melloh

7.3 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  8     

Best nasi lemak I've had in a long time (probably the best I've had outside of Singapore/Malaysia). The satay is also excellent and they give you lots of the delicious sauce (but was a bit disappointed that it wasn't served with the rice cubes that you usually get with satay in Singapore/Malaysia). The roti is quite nice but you don't get a huge amount for the price. The cendol was also delicious.

Service is not bad for this type of place. I was impressed that they were able to fit us in with no reservation at a busy lunchtime considering we had 7 adults and 3 babies. Looking forward to going back to try more of the food.

Sep 16, 2011

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.5 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  2     

Very mediocre food and quite pricey. Service was OK. Staff were polite and fairly attentive but were not spectacular (eg they did not know who ordered each dish even though there were only two of us).

There was nothing special at all about the food. The menu is quite boring with no interesting sauces, accompaniments or preparations (eg chicken with risotto, pork chops with sweet potato mash, fish and chips). The risotto was oversalty and the 'jus' was more like a heavy gravy, the 'lamb rack' was only 4 very small pieces of lamb. The crab and polenta cakes were quite tasty but were predominantly polenta and very little crab. The chocolate mousse was nice but the sticky date pudding was nothing special (and not very sticky!).

The setting of the restaurant is OK. It's in Old Government House in the middle of Parramatta Park. The views from the restaurant are of an internal courtyard and not of the park. It doesn't help that there is a musuem on the other side of the courtyard so there are lots of people walking through.

The restaurant is quite pricey. Mains range from $30 (for fish and chips) to $44 (for beef). Total bill for 3 courses for two of us was $180 (including 1 glass of wine) which seemed quite steep for what it was.

May 03, 2011

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  6     

This place is amazing and I don't think I could fault it on anything. It's not cheap but the quality of the food and the service is worth it. The complementary appetisers which we started with were yummy. The spanner crab royale entree was delicious and the baby rabbit was amazingly presented.

For main course, a couple of us had the veal baked in coffee and clay. Before the other mains came, they brought out the veal which looked mummified in its little clay and muslin covering and they explained to us how it was flavoured and cooked. It was quite interesting but I was thinking that it was a very rustically presented dish (ie a lump of meat in clay with no other accompaniments) but luckily they took the meat back to the kitchen, carved it up and served it beautifully with various vegies.

They even bring you a plate with some of the coffee nibs so that you can get the aroma while you eat it. Others at the table were raving about how good the wagyu beef and the roast pork were. Desserts were also amazing and amazingly presented. The banana creme brulee was to die for, deliciously creamy with crisp brulee on top and delicious peanut brittle on the bottom.

Service was impeccable and the fact that out waiter was French added to the French feeling of the place. Excellent attention to detail both in the food and the service. The restaurant is decorated very simply and elegantly which gave the place a lovely ambience.

Jul 26, 2010

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  3     

Not worth bothering with unless you're a vegetarian and even if you are you're probably better off just going to normal yum cha and sticking to the non-meat dishes.

Some of the more original dishes (like the stuffed tofu with peanut sauce and the spinach spring rolls) and the dishes that are usually vegetable and tofu based at normal yum cha were fine but any dishes that attempted to replicate meat were terrible (the 'pork' buns were plain disgusting).

The service was fairly poor with bad descriptions (the mushroom dumplings did not seem to have any mushrooms in them at all and the waitress adamantly told us that the pork buns were pork!). Expensive compared to other yum cha and not really worth it.

Jun 13, 2010

5.5 Average

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  4     

Went to Ocean Room for a work dinner with a group of about 16 people. While the food was excellent, it was mainly the service that let this place down. Ambience is not great and I was not impressed with the funny bamboo type things hanging from the roof.

We had the tasting menu which I think had about 10 dishes. Stand out dishes included the anchovy with tomato sorbet, the miso marinated cod on ginger risotto (my favourite) and the pepper beef steak. Unfortunately, being pregnant meant that I couldn't try the dishes with raw seafood but others seemed impressed with oysters and the tuna cornets.

The desserts were passable but not very impressive (particular as it is a sharing plate and it can be hard to share one scoop of green tea ice cream between a few people).

The service was quite disappointing. Most of the individuals were polite enough but none seemed overly friendly or nice. The main problem though was how many different people served us, giving a lack of continuity. There was a non-seafood eating person at our table and the waiters were constantly confused about how they give the non-seafood dish to.

It was also disappointing that the staff gave little or no explanation of each dish. Sometimes we would get minor commentary like 'oysters' or 'cod' and sometimes dishes would just be put down in front of us with no description. Given that it was a tasting menu, some useful description is always handy.

It also seemed like a really long time between dishes. It took about 3.5 hrs from the first dish to the last and it was even longer until coffee was offered, making it a long night.

Jun 04, 2010

7.3 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  8     

Best nasi lemak I've had in a long time (probably the best I've had outside of Singapore/Malaysia). The satay is also excellent and they give you lots of the delicious sauce (but was a bit disappointed that it wasn't served with the rice cubes that you usually get with satay in Singapore/Malaysia). The roti is quite nice but you don't get a huge amount for the price. The cendol was also delicious.

Service is not bad for this type of place. I was impressed that they were able to fit us in with no reservation at a busy lunchtime considering we had 7 adults and 3 babies. Looking forward to going back to try more of the food.

Sep 16, 2011

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.5 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  2     

Very mediocre food and quite pricey. Service was OK. Staff were polite and fairly attentive but were not spectacular (eg they did not know who ordered each dish even though there were only two of us).

There was nothing special at all about the food. The menu is quite boring with no interesting sauces, accompaniments or preparations (eg chicken with risotto, pork chops with sweet potato mash, fish and chips). The risotto was oversalty and the 'jus' was more like a heavy gravy, the 'lamb rack' was only 4 very small pieces of lamb. The crab and polenta cakes were quite tasty but were predominantly polenta and very little crab. The chocolate mousse was nice but the sticky date pudding was nothing special (and not very sticky!).

The setting of the restaurant is OK. It's in Old Government House in the middle of Parramatta Park. The views from the restaurant are of an internal courtyard and not of the park. It doesn't help that there is a musuem on the other side of the courtyard so there are lots of people walking through.

The restaurant is quite pricey. Mains range from $30 (for fish and chips) to $44 (for beef). Total bill for 3 courses for two of us was $180 (including 1 glass of wine) which seemed quite steep for what it was.

May 03, 2011

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  6     

This place is amazing and I don't think I could fault it on anything. It's not cheap but the quality of the food and the service is worth it. The complementary appetisers which we started with were yummy. The spanner crab royale entree was delicious and the baby rabbit was amazingly presented.

For main course, a couple of us had the veal baked in coffee and clay. Before the other mains came, they brought out the veal which looked mummified in its little clay and muslin covering and they explained to us how it was flavoured and cooked. It was quite interesting but I was thinking that it was a very rustically presented dish (ie a lump of meat in clay with no other accompaniments) but luckily they took the meat back to the kitchen, carved it up and served it beautifully with various vegies.

They even bring you a plate with some of the coffee nibs so that you can get the aroma while you eat it. Others at the table were raving about how good the wagyu beef and the roast pork were. Desserts were also amazing and amazingly presented. The banana creme brulee was to die for, deliciously creamy with crisp brulee on top and delicious peanut brittle on the bottom.

Service was impeccable and the fact that out waiter was French added to the French feeling of the place. Excellent attention to detail both in the food and the service. The restaurant is decorated very simply and elegantly which gave the place a lovely ambience.

Jul 26, 2010

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  3     

Not worth bothering with unless you're a vegetarian and even if you are you're probably better off just going to normal yum cha and sticking to the non-meat dishes.

Some of the more original dishes (like the stuffed tofu with peanut sauce and the spinach spring rolls) and the dishes that are usually vegetable and tofu based at normal yum cha were fine but any dishes that attempted to replicate meat were terrible (the 'pork' buns were plain disgusting).

The service was fairly poor with bad descriptions (the mushroom dumplings did not seem to have any mushrooms in them at all and the waitress adamantly told us that the pork buns were pork!). Expensive compared to other yum cha and not really worth it.

Jun 13, 2010

5.5 Average

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  4     

Went to Ocean Room for a work dinner with a group of about 16 people. While the food was excellent, it was mainly the service that let this place down. Ambience is not great and I was not impressed with the funny bamboo type things hanging from the roof.

We had the tasting menu which I think had about 10 dishes. Stand out dishes included the anchovy with tomato sorbet, the miso marinated cod on ginger risotto (my favourite) and the pepper beef steak. Unfortunately, being pregnant meant that I couldn't try the dishes with raw seafood but others seemed impressed with oysters and the tuna cornets.

The desserts were passable but not very impressive (particular as it is a sharing plate and it can be hard to share one scoop of green tea ice cream between a few people).

The service was quite disappointing. Most of the individuals were polite enough but none seemed overly friendly or nice. The main problem though was how many different people served us, giving a lack of continuity. There was a non-seafood eating person at our table and the waiters were constantly confused about how they give the non-seafood dish to.

It was also disappointing that the staff gave little or no explanation of each dish. Sometimes we would get minor commentary like 'oysters' or 'cod' and sometimes dishes would just be put down in front of us with no description. Given that it was a tasting menu, some useful description is always handy.

It also seemed like a really long time between dishes. It took about 3.5 hrs from the first dish to the last and it was even longer until coffee was offered, making it a long night.

Jun 04, 2010

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  7     

We went here for a birthday lunch and were very impressed. Excellent location for lunch with a lovely view across Narrabeen Lake (probably not so great once the sun has gone down).

The food was delicious with simple flavours that were done well. We were particularly impressed with the scallop and pork belly entree and the toblerone pate dessert. Service was ok, some of the waitstaff were excellent and very knowledgeable about the food but others (eg the woman who brought the drinks out) were a bit abrupt.

They have a few decent set menus, including an excellent value $28.50 two course menu which has the desserts from the main menu but which has less fancy mains.

May 10, 2010

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  7      Value  6     

Have dined here on two occasions and found it to be an ok suburban Italian restaurant but nothing spectacular. The flatbread starter (with pesto, ricotta and olive tapenade) was sensational the first time we went but was literally a different dish the second time (different pesto, different bread).

Servings are very generous an entree sized pasta/risotto is decent sized for a main. The veal marsala was very nice and the gnocchi and the spinach and ricotta crepes are also very good. The Roman feast for two was nothing spectacular (but was impressed that it did come with a good serving of vegetables).

Service is ok but nothing to write home about and the place definitely lacks ambience. BYO is a plus.

Apr 23, 2010

7 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  3     

This place does amazing burgers. Apparently the reference to milk in the title has something to do with soaking the beef in milk before they make the burgers.

They do beef burgers, chicken burgers and even a whole lot of vegetarian options (like tofu, haloumi and mushroom). They have lots of options for each type of burger too, I think there were at least 6 different chicken burgers and 10 beef burgers.

We tried the blue cheese beef burger (with yummy tomato relish) and the burger with the lot (including bacon (which was almost caramelised), onions, egg, pineapple etc). Both were delicious, as were the big fat chips which were sprinkled with rosemary, thyme and salt and served with more yummy tomato relish.

It's only a small place with limited seating inside and then some big tables out on the sidewalk. It was so busy that we opted for takeaway and ate on the grass across the road. Really the only downside is the cost. At up to $13.50 for a burger, it's fairly expensive for takeaway.

Apr 07, 2010

6.5 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  5      Service  8      Value  4     

Got the take away menu a month or so ago and, after seeing dishes like cinnamon duck and braised pork belly, have being dying to try it. Finally had the chance to order home delivery and was quite impressed.

After quoting 35 minutes for delivery, the delivery guy was knocking at the door in about 20 minutes (which I was particularly impressed with given that another nearby Thai restaurant regularly quotes 50 minutes only to leave you waiting for at least an hour).

It was great that the menu had a mix of the more standard Thai dishes (like green curry, pad thai etc) but also has some more unique dishes. We loved the tofu and vegies with peanut sauce (they are not stingy with the sauce like so many other places) and the heavenly ribs. The cinnamon duck was delicious and the beef massaman was one of the best I've had for a long time (the beef was cooked perfectly, amazingly tender and just about falling apart).

The only downside would have to be the price of some of the more interesting dishes, $20 for the ribs and $24 for the duck was a bit overpriced considering the portion sizes. Will definitely go back to try some of the other special dishes.

Mar 29, 2010

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

Great beers, ok food but lacking in ambience. This place has a really good selection of European beers, including some of my favourite Belgian beers. The food is ok but nothing special. The slow cooked duck was a bit dried out. The tasting plate (with duck, pork belly and schnitzel) seemed to be the best bet. Generally not a bad place but it's a pity that the atmosphere isn't more lively.

Nov 27, 2009