Moo Gourmet Burgers, Manly

Summer is all about the sun, the beach, lazy afternoons and evenings, and possibly kicking back with some shakes and burgers. Sydney’s weather has been rather erratic of late, swinging from blistering heat to a mild winter chill in the space of only a couple of days. While we can't choose the weather, at least we can choose what food with which to feed ourselves and inject a dose of "beach" in the process. By that, of course, I don't mean liberally sprinkling some sand over your dinner, but by grabbing some burgers at a beachside location.

El Loco, Mexicana Cantina Y Barra

A few consecutive days of searing heat and it appears that summer has finally settled in. This is the kind of weather where I don’t feel like cooking.

At all.

Cue: lazy snoozing on a deck chair/in a hammock in the shade by a private pool/beach and polite staff bringing you refreshing fruit-based drinks carried out on fancy silver trays. Perhaps a butler called Alfred (because, you know, they always seem to be called Aflred) to “fetch” you when dinner is ready...mmmm.

Birthdays Part 2: Olio

In recent years I’ve eschewed the big birthday gatherings of yore for more low-key affairs. Perhaps it’s part of getting a little older, or perhaps it’s age combined with laziness. Last year Monsieur Poisson planned ahead in advance and indulged me with a meal at Tetsuya’s, while I returned the favour through what was a bit more last minute planning.

This year we both decided to dine locally for our birthdays, and mine was spent at Olio where we’d previously only popped in to sample their kopi luwak or for a light meal. (No longer on the menu, I don’t think, but Olio had a really mushroomy risotto and a value-for-money antipasti plate.)

Drinks are in order for the occasion and I order the ‘Polish Spring Punch’ due to its inclusion of all things berry – raspberry vodka, berry compote and Chambord. The drink is both larger and stronger than it seems as well as being a beautiful shade of blushing pink.

‘Salt & pepper squid’ is ordered due to having tried it on an earlier visit. And although there is much less rocket this time around, the small tendrils of squid are light, low on oiliness and well-seasoned as we remember. There is a lot more aioli on the side than is needed, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to finish it.

To share, we have a ‘Prawn, prosciutto, tomato & rocket pizza’ plus a ‘Grilled black Angus scotch fillet’ between us. The pizza base is thin but a bit soft on the underside, unlike the crisp wood-fired ones to which we are accustomed. The steak is much more pleasing, however, being tender and juicy, served with meaty roasted portabella mushrooms, eshallots and a rich jus. The menu mentioned it being served with Café de Paris butter, but there was no sign of this when presented to us.

It would have been nice to have had some potato mash to have with the steak and jus but we were mindful of over-ordering. I was too full for dessert as it was, especially after birthday eats from earlier that day, but Monsieur Poisson just couldn’t go past the ‘Apple & raspberry crumble’. It was tart and sweet all at once, but what I loved was the nubbly topping as opposed to the floury, powdery topping of some.

Olio isn’t open on weekends, but it makes for a great relaxing dinner on a Friday night... or on a lazy night during the week.

Olio

Shop 1, The Forum, St Leonards train station, 201-205 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards NSW

Tel: (02) 9439 8988

Opening Hours:  Mon  7am-4pm

                        Tues-Fri  7am-9pm

                        Sat & Sun  CLOSED

happy eating!

Umami cocktails and canapés at Saké Restaurant & Bar

It’s always exciting to be invited to dine somewhere which you haven’t, but also slightly intriguing when you read “Umami Cocktail/Canapé” as being offered on the evening. A cocktail is a cocktail, right? And though I know little about specific cocktails, I do know what flavours I tend to like in mine. However, paired with my limited knowledge of foods high in umami, my imaginings for what we would be treated to went a little something like this:

I would’ve actually found it quite funny had we been presented with a mushroom-flavoured martini, but thankfully a lot more creative thought and work had gone into these new menu items created by Saké’s Head Sushi Chef Shimpei Hatanake and Bar Manager Wayne Shennen. Much like food and wine pairings, the Umami Cocktail & Canapé menu offerings ($25 each) are designed so that the drink and food flavours balance and complement each other but whilst maximising umami-ness.

‘The Nightingale Song’ made with umeshu, pear vodka, white wine, bianco vermouth and lemon juice gets my vote for the evening with its sweet, fruity flavours and slightly dry finish. Savoury flavours aren’t really encountered in the cocktail until you get to the settled umeboshi bits at the bottom, whose flavours remind me of dried Chinese plums “wah mui/hua mei” (話梅). This cocktail is flanked by a delicate ‘Scallop Ume Spoon’ with scallop sashimi dressed with grape seed oil, white soy, lime, pickled plum paste and finely cut shiso leaf, sitting on a paper-thin cucumber slice providing crunch. ‘Yuzu Snapper’ is the other accompaniment where snow pea sprouts have been rolled into a slice of snapper sashimi dressed with olive oil, yuzu, shio-kombu (salted kelp) and tobiko.

‘The Honey Dragon’ is what I can only describe as a manly cocktail with its combination of honey, single malt Scottish whiskey, cinnamon, lemon zest and hint of chilli. Whiskey and I have yet to get to know each other beyond acquaintance level, but I am more than happy to devour the pieces of salmon belly served with yuzu soy alongside.

We are served a selection of food from Executive Chef Shaun Presland for the rest of the evening which is great for picking at alongside some drinks. Little portions of ‘Char-grilled Octopus Sunomono’ are tender and dressed with a kiwi sauce which surprisingly doesn’t taste of kiwi, and ‘Steamed Prawn Dumplings’ are a light “har-gow”/”siu-mai” hybrid but with a shaggy, shredded-skin outer.

The ‘Teriyaki Burger Balls’ are tender, meaty fun on sticks with an ever so more-ish sweet teriyaki glaze. And who can ever say no to crispy, deep-fried chicken? Served with jalapeño oil, spicy mayo and tomato salsa, it is the perfect partner to a Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale. I’m not a beer-drinker but this is light and smooth enough for me not to be turned off by what I usually perceive as a yeastiness about beer, plus the bottle sports a cute owl logo (heh!).

A DIY hand roll sushi session ensues with an array of ingredients at our disposal and leaves us wondering whether we can nab the idea for use at future dinner parties. We are shown the basic technique for making a hand roll and are told that the result should be tight enough to not fall apart but loose enough to (theoretically) let smoke through! This is, of course, much easier when watching it being done by a professional and more of a challenge when it’s our turn, and in maximising our fillings end up with exploding sushi.

Mini portions of ‘Buttermilk pannacotta with raspberry coulis’ topped with toasty coconut round off the evening of umami cocktails, with more innovative pairings to come soon. A concept bloody Mary and a miso/yakult combination were mentioned – both quirky and exciting to look forward to!

Mademoiselle Délicieuse dined as a guest of Saké Restaurant & Bar and Lindy Thompson.

Saké Restaurant & Bar

12 Argyle St (near cnr Harrington St), The Rocks NSW

Tel: (02) 9259 5656

Opening Hours:  Mon-Thurs  12pm-3pm (lunch)

                                          6pm-10:30pm (dinner)

                        Fri  12pm-3pm (lunch)

                              6pm-12 midnight (dinner)

                        Sat  12pm-3pm (lunch)

                               5:30pm-11:30pm (dinner)

                        Sun  12pm-3pm (lunch)

                                5pm-10pm (dinner)

happy eating!

Breakfast banquet at Kazbah Top Ryde

*beep beep beep beep...*

It’s 7am on a Sunday morning and my alarm is going off. (Insert preferred expletives here.)

It’s early. Extra early if you take into consideration Sunday standards of general laziness. But there is the promise of good food, copious amounts of it, and good company – what better way to start a Sunday morning! Some of us even choose to start the day with a bloody Mary. As you do...

At only $25 per person, our epic breakfast feast begins with a range of sizeable sweet dishes: Warm rice pudding, saffron poached pear, cinnamon & hazelnut; Date & banana porridge; Sweet couscous with nuts & dried fruits; and ‘Stewed rhubarb, milk, brown sugar & cardamom milk’ as condiments to accompany the lot. The eight of us pace ourselves with these and hardly make a dent into them. Personally I’m more a fan of savoury food for breakfast so I was definitely keeping in mind to conserve precious stomach space for what was to come.

And then it all gets a bit hectic with the arrival of two tagines – one of ‘Lamb mince, sucuk, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs’ (top left), another of ‘Pumpkin, feta, spinach, roast capsicum, caramelised onion, roast tomato, eggs’ (bottom right), and both with which I’m familiar through a previous visit to Kazbah on Darling. Then there’s the arrival of the ‘Hash browns, bacon, roasted tomato, haloumi, Merguez sausage’ platter and soon to be followed by a platter of poached, scrambled and fried eggs. The hash browns are crispy and contain a bit of spice within, and who can say no to haloumi? Sides of mushrooms, spinach and housemade baked beans along with a bowl of toasted pide and flatbread accompany the lot, plus the eggs themselves are sitting atop yet more slices of toasted Turkish bread.

As if this is not a scary enough amount of food already, the banquet ends on a sweet note of pancakes which are thick and fluffy with a crusty top which are more like thin cakes cooked in a pan, rather than American-style fluffy pancakes. The ‘Chocolate & raspberry with butterscotch sauce & choc fudge ice-cream’ makes for a nice sweet/tart combination whereas the ‘Banana & strawberry with maple syrup & double cream’ is definitely the lighter of the two.

For this price it is an insane amount of food to be served so make sure you go with some seasoned eating partners. There is a required minimum number of diners for the breakfast banquet and make sure they all turn up on the day.

Kazbah Top Ryde

La Piazza, Top Ryde Shopping Centre, corner Devlin St & Blaxland Rd, Ryde NSW

Tel: (02) 9555 7067

Opening Hours:  7 days  from 8am

happy eating!

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, 9 Nov 2010

Another work year has started and I am grateful that, amongst the tasks which will be thrown my way, organising a year-end Christmas party will not be one of them. For many workplaces, preparations for the following year’s Christmas party start almost before the last reveller from the current year’s event has even left the venue. Mistress has been lumped with this task for her workplace and I am most definitely not envious.

As my shiny red heels click-clack along the boards of Woolloomooloo’s finger wharf, there are large groups of men in business suits and ladies in cocktail dresses enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the evening sun outside several of the restaurants located along there. They appear to be the beginnings of year-end work celebrations and the lovely Sarah Ashmore, Functions & Marketing Coordinator of the Pacific Restaurant Group, confirms that Kingsleys is a popular choice for these shindigs and reservations are taken well in advance. All of which is understandable given the location and its view of the city skyline and relaxing surrounds.

But the view and location are all for naught if the food doesn’t stand up to the test of customers and, on this fine evening, twelve eager and camera-wielding food bloggers with appetites at the ready. Cocktails “with a modern twist” are offered all round but I’m afraid I’m not particular au fait in this area and can only remember two things about mine: 1) it was blueberry flavoured and possibly made with sparkling wine, and 2) it was girly and easy to drink.

The sourdough I do remember, with its distinct chewy crust and dense but soft interior enjoyed with real butter. However the show is stolen by the clean flavours of the ‘Burrata mozzarella salad with heirloom tomato and basil’, as well as the ceremony by which the hand-tied ball of cream-filled cheese is hoisted precariously via tweezers from a glass and rested on a bed of awaiting colourful tomato segments and where the remaining balsamic vinegar contents are drizzled over the salad itself.

The ‘Baby octopus with chilli, salt and pepper’ are tender, tasty and not at all greasy. The ‘Steak tartare with truffle aioli and sourdough crostini’ is anointed with a cute little quail egg replete with oozy yolk, and the tartare can be requested unmixed along with an array of condiments for a do-it-yourself experience.

I thought the show had been stolen by the burrata, but that was before the Alaskan king crab legs made their entrance thus completely upstaging everything before it. With pre-cracked shells for eating convenience, the flesh is sweet, springy and briney all in one bite and the triumph is in extricating a piece of meat from a segment of shell intact in its entirety.

Beef Wellingtons, encasing 400 grams of eye fillet to serve two and which require pre-ordering, are cut in half to reveal their blushing pink centres before us and plated by Group Executive Chef, Lars Svensson. Even with the vegetable relief provided by ‘Charred asparagus with parmesan’, ‘Iceberg salad with radish and blue cheese’ (very subtle in blue cheese for those who aren’t fans of it like me!), and ‘Zucchini with peas, mint & Persian fetta’, I fail to finish the meat but make a serious dent into the puff pastry outer and mushroom duxelle. Heh, I am never one to let pastry go to waste.

Dessert time proves that the ‘Chocolate brownie & banana sundae’ is a popular, classic choice, whilst I go for the ‘Toffee cheesecake with praline ice-cream’ in all its silken, toffee-swirled wobbliness. I am also told that the ‘Crème brûlée with sticky blueberry compote’ is crack-a-licious.

Dinner ends with tea, coffee, chocolate-coated coffee beans and happily satisfied bellies while I sit back under the twinkling stars and city lights wondering which lucky people will get to enjoy their Christmas parties there.

Mademoiselle Délicieuse dined as a guest of Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Sydney, and the Pacific Restaurant Group courtesy of Sarah Ashmore.

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Sydney

Restaurant 10, 6 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo NSW

Tel: 1300 546 745

happy eating!

Sugar Hit: Shangri-La, 15 Oct 2010

I am old enough to remember fashion, hair, make-up and most definitely music from the 80s. The decade was about success, excess and not being afraid to show it across parts of the world which were in economic boom. There has been an obvious revival of that decade’s trends in recent years and the 80s was the first thing that sprung to mind upon being presented with Shangri-La’s Sugar Hit for 2010, replete with miniature gold foil umbrella.

Almost every drink was served with a paper umbrella (one of my favourite kitschy items) back then – from alcoholic cocktails to soft drinks for kids – in a myriad of bright garish colours. So it is fitting that Shangri-La’s interpretation of black forest cake, a most popular dessert choice in the day, in cocktail form be adorned with one and a shiny gold one at that. We were excited to see Brown Brothers Cienna & Cabernet make an appearance again, as we had learnt from Glass’ Sugar Hit that its berry flavours match rather well with chocolate.

The ‘Black Forest cocktail’ itself is made up of a ‘vanilla panna cotta’ at the bottom with visible vanilla seeds. Its taste however is not all that vanilla-y and is not set how I expect a panna cotta to be, with a texture more akin to a whipped thickened cream. There’s also an artificial-tasting flavour which I can’t identify that could be a liqueur of some sort? On top of this sits a thin round of ‘cocoa sponge’ which is on the dry side and a disc of tempered dark chocolate. Balanced atop these layers is a lacy dark chocolate ring which holds a mousse-like ‘chocolate cream, cherries in kirsch and chocolate bonbon’. The cherries are quite intense in their alcoholic flavour while the bonbon has a soft chocolate ganache centre. Spiked into this basket of chocolate cream are three tempered dark chocolate “legs” as well as that umbrella.

The tempered chocolate is a standout with a distinct crack when broken into with a spoon, however it is also this characteristic which makes it a little hard to eat when not on a plate and with soft foundations underneath. The panna cotta leaves us confused with its texture and flavour, but this dessert cocktail’s other components are definitely true to that of a black forest cake.

Shangri-La

176 Cumberland St, The Rocks, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9250 6123

happy eating!

Birthdays Part 1: Tetsuya’s, 26 August 2010

spoon, fork & chopsticks is one year old! I’m actually a couple of days late (due to such annoying things as allergies and sinusitis) and as there are no special celebrations in store, I’ve decided to share a series of birthday-related meals instead. The husband’s birthday and mine are a mere eight days apart. That combined with multiple friends’ birthdays on the days in between and on either side makes for a lot of gluttony in the name of celebration. I turned much older than the age of this here wee blog a little over two weeks ago and my husband, the ever-thoughtful Monsieur Poisson, had arranged to take me to the world-renowned Sydney institution of culinary experience known as Tetsuya’s. He made the table reservation four months in advance, although we’re not sure that’s actually required given that we were dining on a weeknight. He tells me that he just happened to be thinking of my birthday at the time. Our dinner was not long before the announcement of the loss of a Chef’s Hat but this is likely to have negligible impact for us general eating crowd – the magic of Tetsuya’s will always be Tetsuya’s.

Tetsuya’s has been high on my to-eats list for years. I remember when Ms London left for her overseas sojourn, which has now become a permanent affair, that her first return trip to Sydney involved a meal at Tetsuya’s organised by a lovely friend of hers months prior to the event. I remember seeing photos and being completely mesmerised – she even managed to score a photo with the man himself! Many years have since passed and there have been numerous other photos admired from meals recounted at Tetsuya’s that there is a definite fairy tale aura surrounding this serene, modern restaurant overlooking an internal Japanese garden in the heart of the city.

It is a wild and windy evening in Sydney and we are the first table to arrive in our dining area. We are given a brief introduction to the menu, asked if we have any food allergies or aversions (no, and no), issues with meat cooked medium to medium-rare (no) and asked whether the meal is for a special occasion (my birthday). I enjoy a Perry Street cocktail made of cinnamon vodka, pear and peach juices whilst Monsieur Poisson and I joke about whether we should have mentioned his dislike of cucumber to the waiter. Funnily enough, about half an hour later, when another table arrives and are given the welcoming spiel, we hear the gentleman at the table quite emphatically state that he does not eat cucumber. This caused the husband and I giggles to no end!

We are treated to a suitably wintery amuse bouche of ‘Chestnut soup with roast chestnut cream’. Naturally sweet and nutty, even Monsieur Poisson who’s not a massive fan of chestnuts falls in love with this velvety smooth soup embodied in an espresso cup.

Then it’s a choice of either sourdough or Italian white bread rolls with Tetsuya’s famed truffle butter made with parmiagiano reggiano for added pungency and ricotta for a fluffy lightness. We both choose the sourdough but Monsieur Poisson loves the butter so much that he follows it up with an Italian white roll as well. And what’s not to love about it – the butter is pungent, and earthy, and salty, and smooth, and light and oh-so tasty!

Monsieur Poisson has an added course of oysters for a mere $9 extra only. I give them a miss as, although I do eat oysters, I feel they’re a bit wasted on me at times as I don’t always appreciate their taste and texture. They’re exceptionally good value though, being round and plump and submerged in a delicate broth of ginger and rice vinegar.

The official first course is ‘Hiramasa kingfish with seasoned black bean and orange zest’. Although there’s very little detectable orange zest, with the black bean flavours being also very, very mild, the dominant taste is that of a slightly sweetened soy sauce punctuated by aromas of finely sliced spring onion and micro herbs. We both agree that the soy mixture reminds us of that which accompanies Chinese steamed fish and once we’re done devouring the slices of firm, bouncy kingfish sashimi, we’re left wanting some rice to slurp up the more-ish soy remaining on the plate. And the plates – the subsequent courses are served on white crockery but these first two remind us of the ones used at Koi.

The next course of ‘Scampi tails with jus, curds and goat's cheese’ doesn’t look terribly impressive on the plate. Arranged somewhat like a short terrine, there are sweet scampi tails – scampi being one of Monsieur Poisson’s absolute favourite things – sitting on a bed of the softest, silkiest tofu curds imaginable with the whole lot topped with three small dollops of a very mild goat’s cheese and finished with a jus that tastes like an uncreamy bisque yet still manages to pack a lot of punch. Goat’s cheese is very divisive amongst my friends, I believe mostly due to its pungency. Weirdo loves it because he can ‘taste the farm’ from whence the cheese came, while Ms Sourdough simply claims that it tastes like goat – and not in a flattering way either.

Next we are presented with what is often described as the world’s most photographed dish – ‘Confit petuna ocean trout crusted with konbu and chives, served with apple celery salad and unpasteurised trout roe’. Much in contrast to the previous course, this dish really is something beautiful to look at with the coral hues of the trout and roe contrasting with the crisp green of the apple and celery, and the dark konbu chive ‘crust’ resembling crispy fish skin. Taste and texture-wise there is the salty smokiness of the konbu against the sweetness of the soft trout and the slightly tart crunch of the apple celery salad. Roe always provides fun through salty popping mini-spheres in the mouth. If you’re interested in recreating this masterpiece at home, then you need to take a look at this.

The last of our seafood dishes is the ‘Barramundi with garlic purée and globe artichoke’. The piece of fish is small and delicate and, we deduce, hard to cook well due to its small size. The garlic purée is light and creamy and I greedily want something crispy to dip into it. A side salad of greens was served along with the preceding dish and we are thankful for some refreshing crunch against all the array of flavours provided by these other dishes.

The first of the meat courses, ‘Slow-braised wagyu ox tail with sea cucumber and yuzu’, has Monsieur Poisson a little undecided. He loves slow-cooked beef cheeks and ox tail but has never been a fan of sea cucumber. I, on the other hand, love sea cucumber even when it’s been stewed Chinese-style in oyster sauce so it’s an absolute pleasure to see it at Tetsuya’s as two spongy gelatinous discs perched atop a few chunks of richly-flavoured tender oxtail. The subtle yuzu flavour offers respite from an otherwise rich and sticky dish.

The next meat dish is ‘Slow-roasted duck breast with leeks, onion purée and sansho’. The sansho has been liberally rubbed on the skin and lends a lovely peppery flavour although I do find the flesh a little rarer than what I’m used to with duck. The roasted leek and onion pureée complement each other well.

The final meat course and the last of the dishes before dessert is ‘Grass-fed black angus with swiss brown mushrooms, potato cream and porcini jus’. If only steak and mash with mushroom sauce was always as good as this! Tender beef sitting on a smooth and creamy dollop of potato with mushrooms hidden in between and a mushroomy broth that you just want to mop up with more bread.

And then it’s dessert time! And multiple courses of it too, starting with ‘Pear sorbet with walnut, and Tetsuya's bread and butter pudding’. The pear sorbet is smooth and refreshing, with half in the shot glass topped with walnuts and another quenelle perched atop. The bread and butter pudding is more like a crème brûlée studded with spiced bread bits and sultanas but is thankfully not overly rich.

The next dessert is unusual yet familiar to Asian cultures through its use of beans. Although we’re used to seeing azuki, mung beans and black beans, the cannellini beans in this ‘Sweetened cannellini beans with soy caramel and mascarpone mousse’ are actually quite similar in texture. Monsieur Poisson isn’t sure about them being in a dessert but I quite like their sweet nuttiness and contrast with the smoothness of the light soy caramel and fluffy mascarpone mousse.

Because we mentioned that the dinner is for my birthday, Monsieur Poisson and I receive different desserts. His is the standard menu item of ‘Chocolate pavé with cream cheese ice-cream, chocolate soil and cinnamon twigs’. Although, of course, standard is not apt in describing any of the food here. The chocolate pave is filled with a milk chocolate mousse-type centre sitting on a thin foundation of sponge and topped with a thin layer of cream before being enrobed in a dark chocolate jelly-like layer. From appearance, what we expect to be a rich chocolate ganache outer, turns out to be more like an Asian agar set dessert layer.

For me and so many others also celebrating their birthdays that evening (and yes, it did feel a little odd knowing other people in the same confines shared their birthday with me!), we received the alternate dessert of ‘Chocolate hazelnut fondant’. Soft and gooey, it was decorated with a few salt flakes on top, a couple of slicks of chocolate sauce around it and some cocoa dusted hazelnuts. Oh, and don’t forget the candle.

As if this wasn’t enough food, we round off our meal with a caffe latte for the husband and a pot of Earl Grey tea for myself. A plate of pretty, pastel-hued macarons arrives on the table and a big smile spreads across my face. We start with the pink rosewater ones, move onto the chewier green pistachio ones and finish with the chocolate ones. They are incredibly light, being sandwiched with a cream centre rather than ganache. Actually, the whole meal has us marvelling at how light everything is. As opposed to other meals with rich sauces that leave you happily clutching your belly afterwards, Tetsuya’s achieves a level of satisfaction that doesn’t leave you groaning from over-indulgence.

Our meal lasted around four hours but the courses were very evenly paced with not much of a wait in between. The intervals between the meat courses were a bit longer, possibly due to an influx of coinciding table bookings, but this was quite welcome and gave us time to appreciate as well as digest the food before more appeared. We had a selection of waitstaff looking after our table that evening but all were very well-versed in what was being served and most polite. They were very obliging when it came to taking photographs for diners and mindful of not blinding others with camera flashes in the process. I also received a copy of the menu as a birthday memento.

Tetsuya’s

529 Kent St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9267 2900

Opening Hours:  Sun & Mon  CLOSED

                        Tues-Fri  dinner from 6pm (dinner only)

Sat  lunch from 12pm

       dinner from 6pm

happy eating!

Swissôtel, 27 Feb 2010

Are you an optimist who tries to focus on the good? Are you a pessimist who always picks out the faults? Or are you someone who takes notice of both good and bad equally before forming an opinion?

This was my dilemma when it came to deciding whether to tell this story or not. It definitely wasn’t an unpleasant meal – in actual fact, the food was quite good – but the experience as a whole left a sour memory amongst my dining company and it had everything to do with the service. It is one thing to receive outrightly rude service, but it is a more confusing situation to receive unhelpful service with a side of attitude.

The girls and I have met for lunch and when Mistress and I turn up ahead of the others, we find that there is no record of our table reservation. We are seated in the restaurant part as the bar area is fully booked for afternoon tea service which is scheduled to commence in about an hour’s time. When Wifey calls to inform us that she’ll be bringing the husband and children along, we kindly request to be relocated to a larger table but are met with some noticeable resistance. We realise we are being an inconvenience so we let it pass, despite there obviously being many empty tables around us.

Mistress and I feel like something to nibble on whilst waiting for the others to arrive so we order some ‘Salt and pepper squid with aioli’. The squid has been fried after a light dusting with flour and, I think, some cumin seeds. The squid is tender and sweet against the side of rocket salad with sundried tomatoes and fetta, and the aioli adds a nice touch of creaminess.

We also order a jug of cocktail to share which proves to be exceptional value at roughly the cost of two glasses of cocktails. We’ve gone with a lychee and pink grapefruit concoction which is fragrant, refreshing and very girly.

When everyone has arrived and settled in, more food is ordered and the atmosphere is pleasant and full of chatter. Wifey’s son is playing around our table barefoot when he feels he’s stepped on something sharp – it appears to be an oversized tack and we deduce it to be a non-slip ‘foot’ from the bottom of a chair leg. He is bleeding a little and in pain but by no means seriously injured. When we report it to one of the waitstaff and ask for a first-aid kit, we are met with a blank look and hear a mumble about going to get the manager. The manager never materialises and the staff member returns empty handed. We ask if they have any sticking plasters and antiseptic before the staff member hurries off and returns with our requests.

Soon after we order our desserts and some calm is restored amongst us. I have the gâteau opera which reportedly uses Lindt chocolate in its making and the cake is rich as expected. The layers of the cake are not the thinnest I’ve had but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

We ask for the bill and Wifey decides to scribble a few of her comments on the feedback card. What concerns us most, with all of us hailing from a healthcare background, is that there didn’t appear to be a first aid kit nor a reporting protocol for any customer-related incidents. We were expecting to maybe see the manager/supervisor and perhaps have our details recorded or a form to fill in. Wifey was worried her feedback card would get lost in the system so she handed it to the staff member at the register who told us she was the supervisor. While a couple of the girls excused themselves to the ladies’, the remainder of us noticed that the supervisor was reading the comments card – and was sharing it with a couple of other staff members right in front of us! And that, I’m afraid, is definitely lacking in etiquette.

What action, if any, would you have taken had you been in a similar situation?

Crossroads Bar, Swissôtel

Level 8, 68 Market St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9238 7082

Opening Hours:  Sun-Thurs  10am-11pm

                        Fri & Sat  10am-12am

happy eating!

A chooky kind of day, 10 Oct 2009

 

When it came time for the wonderful Mistress to plan my hens day, I had only one activity in mind that was a must. No strippers or getting drunk for me, thank you. In keeping with my love of food, my only stipulation was to enjoy a morning or afternoon tea at The Tea Room, Queen Victoria Building. Like The Tea Room, Gunners’ Barracks, it is elegantly decorated with beautiful wallpaper, an ornate ceiling, tasselled hanging light fixtures and rich velvet textures throughout. It is a place where I would love to have my wedding but seeing as this will not be the case, a gathering of my female collective made for a pretty good consolation prize.

As we have a group of more than ten people we are required to all pre-order the same food and pre-pay prior to the event, plus there is a time limit due to the popularity of it being wedding season and, hence, hens day season. The time limit was enforced and we were reminded close to the time that we needed to finish up and get going, but in no way was this request rude nor were we rushed during our time there.

It is mid-morning but we all have the ‘Traditional Afternoon Tea’ resulting in many three-tiered stands dotting our round table. The top tier has crustless finger sandwiches – the egg salad ones and ham ones are on white bread, while the tuna ones are on wholemeal. There are also polenta tartlets alongside with thin, crispy cases holding a smooth and creamy polenta filling topped with snipped chives.

The bottom tier has The Tea Room’s famed, crumbly scones served with berry conserve and clotted cream, as well as some spinach pastries. But – aaahhh! – what we’re all looking forward to is the middle tier of miniature sweets. There are tiny strawberry and cream tartlets, macarons, dense chocolate bites, passionfruit shortbread sandwiches, raspberry mousse cake-bites and tiny almond cakes barely the width of two of my fingers.

As we make our way through our tiers, a waiter wanders past with a tray of sandwiches and asks us if we would like a top-up but by this stage we’re all rather full and it’s time for us to leave anyway. We make our way across to Swissôtel where Mistress has arranged for us to enjoy some cocktails at Crossroads Bar. I know I said there were no plans to get drunk, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t going to drink!

We are shown to a rectangular table surrounded by couches and armchairs. We place our order for a range of cocktails and when the waitress returns it is apparent she doesn’t want to serve us. She stands frozen, at the perimeter of our seats, balancing a platter full of drinks and seems to find it too much trouble to place them down. Granted it is difficult due to the number of people with the resulting restricted accessibility to the table, but we would have been happy for her either pass them to us directly or place them all on the table for us to pass around ourselves. We see her rolling her eyes, sighing audibly in exasperation and she was really quite rude.

This contemptuous behaviour continues when we place our order for a second round of drinks and Ms Japan tells us she thinks the waitress looks familiar to her. She thinks they might have gone to school together and we jokingly ask if she had offended the waitress in the past for us to be receiving such shocking table service!

We linger at Crossroads for a few hours, some friends leave and the rest of us order some potato wedges to nibble on. A few more hours pass by quickly amidst much conversation and laughter, and it’s time to move onto dinner at Macchiato. It’s a Saturday night and they’re busy so it’s lucky that Mistress has made a reservation. Food is ordered to be shared across the table and we start with salt and pepper calamari that has lightly dusted calamari served on salad of rocket, tomato, cucumber and red onion dressed with aioli. The mixed dips plate has tzatziki, hummus and taramosalata served with a side salad and plenty of toasted pitta bread.

Then it’s Caesar salad with a creamy dressing and plenty of cheese over the top as well as grilled haloumi that is served with slices of Roma tomato, olive oil and lemon wedges. Salty, squeaky goodness – yum!

As Macchiato is famous for its woodfired pizzas and because they are such a great sharing food, we order four for the table. The ‘Macchiato’ has roasted pumpkin, roasted capsicum, grilled onion, eggplant, mushroom, fetta (which we discover is made from goats’ milk through taste), mozzarella and rosemary. The ‘El-Chorizo’ provides smoky spiciness with Spanish chorizos, capsicum, mushroom and basil, while the ‘Atlantic’ is much lighter with garlic prawns, baby rocket, bocconcini and sundried tomatoes. Then there’s the ‘Hawaiian’ with smoked ham, pineapple and mozzarella for universal appeal.

We finished the day full of food and not at all late into the evening. Some ladies had left newly married husbands at home while others had left children in the care of husbands, so I sincerely hope all involved had a good time. I would like to once again thank Mistress for organising everything and for all the attendees forbidding me from paying for any of the day’s activities. I had a truly enjoyable day surrounded by the women I love and went home with my tiara still firmly in place.

The Tea Room at Queen Victoria Building

Level 3, North End of Queen Victoria Building, 455 George St (btwn Druitt St & Market St), Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9283 7279

Opening Hours:  7 days  11am-5pm (lunch menu 12pm-3pm only)

Swissôtel (Crossroads Bar)

Level 8, 68 Market St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9238 7082

Opening Hours:  Sun-Thurs  10am-11pm

                        Fri & Sat  10am-12am

Macchiato

Cnr Pitt St & Liverpool St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9262 9525

Opening Hours:  7 days  7am-late

happy eating!