Garfish (Kirribilli)

The boss took the team to celebrate a successful project at nearby Garfish at Kirribilli. It was a nice sunny day to have an outdoor lunch – soaking up the activities in the Kirribilli village.

True to its name, the restaurant offers a large variety of fish dish. Make sure you refer to the blackboard special. My roasted ocean trout fillet was cooked to perfection and was sitting perfectly on top of the corn puree with mushroom and chorizo. Too bad I ate them all. My colleague’s prawn pasta and king fish tartare were also excellent.

Details:
Garfish Kirribilli
2/21 Broughton Street
Kirribilli NSW 2061
http://garfish.com.au/garfish-kirribilli/

Orchid Persian Restaurant (Willoughby Sydney)

We spent a Friday night with a couple of friends at Orchid Persian Restaurant in Willoughby. By ordering the banquet menu in advance, the restaurant will arrange special belly dance performance on Friday and Saturday nights.

The banquet menu was extremely generous. Large amounts of meat kebabs followed the hummus, dips and bread. The chicken kebab was particularly tender and we all loved the Middle Eastern flavours. The belly dancing was performed by a true professional dancer and made the night truly entertaining.

Details:
Orchid Persian Restaurant
325 Penshurst Street
Willoughby NSW 2068
http://www.orchidpersianrestaurant.com.au/

Three Blue Ducks (Bronte Sydney)

For a lazy Sunday along the beach we headed to Three Blue Ducks for brunch. Despite arriving early, there was a small queue outside already. The quality of brunch was excellent, justifying the popularity. My black sausage complemented well with the cucumber yogurt. Both the scrambled and poached eggs were perfect. And if you are hungry, add some bacon (you won’t regret it).

Details:
Three Blue Ducks Bronte
141-143 Macpherson Street
Bronte NSW 2024
http://www.threeblueducks.com

Vulcan's (Blackheath Blue Mountains)

We visited Vulcan’s at Blackheath for a Sunday lunch as we heard the legendary chef-owner will be retiring. The dining room was packed on what was the chef’s second last weekend of service.

The highlight for me was the crab soup entrée with red rice. The broth was clean yet packed with seafood flavour. The famous oyster blade was tender and similar in taste to a good beef brisket at Chinatown (maybe the hour long wait for main course dulled our taste buds). The yogurt brulee was our favourite dessert, and it was fun to taste the chequerboard ice-cream.

Details:
Vulcan's
33 Govetts Leap Road 
Blackheath NSW 2785

The Union Hotel (North Sydney)

We were starving after a long day of work and just managed to have enough energy to walk to The Union Hotel for some gourmet pub grub. The scotch fillet burger was juicy and generous. And my beef cheek was extremely tender. It was a good night as we got to wind down over a relaxing meal at a place with an ambiance resembling a French bistro.

Details:
The Union Hotel
271 Pacific Highway (corner West Street)
North Sydney 2060
http://www.unionhotel.com.au

Mino (Willoughby)

When we heard Mino has opened a new restaurant at Willoughby, we were dying to go given our kaiseki experience at the Mosman restaurant last year.

The Willoughby restaurant focuses on sushi but a set menu is also available. While the ‘Willoughby set’ is a smaller set menu than a kaiseki but still offer 4 courses consisting of soup, sushi and sashimi, an entrée plate, and your choice of main. All the dishes were authentic and generous in portion – all for $30! If I have to be picky the entrée plate was rather salty, so get yourself a nice beverage.

Details:
Mino Sushi & Sake Willoughby
533 Willoughby Road
Willoughby NSW
http://minomino.com.au/willoughby/

Golden Century (Sydney)

The family often resorts to Golden Century at Chinatown for any celebrations or festivities. We arrived on a Saturday night again and it was already packed with a queue waiting outside. Booking is essential at this place.

You can choose from all sorts of seafood still alive at the fish tanks in front of you. We had steamed scallops for entrée, followed by mud crab braised in shallot and ginger. Make sure you order extra noodles to soak up all the goodness from the crab.

Details:
Golden Century
393-399 Sussex Street
Sydney NSW 2000
http://www.goldencentury.com.au/

Zen Oasis (Berrima)

The family spent a Sunday on a driving journey to Bowral for some tulip viewing, as well as the vegetarian feast at Zen Oasis which is another 20 minute drive south from Bowral.

The word oasis is appropriate because the entire property is beautifully decorated with flowers and stone features, accompanied by very friendly staff. And the buffet lunch is proper and generous. All the dishes were made from fresh vegetables. The crispy seaweed ‘fake eel’ was a revelation, as was the pumpkin dumplings.

Make sure you book way in advance.

Details:

Zen Oasis Vegetarian Garden Restaurant

230 Medway Road

Berrima

NSW 2577

http://www.zen-oasis.com/

Mamak (Chatswood Sydney)

We have waited at the queue at the popular Mamak at Chinatown on many occasions. So we decided to visit its Chatswood sister restaurant. While there was a small queue early on a Friday night, we got a table within 15 minutes.

We ordered the curries and satays for the evening, rather than our favourites of maggi goreng, fried chicken and kangkung belacan. The tangy fish curry really stimulated the appetite and I was wolfing down the steamed rice with the vegetarian curry. We also had the intensely sweet roti bom with ice-cream for desserts.

Details:
Mamak Chatswood
Shop P9
1-5 Railway Street
Chatswood 2067
http://www.mamak.com.au

Crave Sydney Itali-Anna Dessert Degustation at Bather's Pavilion

We rushed to Bather’s Pavilion after work for the one-off Crave Sydney dessert degustation dinner. Bather’s is one of my favourite places to eat and this meal was a special treat. I enjoyed all the starters especially the vanilla panna cotta with little mango caviar giving the sudden burst of sweetness. The ‘main course’ with goat cheese with cannoli and beetroot gave us a break from the sweetness. My favourite was the very smooth chocolate crema cake with a hint of peach from the sorbet.

I will save the citrus crackling bar for later.

Details:
Bathers' Pavilion Restaurant
4 The Esplanade
Balmoral Beach
NSW 2088
http://www.batherspavilion.com.au/
Crave Sydney 2012
http://cravesydney.com/event.php?intid=3299

Crave Sydney Luke Mangan Pop Up Restaurant at Thomas Dux

We made it to Luke Mangan’s pop-up restaurant at Thomas Dux Crows Nest as part of the Crave Sydney festival. The deli section of the grocery was bracketed for 40 diners with Chef Mangan and his team working behind the counter.

The meal was served tapas style and all the dishes were accentuated by different spices “from Morocco to Mexico”. My favourites were the curry spiced tempura prawns in steamed buns (served like a taco), and the succulent BBQ rubbed baby chicken.

Confession: we took an extra chocolate doughnut dessert home for later (sorry!)

Details:
Luke Mangan Pop Up Restaurant
Crave Sydney 2012
Thomas Dux Grocer Crows Nest
http://cravesydney.com/event.php?intid=3581

Crave Sydney Night Noodle Market

We paid a visit to the annual Crave Sydney Noodle Market on an unusually warm evening. It was packed with the after-hour crowd when we arrived. Struggled to get a table, we started the evening off with my favourite pork belly with rice from La Mint. We also sampled a variety of dishes from Pad Thai, fish cakes to mini pan cakes. You will find the big queues at the familiar names such as Din Tai Fung and Mamak despite paying a premium for the food. It is worth going once a year given the atmosphere (I suppose?)

Details:
Crave Sydney Night Noodle Markets
Hyde Park North
For 2013, October 3-5, 8-12, 15-19; 5-10pm
http://cravesydney.com/content/night-noodle-markets/gjoc54

Pilu at Freshwater (Sydney)

I was treated to a Sunday lunch by my partner at Pilu at Freshwater (thanks babe). The weather was stunning that day and we had a lovely view from the table, accompanied by equally great service.

The food was fantastic throughout starting from the crispy bread with truffle honey ricotta. Speghetti with sea urchin was full of flavours from the sea. The highlight was the roasted suckling pig – soft, succulent meat with perfect crackling. We barely had room for our pistachio frangipane and mandarin tortino pannacotta desserts.

Details:
Pilu at Freshwater
"On the beach”
 Moore Road
Freshwater NSW 2096
http://www.piluatfreshwater.com.au/

Ventuno (Sydney)

It was the boss’ shout at a work dinner with overseas guests and he took us to Ventuno Pizzeria Birreria Enoteca at Walsh Bay. The dining room may be a bit too dark for business.

We ordered plenty of anti-pasti to start with and I particularly enjoyed the mozzarella with tomato. For main course I had the fazzoletti pasta (or the ‘handkerchief’ – think extra-large size ravioli) with a sausage and pumpkin filling and burnt butter sauce. The sweetness of the pumpkin worked very well with the sausage. Despite the generous serving I polished the 3 handkerchiefs in no time.

Details:
Ventuno Pizzeria Birreria Enoteca
21 Hickson Road
Walsh Bay NSW 2000
http://www.ventuno.com.au