not many non-chili dishes.As with any other Chinese restaurants, the dishes’ names are loosely translated or just a list of what was in them.

Without further ado we start with the appetiser, Sliced beef, beef tongue, tripe and chilli sauce. Pre-boiled-then-chilled meat was immersed in chilli sauce. It was a nice intro to the chilli night and this one was not too spicy.

The next two dishes had the same attributes, except for the main ingredient. One was Hot pot beef with hot and spicy sauce and Chinese cabbage and the other one was Hot pot fish fillets. Although the pictures can’t really show, these two dishes were gigantic. For chilli lovers, I think they’ll be in heaven with this dish. The soup was literally a chilli pot. In my opinion, it was just too much: too much chilli and too big of a portion.

The next dish I couldn’t taste because there was an element of pork in it, although we specifically said to the waiter that we didn’t eat pork. I guess the poor underpaid girl didn’t really care anyway. It was Stir fried green beans with pork mince.

Two of the better dishes of the night came in last, westernised Kung Pao Chicken and Crispy Ducks. The chicken was an ok dish with some element of chilli in it. The crispy ducks on the other hand were great. They were fried to golden brown with extra crunchy skin. It was served with a nice brown sauce.

The final verdict: Another restaurant that I wasn’t fancy because of the super hot dishes. In addition to that, the service that we received was too similar to any cheap Chinese restaurants in Sydney, even when it charged a premium pricing. The only exception to it was the duck. It was very clean and crispy. It reminded me of how ducks are cooked in Indonesia.

Did you know?

When trying to find the website for this restaurant, I found out that it was part of a restaurant chain around Sydney.

Location:

Shop 3, 51-53 Dixon Street, Haymarket NSW 2000

Website:

http://www.redchilligroup.com.au/

Dec 27, 2010
Eiger Swiss Restaurant

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Unfortunately, Eiger has closed its doors for good.

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Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7.5 /10

Price Range: $35

Place: 7/10

Review:

This week, we will be taking you to the elusive dish from one of the best place in the world, Raclette of the Swiss Alps. Originated from the French word ‘racler’, which means to scrape, this dish was ‘found’ when farmers decided to scrape the melting cheese off a rock so that it won’t go to waste (http://www.raclette.com.au/raclette_info/what_is_raclette.html). It turned out that the type of cheese tasted better when melted.

Raclette is the national dish from Switzerland. I have never heard about this type of cheese-eating mechanism before my friend, Andrea, suggested me to this Eiger Swiss Restaurant. Apparently, Eiger is the only restaurant in Sydney to serve the Raclette. In order to enjoy this fantastic dish, you have to book two days in advance.

Before we go to the menu, I’ll show you what to do with the utensils on the table (it can be pretty intimidating for first time eater). You get a wooden scraper and a scoop-like metal. This is where you need to put your cheese in. Then there was a big double-decked griller in the middle of the table for maximum of eight people. The top is for sausages and the bottom one is for your scoop.

The Raclette came in a set menu for your total enjoyment. The set menu was simple. You will get 200 grams of Raclette Cheese (don’t worry it’s A LOT!!), A selection of Sausages, Pickles (Gherkins and Onions), and Potatoes.

Basically you’ll get a constant supply of these things. First thing to do is to heat up the cheese. Then you mash up the potatoes (or any other way you like). Pour the cheese all over the potatoes. You can add salt, pepper, and – ideally – paprika for your enjoyment. It’s wonderful to see the cheese slides thru the scoop to your potatoes. IMHO, the cheese does taste BETTER when heated up as opposed to eating it straight up.

At the same time, the sausages can be put on the top griller. Since sausages don’t take long to cook, make sure you keep an eye on them. The combination of this food created a (literally) warm feeling on the tummy. You will also get bread for starters, but I strongly suggest you avoid it, unless if you’re a massive eater.

In addition to the Raclette, this restaurant serves full course menu all native to Switzerland. Since my wife couldn’t eat too much cheese at this stage, she ordered Zurich Geschnatzeltes (Shredded veal in wine – mushroom –cream sauce). My friend told me that dish was also one of the national dishes of Switzerland.

The final verdict: I know that for Swiss people this is as close as it gets from home. And for Australian, it’s a great way to experience what the food is like on top of the Alps. However on this hot summer day, it’s a tad inappropriate to have this much carbs intake. Overall, it’s a nice food in a nice atmosphere.

Did you know?

This week’s Andrea is not the same as last week’s! Although this restaurant is only a couple of blocks away from Gioia.

Location:

552 Parramatta Rd, Petersham, NSW 2049

Website:

http://www.eigerswissrestaurant.com.au/eiger_001.htm

Dec 13, 2010
Café Gioia

Rating:

7.5 / 10

8.0 for Andrea’s effort!

Taste: 7.5 /10

Price Range: $20 – $30

Place: 7/10

Review:

Our friend, Tim, introduced us to this restaurant before I started this blog and we had a good impression of it. This time around, we decided to explore a bit more on the variety of menu they have. There were eight of us and we decided to get a four-person Antipasto, 2 large pizzas, a salad, Gnocchi, and Cannelloni. At the end of the day, they were more than enough to feed all of us.

Interestingly, the pizzas came in first, Lungomare, to be exact. This gourmet-range pizza had the freshest of ingredients with Salmon as the main attraction. The next one was Leichhardt Special. This one was very similar to one of the famous Pizza chains, Super Supreme. All of their pizzas are cooked in wood-fire pizza oven but somehow the Lungomare was much better than Leichhardt Special.

The next four dishes came at almost the same time, but luckily they were in the correct order. Salmon & Avocado Salad gave us a fresh and healthy salad with a hint of olives. What I like about it was the fact that there was a lot less ‘greens’ on the plate. The only salad in it was my all time favourite, Rockets!

The Antipasto was a little bit different. They had a fixed price for the first one, but there was a far less incremental fee for more than one portion. Technically speaking, Antipasto is the Italian starter for a dinner. It should have been the first dish that hit the table. It’s an assortment of cured meats, variety of cheese, and veggies. The combination of it creates an excellent and fresh antipasto.

The last two dishes were also great. First was Cannelloni. Two rectangular pastas filled with ricotta cheese (and possibly spinach and minced beef). It would be a good dish if the next one were not considerably better. Gnocchi Prawns and Asparagus was the pinnacle for the night. The combination of ultra-soft gnocchi and juicy prawns, served in orange-looking tomato sauce, was exquisite.

By now you might be wondering who this Andrea is. He is our waiter for the night. Claimed to be from both side of Italy, this Interisti truly entertained us with his energy, enthusiasm, and humour. With his efforts, this restaurant deserves an 8.0!

The final verdict: Everything that we ordered was great! From the perfect crust pizza, the invigorating Antipasto to the admirable Gnocchi! To top it off, the waiter gave us the perfect night with his positive personality.

Did you know?

Leichhardt is also known as the Little Italy in Sydney. It is famous for its Italian Quarter. Gioia is located on Leichhardt’s main street, Norton. They also have few private parking spaces, so if you’re early, you might be lucky!

Location:

126A Norton St, Leichhardt, NSW 2040

Website:

http://www.gioiacafe.com/

Dec 6, 2010
Ginger and Spice Singapore Restaurant

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 8 /10

Price Range: $25 – $30

Place: 7/10

Review:

It was really hard to decide which restaurant I was going to review after a fabulous night at Quay… but the show must go on and I chose Ginger and Spice Singapore restaurant. Reviewers described this restaurant as ‘a place to experience genuine street food as you might find in Singapore’ – No tone down, no westernised taste.

Upon arrival to the restaurant, we were greeted by the ‘usual’ Chinese-style waiting and I also caught a glimpse of an article about Tetsuya’s visit to the restaurant. We were a bit early and had to wait until our allocated time. However, as one of Sydney’s finest Singaporean restaurant, we were less impressed by the seemingly ‘standard’ table arrangements and menu.

As with any other Chinese restaurants, we ordered 5 dishes to be shared by the whole table. Unsurprisingly, their trademark, Hainan Chicken was brought out first. It was the only dish that they served in a nice leaf-like plate with three different sauces. It was the only-well presented dish of the night and the taste was also great. We had to wait for quite a bit for the next one, Beef Rendang, to come out. A classical Malaysian/Indonesian Beef with Rendang flavour. The meat was very tender and the sauce was also nice.

The third dish was Garlic Prawns, although to be honest, it was more like ‘a bunch of onions with some prawns on top’. It was our least favourite dish of the day because of the fact that it was too simple. We could just get it from any other Chinese restaurants for a much cheaper price, and not everyone got a prawn. Next one came the only veggies of the day, Long Bean Balacan. Another classical Asian dish, long beans stir-fried with real shrimp paste and some other yummy ingredients. This is one of the few vegetable dishes that I could actually enjoy.

Best one for the day, and came lucky last, was the Sweet Soy Calamari. Presentation wise, it was worrying, and we did not expect anything judging by the looks. However, on a first bite, it quickly became the dish of the day. The calamari was cooked to perfection, crunchy all the way. Since sweet soy sauce was also my favourite, the experience became extraordinary. For drinks, I ordered a Grass Jelly drink. This typical Southeast Asian reminded me how refreshingly different they were.

The final verdict: There is no doubt that in terms of quality, the food was excellent. Special credit goes for the Sweet Soy Calamari. However, lack of efforts put on interior design and staffs’ below-par customer service has made the experience a less satisfying one.

Did you know?

Neutral Bay is known as the mid-upper class place where over-priced restaurants are everywhere, unless you get the quality one.

Generally speaking, I always hesitate to go to Indonesian-like restaurant because of the exorbitant price when compared to real street food in Indonesia.

Location:

240 Military Rd, Neutral Bay NSW 2089

Website:

It’s surprising to learn that as a famous restaurant, they don’t have their own website.

Nov 16, 2010
Quay Restaurant

Rating:

9 / 10

10 for its Snow Egg!!

Taste: 9 /10

Price for Degustation: $210

Place: 8.5/10

Review:

Quay Restaurant is officially Australia’s best restaurant of 2010. It captured the crown from Tetsuya’s, which plunged on the world’s rating. One of its strengths was the restaurant’s location. It sits atop Sydney’s best spot with vintage view of both the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

We were indulged in eight exquisite tasting plates – with an additional appetiser, petits fours, and coffee and tea of our choice, from Sydney’s infamous chef, Peter Gilmore. We also specially requested to have their legendary Eight Texture Chocolate Cake since it was not on the degustation menu. There was also four types of sourdough bread that you could have as a side.

Amuse-bouche – Truffle and Consomme

This is the chef’s welcome plate. I am not sure what was in it or how the waiter exactly pronounced it, but this tiny plate packed up massive punch. Unfortunately for me, it tasted better than most of the entrees for the night.

Smoked eel & sea scallop pearl, horseradish

The name didn’t really reflect all of the ingredients of this plate. On top of the dish were two purple flower petals and edible silver foil. The next layer was the smoked eel and a ball of sea scallop pearl with a hint of horseradish sauce at the bottom. It was a simple and beautiful dish in a shell-like plate.

Salad of pink turnips & breakfast radishes, violets, olives, pine, resin, balsamico

Definitely my least favourite plate of the day! Basically, it’s a plate full of colourful vegetables in a bed of goat cheese. Granted that they must be the freshest and most exciting vegetables I’ve tasted, but at the end of the day, they’re still vegetables and I don’t like them. The goat cheese saved my day since it brought in flavour into the plate.

Gentle braise of pearl oyster, southern rock lobster, shaved squid, tapioca, lettuce heart, oyster cream, pea flowers

Our next entrée was a plate full of mashed up seafood. The seafood flavour was too rich to my liking and the vegetables did little help to neutralise it. There were slices of scallops that did not seem to be on the menu. It would have been much better if they would go easy on enhancing the seafood taste, since individually the seafood was excellent.

Butter poached coturnix quail breast, chestnuts, truffle, milk skin, and walnuts

The main course came in with a bang. Beautifully cooked and glazed quail breast was laid in a bed of chestnuts and a truffle with some nutty sauce. On its own the quail was pristine. Juicy, chewy, and yummy flavours all rolled into one. Combined with the nuts and truffle, it became unbelievable. One of my friend described eating it as ‘ I’m having my out-of-this-world moment’. It was just surreal.

Poached Blackmore wagyu fillet, Tasmanian wasabi, morels

The second main course was also breathtaking. Lightly poached marbled wagyu fillet accompanied by soft Tasmanian wasabi tasted extremely chewable and juicy. The soft meat was complemented by nice green spinach and green peas puree. I was amazed by the softness of the meat.

Braised Snapper Fillet (alt. Slow braised Berkshire pig jowl, maltose crackling, prunes, cauliflower cream, perfumed with prune kernel oil)

The pig jowl was in the degustation menu but we opted for the alternative Braised Snapper Fillet. Perfectly cooked fish fillet with white cucumber and tasty yellow sauce with a garnish of spinach. Although it was the least interesting of the three, the fish was very good. The alternative menu looked equally crackling.

Jackfruit Snow Egg

This one was made famous by the show Masterchef. Full-on gastronomy in action! It was an egg-shaped meringue with custard filling. Covering the egg was burnt caramel and sprinkles of powdered sugar. The glass’ base was filled with jackfruit granita (shaved ice with jackfruit flavour). This was a real stunner. You had to ‘crack’ the egg as if cracking a real egg. Then the soft egg whites would stick to the skin with ‘egg yolk’ dripping out of the egg. Taste wise? Heavenly refreshing!

Preserved wild cherry compote, coconut cream, chuao chocolate crumble, milk meringue crystals

This was supposed to be the heavy hitter that replaced their legendary cake. Presentation wise, it was great but it didn’t quite capture my tastebuds. The compote was excessively sweet. The combination of coconut and chocolate base was two of my least favourite dessert ingredients. We thought it was too heavy to be the last dish of the day.

Eight Texture Chocolate Cake

This one was out of the menu but we ordered it to fulfil our curiosity for Quay’s legendary cake. First it looked like a block of plain chocolate cake. Then melted chocolate was poured on top of it and created a concave into the cake.

Café Latte and Petits Fours

As a closure, there were café latte with 4 pieces of hazelnut chocolate and Bailey amaretto chocolate.

The final verdict: Quay totally deserved the title of this year’s best restaurant because of its innovative array of menu. Snow egg and Quail breast were my highlights of the day. I reckon they are much, much, better than the legendary Chocolate Cake. Decoration wise, the restaurant looked a bit out of date, but with a view like that, nobody would complaint.

Did you know?

As with any other ultra-famous restaurant, Booking is a necessity. You will not get a table if you just walk in – unless if you are Brad Pitt, I suppose. So, please book months in advance.

Unlike in Tetsuya’s, we actually did not meet Peter Gilmore in person.

Location:

Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, NSW, Australia

http://www.quay.com.au/

+61 2 9251 5600

Nov 1, 2010