Dinner at Feeling Nibblish's chef's table!
It's not often that you're invited to a recipe blogger's kitchen for dinner, so I made sure to bring my empty stomach and imagined what feast would await the boy and I. Isabelle described the meal as a "Chinese inspired meal" and I couldn't wait. We opened some beers to cool down from the scorching weather outside and settled in.
The Chinatown Gyoza were dressed in a refreshing soy, chilli, ginger and coriander sauce and were the perfect starting point for an Asian themed night of food. The fillings, including prawns and pork, worked perfectly with their sauce and I couldn't get enough of these. Because I'm a little bit obsessed with strong flavours, if I were making them I would have upped the chilli, ginger and coriander in the sauce, however, if you're serving food for a few people you have to be careful not to overdo these kinds of flavours. And I'm only saying this because when asked at the end of the evening by Isabelle, I had extreme difficulty in offering any negative feedback. I'm definitely going to try this recipe because making gyoza is always a lot of fun and you can be very creative with the fillings (although I have a tendency to overstuff every gyoza I make). The gyoza were soft in the inside and crispy on the outside from being panfried. The perfect combination. You could easily eat an entire meal of these.
It's always fun being around someone else who takes photos of the food they eat. I think the boy is getting use to waiting until he sees the flash of a camera before he's allowed to eat. That's foodie bloggers for you! But it's also great being able to talk food over great food, both home cookign and new restaurants that have opened up.
We've started on a bottle of red by this point and can smell the next course simmering away. It's beginning to smell amazing. Isabelle has prepared as much as possible before we've arrived, so that she isn't away from the conversation for too long. This is always a juggling act when you're the cook for the night, but Isabelle does this seamlessly.
The next course is Chick - Corn Soup, which is a delicious combination of chicken, corn, Shao Hsing wine, coriander and more. There really is something about chicken soup that makes you feel like you're eating something that's really good for your body. I could have eaten a whole pot of this because it's so moorish. Chicken soup has that ability to make you extremely comforted when you eat it, warming you up from the inside out. This is a bit fancier than the usual variety served to you by your parents when you were feeling ill, and the Asian twist, such as the coriander (one of my favourite ingredients at the moment), lifts the flavours in the soup.
A few more bottles of wine and a lot more talk of blogs and food later, the three of us are are served a Quick & Fruity Slice by Isabella. It's the perfect light dessert to finish off an Asian inspired meal, as it's not too heavy. Even though I'm not often in the mood for desserts, this is a nice and light way to finish the meal off. It has puff pastry crunch and is topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and custardy goodness. I find it a bit difficult to break the pastry with a spoon, and I think that if I were to do it again, it might be easier just to pick with my hands and eat it that way!
By this point, it's time to call it a night. The boy and I have extremely satisfied stomachs. His only feedback to Isabella involves putting more chilli into everything (well, maybe not the dessert), because, like me, he's a little chilli obsessed. But if that's the only feedback that we can give, you know it was a great night of food. I hope that we're invited back to the Chef's table in the Feeling Nibblish kitchen some time soon!
Showing posts with label drinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drinking. Show all posts
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Dugustation at Tokonoma
We walk through a curtained doorway into the honey coloured curved, sleek wood interior that is Tokonoma, situated next door to Toko. There is soft lighting and Reni Jung's shimmering 11-metre sculpture, Water, featuring 500,000 lentils set in resin. We are seated in an intimate booth beside this artwork (which we're pretty sure kept on making an electronic beeping noise... strange), on the other side of the bar. Architect Matt Darwon has done an an amazing job, which you realise in full on a trip to the bathroom. You can easily forget that there are other diners in the restaurant from our very roomy booth table.
It's only after we're seated that we notice the bottles of liquid lit up from underneath. It's not until after that I realise that these are bottles of Tokonoma's signature house-infused beverages, or “shochu." To be perfectly honest, I didn't realise that Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge is Tokonoma's full name. And the levels of lighting in there are so low, that I couldn't really read the drinks menu to pick up on this. We had a bottle of wine included in the Team Spreets voucher that I had bought for my friend's birthday and we decided to take it easy on the alcohol. But I have heard very good things about the sochu at Tokonoma. I've heard that the gen awa cha (genmaicha-infused shiro shochu, orange flower bubble tea, lychee tea, ($17) in particular, is a must try. It'll have to wait till next time for me.
The staff are extremely competent, the service is efficient and fast and we always have at least 1 item of food on our table at all times. Within minutes of being seated we had two glasses of lovely cold white wine (perfect to combat the scorching temperatures of this week) and warm, salty edamame in front of us.
Rare on the outside, melt in your mouth on this inside. The picked onions and crunch from the garlic chips complimented the seared beef extremely well. Although slightly difficult to eat (we kind of rolled in over with our chop sticks. Although my photo does not do it justice at all, this was a beautifully plated meal.
Tokonoma's version of soft- shell crab was served with an amazing wasabi mayonnaise, with I personally think should be served with most meals, rather than just boring mayonnaise. There was a light batter and a lot of crab meat. Perfect. We could have eaten a lot more of this.
I enjoyed each new vessel our meals were plated on, almost as much as the food. The nigiri was fresh and melted in your mouth. The tofu was delicate, yet layered in flavours and the the shreds of dehydrated chilli were a nice subtle touch. The grilled prok melted in your mouth and had a delicious grilled flavour (even though I don't normally order pork).
Both the lamb and zuccini were simple, but the combination of their sauces and being grilled made them both amazingly delicious and were quickly eaten by my friend and I. The lamb in particular, melted in your mouth, we managed to lick the bones clean.
(more photos to come)...
We finished it all off with a palate cleansing misu and some more of our bottle of wine. We thought we were all done, but then the dessert came out. The icecream was served on ice, which was nice touch and the mango in particular was very tasty. The creme brulee had some mystery items at the bottom of it and was unlike any other creme brulee I've had before. This was accompanied with some tropical fruits: strawberry, kiwi fruit, lychee and dragon fruit: yum.
The ambience, food and beverages, service and the design of Tokonoma all combined to make our visit a memorable one. It's contemporary Japanese food (a fusion perhaps) was spot on. We had a great time having a look at all of the bottles of Sochu on the way out, as we re-entered the ridiculously hot summer night.
It's only after we're seated that we notice the bottles of liquid lit up from underneath. It's not until after that I realise that these are bottles of Tokonoma's signature house-infused beverages, or “shochu." To be perfectly honest, I didn't realise that Tokonoma Shochu Bar and Lounge is Tokonoma's full name. And the levels of lighting in there are so low, that I couldn't really read the drinks menu to pick up on this. We had a bottle of wine included in the Team Spreets voucher that I had bought for my friend's birthday and we decided to take it easy on the alcohol. But I have heard very good things about the sochu at Tokonoma. I've heard that the gen awa cha (genmaicha-infused shiro shochu, orange flower bubble tea, lychee tea, ($17) in particular, is a must try. It'll have to wait till next time for me.
The staff are extremely competent, the service is efficient and fast and we always have at least 1 item of food on our table at all times. Within minutes of being seated we had two glasses of lovely cold white wine (perfect to combat the scorching temperatures of this week) and warm, salty edamame in front of us.
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| edamame |
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| gyu niku no tataki seared beef, pickled onions, mizuna, garlic chips |
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| watari-gani kara-age crispy soft-shell crab, wasabi mayonnaise |
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| assorted selection of nigiri |
I enjoyed each new vessel our meals were plated on, almost as much as the food. The nigiri was fresh and melted in your mouth. The tofu was delicate, yet layered in flavours and the the shreds of dehydrated chilli were a nice subtle touch. The grilled prok melted in your mouth and had a delicious grilled flavour (even though I don't normally order pork).
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| tofu with misu paste |
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| grilled pork |
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(more photos to come)...
We finished it all off with a palate cleansing misu and some more of our bottle of wine. We thought we were all done, but then the dessert came out. The icecream was served on ice, which was nice touch and the mango in particular was very tasty. The creme brulee had some mystery items at the bottom of it and was unlike any other creme brulee I've had before. This was accompanied with some tropical fruits: strawberry, kiwi fruit, lychee and dragon fruit: yum.
The ambience, food and beverages, service and the design of Tokonoma all combined to make our visit a memorable one. It's contemporary Japanese food (a fusion perhaps) was spot on. We had a great time having a look at all of the bottles of Sochu on the way out, as we re-entered the ridiculously hot summer night.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
'Stralia Day at The Rocks
Idea: Celebrate Australia Day at The Rocks
Today was hot. Very hot. The kind of hot that makes you feel like you're melting. We headed to Cruise Bar first and after being told that they weren't doing any jugs or cocktails as they would "make us drunk" (um.. hello - it's Australia Day... I'm pretty sure that people were drunk by the time the pubs opened and it was 2pm) we ordered some Pimms and Lemonade.
We watched Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers from the Rock Stage from our spot at Cruise Bar. But eventually we had to retreat to shade. We strolled up Argyle Street past all the people to The Argyle. Since I've been there last the Argyle has had a make over. A Gazebo - style make over. However, it doesn't quite work. Yes, it's an improvement from the old large booth style seating arrangements. The problem is that it's trying too hard. In the dining area, what is now called Argyle Bazar is like that nerdy little kid at school trying so desperately hard to be cool, but totally missing the point.
I didn't like the new stylings overall. A bit too tacky and not enough kitsch to be cool. The service, or what service should I ask? Was all over the place. Despite being Australia Day, the Argyle Bazar was not packed. We had to repeatedly ask for water and ended up getting some well after all meals had been eaten. All meals were average and too expensive for what they were. The "wagyu" meatballs were bland, the kind of thing you would whip up at home in a minute from cheap mince. The tomato sauce was too thin and no spoon - like implement was given in order to get the sauce. The patatas bravas were average, especially after the amazing ones we had in Jah Bar a few weeks ago. They weren't crispy and tasted like they had been cooked hours ago.
The Valencian Bread Salad was fine. The Sher Wagyu Roast Beef Tortilla tasted like rare roast beef on cold thin crust pizza with a few capers added for decoration. Overall I was extremely "whelmed" as Miss B would say. The Boy also had an air conditioner drip on his head, into his food and in his beer, not a happy chappy. This isn't acceptable even in a dodgy pub.
My recommendations would be to fire all of the staff and start all over again. I asked a man working there clearing plates if we needed to wait to be seated or not, and he looked confused and told me that he didn't know. Unless he clears plates as a hobby, he certainly worked there. Then we waited to try to get someone's attention. Finally, we were told to wait and a table would be set for us. This took some time. I haven't had this bad service for a long time. Next recommendation: get rid of the hideous lamps. Add a bit of character, rather than bland mass produced "attempting to be funky" stuff. And my final recommendation: use jugs that you can pour drinks out of for sangria. Oh, and one more. Improve the food and the prices. That's all for now. Yes, this is one harsh review, but come on! Up your game. There's just too many great options these days in Sydney to be so sloppy.
We decided to have a bit more picnic rug on the grass time, stopping to grab a hot corn on a cob. We were still hungry after our few mouth fulls of "tapas," read: poor excuse to serve pricey small dishes so we got some more food including kababs on sticks and gyoza from the Rocks markets. We watched some more bands then headed home on the ferry enthusiastically waving our free Aussie flags. Good work Angus and Julia Stone for no. 1 in the Triple J Hottest 100! Happy Australia Day everyone! I hope you all had a fab day!
Today was hot. Very hot. The kind of hot that makes you feel like you're melting. We headed to Cruise Bar first and after being told that they weren't doing any jugs or cocktails as they would "make us drunk" (um.. hello - it's Australia Day... I'm pretty sure that people were drunk by the time the pubs opened and it was 2pm) we ordered some Pimms and Lemonade.
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| Some random dude in my shot... |
We watched Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers from the Rock Stage from our spot at Cruise Bar. But eventually we had to retreat to shade. We strolled up Argyle Street past all the people to The Argyle. Since I've been there last the Argyle has had a make over. A Gazebo - style make over. However, it doesn't quite work. Yes, it's an improvement from the old large booth style seating arrangements. The problem is that it's trying too hard. In the dining area, what is now called Argyle Bazar is like that nerdy little kid at school trying so desperately hard to be cool, but totally missing the point.
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| Menu |
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| The ugly light shade above our table. Tacky much? |
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| View of the bar section from our table |
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| Passion Sangria |
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| Trying to work out how to pour the sangria with some much fruit jammed into it. We try using a fork, a knife... |
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| Got there in the end! |
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Sher Wagyu Roast Beef Tortilla $14
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| Valencian Bread Salad $14. A colourful mix of capsicum, Roma tomatoes, croutons, pine nuts & herbs, dressed with balsamic & olive oil |
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| Patatas Bravas $11. Crispy potatoes, served with chilli aioli. To the left: Albóndigas $17, Sher Wagyu meatballs, served with warm tomato relish |
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| The ever elusive water. You may have to ask more than 4 times for this. |
The Valencian Bread Salad was fine. The Sher Wagyu Roast Beef Tortilla tasted like rare roast beef on cold thin crust pizza with a few capers added for decoration. Overall I was extremely "whelmed" as Miss B would say. The Boy also had an air conditioner drip on his head, into his food and in his beer, not a happy chappy. This isn't acceptable even in a dodgy pub.
My recommendations would be to fire all of the staff and start all over again. I asked a man working there clearing plates if we needed to wait to be seated or not, and he looked confused and told me that he didn't know. Unless he clears plates as a hobby, he certainly worked there. Then we waited to try to get someone's attention. Finally, we were told to wait and a table would be set for us. This took some time. I haven't had this bad service for a long time. Next recommendation: get rid of the hideous lamps. Add a bit of character, rather than bland mass produced "attempting to be funky" stuff. And my final recommendation: use jugs that you can pour drinks out of for sangria. Oh, and one more. Improve the food and the prices. That's all for now. Yes, this is one harsh review, but come on! Up your game. There's just too many great options these days in Sydney to be so sloppy.
We decided to have a bit more picnic rug on the grass time, stopping to grab a hot corn on a cob. We were still hungry after our few mouth fulls of "tapas," read: poor excuse to serve pricey small dishes so we got some more food including kababs on sticks and gyoza from the Rocks markets. We watched some more bands then headed home on the ferry enthusiastically waving our free Aussie flags. Good work Angus and Julia Stone for no. 1 in the Triple J Hottest 100! Happy Australia Day everyone! I hope you all had a fab day!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Pub lunch, Wildfire, followed by a dash of Smoke & Mirrors
Idea: A day of eating and playing
The boy met me at work today and we were in the mood for a pub lunch. I ordered what I always do at the Hero of Waterloo: Lambshanks and the Boy ordered the Bangers and Mash. Good proper pub food. It's not the cheapest, due to location: The Rocks, but it's good tasty, hearty fare. The lamb always melts off the bone, the gravy is thick, salty and goes perfectly with green beans and mash. Apart from a random, appetising, sad looking bit of tomato of the Boy's, his meal is exactly the sort of pub food that we were craving.
A Wildfire style Wagyu flat iron steak 200g, burnt eggplant, variations on onion, aerated potato ‘veloute', rosemary and oxtail jus and a glass of Stoneleigh Pinot Noir wine for $30. Yes Please. I love these Fast Festival Feasts and have tried to go to as many as possible during Sydney Festival this January.
I've been meaning to go to Wildfire for ages now and thought that this would be the perfect chance. I know that in the past, Wildfire's reputation for rude staff has gotten the better of it, but on our visit the service wasn't bad at all. Although, there was a minimum level of service required for us seeing as we had one meal on our menu: wagyu, which they didn't even ask how we wanted it cooked. The meat was tender, the aerated potato veloute was essentially pureed potato and cream, which was an interesting take on the idea of potato mash being served with steak. The rosemary and oxtail jus had depth and theingredients complimented each other nicely.
Quite a few of the sides looked like they were worth trying and we settled on a crunchy spinach side of some kind (that doesn't appear to be on their online menu). It was crunchy and refreshing. The views were of course to die for and the Boy and I were both happy with our Wildfire experience.
Next up, we were off to see Smoke and Mirrors:
If it wasn't sold out already, I would highly recommend going to see Smoke and Mirrors. So instead I'll say that it deserved its many awards and try to get tickets next year! What a great night!
The boy met me at work today and we were in the mood for a pub lunch. I ordered what I always do at the Hero of Waterloo: Lambshanks and the Boy ordered the Bangers and Mash. Good proper pub food. It's not the cheapest, due to location: The Rocks, but it's good tasty, hearty fare. The lamb always melts off the bone, the gravy is thick, salty and goes perfectly with green beans and mash. Apart from a random, appetising, sad looking bit of tomato of the Boy's, his meal is exactly the sort of pub food that we were craving.
A Wildfire style Wagyu flat iron steak 200g, burnt eggplant, variations on onion, aerated potato ‘veloute', rosemary and oxtail jus and a glass of Stoneleigh Pinot Noir wine for $30. Yes Please. I love these Fast Festival Feasts and have tried to go to as many as possible during Sydney Festival this January.
I've been meaning to go to Wildfire for ages now and thought that this would be the perfect chance. I know that in the past, Wildfire's reputation for rude staff has gotten the better of it, but on our visit the service wasn't bad at all. Although, there was a minimum level of service required for us seeing as we had one meal on our menu: wagyu, which they didn't even ask how we wanted it cooked. The meat was tender, the aerated potato veloute was essentially pureed potato and cream, which was an interesting take on the idea of potato mash being served with steak. The rosemary and oxtail jus had depth and theingredients complimented each other nicely.
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| Wagyu flat iron steak 200g, burnt eggplant, variations on onion, aerated potato ‘veloute', rosemary and oxtail jus. |
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| Add caption |
Next up, we were off to see Smoke and Mirrors:
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| Having a nice cold bottle of white wine |
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| In the Festival Garden - it was very packed by the time the sun dipped down. |
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| We needed another quick bite to eat so the Boy got a Chilli Dog, which he said was satisfactory. |
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| I got some dumplings, which were fab! |
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| Walking through the faux vineyard |
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| Time for Smoke and Mirrors to begin! |
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| The strong men were my favourite act |
Monday, January 24, 2011
A beachy weekend involving a crab named Craig and a game of cricket
Idea: Head to a beach house with some friends and a good ol' game of cricket
I think that there's nothing better than having a bunch of friends, a beach house, hot weather and some bbqing action! Oh - and did I mention the crab?
The beaches up around Hardy's Bay are beautiful and there's great spots for kayaking, fishing and more, and it's just over the water form Palm Beach. One of our crew even caught a crab. With a hand line. That's skill! We named him Craig and then debated over the most humane way of um... well... you know... "preparing him for our plates." We put him in the freezer, then into a pot for 10 minutes. Much to our horror, he started blinking at us as he defrosted before we put him into the water! Yes, there were girly squeals, there were calls of "stop punching yourself Craig" and lots of "we're so sorry Craig, really sorry."
Craig the blue swimmer crab turned bright orange the second he hit the water. And he tasted delicious! So fresh and lots of white meat. We decided not to serve him with any flavours, so as to not spoil the flavour. And yes, we played with the claw... It was too hard to resist. Poor Craig!
Then next day, the Boy and I were off to the cricket. My first game! It was Australia vs England. I'm Australian. He's... wait for it... English. There was some friendly rivalry going on there. I'm not a fan at all of watching sport, especially not cricket on tv. But, I have a confession to make. Going to the cricket is fun. There's drunk bogans acting up. Irish "angry elves" sitting next to me wanting to fight the Aussie bogans in the front. Evictions from the crowd. You have to get lots of beer. I suggest bringing a picnic in your bag (we did!) There's games with empty beer cups, blow up balls and kangaroos (just watch out that the fun police don't nab them). Yup, I've been converted!
Except for getting a little bit sunburnt, it was an amazing weekend of fun in the sun! Oh, and did I mention that Australia won the game? Because we did!
I think that there's nothing better than having a bunch of friends, a beach house, hot weather and some bbqing action! Oh - and did I mention the crab?
The beaches up around Hardy's Bay are beautiful and there's great spots for kayaking, fishing and more, and it's just over the water form Palm Beach. One of our crew even caught a crab. With a hand line. That's skill! We named him Craig and then debated over the most humane way of um... well... you know... "preparing him for our plates." We put him in the freezer, then into a pot for 10 minutes. Much to our horror, he started blinking at us as he defrosted before we put him into the water! Yes, there were girly squeals, there were calls of "stop punching yourself Craig" and lots of "we're so sorry Craig, really sorry."
Craig the blue swimmer crab turned bright orange the second he hit the water. And he tasted delicious! So fresh and lots of white meat. We decided not to serve him with any flavours, so as to not spoil the flavour. And yes, we played with the claw... It was too hard to resist. Poor Craig!
Then next day, the Boy and I were off to the cricket. My first game! It was Australia vs England. I'm Australian. He's... wait for it... English. There was some friendly rivalry going on there. I'm not a fan at all of watching sport, especially not cricket on tv. But, I have a confession to make. Going to the cricket is fun. There's drunk bogans acting up. Irish "angry elves" sitting next to me wanting to fight the Aussie bogans in the front. Evictions from the crowd. You have to get lots of beer. I suggest bringing a picnic in your bag (we did!) There's games with empty beer cups, blow up balls and kangaroos (just watch out that the fun police don't nab them). Yup, I've been converted!
Except for getting a little bit sunburnt, it was an amazing weekend of fun in the sun! Oh, and did I mention that Australia won the game? Because we did!
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