Swine & Co, Wynyard

I have a question for you, my dear readers. What is your favourite type of meat? I, myself, am such a huge fan of pork. There are not only so many different cuts of meat you can get from the pig, but also so many different ways to cook it. And it is with this promise of lots of pork that we end up at Swine & Co after Chef Meathead's graduation (congratulations!).

Specials cocktail / Charlie Chaplin, $18.00 each

Who doesn't like starting the meal with a girly cocktail? I got lured in by the specials cocktail which  tasted like whizz fizz that I had as a child! I can't remember the exact mix but there was brandy and cherry liquer in it. McMini ordered the Charlie Chaplin which was equally as drinkable with gin, apricot brandy, lime juice and rhubarb bitters.

Complimentary bread

 Those sticks were very addictive because of how airy, crunchy and light they were.

Charcuterie, $30.00

I think we all have a slight obsession with cured meats but Chef Meathead wins on how much he loves his cured meats. I tried some of the chicken liver pate which was very rich and creamy and was coated with a thin layer of fruity jelly to add an undertone of sweetness to the salty pate.

King salmon, $30.00

Look at how perfectly the salmon is cooked! Who knew that salmon would be great with fennel? The olive soil scattered was a very clever way to add seasoning to the dish by allowing us to choose how much we wanted to eat with our salmon. But what I found super addictive were those seaweed pieces and am curious how they managed to get that crispiness to them.

Pork belly, $34.00

You really can't go wrong with pork belly if you have tender soft meat topped with a wonderful slab of crunchy crackling. And with a little croquette on the side? I'm won over! I'm used to eating pork with apple, so the introduction of a super smooth pumpkin puree and peppercorn jus was something new to which I'm glad to say I tried and liked.

Suckling pig, $40.00

Now this was a large chunk of meat I'm telling you. I was expecting something smaller, more delicate and have to say, the meat wasn't as tender as the pork belly when I had been expecting the suckling pig to be more so. I think we were all starting to get the meat sweats at this stage... There was a lot of pork happening. But no matter, we had veggie side dishes!

Brussel sprouts, $12.00

Not everyone is a fan of brussel sprouts but surprisingly, I actually like them (does that make me strange?). This version has been cooked with lentils, fermented chilli and speck. I do find that brussel sprouts needs to be cooked with a meat to soak in flavour so I was happy to see the addition of speck.

Dutch heirloom carrots, $12.00

Sweet roasted carrots with caraway butter! The addition of the crumbs on top made me feel like I was eating a dessert as they were quite sweet and reminiscent of cookie crumble.

Hand cut chips, $12.00

Aioli makes everything alright when eaten with all kinds of chips. I guess this doesn't really count as healthy veggies to help break down all the meat we were consuming :P

Located in the heart of Wynyard, the bar upstairs was very busy and packed out with business men and women when we entered on a Friday night so I have to say that booking is a must if you want to try out all the swine available for consumption here!

Swine & Co.
16 O'Connell St  
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 9:00am - late

Ash St Cellar, Wynyard

As we get older, I've realised it' becomes harder and harder to fit meet ups into everyone's busy schedules which is always a shame. But that just makes catch ups (when possible) even more special! Miss LB Slaya and I always try to squeeze in time together to do what we enjoy doing best - eating food! We definitely took advantage of Merivale's $33 meal deals through the month of March and early April and that is how we ended up at Ash St Cellar that night.

L to R: 2010 Villa Maria 'Cellar Selection' Pinot Noir, 2012 Villa Maria 'Cellar Selection' Pinot Gris

This particular deal came with wine! $33 gave you a glass of wine and a main course. Wine is definitely a welcome sight after a long day at work :P Red wine, as always, tastes much better after you let it rest for a while to let the flavours develop.

Complimentary bread

 

Shellfish and chorizo paella

We cooed over how cute the paella was when it arrived - it was the smallest single serving pan! The shellfish gave the paella such a wonderful depth of flavour and finding a piece of chorizo was like finding a little nugget of gold but I was just sad that there wasn't a crispy bottom which is the part I always look forward to most.

Half roast duck, salad of witlof, orange, olives & walnuts

Duck is one of my favourite game meats so I was a tad disappointed that this roast version was quite dry. The rub on the skin gave it a crispiness that really would've gone well together with tender duck meat.

I suppose Ash St's Cellar's specialty wouldn't be their food but their large selections of house wines on offer. Most customers there seemed to be having after works drinks with a few nibbles on the side - that seems like the way to go!

Ash St. Cellar
1 Ash St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 11:00pm

Uccello, Wynyard

Sorry for the silence lately, dear readers. From starting my masters and getting used to working at an actual architect firm, I've neglected things on the blogging front! But after finishing one of my assessment presentations and graduating from my bachelor degree, I decided to celebrate in the way I love best. Of course my friends and I were going to eat :P I'm so thankful for Casanova, McMini and Chef Meathead for coming out to my graduation - I know the ceremonies may not be the most fun of things but from the sincere bottom of my heart, I really appreciate your presence!

We headed over to Uccello afterwards for dinner with hungry stomachs to try the newly introduced "First In Best Dressed" menu by head chef, David Lovett, which draws upon his favourite rustic Italian dishes. Who can say no to Italian food? :D

Complimentary bread

The First In Best Dressed is only on weeknights and you must be seated between 6-7pm but it's insanely good value. $45 for two courses or $55 for three. $10 extra for another course? You bet we are all going to pick that option.

Cured meats, soft cheese, sourdough

We started our antipasti with a selection of cured meats, cheese and sourdough - always a winner. The board we were presented with came with both  chorizo, nduja, prosciutto, salami and goats cheese! It was my first time eating nduja and boy was that good.

Raw red prawns, parsley, lemon, olive oil

Casanova wanted a big entree the size of Chef Meathead's cured meats board so you can imagine his disappointment when this serving size came out haha! Normally I'm not a fan of prawn so I was especially apprehensive about raw prawn but this really surprised me! The prawns were so soft and the the flavour and it was just an incredibly delicate dish.

Kingfish crudo, marjoram, pink pepper, lemon

I love how light the cured kingfish was - it's always so refreshing on the palette.

Buffalo mozzarella, peach, San Daniele prosciutto

Oops forgot to take a photo of this one! Luckily one of my friends did :) Since peaches are out of season, they told me that they would replace the fruit with figs which was fine by me. Creaminess from the mozzarella, saltiness form the prosciutto, and sweetness from the figs all make for an example of letting good produce shine on their own.

Char grilled sardines, lemon, chilli, parsley

The flavour they managed to pack into the sardines blew my mind. I loved the saltiness of the dish which really contrasted with the delicate ceviche style dishes earlier. I know you can eat the bones in the sardine but I would've much rathered not as it wasn't entirely soft. But that was a minor dent in what was a pretty damn tasty sardine.

'Risotto Milanese’ saffron and bone marrow risotto

Kicking on to our primi course, how could I resist the classic risotto Milanese? Mixing in the bone marrow added that extra dimension of richness that really tied everything together. There was just a tad graininess left to the rice so if the risotto was cooked just a tiny bit longer, it would've been perfection.

Rigatoni, pork sausage, broccoli, ricotta

The rigatoni was also something I didn't expect to be as good as it was. If all broccoli tasted this good, I would have no qualms eating it on a daily basis! When I took a bite of the broccoli, there was a real hit of basil and we all know how much I love my fresh herbs :D

Pappardelle, wild rabbit, pancetta, rosemary, parmesan

The parppardelle was made much wider than I'm used to but that really doesn't affect anything. Rabbit is only something I've had once before and I can happily say that the game meat was scattered in wonderful tender chunks in a tomato based pasta sauce.

‘Stinco di maiale’ roast pork shin, fennel, bay, potato

I expected the dishes of the second piatti to the be the smallest but I was definitely wrong! The waiter brings this out to me and laughs a little.

"I hope you're hungry!" he says.

My eyes popped out at how large the serving was. It was the entire pork shin! At this stage I was beyond full. But power on for the food! What I absolutely adored was the fennel. It was so soft and was just holding its form together. Just the way I like my fennel cooked! I'm glad the pork was left on the bone - the flavour is always better that way!

Roast blue eye, fennel, orange, olive, strega

When fish is cooked this well, I really want to clap my hands in glee. It was so moist! With a a simple squeeze of lemon atop the fish, it was all thumbs up.

Trippa alla Romana, beef tripe, guanciale, tomato, mint, oregano, pecorino

A lot of people aren't into offal, but for those of you who are - get this dish! There was plenty of awesome sauce left over to be wiped up with the bread on offer :P

Spring lamb shoulder, caponata, pine nuts, mint

Lamb shoulder is such a gorgeous cut of meat because of all the fat on it so it's barely a dish where you go "Oh dear, the meat is far too dry". Tender to the point of falling apart, there was little to fault with how it was cooked. Eaten with the caponata, it really made this dish sing.

I don't think we could have fitted in dessert no matter how hard we tried. Despite it being a Friday night and located next to the Pool Club, it was surprisingly not too loud. But that may have possibly been because it was raining that night :P For only $55, the meal was very good value especially with the large serving sizes. Uccello provided both quality and quantity tonight and left us rolling out the door in a food coma-esque state!

Uccello
Level 4, 320 George St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours

Lunch
Monday - Friday: 12:00 – 3:00pm

Dinner
Monday to Saturday 6:00 – 10:30pm

Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine, Chinatown

Ever since Momofuku Siebo and Ippudo came to Australia bearing the idea of the open buns, I seem to be seeing it pop up everywhere. Granted, I feel like the hype is slowly dying down a little bit, but Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine was a place that has not only a pork bun on their menu, but also Peking duck! And all of you should know my love for Peking duck :) My friend Gingerbreadmanne also has a similar affiliation with these buns and Peking duck in general so off we went for a little afternoon snack catch up.

Peking duck buns, $8.00 for two / Roast pork buns, $8.00 for two

Ah I really do love the little sandwich pockets with the bun encasing the different fillings! These were what I expected from the buns with the description of what was in it on the menu, but they were at bit steep at $4 each. And let's face it, Peking duck and roast pork, very hard to go wrong. I would've liked the buns to be fluffier.

Curry soft-shelled crab congee, $14.80

The bowl of congee was massive! It was like eating Singaporean noodles but in the form of congee so it was quite trippy to eat. I think I will stick to the traditional century egg and pork mince combo as it's still my favourite congee to date (probably because I grew up eating it!). The crunchy tempura pieces on top and the soft-shelled crab were awesome though - crunchy batter and sweet crab meat. But eating the two felt like I was eating two separate dishes.

Unfortunately we didn't get a dessert as I was a little bit too full (such a big bowl of congee) despite having a personal love for Asian desserts. Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine has a modern twist to traditional Cantonese cuisine if that's what you're after but you may also be chasing Chinese food on the pricier side of Chinatown.

Old Town Hong Kong Cuisine
10 Dixon St
Sydney, NSW, Chinatown

Opening Hours
Monday - Sunday: 11:00 - 2:00am

Felix Bistro & Bar, Wynyard

Merivale currently has meal deals for $33 as part of their March into Merivale celebration so yes to cheaper meal deals :D McMini, M and I were seated outside for our girls date so thank goodness there weren't big gushes of wind that night! We ended up ordering from the normal menu and not the meal deal menu.

Complimentary bread and butter

Slather on that butter! Choice of sourdough, multigrain or rye with butter - how can you go wrong? The pick of the three had to be the sourdough with the lovely crust.

Twice baked Gruyere soufflé with onion puree, rocket and walnut, $20.00

Souffle is not something I've had before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was so fluffy! The souffle by itself was nice, but it was lacking a little something which I found the onion puree made up for. The two together really gave us a delicious start.

Slow cooked, herb crusted lamb shoulder with  slow roast tomatoes and rosemary jus, $33.00 (for one)

The flavour that was encrusted in just the herb crust itself was delicious. The lamb shoulder itself was beautifully soft and tender as all soft-cooked lamb should be. Just a tad underseasoned but overall, incredibly tasty.

Confit duck leg, frisee, lentil and green bean salad, lyonnaise sauce, $33.00

How can I ever say no to confit duck? M offered us both to try some of her confit duck and it was divine. Just as good as the one I had at Le Pub :) I loved the subtle sweetness from the lyonnaise sauce.

Roast cauliflower, spring onion, mint and marinated goat's cheese, $10.00

We also got a side of roast cauliflower because you know, veggies! I do love cauliflower though - the insides were so soft. And with pomegranates and marinated goat's cheese, it's hard to dislike the sweet, tangy, salty and herby flavours. Always a fan of the addition of spring onion.

Looking back, we ordered some solid winter comfort food in the dead midst of summer... Didn't regret ordering any of those, because they were all delicious! Who says you have to eat according to the weather? :P

Felix Bistro and Bar
2 Ash St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours 
Lunch
Monday to Friday: 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Sunday: 12:00pm - 3:00pm

Dinner
Monday to Saturday: 5:30pm – 10:30pm
Sunday: 5:30pm - 9.30pm

Janus, Sydney CBD

One of Westfield Sydney's positive attributes would have to be their choice of eats in their food court. There's so much more than your standard fast food joints on offer. For those of you who don't like the hustle and bustle environment of food courts, you can even venture up to level 6 where they have Xanthi Restaurant, Chat Thai, Chinta Ria, Sky Phoenix, Max Brenner, and Janus, where I made a particular visit this time around with Miss Dentist-In-Training and my other friend E.

Thornclarke pinot gris, $38.00

This was an occassion of celebration, so we decided to order a bottle of wine. Hailing from South Australia, with its flavours of Nashi pears and apple puree, this white wine finished on a clean and crisp note. Can't say I know too much about wines, but this one wasn't bad.

Spicy chorizo, $20.00

Couldn't resist ordering a pizza with chorizo on it. They were quite generous with the chorizo pieces, and bits of fennel, rocket and capsicum added a punch of flavour that made this pizza quite delicious.

Pumpkin, haloumi & pinenut salad, $15.00

I was looking forward to the lemon and oregano vinaigrette that would dress this salad but unfortunately we didn't get any of that. Instead, we got a very oily dressing that didn't have much flavour and only added grease to the palette. Much like when you forget to shake those Praise salad dressings you can buy at the supermarket before you drizzle it onto your salad. The saving grace of the plate was the roasted vegetables themselves - butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, eggplant and zucchini. I quite enjoyed eating them with the saltiness of the grilled haloumi.

Pappardelle al ragu di agnello e pecorino sardo, $18.00 for entree size

It sounded so promising with its slow cooked lamb shoulder ragu and pecorino sardo. When I see slow cooked lamb on the menu, I'm expecting a meat that's extremely tender, with the flavours infused right in from all that time that's spent cooking. What we got instead was quite a bland pasta dish, where the pasta was a tad slimy and the lamb itself was quite stringy. And where, may I ask, is the pecorino?

Choc-nut fudge brownie, $5.80

We decided we needed a little bit of a pick me up after that mediocre-at-best lunch, so we headed next door to indulge in a piece of intensely rich fudgey brownie. That chocolate sauce cheered us right up!

So do let me know, do you try to save the day after a not so awesome meal by treating yourself to a little something extra afterwards?

Janus
L6 Westfield Sydney
188 Pitt Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Monday - Friday: 11:00am - 9:00pm (closed from 3:00 - 5:00pm)
Saturday - Sunday: 11:00am - 9:00pm

Vapiano, Sydney CBD

After hearing about the opening of the new Italian restaurant Vapiano from NessyEater, I wanted to check it out myself. Armed with a few of my girlfriends, we decided to make a date night out of it :D

What's great about Vapiano is that they make their own pasta in store and many of these I hadn't even heard of before! Tell me, has anyone heard of camponelle before? Though my clear lack of pasta knowledge didn't really matter as we had the wonderful Chef Kuz recommending the pasta for us. Everything is cooked fresh to order and literally right in front of your eyes! What else is different about this restaurant is the use of the buzzer method where all your orders are charged onto one of their store cards and you pay at the exit when you leave.

Pollo e spinaci, $19.50

Mention basil pesto to me and I am sold. Say cream stirred through and a sprinkling of pine nuts? Even better! Though I do wish there was a tad more seasoning - just that extra pinch of salt would've done wonders. The camponelle pasta was cooked so that it had just enough bite, but not too al dente. Just the way I like it.

Ravioli con carne, $17.90

Yes, we chose two cream based pastas... It couldn't be any other way ok? This one packed more of a flavour punch from both the bolognese filling and the awesome creamy tomato sauce. And look at the huge mound of parmesan cheese!

Calzone folded pizza, $19.50

Calzone is one kind of pizza I hadn't tried yet so I was eager to sink my knife and fork into this when I spotted it on the menu. And it definitely sounded like meat heaven with a double meat combo of ham and pepperoni and a variety of other fillings like mushroom, olives, onions and mozarella. But the calzone turned out to be more like bread than anything else with the crust being quite chewy, and the fillings were quite sparse and lacking. Which was quite a shame because I was expecting an awesome filling to crust ratio when I saw the size of the pizza. Turns out it was just the crust puffing up :(

My friends and I settled in upstairs after our meal in the bar area with a bottle of moscato and talked the night away. The ambience of this place really is very nice! Next time I'll be back to try more of the pastas, but I may give the pizza a bit of a miss.

Vapiano
King St Corner King And York St
Sydney, NSW, 2000
In the Grace Hotel 

Opening Hours
Sunday - Thursday: 11:00am - 11:00pm
Friday - Saturday: 11:00am - 12:00 midnight