Miho Japanese Cakes

Taste

I used to love paper wrapped cake ($1) as a child. This one was very dry, but still had that light taste that I enjoy. Maybe I didn’t know better when I was young, but I think I would only buy this one for nostalgic purposes only, as I now prefer my cakes moist.

Rating - 4

Look

It is the obligatory yellow with a browned top, wrapped in paper that you peel away from the sides.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

You can get this cheaper in Chinatown, but $1 is still a good price for a snack.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 6

Available At

139 Church St
Parramatta
NSW
Phone (02) 9891 3391

Jindi Brie

Taste

Jindi brie is one of my all time favourite cheese. It’s quite surprising because I am certainly not a fan of their camembert, but their brie on the other hand, is a beautiful combination of creaminess and saltiness. The awards it has won include World Champion 2004, 2002, 1996.

Rating - 8.5

Look

In the gold colour foil wrap, with all the medals it has won printed on it. The creamy colour cheese absolutely oozes out of its white mould.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

210g for $6.99, worth it.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 12

Ingredients

pasteurised cows milk, salt, starter cultures, non-animal rennet

Available At

Harris Farm Market
Website

House of Anvers Chocolate

Taste

I picked up these goodies on a recent trip to Tassie.

Truffles:
• Rum-Raisin - alcoholic enough for my taste
• hazelnut mousse - smooth
• Ganache - This was MEGA yum, a fine mixture of cream and chocolate, simplicity at its best.
• strawberry - not too sweet but with distinct taste of strawberry
• mocha - with dark chocolate and smooth creme
• orange - a strong orange taste and matches very well with the dark chocolate

Fudge:
• mocha - sweet coffee taste but still retaining the chocolate smoothness

Chocolate:
• Dark Orange - dark chocolate so totally yum!
• Macadamia - not that much macadamia flavour but yummy nevertheless
• Praline - yum!!
• Mouse - dark chocolate Turkish delight. Very nice and not too sweet.

Rating - 7.5

Look

You can buy them pre-packaged but we chose from the display. It was all put in a little carry box and tied with your choice of colour ribbons.

Rating - 2

C-factor

Truffles were $0.70, Fudge $0.80, chocolate $0.90. Mega cheap for good quality handmade chocolate. At the factory shop, you can even buy broken pieces or 1kg truffles at a discount…not to mention all the taste testing.

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

House of Anvers
9025 Bass Hwy
Latrobe
TAS 7307
Phone (03) 6426 2703
Website

Uncle Tobys Plus Protein Mix

Taste

Overly sweet and mushy. I wasn’t keen on this at all. The fruit didn’t compliment the cereal, and there were just too many things going on here.

Rating - 2

Look

Like most of the Uncle Tobys range, this looked healthy and family oriented, with an easy to pour box.

Rating - 2

C-factor

I got this as a 35g trial pack. I don’t think I will be buying the full size anytime.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 5

Ingredients

corn, whole wheat, dried fruit (paw paw fruit pieces, pineapple fruit pieces, apple), sugar, wheat protein maize flour, rice flour, malt extract brown sugar, pear juice concentrate, salt, minerals, emulsifier, preservative, vitamin, natural flavour

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

The Victoria Room

The Victoria Room is probably the leader in high tea service in Sydney. Indeed, you have to book several weeks in advance to secure a seat. After my fun at The Loft, I was keen to try this out.

Food

The platter is divided into 3 tiers.

Top Tier - Afternoon Tea Sandwiches

The sandwiches here were so soft, and were a lot better tasting than The Loft, but there were much more savoury varieties

• Chicken & Wild Herbs - had the softest bread, with soft chicken and herbs
• Cucumber, Crème Fraiche & Dill - I love this one a lot. The cucumber were in very fine shivers, paired with some very fresh crème fraiche, which was enhanced by the dill
• Smoked Salmon w/ fresh Rocket, Lemon, Capers - I didn’t try this one, but apparently it was good
• Watercress, Celery & Goats Curd - I love goats cheese and this one was tangy and crunchy

Bottom Tier - Scones & Conserve

yup, I started here before the sweets, as I wanted my scones still warm. Unfortunately it wasn’t very warm, but they were still delicious!

• Date & Plain Scones served with Triple Berry Conserve & Chantilly Cream - I tried a date one. The date made it super sweet, but the texture was so light, and the cream so scrumptious, I ate the whole thing anyway.

Middle Tier - Assorted Sweeties

By the time I got to here, I was pretty full, but I had to keep going…, it was times like these where I actually wish for the fruit they serve at The Loft

• Mini Florentine - I am not really a big fan of these, but they use pretty good quality chocolate.
• Sticky Date Pudding - I had to get rid of some of the caramel icing, but the little date cake was again, very soft and moist.
• Vanilla Bean Cup Cake topped with Pink Icing & Confetti - this looked so fabulous, and was extremely buttery but still light. I wasn’t a fan of the icing though
• Passionfruit Yo-Yo - I love yo-yos, and I wasn’t disappointed with these…if only they weren’t so dainty!

And for tea, I thought this time I would go for a classic style, so chose the Queen Mary - a blend of Darjeeling & Ceylon teas, having a light amber colour and brisk aromatic flavour.. This tasted very much like your teabag tea in flavour, but was a bit more delicate.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

True to form, the room was very opulent…well, what you can see of it anyway. You walk through these industrial doors, up a flight of stairs, to arrive in a room lit by candlelight and lampshades only. We were seated in the corner, so we got some privacy. There are comfy leather and suede couches, beautifully upholstered chairs, mirrors…etc. The wallpaper were luxe green and red, with gold threaded throughout.

There were lots of girl groups, dressed up to their finest, and some token guys as well. It was quite loud, the chatter filling up the space.

Rating - 3

Service

Well, the waiters look like they were 15, and didn’t look like they had much experience either. They wouldn’t let us order until everyone got there, and actually asked everyone before they gave us water. When they delivered the drinks, they got everyone’s name wrong and were totally confused. They weren’t very quick in clearing our trays away to make more room for other stuff. They didn’t fill up our teapots enough and didn’t provide enough milk. They had a LOT of problem trying to fit all our tea and trays and plates, all on the little table. I put it all down to lack of experience, they will probably get better with age.

Rating - 2

C-factor

It was $30 for the tea, $40 for the royal (with champagne), and 10% surcharge on public holidays. Also, if you come in a big group, it’s an extra $3 p.p. The prices are about the same as all around, a little bit steep for what you get, especially the lousy service, but the surrounding really is surreal.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 13

Info

Level 1, 235 Victoria St
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Phone (02) 9357 4488
Website

St James Hotel

I heard on the grapevine about the great value steaks here, so I did my duty and headed straight there for a roadtest.

Food

There’s your standard pub menu, as well as the All Day Specials. I ordered the 250gm Certified Angus Rump steak w/ mash & jus ($9.95). It came on a square plate with a little Angus flag on top. The steak was quite nice, with a very good charred taste. It was a little bit well cooked in the places where the steak was a bit thin, but for $9.95, I wouldn’t complain. It was very juicy, and the mash was divine, creamy and smooth, much nicer than even some of the expensive places.

I washed it all down with a Becks on tap. What more could you want? Well…maybe a salad…

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

The place has been fully refurbished. The street level consists of the main bar, with coloured liquor bottle lining the back wall, and plasma screens showing sport. The cream décor and cushion stools actually make it quite a change from the blokey places or the silvery “I’m too cool” places.

The downstairs bistro is more traditional. Hard timber chairs, a few pool tables, but everything is still very brand spanking new.

Perhaps reflective of the décor, there were quite a few normal looking women dining here, instead of the stick insects that frequent the shiny places, and some even came without the men!

Rating - 2

Service

Well, we were chatting so much, we actually forgot to pick up our drinks from the bar. It was an honest mistake, as we were given the buzzer after we’d been given our food that we forgot all about our drinks! The barmaid did mange to deliver it to us at the table, but boy she was cranky! Sorry, we weren’t trying to treat you as a waiter, we just forgot. Hey, we did give you a tip though!

The food is picked up downstairs at the bistro, where you can also help yourself to cutlery, sauces and mustards.

Rating - 3

C-factor

The food is quite generous. I was very full after going through my plate of mash. Superb value, even for a pub.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

114 Castlereagh Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9261 8277
Website

Galileo Restaurant

Old world charm, great food, impeccable service, I was looking forward to this meal, and, although the food certainly wasn’t as good as other One Hatters like Bistro CBD or Bistrode, the rest of the experience makes it one of the best nights out.

Food

You can go a-la carte, or opt for the whole experience, an 8 course or 12 course degustation. We decided, what the heck, we were paying heaps of money anyway, so went all out for the 12 course menu ($165):

• Egg Cocotte and Tasmanian Pacific Oyster with 12-year-old White Balsamic Vinegar - this was presented spectacularly. The egg was still runny, and the oyster was very fresh. The balsamic wasn’t as good as the ones we tasted in Moderna, but nothing is.
• Bread rolls - there were heaps of choices, and were so good, just warmed out of the oven, that we had quite a few…the tomato was the standout from the variety of shallots and plain with grain mustard
• Scallop and Asparagus tart - this one was extravagant, but didn’t blow me away. The presentation was again first rate
• Terrine of Champagne with mushroom salad, Salmon Terrine - talk about presentation, this one even topped the others, presented in an upside down martini glass, you actually had to turn the glass around, and place it on the special glass plate before you eat it. This one was nice too, the mushroom had a deep flavour and the salmon lightly smoked
• Fish of the Day, jewfish with basil sauce and fried zucchini flower on vegetable risotto - it’s been awhile since I’ve had zucchini flower. This one was just light and delicate enough. The risotto was also night, but I think I prefer mine creamier. The jewfish was cooked beautifully, and is also a light eating fish.
• Principal Plat 1 - spatchcock in salt crust - was very dramatic. The waiter comes over with the salt crusted bird and cracks it open in front of you. They then take it away to be plated before bringing it back to you again. So, very exciting. I have to say though, the bird was quite tender and not too tough, so I guess the salt did do something afterall.
• Principal Plat 2 - medallion of beef with truffled mash, Dutch carrot - tender beef, creamy mash, ok carrot
• Dessert Degustation - we had coffee gelato (yum), yoghurt (very yum), orange and jelly (a bit sweet but intense!), creme with topping (can’t remember this one, so must not have been that memorable!), biscotti (light, crispy)
• Fromage - an assortment of Gippsland cheddar (quite strong), Italian pecorino (like the real stuff), VIC half goat and cow brie (very creamy and I’m sure fatty), Spanish blue (intense) accompanied by candied pear, walnut bread, grapes and biscuits
• Green tea, flat white I was way too full by this stage, so decided to end the evening with some fragrant and refreshing green tea, since they had no suggestion for anything else. Slokky’s flat white was ok but not that remarkable

So all in all, definitely an experience. The price is steep but then you do feel like you’re rich and privileged to dine there.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

This is what money buys you. Situated in the 5 star luxurious Observatory Hotel, the room shouts luxury and opulence. Gold and chocolate dominate. The tables have double starched white tablecloth, the chairs are luxe armchairs (great to look at, not so comfortable for eating), all the plates, stemware, cutlery are first rate. There are pics of old France around the room, and you can look out through the heavily curtained floor to ceiling windows to the footpath outside.

The clientele? Mostly hotel guests. I am disappointed that not many Sydneysiders get the opportunity to discover this world of luxury.

Rating - 2.5

Service

We were served by the charming Christophe, the sommelier. Later on we were served by 3 other waiters, who were all extremely polite and efficient. They were knowledgeable on the food, provided some humour, and were really glad to see us use the entertainment book. The only thing they can improve on was to fill our glasses more often.

Rating - 5

C-factor

Our 12-course degustation was priced at $165 p.p. But we used their special 15th Anniversary promotion. It's buy one get one free degustation, valid Monday to Thursday until 31st May, 2007. For the quality that we got, this is a bargain!

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 16

Info

The Observatory Hotel
89-113 Kent St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9256 2222
Website

Vinamit Mixed Fruit Chips

Taste

These are a nice change to normal chips, especially if you’d always wished for sweet chips. Although they are quite oily, they sure are addictive (and very crunchy). Each fruit flavour is quite different.

• banana - very much like the normal banana chip, except much sweeter
• jackfruit
- these are very sweet, but with a sour tang
• pineapple - super sweet with a strong pineapple taste
• yam - more like your normal French flies, but sweet
• taro - the least sweet of the lot, fried taro, yum!

Rating - 7

Look

Like most Asian snacks, this one is beautifully packaged. The fruit look very colourful, vibrant and inviting - no idea how much food colouring went into it though.

Rating - 2

C-factor

500g for 35600 VND. i.e. around $2.60 AUD. Well, it’s expensive for food from Vietnam but if you buy it in Aust it costs around $5.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

fruit (banana, jackfruit, pineapple, yam, taro), vegetable oil

Available At

Asian grocers

Sky Phoenix

It has been a little while since I’ve been to the grandmother of the Phoenix Group’s restaurant. My recent outing to the baby, Rhodes Phoenix was quite good, so I was very keen to compare this to the original.

Food

We didn’t have long to wait, and were seated in a little while. Before we knew it, our table was full with plates and steamers galore. This time I didn’t see as many varieties as before, I think we came too late for the first lot, and too early for the second, but among the many things we sampled, here are the good and the bad.

highlights:

• bbq pork rolls
• honey pork
• fried red bean dumpling

lowlights:

• noodles
• dumpling skins

The food has actually picked up since last time, but I was very disappointed with the dumplings today, as usually this is one of the things they do best, their skin was just not up to it so they probably changed pastry chef since I was here about a year ago.

Rating - 6

Atmosphere

The place was packed when we showed up, but we managed to grab a table. It was extremely noisy and you can’t even hear yourself talk!

In terms of clientele, mostly non Asians, business lunches and a few friends. This place is popular with Asian food lover who appreciates a bit of style and enjoys a drink or ten. This is the original on which all others are based, so feature wall, interesting lattice design, minimalist décor and mood lighting are the order of the day. I must say they’ve been very successful in that regard.

Rating - 2.5

Service

Usually Sky Phoenix has very good service so I have come to expect it by now. This time, a did get a few not very friendly trolley ladies, but nothing at all like Emperor’s Choice’s rudeness. They didn’t make a particular impression on me, which meant they did their job quietly but effectively.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

$20 p.p. We were pretty full but that’s because half our party didn’t eat much. Yes, you have to pay for style, but give me substance over style anyday.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 12

Info

Skygarden
Level 3
77 Castlereagh St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9223 8822
Website

Byron Bay Cookie Company Sticky Date & Ginger Cookies

Taste

This is a very hard call to make, especially since I love all the stuff from Byron Bay Cookie Company, but I think this is my absolute favourite of their range. Dates are one of my favourite fruit, and this cookie combined them with a caramelised based. But I think what pushed it just ahead is the ginger, which really really zings it up. I didn’t imagine this combination would work, but boy, was it good!

Rating - 9

Look

Beautiful. I’ve described their packaging too many times already.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

150g for $10.95. This is not too bad. Expensive, but worth it.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 12.5

Ingredients

dates (24%), rice starch, wheat flour, sugar, butter, glace ginger(13%), rolled
oats, walnuts(8%), eggs, maize cornflour, spices, flavouring, rising agent, salt

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

Byron Bay Cookie Company Breadstick

Taste

Another indulgence from my favourite biscuit company, Byron Bay Cookie Company. I picked up their Roast Garlic & Cracked Pepper Breadsticks made with organic spelt flour from the Gourmet Savoury Collection. As usual, it did not disappoint. The breadstick was light yet crunchy, with the (not overpowering) aroma of the garlic, combined with the zingy pepper, making it very addictive. Yes, I confess, I went through the whole pack in one sitting.

Rating - 8

Look

These would not look out of place in any designer home or kitchen. The box is beautifully designed and each breadstick look like it has been handmade.

Rating - 3

C-factor

200g for $21.95. As I always say, very exy but you have to pay for quality.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 11.5

Ingredients

organic white spelt flour, canola oil, garlic (2.7%), cracked black pepper (2%), organic sea salt, yeast, vegetable gym, sugar

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

Springs Smoked Mackerel Fillets

Taste

I was quite happy with this fish from Springs. The smoke flavour is a little heavy on the salt, but pleasant enough. The fish had a very oily skin that helped keep the fish moist. The flesh was of the firm variety, just the way I like it.

Rating - 6.5

Look

The colour is a beautiful coral, with a glistening skin. It comes in an easy peel back vacuum seel too.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

200g for $8.99 is actually not bad at all for smoked fish.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

European mackerel, salt, colouring, antural wood smoke

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Orizuru Sushi Bar

We’ve visited the Mures dock a few times before, and always watch people tucking away at their fresh seafood with glee. We had to choose between the seafood restaurant on the upper deck and the sushi bar, and decided to go sushi, as I’ve read some great reviews for the sushi bar, and you can taste the seafood best in its natural state. Boy was I disappointed. I think this can be included as one of the worst restaurants I’ve dined in in Tasmania.

Food

The menu consisted of the usual sushi offerings, nigiri, sashimi, hand rolls…etc, as well as some hot offerings and specials. We decided the best way to sample both sides of the menu was to get the:

• Soft Shell Crab Roll (4 pcs) ($11) – rolled sushi with deep fried crispy soft shell crab in large nori rolls - which, unfortunately, was the worst soft shell crab I’ve eaten. The crab was limpy, the serving was really small. The only thing it had going for it was the sauce, which helped it go down.
• Nigiri Special ($18.50) – common style and eight variety of nigiri, complimented by three pieces of maki - I was really looking forward to this, but I was so disappointed. The sushi looked horrible, all wrongly shaped, and they were being pretty stingy with the fish too. It was fresh enough, but the rice seemed like it wasn’t freshly prepared.

Everyone else seemed to have order a few plates each, but after those two lacklustre dishes, I decided that I would save myself for dessert somewhere else.

Rating - 4

Atmosphere

Well, it was quite busy when we came in, and actually had to wait before we could be seated. The place is quite small, and looks like your cliché sushi bar, all Japanese wall hangings and lacquer ware. The sushi bar was quite small actually, only allowing 2-3 people to sit there. Most of the people dining there were tourists, so I guess they don’t need to work hard on repeat business.

Rating - 1.5

Service

I have to give credit to the lone waiter. She was not very friendly at all, no smiles, all business, but at least she really means business. Her multi-tasking was first rate, as I watched her seat people, take orders, deliver food, clear dishes and settle the bill for everyone with great efficiency. Her work would probably take about 2-3 normal waiters to do. No wonder she has no time to smile, she doesn’t have enough time to breathe! I admire her greatly, and as far as I could tell, she didn’t make a single mistake!

Rating - 4

C-factor

Way too expensive for the small amount of food that we got. I won’t be back.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 9.5

Info

Victoria Dock
Hobart
TAS 7000
Phone (03) 6231 1790
Website

makan @ Alice’s

We’ve heard the raves from all around about Alice’s for a long time, so when we were out at Pennant Hills recently, it didn’t make any convincing to get us all there for lunch.

Food

One of our party was a regular, so he knew exactly what to order. Slokky had the chai tow kuih ($9.80) – homemade radish cake fried with chai poh, egg, sprouts and chives. Well, what appeared on the plate was just like hawker style food really. A mess of blackened and browned noodle like substance, lumped together by egg was presented. Good thing that it tasted a lot better than it looked. You can really taste the wok-fried taste but I found the flavours a bit too strong for my liking. He washed all this down with a very expensive ich tarik ($4). According to the Malaysian expert, this wasn’t made the correct way as the condensed milk did not take up half the glass. I found it pretty ordinary myself, the brew wasn’t even frothed up by being poured at a dazzling height.

As usual, I used the har mee ($9.80) – noodles in lightly spiced prawns soup with prawns, pork, kang kong and egg as my benchmark on how good the food is, and fortunately, Alice does not disappoint in this regard. A bowl of orange mixed Hokkien and rice noodles, with some floating prawns and pork, garnished with fried shallots & spicy sambal. The soup had a nice seafood flavour, and it was definitely hot enough. The egg and sambal were excellent. The only complaint would be the tiny amount of prawns and the quality of the prawns.

And around the table? People seem to enjoy the meal, except some couldn’t take the heat (which I took as a sign of a good Malay restaurant).

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

Casual affair, where you take a table number, place your order and eat. There were quite a few families and friends here from all nationalities, all enjoying their food. Quite a few of them looked very comfortable and were probably regulars.

Besides the vibrant front counter stacked with all manners of kuih (Malaysian cakes and desserts), and the letter from Maeve O'Mara from the Food Lovers' Guide to Australia, the rest of the room is pretty bare, with a side cabinet holding the utensils and menus the only thing disturbing the constants.

Rating - 1.5

Service

The waiters had excellent English and explained how the whole thing worked, from the seating to the ordering, that would be very useful for all first time visitors. They were able to advise on a few things on the menu too. All in all, a very smooth experience.

Rating - 4

C-factor

It’s a little bit more expensive than your takeaway, and certainly much more expensive than eating on the streets in Malaysia, but in Sydney, it’s priced correctly.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

Shop 3&4, Cnr Bellevue St and Pennant Hills Rd
Thornleigh
NSW 2120
Phone (02) 9484 8288
Website

Regal Restaurant

And so it begins, the wedding restaurant visit…

Food

Our purpose was 2 folds – firstly, to discuss the details of the wedding banquet and book, secondly to try out the dishes. There were some sesame walnut and salted cashew on the table, and I am telling you, they were addictive! They were a good thing too ‘cos the parents took forever to order.

Once we ordered though, the dishes arrived quite quickly. First off we tried a dish we would possibly have on the wedding banquet, steamed crab with egg whites and vermicelli. This was an excellent dish, the egg whites not overpowering the natural sweetness of the crabs but adding coating and infusing the flavour of the crab into the vermicelli.

We were still licking our fingers when the other dishes arrived. The oyster omelette ($26) had to be eaten quickly or the oyster will smell. But while it’s not, the omelette is heavenly, scented with that oyster aroma. The oysters themselves were big and meaty too.

The seasoned vegetables was probably a token gesture to get some vegetables in but were made well. The shan don chicken is one of the better ones on the market. The skin was nice and crispy and the meat had been browned due to the soy sauce.

I was pretty full by that stage, but dessert was still to come. First up, Chinese pastries (red bean paste and fried sesame balls), a bit oily but who can resist fried stuff, and fried sesame at that! Next was the red bean soup which arrived at the same time as our fruit platter of melon, oranges, watermelon, both of which were satisfactory but unremarkable.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

There was a big wedding on the day we were there, so the whole top floors had been taken up. In fact, it was a bit embarrassing as everyone walking into the restaurant can actually see you. Alas, I don’t get to do what I want at my own wedding anyway.

And so we were relegated to the dingy basement, where everything felt old and dirty, especially the toilets. The advantage of downstairs though is you get your own private room, even though the air con is absolutely freezing there.

Rating - 1

Service

Well, Slokky’s mum tried to sweet talk the guys into giving us a better deal with the wedding, but I don’t think she succeeded. The waiters were very professional and I quite like their services, they were able to offer a few recommendations to us and they handled the unreasonable demands of the parents too. We did speak Chinese though so I don’t know how all the non Chinese speakers fare though.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

The bill came to $222.40 for 7, which was not too bad at all, especially since we had crab.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

347-353 Sussex Street, Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9261 8988
Website

Big Italy at Leichhardt

Also as part of the Sydney Italian festival, we had the privilege of attending several other events. The first of which was the Flavours of Italy Seminar, held at Casa Italia in Leichhardt. A range of travel agents presented their tours to Italy and brought back many memories of our times there.

After the seminar, we browsed around the Italian Forum, which was really dead and half the shops were either closed or closing down, apparently the rent is horrendous there. The next stop was the extremely busy Norton Plaza, where we shoved along with the crowd at Norton Street Grocer.

After that exercise, we decided to get some freshly made gelato (even though it was freezing cold) at the famous glace ice creams & sorbets. The Quince and rose was a seasonal flavour but was absolutely wonderful, the rose really hits you but offsets the tartness of the quince nicely. The coconut sorbet was pure heaven. Not too sweet and with real coconut taste. Best of all, it wasn’t that expensive, $3.80 gets you a double scoop on good waffle cone.

Last but not least has been our pasta making classes at Studio De Luca. On our first class, we learned how to make Malloreddos, a Sardinian ear-shaped pasta, and Ravioli Galluresi, filled with orange scented ricotta, on our second. Each lesson was personally taught by Gavina De Luca, and included a demo, as well as getting our hands dirty to try it ourselves. The best part of the experience though, is of course in the eating! And true to Italian style, we sat at a big table, joined by the De Luca children, family and friends, drinking red wine and chinotto, while talking about all things Italy. Luigi, the gelato maker, also promised to let us try some of his banana gelato when he makes it in season. Can’t wait!

Info

glace ice creams & sorbets
27 Marion St
Leichhardt
NSW 2040
Phone (02) 9569 3444
Website

Studio De Luca
106 Norton Street
Leichhardt
NSW 2040
Phone (02) 9564 1127
Website

Benz On York

There are so many cafes around York street, but this one always seem to be packed, so today I joined the crowd to find out what the deal is.

Food

You get your basic café fare, including all day breakfast, as well as a few blackboard specials. It was cold, so I opted for risotto. Considering it’s so cheap, the seafood risotto ($13.90) actually wasn’t bad at all. Of course, it was no culinary masterpiece, but the sauce was tomatoey enough, there was just a smidge of frozen seafood to give it that flavour, and there was just a hint of cheese. It wasn’t the greatest risotto I’ve had by a long mile, with frozen vegetable and seafood, but it was warm and filling, and was satisfying enough for a Monday lunch.

Rating - 5.5

Atmosphere

This is definitely more your canteen than restaurant. The tables and chairs have been cramped in, and there’s not much room to move. There are several booths that look like the best seat but were all full or reserved in advanced. The light is pretty dim and it gets pretty noisy there too.

In conclusion, I won’t come here on a date but for a cheap feed in the CBD, this is the place to be.

Rating - 1

Service

Pretty average, but this is by no means a posh place. It takes awhile for them to come and take your order, and it’s best if you pay at the counter too…

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

It’s more expensive than takeaway but cheaper than a normal café. I think it’s fair as long as you don’t expect too much. Plus, they seem to have their market figured out anyway.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 9.5

Info

83 York Street
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9299 8583

Royal Mochi

Taste

Ever since my trip to Japan, I’ve been on the lookout for some good mochi. There were a pack of 30, each with a chewy but not sticky and thick outer, which I didn’t prefer as much as the soft, just made texture. I guess they have to compensate there for preservation reasons. The filling on the other hand, were wonderful and no complaints there. In fact, some of it, especially the green tea, is better than the Japanese ones!

These came in 5 different flavours:

• green tea - fabulous flavour, with a dusting of green tea on top. Not too sweet and you can actually taste tea!
• sesame - a strong hit of the sesame goodness, and looks spectacular too with the black and white sesame seed coating
• peanut - unlike peanut butter, not too sweet and balanced just right, and with a dusting of peanuts on top
• red bean - one of the more disappointing offering as I was expecting a lot more, but still good, just not as good as the others
• taro - the most boring tasting of the lot.

Rating - 7

Look

Each sat in its own paper backing, which sat on an individual plastic compartment, which was wrapped in plastic, then put in a box, then another paper bag is provided for you to carry it, so all very Japanese with the amount of packaging it uses. The 5 different mochis are distinctly different in looks. They all look so special, with some coated on top and some not, and all a different colour too! If it’s not for the environment this is heaven!

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

900g for $7, to which you get 30 pieces of mochi. It’s not a bad price at all really!

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 11.5

Ingredients

glutinous, sugar, maltose, peanut, sesame, red-bean, taro, green tea

Available At

Asian grocers

Lindt Milk Assortment

Taste

Well, I’ve tried the 3 varieties in this box before, but haven’t blogged about them, so here goes:

• milk Lindor - is the flagship of the Lindt empire really. Even though now there are so many products available, I think it’s still one of the best.
• hazelnut Lindor - my favourite of the lindor range, with the crunch of hazelnuts mixed with that molten chocolate centre.
• chocolate baton - better than your supermarket variety milk chocolate, and not much else

Rating - 6.5

Look

3 hazelnut Lindor Ball, 3 milk, 5 milk chocolate baton, all with their own little compartment. They certainly look pretty, but you really can’t stop at one.

Rating - 2

C-factor

120g for $8.99, way too expensive if you ask me.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 8.5

Ingredients

sugar, vegetables fats, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, hazelnuts, lactose, butterfat, skimmed milk powder, emulsifier, malt extract powder, flavourings cocoa solid 26% min

Available At

Specialty stores and some supermarkets

Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Chips

Taste

Yuck, I can’t believe Cadbury is Australia’s favourite chocolate. This bar tastes of sugar with more sugary bits of mint chips dispersed throughout.

Rating - 3

Look

This is one of those fundraising packs, in the familiar purple Cadbury packaging. I guess now after my experience with Eden, I already know that packaging is just a front, and now I am totally off Cadburys.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

85g for $3 fundraiser. All fundraising chocolates are expensive but I wouldn’t even pay a discount price for this stuff.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 4.5

Ingredients

milk chocolate (86%) [full cream milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, milk solids, emulsifiers, flavours], mint chips (14%) [sugar, wheat glucose syrup, vegetable fat, flavour, mineral sat, molasses, salt, emulsifier, colours

Available At

Work kitchens everywhere

Naked Naturals Dip

Taste

I discovered these fresh dips from naked naturals at the local organic shops recently, and have been pretty hooked. They usually lay some out to try and since then I’ve been buying up big. The range include:

• Fresh Basil with chunks of Feta & Cashew - has quite a bit of nuts in it, making it seem like a spread, but with a hit of basil
• Baby Beetroot with lemon & a hint of chilli - I really like this, the chilli really enhances the earthiness of the beetroot
• sundried organic tomato & feta - not that tomato like but sweet with a salty hit of feta

Rating - 7.5

Look

The dips have a very intense colour, I wonder how they manage to do that? In terms of packaging it’s pretty stock standard.

Rating - 2

C-factor

150g for $1, on special at the Organic shop. Usually it’s about $5 so I guess I got a bargain.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

Fresh Basil

sunflower oil, cashew nuts (20%), peanuts, fresh basil (11%), feta and gouda (7%) (cows milk, salt, lactic culture, vegetarian rennet), lemon juice, garlic, lemon zest, ascorbic acid ,pure sea salt

Baby Beetroot

beetroot (29%), 9sugar, food acid), sunflower oil, cashews, peanuts, feta and gouda (cows milk, salt, lactic culture, vegetarian rennet), garlic, horseradish, sugar, cider vinegar, lemon juice (1%), cumin, wasabi, chilli (0.1%),pure sea salt

Available At

Organic Shops

Krispy Kreme Milkshakes

Taste

Krispy Kreme advertises their milkshakes as “Old fashioned milkshake just like the way it used to be.”. I guess by that they mean they use flavoured syrup instead of real fruit? There’s nothing wrong with that, when sometimes all you want is some comfort food. My caramel ($3.95) was quite nice, malty and sweet, with a scoop of ice-cream to thicken things up. It actually tastes a bit like their donuts!

Slokky loves that fake strawberry taste, so for him, the strawberry ($3.95) was heavenly. For me, it was just like having a Maccas thickshake, except with better quality ice-cream.

Rating - 5.5

Look

Even the packaging evokes that old-fashioned milkshake. We watched them make it with the sugar syrup in the classic silver shaker.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Not too bad as you do get a pretty big serving.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8

Available At

Krispy Kreme
Website

New Zealand Natural Milkshake

Taste

After my disappointment of my last smoothie here, after having such great smoothies on occasions beforehand, I was really hoping that this will be nice, and I’m happy to report they were up to scratch. They can make either milkshake (1 scoop) or thickshake (3 scoops) with any flavour you like.

I couldn’t go past the banana d’lite, but I made sure I had a taste test first before I got it made. I didn’t have to worry though, as it was one of the best banana ice-cream I’ve had.

I decided against my usual picks of nutty cream flavours, and went for the strawberry surprise instead. This one made a smooth fluffy strawberry milkshake, much better than the Krispy Kreme version, with real strawberry flavours!

I’m glad I went for the milkshake as it wasn’t too creamy or overpowering, the ice-cream and milk blended together very well.

Rating - 7.5

Look

In the usual green packaging. The straws you get are a bit weak to slurp this up, but it was nice and fluffy.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

Regular for $4, I think it’s much better value than the smoothies.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Available At

New Zealand Natural
Website

Panzerotti Cafe

Taste

I was taken here by the recruiters, and got my usual cappuccino. It was decorated with lots of cocoa on top. In terms of the coffee itself, not too bad, but not too much coffee taste. They use Schibello beans.

Rating - 6.5

Look

It’s definitely a funky spot, with those cubes for you to sit at. The furniture is spread everywhere and it doesn’t really match. It’s actually quite noisy with a lot of people milling about. They have these really funky cups they serve the coffee in, a bit more interesting than the normal stuff. In keeping with the casual theme, there are no

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

$3 for eat in.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 9.5

Available At

corner Margaret & York Sts
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9290 1119

Peers & Simpson Organic Pure Food

Taste

I tried the Classic Indian Toor Dal Soup from Peers & Simpson, and I have to say, the taste is very similar to the stuff that my mum used to boil up, except much saltier. While the product is not that bad, it’s a bit too salty for my taste, and dare I say it, I actually prefer mum’s!

Rating - 6

Look

Nice and easy, in a snip and pour pouch. You heat, stir and serve, too easy really. The soup has a nice vibrant colour and has some homemade appearance lumps.

Rating - 2

C-factor

680g for $2 on special at the organic shop.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

organic toor, masoor and/or channa dal, organic tomatoes, organic onions, organic dates, biodynamic safflower oil, lemon juice, sea salt ,organic raw sugar, chilli, ginger,

naked naturals fresh risotto

Taste

After recently trying their dips, I was looking forward to trying their risotto range. We picked the Field Mushroom with parsley, parmesan and arborio rice. I command this for having a great mushroom flavour and some juicy mushrooms, although I found it a bit too salty. As far as risotto go though, you just can’t beat the fresh-made stuff. This, when made to instructions, was a little too runny for my liking.

Rating - 6

Look

It was extremely easy to prepare. Pop open the pouch, put in a microwaveable container, add 100ml of water, and heat for about 2-3 minutes, stirring in between.

The results actually looked appealing too, with bits of mushrooms and flakes of parsley.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

500g for $2 on special. It’s certainly cheaper than takeaway and I believe better for you too.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9.5

Ingredients

water, arborio rice (14%), (button mushrooms, field mushrooms, mushroom powder (9%)), onion, parmesan (milk, cultures, rennet, salt) (4%), garlic, butter, olive oil, parsley, yeast extract, black pepper, pure sea salt

Available At

Organic Shops

Tingha Palace Chinese Restaurant

We used to come here a lot because Slokky's mum knows one of the managers and we never have to wait for a table. Well, now that I’ve started working at Parramatta, it was time to revisit.

Food

I actually remembered the yum cha was better before, so either we were having a bad day, or the standard has gone down.

Good

• rice noodle rolls
• dumplings

Bad

• bbq pork
• egg tart
• sticky rice
• congee

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

The place is certainly much calmer on a weekday. On the weekend you find it packed with people, with more people queuing all the way to the Club next door. The décor is your classic Chinese Restaurant, with dragons and phoenix and gold dominating. There are lots of big tables at this restaurant. One thing I do like though is that they don’t squish you in like sardines so at least you (just) have room to breath.

Rating - 1.5

Service

The service in the city has certainly improved but the service in the suburbs have not. These waiters were rude and arrogant, especially because we had non Asians on the table. The trolley ladies were also rude, so maybe they get paid like nothing, that’s why they can’t even smile. It took them ages to deliver the bill too.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$18 p.p for 5 people, and we had so much food leftover, but that's because some people hardly ate anything.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 9

Info

100 Church St
Parramatta
NSW 2150
Phone (02) 9891 1777

The Loft

The Loft has recently introduced High Tea, so we were off to test drive.

Food

We started off with some tea and coffees. Slokky was tired from an early start so chose to have Cappuccino, which was ok, but not spectacular. I chose the Sencha Quince green tea, a pleasant, subtle tea that was a good palate preparer for the food to come…eventually. The guys chose coffees while the girls tried out the teas.

After a long wait, our platters arrived. I’ll start at the bottom, which is the Savoury Items:

• Smoked Salmon with Salmon Roe Crepe - delicate with beautiful salmon but not much roe
• Chicken and Avocado Bagel
  - simple, the chicken was subtle, the bread soft
• Cucumber and Herb Creme Fraiche Sandwich - these were great. They had a delicate flavour and moist white bread
• Roast Marinated Vegetable Pissaldiere
  - my favourite of the lot. Sweet with vegetables with that bite-sized savoury taste
• Leek and Gruyere Tartlet - the cheese was sensational as always, and the pastry was nice and crisp

I went the traditional way and devoured the savouries before attacking the Sweets on the top two layers:

• Warm Chocolate Fondue with a selection of Fresh Fruit (marshmallows, dried apricot, strawberries, grapes, shortbread) – the chocolate wasn’t dark, but it was good quality, so the various items all tasted divine dipped in it, especially the strawberries. In the end though, I had indulged so much I was happy to eat the fruit without any extra chocolate additions.
• Mini Lemon Tartlet - totally more-ish. Very rich, with a fragrant lemon filling and above average pastry.
• Caramel Kisses – these chocolate and caramel tarts were a little too sweet and too rich as part of the ensemble. If I ate it in a separate setting it would better
• Scones with strawberry jam and cream - I saved these for last, which, in hindsight wasn’t such a good idea as they were no longer warm by the time I got to them. But the scone was light, not too fluffy, but the cream and jam was of good quality

By this time, we’d also ordered our cocktails. Because we ordered single serves, we didn’t get it served in the funky floral teapots, but we did get it in cocktail glasses, which was 2nd best. I had to have Slokky’s as well, so that’s how I tried the Dragon Well – Havana Anejo Blanca with Tuoca stirred into fresh apple and pink grapefruit juice and chilled peppermint tea. All laced with Monin Rose syrup - a bit too bitter and sour, even for my liking. The Oolong Song – Wybarowa Almond vodka with apricot brandy and Tuaca over freshly macerated apricots and lemons and chilled T2 “French Earl Grey” tea was more to my liking, sweet and sour, it really hit the spot.

Needless to say, I was absolutely stuffed, (and slightly tipsy!) by the time I finished, and I couldn’t even finish the food (but Slokky did!)

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

It felt very weird being at The Loft during the day, and I have to say, it is very different. Instead of dark and moody, you get bright and airy. Obviously the idea of High Tea hadn’t caught on there as there were only about 4 or 5 groups of people there.

What they did have though, surprisingly, was a piano player! He belted out some easy listening chilli out tunes, that was perfect for the setting. We felt like we had him to ourselves sometimes, but we had to shout to be heard above the music.

We lounged on the comfy leather couches and ottoman, but had a hard time getting all the cocktails, teas, plates and platters to all fit on the small circular tables that usually only hold some drinks.

Rating - 2.5

Service

The waiters were all pretty, young things, dressed in fashionable black, if that’s your thing. In terms of service? Well, they were organised. They found my booking and showed me to the reserved spot with no problems. They then gave us menu and said to call them over whenever we were ready. Well, calling them became a problem throughout the afternoon, as we had to actually get up a couple of times to get their attention.

When we did get their attention, they were very attentive and friendly, however, the food took a LONG time to arrive, which is probably good for a good chat, but this was supposed to be our lunch, and we were so hungry by the time our tiered platters were presented to us.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

High tea with the goodies and 1 tea or coffee costs $35, High tea with a twist, which we enjoyed, including a teapot cocktail, was $45.

This is on par with the posh Sydney High Tea establishment, and is ok value for a day out.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

King Street Wharf
3 Lime St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9299 4770
Website

Kez's Double Choc Bites

Taste

I would rate these Kez biscuits as about middle in terms of chocolate biscuits go. They were better than the Mother Megs and Home Baked Cookie Co, but certainly not up there with Byron Bay’s. They had a good chocolate hit, with decent chocolate chunks that weren’t too big. I found them a little bit dry, but that’s only a personal preference.

Rating - 6.5

Look

The little bite sized biscuits look very cute and uneven. This one came in a Christmas canvas cover, again, very cute.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

150g for $9.95. It’s not the cheapest, but I think it’s a fair price to pay.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 9.5

Ingredients

wheat flour, butter, brown sugar, milk chocolate (11%) [sugar, milk soilds, cocoa powder, cocoa mass, emulsifier, flavours]. sugar, egg, cocoa powder (3%), flavour, salt, raising agents

Available At

Myer
Website

Paddy’s Brewery

Paddy’s beers have won numerous awards over the years and it has been on our radar for yonks. So on this cold and raining Saturday, we thought, what better way to pass the time than beer in hand?

Food

We had lunch at the bistro - Simply Food Bistro - that’s attached to the pub. I was expecting the usual pub grub (and I’m not talking about the fancy pub stuff you get in the Eastern suburbs), but they had quite an extensive Specials menu to compliment the schnitzels and burger offerings. Nothing too out there mind you, but definitely a hearty meal you can enjoy.

Slokky picked the New York steak with king prawns, lemon pepper & shallot ($20). They were very generous with their steak, and it was cooked just slightly longer than the requested medium-rare, but was still pink enough in the middle. The steak itself was ok quality and quite juicy. The sauce was slightly sweetened by tomatoes. I’m not a fan of surf and turf and don’t think the prawns added any value, although they were nice to eat by themselves.

I, on the other hand, picked the Lamb loin with wasabi and black herb sauce ($20). Well, I couldn’t taste any wasabi, but the two generous pieces of lamb was covered in the most alcoholic berry soaked sauce I’ve ever tasted! It was divine though. The sprinkling of shallots and carrots on top was a bit superficial.

Also included in the price is bread (I was surprised they actually had Turkish pide as a choice), a salad bar (with fresh but bland salads), tea or coffee (which I didn’t try).

Of course I couldn’t eat here without trying their beer. I ordered the Chocolate porter ($3.50), a silver medal winning creation. It was dark and malty, with a slightly sweet and bitter taste mixed together. I agree, it’s pretty good stuff, although I don’t drink enough to comment on how good it is.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

An old fashioned pub really, with a salad bar, CRT TVs showing sport (we watched the French Open Men’s semis), with the addition of giant tanks that’s part of the brewery. It has an old school, bygone era, charm, although on the day we visited, we were joined by burly men and workers from the nearby Flemington Markets. It’s a bit intimidating for females.

Rating - 1

Service

Hey, it’s a pub, although everyone was very friendly. You order at the counter, pay and get a buzzer. After that it’s help yourself to cutlery, bread, salad, sauce, coffees.

Rating - 3

C-factor

It’s a little expensive for pub grub, but they are very generous with their servings. The beers are certainly cheap though, and you even get cheese cubes and biscuits as bar snacks!

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

268 Parramatta Road
Flemington
NSW 2129
Phone (02) 9764 3500
Website

Tamil Civic Centre Fundraising

We were driving pass Homebush Public School when we noticed the sign declaring "Sri-Lankan and Indian Food Festival", so of course we had to stop. We found a group of about 30 men and women, in a very organised production line, cooking up all manner of goodies. We joined the line and chose from a printed menu(!) of various delights. I of course wanted to go for stuff that I haven’t tried before, so we ordered:

• kottu rotty lamb ($7) - which was tappanyaki style fried noodles with lamb, except with Sri-Lankan spicing. We watched the chefs make it fresh on the spot and it was wonderfully spicy and flavoursome.
• masala thosai ($3) - I thought this was something new, but it was just a dosai spelt differently. In saying that, I love dosais, and this one was well made. The soupy accompaniment was hotter than I’m used to and has whole vegetables. I really like the coconut raita that came with it, it’s even better than Janani’s!
• lamb roll ($1.10) - like a chikko roll only with lamb. The lamb has a strong taste, but I don’t think I’ll get this one again

We paid, got given a receipt, and browsed the market. It was actually quite a long wait, especially when you are standing there watching and smelling the food. We leapt up when our number was called, and carried our well-packaged parcels home for a feast! Good food and a good cause at the same time? I like it!

Primo Italiano 2007

I’d never been able to go to this before as I’d always had to work on Sundays. So, this being the only chance I had, I decided there was no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Well, it turned out that half of Sydney also thought so. When we arrived, Sydney’s Little Italy, Stanley St and Yurong St were both closed to traffic, with bands, roaming performers and a fountain filled with vegetables! I noticed that Café Sasa, the restaurant I visited not that long ago had closed down. Being 2pm though, we were desperate for food so had to fight with the rest of the crowd around the various food stalls.

Our first criteria was actually not the most appealing food, but the shortest line, so that’s how we ended up paying $5 for a very very small tub of Mushroom & truffle risotto. In terms of taste, it was pretty good for restaurant risotto, but nothing on what I could make myself.

Filling only a little fuller, we didn’t want to walk too far or deliberate too much, so decided to get some North Italian flatbread, well, big mistake. I’d miscalculated how long it takes to make one flatbread (and I’d obviously forgotten about the Italian way of doing thing…) and because the line was so long, everybody ordered lots and lots when it was their turn. After about half hour, we made it to the front, but by that time I wasn’t hungry anymore, so we only got 4 flatbreads to share. These flatbreads were a pizza-style dough, very thin, wrapped in the following fillings. The Prosciutto, bocconcini ($10) was a favourite, salty prosciutto with creamy cheese, yum! The Butternut pumpkin ($9) is a good vegetarian option, with sweet pumpkin chunks. The Porcini & ricotta ($11) was extremely sparse in filling (probably because they realised the crowd was huge and the food had to last the whole day), but what little we got of it was very nice indeed.

The flatbreads certainly went down nicely with a beer. That’s right, we made our way to the Lord Roberts Hotel, and actually managed to grab a table (no chairs though), and listened to the DJ and watched the drunk old people muck around. The waiter was quite rude and told us off for brining our own food, even though the bouncer had let us through. It’s a festival, lighten up! It’s not as if you’re not getting enough business!

After some merry hours were wined away and lost forever, we picked ourselves up, picked up some fresh flowers and cheese from Formaggi Ocello: goats, cinnamon and “dessert wine” flavour, and made our way to Pat’s place for her housewarming.

For a supposed cook on training wheels, Pat put on a very commendable feast. Chicken and sweet corn soup, Malaysian chicken curry, steamed chicken, stir-fried veges and rice. Dessert was apple crumble and ice-cream, and some more of that fabulous cheese and grapes. I went home satisfied and with a very full belly.

Byron Bay Cookie Company Christmas Shortbread Assortment

Taste

I was really excited about these as I love their shortbread and really want to taste what they can do with their lemon shortbread. Well, it was still really good shortbread, but it didn’t really blow me away with anything extra special. The traditional shortbread was still excellent, I guess maybe I have such high expectation from Byron Bay Cookie Company. Oh these were nice all right, just not the best out of the range I guess.

Rating - 7.5

Look

This came in a longer than usual tin, being long and thin instead of wider and shorter, with delectable drawings on the outside. Inside are two individually wrapped biscuit packs, all lemony yellow from the shortbread.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

200g tin for $15.95. I’ve said many times before, they are totally worth the money!

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

Traditional Shortbread

wheat flour, butter, sugar, wheaten cornflour, rice flour, salt

Lemon and Macadamia Nut Shortbread

wheat flour, butter, wheaten cornflour, sugar, macadamia nuts (8%), salt, lemon oil

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

Mother Meg's Biscuits

Taste

Another offering of biscuits I picked up, this time from Mother Meg’s.

• Pecan Shortbread - These morsels were YUM. The shortbread was suitably crumbly and sweet, with a light coating of icing sugar on top.
• Shortbread Stars - very buttery and has a great texture
• Chocolate Chip Cookies - tastes like your supermarket variety, too dry and boring, with the only difference being, MUCH better quality chocolates, but not enough to lift it out of the average.

Rating - 6

Look

The special Christmas packaging is cute but not practical, in a little box with a too tiny carry handle, and a little silver ribbon that’s almost impossible to remove.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

150g for $9.95. Too expensive to pay, even for the great ingredients. If you’re going to spend the money, get Luken & May or Byron Bay instead!

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 7.5

Ingredients

Pecan Shortbread

organic cake flour, pure unsalted butter, pure icing sugar, Australian natural
diced pecans (14%), natural vanilla extract, salt

Shortbread Stars

organic cake flour, pure unsalted butter, caster sugar, organic rice flour, pure icing sugar, natural vanilla extract, salt

Choc Chip

organic cake flour, pure unsalted butter, chocolate chip (15%) [sugar, vegetable fat, cocoa, milk solids, emulsifiers, salt flavour], caster sugar, brown sugar, free range organic eggs, baking powder, natural vanilla extract, salt

Available At

Myer
Website

The Home Baked Cookie Co

Taste

I picked up a few of these varieties from The Home Baked Cookie Co:

• 80g cranberry and white chocolate (gluten free) - has a jammy sweet flavour but is very buttery and not too sweet
• 80g triple chocolate dream (gluten free) - very dry and not much chocolate taste, and certainly not of dark chocolate
• Macadamia & White Chocolate - not bad for white chocolate biscuits, there wasn’t too much macadamia though
• Zesty lemon shortbread - my pick of the bunch. Sweet with a subtle link of lemon, very buttery

All in all, except for the disappointing chocolate, they’re very yummy.

Rating - 6.5

Look

I got this as part of a Christmas Gift Set, that came with a set of latte mugs with a different biscuit in each. The biscuits look like the rough and ready variety, but the Robert Gordon mugs were pretty cute, in different colours, with a nice ribbon to tie the box up too!

The cannister set came with another Robert Gordon mug with a lid this time.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

The Triple Chocolate Dream 50g + brown cannister was $9.95. The Latte Set, consisting of 4 bags of 80g Gourmet Cookie and four mugs for$29.95. Not bad considering normal gourmet cookies cost about the same.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

rice flour, brown sugar, dark and white chocolate, Australian Macadamias,
cranberries, unsalted butter, whole eggs, coconut, flour, white sugar,
self-raising flour, rolled oats, pure corn flour, pure cocoa powder, xantham
gum, lemon oil, cream of tartar, raising agent

Available At

Myer
Website

Lindt Chocolat Berne Bittersweet Swiss Dark Chocolate

Taste

This bar had been imported from overseas, and true to form, tastes so much better. In fact, it managed to taste better than the other dark chocolate offerings from Lindt, especially the 70% Excellence chocolate, available here in Australia. I don’t know what it is, but the flavour is much more balanced and the taste smoother.

Rating - 7.5

Look

This one has the retro look. A silvery white wrapper, with writing reminiscent of the olden day packaging. It looks different to the usual stuff.

Rating - 2

C-factor

100g for $2.99. It’s about the same price as the Excellence range, so I would definitely try and seek it out especially.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

sugar, cocoas mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier, vanilla

Available At

Harris Farm Market
Website

David Jones Dark & White Chocolate Mousse Cake

Taste

This was an absolutely gorgeous cake, even I the impartial to white chocolate thought so! The white chocolate was a bit sweet, but at least it didn’t have that fake sugar taste. The sponge was light and the mousse gorgeous too. The dark chocolate wasn’t too bitter so it’s for everyone.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Brown and white layers on the outside, with brown and white alternate chocolate curls on top. There were many oohs and aahhs and many pictures snapped.

Rating - 3

C-factor

$39.95 for a 9 inch cake. It’s expensive but the ingredients are top rate and there’s a lot of handiwork that went into it.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

New Zealand Natural Smoothie

Taste

I mentioned before that NZ Natural makes the best smoothie around, so you can imagine why I was so disappointed at this particular offering. Maybe it’s because I got this from Star City, where ripping off is the norm, but the two smoothies we got, Paradise Pash ($5.90) - passionfruit and Bananarama ($5.90) - banana were both extremely icy and lacking in taste. As well, they tasted pretty similar probably because of the iciness and had none of that real fruit taste I remember so well.

Rating - 4

Look

It was huge but I am not really a fan of the NZ Natural packaging or labels, although they updated it all recently for a more funky and relaxed look.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$5.90 is definitely on the expensive end of the smoothie scale.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 5.5

Available At

New Zealand Natural
Website

Monkey Drum @ The Roxy

The Roxy is THE happening place at Parramatta, and I must admit, they have really done a great job with the restoration. I was a bit dubious about this restaurant as it is located in a bar, and a very hip one at that, but a workmate had been raving about it for ages, so I was glad to try this out.

Food

The lunch menu was quite enticing, with curries, salads, stir-fries. I chose the make your own combination with roast duck, tom yum, green noodle ($15.50). It arrived in a big bowl with filled to the brim with the above ingredient as well as broccoli, snow pea & bean sprout, the soup fragranced with lemongrass and galangal.

The duck was very meaty and not that fatty, and they were quite generous with it. The green noodles were definitely slurpable. The broth was sour, but I did wish for a bit more of a chilli kick, even though I had requested the “medium” heat already. Everyone else seemed to be very happy with their meals.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

It was a nice day so we set in the open area just outside the classic Roxy theatre. It was great, if a bit uncomfortable, as it is canteen style seating. When the weather is bad, head inside the bar – I didn’t go inside but I heard it’s cool.

A word of warning to those that actually DON’T like the party scene, stay away after 5pm, as the place really starts swirling up then.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Hey, it’s a pub. You go to the counter and order, and they give you a buzzer to pick up the food when finished. Although they were actually quite nice and offered to carry some of our meals for us as we’d ordered so much stuff we couldn’t carry it all!

Rating - 3

C-factor

The servings are huge and the food is pretty authentic. It’s probably a bit more expensive, but the setting and the quality of the food means that this is top rate!

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

69 George Street
Parramatta
NSW 2150
Phone (02) 9633 3790
Website

Park Hyatt Sydney

I know, not strictly a restaurant visit, but I wanted to describe the beautiful setting I was in while I ate this dish.

Food

This is from the pool menu, but I notice it’s also on the restaurant menu. The jannei goats curd tart $23, roasted vegetables and eggplant caviar had little carrot and asparagus with a balsamic reduction. The vegetable were very pretty but wasn’t really that full of flavours. The pastry was pleasantly crunchy but it wasn't that buttery.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

Well, what can I say, I was seated by the pool, watching the ships sail by on Darling Harbour and the tourists milling around the Opera House, and was totally pampered. Mind you I had to pay for it, but boy, was it fun!

Rating - 2.5

Service

They brought my meal on a silver tray, with napkin and silverware, cups of steaming hot herbal tea to order, and gave me a bunch of magazines for me to pass my time. Top class service, but you have to expect that from a five-star hotel.

Rating - 4.5

C-factor

It was expensive!! I got a facial, massage and mud wrap and lunch for $355. However, you are absolutely pampered, and it’s worth it for the experience.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 14

Info

7 Hickson Road
The Rocks
NSW
2000
Phone (02) 9241 1234
Website

Boost Juice Hottie

Taste

It’s winter, so that means the Hotties are back. This year there are some new offerings. I tried the oats so good ($3.50) - a hot and creamy low-fat blend of oats, apple, banana, cinnamon and honey. It wasn’t bad, a thick and creamy drink, with taste of fruit. My only gripe was that it wasn’t mixed properly so all the honey settled at the bottom so when I got there, it was sickly sweet. I guess if the honey had been mixed in, the whole drink would be too sweet too.

I also tried the choc mint mania ($3.50) - an indulgent hot chocolate with a hint of fresh mint. Hmmm, chocolate a bit thin on the ground, but a nice hit of cinnamon.

Rating - 6

Look

This one comes in the signature Boost cup, but it’s branded "hottie" and the colour is purple. You can sip straight from the cup.

Rating - 2

C-factor

$3.50 for a 350ml cup. Cheaper than a typical breakfast but you should probably just buy some Uncle Tobys Oats or a chocolate bar...

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 8.5

Ingredients

oats so good

Rolled oats, milk, apple, banana, honey, cinnamon sugar, evaporated milk

choc mint mania

chocolate, low-fat milk or soy, evaporated milk, fresh mint

Available At

Boost Juice
Website

Fortnum & Mason Fruit & Nut English Thin biscuits

Taste

I was looking forward to tasting these but they weren’t really to my taste. I guess this is quintessential English biscuits, from that very English of companies, Fortnum & Mason. The biscuits were of the dry and bland variety, with only a small amount of fruit breaking the monotony.

Rating - 5

Look

They certainly look fancy, coming in that signature circular tin. The biscuits are lined on a plastic tray then wrapped in foil. The biscuits certainly will look great on a platter when you serve your afternoon tea.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

200g for $13.95. Considering these are imported from the UK, where everything costs more, the price is actually not too bad! But, why buy imports when you have excellent locally produced products!

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8.5

Ingredients

wheat flour, butter (20.3%), sugar, oatmeal, mixed nuts (4.6%), whey powder,
salt, raising agent

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

Sumo Salad

Taste

One of the better fast food joints, although I don’t visit often because their prices are quite high. They aren’t that many things on their menu, we’re actually tried almost all their offerings, and they are always very yummy. Sometimes they do have some seasonal specials and one or two new salads.

Thai Beef is described on the website as

Tender beef strips marinated in a traditional chilli lime dressing & tossed with fresh vermicelli, juicy red capsicum, cucumber & snow peas; all resting on a bed of mixed leaf lettuce, sprouts and slivers of red onion and a garnish of crushed peanuts. This light and zesty salad will transport you to any secluded beach in Thailand.

I thought this was quite nice. The beef was a bit harder than tender, but the salad was tangy, with a nice crunch from the sprouts and peanuts. It wasn’t very hot though for a Thai salad.

On the other hand, the Spicy BBQ Prawn was actually much hotter. This is one of my favourite on the menu, with juicy prawns and a sweet spicy sauce. I love the combination of the capsicum and tomatoes, although they were certainly not skimping on the red onions… it almost overpowered the other lovely ingredients. This is their website description:

With succulent BBQ prawns, marinated in fresh lemon juice and coated with sweetened chilli and tomatoes, this salad is a true-blue classic. Rich red tomatoes, fresh basil and the sun-dried warmth of roasted capsicums keep the accent Aussie and the taste dinky di.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Lovely colours, plenty of dressing, and they come in funky Chinese takeaway boxes that surprisingly holds a pretty large amount of salad. However, it does make it a bit hard to eat. The solution? Use chopsticks!

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$8.95 for a “regular” size is ok, however, why would anyone pay $7.95 for a small size? It’s still very expensive. I won’t really call this fast food either, as they make your salad on the spot and takes about 10 minutes.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 9

Sumo Salad
Website

Pretzel World

Taste

Flavours I’ve tried previously include:

• Jamaican Almond - A taste of Jamaica. A true taste sensation. This low fat pretzel is coated with Almonds & nuts. It will make you go completely ... nuts
• Moscow Glaze - Hot, dripping sweet glaze sauce is the perfect recipe to warm you up. A true winner and a favourite among customers
• French Onion & Sour Cream - Bonjour. Pretzel Worlds taste of Paris. A savoury temptation that will tantalise your tastebuds

This time, I went for something different this time. The Italian Pizza ($3.80) is really like those pizza rolls you get from bakeries, except paired with the freshly baked pretzel, it’s quite nice. The slightly sweet and salty tomato based with some bacon bits and lots of crunchy melted cheese…hmmmm. The Columbian Cookie ($3.80) - One of our most popular pretzels topped with delicious crushed biscuits. As they say in Columbia "to die for" is a bit less successful. They basically take a plain pretzel, coat it in a vanilla glaze and then sprinkle it with a large portion of chocolate bits. The chocolate was too sweet and combined with the vanilla glaze, was sugar overload! I think in this case a simpler topping would’ve been better, but that’s my fault for wanting to try everything!

Rating - 5.5

Look

The pretzels are all handmade, and it’s certainly interesting to watch them roll the dough, carefully measure them and then bake them. The pretzels look very interesting too, and are packaged up nicely in a box. The pretzel world advertising is pretty cheerful and distinctive.

Rating - 2

C-factor

In terms of fast food chains, they are not too bad. Of course, it’s only flour and water as their main ingredients, but freshly baked flour tastes that much nicer!

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8.5

Available At

Pretzel World
Website