Shin0bu

Reviews

Restaurants, European, Italian, Hip and Trendy, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 8.4 69

9 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 10 Service 9 Value 9

My partner and I had dinner here on Tuesday night. Thankfully we made a reservation as the dining area, was pretty small and they were mostly full. We had the $59 for 3 course set. We started off with oven baked zucchini flowers with 5 cheese and pan seared calamari and prawns. I absolutely loved the zucchini flowers. The combination of 5 cheeses was excellent. It was sweet, creamy, salty and just worked very well in the dish.

My partner loved the seared calamari and prawns which I thought were good too. The seafood was very well cooked and seasoned well. It was a tremendous start to the meal.

For mains we had the fish of the day (white cod with parnsip puree and lentils) while the parsley linguine with crab meat and chilli basil soffrito. We had some issues here. Fish was cooked well but was not seasoned at all which was surprising. Not a hint of salt or season on the fish so it was very bland. We swore that all the seasoning for the fish went into the linguine because that dish was extremely salty. The pasta was a little overcooked but it could be just me as I like my pasta al dente. Nonetheless, we still finished everything as it was good.

For desserts we had the tortino and the crepes. My partner loved the tortino as it was soft and gooey in the inside with a nice crust on the outside like a molten lava cake plus the bitter chocolate ice cream worked really well for us. It wasn't sweet at all but we were glad it wasn't. The crepe for me was Excellent. The passion fruit white chocolate fondue was so great. The passion fruit wasn't too tart or overpowering but it added a great fruity taste to the sweetness of the white chocolate. The crepes were light and the mascarpone cheese in the middle was like a great cloud of fluff.

To top it all off the caramelised banana on the top just brought it all together. All components eaten together was mind blowing. This is definitely the best dessert I've ever had, barring it being a little too sweet for my liking. Service was excellent with all 4 servers being attentive, polite and helpful.

Mar 07, 2012

Sushi Samurai, Neutral Bay

Restaurants, Japanese, Serves Takeaway, American Express

Overall 7.3 75

6.5 Recommended

Food 6 Ambience 8 Service 6 Value 6

I thought the food here was average but way too pricey. I had dinner here with my partner and we ordered the agedashi tofu, seafood tempura, sukiyaki beef udon and cucumber wrap roll. The tofu was disappointing because they didn't use silken tofu, so it wasn't as smooth as it should be/usually is.

The seafood tempura was a little unique as I've never had tempura scallops before and now I know why. The scallop was pretty tasteless, so having it deep fried in tempura batter and dipped in tempura sauce didn't add much taste to it. The tempura fish was also pretty poor as the taste of the fish wasn't overly pleasant.

The cucumber wrap roll was quite nice. Had a nice combination of textures with the freshness of the cucumber and the tartness of the pickled mushrooms. The sukiyaki beef udon was pretty good too but the beef was overcooked and the sukiyaki sauce/soup a tad too sweet so it was as balanced as it should have been.

I thought the service was pretty average. I feel rushed as they kept coming back to ask if we were ready to order the drinks when we told them that we weren't ready. Some of their wait staff don't speak English all too well, so it was a little difficult to ask for something off the menu when we ordered desserts.

Jan 16, 2012

Raquel's Spanish Kitchen, Darlinghurst

Restaurants, Mediterranean, Spanish, Tapas, Vegetarian

Overall 7.2 269

7.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 7

Had dinner here the other day with my partner and 2 friends. Service was decent. I think they are short of wait and kitchen staff but they managed well enough. We had the patatas bravas, chicken wings, black pudding, garlic prawns, chorizo and 2 plates of the paella. The tapas weren't great.

The chicken wings were burnt, the chorizo was dry, the black pudding was average, the garlic prawns were sizzling hot when they came but could have used more garlic and the patatas bravas were good. However, the paella was really good. We really enjoyed the paella as it was well-cooked with ample seafood. We'll come back for the paella.

The restaurant had a nice quaint feel of a family run restaurant to it which we liked.

Jan 16, 2012

Restaurant Pendolino, The, Sydney

Restaurants, Italian, Has Bar, Has Cafe, Licensed

Overall 8 153

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 8

I'll keep this short and simple.

Food - Had the seafood spaghetti and the mezzaluna with vealsweet breads. They were both extremely good. Both are incredibly different but very very good. The complimentary focaccia bread and the olive oil were a great start to dinner as well.

Ambience - Decent ambience. I didn't rate them too highly because we were seated on the terrace just behind the reception area so I didn't see inside the restaurant.

Service - Our waitress was very polite and helpful. Didn't feel pressured to order entrees or desserts. They kept asking us if we wanted more bread, very courteous.

Value - Not a cheap price to pay for pasta but good food all around. Not the cheapest but certainly 1 of the best.

Dec 19, 2011

Criniti’s Darling Harbour, Darling Harbour

Restaurants, Italian, Fine Dining, Hip and Trendy, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 5.7 119

5.8 Average

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 6

Criniti's used to be 1 of my favourite places to have a good italian meal in Sydney. However, they recently changed their menu and probably some management has changed to. Their service has dropped from decent to pretty bad. I went there for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. There were less than 5 tables there but I had to press the service button twice before someone came to take my order (and this was 10 minutes after I pressed it the second time).

Anyway, we noticed the menu had changed and our favourite seafood risotto no longer came with the option of white wine sauce. So we asked the waiter if by any chance that's still available and he said no, they recently changed their menu. Then I just added that the white wine sauce was nice. His reply to that was and I quote "well, we changed our menu to be more authentic italian. The authentic way is to cook it in tomato sauce anyway". That was such a huge turn-off.

Anyway, the tomato sauce base risotto was not too bad and my spaghetti aglio olio was decent too. While not the cheapest place around, nothing is cheap around Darling Harbour anyway. The food is still pretty good, but their service needs a Big improvement.

Dec 07, 2011

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Last updated on 1st Jun 2012

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Cucinetta Ristorante, Woolwich

Restaurants, European, Italian, Hip and Trendy, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 8.4 69

9 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 10 Service 9 Value 9

Mar 07, 2012

Sushi Samurai, Neutral Bay

Restaurants, Japanese, Serves Takeaway, American Express

Overall 7.3 75

6.5 Recommended

Food 6 Ambience 8 Service 6 Value 6

Jan 16, 2012

Raquel's Spanish Kitchen, Darlinghurst

Restaurants, Mediterranean, Spanish, Tapas, Vegetarian

Overall 7.2 269

7.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 7

Jan 16, 2012

Restaurant Pendolino, The, Sydney

Restaurants, Italian, Has Bar, Has Cafe, Licensed

Overall 8 153

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 8

Dec 19, 2011

Criniti’s Darling Harbour, Darling Harbour

Restaurants, Italian, Fine Dining, Hip and Trendy, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 5.7 119

5.8 Average

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 6

Dec 07, 2011

Wildfire Sydney, Sydney

Restaurants, Bars, Function Venues, American, Brazilian

Overall 5.7 153

8.3 Highly Recommended

Quality 9 Food 9 Drinks 8 Ambience 8 Service 9 Value 7

I agree with most reviewers that this place is overpriced. But then again what would you expect from a steakhouse in OPT facing the iconic Sydney Opera House. My partner and I came here for dinner on a Saturday night with dinner reservations made for 7pm.

The service was excellent. The receptionist who showed us to our table was courteous and friendly especially when we requested to change tables as the table we were allocated was sitting directly in the sun. The waitress who served us was also helpful (although her accent was a little difficult to understand at times). She explained to us the menu, gave us good recommendations on the desserts and even suggested she call the sommelier to help us with our choice of wine.

We selected 2 steaks, 1 wagyu rump with 9+ marbling and another the Wildfire signature bone-in fillet, both cooked medium rare. We also ordered a side of iceberg lettuce salad with fried capers and mash. The wagyu rump was perfectly cooked to medium rare and the marbling on the meat made it absolutely delightful to eat. It was a melt in your mouth sensation that one would expect from such a highly marbled meat.

The signature fillet was a little disappointing as it wasn't as tender as the wagyu rump and it was slightly undercooked in parts (mainly due to the bone). However, it had a much stronger taste of beef than the wagyu and in the end, my partner and I agree that it was nice to have 1 steak with a higher marbling and another without.

The salad was really really good, it's like a refined caesar salad and the mash was good, nothing spectacular but good. We had the bombe alaska for 2 for dessert and it was not bad. Wasn't great but nothing to complain about.

The 2 issues I had with Wildfire was (1) they didn't have complimentary bread. While I'm not desperate for bread nor am I too cheap to order bread if I want it, I think it's absurd that a table for 2 needs to order a $10 loaf of bread that is too big for the both of us. Most people will just take 1-2 slices of bread, anyway, so it doesn't make sense to me that we have to shelve out $10 for a loaf that we'd only eat half of.

Secondly, the bombe alaska for 2 was so big that it honestly be enough for 4 pax. It is a little silly that the dessert is only available for 2 pax and above. We ordered the minimum of 2 pax and it was definitely enough for a table of 4.

Other than that, it was a lovely dinner barring the cruise ship docked blocking our view of the Opera House.

Dec 05, 2011

Zaaffran Fine Indian Restaurant & BBQ, Darling Harbour

Restaurants, Barbeque, Indian, Vegetarian, Fine Dining

Overall 7.4 293

7.8 Recommended

Food 6 Ambience 7 Service 10 Value 8

I went for dinner using Spreets voucher for 3 BBQ courses for 2 for $55, including a bottle of wine. I e-mailed them on the day itself to make a reservation and they replied very promptly and graciously asked me to provide the voucher details and subsequently confirmed my reservation. Excellent and prompt reservation!

The service there was really good and our waiters/waitresses never once failed to carefully explain each course that came. We selected the white wine which I felt was a really good bottle of wine to go with the BBQ food.

Food wise I was a little disappointed. The lentil wafers were nice and crispy but a little oily (which is only to be expected but nonetheless we liked it). The starters were good, I especially liked the gol guppa. The garlic naan could have been more garlicky in our opinion, but then again that's coming from 2 people who love garlic.

The 2nd course was chicken skewers and chicken tenderloins with mushroom naans. I felt that the 2 meats were a little underwhelming and a tad dry for my liking. The chicken tenderloins especially felt like chicken breast. But the mushroom naan was nice, it smelled like a mushroom pizza when it came.

The 3rd and final course was a platter of lamb cutlets, lamb skewers, stuffed mushrooms and beef ribs. I found the lamb skewers dry and having too strong a gamey taste while my partner could not take the skewers as she doesn't like that lamb game-iness. The cutlet was okay and the mushroom was a nice break from all the meat. The cheese naan that came with it was okay but I've had better cheese naans back in Malaysia so nothing to shout about. The beef ribs, however, were Awesome.

I would definitely go back to order the beef ribs. It was packed full of flavour but it was so tender that it literally melts in your mouth.

I wouldn't mind coming back to try their curries but in terms of the deal, perhaps, if 1 course was rice and curry instead of a full BBQ meal it'd be better. However, I can't fault them for that as it was a BBQ voucher. Just sharing some ideas for future vouchers.

We were also offered $20 discount vouchers for our next visit And 30% off IMAX movie vouchers. That's going way above what we expected and we thoroughly appreciate that. 10/10 for service!

Nov 23, 2011

Peppercorn At Cremorne, Cremorne

Restaurants, Mediterranean, Modern Australian, Seafood, Steak House

Overall 6.6 64

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

7 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 6 Service 8 Value 7

The partner and I had a decent dinner here the other night. Came with a voucher for 2 entrees and 2 mains plus a bottle of house wine. It was a pleasant surprise when they told us the we can choose off the specials menu as well. We had the seared scallops with ginger and shallot and a seafood chowder for entree. The scallops were nicely seared and tasted nice with the small bed of spinach at the bottom of the nicely seared scallop. The seafood chowder tasted good but I would have preferred it to be less diluted.

For the mains we had seafood risotto and a grilled john dory and prawns. The risotto tasted nice with sufficient seafood taste in a light tomato base albeit being a little overcooked. I much prefer my risotto al dente. The grilled john dory was simple and taste fine with us. Nothing to shout about.

Service was good. The waiter was nice, friendly and helpful. Can't say that the ambience was great but it was alright.

Nov 07, 2011

Bodega Tapas Restaurant, Surry Hills

Restaurants, Spanish, Tapas, Has Bar, Licensed

Overall 7.7 202

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 8

Had dinner with my partner here on a Wednesday night and we were given a seat at the bar top facing the kitchen. It was the best seat in the house as we were able to watch the chefs at work.

We definitely over ordered (and I blame the seats for this as I just wanted to try more of the awesome food that I saw being plated up). We had the chicken wings with XO sauce, pulled pork bun, mussels with harisa, chorizo and scallops. The chicken wings and pulled pork buns came first and they were Perfect. The flavours just bursts in your mouth and the combination of the different flavours just worked seamlessly together.

The pulled pork bun was to die for. The pulled pork was so tender and flavourful, the bun was so soft and fluffy and the slight crunch of the pickled carrots just topped it all off. Next came the steamed mussels that came with a fried bread. This was slightly underwhelming because the first 2 dishes set the bar so high up. It was good but I was left wanting stronger and bolder flavours after the first 2 plates.

After that we had the scallops which brought me back up to gastronomy heaven. It looked beautifully plated and tasted even better. The balance of flavours and textures to compliment the perfectly cooked scallops was just pure heaven. Last, came the chorizo which we added while waiting for our scallops. While the chorizo was good, I again expected bolder flavours. However, it was very moist and good in it's own way.

I think my only problem was the order in the way the food came, if we started with the mussels then the chorizo then followed by the scallops, pulled pork buns and chicken wings, it would have been perfect as the flavours progressively get bolder as the dinner progresses.

As for dessert we had their spin on banana split. My first spoonful was of the ginger crackling + flan which was okay but not great. But once I had all the components on the plate together in 1 spoonful, it was great. Everything was a great compliment to each other component. The banana puree, dulche de leche ice cream and banana marshmallow all worked well with the flan.

Service was really good and I definitely like the ambience of the whole room. Will definitely be back for much much more.

Oct 27, 2011

glass brasserie, Sydney

Restaurants, Modern Australian, Family Dining, Fine Dining, Good for Brunch

Overall 7.5 225

7.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 8 Service 9 Value 6

My partner and I came here for dinner after our earlier dinner plan had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We were pleasantly surprised that the food was so good. The service was excellent, with the waiters coming around to explain the menu to us and being ever so helpful.

My partner and I ordered the scallops with XO sauce tapas for our entree. It was really really good. The scallop was perfectly cooked, the XO sauce was sweet, spicy and saltish at the same time. The tofu and pork scratchings gave it a varied texture component. The complimentary bread was also superb. The crumb was crispy and light and the bread itself was just perfect. The Luke Mangan olive oil served was also a great compliment to the bread.

We ordered the sharing plate for our mains. We had a wagyu rump, beef cheek bourguignon and bone marrow. The bone marrow was interesting, similar to what I tasted elsewhere but it was simply too much bone marrow. My partner did not enjoy the oily texture and the strong flavour (it was her first time trying). The beef cheeks bourguignon was disappointing. We assumed it was like a beef stew (similar to what was shown on Julie and Julia) but when it came out, it was just basically braised beef cheeks that were nicely cooked and tender but wasn't the nice hearty stew we were expecting. The wagyu rump was perfect. I've never eaten rump because I've always thought it'd be tough and all but this rump was perfect. Cooked to the exact medium-rare temperature that we ordered, was full of flavour and was perfectly tender.

We were so full because the portion of the sharing plate was humongous. But we still managed to squeeze in desserts. We had coconut and mango bombe alaska with lychee salad. This dessert was awesome! It was so light and the perfect palate cleanser after such a meaty main. I would definitely order this dessert again in a heartbeat. Overall, great experience but a little too pricey for our liking.

Oct 19, 2011