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.

NYC Group Reunion at Flying Fish (Pyrmont)

Would you believe that it has been 4 months since my return from my US holidays?!? I cannot believe how time flies! Sigh!

It was time for us ladies to meet up, i.e. the ladies from the NYC group with Sami Lukis as our host. A couple of ladies flew in from Toowoomba, a couple from BrisVegas, one from Melbourne, one from Canberra and the rest were Sydney based. We decided to meet up at The Flying Fish, an idea that germinated many months ago when we were trying to work out where and when to meet.

What better way to spend our $100 Flying Fish gift voucher? Note to all that when we were holidaying in NYC with Sami, we received a goodie bag loaded with freebies and some gift vouchers. One of them was the Flying Fish voucher.

It was again a lovely Saturday evening and as we walked down the wharf to the end of the jetty I was struck again by how beautiful Sydney is. I so love living here and I know I am one of the lucky ones!!

Deja vu hit all of us big time. It was just lovely seeing the girls all dressed up to the nines! Waves of NYC flashbacks hit me..

Most of the group but not all are in this shot

Now on to the meal itself. I had been to Flying Fish once before. It was about 3 years ago and back when I was yet to own a blog.

But this time I am here as part of a group of 12 ladies. We all decided to order a main and a dessert. Plus we were sharing bottles of sparkling wine, soft drinks and even beer. For my main I decided to have the WA Marron with brown butter emulsion, charred lettuce and aged balsamic. It is actually an entree dish but I asked for it to be upsized to a main dish.

The Marron was spectacular; it was perfectly cooked. It was succulent and beautifully complemented by the brown butter emulsion. More please!

One of the other main dish I managed to take a picture of was Sami's dish of Blue Eye Trevalla with white curry, mango yoghurt, and leaf mallum. She said it was delicious and she loved the white curry flavour.

We also ordered some side dishes to share. There was Shaved fennel, blood orange, mint and chilli salad; Hand cut chips with chilli salt; and Dutch carrots with Harissa, yoghurt and cardamom (sorry, but I forgot to take a photo of the delicious carrots).

Cafe Morso

Once again I am back in Pyrmont. Strange coincidence that I have not visited Pyrmont in such a long time but I have now been here for 2 weekends in a row. This time it was to meet a friend for lunch on a Saturday afternoon that reflected a Sydney summer day (but in autumn).

I have not seen my friend KH in more than a year and we were trying to work out where we should meet when she suggested going to Cafe Morso. I checked out the website and I quite liked the look of the menu plus the very attractive location of the cafe. So here we are, sitting out on the wharf, enjoying some catch up time and having a relaxing meal at the same time.

Cafe Morso is located at the end of Pirrama Road, at the Lower Deck of Jones Bay Wharf. It is a stone's throw away from the Flying Fish restaurant. I quite liked the menu, there were some interesting variations to make the dishes just that tiny bit different to the staple cafe menus.

Well, what did we have for lunch? I had the Polenta crusted squid with spiced paprika mayo served with watercress, spanish onion and shaved cucumber salad. KH had the seared swordfish steak with corn and squid risotto and confit tomato. I found it interesting to have squid encrusted with polenta and I quite liked the paprika mayo. It was just something different which made in interesting. KH enjoyed her swordfish.

Seared swordfish steak

Polenta crusted squid

For dessert, we went all out and I had the Orange scented pannacotta with beetroot syrup and baby mint. Very, very interesting combination. Normally I dislike beetroot but I decided to try this combination out. It certainly combined very well and I thoroughly enjoyed my dessert. KH had the Trio of apple comprising of steamed apple pudding with caramelised apple pearls and apple sorbet; and served with vanilla anglaise. Her dessert looked scrumptious and she obviously enjoyed it. But after tasting my very interesting dessert, her verdict was that mine was the standout.

Trio of apple

Pannacotta with beetroot syrup

But the selling point of Cafe Morso is the location. Looking out to the Bay and the various ships docked, it did not feel that we were actually in the heart of Sydney city. Did I forget to mention how packed the cafe was?

Cafe Morso
Lower Deck (West Side), Jone Bay Wharf
Pirrama Road
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Australia
Website: www.cafemorso.com.au

Sugaroom

Sugaroom is located in Pyrmont and the surroundings are so peaceful. How lovely it is to be sitting at the table and looking out to the wharf with a communal park literally next to the restaurant. As we sat there, the sun was setting and it was relaxing just enjoying the sunset colors of Johnstons Bay.

It was a nice start to a lovely evening. I must say I was surprised at the quality of the food we had, it was above my expectations and it was sweetened by the special deal that Sugaroom has been having. 2 course for $45 or 3 course for $60. We chose the $60 deal and we thoroughly enjoyed all our dishes.

My friend AK suggested we share our plates (i.e. have half the dish then switch). What a great idea. It meant we had all 6 dishes each, not just mouthfuls but a real portion of each dish.

The entrees we chose were Prawn stuffed zucchini flowers with a tomato and red capsicum salsa (one of the daily specials) and Shiraz and eschallot chives liver pâté with cumquat jam and croute with mini gherkins. I so love a good chicken liver pâté, it was creamy and it went well with the slightly tangy cumquat and for some reason I actually enjoyed the gherkins on the pate. I typically do not like gherkins. The zucchini flowers were absolutely delicious! I could have had the whole plate.

Prawn stuffed zucchini flowers

Chicken liver pate

For mains, we chose the Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with red pepper and marjoram quinoa with asparagus. The other main was a daily special of Caramelised pork belly with bok choy and crispy shallots. Both dishes were very tasty and we are them all up. The pork belly had subtle Asian flavours, there were flavours of ginger, sesame oil in the dish. It was surprisingly good!

Prosciutto wrapped chicken breast with quinoa

Caramelised pork belly

For desserts, we chose Chocolate creme brûlée with raspberry marshmallow and macerated strawberries & Pear and cinnamon tarte tatin with honeycomb ice cream and butterscotch sauce. We loved them! AK was initially not too sure of the thought of a chocolate creme brûlée but it turned out beautifully.

Pear and cinnamon tarte tatin

Chocolate creme brulee

We felt comfortably full after all that. A lovely evening of good food, wonderful fellowship with AK and discovering this good restaurant that I intend return to one day.

Sugaroom is an under rated restaurant. I am so glad I finally took the opportunity to dine there. Please do consider this restaurant when you next eat out. I don't believe you will be disappointed.



Sugaroom
2/1 Harris Street,
Pyrmont
NSW 2009
Australia
Website: www.sugaroom.com.au


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