Wagaya - Haymarket, Sydney

A few days ago, I realized that I was probably the only Asian in Sydney that have never been to Wagaya before. Well, I've BEEN there five times, but I never got to actually DINE there. For you hikikomori-s (shut-ins) out there, Wagaya is that immensely popular, always packed, uber hi-tech (in Sydney's standard anyway) izakaya in Chinatown that opened their doors for business in the beginning of this year. Cla has been there before, and on her post, she mentioned that one should get a reservation when one wishes to dine there - even on weekdays - but silly me, I decided to ignore her tip. Five times.


Well, they say sixth time is a charm, so on the sixth occasion that I visited Wagaya, I actually get to eat there, too. It sure helped to book a table in advance (I don't believe in luck. In my life, I've never been significantly lucky).

It was a full house, with superfluous amount of people waiting to get a table. After smirking smugly at those poor, hungry and hopeful potential diners *suckerss*, my companions and I proceeded to our table. Well, I'm sure all of you dear readers have heard about their fabled automated ordering system using touch-screen computers (if not, refer to Cla's Wagaya post). Press a picture of a sushi boat, and the said item will be delivered to you in no time. Press a picture of a glass of water, and a nice, smiling waitress would be ready in front of you holding a pitcher of iced water in a matter of seconds. You get the drill.

It's all fun and novel, and apart from the fact that one of my companions kept on talking and talking about the OS (Operating System) behind their automated touch-screen device *yawn*, I'd say that my dining experience was moderately pleasant. Pleasant, but a little bit impersonal. I don't know...I mean, call me an old grampy, but it's as if I was dining in a restaurant operated by robots. I'm all for technology (in fact, that's my line of business), but I much prefer a human being taking my orders, thank you very much.

Chicken Karaage

-> Standard. Predictable. But not bad. In fact, I often order chicken karaage in a restaurant I've never been to before because I know there's little chance a restaurant can screw up a karaage. You know, in case the other dishes are bad, at least there's a standard-tasting karaage.

Rating: 6.5/10

Sukiyaki

-> Err...hit-and-miss. The beef is good, but somehow the rest of the ingredients fail to 'cohere' with each other. In nabe (skillet) dishes, it is important that different ingredients are used, but there must be some sort of 'cohesion' between them. I especially object to the over-mushy tofu and the fact that they add carrots and bean sprouts to the dish - which IMO do not cohere with the rest of the ingredients. It is also worth noting that carrots and bean sprouts are almost never used in cooking a traditional sukiyaki.

Rating: 6/10

Ox Tongue Nikomi

-> A nice, innovative dish. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth ox tongues combined with a pleasant medley of curry-tomato-ish sauce, topped with grated parmesan. No wonder they recommend this dish.

Rating: 7.5/10

Chicken Nanban

-> Not the best I've tasted in Sydney (that distinction belongs to Azuma's and Takeru's delicious chicken nanban), but okay. I love how the tartar sauce is light airy.

Rating: 7/10

Ishikari Nabe

-> A typical Hokkaido dish. Very nice, especially for me who just LOVE eating 'difficult' portions of a fish. By difficult, I mean fleshy parts of fish that are obscure and requires a skill to actually extract the meat part and eat them. Think fish head curry (love 'em).
Anyway, the soup is delightful. It's kind of like akamiso, but slightly sweeter.

Rating: 7.5/10

Grilled Salmon

-> Nice. From the texture, I can tell that it's slowly grilled in open fire.

Rating: 7.5/10

Tokyo Ramen

-> Slightly below average. Be careful when ordering ramen, especially when you're not in a ramen restaurant.

Rating: 5/10

Turquoise

-> Minty, sprite-y, and turquoisey. Can't complain. (better still if it is spiked, LOL)

Rating: 8/10

*Burrrrrp*

Madono - Haymarket, Sydney

Post-theater dinner. *watched Billy Elliot at the Capitol*

Anyway, the entrance to this restaurant looked convincing enough - the mini Japanese zen-ish garden concept is nice, but the actual inside of the restaurant looks somewhat detached from the entrance decor scheme. The inside interior is simple and minimalist, with so-so lighting and rather boring furnitures. It's okay for casual dinner, but definitely not for a night out.

Service lacks smile, but is prompt enough. Water glasses refilled without asking (for me, that's really important because I drink like a camel storing water in the desert when I eat). There's a serious lack of ambient music inside the restaurant, which really dulls up everything. However, everything was forgiven because the food was quite nice (with some exceptions). Prices are reasonable, too - I'd say it's good value for money because similar dishes in other similar restaurants can cost more.

At the time of dining, the place was half-full, with a big table consisting of very noisy Hong Kong kids. Their sheer volume (especially when they laughed) literally blew the roof - and remember, there was no music inside the restaurant, so all we could hear was their raucous jibberjabber. At some point, I even heard them laughing while banging their chopsticks to their glasses. Seriously.

Salmon maki

-> Surprisingly nice. Everything you'd expect from a nice salmon roll. I love how they roll the avocado outside the rice - it's hard to get this right.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sukiyaki set

-> Nice. the tofu is very fresh and just the right firmness and texture, good fat ratio on the meat, and the sashimi is fresh as well. A good, solid dish

Rating: 7.5/10

Katsudon

-> This one, however, is a joke. The crumb is too fine, it's not warm enough, the eggs overcooked, and the whole dish is not moist enough. Avoid it like you'd avoid being seen carrying Anya Hindmarch's "I'm not a plastic bag" tote.

Rating: 4.5/10

Anyway, this place is kind of nice if you want to have different types of Japanese food at a reasonable price. Based on the few dishes I've tried, it seems that their sushi is quite OK. Too bad the place is kind of depressing and too sterile.

La Brasserie - Darlinghurst, Sydney

Gigantic posting: My birthday dinner!
(now with extra descriptions and pretentious French words to bore you all!)

Continuing our French odyssey, what more suitable than to have some French fine dining soiree to celebrate this...this...'joyous' occasion (of me getting older). *sob*

La Brasserie in Darlinghurst is the venue of choice - often cited as one of the best French restaurant in Sydney, it's certainly très charmant. The decor is very Parisien, rather dramatic even - dark red drapes reminiscent of cabarets at the Boulevard de Clichy, menu specials scribed on mirrors, Toulouse-Lautrec posters, very chic - very Moulin Rouge.


Most of the staff are French, and that means service is impeccable. Prompt, friendly, attentive, without being too pretentious. Most of the crowd that night were French, too - and they are quite the delightful bunch - albeit the occasional raucous laughter. In short, atmosphere-wise, it's like I was transported to a brasserie on rue de la blablabla in the city of light itself.

The Bread Roll

-> France has a plethora of exquisite wines and cheeses, but that's not all. If you think that the only bread the French eat is the baguette, think again. They've got tons of different types of breads. That's what fascinates me about French cuisine - the variety of their foodstuffs is literally endless. I honestly don't know what this bread is, but if my guess is correct, it's a Pain brié, which is a traditional bread from Normandy.

2005 Château Laroche, Graves
Sémillon (Bordeaux, France)

-> The wine list is quite excellent here in La Brasserie - with an adequate selection of French wines. As usual, I decided to go for white because I feel that white wine is more 'universal' considering that we ordered different types of food. This Sémillon comes from Graves, which is a commune in Bordeaux, France. It is delightfully crisp and earthy. It even goes well with our desserts, too.

...at least that's what I think, LOL. I still maintain that I'm not very knowledgeable about wines. I always try not to ask the sommelier when choosing wines because I want to learn more about wines myself...

Rating: 7.5/10

Civet de Calamar
braised squid with saffron pain perdu, sauce nero

-> Ho ho ho, for those not in the know, 'pain perdu' may sound fancy-schmancy, but it's none other than good ol' French Toast. The saffron, however, pimps this thing up to the level of gourmet food. LOL! It's a delightful interplay of flavor and texture - the pain perdu serves as the perfect base for the rather strong sauce nero (squid ink sauce).

Rating: 8/10

Soufflé au Fromage
twice-baked Gruyère soufflé with cauliflower and salsify

-> My, how posh. I don't think I've eaten salsify before (it's a root-like vegetable) - at least not that I'm aware of. Anyway, this souffle is simply stunning. Rich, tasty, amazing texture due to the fact that it's twice-baked. I love Gruyère cheese, it's one of the Swiss cheeses I'm actually quite familiar with - Ever since I'm little, I remember whenever I'm in Amsterdam and went to one of the cheese markets, my dad always insisted on buying at least two types of cheese - the very aged Dutch Gouda and the Gruyère. We don't go to Amsterdam that often (yeah, 'cause we live in Indonesia!!), but somehow, my mom always manage to have a steady supply of Gouda and Gruyère (either she buys them abroad herself or at local gourmet supermarkets, or by asking someone to buy it for her from abroad). Her famous (and world's BEST) macaroni and cheese is baked to perfection using Gruyère. Mmmm...

Rating: 9.5/10

Escargots à la Bourguignonne
snails baked in their shells with garlic parsley butter and sliced baguette

-> Très délicieux! What can I say!
Instead of sprinkling the butter with some chopped parsley, they actually puree the butter and parsley to create this amazing sauce. The snails are delightful - tender and tasty. Here's a little-known fact: Snails in France (for consumption) are imported mainly from Indonesia.

I must say, it was escargots that made me fell in love with French cuisine. I remember when I was 9, my aunt (a.k.a. my food guru) took me to this Italian restaurant called Maxis Cucina Italiana at Plaza Indonesia. They served mainly Italian food, with a small selection of French food as well. In fact, at that time, there are not many French restaurants in Jakarta - and Maxis is perhaps the only place you can get escargots at that time. I fell in love with escargots the minute I sank my teeth on them. And it's not easy for a nine-year-old to be convinced to eat snails, mind you - especially when my idea of snails were those slimy, crawly things that used to give me nightmares when they infested my garden every rainy season!

Rating: 9/10

Terrine de Campagne
country-style pork and rabbit terrine with onion confiture and sauce gribiche

-> A cold hors d'oeuvre. I really wanted to have some terrine in Sydney - this one is okay, but I was hoping of having a more complicated, elaborate terrine (like those uber-expensive and impossibly decorative terrine served on French restaurants in Japan). However, it is understandable - since La Brasserie is, after all, and old-school French restaurant, and Terrine de Campagne (literally means country-style terrine) is the quintessential terrine. The green stuff is the sauce gribiche, which is a sauce made from oil, capers, and pickles among others. Very nice.

Rating: 8/10

Saumon grillé
crisp skin New Zealand king salmon with étuvée of leeks and savoy cabbage, pomme sautée, watercress sauce

-> Okay - for those who aren't quite knowledgeable about the terms, here we go: étuvée is a method of cooking in which a tiny amount of water is added to the ingredients, and then tightly covered and cooked over very low heat. Pomme sautée is a fancy-schmancy name for stir-fried potatoes.
Anyway, this dish is so pretty. The watercress sauce is splendid - a surprise at first (because of its contrast to the flavor of the fish - the fish salty and tasty and the watercress sauce is fresh and slightly bitter) but pleasantly compatible. A memorable dish!

Rating: 8.5/10

Coq au Vin
red wine braised free range corn fed Thirlmere chicken, Brussels sprout, girolles and lardons

-> What a magnificent dish! Thirlmere chicken is a premium free range chicken from Thirlmere, Southern New South Wales - and what a difference does it make. Succulent, tender, perfect - and that's just the chicken. The sauce is amazing (notice the cutely-arranged girolle mushrooms), the combination of the chicken, sauce, and lardons (bacon strips) are to die for. Couldn't imagine a better Coq au Vin.

Rating: 10/10

Poitrine de Porc
crisp pork belly with wild boar chartreuse, duxelle and cabbage

-> Today's special. Strictly speaking, this dish, to us Chinese, is like a glorified siew yoke (Chinese roast pork!!) LOL LOL and the way they charge 40 bucks for siew yoke may bewilder some Chinese patrons. LOL!! Anyway, in all seriousness - it is somewhat different from Chinese roast pork - I'm not saying that it is tastier, but it's just...different.
Ergo, the wild boar chartreuse becomes the highlight of this dish - delicious, slightly spicy, totally cured and marinated shredded wild boar wrapped in cabbage leaves. Duxelle is basically chopped mushrooms cooked with butter and wine.

Rating (not considering the resemblance of this dish to siew yoke): 8/10
Rating (considering the resemblance): 7/10

Confit de Canard
crisp maryland duck confit with carrot cumin puree, orange-glazed endive, and sauce Rouennaise

-> After some research, I found out that Confit is a specialty of Gascony, France - whereby meat such as duck is preserved using salt and slowly cooked in its own juice. Again, another resemblance to a common Chinese dish - this time, it's the Hakka-Chinese delicacy lap ap (preserved duck). Not as salty, but the texture is very similar. Lap ap (in Mandarin: la ya) is a Chinese delicacy mainly produced by the Cantonese and Hakka people in which duck meat is preserved in salt and oil. It is so salty - my family only consume it once a year - during Chinese new year on which we always order some lap ap from China. This dish, Confit de Canard, however, uses considerably less salt. The puree is sweet and delicious - the cumin gives this puree a hint of curry taste.

Okay. Now I'm going to talk about the Sauce Rouennaise. Remember my whole lecture about French sauces and how HELL it is to make them? Refer to this post:

http://eatlikeacow.blogspot.com/2008/07/kttbullar-by-erique-fat-owl.html

You see, this sauce, Rouennaise, is a step BEYOND Bordelaise sauce. This means, in order to make Rouennaise, you need to make Bordelaise, Demi-glace, Espagnole, Glace de Viande, and Brown Sauce. Each sauce requires more than 3 hours to make, so in order to make this Rouennaise sauce, you need...oh, say...3 YEARS?? No wonder French food are expensive.

Rating: 7.5/10

Fondant au Chocolat
soft-center dark chocolate pudding with coffee foam & hazelnut brittle ice cream

-> Apparently, delicious enough to make my lady friends let out orgasmic screams. Gawd, women DO love chocolate. Warm, gooey chocolate pudding encapsulated in coffee foam. It IS incredibly indulgent.

Rating (according to me): 7.5/10
Rating (according to the laydeez, apparently): 10/10 *AAAaaaHHH*

Gaufre
Belgium waffle with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce

-> I love this one. Belgium waffle, as you know, is far heavier than normal waffles, and that's why a tiny piece is enough. The chocolate sauce is to die for - warm, just the right viscosity, melts in your mouth...mmm.

Rating: 8/10

Crêpe Suzette
orange crêpes with rhubarb confiture and yogurt sorbet

-> Now this was rather disappointing. Crêpe Suzette is actually one of my all-time favorite dessert, and I was looking forward to traditional Crêpe Suzette. This one, however, is a slightly modified version. It's still very good, though - but the traditional Crêpe Suzette should be completely soaked in sauce and served immediately before the crispiness has gone. That's why Crêpe Suzette should always be made in FRONT of the guest - every five-star French restaurant should have full Crêpe Suzette service, which consists of a cart, portable stove, and suitable pans and utensils. Making the crêpe, flambé-ing it, and serving it right in front you is part of the excitement of having Crêpe Suzette. It's been a long time since I had real Crêpe Suzette served in such manner...

Rating: 7.5/10

Conclusion:
So, another year gone by. I'm getting old, life is so short, blablabla.
French food rocks. Gotta have some more. But for now, as I quote Voltaire from one of my favorite books he wrote, "Candide":

bien amicalement, et mille tendres adieux!
(Best wishes, and a thousand tender good-byes!)

The Argyle - The Rocks, Sydney

A quick solo lunch - one day before my B-day.

Went shopping today. I usually prepare what I'm going to wear on my B-day well in advance, but this year, I was stuck. I have this nice grey Maison Martin Margiela shirt I've been dying to premiere ever since I bought it in Hong Kong a couple of months ago, and I couldn't find a nice jacket to go with it. I searched everywhere - from Paddington, to the City, and finally back to Paddington again when I finally found the ONE. (the ONE Jacket to rule them all) <- LOTR reference ;)
From Paddington, I had to come all the way back to the City because I had to pick up my B-day cake on The Rocks area. This year, I get to choose my own cake because...well...let's just say that the previous ones bought by my friends were not...'adventurous' enough (whatever that means!!)

Anyway, before picking up the cake, I stumbled upon this awesome bar-slash-restaurant I've been dying to check out since last year. It's called 'The Argyle'. It occupies a historical building called The Argyle Stores - completely renovated of course - but the remains of the old world is still very apparent. I've been meaning to come here for some late weekend drinks, but since I was in the area that afternoon, I might as well check it out.

Marinated salmon with salad leaves, blanched asparagus, herb olive oil

-> Is it just me or this dish is totally YUMMY??? The salmon is juicy and delicious (Cla, your notion on salmon should never be served cooked has an exception now), and the asparagus is just perfect.

Rating: 9/10

The venue is awesome, even on broad daylight. It's hard to find a bar that look that awesome with that much natural light. It should be fantastic at nighttime with blaring music and pretty people. They also cater to private functions, and they've got tons of high-profile clienteles comprising of who's who in Sydney social scene. It's quite a posh hangout on a posh neighborhood. Will definitely come back to check it out some more.

Rive Droite - Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

Salmon Napoleon avec chervil et Kumquat Vinaigre

-> Excellent. I used to think that salmon is just not great cooked - and better eaten raw, but this dish just proved me wrong. It's tangy, tart, and exquisite. The vinaigrette softens the fish, and made it more succulent.

Fillet de boeuf "angus grille", facon rossini, gratin dauphinois, sauce au vinaigre balsamique

-> Grilled angus fillet Rossini style, gratin dauphinois, with balsamic vinaigrette sauce. Just lovely. At first, I expected the vinaigrette to overpower the beef, but I was mistaken. It's quite subtle with a hint of sourness, and the way the beef seems to be roasted, then grilled just improves the texture dramatically whilst at the same time locking the flavor. Perfection.

Note:
Light dinner with Cynthia.
Exquisite restaurant at Lan Kwai Fong, frequented by expats (basically, Lan Kwai Fong is like Hong Kong's equivalent to Jakarta's Kemang). The wine list is impressive (12 pages)! I ordered the 2000 Gewurtztraminer from Alsace. I am no wine expert, but I think it goes well with the food. Gewurtztraminer is very sweet, and I kind of like the combination between the sweetness of the wine and the sourness of the dishes (from the vinaigrette).

The crowd was very stylish and smart-casual, with many colorful dresses, very Sex and the City. No tai-tais, surprisingly.

"Rive Droite" is the restaurant's name, and there's an adjoining bar called "Rive Gauche". I actually wanted to hang out at the bar, which is absolutely stylish and happening, but I had to catch a flight tomorrow so I decided to go back to the hotel instead.

Pasta de Waraku - The Central @ Clarke Quay, Singapore

Oh boy, it's Italian food with a Japanese twist - Pasta de Waraku!

It's gooooooddddd.....

And it's opening in Jakarta come June 2008, too!






Salad
-> There's chicken bits in the salad and it's dressed with a refreshing yuzu dressing.



Chicken and Mushroom Pasta - in Tomato & Cream based sauce
-> Heavenly!



Salmon Cheese
-> The only thing I regreted about ordering this is that I didn't order TWO of 'em. It's absolutely yummy-licious.

IKEA - Rhodes, Sydney

Feeling Sveeedish today (Hej Sverige!!!)
So, went to IKEA to get some cheap Svedish cra...I mean, pretty stuff.
No, seriously. I love Sweden.



Smoked Fjord salmon thingy with (yummy) Swedish mustard.
-> three words: SO AIRPLANE FOOD!!!



Almond Cake
-> I actually squeezed some lemon juice from the remaining lemon wedge that comes with my salmon and it actually improved the taste! (read from a French cookbook that cheese, marzipan, and lemon juice come together nicely)