Spanish Club

Of all the Spanish eateries along the Spanish Quarter there's only one I haven't been to - until now. The restaurant upstairs from the Spanish Club is pretty similar to the other Spanish restaurants along the Spanish quarter, but their tapas menu was slightly different. Apart from the standard Calamari, Chorizo, Garlic mushrooms there was also (to fellow taster's delight) Ceviche and stuffed eggplant, which were not seen on other menus if my memory serves me correctly.

For the 4 hungry souls we opted for tapas and paella. Of course the old favourites such as chorizos and garlic mushrooms were ordered. The chorizos were not quite the same as the standard chorizos I remember - different texture and flavour. Garlic mushrooms were ordinary - I had a much better garlic mushroom at Don Quixote (which is now unfortunately closed!!). The calamari was flavoured sweet and sour which was a bit odd (what's this, Oriental tapas?!). Lamb skewers were also average and I found the meat a bit on the dry side. The fish pieces in ceviche (salad of cold fish marinated in tangy citrus) was flavoursome and tender, but the pickles were not quite doing the ceviche justice. Stuffed eggplant was good, soft and juicy and rich and hearty. Overall the tapas dishes were not lighting fireworks for our tastebuds.

Then comes the paella. This has got to be the best paella I have had in ages. Full of seafood, the rice was cooked al dente. For those who had a lighter palate skimming the rice on top helped avoid the rice at the bottom, which was saturated in a rich aromatic stock (and was favoured by those with a heavier palate). It was also quite a pleasure to wash it all down with a refreshing spicy sangria.

We said we'd gauge how full we are before we order dessert... but of course we always manage to fit more in (indigestion to follow but we don't care do we). A test for all Spanish restaurant would be how good their churros is (if they have it). The churros passed the test by the most strict Spanish food fiend at the table. The dessert tasting plate for two contained three pieces of desserts from their dessert menu (orange and almond cake, vanilla rice pudding, flourless chocolate and walnut cake). Orange and almond cake was sweet and moist (touch of tang), vanilla rice pudding was ordinary (for a great rice pudding try Bather's Pavillion), chocolate and walnut cake was well received by others, but I personally found it a bit dry. Though I could be biased - my stomach was crying "stop stop" by the time I got to dessert.

In the evening the flamenco dancers came out for a performance - great entertainment especially when they started pulling restaurant guests up on stage - especially fantastic when they got to our table and dragged one of the girls up, and of course she wouldn't go up unless if we all went, so what did we do... gulp down our sangria and strut our stuff on the stage, of course.

Great fun night, highly recommend the paella, dessert selection and the sangria, though for tapas I would recommend one of the others across the road.

ps apologies for the poor photos - had to quickly shoot or risk the wrath of the hungry dinner party

S&I Thai

A get-together and pre-farewell party for one of my potter friends was held at our most frequented Thai in North Sydney. To save us the trouble of ordering, we simply opted for the banquet menu ($30pp plus corkage). This included entree of a curry puff, a spring roll, and a fish cake. It was followed with satay chicken, a prawn stir fry, a fried fish, chicken cashew, massamum beef curry, stir fried veges with tofu. For the $30 price tag, the quality of food, and the quantity of food, was phenomenal. Personal favourite was the prawn, and I hear from others that the mushrooms in the sauce soaked up all the flavours and was absolutely delicious. Stir fried veges + tofu and the beef curry come a close second ... and I didn't get to have the fish because I was already stuffed. The satay chicken wasn't a plateful of mixed cuts, but strips of chicken breast fillet - brownie points there. After dinner we chose from a selection of tea (from T2) or coffee, which was part of the banquet, to help settle the overfilled stomach.

Definitely worthy of repeat visits - Corner of Ridge and Miller Street, North Sydney.

Epi d'Or

Fancy a French breakfast around lower North Shore? This is a great gem we have discovered at Kirribilli. This tiny cafe does not make its own breads, croissants and pastries, but they source what the owner considers 'the best' from other bakeries.

It is a tiny cafe and because they only have a limited number of each of the menu items (except coffee), you must be there early to be able to choose from the full menu. Both of my visits happened after 10:30am on a weekday and I was lucky enough to have the last two croissants of the day. The croissant was toasted crispy hot and came with cream and jam - but the plain croissant was good enough for me and my tastebuds. The rye bread with ricotta and raspberry jam was refreshing though the raspberry wasn't fresh, so it didn't quite provide the sharp tart flavour I was expecting. They serve Toby's Estate coffee - ask for a cafe au lait in a bowl for breakfast, the way the French have their coffee in the morning.

Overall this cafe is worthwhile visiting - great breads and pastries, consistently good coffee and friendly service - makes it a good mini-French-esque escape.

Vera Cruz... could be better

Seeking a restaurant to fill up the grumbling belly, we took a walk along Military Rd, all the time thinking "mmm pub grub" or "mmm noodles". Who would have thought, we walked pass a fancy looking Mexican restaurant with a SMH Good Food Guide review that gave it 14/20. It didn't serve your usual bean burritos or nachos, but had a list of interesting and/or unfamiliar dishes, so we thought we'd give them a try.

The restaurant was virtually booked out but (I think he was) the manager took us to the bar, where other customers were having a pre-dinner drink (but soon cleared out), and sat us down along the couch. It turned out to be rather comfortable and relaxing as it was away from the main restaurant crowd, so it was much quieter. Many of the entree and side dishes drew our attention so we ended up having a more tapas style dinner with all our orders arriving at once.

I'm going to have to double check the names of these dishes. We started with what looks like a "Mexican dim sum" - duck in deep-fried corn pastry, which was unfortunately a bit dry and bland. I was half expecting a tortilla wrap with duck (like Peking Duck). It wasn't offensive but it wasn't impressive either. Then we moved on to the pork ribs in a sweet and lightly spicy tomato salsa. We both agreed that it was very delicious and appetising - very refreshing, highly recommended. The quesedillas were authentic according to dinner buddy but I found it a bit dry and bland, which I guess would go well with a spicy saucy main dish. Roasted pumpkin was just marvelous - hearty sweet and juicy, sprinkled with pumpkin seed kernels and feta cubes for extra flavour and texture. We left the ceviche with tomato and avacado salsa to last - dinner buddy was comparing this to a previous ceviche experience (which was a cold fish soup with citrus flavour) which was quite different from what was presented to us. This was beautifully presented as a stack, topped with corn chips (which were hard and salt). The fish was light and tangy, the combination was gently spicy with cracked pepper mixed in, and although it was different from what was expected, I still really enjoyed it (I even accepted the avacado bits in there!)

We had room for dessert. Churros were OK but it felt undercooked - the center still felt like batter. And I was very disappointed with the Kahlua brulee because it was curdled. A curdled creme brulee means the chef was not skilled. VERY disappointed. The sangria was quite delicious - probably worth getting a jug if you're in a big group.

Overall we enjoyed the ambiance and the service was generally OK, but with mixed feelings about food. I guess without the desserts I would still recommend (and possibly come back) this place. 314 Military Rd Cremorne.

D'ough boycott

On a bright sunny day I decided to head over to D'ough Espresso at Bondi Junction Westfield. They serve fantastic cakes and the coffee is usually of a great standard, while the Harbour Room food court offers fantastic views to the city. It was down to the choice between a citrus tart and a cookies and cream cheese cake, and the winner was the cheese cake as we could have citrus tart almost everywhere.

The slice of cookies and cream cheese cake came and we were surprised to find 50% base (chocolate sponge) and 50% cheesecake, and we thought if we noticed that we wouldn't have ordered it! So we took a closer look at the slice and found something disappointing.

The cheesecake was made in a way that the outside of the cake was coated with a very thin layer of the cheesecake to cover up the bulk of the base, so it appears from the outside that there is 80% cheese and 20% base. The thin layer was very obviously there to deceive the customer.

We were exceedingly disappointed with that and I have decided now (sadly) to boycott D'ough. I know they did not bake the cake on the premises but it was just such a shameless way to deceive customers who were craving something luscious and decadent.

I will lift the boycott if/when the problem is resolved. Until then, I guess I will return to Laurent Boulangerie, or maybe visit Sweet Belem for my sugar fix......

PS
After the disappointment as mentioned above, I emailed the manager to express my experience and asked that something be done about it. Since then I had a few subsequent visits to spy on their progress. On last visit I was pleased (not delighted) that the veneer on the cookies and cream cheese cake had gone, and also they altered the name of the cake to cookies and cream on sponge cake (or something like that). I have then sent an email acknowledging their progress, thus my mini-boycott is now lifted. Not delighted that the cake is still only half-filled with the cookies and cream cheese but at least they're not being deceptive.....

Bathers Pavillion does high tea only on weekdays - probably a good move because it is hugely popular among week day diners. So we went, on my parents' anniversary, for a relaxing afternoon tea.

The high tea for 2 comes with three trays - 2 scones with cream and jam, 2 each of raspberry chocolate tart, chocolate eclaire, and strawberry coconut tart, 2 each of smoked salmon sandwich, goat cheese and cucumber sandwich, and prawn and avacado tart. And tea or coffee of your choice. Oh it was such pleasant afternoon tea, home made jam (not simply a scoop of strawberry flavoured jelly), rich chocolate genache under the gold-foiled raspberries, smooth chocolate custard in eclaires, refreshing strawberry coconut tart (no custard, pleasant surprise). The sandwiches were good too but I'm not particularly keen on goat cheese or avacado, otherwise they went down well too.

After the afternoon tea we went off to Crows Nest for some Tapas (Zarzuela Spanish Restaurant). Highly recommend their white bait, sardines a la plancha, roasted capsicum, and my old favourite chorizos. We also had potatoes with aioli, and creamy garlic mushrooms, which were both good but a bit rich. With a hot roll to soak up the flavoursome oils and sauces - ahh. A bit unfortunate that their delicious sangria must have been made with cheap red wine - normally I can handle a glass or two of red, but just one glass of this sangria turned me red and tipsy and gave me palpitation I haven't had for a long time. Otherwise it was a totally pleasant afternoon/evening.

Wishing you all a very happy new year!

Taipei Food Extravaganza

This is a collection of foods I had in Taipei, which I think is excellent in terms of authentic international (well Asian) fares and great variety of the local cuisine. There are a lot so take it easy on reading especially those of you who like reading in the middle of the night!

I had a great lunch at a packed little lunch place for Unagi Don (Japanese eel rice), went to a tight little cafe called Domo for an excellent espresso (which was the last good espresso I had on the trip), had a few quick dinners at night markets, went for a dance shoe shopping frenzy (and this had anything to do with food??) and filled my luggage with more food than clothes.

Ah satisfaction.

And of course I also had time to go to NICE restaurants and cafes and performed the "don't touch the food before I photographed it" ritual - and that's what I'll share in more details. I should describe it as a degustation rather than separate events, just so it flows. Emphasis - the following was not consumed on the same day/meal. If you actually thought I'd consumed all that in one sitting (or one day), I shall declare war on you!!

Lets start with entree - Deep fried tofu stuffed with fish liver - it was fantastic, tofu was crispy on the outside and very silky on the inside, and the flavour of the liver was creamy but not rich. It was supposed to be dipped in a light soy sauce dipping sauce but I didn't bother coz it was just nice enough as it is. It was followed by "rice in soup" - if you often have Japanese noodle soup, you might know the type with sesame and seaweed strips. To have cooked rice in the soup meant the rice soaked up all the nice flavours of the soup and it was satisfying on its own. Then we had a nigiri sushi (with what fish I'd forgotten), fish was tender but not falling apart (like cooked cod does), and the charred bits were fantastic. Char-grilled calamarigreat with just lemon (or nothing at all) - it came with a salt and pepper for dipping, which was finely ground and very fragrant, but again I didn't really need that because the charred bits on the calamari was enough. Salted plain-grilled sanma fish was full of the flavour of the fish, and really char-grilling is the best way to appreciate it. Sanma (or Pacific saury) has heaps of fine bones but the flesh is very tasty. But if you accidentally broke the liver it will leave the flesh very bitter - some people like the bitterness, not me not I.

Hot pot. YUM. I know it was still summer in Taiwan but who cares when air conditioning keeps my cool... A vegetable pot with soy sauce stock, and additional serve of wagyu beef. Oh wagyu beef - thy beauty, texture, high content of saturated fat... not that I care about that last point, of course. The soup base eventually got a bit salty for us though.

BURP. Excuse me!!! Now I move on to desserts. Haagen Dazs ice cream sound Ok with you? Of course. And what's dessert without coffee? Try an iced coffee - literally ICED coffee, because it was made from melting ice dripping over ground coffee, extracted overnight. Apparently this slow and cold extraction does not extract caffeine, but either they used crap coffee, or the lack of pressured steam just doesn't extract the elements that give a good espresso its depth and body. The waffles at the same cafe was incredibly popular and well deserve their fame - hot off the waffle plate, served with fruit and vanilla ice cream. Simplicity is best.

There, that concludes my foodie experience in Taiwan. I certainly enjoyed it... hope you hated me for it too!