dining out

hi all! hope you all had a great new year! it’s crazy that it’s already 2017! this post is on sorenzo, a restaurant in darling harbour – we went there twice!

the karaage chicken was so good. so so good. we weren’t planning on ordering it, but when it came out to another table we knew we just had to get it. crispy and hot, it was definitely a winner!

we also had the 7+ wagyu beef scotch fillet both times. the first time it wasn’t as tender and tasty, however, the second time we were there, it was deliciously charred and juicy. mash was really delicious.

the pork ribs with bbq sauce was okay, but not the best that we have ever had.

beef ribs, on the other hand, was really delicious, nicely charred and tender.

the chef’s selection tempura had light batter and huge prawns! it is better than crane bar’s which i also highly rate, and is perhaps one of the best tempura i’ve ever had!

for dessert, i had miso caramel ice cream; it was smooth and creamy and came with some chocolate soil which was yummy.

c had the salted palm sugar ice cream; it was okay and had an interesting (g00d) texture, however, the taste of palm sugar was lacking.

the restaurant has a really great view of the harbour. service is very good and prompt and the atmosphere was really good.

 

 

today’s post is an all you can eat buffet in star city, pyrmont! the harvest buffet is perhaps one of the most well known buffets in sydney, in the high profile building that also houses the star casino. if you are under the age of 18, try to bring along your drivers as you will not be allowed to cross the casino to get to the buffet, and will have to take a specific set of stairs to get to the buffet.

lets get to the good parts.

the harvest buffet is very popular for its seafood. naturally there is a long queue at the seafood section! this was the first station i hit and i got quite a lot of seafood. there were mussels, prawns, pipis, oysters and even crabs. the seafood was very fresh, all of them were delicious – i tried everything but pipis and mussels. absolutely smashing, especially the prawns.

there were also pizzas.  i didn’t try any of them, opting to instead save my stomach space for everything else. c had a few slices of pizzas but weren’t particularly impressed by the pizzas, instead commented that there was too little cheese.

on the asian bar, there were a lot of choices! the char koay teow was delicious and wonderfully oily. they also had green curry seafood and fried rice, both of which i thought were pretty standard fare. there is also a diy bao section where you can add delicious roast pork to a steamed bun, some leek and sauce. unfortunately i went a bit too far with the chilli and made it a bit too hot! the indian curries were really good. c and i both thought that the garlic naan complemented the curries really well.

for those who want healthier option, there was caesar salad. the vegetables were not cut to smaller sizes which made eating a difficult.

other food include bread, sushi and roast beef from the carvery! both were pretty standard. c was really disappointed that there was no roast pork belly, as there are food blogs mentioning how delicious it is! it may be just not our night for roast pork – i know that the food changes throughout the evening with different curries and noodles appearing one after another.

what happens after the main course?  dessert, of course! the dessert is amazing! i’m not much of a dessert person, much preferring savoury food but i tried a lot of different dessert options. the pistachio macaroons were really tasty. i had perhaps six to eight of the macaroons they were that good! for those who love getting a sugar hit, dip macaroons and marshmallows in the chocolate fondue.

the other parts of the dessert was great as well. my favourites were the cheese cake, green tea cake and the self-serve ice cream.

overall, what a great dinner. absolutely delicious seafood and asian food followed by a good dessert. loved it.

hi there! we’re on a restaurant roll, this time we went to the kirribilli hotel at milsons point! this is the first time that we have visited milsons point, although we had travelled past the station multiple times. the place itself has a lovely feel to it, with many units having a view of the harbour bridge  – i am sure that the occupants of these units are very popular during new years day every year!

anyhow, lets get back to the important stuff; food and drinks at the kirribilli hotel. since we have visited the woolloomooloo bay hotel recently we were keen for more ribs and steak and had ordered a very similar menu here at kirribilli hotel.

first up, the drinks! we ordered a stone and wood craft beer for me and a coke zero for c. the stone and wood craft beer was quite nice with lots more flavour compared to the usual corona/tooheys beer. we did get coke zero with no ice as previously ice filled more than half of the glass.

for entree we ordered chilli coriander salt and pepper whitebait ($17.50). the fish was wonderfully crispy, deliciously battered with a wedge of lemon. c wouldn’t eat any of it, as she couldn’t bear the thought of eating fish whole so i ended up with the whole bucket. 

for mains, i got the 250g eye fillet with sides of waffle fries and steamed vegetables with additional surf and turf (prawns and creamy white wine garlic sauce) ($40). The sauce and prawns were good, waffle fries deliciously crunchy. steak was a bit more done than i would have liked and i do think that the steak at the woolloomooloo bay hotel was better. that being said, i would still happily eat this! steam vegetables, well, it’s more of a need than a want.

c got the beef short ribs which consisted of sticky pomegranate bbq beef ribs with chips and salad. the short ribs were really nice and tender and chips were great as well. compared to the woolloomooloo bay hotel, however, i feel that the ribs were less fall-off-the-bone and prefer wooloomooloo’s.

we had a lovely time, the atmosphere was really good and the food was delicious. it’s a great place for a date or just a night out drinking with the mates!

hi! it’s been a while 🙂

t bought us a groupon voucher for up to $100 credit for food and drinks at the woolloomooloo bay hotel. we were sold by seeing ribs on their menu. after 15 minutes of walking (hiking) through the domain and passing the underground area near the station at hyde park, hearing some guys talk about robbing people with their hoods up, we were ready to smash down some food!

we got to the place just before sunset and we got a table facing the wharf. the view was really nice but we were mainly just checking out the taxi drivers fighting to cut the queue and other idiotic drivers! we initially wanted to sit inside but i felt like if we did, we wouldn’t have been able to talk to each other at all as it was so noisy inside. although towards the end, i was regretting not sitting inside right next to the amazing fireplace they had!

t ordered the 2 birds golden ale ($8.40) and i ordered coke zero ($5.20, 20% postmix + 80% ice -_-“). t said “the ale was dark and has a stronger taste compared to the likes of corona, asahi etc; still good, but not as easy to drink as the other ones”. he also got slightly tipsy just halfway through. but then again, he’s only had 3 packs of mie-goreng the whole day!

the food we ordered came out together at the same time. we were starving before we even sat down so we were hoping the wedges would at least come out first. anyway, i’ll talk about the food in order of preferred arrival! since we both love wedges, we ordered a bowl of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli ($9.90). the moment we got them, we had to shove a few down our throats as we were famished. the wedges were quite crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. i slathered mine in sour cream and sweet chilli sauce… so good.

we ordered surf and turf, 300g scotch fillet, prawns and béarnaise sauce and chips ($37) for t’s main. he said “the prawns are nicely cooked, scotch cooked medium as requested, chips are delicious”. I have to disagree with his comment on the steak. i think it was more between medium to well-done, but closer to well-done than medium. the creamy béarnaise sauce did make up for the cooking of the steak. so yea, i didn’t mind it!

for my main, i got the full rack pork ribs, bbq corn, chilli plum sauce and chips ($32). i absolutely loved the ribs! in fact i loved it so much that in my second go at the ribs, i may have swallowed a bone but i’m not sure. the meat fell off the bone and the fatty bits really disintegrated in my mouth. my only criticism would be moving onto the second half of the rack, there was a lot less sauce so there was a bit of a gamey taste to it. the salad was alright, made me feel healthier eating it! the corn and chips were ok too but chips got a little soggy!

we did not go for dessert as the menu was not too appealing. we wouldn’t have been able to eat dessert anyway haha! overall, a pretty enjoyable night but we got too cold towards the end and random people smoking around us made it a little less enjoyable. the bartenders were friendly but music/tv was way too loud in the bar area. just before we left, we ordered one more glass of coke zero without ice this time, probably contributed to why we were feeling so cold! we walked up many flights of stairs on the way back and burned off the calories, yay!

 

we’ve been a bit inactive lately! so in the next few weeks we will be aiming to post as much as possible! we went there for dinner a few months ago, and had a great time. crane bar is really pretty; make sure that you go inside the internal garden area!

we started off with 2 cocktails; i went for the dem melons and c went for the cause and the cure. we are both not much of a cocktail drinker but i found both cocktails to be good, and i definitely enjoyed my choice more.

we started off dinner with chips rolled in truffle oil and parmesan cheese. the chips are some of the best chips i have eaten, beautifully crunchy on the outside, fluffy in the middle and has cheese all over it.

we were then served the pork gyoza, which was pan fried and served with a sauce. while the gyoza was great, it wasn’t as exciting as the chips.

next up, tempura vegetables! delicious, and a large variety of vegetables served. my favourite is the shimeji mushroom tempura; something i have never eaten anywhere but here!

we also got gorgeous, which is sushi containing seared trout, scallops, cucumber and shallots in sweet sauce. this was to me one of the best dishes of the night, the seared trout and scallops were really sweet and delicious and c even ate the shallots which is a bit of a big thing!

our final dish for the night was grilled ocean trout with miso sauce. the ocean trout was cooked really well, the miso sauce was sweet and yummy; it was delicious, but i believe that the chips and the sushi really stood out tonight.

dear readers,

this is our final post on canberra (for now). we dropped by baan latsamy for our final meal before driving back to sydney. baan latsamy is located near the manuka shopping centre, opposite a gelatisimmo which we went for ice-cream immediately after the meal.

the restaurant is neat and clean. it was quite empty, although it was lunch.

we had the lunch special, which was expensive by sydney’s standards. $15 (if i remember correctly) gets you a dish with a drink. my favourite thai place in sydney (now closed down – not ben’s thai) costs $8.50 without a drink. the good news is that the drink includes a coffee, so i got a flat white, which was reasonable:

we ordered a beef pad see eew. the dish was okay, nothing terribly exciting about it, but not bad either.

pad thai here, i would say, is better than other restaurants. for starters there’re prawns, and i love prawns! it was generously coated with peanuts and was utterly yum.

the last dish we got was a fried rice with chicken satay. thai fried rice is awesome, and this one did not disappoint. chicken satay was good too, with the peanut sauce.

price? not so great. taste? awesome. might be back.

hi all,

today’s post will be on a restaurant in.. canberra! this one is in griffith, close to where all the embassies in canberra are.

pheast manuka looks like a new restaurant, which seems to have opened fairly recently.  its got a nice decor and a great outdoors area. area is nice and clean. finding seats were slightly difficult, however, that only just shows how popular this place is!

we made our orders and drinks came first. have a look at diet coke and asahi beer!

for food, we ordered pork ribs with steamed vegetables and salad, and pork ribs with chips and steamed vegetables. while i find the steam vegetables and chips okay, i think the pork ribs were delicious. they were slightly spicy, and the meat just fell off the bone; i can’t recommend this dish enough! the only downside is the cost; $42 each!

the other two ordered angus scotch fillet ($32) which came with your choice of sauce and sides. i have to say that garlic cream sauce was delicious when mixed with the mash. steak was good to eat on its own, and i do not recommend mixing steak with sauces, as you lose that meaty flavour. as far as steak goes, both were ordered medium, both arrived medium and they were great! its probably more value for money compared to the pork ribs.

all in all, the food was great, however, going there would have to be a special occasion.

dear readers, t is back again after a 4 month hiatus. we barely went out to eat these days except for our usual haunts, and  c has prepared up a post on ipoh on york which we went very recently.

today’s post is a bit special, it’s on cockatoo island which is located near to sydney harbour. for those not in the know cockatoo island used to be a prison; you can see the remains, including a basketball court which is always present in prisons! the view, however, is great – see the photo below for a view of the sydney harbour bridge and the city from the island.

there is only one bar on the island, appropriately named the island bar. here you can get a variety of food, but most people are there for the booze!  i suggest you visit the shipyard remains around the island before heading to cool off at the bar with some good food and drinks.

we had the boscaiola, which consisted off tomato, mozzarella, sausage, olives and mushroom. i love boscaiola sauce and this didn’t disappoint; the taste was great and toppings were plentiful.

another dish we had was the calzone, a wrap consisting of tomato, mozarella, salami and baby spinach. while slightly oily it was a great dish. i do not have favourites between this and the boscaiola, but c loved this one and proclaimed it king of the 2 dishes.

there was also a large variety of drinks, too many to try, so we had the able seaman cup which was absolut vodka, cinzano bianco, fresh lemon juice and orange bitters with lemonade. it was deliciously sweet and refreshing; i loved it, and this is coming from a person who doesn’t like spirits.

my friends had bourbon and coke, but as i didn’t have it i can only show you photos of how they look like: