A French Affairs

It was husband b'day on Wednesday. In the midst of the craziness of moving house, house hunting, church stuff, juggling with workload, dealing with unrealistic clients, tripped over boxes that are still scattered around etc etc, I decided to switch off his mobile, temporary misplaced his ipod touch, hide away his lappy, put on something nice, and treat him to a very relaxing long dinner with his favourite French food at Atelier, a high end, fined french restaurant.
I love to dined out during weeknight, because that will ensure we get a very quiet table for 2 in a usually crowded and busy restaurant. On top of that, you can be sure to receive a lot of personal touch from the chef and waitress. When i call up to make a reservation, i was only too happy to know that they are offering a mid week dinner special, with 3 courses from the ala carte menu, for just a mere $59 !


Atelier was nestled in a federation, historical house like building along the busy Glebe Point Road. With blood red walls, and piano black leather furnishing. Atelier is very chic, very modern, not quite French, but very modern European. it was quiet, as expected, with only about 4 tables of guests, all served by Bernadette, our waitress of the night.

Complimentary Green Olives

We were given a nice cosy table for 2 near the window, and already, there was a bowl full of fat juicy green olives awaits for us! Bernadette give us a brief introduction about the menu and wine list, though we politely turn down the wine and ask for sparkling and still water as the husband was driving.


Sourdough Bread w Tapenade, EVOO & Balsamic $5

I order a sourdough to start, while husband take his time and "study" his menu as they offer a wide range of dishes and he just can't make up his mind as to what to choose. The bread arrived shortly, warm and soft inside, while crusty on the outside. The tapenade is so good and the best part is that husband prefers the extra virgin olive oil with balsamic with his bread which means i can spread the tapenade generously on mine.

Complimentary Hors d'oeuvre

Our eyes lights up when the lovely Bernadette comes up to us with 2 individual plates of Hors d'oeuvre, " compliments from the chef " she said, oh...like music to our ears. Didn't I say i love mid week dined out?! The presentation was amazing i was busy taking photos under this extremely low lighting condition, and forgotten to ask her what it was, it taste like broccoli of some sort with tomatoes relishes. Very good, fresh and refreshing, it really does gives you a hint of how good the dishes were to come!

Husband finally make up his mind and order himself a consomme for the entree , while I choose the cheese souffle. Bernadette was very thoughtful, and give us both a spoon as she expected this lovey dovey couple might want to share their dishes, and of course we do!! The consomme arrived without the consomme, but she quickly explain that she will come with the consomme right away and in a split second, the hot, fresh and flavoursome consomme was poured onto the tortellini and scallop.

We quickly dip our spoon into the consomme and gently sip. It was very tasty indeed, very light, clear veal broth. Husband have a special love for tortellini, he often have them for lunch, but when he dig in to this, he immediately told me that he wish there were 10 more rather than just 2!! Greedy him!! Despite that, he still generously insist that i try the other one and though i wanted to let him have it all since it's his b'day afterall, i can't resist! It was really good, unlike the normal tortellini, this one have got chunky beef in them! The scallops were seared to perfection too.

E: Veal & Madeira Consomme w Seared Scallops, Beef Tortellini & Bone Marrow $24

E: Twice-Cooked Parmesan Souffle w Jamon Iberico, Bloody Mary Compression $22

My souffle was equally good though husband still prefer his consumme. It's gloriously good looking, rising tall and high, with jamon iberico wrap around it's tall waist. The cheese souffle was light and airy as it can be, and matching perfectly with the stronger flavour / sweetness of bloody mary compression.

M:Honey-Roasted Breast of Grimauld Duckling, Crisp Confit, Brocolli Puree, Green Grapes, Xeres Jus $32

I will almost always order duck if duck is on the menu, mainly because i love duck, and i have never cook duck before! I dunno why, but i just find it quite difficult to buy duck and prepare them, they are just not as readily available as chicken!! So, I choose the honey-roasted duck breast and crisp confit as my mains of the night. I was a little disappointed when it arrived!! In my mind, i am thinking of a whole duck maryland type of thing, but instead, there were only 3 piece of duck breast and 2 de-boned duck confit scatter loosely with dollops of broccoli puree and salad of green grapes!! Though the duck were tender and the confit crisp, they dun give me the satisfaction that i long for!

M:Roasted Boned & Rolled White Rabbit, Calamari a la Plancha, White Onion Soubise, Black Bean & Piquillo Pepper Sauce $31

In contrast, husband's rabbit was really good, so good that i forgive and forget about my duck!

It was 3 good sized roasted, boned and roiled rabbits, all of which top with very tender and thick cut calamari with very delicious and savoury black bean pepper sauce. Both of us gives our thumbs up for this dish as all the flavours compliments each other perfectly.

Amuse Bouche: Grilled Pineapple Jelly with Coconut foam

Our eyes lit up once again when Bernadette brings us the amuse bouche as a courtesy of the chef yet again before our dessert. This time, it was a stick of grilled pineapple jelly with very refreshing coconut foam. It's lovely and sweet and really cleanse our palate to prepare us for the dessert.

D:Tahitian Vanilla & Chocolate Fudge Souffle w Malt Chocolate Ice Cream & a Malt-Infused Milkshake $15

We order their house specialty, souffle and creme brulee for dessert. What could be more french to end this dinner ?!

Bernadette surprise husband by lighting a small candle on the side of the souffle and no, there are no goose bump and embarrassing type of b'day cheers and singing, she politely gives him a warm and sincere greetings and left the table for us to enjoy the special moment.

D:Tonka Bean Creme Brulee w Balsamic-Poached Strawberries, Vanilla Ice Cream $15

I really loves the souffle and to fully enjoy it, you have to dig a hole on top of the souffle, and pour the cold,malted milkshake into the warm souffle, and then coat the spoon with bits of ice-cream, scope bits of souffle and put the whole thing in your mouth. Em..the chilled from the milkshake, the warmth from the souffle, and the sweetness from the ice-cream... Should i say more??

The creme brulee was superb as well, with the crisp toffee to top, and smooth silky custard underneath. It was not too sweet as sometime creame brulee can be toothachingly sweet, this was just nice. I particularly love the strawberry with balsamic reduction! Yam!

Victoria Flat White $5

The birthday boy finish his meal with a cup of Victoria flat white, and we're not surprise at all that they serve cubed sugar as the French will only take sugar, in the cubed form!! Interesting isn't it?!

Cubed Brown and white sugar from Atelier

It was a lovely end to the dinner, we bid Bernadette good bye, with our bloated stomach, slowly stroll out like an old couple.

See, growing old is not that scary after all wasn't it?!

Restaurant Atelier

22 Glebe Point Road Glebe NSW Australia 2037
p: +61 2 9566 2112
e: eat@restaurantatelier.com.au
Dinner: Tuesday - Saturday from 6pm

Sushi E

I tend to try my best to catch up on social life during holiday, as weekdays is impossible to be social, and weekends is often too short to even relax myself! When H called up during the Easter holiday, I quickly suggested a date to catch up as we have not seen each other for more than a year. It's quite unbelievable given that she work and live in the CBD, I by pass the city almost everyday, but that's how busy our lives are!!

Knowing that I just started my restaurant blogging recently, she suggested for us to try Sushi E, a fine Japanese restaurant in the Establishment hotel. Sushi E doesn't sound foreign to me at all, as it belong to one of the Merivale groups, which have a variety of famous restaurants under them. As with most fine dining restaurant, sitting is limited, so it's strongly suggested that you pre-booked your dinner, which we did, of course!






















It's located on the 4th floor of Establishment hotel on George St. The actual restaurant is not big at all, in fact, a large part of Level 4 is actually a very swanky bar called Hemmesphere. Because of the lighting condition, I am not able to take good pic of the restaurant and the bar, but you can view it here.






















H booked a 6.30pm dinner, and when I arrived a little late, as usual, she was already there.
It's a good thing to dined early here, and you'll see why. We're the 2nd couple around the table, and there are 3 chef preparing the freshest sushi and sashimi in front of us. The middle one is the head chef of the restaurant, Nobiyuki Ura ( pictured above ). He is such a charming guy with a very cheeky personality. As I mention, because it's early, and there were not a lot of diners, we received very personal service from the chef, and even receive a plate of free sashimi **






















We carefully selected a few dishes to share. This is H's second time but my first, and there are so many dishes that I like to try!!

salmon tartare $23. raw salmon combined with onion, lemon and mayo then finished with generous serves of salmon roe and cucumber. The salmon is then dressed with a wasabi ponzu dressing





















It's quite interesting to see that your food is being prepared right in front of you. Our first dish, the Salmon Tartare, was quickly prepared and appeared in front of our eyes in no time. It's actually raw salmon combined with onion, lemon and mayo,then finished with generous serves of salmon roe and cucumber. The salmon is then dressed with a wasabi ponzu dressing. There are also a few pieces of fried wonton skin or similar kind of pastry strips, as an accompany to this dish. The salmon pieces is very fresh, and I love the popping of saltiness when bite into the really generous serves of salmon roe. I'm actually glad that we share this dish as it can be quite rich to be consumed alone.

Special Treats from charming chef for us ONLY ** Snapper Sashimi











We were so surprise when the chef treat us with this awesome snapper sashimi, dressed in a light lemon and vinegar sauce. He say it's his personal dish for us to try and hope we like it. Of course we like it, the snapper is fresh and the dressing tangy, we absolutely loved it!















spicy scallop tempura roll * $19.0 scallop tempura pieces, cucumber and tobiko, with togarashi chili on spicy red sauce rolled I/O (L)
spider roll * (soft shell crab) $17.5 dry fried soft shell crab, cucumber and jalapeno mayo, rolled I/O with spicy tobiko and chives (R)
We select 2 types of sushi from the extensive menu. The spicy scallop tempura roll was rolled inside out, with scallop tempura pieces, cucumber and tobiko, and togarashi chili on spicy red sauce. However, it was the spider roll that steal our hearts. It's also rolled inside out, with dry fried soft shell crab, cucumber, jalapeno mayo,spicy tobiko and chives. The crab pieces is huge, and very nicely flavoured.



If we have bigger appetite, we would love to try more exotic sushi, like the hemmesphere roll , which consists of salmon, avocado, baby capers, mixed cress, jalapeno mayo and spanish onion rolled inside out, which the chef
prepared for another dinner. ( pictured )



wagyu beef 5 score $48. 500 day grain fed wagyu from south queensland with a white miso and sesame sauce, grated radish, bok choy, chives and sautéed enoki mushrooms


But I'm glad we didn't, coz when our 5 score wagyu arrived, it was scumptious!! It was 2 large pieces of fatty, juicy wagyu, lightly grilled, serve with a white miso and sesame sauce, grated radish,bok choy, chives and sautéed enoki mushrooms. May I say that it was the most tender beef i have ever eaten?! It's so soft and moist it's almost like eating beef cake! It makes me wonder, how tender can the 9 score wagyu be?
BTW, just some info about the scoring of the wagyu: the higher the score means more marbling effects, which also means, more fat stuff between the meat layer! The quality of wagyu and hence the price of it also depends on the scoring, from 1 to 12. I've read from a food magazines that a 12 score wagyu will look like a piece of meet covered in snow!!!
Alas, every delicious foods tends to clog your heart!!!

agedashi tofu $18.0 silken tofu which is deep fried then served in a hot broth of dashi, mirin and soy


The last dish was the agedashi tofu, which is a good way to end the dinner. After the fatty beef, we really need some cleansing tofu, albeit they were deep fried :)

I have a love and hate relationship with agedashi tofu, if well prepared, it can be the most simple yet delicately flavoursome dish. on the other hand, it can be bland, oily and yucky! Which fortunately, was not the case here, the tofu is so smooth and silky, pairing with the slimy outer skin and light soy = heaven!

Complimentary Free Treats : Berries Custard jelly
Dessert was complimentary, the custard is smooth, sweet and a nice companion to the slightly zingy berries compote on top.

I really enjoyed the dinner, catching up with an old friend, enjoying a fantastic dinner, and best of all, having a great great time in sushi E, I'm not saying this becoz of the free sashimi, though we really appreciate his generosity!! I'm surely going to be back with husband very soon!!


Sushi E
Establishment Hotel Level 4,
252 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9240 3041

Bread Top

I love Bread Top , all the soft sweet buns, egg tarts, chinese cookies...but after I've tested all of their buns, I tent to move on to other asian bakery and tried diffrents variety. Hence, I was very suprise today when I saw this black coloured looking thing on the display window when I stroll pass it in the city. Immediately, I walk into the bakery, and was eager to try these "black bun".

The bun had a very uniqie texture. It's chewy on the outside, but cottony soft inside. But it's rather tasteless. Because they had make it into a garlic bread, it taste like what a garlic bread should. I can't taste any bamboo, nor charcoal.


Bamboo Charcoal Garlic Bun $2

It's called: Bamboo Charcoal Bun. It's their latest addition, and there was even a brief description of these unique buns. Apparently, bamboo charcoal is produced with 4 years old fully grown bamboo tree. It is rich in Vitamin C, iron and phosphorus. It can also ease digestive system, and helps discharging impurities and unhealthy substances from stomach.

Oh I feel so much healthier!!



Available in all Breadtop store across Sydney.

Mother Chu

If you're after Taiwanese food, you'll know Mother Chu is the one place to go to. It's very homestyle, very authentic, and won't break your wallet.
It's funny because having pass by this place countless time, and have also heard raved review from many people, I just never tried it before myself. Hence, after recently dined in the quite expensive Din Tai Fung, i decided that I'll try the cheaper version of Taiwanese food.
Mother Chu is located in China Town, it's a rather small, pack, and functional restaurant. It is always crowded, and they also set up small table to fit 2 -3 people along the outside of the restaurant. Remind me of those hawker stall back in Malaysia.



There are 3 of us, and we're ask to wait for about 10 mins for a free table. I ask for the menu while we wait. Browsing through menu always bring a sense of excitement to me, and time seem to pass by faster. There are a whole page of small/side dishes which is very famous amount the Taiwanese, as well as a huge range of main dishes, categories into rice mains, and noodle mains. There are some desserts too but the drinks menu seems to be longer, with many different types of pearl milk tea.


Taiwan Beef and Tendon Noodle Soup ($8)

We were seated before i finish browsing the menu, and the 2 boys were already eager to order.
Although they all seems to be more interested to order a selection of small/side dishes only, I manage to persuade them to order some main dishes as well.
Husband lock his eyes on the famous Taiwan Beef and Tendon Noodle soup, while T could not decide what to get. Since we've ordered the noodle section, I suggest that we should try the rice section of the mains, and we choose the Preserve egg and pork congee to share. What is congee without Yu Tiow? So we order Yu Tiaw with egg pancake to go with the congee. Apart from that, we also order some small/side dish such as the steam beef dumpling and Taiwan Siao Long Bao. Having just dined in Din Tai Fung the night before, we are just curious to do compare the siaw long bao of both places.


Preserved Egg and Pork Congee ($8)

The food arrive very quickly, and almost all at once. We ask for extra bowl and share everything together. The beef soup is very hearty and fragrance. I particularly like the handmade noodle, just the right amount of chewiness, and the beef was soft. Perfect for winter as it really warms you up, but husband feels that the portion is a bit too small.
The Preserved egg and pork congee is a little disappointing, it's more bland, and both the preserved egg and pork were microscopically small that we can hardly taste them.
The Yu Tiaw though, was very good, crispy and chewy all at the same time. The boys enjoy the egg pancake that wrap around the yu tiaw too. The congee is then used as a dipping sauce for the yu tiaw, which at least, serve it's purpose in a useful way!


Yu Tiow with Egg Pancake ($5)


Steam Beef Dumpling 12 ($7.50)

The steam beef dumpling is good value for money, although, it's nothing too exciting about it. It's the siao long poa that keeps everyone talking about going back to Mother chu.
It's a serving of 8 pipping hot little gems!! After the first siao long bao encounter, we know we have to be patient and wait for a while before biting into them, as the hot soup that burst out will hurt our tongue!! So, we mop up the beef dumplings first, and then it's the saiw long bao time!!
Boy they don't disappoint, the skin was just enough thickness to hold the soup that when we pick up each bao with chopstick, there was no breakage. I like to dip mine into black vinegar and sent the whole thing straight into my mouth, while husband likes to slurp the hot soup with a small opening first, and then gallop the whole thing. No matter which ways you like to eat your siao long bao, they are good. And I can loudly proclaim that it is better, if not as good as those in Din Tai Fung, but at a much cheaper price.

Siaw Long Bao 8 ($6.50)

We'll definitely be back!

Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet

Shop 1, 86-88 Dixon Street, Haymarket,

Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9211 0288

Din Tai Fung

So the news is that after landed in Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, US and Malaysia, Din Tai Fung have arrived in Australia! The history and their specialty can be found in here, apparently, they're very famous!

I've never heard of the name before, but everyone that have been to their chain in Singapore, Malaysia or Taiwan have prise them. So, we decided it's time to go and try it out ourselves.

The first time when we decide to go, the queue was too long and we just don't have the patient and took off. ( apparently, this does not apply when queueing for sushi! ).

After that, it was months before we attempt to try again, and this time, we went there with a group of 15 friends, and we book for an early dinner, which makes it easier for us to get a table because there are special big table reserve for such huge group.

When we arrive at about 6, there are a lot of people queueing to get a table already, but when we told the waitress that we have a group of 15, we were immediately invited inside. The only condition was that we have to finish our dishes before 8 because another big group of guests are coming at 8. Though, i do not understand what power they pull to get a reservation since they don't normally took reservation on weekend! But, we assure them that we can finish before 8 if they can have their dishes out fast enough!



Cold Appetizer (glass noodle, seaweed, been curd dress in Asian vinaigrette)


As this chain originate from Taiwan, so most of their dishes are famous Taiwanese dishes.
Taiwanese is obsess with street food, so almost all of their dishes are small/side dishes. Din Tai Fung is also famous for their Siaw Long Bao. Saiw Long Bao is not like the normal bun that we encounter from Asian bakery or Yum Cha, in fact, it's more like a soup dumpling. It have the same skin of the dumpling, but when bite into it, it'll have the bursting of soup into your mouth. Quite addictive to eat, in fact, it's impossible to stop at just 1. I must shamelessly admit that i could finish the whole steamer basket myself, or even 2 !!




Drunken Chicken

We decided that we'll each order one main each, and share the small/side dishes. The small/side dishes that caught our attention were drunken chicken, century egg with tofu and shredded pork, shrimp and pork wonton with spicy vinaigrette, stir fry garlic shoots with prawns, shrimp and pork parcel ( Sao Mai )and their famous steam crabmeat and pork siaw long pao.
Because of the gossip to catch up, I didn't notice what everyone else were ordering. Me and husband however, decided that we should share a Za Jiang La Mien, which is handmade noodle with pork and spicy bean sauce.


Century Egg with Tofu and shredded Pork

The dishes as promised, came out rather quickly, and almost all together. Which is a good thing because everyone pretty much got their food together, save the hassle of food being left cold for those who felt embarrassed to consume first.
But be warned, their side/small dishes are really tiny portion! In fact, when the appetizer came, it was sized like it should be a complimentary dish. We think it's rather expensive, but it was nevertheless, very delicious, cold and tangy, very appetizing indeed.
Next up was the drunken chicken, also, in very tiny portion, was rather disappointing. The chicken was cold, ( i didn't expect it to be a cold dish ), and overpower by the wine.
The century egg with tofu and shredded pork was really nice. It's ironic but the century egg was really fresh, and the shredded pork add texture to the smooth tofu. Yum!
Another good side dish was the stir fry garlic shoots with prawns. I really like the crunch of the garlic shoots, and the prawns are plum and juicy.
The shrimp and pork wonton arrived rather unimpressively, about 8 wonton swimming in a big pool of black vinaigrette. However, it was tasty enough.




Stir Fry Garlic Shoots with Prawns



Shrimp and Pork Wonton witn spicy Vinaigrette

We're all very excited when the waiters arrived with baskets after baskets of xiao long bao. This is their house specialty, so we had very high expectation with them. All the xiao long bao arrived in their steaming basket, and looking smokingly impressive. The skin of the xiao long bao were perfect, not too thick and yet thin enough that there were no breakage. I was too eager to try them, i burnt my tongue when the hot soup burst upon first bite. Hence, my advice for eating these little babies is to be patient. The flavour of these xiao long bao is also very good, we can actually taste the crab meat in them. In fact, it was so good we end up re-order another 2 baskets.
The Ooh and Aahs became louder when the shrimp and pork parcel arrived, in their steaming basket of course. Theses are also called sao mai in Mandarin, but it's no ordinary boring looking sao mai that you got from yam cha, these little babies are tall and elegant, shaped like a vase, and top with a small juicy prawns. They are very delicious, as well as very pricey. I think it was priced at $9.80 per basket ( 4 sao mai per basket ).

Steam Crabmeat and Pork Xiao Long Bao

Shrimp and Pork Parcel (Sao Mai )

Za Jiang La Mien

The Zha Jiang La Mien that was shared between me and husband were OK. I've tested better one before. I think the sauce was quite bland, but the handmade noodle was good. Others that had noodle dishes as mains such as Dan Dan Noodle or Wonton Noodle soup...tend to agree with me that their handmade noodle were very good, but otherwise, quite ordinary.

Their fried rice dishes however, got rave review from many. I got to taste some and it was indeed fabulous. It was fragrance, with a distinctive egg aroma. Fried rice dishes either came in plain, or with chicken cutlet. I was lucky enough to share the chicken cutlet with a friend, it was so good. The cutlet was deep fried to golden, and the crunch when biting into them makes me ask for more!

Fried Rice with Egg and Prawns

Fried Rice with Chicken Cutlet

Din Tai Fung is also very famous for their dessert, their shave ice were really good, but because of some miscommunication, we didn't order any! Also because we need to finish our meals in 1 hour time, so we didn't bother to re-order them. Despite that, we manage to try some in house Taro ice-cream, mango pudding and the golden red bean bread.

My favourite among the 3 will be the golden red bean bread, i think that's because i love all thing crunchy!

Taro Ice-cream with red beans


Mango Pudding


Golden Red Bean Bread with Sesame seeds

We left with a big bill of $450, and still wanting a bit more.

It's quite an upclass restaurant for cheap street food like Xiao Long Bao. However, it's worth the trip if you want to impress your guest and introduce them to Xiao Long Bao for the first time. The ambiance of the restaurant is really presentable, and there's even is a "transparent" kitchen, where one can enjoy the whole making of Xiao Long Bao. But for people like me who just like to enjoy good food with good value, I'm sure there are more "down to earth " places to enjoy these little soup dumpling!

Din Tai Fung

World Square Shopping Centre

644 George St, Sydney

Tel: 02-92646010