Rossini @ Australia Square

*SiGH* I have to go through this every weekend. Its a Saturday and I haven't had my daily cup of Rossini's coffee yet. I hate how I have a daily ritual that isn't daily. 5 days a week I would start my day with an aromatic cup of coffee made by the gang at Rossinis. Come saturday, I'm a blubbering mess in the morning without my coffee......I could easily go to another cafe around my place...but its just not the same. Theres no friendly greetings, theres no one who remembers my order and makes it for me before I even get a chance to order. And theres no rows and rows of fresh pastries and cookies tempting you whilst you line up. I've been eyeing their Snail for the past year...and I've resisted all temptations to order one until some time this week......

The snail....perfect accompaniment to my skim Latte

MmMMMmmm sweet sticky Snail pastries filled with plump juicy sultanans. Why it took me this long to order it is beyond me! The snail isn't as soft and flakey as a crossiant like some places, but then its also not as oily as some other places. And it was definately filling and satisfying!!! Thank you Rossini!

Newtown Thai III @ The Pavillion Hotel

This place used to be our old watering hole on a Friday night simply because of the free alcohol. Who could pass up $2.50 beer, wine and spirits and $5 cocktails from 5pm - 5am? Then they got rid of their happy hour. The place went from being packed until it bursting at the seams, to a ghost town. We went there once or twice after that......but with the lack of cheap drinks and seating, we gave up and moved on elsewhere.

Awhile back, we were meeting a few friends and decided to give the Pavillion another go. To my surprise, they had opened a Newtown Thai III in there. When I was working at Sydney Uni for a work project, me and a few other workmates will trudge up City Road until we got to Newtown Thai II for their cheap $5.50 lunch specials. (I highly highly recommend their crispy fried chicken with sweet chilli sauce and rice)

Ever since I moved on to another project, and now, on to another company, I don't get to go to Newtown for their cheap lunch specials anymore. And I really missed Newtown Thai II. Since our new discovery of Newtown Thai III in the city, we decided to head on over there for dinner one Friday night and was more than pleasantly surprised. What delighted us more, was that ontop of good value top nosh, the Pavillion still had their happy hour......just later! So last night, we decided to make a night of it.

Dragging (I don't think she was THAT unwilling hehe) Cookiez along with me, we headed up to Pavillion and out of the cold. We were quite early and got ourselves a nice couchy seat by the side in the dark. We barely had to scan the menu and knew exactly what we wanted.

Peek Gai Tod $6

For Entree, we decided on their Peek Gai Tod, which is marinated Chicken Wings deep fried and served with a sweet chilli sauce. I was expecting little puny wings that had been deep fried without any batter. The look on our face was priceless when the waitree placed the wings down....The wings were HUGE! I think we both went all bug-eyed. The batter was surprisingly light and cripsy, but it soon got too oily after the first wing. We ended up taking all the batter off the wings before eating them. The chicken itself was gorgeously tender and moist! I only wish that they had cooked it without the batter or drained it better so I could enjoy it more. Maybe when I'm on more of a junk food mood would I devour the wings with batter and all.

Chicken Pad Thai $8.90

Ok....this was HUGE. And I mean HUGE! But then it could do with the fact that they loaded the dish up with heaps of bean sprouts boosting the size of the dish. The Pad Thai was really good and definately good value, although personally, I like my bean sprouts slightly cooked. Next time I order this, I'll ask them to semi cook the bean sprouts for me.

Po Tak $7.50, Small boiled rice $1.30

I love Po Tak more than Tom Yum Goong. I first tried this soup last year when I was having problems with my jaw and I couldn't actually open my mouth (A blessing for alot of people) and ended up ordering Po Tak mixed with boiled rice for lunch every day. The soup is light and tangy with a hint of chilli. The soup is alot sweeter than a Tom Yum Goong simply because there is so much more seafood in it. I find it less rich and salty than a TYG which can sometimes be too oily as well. Its good as an entree, or a main if you eat it with rice.

After completely pigging out and fully greased up from the wings, we thought we should order something to aid our digestion.

Long Island Iced Teas $15@

Hey! It does help with your digestion! A good long island tea should not taste of alcohol....it should taste like a tangy iced tea. And this bar tender got pretty close! The LIT was really nice and tangy thanks to all the lemon juice they put in. The coke added a little sweetness taking away the harshness of fresh lemon juice and helped mask the strong alcoholic taste. We're definately getting this again next time!!

If you want to have a nice meal out, I'd recommened rocking up early. They tend to dim the lights and pump up the music around 9pm forcing you to scream across the table just to have a decent conversation. Its a shame really, more of our friends joined us afterwards and we would've ordered alot more drinks if they didn't have their bloody strobe lights giving everyone headaches.

Check out the Newtown Thai III menu here:

http://www.pavilionhotel.com.au/bistro.html

Mega food post

I've been super lazy for the past few months. I just realised that I have quite alot of photos I've taken and intended to post....but never got around to it. I blame the fact that I lost my bluetooth USB pen, and the other one I've got doesn't work. But with my new baby laptop that has built in bluetooth, I have no excuse now! Instead of doing multiple little posts, I'll do one mega large one. Some of them may be a bit vague since I took some of the photos ages ago, or I only know the chinese name of the restaurant! Oh.....and crappy photo quality since its all taken with my mobile! hehehe

Top Choice BBQ Restaurant
(I think...its the one directly opposite CBA and not the one next to the station)

Soya Chicken Rice with extra ginger and shallots

This is a must have every time we come. Mainly because the servings are ridiculously big and we always have something to take home, and since its the easiest type of roast for my grandma to eat, its a dish we always order. The shop is quite smart in that they make large quantities of Soya chicken maryland, meaning every order is a guaranteed juicy moist thigh and drumstick. Good for asians, maybe not so good for caucasians who enjoy the breast more. The only to be careful is sometimes its not fully cooked in the bone as they try to keep it moist. Never stops me from devouring everything though.....

BBQ Pork Rice

This is one of the rare occassions where we actually order BBQ Pork. Mainly because my mum makes the best BBQ Pork in the whole of Sydney, and I have yet to find a restaurant that serves anything that rivals my mum's BBQ Pork. But then my mum also makes one of the most awesome Soya chickens and we still order it every time.....The BBQ Pork was nice, but it was missing that juicy sticky outer coating with little burnt corners that makes my mum's BBQ Pork truely superb. I guess we order it simply cos of the value. Oh, and if you come, be prepared to either you eat until you explode, or take away multiple containers!

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BBQ City
(Liverpool St, opposite Vbar where Snooker World used to be)

This has got to be one of my most favourite restaurants in all of Sydney. It is definately the best Korean food I have ever had in Sydney, and the fact that the place is packed and bursting at the seam by 6:30pm on a Friday night says alot. Actually, the fact that the place is mainly frequented by Koreans say alot. And the reason we love this place so much?

Its this:

Spicy Fish Egg Stew

It may not look like much, and to some, it definately won't sound appealing. But oh my frickin god this is the best soup ever! (Ok...maybe not EVER when compared with Don Don's Udon...) This little pot of orgasm contains tofu, sliced zucchini/cucumber, bean sprouts, chilli, seafood broth and the most important ingredient....fish eggs. Yes real fish eggs like the one my mum used to pan fry with chilli and soya sauce. I love biting into a piece of fish egg and have the delicious seafood broth fill my mouth. That combined with the popping of each little micro fish egg makes it one of the most amazing experiences ever! Ontop of this orgasm inducing soup, BBQ City also has the best damn side dishes you will ever taste......and its all unlimited!! MAUAhaAUah

Side dishes....

And more side dishes.........

And even MORE side dishes.........

Marinated bean sprouts (I love this one!)

Spicy Marinated calamari

Pickled radish and carrorts (And I love this one too!)

Green Vegies marinated in Seasame Oil (OoOo I DEFINATELY LOVE this one!)

Marinated cabanossi (Is this even korean?)

Kim Chi - Definately the best in Sydney

Ginseng Wine

I absolutely LOVE the side dishes, especially any of their seasame marinated veggies. Keep an eye out for this potatoe cubey thing that is covered in chilli oil. Its not that hot, but oh my god its good! It is oh so good!!!!! Usually I would order my little pot of fish egg stew, and then consume atleast 3 rounds of side dishes, each round with a minimum of 5 dishes. Yes, I'm a pig ok? But consider the stew is mainly all liquid...its ok....right?

Other great dishes that BBQ City has is definately their Kim Chi pancake, Spicy cold noodles, sweet and sour chilli tempura prawns and of course, their marinated BBQ meat. MmmMm Its a cold night and I really really feel like some korean right now!

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Bar Reggio
135 Crown St, East Sydney

I first visited this place with my Italian teacher after the end of our beginners course as a celebration dinner with the other classmates. The place is run by Italians, and visited by Italians, and it was the perfect place for us to practice our Italian. The place can be absolutely packed and chaotic most nights. We went on a Wednesday night at 7:30-8pm and the place was chockablock full with people spilling out onto the footpath. Luckily, my teacher being an authentic italian, barged into the restaurant and started screaming at people in italian. They in turn, screamed at her in Italian. Or maybe they were just having a normal conversation.....you never know with Italians, they always seem to be arguing!!

20mins later, we are shown to our table after my teacher befriended the owners and got some free snacks from them. The easiest way was to order a few pizzas to share. We had stopped by Lord Roberts before hand and picked up a bottle of red for dinner. We were starving, and when the food came out, we had to give the table a quick wipe from our drool:

"White pizza"?

I've heard of people referring this as the white pizza before (since I can't remember the name). Instead of the usual tomato base, it had a garlicky base from memory, and the pizza was draped with smokey, salty and slightly oily slice of procuitto served with rocket drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar. MmmMMmm Its not a "pizza", but its definately good!! The procuitto contrasted with the peppery fresh rocket really nicely, and the balsamic vinegar seemed to cut through the grease nicely. Definately one of my favs!

Pepperoni Pizza

Vegetarian Pizza.

The Pepperoni pizza was nice and spicy, but a bit too oily for my liking, but then thats probably why I rarely order a fully meat pizza. The vegetarian pizza was quite nice, but it was a shame they had skinned and sliced the eggplant so thin, I didn't even know they were on the pizza if I didn't read the menu. I like my eggplants in big thick meaty grilled pieces. I like to SEE my eggplants. But It was still delicious considering I'm not a fan of vegetarian pizzas. "What the fark? You don't like meat pizzas and don't like vegetarian pizza??". Yeh so sue me. I like my pizzas with a nice balance of meat and veggies, preferrably 1/2 kilo of mushrooms. The only time I really order a vegetarian is because I am under the illusion that it is healthier for me....even though it has about 3kg of cheese ontop....

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Rossini
Australia Square Food Court

This is my local coffee joint. You will most probably find me lining up for my coffee at 9am and 3pm daily. (Even though I'm trying to ween myself off the 3pm coffee). The owner Bill, has the most amazing memory ever. Even if you're not a big coffee drinker, you should still try and visit every day for a week and observe their production line. They have one guy on coffee, one guy doing the milk, and Bill. Bill will take one look at you, and know exactly what coffee you want with how many sugars. On average there are 20 orders waiting to be filled at any one time, and Bill can remember exactly who ordered what and in what order. There could be 10 lattes, and he will remember who came first and serve in that order. They make a kick ass coffee and the most gorgeous coconut macaroons (They're my inspiration when it comes to macaroons). I ordered their Cannoli Zucherati with a vanilla cream filling.

It looks like one big fried oily donut, surprisingly, it wasn't very oily. And the texture was far from a donut, it is closer to one of those sweet bun/bread things. Probably not something I will get again simply because I'm not a huge fan of sweets, but those who like their desserts will enjoy this.

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Restaurant name: unknown
Location: Five Dock

Alcohol kills brain cells......I visited this place a few weeks ago and already the name has escaped my head like a deranged lunatic running from prison. All I know is this restaurant is on Great North Road near Kings Road. The restaurant has a pastry case on the left hand side.

Grilled Chicken and vegetable stew (??)

Salami pizza with extra mushrooms

This is shocking.....I can't even remember what we ordered without looking at the photos!! I didn't get to try the chicken, but it definately looked appetizing. The pizza I ordered was HUGE. It was GIGANTIC! HUMMONGUS! It was the size of Anna Nicole Smiths boobies put together!! Look at the size of my pizza in comparison to the Chicken! I betcha someone felt ripped off! MauahaHA

Despite the pizza looking big enough to feed 5 families, it was actually really really thin. The chef had stretched the pizza out making it extra thin to fit that particular plate. Despite the pizza being paper thin, I still struggled to cut through the dough with my knife. I hear "Eating pizza with a knife! The sin!"....well unfortunately, I can't bite. And I mean I can't bite! Anything thinner than a buger patty I cannot bite through....so let me be! The toppings were delicious, but because I had asked them to add extra mushrooms and they had made the base extra thin, the centre got quite soggy. I'm hoping it'll be better the next time round.

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Red Oak

http://www.redoak.com.au/

Confit of Duck Maryland with a Herb Rosti

I've been to Red Oak previously for a friend birthday, only I don't remember a thing I ate. This time round, we visited as a end of project lunch and I had to order the duck after missing out last time. The Duck as beautiful and melts nicely in the mouth. The Herb Rosti seemed more like a high class bubble and squeek more than a Rosti, but still good since I love potatoe anything. Not being a beer drinker, I still enjoyed all the beers I tried that day. I started off with the Honey Ale, which was still a bit too beer tasting for my liking. I then moved on to their Raspberry beer which tasted more like champagne than anything and finished off with their chocolate beer. OooOoo the chocolate beer was nice! It tasted like liquid dark chocolate, only without the sweetness. Perfect for me! It actually felt like I had just finished a piece of chocolate. I'm definately going to be back for their chocolate beer. Oh, and they also have some of the best hand cut chips around!!

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Novotel Hotel - Brisbane

Ok I know I'm late......I know the wedding was a good 2 months ago....but my bluetooth was broke ok?? The reception started with canapes and drinks in the foyer. We were finally led into their dining room and got seated. With a bit of a mix up, 4 people in a row ended up with the same entree of fish (Usually they alternate the dishes). We had originally came up with this grand plan that I get the chicken for entree and the fish for the main, but I ended up with 2 dishes of fish, not that I complained. The main fish was gorgeous. The Fish was flakey and moist (Very rare for large catering events) and the vegetables were tender. This is the first time I've had brocolini, and I definately going to start cooking with them. The other dish was a tender steak served with a Rosemary Jus. The Steak looked nice and tender and the sauce was actually really nice.

Fillet Steak with a Rosemary Jus and mash

Grilled fish with wild field mushrooms and vegetables

Tiramisu

Double Choc Mousse

Food glorious food!

When I get into a cooking mood, I really get into a cooking mood. I was invited to my Italian teacher's party last night. It was a kind of house warming/meet other people and practice your italian type party. As we were allowed to bring people, I thought it was only fair to bring some home made food along as well............

Tadah!!!

Coconut macaroons and chocolate dipped Strawberries and Apples

And heres another close up.....

Usually chocolate dipped anything is good, but chocolate dipped Granny Smith apples has got to be the winner for me. The crunchy sour apple contrasts really nicely with the rich dark chocolate making it an awesome experience! I usually have 2-3 chocolate dipped strawberries and then I'll feel sick from sugar overdose, but I reckon I can eat half a dozen of the chocolate dipped apples easy!

As for the coconut macaroons, I didn't actually eat any......so I can't comment on how it tastes. But from a previous batch, I got many pats on the back at work. The soft sticky texture mixed with the aromatic toasted coconut is what makes this dessert a winner! And its probably a reason why we obsess over these little darlings at work. Lets just hope my batch can meet the expectations. I might go to the kitchen and try one actually......

Winter comfort food

Well, theres been quite a break since my last cooking sessions. Every week its either been going out with friends, busy with class or getting ready for the world cup. Now that things have kind of died down a bit (Yeh right), I started cooking again. Nothing beats homemade winter comfort food:

Hearty smokey Bacon, brocolli and potatoe soup

Spicy Chorizo and mushroom pasta

On another note, I signed up for competitive Volleyball.....the only problem is that I haven't played since high school. We had our first game last night......and we did relatively well considering I had 2mins to train, and a 30sec run down on the updated rules. We played 4 1/2 sets, and we lost 4 1/2 sets. But we almost won the last set! 3 - 4. Not too bad aye? Too bad our other scores were along the lines of 4 - 25. But for one of the sets, we did hit double digits! 10-25! Woohoo!!

Alright, most of you guys are probably rolling your eyes going "losers". Well, considering only 3 out of our 8 team mates has played before, the rest of us haven't touched a Volleyball since high school! Me and vicks had see-through uniforms whilst some of the other people didn't even have a uniform! hehehehe But we definately improved, now if we can just fit a few training sessions in, I'm sure we might be able to win a game eventually! SHARK BAIT!! WUHAHA!

Heart clogging

Ok....I thought I've seen it all. First there was the deep fried mars bar. Not too hard to accept I guess...it'll be like a tim tam bomb...only fried...mars bar-ish. Then there was the deep fried Twinkie. Ok...getting close to a deep fried ice cream.....I can kinda accept that.....Then someone came up with the KKs burger. A fatty greasy artery clogging burger served between a KK donut. I *guess* you can *kind off* see it like dipping french fries into a chocolate sunday (Hey don't knock it til you've tried it!). Somehow, salty fries go well with the sweet chocolate topping. But this......this monstrosity is....I have no words. What would possessed someone to sandwich extra fatty bacon between two extra fatty quarter pounders and then deep frying the heart attack in a bun rolled in batter?????

Fine, if thats the direction society is heading towards, I propose the following. A king sized mars bar sandwiched between two blocks of cheese, wrapped in bacon, wrapped in chicken skin, wrapped in pork skin, dipped in batter and deep fried then served with crunchy bacon bits, melted cheese, fries covered in bacon bits and melted cheese, all drenched in head to toe with mayonnaise and cheese sauce. Now THATS a meal. (And whats the bet that something like that actually exists somewhere in America?)

Quick comfort meal

What do you do when you're hungry and digging through the freezer only to reveal a piece of frozen fish and leftover fetta?

You turn it into a mouthwatering dish of course!!

Snapper Pasta served with crumbled marinated feta cheese

It was absolutely scrumptious even if I say so myself! The fish was a tad dry, but leaving fish in the freezer for about 3months tends to do that to fish. But the fetta. Oh my god the FETTA! Parmesan would've overpowered the fish, but the fetta! It melts in your mouth and gives it a soft creamy texture which contrasts with the firm fish and al denta pasta! I'm definately making this dish again......before I eat all the fetta!