Posts Tagged ‘Seafood’
September 3, 2009 | 
Author Mures Lower Deck
Victoria Dock, Victoria St, Hobart
03 6231 2009
![IMG_2317 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2317-640x480.JPG "IMG_2317 [640x480]")
Mmmmmm Freshly shucked oysters… nothing like freshly shucked oysters to get my hubby’s mouth watering- I am pretty sure that he can eat 4 dozen if he’s really hungry.
To be honest, at first, we were disappointed. We got to Hobart at about 8:30pm and had some dinner @ Orizuru, but desperate to get more fresh oysters in our bellies, we went to Mures Seafood next door at about 9:30pm, demanding oysters. Sadly the poor little left over tray of oysters must have been sitting there for the whole day, it doesn’t taste very good at all.
We also got a basket of scallops- the scallops are still really fresh, lightly crumbed with a serving a chips. It’s a bit oily though.
Because our first impression wasn’t THAT great, we were a bit hesitant to visit again. We were glad that we did.
![IMG_2319 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2319-640x480.JPG "IMG_2319 [640x480]")
We went there quite early in the day, where they are freshly shucking oysters, busily filling up the seafood cabinet…. Mmmmm… maybe things will look up from here…
And they did. This time we ordered 2 dozen oysters, and eyeing on their tuna and salmon, ordered tuna and salmon sashimi.
![IMG_2324 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2324-640x480.JPG "IMG_2324 [640x480]")
The guys behind the counter happily agreed to cut the sashimi for us, so we raced off to Orizuru next door to buy some wasabi 
Okay, so the sashimi is not as finely cut as Orizuru and it’s dumped into a plastic bag and wrapped in butcher’s paper, but it’s one of the freshest sashimi I’ve ever tasted, and it was much cheaper than eating in a restaurant too! YUM! I wanna go back there again!
Of course this time the oysters are perfect- really fresh, sweet and succulent. We didn’t even have lemon (cos it’s cheaper to get it takeaway!), but it was really very fresh.
We will definitely come back, definitely when it’s early in the morning for raw seafood. I just wish that they’re ethical enough to tell us at 9:30pm at night the oysters are not as it’s best instead of selling us the oysters. Oh well, it’s karma isn’t it, cos now I’ve blogged about it and people will know 7/10
Jellyfish Restaurant
Cuisine: Seafood
Boardwalk Level, Riverside Centre
123 Eagle St, Brisbane Queensland
Ph: (07) 3220 2202
www.jellyfishrestaurant.com.au
Standing along the Brisbane river on a brisk night I drank in the sight of the Story Bridge lit up on my left and the Kangaroo Point cliffs reflecting off the water to my right. But the Jellyfish Restaurant sat behind me and like a siren drew me closer, convincing me it was going to be much nicer waiting for my guests inside and to order a sweet cocktail and start poring over the menu.
We started with some cocktails.
Deciding on entrees was difficult because I wanted to try all of them. In the end we managed to pick just three.
Flash fried squid, spiced watermelon salad, curry leaf, lime $24 – Tender pieces of calamari fried with a spicy curry coating. This was a hit with 2 out of 4 of us, but hubby and I didn’t fancy the curry flavour. The watermelon salad really cuts through the spice and evens it out.
Seared scallops, Jamon Serrano, truffled cauliflower purée, chicken jus $24 – Fresh scallops, though only three and we had to do some creative splitting to share it evenly.
Softshell crab $25 – This was a special entree of the day and my favourite of the three. Full of flavour and I’d probably have a whole one to myself next time.
We had such a lovely dining experience right from the start. The staff were all very friendly and we soon discovered that they really do know their fish. Jellyfish boasts that their aim is to source and serve a school of 8 fish daily and have an understanding of each fish and be able to recommend to diners the best way to cook the fish and a sauce to complement it. You can either choose one 200gm fillet ($28) or choose two (400gm) for $38. There are also some whole fish ($36).
Amongst us we decided to get 2 of the 400gm fish plates, plus another fish and a lamb main. WhiWe most certainly ordered a little too much food but I made sure I left room for dessert.
For one of the two fish plates hubby chose the Goldband Snapper cooked tempura style with a Vietnamese sauce and the second fillet was the Mahi Mahi grilled with a Nori buerre blanc.
For the second, Froggy chose the Barramundi oven baked with a lemon and shallot sauce. She then asked the waiter to suggest a good fish to accompany the barramundi. You can immediately tell that the staff know the fish well. He asked whether she preferred stronger fish flavours and from her answer was able to suggest that a good complementary fish is the Goldband snapper.
I chose the whole Suzuki Mulloway, crispy fried with a Japanese soy and spring onion sauce.
All the fish were excellent and the sauces really did accompany them well. The whole Suzuki Mulloway was lovely and probably a bit too much for me to eat on my own after entrees and sides. I think it would have been good if there were more crispy bits all over the skin instead of just at the bottom. The sauce was lovely and it was like eating a nice Japanese grilled Unagi.
Jellyfish also has a range of mains which include other seafood and meats for those guests who don’t necessarily want fish.
Froggy’s Mr. Fireworks ordered the Cressi grain fed lamb rack, ratatouille, pumpkin purée, curry spiced jus. Tender lamb on a lovely ratatouille base that was perfect comfort food for the cold weather. The sauce was quite strong on its own but when eaten with the lamb and pumpkin it was a good combination.
There are also some salads and sides and I particularly love the 5 types of potato sides ($6). We made Froggy display some restraint and limited her to two types of potato only. The creamy baked potato and shoe string fries were the potato of choice. The baked potato was very soft and creamy but we would have preferred if it had more saltiness or just something else to liven up the creamy flavour.
After all that I did say that I had room for dessert and we ordered two, even though it was obvious the boys hadn’t planned this far ahead in the meal. Froggy and I ate most of the dessert and I’m glad we did.
The Orange crème brûlée, minted orange salad, black pepper biscotti, vanilla ice-cream comes out flaming and had the perfect amount of orange flavour, not too overpouring as some citrus desserts can be.
I ordered the Cashew nut semifreddo, fresh raspberry, Persian fairy floss which was really beautiful. The cashew nuts gave the dessert a good texture and the persian fairy floss had a nice soft nutty flavour and melted in my mouth.
We really enjoyed the food and the whole evening the staff were very friendly and attentive. We will definitely visit again. Jellyfish is also in the latest Entertainment Book (2009/2010).
Grappino
Cuisine: Italian
226 Given Tce
Paddington
We spotted this restaurant on our visit to that French restaurant and made a mental note to come back and check it out. We were quite lucky to be able to get a table, booking very last minute (spontaneous desire to eat out) – prompted from a conversation with MinWye who touted Grappino as a favourite Italian restaurant.
We didn’t realise it was a game night at a nearby stadium which meant a 15 minute limit on street parking. Luckily we were dining quite early and there were spots in the car park behind the restaurant. When we entered the restaurant we were greeted cheerfully by Deanna Roduner one of the owners, letting us know that there was a set menu ($60 per person) because of the game. Not deterred by any means we took a table by the window. Later Deanna returned for a lively conversation about Singaporean food and family. This just set up the whole evening of attentive and friendly service.
First up was our antipasto platter. I will try to recall each morsel as best I can here.
From the left to right, I believe the first item was some very tasty meatballs. Then some chillies topped with herbed cheese (I managed to eat the first one feeling only a bit of a kick then with some bravado tried to take down a second only to be defeated. Luckily I had wine and water at hand.) and the third item was a fish or seafood fritter (like fish cakes) which were very flavoursome.
From left to right again, we had some fried risotto balls (very nice with perfectly cooked rice), at the background, prawns topped with tuna, below that little anchovy and caramelised onion tarts and at the front chorizo with dates. I loved every one of these (even though I’m not a huge fan of anchovies) and ESPECIALLY loved the chorizo with dates. Very tasty chorizo mixed with the sweet date.. mmm perfect flavour combination.
And lastly from our antipasto platter, little frittatas topped with sundried tomato.
All of these served with a bread basket, including garlic and olive oil thin toasted bread slices.
I think I could have just eaten antipasto all night.. but our mains were up next.
There were three on offer that night as part of the set menu and we had all three at our table.
Mum had the seafood marinara, which I ended up stealing a lot of. It was a beautifully cooked pasta dish, with very fresh seafood, fish, scallops in the shell, mussels and prawns all soaked in an amazing lobster cream sauce. Piggy would have loved this dish and I savoured as much of it as I could on her behalf.
Next was my partner’s veal scallopine with potatoes, greens and honeyed carrots. The sauce was rich and tasty and I especially loved the carrots. How do they get them to taste like that I don’t know.
My main next, the duck leg with mushroom and pasta. The sauce for this dish was quite sweet. I was happy to eat it all but it was a bit too sweet for my sister who had the same dish. The duck leg was very tender and topped with what I think were crispy potato shavings.
Though we were very full and satisfied from dinner, I couldn’t pass up the dessert menu. Dessert was not part of the set menu, but how can you pass up things such as:
One of the best tiramisu’s I have ever eaten. Creamy, with delicious sponge and coffee flavour…
Or the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, silky smooth and accompanied with seasonal berries (strawberries this time!).
I had the Crespelle Di Arancia – Orange Pancakes “Dolce Vita”. A very thin crepe topped with mandarin liqueur, valencia orange pieces and a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream. The sauce was quite strong for me as I don’t usually enjoy syrupy citrus sauces, but the ice-cream helps to balance this out and you can let a lot of the sauce drip off before devouring it.
And then there was the Affogato. A scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream with a shot of espresso coffee and liquer of your choice (this time Frangelico for its hazelnut flavour) to be poured over and then eaten/drunk. It was like a very luxurious iced coffee.
I really enjoyed the night, the service and of course the food. I would love to go again to try their ala carte menu and I will probably be forced to take Piggy there for the marinara the next time she’s in town. I can only hope.
Posted in Brisbane, Dessert, Italian | 
Tags: Brisbane, Dessert, Italian, Paddington, pasta, Seafood | 
2 Comments »
Sono
Cuisine: Japanese
level 1, Building 7
Portside Wharf
39 Hercules Street
Hamilton, Brisbane
Ph: 07 3268 6655
Not only is Froggy my breakfast companion but she is my my partner in crime for skipping night lectures and eating at Sono instead. When we started out we frequented the City Sono restaurant at the bottom of the Queen Street Mall. Our must-order dish was the Japanese potato salad. We suspect they would prepare it as soon as they saw us walk in the door as it would reach our table just as we barely finished ordering. I guess that is a testament to how much we used to go there.
Sometime ago they spent a lot of money fitting out a new premises at the Hamilton Portside Wharf complex. This new establishment has several private dinning rooms and a wonderful view of the river. The other night we were up to our old tricks again, this time with hubby-to-be.
The menu had changed since the last time we were there (over 6 months ago). But it didn’t take us long to start reading out dishes that caught our eye. Even though there were only three of us we ordered pretty much everything that took our fancy and it ended up being 8 dishes. We didn’t order rice (good decision) and managed to eat everything. We started to struggle a bit at the end and skipped dessert but its difficult to let any morsel of Sono food go to waste.
Soft Shell Crab with Shiso Salsa
Crisp deep fried soft shell crab with a rice vinegar sauce and shiso leaf salsa. The vinegar sauce was very tart and there was a lot of it for just three pieces of crab. Still the crab was delicious and crispy.
Portobello Mushroom and Tofu, served with seasonal vegetables, enoki, shiitake and oyster mushrooms in teriyaki sauce. This dish was really nice but it felt like it could use something else. I think some melted cheese on top would have been perfect.
Wagyu Beef Stew
Slow cooked wagyu beef with garlic, miso and soy sauce.
Hubby-to-be and I ate this about a year ago at the City Sono. It was just a seasonal special and we felt it was a shame we might never be able to eat it again. But its a year later and we were very excited to see it at Portside. The wagyu was so tender it just falls apart effortlessly. The first time we ate it we had trouble picking it up because each time we put a fork in the beef just broke apart. We almost licked the bowl clean this time the sauce was so tasty. We will be back next year for more of the same.
Kani Cream Croquettes
Deep fried crab and cream croquettes. We always get these and there is a fight for the last one every time. We’ve learnt to be diplomatic and cut the things in half. It saves the tears.
Moreton Bay Bug Ume Cream Yaki
Grilled Moreton Bay Bug with a plum flavoured white sauce. Make sure the pieces of bug are drenched in sauce when you eat it. The meat is tender and the sauce is a little bit sweet. Just try and stop yourself from licking the shell clean.
And here are the dishes we ordered from the March Special Menu:
Pan Fried Duck Breast with Mustard Miso Sauce by Chef Hiroshi Tanno
This was served on a bed of asparagus. It was quite nice though I would have preferred more tender duck pieces.
Beef omelette Tempura in a Seafood Broth by Chef Isamu Kudo
Slow cooked egg omelette filled with beef then deep fried in tempura batter, served in a seafood broth. This was really tender and juicy.
Shrimp Cocktail with Miso Mayonnaise by Chef Kohei Nakazawa
Cooked tiger prawn cutlets dressed with Miso Mayonnaise sauce, accompanied with witlof salad
The prawns were exceptionally fresh and the crisp witlof salad was the perfect partner.
So our old friend Sono has new surprises to distract us from our old favourites that have disappeared off the menu. It seems to have worked though I do miss the clams, baked scallops and of course the potato salad. I’ve heard rumours that sometimes if you ask for things no longer on the menu they may be able to prepare it for you. Fingers crossed!
Posted in Brisbane, Japanese, Portside Wharf | Tags: Brisbane, Japanese, Portside Wharf, Seafood, Wagyu | 1 Comment »
Lure at the Coro
Cuisine: Seafood
28 McDougall Street
Milton, Brisbane
07 33699955
Yes, its my turn for a birthday post now! This is just the first instalment from a few weeks ago before my friend Froggy left on a trip. She’s away for my actual birthday so we celebrated early. Birthday girl’s choice, so I picked seafood, and we headed to the Lure restaurant at the Coro.
When you walk up the stairs you find a trendy little bar/waiting area with a $5 beer menu for Fridays, including some imported beers. Strangely they list Tiger beer as a beer from Thailand which this Monky with parents from Singapore can safely say is from Singapore, not Thailand. I contemplated mentioning this to someone there but the last time I was with someone who mentioned an error in the drinks menu (bar to remain unnamed) it started the bar manager on a big rant about something that we could care less about. (Long story, ask me in person next time).
From the moment we stepped into the restaurant we found the staff to be very friendly and they really did provide excellent service. Our reservation had gone missing but they were able to fit us in and were apologetic about the disappearing booking. Our waiter was very attentive and took the time to explain all the specials in delicious detail. And it had quickly spread from the woman who seated us to our waiter that it was a special occasion.
On to dinner. Since it was “my birthday” I wanted to try lots of the entrees, and convinced my dinner companions to order the following with me.
Jindi Triple Cream Brie & Sweet Potato Fritters. Chive & Potato Scone, Pecorino Cheese & Baby Spinach Leaves
Lobster Tortellini. Bouillabaisse & Thyme Sauce, Petite Herb Salad
Scallops!
And of course…
A plate of 24 oysters (in four styles), for only $50! Natural, Kilpatrick, Oysters Retro – Black sesame tempura oysters with black bean aioli and a dash of wasabi oil, and Oysters Rockefeller – Baked oysters with spinach and garlic cream topped with Tasmanian salmon roe.
The Oysters Retro and Oysters Rockefeller worked well for the non-oyster-eating diners at our table. And for the rest of us (namely me) I enjoyed them all. The oysters were fresh and I thought the price was great for the number of oysters and it also allowed us to try each style.
Onto the mains…
There was the fish of the day, if memory serves me correctly it was Snapper, with a choice of two kinds, and we chose the Gold Band Snapper. This was the freshest tasting fish I have ever eaten. Not just the fish itself but the way it was cooked with the lovely flavours of coriander and bean sprouts. So tasty. And a very large portion for just one man (which is why we could all try some!).
Froggy ordered a Live Whole Mud Crab. They had one 700g crab left and it had Froggy’s name on it. She chose to have it chilled with salad, potatoes and dipping sauces. The crab was very tasty and of course we all loved the potatoes. The three sauces were an aioli, a seafood sauce and also a “chilli sauce”. To give you an indication of how spicy the “chilli sauce” was, when Froggy and I were trying to figure out what the sauces were before we bothered to ask anyone, we thought that sauce as a capsicum sauce. Absolutely no kick, and usually I find things spicy that are only peppery to others. Other than that, the crab was wonderful.
This was the Pan Seared Coral Trout with Grilled Prawns on a celeriac and leek puree with blood peach butter sauce. I almost ordered this but luckily I didn’t because I really don’t like the flavour of celery. I did when I was little but now I can’t stand it. However Mr Monky who ordered this one LOVES celery and he enjoyed this dish immensely. I had a taste of the coral trout and it was fresh and I loved the crispy skin. I didn’t get to try the grilled prawns but was told they were very good.
And finally this was my main, grilled barramundi and soft shell crab on a bed of potato mixed with a leafy green vegetable and topped with asparagus. The soft shell crab was AMAZING and it was very sad that there was only a tiny piece on top. It made me wish I had ordered the soft shell crab entree as well. But the fish was beautifully done, again very fresh, and the potato was delicious.
This is how much I loved my meal.
We weren’t going to order dessert, because the plan was to head somewhere else for coffee and sweets, but since it was my birthday (almost) our waiter let me know that they would be giving me a complimentary dessert of my choosing.
Passionfruit Brulee with pistachio nut biscotti was my choice and it was such a good one. The brulee was lovely and the biscotti was the nicest biscotti I have ever eaten. In fact I usually find that I don’t even like biscotti, but everyone loved this one and there was barely enough to share around.
Lure has been winning awards and its not hard to see why. The seafood is fresh and prepared elegantly and the wait staff have perfect manners. They really made it an enjoyable dining experience and a wonderful early birthday.
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!
QV Food court
First you choose the seafood (barramundi, salmon, scallops etc), then choose whether you wanted it steamed or grilled, then choose rice or couscous, then choose a salad.
I thought I should be healthy, so I chose steamed scallops w/ rice & papaya salad. First, the papaya salad- very yummie, very fresh with crunchy peanuts- nice. Steam scallop- less nice. A bit fishy in flavour and without any sauce to speak of the whole dish is quite dry- I had to throw in some XO sauce
So much for my health kick I think next time I might try the grilled scallops instead- but overall is a very healthy and good for value choice.
Blackjacks
Cuisine: Buffet (Seafood, Breakfast, Sunday Roast, Asian style)
Top of the Queen Street Mall,
Brisbane
Ph: 1800 506 889
I’ve been to Black Jacks for the buffet at the Treasury Casino before. But they have recently renovated and apparently changed their buffet offerings. It used to be the same buffet every day, but who wants to be boring? Now there is a seafood buffet on Wednesdays and Thursdays, there’s also an Asian day (I feel loved) and also a Sunday roast buffet and Sunday breakfast buffet, strategically set on Sundays only. We went for the seafood buffet of course which is $49.90 for non-members or $39.90 for rewards members. The prices for the different buffets varies a little.
So its not the best seafood buffet in town, but I don’t think that’s what they’re trying for. It is probably one of, if not the cheapest. I’m going to try and do this as briefly as possible (I have 5 restaurants to post today, sorry Yang, I’ll try harder to spread these out next time! I promise!).
- The freshly cooked prawns – I wish I’d eaten more of these. It’s hard to go wrong with something like this, especally with lemon and seafood cocktail sauce.
- Bugs (Moreton Bay?) – They didn’t taste like anything. Like someone had washed all the natural flavour away. Bit disappointing.
- Mussels – These were okay. Nothing to complain about.
- Oysters – Again these were okay.
- Crab – While I didn’t eat this, it was reported to me that it was a bit like the bugs, not really any flavour. Must employ seafood sauce here but then that’s kind of pointless.
- Salt & Pepper Calamari – while standing around trying to decide what to put on my plate I heard another patron talk to the chef and exclaim that this was the best salt and pepper calamari he’d ever tasted. After trying it myself I have to come to the conclusion that either this person has never eaten salt and pepper calamari before in his life or if he has that someone lied to him and it wasn’t really salt and pepper calamari. This was probably the least impressive salt and pepper calamari I’ve ever eaten. Sure it was edible, but it just tasted like batter, and not even nice batter.
- All other sides: rice, pasta, roast veges, steamed/boiled veges, pasta salad – adequate for a lower priced buffet.
- Bread & Butter Pudding: I’ve said before this isn’t my favourite dessert, wasn’t too fussed with it Andy said it was okay.
- Carrot cake: I didn’t mind it, but I recently made one myself and it tastes so much nicer fresh out of the oven.
- Some kind of chocolate pudding: as you would expect
- Ice-cream: Total plus is that now they have more flavours of ice-cream!!! I had something with toffee and good ol’ vanilla. Sprinkles are a must.
- Brownie: Rich and brownie like. Good for chocoholics.
- Black Forest Cake: Again nothing to rave about, but nothing wrong with it.
- Apple Crumble: Difficult to go wrong with this, unless you forget to put apple in. Definately add custard and vanilla ice-cream if available.
- THE BEST DESSERT AT THE DESSERT BAR: Vanilla Mousse Custard thingy. I don’t really remember what it was called, but it came in a tiny little plastic cup, similar to a tiny sauce dish/container and sprinkled with what looked like pieces of pistashio or some such. This was so yummy I asked the next person going to the desserts to get me another one. They look ludicrously small, but I had to struggle eating two (however this was after eating a lot of food and tasting most of the desserts).
43 Block Place, Melbourne
Us old grads decided to have a pasta lunch. If you recall from my other blogs, I have had a love hate relationship with Block Place. Some places were nice, but some places were just bad. Well unfortunately this one is one of the worst I must say, in Block Place.
On the exterior, they have fabulous menu boards that really tempt your tastebuds, but when you order your food (I ordered clam linguine), what came out wasn’t that great. The clams in my clam linguine are not fresh at all, at one point I wondered if I was going to get food poisoning. Thankfully (or not), half of the clams actually consist of clam shells without clams, which I guess meant that they’ve halved the chance of me getting food poisoning.
On to the sauce- very watery, tasted a bit sour, yet again I wondered if I was going to get food poisoning. Overall, very tasteless. Normally when I encounter a tasteless dish I will sprinkle a bit of pepper in it to enhance the taste a bit and normally, this would improve the dish quite a bit. Unfortunately these are not a normal circumstances and I even had to add a bit of salt- and it’s still tasteless.
It’s not just my dish. All the pasta dishes that the grads had needed to be sprinkled with tons of salt and pepper. I think the only OK dish was the calamari salad.
In conclusion- don’t go there.
New Ocean Restaurant
Cuisine: Chinese, Seafood
53-7 Jalan Barat
Off Jalan Imbi
Kuala Lumpur
Ph: 603 2142 3473
As we drove along Jalan Barat trying to find the restaurant I was distracted by the sight of the many cars squeezed onto the pavement and other nooks and crannies you would not think you could park in. I was then further amazed at how the three cars holding our dinner guests managed to find spaces to park in front of the restaurant as well.
Stepping in front of New Ocean you will find a large outdoor seating area which is also home to their open air kitchen. There are also a number of large tables (one of them ours) inside where the air-conditioning. I was told that it is advisable to call and book if you would prefer to eat inside.
We had a large group and dined there twice so I am able to report back on a large range of their dishes. New Ocean Restaurant, as their name suggests, is primarily a seafood restaurant but they can cook other things just as well.
French beans and Okra in blachan sauce, cooked perfectly they had a lovely flavour and texture. Normally I don’t eat okra, as I always remember it as the vegetable that’s hairy on the outside and squishy inside, but they were cooked so well I didn’t even notice.
Vegetables in garlic sauce.
…if you want to eat the best seafood you are going to have to get your hands dirty.
Prawns fried in the shell, deliciously simple, with a ginger and soy dipping sauce.
We also tried steamed prawns on another night (but the fried ones were definitely better, the dipping sauce was so simple but it really suited the prawn meat).
Black pepper crab and…some steamed fish, the flesh of both dishes is tender and flavour permeates every bite.
Chicken steamed with Chinese sausage and ginger, had a wonderful mix of flavours and the chicken was infused with ginger.
Buttermilk crab, this one was my favourite of the two types of crab we tried. The sauce was so creamy and the crab so succulent.
The chef pre-cracks a lot of the shell but you are given a handy little mallet or pincers to help you get to the best bits of meat tucked away in the sauce soaked shell.
And now you cannot have crab without bread for dipping in the sauce! We chose the fried variety, so soft… yes they are small, so probably best to order more than one serve for the table.
Fish paste chicken – why has no one ever introduced me to this dish before? Slices of chicken meat with fish paste spread on one side then deep fried.
Egg tofu and golden mushrooms (enoki) – one of my favourite mushrooms cooked in a thickened sauce with delicious medallions of egg and tofu mixed together. There was also an abalone dish that was similar to the earlier dish of egg tofu and enoki mushrooms, basically the same but instead of enoki there was abalone.
Sadly this was the least appetizing seafood dish, the calamari was nice and crispy, but the curry powder flavour cheapened the dish. I would have much preferred just a simple salt and pepper coating.
And who could forget dessert? Deep fried ice-cream, but in small disk shaped scoops and unlike the deep fried ice-cream at many fast food places back home, the batter was thin and light and didn’t make the dessert feel too heavy or oily.
All-in-all they were two wonderful meals. While there are some dishes I would keep away from, the crab was definitely a winner. And I think next time I won’t share my dessert with anyone. They can get their own!