Rekorderlig Passionfruit Cider Launch Event @ Taste of Sydney, Centennial Park

If people are Rekorderlig Cider fans, then you must have heard about the new Passionfruit Cider. The new flavour was officially launched at Taste of Sydney @ Centennial Park (14-17 March 2013), at the Rekorderlig Cider tent. Rekorderlig provided great entertainment, with a DJ, table tennis table and a fuse ball table fun for all ages! They also provided seating areas of lounge chairs and bean bags, creating a perfect vibe to enjoy some great tasting cider.

  

Passionfruit Cider

Orange & Ginger Rekorderlig Cider

Now, a review of the lovely ciders! The passionfruit and orange & ginger cider are the two latest products in the Rekorderlig range. I will start with orange & ginger. This cider isn't as sweet as the other flavours of Rekorderlig. The ginger is subtle, which allows the orange flavour to come through. A way I ended my night!

Now to the passionfruit, I was so excited when the Rekorderlig facebook page announced the new flavour. Passionfruit is one of my favourite flavours in all foods, the balance between sweet and sour is just perfect! It was a great start to my Taste of Sydney adventure. The cider has a lovely taste that isn't too strong, but just enough to appreciate its greatness. With a wedge of lime in the drink, it is the taste of summer in your mouth, and refreshing in nature. The passionfruit cider was the most popular beverage of the event, and completely understandable considering how nice it is!

Now to another main part of the event, the food! I went to Taste of Sydney with my sister, so we each chose  2 savouries and one sweet each.

Longrain - Roast Murray Valley pork salad with crisp rice, mint, chilli, lime & peanuts

This dish was filled with Asian flavours of mint, chilli, and a fish sauce based dressing. It was unfortunate that the shallots were overpowering, and the pork itself couldn't be tasted. There was a dish at Three Blue Ducks that looked similar but with duck instead, which had a bigger serving and looked just as good. 

Three Blue Ducks - Braised pork, radish and lemon vebena caramel

This may be the best braised pork I have tried (apart from my mums of course). Two lovely pieces of succulent pork served with a warm caramel sauce. The radish was crunchy  which complimented the soft pork. This was a lovely start to my night of food adventures.

Four In Hand - Spit roast suckling pig with coleslaw, hot sauce and potatoes

Now, this is the BEST suckling pig I have every tried. As you can see from the photo, it just falls apart. It was accompanied with a lovely hot sauce, that didn't take away the delicious pork. This is my kind of dish, pork, perfect potatoes and coleslaw. If there was anyone that didn't like this dish, then I have no idea what went wrong.

Porteno - BBQ wagyu beef brisket with BBQ sauce, coleslaw and pickle

Another crowd pleaser. The line for Porteno was long, but made sense considering the food that was provided. The wagyu was the softest piece of meat my sister and I have ever eaten. My sister has braces, and this was a good dish for her since you didn't need to bite it! The meat was so soft, that you break it in your mouth without using your teeth! The sauce went extremely well as well. The coleslaw at Three Blue ducks was better though.

Ananas Bar & Brasserie - Salted caramel eclair

The famous salted caramel eclair that has appeared all over Instagram and all social media. While lining up for it, I heard so many people around holding the eclair and waiting to get their hands on one.  So much goodness in one little package! Salted caramel custard inside, with a lovely sweet icing on top. I shall be craving this for a while.

The Woods - Chocolate swiss roll with poached plum and cream

I know the photo is a bit dark, but as the sun goes down my photos become a lot harder to take. You may think, swiss roll? Really? What's so special about that?. And you know what, you're right, they always quite ordinary..but not this one. This was made from quality chocolate. There was still a differentiation between cake and cream. The plum and cream helped break the intensity of the chocolate. Swiss rolls can't be viewed the same.

Croquembouche Patisserie - Raspberry, hazelnut eclairs, raspberry compote and mini croquembouche

These were my take home deserts, they were nice but I have tried better. My favourite of the take home treats was the raspberry eclair.

Back to Rekorderlig at the end of the night for some last drinks, and goodies! They had special goody bags for people who bought 4 or more Rekorderlig drinks. The bag contained a lovely Rekorderlig glass and hat! Thank you Rekorderlig!

 Good food, good times!

Circa Expresso @ Parramatta

This cafe has been on my eating list for a very long time now, and since it was uni holidays it was about time I went (which resulted in me going twice). Circa Expresso is located in an alley way outside of Westfield shopping centre. It is a quirky cafe with a painted wall upon entry, a bike hanging on one of the walls, and little bits and pieces everywhere (definitely not what you expect in Parramatta). 

First:

Baked eggs with sujuk, Danish feta, diced tomato & chilli and toast served in a pan

This is what I call a great breakfast (that isn't bacon and eggs). Sujuk is a spicy Turkish sausage which I found similar to a spicy chorizo sausage. This entire dish was delicious, all the bits and pieces were beautiful, and the eggs had a runny centre. A slight hint of chilli to the dish bound everything together. To me, there was not one bad thing to the dish.

Breakfast granola: Poached rhubarb, yoghurt and fresh fruit

This was my vegetarian friends dish. I don't eat granola, or yoghurt, so this dish isn't a very me dish. However, I did like the poached rhubarb.

Second:

Coffee

A mocha to start a lovely brunch with a good friend and it was the first coffee I have ever finished. I have always given coffee a chance, but never been happy or pleased with the taste. But this time, I was very happy.

Penne with portobello mushrooms, pork & fennel sausage, baby spinach and parmesan

One of the specials of the day, pasta for only $12. This was a great pasta dish with simple yet strong flavours that complemented each other. For the price, it was a great pasta, even better than some pastas I have tried in high end restaurants.

Pork and fennel sausage served with caramelised onion, pickled cucumber, baby spinach 

served on sourdough bread

We all love a good sandwich, and this is one for the books. The pork and fennel sausage were juicy and filled with flavour. I really enjoyed the pickled cucumber, it added a saltiness that was balanced with the caramelised onion. 

French toast with poached rhubarb, labne and pistachio

After our savoury part of brunch, we turned to the sweet and seeing French toast on the line of specials, was an offer not to be refused. The French toast was different to how I make it at home, using bigger bread that soaks in more of the batter. The poached rhubarb, with the subtle labne and crunch of pistachio. Nothing wrong with this dish, it was just spoonfuls of tastiness. 

Banana bread with passion fruit butter

This was so tasty, I could eat it every day. The banana bread was served slightly warm, but the passion fruit butter is what makes it great. It was smooth and delicious. It was just gloriously wonderful! Possibly my favourite thing on the menu.

Both times at Crica Expresso were exquisite, with friendly staff and even better food. Definitely hits the spot for a great brunch!

Good food, good times!

Peter Doyle @ The Quay, @ Overseas Passenger Terminal

First things first, Peter Doyle @ The Quay is not to be confused with Quay. Peter Doyle @ The Quay (The Quay for short) is a restaurant by Peter Doyle, as Quay is by Peter Gilmore. The reason why a lot of people may get confused is due to the fact they are both at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Moving on..

The dining experience took place on a beautiful Autumns day, where the skies were clear. The reason why the weather is such a big deal, is due to the view from The Quay. If you are dining inside, you have a great view of the Sydney Opera House, and if you are dining outside, you can enjoy the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well. It is in prime location for some of Sydney's best views of the harbour with delightful food. The lunch menu was pre-set, from a travelzoo voucher.

On arrival we received a glass of Marquis de la Tour (French sparkling wine) and marinated olives. On a side note, I find it weird when you are given forks to eat olives, especially when they still contain the seed. You can't pick up the olive without causing some to fly out of the bowl, or just not being able to grab it all.

Confit of ocean trout, wasabi cream and salmon pearls, served with spiced soba 

noodle salad and shitake mushroom & radish

What a dish! A great combination of flavours. The trout was nice and fresh, and didn't have a fishy smell or taste to it. The wasabi cream was even better, especially with the trout, I wish there was more of it on the dish. The down side of the dish was the noodles, I was expecting spicy, but I found it more on the sweet side of things. But, the mushrooms and the sauce made up for it. The mushrooms were perfectly cooked and the brown sauce complemented them very well.

Half lobster thermidor in a brandy cream sauce, with mushroom and parmesan gratin,

served with potatoes and roasted vegetable timbale

Scotch fillet or lobster were the 2 possible mains, but my friend and I both chose the lobster, because no one says no to lobster right? The texture lobster was rather rubbery and the parmesan was overpowering, to the point when there was minimal of the lobster. It was still edible though, just a bit too cheesy The  timbale on the other hand was delectable. Encased within the eggplant were perfectly diced and cooked potatoes, tomatoes, onions and eggplant. The tomatoes created a burst of flavour within, it was a great side.

Chocolate mousse cake with passion fruit foam

The other choice of dessert was a cheese platter type dish, but we both have a sweet tooth so we chose the same dessert. We were both expecting a dish with a little slice of cake a pile of passion fruit foam. To our surprise, 2 slices of cake were displayed on each dish. The cake itself had something crunchy on top that was combined with the chocolate topping. The base was a normal chocolate cake. The passion fruit foam was addicting, I could eat a bowl of it with anything. All went well together, the passion fruit helped the sweetness of the chocolate.

The overall dining experience was wonderful. The service was a bit weird, where we constantly had different waiter/waitresses throughout the whole time. The view has got to be one of the best things at The Quay.

Good food, good times!

STREETS Restaurant Cafe @ Hoi An, Vietnam

STREETS Restaurant Cafe is a restaurant created to keep youths off the streets. The youths that are involved in the program are considered disadvantaged, orphaned or vulnerable. STREETS is an 18-month comprehensive program where youths are taught by top culinary professional from around the world. I love the overall concept of the restaurant.
Upon walking in to the restaurant we were seated down and provided with menus, and there was a friendly vice. The overall service at STREETS was exceptional. We also had an interesting scenario with the owner, who had recognised us from seeing us earlier in the day bike riding to the beach. Scary that he actually remembered us, but he was nice about it.

Sesame twirl with satay sauce

 Woo hoo complementary dish. Way too addicting. Could not stop snacking on it.

Pork with quail eggs

It is a Vietnamese dish known as 'thit kho' which is when meat (usually pork) is braised over a few hours so that it becomes nice and tender.Served in a clay pot, the pork had a lovely saltiness to it and the eggs mixed with the marinade was delectable.

Green Mango salad

A bit of a twist on the usual Thai styled green mango salad. It had a bit more sweetness due to the dressing used (known as nuoc mam), but what I really enjoyed was the prawn chips on the side. Placing a bit of the salad on the prawn resulted in a great crunch and tasty twist.

Cao Lau Hoi An

Similar to the one at Morning Glory the only difference was that this dish was saucier. The meat was juicier than Morning Glory, and the warm sauce made the dish nicer. 

Grilled eggplant and tofu

This dish was a lot better than the one at Morning Glory. I think it was due to the fact that it was grilled eggplant and not smoked. It was soft and tasted beautiful. Eggplant only tastes good when cooked properly and this was done extremely well.

Bread and butter pudding

One of the best bread and butter puddings I have tried. It was not at all oily, and was dense. There was warm passion fruit sauce that was eaten with the pudding, this was my favourite of the 3 desserts.

Ice cream with passion fruit sauce and pineapple

This was a standard dessert, which was perfect for another hot night. The use of pineapple in dishes across Vietnam is prominent in the spring/summer season when they are at there peak.

Coffee Creme Caramel

Definitely one for the coffee lovers, which unfortunately is not me. It had a very prominent coffee taste, which was still nice for me, but it became a bit overpowering. The texture of the creme caramel was smooth. The overall dessert was good even for a non-coffee lover, but for a lover of coffee this dessert may have been the best of the 3.

Good food, good times!