Thursday, June 30, 2011

Kobe Jones, Sydney--- Perfect for Two A La Carte Menu

 My friend purchased 2 vouchers from Scoopon to Kobes Jones. It was a set a la carte menu, "perfect for two". Instead of paying $135 per person, we were only required to fork out $67.

When we got into the restaurant I think we were both in awe, the interior was stunning. We were seated next to the harbour view. Though it was a freezing cold night the heaters were powerful we were nice, warm and cozy. In fact, the seats were so comfortable we were both ready to take a nap.
 

We arrived at about 6.05PM, my friend ordered a cocktail.. i forgot what it was called but it tasted like pineapple juice and cough medicine.
Our first course came in about 20-25mins. NUMBER ONE SPECIAL to share (top left) - Wrapped in Hiramasa kingfish, filled with fake crab meat salad + avocado baked with Kobe Jones secret sauce (some sort of special mayo). It was yummy, a little disappointed that it was fake crab meat, or it tasted a lot like fake crab meat (correct me if i'm wrong, it was extremely dark and i couldn't see) nonetheless it was tasty.

 This plate came next. We each received a plate of this. Clockwise from the left:

 SEAFOOD POKE (in cup) - Hawaiian-style sashimi cubes, marinated in poke sauce (very garlic-y it was nice though)

DYNAMITE TUNA HANDROL Seaweed cone filled with rice, raw tuna, tomago and a touch of chilli -- HOLY COW was that chilli hot!!!! My tongue was burning for 5 mins. I thought this roll was average, the seaweed was extremely fresh though.


ANAGO SCALLOPS - Tempura Hokkaido scallops, stuffed with crab salad and asparagus, and drizzled with a bittersweet soy sauce glaze <--- i really liked this, tempura anything is good.

OYSTER SHOOTER - In mango-infused sake <-- putting the whole thing in a cup was a pretty dull idea, i'm not an oyster eater but I was ready to scold the whole thing down. I tipped the contents in the cup down my throat and all i tasted was light sake, the alcohol wasn't potent, there was some sort of chopped onions or something but the oyster was stuck. The oyster was very fresh.... I drank all the sake + onions I dugged the oyster out... I chickened out, i couldn't do it so my friend ate it. I like oysters w/ cheese, chives and tabasco sauce.

LOLLIPOP SUSHI - Tuna, snapper, salmon, crab salad, asparagus and smelt roe, wrapped in thinly peeled cucumber with soy sauce vinaigrette <--- This was nice, fresh, but then again, everything there was fresh!
BONDI ROLL (to share) - Oven-baked prawns, layered on a crab salad avocado roll, with special cream sauce and spicy rush with chilli <--- the praws were very tender, some what generous. The sauce was GOOOOOOOD it was very creamy, the rolls were nice too I liked this.
 
 ALASKAN CRAB - Grilled to highlight the sweetness and served in the shell with fresh lime <--- not a crab eater, but i did taste the sweetness of this uhh... crab leg. I'd rather something grilled with more flavor, but it was tasty nonetheless.

 WAGYU HOT ROCK - Self-cook your wagyu beef on the hot rock just the way you like it, served with dipping sauce <--- this was exciting!!! We got to cook our own wagyu beef. The dips were ginger sauce, salt +pepper and citrus sauce. The beef was really tender it was quite yummy, we even hot rocked the mushroom salad on the side.
SUSHI ME 2 - Vanilla cheesecake, fresh fruits topping, served with almond sauce and our famous chocolate chopstick <--- after thorough deliberation we decided with the cheesecake. It was cheesecake or green tea creme brulee... i love brulee but not sure about green tea brulee... awkward. Plus, the cheesecake (on the menu) sounded like it was a bigger serving than the brulee... oh how wrong we were!
I swear that wasn't vanilla cheesecake, it was ricotta cheesecake. The almond sauce was nice and the chocolate chopstick was not what i imaged, instead of chopstick it was pretty much just solid dark chocolate. A little disappointed with the dessert.

Overall we were pretty content, it was quite an experience! Definitely will be using scoopon later on if they continue to have nice restaurants!

Ambiance 10/10
Service 10/10 (the staff were absolutely DELIGHTFUL!!!)
Food: 8.5/10
Value for money 6/10

Kobe Jones on Urbanspoon

Monday, June 27, 2011

Sweet Green Tea

I love green tea. I love sugar and lots of it. What more could I ask for when I saw this packet.... the heavens above heard my pleas!


It's instant green tea in powder formula. You can use this for flavouring, cake, ice cream, toppings.. you name it probs can do it. It's oh so versatile.

Usually i just drink this like normal tea. 2 teaspoons of the powder


In winter, I add hot water for a nice warm cuppa. During summer I add cold water to quench thirst.
Here's the back of the packet... I can't read japanese but it might be handy for someone else, who knows...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Pizza E Birra, Surry Hills

According to Urbanspoon Pizza E Birra is the "best" italian restaurant in NSW

The restaurant was smaller than expected, it wasn't too busy when we first arrived, within 30mins or so it was packed. a busy night, rather crammed.

The ambiance was good thought; lively and relatively fast paced.

However, we sat there for about 15mins till I flagged down a waiter to take our order. One of the male waiter was rude, snobbish... every time he walked past, he pretty much ignored us. I blame his parents for not teaching him mannerism!

We ordered this dreadful pizza, i forgot what it's called... convenient isn't it? I'm surprised i'm even writing a review. It started with T...... toppings were: spinach, mushrooms, artichoke, tomatoes, basil, Parmesan....

the pizza came, it sat on a tall stand. It was WTF, the pizza i mean. they bloody had 1/4 of the pizza covered with spinach only, other quarter with mushrooms, another quarter with tomatoes...... there was maybe... 3 slices of artichoke. Note. it cost about $22 and it was the size of your average plate.

Taste... it was ok, i think they buttered the base, it was buttery, which was nice. The topping was less than impressive...it was scarce and the flavour wasnt' quiet there. the edge was very crispy it was a thin base.... I think we just picked a bad pizza.

For dessert, we had semifreddo.

It was quite nice, the cherries were way too sweet though, but i was able to consume the mascarpone in large quantities, ongoing.

I would go back there again.. but next time.. pick another pizza.

I would go back, to give it another shot yes. And next time i'll go prepared. with my camera!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Party + Exams + Alcohol = BAD IDEA

I'll age quickly with alcohol and late nights.

I got home 2pm the next day and went straight to bed.

I've lost all motivation to study... isnt' it great!

The birthday girl hired out an apartment.... How could I missed that??...
 I think I was quite intoxicated there... slouching, holding the Kermit and all...



One more exam to go this Friday and I'll be free... yay!!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I FINALLY got out of the house!

This semester's been brutal. I had my thesis along with 2 other units, not to mention with markers who were completely bias. They should have a system where you can only distinguish students by their student number.

I think one of my teacher hates me, it can't be blamed, 9am class, and I live on the other side of the map. I get up at 6 to get ready and get going. So by the time i get to class... zzzzzzzzzzzzz.... So I dont' contribute a whole lot to class discussions.

In one of my papers. I spent a lot of time correcting it, perfecting it. She wrote Excellent all over and gave me a mediocre mark. Probably because she had to write my name on the marking criteria and noticed it's me.

Anywho. on top of the crazy semester I had to work roughly 30hrs/wk up until 3 wks ago.

I had absolutely no time go to out. Exams are in about a week.... and I couldn't turn down a  friend's 21st.

We had dinner at the Blackbird Cafe... it's a "Modern Australian" menu....I thought it was confused. They had asian, pasta, pizza, antipasto and grill... Grill, I understand... but they had stuff like Portuguese this, Brazilian that. WAY too much going on.

It's winter here, I'm equivalent to one of those cold blooded animals, I need to bathe in the sun to keep my body temp up. As I was dressing for the party I decided to go pants, long sleeves and jacket. I came out of my room and my mum barked "YOU GOING TO A FUNERAL????"



Saturday, June 4, 2011

Hurricane's Grill and Bar Steakhouse Restaurant

I FINALLY found my way to Hurricane's.

My friend and I ordered:

A small ROCKET & PARMIGIANO SALAD With cherry tomatoes, green olives  and red onion with vinaigrette dressing.

350g RUMP STEAK with Mushroom sauce and Potato + Sour cream (I forgot to take a picture of that...)

And a FULL RACK Pork's Ribs yummmmmmmm. We went during Lunch, the place was pretty full, lucky we booked. Service was good, ambiance was great (we got the veranda seats over looking the harbour). The food was amazing, I wasn't too big on the Rump Steak we ordered medium and it came out a little bit overcooked and not really tender.. not much flavour. The salad was Alright... The hero of the restaurant was the Ribs, HANDS DOWN! It was tender, flavoursome and juicy!

Price was ok. I think my friend and I ended up spending about  $85 altogether, definitely a lot more pricey than most restaurants I've been to.

Would I go back? For the Ribs. Yes!


Hurricane's Grill & Bar on Urbanspoon

Featured Post

Skin do’s and don’ts this holiday season

So, the holiday season is upon us! However whilst you're out there enjoying the summer vibes, it's crucial not to let your skincare ...

Popular Posts