One of the things I like to do is talk to the cab drivers and ask them – “Where the best Indian food is..” As expected, our taxi driver took us to a local Indian curry place that looks extremely dark dingy / dodgy with quite a few people dining in there. Our cabbie parks in-front of the restaurant, screams out to the owner of the restaurant -“Aye.. Aye, Oi…- These are my friends! take care of them as they will come and eat curry after they shop”. buhahaha…

Anyways, Indigo isn’t a dingy restaurant, its actually located inside Denarau port so foreigners wont have to worry about shitting their pants for the next couple of days. It’s pricier than the local rate of ($5 for curry & rice) but I assure you’ll be satisfied! - (Chilli whimps – if you can’t handle the heat, remember tell them your heat intensity as curries here are usually served with a bite).

Butter chicken
I always love a good butter chicken especially when the balance is perfect (not to sweet not to heavy but with a little bit of heat)

Lamb Biriyani
This biriyani was absolutely delicious. My sister came here previously and she kept raving on about their Lamb biriyani. It was really delicious and probably my favourite for the night. The spices were amazing, colour was rich in yellow and different to most biriyanis i’ve tried

Goat curry
My sister has been raving about the goat curry and it was absolutely divine. The goat was soft and tender and pulled off the bone (there’s bones in this dish). If you’ve never had goat before, it tastes like lamb! If its not cooked correctly, goat can be quite tragic and tough.

Lamb Korma
Can’t go wrong with a ‘spicy’ lamb korma =P

Fish Curry
Because Fiji is the country where fish is at its best, I just had to try a fish curry. The flavours were brilliant unfortunately the fish felt dry as though it was over cooked :( Definitely not a favourite for the night.

Wholemeal roti and garlic naans

Indigo Indian Restauraunt
Port Denarau Marina,
Denarau Island,
Viti Levu! Fiji

If you thought the war was over… your wrong because after the gym, I have to walk past this god damn place to get to my god damn car and chances are, I’m freaking starving I could eat my own shoe as its late at night and I haven’t had dinner yet. I get tempted to buy a few macarons (and never do) which makes me annoyed as everyone knows how much I love those fragile babies.

Finally, decided to end this misery by bringing a few people down with me as we ate in complete guilt..

Roll the dice, is it naughty or nice ($18)
Chocolate creme brulee, cinnamon ice cream and cherry gel w/ pistachio, sesame crumble

When this first came out, we were shocked as we weren’t expecting it to be a creative piece of work.. we expected it to be the traditional creme brulee – but anyway we enjoyed it from an artsy perspective. The caramel crunch on the top (I assume) represented the light-thin toffee on a crème brulee, however overall elements of creme brulee weren’t there in the dish as we hoped for. I can imagine some customers wouldn’t have felt satisfied if they were really craving a brulee and in return got a slab of delicious cinnamon chocolate ice-cream.

This is how we roll
Profiteroles filled with chocolate ice-cream and cheeky chocolate sauce

I ordered this because it seemed to be the flavour for the night. I figured, if everyone’s ordering it.. it must be freaking good!!! When the lady brought my dessert, I laughed at at the group saying: “haha my dessert looks pimped in comparison to yours…muhahaha *evil grin*. Surprisingly, it was different and i’ve never eaten a profiterole like this before. I expected the usual kinda profiterole casings (soft) and these were quite crunchy which I assume was meant to help absorb the ice-cream into it??

Sticky date pudding
Creamy butterscotch sauce and vanilla bean ice-cream

We have a sticky-date pudding fanatic, so this was one of the incentives for him to come with us. Apparently it was soo good he became a (SCABB!) haha

Will you pash or dash
Chocolate fondant with passion fruit centre, toasted white chocolate & orange soaked pineapple

Fondant addict had  his eyes on this from the moment we sat down. I laughed when it came out cos I thought they screwed up on the design.  After goolgling around, I think it’s actually meant to look like a plate of mess… nevertheless a lesson learnt (don’t judge a book by its cover)!

Assorted macarons

At the time, bananas were the price of gold so I made sure I got myself a banana macarons (nom nom nom). Was it the best macarons? These days, there’s so many macarons around that I don’t know what the best macaron is anymore! This is a  fix if your a local like me and who doesn’t know how to make macarons HAHAHA!!!

Would I return? not sure as I found the desserts quite expensive ($18 a pop) so i’m not sure if i’ll be back. Maybe for a coffee perhaps and some cake?!

Cheeky Chocolate
11 George St, North Strathfield
P: (02) 9764-5966
W: www.cheekychocolate.com.a

Moving along, The Armory Wharf Cafe is one of the local cafes in my hood. The area used to be an old military training base and these days, its now reformed into a massive park and escape for the locals who love long walks by river and those who play a visit via the ferry / river-cat. They make pretty good local breakfasts and lunch and is extremely busy! – I highly recommend making a booking or else you’ll be waiting quite a while for a seat.

Baked eggs with chorizo and caramelised balsamic

Big breakfast – sausage, bacon, grilled tomatoes, eggs cooked to your liking, sourdough bread

Corn cakes served with avocado and tomato salsa with smoked salmon, dill and yoghurt sauce

Eggs benne’ with Tasmanian salmon and spinach on a toasted casa panotte

Armory Wharf Cafe
Blaxland Riverside Park
Jamieson Street,
Newington NSW 2127

P: (02) 9714 7513
W: http://www.armorywharfcafe.com

In with the new..

Out with the old..

What I admire the most is the way Berowra Waters Inn capture every moment making it an enjoyable experience from start to finish. From the unforgettable pre-dining experience i.e. from watching the locals transport their goods via the river, to the motionless still water, through to the whole dining experience and right until it’s time to say good bye. They’ve really touched on the feel from beginning to end which is what i’ll never forget – THanks for making my birthday awesome!  (see photos below)

Chilled vichyssoise
Oscietra and salmon caviar and beignets of Hawkesbury oysters

Salmon & egg

beurre echire butter
THE BEST BUTER EVER!!! If anyone knows where I can buy or import this, I wanna know!

Sauteed prawn tails, oxtail and native pepper croustillant celeriac sheeps milk yoghut and lemon beurre noisette 

Steamed razor clam – local mud crab meat, spaghettini, garlic, chilli, lemon and parsley

snowy mountain freshwater trout leek hearts cooked in ash, smoked cream

roast white  veal rack, onion soubise, green asparagus and wood mushrooms

coconut pannacotta new season mango, passionfruit and candied orange meringue

white chocolate mousse – black pepper softcake, salted caramel and raspberry sorbet
(as much as the dessert was delicious, I was quite disappointed as I was expecting something grand and work of art) 

Petite fours – Lemon tart, dark and white chocolates and chocolate macarons
Petite fours are not served at the restaurant instead it is given to you as a gift pack to take home

How to get to get there? - Berowra Waters Inn  takes you on a memorable journey by sweeping you off your feet as you board their complementary boat transfer to the restaurant (keep in mind there are only 3 other ways to get to the restaurant i.e. sea plane, swim across or water taxi). 

So how does this compare to other fancy hatted restaurants.. I’ve been to many fancy restaurants during my life time and none of them go to great lengths to create the ultimate experience (Boys this is a great place to impress a girl!!).

Berowra Waters Inn
Via bay road
Berowra Waters, NSW 2082
P: (02) 9456 1027

I came here a couple of months ago for Phuoc’s birthday along with a bunch of super awesome and talented peeps (you know who you are xx)  so I suggest if you never got the chance to visit Perama, make sure you visit xanthi for some greek lovin’! For the record, Xanthi is not located in Petersham but for your convenience its now located in the new Pitt St Mall Westfield (next to Chat Thai).

Tarama salted & cured cod roe dip

Tzatziki dip

Honey peppered figs

Hot smoked eggplant dip

BBQ haloumi cheese

Herbed skordalia croquettes

Picked octopus

Pork belly baklava

Sheftalies BBQ cypriot styled spiced pork meatballs

Lamb fricasse bougatsa (nut free)

Fried veal sweetbreads

Lamb and pork from the spit

Salted caramel peanut & banana sweet bougatsa

Caramel baklava icecream

Garden of aphrodite

Soklata Castania

Xanthi
100 Market St Level 6 Westfield
Sydney, NSW 2000
P: (02) 9232 8535
W: xanthi.com.au

This is my first time experiencing Cuban food and at first, I had no idea what to expect. I assumed Cuban food was/is exactly the same as ‘Spanish’ food (chorizo here and there) – I was totally wrong. During my dining experience, an alcoholic beverage with ‘rum‘ is a MUST as Cubans are rum and cigar masters. I had two mojitos to start the night and if you make it in time for happy hour, Mojitos are $10!

Mojito – havana club rum, fresh mint, lime, soda and sugar
Start the night with mojito! It’s a must and impossible to resist.

Comestibles

Ropa vieja (must try!!)
Braised lamb neck, cuban rice with black bean vinaigrette

This was my FAVOURITE dish of the night. Even tho this is only an entree / tapas style dish – it was AMAZING that I can’t wait to go back for this dish. The lamb was soo soft and tender and the beans were so good its hard to imagine how a bean dish could taste so great. The rice and beans areaddictive. I could eat beans and rice all day! My new love is beans and rice!

croquetas de malanga
taro croquettes served with aji de gallina sauce

After speaking with the waitress she pointed out this dish is one of the popular dishes people tend to order. Crunchy taro with a delicious creamy sauce and the thinly shredded cucumber gave it a nice refreshing taste.

Fondo

pato con chocolate (must try!!)
duck breast, sweet potato and spinach croquants and chocolate sauce

This would have to be the another favourite oft he night. The duck was soft tender, skin is crispy and the sweet poato and chocolate sauce makes this dish a complete winner. Definite must try and now I can see why this is another extremely popular dish.

codillo de cerdo con naranja
pork hockm orange mojo and tacu-tacu

Pork hock was delicious! not only did it seriously melt in your mouth, it was rich and mouthwatering. The rice had a really nice texture as though it was panfried lightly giving it a nice crispy touch and the mojo (cuban sauce) was beautiful!

Para Acompanar

repollo
we decided to eat our mains with a side of shaved cabbage (keeping in with the Cuban theme). Cabbage complements the mains giving it a refreshing taste.

Postres

spiced cuban carrot cake (must try!!)
OMGGGG the presentation of this dessert was mind blowing. I couldn’t believe what I visualising! I didn’t expect dessert to be created with perfection and a complete work of art. If you love carrot cake keep in mind this is a Cuban style carrot cake which is dense and orange in colour. The carrot puree was delicious and the texture of it was magical.

café y caramelo (must try!!)
mocha dome with candied peanuts and salted caramel ice-cream

mocha dome was to die for. It was rich silky and orgasmic. Boys, this is a dessert that will win the ladies!

varadero rum (15 year old rum)
I totally recommend trying this vintage rum. Its drank straight and is fairly strong hence the small amount that is given. This rum would have to be nicest i’ve drank straight ever. Its smooth (smoother than a good glass of wine) and the fumes are amazing.

mai tai cocktail
can’t go wrong with a mai tai!

Overall I had a fantastic experience at La Bodeguita. I’m definitely coming back and in fact, I can’t wait as I’m still dreaming about some of the dishes. Looking forward to returning on a friday!

* Leona dined as a guest of La Bodeguita

La Bodeguita del Medio
p: +61 2 9264 4224
a: 125 York Street,
Sydney, NSW, 2000
W: http://www.lbdm.com.au

Seared scallops with Jerusalem artichoke puree and basil creme
Perfectly cooked scallops with delicious artichoke purree – you just can’t go wrong with scallops. This a dish which is too darn pretty to eat and irresistible to say no to!

Crabcake with salad of onions and baby herbs
What a way to rekindle ones memory (its been years since I last had a  crabcake). I thoroughly enjoyed this dish as it was a great way to start the night. Crabcake consists of shredded crab meat with fresh herbs and is encased in a light crunchy crumbed shell. Its light and fresh and provides the perfect balance.

Confit of kurobuta pork belly with mash potatoes and roasted apple
OMG!!!! This seems to be one of the popular dishes on the night. If you love pork belly, you would absolutely love this dish to death!

The pork was amazing. It wasn’t fatty and the crackle hit all the right notes. The roasted apple parcels were mouth watering thanks to the puff pastry and the caramalised apples. This dish could not get any better it was mind blowing.

Pan-fried duck breast with celeriac puree and caramalised shallots
Two ladies sitting next to us were admiring our mains. They even commented on how amazing the duck dish looked. Duck isn’t exactly my favourite kinda meat but it was soft and tender. This dish is a brilliant comforting meal.

Cibo e Vino shoestring fries with herbs, parmesan and chilli
These fries are a MUST order! This is one of their signature sides and it is the BESTTT shoestring fries ive ever had!!!

With the lite chilli kick and the parmesan tossed with the fresh herbs, it truly is TO DIE FOR!!

Tasting platter for two
If you want to try all of the desserts, this is the BEST way to do it. Sample tasting platter consists of:

- chocolate pudding with vanilla bean ice-cream
- rice pudding with black truffle
- cheesecake
- bread and butter pudding with rhubarb
- mouth watering honey tart with peanut butter ice-cream

Coffee with shot of frangellico and side of caramalised popcorn
Perfect way to end the night!

* Leona dined as a guest of the bamboo garden

 Cibo e Vino
299 Old Northern Rd Shop 2
Castle Hill, 2154
P: (02) 8002 0912
W: www.ciboevino.com.au

Rumour has it.. Pho An adds marijuana in their soup and that’s why people have a crazy addiction for it… LOL! – As strange as this sounds, this is a rumour that I’ve heard multiple times via word of mouth and no doubt I find it hilarious bhuahaha

Personally, I find it hard to believe marijuanana is a key ingredient in their soup as i imagine it would and could taste quite strange considering it stinks like ass when you smoke it lmao. Although, I do admit after I had the pho here for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I had this weird craving that I wanted it the following day and almost every day after which made me return for another fix.

Pho An isn’t a fancy style restaurant so it’s great if you want to grab something quick and easy. They have cooked or raw beef /chicken options when choosing your pho which i think is great for foreigners who are a bit hesitant. To the soup haters out there, this isn’t a restaurant which has rice options as Pho An make it quite clear they specialise in soup.

I admit the soup here is pretty good and the broth is quite tasty but is it as good as good as pho in cabramatta? I’ll let you bankstown vs cabramatta peeps decide.

Pho bo - pho with cooked beef
I thought I’d try pho with cooked beef. Personally i prefer the raw beef as I find it tastier. The cooked beef is slightly thicker and i find it has a bit more fat attached to it. This is all about personal choice on how you prefer the beef in your pho its still yum though!

pho dac biet - special soup with the lot
If you like tripe and weird other bits like tendons then go for it. If your like me who hates the texture of tripe then there’s no way in hell this would ever be my cuppa-tea.

pho garnish
first thing i noticed was, ‘gee my herb stash looks limited’ in variety :( totally missing my mint!

ca phe sua da
awesome iced coffee although, mixing this with soup is probably not a good idea as your bound to give yourself a stomach ache from mixing cold and hot

Pho An Restaurant
29 Greenfield Parade
Bankstown, NSW 2200

Chef Peter Padlan showcases 4143′s popular dishes and does a fantastic job with perfection! After all they churn 70 wagyu burgers a day! Having said this, I’m sure everyone at this event would agree with me that the food was impressive and without a doubt, 4143 will go far once everyone starts to cotton out about this hidden gem.

caramelised onion tart with goats curd and balsamic
crunchy buttery puff pastry with delicious onion and light and silky goats curd

seared scallops on pea puree with chorizo
scallops cooked to perfection

wagyu burger on brioche bun with beetroot relish, gherkins, cheddar, and aioli with beer battered chips
most popular dish which sells at 70 a day!. One of the nicest wagyu burgers I’ve had in a really long time thanks to the brioche bun!

braised lamb shanks en crepinette on parsnip puree with muscatel jus
My ultimate favourite dish of the day!!! – Soft and tender lamb shanks cooked for 16hours! Inside this parcel, is embedded with a creamy spinach

duck breast on du puy lentils with spinach and brussel sprouts
I hardly ate any duck but from what I could taste and see. was exactly cooked how I like my duck cooked (pink but not bleeding). Lentils and spinach had rich superb flavours. Richard just couldn’t get enough of that jus!

 

chat potatoes with rosemary, garlic and paprika
crunchy golden spuds! totally in lurveeee with these golden beauts. Crispy on the outside, soft and delicate in the center.

 

buttered brussel sprouts with pancetta
as a child I used to hate brussel sprouts. The older I grew, the more I learned to love it. I was expecting it to be fairly bitter and surprisingly it wasn’t!

 

roasted baby beets and beans

soft and sweet mango seeds
these squishy little critters were a unique way to cleanse the mouth and prepare us for dessert

bread and butter pudding with rhubarb and macadamia ice cream
majority seemed to love this and I did of course, although i wish there was more custard

chocolate orange mousse with hazelnut biscotti
rich good quality chocolate, I guarantee you will have a party in your mouth

tiramisu
I love a good tiramisu! especially when it has a lot of savoiardi fingers dipped in alcohol and coffee! usually restaurants / cafes tend to over dose with mascapone and lack the savoiardi component. I felt very satisfied with this tiramisu and found it was balanced just right!

affogato served with vanilla ice cream with frangelico, shot of espresso
as long as the coffee is good, you can’t go wrong with an affogato – yum!

venue

The site was originally the James Barnes linseed oil mill and has been revamped by bringing the new and polishing the old which adds character. You can enjoy drinks and food outdoor or indoors indoors for a cosy experience.

* Leona dined as a guest of Gourmet Rabbit

http://phuocndelicious.com
http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com
http://spicyicecream.com.au
http://richardelliot.blogspot.com
http://thebonvivant.com.au
http://secretfoodies.com.au
http://gastronomousanonymous.com

4143 at the James Barnes
2 Huntley St Building 9
Alexandria, 2015
W: www.4143.com.au
P: (02) 9690 8400