Alpha (Sydney CBD)

The last time I dined at a Sydney Greek restaurant was about a year and a half ago. It was at Xanthi in Westfield Sydney. Suffice to say, once the food buzz was about a brand new Greek restaurant opening up in the city (i.e. Alpha), all the foodies ears and taste buds perked up. As did mine!

My good mate DD was organising a dinner for a decent catch up. After to-ing and fro-ing, I decided we should check out Alpha. Well, what a great decision that was!

To get dinner reservations on a Saturday, we had to decide on a 6.00 pm or 8.30 pm booking. There were 2 seating times and I suppose it is understandable for a Saturday night and it being a very popular restaurant that these booking times were put in place. We chose the 6.00 pm time.

Firstly, I must say that the restaurant is a lot larger in space than I anticipated. There was a openness to the interior that caught my eye and a feeling of being on a Greek island came to my mind. There were cushions on some of the seating areas making it look a little like a summer getaway. Nice!

We both came feeling super hungry. It's quite funny how we deliberately ate very little during the day in anticipation of this dinner. And me being me, of course I perused the menu before I walked in to the restaurant and already had a few dishes in mind to order. :)

So here goes:

Pita with Taramosalata (white cod roe dip) - the pita was so fluffy and soft and the dip had a nice tangy bite to eat. The dish was extremely addictive. Loved it!

Sesame Leaf Dolmades - this was filled with almond rice and preserved lemon. It had a lovely lemon flavour but for me it was not one of the highlights.

Slow Roasted Lamb Spare Ribs with Thyme, Honey and Ouzo Glaze. The ribs were so tender, they were literally falling of the bone. Delicious!

An Excellent Degustation at Restaurant Atelier (Glebe)

I start this post by saying how lucky I am to have so many friends (who are part of my extended family) who want to celebrate my birthday with me. My birthday celebrations typically extend past a month as I usually catch up with my various friends over the weekends. The same applies this year.

Recently my very dear friend CW organised a dinner to celebrate my birthday. It was to be at Restaurant Atelier in Glebe. I had not been there before and I can honestly say I was really looking forward to it. Especially after seeing the pictures posted by Miss Piggy on IG and her extremely positive comments on the food.

It was degustation night and we opted for the 10 courses. Why not?!? Aren't we here to enjoy the food, and the company? CHW decided to enjoy his meal with the matching wines too. I think he thoroughly enjoyed the matching wines so much that he was falling asleep towards the end of his meal! :-)

The fun started with:

The Atelier specialty - the 'Atelier' hen egg. There was kombu, foie gras and ocean trout roe with the 'egg'. What a burst of flavours!

Asparagus, Buffalo Mozarella, Apple and Celery. The shaved apple had a nice bite and the basil leaves made the dish interesting rather than pedestrian. And I have a weakness for buffalo mozzarella, I must admit.

Hiramasa Kingfish, Zucchini Blossom, Confit Hen's Yolk, Buddha's Hand and a Light Shiitake Dashi. There was also tapioca pearls and salted seaweed thrown into the mix. The dish had such a clean taste. It was light and fresh. The saltiness of the seaweed lifted the flavour of the kingfish.

14 Hour-Cooked Pork Jowl with Charred Calamari, Parsley Root, Korean Soy and Dragon Sauce. This was so good! The calamari was beautifully charred and utterly tender. I could have had a plate of this all on its own. And combined with the pork!!! Wow! The pork was tender, full of flavour with a delicious crackling to boot! Amaze balls!!!!!!

Mexico Food and Liquor (DD's 30th celebrations)

Finally, I get some breathing space to blog this post! It's been another rather hectic week at work and I have been champing at the bits trying to find some time to post about my recent fun time at Mexico Food and Liquor (or better known to me as just Mexico).

My good friend DD was kind enough to invite me to join his 30th birthday party celebrations and he chose Mexico, which is a stone's throw away from Central Station.

Warren Turnbull has done it again! What was previously District Dining has become the hot spot now known as Mexico. As you enter the premises, there are murals reflective of Frida Kahlo and many iconic artefacts reflecting the Mexican theme.

If I didn't know any better, I really could imagine being in Mexico. I won't describe the artefacts, I think the pictures speak a thousand words!

There were 16 of us attending the event. Lovely to meet so many of DD's old school mates who were seated at my end of the long communal table, quite an interesting bunch actually.

So what did we have for dinner? Well, as there were so many of us, we had the banquet menu. Wow! What a spread, there were so many dishes and all in all, we paid a very, very reasonable price. It was the alcoholic beverages that kept the price up, not the actual food.

So here goes:
Snacks - house made corn chips with pickled vegetables, Pumpkin, white bean and agave dip served with tortillas, and Crispy potatoes tossed in celery lime salt with tomatillo dressing.

Corn chips 

Pumpkin dip with tortillas

Pickled vegetables

Potatoes with tomatillo dressing

Restaurant Arras

To celebrate SH's birthday this year, we decided on dining at Restaurant Arras. The restaurant relocated to the old Becasse site on Clarence street in the city in late 2011.

I liked what was done to the restaurant, there was a lightness and brightness to the room which was a stark contrast to the heavy wood interior that was of the then Becasse.

Arras is well known for its range of interesting petit fours and I really wanted to see them and try them out. But the petit fours are only included in their degustation menu. We looked at the menu options and decided to go for the 3 course menu instead. But when we were ordering we asked if we could have the petit fours at coffee time and they kindly said yes!

Service started with canapés of sweet corn and potato and house cured beef with paprika. The sweetness of the corn was intended to offset the saltiness of the cured beef. The beef reminded me of the textures and flavours of beef jerky. I definitely liked the sweet corn and potato, I could have had more of it. The canapé was presented in a glass with delicate edible flowers. Lovely!

Canapes

The amuse bouche was Tuna la nicoise, it was light and refreshing, very summery.

Amuse bouche

My first course was quail with fried bread and blood plum. SH had the roast skate with parsnip, raisins, capers and butter. We both enjoyed our dishes. I was fascinated with the crunchy tendrils on my dish.

Quail with blood plum

Roast skate with parsnip

Charlotte's 21st Birthday Afternoon Tea

It was such a windy day and the original plan to have an afternoon tea picnic was abandoned and the location moved to EF and NF's home. It turned out to be a lovely afternoon, with heaps and heaps of food, good fellowship and lots of fun with the kids and most of all Charlotte having a ball opening her presents!

Pilu at Freshwater

The weather was wonderful. After many cloudy or rainy days recently, it was warm, sunny and breezy at Freshwater. I don't believe I have been at this beach before and it was good to finally visit this area.

A group of us were here to lunch at Pilu in celebration of our good friend's CW's special birthday occasion.

The waters were beautifully blue, the waves were aplenty and the weather reminded me that summer is just around the corner.

Pilu is located in a beach like cottage at the edge of Freshwater beach. The views from the restaurant were amazing. We had a long table at the beach side end of the restaurant and it was nice to look out and see the waves. I had not been to Pilu before so I was interested to find out how the cuisine would fare.

The food was surprisingly delicious, the plating was good and the waiters were very attentive. All in all it was a very pleasant experience.

It was nice to see CW be the centre of attention in this lunch party. She is a dear friend whose friendship I treasure. She is genuinely a nice person and I am glad to have her in my circle of family and friends.

As there were 11 of us, we had the group menu to choose from.

We started with two plates of crisp bread served with ricotta cheese, truffle and honey. That combination was surprisingly nice. The saltiness of the truffle combined with the sweetness of the honey sat well with the blandness of the ricotta cheese.

We all had an entree (i.e. Primi); I choose Saffron spaghettini with spanner crab, crispy guanciale and pangrattato. Guanciale is unsmoked Italian bacon. The dish was really delicious. I really liked the al dente texture of the spaghettini and the combination of the bacon worked so well. Others had the de-boned quail wrapped in pancetta filled with chicken liver , fennel and tarragon (good verdict); and salt baked King salmon with potatoes, baby leeks and beetroot (good verdict too).

Saffron spaghettini with spanner crab

Quail wrapped in pancetta

Salt baked salmon

For the main (Secondi) I had the suckling pig. The suckling pig had to be preordered as we were a group booking. Half the table ordered the suckling pig. I liked the plating, it looked interesting. Overall, I enjoyed the dish, most especially the pork crackling. Others had the beef sirloin with cavolo nero and bottarga butter; slow cooked lamb with cous cous, olive and almond salad and pan juices. Generally, there were positive comments.

Suckling pig

Beef sirloin with cavolo nero

Slow cooked lamb

We were planning on having desserts but the surprise birthday cake of almond and amaretto torte was just the dessert we needed. CW was suitably surprised about the cake and I am happy that the torte was well received by all. They served the torte with poached pears. The cake was beautifully decorated.

The birthday cake in slices

Some of the coffee was presented in a very unusual looking cup. I just had to take a picture.

What a lovely, long and pleasant afternoon. It was very relaxing, fun and thoroughly enjoyable. Happy birthday CW, many blessings for the coming year.

Cheers....CL

Pilu at Freshwater
Website: http://www.piluatfreshwater.com.au/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Afternoon Tea - Caitlin's 6th birthday

When my friend CW invited me over for afternoon tea to celebrate her little girl's birthday, I took it literally as tea rather than a spread of food. I forgot that back in Malaysia, high tea meant a buffet of food.

I decided to bring the Raspberry Nougat I had bought from Dolcetti. The array of food on display at CW's reminded me of how food is one of the constant in everyone's life. We celebrate good times over a meal with family and friends. When we meet up with a friend or friends it is typically in conjunction with a meal or over a cup of coffee or tea.

Feta and prawn mini pizzas

Three cheese pastries

Fried wontons

When we celebrate Christmas, Chinese New Year and Easter, when has it not been without feasting on food (be it home cooked or in a restaurant)?

So here we are again, a group of friends and family, having a wonderful afternoon together eating, chatting and laughing. Just the thought of it brings a smile to my face!

The spread included feta and prawn mini pizzas, three cheese pastries, fried wontons, fried noodles, chicken curry, stir fried mixed vegetables, prawn crackers, saffron rice. We also had Angku Kuih (red tortoise cakes) courtesy of CW's Mum. Aunty, you are a great cook!

Saffron rice

Chicken curry

Mixed vegetables

Fried noodles

Angku kueh

We ended the meal with cupcakes (birthday cake), fruit platter, konyaku jelly and of course the nougat!

Fruit platter and jelly

Raspberry nougat

What a splendid afternoon and a nice way for Caitlin to celebrate her 6th birthday (the little princess)!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad