Appalling rip off @ The Century

This experience was the worst dinner I have ever had.  We were on a company dinner and paid $80 per person. There were 50 of us and all up we spent $5000 here and all of us could not give it more than a 3 out of 10! Where do I even begin...

Firstly, we had to wait for ages before food started to be served. When you go to a chinese restaurant, where you sit with a turntable, you expect to be eating lots and be very satisfied, especially if you are paying $80pp! Totally opposite! Food came out to us and were apportioned and each of us got a tiny bit of everything

We had a couple of pieces of cucumber, a piece of pancake, a tasteless san choy bow, a couple of pieces of beef, Mongolian lamb (like seriously of all dishes this???), tasteless fried rice, 3 pieces of brocolli, 3 pieces of snow peas, 2 pieces of roast chicken, a spoonful of steamed fish and 2 small pieces of crab. For dessert, we had a fruit platter and cookies.

The food arrived at different pace. The service was bad, one of us was vegetarian and wanted to have a look at the menu to get his food and was refused.

None of the food tasted great. We felt so hungry after the meal. There are no photos I can post up because we didn't get a proper plate of food on the turntable!

Rating

Food: Mostly tasteless, poor!






Ambience: We had our own private room, the only saving grace about this place
 


Value: Worst rip off ever!






Nutritional value: Hungry at the end of it






Overall: Not dazzling and not deelicious!

Degustation @ Sepia

On my birthday this year, Daz decided to take me somewhere special to celebrate and as Quay is booked way in advanced, he decided to go with the supposed second best restaurant in Sydney, which is Sepia... having booked only a few weeks in advanced for a Friday night, we only managed to get a table at the bar/lounge area

Entering the restaurant, I immediately realised how attentive the usher and maitre'd were... the restaurant was elegant and yet not intimidating which meant that I felt comfortable and cosy in it... the table although not exactly a proper dining table was comfy and so I didn't mind it but I can tell why some others would be annoyed to still be paying full price for sub-par seats...

Sashimi tuna, seared smoked ocean trout
and poached banana prawn

The first dish came and it was sushi nigiri, made of sashimi tuna, seared smoked ocean trout and poached banana prawn... rice puffs were placed above the sashimis, so instead of cooked sushi rice in normal sushis there were dry rice puffs above the fish pieces... the fish were fresh as you would expect... now that is the beginning of the problem really... you enter a 3 chef hat restaurant that has won numerous awards and you expect to be absolutely blown away, therefore the pre-requisite of seafood to be fresh is a must... there were grains of green powder smeared on the sushi, which I am guessing to be green tea powder as it tasted a bit bitter... there was also drops of gel that was sweet and tangy... can't tell what they were... now that is the beginning of a good degustation as you begin to taste things that you have never tasted and have no idea what they are!





The next dish butter poached Port Lincoln squid, barley miso cured egg yolk, lemon, wild woodland sorrel... that's a mouthful... again this tasted like not many things I have tasted... the lemon made it tangy... sorrel is a herb that in large quantities can be fatal! Not a commonly used herb in cooking and interesting in that it gives a sharp taste that is due to the poison oxalic acid...

Butter poached Port Lincoln squid, barley miso cured egg yolk,
lemon, wild woodland sorrel

New Zealand scampi cooked over Japanese charcoal,
sudachi lime, shellfish mousse, Japanese land seaweed

 The next dish was scampi cooked over Japanese charcoal, sudachi lime, shellfish mousse and seaweed.  What's so special about Japanese charcoal you may ask... it is a prized charcoal by chefs as it is a very pure high carbon charcoal made from oak and because it is odourless, it allows food to be charred and yet retain its original flavour. Sudashi lime is a Japanese citrus fruit that is often used as a substitute for vinegar... this dish has a special citrus taste which made it quite memorable :)

Charcoal smoked freshwater eel, yuzu curd,
fresh pistachio, tapioca, licorice, nasturtium flowers and seaweed

The next dish was charcoal  smoked freshwater eel, yuzu curd with fresh pistachio, tapioca, licorice, nasturtium flowers and seaweed. At this point, you must be wondering why the chefs had not just made a name for each of these creations instead of just naming the ingredients. What I loved about this place is that the dishes are a product of great passion for creating dishes as the chefs sourced and experimented with combining many different unique ingredients and the result of many trials and errors resulted in some very wonderfully flavoured dishes. This one was no exception. Yuzu is another Japanese citrus fruit and the curd was like a lemon flavoured mayonnaise if I really had to find a similar thing to compare it to. The nasturtium flowers were amazing an ingredient as it made the dish very fragrant and to be eating a flower is quite an experience. I am always a big fan of eel so to have it cooked in such a different way was great. 

 

The next dish that was served to us wasn't what was on the degustation menu. At the time when we were eating it, we had not realised that. It was meant to be lamb, goat cheese and sake kuzu dumplings, fennel cream, black olive, miso vinaigratte, fennel molasses. However, it turned out to be a seafood broth/soup, which I unfortunately do not know about. Now that I think about it, I feel a bit ripped off. Especially because the following meat dish was the best of all the dishes so looks like we missed out on a very good lamb dish!

Seared rolled David Blackman wagyu beef,
chestnut mushroom, roasted red onion
juice, wasabi fried potato and kombu crumb
citrus soy

The final dish was definitely our favourite, partly because Daz is a meat eater more than anything else. I remember Daz saying he thought it was the best beef he has had in Australia. Probably true but you know how people are when they have short memories and how your current girlfriend/boyfriend is the best because you are with him or her at the moment hehe...

This dish I must say was memorable... the beef was very tender... the flavour was amazing... the portion could definitely have been doubled! Overall, I was quite satiated by the end of the courses, however Daz being a guy that can eat 1kg of steak, the portions were not big enough for him and he even joked of having McDonald's after but of course, we wouldn't insult this glorious food with that hahaha

Done with the savoury, came the sweets! We had a pre-dessert, which I honestly think is unnecessary because I can't even remember what it is and can only remember the main dessert... nevertheless, it was a nice gesture... It was a kind of cake... It must have been! I honestly have no recollection of what it was haha

"Summer chocolate forest"
Soft chocolate, hazelnut and almond praline, orange and thyme  cream
sour cherry sorbet, native fingerlime green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs
crystallised fennel fronds

When my main dessert came, it was special because they have realised it was my birthday and so there was a candle and writing on the plate... the dessert was absolutely delicious! I was very happy to substitute it for a birthday cake... the combination of sweet and sour, hot and cold and very well done... divine :)




Ratings:

Food: Delicious, innovative... divine

Ambience: Relaxed, yet elegant and not pretentious



Value: A special dinner for a special price, well worth the experience although portions could be larger


Nutritional value: Fresh ingredients, seafood, meat and many exotic Japanese ingredients used... food was light and even dessert wasn't too rich


Overall: Dazzling & Deelicious!!!!

How to enjoy food and be healthy

I am a huge believer that life is to be enjoyed and food is one of my favourite ways to enjoy life, thus the creation of this blog... however, food can be so enjoyable but so detrimental to one's health if poor choices are made... this is particularly the motivation behind the creation of this blog as I would like to help influence the decisions that are made by people day to day when they feed themselves

As I have pointed out in the last post, people are not obsessed enough about food as they don't put much thought into what they it... it is almost like you are hungry and what is there will go into your mouth! If you had to buy a new phone or TV, would you just buy the first one you see or the cheapest one you can find? No... you would spend time researching to find out which ones last longer are of better quality and so on... but why is it that when it comes to food, we become so careless? We only have one body and whatever we feed it today will result in how it is tomorrow... and we all know how expensive healthcare is, especially if you have a disease that requires ongoing treatment such as diabetes and heart diseases...

Recently, Daz has caught on to the Paleo diet... this diet basically promotes eating meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits and nuts as how humans from the ancient Paleolithic times did... no grain, no pasta, no candies, no popcorn, no sausages... minimal processed food and sugar in essence

I read about the Mediterranean diet, which is very similar in terms of eating more fresh food and less processed food and sugar... it allows pasta and wholegrain carbohydrates to be consumed... so is the Okinawa diet... now the Mediterranean and Japanese people have been know to be healthy and having low incidences of heart diseases...

Regardless of whether you choose to go Paleo, Mediterranean or Okinawa diet doesn't matter... as long as you try to consume fresh foods and avoid processed food and sugar I think is the key to it all...

So here I share with you some of the ways of cooking that I consider is healthy...

Steak with sweet potato mash and vegies

Roast chicken breast and sweet potato and rocket salad

Garlic prawns with herbs

Mushrooms and spinach stir fried in olive oil

Some rules that I have picked up for being healthy from the latest health research include:

• Eat plenty of fish especially those high in omega-3 such as salmon
• Eat more vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, carrots, avocado) and fruits (e.g. blueberries, apples, oranges, bananas, grapefruits)
• Use olive oil as primary source of fat. Other fats recommended are coconut oil, ghee and butter. DO NOT use highly processed oils such as canola oil and vegetable oils sold in the supermarkets
• Eat nuts (except peanuts) as snacks (e.g. almonds, walnuts, macadamias)
• Eat dark chocolate as dessert regularly (85% or 90% are best but anything else is ok)
• Red meat is a good source of iron and other vitamins, therefore have in moderation (3 times a week)
• Eat plenty of eggs as it is a good source of protein and vitamins
• Yoghurt and frozen yoghurt is a reasonable treat once in a while but be careful of the amount of sugar in it. Choose greek yoghurt which is not injected with loads of sugar
• Acceptable carbohydrates to be eaten in moderation include sweet potatoes, rice, pumpkins
• Minimise sugar intake
• Minimise processed foods (e.g. cereals, bread (only wholegrain should be eaten), noodles, pasta, biscuits, flour, grains)
• Drink lots of water, it is the best drink. Drink coconut water as it is high in potassium, hydrolites and tastes great and refreshing!

In case you haven't realised, all these recommendations mean that it is quite expensive to eat healthily. However, investing in your health is the best thing you can do because treating yourself of diseases in the future is a lot more costly.

Are we obsessed enough about food? No!

I have just watched a debate on tv about whether we are overly obsessed about food these days... I can see why some would think we are... turn on the tv and there is Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Jamie Oliver and many other cooking shows... turn on facebook and there is every second person  posting their food photos

So the question to me is are people really obsessed with food and if they are why so and are they actually obsessing over the right things about food... Daz has recently been very keen on exploring this issue deeply and I have been a fine listener of the shocking evidence that have been unveiled

Humans are meant to be more advanced now as time goes by and technology improves... however, our food choices are getting worse and worse... walk into a supermarket and you will see 80% of food that is highly processed and full of sugar... cereals, chips, chocolates, soft drinks, prepacked meals...

About 1.2 million people eat at McDonald's in Australia everyday! That's about 5% of Australia... and everybody knows how bad McDonald's is but people just won't stop... Coca Cola is one of the most profitable and biggest businesses on earth and we all know how the drink gives your body absolutely no good nutrition!

I was listening to a lady argue about how we are not obsessed with food as we should be because our food culture these days is to buy whatever that is most convenient at the cheapest price we can find... we don't bother to investigate how the food was processed, where it was grown and what went into making it...

In France, families plan outings to go search for the highest quality produce... children are thought as part of their education of the different types of wine and cheese and fresh produce that is available in the country... knowing exactly what goes into your body is an area of study that is thought of with care

So why are we so careless about what we eat? Why are we so ready to just munch down the thing that is served to us by media and marketing by billion dollar profit-making companies that couldn't care less about what effects the food has on our bodies? How is it that we can take such a whatever attitude on food when we know that what we consume will directly affect our health?

Truffled eggs @ Cafe Morso

On a gloomy Saturday morning, we decided to try a cafe near in our neighbourhood Pyrmont. Even on a gloomy day, this part of town is serenely beautiful... let me show you ==>

This is the spot where Cafe Morso is... a quiet and beautiful part of the suburb right beside the city of Sydney

You'd walk to this place and expect it to be pricey for the location but it actually is priced normally as like any other cafes in Sydney, so that is a plus!

You can sit outside and have good views of the water or sit inside with the chic yet cosy setting... we chose to sit inside as it was chilly that day...

Service was good as the waitress attended to us almost immediately and was attentive and friendly. We were served our coffees very soon  after and it was great! We were definitely impressed as we were there more to try the food and so was pleasantly surprised that coffee was good too :)

The breakfast menu had a selection of dishes that is unique from most breakfast places... we had our eye on a couple of them and when we asked the waitress for the recommendations, we confirmed what we wanted!

We sat around at read the magazines that were provided by the cafe... a generous collection available that made waiting for our food a lot more delightful... a good calm atmosphere for reading and relaxing on a lazy weekend :)

Sautéed wild mushrooms with truffled scrambled eggs and Sonoma sourdough

Then came our food and immediately we were excited as it looked brilliant...  I was quick to snatch the sauteed wild mushrooms with truffled scrambled eggs... amazing and huge serving! I am a huge fan of truffle flavoured anything... like who wouldn't be?! The Sonoma sourdough bread is one of the best I have had yet... the combination of the shrooms, eggs and bread was divine...

And not forgetting the smoked pork and gruyere risotto with poached egg and hollandaise sauce... I don't remember ever having risotto for breakfast but it felt right! The food was served with Himalayan pink salt, which we love for its acclaimed goodness... Just as we were devouring our food, Daz kept saying let's get another dish because this is so good... 

Black Perigord Truffle

Interesting Facts about Truffle

• A type of subterranean mushroom
• Called the "diamond of the kitchen" 
• Sold at about 1,000 Euros per kg in a farmer's market and about 4,000 Euros in the retail market
• Truffle oil is mostly not made of real truffle but of synthetic flavours
• The reason why it is so expensive is because it is not able to be cultivated by man. "The most learned men have sought to ascertain the secret, and fancied they discovered the seed. Their promises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by a harvest" Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1825).

Ratings

Food: Beautiful and unique selection of breakfast items. Good coffee too!

Ambience: Cosy, relaxing and good water views

Value: Truffle flavoured eggs and Sonoma sourdough for $16.50... bargain! Not forgetting great location...

Nutritional value: Sonoma sourdough is made of organic flour, eggs and meat are fresh, himalayan pink salt is thought to be beneficial for health

Overall: DAZZLING & DEELICIOUS!