Beaches Restaurant

I intended to take a photo of every dish on my birthday, but forgot to when the dishes were presented to us....... THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! BUT, that only tells you how excited I was when I saw the food.

DIVINE. Bouillabaisse, a classic French dish with seafood and a rich and slightly spicy seafood broth. There were scallops, mussels, fish fillet, prawn and yabbie on a beautiful, lightly spicy seafood broth which was wonderfully for soaking crusty bread rolls. It also came with a hot grilled roll with melted cheese, herbs and spices. Highly satisfying.

The "Roast Scallops Served with a salad of pork belly & crisp pigs ear & truffle mayonnaise" was originally an entree, but we requested an upsize, and very glad we did. It came with perfectly cooked, plump and juicy scallops - about 3cm in diameter and 2 cm thick (just to show you the quality of the ingredients, as well as cooking to perfection to present the freshness of the seafood), lightly golden brown on the outside. The pork belly cubes appeared quite fatty but because it was not overcooked, and was lightly flavoured, it did not taste greasy or heavy at all. Pig's ears were crumbed and deep fried, also lightly salted, and was nice and crunchy. This is not a dish for the conservative (boring) diner, but for the adventurous or those with true gourmet appreciation.

Love this restaurant - www.beachesrestaurant.com.au

L'Incontro

This is the third or the fourth time I dined at L'Incontro at North Sydney, and probably the most memorable because of the choices of dishes we made.

The location is convenient for us North Shore girls and the interior offered great ambience. The multiple dining rooms means more privacy and cosiness for the patrons as well as a feeling of individual service and personal attention. The waiters are attentive and friendly, but not in your face at all. The man who I presume is the owner is one of those passionate, cheerful Italians, his presence added to the atmosphere and dining experience.

Some may consider the pricing a bit hard to swallow but considering the service and the quality of the food, $50 for a main and dessert bought me a bloody good night. It was an evening of decadent, devine dining experience. I did not take photos of the main courses because we dug right into them the moment they were brought to us. No pretentious, bite-sized portions sculpted and garnished into a heap of food, presented on a large and empty plate, but just food prepared at its best and freshest.

The grilled scampi on rocket salad was superb, fresh scampi simply grilled and seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with freshly squeezed lemon juice - the best way to prepare and consume fresh seafood. Though 3 scampies would not have made a substantial meal for a hungry diner. The blue swimmer crab and angel hair pasta flavoured with light seafood and cherry-tomato dressing had a beautifully balanced flavour, not a heavy and rich tomato based marinara sauce. I personally had the duck with almond and orange sauce which would be easier to manage at the expense of the texture), and, unlike another 'duck experience' - a duck breast dish smothered in a dessert-sweet fig sauce - this had the aromas of orange and only a hint of the sweetness which allowed the flavour of the duck to prevail. None of us asked for salt and pepper shakers. It was absolutely not necessary.

Desserts - the main focus of my blog so far - what a highlight. We went for the zabaglione, which is prepared on the spot. I thought zabaglione is a smooth rich custard with a hint of sweet marsala, but it turned out to be fluffy, fruity, slightly tangy and quite alcoholic... later found out that the cook shoved in a dash of congac.... a nice touch but it wasn't for the palate of my non-alcoholic dining buddy. And the other dessert - old favourite, creme brulee, came with a dish of berry in syrup and an almond biscotti, beautifully presente, smooth and rich and totally enjoyable. And the owner even threw in a shot of their home-made limoncello liquore..... m-m-licious. I will return to L'Incontro........

An ordinary experience at Minc

Minc Restaurant in the Sydney CBD area is located within Blacket hotel, Level 3, 70 King Street. I didn't like the decor, because it wasn't very cosy yet it didn't feel grand. The cushion booths put too much space between me and my friend, but the seats and the tables didn't give us enough space.

But the food was reasonably well cooked. The waygu rump steak with chargrilled mushroom, hollandaise sauce and horseradish mash was delicious and reasonable price tag (about $28), but nothing out of the ordinary, I'm afraid (sorry chef). The lamb shank with rosemary pumpkin and cherry tomato jus was nice, but wasn't fanfare fantastic either. Wynn's Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz Merlot (2003 vintage) went down well with my steak.

We then each had a sticky date pudding because their berry dessert was sold out. It's a great pity because the sticky date pudding, although yummy and an old favourite, was not outstanding either. It was a good day though, but it was the company that made it good, not the location or the food.