Subsolo Cafe...?

My monthly Food Safari lunch got postponed a few times as either my friend was busy or I was busy. One day we were both free and decided to go to Subsolo for lunch. Since neither of us had much time, we thought we'd try the Subsolo Deli Cafe. Except when we got there, we were told they haven't built that part of the restaurant yet even though its advertised on their website.

Not a problem though, the waiter seated us at a huge long communal table and gave us the cafe menu. EXCEPT, they didn't have the paella the day we went! NoOoOoOooo!!! We were really looking forward to that. I guess I'll just have to go back another day! hehehe

We eyed the tapas box and wanted to pick 2 sandwich rolls to share since we were both starrrrrrrrving. But the kind waiter told us we were probably ordering too much food and convinced us to get 1 roll only.

Tapas "box"

Left to right: Lamb cutlet, croquette, Chorizo, Manchego Cheese, Jamon and a lovely artichoke salad.

Everything we got on the plate was delicious! My favourite would have to be the croquette and the salad. I really don't like artichoke, but these ones were lightly pickled and doesn't have the horrible pungent smell that turns me off artichokes.

Piquillo Pepper - Twice roasted mild red peppers, Spanish goats cheese, roasted pinenuts & rocket

Wow...if vegetarian food tasted like this every day I may just convert to be a vegetarian...for a day. hehehe But this was absolutely delicious! The creamy goats cheese, the smokey peppers constrasted so well with the pinenuts! This might be a bit more of a regular lunch thing I think.

Despite the delicious food, I think both of us could've done with the other sandwich. I guess maybe we were greedy, but we wanted more! Next time I won't be discouraged by the waiter to eat til I make a fool of myself! hehe

Subsolo
161 King St, Sydney NSW 2000
Corner Castlereagh St
(Ph) 02 9223 7000
http://www.subsolo.com.au/

Pendolino Restaurant

OMG my blog posts are sooooooo out of order! I really need to be more organised with my photos. It wasn't until recently when I saw a few blogs post about Pendolino that I realised I had lost my photos from when I went! It took me about 20mins trawling through all my folders before I found it.

I can't even remember when I went, I think it was some time end of last year? Its been awhile but I can still taste the food in my memory!

Complimentary baby olives with olive oil for bread dipping

Olive bread and sour dough bread

Pappardelle con Ragu di Vitella e Maggiorana

Organic Hand Cut Pappardelle with Braised White Rocks Veal Sauce, Veal Marrow and Marjoram

Oh god....is this how proper hand made pasta is supposed to taste like? Where have I been and what have I been eating?!? I've tried dried home made pasta and supposedly fresh handmade pasta, but nothing comes remotely close to this. This was soft and silky, yet still had a bit of a bite to it. And the deep fried bone marrow was utterly moreish. I could do with a whole bowl of fried marrow.

Spaghetti Chitarra con Pesce D'Acquadolce

Freshly-made Chitarra Spaghetti with Barramundi, Wild Prawns, Chilli, Capers, Garlic and Pinot Grigio White Wine.

This was my favourite of the day. Although the pasta was rougher than the parpadelle, the flavour was amazing. I wish I had more crusty bread to mop up all the leftover juices in the plate.

Near the end of the meal, suddenly my friend goes "OMG! IAN THORPE IS BEHIND YOU!". And lo and behold, he's sitting on the table right behind me! I tried to convince my friend to take a photo of me that conveniently would have Ian Thorpe in the background, but she was too shy to do and I didn't want to interrupt his meal. But atleast now I can say I had lunch with Ian Thorpe! hehe

Pendolino
Shop 100, Level 2, The Strand Arcade
412-414 George Street
Sydney 2000
(Ph) 02 9231 6117
http://www.pendolino.com.au/

Rosso Pomodoro

When a pizza place is highly recommended by an Italian, you know its going to be good. She's been trying to get me to go for the last 3 years. Yet every time they've organised an outing to Rosso Pomodoro, I'm either on holidays or have something already planned. This time, I was determined to go! Everything is going to be cancelled so I can go get some pizza into me!!

There are only 2 seatings a night at Rosso Pomodoro, 6pm or 8pm. We chose the 8pm seating since most of us didn't get off work til about 6pm. This meant we were STARVING by the time we got there. Didn't help we had drinks before hand and was in desperate need for some booze munchies!


We left the ordering up to our resident Italian, although I had already told her ones I wanted to order. hehe Actually, she was really really keen on knowing my opinion on the pizza as I can't stop raving about that one perfect slice of margherita pizza I had in Venice. Which is why she ordered every pizza I wanted! Woohoo!

Diavola - Tomato, Italian mozzarella, hot salame, capsicum

This was one of the first pizzas that came out and got placed infront of 3 boozed up boys. I almost lost a hand trying to take this photo! Vultures I tell you! VULTURES! I managed to get 1 left over mangey slice before I got stabbed with a fork. No wonder the boys refused to share! Hot, spicy and cheesey. The exact thing you need after 2 hours of non stop drinking! *squawk* *squawk*

Gorgonzola - Italian mozzarella, gorgonzola, ham, mushrooms

One of my favourites of the night. The salty stinky gorgonzola, ham and my favourite vegetable, Mushrooms!

Patate e Salsiccia - Italian mozzarella, Italian sausages, potatoes, rosemary

I love potato pizza. I never knew you could have potato on a pizza until my Italian teacher took us out for dinner one night and its become one of my favourites since. This version is beautiful. Soft fluffy potatoes, chunks of italian sausage and the lovely aroma of rosemary that has crisped up in the oven. Heaven!

Charred base

A photo of the famous "lesbian art" inbetween pizzas

If you ever go Rosso Pomodoro, you'll notice quite a few paintings of naked women. I didn't realise there's a second half to this painting since there was a table sitting right infront of bottom half. The BOTTOM half... *cough*

Prosciutto - Tomato, Italian mozzarella, prosciutto

Simple classic italian pizza. The prosciutto is placed on the pizza after it comes out the oven. All it needs is the residual heat from the pizza to release the fatty aromas. So good! I would love a whole plate of just prosciutto to munch on whilst waiting for the other pizzas to come out.

Capricciosa - Tomato, Italian mozzarella, ham, olives, mushrooms, artichokes

My absolute favourite pizza of the night! I've always ordered capricciosas whenever I go out for pizza anyway. Its got all my favourite ingredients. Ham, mushrooms and olives. This one had the addition of artichokes. I've never liked artichokes much, especially italian artichokes because they're usually marinated and too vinegary for me. These ones were divine! They were soft and almost slightly creamy....I was actually picking off extra artichoke when no one was looking! hehehe

Special of the day - Zuchinni flower, pancetta and brie?

This was the special of the day that cause my friend to jump up and down in excitement. She had this about 2 years ago and absolutely loved it. But every time she went back, they never had that pizza again. I'm her lucky charm ;)

The boys were still like vultures swooping in on the last of the pizza, so we ordered 2 nutella calzone pizzas to shut them up. *squawk*

CALZONE alla NUTELLA - Calzone filled with Nutella and almond flakes

OoOoOozey nutella calzone

Ugh.....we really didn't need those 2 calzones. I was in a pizza coma by the end of the night. (Mind you, I was full, not bloated like cheap pizza will do to you). What is my verdict? Molto Buono! Some of the best pizza I've ever had and even better than alot of the ones I had in Italy. Mind you, I always order mushroom pizza and I was in Italy in Summer. This meant most places were serving pizzas with pickled mushrooms. Even if I take out the mushroom factor, Rosso Pomodoro's pizzas were supreme. I can't wait to go back!

Rosso Pomodoro
Shop 90-91, 24 Buchanan St
Balmain (White Bay)
(02) 9555 5924
http://www.rossopomodoro.com.au

Harry's Singapore Chilli Crab...NOT.

Before I start, let me say that I went to Harry's a week ago. And it took me a week to write to post. Not because I didn't have time, but I needed a week to calm down and let the fury within me die down a bit. Anyone of my friends on facebook would've experience the wrath of my fury on Saturday night and I didn't want to unleash that to the rest of the world just yet.

I was so SO looking forward to going to Harry's Singapore Chilli crab ever since I found out about it a few years ago. Its around the corner from Spice I am and I've always wanted to go, but have always been tempted by thai more. When Amz said she was organising her birthday party there I did a little cheer inside me. Especially since PP had visited Harry's a few times and always said it was good and would invite me the next time.

We arrive at the restaurant and we're seated at a table for 10 even though there's 8 of us. Usually I wouldn't complain, but they didn't have a lazy susan on the table. Meaning we had to practically climb onto the table to get anything on the other side. This is also why I there's not many photos as it was impossible to get decent photos from the other side of the table.

Most of the people weren't huge crab eaters and only wanted 1-2 pieces to taste what Singapore chilli crab tastes like. We ordered 2 mud crabs at $64/kg. This is after I had to convince the waiter that no, we don't need 4 crabs. We want TWO crabs. TWO. NOT FOUR.

We ordered a few other dishes as well so the non-crab eaters didn't starve.

San Choy Bao - $5.20 each

This was.....disappointing. A good san choy bao should be dry and crunchy with a lovely breath of wok aroma. This was soggy and sloppy. The fried vermicelli noodles they added had turned to mush. They also put the filling onto a very wet piece of lettuce which basically watered down the whole dish and causing a huge mess when eating.

Chicken and vege with cashew nuts

We had a few other dishes that came out before this. Salt and pepper calamari was nice, but nothing to write home about. This however, is something to write home about. In blood. This was.......wrong. The vegetables, carrots and celery, was bitter. It also had a tough chewy texture which is usually the result of using old leftover veggies that have been sitting in the fridge for too long. The carrots weren't peeled and had a dark skin on it which further confirms my "bottom of the veggie bin" theory. This dish wasn't touched much. And if it wasn't $20 for this, I wouldn't have forced myself to eat it. I would actually rate this dish BELOW food court food which has been sitting in the bain marie for too long. BELOW.

"Singapore Chilli crab"

OK, this was the only decent photo of the crab I could get from my side of the table. Compare that "Singapore Chilli Crab" with the Singapore Chilli Crab I had in Singapore:


1. Notice the lack of sauce in Harry's
2. Harry's sauce contains NO tomato sauce

Not only was the sauce NOT Singapore Chilli crab sauce, it was OVERLY salted. There was 2 taste in the sauce. Salt and chilli. This was a huge disappointment, especially since we had invited people hoping they get to try authentic Singapore style chilli crab.

We had ordered 2 serves of Roti because they told me they had sold out of the Man tou that you use to dip into the Singapore Chilli Crab. And honestly, what place that serves real Singapore Chilli crab will sell out of Mantou at 7:30pm on a Saturday night?

The waiter convinced us to order the roti instead, which we did. $5 for 4 serves. Or rather, $5 for 2 pieces of roti cut in half. And it wasn't even fresh made roti. The roti, although crispy, was dense and compact. The exact same texture of the frozen roti we buy from the asian grocery store.

Ontop of this, we had ordered 5 bowls of boiled rice (As they only serve them per bowl) at $2.80 a bowl, thinking we wanted something to soak up all the sauce with.

1. there was no sauce.
2. they only gave us 3 bowls.

When I asked for the other 2 bowls, the waiter said he had already given me 5.

Me: "Errrrr.....no. You gave me 3 bowls."
Him: "No, I already gave you 5 bowls."
Me: "No. You gave me 3 bowls. 1. 2. 3." *pointing at the only bowls on the table

He gives me a look as if I had hidden the other 2 bowls. I was so close to screaming that he only gave me 3 bowls and I didn't shove the other 2 bowls down my top. My boobs really do look like that!

I was so angry by this stage I didn't even want dessert. ESPECIALLY when I saw that they were charging $9 for a fried ice cream. I basically had the mentality I didn't want to let them earn another dollar off me.

My friends went ahead and ordered fried ice creams and chocolate cake. The order was, 5 fried ice creams. 3 with caramel 2 with chocolate. What came out was 3.5 caramel and 1.5 chocolate. Yeh. They had put caramel onto the 4th order. And instead of going "oops! lets make another one or atleast scrape the caramel off", they proceeded to pour chocolate ONTOP of the caramel which resulted in topping overdose.

Then there was the ice cream. Or what we though was ice cream. It looked like a banana fritter, but when you cut into it, the whole thing collapses and starts oozing white stuff. The batter itself was incredibly doughy and chewy, almost like stale chinese fried dough sticks.


And just to make the night worse, the people eating the fried ice cream started digging up corn kernels.

Corn...in a fried ice cream!?

Chocolate cake

Our friend had ordered a chocolate cake, was starting to think he was the only one to get out unscathed. That is until he realised the $10 slice of chocolate cake he ordered was from Coles! It still has the ridges from where they peeled the baking paper away from the cake.

By the end of the night, most of the table was a ball of raging fury from being so openly ripped off. For 2 crabs, 4 main meals, 5 bowls of rice, roti, soft drink and dessert, we paid $420.50. And that is exactly what we paid. $420.50. No more, no less. I then wrote on the receipt that "THE ICE CREAM IS CRAP!!!" and handed it back to the waitress. I probably would've written a much harsher note had there been room on the receipt.

I can't remember the last time I have ever walked away from a restaurant feeling so angry and ripped off. If you think this post is harsh, you should've seen how I was saturday night and will understand why I didn't blog straight away.

How it has such a "good" reputation I don't understand. I guess being endorsed by The Veronicas might have something to do with that. And the wall of photos with celebrities visiting will probably contribute to that. But I can tell you, none of the celebrities were asian and must never have had an authentic Singapore Chilli crab. Because if they have, they would not endorse this place.

I will NEVER, EVER go back to this place. EVER.

Ventuno Pizzeria Enoteca Birreria

We had a catch up at Ventuno after I got back from Houston. The place is warm and cosy yet sophisticated. We had a lovely waiter who was helping us with all our cocktail selections whilst we studied the menu.

Golosa

Tomato, mozzarella, ham, mixed porcini mushrooms, grana cheese, truffle oil.

I was soooooo undecided whether to go with pizza or the seafood risotto. I randomly blurted something out when the waiter came and pizza it was! The crust was soft and chewy, reminding me of the gorgeous pizza I had in Venice sitting by a canal.

Rustica

Tomato, mozzarella, hot salami,mushrooms & black olives. I swapped a slice to try the Rustica pizza and it was also delicious.

Apologies for the blurry photos beneath, but SOMEONE was refusing to let me take photos of their meal! *GASP* So I took the photos for spite, and I'm blogging it for spite! haha

Pesto pasta

Seafood risotto

Roasted pumpkin penne

Chocolate and hazelnut semi-freddo

The semi-freddo was actually closer to ice cream. It was still delicious, but not really a semi-freddo.

We had a fantastic time catching up over beautiful food. I would love to go back again and try the huge pizza that came served on a board the size of a lazy susan!

Ventuno Pizzeria Enoteca Birreria
21 Hickson Road
Walsh Bay NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9247 4444
http://www.ventuno.com.au/

The White Cockatoo - 1 Dish, 4 meals??

I've previously blogged about The White Cockatoo at Petersham. My friends having seen my blog really wanted to go try it out. I prewarned them to size of the meals, even sending photos of the schnitzels I've had there. I did 2 days prep for this one meal. Gym and Volleyball the day before, another intense cardio workout the day of our dinner. I was ready to eat the table by the time I got there.

I had a quick scan of the menu, spotted prawns and calamari in the same sentence and immediately ordered the Marinara schnitzel.

Marinara Schnitzel - $19.90

This looks fantastic and smelled absolutely heavenly. Taste wise...it depends on how you eat it. Basically the king prawns had been cooked in a garlic butter, which all got poured onto the schnitzel. And I mean prawns, garlic and all the butter. Whilst parts of the schnitzel basically sat in a pool of oil, the bits I managed to lift up from the oil was delicious. The gorgeous garlic bits, plump prawns and thick juicy chicken was amazing. I'd stay away from the calamari though. My ones were severly overcooked.

Veal Mexican schnitzel $18.90

This was almost as thick as a steak. It was smeared with a layer of refined beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. The bite I tried was delicious! I didn't have more than one bite since I had to tackle my own schnitzel.

I've learnt to always bring a container with me (Although the pub provides them as well), and the first thing I do is cut off any piece that isn't covered with sauce. This gets packed away to stop them going soggy. It also gives me more room on the plate to actually cut the schnitzel.

With the leftovers, I managed to make 3 additional meals!

Chicken Katsu Kare

I made a simple Japanese veggie curry. Basically chop up some carrots, potatoes and capsicum. Simmer with water until almost tender. Add a cube of Japanese Curry Roux that come in a box. I got the S&B Brand (You can find them at all asian grocery stores and super markets). I put this on a lettuce up to stop the rice soaking all the sauce up and stop it staining the container. Here's a tip, if your container does stain, put it out in the sun for awhile. It magically "de-stains".

Schnitzel with Garden salad

I love this Fit & Fresh lunch box. My sister gave it to me for xmas, but I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. Mainly because I lost 2 months of my life to Houston. But it comes with a cold pack that sits right inbetween the 2 layers keeping the food nice and cold. I didn't use the cold pack on this occassion since its winter and I didn't want to crush my salad. I heated the schnitzel up and ate it with the cold salad with a side of spring onion ranch sauce. I also found a mystery cake lying around the house which I packed as well.

I still had 2 pieces of schnitzel leftover which I ate for dinner one night. To me that's a damn good deal. $19.90 for my Marinara schnitzel which I managed to stretch into 4 meals! That's $5 a meal!

I raved about The White Cockatoo to my workmates, and we've now set up a Schnitzel Challenge that will take place in 2 weeks time. I won't be participating in the speed eat-off, but I'm certainly going to be there to take photos and laugh at the poor sod who tries to eat the entire schnitzel.

Here are a few more photos from the various times I've tackled the schnitzel. I've NEVER finished the schnitzel and have always walked away with heaps of take away!

Boscaiola topping

Closeup! Bacon, peas and mushroom in a cream sauce

Another Boscaiola, but look at all the extra pieces they give you!!!

Peppercorn gravy

Grilled chicken with mustard sauce

I opted to try something else from the menu and got the grilled chicken. You know, grilled = healthy? Not sure how this works when there's 1/2 a chicken on the plate. The sauce was really nice, but I didn't enjoy the chicken that much. It had a charred taste very similar to portugese chicken, which I DO NOT like at all.

One of my one lunch boxes crammed with schnitzel

White Cockatoo Hotel
Shop 30, Terminus St (Directly opposite the train station)
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9569 4675

Wok 'n' BBQ

Whenever we feel like eating out on the weekend, we usually end up at Burwood for some Chinese roast and rice. Since the lovely name and shame of one of our regulars, we thought we should try out another place. Wok 'n' BBQ has been open for about a year. We had visited it when it opened during its first week. We probably would've visited earlier if they didn't have a blackout on the day we went. hehehe The shop is located on the corner of Burwood Rd, next to the train station.



I've been back a few times since as its a nicer and cleaner environment to enjoy lunch compared to some of the other roasts shops (Which is more eat and run type style).

Complimentry soup that's not in a brown cracked plastic bowl

BBQ Pork and rice

Soya chicken and rice

Roast pork and rice

Another BBQ Pork and rice

Roast duck noodle soup - seperated

The roast is really nice and fresh. Taste wise, its very similar to the other shops. The portion sizes are slightly smaller, but that's because they don't load you up on the rice. They still give you the same amount of meat and veggies as the other shops which is good. The price is also similar to the other shops, usually around the $8-10 mark.

All in all, a lovely Chinese roast lunch in a nice clean setting with real crockery. If you're starving, you might want to head up to some of the other shops where they give you more rice. Otherwise, a good place to catch up with friends.

The Corn Exchange - Four Points Sheraton

It's been a few years since I've visited the Corn Exchange. I used to come here quite regularly with my family when they had the buy 1 get 1 free offers every few months. But they haven't had that offer for quite a few years. As a part of the Enliven Sydney Promotion, they're offering the buy 1 get 1 free offer again! Woohoo! I immediately dragged my friend with my for a bout of seafood feasting! I thought I should test the place out before bringing my family here again.

I'm always well prepared for visiting The Corn Exchange. Minimal breakfast and lunch. Don't drink anything fizzy or full of dairy. Order hot water when at the restaurant (So I'm not tempted to drink heaps of water). Get plenty of prawn chips/papadums and some hot soup to counteract the slimey cold seafood I intended to gorge on.

I decided to combine all the photos from both my visits into one big post. So don't worry, I didn't eat ALL of this in one sitting. But even if you average it out....... *Cough*

Cold seafood section

Smoked salmon

Cold prawns

Mussels, sushi, sashimi

Some lobster/prawn/bug type thing

Anti pasto/Salad section

More salads on another night

Let me firstly explain what type of person should go to the Corn Exchange. The buffet is catered for those who love their cold seafood and dessert. The hot food on offer is minimal and very disappointing for those who don't eat seafood. Whilst for those who like their seafood, this place is HEAVEN. And I mean HEAVEN. Huge amounts of oysters, sashimi, smoked salmon, prawns, crab, balmain bugs, mussels, octopus and sushi. And that's exactly what I intend to eat.

My DIY seafood platter

My 2 favourite things, oysters and sashimi

More oysters, sashimi and prawns

Oysters, crab, prawns and some sashimi hidden in the bottom

More oysters, sashimi, smoked salmon and mussels

Moving onto the hot food. Confit of duck, saffron pasta and more seafood

To be honest, the total amount of hot food I ate was limited to that piece of duck confit and about 1 tablespoonful of pasta. I also sampled 1 or 2 pieces of other hot food, basically they were all quite terrible. Gluggy, salty or flavourless. "Hot food" selection includes things like white rice, roast potatoes, pumpkin, green beans and occassionally some sort of roast meat/fish/stew. Basically, nothing appealed to me. I'll have 1/2 a bowl of soup to warm my stomach up and move onto the dessert.

Dessert

More desser offerings

Orange cream, creme brulee, fruit tart, portugese tart and strawberries and chocolate

I was really disappointed when I found out that they no longer did their gorgeous sticky date pudding with hot vanilla bean custard. It was my absolute favourite dessert at The Corn Exchange. I almost liked it more than the seafood. They've replaced it with a huge vat of melted chocolate which you ladel over strawberries and marshmallows.

I tried a bit of everything on my plate, but I quickly gave them all up for one thing. The creme brulee. OH. MY. LORD! Their creme brulee is AMAZING! Its extremely smooth and creamy. Totally decadent even though the burnt sugar had melted by this stage. Infact, I liked it so much, the first time I went, I ate 6 of these babies!

Second time I went back, I warned my sisters to get out of my way if I'm getting creme brulee. I WILL hurt them if they fight me for it. Luckily, the had the dessert section well stocked with creme brulee. So well stocked in fact, that between the 4 of us, we ate a total of 36 creme brulees. 36!! It was quite embarrassing whenever the waiter came to collect our dirty dishes and it was all creme bruless dishes.


The good thing about us eating all the creme brulee was that they had to keep bringing out more. We ate everything they put out so they had to make a fresh batch where the sugar was lovely and crunchy! What a perfect way to end our meal!

Extra crunchy top

The Corn Exchange

161 Sussex St
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9290 4851