Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 6

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

5:34PM - Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Oporto, Lindt Cafe.

The day started off getting dressed and packing the suitcase, ready to check out of the hotel by 10:30AM. After making record time packing all my stuff together, we checked out by about 10ish and proceeded down George St, past Martin Place for some donuts.

I went for 'Strawberries and Cream', along with a 'Cream filled Chocolate' donut. The strawberry donut was strawberry flavouring mixed with cream. It wasn't too bad, but I was expecting chunks or at least a jam. I probably wouldn't have it again. The cream filled chocolate donut was filled rather sparingly (like the other custard filled one I had on the beginning of the trip). I hope that the donuts are only filled this way at this particular KK's .. the theory will be put to the test when I get and eat some donuts from the airport store.

We also stopped by at the Starbucks at Martin Place. I ordered a coffee frappa, which unfortunately was my last, as the airport terminal we're departing from does not have the Starbucks :(

After walking around for a bit, it was lunch time. Since CB and I weren't really that hungry due to our late start, we went to Oporto (a local chicken fast food chain). I ordered an Oporto meal with an Oporto burger, CB had a 'Rappa', and we shared the drink and chips. The burger wasn't too bad, much alike a KFC Zinger burger, with the bacon and the pineapple. The chicken was grilled so it had a smokey taste to it, not sure if I prefer it to the Zinger patty or not. Doesn't matter anyway since we don't have it in Perth.

After killing some more time walking around the various malls (including Dymocks where I read some interesting things on wok cooking), we went to the Lindt Cafe as CB wanted to meet up with her friends one more time. I had the profiteroles. They were OK, definitely not worth the $11 that I paid for them. They were small, and therefore didn't have a lot of cream in them, but quite rich (due to the chocolate sauce no doubt). I much prefer my own profiteroles.

We then proceeded to head back to Chinatown. I was planning to have the suckling pig from BBQ King on the way back but having a look at the window (where all the roasted meat is located), it looked like they didn't have any. Also, I wasn't hungry at all. It started to rain heavily on the way back too, so we got half drenched by the time we got back to the hotel.

Getting the tickets for the train to the Domestic Airport was a pain in the ass too. I had bought one ticket and was trying to buy another, when it didn't like my $10 note and when I tried to give it all my $5s, it chucked a shit and couldn't give me change, giving me my $5s back. Stupid fucken machine. To top it off, it's the only machine on this particular end of the train station, so there was a little line by the time I gave up and went to pay at the kiosk instead. Sydney is a bit weird at times (this being an example). Central Station must be like 2 - 3 times busier than Perth station, but only has 1 pay machine on each side .. bit stupid if you ask me.

Anyway, we are now at the airport and waiting an hour or so before we can board. I have two dozen KK's shouting out to me wanting to be eaten but I have to resist.

Tuesday 12:01AM - Qantas meal.

The plane ride was pretty uneventful, I read about 2/3rds of the new Gordon Ramsay book. For dinner, I chose the Chicken Curry, which wasn't too bad. It was white man hot obviously (not hot at all). We also got an icecream at the end of the meal too!

Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 5

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

9:12PM - Marigold Restaurant, Casa Asturiana, Starbucks, 5 Star Kebabs.

This morning, CB and I decided to have dim sum (or yum cha as they say here and some places in Perth) at Marigold in Chinatown, which is only a few doors down from the hotel. With a supposed capacity of 800 (on two levels), we rocked up and were seated straight away.

We had a pot of tea served up quickly, and the food trolleys started coming round. The first two plates were entirely for me, pork spare ribs and chicken feet. These were just like the Perth versions except with a hint of chilli.

The next dish was also all mine. Some Siew Mai. This was also like the Perth versions, they stuck together a bit so when I went to eat them, the wonton skins ripped off. These were fantastic with the sour chilli sauce which we received.

We shared some radish cake. This was a little different, the radish in layers and not in one mush. It also had spring onion in it, along with the little dried shrimp.

Next was some octopus tentacles and some prawn wontons. The octopus was a bit weird. It was sweet like the Singapore variety, but not deep fried crispy like the Singapore variant. I must say I much prefer the Perth deep fried kind. The prawn wontons were pretty good, although nothing new.

We also shared some chee cheong fun. Each sheet had 2 prawns, and it was garnished with some snow peas. This was also the same as the Perth variety, although a bit fatter and not as long.

 

For sweets, we had these little rolled up mango pancakes. Inside was some tinned mango slices and some sweetened whipped cream, inside a thin crepe. It was pretty good, it's just too bad they don't have it in Perth.

 

After brunch, we went back to Paddy's Markets. I wanted to buy a pair of thongs. Then we caught the bus to Palm Beach, which was a 2 hour bus ride from the CBD. We stayed for a couple of hours before catching the bus back just in time for the rain.

After a light refreshing, we headed out for dinner. We walked around Chinatown for a bit, and then finally decided on Casa Asturiana, a Spanish place. We decided to go for the tapas menu and ordered eggplant, chicken wings, mushrooms, baby octopus and chips. Unfortunately, the dining experience wasn't that great, with the food being quite bland and overpriced, especially with the uber small serving sizes.

 

Since we had not yet had Starbucks for the day, we stopped by. I had a vanilla cream blend. It was pretty good, although I prefer coffee.

Since the dinner was mediocre, we hit the kebab shop near the hotel for a touch up. I had a mixed kebab (both "lamb" and chicken), with chilli sauce. It was a lot better than dinner, and we could've eaten 8 between us for the same amount of cash .. oh well....

Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 4

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

10:26PM - Starbucks, BBQ King, Emperor's Puff and Al Ponte

Today started off with a Toffee Nut frappa from Starbucks. I thought it tasted like shit so I swapped with CB, who had a Peppermint Mocha frappa, which was better but still not my cup of tea.

We went around Paddy's Markets for a bit before 11:30 came around, and then ate at BBQ King. Unfortunately, the suckling pig was not ready, and therefore I opted for 'roast duck and char siu rice'. It was a huge serving and I was full afterwards.

On the way back to the markets, we stopped and got some 'Emperor's Puffs', recommended by one of CB's friends. We went for 15 which cost $3 (5 for $1). They were sweet vanilla-ish balls, some had a custardy middle (uncooked batter). They weren't too bad but not better than KK's.

I got some shirts from the markets ($15 each, cotton, made in Vietnam .. does that mean they're better than China?) and my kris kringle present for work. Afterwards, we hopped on the bus to go down to Paddington Markets (different from Paddy's), which turned out to be rather uneventful. We ended up walking down Oxford Street a bit and then catching the bus back after going through the markets for a bit. (an interesting side note: whilst going through the food section, there was a Thai place selling noodles which smelt pretty good. I had a look at their stove and it was a rusted old Rambo burner!)

I rested for a bit when we got back, CB shopped some more. Afterwards, we got ready and walked around Darling Harbour before dinner. We went to Al Ponte, which was in the Harbourside building at Darling Harbour, who had an empty table for us (we didn't have a reservation).

For a starter, I chose the antipasto. It consisted of various Italian hams (pancetta, prosciutto), various fritters and meats, marinated olives, artichoke and capsicum, sundried tomato and a slice of swiss cheese. It wasn't bad, I'm not a big fan of artichoke or olives, but I already knew that.

For a main, I went for a dish called "Trota salmonata farcita con pancetta e insalata di ceci". Translated, it is a "roasted ocean trout stuffed with pine nuts and sage wrapped with toasted pancetta, chickpea salad with an olive and baby caper dressing". When I first saw both our main dishes, I thought I got jipped (as I usually do). But after digging in, I enjoyed it alot! The chickpeas were a little weirdly textured (I'm used to them quite soft), but the dish was well put together.

Desert came around and I opted for the Creme Brulee. Not one, but two! I must admit, it wasn't as good as the one I had 3 days ago, but still good to eat. It was finished with a strawberry and an ameretto biscuit.

Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 3

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

11:30PM - Spuds and Crepes, Starbucks and Kura.

Today started off with a brunch, as we were going to have an earlyish dinner before Joss Stone. After walking around Chinatown for a bit to see what was open at 10:30ish, we eventually grabbed Starbucks (a coffee frappa) in the Queen Victoria Building and ended up in the Pitt St Mall foodcourt, where I was having trouble deciding what to have.

I eventually ended up with a 'spicy italian' jacket potato. It consisted of potato, ham, pepperoni, spring onion, cheese, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. It was OK, but definitely had too much sweet chilli sauce.

Afterwards, we walked up to Circular Quay where tickets for the Zoo were bought. The ferry was late in picking everyone up, but we eventually got there and stayed and wandered around for 3 hours or so.

We took the last ferry back, which was scheduled at 4:45. However, it didn't come till after 5, due to the severe storms out in Circular Quay. We finally got back to the CBD and grabbed an early dinner. I had teriyaki chicken with a side of karaage. The karaage was pretty good, but not as good as Jaws, and the teriyaki was OK.. not the best I've had though.

We then took the train to Newtown and saw the Joss Stone concert at the Enmore Theatre. Note to the sound tech at the mixer: "LOUDER IS NOT BETTER, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S DISTORTING!" For some reason, everyone's mic was turned up at the end and was just sounding pretty shit. Not really my music anyway.

We ended up waiting quite awhile for a return train back. For some reason, the last 3 or so trains had not arrived.

Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 2

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

4:53PM - Barbies, Starbucks, Lowenbrau.

Today started off a little late, we eventually left the hotel about 9:30AM. For breakfast, we stopped by a place called Barby's, which is an Indonesian (and now Australian) bakery chain, much alike BreadTalk in Singapore. I picked up some pandan roll, coconut and custard roll and shared half a sweet bun (the sweet bun comes in two sections). This was topped off with a Mocha Starbucks Frappa.

After having breakfast and reading the Sydney Morning Herald, we set off. We were originally going to go to the Zoo, however, the weather forecast predicted bad weather. It turned out to be a humid but fine day. We went up to Pitt Street mall and through Centrepoint to EB (they have $79 2nd hand XBoxes here but the two CBD stores don't have any). After, we walked to The Rocks area and got some brochures from the Visitors Centre.

The Visitors Centre was right next to Lowenbrau, so we decided to have lunch. I wasn't hungry at all, but decided to go for the Lowenschnitzel anyway, which was a giant pork schnitzel, chips, small salad and a herb mayonnaise. It wasn't that tasty, it was edible but nothing that great. Some tomato sauce and cheese to make a giant parmigiana would of been nicer ;) I was struggling at the end but managed to finish it.

After lunch, we decided to go to Homebush to shop at the DFO there. We headed to Circular Quay train station and took the train down to Homebush. However, upon getting to the train station, there wasn't really anything of interest around. Turns out that the DFO is closer to Olympic Park instead of Homebush, we couldn't be bothered going further so decided to head back to the CBD.

Looking through the brochures, we saw that Paddy's Markets was open. We went to Market City and went into the IGA there. It wasn't normal IGA, it wasn't 'Super Progressive IGA'. It was 'Thai Kee IGA'. This is a super duper fandango IGA, with a whole Asian section (with a whole heap of Japanese and Chinese goods and wares). I bought 2 1.5L bottles of water at 99c each (not quite Sing prices but still good). Afterwards, we hit Paddy's Markets.

11:52PM - Rockpool (Fish), 5 Star Kebabs

Tonight, we had a booking at Neil Perry's refurbished restaurant at The Rocks, named Rockpool (Fish). For starters, I went for the Prawn Cocktail, and I was expecting it old school style, in a glass. However it was on a plate, with 3 prawns, lettuce, seafood sauce and lemon. The cocktail was great, however, at close to $30, it did seem a little excessive... I forgot to take a picture before digging in, so here's a half eaten pic.

For mains, I bit the bullet and went for the Wagyu beef. At $92, this 200g steak was very expensive, but I wanted to try Wagyu/Kobe (any cows raised in a specific manner outside of Kobe, Japan is called Wagyu) beef. It was a very tasty bit of meat, well seasoned and the meat itself was tasty. It wasn't the most tender, some chewing was needed, but it was passable. It was quite fatty (as expected), the best way I could describe it would be that it was a big piece of grissle from a scotch fillet steak, but tastier. I don't think I'd try it again, at $92 a pop though, I could eat 3 x $30 steaks and be just as happy...

For desert, I opted for the Passionfruit Souffle. The souffle was very passionfruity, soft and a little eggy. It was served with a passionfruit topped yoghurt. Whilst being nice, it didn't top the Creme Brulee from last night in my mind.

We actually got to see Neil Perry too. He was having dinner with some people not too far from us. I saw him but wasn't sure if it was actually him.. CB could see the resemblance but thought it wasn't him. After awhile, it was concluded that it was him.

Afterwards, we had a drink at the Opera Bar, which is a bar at the Opera House, overlooking the water. We then made our way back to the hotel and I stopped at the 24 hour kebab shop near the hotel for a chicken kebab. It wasn't bad, I'd like to try the Doner there (maybe tomorrow after Joss Stone). I don't think it was better than the time we went before last year, before the Gamma Ray concert...

Sydney 2007 Holiday Day 1

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

2PM - Qantas meal, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Sushi Train Express.

We departed from Perth slightly late due to someone not being where they should be. The menu choice for the flight was "ravioli with bacon, mushrooms and leeks" and a "chicken korma and rice". I opted for the ravioli and made the wrong decision. It was tasteless, I couldn't taste any bacon, mushrooms or leeks. The cheese and crackers, bread roll and Mars Bar were all good however.

I didn't get much sleep on the plain, maybe a couple of hours tops. After collecting our bags, we hopped on the train to Central Station. Here, we walked to the hotel, dropped off our luggage and went to Starbucks, which was up the road. I had a coffee frappa, which hit the spot.

By now it was drizzling slightly. We went to Pitt St mall where we got Krispy Kremes last time, however some construction work was being done and we think that building is now gone. We had to walk up George St past Martin Place to find another KKs. Here I bought a custard filled chocolate donut. It could've done with more custard, there was hardly any in there! :(

After the donut, we ventured down Martin Place to look at the end of Sunrise being broadcast live. We were pretty close to the whole cast (who came outside the studio right at the end), except Mel who was missing.

We walked around a whole heap, through Hyde Park and through various shopping malls. I bought a few CDs and a few DVDs and tried looking for my kris kringle present for work. It was nearing lunch time so we went to Sushi Train Express.

 

I ended up having 2 plates of salmon sushi, 1 plate of beef sushi and "eel don". The salmon was pretty good, the beef was OK and the eel was nice, apart from the little bones (which were edible) which occasionally rubbed against the top of my mouth. To Sushi Train's defence, another place in Singapore (where I also ordered eel) had the same feeling. I was going to hit some karaage but was feeling a bit full and didn't want to fill up for the upcoming dinner at 'The Meat and Wine Co'.

One thing I noticed about Sydney this time around are the amount of Subaru Libertys running around. I think Sydney should be renamed to Liberty City!

10:23PM - The Meat and Wine Co

We had dinner reservations at 'The Meat and Wine Co'. I pretty much knew what I was going to order from their online menu. The place was set out nicely with a nice view of Darling Harbour.

 

To start, I had the "Spicy" wings with blue cheese sauce. The wings were quite tasty, but to say they were spicy was a bit wrong. There wasn't even a hint of chilli/pepper in the seasoning, so I was a bit disappointed. If they said savoury wings, then it would've been right on the money. The blue cheese sauce was okay, pretty potent stuff, but nothing that I could have a lot of. Oh, and I thought I was a bit jipped with only 3 wings! :(

I had to try their Toblerone cocktail. It was really good. The only thing which would've made it even better would be little bits of nougat or even honeycomb to chew on. Kinda like a Crunchie shake from Wendys.

For mains, I went for the half rib and 200g steak. It was served with chips (the majority are hidden under the ribs). I ordered pork ribs (with the choice of pork or beef) and had my steak rare.

The meat was very well done. The rib meat fell off the bones and had a nice BBQ smokey flavour to them. The steak was charred nicely on the outside and still pink in the middle (the way I eat steak nowadays). I was struggling at the end but managed to finish it all, including the side coleslaw.

CB and I shared a Creme Brulee for desert. This was delightful! From the hard caramel shell, to the creamy vanilla custard inside, this was absolutely sublime... I'm going to try and make Creme Brulee at home and see if I can get similar results...

All in all, it was a great feed, and I'm glad that I found this place whilst looking online a few months back on places to eat in Sydney. Yes it was expensive (my share of dinner was $90.50 out of $170), but the quality of the meat that I had and its location make it semi justifiable. As CB said, "if only we could pick up the restaurant and plonk it in Perth somewhere...."

Sydney 2007 Holiday

Home Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Tonight, CB and I will be taking the red eye flight to Sydney. I will be filling my guts full of Starbucks and Krispy Kreme donuts for the next 5 days. We've also have pencilled in Rockpool, Sushi Train, The Meat and Wine Co and The Lowenbrau.

I will be taking my laptop along so I can blog the food consumed on the trip. If I'm able to get a wireless connection then I'll be able to post daily, however if not, then they'll be posted when I get back.