Categories
Australian

Showroom Bar at the Royce Hotel – St Kilda VIC Restaurant Review

I had such a traumatic few days last month in Melbourne doing a work-related quiz that upon my return to Sydney I felt physically unwell looking at the photos of all of the foods that I ate whilst I was down there, let alone thinking about writing reviews for them. The constant thought on my mind was really just what if I had to go back? , and so even though I had nothing else to do with my time, I had to take a little break from writing pegfeeds to try to avoid leading myself down that cognitive spiral. Luckily (and rather unexpectedly) I heard back good news.

The lobby restaurant of the Royce Hotel is where we had our end-of-quiz meal, with a few new friends from Western Sydney. Much more of a celebration of having finished rather than having succeeded, we sat in the upscale accommodations comfortable in the knowledge that our examiners , who were all staying in the hotel proper, would be occupied across the road with the afternoon batch for some hours yet.

I never have mocktails, but since I’ve kind of stopped drinking, the amaretti sour ($18) fit the bill whilst the other colleagues were celebrating with a bottle of champagne. Whilst I know that medically a glass of champagne isn’t going to hurt the transaminases, I’d been eating so terribly in the six months leading up to the exam that I was keen to avoid any ethanol that might compound on the metabolically associated fatty liver disease. The amaretti sour was pretty yummy.

The Moreton bay bug ($55) was very good, an opulent dish for someone who had had only a plain croissant for breakfast for fear of intra-exam emesis. The sauce, a black bean aioli and achiote oil concoction, was extremely creamy, complimented by small cubes of leek, turnip and purple potato. The brussel sprouts were tender, and the bug itself was of course delicious. The price for this dish was not small, but the taste was high, the setting was nice, and it fed me well.

I would recommend the restaurant, not the quiz.

Showroom Bar
The Royce Hotel, 379 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004

Categories
Bakery

Westmead Cake Shop – Westmead NSW Restaurant Review

Full disclosure, my friend’s partner’s parents own this bakery, but this is a seriously good beef and pea pie.

The sausage roll? Less memorable.

Photos taken in my Patagonia better sweater fleece which is embroidered with my full name and place of work which I have LOST AT WORK for the last 12 months and it has not been returned.

Westmead Cake Shop
Shop 2/74 Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead NSW 2145

Categories
Vietnamese

Pho Hanoi 1979 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

I’m alone at home in Sydney at the moment (partner being away in Wollongong without me) and with very little food in the fridge that I can actually bring myself to eat (the fourth beef burger patty in the pack is truly not something I want for the fourth day in a row) I took myself out for a late dinner at a recently opened local Vietnamese restaurant.

The Combination Pho – Pho Dac Biet (Medium – $21.90) is one of the better bowls I’ve had, and definitely the best I’ve had within a 5km radius, having tried multiple. This bowl is a true Northern style pho dac biet, with a clear though slightly salty soup, and a real combination of all the bits of the cow – rare beef, beef brisket, beef balls, beef tripe, and beef tendon. The majority of restaurants in Sydney miss out on one or more of the tripe or tendon, though I suspect the calculus was made that Burwood locals are likely to be less squeamish than most about non-meat parts of the animal. Either way, both components were enjoyable additions – with no weird aftertaste to the tendon like I experienced at Jacob’s in nearby Ashfield.

The pho was served with only a small serving of bean sprouts on the side, offered directly by the server as apparently not everyone likes them. Though the serving size was smaller than I expected visually, they ended up being enough, and more servings are available as a no-cost option on the menu.

The bowl was topped with a large serving of spring onions, which didn’t do anything special for me but also didn’t hurt me. The brisket was deliciously fatty and umami, though importantly not too fatty. I felt it was superior to the rare beef, a rare compliment from me. It’s interesting to note that the restaurant offers bowls of soup and meats without noodles as add ons – possibly an option for those lowcarbing among us. (Should be me).

The spring rolls Cha Gio Chien (4 for $8.80) didn’t do anything for me. Though freshly fried and crispy, their filling of minced prawn and pork was hard to appreciate, with a very loose texture and a non-distinctive flavour. I wouldn’t get them again.

I never have sauce with my pho usually, but available tableside was quite a nice assortment of a tangy chilli sauce, a sate sauce, and thinly sliced pickled garlic, amongst other things. They were all delicious, and helped to save the spring rolls a little.

Thoughts
Pho Hanoi 1979 is now my favourite source of pho in my local area, with truly top notch non-meat additions in their PDB, not available elsewhere. They offer a 30% discount between the hours of 9PM and 11PM, which means that the actual cost of the 2 dishes I had was a very reaosnable $15.33 for the pho and $6.16 for the spring rolls.

Will be back.

Pho Hanoi 1979
128 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

Categories
Bakery Italian

Mezzapica Cakes – Leichardt NSW Restaurant Review

We went here essentially after my partner eavesdropped on two of her bosses talking about their separate weekends cycling to Leichardt and having their mini cannoli. Sadly and conveniently we don’t own bicycles.

We had the ricotta, vanilla, and chocolate mini cannoli ($2.20 each). The pastry portions are pre-baked, with the cannoli piped in with filling to order to minimise sogginess. The pastry was crisp at the time of eating and the ricotta filling, the least sweet of the three, was my favourite. I don’t have any prior experience with cannoli though, so I can’t actually say if they were good or not. I am told by general consensus, though, that they are considered good.

I do have prior experience with Portuguese tarts ($3.80), however, and Mezzapica’s was a bit sweeter than I would’ve liked. The pastry was also neither flaky nor crispy, and overall not something I’d want to have again.

At least they are close to Harris Farm.

Mezzapica Cakes
130 Norton St, Leichhardt NSW 2040

Categories
Chinese

Mr. Buffalo BBQ 牛鲜生中式烤肉 – Burwood NSW Restaurant Review

The concept of a “Chinese BBQ” restaurant is a bit foreign to me, as to the best of my knowledge Chinese food culture doesn’t traditionally include a kind of setting where you sit down in front of your own hot plate and grill your own food. Chinese BBQ, up until now, referred mostly to Cantonese BBQ, where meats are pre-roasted by the restaurant and cut and served to order, whilst other forms of BBQing, like cumin-coated lamb skewers, have also existed, again being prepared in the kitchen prior to being served.

Calling what is essentially a Korean BBQ restaurant “Chinese BBQ” just because it is run by Chinese people seems to be a bit of a misnomer, otherwise 90% of the sushi restaurants in Sydney should be calling themselves “Korean Sushi”.

There were, nonetheless, some more “Chinese-esque” flavours to be had at this Chinese-themed Korean BBQ restaurant (mainly the aforementioned lamb and cumin).

The food was good and reasonably priced. The giant piece of squid that we barbecued was more of a novelty than anything else.

In some sense, this was more of a Korean BBQ+, and could reasonably fulfil the niche that Korean BBQ offers, with additional flavours on offer.

We waited an exceptionally long time for a table, and were rewarded with a round of free drinks, which was very nice.

Mr. Buffalo BBQ 牛鲜生中式烤肉
Shop/6 Unity Pl, Burwood NSW 2134