La Paula (Chilean Cake Shop & Bakery)

Address: Shop 1, 9 Barbara St, Fairfield NSW (Also shop at Kingsford)
Tel: 02 9726 2379

Opening times: Mon - Sat 7am - 7pm
Sun 7am -5pm



"A Chilean cake shop and bakery that specialises in Spanish style pies and pastries ("empanadas") of very good quality. The other specialities are very good too."

Wagamama Noodle Bar

Address: The Galeries Victoria, level 1, 500 George St, Sydney
Phone : (02) 9264 9155
Website: www.wagamama.com.au


Pictured below: Wagamama Ramen - noodles in a vegetarian soup topped with seasonal greens, wakame, sliced chicken, grilled seasonal fish, fried tofu, prawn, marinated and grilled mushroom and kamaboko-aka. garnished with menma and spring onions

Below: Chicken katsu curry - chicken fillet deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs, served with a light curry sauce and japanese-style rice. garnished with a combination of mixed leaves and red pickles.
Verdict: I'm going to be perfectly honest here. The Wagamama Ramen was the worst $18 I've spent on a bowl of noodles, and made snap-frozen Lean Cuisine meals taste gourmet.

Although a good concept (health & cleanliness), I really think that overexpansion has really let this franchise down.

The staff were extremely attentive & friendly, but it really didn't make up for the bland-tasting food. I was full, but not satisfied. Could also be to do with the years' of killing my tastebuds with chilli, but this is definitely a white-washed interpretation of Japanese food that receives a miss.

Tart Cafe

Address: 106 Erskineville Road Erskineville, NSW

Tel:

Big bowls of cafe latte, fresh juices and passing foot traffic - Tart Cafe is a nice, quiet getaway.

It's literally situated behind the hustle-and-bustle of King St, Newtown - with homestyle meals and a friendly atmosphere.

Pictured below: Caffe Latte in a bowl

Below: Beef Nachos - I am totally addicted to this: ingredients are fresh, combine well and not overly oily. Baby Spinach leaves garnished on the top make a fantastic addition and the avocado dip is something special! Best nachos I've had to date!

Bagan On Boulevarde (Burmese Restaurant)

Address: Shop 4/41 The Boulevarde, Strathfield NSW 2135
Tel: (02) 8746 0666
Email: eat_bagan@yahoo.com.au
Trading hours: Lunch & Dinner, 7 days


Burmese food is what I would call a fusion between Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian cuisine. The love of chilli and spices is evident across all three cultures and this is none the different.


Pictured above: A three-word Salad that I can't remember the name of. Consists of tomato, various nuts & beans which have been roasted, dried and fried, shredded lettuce, fresh chilli and other herbs & spices. A lighter and savoury alternative. Entree sized - varying nuts & roasted beans give this salad a unique crunch and texture.

Pictured below: The Grapefruit Salad. Couldn't taste an inkling of grapefruit anywhere, but this is another interesting dish. Not overly large in size, it consists of spanish red onions (very strong flavour, even a little on the bitter side), curry powder, shallot/lemongrass, nuts, and maybe a meat. It certainly had a tang to it, but really different from anything I've ever tried. It's like a curry-salad.

Below: Pork Slice Garlic Noodle. The noodles on this are inbetween wavy wanton egg noodles and rice noodles found in pho. The perfect intermediary, laced with a light garlic buttery sauce (similar taste & texture to the bed of noodles served underneath a ginger & shallot lobster, Cantonese style). The sliced pork pieces are marinated and seem to come from like a knuckle area, with solid meat pieces and a trim of fat.

Below: Mango Curry - Extremely tender stewed beef pieces in a semi-sweet mango curry sauce. The Burmese tend to use the fat from meat and incorporate it into the curry which gives the curry more density and flavour.

I'm a fan of spice, and the potent flavours of South-East Asian cooking. The good thing about this restaurant is that they give you the option to add spice or to leave mild (unspiced). The staff are attentive, and the price is ridiculously reasonable. As my friend put it, its like they forgot to account for the rent when calculating the price of their dishes.

Pastizzi Cafe (Maltese)

Address: 523 King St, Newtown NSW 2042
Ph: 02 9519 1063
Fax: 02 9519 1064
Email: pastizzicafe@bigpond.com

*** There are no EFTPOS facilities here. Cash ONLY.

Pastizzi is a traditional Maltese pastry, usually filled with Ricotta or Peas (description shamelessly stolen off wikipedia). The pastry is a thin, flaky puff pastry, hardened on the outermost layer for added texture.

This cafe serves several sweet & savoury varieties, and at $1.60 each (cooked) they are definitely worth a stopover for if you're in Newtown.

You can also buy them frozen in batch quantities for your own reheating. They also sell home-made desserts and sweet pastries.

Below: Chicken & Mushroom Pastizzi

Below: Lentil Pastizzi

Penne Arrabiatta Pasta (pictured below): Fresh herbs, proper tomato pasta sauce which 'hugs' the penne, and a tomato-chilli 'zing'. At $10, there is not much more you could ask for!

Chicken, Mushroom and Pinenut Risotto in a Pink Sauce (pictured below) : This special is so special, its not on the menu or specials menu. It was a recommendation by the waitress when asked for her opinion of the cafes' 'signature dish'. I have always been a skeptic of "pink sauces" (what the hell is a cross between napoletana & cream sauce anyway!) but this has definitely changed my mind. Once again, fresh herbs, slow-cooked & textured rice in a flavoursome sauce. I've also added chilli flakes in this photo. The pinenuts were a pleasant and very complimentary addition to the risotto dish, not bitter at all (sometimes when pinenuts are not used suitably in cooking the overall flavour of the dish becomes bitter).

Below: Marinara Spaghetti - a glorious non-fishy tasting seafood spaghetti, and tastes even better the next day reheated (couldn't finish, very generous serving) after the seafood had more time to marinate in the sauce and really 'stick' to the pasta.

Home-made lasagne (pictured below): I am a real sucker for lasagne, not the most tasteful Italian dish, but a proper one can be absolute heaven in carbohydrate form. This one was more liquidy than most, reminded me more of a casserole dish than of a lasagne, but nevertheless palatable and on par with everything else served at Pastizzi (i.e. good).

Definitely a repeat eatery - fresh, generous servings of mains and always a variety of nibbles on offer!

Radii Restaurant

Address: Park Hyatt Melbourne, 1 Parliament Place East Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9224 1211
Website: http://www.radiirestaurant.com.au/

This is a nice restaurant with a funky, haphazard seating layout and fantastic service. Their kitchen is open, so you can walk past and eyeball the chefs' preparing your meal with fresh ingredients.

Appetizer/Soups

Pictured below: Mushroom soup with truffle oil and sauteed wild mushroom. This was a suprisingly good soup - the taste was just perfect, not too creamy, could taste the mushroom and those red herbs in the middle (looked like saffron) gave it added texture. Bellissimo! P.S. don't mind the blue tinge in the plates & food - it is a reflection from the ceiling.

From the Wood fire Oven: Corn-fed chicken breast, soft polenta, garlic spinach with madeira sauce (pictured below). This was my main and it was AMAZING! I ate everything on the plate and was tempted to lick it clean... the oven-baked chicken was obviously brushed with a marinate beforehand, giving it a light & crispy coating. The breast fillet was succulent - together with the spinach, polenta & sauce - heaven!

Main Course: Chorizo, calamari and saffron risotto (pictured below). This was not my main, but I was tempted to order it. The chorizo was kind of soggy and I really think there was too many fats & oils for a risotto which should really be light & fluffy with a flavoursome sauce base. The calamari did give an interesting texture to the risotto, and saffron added an aroma.

Dessert: Chestnut and chocolate truffle cake with marscapone cream (pictured below). A very interesting chocolate dish. The taste is almost like a bitter chocolate, the chestnut definitely changes and tampers with the conventional cocoa taste. It is only a small serve, and for good reason - but made fresh and definitely worth a try if you are not into your painstakingly-sweet chocolate desserts.

It is always a gamble with restaurants at hotels - even though it might be a 4 or 5 star hotel, the corresponding restaurants could always be a mile off, or nothing special at all. Dining at Radii was actually a real pleasure, the food was fresh, amalgamation of flavours constant and thought put into each dish. Thumbs up!

MoVida (Bar De Tapas Y Vino) Spanish Restaurant

Address: 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000

Reservations: (03) 9663 3038

Email: info@movida.com.au

Website: http://www.movida.com.au/

*** It is strongly recommended that you book this place before you go - at all hours of the day! There is limited table seating, and limited seating full-stop. I had to come back 3 times, and the staff are not afraid to treat you in a nasty manner if you don't have a reservation.

I was reading a Melbourne guide, and a hailed 'superchef' in Melbourne was interviewed and recommended MoVida for "The best Spanish restaurant in Australia".

Naturally I was curious because I have not had Spanish food properly (only Tapas in the Latin Quarter of Sydney, Liverpool St) so I needed a yardstick.

The first thing served to you is this bread and dipping oil (pictured below):

TAPAS: A single, small serving of 'entree'. You will need to order everything in multiple quantities if you are dining with others.

Above: Pollo Escabache Al Miguel - spiced chicken escabashe tapa on crisp crouton. Not all that spicy at all, the chicken is marinated in a creamy/mayonnaise sauce, with a tinge of lemon which gives it a mildly sour tang to taste. Very refreshing and good pre-emptive to the rest to follow...

Below: Viera, Jamon Y Espuma - half shell scallop oven baked with Jamon and potato foam. An awesome rendering of Scallop and topping. The white sauce you see is actually potato, so fine you think it's a cream sauce, but it is definitely a potato flavour! Scallop meat was cooked to perfection - not overcooked (which dries out the meat) and not undercooked (giving it a texture which doesn't allow your teeth to bite straight through). Simply divine.

Below: Costilla Con Sobrasada - roast lamb cutlet encased in Catalan pork and paprika pate.

A wholesome wad of meat right there. A little bit saltier than I would like, but the exterior has a slight crisp to the meat, and the green sauce is tangy and offsets it perfectly.

RACION: Small to medium-sized plates of "mains" - you will need to order a couple because they are still quite small.

Below: Chocos Con Garbanzos - pan seared cuttlefish with chickpeas, mint and tomato salad.

This was the recommendation. The marinated cuttlefish was nice and the salad with lemon juice gave it a nice 'zing' but nothing overly spectacular.

Below: Pork Belly (on Specials Menu). This is a fantastic dish - I always find pork belly to be a hit or miss. Sometimes it can be overcooked and too salty (German style) - but this rendition was highly textured and tasty, depending on which part you ate. The pork crackling is hard and crunchy, and the meat directly beneath it soft & tender. Toward the bottom of the piece, it looks like it has been cooked in a sweet soy-ish sauce which gives it extra flavour density.

Below: Monte Mar - spiced rabbit meatballs cooked with white wine and lemon myrtle sauce with prawns. I looked enviously over at the meatball on a nearby table and thought I'd give this a whirl. Gamey rabbit meat is offset by the use of raisins inside the meatball. Gives it a sweet flavour. It is a nice dish, however I personally am not a fan of game meat such as rabbit, venison and kangaroo.

This is a colourful restaurant, and seems to attract a lot of photographers because of the graffiti scene in the laneway outside. Grab a bar table, and watch the people go by, or lose yourself in the spray scene outside.