andyq

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

I don't know if it's luck of the draw that other folks have had poor experiences at Tomislav, but since we had a lucky draw, I'm going to be absolutely honest: this was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had lately. The service was great. The food was amazing. And the ambience was lovely. I also thought the wine list was great. I'd recommend it whole-heartedly, will be back, and want more of that hen's yolk and foie gras concoction!

Read the full review on my blog

Mar 21, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  9     

It's an unassuming location that I stumbled across today and had a North African inspired burger out in the back courtyard. Burger, chips: great. But really, Mirian's charm (I didn't know her name until I saw it on this page) is in a class of its own: funny, charming, welcoming. I'll go back just to hang out with her!

Feb 16, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  8     

Er... Went here for a group dinner and it's plain old Aussie Chinese food, perhaps what you'd have gotten from your local RSL growing up. So, some people will love it for the comforting, nostalgic feel of it all. But I thought the food was kind of awful. Cheap, though. I've heard that Hurstville would have been a better suburb to eat Chinese food...

Nov 09, 2011

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

I love the idea of regional cuisines rather than national ones – so, not an Italian restaurant, but one that is specially dedicated to the cuisine of Lombardy. We went on a quiet night, so the service was perfect, but more importantly, the food was outstanding. Loved my pasta in burnt butter with sage, the spit roast special was amazing, desserts too - all great. I want to go back for their pre-theatre special.

Read the full review on my blog

Oct 24, 2011

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

Holy banana leaf, batman, did we have a great meal here. My in-the-know friend, P., took me here. Two people, $34, and we were full - on yummy crisp taro patties, a duck larb, the fish curry custard thingies, dumplings and sticky rice. As good as Chat Thai. I wanna go back and try every dish on the menu.

Sep 23, 2011

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

I don't know if it's luck of the draw that other folks have had poor experiences at Tomislav, but since we had a lucky draw, I'm going to be absolutely honest: this was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had lately. The service was great. The food was amazing. And the ambience was lovely. I also thought the wine list was great. I'd recommend it whole-heartedly, will be back, and want more of that hen's yolk and foie gras concoction!

Read the full review on my blog

Mar 21, 2012

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  9     

It's an unassuming location that I stumbled across today and had a North African inspired burger out in the back courtyard. Burger, chips: great. But really, Mirian's charm (I didn't know her name until I saw it on this page) is in a class of its own: funny, charming, welcoming. I'll go back just to hang out with her!

Feb 16, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  8     

Er... Went here for a group dinner and it's plain old Aussie Chinese food, perhaps what you'd have gotten from your local RSL growing up. So, some people will love it for the comforting, nostalgic feel of it all. But I thought the food was kind of awful. Cheap, though. I've heard that Hurstville would have been a better suburb to eat Chinese food...

Nov 09, 2011

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

I love the idea of regional cuisines rather than national ones – so, not an Italian restaurant, but one that is specially dedicated to the cuisine of Lombardy. We went on a quiet night, so the service was perfect, but more importantly, the food was outstanding. Loved my pasta in burnt butter with sage, the spit roast special was amazing, desserts too - all great. I want to go back for their pre-theatre special.

Read the full review on my blog

Oct 24, 2011

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

Holy banana leaf, batman, did we have a great meal here. My in-the-know friend, P., took me here. Two people, $34, and we were full - on yummy crisp taro patties, a duck larb, the fish curry custard thingies, dumplings and sticky rice. As good as Chat Thai. I wanna go back and try every dish on the menu.

Sep 23, 2011

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Went for a pre-theatre dinner on a windy Thursday night. The view of the Harbour, could it be beaten? It wasn't quite the right night to enjoy it, but it's got a beautiful location, and with outdoor and semi-outdoor seating, it's pretty spectacular. On the other hand, it's a hotel with hotel decor and too much lighting, so that brought down my score for ambience.

Service was friendly, though the food took rather a long time. I thought the wine pour could have been a few millimetres more generous. The food: my blue-eyed cod on a cavalo nero risotto, with cuttlefish on the side. Yum. Very nice indeed. My partner's duck breast and duck sausage, also good. But the duck-fat chips (just the name of them makes me salivate) didn't live up to expectations, they just weren't crisp enough.

I might have been disappointed with the value, it's pricey, but having an Entertainment Card made this is good deal. So, neither here nor there, really. Quite good food, but on that evening, no spark.

Sep 23, 2011

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

I loved the authentic regional food, especially the chicken pate starter, and the meatballs as a main. But I want to go back and try them all.

More importantly, the service here was above and beyond, combining warmth with professionalism, it made the food and atmosphere even better.

Full review on my blog... but I'm definitely going back to this restaurant!

Read the full review on my blog

Sep 11, 2011

6.8 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

A starter of bean curd wasn’t what I was expecting, neither bean curd sheets, nor a lighter tofu. These were hard, slightly rubbery strips of bean curd in a simple soya sauce.

Taiwanese sausage turned out to be the pink-red sausage that my mom used to buy at the same time as buying char siu (barbecued pork) or roast pork belly. Slightly sweet, it reminded me of home.

We ordered two mains (too much for lunch with the starters). Rice and beef brisket. I’ve rarely had a beef brisket that I didn’t like, and this was perfect – I liked the extra spicy bits of meat on the rice, and the pickled veg – the flavours felt authentic.

The spicy dumplings were not particularly nice. Crude and doughy, like the frozen ones I buy sometimes in Chinatown for home use, but the sauce was more garlic than chili, and I found the flavour a bit off.

Glad I went. Wasn’t tasty enough to go again – though, perhaps, I should go back for the Japanese eel crepe, which sounds intriguing.

The full review is on my blog!

Read the full review on my blog

Sep 11, 2011

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  6     

Confusing and interesting. We were looking for something a bit different than the usual crowded yum cha experience and decided to try this one. We went on a Sunday about 1 pm, and waited no more than 5 minutes for a table. The decor and ambience couldn't have been nicer, the QVB building really is glorious and it's cool to see it matched with tasteful, elegant Chinese furnishings.

The service was good, also slightly better than the standard abrupt yum cha resto. The steamed dumplings, especially the har gow, were perfect. Really high quality. Fresh. Tasty. Also high marks to the Egg Tarts, just out of the oven, and the mango pancakes. On the other hand, there wasn't much variety, and certainly nothing unusual on the carts. $35 a head seemed pricy. I wouldn't rush back but think it's a good yum cha option in this part of the city!

Aug 29, 2011

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  4      Value  4     

Sounds like everyone here is having as mixed an experience as we did. I found it confusingly mediocre, awkward service, too expensive wine list, just Ok food in a space that could be spectacular and with one of the main courses superb. I might edit my review after I try lunch here too. Full review (and a photo of the excellent swordfish tart) here: http://andyquan.com/?p=268

Aug 23, 2011