Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Yoshii Restaurant


Yesterday was my Mum's birthday and her and dad were having a little holiday in the city and therefore going out to dinner somewhere in the city....which I sort of invited myself to! Mum was doing a course a while back once a week near the rocks. She used to park her car in Harrington street next to this little restaurant called Yoshii and would walk past looking at the menu each time and decided that when she got her qualification for her course she would celebrate at this restaurant. So lucky me tagged along! The restaurant itself is quite small with different sections to it. The part that we were in only had 2 other tables that were occupied, so it was nice and quiet.



Saqura Menu

There was a choice between 3 set menus. The Yoshii Menu with Wines and Sake for $178, Yoshii Menu on its own for $130 and the Saqura Menu for $110. We all decided on the Yoshii course.



Yoshii Menu


Dad ordered a bottle of red wine too which was like 60 bucks! So we only had one bottle of wine, which was fine for me for a Tuesday night. We were immediately giving little saucers filled with soy sauce and shortly after that our first course came.




Sea Urchin Egg Cup

This was unlike anything i had before. It came with a little spoon and all of us were unsure what to do with the soy sauce. Our waitress (who was the most lovely waitress i have ever had) informed us to eat the egg with the spoon and then put the soy sauce on the radish? underneath. The egg had a sort of miso soup flavour to it with the egg yolk in there as well as sea urchin and some other things. It was very tasty. I wouldn't want to be the one cutting the shells of the egg.... Next up was 5 little things on a plate





Quintuple of Entree

Clockwise from the shotglass was Japanese Somen Noodle with black truffle, Kobujime with lime sorbet, Deep Fried Whitebait with Parsnip Puree, Duck Breast with red apple flavoured dressing, and in the middle was a Tomato Mousse with Pumpkin Puree. These were all good, apart from the tomato mousse which didn't have much flavour for me, but my favourite was the whitebait. The flavours just went so well together, and i love deep fried foods! Next up was the black cod.




Black Cod Marinated with Blue Cheese Flavoured Miso

Oh my god this was so good. This was my second favourite dish of the night. The Cod just melted in your mouth and you could really taste the blue cheese, but it wasn't overpowering. This came with Melba toast, celery with bonito flakes and not sure what the other thing was. I could have eaten heaps more of that it was so good! Veal was next..




Milk Fed Veal Sashimi served with Forest Mushroom Dressing

This was very good too. The sauce was nice and sweet and the veal was so tender. I was a bit worried at first when it came out, cause it looked like a slice of beetroot on the top and both Mum and Dad hate beetroot (don't know why, my sister and I both love it), but i tasted it and it wasn't. I don't know what it was, cause it didn't have any flavour. I think it was just there for texture. Then came the Fish Cake..


Daily White Fish, Scallop and Blue Swimmer Crab Cake steamed in Ginger Flavoured Bonito Stock

I must say that we were all little confused as to which was the fish cake. The colourful square on top tasted fishy, but didn't have the right texture and then the fried thing underneath had the texture but not the flavour...it looked pretty though! Next was the main course, the Wagyu!




Rose Gum Smoked Wagyu Beef with Horseradish and Turnip Puree with a Tamari Reduction

This was like melt in your mouth good, and look at all the pretty vegetables! I have never had wagyu before and i will definitely be having it again soon. Of course this was my favourite dish of the night and the reason we went for the Yoshii Menu. Then we had a lemongrass sorbet to cleanse the pallet



Lemongrass Sorbet

This was very refreshing! Dad and I were sure that there was some type of alcohol in this, but wasn't sure what it was. Later found out it was champagne! How could I have not got that. I have had a few champagne bottles in my time...and in case you weren't full after all of that next came a big plate of sushi!




Sushi


I have had good sushi before and this was good sushi. I have never had eel (which is the one down the bottom) and now i would say it is my favourite! I had a light lunch in preparation for this, so i had no problem finishing it all, but Mum and Dad went out for lunch so they were struggling a bit with this. This also came with a miso soup, but i didn't take a picture of that. To finish there was a selection of 3 desserts. A Marscapone Mousse, some red bean infused wasabi dish and a Crepe filled with Sweet Potato and an Orange Sauce. M&D both went for the mousse and I went for the crepe. They were very nice, but it wouldn't be something I would choose for dessert normally.


Crepe with Sweet Potato

Marscapone Mousse


Overall it was an excellent night. The service was fantastic. The waiters and waitresses were most attentive and friendly. The only complaint i had about the place was that it was a bit chilly and would have liked a bit more heat (especially as it was freezing yesterday!). I would recommend this place highly. It has had 2 chefs hats for the past 4 years or something too!


Us before the feast!

Yoshii Restaurant
115 Harrington Street
The Rocks, NSW

Ph: 9247 2566

Lunch Tues - Fri from Noon
Dinner Mon - Sat from 6pm

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Oscar's Restaurant & Bar

It was mother's day on Sunday and i only found out on Thursday that Mum and Dad would be free, so i was on the restaurant hunt. M&D live out in the Hills district, but kindly said they would come to my neck of the woods...score! I had my birthday drinks earlier on in the year at Oscars, so wanted to go there and try the food out. They had tables free luckily, so it was booked!
When we got there we were seated promptly and handed menus which had a special set mother's day menu. I had been checking out the menu deciding what i was going to have a couple of days before, so I was a bit taken aback when we got the menus. It was a 2 course for $35 or 3 course for $40 deal, so of course we went for 3 courses. The choice for entree was either salt and pepper squid or pumpkin soup. M&D both went for the squid, so I chose the pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin Soup

The soup itself was nice and thick, how soup should be. I don't like these watery soups that you sometimes get from restaurants. The bread was nice and crispy, but the cheese on top (i think it was cheese) didn't really have too much flavour. It also came with a little dish of sour cream, which it could have done without. Just put a dollop in the centre when you serve it so that it melts in, rather than trying to mix clumps of sour cream through the soup!

Salt & Pepper Squid

M&D both enjoyed this. I tried a bit of mum's and it the squid was very well cooked. Mum doesn't like rocket so she left all of it, so tried and bit and didn't like it at all. Whether i got a bit with no dressing on it, or the dressing had no flavour. Oh by the way, before our entrees came out, the table across from us all were served these massive plates of ribs which looked so good. I was like why weren't we offered the option of ordering from the menu?? Oh well. Next up were the mains, there was a choice between (can't remember actual names) stuffed chicken breast, steak or salmon. I was thinking about getting the salmon, but Dad ordered it and Mum ordered the steak so i thought i would order the chicken, and i nomally never get chicken when eating out at mod aus cuisine.

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Smashed Chat Potatoes


After waiting for an hour (might i add that there were 3 other tables that were occupied)! The mains finally arrived. Not sure what the chicken was stuffed with, cause the prosciutto that it was wrapped in was way salty. Chicken was dry, didn't rate this dish too much. Mum ordered the steak.

Steak with smashed potatoes (um that looks like mash to me!)


Piled with a huge handful of rocket (yes mum's favourite, not!) and mum doesn't like mash either (i know hard to believe) and it said in the menu it came with smashed, not mashed potatoes. Poor mum :( Dad ordered the Salmon.


Salmon with Green Beans


Dad said this was very good, so at least one of us was satisfed with our main. Saviour though was dessert...although it took ages to come out even though when we got it, it looked premade so i don't understand why it took so long. You could choose between a chocolate mousse or a souffle with raspberry i forget what else. Dad and I had the mousse and it was yummmy!!


Chocolate Mousse




Souffle


The ice cream was a bit icy for my liking, and i don't understand why they plonked the dessert on top of the coulis. I finished all of mine though :) I want to come back and try those ribs though. I looked on the menu and they are 25 bucks, and let me tell you they were huge!



Me and Mum





Dad
84 Union Street
Pyrmont, NSW
Ph: 9660 5933

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Stumbling...

I was just using my stumbleupon button with the category food/cooking and came upon this site which is a site that's sole purpose is for listing food blog sites all around the world. Something for when you are bored... (the) food blog blog




I love stumbleupon!




Monday, May 14, 2007

DOMA, Bohemian Beer Cafe

Saturday night was a catch up with a few uni friends that I still keep in contact with from my Canberra Uni Days. My friend Megan (who i wasn't really catching up with, as i see her every weekend) has just moved into her new place, so we decided to check that out and then go somewhere nearby for dinner.

Leonie & Megan

So after a few drinks we headed to the Doma Beer Cafe. We had booked a table outside and luckily it was a really nice night. We were all starving so decided to order some starters, even though we knew the mains were going to be huge. Megan had recently been to Prague, which is another Czech restaurant in Kings Cross, and they had the Mushrooms which she said were great, so we decided to get them.

Mushroom Caps with Tartare Sauce - $8


I've never had deep fried mushrooms before, but these were really good. They were nice and juicy inside and really good with the tartare sauce. For entree we also ordered the Mixed Sausage Platter.


Mixed Sausage Platter - $8.50

Apparently this was a selection of smoked sausages, although they all tasted the same to me. It was served with a Dijon type mustard, horseradish and bread rolls. The condiments went perfectly with the sausages. The horseradish wasn't as fiery as i would have liked. I love spicy stuff. I especially love wasabi. I like to play this game when I am at sushi trains as to how much wasabi i can mix into my soy before my eyes start to water.... anyway back to the food. Luckily we ordered entrees, cause the mains took quite a while to come out. I went for the Doma mixed platter, cause i wanted to try a bit of everything.

Doma Mixed Platter - $21

Um hello have you ever seen a bigger plate of food for 21 bucks?? You could easily share this between 2 people and still be full. This was a mixed platter of pork. Pork Belly, Pork Neck, Pork Schnitzel, Smoked Pork Loin, Cheese Kransky, Red Cabbage, Sauerkraut and Dumplings. I have never really eaten sauerkraut and red cabbage before, but they were awesome. The dumplings were a bit stodgy for me, I only managed one of them. The cheese kransky tasted like the sausages in the mixed platter, the schnitzel was good, but the rest of the meat was a bit dry, which seemed to be a bit of a theme in the mains. Megan ordered the house specialty, which was the duck.

Roast Duck - $21

With this you get half a duck (yes that's right, half), the sauerkraut, red cabbage, and the massive dumplings. Megan really enjoyed this, but i found the meat a bit dry. I like my meat juicy! Leonie and Sonia both ordered the Beef Goulash.


Beef "Beer" Goulash - $16.50

I tried a bit of the meat from this, and yet again i found it quite dry. I was expecting the meat to be really tender, like in a mussaman curry (which is the best curry in the world), but it wasn't. I thought the flavour was a bit one dimensional for me too. I think i am really used to my Thai food, cause i expect everything to have a bit of sweetness and sourness to it and if it doesn't i usually add it.

Me & Sonia

Overall i thought the food was very good for the value. All up with corkage it came to 100 bucks for the 4 of us. Pretty good when you don't even get half way through your main, cause you are too full. If you are looking for quality not quantity then don't come here. If you are looking for a big hearty meal, then this is the place! I wouldn't mind coming back and trying a selection of the starters, liked fried Brie and duck liver pate, yum!

Doma Bohemian Beer Cafe
29 Orwell Street
Potts Point
Ph: 02 9331 0022