When Tara from VegeTARAian gave a shout-out for those interested to come along to a vegetarian degustation I put my hand up pretty promptly. I asked both Mac and Josh if they would like to come along.  Josh gave an instant excited ‘yes’ and I received an instant ‘not bloody likely’ from Mac.  Consequently two, not three places were booked to attend.

The Saturday of the degustation rolled around.  Josh looked like death warmed up on the lounge and was in the process of hacking up his second lung.   The first one was successfully hacked up earlier that morning.  He wasn’t going to be joining me that evening.

I needed to find a solution to this problem as I didn’t want to cancel a place at the 11th hour.  I knew this degustation was being specifically prepared for our group.  Phone a friend?  I could of, but I knew the ones I would of roped in already had plans.  My last hope, persuade Mac to come along.

We are no strangers to dining at Restaurant Atelier , we really do enjoy the food and service.  Even then, this was a hard sell.  After an initial ‘no’, to a ‘do I have to’.  I pulled out the ‘I am sure Darren (chef & owner of Restaurant Atelier) will slip you some meat’, I ended up finally with an, ‘okay, if I have to’.  Phew, mission accomplished. Read more →

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“Ahh, that is where Cafe Pacifico is” I exclaim, another restaurant on my ‘to eat’ list.  This exclamation comes as I scour Riley Street for our food destination for the evening, Food Society.  After spotting Cafe Pacifico, Food Society was hard to miss, it sits right next door.

We enter the grand entrance of this Eastern European, home-style restaurant, to be greeted warmly by staff.  We are led down the red carpeted steps to the cosy basement, and one of many wooden tables with mismatched chairs.  Food Society’s style is homely, with lots of bric-a-brac, meets designer chic.

We have an early reservation of 6.30 and the restaurant is basically empty.  This all changes around 9pm when the establishment is packed to the rafters and the only seating available is at the bar.

Being of Latvian decent, Eastern European cooking is close to my heart and makes up part of my soul.  It is the food my grandmother would make for me.  I am delighted to see family favourites on the menu as well as modern light twists. Read more →

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Concrete Blonde had been on my ‘to eat’ list for quite a while.  So when an invitation was extended by Concrete Blonde’s PR representative, Wassamedia, to attend a Sunday Jazz lunch with other bloggers, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.

On Sundays, Executive Chef Ian Oakes, has designed the perfect menu to accompany the smooth sounds of Jazz in the ‘balcony’ area of this sleek restaurant.  The menu is great value, 2 courses $40/3 courses $48.  It’s location on the 1st floor allows you to capture those soft cooling summer breezes while busy Bayswater Road bustles away below.   With the three piece Jazz band playing away in the background, order some cocktails, and have a very enjoyable afternoon indeed. Read more →

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I am desperately trying to catch up on my writing for Belly Rumbles.  This blogger is so far behind it is ridiculous, especially with restaurant reviews.

I had wanted to try District Dining for quite a while so I took the initiative and booked it for Fathers’ Day for the tribe.  District Dining is Warren Turnbull’s more relaxed sister restaurant to Assiette.  You can’t compare this Surry Hills bistro to the two hatted Assiette, their styles are just so different, but the food is fantastic at both establishments.

We are greeted by the friendly staff and shown to our table for our 12.30 booking.  The menu is designed to share and the tribe let me order our first course of various dishes.  I have had my eye on the menu for a while and was slightly disappointed when I was advised that they had already sold out of the crispy school prawns with lime mayonnaise and beef chimichanga with curry avocado.  The only plus side to this is that it gives me an excuse to head back, not that I really need one as the food was fantastic.

Bread, olive oil $4

Crispy pigs ears, szechuan salt $10

Prawn toast, soy mayonnaise $10 (3 pieces)

Crispy quail eggs, tarragon mayonnaise $14 (six pieces)

District chicken wings, chilli caramel $12

Steak tartare, aioli, french fries, sourdough $20

I fell in love with the crispy pigs ear, they are incredibly addictive.  Crispy, salty, porky, you could easily devour a few bowls while having a friendly drink.  The quail eggs are cooked to perfection with gorgeous gooey yolks.  The wings were recommended as they didn’t have the prawns, they are finger licking.  The steak tartare is something I would order again as it is beautifully balanced flavour wise.

Mushroom risotto, truffled mascarpone, parmesan crisp $25

Blackened king salmon, succotash, lime sour cream, crispy tortilla $28

Braised beef cheek, celeriac mash, parsley, horseradish $29

Parmesan Gnocchi, broad beans, veal shoulder, pangrattato $29

Pork chop, mash potato, apple $29

Green beans with anchovy & caper butter $7

I ordered the pork chop which was a special that day, it was massive, but incredibly juicy and had a decent portion of crackling.  Everyone else seemed very content with their meals, unfortunately Paul wasn’t too impressed with the beef cheek, he found the taste a little over powering.

Eaton mess $14

Dark chocolate brownie, macadamia brittle, white chocolate ice cream $14

Brillat savarin Normandy France triple cream white mould $12

Foarme d’ambert Normandy France creamy medium bodied blue $12

A couple went for dessert and others favoured cheese to finish off the meal.  I had the brillat savarin, creamy and delicious, perfectly ripe.  I nabbed a mouthful of Mac’s eaton mess and as simple as it was the strawberries we full of flavour and made your taste buds dance.

With making a few disastrous choices in the past for Mothers’ days and other tribal get togethers this time I chose a winner with District Dining.

Sara xx

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Good food and magic, what’s not to like?  There were a few special events happening at Lotus as part of March into Merivale, but when I read about the Abracadabra lunch, I just had to book.  On the day it ended up being just Josh and I attending as Mac graciously stayed home and baby sat the recovering Sally.

The set course lunch was $75/head for five courses and a cocktail on arrival.  We were given the option of enjoying specially paired wines at an extra $50/head to accompany the dishes.  I went for the wine pairing. Read more →

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Assiette has been on my “want” list for quite a while and what better way to try Warren Turnball’s two hatted restaurant than on a Friday for lunch. “Why Fridays?” I hear you ask.    That is because something magical happens on a Friday lunch at this Surry Hills establishment.  A three course menu for $35 dollars is available.  To be honest it almost sounds too go to be true and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

I had made a reservation for Ms Lily and myself months in advance and watched the weeks tick by in anticipation. On the day I was so excited I actually skipped breakfast and by the time we were seated in the white walled, dark wooden furnished walls of Assiette I was famished.

You do have a choice on Friday of their normal menu or the $35 special. We knew what we are here to try, even though quite a few dishes are calling our name from the standard menu.  On the special menu there is the option of two entrees, two mains and two desserts.  Ms Lily really is good to me and it is agreed that we will order one of each dish in order to have a taste of the whole menu. Read more →

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As usual when it is up to me to choose a restaurant for an occasion, I look at all my options and probably a lot more than I need to.  Planning is part of the pleasure, right?  The occasion this time was Mac’s 45th birthday.  I had actually looked at Monkey Magic for Josh’s 18th, but decided Zilver was better suited, but I was still keen to try them out as I really liked their set menu at $55/person.

One problem, Mac is not a fan of sushi or soft shell crab which were both on the set menu.  When I rang to make the booking for eight, there was no problem whatsoever in making a few alterations to the set menu. I found them incredibly friendly and accommodating, which was a pleasant surprise as I have found in the past some establishments won’t make changes.

A big smile graced my face as soon as I walked in, they had already won me over on the phone, but it was the decor.  Dark wood panelling on the walls, dark wooden tables and chairs all dancing in the glow of soft lighting.  So far all the boxes were being ticked. Read more →

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Are you like me and when you see the word “cafe” in an establishments name, you instantly think that it is a breakfast/lunch/grab a coffee venue?  Cafe Ish do indeed serve breakfast and lunch, but don’t let the “cafe” in Cafe Ish deter you from having dinner here.

I had wanted to out Cafe Ish for a while and my visit was spurred by the need of a restaurant somewhere between the airport and city to take a couple of work colleagues for dinner before the need to drop them for their flight back home to Italy.

What better than a restaurant that offers a fusion of Japanese and Australian cuisines.  I knew that they had crocodile and kangaroo on the menu, perfect for my two Italians.

There were five of us dining all up and we were early for our 6pm booking, the kitchen does not open up again from lunch service until 6pm.  Even though we were early we were greeted with open arms and invited to sit down at our table and enjoy a few drinks until the kitchen started up again.  Drinks came as well as some edamame which was greatly appreciated. Read more →

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Josh was studying for his HSC and we had to head in to town to check out a college that he was applying to study at next year.  If  I go anywhere with Josh during the day, no matter morning or afternoon, “what’s for lunch” is a question that I can bet money on being asked.  To be honest I had factored it in for a bit of a study break for him and my answer as we got off the train at Central was “let’s walk and see what we discover”.

That was the plan, I had nowhere in mind for lunch and as we walked up Elizabeth Street towards Wentworth Avenue we stumbled upon House.  I had read about a restaurant called “House” and what I had read was all good, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was the same “House”.

Being just before noon and a college tour around the corner at 12.45 we decided to go for it.  Once we sat down and perused the menu I realised  it was the same House I had read about and was pretty chuffed at our stumbling.

The cuisine at House is from the traditional area of Issan in North Eastern Thailand and is based on street food from that area.  Chef Sujet Saenkhan, of Spice I Am,  is behind the helm.

There is both an outdoor and indoor seating areas and as it was a gorgeous October day we decided on outside.

Josh has the Khao Moo Fod, fried garlic and pepper pork served with steamed rice, cucumber and house sauce.  Crispy coated tender pork with a chili hot “house” sauce.

I went for the Khao Bar Ped, roasted duck with steamed rice, cucumber, chou sum topped with roasted duck sauce.  The duck was very tender and flavoursome.  I loved the green chili which was served on the side.  This is where you excuse my ignorance, I have no idea what it was served with, I will say it was a mix of soy sauce and other, but oh wow was it addictive!  I scoffed the lot, every single chili piece was eaten.  Both meals were served with a light chicken broth.

We both decided we want an return visit with a few more people to be able to order a lot more dishes to taste.  The menu looked very interesting and from we saw and ate for lunch we are both pretty excited about discovering more.

Sara xxx

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