snowska

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  7     

Delicious, fresh and exotic Thai! We ordered 2 entrees, 3 mains and 1 dessert between 3 people and were delighted with every dish! The crisp rice stick was an original and tasty take on the traditional spring roll, so crisp and filled with sweet, perfectly cooked prawn! The crab claws were also very yummy. The beef massaman curry was flavoursome and tender and the Thai stir fry was packed with lovely fresh vegetables!

The real winner though was the mussel pancake (on Chef's suggestions). It had out-of-the-world crunch, flavour and texture! The bean shoots were so tasty, the mussels plump juicy and the crispy bits of fried pancake were to die for! Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, out came dessert: black sticky rice with homemade coconut ice cream.

This was by far the best dessert I have ever had at a Thai restaurant. The rice was warm, fragrant and comforting and the coconut ice cream was sweet and refreshing, packed with chunks of caramelised coconut. Wow wow wow.

Top that off with tantalising Thai drinks, charming decor and the lovely owners who served us and you get an 11/10 experience. I loved just about everything about Lime Spices. We will definitely be going back!

Apr 17, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

Delicious food, fantastic service and charming decor! Many thanks to the kind staff who really went out of their way to make us feel welcome, constantly clearing away empty plates, and offering us fresh napkins to dry ourselves off with and a jug of warm water (instead of cold) when we arrived, freezing and dripping wet from the rain outside.

We got both the miso and the seaweed and fish broth for the shabu shabu, and enjoyed them immensely, especially the seaweed and fish broth. The portions were generous, fresh and high in quality. The fried chicken-stuffed rolls were done to perfection (juicy on the inside and crisp on the outside), as was the jellyfish entree. We also got the three-cup chicken bento box. The sauce for the chicken was absolutely spot on.

The pearl milk tea was the perfect accompaniment to our meal, and my brother and I loved the fact that they were served in 0.5L milk bottles. Very cute and very satisfying! The desserts were also really yummy. We got the strawberry pannacotta and the mango sago pudding.

We went using a voucher, so value was definitely not an issue for us, but even without it we wouldn't really have complained. Highly recommended!

Dec 06, 2011

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  7     

What a beautiful place! The owner was incredibly gracious and friendly, the young man who served us was friendly and efficient and the cocktails were great. There was a slight hiccup with our food to start, and the staff and owner handled it with true professionalism -- they apologised profusely and repeatedly offered us drinks on the house. Absolute stars in service!

For starters, we shared an antipasto platter. It was very tasty and everything was beautifully presented on a wooden board. There was prosciutto, goats cheese fetta (YUM), smoked eggplant dip (mm...), crisp herb bread, sun-dried tomato and a slice of melt-in-your-mouth bocconcini (wow) and a rocket salad with a fantastic balsamic dressing.

For mains, I had the Classic Grilled Salmon Salad. The salmon was done perfectly! Soft, tender and juicy on the inside with a crisp skin on top. The portion size of the salmon was a little on the small size (seeing as it was around the $24 mark), but the orange and almond salad was incredibly generous, and I was more than satisfied at the end. My partner had the Three Mushroom Ravioli and this too was cooked to perfection: al dente packages of rich, aromatic mushroom in a smooth, creamy ricotta sauce.

The desserts were also very nice -- a rhubarb and apple crumble with vanilla ice cream and a ricotta panacotta (almost as fun to eat as it is to say!) in an espresso sauce. The decor was lovely, service outstanding and the food cooked to absolute perfection. Highly recommended!

Sep 30, 2011

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

Interesting decor, tasty food and good service. Props to the waitresses for being so attentive and helpful!

My boyfriend and I went using a voucher, so value was pretty much unbeatable, but even without a voucher it would've been worth it. The food is tapas-style, but the "Big" tapas are about the size of a regular main, so you needn't worry about going hungry.

In terms of price, the "Smalls" range from $6-$12, and the "Bigs" from $16-$20. We were told that generally the rule was: 2 smalls per person or 1 big. We were hungry, though so we went for 3 bigs. We got a sangria chicken with a carrot and red cabbage salad (very tasty!), a seafood paella for one (the mussels were soft and plump and the seafood quite fresh, but the overall flavour was a bit bland) and pork meatballs (a nice smokey flavour and a rich tomato-based sauce).

A nice place. I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area!

Sep 24, 2011

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  6     

From the bicycle parked outside to the cobblestone floors to the charming red banners and the surly, lemon-faced waitresses taking our order, this place has really taken upon itself to bring a slice (or should I say wedge?) of China to Chatswood Chase Food Court.

The food was great, their xiao long bao are topped up with steaming broth, their vegetables fresh and tasty, the Peking style beef strips are chopstick-lickingly good and the pan-fried dumplings big and hearty. The xiao long bao are not quite as good as you'd get at somewhere else but for the price, we couldn't really complain.

What my family and I did take issue with was the service. It ranges from surly to non-existent, with a dollop of bored indifference to go. I get that the place is busy, but that's no excuse to treat your customers like second-rate citizens. Incompetent is the best you can hope for here. The first time we went, it was ok, the food was nice enough to make up for the service.

The second time we went, however, we were seated at a dirty table (which our waitress refused to clean), pointedly ignored when we tried to make requests, and served lukewarm food. A terrible shame, since the ambience is otherwise very nice, cute tables, quirky cobblestone floors and charming banners.

Beautiful decor, tasty food and revolting service. A shame, really.

Sep 24, 2011

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  7     

Delicious, fresh and exotic Thai! We ordered 2 entrees, 3 mains and 1 dessert between 3 people and were delighted with every dish! The crisp rice stick was an original and tasty take on the traditional spring roll, so crisp and filled with sweet, perfectly cooked prawn! The crab claws were also very yummy. The beef massaman curry was flavoursome and tender and the Thai stir fry was packed with lovely fresh vegetables!

The real winner though was the mussel pancake (on Chef's suggestions). It had out-of-the-world crunch, flavour and texture! The bean shoots were so tasty, the mussels plump juicy and the crispy bits of fried pancake were to die for! Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, out came dessert: black sticky rice with homemade coconut ice cream.

This was by far the best dessert I have ever had at a Thai restaurant. The rice was warm, fragrant and comforting and the coconut ice cream was sweet and refreshing, packed with chunks of caramelised coconut. Wow wow wow.

Top that off with tantalising Thai drinks, charming decor and the lovely owners who served us and you get an 11/10 experience. I loved just about everything about Lime Spices. We will definitely be going back!

Apr 17, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

Delicious food, fantastic service and charming decor! Many thanks to the kind staff who really went out of their way to make us feel welcome, constantly clearing away empty plates, and offering us fresh napkins to dry ourselves off with and a jug of warm water (instead of cold) when we arrived, freezing and dripping wet from the rain outside.

We got both the miso and the seaweed and fish broth for the shabu shabu, and enjoyed them immensely, especially the seaweed and fish broth. The portions were generous, fresh and high in quality. The fried chicken-stuffed rolls were done to perfection (juicy on the inside and crisp on the outside), as was the jellyfish entree. We also got the three-cup chicken bento box. The sauce for the chicken was absolutely spot on.

The pearl milk tea was the perfect accompaniment to our meal, and my brother and I loved the fact that they were served in 0.5L milk bottles. Very cute and very satisfying! The desserts were also really yummy. We got the strawberry pannacotta and the mango sago pudding.

We went using a voucher, so value was definitely not an issue for us, but even without it we wouldn't really have complained. Highly recommended!

Dec 06, 2011

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  7     

What a beautiful place! The owner was incredibly gracious and friendly, the young man who served us was friendly and efficient and the cocktails were great. There was a slight hiccup with our food to start, and the staff and owner handled it with true professionalism -- they apologised profusely and repeatedly offered us drinks on the house. Absolute stars in service!

For starters, we shared an antipasto platter. It was very tasty and everything was beautifully presented on a wooden board. There was prosciutto, goats cheese fetta (YUM), smoked eggplant dip (mm...), crisp herb bread, sun-dried tomato and a slice of melt-in-your-mouth bocconcini (wow) and a rocket salad with a fantastic balsamic dressing.

For mains, I had the Classic Grilled Salmon Salad. The salmon was done perfectly! Soft, tender and juicy on the inside with a crisp skin on top. The portion size of the salmon was a little on the small size (seeing as it was around the $24 mark), but the orange and almond salad was incredibly generous, and I was more than satisfied at the end. My partner had the Three Mushroom Ravioli and this too was cooked to perfection: al dente packages of rich, aromatic mushroom in a smooth, creamy ricotta sauce.

The desserts were also very nice -- a rhubarb and apple crumble with vanilla ice cream and a ricotta panacotta (almost as fun to eat as it is to say!) in an espresso sauce. The decor was lovely, service outstanding and the food cooked to absolute perfection. Highly recommended!

Sep 30, 2011

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

Interesting decor, tasty food and good service. Props to the waitresses for being so attentive and helpful!

My boyfriend and I went using a voucher, so value was pretty much unbeatable, but even without a voucher it would've been worth it. The food is tapas-style, but the "Big" tapas are about the size of a regular main, so you needn't worry about going hungry.

In terms of price, the "Smalls" range from $6-$12, and the "Bigs" from $16-$20. We were told that generally the rule was: 2 smalls per person or 1 big. We were hungry, though so we went for 3 bigs. We got a sangria chicken with a carrot and red cabbage salad (very tasty!), a seafood paella for one (the mussels were soft and plump and the seafood quite fresh, but the overall flavour was a bit bland) and pork meatballs (a nice smokey flavour and a rich tomato-based sauce).

A nice place. I'd definitely recommend it if you're in the area!

Sep 24, 2011

5.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  6     

From the bicycle parked outside to the cobblestone floors to the charming red banners and the surly, lemon-faced waitresses taking our order, this place has really taken upon itself to bring a slice (or should I say wedge?) of China to Chatswood Chase Food Court.

The food was great, their xiao long bao are topped up with steaming broth, their vegetables fresh and tasty, the Peking style beef strips are chopstick-lickingly good and the pan-fried dumplings big and hearty. The xiao long bao are not quite as good as you'd get at somewhere else but for the price, we couldn't really complain.

What my family and I did take issue with was the service. It ranges from surly to non-existent, with a dollop of bored indifference to go. I get that the place is busy, but that's no excuse to treat your customers like second-rate citizens. Incompetent is the best you can hope for here. The first time we went, it was ok, the food was nice enough to make up for the service.

The second time we went, however, we were seated at a dirty table (which our waitress refused to clean), pointedly ignored when we tried to make requests, and served lukewarm food. A terrible shame, since the ambience is otherwise very nice, cute tables, quirky cobblestone floors and charming banners.

Beautiful decor, tasty food and revolting service. A shame, really.

Sep 24, 2011

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  8     

Had dinner here tonight with my mum and the place was Packed, which is always a good sign for a restaurant. We ordered the Bimbimbap and a Seafood Chilli soup. The complementary entrees were great, the potatoes were the best (tender, creamy cubes of potato in a sweet oil) although the fried tofu triangles with chilli and sesame were also delicious. It was especially good that we had the entrees because the mains took a very long time to arrive (we waited for over half an hour), which is surprising at a little place like this. Then again, it was very busy.

My Bimbimbap was alright but it was by no means the best I've had at a Korean restaurant. The vegetables were raw and unmarinated, and there was only a smattering of meat to go with it. More oil = more flavour, so I guess if you're looking for something light on the hips, this'll be right up your alley. Or corridor. Or some other gaunt and narrow space. Even with the addition of the bean sauce, it was pretty bland.

On the upside, the bowl was Very Very Hot so the rice did get nice and crispy, this is a place that takes authentic to the same level it's always been for 1000 years. Which is a good thing. My mother's seafood broth was the clear winner of the night, flavoursome, rich and hearty.

Service was abrupt but efficient. Come here for tasty cheap eats!

Sep 01, 2011

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  8     

The food here was excellent. We started off with a Caprese Salad and Seared Duck Rillettes with Blood Orange Jelly and Sourdough Crisps. The salad was very fresh, with a nice drizzle of balsamic and loads of lovely tomatoes and nice big chunks of mozzarella. The duck on the other hand was a little too salty in my opinion, but when paired with the blood orange jelly was not too bad.

Far better was the 300g grain-fed steak! It was presented nicely on a wooden board, already sliced up, and in all honesty this was one of the best cooked steaks I've had in Sydney. The hand cut chips were fantastic, the salad again delightfully fresh but the real winner on the plate somehow was the sauce! Perfect. Not too salty, not remotely sweet (like those horrible sludge pastes that you get out of the tube), and robust enough to take its place proudly next to that magnificent hunk of meat in front of me.

The steak, I mean. Just perfect. A match made in food heaven. My dining partner ordered the pork belly and this too was exquisite: tender, fall-apart-in-your mouth pieces of pork belly, cradled by mouth-watering slivers of fat and capped off with crisp crackling. Now granted, I've had better crackling elsewhere, but the pork itself, impeccable.

And last but certainly not least, the dessert: Honey Parfait with Cherry Compote atop Pistachio Biscotti and capped off with a devilishly dark chocolate swirl. This dish changed my life. I dreamed about it last night. I feel happier, calmer, more content, having tried it. It was in a word: phenomenal. The first bite opened a portal to Zen. The second brought me soaring through the skies, passing by silver-lined clouds, with rainbows exploding all around me in a euphoric symphony of colour, sights and sounds.

More specifically, the parfait was not too sweet, the cherries were plump and juicy and oh-so-perfectly tart yet sweet, the biscotti was crisp and perfect for soaking up all that creamy glory oozing out from the parfait, melting gently in the heat of my open-mouthed desire and melding with the juices of the cherries.

I love my desserts like nothing else and this made me just so darn Happy.

Just a quick note to finish, the decor is great. Quirky, slick and charming. The waiters were highly attentive and very professional. This is a real diamond of a place, so come one come all, even if it's just for the honey parfait.

Aug 31, 2011

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

Yum! My family and I have been twice now and loved it both times! The salads are delicious and fresh (the Caesar is a must-try!), the portions fairly generous and the pizzas are superb! The GPB (with bacon, mince and other yummy meats) was a winner, although the chicken and prawn was also great (the prawns were so fresh and crisp!). I haven't tried any of the mains, but with pizzas so good I wouldn't bother anyway.

As for drinks: they've got a nice choice of wines if you're looking for that extra polish to your meal (e.g. a date night) or a super rich iced chocolate (which almost got the better of my normally ravenous brother!) for the kids.

Service was highly efficient, very courteous and professional! Despite it being a busy night the second time we went, the waitress made sure that our water was always topped up and what's more always had a lovely smile on her face! It's so refreshing to go to a place where the wait-staff make you feel truly welcome! Great work, guys!

The only downside to this place is their gelati, I found the fruit flavours to be a little on the sickly sweet side (although I guess some people like it that way). But if you're lucky enough to go on a night when they've got chocolate, Go for gold. It's smooth, rich and powerful, like a frozen confectionary version of George Clooney, without being too overpowering. And even if it is, you'd probably like it.

The naked women on the walls are a little disconcerting but with such great food and service, it's a forgivable crime. A local gem!

Aug 26, 2011

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

I dined here on a Sunday night and found the service impeccable! it was a really busy night, but the waitresses were never far, constantly clearing empty plates, providing us with clean plates to put the bones from the meat on, bringing more water and offering us more sides.

The sides were tasty, my cousin went crazy for the black beans, and my dad and I both loved the fresh salad and the salsa and the meat was spot-on! from chicken thighs to garlic beef and more, they had it all. This really was an "All You Can Eat" experience as opposed to an "all they are willing/able to serve" (which seems to be a real danger at these sorts of places). Chicken hearts, pork neck, mushrooms and lamb... the list goes on.

The garlic bread on a skewer was a very cute idea, too! (although you are probably better off leaving stomach room for the amazing array of meats!) again, props to the servers for being so attentive, five stars for being such an efficient, helpful and friendly team!

My table used Spreets vouchers, so we were all pretty thrilled with the value, but even at $39.50 we wouldn't have felt too hard done by. All up, highly recommended!

Aug 21, 2011