Limoncello is a semi-regular for Friday night family dinners for my family. It offers a nice meal in a pretty setting without being overly expensive or pretentious.
The menu has a strong focus on seafood, but those who aren't fond of it can definitely find something substantial to order from the other choices, which include, pasta, pizza, calzone, veal, lamb and duck.
The restaurant itself is light and airy with a bright feel to it, generated from the colour scheme of yellow and green. We sat in the outdoor section, at the back of the restaurant, which is still entirely enclosed and really lovely. The colours are carried through to the outside where the chairs are of a yellow/green colour and match the cloth serviettes.
Limoncello has a touch of flair, offering free shots of their signature drink - Limoncello, to the adults after the meal. It is also child-friendly, with a dedicated kids' menu with the likes of spaghetti alla bolognese and penne al pomodoro.
Open for lunch and dinner, but closed on Mondays, prices range from $25-35 for a main course.
I ordered the capesante con trio di caviali: seared scallops served on a bed of cauliflower puree and a trio of caviar to start. The scallops were served warm and the taste of cauliflower was quite mild. This allowed for the salty flavour of the three types of caviar to really come through as they gave a lovely popping sensation and complemented the soft scallops.
This was followed by one of their daily specials, a piece of salmon prepared with salt and peppercorns and served with a prawn salad. When the dish arrived it wasn't entirely what I expected as I thought the prawn salad would include whole prawns and perhaps a vinaigrette. Instead it was more a mashed version - think egg salad. I found the salt and pepper to be a little strong in the salad, whilst any other flavour was slightly lacking. The salmon was well cooked but had to be eaten delicately due to the amount of little bones.
Limoncello is good for a smart-casual meal - nothing over the top but definitely not slumming it! (It is Double Bay after all!)
Upon the recommendation of a friend, I visited Cafeish last weekend with my aunt. I always enjoy dining outside of the usual two suburbs and all of four cafes I usually go to, and finding true gems. Cafeish is one of them!
Jenna was right, cafeish was fantastic! A cross of traditional Australian fare, including Crocodile and Emu produce with some Asian dishes and an entire menu of Sake, Cafish really is a mish mash of a little of this and little of that. The result is nothing short of fantastic.
Our waitress was sweet and bubbly and the cafe and a definite buzz to it, with intimate tables, large tables and people popping in and out for take away.
After some deliberation, we decided to order two dishes off the brekkie ish menu and share them. The menu was extensive with so much variety, ranging from a twist on the big breakfast: 2 eggs, bacon, tomato, croc sausage, mushroom, beans, toast and fried mochi ($20.50), to Japanese dishes: Aburi salmon, rice, miso soup, Kangaroo Island egg and house made pickles ($19.50) to simple dishes: house made toasted and buttered banana bread ($4) and Organic White or 7 grain, wholemeal, fruit toast ($3/$5).
We requested the Emu eggs, which consisted of 2 scrambled eggs, emu prosciutto, tomato relish and toast ($14.50) and the Veg ish, which was sautéed Japanese mushrooms, scrambled tofu, baby spinach, tomato relish and toast (14). For each toast we were given a wide selection and opted to try the grain sourdough and the home baked bread. Both were lovely.
The tofu scramble was great, well complemented by the tomato relish, whilst the emu eggs were strong in flavour and though nice with the relish, could be eaten without it.
Cafeish is all about the little touches, from a small biscuit served on your spoon with a coffee, to witty comments on the menu advising that the fruit tea is the best fruit tea you’ve ever had (and it was). A fantastic cafe in a more secluded area of Surry Hills...with metre parking on the street! I’d say it was wonderful ish...but really it’s just plain wonderful!
The tea menu
Cafeish
82 Campbell St Surry Hills Dishes generally $15-25
Sometimes we become swept up in the supposed savings of coupons and end up buying things we don't particularly need and never would have wanted without the coupon. However, used wisely, coupons can at times open your eyes to new and exciting places (and save you a bit of money while you enjoy them). Such was my experience with Cudo’s $50 for $100 worth of food and a bottle of wine at one of City Tattersall’s Club’s restaurants.
We opted for Zest, the cheaper of the two of City Tatts’ restaurants and purchased two vouchers for the four of us. This of course meant that we could enjoy roughly $50 worth of food each and had two bottles of wine to share for the table.
Zest is a simple restaurant that serves great food. It does not go over the top in interior design but the waiters were charming, service was good and the restaurant catered well to both large and small groups, having our table for four at one side of the restaurant and a table for over 12 down at the other end.
After much consideration over the menu and calculating which dishes we could ask for in order to keep within the included price, each couple decided to share a plate of bruschetta – which included two pieces of crunchy thickly sliced baguette with zingy diced tomatoes, Spanish onion and basil ($7.00).
My partner and I ordered two mains to share and our guests decided to do the same. We sampled the lemon, garlic and oregano marinated spatchcock ($29.50) and the certified Black Angus rump steak ($24.00), whilst Ashleigh and Colin ordered the pork belly ($24.50) and the salmon $25.00).
The spatchcock was crispy and juicy, served with thickly, rectangular cut potatoes and accompanied by a jus and béarnaise sauce. I much preferred this dish over the steak, which we ordered medium rare and also came with the potatoes, jus and béarnaise sauce. The steak was on the dry side and we would have preferred it to have been served with a mash or some steamed veges.
The soy braised pork belly with soba noodles, crisp shallot, mint and coriander salad shone through as the best main course. It was splendid and delightful, cooked perfectly, with an Asian infused flavour to the consommé. The only criticism possible was that it had slightly too much mint.
The oven roasted salmon, served with crushed kipfler potatoes (how much better does that sound than mash!), confit garlic, caper berries, olives and parsley was moist and well cooked but could have been improved by a sauce.
When it came to dessert, we ordered one dish on the safe side and one more adventurous dish. Ashleigh and Colin decided on the same choices, which were a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate soil and hazelnut icecream ($13.50), and a white chocolate, basil and strawberry parfait with fresh strawberries and pink peppercorn syrup ($13.50).
“It’s yum, I love it!” exclaimed Ashleigh upon trying her first spoonful of the parfait, and it was. The dish was beautifully presented, sitting on its side amongst pools of green and pink. The table was split on whether we thought the basil went well with the dish or not. We did all agree thought that there was slightly too much pepper in the syrup but as a whole, the dish worked in an interesting way.
I definitely saved my favourite for last with the chocolate fudge cake. It was moist, warm and almost melted in my mouth. I could have had multiple plates of the cake on its own, but the ice cream and chocolate soil was a nice touch.
Overall, we had a fantastic night at Zest and would recommend it as a restaurant. It wasn’t until I was almost done with my slice of chocolate heaven that I realised that though we had been guzzling down our bottles of wine, we had not been offered water throughout the entire meal! I found this a little strange.
I was happy with my voucher purchase and am eagerly looking forward to my next successful bargain dinner!
There's nothing like a midweek lunch to break up a week...or a Monday lunch to start the week off!
This Monday I took lunch at The Basement, which is conveniently located across the road from my work, at Circular Quay (next door to Customs House)
Apparently this place goes off at night with jazz and much entertainment downstairs...in the basement! Today, we were just there for a quick lunch to squeeze into my one hour break.
The menu is extensive enough with a mixture of wraps, salads, burgers and asian inspired hot dishes ($11-$18). Both in a salad mood, my guest and I and chose the Thai Beef Salad and Smoked Salmon Salad, which was served with avocado and tiny pieces of fetta.
The Thai Beef was on the spicy side but must have been good as my friend devoured it in next to no time after she ooh-ed and aah-ed over how good it looked.
The smoked salmon salad was fantastic - light but filling enough for a good lunch with a generous amount of salmon and a faint drizzle of zingy dressing over a variety of different lettuce leaves.
The atmosphere was cool and laid back but somewhat quiet in the people department (though it was 2pm on a Monday!). The music pumped through the speakers made up for this though and actually became quite loud at certain points.
The service was friendly and polite, the waiter putting up with me as I asked 20 questions before deciding what to order (I was also contemplating the Caesar Salad).
Good food and an affordable place in Circular Quay to grab a cafe style lunch without the huge price tag.
With a group of friends mostly made up of boys who like to eat copious amounts, I'm constantly on the hunt for all-you-can-eats and large portion sizes. Well, this time I found the two in one - a burger of epic proportions that really was all one man could possibly eat (and more).
After only a mere hour drive from where we live, we arrived at Killa Burger, home of the 30cm diameter burger, wicked fries and monster nuggets. If that hasn't satiated your appetite feel free to dig into their desserts: icecream with a variety of toppings or Killa bombs fried ice cream.
Ideally, the 30cm Killa burger $20 (and meal $25) is shared between four people, and so the burger is cut into quarters and served with plates, cutlery and multiple cups.
My male friends with their big eyes decided that they could tackle the killa burger alone (note that burgers are also available in regular and large sizes for those with normal sized appetites). Included in the Killa meal is a large serving of steak cut fries and either a 1.25 litre bottle of soft drink or two 600ml bottles of water.
The cake sized burgers, which fittingly are served in a cake box, are available in beef, chicken or vege. There is also a 'booty burger' option which is beef, coleslaw, tomato sauce, mustard and chips.
Of course no one's stomachs were as big as their eyes and all boys admitted defeat somewhere between half and three quarters of the way through. This in itself was a notable effort!
Not knowing much about Carramar and what else there is to do there, Killa Burger alone is reason enough to make the visit.
"It's nice. It's actually very nice." Any exclamation of praise is rare from my father but this double statement is right on the mark. The 'very nice' subject he's referring to is Longrain's Eggnet filled with pork, prawns, peanuts and bean sprouts and served with a cucumber relish. This was the dish we started with and what a start to a meal! Surprisingly cold, the dish has a superb flavour and texture. It definitely warrants its position on Terry Durack's top 50 dishes in Sydney.
Sitting across from each other at one end of the long wooden table (one of about 4 tables in Longrain, which stretched all the way down the length of the restaurant), I was slightly giddy with excitement to be finally dining here, Longrain being on my 'to do' list for quite some time.
With wooden tables, wooden floorboards and wood on the walls, the decor of the restaurant was stripped back and our focus was solely on the food. This happened to be a good thing as the service was in no way incredible (or what I expected from trendy Longrain). At one point, the waitress instead of asking me to move my bag, or picking it up and moving it for me, pushed my bag closer to the table using her foot. Fortunately this odd behaviour didn't put me off.
Our next dish was the trout, served warm with cool herb like vegetables. Again, we were hit with bursts of flavour - both sour and sweet.
So far, our dishes were large enough to share amongst the seven of us but the chicken dish was significantly smaller. The little drumsticks were crispy on the outside and tender and moist inside but the sauce they were served with was slightly too sour for my palate.
The sliced beef, served with crunchy green beans was steaming hot in temperature and very juicy.
The squid was another favourite. It cut like butter and was served with plenty of speck and crunchy snow peas in a sweet plum-like sauce.
Our last savoury dish was the silken tofu. The large hot cubes were lightly crunchy on the outside and very soft inside (and also very hot).
Whilst Longrain's lighting was a nightmare for food photography, it was very pleasant to dine by and bright enough to easily read the food menu, specials and extensive bar list.
Not completely full yet, we decided to order two dessert tasting plates to share between the six of us. It worked well, allowing us to try a little of everything. The tasting plate was a treat with some different and interesting dishes along with some more traditional desserts and a good mix of hot and cold. My personal favourite was the warm taro cake with peanut ice cream and coconut.
Unfortunately, Longrain doesn't take bookings for parties under 10 and recommended that we arrive at 6:00 to ensure we were seated, and seated together. It was lucky we took their advice as by 7pm, the place was full.
Lovely atmosphere, great food and indeed, the trendy place it was talked up to be.
Longrain Restaurant & Bar 85 Commonwealth St Surry Hills, 2010
Established in 1956 by Beppi and his wife, and still managed by family today, Beppi's made a fantastic choice for a restaurant at which to celebrate my aunt’s recent birthday.
With its charming waiters, brick floors, peach coloured walls and warmly lit decor, Beppi’s is an elegant and friendly Italian restaurant with a fantastic looking wine cellar. Visually, it is similar to the downstairs area of Buon Ricordo.
Walking in, we find the table reserved for the night and each lady is presented with a small perfume gift. As we peruse the soft leather bound menus, we’re offered canapés from a tray and shown the fresh seafood of the day. Waiting for the entrees to arrive, we nibble on bruschetta, rich in garlic and bread, served with curls of butter.
Most of the entrees and seafood options on the menu are offered with the choice of ordering them as entrees or mains. The menu presents a large variety of seafood, pastas and meat dishes.
The entrees arrive and the muscles are cooked to perfection and served with a light broth. Every shell has opened up and none go to waste. The minestrone soup itself is quite thin, with chunks of vegetables. The seasoning is left to the discretion of the diner. Whilst I was enjoying my muscles, I couldn’t help but have food envy over the angel hair pasta sitting across from me. According to my cousin, who was eating it, I had every right to be envious as it was fantastic!
My partner ordered the duck for a main course and commented that the tang from the orange sauce nicely complemented the salty duck. The dish was quite rich and the prosciutto gave a slight crunch to the texture. Across from me, my cousin thoroughly enjoyed the scampi whilst my spatchcock, though a little fiddly, was served with a lovely mild mushroom sauce.
Though the service was initially very good, as the restaurant got busier throughout the evening (mid week), the quality declined and we were left rather thirsty. At one point I noticed a bronzed jug left on a serving table nearby, so I grabbed that to pour water for myself.
As no one was overly full, we all opted for dessert. My partner ordered the crepes, which were lit after being placed on the table. They were hot, sweet and very alcoholic! My chocolate mousse cake was not too rich and was presented beautifully with tightly wound rolls of white chocolate.
As it was a special occasion, a profiterole birthday cake was brought out as a treat. Had we known it was coming perhaps some of us would have skipped dessert!
All in all, a lovely night with tasty, fresh food.
With Yum Cha fading from our sights and Tapas becoming all the rage, I decided to revert back to Asian food and give Bamboo in Surry Hills a try. Located behind the pub, it has its own door to enter through further up the street or you can just progress to the back area of the bar and into Bamboo.
It was a quick lunch so we ordered very little, keen to keep it cheap and fast. We started with two orders of five dumplings for $8.50 each (the pork and prawn Sui mai and the chicken dumplings). We also placed an order for the chicken stick rice ($8.50). Ordering is done up at the counter and the food is later brought to your table.
Also on the menu is a selection of daily specials for $10 each as well as spring rolls, skewers, duck pancakes and pork buns.
The restaurant is warm (handy when it’s freezing outside) with inside seating and an enclosed back section made to look like an outdoor area with brighter colours, lighting and decorations. We sat in the back at one of the long wooden tables.
Waiting for our order, we sat listening to the music playing through the loudspeakers and were surprised that instead of Asian sounding guitar or lyrical songs, we were hearing more Spanish sounding music, which changed to something more Western.
The decor is eclectic to say the least with hanging birdcages and rusty bicycles to framed phrases about dumplings!
The food came relatively quickly but we noticed that the chicken dumplings, though listed in five per serve area of the menu, only had four on the plate.
The Sui Mai looked, felt and tasted like dim sum (which isn’t bad if you like dim sum like we do) and the Chicken dumplings were slightly heavier, in a thicker, longer dumpling shell. However their casing led them to be a bit gluey in texture.
The sticky rice was delicious! We dug in with our wooden chopsticks and scooped out mounds of rice, kept hot in the pandang leaf. The chicken was more towards the bottom of the mound, but once we found it, we enjoyed large and small pieces of juicy chicken and proceeded to scrape the leaf for all the rice we could get!
Not a glorious restaurant by any means but great for a quirky no fuss lunch/dinner with mates. Oh and because they’re affiliated with the bar, they’re licensed too!
Bamboo Dumpling Bar 140 Commonwealth Street Surry Hills, NSW
“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well”, or so says Virginia Woolf. This quote is printed on the top of La Scala’s menu. From the beginning, you know that at La Scala, you’re in for a fine dining experience.
The restaurant sits atop of the Light Brigade Hotel and after a hike up the stairs (‘La Scala’ translates to ‘the staircase’), we walk inside the restaurant, the walls are freshly painted and there is a warm glow coming from the lights. There’s a bar to the left, and a long wooden table with young people sipping drinks and nibbling on plates of things to the right. Walking further into the restaurant we reach the main dining area filled with white clothed tables and a more mature crowd. “Well this is nice” my grandmother exclaims, and it is, very.
Menus are presented in a brown snakeskin folder, with a red matching folder for the wine list and there’s a pretty class bowl of chestnuts sitting on the table. The restaurant manages to be stylishly elegant and quirky at the same time. With a table next to a wall, our seating choices are between a leather couch and armed wooden chairs. I choose a chair, and my rear side reminds me of this choice as I shift around at various times throughout the meal.
The service at La Scala is efficient, polite and very friendly. Throughout the meal we got a chance to get to know Andy, our humorous waiter and I believe he played a big part in enriching our night.
The table beside us is sharing entrees and we decide to do the same, ordering Carpaccio Cipriani ($17), Fritto misto, made up of deep fried Hawkesbury squid, tiger prawns, zucchini blossoms, herb mayonnaise & lemon ($22) and Salumi misti – a selection of Italian cured meats, pickled fennel & gherkins ($ 19). The zucchini flower on the Fritto Misto was crisp and fresh, the crab was fleshy and full of flavour (but not fishy). The small prawns however left some to be desired. The Carpaccio was cool, served with a creamy sauce and tasted rather good with lemon. I was however expecting the meat to be thinner – it was quite thick in some sections. The cured meats, including salami and prosciutto, ranged in levels of salt and some were a bit smokey. Overall, the entree portions were generous, but sharing is probably a good idea as it gives you more variety and you don’t have to succumb to an entire plate of cured meats, raw meat or tempura.
Between entree and main, we got chatting with Andy who recognised my grandmother from when he was waiting at Bilson’s. Despite the need of both my grandmother and mother to hold Andy in ongoing conversation, Andy was entirely pleasant and charming. I’d say he was a truly great waiter but that’s evident from his past work at the like of Bilson’s and Aria.
I was curious as to why each waiter had a different number embroidered on the back of his waistcoat. Andy explained that at La Scala, they were all part of a team. The jersey numbers are reminiscent of that. Also, Chef Darren Simpson has an Irish background – so perhaps the jersey numbers (No play on Jersey Road here) are indicative of a love of football.
My main course was an addition to the menu, swordfish done with eggplant and olives ($34). The fish was firm and moist and the eggplant complemented the flavour well. The olives however were a little bitter but the dish, which also included pine nuts, was wonderfully light. When ordering I couldn’t decide between the swordfish and the Scampi, done with parsley, garlic & almond butter ($39), so my grandmother and I shared both dishes. The Scampi had a nutty flavour and wasn’t too greasy at all, nor did it have an overpowering garlicky taste. It was however slightly fidgety to get out of the shell, but well worth the battle! As the Scampi doesn’t come with any sides we ordered a serving of Tuscan fries with herbs, garlic, olives & chilli ($8). Unfortunately not many of the chips picked up the flavour from the herbs and chilli.
After two courses we weren’t overly stuffed but weren’t really considering dessert. Andy encouraged us not to pass up the Chocolate Nemesis ($14) though and it’s honestly never that hard to talk me into ordering chocolate! We were all glad (including my grandmother who usually avoids chocolate desserts) that we took Andy’s advice as the flourless chocolate cake was sinfully delicious! Very rich and moist, and served lukewarm with Crème fraiche (which I ate it without), the Nemesis was a smooth dark chocolate piece of ecstasy. Unless you’re a true chocoholic though, it would be better to share it and leave wanting more than to have a chocolate overload.
Done for the night, we were ready to leave but I remembered Andy telling us that the best room in La Scala was the little girl’s powder room. So, up the celebrity stairs I trotted to the large pink room with arm chairs a plenty. On either side of the room were doors that lead to bathrooms full of stalls and sinks. I did say La Scala was quirky!
Only open three months, La Scala plays on the name of Simpson’s previous restaurant, La Sala and offers sophisticated food in a lovely restaurant with vivacious staff. Unbeknownst to some, it has not only taken over the upstairs premises of the Light Brigade, but also accepts the Entertainment Card, as the Light Brigade restaurant did, honouring the same discount.
