Summerland - Lebanese (Bankstown)

Once again review is not published @ Eatability yet.
However this is a copy.


Food 8 Ambience 10 Service 7 Value 10
My partner and I really enjoyed the experience. We ordered the banquet for 30 dollars, and received 18 courses which included baklava and Arabic coffee, which kept me up all morning. lol Was great coffee!

The food was generous and plentiful, and the freshly made hot bread made on site was very special. Most Lebanese restaurants don't make fresh hot bread.

The Baba Ghanoush was fantastic as was the Hommus.

I would love to return with a larger party; Its a great place to hold a birthday or work function.

The entertainment was unexpectedly excellent. We loved the old Arabic man on the Casio keyboard singing all night; The belly dancer was fun and the special entertainment at the end was standout. One of the boys (about 10 yrs old) from a birthday function asked to perform Michael Jackson's Billy Jean and he was a great dancer. He had all the moves as well as the black hat lol.

We had such a fun night, waitresses were efficient and friendly, food was generous and tasty and the ambience a treat. The value was second to none.

I recommend dining on Saturday night for the entertainment value.

Will definitely dine again soon.

Villa Moura - Portuguese (Rouse Hill)

The following is a copy of my recent review of "Villa Moura".
It has not been published at Eatability yet.

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 8 Value 9
My partner and I dined for the first time recently and we were very impressed. The restaurant had a great feel to it. A sense of family - The family owned business wanted us to really SAVOUR their food; We really felt at home.

The chef and owner is quite a character lol. He made sure he spoke to every table dining the night we went. He was very passionate about his skewers and made sure we knew he was now upgrading his skewers from 18 to 22 lol.
I would love to try a skewer degustation lol...Or even an all you can eat skewer night.

We enjoyed the skewers, with two sides, which we shared. Everything we ate tasted great. The beef and lamb were very tender. The pumpkin and spinach risotto was very tasty. The polenta fried squares light n fluffy and great with my cab sav.

I would have liked to see a choice of sides in terms of a vegetable skewer. How great would it be to enjoy a meat or seafood skewer, and also enjoy a vegetable skewer too, instead of the traditional sides. Something like: eggplant, zucchini, onion, tomato, capsicum, pineapple, sweet potato, etc...

The other thing would be, to be able to purchase multiple skewers without the sides...The average skewer comes with your choice of two sides for approx. 26 dollars. However what if you were still hungry? I would like to be able to order a bonus skewer on top... or be able to order skewers without the sides.

Next time, and there will be a next time, we will share a meat skewer with a seafood skewer, but would still like the option of a char grilled vegetable skewer. I would have liked to have been able to order 3 skewers between my partner and I, and not have ordered an entree.

There are so many great sounding dishes on the menu besides skewers, like the Paella or the Cod. The skewers concept is such a feelgood and enjoyable novelty, it would be hard to go past it next time.

It was great to see the father and son so passionate about their food and Peri Peri sauce :)

It was well worth the 20 minute drive from Baulkham Hills. The only thing we could say is that we would have enjoyed a dessert menu which was homemade. Something which was a product of Portugal would have been a great finisher to a fine meal.

It is certainly a place we would encourage larger groups, particular family to enjoy the comfortable warm atmosphere and great food. In fact based on our first experience, I would be confident in ordering just about anything on that menu, and have it come out at a high caliber.

We noticed some local cinemas near by, so it just may be a good double to catch a movie and dine in at Villa Moura.

Great quality food, service, atmosphere and value. Id like to see a karaoke night done there lol. With the chef first up on the mic. Would be a fun night.

Finally there is a restaurant with great food and value in the Hills...Thanks for a great night!

The Garfish, The return

It was a glorious day out, and great company, but "The Garfish" let me down with their food.
Here is my recent review:
More info at Eatabilty site.

I recently dined at "The Garfish" on Saturday for lunch. It was my girlfriend's birthday and we ordered the "fruit de Mer" platter. I had chosen this restaurant on account of my previous dining experience there; The food was great, a lovely spot overlooking the water and informative friendly service.

I was a little disappointed with the presentation of the platter. Perhaps I expected a more elaborate display of food, maybe some fruit. Most seafood platters typically come with fruit, and are quite generously laid out.

Whilst I enjoyed the wood fired crustaceans, I thought there may have been a few more. When you consider most platters contain lobster, and this didn't i felt like there could have been at least 2 scampi and 2 prawns each; On ours we had 3 scampi and 3 prawns to split up an odd number. There were 4 half portions of bugs fortunately. I thought that for the price of the platter, and the absence of lobster we may have seen a more generous serving of crustaceans.

I suppose I was left thinking of my first experience, where we ordered an entree and main, and how great those dishes were. I had 6 half bugs then, and a lovely piece of fish and salad. I felt like the platter wasn't special for a typical platter and that short cuts had been taken to put it together.

I also felt like the array of sauces accompanying the Crustaceans were limited with only 1 creamy dipping sauce.
It actually felt like all the food was CRAMMED onto a rather petite plate, and thought not considered for the presentation.

The scallops were so sweet, but there was no condiment to accompany them. I expected perhaps some cauliflower or brandy sauce or something to go with them. Like I believe the traditional entree of scallops receives.

It just felt like that we got the raw-deal because we didn't choose the typical entrees and mains; whereas in my opinion the platter should have been the SHOWCASE, the penultimate gathering of their best food.

The day was glorious, the views outstanding and the our seats were just about the best in the restaurant closest to the window, or lack of window, with best views to the ocean.

I felt the service was humble, and a good attempt was made, but lacked the experience and professionalism of the waiter we had the previous time we dined. It appeared like our waiter was new to the job, but I felt like we didn't receive the information of the food that was brought out. It was like here it is, there's the food, enjoy... but what sauces are they?

The opening course to the platter was nicely presented with 3 sauces, and a lovely vinegarette, which worked well with the oysters.

I felt like the small leafy salad we received as a side with the platter was poor, lifeless and sparse. It needed a lift with some other vegetables.

Visually the platter in general wasn't well constructed.
The mains and entrees in general actually stand out at you and are very inviting, as if to say, come eat me. The platter just looked derived. I was hoping for more BLING on such a special occasion.

I went away thinking, we were better off choosing 1 entree and 1 main each, and we would have enjoyed much better food and it served much visually inviting.

The garlic wood fired bread was the standout of the whole meal; it was very tasty.

I am destined to return, but not for the platter. I still feel a bit hardly done by. I have experience much better platters at several other restaurants. If I returned I would be getting the Moreton Bay bugs as an entree and a beautiful piece of fish for the main...

Thats another slightly disappointing part of the platter; there was no fish. most platters service a nice fillet of fish or something stand-out.

This restaurant has one of the best locations, and it is capable of producing fantastic meals which are visually tempting, but they let me down with the platter. I would not recommend the platter to anyone sadly, and I wished that was not the case. I feel like "The Garfish" has and can do better with their platter.

The waitress I had the first time around, was so informative, on the ball, professional and always a step ahead, providing us with professional customer service in a friendly and non-confronting manner; I wish I remembered her name.

I thought our waiter this time tried hard. It took a while for my wine to come back out once the bread entree arrived, but he did tend to my empty glass quite well, and gave us extra clean napkins half way through the platter. I thought that was thoughtful!

I thought a stunning day, with acceptable food and service, but nothing too special, which was a shame.

The banana brulee was well enjoyed by my partner.

On the first encounter, I gave the food an solid 8, and the service a solid 9. This time around I have to give the food and service a satisfactory 6. I felt the value was closer to an 8 the first time but this time it was a dismal 5.

Quite contrasting experiences, with a goldmine establishment and great potential to really show off some great seafood.

Atom Thai - The third experience

They say 3rd times a charm lol

Heres the lowdown from our 3rd dining experience at Atom Thai:

Wednesday night we made a last moment decision to dine at Atom's since we were in the approximate location.

In the last couple of experiences we have tried to select different dishes from the menu, so that we can eventually taste them all, and know what our favourite dishes are.

We tried the Beef salad, which was very light and tasty. The freshness of salad and lemon went well with the tender slithers of prime beef. It was a perfect salad to eat on a warm summer's day, not to hot but very refreshing.

We also tried the red duck curry. Its quite similar to the Choo Chee curry flavour. I was a little disappointed with the pieces of duck in the curry, they werent very prime pieces of duck. Rather we got a lot of gristle. I did enjoy the sweetness of pineapple and Lichee in the dish. The curry's are well balanced, and you get a rather wide range of flavour. From Sweet at first, to hot. It had our noses running, but it was a nice journey through the dish.

I am not sure whether the Choo Chee and the red curry are that different, but they tasted rather close.

I also want to thank them for a delightful modest selection of fruit to finish our mains. It really refreshes the pallet after all the curry. The addition of Lichees to the fruit was very generous. I really like Lichees! Even though my partner finds them too sickly to eat lol.

We also tried the Miang Goong again, and it seemed to lack the PUNCH it usually has.

I promised my partner I would stick to only two mains this time around lol but i was longing for a 3rd dish, my beloved, Massaman beef curry.

Its very difficult to limit yourself to only two dishes, so I recommend dinging with 4 or more people, so you can really experience the vast array of flavours in various dishes.

I will have to try the custard dessert next time!!!
I will have to watch the budget and the waistline lol
I just go wild eating at Atom Thai lol

Thanks for another welcoming experience!

I think we have found another great dish in the beef salad. Its a little similar to the Ting Tong Beef entree. But a whole plate!

Its great to have an assortment of great dishes, each from a different cooking method.

I am determined to try the Tamarind prawns and the custard taro dessert next time lol

stay tuned for more of the Atom Thai story lol

Tai Pak, Chinese Restaurant, Chester Hill

This is one of my favourite restaurants and the food is consistently good and well priced.
Its not quite as profound and complex as Atom Thai, but they are 2 different cuisines. The food at Tai Pak is rather simple, but the flavour of their sauces are superb for Chinese.
In terms of value they are so far ahead of any restauant ive been too.
If anything Atom could be a tad overpriced. As a comparison u may pay almost double per head to eat at Atom Thai. You wont find the complex entrees you find at Atom, but the mains taste bloody good. I must have eaten at Tai Pak now for over 15 yrs im sure, maybe its longer.
That Chef must have been working there the same time too lol.
Tai Pak is like the 1 constant in the ever changing universe lol apart from Harry Callahan and myself lol... Very reliable lol

As i said to Nerida on the way to La Shish lol If that restaurant sucks and were still hungry we know where to drop in on the way home LOL

here is my review:

Its very seldom to get a restaurant where the value is a perfect 10, but Tai Pak pulls it off. Ive been eating at Tai Pak for several years and they seldom disappoint.

Tai Pak serves the best modern Chinese food I have tasted. Their Mongolian combination and Mountain Chicken is second to none.

Ive never been too keen on their fried rice, in fact I havent come across a fried rice at any Chinese restaurant lately worth noting. If their fried rice was good, id have given them 10 for food.

I also like their prawn cutlets, and prawn toast.

The service can be a little indifferent on some occasions but that isn't a major concern, because you come here for the BEST food at reasonable prices. The service is a bonus and on most occasions its pretty good.
Last time they brought out a special ice bucket on a stand, and a second one for our rice so we had more room on the table.

The owner Jenny, is always friendly.

For such a humble establishment its one of my favourite places to eat, and one where u can have an entree and 3 mains plus dessert for around 25 dollars per head.

Their fried icecream is good too. I dont like a huge thick crust on my battered icecream, and this 1 is nice and thin, with a nice coconut infusion of flavour.

They always finish with a modest serving of fruit, fresh wet napkin and a fortune cookie. fortune cookies seem like a dying race these days.

One of my top restaurants!

Satasia - The Verdict

I am just not enticed to return, very disappointing :(
Here's the review just posted on the eatability guide:

The best part about dining at Satasia were the Duck Pancakes.
The service was EFFICIENT and friendly.
My bar merchant really talked up the restaurant prior, so I was expecting something out of this world. I was a bit disappointed that the mains didn't really cut it for me. We had the slow cooked pork in plum sauce and the Rang Dang beef.

The pork was tough and smelled a little gamy. Having never tasted Rang Dang beef before, I was left wondering what flavour(s) were on show in the dish. It was very bland.

The other entrees we tried were the curry and potato balls, and the stuffed jumbo prawns. The balls were must have been pre-made and frozen because there were cold sections inside. The prawns were difficult to eat, they still had the shells on despite being stuffed, and they were really hot, so we had to wait a bit before attempting to de-shell them. For the prices of both entrees I expected perhaps double the quantity. 2 prawns each and 2 pancakes each. But only 1 each didnt seem to fill the bill, excuse the duck pun.

Although we didn't turn up for prawns, we were thinking it may have had more of a Thai influence. Perhaps even rivaling one of our favourite Thai places. In the end we chose dishes form Indian and Chinese.

Did we order the wrong dishes? Have we been spoiled at other restaurants?

I just didn't think the food matched the great service. On top of that parking is worse than Newtown. We couldn't find a Gelato shop in the main street either.

I was certainly disappointed the food didn't live up to the hype and the price. The great service smoothed over the experience, and its a place we may consider if passing through in the future, but I am just not convinced about the food in general.

Perhaps the split cultured cuisine doesnt work all that well. We already have a great Chinese and Thai place, so i guess its difficult to compete with specialist restaurants.

I am a little taken back now comparing the food to the review score of 8.2 from 60 votes. The food was a bit flat. Ive scored the food a generous 6. Perhaps other dishes are better. The value just wasnt there, and you dont want to pay top prices when the food doesnt stand up.

Satasia - Booked 8pm

Its a good sign, this restaurant was booked out up until just a moment ago, and 1 table canceled. It sounds very promising!
Looks like an interesting menu:

It has a very similar dish to the Miang Goong at Atom Thai.
Will be very interesting to see how it squares up.
This restaurant was endorsed by my wine merchant and owner of Cellarbrations lol
We had a good discussion on wines and food Friday, so fingers crossed this will be good.

The good thing is, it has to be better than last night's experience lol
Im going with the Sparkling Banrock Shiraz lol and maybe a beer lol

The reviews from the Eatability Guide appear healthy at 7.8 from 60 votes, but then again Blake's was 7.6 from 83. So nothing is a given.

Wish us luck! lol