Sydney
November 2, 2010 | 
Author Fresh off the plane with a tummy filled with only a Qantas savoury muffin I was grateful that the car-park gods had granted us a space. While there are lots of sights to take in around The Rocks in Sydney I’d have time for that for later when I knew I would be making my way very slowly back to the car clutching my belly full of deliciousness. Right now we had to move at a brisk pace to get out of the frosty wind and also because I was starving in anticipation of the meal ahead.
Sake is Shaun Presland’s baby. You might remember him as the charming sushi ninja from season 2 of Master Chef Australia. Actually I’m pretty sure you would remember him from that moment you seductively whispered “feed me” to your television. Your partner probably then said “what did you say?” after which you told him to shut up, all the while with your eyes glued to the screen.
Before I start showing you the food we ate, the food which I wouldn’t stop talking about for all through our time in Sydney and for days after we got back, the food that I keep dreaming about, and the food that I plan to eat and make everyone I know eat once they open their Brisbane restaurant in the next month or so (YES! You heard me!)… actually I’ll just show you the food now.
Starters:
Sashimi tacos – Two petite tacos, one tuna and one salmon, topped with a chilled tomato salsa accompanied by two Kozaemon Junmai ‘sake shots’. This was one of the highlights of our meal and I believe I had these when I was at Nobu in Melbourne too (Shaun Presland was previously at Nobu). I had to share this with my husband, but I really wish
I hadn’t.
Seaweed Salad – 5 different kinds of seaweed with bonito infused vinaigrette. I loved the different colours and textures of the seaweed.
Salt & Pepper Tofu – Fried with a crispy coating with some chilli and spring onion, this is one of my favourite ways of eating tofu.
Chicken Wing Gyoza – Chicken wings stuffed with a gyoza filling of garlic chive pork mince, which are then fried and served with a dipping sauce. My two favourite foods, dumplings and chicken wings, combined into one glorious dish.
Wagyu new style – thin slices of wagyu beef lightly seared with hot oil and finished with ginger, chives and yuzu soy. Beautiful flavours and wagyu that melts in your mouth.
Kushi Katsu – wait for it.. fried panko crumbed…. PORK BELLY! I highly recommend that you eat this because it’s the best thing that anyone has ever katsu’d.
Mains:
Popcorn Shrimp – bite sized pieces of prawn cooked in a tempura batter and mixed with a spicy creamy sauce. These were incredibly moorish and even Issy, who has an allergy to prawns, kept eating them.
Miso-cream scallops – pan-seared scallops with baby corn, asparagus, shiitake mushrooms and yuzu miso-cream. I loved the miso-cream sauce and are a perfect match for the beautifully cooked scallops. I was also pleasantly surprised that the baby corn actually tasted like young fresh corn.
Miso-butterfish – grilled with pickled radish. My husband and I have been in love with miso-grilled fish ever since we had the miso black cod at Nobu and Sake certainly does not disappointed with their version. The flesh is tender and the miso marinade just works so well with the fish.
Sushi Maki & Sashimi:
Just to save time and repeating myself, all of the sushi and sashimi we ate were fantastic and I would happily order all of them again.
Kingfish Jalapeno – Thin slices of Hiramasa Kingfish in yuzu soy topped with thin jalapeno slices and coriander. The jalapeno doesn’t really add spice to the dish but gives a contrasting crisp texture to the silky slices of kingfish and cuts through the flavour of the yuzu.
Nixon – grilled eel, cream cheese, cucumber and tempura crunch with avocado slices on top.
S Express – Tempura scallops, spicy mayonnaise, cucumber, seared salmon on top with witlof and sweet sauce. For us the witlof tasted really bitter so we just ate the sushi maki.
Dessert:
Just because I can’t say no to dessert and I love cooked banana we ordered the banana harumaki – banana shiso and caramel spring rolls with raspberry apple dipping sauce. I think in hindsight I should have chosen something else. I liked this dessert but we had just had some beautiful fresh tasting sushi and sashimi and it seemed a shame to end it with something fried. Next time I’ll have the green tea cheese cake with vanilla fruit jelly… Mmm.
Here’s my Bang On! cocktail – Shochu, apple & rhubarb syrup, watermelon & vanilla sugar.
And so that is all the food that I ate with my husband and Issy (yes only three people ate all that food).
I am eagerly awaiting the opening of Sake’s Brisbane restaurant and I have been telling anyone who cares to listen about it. Maybe I will see you there, I’ll be the one not sharing my sashimi tacos.
Posted in 
Adriano Zumbo
296/308 Darling St, Balmain NSW
(02) 9555 1199
![IMG_3270 [640x480]](../wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3270-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_3270 [640x480]")
Sitting delicately on the tart, is a packet of pink fairy dust. I made a wish and sprinkle these mini sparklies onto the pastery. No I am not at a children’s birthday party- I am actually at Adriano’s Chocolate Cafe, eating “Weekend in the Cross” from Zumbo’s patisserie, reliving my fantasy as a kid, sprinkling my fairy dust everywhere 
As Adriano’s whimsical creations work his magic in my gob, I couldn’t help but wonder: what’s going on in Zumbo’s mind? How did he create this wonderfully unique desserts, like the one I am eating? Moreish pistachio crust, brulee subtly scented with a hint of rose, a topped with sweet, fresh raspberries, juicy watermelon… every single bite is unique and every bite delights. The pink fairy dust? It’s watermelon powder- yum yum!
![IMG_3269 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3269-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_3269 [640x480]")
Hubby’s Not-too-shabby is seriously an understatement. Flourless biscuit, muscavado creme brulee, plantation chocolate mousse, chocolate malt creme legere a topped with a thin layer of tempered chocolate, is a slice of haven. Although I didn’t actually get to try too much of it (without hubby stabbing a fork through my hand!!), it was excellent and a must-have for dark chocolate lovers.
Each layer had a slightly subtle difference in texture, the chocolate mousse is light and fluffy like clouds, tempered chocolate snaps delightfully between my fingers- Mmmmmm
Zumbo also sells Macarons and being Zumbo, all the flavours are unique. Anything from sweet corn, saffron & vanilla to mango & sticky rice- I just couldn’t imagine how these flavours could mix! Sadly I didn’t get to try the macarons and I have regretted this ever since!!
Mmmmm I wonder whether I could kidnap Zumbo and force him to open a patisserie in Melbourne? 
![IMG_3268 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMG_3268-640x4801.JPG "IMG_3268 [640x480]")
Quay Restaurant
Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney 2000
(02) 9251 5600
![IMG_2754 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2754-640x4801-300x225.jpg "IMG_2754 [640x480]")
Named Restuarant of the Year by the Age and GT two years in a row makes QUAY my to eat list when I go to Sydney. I went there with high expectations and I feared the Quay would disappoint me, especially with the weird decor they had- tacky plastic shower curtains-like decorations, mirror on the ceiling..etc… yikes. But you know what, the decor is the only “disappointment” for the night. The evening’s dinner is sublime, the service is friendly, knowledgeable but unintruding.
In the evening you can choose either a dinner menu ($155 for 4 courses) or their signature menu ($210 for 8 courses). Both menu features modern Australia style food with an Asian influence. For those who know me, I am extremely cautious about “Asian influence” as normally it means asian food being screwed up beyond recognition- but this meal is beyond my imagination and took Asian cuisine to the next level.![IMG_2757 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2757-640x4803-300x225.jpg "IMG_2757 [640x480]")
We chose the 4 course dinner. The amuse bouche is tuna with tapioca “pearls”. It was beautifully presented with a delicate little flower on top. The tuna is so fresh which just a hint of saltiness, with the chewy texture of the pearls and the creme fraiche it makes a yummy play on textures. This certainly sets the scene of what is to come next.
Our entree is Sea Pearls ($20 supplement)- 5 colourful round balls, the treasures of the sea. Clockwise from the top there’s salty tuna & caviar; the smokey octopus, egg white and smoked eel; subtle mud crab with tapioca pearls; abalone suspended in dashi consumme; sea scallops w/wasabi flowers. This looks so beautiful that I stared at it for ages before I ate it!
![IMG_2771 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2771-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2771 [640x480]")
Second course, Hubby had crisp confit of pig belly, braise of abalone and cuttlefish, handmade silken tofu, Japanese mushrooms, chive flowers. This is so delicious also, but Hubby teased me by just giving me a little tiny bit at a time, so I couldn’t really taste the true mixture of flavours and textures 
Yet what I had was fantastic, the crispy suckling pig is not too fatty.
![IMG_2773 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2773-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2773 [640x480]")
My second course was the Five textures of Southern rock lobster.
Clear lobster bisque with silken tofu at the bottom which absorbs all the flavours of the lobster bisque.
Sitting next to this bisque is a trio of lobster texture: lobster foam at the top with some snow pea sprouts, a disc of lobster meat and lastly lobster dumpling in the bottom.
I love the intensity of the lobster bisque and the tofu that absorbed all the essence, but after having that the trio of lobster texture tasted a bit bland. I wonder if I should have eaten the trio first…
![IMG_2774 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2774-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2774 [640x480]")
For the third course hubby had Free range chicken breast cooked sous vide style, truffle butter, baby radish, spring onions, garden peas, garlic cream, pea shoots. The chicken is so tender, and although poached, so flavoursome. Once again this dish is dotted with pretty miniature flowers and micro vegies that features in so many Peter Gilmore’s dish.
![IMG_2775 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2775-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2775 [640x480]")
My third course is a Bass Groper, parsley crust, slow braise of baby abalone, periwinkles, sea scallop, winter melon, hasuimo, green tea and seaweed consomme.
This dish is very gingery which is normally a flavour I dislike, but this dish is so fresh and simple that I love it.
To choose a favourite dish would be hard, but the desserts are the grand finale of this decadent four course dinner.
![IMG_2786 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2786-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2786 [640x480]")
A pile of raspberries, violet, almond, vanilla cream sitting prettily on a plate is hubby’s choice of dessert. There is a fresh burst of flavours in every bite. It is especially good with the Moscato di Asti. Yum!
![IMG_2787 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/IMG_2787-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2787 [640x480]")
Eight texture chocolate cake featuring Amedei ‘Chuao’ Chocolate- yum yum! I love chocolates and I’ve heard other diners raving about it. It started out perfect- a smooth disc of dark chocolate covered what lies underneath. Then the waiters pour molten chocolate into the centre and the middle just melts…divine…
Tags: Spice I Am
Cuisine: Thai
http://www.spiceiam.com/eatin-takeaway/index.asp
90 Wentworth Avenue
Surry Hills, Sydney
Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday
Lunch: 11:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
I love thai food. I read about Spice I AM from a deck of cards on where to eat in Sydney. A friend of mine who lived in Thailand for a year and regularly goes back to Thailand for the food decided to give it try. Sadly, it was closed when we went there at 11am. So she went later that night with her family and said it was the BEST Thai she has had outside of Thailand. I decided i had to try so i went there the next day for dinner.
J and I had to wait about 45 minutes for a table but thats to be expected from a restaurant that has won heaps of awards. They do not take bookings for dinner and are extremely busy. The place is really small but the staff are efficient and polite. So get there half an hr before you’re hungry and give them your number. They will call you when a table is ready.
We sat down in the corner of the shop next to some people who were obviously suffering from the spicyness of the food. I was excited cause I love spicy and can never get spicy enough. The waitress came over promptly with cold water and menus. She came back to take our orders about 10 mins later. I ordered fried fish balls with peanut chilli dressing, spicy fried rice and basil cripsy pork belly. J ordered pad thai.
The fish balls were delicious. They were springy and salty and sweet with a hint of chilli. I liked it very much and so did J.
The spicy fried rice was very spicy. So dont say i didnt warn you. Its not for the faint hearted. I truly enjoyed the spicyness but i think most people would find it too spicy. The fried basil gave the fried rice a special texture and made it so fragant.
Basil cripsy pork belly is a signature dish of theirs and it was one of nicest pork dishes i have ever had. The pork belly was so crispy and there was no strong pork taste. It was so well balanced with the chinese brocolli and basil. A must try.
The pad thai was good too. As good as any other Thai place. The portion was big too.
I went back last week cause i really wanted to try their Tom Tum noodle soup. They only serve it for lunch. It was very unlike normal Tom Yum soup you would get in most Australian Thai restaurants but it was very delicious. It was very authentic Thai. I have not had tom yum soup like this outside of Thailand.
J had Nam Khao Tod which is crispy rice salad with Thai pork sausages, chilli powder and ground peanuts. For someone who doesnt like salad, J ate this pretty quickly and only offered me one bite. It was very flavoursome and full of texture because of the crispy rice bits and soft sausages and peanuts. This is not a dish for those who are allergic to peanuts.
Overall i’d give Spice I AM a 9/10 rating. They get full points for food but the prices are a little steep and unless you have a big group and are able to share a few dishes I would be hard pressed to eat there regularly. =(
Rhodes Phoenix
Cuisine: Chinese, Yum Cha
Level 5, Rhodes Shopping Centre
Off Homebush Drive
Yum Cha – Mon to Sat, 11am – 3pm
Sunday, 10am – 3pm
It’s my birthday! Well it was my birthday, and what a better way to start the day than with YUM CHA!
Do not be fooled by stories of unimpressed diners of other phoenix restaurants, Rhodes Phoenix was one of the best Yum Cha restaurants I’ve been to in Australia. There are a few Phoenix restaurants in Sydney, and we passed on in Manly that looked tiny and had heard that the food at others was not so great. But Rhodes Phoenix is a very large restaurant and does not feel as cramped as some other places offering Yum Cha. You do not feel as though carts are going to crash into you every 2 minutes and your chair is not pressing against the chair of the person behind you, making getting out of and into your seat an intimate challenge.
I had read a few comments about the restaurant, people complaining about service and speediness of the food. But there are a few things you should really know about Yum Cha to make the most of your experience. The first is not to expect 3 star or 3 hat hold the chair out while you sit down service. This is not what Yum Cha is about. The restaurant needs to serve a very large amount of people all at once, and very quickly, so that even more people can come in. At peak times there can be up to a 45 minute to 1 hour wait outside, so the many wait staff there do not have time to have a long conversation with you, in fact they will say as little words to you as possible. But its okay, its all about the food!
Secondly, if you want the best choice of food, then don’t go there at 2pm if the service stops at 3pm. I’m not sure I’d even go at 1pm. My personal rule with Yum Cha is to go before 11.30pm at the very latest. This will mean a shorter wait (although you can still expect to wait up to half an hour or 45 minutes if its a very popular restaurant).
Our aim was to get to Rhodes Phoenix before 10.30am but we managed to get there at 11am. Still not so bad, and we were told we only had to wait 30 minutes. We grabbed our ticket and decided to go look at some shops to kill time. We came back about 25 minutes later and went up to the counter again to check if our number had been called (sometimes if you do this it will remind them that you are there and sometimes you can get a table sooner, but its really pot luck). We were then seated straight away and didn’t have to wait more than a minute for a cart to arrive.
We found that there were a lot of carts at this time of day and they would pass us quite a few times. If there’s something you really want and you can’t see it don’t be afraid to ask for it. They may seem abrupt or busy but if they can, they will help get it for you, after all they want you to eat as fast as possible so they can turn the tables. So enough of my defence of the Yum Cha culture, here is the food!
Deep Fried Dumplings with a prawn filling.
I was very impressed with the variety of dumplings available, no typical har gow in sight, and they were all very tasty. Your cart hostess will explain the different fillings to you, just ask!
Prawn and something dumplings, I forget what it was.
Again I think this was prawn meat with vegetables on top.
Fried Calamari, very nice. And I did notice that everything was nicely fried, not too tough and it looked like either we got the right day of the week or something like that because you could tell everything was fried in fresh oil.
Yes, it was my fault this was eaten before I took the photo. I was very hungry and this is one of my favourites at yum cha. Prawn paste wrapped in a bean curd skin and deep fried. Mmm.
More dumplings, I think this time it was prawn and pork meat with some vegetables.
Baked pork buns!! Yay!
Steamed BBQ Pork buns… mmm. Everybody loves these.
These clams/pippis were something different as far as my yum cha experiences go. They were very nice and I ate most of them.
Delicious fried pork belly, with a wasabi mustard sauce. I preferred to dip mine in the sweet sauce from another dish, or just have it plain.
Pork ribs in yummy sauce.
These meat balls were nice except that we poured vinegar on them thinking it was soy sauce and it overpowered the flavour.
Dessert time!
This is one of my favourite yum cha desserts, the mango crepes. They are crepes filled with cream and pieces of mango. So cool and tasy. The crepes here were a little too floury for my liking, but the mango and cream helps you to quickly forget.
We waited a very long time for this dessert. It was served out of a hollowed out watermelon and we had let the cart pass a few times before we decided we were ready for dessert. If you are even half way through your meal and the dessert cart comes by, its a good idea to just get your dessert then and let it sit waiting for you on the table. This will save you considerable time waiting for it later. Finally we decided we’d go after the cart ourselves but a waiter came by to ask if we needed something so he went after it for us instead.
This watermelon and grass jelly dessert was really nice, and even more tasty when we asked them to give us more sugar syrup! Mmm, delicious.
Overall it was a lovely meal and I would definately go back again. Check it out if you are ever in the area and if you eat too much you can do what we did which was to walk it off with a trip around Ikea.
Kobe Jones – Sydney
Cuisine: Japanese
29 Lime Street
King Street Wharf, Sydney
Ph: 02 9299 5290
I have been with my Mr Monky now for five whole years and we’ll be getting married in August. So this is a super special five year anniversary post.
I spent a lot of time researching where to have our anniversary dinner before our trip to Sydney. There were of course the big names in Sydney dining such as Tetsuyas, but we decided to save some money so we could hire a nice car for the whole weekend. But spending less money never means we’re eating anything less delicious and we were certainly not disappointed with our meal at Kobe Jones.
This lovely Japanese restaurant sits facing King Street Wharf in Sydney. Even if you do not sit out on the balcony, you get just as lovely a view from inside. It didn’t take us long to decide on having the “Perfect for 2″ degustation style menu for $95 per person.
While waiting for our first course I ordered a very tasty cocktail. It was fruity and refreshing, but I have been a bad food blogger and forgotten what it was called. I’m almost certain it had sunset in the title.. but as always I get distracted by the food.
First up is the Number One Special. A crab salad with avocado wrapped in a piece of seaweed and then a very thin slice of snapper and baked with Kobe Jones secret sauce. The outer part is a cheese layer. This was so tasty and we noticed that a lot of other diners were ordering the same thing. It was a bit like a big sushi but with no rice. Oh I want more!
Next up was the Kobe Jones’s Flavour Sixophony.
In this shot glass is salmon in ponzu jelly. This was probably my least favourite of everything I ate that night. It was a very strange texture for something salty and fishy and I am still trying to warm to very fishy flavours.
Then there were the two pieces of sushi, one called the Caterpillar (unagi, crab salad, cucumber with avocado on top) and the other an Alaskan crab sushi.
There was also the Lollypop sushi, which is tuna, snapper, salmon, crab salad, asparagus and smelt roe wrapped in a thinly peeled cucumber with a soy sauce vinaigrette. This was so nice, the fish pieces were extra fresh and I had no problem eating them being new to the world of sashimi.
Another of the sixophony was the Seafood Poke which was Hawaiian style sashimi cubes marinated in poke sauce. Again the fish was very fresh and the poke sauce had a nice sesame oil flavour. I loved this one and could definitely have eaten more.
Last but not least was the T&T or succulent cherry tomato filled with Kobe Jones’s special salad topped with a tangy stick of beef, tataki style. Definitely ate this one too quickly, wish it could have lasted longer!
Next we had the Carpaccio Scallop which was scallop sashimi seared and drizzled with wasabi dressing. We kind of found out the hard way that it was wasabi dressing, but after the first one we were able to be a bit more conservative with it. So succulent!
Next was a mouth watering Miso Citrus Lobster Tail, a grilled green lobster tail served in a miso citrus sauce on a bed of steamed vegetables and wafu thermidor sauce. I could have licked the plate clean I loved the sauce so much. The lobster was perfectly cooked and there was much of it. You may have to fight over the last piece. Hopefully your partner loves you more.
Next up was a palate refresher, a small scoop of black sesame ice-cream. I love black sesame ice-cream and this had a very real flavour to it, and you could even feel the texture from the crushed sesame seeds.
Our next course was very exciting, as it was the Tajima Wagyu, served on a hot rock plate with mushrooms and dipping sauce. The beautiful wagyu comes out in raw cubes and your waiter rubs a piece of wagyu fat over the plate to season it. It is then up to you to cook your wagyu just the way you like it. There were two sauces to go with the meat, one with miso and again I wish I took the time to remember what the second was instead of mentally yelling at the wagyu to cook faster so I could eat it. I don’t think it would have mattered how long we cooked the wagyu for, it would still have been tender and tasty.
Lastly was the Ama Ozen, or in English, a big platter with a silly but welcomed number of desserts on it.
There was a macaroon, I think either raspberry or cherry, or some kind of berry at least, topped with a liqueur soaked cherry and a piece of gold leaf. Then there was the strawberry pieces and cream topped with a nutty, sweet kind of fairy floss. There was the mini creme brulee which tasted like a little vanilla pudding. The green tea tiramisu topped with a piece of chocolate. Two long sticks of chocolate.
Two pieces of cheese cake dressed with fruit to look like sushi. One was topped with strawberry, the other with mango.
This dinner was so filling, but so enjoyable. And we did not have to wait very long for the food to start arriving at our table. The restaurant does seem to get busy on a Friday night, but lucky for us Brisbanites we seem to eat earlier than others and we managed to beat the crowd. Booking certainly helped and I recommend you do this if you plan to visit. Afterwards we took a nice walk back along the wharf and crossed the footbridge to the other side of the water. Awww, how romantic!
