LuMi Bar and Dining (Pyrmont, Sydney)

LuMi has been on my list since the first time I saw their food pics on Instagram back in Oct 2014. So far all I have read about the food has been positive reviews and I couldn't wait to dine there. Again it was for another good friend's birthday catch up but why not, eh? :)


This time it was for lunch on a Saturday and we were lucky the weather was in good form.

What a view from the restaurant!

Normally on Saturdays for lunch, there is the a la carte option or a 4 course degustation. However their website did say we could request for the 8 course degustation as long as we gave ample notice. I did! :)

We started with a tasting platter of Cheese tartlet and corn, Rice crisps with salt and vinegar, Cos lettuce with pistachio and horseradish, Potato and Rosemary Focaccia. The rice crisp was paper thin and almost melting in my mouth. And the focaccia was light and fluffy and superb!



And the Chawanmushi certainly played tricks on my mind. The dish looked Japanese but was full of Italian flavours with every mouthful. There was parmesan in the custard, tomato water with basil on top. Loved it!

White cucumber with apple and sour cream. Lovely presentation, clean flavours, crunchy textures and very summery in image and flavours.

Veal Tartare with tarragon, emulsion, roasted capsicum and buckwheat - I completely forgot to take a picture of this delightful dish! Aaargh! :( I loved the crunchy texture of the puffed buckwheat which offset so well against the smooth veal.

Spelt Ravioli with burnt butter, pumpkin, avruga, and chives. Their signature which didn't disappoint. I really liked the visual beauty of the ravioli. 

Spaghetti Alla Chitarra, with Orange beurre blanc, scampi and bottarga - the squid ink pasta was nicely al dente and I could taste bites of the sweet tasting scampi.

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.

Moon Park (Redfern, Sydney)

Moon Park was one of the first modern Korean restaurants in Sydney which stirred up a whole hosts of interest in the Korean cuisine. When it first opened I recall reading many positive reviews of critics and food bloggers.

DD and I finally got a chance to dine there just before Christmas. I was a little worried that my expectations might be too high after reading so many positive reviews but no such thing happened! :)

Be aware of the nondescript black door which opens up to a short flight of stairs. I would have walked past it and not realised Moon Park was just up the flight of stairs! It opens up to a rather open space of tables filled with diners.

Not long after we were seated we were served a side of soy braised beans. At first bite I found it quite salty due to the strong soya taste but something about those beans became addictive and I kept going back for more.

We decided to go for the banquet menu as we had not been there before.

Cucumber kimchi with fresh nashi and perilla - great flavours and I was surprised that the cucumber was still very crunchy.

Deep fried rice cakes with gochujang and peanuts (Ddokbeokki) - interesting chewy rice cakes. I liked it.

Bulgogi beef short rib and anchovy in sweet cabbage (Ssam) - I enjoyed the savoury flavours of the tender ribs. Wrapping the beef in the cabbage reminded me of the Chinese sang choi bow.

Sea urchin and black garlic on seed biscuit - I was initially hesitant to try this as I didn't think I would like the taste of sea urchin. But it was surprisingly tender and delicately offset by the crunchy seed biscuit which had a strong sesame flavour. Such a clever dish and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Koi Restaurant (SoHo, New York City)

Koi SoHo is located on the ground floor of the Trump SoHo hotel. I first saw it when I was staying at the Trump SoHo last summer but did not get a chance to check it out then.

It was not a planned dinner and we ended up here as a result of my tummy not feeling too well earlier in the day and I did not feel like venturing out too much. So JN and I met up and had a 'walk in' table at Koi.

After having a drink at the bar, we sat down and at the recommendation of the very friendly Gina, we chose the following as shared plates. Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos, some were rather grainy due to the low lights at the restaurant!

Lobster Tacos with mango salsa and yuzu guacamole. This was a delightful dish with the crunchy tacos offsetting the small bites of lobster with hints of the mango and guacamole in the taste buds.

Sunfire Roll - this is one of Koi's signature rolls. It was filled with lobster, snow crab, cucumber and cilantro roll topped with mango, avocado and ichimi. Beautifully plated and smack bang full of flavour. Delish!

Koi Crispy Rice topped with spicy tuna and yellowtail tartare. Very interesting texture of the crunchy and slightly chewy crispy rice as the base. The tuna and yellowtail tasted very fresh.

Christmas in New York (2014)

If you asked me a year ago what I would be doing this Christmas I would have most likely said "stay at home in Sydney and catch up with family and friends over lots of feasting".

But that didn't happen. Instead I am in the city of New York spending Christmas with my travel mate JN. A few weeks ago, back in Sydney, we were trying to work out where we would be having our Christmas lunch and JN discovered Tocqueville through the US Time Out website.

So here we are sitting down for lunch over a 3 course fixed price menu of USD95, not including drinks.

For drinks we had the Pear Bellini and JN also had the Eggnog Cocktail though it didn't go down well with her taste wise.

Before we were served with our dishes, we were presented with an amuse-bouche. They were Caponata cakes and utterly delicious. After some googling, I worked out what we had. They were made of eggplant, olives and onions seasoned with herbs.

We started with entrees (or Appetisers as the Yankees call it).

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with black truffle royale. When they served the dish, there was a small circle of food sitting in a large soup bowl with no soup in it. JN looked horrified and was suddenly thinking "is this all I am getting?". Within ten seconds, someone came around to slowly pour the soup into the bowl in a slightly theatrical manner. You should have seen the look of relief on JN's face! I was laughing my head off. I wish I was quick enough to take a picture of her face!

Verdict: Super smooth, creamy and thick soup. The black truffle royale was superb!

House Cured Terrine of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, greenmarket quince and toasted brioche. The terrine was so smooth and packed full of flavour. It was deliciously creamy.

For mains (or Entrees as the Yankees call it), I had the Moroccan Spiced Braised Lamb Shank, with crushed potatoes, olives and fine herbs. The lamb was literally falling off the bone as I cut into it. I enjoyed the rich, earthy flavours from the Moroccan seasoning. The serving was quite large and I did struggle to finish off the plate. But I found it to be quite delicious.