Saké Restaurant & Bar - The Rocks

After SMH did a piece on Sake, my friend jumped onto the Sake website to check out their menu. And she saw this:

matcha bombe alaska
green-tea ice-cream wrapped in sponge & meringue, baked & served with white-chocolate sauce

That was all I needed to see before we booked a table for that week at Sake.

Originally we had booked a table for 5, but my friend piked at the last minute leaving us with 4. We mentioned that we're now a table of 4 instead of 5, thinking they'll just put us on a smaller table. Instead, they led us to our own little private room/booth! SCORE! The room can easily seat 6-8 people, but we had it all to ourselves. ALL TO OURSELVES! MAuhAUhaUAHAA

The room next to ours

View of the kitchen from our room

I love the lights and wallpaper! I want my room like this!

Sitting down, the first thing we do is scour the cocktail list. Girls night out must include cocktails, right?

Springtime in Tokyo - $18
Kumesan Saké fat-washed with roasted coconut, Appleton Reserve and fresh pineapple juice

We asked the waiter what "fat washed" meant. Basically the Sake is infused with coconut fat to give it a more aromatic taste. Basically, instead of fat free food, we're deliberately adding delicious fat into our cocktails! Excellent!

Astro Boy - $15
Shochu Tantakatan, plum wine, plum puree, pink-grapefruit juice & peach bitters

I wasn't too fond of this one as it reminded me slightly of soap or cough syrup. My friends loved it however.

The Pink Blossom - $15
Plum wine, strawberries, orange wedges, lime, lemon & passion fruit

This was one of my favourites. I'm a sucker for drinks that resemble a caprioska. The more tropical fruit the better in my opinion. Fresh, vibrant AND alcoholic! What more can you ask for?

Bang On! - $16
Shochu, apple & rhubarb syrup, watermelon & vanilla sugar

This was the one I ordered and probably the most popular one. Because honestly, who doesn't like watermelon!? hehe

beef tataki - $15
seared tenderloin with garlic chips, chives, radish & tataki sauce

As you can see, the fatty marbling on the beef really made this dish. The beef literally melts in your mouth making you want more! MORE!

Oh yeah.......fatty beef.....

panko rice balls - $9
soy bean & bamboo, shiitake mushroom balls with wasabi aioli

This would've been perfect if we increased the quantity by about 5 times, then serve it with a jug of ice cold beer. The cripsy panko crumbs contrasted wonderfully with the soft rice and mushrooms. Dunk wasabi aioli and consume.

spider maki - $17
fried soft-shell crab, cucumber & mayo with spicy tobiko, chives & ponzu

You can never go wrong with a spider roll of any sort. This was a particularly good version. Crispy fried soft-shell crabs with cold crunchy cucumber and creamy creamy mayo. This was an absolute hit, especially for those who have never tried it before.

popcorn shrimp - $26
bite-sized prawn tempura pieces tossed with creamy spicy sauce

Just the sound of the name had us salivating. We didn't even need to debate if we should order this dish. I wish we had. That way we would've ordered two serves! hehehe I would put this on the must order list if you visit Sake.

assorted tempura - $28
prawns, fish & seasonal vegetables with tentsyu dipping sauce

Tempura, an excellent way to judge the skills of the chef. And obviously these chefs were very skilled. The tempura was light and crispy, and not at all oily. You can see the paper under the tempura isn't going see through from all the excess oil!

spicy garlic vegetables - $17
sautéed seasonal vegetables with spicy garlic sauce

We were all very surprised at how spicy this dish actually was. Generally with Japanese food, when they say "spicy", its rarely spicier than strong pepper. In this case, it was almost bordering on Korean food spicy. Luckily we had ordered rice to soak up all the sauce and also help cool the spicy heat.

butter-soy salmon - $29
grilled, crispy skinned New Zealand salmon with butter soy & lemon

This was the most disappointing dish of the night. The salmon was cooked nicely, and we loved how they crisped the skin seperately, but that was about the extent of this dish. We couldn't taste any of the butter soy or lemon in any part of the dish. You can see some sort of dress on the salad, but even that is void of any taste. We even tried just the remaining sauce at the bottom of the dish and still couldn't taste anything.

Now comes the best bit. DESSERT! The whole reason for us visiting!

We did a quick scan of the menu, and 3 of us immediately went with.....

Matcha bombe alaska!!!

As delicious as it sounded on the menu, I was slightly disappointed with this dessert. The sponge cake was extremely dry and rough. Even letting the melting ice cream soak into the sponge didn't help it. The ice cream was delicious though, but next time I think I'll order something else.

Green-apple mille-feuille - $13
green-apple mousse with layers of crispy thin pastry & vanilla-bean sauce

This dessert was much more refreshing than our matcha bombe alaska. I would prefer if they had cook the apples just a little less to retain more of the tangy green apple taste.

So pretty!

We decided to end the meal with a Sake bomb!

"Served loudly and proudly at your table. Draught Kirin Lager with a shot of Saké. A Saké dining experience is not complete until you and your friends are bombed! Best consumed after dinner."

Oh yeaaaaaaaaah!! Sake bomb me baby!!

Yuzu bomb

To drink, drop the shot (glass and all) straight into the glass of beer. Quickly down the whole thing in one go! Just becareful when you get to the end that the glass doesn't slide out of the glass spilling precious alcohol all over you!

I'm not sure what it was, but this hit me quick! And let me tell you, I'm no light weight when it comes to drinks either!

Saké Restaurant & Bar
12 Argyle Street
The Rocks Sydney NSW 2000
(Ph) 02 9259 5656
http://www.sakerestaurant.com.au/

The suicide before Zenobia

A few of us met up in Leichhardt for the Spanish film festival. We had prepurchased tickets to the suicide club. It was an amusing film, but I guess I had much higher expectations. I kind of expected it to be like something me and Moishii would make. But honestly, not many people are as screwed in the head like us. After the movie, we were all starving. We decided to find the closest indoor place for dinner, which happened to be Zenobia.

Moishii had been there before and said it was pretty good, but he's only ever had the banquet at a party. As we walk in, we spot Brian McFadden standing outside having a cigarette break. We didn't bother chucking a fuss as Delta Goodrem wasn't there. We walk in and get seated. It took us a while to figure out what we wanted to order, which wasn't a bad thing since the waiters basically ignored us (Even though our table was RIGHT next to Brian McFadden's table).

We eventually flag someone down and place our order. About 10mins later, our dip and some bread finally come out. We're ravenous at this stage and start to devour everything.

Babaganous

The babaganous is really nice and smokey, but I reckon I make a much better babaganous. We decided to go easy on the dip and bread as we wanted to save our stomach for the mains and possibly dessert. 20mins after we finished the dip, Gus's fish comes out:

Grilled fish with a nutty sauce

The sauce was really nice on first taste as it was rich and creamy with a lovely nutty texture. A few more bites into it, it starts to get a bit sickly. Since everyone else ordered the same thing, we told Gus to start so it doesn't get cold. Its a good thing we told him to as well, because it took almost 30mins for the rest of our meals to come out. And when I asked the waitress what was happening with our food (After half the table started flapping their arms for attention), I got a "Are you stupid?" look followed by a "WELL! YOU ordered the chicken. Of course it takes longer than the fish!" followed by a "Moron" look from the waitress.

I tried to explain that my friend is sitting there eating by himself whilst we wait. And again "Chicken takes longer than fish to cook". Gees woman. I know that. Any moron knows that. So maybe, you should cook the fish when the chicken is almost done? As opposed to cooking them at the same time? Now THAT would be a logical way to do it don't you think? Instead of having one person eat 30mins before everyone else. They didn't even bother telling us when we ordered, just expected us to wait. I can tell you, if Gordon Ramsay Kitchen nightmares this place, that would be the first thing they would get beaten about.

And it wasn't just the waiting time for the food, it was them completely ignoring our table because Mr McFadden was in the house. Every waiter/waitress was fwapping around the table like bees to honey hoping for a big tip. Their table had at least 4 people attend to them, whilst us, sitting right next to them practically had to wave a flag and blow a trumpet for a nod of acknowledgment. I know he's a celebrity, and you may get a big tip. But think of it this way, who pays the rest of your salary for the rest of the year when he's not around. Ignoring everyone else for one tip is plain stupid.

As for our long awaited chicken. It was ok. Certainly not worth the wait. I would happily drive the extra 20mins to Bankstown for Habibs and pay 1/2 the price for twice as much food and a much better garlic sauce. Atleast Habib's sauce doesn't taste of raw garlic and sting your tongue.

BBQ Chicken with garlic sauce

We were actually all looking forward to dessert, but after the service we've received and how long it took, we decided to just grab the bill and leave.

Day 7 - The Mekong tour

I was arguing with my sister last night that we should get up at 5:45am, which will give us 1hr 15mins for the 3 of us to shower and get ready. She starts screaming that we don't need to get up that early and that she's getting up at 6pm. So when the alarm goes off, my sister scurries into the shower. Since there's 3 of us, I'll just wait my turn. The lights are on, so I open one eye just to check the time on my mobile. 4:55am. W....T....F?????? My sister comes out 10mins later, and I ask her if she changed the time on her mobile because Vietnam is one hour behind Singapore.

"Errrrr...."

I almost threw my phone at her before I went back to bed. When all finally got up and showered, we all sat around watching TV as its 6am in the morning. Around 7am, we get up and go searching for breakfast. Last night we had walked around trying to find a food massage place (Which was completely booked out) when we spotted this noodle place just down the street from our hotel. My sister finds out that they open at 7am, which is perfect for us to have breakfast at. We rock up at 7am, and all the staff stands there staring at us. Apparently they're open at 8am. My sister starts going on about how THEY told us 7am, specifically one of the girls. They must've felt guilty so they told us to sit down and they'll serve us.

The specialty of the place is Bun Bo Hue, which is beef and pork noodle soup, where the broth has been stewed for hours with beef bones. Unfortunately, I accidently deleted the photo of the delicious noodles. I do have one of the banana blossoms they served with it??

My first Vietnamese drip coffee

Steamed rice paper rolls

After breakfast, we go back to the hotel and wait in the lobby where the tour guide picks us up. He drives us to the office we booked the tour at yesterday, where we change to a bigger bus. Meanwhile, my sister ducks into the local shops to grab some pastries and pork rolls for us to snack on:

My first pork roll in Vietnam - Same but different to the Oz version

We didn't realise its a 3hr bus ride to get to the Mekong Delta and the floating markets. So I sat by the window and amused myself with taking photos of the locals:

Taken from my seat on the bus, with the traffic coming DIRECTLY at us

All of the traffic is moving in this photo, including the pedestrian

We eventually get to our destination, where we all transfer onto this tiny wooden boat where the floor creaks as you walk to your seat. The guide explains that we're on our way to a smaller floating market, as the big one is too far away. So I get myself a good seat and start snapping away:

Doing their laundry

The Mekong Delta has lotus growing everywhere

This girl was so cute!

Watermelons!

Taking a nap on their hammocks

Bananas and coconuts

Some guy fishing

It was at this point, the boat turns around and goes back to the direction we came from. My sister is looking at me, and I'm looking at her going WTF? I ask her whats going on? Aren't we going to the floating market? Apparently what I just saw WAS the floating market. The one watermelon boat, and the bananas and coconuts. There were a few other boats with things like sugarcane, but THATS IT. We had bought extra shopping bags with us so we could buy some fruit and other stuff to take back, but theres no market for you to buy from! GRRRRR

The boat continues on down the Mekong Delta, and our next stop is to look at the rice paper and puffed rice making:

Look at how the guy is steering

Because he needs both hands free for lunch!

The boat eventually pulls up to this shack looking thing, where we all get off. The first thing the tour guide takes us to show is this:

Yep...cobras and scorpions

They did offer us a taste, but if I won't drink the 4 snake wine my uncle makes, I'm not about to drink theirs. Next he decides to show us coconut candy making.....which took all of 30secs, 15 of which, was him taking the coconut out of its shell:


We got to taste the coconut candy before we were shuffled into a tiny room at the back of the shack, where a little old lady is making rice paper. We also got to try the freshly made ones:


We ended up buying a whole heap of coconut candy and rice paper to take home with us. We then walk about 100m to the next shack where they make the puffed rice. This was actually the most interesting part of the tour. The rice in its husk is stirred and tossed around with hot black sand. The rice will then start popping and puffing like popcorn. They then put the whole mixture through a sieve for all the sand to go back into the wok, then transfer it to a second sieve where all the husk falls out. The leftover husk is then used as fuel for the fire they use to cook the puffed rice! Genuis!

Puffed rice cakes - like LCM!

Removing the longan from the seed, which is dried and sold

We then sat down for awhile, tasting the different puffed rice cakes they made whilst sipping on lotus tea. We then get ushered back onto the boat, where its a 1hr ride to our lunch destination.






There was a lady from Sydney sitting right behind me. She also had a Nikon SLR, but it was a traditional film camera. Plus her camera had duct tape all over it because she had dropped it recently. So she started asking me all these questions on where to get a DSLR, and how it compares and responds etc etc. So whilst the boat is going along the river, and we were all enjoying the view, I could see in amongst the trees, a woman with 2 babies on a bike about to ride over a bridge. "PLEASE!! Lets the timing be right!!" I prayed silently to myself. And as the boat is about to pass the bridge, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the lady raising her camera simultaneously with me, and both of our cameras went *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK* *CLICK*. She immediately goes to me "Did the shots turn out???" since I could review my photos straight away. What do you think?

I should edit that power cable out

They have a poo stick to hold onto so you don't fall into the river!

By the time we got off the boat, I swear my butt was flatter than a sheet of paper sitting on that wooden bench. Lunch was served at a cultural village type thing:


Although its a tour, and I didn't expect authentic Vietnamese food, but come on, this is quite dismal. We didn't even get drinks, they were additional charge:

Pork chop, boiled rice, cold spring rolls, paper-thin-see-three cucumber and tomato

The best part of the meal was actually the veggie broth we got:


After lunch was over, we had about45mins to relax, where most of the people found themselves a hammock to take a nap. I went for a walk around the village and found out that they had a crocodile farm, good thing I wasn't exploring at night:


There was also a traditional Vietnamese singing performance, and the minute the music started, I knew what to expect......


At the end of the performance, the prettiest and most timid looking girl came out with a MASSIVE donation box...... They were lucky I had a lot of small USD notes left in my wallet.

We hop back onto the boat and 20mins later, we're back on shore where we have 45mins to explore the local markets to buy any fruit and veggies we liked. This was probably my favourite part of the tour (Despite it being 35degrees), as I got to see all the local produce. The things I was hoping to see at the floating markets:

Nashi pears

All different types of gourds

Fresh straw mushrooms

My sister insisted on buying a watermelon

We buy a whole heap of fruit, even though we get complimentary fruit from the hotel before we jump back onto the bus. Its another 3hour trip before we get back, so we settle in, draw the curtains and nap. Next thing you know, the bus stops and both the driver and tour guide gets off. I open my curtain and see the bus driver pull out spanners and screw drivers etc. Oh great, the bus has broken down. Within a minute, the whole bus heats up. You'd think that the bus will remain cool for 5 minutes because the air con has been on for an hour, but no. Within a minute everyone starts to break out into a sweat and fanning whatever they could get to cool down.

I look out the window again and see the bus driver walk past with a hammer. This can't be good. I jump out of the bus to see what's going on and to also get some fresh air.

The fan belt is broken and he's desperately trying to get it fixed. Its slightly cooler standing out here, but the sun is killing me, so I opt to get back onto the sauna of a bus. 15mins later, he finally gets the engine going and the air con comes blasting out.

We have a pit stop at another cultural village thing, where theres souvenirs to satisfy all tourists. Whilst my sister hits the shop, I decided to go take a few more photos. This has got to be one of my favourites for the day.


30mins later, we're back on the bus and it breaks down again. Luckily, this time it only takes them about 5mins to fix. We eventually get back into Ho Chi Minh City and they drop us off at our hotel. We went and scrubbed ourselves clean before going out to search for dinner. Rache's husband recommended this really nice restaurant that was near our hotel, we walk up and down the streets for about 20mins before we find it. We take one look at the menu and realise the entrees cost about 5x the amount of a main meal. We decided to pass on that.

Since it was getting late, and we had a foot massage booked in, we went into this place called Vietland. It was a touristy place, but the prices were much more reasonable and close to the massage place. Surprisingly, the food was really good!

Green Papaya & Prawn salad with rice crackers

Grilled lemon grass pork

Summer rolls

Seafood stir fried noodles

Hot and sour fish soup

Fresh straw mushrooms with tofu

After dinner, we take a stroll before heading to the foot massage place. When we got there the night before, we were quite skeptical. Its a building in the dark empty streets of HCMC. To make matters worse, when we were looking for the place, this random guy offered to help us, but snatched the address card off us and refused to give it back for awhile. Suddenly we were surrounded by 3 guys trying to give us directions. I'm not sure if he was trying to help or not, because he gave us directions and didn't try to offer us a lift there or anything. But we were all a bit shook up after that. I mean, I was on high alert with my hands on my bag, ready to kick some self-defence ass if I had to.

So we walked into this place and its like a day spa...but at night time. It was serene and almost zen like atmosphere. When we walked back in tonight, they seated us and gave us some fresh fruit and tea whilst we waited. When we were done, they asked us to go upstairs for our massage. So we climb up these steep stairs, and at the top of the stairs was this dodgy looking door with a curtain hanging in the doorway. We walk in, and I was gobsmacked. It was a MASSIVE room, with about 30 chairs lined up next to each other. The lights are dimmed down with a reddish glow. There are men on all the chairs getting massaged, and it looks like they're all sitting in their boxers. The first thought that popped into my mind was if they offered "Special" massages. I wanted to throttle my sister for recommending this place.

Since we didn't speak Viet, and they didn't speak English, and theres a no talking policy in this room, we started playing charades with them trying to explain what we wanted. Me and my sister wanted foot massages whilst Rachel wanted a head and shoulder massage. 10mins of playing charades, suddenly me and my sister get shoved into a change room and told to take our pants off. WTF? Luckily they clarified that we need to put on the boxers they've supplied. Now I know why all the guys look half naked.

We get ushered to our chairs where we laid back and waited for the massage. Once they left us, I turned to my sister and hissed at her "WHO THE HELL RECOMMENDED THIS PLACE??". She just tried to stop laughing in my face. The next 10mins, they have the massage girls running back and forth. They kept walking past us, as if they didn't know what to do. We kept explaining in sign language that we wanted foot massages. They eventually got the message and we could finally begin. They came out with buckets of hot herbal water to soak our feet in, and it was hot. So hot, my sister lifted her foot up straight away, but the woman put both her hands on my sisters knee and pushed her feet back in the water and held it down. *blinks*

They also gave us a cool cucumber mask before starting the foot massage. The foot massage was pure bliss. Until she started massaging my calves. Now that was painful, but not as painful as they started massaging my thigh. Now THAT was painful. And I was certainly uncomfortable with the fact that they're practically massaging my groin! Maybe we accidentally told them we wanted a "special" massage? Near the end of the massage, they got us to sit up so they can massage our necks and back. This was good, until she massaged my arms and I felt like she was trying to break my bones. I had my eyes closed at one stage, and the woman taps me on my shoulder and asks me if I wanted "that" and then points to my sister. I turn to look over, and the woman had flipped my sister onto her knees and had her hanging upside down. I started shaking my head going "NO NO NO!!!!".

By the end of the massage, my feet has been pampered and the rest of me is all bruised up. We stagger back to the hotel where I pass out painfully in bed.