St Leonards hidden treasure..

Tucked away in the business district of St Leonards, is an amazing restaurant | bar with fantastic food for an incredible affordable price. With a Mediterranean inspiration, quality of the food was brilliant and the menu selection was delicious that the boy and I cannot wait to go back.

When first entering the restaurant on a Friday night, the sounds of a soothing live band is what is needed to begin the weekend. The live band created an atmosphere that hardly any restaurants have these days and someone what lack in terms of creating a casual relaxing mood where customers could enjoy their meal, with a glass of wine and the company of their lovers and friends. If your ever stuck on thinking of where to eat, Olio is perfect for any occasion with food that will make any stomach very happy

Starters

Sourdough bread with balsamic vinegar & olive oil
I love starting my meals with bread especially when the bread is fresh, soft with crunchy crusts

Entrees

Crispy pork – seared scallops, fennel, rocket and ruby grapefruit
Fantastic way to start the night as the dish was refreshing and light. The crispy pork was soo soft and tender which easily pulled apart from the fork and melted in your mouth. The seared scallops were big and grilled to perfection while the greens were incredibly fresh! What I loved about this dish was the flavours of the grapefruit when combined. Definitely worked wonders in my mouth.

Salmon & dill fish cake with radish and watercress salad with a side of lemon aioli
The boy’s favourite fish is salmon and he could not say no to anything salmon on the menu. Previously we had something similar to this at Cafe Sopra, Waterloo and personally I liked Olio’s much more. Lightly crumbed and the filling was really tasty. Portion is very generous in size and absolutely delicious. Very much loved by the both of us!

Mains

Olio Mediterranean seafood stew – fish, prawn, scallop, mussels, octopus, tomato, fennel, potato, saffron and grilled sourdough bread
Due to the cold winter nights, having a phenomenally tasty stew is what everyone needs this winter. The seafood pieces were fresh, scallops were big, prawn was huge and the seafood flavours were soooooo good I cleaned-up my plate. I loved the flavours in the stew which made it pleasurable when dipping the pieces of grilled sourdough. The poatoes were soft which absorbed a lot of the flavour making it brilliant. I loved this stew so much i’m still thinking about it as I write it up.

Duck & orange cognac sausages house made – duy puy lentils, cabbage and pancetta
Oh my goddddddd!!!! First bite made me wanna break out and sing Usher’s song – OMG!!!! I’ve never had duck sausages before and my god these sausages are a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I’m aware duck can have an extremely strong taste and in my head i pictured these sausages to be really intense but boy was I wrong. Duck sausages were soo tasty thanks to the orange cognac and the lentils worked brilliantly when combined. Overall a must get dish.. It really is a fantastic dish!

Kopi Luwak
one of the rarest & finest coffees available

Kopi Luwak is a rich smooth coffee with an earthy, syrupy texture and a hint of cocoa undertones. The Asian Palm civet is responsible for the effects of this unique coffee. The tree-climbing civet prowls the coffee plantations at night picking and consuming the finest and best ripe coffee cherries. These pass through the civet undigested with the fleshy coating removed. The beans are hand picked and carefully washed and cleansed before being processed in the normal fashion to make the highly selected top grade coffee.

kopi luwak – with petite fours
At first I thought they handed us vodka shots with our coffee. Instead of vodka, its actually soda water with lime. Your meant to drink it first as it washes down any previous flavours from previous foods followed by downing the espresso shot then munching on the petite fours. I admit i’m no guru when it comes to espresso shots but I do love my coffee so yes I did enjoy this. After the shot, a bitter after taste lingers in your mouth until you take a nibble of the petite fours. Perfect way to end the night!!! Definite must try and remember its a “RARE” coffee which makes it special from the rest.

dessert

Vanilla creme brulee
Mesmerised by the size of it I knew i was in brulee heaven. The custard was rich and creamy and what I admired was the beautiful black specs of fresh vanilla bean throughout the creamy custard. The crisp toffee was perfect. Not too sweet nor overpowering like some can be. Loved it!!

chocolate fondant – poached pear and brandy anglaise
Rich chocolate fondant with gooey center. Poached pear worked brilliantly with the dark chocolate creating a good balance. The brandy anglaise wasn’t too sweet and very light and smooth in texture. Definitely a dessert for all chocolate lovers and one where it will easily satisfy an individual.

* pigged-out dined as a guest of Olio Restaurant

Olio Restaurant | Bar
201-205 Pacific Hwy,
St Leonards NSW 2065
Phone: (02) 9439 8988
Fax: (02) 9439 5966
Website: http://www.olio.com.au

Monkey magic is a great cosy restaurant for socialising and catching up with a group of friends. Its a great place to have a couple of cocktails with really great food which is made from love using fresh produce. Monkey Magic has a significant Japanese influence with the twist of modern cuisine so if you love japanese food like I do, chances are you’ll love the twist chef / owner – Hidetoshi has to offer.

Received an email from krissie about Monkey Magic’s penny saving 20% off deal (mon-wed) and I knew I had to revisit after bringing back great memories of my previous experience. After last visiting this place (about a yea rago), great thing about Monkey magic is that they kept their signature dishes such as the “caramalised pork lettuce cup“. Deep down I wanted to re-order all of their signature dishes again but their winter menu won me over which was phenomenally delicious!

the night began with..

I love to drink (that’s a fact). Hidetoshi recommended a couple of cocktails to begin the night. Taking recommendations is what I love.. if that’s what majority of the people drink, then I want to try one too!

Fairy wings – A zest, refreshing twist of cucumber and gin, smoothed with honey and a hint of absinthe.

Refreshing indeed! The cucumber sticks made this feel like I was drinking something fairly healthy *whoo* First sip took me back to primary school days of when I used to buy 5¢ licorice sticks from the canteen (I LOVE LICORICE).

It wasn’t a sweet cocktail as the absinthe (aniseed flavour) tended to overpower the gin but yes I loved it!!! – Would I get this again? for sheoww! but then there’s other cocktails I want to try too.

Minami Azabu – A sake martini with lychee and a hint of ginger

(Nuwen) ordered this fairly manly martini perfect for his taste buds. Strong taste of sake and ginger it was definitely a drink the blokes would love due to the alcoholic strength much loved!

we began with the small dishes..

Prawn noodle salad - house-made fine noodle, prawns and mushroom with soy and truffle dressing

If its one thing I love its noodle salads / (cold Japanese noodles). Its always a great way to start dinner with something refreshing and light. As we took our first bite oh my god the boy started to make noises as to how good this salad. Definitely one of the stand-out dishes of the night as we kept saying how we wished this came as a main because of how good this was!

duck pancake - roasted duck with buckwheat pancake and dark miso sauce

Lean pieces of roasted duck with crispy skin was absolutely mouthwatering. The buckwheat pancake was something I have never had before as the texture was extremely light almost resembling a thin egg omelette with shallots.

Overall the whole dish made fireworks. Once the dark miso was spread on the pancake with duck and topped with wafer thin strands of lettuce and cucumber, the freshness of the dish became mind blowing.

Monkey magic sushi selection – snapper, salmon, kingfish, prawn and tuna sashimi

If I’m going to have Japanese food, I have to have sushi of some sort. Can’t go wrong with their signature sushi selection. Fresh pieces of sashimi like how I remembered it to be quality is still ever so fresh!

comforting winter mains

Braised beef cheeks – with soy and mushroom broth and baked goat cheese gnocchi

Its always a great feeling when beef is ridiculously tender and falls apart effortlessly. Brought great memories of a chinese winter dish / soup which my dad cooks using beef cheek.

Soy broth was tasty and light creating the perfect setting. At first I thought the baked goat cheese looked like soft pillows of potato then realising after my first bite that it was actually lightly baked goats cheese. The goats cheese created a really nice texture, something which i’ve never had with beef before.

Slow cooked pork belly – soy braised pork belly with puy lentils and sauteed english spinach

I LOVE PORK! Pork  belly is one of those winter dishes that is impossible to say no to.  The pork belly was extremely tender that when you placed it in your mouth,  it instantly dissolved.

Another favourite was the puy lentils. I’m a huge fan of lentils as i am a lentil eater during the weekdays. Loved the flavours absorbed into the dish which made it pleasurable to eat. This is definitely one of those dishes you have to order!

work tossed mushrooms – lettuce hearts with citrus miso

Fresh various selection of mushrooms made as a side to complement the meaty mains

all things sweet and  beautiful

Molten chocolate pudding – strawberries, vanilla bean ice-cream and toffee bits (15 minute preparation)

Delicious light chocolate pudding almost reminding me of a souffle. Once broken into, melted chocolate pours out from the center leaving a delicious pool of heavenly chocolate. Underneath the vanilla bean ice-cream is crunchy bits of toffee which added a lovely texture when combined with the ice-cream and pudding.

Banana, white chocolate, red bean, shiso spring roll - green tea ice-cream and raspberry coulis

I’ve never been a fan of fried desserts. Unfortunately nearly all the desserts ran out because we were eating way to slowly so I had no choice but to choose this. At first I was a bit hesitant because I previously had a similar dessert at Toko which turned out to be pretty disappointing.

To my surprise Monkey magic impressed me. It was much much better than Toko that in fact I was surprised to find the surprises embedded in the spring rolls. Center was banana, with red bean and a shiso leaf which had the texture of crispy basil. Redbean and green tea are always a combination made to match. Absolutely delicious when eaten with the green-tea icecream with a smear of raspberry coulis.  Dessert well loved and enjoyed.

* pigged-out dined as a guest at Monkey Magic

Monkey Magic
Shop 3&4,
410 Crown Street,
Surry Hills, NSW 2000
P: (02) 9358 4444
W: monkeymagic.com.au