Food is my Friend

Sydney Intl Food Festival – Lets Do Lunch @ Aria

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:43:52 +0000

October is generally my favourite month of the year. It is the time that Sydney hosts Good Food Month, which was renamed to the Sydney International Food Festival this year. This way people can try the food at various fancy restaurants for $35 per person.

Unfortunately this year I was very busy at work and travelling to HK so I didnt get much time to explore what Sydney had to offer. However thanks to some advance planning by J and G, I was able to do to Aria before the month ended. Some may say that Aria is the most popular of them all

As usual the food was amazing. This year is was barramundi fillet with calamari risotto accompanied by a glass of Brown Brothers white wine, followed by a coffee.

Anyone who has been to Aria will rave on about the truffled Mash Potato

The broccolini with almonds is also a must

Although being extremely full from the above, we still managed to squeeze in the petit fours

1 Macquarie St
Circular Quay NSW 2000

Phone (02) 9252 2555

HK Food Odyssey Part VI – Woolloomoolloo

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:33:28 +0000

So after a hard days worth of shopping at Central, C and I got hungry. We stopped by Woolloomoolloo and thinking of home went in to try their food

We had the tuna tartare, spaghetti bolognnaise and squid ink pasta.

The purpose of this post it to show that I dont always blog about the good eating experiences. The food was yummy but about 2o min later, both C and I both developed stomach cramps. We blame the tuna… (which goes to show that despite appearances, the food may not always be the best)

Still the pics look good and the pasta was very good which is why I posted it …

HK Food Odyssey Part V – Dakota Prime

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:26:14 +0000

Now C and I had heard a lot about this place. Some rave about how it is the best steak in HK, others tell me about the email that went around HK about the cuts of steak not being as promised

Well tonight a new chef was starting, so before C and I left to return to Sydney, we decided to go with A and J to try it out.

Overall it was pretty good. Shame that the apple crumble, altho looking good didnt meet our expectations (even after the second attempt).

But the steak was great and the produce really fresh. I will return to this restaurant, especially to sample their “seafood mountain” which alas I had no room for…

Mamak

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:16:44 +0000

If you drive along Liverpool St at night near the Entertainment Centre, you will often see a very long line of people waiting to eat in a small little restaurant called Mamak.

This restaurant serves roti and has become extremely popular in Sydney.

As you queue up to get in, you are entertained by the Mamak staff who through glass windows make up a roti storm, you can see them twirling blobs of dough and transforming them into the yummy roti, both sweet and savoury

Their conical roti

Roti with Caster Sugar

My fave – Roti Kaya

The key to this place is to go either really early (like 6pm) or really late (about 9.30pm). But even then, expect to wait…

15 Goulburn St
Haymarket NSW 2000

Phone (02) 9211 1668

Jugemu & Shimbashi

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:05:56 +0000

L and G moved to Singapore a couple of years ago. Since then L gave birth to a gorgeous little girl called Lizzie. Occasionally I go back to Singapore to visit them. This time they came back to Sydney.

J suggested that we go to Jugemu & Shimbashi in Neutral Bay. I am not a stranger to Neutral Bay given all of the yummy food places there.. (for example we go to Totoya’s every 2nd week). This place was no exception

Their specialties are the pancake and the Soba

Once you finish eating the soba, they give you a soy based soup to add to the dipping stock, which you drink..

Definitely worth going to (but can get fairly pricey)

But as it is very popular, I suggest that you make a reservation in advance..

246 Military Rd
Neutral Bay NSW 2089

Phone (02) 9904 3011

HK Food Odyssey Part IV – Xi Yan Private Kitchen

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:45:27 +0000

I got to celebrate my birthday in HK with some good friends. G organised a private room at Xi Yan Private Kitchen to help celebrate. Xi Yan is a private kitchen in Wan Chai, where the resident celebrity chef Jacky Yu specialised in Sichuan cuisine.

The food was amazing..

Fresh Tomato with Wasabi Dressing

Salmon Spring Rolls

Truffled Egg with Salmon Roe

Duck Stuffed Stuffed with Glutinous Rice

Braised Pork Belly Mountain with Mushrooms and Cabbage

This was my fave – Century Old Egg with XO sauce and glass noodles.. soo good

Garoupa …

Red Date Sorbet to cleanse the palette

To top it all off, my friends organised a Haagen Daaz Bear/Mouse ice cream cake…

What a way to spend my birthday – Thanks to all for coming !

HK Food Odyssey Part III – Ruby Tuesday

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:29:16 +0000

C has been back to HK many times this year. He has often raved about this place, which he says is similar to Lone Star in Sydney.

So on Sunday night we went to Ruby Tuesday. ( I wonder why it is named this)

C’s favourite item on the menu is the mini burgers. Basically they are little burgers that can be downed in about 2 bites…

Me, well I was mainly interested in the cocktail list. I eventually chose the Berry cocktail…

When the waitress asked whether I wanted a small or large, I figured – go the large. LIttle did I know it would be like this…

In order to finish the mammoth cocktail above, I had to order some food.. They had potato skins and this ribs/steak combo

Overall a very enjoyable meal

HK Food Odyssey Part II – Seafood Brunch @ Jumbo

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:17:07 +0000

Every Sunday at Jumbo (near Aberdeen) the Top Deck hosts a seafood brunch with free pour bubbles.

Now C and I were already hung over from the wedding night festivities before, but the allure of seafood brunch was too great. C and I met up with G&K and G&T.

We arrived at a wharf for a short boat ride across to Jumbo

The selection of food at Jumbo was amazing. They had oysters, a sushi/sashimi bar, a peking duck station and a crepe station.

Plate #1

Hmm Peking Duck Station – I had about 5 of these babies…

… And when they say free pour bubbles, they really mean it. There were waiters with bottles of champagne everywhere, if you turned your head even for a second, you would find that your glass had been topped up. I think an English tourist may have overenjoyed the free pur bubbles though. She had KO’d on the table next to us by about 12.30 (which is never a good sign)

We stayed at Jumbo for over 4 hours that day. It had a lot to do with the free pour champers plus the beautiful weather. After eating, we just relaxed in lounge chairs enjoying the sea breeze.

Definitely recommend this for a lazy Sunday arvo in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Food Odyssey

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:48:15 +0000

As with all of my holidays I choose places to visit on the basis of their shopping and food. This would explain why my favourite places so far are Singapore, Japan and HK.

My trip to HK was no exception. It started off with a yum wedding banquet at the Four Seasons, followed by a seafood brunch (with “free pour bubbles” ie all you can drink champagne) at Jumbo, then a yummy private kitchen birthday dinner with good friends at Xi Yan at Wan Chai

The next few posts will be dedicated to some of the foody things that I did during my week

HK Part 1 – The Wedding Feast

In early October C and I went to HK to be part of A and J’s wedding extravaganza. Having already had a beautiful wedding at Guillaime at the Opera House “Round 2″ consisted of an amazing multiple course Chinese Banquet.

Below are pictures of some of my favourite courses.

1) As the starter roast pork, with really crispy skin… hmmmm

2) Conch Shell stuffed with abalone

3) Now this was amazing, lobster with black truffles with champage sauce.. omg, this was amazing..

Home Made

foodismyfriend — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:25:34 +0000

Over the last few months, I have been experimenting with my cooking. Most of these attempts involve me sampling something at a restaurant and then attempting to replicate it at home.

Here are some of my attempts

* Chocolate Tart ( a la Bourke Street Bakery)

* Tuna Tartare ( copied from Kudeta in Bali)