Category: Asian Fusion

Categories
Asian Fusion Italian Japanese

Casoni – Darlinghurst NSW Restaurant Review

Casoni is one of the nicest meals I’ve had in some time. The menu was described to us as “Modern Italian”, with a selection of Italian staples fused with some Japanese inspiration.

We started with the Wattle Seed Flatbread ($6). Originally our choice of topping was going to be the salmon roe, however as they were out of stock we had to improvise. After the reassurance of our host that the serving of bread would be “quite generous” and suited to having two sides/toppings, I chose the ortiz anchovies ($6) and green garlic burrata ($10). While the bread was warm, soft, fragrant and delicious, it turns out that “quite generous” was a straight out lie. I would not characterise the bread as being suited to having two toppings. One was more than enough, so much so that we weighed up whether or not we should order a second serving of flatbread to mop up voluminous sides.

The ortiz anchovies ($6) were salty. I think they always are. I’m yet to develop a taste for them. My partner straight up refused to try it (she’s a bit of a fish-o-phobe).

The garlic green burrata ($10) was quite delicious. The inside of the burrata was very wet. It was a great dish to spread on the bread.

Black garlic bread

The Black Garlic Bread ($8) is a must try. It is more of a dessert than a garlic bread, with a sweet glaze and sauce. The topping of miso butter was divine. It is a house specialty for a reason and I would recommend no one leave this restaurant without trying it (cats and other people who can’t have garlic aside).

Tuna Carpaccio

The yellowfin tuna carpaccio with wasabi cream and burnt mandarin dressing ($18) was quite good but straddled the line towards being too tasty. I thought that the wasabi cream and burnt mandarin dressing overpowered the fish to the extent where I couldn’t really taste the star ingredient. While the flavours were good I wonder if a bit of tweaking is in order to highlight the tuna a bit better. Wasabi-phobes need not worry, the wasabi itself isn’t too strong.

Sausage and pecorino pappardelle

The sausage and pecorino pappardelle ($?26) was delicious. The serving size was large enough to share between two. The pappardelle was fresh and soft and tasty – not too al dente for me. The serving of sausage was extremely and unexpectedly generous, there was enough for each bite, and the pecorino added a great sharp flavour to the dish. While I’ve read from other reviews that pasta isn’t Casoni’s strong point, my experience with this pasta would lead me to disagree. It was just fantastic.

Comfortable seats

INTERIM OPINION (DECEMBER 2020)

As I’m sure you can tell by now we really enjoyed our meal at Casoni. We can’t wait to go back.

5 stars.

SUBSEQUENT VISIT (APRIL 2022)

It turns out we could wait to go back, in fact we waited around a year and a half, taking advantage of Casoni’s late opening hours after a night at the museum.

The black garlic sourdough ($12) has now replaced the previous black garlic bread. The differences? This sourdough bread is now a bit more dense, as one could quite reasonably expect. Where the previous black garlic bread was quite sweet with its creamy topping, this dish was much more of a savoury affair, with the miso butter imparting quite a salty taste.

The wagyu tartare ($19) with sundried tomato and coriander seed matched with sunchoke crispy was a pretty solid, inoffensive and even tasty tartare. Its flavouring was a bit of a departure from your usual tartare, its sourness a bit sweeter owing to the use of tomato rather than your classic capers. I found the meat a bit overrepresented in comparison to the creme fraiche and crisp however, and we quickly ran out of yummy crisp to put the tartare on.

The signature croquette ($25) was a great addition to the menu. It featured an unbelievably creamy potato inner, coated in a delicious katsu-style crumb and fried to a somewhat unbelievable level of crispy perfection. The marscapone topping and abundance of salty umami salmon roe made for the perfect foil for the mild potato within. This dish reminded me of the roe course at Quay, but for a far more accessible price (plus, you don’t have to eat all the other disappointments there either).

The spanner crab tagliatelle ($31) with nduja, fermented mustard greens and burnt kombu was a solid pasta, though not revolutionary. The serving of crab was generous for the price, and the overall quality of the sauce and pasta met the high expectations set by our previous experience at Casoni.

OPINION
Sometimes when you revisit a beloved restaurant you are disappointed by the ideals formed during your first visit. This was not the case with Casoni. They remain reliably excellent.

Casoni
371-373 Bourke St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
0449 516 798

Categories
Asian Fusion Bakery Café

Humble Bakery – Surry Hills NSW Cafe Review

“Humble Bakery is pretty humble and quiet,” my friend said to me after my visit yesterday, “don’t let too many people know.”

“Don’t worry.” I replied. “No one reads my blog anyway.”

Humble Bakery is located on Holt St in Surry Hills, surrounded by plenty of ticketed parking. Venture around the corner onto Hart St, however, and you might just be able to snag a free one hour park. The cafe has high ceilings, large light-filled windows, and an open kitchen, allowing curious diners the opportunity to surreptitiously take photos of their work.

I had brunch on a Sunday morning with just one other customer around a large communal table, with room for at least another ten and some more classic dining tables on the back platform. While Humble Bakery might have been able to fly under the radar up to now, the quality of its offerings suggest to me that this anonymity is unlikely to last, regardless of what kind of review I empty into the river.

Croissant around LP’s Pig Head Sausage

The Croissant around LP’s Pig Head Sausage ($10) is widely lauded but I think ultimately not as great as it could be. LP’s smallgoods are generally unfaultable, and it’s hard to not like a dish that incorporates them. The missing X factor is the croissant (ie. the Bakery’s domain), which I felt was colder than it should’ve been. I feel like this kind of croissant sausage roll should be warm inside and out, and even though I was eating in it just felt lukewarm. Not really a great buy for $10, I wouldn’t recommend this.

Pork Belly Roll with kimchi, carrot, jalapenos and mayonnaise ($18)

The Pork Belly Roll with kimchi, carrot, jalapenos and mayonnaise ($18) is truly very good. The bread is fresh and warm, perfect for soaking up all of the flavourful juices of the roll. The pork belly is undersold on the menu – there is no mention of it being five spice pork belly, and an accurate representation of it at that. The kimchi, carrot, and jalapenos (mild) add a delicious freshness to the roll. This was a really great sandwich, much better than the LP’s pig head croissant, and one that I would strongly recommend. A surprisingly coherent Asian fusion roll – just don’t compare it to your local Hot Bread store’s in terms of price.

VERDICT
My meal started off weak but ended up strong. I’d like to come back to Humble Bakery when I get the chance.

Four out of five spices

Humble Bakery
50 Holt St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Categories
Asian Fusion Korean

Tokki – Surry Hills NSW Restaurant Review

Tokki is the second Korean restaurant we’ve eaten at in Surry Hills recently and older sister to Redfern’s generally disappointing Vietnamese eatery Kinhboy.

The vibe at Tokki is quite similar to that at Kinhboy. The interior design is more upclass asnd modern than your regular Asian restaurant, with pink lights providing a neon glow, wide tables, and high ceilings. We are greeted by an Asian woman at front of house, a welcome change from the predominantly Western front of house staff at our recent forays into Asian Fusion dining.

Menbosha

The Menbosha ($15) – DIY prawn yuzu sriracha mayo on brioche – is a fun deep friend entree. The dish consists of deep fried prawn, sriracha mayo, and deep fried pieces of brioche toast. The limited DIY component of the dish description consists mainly of putting the first two components onto the third – less involved than putting together an IKEA flatpack but more involved than if they had just served the toppings on top of the toast, I guess. The prawns were lovely and warm, and the sriracha mayonnaise nice and creamy. The deep fried brioche toast bits had a light taste but you could tell that they are obviously very oily. It’s a rare food that makes me feel actively guilty about my cardiovascular risk with each bite. Delicious though.

Roasted cauliflower

I did my mum, dad, and one of my gastroenterology colleagues proud by having the roasted cauliflower ($14) with miso butter glaze and furikake. The cauliflower was perfectly roasted – cooked but still juicy on the inside. The miso butter and furikake added a nice dimension of sweet umami to this share plate. Don’t let this dish’s categorisation under “SMALLS” fool you – this is something that can definitely be shared between three or four people.

Tokki BBQ Tray

The Tokki BBQ Tray ($36) is an assorted mix tray of beef short rib, pork belly, baby pork galbi, and grilled gochujang chicken. It is unfortunately much more expensive than $29 noted in some early reviews of the restaurant and even the $32 listed on Tokki’s own website, however we did not argue this point at the time. The pork ribs were nice, tender and flavourful. The pork belly, similar to what you get in bossam, was light and melted easily in the mouth. The griled gochujang chicken was surprisingly tender and delicious, so much so that my partner enjoyed it much more than she expected. The beef short rib was disappointing and nothing to write home about. Overall a good dish with lots of variety, but a shame about the continual price hikes.

Korean fried chicken – chilli gochu

The chilli gochujang korean fried chicken ($26) was a small mountain in size, quite good for the price, especially keeping in mind the location and general vibe of the place. The chicken was good when fresh, however a bit too tasty for my liking. I enjoyed the sides of radish and red cabbage and thought that they provided a good foil to the oversauced chicken, however was disappointed when they weren’t packed into the takeaway box.

Like Kinhboy, Tokki provides an extensive beverage list. My partner enjoyed this sake sake cocktail ($18), and so did I.

VERDICT

It is extremely loud inside Tokki and the venue is not really fit for a first date or any other activity that requires some actual conversation. Aside from this, the food is good and the service from their adequately multicultural cast is as well. I can recommend Tokki but not for your next business lunch.

4/5

Tokki
Shop 1/44a Foveaux St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9280 3637

Categories
Asian Fusion Japanese

Monkey’s Corner – Chippendale NSW Restaurant Review

I’ve been wanting to try Monkey’s Corner for a long time, but it’s been difficult to get our work schedules to sync up with its limited Thurs-Sun 5PM-9PM opening hours. This afternoon I finally got the call – to come try out Monkey’s Corner to see if it’s good before bringing the wider group.

Monkey’s Corner, located next to its sister restaurant KOI, is a Japanese-influenced eatery run by the Poernomo brothers. Its menu consists of doburi, noodles, and other japanese inspired dishes, and patrons are free to order desserts and coffee from KOI next door.

I had the Uni egg noodle with dashi cream, sea urchin, salmon roe ($27). The first thing to mention is that the portion was absolutely tiny. The photos on instagram and even the photo that I’ve taken don’t do justice to the miniscule size of the portion. Perhaps the best measure of the size is the spoon in the background of the image. This dish was about three spoons long and one and a half spoons wide.

What I think was most disappointing was that this dish was clearly pasta, rather than noodles. Noodles in an Asian context does not describe super-al-dente noodles in a heavy cabonara-like sauce. That’s what this was, and it caught me off guard. Pasta was not what I was expecting, and pasta was not what I wanted. The portions of uni seem large in this photo, but were actually very small in person. I had high hopes for this dish, but it was not meant to be.

I really wanted to enjoy Monkey’s Corner, but it was not meant to be. I would not bring a friend or colleague.

Monkey’s Corner
40 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW 2008
(02) 9212 2085

Categories
Asian Fusion Vietnamese

Kinhboy – Redfern NSW Restaurant Review

We’ve been on a bit of a Vietnamese food journey recently, and when Kinhboy popped up on my radar last week with good preliminary reviews online we knew we had to try. Unfortunately they did not quite live up to their hype.

The banh xeo tacos with crackling pork belly (2 for $16) were pretty unextraordinary. While the filling of crackling pork, vietnamese slaw and sauce was tasty, juicy and fresh, the “banh xeo” exterior shell was a letdown. Taking our experience at Banh Xeo Bar as a baseline we would characterise this banh xeo taco shell as too hard (but not crispy) and a bit stale tasting.

Short Rib Pho

Kinhboy’s beef short rib pho ($18) was actually very good. The meat was very juicy and tender, cut into bit sized pieces and rearranged on the bone. The broth was rich and tasty. My one complaint would be that this dish was served with the bean sprouts within the soup, meaning that we did not have the opportunity to add our own at our own pace. This meant that they got quite soft and cooked by the end of our meal, while we like them a bit more crunchy and less cooked.

Crispy Chicken Supreme ($21), Jasmine Rice ($4)

I had very high expectations for the Crispy Chicken Supreme ($21), cooked in the French style in nuoc cham buerre blanc. Unfortunately my expectations were not met. The chicken itself was dry, and the skin hard but not crispy – a significant downgrade from the chicken I recently had at Khoi’s in Surry Hills. The sauce, while tangy and creamy, didn’t really go well with the chicken. Even when dipped the chicken had difficulty holding onto the sauce, and my partner felt like the flavours did not match well ( I don’t feel as strongly about this.) While the Jasmine Rice ($4) was a good suggestion from our waitress (like at Banh Xeo Bar, all of Kinhboy’s waitresses were White while all the Asians were kept in the kitchen) to soak up the sauce, it ultimately just didn’t cross the line into P+ territory for us.

Cherry Bomb

My partner wanted me to leave some good vibes about this Cherry Bomb ($18) cocktail.

VERDICT

While the beef short rib pho was a hit, our other two dishes were a disappointment – sad because I really wanted to like it. Despite a pretty average time at Kinhboy we did dine at sister restaurant Tokki a couple of days later – keep your eyes and noses peeled for that review soon.

3.5/5 racially segregated staff pools

Kinhboy
Shop E/66 Regent St, Redfern NSW 2016
(02) 8399 0535