Pu'er, Waterloo

If there's one thing I can't resist, it's got to be yum cha style dumplings. So it was with great enthusiasm that we wandered over to Pu'er in Waterloo on the corner of Bourke and Danks street to have some steamed dumpling goodies at night. Pu'er offers a range of food from dumplings to larger share plates, all with a Western flair.

Scallop, $9.00

To start off with, I couldn't resist ordering the scallop dumplings - a Hong Kong style dumpling of prawn, scallop and baby bamboo all encased in a yellow egg pastry. Whilst the skin was a tad thick for my liking, the filling was delicious, had fantastic flavor and just reminds me why I'm a sucker for all dumplings with prawn and scallops.

Hong Kong mini burgers, $15.00

The waitress highly recommended these mini burgers and aren't they just adorable? Smaller than the size of my palm! Filled with a miniature panko crumbed pork fillet, a house smoked chilli paste, hoisin and baby cress, this cute number was a tasty little morsel that was not dry like I expected (being miniature and all). A bit oily, but at least the buns were deep-fried to a wonderful crisp and went really well with the filling inside.

Wagyu tacos, $16.00

Phew, these were spicier than expected! But that chilli kick paired very well indeed with the juicy wagyu beef. All wrapped by a soft bun, this is the perfect finger food snack to knock down whilst having a few drinks on a Friday night.

Three cup drunken duck, $26.00

Boy do you get bang for buck with these two giant duck legs sitting on the plate. Braised to perfection, the duck meat fell off the bone, yet still retained it's juiciness and flavor. Using traditional methods of Chinese braising with shao xing, soy and sugar, this dish really kicked home to my Shanghainese roots - almost like my mum makes at home ;)

Caramelised Berkshire pork belly, $24.00

And as always, it is always a bit risky to order things that are cooked on an often basis at home. I cannot fault the cooking, as the pork remained super tender and soft, but it was lacking that punch of strong soy and caramelized sugar I was looking for. The egg was a nice traditional touch but unfortunately was also lacking in flavor.

Chocolate brownie, $10.00

Whilst I don't normally tend to order brownies at restaurants as I find them to be more or less the same, our friendly waitress said these were normally a hit with the patrons so why not give it a go? For me, it was quite the standard brownie - chocolatey and dense. Perhaps a bit on the dry side but overall what you would expect from a chocolate brownie. I wasn't a fan of the red wine jus but it was the salted palm sugar ice-cream that blew me away. It was the perfect Asian twist on the standard Western salted caramel and truth be told, I forewent the brownie just to eat this ice-cream :P

Coconut & kafffir lime leaf sorbet, $10.00

This single dessert, hands down, was my favourite dish of the evening. Despite being stuffed to the brim (we were warned there was going to be a lot of food!), I managed to find extra stomach space just to eat this. The zing of the kaffir lime made the sorbet something special, seriously. It was even surrounded by pieces of young coconut - a definite win for me :D And the black sticky rice was subtlely sweet, still retained a nice bite to the palette and was wonerful with the sorbet or even dipped into the coconut water syrup on the side.

Quinton spoke very highly of the teas so how could we resist trying one? We told him to surprise us and he came out with the Osmanthus Phoenix ($9.00) which I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of :( But take my word that it was very pretty and beautifully presented! It was fragrant with the flavours of Osmanthus and had a delicate sweet aftertaste that lingered in the mouth. A good finish to our meal, and certainly helped with the digestion considering all that food we ate!

Overall, we ended our meal on a highlight with the sorbet which I would very, very happily demolish an entire pint of if I had one. The atmosphere was very cosy on a Thursday night, making it a cute little date place and service was nothing short of friendly. You even have the option of sitting half outside on the balcony! Which does have roofing by the way, so don't you worry about getting rained on :P Recommended if you're looking for a nice, relaxing night out with plenty of teas under your disposal!

Crystal Noir and friend dined as guests of Pu'er courtesy of Quinton Van Schalkwyk & Siev Gour of Pu'er. Opinions however, are entirely her own.

Pu'er

20A Danks St

Waterloo, NSW, 2017

Opening Hours

Tuesday-Friday
Lunch 12:00 - 3:00pm 

Dinner 6:00pm - late

Saturday & Sunday
12:00pm - late

Buffalo Dining Club, Darlinghurst

If the idea of a mozzarella bar doesn't tempt you, then I don' know what will. It was the promise of pasta being spun in a giant cheese wheel that tempted a group of us hungry food bloggers to venture to the Cross on Halloween. Pasta, cheese and ghouls, could there be a better combination?

Upstairs dining

The Buffalo Dining Club is a tiny restaurant. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. They don't take reservations nor will they seat you until your entire group is present, so going there early would be your best bet. By the time we entered at around 6:30/7, the restaurant was pretty much packed out and we managed to snag one of the last few free seats.

The menu

Short and concise, the menu gets straight to the good stuff - the cheese, the cured meat, the pastas and some salads for those of you who need some veggies on the side of the mighty load of carbs you are about to consume! For groups 6 or larger, the restaurant orders for you and we were happy to be taken under the wings of the staff at Buffalo Dining Club. Show us the food :D

A little bit of an issue where there was too much to fit on the table :P

Fresh burrata (100g) with marinated olives and tempura cauliflower, $20

I don't know what constitutes as a good burrata as this was my first time eating it but this was damned good. A bouncy outer shell of solid mozzarella gives way to the mozarrella and cream filled centre that flows out. It was very light to eat because of its freshness, and had a wonderful creaminess that lingers on the palette. The tempura cauliflower were also a win. Super crunchy and well seasoned.

Caprino with artichoke hearts and honey baby carrots, $20.00

This goats cheese was also another winner. Salty and tangy, it was wonderful lathered on the bread. The carrots are quite ordinary but sides are sides. Would've preferred an extra serving of the cauliflower though :P

Buffalo Mozzarella (125g) with grilled baby broccolini and cherry tomatoes, $20.00

The delicate flavour of fresh  milk that the buffalo mozzarella another great cheese to eat, although I think we were all a little bit more enamoured by the fancier burrata in comparison. Soft and moist, I could definitely easily eat this and the tomatoes and still be one happy camper.

Pumpkin and potato croquettes, $8.00

And who doesn't love a good croquette that's deep-fried to a wonderful crisp? The innards for both were deliciously creamy and smooth and loved that dip that it came with! Not quite sure what it was but definitely quite tart.

Bresaola, $16.00

Onto the good old cured meats! Look at those glorious ribbons of fat running through the bresaola. The beef flavour is strong due to the aging process but that's exactly what we were looking for.

Prosciutto San Dan, $10.00 for 60g

And of course prosciutto, the perfect accompaniment to all those cheeses we had on the table.

Chilli accompaniment

If you're a chilli fanatic, this will be THE sauce for you. Let me tell you, it's hella spicy. We each tried a tiny bit and the level of spicy is PHUOR spicy. And it just gets spicier in your mouth after the initial kick. So be warned before spooning this baby on top of all your pasta! Unless of course, it is your intention.

Buffalo ricotta gnocchi, $20.00

Gnocchi is one of those things that could go terribly wrong and stodgy a lot of the time but these were soft pillowy, cheesy balls of goodness. Tossed in that gloriously rich tomato sauce, I have nothing but good things to say about this dish.

Lamb ragu, $20.00

The ragu was a tad lacklustre after the gnocchi. Whilst not bad, it really could've wowed with an extra hit of seasoning.

Food bloggers frantically trying to capture the action

And for the dish that Buffalo Dining Club is infamous for. It probably doesn't need to be tossed at the table, but for theatrics and for us to see the giant wheel, I sure as hell ain't complaining :P We get to feel involved with our food!

Caccio e Pepe, $20.00

If you're after that huge pepper kick like I am all the time, you will definitely be pleased with this one. Lots of parsley, pepper and of course, pecorino is distributed evenly through the pasta because of the wheel tossing for pieces of cheesy goodness in each bite.

Full to the brim, this feast was very reasonable and the bill was under $30 each. Considering all the food that was brought to us, it was more than good value. And a good visit to make for all of you who are mozzarella lovers! It is a mozzarella bar after all :P And a big thanks to Charn for organising this dinner :)

Buffalo Dining Club
116 Surrey St
Darlinghurts, NSW, 2010

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Saturday: 12:00 noon - 11:00pm

Jazz City BBQ, Darlinghurst

I think it has all been a while since the anticipated opening of Jazz City BBQ with the promise of lots and lots of barbeque meat! LB Slaya, Cassanova, KC and I arrived early this Thursday night just a little before 6, perhaps a little too early as they hadn't even opened their doors yet (we were just a tad too keen). But once inside, we instantly felt like we were in one of those cute American diners with the red booths lining the walls of the small restaurant.

Menu

The menu is short and concise, offering five items with the promise of Southern American smokey char. It's simple really, you just let Chef Dan McGuirt exactly how much of each meat you want and he'll cut and weigh it for you!.

Dan slicing up the beef ribs

Are you guys digging his shirt or what? When he was about to cut us our beef brisket, he asked us, "Would you like the fattier or leaner cut? I would recommend the fattier cut, it's much more tender and juicy." How could we disagree with the man?

Housemade sauces

There are plenty of sauces for you sauce junkies to choose from. And if you're anything like us, you're just going to go for the whole shebang and may as well try everything!

Clockwise from top: cornbread / complimentary sliced white bread / pork ribs / beef ribs / beef brisket / coleslaw / complimentary raw onion and pickles / pulled pork (centre)

While I did love the flavour of the pork rib, it was a tad on the dry side, as was the pulled pork. But with all the sauces on offer, may as well drench it with that, hey? And let me give you a little tip - ride the sauce rainbow. You may be asking, what the heck is that? Mixing all of them together of course! The beef brisket was indeed awesomely fatty as promised and fat is flavour when it comes to barbequed meats. I was pleasantly surprised by the beef rib as I normally prefer pork ribs over beef ones but this was beautifully smokey with every bite. The meat slid of the bone real easy as we bit it straight off the bone - gotta get those fingers dirty when eating ribs! But what I really fell in love with were those pickles. Sweet with a little punch of sour, I couldn't help going back for more. And that cornbread. Soft, fluffy like a good muffin, and slightly sweet, our only regret was ordering one to share. Next time, one for each person!

I forgot to take a picture of the pecan pie we had. Though tiny, it was a pretty sweet end to the meal. Unfortunately they didn't have key lime pie on the menu tonight which was not a problem for us. We ventured down to Jazz City Milk Bar for dessert!

Banana cream pie, $10.00

I have nothing to say but this.

Oh. My God.

THIS WAS AMAZING. SO AMAZING. Well worth the trek here. A crispy base, layers of vanilla custard chocked full of banana pieces in between, along with whipped cream on top, made this dessert so delicious. The ripe banana really made this pie - it felt like I was eating banana custard!

Satisfied with the ending to our Southern style meal of comfort foods, we slowly walked back towards the city. But not before making a pit stop at Hungry Jacks because Cassnova and KC have black holes for stomachs. Next time, that key lime pie will be eaten :D

Jazz City BBQ
200 Goulburn St
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010

Opening Hours 
Lunch Wednesday - Friday: 12:00noon to 2:00pm
Dinner Wednesday - Saturday: 6:00pm to 10:00pm (or until Sold Out)
Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday 





Jazz City Milk Bar
Republic 2 Building Courtyard
Palmer Street (between Liverpool and Burton Street)
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

Opening Hours
Lunch  Thursday-Saturday: 12:00-2:00pm
Dinner  Tuesday-Saturday: 6:00-10:00pm
Closed Sunday & Monday

Ippudo at Central Park, Ultimo

Ah winter days are over, and that means the days of hot bowls of ramen are coming to a close... But my adamant love for ramen demands that I squeeze it in as much as I can before the weather gets much too hot to handle steaming hot ramen! Australian summers, you are just much too brutal. I was kindly invited by Sana on behalf of Ippudo to try out their newly opened branch in Central Park Sydney - definitely a convenient location for you USYD and UTS students. She was an absolutely delight to speak to and went over the menu with us, sadly informing us that the pork buns are not currently available on the menu. Ah well, there are other items to try!

L to R: Iced oolong tea, $4.00 / Homemade lemon lime & bitters, $5.00

Warm days mean cool drinks! I was glad to taste an unsweetened iced oolong tea and lemon lime bitters are always a refreshing drink to have on standby at any restaurant really.

Seared salmon sushi, $13.00

Salmon has got to my favourite fish. And when it's seared, there's just this delicious smoky flavour that's hard to beat. Naturally, this dish had to be ordered! Plus our curiosity over the mentai mayo really got us. It turned out to be a very welcome addition indeed, adding a lovely creamy zing to the palette. And we all know that avocado and salmon is a classic combination. Fatty salmon and more healthy fats from avocado? Don't mind if I do!

Extras plate

 Since we ordered the ramen specials, both came with its own plate of extras including a soy egg, bean sprouts, seaweed, bamboo shoots, black fungus, chopped spring onion and extra chashu (win!).

Miso tonkotsu special, $25.00

I absolutley love corn in my ramen because it adds that little burst of sweetness that goes really well with the tonkotsu broth. I found that the addition of miso to the tonkotsu broth made this one quite incredibly salty. Whilst still tasty, it was a tad much after a while but at least we had our oolong tea and lemon lime bitters! The noodles were cooked with just enough bounce - the perfect texture :D

Shiromaru special, $23.00

The original tonkotsu broth was less sodium based than the miso tonkotsu version and I preferred this one a lot more. As before, there was nothing to fault with the way the noodles were cooked and along with all those toppings, I was one happy ramen eater. I would recommend you put the egg in the soup to warm up a bit as it does come cold on the extras plate. What I did like was that the yolk inside was still soft and definitely not overcooked!

Blue Mountains, $13.00

And of course one cannot finish dinner without dessert. Though Gingerbreadmanne and I were incredibly full, we couldn't go past this green tea sundae. Who can resist green tea icecream, red beans, mandarins, oranges, apricots and coconut jelly? The icecream was so smooth and creamy and despite our initial thoughts of only having a few spoonfuls, we managed to polish off the entire thing (no ragrats, not even one letter).

At this stage, we were incredibly full and so very, very content with all that was eaten. Service here was incredibly efficient and the staff were nothing short of friendly with all the Japanese greetings - love that subtle touch of authenticity to add to the dining experience! You can find our more about Ippudo Central Park here.

Crystal Noir and friend dined as guests of Ippudo Central Park courtesy of Motoyama Sana of SD Marketing. Opinions however, are entirely her own.

Ippudo
Lower Ground, Central Park

28 Broadway Chippendale, NSW, 2008

Opening Hours

Monday - Wednesday: 11:00am - 10:00pm

Thursday - Saturday: 11:00am - 11:00pm

Sunday: 11:00am - 9:00pm

Cafe Birkenhead, Birkehead Point

It has been a while, dear readers! I have found life is really catching up to me and things have been non-stop busy, busy, busy. In between the midst of working, uni and just trying to get things sorted in general, I managed to catch up with one of my good friends from my old work place I haven't seen for a while. Our weekly chats have been missed sorely! And what better way than to catch up over lunch with a great view and then some shopping?

L to R: energy booster, $6.50 / strawberry daze, $9.00

We started off with some beautifully girly drinks. Are you all digging the lovely hues of pink? We certainly were much too enamoured by the prettiness of it all. The energy booster sounded super fresh with watermelon and mint and tasted exactly so. A question I now pose to you is: when is it not time for a cocktail? When the mocktails sound enticingly zingy of course! Fresh strawberries muddled with lime juice and soda water? Yes, please.

Duck sausage risotto, $22.95

Yep, you guessed it. My eyes zoned in on the truffle oil (and mushrooms!) and I just absolutely had to get this. Whilst lacking in that punch of truffle I was looking for, the flavour of the duck sausage made up for it. Normally I do love my risottos a touch creamy, but this was definitely a bit on the heavy side for me.

Salmon fillet, $29.95

The salmon was the pick of the two, cooked to a beautiful medium rare as ordered. It really didn't need anything extra other than the salt and pepper it was seasoned with. Quinoa is a grain that does do much better with extra sauces and herbs, so it could've been doused lightly with some kind of dressing, but the asparagus, corn, tomato and feta were a welcome addition to the overall dish.

Perhaps I will forgo food next time and instead go for a cup of coffee (or mocktail!) to kick back with in the arvo after shopping gets tiring. And it normally does! Will have to give the coffee a go next time :)

Cafe Birkenhead
46 Roseby St  
Drummoyne, NSW, 2047
 
Crystal Noir and friend dined at Cafe Birkenhead courtesy of Carly Lund. Opinions however, are entirely her own.

GPO Cheese & Wine Room, Martin Place

Winter is here! The onset of the cold, cold weather means heart warming foods that give us a glow from the inside out. And what better way than to indulge in a little cheese and cured meats on a week night? Armed with a band of girlfriends to chat over a nice bottle of red before M flies out to Europe, we were lured to GPO Cheese and Wine room where the promise of cheese fondue awaited us.

Ciao Vino Sangiovese IGT Vino Rosso Toscano, $54

The staff were extremely knowledgeable about all things cheese and wine and recommended us the Sangiovese from Italy. His heavy French accent definitely made him sound like he knew exactly what he was talking about! I'm no wine connoisseur as I have only recently started appreciating wine but this was probably the first wine I have had that is savoury on the palette, not to mention my first wine from Italy. Earthy and aromatic, it paired well with our cheese feast.

Charcuterie, $35.00

The charcuterie board consisted of chicken and armagnac pate, parma prosciutto, kurobuta cantipalo salami, wagyu beef pastrami, chorizo slices and pickles for that acidic kick. We were in cured meats heaven. Not to mention that we were completely smothering the slices of bread with a thick layer of pate because it was all sorts of delicious.

Four cheese with accompaniments, $34.40

The cheese portions were quite generous at 50g each and our board also came with grapes, apple slices, lavosh, half baguette and a saffron and pear chutney to accompany our cheese selection. Soft cheeses always feel so luxurious to eat and I think we all felt like we were indulging with the triple cream Locheilan. The soft fluffy rind gave way to a rich, tangy centre. Brie is one of my favourite cheeses and this one, hailing from the French providence, had a mild smokey aroma with notes of truffles, almonds and hazelnuts. Perfect when eaten with the grapes! The hard cheeses of the day were the Cantal and Gruyere which both melted wonderfully on the palate and was really enjoyable with the chutney. The whole sweet and salty thing really works for me.

L to R: Truffle cheese fondue, $43.00 / Goats cheese fondue, $39.00

And what we were waiting for - the fondue! Is it just me or is it hard to find places that do cheese fondue in Sydney? Somehow we ended up ordering two when we had original plans to go for one so we had waaay too much food on the table. The goats cheese was smooth and had a lovely tang that I thought worked super well with the figs and cured meats - basically the items stronger in flavour. Since the truffle cheese was much stronger in flavour, I loved it with the bread.

We ordered way too much food that we couldn't finish. We did make a considerable effort though! The ambiance was very relaxing with the nice candles set up and the large artwork at the end of the room to frame it all. I think we've discovered a new place for our relaxing nights over wine.

GPO Cheese & Wine Room
GPO Sydney

Lower Ground Floor, 1 Martin Place  

Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours

Monday: 12:00pm-3:00pm

Tuesday - Friday: 12:00pm-3:00pm, 6:00pm-10:00pm

Saturday - Sunday: Closed

Mancini's Italian Restaurant via EatNow App

With everyone's busy lifestyle these days, it's sometimes hard to spend a lot of time creating meals at home. Personally, I would rather make my own meals so I have a healthy option but sometimes, I find that I really don't have the time. With the launch of EatNow's app, available via the Apple App Store, ordering in has never been so straightforward.

It's seriously as easy as 1, 2, 3. First you search your suburb and a list of restaurants that deliver to the suburb come up in a list which you can filter by either cuisine or closest restaurant, etc. Once you pick your restaurant, the menu will come up with all their deals and dishes they have on offer.

I chose a meal deal with was easily customisable and I could even change up pizza toppings if I wanted. After everything's all done and decided, you simply pick how you are going to pay - either with cash or card and then it's done! A text is sent to your phone to confirm your order and letting you know when it'll arrive and then you simply wait for the arrival of your hot and ready meal. How easy is that? All within the confines of your own home! I can imagine how convenient it'll be to just order whilst going home from work and having it delivered to your door as soon as you're home. Too easy.

Pizza al mare

The gourmet pizza deal was actually quite a good bargain at $50.45 for two pizzas, a pasta and chicken wings. Pizza choices time? Let's try out the seafood on pizza.Whilst salt and pepper calamari is awesome, I think it best let meat be the king of pizza toppings :P

Casalinga

This one was the preferred pizza because prosciutto on pizza is a tick in my books.

Pear and gorgonzola gnocchi

Had to order the gnocchi when I saw it was a creamy gorgonzola sauce. The gnocchi was a tad stodgy but the sauce was every bit as rich and divinely artery clogging as we expected and wanted it to be.

Overall, the app was extremely easy to use and for those of you looking for an easier option of ordering take out food with delivery, EatNow does give you plenty of choices!

Crystal Noir tested the EatNow app thanks to Christie Byrne of The PR Group. All opinions however, are her own.