Australian Red Cross Bake at Home Christmas Cake

Taste

This innovative bake at home kit comes from Nature’s Selection. I don’t know how much of this was due to my superior cooking skills (not), but the cake was absolutely wonderful. A mix of fruit and spices, it was deliciously moist and full of fruit. It didn’t look too bad either!

Rating - 7.5

Look

Almost everything you need is contained in the baking tin, including a Merry Christmas decoration. You just need to add eggs and oil and stir.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

800g for $6. It’s certainly a lot less effort than trying to bake your own Christmas cake, and part of the sale is a donation to Red Cross, what mroe could you want?

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 12

Available At

Harris Farm Market
Website

Weight Watchers Lemon Delight Steamed Pudding

Taste

It was a little dry, so make sure you dig deep to the bottom of the cup for the quite delicious lemon sauce to go with the quite light and satisfying pudding.

Rating - 5.5

Look

Remove the foil and pop straight into the microwave. Heat for about 30 seconds and serve. It’s dead easy really.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

2x 90g for around $3.50

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 8.5

Ingredients

water, wheat flour, sugar syrup, sugar, polydextrose, butter, egg powders, lemon peel (2%), lemon juice (1.5%), milk solids, cream powder, emulsifiers, maize thickener, acidity regulators, raising agent, thickeners, flavours, preservatives, salt, sweetener, colour

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

McCain Healthy Choice

Taste

I don’t know what drove me to buy this stuff from McCains, maybe it’s the amount of time since I last had a ready-made meal from a cardboard box, because I’d forgotten how terrible they taste.Tender Beef in Seeded Light Mustard was pretty terrible. The potatoes were floury and the carrots and peas were tasteless and soggy. The beef didn’t taste like beef at all. The only thing going for it was the excellent mustard sauce, it had real bite, and you could use it to disguise the taste of the best of the vegetables I suppose?

The Honey Mustard Chicken was better, but not by much. The chicken was soggy, the rice was gross, at least the mustard sauce was passable…

Rating - 3

Look

The vegetables certainly looked very colourful and inviting, the beef was covered by a mess of sauce so you can’t really see anything. The chicken got pretty much the same treatment too.

Rating - 0.5

C-factor

310g beef for $6.19. It's not worth the convenience, buy some ingredients and cook!

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 3.5

Ingredients

Tender Beef in Seeded Light Mustard

potato, carrot, mustard sauce (20%) [water, mushroom, mustard, flavour, thickeners], beef (15%) [beef, water, potato starch, soy protein, dried glucose syrup, acidity regulators, salt, hydrolysed vegetable protein, sugar, yeast extracts, soy sauce powder, vegetable fat, maize starch, beef fat, flavours, colour, flavour enhancer, onion powder, spices, herb], peas, corn vegetable sauce [water, milk solids, whey powder, thickener, flavour, herbs, spice, acidity regulator]

honey mustard chicken

sauce (water, cream (milk solids, gelatine, thickener), onion, white wine (milk solids, egg) mustard (1.7%) (mustard seed, acidity regulator), thickener, parmesan cheese (milk solids, emulsifier, acidity regulator, flavour (milk solids)), flavour (salt ,sugar, maltodextrin, hydrolysed vegetable protein, herb & spices), vegetable oil honey (0.4%), garlic, emulsifier, cooked rice (water, rice) chicken (15%) (chicken salt, acidity regulator, gelling agent, potato starch, soy protein, sugar, hydrolysed vegetable protein, dried glucose syrup, whey powder, wheat flour, flavours, water, dextrose, vegetable powder, yeast extract, vegetable oil) carrot beans

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Ciel Rouge Restaurant and Lounge

After our high tea at The Victoria Room and our Life Drawing Classes, we continued our drinking here. We got there around 9pm, so had the lovely lounge area and the bar all to ourselves. Unfortunately that also meant there was no service, so we had to go to the restaurant to get someone to make stuff for us. The drinks were v nice though…or did that Tequila shot dull my senses? Their cocktail list had a few specialties martini, the chocolate martini especially sounding divine. No creamy drinks here, which is just the way I like it.

I had the Stacey martini - a little sweet, a little sour, with a salt rim. Very delicious and divine!

Décor wise, in keeping with the games, the colour scheme is red. The lounge is arranged around one corner, with some red velvet ottoman and dark timber tables, lighted by little tealight candles. By about 10:30pm, the place started to fill up, and gets quite lively. Even the guy who was trying to pick up was a bit less seedy than usual!

Info

Level 1, 292-294 Victoria St
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Phone (02) 9356 3255
Website

Lindt Easter Small Nested Box

Taste

You get three types of Lindor mini eggs:

• dark - my favourite as usual, not too sweet and oozing out goodness
• milk - nice and smooth
• white - good for white, but if they removed this it would be even better

Rating - 6.5

Look

The mini eggs come in a pretty egg shaped container that is filled with cellophane. You get 9 eggs, 3 of each flavour.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

50g for $9.95, a rip off considering you can buy Lindor block for $3.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

sugar, vegetable fats, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, lactose, butterfat, hazelnuts, emulsifier, dried malt extract, flavouring

Available At

David Jones Foodhall
Website

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
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