4Fourteen

Here we go again, another restaurant to try out in Surry Hills. Lately, there has been so many new and hip places opening up (in Surry Hills and in the northern end of the CBD) that you start asking yourself, when and how am I going to fit it all in? That is the fun of it all, isn't it?

I have so many more in my 'To dine' list and 4Fourteen is definitely in the list. We got here on a Sunday afternoon and I do like the way the restaurant is fitted out. It has a NY loft feel, very high ceilings, a bar in the middle of the restaurant (as opposed to being located at one end) and enough space between tables to not feel cramped. The kitchen has an open view so we can see the chefs working hard and doing all kinds of tasks.

The menu is designed for sharing and we ordered a few entree sizes and a special of the day. Glad we didn't go overboard as we had to find space for dessert. Yes, dessert! :)

The entrees we ordered were:

Pea Soup with Minted Creme Fraiche: It was surprisingly delicious, I could taste bits of pea and the minted creme fraiche subtly enhanced the flavours.

Ham Hock Terrine with Crumbed Pigs Ears and Apple Sauce: I thoroughly enjoyed the crumbed pigs ears. I could have had more of that, there was the tender texture of the ears and the crunchiness of the crumbs.

China Lane - Take 2

I wasn't intending on doing another blog post on this restaurant but so many nice things occurred on my 2nd visit that I feel compelled to share it with you. There will be less words (hopefully!) and more pictures.

Bear in mind, as I didn't intend to blog about it, my trusty camera wasn't with me and all photos have been taken with my iPhone camera.

2 weeks after my initial visit, I was back again with some friends who are relocating to Canberra. It was a farewell dinner and I did want them to try out this new funky restaurant before the moved.

So we had the Pulled pork with steamed buns (the same dish from the first blog post), Grilled Dory with coconut sambal, Grilled Crystal Bay prawns with coriander and lime, Chilli lemongrass cuttlefish with garlic and chilli vinegar and of course we had the Soy braised crispy pork belly with chilli caramel!

White chocolate and macadamia cookies (From Taste website)

I found this recipe from the Taste website and have tried baking it twice. The first attempt wasn't too bad, it was tasty but I felt the cookies looked a little pale and slightly doughy in the middle. This was because I decided to set the oven at 170C instead of the 180C as stated in the recipe. Even with that, my cookies were rated well by all who tasted them.

So I had another go on another weekend and this time, I set the oven to 180C. The cookies turned out beautifully, not doughy at all and had a healthy brown colour to it. I set out to hand them to 3 different sets of friends, all of which came back with 'delicious' as the feedback.

Meeting Baby E

It had been many months since I had seen my lovely friends B and T. Not since they had baby E. So the chance to meet up finally came around and I was so excited to meet baby E.

He is so cute, with gorgeous blue eyes and the wickedest smile ever! Except I wasn't successful in getting the wicked smile in my photos or getting him to look directly to the camera. We did try...

Throughout our catch up time (and there were lots to catch up on), we had appetisers to nibble on. B's tomato and basil bruschetta is good! They are quite addictive actually.

China Lane Restaurant

China Lane is one of the recent surge of new Asian inspired restaurants that have opened in Sydney. After looking at their menu on their website, it immediately got into my 'to dine' list!!

So we made a booking for an early dinner on a Friday night. Initially there were only a few patrons but it filled up pretty quickly. Next thing you know, it was full.

The menu is based on a plate sharing concept, or as one would say Asian tapas. We decided to order 4 dishes, one from each meal type (i.e. Steamed, Grilled, Wok & Fried, Spicy & Wet).

The Steamed dish we chose was Pulled pork, steamed bao, sriracha mayo and crispy shallot. It was absolutely delicious!!!!! I wish I could have had more!!!!!

Wildpear Cafe, Dural

It was a gorgeous Sunday day and I met a friend for lunch at Wildpear Cafe which is located in Dural. It has been quite a while since I was last at Dural and I was looking forward to trying out this cafe. My friend mentioned that they make good breakfast and we were hoping we would be able to try out the breakfast but we got there at 11.30 and it was the lunch menu by then.

The cafe is located in a nursery and as those of you who know of Dural, there are lots of plant nurseries throughout this suburb. There were so many diners at the cafe, I was very surprised at how busy it was.