Sugaroom

Finally I am up to date now!

Last week was my birthday, so the night of my birthday Frankie took me to a restaurant that we have been meaning to go to for a while, and on Sun - Thurs it's byo ($10 corkage per bottle mind you) so it was perfect. We had booked a table to sit outside, but it was quite chilly, so we sat inside instead. If it was only a few degrees warmer it would have been perfect.

I had been here with my friends a few years ago for a Sunday lunch and remember the place having really great food and really good prices. I don't think the food has gone up too much since then, but the food wasn't as great as I remember it, still good but not excellent. The service started out really good too and then as more and more people started arriving the service started slipping. We were left with the glass from our amuse bouche on the table up until just before we got our dessert course. Overall it was a very good night though and left the restaurant feeling very full!

View of Kitchen from our table

The menu we chose from was their Autumn menu, which must have just come into place. I like a restaurant that has a seasonal menu. The food is in season and if you go back again you have a different selection of meals to choose from.

Amuse Bouche

As we were about to order our meals frankie looked at the kitchen bench and saw a tray of these glasses sitting there for another table. He was like "what is that?" to the waitress (as he was interested in ordering it) and she said it was the amuse bouche and everyone got one. So we were happy about that! It turned out to be a cauliflower and cumin soup and it was really delicious! Probably the best thing of the night..I got my mouth amused for sure!

Complimentary Bread

I love it when restaurants supply bread. I think all should. Maybe they think people will fill up on it too much and won't order as much food. This was sourdough bread and was very good. I personally prefer when bread is warm, but if it's sliced it might be a bit hard.

Oysters Natural - $18

We decided to share a couple of entrees. There was a special of oysters, so we got them. They came with a red wine vinaigrette which was very nice.

Shaved Bresaola Carpaccio w/ basil, Parmesan, and horseradish cream - $15

The flavour of the meat and cheese was very strong and overpowered everything else. So i couldn't really taste the basil or the horseradish which was a shame.

Pork Confit w/ roast fennel, cauliflower puree and salsa verde - $29

This was very tasty. It wasn't really what i was expecting as all the meat inside was kind of shredded. I would have really just preferred a nice fillet or something like that. Parts of the fennel were a bit undercooked as well.

Swordfish w/ eggplant salsa - $32

Frankie went with the special of the night which was the swordfish. I must say that I am not a fish fan but this was really good. It was seasoned perfectly as well.

Baked Peach Crumble w/ Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Raspberries - $15

Usually we only get one dessert when we go out, but seeing as it was a special occasion we decided to get 2! The special was a baked peach crumble which sounded very good. I didn't expect it to be a whole peach, more like a cut up one and baked. It looked a bit like fried ice cream! It was cooked perfectly and everything really complimented each other.

Chocolate Pave w/ pistachio ice cream - $15

As chocolate is my favourite dessert, we had to get the only chocolate dessert on the menu. I didn't really know what a pave was but it was chocolate so it must be good! It was very good it tasted like a chocolate mousse, but firmer. Their ice creams were excellent as well, makes me want to go out and buy an ice cream maker!

Frankie

Me

Outside View

Big Ship

Sugaroom
Shop 2, 1 Harris Street
Pyrmont NSW
Ph: 9571 5055

Lagoon Restaurant Wollongong Take 2

Last time we went to Wollongong we had such a good and relaxing time. When we had nothing really planned for NYE, except at night, we decided to spend the day in the sun at Wollongong. Of course we had to eat something though, so we chose to revisit the Lagoon to try their a la carte menu.

When we got in there we were given a beautiful table right next to the window, although the window was open and there was a nice breeze, but a bit too breezy as the table cloth kept flapping and blowing and covering the table. Luckily they closed the window so it didn't happen all throughout the meal.

We were so tempted to get the seafood platter again but resisted. Instead we started with a mixture of oysters and some bread.

Wood Fired Sourdough - $6.90

Oh my god this bread was soo good and so big as well. Most places when you order bread it's enough for 2 people, but this could have fed about 6 people. It was beautiful and warm as well. I had to stop myself eating it so i wouldn't ruin my appetite!

View from our table

Mixed Oysters - $24.50

At around $2 an oyster, these were really good. We had 4 natural, 4 wasabi and white horseradish and 4 thai chilli and lime. I love oysters so much, I wish I could afford to eat them every day.

Saganaki Snapper - $27.90

I decided to go with the Snapper for main. Let me tell you they don't skimp on the sizes here. The mains are huge and very tasty. I could only eat half of mine. It was a bit different from what I expected but it was still delicious with the cheese and tomato (best combination ever).

Snapper Fillets - $29.90

I can't remember what Frankie ordered. I think it was the snapper fillets? Whatever it was it was very good and a massive serving.

Greek Salad - $11.50

We also ordered a greek salad, which I hardly touched as my main meal was like a greek salad anyway with the cheese, tomatoes and olives.

Frankie

Outside View

The Lagoon Restaurant
Stuart Park
North Wollongong
Ph: 4226 1677

The Codfather

My friend recently moved to Stanmore...well a year ago now! Across from her place we noticed this small restaurant, which was called the Codfather. She had never tried it, as she doesn't eat seafood, but it looked quite cool so Frankie and I decided we had to try it out one day.

We booked for a Friday night, on the actual Friday, so we didn't get a booking until about 8:30pm. We arrived around that time and had to sit outside while we waited for our table to become free...30 mins later we were in!

Now i don't remember too much of this food, as it was so long ago, but one thing i do remember was that it wasn't great, just nice. The maitre d wasn't the most attentive person either. He seemed like he was panicking all night about nothing and then when we were ready to hand in our bill, he made a gesture to just leave it on the table as he was too busy having a chat and drink with one of his friends! The waitresses were lovely though!

The price was a set deal sort of thing where you got 2 courses for $35 or 3 courses for $45 and there were some dishes that added extra onto the price if you got them. The price was something like that. Can't remember exactly.

Please excuse the photos too as they were taken with my mobile..

Amuse Bouche - Can't really remember what this was..

Cod Placemat

Zucchini Flowers

Scallops with black couscous and beetroot - Frankie liked this one

Frankie

Barramundi with Thai salad

Frankie's fish dish

Polenta chips with Aioli - these were really good!

Us!

The Codfather
83 Percival Street
Stanmore NSW
Ph: 9568 3355

Open Tue - Sat 5pm - 9:30pm
Sunday noon - 3pm

Serai on Cleveland

I am back! Well we will see how long for... I have been unmotivated and stopped taking pictures when going to eat out, but after hearing that a few people were wondering what had happened to my blog, I am going to try again and see how I go. I have a few photos from places that I went a while ago, so I am going to start with these...but will be hard pressed to remember exact details as it was so long ago!

Frankie and I were going out for dinner in Surry Hills one night. I think we had planned to go to a different restaurant but when we walked past this place we thought we would try it out instead! The place was empty except for us but the menu looked good and affordable and we hadn't had Malaysian for a while.

Satay Skewers - $8

We decided to start off with satay! You can't go to a Malaysian restaurant and not get satay. Usually the chicken is quite flat and small, but this was plump and juicy (just the way I like it). The sauce was excellent as well!

Satay Closeup

Rojak - $8

I had never had Rojak before and had seen it being made on Food Safari and thought it looked delicious. Although this wasn't exactly like what i saw it was still very delicious. I think I had a peanut sauce overload!

Beef Rendang - $13.90

As well as satay you always have to get rendang and this was delicious and so cheap! The meat was fall apart in your mouth, as it should be.

Salad - $1.50

We also got a salad, you may ask why, well it was $1.50! I have never seen a salad anywhere for that price, so of course we had to get it. The one behind was Achar Awak (spicy mixed vegetable pickle) which was also $1.50.

They have a few house specialties as well which would be great to try, like fish head curry! I think you have to let them know 24 hours before or something whether you are going to order it though, so make sure you do if that's what you're going to order! I would definitely recommend this place and would come back again. So good food and very cheap!

Serai
421 Cleveland Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010