tommyckm

Reviews

Restaurants, Thai, Vegetarian, Hip and Trendy, Banquet

Overall 7.1 255

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 6

We went here for a dinner on Sunday night about 6 pm and to our surprise it was quite quiet but it took less than an hour for the place to almost fill up.

Back to the order. Three of us ordered a cocktail each (interesting but the thai-style martini is a little too strong), the infamous eggnet dish, river trout with red curry paste in banana leave and a twice-cooked lamb shoulder stir fried with red curry paste (love the fried basil that served with this dish).

The eggnet dish came with so many ingredients, of which the crunchiness of bean sprout/nuts, the succulent prawns and the saltiness of the pork mince combined really well with the sauce. It is an absolutely superb appertiser. The twice-cooked lamb shoulder was so tender with a thin layer of fat that melt in our mouth. A little spicy but what a fantastic dish. Lastly, the river trout cooked in banana leaf was up the notch too.

Overall, this fusion-thai dining experience is exceptionally good but at a fairly high price tag. We ended up paying close to $200 for the three of us. Nevertheless, this does not stop me from coming back to try out other dishes.

Aug 17, 2009

Ginger & Spice, Neutral Bay

Restaurants, Malaysian, BYO, Licensed, Serves Dinner

Overall 7.5 125

7.5 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

We came here on a Saturday night without booking and were lucky to get a small table at an obscured corner. We had Singapore chili prawns, beef rendang, otak-otak and steam rice to share.

Beef rendang was very good indeed. The meat was tender and the consistencty of the rendang sauce was thick and rich in flavour (very close to how an authentic rendang should taste like). The otak-otak, which is a well-known South East Asian fish dish wrapped in banana leaves, was impeccable. Although spicy, it was very addictive to go with rice.

We were a little disappointed with the prawn dish as it was nowhere near what we would expect from Singapore chili prawns, which meant to be resembled the same sauce as chili crab. We find it too tomato-ish.

Undoubtedly this place is serving some decently good South-East Asian dishes but at a reasonably high price tag. If you deem quality prevails over price-sensitivity in food, you may want to try this out.

Aug 17, 2009

Restaurant Atelier, Glebe

Restaurants, European, French, Fine Dining, Good For Groups

Overall 7.6 124

7.5 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 9

We were attracted by Atelier's mid-week special, 3-course for $59, and so we went to there on thur night for dinner. I've ordered Marron tail for starter. The marron tail was cooked to perfection and it came with foie gras mousse and pea and ham ice-cream. That pea and ham ice-cream was unique and refreshing but the foie gras mousse was quite bland.

I had wagyu short rib for mains with additional truffle (special of the day to add fresh Burgundy black truffle on any dish at a surcharge of $15) on top. Meat was tender and the sauce (except the parsnip puree) went well with it. I was a little disappointed with the truffle as it didn't have the strong truffle fragrance and yet lack in flavour. I reckon my tiny bottle of truffle-infused olive oil would taste much better than that.

My partner had chicken liver parfait for starter and cocoa-roasted venison for mains. Both were good but not exceptional. Despite the not-so-satisfactory comments, the desserts were spot on. The soft-centred souffle and the tonka bean creme brulee were the highlights of the night.

Price wise, the mid-week offer is quite reasonable, plus we got a light appertiser and a pre-dessert (nice combination of caramelised pineapple served with coconut cream froth) for free. In fact, the 7-course degustation menu at $80 is also good value for money as the portion for each course almost equals to the normal 3-course orders.

Aug 13, 2009

Atomic Espresso, Neutral Bay

Cafes

Overall 8 9

7.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 7

We came here for brunch on saturday. This is a tiny little japanese cafe. We pre-ordered a couple of katsusando (crumbed pork fillet sandwich) and also ordered an additional chili crab pasta.

Although the katsusando was cold (we came almost an hour late), the pork fillet was really delicious, juicy inside and crunchy outside. The mustard sauce all over the pork fillet went so well with the pork. The best part is, the pork is much thicker than the bread that sandwiched it.

The pasta was good too. Al dente fettucine with crab meat, chili pieces, diced tomatoes and baby spinach. Subtle yet made you wanna go for more. We will definitely come back for other stuff. Now I found myself a place for takeaway lunch during weekdays.

Aug 09, 2009

Toko, Surry Hills

Restaurants, Japanese, Degustation Menu, Has Bar, Licensed

Overall 7 192

6.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 5 Service 7 Value 7

We went here for dinner on Friday night and we were lucky to be seated before it got busier. Food was reasonably good.

For entree, we had the wild snapper with truffle oil and pork cracking (very small/fine pieces on top of each slice of raw snapper which could easily be ignored). It was OK but not great. For sushi, we had the spider maki of which the dried seaweed was replaced with very thin slice of radish. The softshell crab filling was still crunchy and the radish balanced the oiliness quite well. The last entree was Nasu Dengaku (miso eggplant) that was a tad too sweet.

Come to the mains, we had assorted tempura, braised wagyu cheek and roasted mini chicken marinated with miso. The beef cheek and the mini chicken were exceptionally good. We didn't order dessert as we didn't find any of those on the menu interesting.

Overall, this place serves reasonably good jap food but ambience wise it could be very lousy and not to my liking. On top of that, the communal style canteen table can be a little cramp as the restaurant gets busier. Despite that, I will still return for its food.

Jul 25, 2009

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Displaying: 1 - 10 of 23 reviews

Longrain Restaurant & Bar, Surry Hills

Restaurants, Thai, Vegetarian, Hip and Trendy, Banquet

Overall 7.1 255

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 6

Aug 17, 2009

Ginger & Spice, Neutral Bay

Restaurants, Malaysian, BYO, Licensed, Serves Dinner

Overall 7.5 125

7.5 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

Aug 17, 2009

Restaurant Atelier, Glebe

Restaurants, European, French, Fine Dining, Good For Groups

Overall 7.6 124

7.5 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 9

Aug 13, 2009

Atomic Espresso, Neutral Bay

Cafes

Overall 8 9

7.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 7

Aug 09, 2009

Toko, Surry Hills

Restaurants, Japanese, Degustation Menu, Has Bar, Licensed

Overall 7 192

6.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 5 Service 7 Value 7

Jul 25, 2009

Makoto Sushi Bar, Sydney

Restaurants, Japanese, Sushi, Serves Dinner, Serves Lunch

Overall 6.9 128

8 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 8

This is one of the best sushi train/bar in Sydney thus far. Expect to queue, otherwise try to arrive early. There is very few (perhaps no) sushi train/bar in Sydney that serves tuna belly (toro). Absolutely love the quality of toro and they are priced reasonably at $5.6 for two chu-toro nigiri and $3.6 for one oo-toro nigiri.

Other highlights are the torched scallop, torched salmon belly and unagi (eel), thanks to their smoky (kabayaki) sauce that is well-balanced and not overly sweet.
We ended our dinner with a serve of greentea creme brulee with red bean paste hidden in the midst. Two thumbs up!

Jul 13, 2009

Rhodes Phoenix, Rhodes

Restaurants, Chinese, Yum Cha, Citibank Dining Program, Has Bar

Overall 6.3 147

7.3 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 6 Value 8

This is one of our favourite, reasonably priced yum-cha place but not necessarily the best in Sydney. You can certainly get all the typical dim sum varieties here (pretty good prawn dumplings, chicken feets and mango pudding) but the service could be a little chaos if you come in during peak time. Also, expect to queue for 30mins to 1hr during lunch on saturday/sunday/long weekend. Otherwise, come earlier (before 11am) for brunch instead and expect a sea of vacant seats.

Jun 26, 2009

Tetsuya's, Sydney

Restaurants, French, Japanese, Modern Australian, Fine Dining

Overall 8.1 520

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 10 Value 8

We went here a couple of weeks ago for lunch. The service was excellent. Food wise, some dishes were quite remarkable and well-balanced in terms of flavour, particularly the leek and crab custard and the raw crystal bay prawns, but a few others did not meet our expectation. I found that the barramundi fillet and the signature dish (confit of ocean trout) were not quite on par with the expectation of a three chefs' hats restaurant.

When we smelt the trout, it kind of resemble the odour of MSG (strong kick of saltiness that you usually find in the MSG/flavouring powder of some typical asian instant noodle) for some weird reason. Not sure if I would come back again in the immediate near future as there are other one/two/three chefs' hats restaurants awaiting our visit. But if one is planning for a special occasion, this could be one good option.

Jun 26, 2009

Umi Kaiten Zushi, Sydney

Restaurants, Japanese, Hip and Trendy, BYO, Child Friendly

Overall 7.1 94

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

6 Average

Food 5 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 5

This place has better ambience than most sushi train/bar due to the large aquarium in the centre of the shop visible when walking past the shopfront. However, the quality of sushi and value for money do not match up accordingly.

My partner and I dined here once a couple of years ago and once just recently, we were both disappointed again. Limited options and variety of sushi, it kind of feel like "trying too hard" with some of their fusion style sushi which didn't quite live to expectation.

Jun 08, 2009

Latteccino, Concord West

Restaurants, Italian, Has Cafe, Restaurant Bookings

Overall 6.8 45

7.3 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

This is a small cafe in a hidden lane near Concord West (close to the train station for those who knows where it is).

Although the food took a little longer than usual to arrive (even when the cafe is not full), their coffee was nice, big breakfast was generous in portion and the homemade baked beans made it quite distinctive from other ordinary big breakfast that you will get from other cafe which serves brekkie.

Ambience wise, it looks fairly new and clean but I was a little annoyed with the sliding door which was not designed to close appropriately if the door is not positioned at the absolute middle. This allows cold wind to keep blowing into the cafe during chilly weather when patrons coming in-and-out.

Their gelato looked very tempting but we left with no room due to the generous serving of breakfast. This gives us a reason to return next time to try their gelato.

Jun 08, 2009