The Carlisle, Potts Point

I don't find myself in Kings Cross very often but upon a tempting offer of trying out tapas and cocktails at The Carlisle's opening, I found myself venturing out to the Cross with Steph and Vanny!

Waiters serving champagne upon arrival

Candle

Interior

Bar area

Celebrity chef Chrys Xipolitas designed the menu, inspired by Asian and Mediterranean flavours while there was a modern twist of traditional Martinis, Manhattans and Old Fashioneds on the cocktail menu.

Carlisle plate

Dips, feta and marinated olives kept us bloggers satiated before the tapas were served.

Bartender making clover club cocktails

Grilled haloumi cheese, topped with purple grape and balsamic reduction

Seriosly, this was the perfect flavour combo! The grape really helped add a touch of sweetness to the haloumi.

Clover club, $18.00

Lightly floured and fried prawn cutlet, served with soy teriyaki & wasabi aioli

 Yum, deep fried prawn! The sauces were what really made these morsels delicious. I thought the wasabi would be too strong but it actually provided just the right amount of kick.

Eastside Fizz, $18.00

BBQ spicy marinated chicken thigh fillets

 I happened to get a fatty chicken piece which made it super delicious. I would like to know what's in that secret sauce on the side though!

South of border, $18,00

BBQ beef tenderloin rolled in mixed peppers with a bourbon jus and garlic chips

The beef was cooked to a lovely medium rare and was very tender to eat. What I couldn't get enough of were those garlic chips! Crunchy hit of garlic - such an ingenious idea.

Blood and sand, $18.00

Overall, I really have to thank Bonnie Wu for being a wonderful hostess throughout the night. It was lovely meeting all the various bloggers during the event - it was great to chat and put faces to blog names :D We had endless cocktails topped up throughout the night and we were definitely encouraged to drink more than our fair share ;) Word f warning though, these cocktails are mighty strong!

Crystal Noir attended the opening launch courtesy of Bonnie Wu of The Carlisle Bar however all opinions are her own.

The Carlisle Bar
2 Kellett Way
Potts Point, NSW, 2011
http://www.thecarlislebar.com.au/

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: Closed
Thursday - Sunday: 6:00pm - late

Le Pub, Wynyard

Despite all the restaurants that I've been to on my adventures in finding delicious food, a cuisine that I hadn't tried yet was French. Ooh la la! Definitely excited to eat some snails. My friends and I were meeting for dinner to say goodbye to Ms Dentist-In-Training for 6 months as she flies back to Queensland for her teeth studies. I had just come back to Sydney from a road trip on the Central Coast, so it was a big blurring rush of dumping my luggage, showering, and running out of the house! Somehow, I still managed to get there first :P

Escargots de Bourgogne, $15.00

Snails!! I remember when I was younger and we were in China, it was the first time I had ever seen snails eaten as food. I looked at him with wide eyes and shook my head adamantly when my dad asked me whether I wanted to try it. Ten years later, I'd like to think I've matured and am generally open to trying new things. So here's to escargot! It really reminded me of mushrooms in terms of taste actually. The sauce was really good especially when dipped with the crusty bread. Could've gone for a more intense garlic hit, but I really love love love my garlic strong :P

Collet D'Agneau, $26.00

Ms Dentist-In-Training went for the lamb neck with a quinoa and herb crumb, cauliflower puree, shaved cauliflower and pea salad. The lamb was cooked to a perfectly medium rare and everything worked wonderfully together. And despite hating cauliflower, Ms Dentist-In-Training really loved the cauliflower puree to her surprise! Those peas have been freeze-dried I think.

Confit de Canard, $26.00

I couldn't go past the confit duck! I'm a sucker for roasted beetroot and I love carrots so this definitely caught my eye as soon as I saw it on the menu. The duck was incredibly soft from the confit process and fell off the bone with just a soft prod of my fork. Paired with the carrot puree, it gave the game meat that subtle sweetness and I was one happy duck eating this indeed.

Say hello to my friends who happily ate their coq au vin and steaks! Le Pub also gives fancy water with a slice of lemon in it :)

I found the meal to be extremely good value for the quality of food that we received and would happily go back to sample more items from their menu! Very happy first French dining experience :)

Le Pub
Basement, 66 King St
Sydney, NSW, 2000
Stair entrances from both King St & York St
www.lepub.com.au

Opening Hours
Monday - Wednesday: 10:00am - 12:00am
Thursday - Saturday: 10:00am - 3:00am

BLACK by Ezard, Pyrmont

Oh dear I am quite horrible at this blogging thing. I haven't made a post in far too long! In between working, festive AND new year celebrations, I haven't had a chance to make any posts about the yummy food I've been nomming on! I guess I'll start with the wonderful meal I was taken out to today (thank you!) to celebrate recent happiness.

Upon seating, a complimentary loaf of brioche was brought out. I've seen it being blogged everywhere and everyone mentioned how small and cute it was, but I definitely did not expect it to be as small as it was! It was about the size of a softdrink can! It looked so much bigger in photos... And even in mine, you can't tell how small and cute it really is. But onto the brioche loaf itself, it was so soft and buttery like a croissant but not as sweet. Despite the oil sitting on your fingers, you can't help but lather on some more butter and sprinkling on some volcanic sea salt. Yum. Service was extremely friendly and they asked if we wanted an extra loaf of brioche as soon as they noticed we finished ours. Not wanting to fill up on bread, we shook our heads as we anticipated for the dishes to come!

Grapefruit mocktail, $13.00

We quickly picked out starters and mains and I was surprised at how the the dishes came out in no time at all! I started off with this grapefruit mocktail which had a zing of lime and elderflower which I found very refreshing. I know grapefruit isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I myself really do love this fruit so this mocktail was right up my alleyway!

Organic farm egg, $25.00

I've heard great things about the organic farm egg and it was a dish I was definitely excited to try. I noticed that they've changed it and it no longer has the shavings of black truffle on top. Shame because I really do love truffle. But excluding that, it was like a fancy breakfast. The soft boiled egg with its runny told was encased by a wonderful crisp pastry. Together with the salty prosciutto, the flavoursome potato cream and iberico jamon, I really enjoyed this dish and it was a great start to our dinner!

Oxtail, $27.00

The other starter we chose was the oxtail which had been caramelised so there was a delightful crunchy skin surrounding the tender meat which fell apart when I prodded it with my fork. The biggest surprise was the sichuan peppered enoki, chive and taro salad which was topped with a mushroom soil. I didn't expect it to have such a depth in flavour, which was mostly from the mushroom soil, and the crunchy taro pieces were a welcome surprise!

Handmade potato gnocchi, $29.00

Gnocchi is something I've actually never tried before despite being curious about it for the longest of times. It was chewier than I expected because I've heard it to be described as soft pillow clouds somewhere. Though I'm not complaining about chewiness because I am a fan of chewy Asian desserts (: I was hoping for a stronger spinach flavour in the spinach cream but the parmesan cheese provided enough flavour. Overall a pleasant dish.

Lamb rack, $48.00

Oh my, look at that pink lamb! This definitely outshone the gnocchi. The lamb was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the mustard, herb and black olive crust and the roasted garlic sauce, it was just divine. It paired very well with the creamy Jerusalem artichokes and watercress salad!

Chocolate, $23.00

We ended the night with a rich chocolate dessert. Our waitress poured on the warm ganache as soon as it hit the table! I was upset I didn't get to capture the perfect sphere that was our dessert before the ganache was poured on and melted the ball :( Oh well. The chocolate sphere encased a peanut butter mousse and dulce leche icecream which was okay on their own BUT tasted amazing when all the elements were combined together. This dessert definitely tipped me over the edge into almost food coma territory.

We were all smiles as we left The Star to nurse our full stomachs. Celebratory dinners definitely make happy days.

BLACK by Ezard
80 Pyrmont St
Sydney, NSW, 2009
9657 9109

Opening Hours
Lunch Wednesday - Friday: 12:00 - 3:00pm
Dinner Tuesday - Sunday: 5:30 - 11:00pm

Kuaizi, CBD

Today my baby sister celebrated her birthday and officially entered the world of adulthood - she is now eighteen! Groupon had some coupon deals for Kuaizi a while ago - high tea for two for only $39! It promised that there were going to be tiers with Asian fusion twists, a glass of bubbly each, selection from three high tea menus, dainty sweets like cupcakes, assorted danish pastries and fruits. This coupon was supposed to be valued at $112 so my sister and I were definitely excited about having a girly afternoon sipping tea and champagne.

We weren't quite sure if they were actually open yet when we first arrived as no one was there to greet us so we hesitantly wandered in, not sure if we were going to get kicked out. Turns out they were open and they allowed us to pick a seat anywhere we like as the restaurant was quite empty. Upon showing them my voucher, we were given tea menus to pursue.

The waitress informed us that we could choose one from three types of sandwiches: prawn and mixed herb with thousand island dressing, belly ham and pear with yogurt, or spicy tuna and baby rocket with creme fresh. I allowed the birthday girl to choose and she went with prawn. Despite the website saying that there were three different menus, the waitress informed us that everything else on the tiers were exactly the same and only the sandwiches differed. So we shrugged and put our orders in for the tea and sandwiches.

We heard the pop of the champagne cork and that quickly arrived at our table. Cheers!

Champagne, english breakfast tea, and jasmine green tea

My sister's English Breakfast came with a little jug of milk, and both our teas came with a packet of sugar. I don't see why green tea would need sugar, so I gave it to my sister to use for hers. Aren't the teapots and teacups pretty? (: They used prepacked teabags as opposed to loose leaf but they weren't bad considering.

We clapped our hands in glee as our stand arrived at our table.

We started with the sandwiches. There were two types, our prawn with thousand island dressing which was pretty nice - it really reminded me of the seafood Subway for some reason. The second one was a tomato, cheese and rocket sandwich which is always nice.

Then we moved onto the scones! Definitely not made on the premises and pretty sure they were pre-bought and then warmed up in the kitchen. Despite that, they were still fluffy and not stodgy and dry like ones I've bought from Woolworths. They were sort of like a fluffier version of a bread roll. Well, after we lathered it with jam and the sweet whipped cream, it tasted pretty good. Mind you, nowhere near as good as the house-made jam and whipped cream from when I had afternoon tea at the Tea Room in the QVB! But they were pretty damn excellent.

Hello cuppycakies! There was a chocolate cupcake with cookies and cream icing, and also a vanilla one with sprinkles. Why do I feel as though I've seen these somewhere before? They remind me of the cupcakes I've had from Coles both in flavour and texture, hm.

L to R: chocolate mud brownie, caramel brownies, cookies and cream brownie

By this stage we were both extremely full and looking at these three extremely rich looking brownies, we felt slightly deterred. After a little break, we ploughed on to attack these three. Which were all very, very sweet indeed! And we suspected right - EXTREMELY rich.

Thank goodness we had some fruit at the very end. It really did feel refreshing after that tier of sweets and it felt like it was needed.

However, by this stage, I was wondering: where are the Asian fusion twists on the high tea that was promised?!

My sister enjoyed her first high tea experience which was definitely nice. Though next time I'd definitely take her to an even nicer place (: At $20 per person, this was definitely cheap and quite worth it and we both left extremely satiated and happy. However, at the normal price of $45 per person (which is more than the Tea Room!), I don't think I would be willing to pay that much for the quality of the tea and food that was served to us.

Kuaizi Modern Fusion Cuisine
1-325 Sussex St
Sydney, 2000, NSW
9283 8825
http://kuaizi.com.au/

Opening Hours
Open 7 days
Lunch: 12:00 - 3:00pm
High Tea: 12:00 - 6:00pm
Dinner: 6:00 - 10:00pm

Hartsyard, Newtown

After waking up early in the morning when I had another extremely late night trying to catch up on uni work, and then spending a good few hours down in the wood workshop at uni, I was definitely looking forward to the architecture revue of 2012 - "Games of Homes". But obviously that doesn't come before going out for dinner first!

I have been very keen for Hartsyard after reading many reviews circling around the blogging sphere. A wanted to get there super early so that we wouldn't be late the for 7:30 start for the revue - but perhaps we got there a little too early... The staff were still eating dinner when we entered! They apologised that they weren't open until 5:30 so we went looking around in a nearby poster shop before going back. One of the staff ladies was super nice and apologised again for having to shoo us out earlier on but we were unfazed because even we knew it was much too early for dinner! We were promptly seated and I was immediately enraptured by the cute mismatched vintage napkins that adorned the tables!

I already had my heart set on the fried chicken so it was then a choice of another dish. We were all intrigued by the dandelion and chicory salad so that was ordered to sate our curiosity.

Dandelion and chicory salad, $17.00

The salad itself came with wonderful pieces of pork crackling that were intensely crunchy. There were dandelion and chicory leaves which have a slight bitter taste upon first bite but then a subtle sweetness comes out the more you chew which paired wonderfully with the mustard dressing and the salty French cheese. The oozy yolk of the soft-poached egg added creaminess and a squeeze of grilled lemon added that extra zing to complete the dish.

Cold-smoked fried chicken, $28.00

House made hot sauce to pair with the chicken

Oh my, look at that crispy batter on that chicken. It was glorious I tell you, glorious! The chicken tasted so good without the hot sauce that I was almost tempted not to use it but then boy am I glad I did! It had great flavour, but don't worry for those of you who cannot handle chilli - it wasn't spicy at all. But the unexpected surprise of the dish was the sausage gravy which I definitely did not expect to love as much as I did! It was so creamy and flavoursome and together with the fluffy biscuit/scone? My mouth was in heaven. This gravy had me coming back for more!

When it came to desserts, all three of us zoomed in on different things and finally cut it down to two. We had such a hard time choosing and when we asked the waiter which one he'd recommend, he said that both of them were excellent so what choice did we have but to order both? ;) Our inner gluttons coming out despite already being content from the salad and fried chicken (which was definitely deceptively filling because of the oil, especially with the creamy gravy!).

Deep-fried cheesecake + popcorn icecream, $16.00

When I saw deep-fried cheesecake, I expected a big fat slice of blueberry cheesecake coated with a batter and then deep-fried. So expect my surprise when this high-class restaurant quality dish came to our table! It definitely was beautifully presented. The popcorn icecream and cheesecake sat on top of a lemon curd with some yuzu jam next to it. There was caramelised popcorn pieces, blueberry powder and frozen blueberries! The popcorn icecream was amazing. It was salty and sweet and creamy and hit all the right places. The deep-fried cheesecake was also enjoyable with a nice batter and cheesy innards. So good!

Peanut butter + banana sundae, $16.00

This dessert was very sweet and heavy! Yet it was devilishy decadent at the same time. The pretzel icecream with a peanut butter crumble and salted fudge? Yes please. It also paired excellently with the banana donuts that were hidden amongst the overflowing fudge - it spilled out all over the sides as you can see in the picture! Despite feeling full, we devoured both desserts in no time at all.

When we entered Hartsyard, it was completely empty and we were the first patrons of the night! However, as we were leaving at 7, the place was jam packed full and buzzing with people so I'd say if you wanted dinner, booking seems like the way to go. The food definitely did not tick any health boxes here, but it was a treat all the same. Highly recommend this place!

Clutching our stomachs, we made our way to watch the Revue where I proceeded to laugh all night to the point where my cheeks hurt! Definitely a winner and worth every cent of the $15 I paid for a ticket! Can't wait to see next year's production (:

Hartsyard
31 Enmore Rd
Newtown, NSW, 2042
8068 1473
http://hartsyard.com.au

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Sunday: 5:30pm until late