Blue Eye Dragon

Blue Eye Dragon is one of the many restaurants listed in the Entertainment Book, which I otherwise would not have found, as it is tucked away on the quiet side of Pyrmont. But what a brilliant find! I completely utterly absolutely enjoyed their food, ambiance and service, and would happily come back again even without the discount voucher!

What they serve are popular dishes from Taiwan. Before I describe what we had, it is important to introduce to you a bit of history and geography of Taiwan in relation to China. In 1949 thanks to the unstoppable advancement of the red wave, the Nationalist Party and many of the civilians retreated to Taiwan. They brought with them treasures and artifacts of the Forbidden Palace, people of different cultural backgrounds, and very importantly, their food habits. Many of them didn't know what to do for a living, so they started by selling food from their home town, on street stalls, push carts, and small shop fronts. Eventually these turned into restaurants that serve authentic, traditional Chinese food from all regions of China, north, south, east and west.

And, fortunately for me, this is the kind of food environment I grew up in.

Taiwanese cuisine is not very well-known for two reasons - there are not too many restaurants that specifically focus on Taiwanese cuisine, but more importantly, Taiwanese food is really the essence of all the cuisines from the different provinces and regions of China, so it is difficult to define Taiwanese food. What most Westerners known as Chinese food really are Cantonese food, which only forms one small region of the whole of China. It is a pity, because personally, Cantonese food is no where near as enjoyable as the lighter and more delicate dishes from the Eastern/South Eastern provinces.

When I first heard "Taiwanese cuisine restaurant" I was very skeptical because my knowledge of real Taiwanese local cuisine is not what I consider "fine dining". But Blue Eye Dragon surprised me. Their not-so-long menu (in English, of course) included many dishes I immediately identified as dishes I had as a child, and are a variety of dishes of different origins. Some were even dishes that my mum makes at home – that’s GOT to be good!

So we ordered the crispy chicken with basil, five spice and salt-pepper dip on the side (a more delicate version of the ever-popular street-stall food), and crispy prawn with plum sauce for entrée, followed by tender beef strip stir fried in Taiwanese satay sauce, and san-bei calamari (san-bei meaning three cups, each cup being a condiment).

The crispy chicken was great, deep-fried but it felt surprisingly light, nowhere near the grease of KFC! And although I’m not one who eats much salt, their salt-pepper really added a great touch to the chicken. The prawns were average in my opinion, I think the chicken just stole its glory. The satay sauce for the beef was very authentically Taiwanese, it’s a popular dipping/stir fry accompaniment, though I never liked it that much because of its texture, grease and salt content. But my compliments to the chef – the flavour was there, without the dripping grease and overpowering salt. I still don’t like the texture but that’s just me. The san-bei calamari was delicious – it was rich in flavour but it wasn’t heavy. San-bei, meaning three cups, are sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine, and are traditionally cooked with chicken, along with plenty of basil, garlic, ginger, and chilli to taste. It is usually cooked until the liquid has reduced, which means the chicken will have absorbed all the flavour but also became drier. The San-bei calamari at Blue Eye Dragon was still tender and moist, with heaps of sauce in the pot. Delicious, but not quite authentic enough in my purist point of view.

We had room for dessert – Ice cream is not ‘Taiwanese’ but they served a brand of ice cream that created a storm there. Movenpick Ice Cream of Switzerland… Oh my, smooth, creamy, full of flavour, but not heavy with cream… Oh my. I don’t normally like caramel flavoured ice cream but that was one heck of a caramel ice cream… And that chocolate ice cream, dark Swiss chocolate flakes in the chocolatey ice cream… and you can see the vanilla seeds in the ice cream (and I detect a hint of mint??!!)

As we sat and chatted we started eavesdropping to the conversation between the owner and the table next to us. The owner’s mother is the head of this business, apparently she takes her food ingredients very seriously, and would spend more on quality fresh in-season ingredients. Then she would take her time looking through the purchase, pick and choose, and discard whatever that was substandard. I was pleased to hear that they take great care in choosing what they serve us – makes me more comfortable dining there.

The service was great. Their waitress was very friendly and genuine. The atmosphere was pleasant. After La brasserie this is the second restaurant that makes me feel I can just sit here for hours, with my friends or on my own, but this restaurant may be quieter as it’s tucked away in the quiet side of town. Highly recommend it. They are located at Shop 2, 42 Harris Street, Pyrmont (02 9518 9955), but only open for dinner on Wednesday to Saturday.

Sorry, no photos, but I will visit again and make up for it!

Kobe Jones

I love spontaneous get-togethers! On Monday Lisa asked for a girly catch up, and on Thursday Anne Lisa and I met up after our hectic day's activities just like old times. As it was a Thursday night we thought it'd be easy for a restaurant to fit three reasonably skinny girls in, so after 15 minutes of careful menu analyses along King St Wharf, we ended up at Kobe Jones.

Sushi. I love Sushi. Kobe Jones does sushi. We took out time, and ended up with a "dragon roll" (grilled eel and avacado on top, prawn tempura and nori wrapped in rice, smelt roe and bonito shavings on top), "dynamite roll" (spicy tuna with sesame seed sprinkle) and "salmon skin" (crispy BBQ salmon skin, cucumber, burdock root, with sesame and bonito shavings on top). The menu didn't tell us that the dragon roll contained prawn - just said "tempura" - so unfortunately Lisa couldn't have it, but luckily the eels were sitting on top of the rolls and not in contact with the prawns, so she managed to have a taste of the eel for the first time. I really like anything with eel on it, and this eel sushi was quite different from all the other standard eel-on-rice preparation so I loved it. The dynamite roll was lightly spicy (as we ordered a milder heat level), and was also very delicious, but I thought the chilli actually doesn't quite go with the delicate tuna, and it also robbed me of the pleasure of dabbing it in wasabi. The salmon skin roll was a pleasant surprise because of the crispy texture and just the right saltiness/sweetness without any more wasabi or soy sauce (to me).

After this light but satisfying meal we decided there is room to really appreciate dessert (unlike my previous over-indulgence at Napoli in Bocca) and ended up with Yokan (chocolate sabayon on a hazelnut biscuit with vanilla anglaise) and a Kanpai trifle (sake infused trifle with marinated cherries in jelly). Yum. My trifle was light and fragrant, not too rich so quite a perfect end of the meal. The chocolate sabayon was absolutely divine! It was chocolatey, and yet not too sweet and overly rich.

Highly recommend this place. The price seem a bit high at first for a sushi restaurant, but their sushi was different and delicious, and has a very relaxing atmosphere unlike the usual hectic Japanese restaurant. We also ordered a sauvignon blanc from Orange that went down well with the light meal too. I'd come back one day.....

Overindulgence at Napoli in Bocca

First time I visited Napoli in Bocca I thoroughly enjoyed their pizza and the desserts, and have been hooked on that restaurant since. But the second and third time I went, their famous and ever-so-popular tiramisu was sold out before I could order it. So this time I vowed to myself I WILL have a tiramisu at the end of my meal...

Our resident Italian colleague ordered on behalf of all of us, since he knows whats good, and saves us that decision making process and the possibility of double-up orders. Entree - herb and garlic pizza, and bruschetta pizza. Thin and crusty and very appetising, the bruschetta pizza was topped with piles of juicy ripe roman tomatoes. Then came our second course, two wood fired pizzas (both very simple) and three pastas (spaghetti marinara, gnocchi napolitana, fettucini carbonara). Then came a third course of one more pizza, one more pasta (penne with eggplant and tomatoes), and one that I wanted to try - calamari ripieni (stuffed calamari). All nice. The pizza had anchovy on top so it was a tad salty, but it's hard for me to explain how potent and tasty the salty fish was on the pizza!

Then I ordered the tiramisu I lust after but was unable to finish the creamy dessert simply because I had too much good food before that. Sigh...

I think everyone had a great time there and the food was, as always, up to scratch. But we were lucky to have had excellent attentive service because of our Italian friend (reading other people's reviews the service may not be consistent). The interior is now much more spacious and therefore more comfortable than it used to be before the renovation. I would not think twice about coming back here at all!

Casa di Nico

After a lovely afternoon of painting soup mugs and flower pots for Lisa (our hen's celebration activity) we went to Cockle Bay in POURING rain for our Hen's celebration dinner. Casa di Nico was our ristorante for the night. We ordered a bottle of Preece's cabernet sauvignon for the 5 of us, and an extra LLIT (Long Island Iced Tea) for the bride to be - the aim is to get her drunk so she will comply with the tasks we have for her.

Ordering food was a tough one, as I was tossing up between some of my favourites (Linguine con vongole and risotto al pollo e funghi, for example), but ended up going for the ribeye di rinforza (rib eye steak with creamy garlic potatoes, green bean and black truffle) - felt like munching some meat that night. Other people went for the barramundi, snapper, king prawn pasta, and gnocci (special for the day). Everyone enjoyed their food, which was good. My rib eye must have come from a fat cow - this big ring of fat around my steak was a bit scary, but the meat was juicy and tender (unfortunately it was just a little bloody... i prefer pink and not bloody). The potato on the side was great - creamy and aromatic.

For dessert it was the battle of the creme brulee and "diplomatico" (warm vanilla custard, cherries, blackberries and savoirdi biscuits) - but I opted for my old favourite (creme brulee). Smooth and silky and beautifully presented. The diplomatico looked divine and tasted good too (but I'm glad I had creme brulee). The chocolate and pear tart was top choice of a comfort food but apparently it was not chocolatey enough for our friend. Coffee was good - full bodied and strong (probably made with double shot).

We had a good night - food was good, company was excellent. Though to be honest, for a 'fine dining restaurant' like this, they could do better than just 'good food'. Service was swift but impersonal, which was a disappointment. Maybe I am just expecting service like that of Post Restaurant (at GPO, Westin Hotel Sydney), where the warm and professional staff was always there when you need them, efficient and quiet and never in your face. Here the wait staff would pretty much deliver our food and leave, and almost always seem to be in a hurry. I wouldn't recommend against this restaurant just because I had a 'flat' experience myself, though I won't come back in a hurry. Apologies for the slightly blurry photos - didn't have time to do my usual habit of "one is great, ten is better"!

Home dinner - pastry, pastry, pastry!

One of my favourite dishes is a kind of Chinese pastry that is somewhat likened to puff pastry, but less fluffy, the layers are thicker, and coated with white sesame. Different varieties are used in different dishes, for example, the pastry with mince uses just oil to separate the layers, made into a longer rectangle and cut into half, while the pastry with beef slices used sesame paste (kind of like tahini but fried) to separate the layers, and made into individual round pockets. Its best served hot off the pan, and reheated pastries are 100 times less flavoursome than the freshly made pastries. Not only that the texture is completely lost (turns hard). I prefer having less filling because I love the pastry, but I kept being told off for not stuffing the pockets!!!!

Another great summery dish is cold prawns with thick mung bean noodles and cucumber, drizzled with garlicky sesame paste dressing. Appetising and refreshing, I can have stacks of this stuff and never get sick of it (well maybe after 2 platefuls I may get a little ill...)

D'foreigner

Yup, after the big meal I had at La Brasserie I was also expected to join a family dinner... and they've picked a local Franco-Italian style restaurant called D'Foreigner, which is run by the daughter of a family friend. Bizarre that I was eating at restaurants where I know the owner all day yesterday.

Apart from the restaurant name that bothered me, they do make reasonably honest and unpretentious food. Their pasta are made fresh on the venue which they're actually quite proud of it themselves. And because no one was in the mood for overindulgence we went for entree sizes only.

We had a Spaghetti vongoles, a squid ink pasta in seafood bisque sauce, capsicum pasta with grilled scampi, wild porcini risotto and grilled garlic and chilli prawns on a bed of mixed greens (me). For the side I picked the ensalatas caprese and a rocket and tomato salad. My prawns were butterflied and grilled, juicy sweet and JUST the right portion for my still packed belly (3 king prawns for dinner...). The spaghetti vongoles (in white wine sauce) went down well for the man with the most traditional tastebuds, while the seafood bisque sauce on squid ink pasta was fully appreciated by the other very traditional tastebud. I think I have managed to totally change their perception of Italian pasta - they only knew of the bolognese sauce so this was a pleasant surprise to them. The capsicum pasta with grilled scampi was lightly creamy and quite appetising. Risotto was tops - always love a mushroom risotto (a tad salty though).

We brought a bottle of Chivas Regal to the restaurant ($2pp corkage) and that helped settle my stomach and calm me down a bit and I settled back into that "smily but quiet' mood....

Loved the meal. What a memorable gourmet day.

La Brasserie

Went to dine at a brand-spanking-new French restaurant at Darlinghurst - La Brasserie (www.LaBrasserie.com.au) and had a truly enjoyable meal, with the only slight problem of having ordered way more than my stomach could, well, stomach.
Anyway, the lunch menu was short but definitely got enough varieties to satisfy most customers. Knowing I haven't had escargot before he threw in 2 for me to taste - kinda liked it, garlicky and enjoyed the texture, but not rushing back for more. I ordered a cheese souffle for starters. YUM I say. Rich and cheesy and creamy and a little fluffy - and the grapes and walnuts added great contrasting texture and flavour to the soft souffle. Lionel (co-owner, what a great friend to have.... one who owns a restaurant and willing to treat me lunch! Hohoho) ordered the onion soup which tasted great, but he later confessed that he made a complaint to his friend/co-owner (Phillippe) that it doesn't have enough soup in it (they conversed in French - nice to listen to). I had a sip and thought it was quite delicious - and started to wonder maybe I should have had the soup instead of souffle.

For main I went for the seared steak tartare open sandwich (with a stack of shoestring chips on the side that I could only watch), which was juicy grilled, with 'forest mushrooms' that were slightly caramelised and very aromatic. Blue cheese scatterred on the side. I enjoyed it except... it was too salty for my tastebuds - Me not a salty person. The serving was big - none of those stereotypical "huge plate tiny mouthful" perception of the French restaurant. Problem was I should really have just ordered the main... or had the soup instead of the souffle... too much protein...

Don't know what red wine he ordered for us, but it was a light red that was fragrant and so easy to drink, I had it without going red in my face, but felt my system start to slow down soon after, so imagine me being quiet, trying very hard to finish my food as much as possible, listening intently and attempting to comprehend someone talking in a lovely French accent while the wine and excess food has totally taken over......
Interior was classy and non-pretentious. Beautiful mahogany coloured floor and tiled around the bar and entrance - classy French bistro-esque style. The floor would have been PERFECT for a dance party - put on some swing/jazzy music and I could just start dancing there! It was just really nice.... I really loved the ambiance. Kinda reminds me of that bistro Dianne Keaton went to in the movie "Somethings gotta give" ... if thats how French really live and eat, well they've won me over!! The only thing was, being on Crown Street (near William Street) it was noisy sitting on the sidewalk. I love people watching but it would have been perfect if it was located in a little alley way with cobble stone pavement and an occasional scooter or bicycle riding by...

Sorry, no photos this time - thought it would have been rude but if i went again with my closer friends I would definitely have taken pictures!