Greg Graham

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  6     

Great location, friendly staff, good bruschetta, reasonably priced wine by the glass at $5, totally excellent 4-seasons pizza beats the pants off anything I've had in Sydney, wife's fettuccine boscaiola best she's ever had outside of my cooking. Open late so great for dinner after a late movie down the road at the Nova.

Mar 22, 2012

6 Average

Food  4      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

Clearly Phuong doesn't have the same connotation in Vietnamese as it does in English but nonetheless it's possibly not the best name for a restaurant. We liked this place on a visit a few weeks ago so eagerly returned recently for more but sadly our second dinner was not so good and suspect our first experience was more due to a great night catching up with my sister whom I don't see that often and food was an afterthought.

On that occasion the pho beef noodle soup was Ok but nothing remarkable and can't recall the other dishes. On this occasion our entrees of stuffed chicken wing and Vietnamese steamed dim sums were passable but the sizzling chicken main tasted like very average Chinese sweet and sour chicken and the fried seafood rissoles main (for want of a better description - no menu on internet to confirm name) were bland.

Corkage at $3 per bottle was tolerable, the staff were cheery and attentive, dining out on the sidewalk is a treat in warm weather as Crows Nest has quite an atmosphere these days and the prices are reasonable, but if you're looking for good Vietnamese I'm afraid the trip to the wild inner west of Marrickville is still necessary, in my humble view.

Mar 06, 2012

6 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  5     

Food wasn't anything to get excited about and fell well short of the hype in some of the reviews. While the decor was Ok compared to the competition in the area you'd hardly site this as a reason to dine here in preference to somewhere more basic but with better food: it was also very noisy.

Personally I'd endure the bare fluorescent lights, Formica tables, plastic tablecloths and lino flooring of the nearby competition to get a better feed at a lesser price, unless of course the food is an afterthought to you, in which case I'd suggest there's plenty of visually fancier Vietnamese restaurants than this one over in Newtown.

Feb 28, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  4     

If Dimpi made a deliberate decision to move his restaurant from Turrumurra to Terrey Hills and change the name from Magic Curries to Urban Tadka he was ill advised in my view as I far preferred the old restaurant location and food. He's dropped some of his best Magic Curries dishes such as the wade array of tandoori mains and entrees and the quality of the remaining standard curries we had left a lot to be desired and not up to his usual standards so maybe the Turrumurra cook(s) have either moved on or were having an off night.

The location is romantic if a little remote for most Sydneysiders and the restaurant itself is cutting edge style personified (if a little noisy due to the hard flooring) and on a par with anything you'd expect to find in a 5-star hotel, but these qualities are I'm afraid not enough to save it, and the prices have increased and there was no evidence of the famous buy-one-entree-and-main-and-get-the-other-main-free-if-you-also-order-an-entree deal so loved by his Turrumurra patrons.

If he had no choice in the name change or new location Dimpi needs to have a good think about getting the food up to scratch but he's a resourceful guy so I know he can do it!

Feb 19, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Vietnamese with a difference. If it's new and interesting Asian you seek this is the place, and it's reasonably priced given the quality and range of food on offer and the overall ambience and service you receive.

The meals are generous so be careful when they suggest a side of veggies or salad as that's also huge, and may not be needed, as I found out. The staff are really charming and attentive, the corkage reasonable and the location quiet and uncluttered, being as it is in a kind of mini piazza off the main drag in Kings Cross.

My only gripe is the parking in that area is almost impossible, so unless you want to fork out $20 at the parking station go early and be prepared to hunt and walk a fair distance unless you fluke a spot nearby, but don't count on it!

Feb 19, 2012

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  6     

Great location, friendly staff, good bruschetta, reasonably priced wine by the glass at $5, totally excellent 4-seasons pizza beats the pants off anything I've had in Sydney, wife's fettuccine boscaiola best she's ever had outside of my cooking. Open late so great for dinner after a late movie down the road at the Nova.

Mar 22, 2012

6 Average

Food  4      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

Clearly Phuong doesn't have the same connotation in Vietnamese as it does in English but nonetheless it's possibly not the best name for a restaurant. We liked this place on a visit a few weeks ago so eagerly returned recently for more but sadly our second dinner was not so good and suspect our first experience was more due to a great night catching up with my sister whom I don't see that often and food was an afterthought.

On that occasion the pho beef noodle soup was Ok but nothing remarkable and can't recall the other dishes. On this occasion our entrees of stuffed chicken wing and Vietnamese steamed dim sums were passable but the sizzling chicken main tasted like very average Chinese sweet and sour chicken and the fried seafood rissoles main (for want of a better description - no menu on internet to confirm name) were bland.

Corkage at $3 per bottle was tolerable, the staff were cheery and attentive, dining out on the sidewalk is a treat in warm weather as Crows Nest has quite an atmosphere these days and the prices are reasonable, but if you're looking for good Vietnamese I'm afraid the trip to the wild inner west of Marrickville is still necessary, in my humble view.

Mar 06, 2012

6 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  5     

Food wasn't anything to get excited about and fell well short of the hype in some of the reviews. While the decor was Ok compared to the competition in the area you'd hardly site this as a reason to dine here in preference to somewhere more basic but with better food: it was also very noisy.

Personally I'd endure the bare fluorescent lights, Formica tables, plastic tablecloths and lino flooring of the nearby competition to get a better feed at a lesser price, unless of course the food is an afterthought to you, in which case I'd suggest there's plenty of visually fancier Vietnamese restaurants than this one over in Newtown.

Feb 28, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  4     

If Dimpi made a deliberate decision to move his restaurant from Turrumurra to Terrey Hills and change the name from Magic Curries to Urban Tadka he was ill advised in my view as I far preferred the old restaurant location and food. He's dropped some of his best Magic Curries dishes such as the wade array of tandoori mains and entrees and the quality of the remaining standard curries we had left a lot to be desired and not up to his usual standards so maybe the Turrumurra cook(s) have either moved on or were having an off night.

The location is romantic if a little remote for most Sydneysiders and the restaurant itself is cutting edge style personified (if a little noisy due to the hard flooring) and on a par with anything you'd expect to find in a 5-star hotel, but these qualities are I'm afraid not enough to save it, and the prices have increased and there was no evidence of the famous buy-one-entree-and-main-and-get-the-other-main-free-if-you-also-order-an-entree deal so loved by his Turrumurra patrons.

If he had no choice in the name change or new location Dimpi needs to have a good think about getting the food up to scratch but he's a resourceful guy so I know he can do it!

Feb 19, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Vietnamese with a difference. If it's new and interesting Asian you seek this is the place, and it's reasonably priced given the quality and range of food on offer and the overall ambience and service you receive.

The meals are generous so be careful when they suggest a side of veggies or salad as that's also huge, and may not be needed, as I found out. The staff are really charming and attentive, the corkage reasonable and the location quiet and uncluttered, being as it is in a kind of mini piazza off the main drag in Kings Cross.

My only gripe is the parking in that area is almost impossible, so unless you want to fork out $20 at the parking station go early and be prepared to hunt and walk a fair distance unless you fluke a spot nearby, but don't count on it!

Feb 19, 2012

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Nice casual vibe here and the wait staff young, friendly and hip. The place is a bit scruffy but it all fits with that general laid back Surry Hills feel, just it’s in Bondi Junction. The fare in similar places elsewhere may have disappointed but here our mains were good for the price and also generously portioned. The wine by the glass was also good. We loved our maitre d' the black and white cat.

Jan 02, 2012

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

A great way to sample this high priced restaurant to see if you think the foods worth the money is to do their Friday lunch special at $35/head for 3 courses (no wine included). You get a choice of 2 dishes per course but vegetarians need not apply (for this special at least) as they're all 'non veg' as the Indians so endearingly put it, except the sweets of course.

Lisa had the beef cheeks entree, me the raw tuna topped tart in an asparagus soup, or something like that. She had the roasted chicken main and me the fish. She the panna cotta, gelato and fruits sweet and I the chocolate aniseed slice with ice cream. The dishes were all busy little works of art and very pleasant. I'm having difficulty recalling them exactly as there were quite a lot of ingredients in each dish and must have taken some time to prepare. To me the bream would have been nicer steamed as the grilling just dried it out, which adds nothing to the flavour.

The wait staff were attentive, filling our water at regular intervals. There were nice fresh baked rolls offered, the dishes were served in good time and we were all done in around an hour. The tables were elegantly dressed, thick linen table cloth and serviette, expensive looking cutlery, crockery and glassware, all whites and minimalist, as was the decor generally with its coffee tones.

There was a quiet elegance about the place and our fellow diners a very couth bunch indeed. You know they're going for the upmarket feel when you also get individual cloth hand towels in the bathrooms and elegant scents into the bargain, and the table cloth is brushed clean between courses. Where they make their profit on this special is the wine. At $17 a glass it's a bit over the top and we, therefore, stuck to water, except Lisa couldn't resist a $14 sticky with dessert, and this slip, as is always my rule, negated a need for a tip.

Having been impressed with the food and general experience I'll be prepared to return and haemorrhage the $150 per head you'd likely need to pay for the a la carte three courses, coffee, a side and sufficient wine for the meal, or the degustation.

Dec 10, 2011

6.3 Average

Food  3      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  2     

Pilu occupies Harbord’s oldest building, a 103 year old large beachside weatherboard cottage variously used down the years as a guest house, kiosk, meeting hall, private home and post office agency before (I assume) becoming Pilu in 2004. From inside Pilu is bright and breezy with that attractive Martha’s Vineyard beach house look and great views of the headland, beach and Pacific Ocean.

I treated my dear old Mum to Pilu’s weekday springtime lunch, a 3-course set menu. At $45 per person this is half to a third of what Pilu charges for 3 courses from their regular menu so this sounded too good to miss. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm but not too much so, and this really accentuated Pilu’s strength, namely its stunning location.

For her “Primi” (entrée) Mum had the “zucchini flowers filled with goat’s cheese, walnuts and herbs” and I the “house smoked salmon, bottarga dressing, watercress and radish”. She liked hers but thought it quite bland as she guiltily sprinkled it with rock salt. I sampled it and only tasted the batter in which it had been deep fried so was thankful I had chosen the salmon as it was really excellent with its creamy texture and delicate fish roe dressing.

With the entrées came some complementary small bread rolls proudly announced as “fresh baked in the kitchen”, a dish of rock salt and a dish of “fine olive oil, made especially for Pilu”.

My “Secondi” (main) was “Coronga lamb shoulder slow roasted with cous cous salad” while Mum had “Cone Bay barramundi, cavolo nero, tomato and black olives”. While flavoursome enough my lamb was, unfortunately, very dry and stringy, perhaps, spending too much time under the warmer, but the cous cous, what there was of it, was nice. Mum reported her fish was very nice but didn’t care for the “cavolo nero” (cabbage).

I sampled the fish and found it somewhat dry, maybe receiving the same drying treatment as my lamb. “Coronga” is a sheep breeder in Orange NSW and presumably the lamb equivalent of Angus Beef. Given their need to draw attention to the lamb's pedigree and the fact we waited 50 minutes for our mains I’m curious at the kitchen’s determination to dry it out under heat lamps before releasing it to our table.

“Cone Bay” barramundi is saltwater barramundi from a breeder of the same name operating a fish farm in the Buccaneer Archipelago northwest of Derby in northern W.A. Like the lamb above, could this also be the “Angus Beef” of barramundi and if so, why the careless treatment of such blessed produce?

Mum’s “Dolci” (dessert) was a “trio of gelato and sorbets” which was tiny but she assured me was delicious. My “panettone bread and butter pudding, cinnamon gelato” was also unbelievably nice but served in a small crème brulée bowl so was little more than sample size.

On the positive side the wait staff were attentive, polite and friendly, the location dazzling, particularly on a fine summers day and preferably on the veranda (we were inside and the view was nice but wasn’t quite as good). The tables are dressed beautifully in elegant and expensive looking linen and tableware, there are the light, bright and breezy colours, design, furnishings and suitably beach oriented artworks hang everywhere.

Not in it’s favour, in my view, was the long wait for our mains, quite inexplicable given they tasted as if they'd spent some considerable time under heat lamps. It's not as if we'd disappeared for 30 minutes requiring them to hold off serving our food.

As mentioned above, some dishes were very average, the servings close to degustation size except you got three dishes instead of eight as is the case with degustation which is just fine if you’re Anna Wintour but all three combined wouldn't have amounted to an average entrée size, therefore, the whole lot was simply not enough to call a proper meal in the normal sense of the word.

This makes the $45 per head price tag feel a bit like Pilu is graciously allowing you the chance to experience their restaurant side by side with their regular clientele ordering from the proper menu while you get a pretend meal to cover the cost to them of allowing you to monopolise one of their tables for 2 hours. Also allow plenty of time for parking as there was hot competition for spots and bring plenty of gold coins or a credit card as the nearby parking is all metered, if you’re lucky enough to snare one of these.

And finally, if you don’t fancy paying more than $35 for a $15 bottle of wine I suggest you save time by hunting it down from their huge online wine list before you go as that's practically free in comparison to most on offer.

P.P.S. If heading back to the eastern suburbs after your meal whatever you do don't get snapped by the speed camera on Macpherson Road Mosman or the meal could cost you a whole lot more than you expected.

Nov 12, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

Last Saturday we went driving around the area for dinner after seeing 'The Hunter' at Norton Street Cinema (so-so movie imv) and came across this place in Petersham. The place was neat and modern with high ceilings and dining areas on either side of a centrally located bar, around 20 diners which was about 20% of capacity (it was 8:30pm) and a 3-man band set up against the front window.

We went for the Brazilian style BBQ meal rather than the one-dish la carte meals which seemed poor value for money in comparison. The BBQ included unlimited salads, sides and a variety of meats served at the table on swords. The meats were exceptionally good, the salads and sides simple but very tasty.

The staff were attentive and courteous and the food kept coming at regular intervals. If you like BBQ meat than this is your place although those with small appetites might think the $40/head price tag a bit high however big eaters will definitely get their money's worth. A half carafe of sangria at $15 was perhaps a touch pricey but very tasty nonetheless.

The band was OK but not great, but did add to the atmospherics. Their website lists quite a few acts on the bill and has an energetic feel to it so these guys are trying hard to please and mostly succeeding I suggest. Will be back with my big eating mate Rodjo the builder.

Oct 13, 2011

4 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  3      Service  4      Value  5     

Found ourselves in Melbourne and did no research for this meal. Working down both sides of Lygon Street trying to divine the best Italian restaurant I was hustled by a woman out front of this place but hey, this is Melbourne, this is a Lygon Street 'thing', specifically Italian restaurants in Lygon Street, so what the heck.

I wasn't impressed with the prices of a few restaurants I'd checked out in the preceding few minutes or of being hustled by more than one Italian restaurant tout either and said straight out I was unimpressed with the price and without a pause she shot back that she'd take 25% off the total bill. That immediately struck a cord with the inner Scrooge in me so in we went.

It was good she gave this discount as there would have been big trouble had I been required to pay the full $116 as the food was only worth the $87 I ended up paying, at most. This was very ordinary Italian food. Four mafioso types, which included the female tout, appeared to be some kind of stakeholders in the business and took turns being alternately tough then disrespectful to the wait staff, diners and passers by, and weren't funny in the least but seemed to think they were. In fact they were downright irritating and offensive. Next time I plan a visit to Melbourne I'll ensure I do some research before heading out. Ignore eatability at your peril!

Oct 06, 2011