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.
From the owners of The Little Snail in Pyrmont comes The Red Snail in Darlinghurst, a restaurant that claims to serve inexpensive classic French food. That is exactly what they deliver. At $25.00 for three courses on a Sunday night, we were slightly unsure of what we’d get but figured that for that price, we couldn’t go wrong.
Parking in Darlinghurst is always an issue but hopefully that won’t deter visitors from this gem of a restaurant, and either will it’s ambiguous entry. To get in, you walk through what looks like the back of the restaurant – a courtyard full of outdoor tables – and through glass doors. This is actually the front of the restaurant and the only way in. Perhaps a sign or something in the courtyard would help?
Once inside, the restaurant has a warm decor with hanging red lanterns and a semi open kitchen. The tables and chairs are clean wood and floor to ceiling glass opens the restaurant up nicely. Mood lighting is given off by lamps and the trendy joint is equally great for family dinners, dates or nights with friends. Looking around, other patrons are mainly here for the second two reasons.
The menu itself has a generous selection of entrees, more limited range of main courses and a decent variety of desserts. We are asked to order all three at the same time, which is fine.
I start with the Salt and Pepper Squid served with Chilli and Lime dipping sauce. There are two types of squid on the plate, the body (not cut up into rings), which is soft but not too chewy, and legs, which are very crispy. A lot of places serve salt and pepper squid in a light coloured batter that is quite flakey. The Red Snail doesn’t do this. Their batter is heavier and dark in colour (and very good!) The flavour is quite strong, with a sauce that tastes like a spicy soya sauce and more a lemon, not a lime, as was described.
My partner ordered the duck of a specials menu, which was delicious with a sweet sauce and cranberries. It was served with bread, Melba toasts and a pappadum. Perhaps overkill with too many breads but a fantastic start to the meal. The good food was complemented by good service, our water glasses never reaching empty and us never needing to ask for a refill.
For the main I ordered the Kangaroo fillet, served rare with native plum sauce. The meat was tender but the sauce was quite syrupy and too sweet for my liking.
My partner decided on the Pork fillet with a Dijon mustard sauce. Unfortunately he wasn’t keen on this. Whilst the pork was cooked well, the sauce had an unappealing flavour, with the mustard being too strong and overpowering.
The main courses were accompanied by a complimentary serving of vegetables in a light butter sauce. They were a nice touch and went well with both main meals. When the plates were cleared and the dessert cutlery was set, the waitress placed it on an angle, which is quite unique. I thought it looked quite good and gave the place a little edge.
I always find it interesting to check out the bathrooms wherever I go, seeing how different establishments ‘do’ lavatories. In this particular case, the bathrooms let the restaurant down. They’re not designated male and female toilets, which some find off-putting. They are however individual rooms with one toilet, sink etc, which can be better than a big bathroom with stalls, it’s definitely more private. There’s an eery red light in the bathroom though, perhaps it’s meant to match with the red glow of the restaurant? It doesn’t work in the same way though, and just gives off a creepy red light district effect.
Dessert arrived and they both looked absolutely amazing! Major points to Red Snail for presentation on this one. We had ordered the Belgium Chocolate Mousse and the Passionfruit Cheesecake. The mousse wasn’t too rich or soft, which was great and the biscuit base gave some texture. The cheesecake was beautifully creamy and rich with plenty of passionfruit sauce and the garnish was crunchy. The Red Snail delivers on its promise of classic French food without the sky high bill. The charming restaurant offers efficient friendly service and beautifully presented great tasting food. For $35.00 for three courses, it’s an absolute steal and at only $25.00 on Sunday nights, you’d be mad not to try it.
