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

Atom Thai - The Return! lol

This is my recent review of Atom Thai. I had to use a slightly different name just to post a 2nd comment on the same restaurant. Why they would appear not to allow multiple posts is beyond me. It doesnt seem very logical.

Heres a copy from the Eatability website:

BTW... Toohey's Extra Dry Platinum, by favourite beer with 6.5% alcohol was superb with Thai. The Sparkling Red, Asti Riccodona Ruby was beautiful to start with, and to finish the courses the Penfold's Thomas Hyland Cab Sav seemed to sooth the palate after the spicy foods, it was surprisingly complementing. I tried some about 3/4 way into the courses.

All drink alternatives seemed very appropriate and complementary to the food.

Heres the review:

Its very difficult to give a restaurant a perfect 10 for food, but its bloody close.

Atom made our party of four feel extremely welcomed last Saturday evening. Very attentive service, waiters very friendly and knowledgeable. Its a pleasure to dine at Atom's.

The ambience seemed better the second time around. Perhaps because we sat closer to the front of the restaurant in more light, and it wasnt as dim, or perhaps it was the novelty leather stools :)

Still indecisive about the best wine or beer to complement Thai food, we opted for a sparkling red, premium beer and a Cab Sav. Atom kept our beer in the fridge until we wanted them, chilled our sparkling wine in an ice-bucket, and topped up our drinks all night long. I was most impressed!!!

They even put up with our lengthy decision-making process about what dishes to order lol. Well ok, just MY decision-making, I wont blame my party. Truth is, there are so many great dishes, I wanted to sample them all lol.

Fortunately this time around I didn't go for all the SAFE bets. I went for something more exotic, something I hadnt tried before and boy was i impressed!

We opted for 3 entree's.
Money Bags, which were a hit last time, and once again hot, fresh and crispy. A must!
Ting Tong Beef, served on a betal leaf, with a slightly sweeter sauce than the Miang Goong. And of course the Miang Goong. simply superb. The entrees are fantastic!

The mains we ordered: Tamarind Duck, Pork Belly slow cooked with chilli basil with crackling, Coconut King prawn curry, Barramundi crumbed fillets with a papaya chilli salad, and last but not least my favourite dish, Beef Massaman.

Ive never tried Tamarind before and I will be eating it again soon!!! lovely combination of sweet and sour with a hint of chilli. Tender duck fillets too. Quite a dish! Im glad i took a gamble.

The pork belly was also a stand-out and surprise! with lovely pieces of crackling throughout too. Great textured dish.

Massaman had more beef than last time, lol Thank-you.

I loved the coconut prawns, as well as the hot curry, but some of my party felt it was a little too hot. Still good enough to eat though lol. However I would advise to remove the tails. Only because you cant really see the tails when immersed in the curry. If they were presented on a plate, salad etc, where you could see the tails, it would certainly add to the presentation, but when trying to eat them from a curry filled coconut then, it would have been more practical without the tails on them. :)

The papaya salad was nice, I enjoyed the sweetness and the chilli, but I was a bit disappointed with the crumbs on the Barramundi, but perhaps it was my fault for requesting changing the original special. Originally it was meant to have soft shell crab with the salad, but I requested barramundi fillets. I didnt expect the crumbs. I felt the crumbs were not very crisp or light and took away from the dish. If you served fresh crispy fillets I think it would have been so much more appetising. Much like the Choo Chee with barramundi dish we had the first time.

I dont recall the name of the dessert you served, and we were all so stuffed to the eyeballs, we couldnt really fit it in by that stage, but because you especially prepared some alternate desserts just for us, I had to try one at least. It was a sweet rice pudding with mango. I really liked it! Although im not a big rice pudding fan as a general rule. I really dont like rice that much in desserts at all :) I was kind of hoping for something non rice, but it was certainly delicious.

The fruit platter was a nice complement thank-you.

This time around I felt like the whole experience was so well rounded and slick. I really want to give you a perfect 10 for food lol maybe one day i will. Your Tamarind Duck, Massaman, and Miang Goong are all perfect 10's. The pork belly was about 9.5 lol.

I would still like to try a dish thats non-sweet, and non-curry, which has a nice spicy kick to it. perhaps a salad or stir-fry.

I was wondering if "lamb" is used much in Thai cooking?
Would like to try a lamb massaman :)

We dined more locally Friday evening, and we were very disappointed with the service and the value for money. I think we may have been spoiled with the service and food you provide.

Id be interested to know why this website appears not to allow multiple reviews on a given restaurant? Surely its pertinent to dine at a restaurant subsequent times and get a different feel for it. What if the restaurant picks up after a bad review...?

I think when good changes are made like your restaurant Atom, then it deserves to be praised.

We had such a lovely time Atom, and my parents felt welcome there too. Thank-you!

In terms of my food score criteria:

Entree: 10/10
Mains: 18/20
Dessert: 6/10
Service 5/5
Ambiance: 4/5

Total score: 43/50
Last time I believe it was 44 but it improved this time i felt.
However desserts were weighted to the food last time, and this time it wouldnt have received the 6/10 that it did for desserts this time around. That just goes to show how well they did.

You cannot go past the service at Atom's... second to NONE!!!
The Food is sensational, and well priced, u cannot go wrong.
From tonights evening at Blake's it has now made me re-think my ratings criteria.
I am considering a full 10 marks for service. Its become more apparent how influential it can be with poor service.

Blakes Dinging experience yes DING-ing not dining lol

Heres a copy of my review from the Eatabilty Guide:

I am almost speechless! I don't think Ive ever experienced such poor service at a restaurant, but more the point, so much rudeness and indifference from the restaurant after I voiced my dissatisfaction. Any restaurant could conceivably have a bad night, or have been overwhelmed by a packed house, etc, but to not only have a a relatively empty house and then receive the attitude that i received from the staff was despicable.

I wondered how long we would have to sit waiting before the staff came over to ask us whether we wanted our bill, or whether we wanted the cap for our unfinished bottle of Penfolds 407. It was unfortunate that my dining partner had an early morning tomorrow, else we would have sat there longer just to see how long it would take for some response. I think it must have been close to 30 mins before we had to flag down someone. They were clearly understaffed right from the get go!!! And the worst thing was, I believe they knew it, and didnt care!!!!!
The waiter knew at the beginning my partner was not drinking, so he should have known to keep the cap handy. Did he think I was going to drink more than half a bottle?
The response from the woman staffmember was we see buckets of bottle tops throughout the night, and no one has ever requested a top. In the last 10 dining experiences, I have had the waiters ASK me whether I wanted the top.

However it was not even the fact that they didn't keep the correct top, it was the reaction from the woman i spoke to about it, who I paid the bill to. Simply no expression of remorse or empathy with me whatsoever, rather a smug attitude and a self righteous one, and one who didn't care. She had an excuse for everything. Oh we like to give couples extra time between courses so they can talk, most are on dates she exclaimed lol. What rot! A good waiter comes to the table and at least asks for our standing, whether we require anything.

That begs the question about Corkage.
What does the cost of corkage cover?
Surely opening the traditional cork and not the cap, which doesnt require any effort at all. But they didnt even offer to open our bottle. I waited but had to open it myself.
Did they attempt to fill up my glass? not once, not even an afterthought. And finally they didnt even keep the cap, and they gave me somebody elses lol. Unbelievable!!!
So do you think that entitled a restaurant to charge a corkage? what the heck did they do to deserve that service fee? absolutely bugger all!

As I said and reiterate, it wasn't even the poor service that got to me, it was the ATTITUDE of the staff member i spoke to about my concerns. Good customer service listens and empathises and considers some constructive criticism. Perhaps if they offered to remove the corkage fee, I may have forgotten and moved on, but the response of, some tables drunk 7 bottles of wine lol Was astounding!!!!! Well some tables had 18 people...we had just 2 lol and only 1 drunk wine. What they are saying is, a couple is not important as a whole group.

What you want to experience at a good restaurant is not only above average food, but you want to feel comfortable, appreciated, and welcomed. You want to have some degree of good customer service. Its not just satisfactory to have a chat with the table after we have waited 30 mins for someone to clear the plates.

Maybe I was spoiled in my last dining experience at Atom Thai. I felt like i was give the Royal Treatment. Surely its not too much to ask to come past your table once in a while and ask how everything is, or clear the plates, or attend to the wine.
In fact I don't think Ive ever been to a restaurant recently where a waiter hasn't filled my glass up. This place didn't even open it lol Can u believe that? They didnt even consider an ice bucket. Tai Pak and Atom Thai, were prompt to ask us if we wanted an ice-bucket. They kept the caps and they filled the glass all night. That's what you expect for corkage right?
I don't know who the woman was that I spoke to, my partner seemed to think it was the owner, but if she is, I'm even more shocked!!! I would be just as shocked if she was part of the management staff. There's no way, and i mean no way, any staff would be that rude and not concede that could have perhaps done a better job.

I read some past reviews from this restaurant and I recall vaguely some comments about how rude the management was about some of their dissatisfaction, and perhaps I should go back and check, but now that I have experience the same treatment, I now believe it. After first noticing the restaurant on the Eatability Guide and observing their 7.6 rating from 83 votes I thought it was going to be a winner. However I was wrong.
The interesting thing is, I may have overlooked the poor service and just focused on the food, had it not been for the rude feedback.
I am going to be fair and comment on the food too.

After not opening the wine, we waited perhaps 20 minutes before we were asked if wanted to order. We ordered some Bruschetta and we were given MASSIVE portions. The bread although crunchy and fresh was SWAMPED with the tomato mix. The tomato wasn't particularly good produce. Fortunately the onion was not too powerful, but cherry tomatoes or even baby roma tomatoes would have given it a much needed sweetness to it.
Ive never ever seen such large portions of Bruschetta, the tomato mix must have been an inch deep.

My partner ordered some salt and pepper squid, and received a rather small portion. while nicely finished off with decorative batter in a swirl, for almost 17 dollars you would expect a lot more squid. I tried some squid, and it was a moderately tough, and had a bit of a fishy smell to it. I would have been very disappointed with it.

I ordered the confit of duck in pastry with a pomegranate molasses. While it didn't look very appetising, it tasted very nice. The duck had a nice spice to it, and the sauce worked well. However there just wasn't enough sauce i found. It was very very scarce.
My partner ordered the pork belly with potato bake. The pork belly was very good, and the apple sauce lovely. It was the standout on otherwise a pretty mediocre experience.
I had the Barramundi with prawns and a hollandaise sauce. The barramundi was sweet n and tasty but the sauce was a little amiss. In fact I found it very difficult to decide on a main meal because lots of the mains came with hollandaise, or garlic potato, or rice. Nothing really stood out and grabbed my attention. Perhaps in hindsight the pork would have been great.

The dessert was somewhat better than the mains. Well presented. The strawberry souffle was light and I enjoyed it. My partners chocolate lava pudding lacked big time. I almost ordered it too, it tasted weird, floury, a little bland and just not the kind of decadence you would have expected.

I thought for the most partner the food was ok, id say a little above average, but it lacked conviction. Some of the dishes were too pricey for what they delivered. I expected a higher quality. You just cant expect to dump a whole lot of an ingredient on a plate and expect to charge more for it. One would prefer an ingredient(s) done well, in a small amount for good value, than be exaggerated beyond its depth.

I really expected more from the restaurant tonight. 7.6 is far overrated!!!
Food is the only category that comes close to the average score provided, but even then, the food doesnt deserve an 8. A 6 would be closer.
The ambience wasn't much to write home about, and the service and value the 2 poorest categories by far. The table decor was pretty poor too. Butcher's paper it appeared. It lacked style and elegance.

Service was far below average, even before the final jugular.
its definitely not even close to 7 in value.
If the staff, or owner or management whoever the woman was, reacts so poorly and so arrogantly and doesn't even value your concerns, and basically says to you, we dont CARE if you return, then how can you...I am totally and utterly bewildered as to how any staff member in any customer service field, let alone a restaurant could display so much contempt and utter disregard for their customers.

When you work hard all week, you look forward to something special at the end of it, and to be let down like I have been tonight, leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
When you spend 65 dollars a head with no wine, with the quality of food we received, its just not acceptable.

Basically its just like a hit and run. They can hit you once with a bad experience, but how many people can they hit? Who accepts responsibility for it? They definitely wont be hitting me twice!
I don't think Ive ever been so disgusted with the response from any restaurant ever in my life. 99% of staff are genuinely friendly and courteous and aim to please.
We discussed while we were waiting for almost 30 mins after desserts, with bag on table wallet out, and staring at the waiters as they kept clearing other tables with no people left, and setting up new tables for tomorrow from a distance longingly for one of them to come over and ask us if we wanted a bill, or whether we wanted a top for the wine.
We wondered if we walked out whether they would have noticed or cared.

I still cant believe they had the nerve to suggest that they didnt come over because they thought we were dating lol. That is the most ridiculous assumption and excuse ive heard.
I think the real crux is that 2 people do not raise the revenue as a whole party. Why bother to treat a table for two with the same respect? Its all about money, and not about professionalism. However unlike our previous dining experience, it was so good, we brought more people, and no doubt parties in the future. If someone mentions "Blakes" in the future i will vehemently exclaim I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot barge pole. I feel sorry for the chef; he is not being supported by the wait staff and or management.
VERY disappointing experience!!!

Atom Thai - Review

I published this review at the EATABILITY Food Guide for Sydney Restaurants and Atom, the owner of the restaurant was dedicated enough to reply.

Below is a copy of my Review:
You last reviewed this venue on 19 August 2009

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 8
We dined last Saturday night. It was my first dining experience at Atom's but my partner's second. Its almost unfair rocking up to a restaurant which has had so much hype either real or perceived due to very high consistent reviews here at the eatability guide, and friends previous experiences. Atom did not disappoint.

The Miang Goong was the standout for me, even though it was a humble entree. I would have been satisfied eating several servings of this all night. The young waiters were very friendly, helpful, courteous and diligent as they topped up my wine all evening. It was refreshing to hear the waiter explain the specials menu in depth, but, unfortunately, it was difficult to understand all the words. In the end we just nodded and accepted we could at least read the specials board.

Just before we tasted the Miang Goong, the waiter explained we should also eat the Betal Leaves, but we interpreted it as not to eat them, so we didn't. The waiter who cleared our plates said we should have eaten the leaves. So I took the liberty of ordering a second serving and this time we ate the leaves.

I couldn't fault the sincerity of the waiters, and their genuine friendliness. If we could have understood them a little more I'd have been tempted to score them 10 for the service.

The level of ambient noise also contributed to, perhaps, not understanding what the waiters said. Its quite overpowering at the best of times, but is indicative of the packed house and the petite restaurant. The tables are a little bit close together, but it didn't seem to bother us, as we were there predominantly for the food.

I'm also tempted to give the food a perfect 10, because it tasted so good, was fresh, hot and addictive. I over-ate because it was that good. We also had the Moneybags entree and they were hot, fresh and crisp, with a lovely fragrant dipping sauce. They were intricate little bags but scrumptious, I could have devoured them all lol.

My favourite main of the night was the Massaman curry. Best Massaman I've tasted. If I had to fault anything it was the size of the serving. I expected more beef and potatoes, but it seemed to be a little sparse in its ratio to sauce. It wasn't a huge issue, as we had went overboard and ordered 3 mains and 3 entrees but if we had ordered 2 mains, we would have been fighting over the Massaman. Particularly, if we have a party of 4, it would be difficult dividing it between all of us.

The only other thing although very minor was that the waiter brought us a brand new pot of steamed rice, without asking us if we wanted another. It was just assumed, and we were so full at that point and all our meals were pretty much eaten.

I am hoping to attend Saturday week, with a party of four, and I hope the Massaman is a little more generous. We also ordered the Chicken Cashew nut, and it was top notch. This is our most favoured Thai dish historically, and we have had pretty good serves at other restaurants. It was very very fresh at Atoms. Although I think this dish is a lot more difficult not to master. So we didn't notice a huge disparity between other restaurants.

The most noticeable factor with Atom's food was the freshness of ingredients. We went out on a limb with the Choo Chee Barramundi fillet, which was nice, had some good heat from the curry, but was a tad bland for my tastes. The coconut and sweetness of the basil and the fragrance of the lime didn't appear to penetrate the sauce as hoped.

The fish was cooked to pefection. However, in hindsight I wished I had ordered the barramundi in a different sauce, perhaps, a little sweeter. I have a feeling the curry took away from the natural sweetness of the fish. It would have been lovely in the mango salad offered in the Thai salads menu.

I would rate the Massaman 9/10 instead of 10 because of the small portion size. The chicken and Cashew a 9/10. The Choo Chee a 7. The Miang Gong an 11/10 yes it was that good, despite our misunderstanding with the Betal Leaves lol.

I'd have to say that overall I don't think I've appreciated every entree and main meal consistency as much as I did at Atom. I am so impressed I can't wait trying some of the other dishes. Such as the Duck, perhaps, in the salad or the lychee and pineapple curry. We wished we had ordered the Fresh coconut prawns served in a real coconut.

What I would like to try is Atom's Chef's degustation. I don't recall seeing a degustation menu, but I have so much trust in the food, I bet the Chef could give a better sample of all his masterpieces that would flow, and give a good representation of his best work.

There wasn't much of a dessert menu, and we would love to try something for dessert next time which was truly reflective of the culture and indicative of the mastery of the chef. Rather than have to go across the road for Gelato lol.

We failed to pick up a menu when we left, and would like an opportunity to look at the set banquets before we arrive in a couple of weeks time. Perhaps, Atom could email us their menu. If you could supply us with an email, we could email you and have you attach it. We would very much appreciate it.

This has been one of the most significant culinary experiences I've had for a while. I have no doubt Atom could end up becoming my new favourite restaurant. As long as you guys don't skimp on the beef in the Massaman lol.

I would like to meet the chef next time we dine too. Is Atom the name of the owner or just the restaurant name? I would sure like to commend him in person for such a high quality of food. Cheers and Thanks


Owner's response:

Wow... I am so grateful for your comment here, the time and effort you have put in in writing this for us, and in such details. It is so informative as well as encouraging, in particular, your comments about the dishes. I hope we could turn your idea of a degustation into a reality soon. With desserts as well, we should work on something more exciting and new.

Please do email us: atomthai@gmail.com, and we would be obliged to email you our menus and, I would love to welcome you personally at the restaurant again.

I am one of the waiters you mentioned, and I remember you and your partner from last Saturday. I am also the owner of the restaurant, and designed most of the dishes - wearing many hats. Nevertheless, I will introduce you to some of my chefs next time when you visit us, I am sure they would really appreciate your comments/encouragement.

Thanks again for your review, and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Atom

Further email from Atom regarding our next dining experience there:

Hi, Gavin,

Thanks again for your review. I really appreciate it. I do rely to all the reviews, as people like yourself have put in the effort in commenting on our food/service, and providing feedback, the least we could do is to reply as a way of showing our appreciation.

Here attached is a couple of menus for your consideration, including the banquet menu, you are most welcome to swap some of the dishes on the banquet menu.

A few signature dishes, would be the crispy pork: pork belly slow cooked first, and fried, then stir fried with chilli and basil. Tamarind duck, which I think you will like, sliced duck breast on a bed of steamed greens with sweet and sour tamarind sauce on the top, we also have a softshell crab dish, softshell crab lightly battered, and fried, then stir fried with curry powder/coconut milk/egg york, and last but not least there is either steamed whole snapper or fried whole snapper (with a choice of three-flavoured sauce - sweet/sour/spicy, garlic/pepper sauce and choo chee sauce, which you had last time).

p.s., I will remember some extra beef/potatoes in the Massaman for you. :-)

We shall prepare some special dessert for the night - let it be a nice surprise.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Cheers,

Atom

Atom's opinions on wine with Thai:

Gavin, I have to confess that I am not a wine expert, although love to have a glass with my meal. Indeed, beer is one that is most popular with Thai dishes, and Thai whisky is good too :-), I guess we don't usually have wines with our meals back in Thailand, although, I personally like Cab Sauv (with curries) and Sauvignon Blanc, some rosé goes well with some lighter dishes. I think.

In accordance with my previous scoring criteria here are the scores:

To keep within my own marking criteria here are the scores:

Entrees: 10/10
Mains: 18/20
Desserts: N/A
Ambience: 2/5
Service: 4/5

Total: 35/40 excluding dessert menu.
Currently weighted for food in the absence of dessert

Total: 44/50

Stay tuned for dessert scores. Desserts to be available

Cheesy pull-apart bread

This is one of my favourite recipes!!!
Pretty simple to make, but there is a proving process which can take several hrs, but if made before time, makes a great snack, breakfast, or appetiser.

For those who love Haloumi like me, its the perfect bread recipe.

Heres the first process, the yogurt bread recipe.

310 g (10 1⁄2 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour (1 1/2 cups)
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon dried yeast
50 ml (2 fl oz) warm water
150 g (5 oz) plain yoghurt (~ 3/4 cup)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

I used some greek style yogurt.
And used some dried yeast satchels. You can buy 12 satchels per pack, and you can use them in making all sorts of doughs. I use them for making pizza bases from scratch.
I used whisk together a satchel or 2 with the sugar until combined and add to the mix.
Some pizza recipes call for letting the yeast and sugar sit for 8 mins...However this recipe just said to mix together without waiting.

Once this proves and doubles in size, then follow the cheesy bread recipe:

100 g (3 1⁄2 oz) haloumi, grated
50 g (2 oz) parmesan, grated
1 teaspoon dried mint
Olive oil

I buy the Lemos premium haloumi, and since it comes in 180g portions, I DOUBLE the recipe.
Since the bread is so yummy lol thats not an issue, because the standard recipe is not enough LOL I actually added 20g of cheddar to make up the deficit, but i suppose u can do what u like lol.
Ive tried both ways and it was equally tasty.

I used fresh mint for the recipe.
I prefer pecorino cheese rather than parmesan, but you can use what u like.

Just note, once you combine the cheesy bread ingedients to the dough, let it prove again together on ur baking tray before baking until they double in size. Else you will get smaller and less fluffier cheesy rolls.

The recipe suggest ur HOTTEST oven, but these days our ovens are too bloody hot, especially the one I have lol. I found that 200 deg cel. was a good temp. If you go too much higher the breads brown way too quickly on top and you could burn them, while the centres arent cooked.

I cooked about 25 mins on 200 deg. If unsure if they are cooked, pull off a roll and tap the bottom, and a HOLLOW sound indicates they are cooked.

The end result leaves a very crispy cheesy top, and a glorious fluffy interior mmm.
once they cool and if eaten next day, you will lose that crispy top. They are better warmed up in the microwave. They are very tasty either way, but its best to enjoy them straight from the oven with that crispy top lol.

Middle East version of Sang Choy Bow / Ladies' Fingers

I found this fantastic recipe for the filling for Ladies' Fingers from a Lebanese restaurant called "Abla's" in Victoria. see website:

A rather simple recipe with some key spices.

• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 250g coursely minced lean lamb
• 1 medium-sized onion, chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon sumac

For those unaware of Sumac, its a middle eastern Spice, rich red crimson colour, which is sweet and savoury. Its almost like a sweeter version of paprika. It also has lemon aromas.
Many homus recipes call for Sumac as a garnish. Im really fond of it.

For the minced lamb. The first time I used some lamb loin strips from wollies. They may have been rib fillets im not too sure, but they were long cylindrical morsels. Without a mincer i just diced them finely and they worked great. I wouldnt use bought lamb mince unless you know a good butcher lol. You want lean lamb without a lot of fat.
We've since snaffled a Kenwood attachment mincer for the mix master and minced the lamb and that worked just as well if not better and much quicker. I wouldnt attempt this recipe for the lettuce leaves filling unless you used good quality lamb.

The recipe suggests using this filling and rolling it in filo pastry and making Ladies' Fingers or Cigars as I would call them lol.

However I thought the filling was so tasty that it would make a great substitute for the traditional chinese Sang Choy Bow filling in lettuce leaves.

Sure enough it tasted so good in cos lettuce leaves.

I modified the recipe slightly, adding a clove of garlic, and using eshallots instead of onion.
I also added some English spinach into the mix. It gave it more colour.

While these lettuce leaved satchels are scrumptious by themselves and a great entree, I found that Feta really went well with the mix. However personally I wanted something slightly more refreshing with it. So a nice crispy hot and cold salad really did the trick, and I turned it into a main course.

Hot and Cold salad:

The only reason I went for this combination is that I really love zucchini and eggplant, and I wanted these ingredients in my salad. I also thought the crunch of snow peas would be great. Sugar snap peas would be great too.

In a fry pan, with olive oil and quickly fried some zucchini and eggplant until slightly golden on either side and remove and drained. Then I added some red capsicum julienned with the snow peas and very quickly and removed.

I set aside and just cut up some cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, and Fetta cheese.

I have trialed making some Pomegranate molasses. 4 cups of pomegranate juice, 1 cup of sugar and 1 lemon, reduced down to 1 cup. Although i found it slightly TOO viscous similar to the syrup used for the baklava.

I think the tart and sweetness of pomegranate juice to be sensational and would go terrific for a vinegarette for this salad.

Since I was pushed for time and just adlibing and basically lazy lol I just added some pomegranate and cranberry juice i had, and added some lemon juice, sugar with some dijon mustard. It really tasted good in the salad and supported the lamb filled lettuce leaves perfectly.

What I would like to trial would be to make them to the original recipe for Ladies' Fingers and make a Pomegranate molasses dipping sauce. It would substitute duck sauce and spring rolls lol A middle eastern twist.

Ideally when in season, using fresh pomegranate seeds would be the best for the salad.

I have to say though in many of the new recipes ive tried recently this lamb filling is one of the best tasting combinations ive tried.

Baklava - Pistachio

This recipe promised so much, and being an AVID pistachio lover, I was very excited lol.
There is a flaw in the recipe I believe.
They suggested boiling the sugar syrup for 15-20 mins until it becomes slightly viscous.
I think thats rather vague myself, and I boiled it for 14 mins and it just became somewhat thick, or gluey or syrupy. But in my opinion this is too far long to be boiling it lol.

Some Toffee recipes suggest 7-10 mins.

When i added the juice of one lemon to the syrup, and the orange water etc. It didnt seem that viscous at all. It seemed perfect consistency to be drizzling over and into the baklava which had just been baked. Unfortunately it turned hard like toffee. Even after the lemon was added.

It seemed to soak into the baklava ok but once it cooled, it went far too hard.
It was almost like I had made pistachio brittle lol.
It tasted good lol But for me a little too sickly.
I think the recipe made far too much syrup for the baklava.

I also prolly made a mistake by putting it into the fridge after it had cooled, this would harden up the syrup as well.

Im not even sure what the texture of good Baklava is supposed to be after it has cooled, but I gather its supposed to be a lot more moist, and certainly not remotely as brittle as what mine turned out.

Its such a large batch as well. Pistachios are not cheap either. Im not even convinced Filo is the best way to go here. If we want to create separate layers of pastry, I would agree with filo, but if you only wanted bottom and top, perhaps puff would be feasible.

In any case I would make a much smaller version in terms of surface area, and experiment with the syrup to your taste requirements.

Its definitely a recipe to pursue further. But It needs to be modified for better results.

The recipe also calls for some ingredients which can be difficult to buy. Supermarkets wont have them. That being Orange flower water and Rose flower water. I found these for about 3-4 dollars each at a health food store.

Heres the recipe from SBS Food Safari

Im not convinced whether just plain pistachios is the best way to go.
Perhaps some kind of combination of fruit and nuts. Pistachio and Fig maybe.
You can also use walnuts, pecans, or any nut u like really.
Maybe an apple and walnut Baklava.

Puff Vs Filo - Spanakopita recipe link

Recently I worked with Filo pastry for the first time.
I made a Pistachio Baklava and a Spanakopita.

At the supermarkets, Woolies was out of Filo, and only sold one brand.
Coles had it in good supply.

Apparently some brands Refer to a SAVOURY puff and a DESSERT puff pastry.
I dont know if the savoury version is similar to the Filo, but as far as ive read "Filo" is Greek and distinctive by very thin sheets of pastry, which you need to layer together yourself, by buttering or oiling each layer and sticking them together...Very painstaking for the first time.

I did get the hang of it second time around, but you must make sure its FULLY thawed out at room temperature!!!

Lots suggest using a damp towel to place over the Filo you havent used, while your buttering the current sheet, but be very careful how wet ur towel is. Personally, I dont think you need to dampen the towel at all. It doesnt dry out enough to worry, and all the damp towel achieved for me, was to make the filo TOO moist to work with. It actually absorbed the moisture so much that it made subsequent sheets stick together and more tedious to work with.

Some recipes suggest mixing 1/2 butter and 1/2 olive oil together...
I found that I used far too much butter. Even though i layered each sheet with THIN equal amounts of butter, i think i could have left some gaps in between to reduce the amount of butter, perhaps just enough to stick around the perimeter and maybe some columns or rows.

With the Spanakopita recipe, it was suggested that you fix 20 layers together for the top and bottom of the pie. Basically its just a Greek name for a spinach and cheese pie in filo pastry.

It was rather rich for me and would make a better lunch, but personally I wasnt thrilled about it, and wouldnt make it again.

I found the recipe from SBS Food Safari.

The Garfish, Manly

Belated review!
Booking a table was a breeze as it was with Dedes Bar n Grill.
They granted us window seats, and the sun flooded over us for lunch, as we looked out beyond the blue waters of Manly. They also had electronic sunshades which could be adjusted to stem some of the sun if it was getting too hot, perhaps more for the warmer months. My parents had promised me a 30th birthday meal, originally so I could try lobster for the first time lol. I had cheated, and already tasted lobster tails at Dedes, but with plan B for Bugs, I was able to taste Morteton Bay bugs for the first time...

We were all made comfortable early, by relaxed staff and the appearance of our most loved beverage, Pellegrino mineral water lol. I am ADDICTED to the stuff, lol. I go through a litre of it per day on average.

Not being very knowledgeable of wine, the waitress was more informative than the waiter at Dedes lol. Suggesting a light non overpowering white wine to go well with the bugs, and the prawns which the table had ordered, and we tried: 42 degrees south pinot grigio, Tasmania.
It really went down well, I was shocked that my parents took to it, because generally they stick to rather sweet white wines, lol.

We ordered some wood fired focaccia with garlic, and that was very very blande, so much so i could barely taste the garlic lol. Im sure many people may prefer a remnant of garlic, but I am extremely fond of it. It had a light mellow sweetness.

with the 400g portion of bugs, I received six half tails. They were served with a rather bland aioli, lol. It was creamy but lacked flavour lol. But the bugs were cooked perfectly, with my limited experience, but they were so light, fluffy and tender. Slid straight out of the shells, and tasted great. I would say sweeter than the lobster tail i tried weeks before.

My mother tried the zucchini flowers filled with a crab mousse. I tried one of them, but I wasnt too keen on the mousse texture, and I didnt appreciate the deep fried batter around them.
My mother thought she was going to get real zucchini flesh in a flowered array lol. I thought that was so cute! lol. If I had known she didnt know I would have told her beforehand. The king prawns were almost as sweet as the bugs.

Whilst i really enjoyed the bugs, the main meal of Hiramasa Kingfish was standout for me. It was served with a lovely salad, with zucchini, snow peas, peccorino, and walnut dressing. Very nice combination, fish was cooked to perfection, skin crispy.

The desserts promised so much but delivered little.
Their gimmick was a Belgian waffle dessert selection, but the waffles themselves seemed a fraction stale perhaps, or just not hot n fresh. A bit hard perhaps...I really dont know the difference between Belgian and ordinary waffles lol But these felt more like a filler.

See the menu here...

Dad tried the chocolate whisky pudding, but it wasnt appealing to me. It lacked richness and flavour. I ordered the special, with was a pineapple waffle with cinnamon icecream. The icecream was devine, but the pineapple seemed over sweetened artificially, being out of season, and quite sickly, despite the fact i ADORE pineapple generally. My mother ordered the waffle tasting plate, so we could all taste a bit of each...They were all just average.

I wish we had of tried the banana and butterscotch brulee lol

The waffles were not appetising enough to ever order again.
The desserts at Dedes still the best by far.

The friendly service and ambience for lunch at The Garfish made it an enjoyable experience.
The main courses were much more comprehensive. The selection of wood fired crustaceans very very appealing. In terms of food, this restaurant superseeded Dedes on a grand scale.
The Late' I ordered was perfect.

While its difficult to compare the experience of a lunch to a dinner, I felt the main courses and entrees were far more complete at The Garfish. Dedes felt more like a borderline fine dining experience, and The Garfish was much more relaxed and laid back.

The food and overall menu at The Garfish was really a standout, beside the desserts.
You just dont dine at restaurants for the dessers though, and Dedes need to improve their main courses and entrees. Esp the way they complement their dishes. They didnt look that appetising either.

I left The Garfish, wanting to try other dishes next time...
In terms of Crustaceans they really do cook them great on their woodfire menu.
I prolly wouldnt stay for dessert, and get dessert elsewhere.

It would make a great day travelling by Manly ferry. Prolly best during the day, in the sunshine in these colder months. soak up the sun, then catch the ferry back and get dessert in darling harbour, or if ya really keen and Dedes allow it lol catch the rivercat to abbotsford just for dessert LOL the dessert is worth it!!!

Perhaps I should arrange a score system for the restaurants.
However I believe the mains should be weighted HIGHER.

Entrees and starters /10
Main course /20
Dessert /10
Ambience /5
Service /5

The Garfish:

Entrees: 7/10
Mains: 16/20
Dessert: 4/10
Ambience: 4/5
Service: 4/5

Total: 35/50

If you could choose your last meal on earth...what would it be? lol

Interesting question huh? lol

Matt Preston answered:

"Sashimi from Tokyo’s fish market. Pan seared fresh foie gras with quince and a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem. Aussie Lamb chops with a bottle of 1929 Chateau Margaux. French fries and mayonnaise. Salad of raw porcini, fresh white truffles, parmesan and lemon. Coco Pops with whipped cream. A cheese trolley. A bowl of fresh figs and lychees. And finally a Snickers bar or two"

Geroge said:

"My mom’s egg and lemon soup; full of the most important food ingredient, SOUL."

Gary said: lol

"Impossible thing to answer because as I think of one dish such as the creamiest, softest mash potato with a rich braised oxtail with a marmalade of red onions…Oohh, talking about onions – a steak, onion and stout pie with a flaky pastry and mushy peas. Talking about peas, a little soft mousse of peas, a spearmint oil, crispy shards of pancetta and seared diver scallops – ahh! scallops – and on and on it goes – as I say, impossible!"

Gosh 3 diff responses lol

Now if only i could answer that too lol...

Ill get back to you LOL

It would have Lamb for sure...

Dedes Bar and Grill - Abbotsford

If you have a relatively generous pocket this is a nice place to eat.
I say this because in general the MAINS are a fraction overpriced and lack a bit of finesse.

If you dine in JULY you will get 20 dollar main courses except for the whole lobster tail and lobster surf n turf.

The entrees didnt seem all that appealing either. So much so we opted for a half lobster tail main, which we got for 15 dollars off because of the specials. It was lovely and so were the accompanying scallops but, VISUALLY they didnt offer much. Very plain looking. Flavours very simple not very profound lol I like to throw that word in just for Nerida's benefit LOL

Since we had the lobster for entree I opted for the 400g steak, which was served with 3 hand cut chips lol yes only THREE! lol and 2 micro cherry tomatoes. They were sweet lol but, if u want a good hearty meal then this is not ur place to eat. We required a couple of sides.

On ther flipside, You may just want to dine just for the beautiful dessert and the lovely windowed views on the water.

I have to say that the desserts were almost to DIE for...
I am fussy when it comes to desserts, and dont like anything too sickly sweet, but every dessert on our tasting plate for 2, were absolutely sensational.

We discussed going back just for the dessert lol.

The service was excellent, the table the best in the restaurant right at the window overlooking the water. The only issue of the service was clearing our mains, that took a little while. Then when we informed them that we had a ferry to catch in 10 mins, and that was the last 1 of the evening, there was no apparent urgency. It wasnt very busy and our waiter acted like he didnt given a tinkers cuss lol. We had to stand and flag down another waitress and get our coats and the bill all in 1 motion and then we fled lol...

I will also make good mention of the appetiser which was on the house, i think so anyway, we were in such a hurry to catch the ferry, maybe they did have the HIDE to charge us lol
But we were told it was compliments from the chef, and it was a beautiful asparagus soup served in a shot glass lol.

The only other tarnish on the service was the waiter's lack of knowledge of the wine. They couldnt even recommend any wine for our courses. With myself not being well informed about wine and food matches, I had to poke and hope i picked the right wine lol.
I kinda thought that choosing a bold Cab Sav with the lobster tail was not prolly the best thing, however it went well with the big juicy steak I ordered, and since i prefer the Cab Sav in general I went with, Chateau Tanunda, The Three Graces, and it was absolutely beautiful. It had incredible LENGTH... At 13 dollars a glass it wanted to lol. I was tempted to go for the bottle but it was 55 per bottle. It does retail at 28-30 dollars, and is quite difficult to find, and i think its a limited batch from SA. A Bordeaux grape I would love to taste it again just to make sure I wasnt just very THIRSTY on the night lol.

The waiter couldnt tell me what wine to match my food, and I was so surprised lol. It was a mere fluke that I picked one I liked lol.

At approximately 70 dollars per head, with only 1 glass of wine, and main courses at 20 dollars each lol You can see that it was a little hefty on the wallet. It was a borderline fine dining experience. I had a fantastic night, i enjoyed the food, the steak just wasnt up to speed and they charged me for the bloody sauce for it.

If they spruced up their mains a bit, and had a better entree menu, it would be a real good place to go back to...I could go back to have the half price lobster tail and dessert tasting plate lol.

Heres the link to their website where you can view the menu, particularly the dessert menu lol

Stay tuned for my 30th Birthday, "The Garfish" experience lol and a few recipes I cooked recently...

Its hard to score the entrees for Dedes because nothing really stood out, and we didnt try any because they lacked appeal.

Entrees: 2/10
Mains: 9/20
Desserts: 9/10
Ambience: 4/5
Service: 3/5

Total: 27/50

I really enjoyed the experience, but it was quite expensive even with the half price mains lol
If we went back again, the specials wouldnt exist, and the mains offer very little.
For that reason id hesitate going back, except if I would just have the desserts.
Despite the desserts being so good, they were expensive for a testing plate and rather small morsels. If i created an extra scoring category such as VALUE, then they would really get a poor mark. You cant expect to pay so much for food which is not complemented NOR presented well.

If i had an endless wallet lol Id return.

Masterchef thread lol

I have followed the Masterchef series too closely than i care to admit lol
I am not so much into the reality part of it, and the theatrics argghh, but I am very interested in the food and the recipes.

In the last 24 hrs since the winner of Masterchef has been announced there was been a huge backlash as to Julie being the winner. The number of complaints of general public thinking Poh should have beaten Julie is surprising.

Heres my response and round up of the final week... see link:

Heres a copy of my response below:

Re: Plating Vs Taste Posted: 20/07/2009 15:49
That is the question...and of course we know that TASTE prevails over plating. The look of a meal is like the introduction of an essay lol But if the Body or main argument isnt solid, then ya cant expect to score highly. Julie's TASTE got her thru it...Her food tasted the best! I expected Justine and Chris to make the play-off, but they were subjected to some harsh eliminations. I think they both were all round complete chefs, and STREETS ahead of the others. I am still very disappointed that Justine lost out to a bloody pompous cake, which NO chef will ever have to make in their career. While Chris may have served up some relatively tasty food, but it didnt fit the criteria of the cookbook concept. It simply didnt look appetising for a cookbook, and that was the main premise of the task... I didnt think that a cookbook task should have been the basis for elimination either. Anyone of the potential masterchef contestants could have easily succeeded with a cookbook deal, and would have had AMPLE time to perfect the LOOK of their dishes, not just bloody 2 hrs or whatever it was. Lots of people are crying over Poh not winning but we should all be more disgusted that Justine and Chris got outed because of such poorly thought out rounds which essentially didnt prove who was the better chef. Once they got down to only FOUR remaining chefs: Justine, Chris, Poh and Julie, thats when the challenges offered in the final night should have been used for ALL four of them... I would have loved to see all four chefs do the blind taste testing. I cannot believe how poorly both Poh and Jules did in the taste test round, only 11 and 12 ingredients. How lame!!! I guarantee Chris and Justine would have got a heck of a lot more...I dont think anyone should be granted the masterchef title if they cant name at least 15 ingredients. I know several who were sitting at home without the privilege of being able to smell and taste the dish and came up with more than what they did. Isnt the palate the most crucial part of being a good chef? Heck we could even see carrots in it LOL I will commend Masterchef for making the final blind taste testing though, because i felt in previous taste test eliminations it wasnt fair. Often the person who started first suffered having to pick that 1 extra ingredient. Can u imagine getting to ingredient # 19/20 and then the last contestant having to name that barley substitute or whatever it was... The blind marking would have worked fantastic for the dessert replication, but of course it couldnt have been used for the chicken challenge. They would know for sure whos was whos lol That would defeat the purpose. Could u imagine having everyone of the last 4 or even last 5 contestants being put under a stringent testing process similar to that of the final, and having each contestant scores accumulated...That would have been more Justice, or should i say JUST-ine. I could not believe after so many taste testing eliminations, that neither Julie or Poh, thought of STOCK.. Thats the foundation of most soups and many dishes...Poh even used stock for her main dish lol. And Carrots and cellery are stable ingredients for those type of caserole like dishes. I would agree that the contestants didnt deserve to be helped out during the cooking process. However you cannot complain about it now, because they were consistently helping right throughout the start of the top 20. In fact Poh was always the more independent cook and didnt want any advice, she would shoe away the chefs and wanted to do it her way, perhaps if she was more welcoming for them to try her dishes maybe she too would have had some support. Poh seemed to give the impression she was in control. It wasnt just the sorbet that let Poh down, there were several components, taste wise that let Poh down, except for her choc slice, which they all said was perfect. The comments of the judges didnt reflect their marks in the end. Curtis said to Poh, if i was blondfolded I would have thought your dish came from Aria. Yet he only gave her 8/10 lol and gave Julie 9/10 Does that mean Julies dish tasted better than Aria's dish? or perhaps better than King Matt Moran's? lol What also frustrated me was that most of the judges didnt want to go out on a limb in the chicken round and say which dish they preferred. Curtis seemed to LOVEEEEEEE Poh's dish but gave both contestants 7/10 Gary and George seemed to frown upon Poh's dish saying it wasnt very complex, and they were totally praising Julies, but they gave both of them 9/10 lol. Matt Preston was the only judge who was able to distinguish between both dishes in both rounds. He marked 1 dish higher than the other according to his preference. I would have liked to have seen a judging panel which was less biased. Especially would have loved to have the founder of the bloody dessert, Matt Moran to judge his own dish for crying out loud lol where was the logic? They have the studio crawling with top aussie chefs and they couldnt put 4 of them on the panel? lol Why not have bloody 10 on the panel lol wouldnt that give a more accurate score? lol count them all up and average it...its not that hard is it? lol This was an important final was it not? If we had the top 4 remaining contestants, with maybe 10 chefs judging them each time, in multiple rounds I think we would have got a much better picture of who the best chef was, and i think Justine or Chris would have prevailed. In terms of the big picture though... I think the top 5 contestants are going to have similar recognition in the culinary world. Sure they may be 100k short now, but i think any one of them were going to get experience in some of the top restaurants and get book deals. I think even if Julie didnt make the final, she would have got her book deal lol In terms of plating and look and overall taste, Justine had the best all round package out of all of them. If chris had of pulled his finger out and plated less of his what he liked and more mainstream dishes he too would have been tuff to beat. Hats off to Chris for sticking to his passioned theme lol pun intended. I would have ranked the contestants this way: 1. Justine 2. Chris 3. Julie 4. Poh 5. Julia While many of responders here were implying Poh was given the disadvantage i still think Julie was a better chef overall. Poh really did put on a great show in the last couple weeks, and poor Julia who lost our way too early, She seemed to lose her confidence, but even Julia I think has a better palate and will become a better chef than Poh will ever be, despite me ranking her below Poh. Just one last comment about poor BRENT. He was eliminated by his peers...he was the earliest threat to everyone, he won the first major round. I would have liked him being given one the second chance draws and invited back instead of Tom. I really do think that the top 20 should have been allowed to visit the masterclasses every week even tho eliminated early, for the second chance draw. Maybe they should have had a cook-off for the 2nd chance draw too lol. Edited by: BudGSmuggler on 20/07/2009 15:53

Dinner at Ariane's

I would like thank Ariane and Crash for a memorable dinner.
The company was warm and welcoming and the food exquisite.

In the past I have not been all that experimental in my culinary pursuits, so much so I had been turned off trying a lot of seafood, partly because of the fishy smell of some poor experiences and partly because of the perceived squishy texture of a lot of seafood. I have always been more of a meat man, and still am, but when turning 30 recently I have decided to try a lot of things I otherwise would not have touched with a 10 foot barge pole. Only weeks ago I had not even tried: lobster, crab, moreton bay bugs and now more recenty Calamari.

I have decided to use this new blog page to talk about my cooking and dining experiences, and showcase some of the better food or recipes I have tasted or created. This blog will hopefully reflect my passion for food.

Ariane made a delightful Calamari and pasta salad, and the texture of the calamari was fantastic.
That why I enjoy meat so much because of the texture is so much more appealing, but the calamari Ariane served up had a terrific texture, and it seemed to work well with the flavours in the salad.

For the main a twist on the many splendid duck recipe was served, this time the many splendid spatchcock lol It was sooooo tender and melted in the mouth. She also served one of my fav greens alongside it, "broccolini".

The dessert was superb, the flavours addictive. A roasted or poached pear in marsala had me wanting to lick the bowl clean lol

Not only were the courses so delicious, the wines which complemented each course were fantastic. As I have been told I must have commented on the buttery and vanilla flavours of the Chardonnay to Nerida in the car 20 times on the way home lol. The Pinot was lovely, the bubbly, even the strawberry one was nice and the port was profound lol I couldnt help using "profound" since Nerida hates me using it within a food context lol. I will say though, it was a profound dining experience.

I felt privileged to be invited to such a fantastic dinner experience and the hosts were so generous with their wine. I not only enjoyed the food and the company but also received an education in wine appreciation too :) lol
Crash was so generous in offering me refills all night lol I did well to keep my composure and not reach for the bottle several times lol I would wait PATIENTLY to be offered another refill lol

Perhaps I am a true alcoholic at heart :P but the wine really complemented the experience tremendously well.

Special thanks goes to Nerida for not only being my designated driver to ALLOW me to enjoy such a splendid evening, but for also putting up with repetitive compliments all the way home in the car lol.

Stay tuned for some reviews on some recent recipes which I tested out... lol