Pei Modern Sydney (The Rocks, Sydney)

For SH's birthday dinner this year, she chose Pei Modern. It opened in the latter part of 2014 at the Four Seasons Hotel near Circular Quay.

Mark Best, the renowned Sydney chef, opened his first Pei Modern in Melbourne a few years ago and when news filtered through of a Sydney opening, the foodie world was abuzz!

We initially booked to meet in January but I got so sick we had to postpone until late February.

Bread was served in a rustic mini sack. Interesting...

We decided to start with something 'Clean and Green' - Cucumber and young coconut salad. I don't think I have ever had young coconut flesh on a salad but I did like its sweetness and bite. It was a fresh and rather summery salad. There were bits of jellified coconut water which offset the crunchy cucumber.

We then had the Tiger prawns, vadouvan and caramelised yoghurt. It was beautifully cooked. There was a smoky flavour and the prawns were sweet. I didn't think we needed the yoghurt but I think it's a personal preference.

Per Se (Manhattan, New York City)

My 'to eat' bucket list is not a list which I have written down but one that is mentally in my head. The experience of dining at a Thomas Keller restaurant has been on my bucket list since I don't know when! I have tried in vain to get a table booking at Per Se during the few trips I made to New York over the past few years. This time I was determined to get a table, no matter what!

How about the fact I set my alarm clock to 2.00 am on a Sunday morning (when I was in Sydney) exactly 30 days before the reservation date? Does that sound too desperate? Or better yet totally determined? :)

And when I finally did get through (the line was engaged for 40 minutes) my booking was for 10 pm. Aargh! But there was no way I was not going to accept that time slot.

On the night we were due here, we arrived around 9.30 pm at the Time Warner centre. What a lovely building filled with up-market brands and some lovely Christmas lights. When we arrived at Per Se, I was sure we would have to wait for our table but they assured us our table was ready even though we were 1/2 hour early.

We were lucky enough to have a table next to the window and I could see Columbus Circle in the night lights.

The food experience started with a couple of amuse bouche.

Cheese gourgere - yummy cheese balls.

Salmon cornet - smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill served in a mini cone. Sorry, the image of this dish was so bad! :(

Then the Chef's tasting menu dishes were served.

"Oysters and Pearls" - Sabayon of pearl tapioca with Island Creek oysters and Sterling White sturgeon caviar.

Butter  - salted and unsalted. There was a story for each of them which provides an interesting facet to the butter. Both were delicious in its own way and went well with the milk bun.

"Salad of Caramelised Artichokes" - Parmigiano Regiano, saffron pickled garlic, salsify root and Romaine lettuce.

"Sauteed Fillet of Chatham Bay Cod" - topped with a Pommes Maxim's, caramelised cauliflower tapenade, and clam chowder sauce.

Supernormal (Melbourne)

It has been a while since I had been down south to Melbourne and a recent business trip led to an opportunity to dine here with my team.

How could I pass an opportunity to try out the food at Supernormal?! As there were five of us, we tried various dishes and we were not disappointed.

To start with we were served 2 plates of Soy roasted pumpkin seeds. These were seriously so addictive. I couldn't stop popping some in mouth every now and then.

White cut chicken, cold noodles, peanuts, sesame and chilli oil. There was a slight kick in the chilli oil which lifted up this tender chicken noodle salad.

Prawn and chicken dumplings, chilli and vinegar sauce. Once again, the sauce did it for me. It made an otherwise regular dumplings come alive with the chilli and vinegar sauce.

Pork bao, with tamarind sauce. One of us decided to try something different. It looked scrumptious and got the thumbs up!

New England Lobster Roll. Yes! What more is there to say? Loved it! Warm and toasty roll which had a touch of sweetness. Offset beautifully against the clean tasting lobster meat which was succulent and sweet. Superb!

Pan Fried Pot Sticker Dumplings. Very interesting presenting the bottom of the dumplings as top up. There was a nice spider web crust at the bottom. It was served with some black vinegar.