Aki’s prawn vendakai curry
featured in masterchef!

Back in the 90′s when growing up, Indian food was always stereotyped as looking unfriendly (considering nothing could be seen underneath that delicious curry sauce). Over the years Indian food has definitely reached the mouths of many cultures and become a cuisine where people are not afraid to try something new.

I do know that many people still may refuse to step into an Indian restaurant due to the unfamiliarity of what to order or what to have. I’ve been to many Indian restaurants and I truly believe if you are one who is scared to venture out, you should definitely give it a try because your missing out on so much great food and culture.

Aki’s is definitely the kind of Indian restaurant where you will be guaranteed to have a fantastic Indian experience. Brilliant Chef / Owner Kumar Mahadevan’s mission is based on local fresh produce bringing flavours from Southern India. Aki’s also has a sister restaurant in North Strathfield called ‘Abhi’s’ which I’ve been going to for many years and is considered my ultimate favourite Indian restaurant!!

Starters

Crab with iddiappam (Aki’s Special) – Blue swimmer crab, black mustard seeds, fresh tomatoes and ginger, served with traditional tamil brown rice string hoppers served with a coconut broth.

The way to eat this is smearing a couple of teaspoons of coconut broth over the crab and Tamil brown rice string hoppers (fine noodles). When eaten, flavours are phenomenal with the interesting texture when combined. The noodles soaks up all of the yummy flavours from the broth and crab making this a dish very different to anything I’ve ever experienced at an Indian restaurant.

Palak patta chaat
Without having a clue what this dish was, I was surprised by how beautiful the colours were on this mountain of crispy spinach leaves. Texture was very crunchy and seeing the crispy leaves once broken was definately something I wish I took a photo of to show you its crispy interior.

Taste was very yogurty with its combined sauces of mint and sweet tamarind sauce which brought the sweetness out in this dish. When eating this dish, I thought it was going to be soggy considering I had left it last to eat on the starters dish. To my surprise it stays very crispy the whole entire time! *thumbs up*

Mains

Madras prawn vendakai – A traditional South Indian dish of jumbo prawns and fresh okra with shallots, coconut, tamarind, mustard, fenugreek and cumin seeds.

When i first saw this on masterchef boy I was craving for curry!!! It looked so good and I remembered people at work talking about how appealing the curry looked. As soon as I saw this was on the menu, there was no questions about ordering it.

Jumbo prawns were huge and extremely fresh almost like it had just been plucked out of the ocean. The flavours with a tinge of spiciness lingered my mouth (sooo good) that we made sure the curry sauce was completely wiped up and polished off using our naan bread. The okra and the combination of cumin seeds were a brilliant combination. I often think okra is an underrated vegetable with many people unfamiliar on how to cook it. MASTERCHEF FANS!! – definitely must try!!!

Wagyu beef ullathu (Aki’s Special Menu) – beef medallions pan fried, dry roasted coconut, coriander seeds, ginger, coconut oil and garnlished with fresh curry leaves

When eating with a male, they always look for something meaty on the menu and this one seemed to appeal to his eye the most. Wagyu beef was tender and the medallions were perfectly sized. The caramelised onions and the perfect balance of herbs and spices made this dish brilliant.

Admiring the different spices which were used, made me realise you don’t see anything like this at other Indian restaurants. It explains why Kumar’s expertise in balancing spices is one of a kind!

Chicken Makhini – Aki’s ‘Butter Chicken’ roasted in the tandoor and then pan finished with a subtly
spiced blend of tomatoes and cream and dry fenugreek leaves

When going to an Indian restaurant, its a must to order curry.  I’ve had a few butter chicken’s in my time and I thought I’d see how this compares as I know Butter King & Queen (Mcky & Ll) will definitely be asking me how this compared to all the Indian restaurants I’ve been to.

Its a different kind of butter chicken. This one isn’t as sweet as some are. This seems to be more of a yogurt based curry hence the ligter tone of  orange. Chicken pieces were soft and tender and very generous.

Saffron basmati rice
I always order a side of rice when having curry, it always balances out the meal.

Garlic naan
No point going to Indian if your not gonna order naan. It’s a must have!! Best thing I love about naan is letting the curry absorb into the naan!

Dessert

Indian Kulfi icecream
I’ve had a few indian kulfi icecreams at various indian restaurants. Couple of weeks ago I experienced the worst which came out looking and tasting nothing like this.

When dining at Abhi’s at north Strathfield I always look forward to Kulfi ice-cream as it is always “THE BOMB”. Considering Aki’s and Abhi’s is the same restaurant, we knew exactly what we were in for ^_^ This is the safe option if your not adventurous enough to trying something different.

Wattalappam with vanilla icecream
Wattalappam is an Indian type custard dessert which resembled a creme caramel! The texture of the wattalappam is smooth and creamy and the taste of cardamom  stands out significantly when eating the custard. The aroma really does flavour the mouth which is very appetising. The cashews on top is beautiful thanks to the sweetness of the palm sugar.

* pigged-out dined as a guest

Aki’s
6 Cowper Wharf Rd
The Wharf Shop 1,
Woolloomooloo, 2011
P: (02) 9332 4600
W: www.akisindian.com.au

Etch is a small modern European (French, Italian & Spanish influences) restaurant with excellent prices. Instead of paying lots of money for a fancy dish, Etch’s prices are reasonable. In my opinion its market is aimed at those who want a fine dining experience which doesn’t leave pockets completely dry.

“My vision for Etch is to bring together the finest quality and sustainable produce at great prices for city workers to enjoy all day from midday to late at night with the one seasonal menu running continuously. Offering efficient and friendly service, with a concise selection of interesting wines in a relaxed and fun room”.

- Justin North

Early last year I first went to Etch for a colleagues birthday (read previous entry). Since then I had fond memories of some of the dishes I had. After being so long since I last visited, it has been one of the places the girls had been wanting to try for approximately 1 year. Finally, there was a reason for us girls to get together in celebration of spicyicecream’s birthday *whoo hoo*.

* APOLOGIES FOR THE HORRIBLE PHOTOS, It was pretty dark in there that my camera was chucking spasms even with a really low aperture =|

Caramelised pork head, roasted prawn, pickled rhubarb, kohlrabi puree

I thought this dish was pretty god dayem good. When all was combined the flavours were extremely delicious. Definitely one of my favourites for the night.

Duck plate – Duck pancake with mandarin, duck pate and duck infused creme caramel

I’ve never been a huge fan of duck. I only love my duck cooking asian style. Other than that, I find duck really gamy and really really strong. So if you love duck then chances you would love this dish. The duck pancake with mandarin was absolutely DIVINE!!!! It was that good I wish i ate the whole thing to myself. The duck pate was great! Wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be which is GREAT… and the infused creme caramel was very intelligently done. *thumbs up*

Ballottine of free range chicken, sauteed brussel sprouts, bacon, bread sauce

Chicken was really tasty, definitely one of my highlights for the night. The dish looked quite huge even i don’t think I could finish it. All the flavours when combined together made fireworks!

Crusted sea bream, Jerusalem artichoke barigoule, trompette puree

Betty loved her dish endlessly, it was really really good that I would have been happy to swap my dish for hers any day hehe. So many flavours, fish cooked to perfection.. how could anyone not love such an amazing dish!

Flathead, Serrano ham, parsnip puree, potato fondant, jus gras

Don’t judge a book by its cover! Everyone was ooh-ind -ahh-ing over my dish. It was nice but not what I had expected. Usually when I got to fancy restaurants, I always seem to order fish dishes and this one was fairly unusual with a beautiful fancy twist. Still great! definately somthing different from all the usual “seared / crispy” fish dishes .

Roasted sirloin, daube of beef, spinach, carrot, red wine jus

THE BOMB!!! Can never go wrong with red meat. Beef was soft and tender and the flavours were just delicious!!! Plenty of nods for this dish.

Risotto of Spencer Gulf prawns

I really enjoyed the flavours of karen’s risotto. At this stage so far everyones meal seems to be better than mine thank god we all shared our meals…Risotto was beautiful, rich in flavour and fresh.

Roast pork with beetroot

Being asian, we don’t really like to eat our pork red. At first I thought i’d struggle with this but instead it was actually delicious thanks the the awesome crackling!

dessert

Caramel date tart, burnt butter ice cream, Earl Grey tea syrup

After having this same dessert last year, I knew this dessert was going to be awesome which is why it still hasn’t left the menu. We all loved this one soo much that we ordered a second dosage.

Chocolate peanut butter mille feuille, manuka honey marshmallow

After having the awesome rockpools mille feuille, i had high expectations for this chocolate dish. Unfortunately we were disappointed. Having said this, usually chocolate desserts are always the safest option if your scared to venture out of the chocolate zone. In this case, venturing out would have been better =(

Lolly tray

I’ve never been one to order ly trays. In fact this is the first ly tray I have ever ordered in my life. It was pretty good!!!

Spiced quince crumble, Hoegaarden ice cream

Ive never been a fan of apple pie probably explains why this wasn’t one of my favourite desserts. I did love the flavours that came along with it such as the cinnamon / nutmeg taste. Apple pie / crumble lovers you’ll have to try this one!

Baked rice custard, poached rhubarb, white chocolate & juniper berry ice cream

Very light rice custard dessert, i’ve never had this baked before which explains the interesting texture. Presentation was amazingly beautiful!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday miss awesome spicyicecream!!!

I had an great night with you ladies and of course ears dropping at that crazy couple who were having a break-up session with tears, table banging, voice raising and of course our theories of what would and probably happened after they argued PHUAHAHA.. <3 <3 you girls!

Etch

62 Bridge St

Sydney, 2000

P: (02) 9247 4777