Claire's Kitchen at Le Salon

Have been looking around for a nice restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. Most of the restaurants were already booked out when I called them because we wanted to go for dinner on a Friday and we only decided on Friday two days before hand. Fortunately we managed to get a table at Claire’s Kitchen.

Claire’s Kitchen is known for its French food and the romantic ambiance and hence a perfect place to celebrate our anniversary. The prices of the food were decent, I must say that it is definitely good value for money – delicious food with decent prices. I highly recommend this place to couples or people that are looking for a nice place to hang out at and at the same time wants really yummy food.

 Jeff had the Rabbit Terrine that was on the specials for his entrée. Jeff does not normally like pear but OMG the poached pear was delicious, it went really well with the rabbit terrine. After I took a bite, I wished I ordered that. The flavour of the dish was interesting, I haven’t eaten something like that before.

 I had half dozens of the Escargots Bourguignons – Traditional French snails in garlic parsley and Cognac butter for my entrée. I don’t eat snails a lot but I have had it before and the snails here were not as good as the ones I have had before. Don’t think I will order this again if I visit this restaurant again.

 Jeff had the Filet De Boeuf – Tasmanian grass fed beef fillet with truffled mash and shiraz and star anise jus for his main. When the waiter served the dish, we were staring at the piece of steak because it was a massive piece of meat. It was delicious, the meat was tender and juicy, Jeff and I both loved the dish. The truffled mash was good too!

I had the famous Canard En Croute – Duck and Pinot Noir pie with melted brie under the puff pastry crust. Couldn’t took my eyes off this dish when I saw it on the menu because I love duck. OMG it was heavenly yummmm!!! This is my first time having a duck pie and I am normally not a super big fan of pie but this is so so so so so so so so good! I will go back just for this dish! The puff pastry was crunchy, the duck meat was soft and flavoursome. If you do visit this restaurant, I highly recommend you to give this dish a go. 

As for desserts, Claire’s Kitchen offered a dessert trolley kinda thing. A waiter brought out a tray of desserts and you pick what you want. I didn’t think the desserts were impressive. In fact, I thought it was a little pricey. 

Jeff had the raspberry brulee. He didn’t really like it because he thought the raspberry ‘destroyed’ the taste of a brulee. When something is added to the food, it is supposed to enhance the flavour to make the food taste better but I don’t think the raspberry did that. I preferred a normal brulee as compared to the raspberry brulee. 

 I haven’t had chocolate enclairs before and it is supposed to be a French dessert so I thought I would try that in a French restaurant. I won’t say it wasn’t good but maybe I just didn’t quite like it. The pastry was decent, the chocolate was alright but I don’t think I would order that again.

How would I rate this place:
Ambiance: 8/10
Food: 8.5/10
Presentation of food: 8/10
Price: 8/10
Service: 8/10

Claire’s Kitchen at Le Salon
http://www.claireskitchen.com.au/

35 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, NSW 2010
(02) 92831891
Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday
Lunch by appointment
Dinner 6pm – 12am

Belluci's

Because it was Italian Week on Masterchef, we decided to have Italian food for dinner. There is an Italian Restaurant just around the corner so we decided to give that place a go. I tried making a reservation for 7pm but they were fully booked even a couple of days before we went there for dinner so we went there around 6.30pm for dinner. I have always walked past this restaurant but I never walked in because the food is a little pricey but fortunately Jeff was feeling generous that night so he treated both of us an amazing dinner. 

Entree: Antipasti Plate ($13 per person) 

It is a selection of Belluci's most popular hot and cold antipasti with baked ciabatta. 

I enjoyed everything on the plate except the olives. I never really like olives because the taste is a little too overwhelming but everything else was yummm. The pork belly was well seasoned and cooked, I thought it would be perfect if the skin was crunchy and crispy. The prosciutto and salami were fresh and yummm, this is my first time having a 'good quality' prosciutto. The calamari were fried really nicely, it was tasty and crispy. My favourite was definitely the arancini balls, I love the filling and I love the fragrance and crunchiness of the outer later. 

Jeff couldn't look pass this - Saffron and Potato with South coast Mussels so he decided to order this. It was on their specials menu. The dish was $14. The soup was dense and exploding with the potatoes flavour and the mussels were perfectly cooked, this is definitely a dish that I would order again if it is still on the menu the next time I decided to visit this restaurant.

The bread that came with the antipasti and the soup was soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, I had it with the soup and they were awesome combo.

Mains:
Jeff got the Risotto Con Pollo ($26)
Chicken risotto with pancetta, mushrooms, roast peppers, asparagus and a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. 

I tried some and it was very yummy, it wasn't creamy like how a lot of restaurants make their risotto which made it really special. When I told Jeff that, he told me that Risotto isn't meant to be creamy and this is how a good quality risotto would taste like.

I haven't tried veal and the contestants on Masterchef were cooking Veal in that week so I decided to give the veal dish a go.

Vitello Saltimbocca ($34)
Veal involtini with prosciutto, sage, soft truffled polenta and braised tomato.

I like the polenta, I thought it went really well with the tomato and the veal. The veal was cooked very nicely, it was neither too soft nor too chewy - the way I like the meat to be cooked. I thought this was a pretty good dish but Jeff didn't find it amazing, he had had better veal before and thought this was ordinary and a little pricey.

Desserts:
We had a hard time deciding which desserts to get. Initially we just wanted to share a dessert because both of us were pretty full after the entree and desserts. Initially we had already set our mind on the Creme Brulee but when I saw the Chocolate Terrine on the menu, I really wanted that because I haven't tried a chocolate terrine dessert before.

We asked the waitress which one should we get and she said BOTH so we ended up getting both. Jeff and I are both real FATTIES.

Terrina Al Cioccolato ($15)
Bitter sweet chocolate terrine with raspberry and vanilla mousse. 

This is probably the best chocolate dessert I have ever had. It wasn't sweet like how I expect most chocolate desserts to be so I am assuming they used good quality dark chocolate to make this. The raspberry and vanilla mousse complemented the chocolate terrine so well. I really enjoy this dessert, I would give it a 10/10.

Brulee Alla Vaniglia ($15)
Baked vanilla bean brulee with mandarin marmalade and toasted crumble. 

We thought the chocolate terrine was terrific until we tried the creme brulee. This was definitely the dish of the night and I would call it the PERFECT CREME BRULEE. The filling was so smooth and the toasted crumble was to give this beautiful dessert a nice texture. The top was crispy and sweet, everything was just so yummm. I will definitely go back for this.

How would I rate this place:
Ambiance: 7.5/10
Food: 8.5/10
Presentation of food: 8/10
Price: 7.5/10
Service: 7/10

Belluci's at Manuka
http://www.bellucis.com.au/manuka.php
Cnr of Furneaux St and Franklin St, Manuka, ACT
(02) 6239 7424
Opening Hours:
Monday - Sunday
Lunch 12 - 2.30pm
Dinner from 6pm

Taze Mediterrean Cuisine

Jeff visited this restaurant before and he really likes the food here,

so he decided to take me here since I love eating so much!

I am not familiar with Mediterranean cuisine,

so I have no idea what to order. 

We got the Light Indulgence Menu Banquets, 

it was $38 per person.

Initially I thought it was a bit pricey,

but after looking at the amount and portion of the food we got,

I think the price was very reasonable. 

The Light Indulgence Menu Banquets came with:

Taze home made dips with Turkish Bread,

Three different entrées:

Vine leaves

Zuchini fritters

Cigara borek

Main:

Chicken and lamb skewers,

served with Turkish rice and salad

Konya pide,

we had the Mevlana (lamb)

Taze home made dips with Turkish Bread

The Turkish Bread was soft and fluffy, 

I love this kind of bread,

I can eat it everyday.

Hummus Dip

It is chickpeas, tahini and lemon. 

Hummus can never go wrong,

it goes extremely well with the Turkish Bread.

Three different entrées:

Vine Leaves (the one on the right)

Traditional Turkish style with toasted pine nuts, rice, herbs

and wrapped in fresh vine leaves.

It was fragrant but not exactly my kind of thing,

there is something about the flavour that I didn't like.

Don't get me wrong,

it wasn't shit,

it was pretty good,

just not to my liking.

Zuchini Fritters (the one in the middle)

Shallow fried with roasted garlic and yoghurt sauce.

Jeff doesn't like Zuchini, 

we wanted to change this to a mushroom dish but it would cost us money,

so we stick to the Zuchini. 

I am so glad we didn't change the entrée to something else,

the Zuchini Fritters were yummm!!

It was my favourite entrée out of all. 

The fritters weren't oily, 

the garlic made it so delicious,

the yoghurt made it heavenly good. 

Cigara Borek (the one on the left)

Feta and parsley filled filo pastry topped with Taze yoghurt sauce.

I love the combination of the feta, yoghurt and pastry,

everything went so well together,

it was soooo flavoursome. 

I hope they gave us more of this,

I don't mind having more of the Cigara Borek!

Konya Pide

we had the Mevlana (lamb)

Diced lamb marinated with herbs and spices and cheese.

When I looked at it,

I didn't think it would be very good because it looked like a normal pizza to me,

plus I am not a very big fan of lamb.

But when I took my first bite,

I just couldn't stop eating. 

All the flavours complemented each other so well,

the lamb was nicely marinated,

the cheese made the pide perfect,

it was sooooooo good. 

Chicken and lamb skewers,

served with Turkish rice and salad.

Both the skewers were marinated very well. 

I am not exactly sure what sauce did they use.

The black colour sauce is most probably balsamic vinegar,

the orange sauce is most probably yoghurt with something.

The sauce definitely enhanced the flavour of the skewers. 

I personally prefer the chicken skewers,

I like the taste and texture.

The lamb was a bit too salty for me,

but Jeff really liked it. 

The Turkish rice was really tasty too, 

I was already very very full but I just couldn't stop eating the rice.

I thought they could give us a bit more salad,

and maybe with a little bit less sauce,

the salad was a bit too salty.

I had an extremely satisfying dinner at Taze,

will definitely recommend people to come here.

Please get the Indulgence Banquet Menu if you are feeling very very hungry,

the portion is generous and the food is yummm,

it is definitely worth the money. 

The only complain I have about this place is the timing of the food being served, 

we hadn't finished eating our entrées,

but the pide was served already,

but we waited quite a while for the skewers after finishing the pide.

If they could improve on that, 

their service would be excellent.

All the staff were smiley and friendly!

How I would rate this place:

Ambiance: 7.5/10

Food: 8/10

Presentation of Food: 7/10

Price: 7.5/10

Service: 7/10

Taze Mediterrean Cuisine

http://www.taze.com.au/

4/21 Genga St, Canberra ACT 2601

(02) 6262 6601

Opening Hours

Monday - Friday 8am - 9pm

Saturday 12 - 10pm

Close on Sunday

WAQU

We haven't gone out for a proper 'date' in a long time,

so Jeff decided to take me out for dinner on the weekend. 

We had a few restaurants in mine,

but most of them were fully booked.

So we ended up at WAQU,

which was amazing! 

The food was good,

the service was great,

the restaurant was simple and nice,

and most importantly it was reasonably priced. 

I will definitely recommend people to visit this place,

go for the six course menu,

it is $68 per person. 

The drinks menu looked interesting, 

Jeff just couldn't look pass the Shochu Lychee, 

it was shochu, lychee liqueur, 

cranberry juice, lychee juice and fresh lemon juice.

He loved the cocktail, 

he finished it pretty quickly. 

The cocktail was $13.

I had the Umeshu Mojito,

it was umeshu, fresh lemon juice,

mint, mint granite and soda water.

It was refreshing and good,

I liked it. 

It was $14.

The first dish was a complementary started by the restaurant, 

I know this is terrible but I forgot what is the name of the dish.

It was something like biscuits with some cream cheese on top,

definitely a good mouth washer. 

Course One:

JAPANESE PUMPKIN SOUP

with kaffir lime.

The soup was sooooo rich and thick, 

I loved it,

I wished I could have one full bowl of soup. 

We ordered a sour dough roll which costed additional $2.80,

we had it with the soup,

it was delicious!

Course Two:

SCALLOP + MUSSEL

scallop confit, sake cooked mussel, 

dill cream sauce and ponzu daikon chive.

Jeff doesn't normally like raw food,

the scallop was served raw,

but he enjoyed the dish very much. 

The scallop was fresh and juicy,

I couldn't decide what is the best part of the dish,

the sauce was tasty and it made everything appetizing,

but I think the baby corn was the winner,

it smelt good and tasted even better.

Course Three:

CHICKEN GALANTINE

stuffied with mochi rice okowa, miso essence,

shimeji, soba seeds, rice and peanut tuiles.

It was very difficult to pick what our favourite dishes were,

but this is Jeff's favourite dish. 

He loved the mochi rice okowa,

it was well-prepared and well-seasoned,

definitely a winner. 

I liked it very much too,

but I didn't understand some of the elements of the dish,

I didn't feel the connection between the mushroom and the mochi rice.

Jeff's Course Four:

PAN FRIED BARRAMUNDI

served with caramelized onion puree, pinot noir syrup, 

roasted leek, grated macadamia. 

This was my favourite!

I got something different for my forth course, 

but I stole some of Jeff's food,

the barramundi was cooked perfectly!

The skin was crispy,

the fish was palatable.

Everything was just so good.

My Course Four:

HUON SALMON YU-AN YAKI

roasted yu-an marinated salmon, 

four kinds of nuts purée, yuzu foam. 

I must say the salmon was cooked perfectly,

it was soft and tender, 

and extremely juicy. 

But apart from the salmon, 

I didn't like everything else on the dish,

maybe because I don't get the connection between the different components. 

The yuzu foam was sour,

I didn't think it went well with the salmon,

the nut purée was too dry and maybe too little so I didn't taste much.

My Fifth Course:

ROASTED DUCK

served with dark cherry sauce, beetroot purée, 

coffee chocolate crumbles and creme fraiche. 

I love duck,

won't ever give up any opportunity to eat duck so I had the duck.

If you love beetroot, 

yoy will definitely enjoy the dish.

The 'beetroot chips' were delicious, 

I like the coffee chocolate crumbles (wish they gave me more),

but I thought the duck could be better,

it would be perfect if the duck skin was crispy. 

Jeff's Course Five:

CABERNET MARINATED LAMB

roasted lamb backstrap, fig balsamic vinegar purée,

fig fritter, spiced bread crumbles. 

I had a few bites of the lamb,

it was cooked really well.

I don't normally like lamb because the taste can be a little too overwhelming,

but this was amazing,

the fig was cooked well,

the sauce was well-seasoned.

Course Six (dessert):

CHOCOLATE TERRINE

hazelnut paraline ice cream, banana crumble, 

sake-katsu sauce and mint olive oil. 

The dessert was heavenly yummm,

my favourite component was the dark chocolate,

the sake-katsu sauce was really unique,

the hazelnut paraline ice cream was light and tasty. 

It was a great dessert. 

They had another menu,

I forgot what was it called,

after dinner menu or something like that. 

We just couldn't look pass the green tea and raspberry macaroons,

so each of us had one.

The macaroon was unexpectedly good.

The taste of the green tea was really strong,

the best part of the macaroon was the raspberry jam,

they used jam instead of cream which made it special. 

It was $2.50. 

I had a great time at the restaurant,

the food was good,

service was good,

most importantly everything was reasonably priced.

I will definitely come back again,

maybe when they change their menu. 

If you love Jap food,

want something fancy,

and don't mind paying a bit more,

I highly recommend this place!

How I would rate this place:

Ambiance: 7.5/10

Food: 9/10

Presentation of Food: 9/10

Price: 8.5/10

Service: 8.5/10 

WAQU

http://www.waqu.com.au/

308 Pacific HWY, Crows Nest NSW 2065

(02) 9906 7736

Opening Hours

Close on Monday

Tuesday & Wednesday 6 - 11pm

Thursday - Sunday 12 - 3pm, 6 - 11pm

Zilver Restaurant

I love yumcha, 

and have been craving it for a while now. 

Finally finally finally I found some friends to go yumcha with. 

I think it is always good to go yumcha with a bigger group of friends,

so that you will get to eat different variety of food.

There are so many different kind of dishes to choose from. 

I went with two girl friends,

and they are not really big eaters,

so I was doing most of the eating.

I ate like a monster,

need to force myself to gym after that,

and I haven't even burn off half of the calories from yumcha food. 

But it was worth it, 

I really enjoyed myself today.

Everything in the restaurant was good. 

I love Siew Mai, 

this is the main reason why I love yumcha so much,

I thought the siew mai here is really good,

they make the siew mai it in the restaurant,

 all of them were fresh and hot.

Most importantly, 

there were prawns in it.

I love prawn and pork siew mai,

it was YUMMMM!!

If you are wondering what a siew mai is,

it is basically a type of traditional Chinese/Hong Kong pork dumplings.

The Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts were AMAZING!

Guess how many egg tarts did I have?

FOUR!

I had four egg tarts.

I didn't even realize I ate that many egg tarts.

I really like the pastry,

it is not the usual heavy butter taste kind of pastry.

This is my second favourite dish in yumcha.

This is my third favourite dish in yumcha,

Char Siew Sou.

If you are wondering what this is,

it is a type of fried flaky Chinese Pastry with pork fillings.

I love the pastry,

and I love the pork fillings. 

We waited quite a while for this,

because it took the kitchen a while to make them. 

It was served fresh and hot,

when I had my first bite,

the pastry was soft and flaky,

the pork fillings were a little bit too sweet for me,

but overall it was delicious!

Golden Lava,

also known as liu sha bao is my next favourite dish. 

This is a new dim sum item invented in Hong Kong fairly recently.

I love the creamy and runny egg custard filling,

which is made from milk and salted egg yolks.

You will see the salted egg yolks flowing out of the hot steamy bao when it is opened.

This is heavenly good!

I love looking at the yolks coming out from the bao.

If you go yumcha, 

Char Siew Bao is definitely a MUST!

It is basically a bao (bun) with pork fillings

Trust me, 

you will never regret eating this.

It is not easy to find freshly made char siew bao in Aussie, 

many restaurants use frozen char siew bao,

I am glad they make fresh ones here.

It was satisfying!

I wasn't sure what is the name of this dish.

It is basically yam pastry with mince pork fillings.

It looked interesting so we didn't mind having it,

the waitress mentioned it was one of the newer dishes.

It was not bad,

the yam pastry was nice,

but I thought they could improve more on the taste,

like make it more salty or sweet or something.

It was nice to bite,

it was flaky and soft,

but there weren't much taste,

I ate it with a sweet peanut kind of sauce,

it tasted so much better with the sauce. 

Chee Cheong Fun is another popular item in yumcha. 

It is a rice noodle roll filled with pork,

sweet soy sauce is poured over the dish upon serving. 

I am not a very big fan of chee cheong fun,

but I don't mind eating them.

I had a bite,

and I didn't quite like the taste of the dish.

We also had the Duck Egg and Pork Porridge. 

It was plain and simple.

I don't know why but,

this is something that most people would order when they have yumcha.

I really like the Har Gow at this place,

Har Gow are shrimp dumplings that are transparent and smooth. 

There were a generous amount of shrimps in the Har Gow, 

which made the dish really yummm amd gratifying.

I will definitely order this again if I come back to this restaurant.

Everyone have been telling me that,

we have to eat 5 serving of vegetables in a day.

So I thought we should order a vege dish - Chinese Brocolli.

It was just boiled vege served with soy sauce.

Lotus paste bao (buns).

We were too full for this so my friend tookaway the lotus paste bao,

it is a pretty popular bao among Asians. 

We had Mango Pudding for dessert,

it consists of agar or gelatin,

fresh mangoes, evaporated milk and sugar,

usually served cold.

It had a rich and creamy texture,

one of my friends really liked it.

Mango Pudding is a MUST for her to conclude her yumcha session.

I had a good yumcha session,

good food and good company always make me happy.

I will definitely come back here for yumcha,

everything was well-prepared, 

well-seasoned and heavenly delicious!

How I would rate this place:

Ambiance: 6.5/10

Food: 8/10

Presentation of Food: 7.5/10

Price: 7.5/10

Service: 6/10 

Zilver Restaurant 

http://www.zilver.com.au/

Level 1/477 Pitt St, Haymarket NSW 2000

(02) 9211 2232

Opening Hours 

Monday - Friday 10am - 3.30pm, 5.30pm - 11pm

Saturday & Sunday 9am - 3.30pm, 5.30pm - 11pm