The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally. All meals are independently paid for - the author has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Xiaomi means “small rice” in Mandarin, a name perhaps more fitting for this purple rice yoghurt specialty store than the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer (on whose product all of the photos on this blog have been taken).
Xiaomi Yoghurt’s restrictive opening times have meant that despite the many many times we have eaten out in Kingsford it has been very rare for us to see it open. I took the opportunity one evening to grab a mango tea yoghurt ($8) for myself and some purple rice yoghurts for my partner (4 for $20) and her friends and colleagues in the Prince of Wales intensive care unit.
I really enjoyed the mango tea yoghurt. It had heaps of thick fresh mango at the bottom, with a good mix of yoghurt. I particularly enjoyed the strong tea flavour in one layer of the drink. My only regret is that I drank it through the straw whilst driving in my car, and thus I wasn’t able to appreciate all of the layered complexities present in the drink.
My partner liked the purple tea yoghurt. She’s somewhat of a connoisseur, and found it no worse than its competitors but at a better price.
When you spend $290 per head at Sydney’s most lauded restaurant I think you’re allowed to expect something truly special. Unfortunately special isn’t quite the word I would use to describe our meal at Quay, which we had just before Christmas 2020 to celebrate my partner’s brother’s med school graduation.
Amuse-bouche
The amuse-bouche, a small and delicate tart filled with oyster cream and topped with seaweed, was in my opinion the best morsel of the night. The oyster cream had a very intense fresh oyster flavour, packing an almost illegal amount of umami in this tiny morsel. The pastry was extremely thin and delicate, however still able to provide a nice mouthfeel and also the structural integrity required to hold the tart together. If the entire meal had been up to the quality of this amuse-bouche then this would have been an entirely different review altogether.
Raw hand harvested seafood, virgin soy, aged vinegar
The raw hand harvested seafood, virgin soy, aged vinegar was our first listed course of the eight-course degustation menu, and our first encounter with Quay’s interesting array of custom crockery. The “hand harvested” seafood alluded to in the dish’s description included raw scallop, octopus legs, and pipis. The bottom layer of very thinly sliced raw scallop was very nice, with a subtle sweetness and no bitterness. My partner remarked that this was the only time she has ever enjoyed pipi, and one of the few times she has ever enjoyed octopus (apart from as takoyaki). The flavour created by the combination of virgin soy (pre-tainted soy would be far too “common” for this kind of restaurant) and aged vinegar was unexpectedly and delightfully light. This was a good dish.
This is the poached marron, green almonds, pomelo, flowers. Our waitress described marron as a kind of crustacean “native to the shores here in Australia”, which if I’m being honest kind of offended me, as if weren’t also from the shores here in Australia. The dish itself was quite small. Marrons aren’t really that small, but I guess baby ones might be. The flavours of this dish were very mild, with very little being added in terms of taste by the almonds or flowers. I just wonder if she introduces the dish the same way to the Caucasian Australian diners.
My partner’s brother isn’t a big fan of crustaceans and is allergic to some. His plate was three different types of radishes. He did not look impressed.
The bread course was unlisted, but one of the better ones of the night. We were each served a toasted crumpet with house cultured cream and Yarra Valley salmon roe. I really liked the warm butteriness of the crumpet. It was quite crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and obvious that no butter had been spared in the name of health. The cream was the better of the two accompaniments. I couldn’t help but feel like the Yarra Valley salmon roe was a bit of a skimp. Yarra Valley salmon roe, while fitting with the “locavore” local food trend, is well known to be heavily marinated and salty. It doesn’t really compare to salmon roe used by the better sushi restaurants which is more buttery and lighter tasting.
The smoked eel cream, seaweeds, agretti, ice plant is one of the differentiating factors between the $240 tasting menu and the $290 tasting menu. The story told to us is that the chef boils five eels in five litres of cream, and reduces the mixture until it is boiled down to just one litre. The final result is sweet and creamy, however it was difficult for any of us to really appreciate the eel flavour. At most we could appreciate a hint of smoke. I think any concept of eel flavouring was more imagined than actual, and I’m sure that if Quay’s diners were not told of the presence of eel beforehand it wouldn’t even be a consideration. The three types of seaweed atop the cream provided a nice sour tanginess which contrasted well with the richness of the cream.
The shittake and squid noodles, sour koji butter was hyped by our waitress in exquisite detail but left us feeling disappointed. We were told how the buckwheat noodles were infused with shittake mushroom, and how the koji butter was poured in to give it an additional umami kick. Though the plating and presentation were good, the flavours in this essentially mazesoba dish were too light and subtle. The umami kick which was promised didn’t really happen. Our waiter later told us that this was his favourite dish, which is an opinion that I don’t share.
The meatiest dish of the night was the slow cooked pig jowl, umami custard, black pig salami. Chef Peter Gilmore has apparently been using Berkshire pig jowl in various dishes for over a decade. Berkshire pig is breed known for high intramuscular fat content, which helps to create more tender, juicy meat. We found this dish to be quite juicy and flavourful, and enjoyed the fatty meat, as well as the salami on top. The layer of “umami custard” actually lived up to its name this time, and did provide a rich depth of flavour to the dish. Yummy. I might pick up some Berkshire pig to cook with myself.
I wasn’t a big fan of the Maremma duck, orach, gooseberries, onions, Kampot pepper. We were told that the chef breaks down an entire duck just for this little piece of meat, discarding the rest. Our waitress mentioned with glee that the skin of the duck was replaced by the orach, gooseberries and onions, which was kind of bewildering to me as someone finds the layer of crispy skin and fat over duck meat essential. Ever worse than the concept was the reality – the dish had a strong caramelised onion smell and taste, which I think unfortunately overpowered the taste of the duck as well as that of the sweet gooseberries. This dish was a great way to completely defeat the purpose of eating duck. Tetsuya’s duck course was much better than this.
The white coral dessert. made of liquid nitrogen frozen white chocolate coral atop peach and vanilla ice creams was definitely a standout of the meal.
The Moo dessert was part of the extended menu, featuring salted caramel, Dulce de Leche, prune jam with aged Madeira, jersey milk ice-cream, whipped jersey cream, dark cocoa tuile biscuits. The most striking things about this dessert was the quite extreme custom crockery (non-edible) that it came in as well as the surprisingly cheap and plastic dessert spoon given to us to eat with. The prune jam was the strongest flavour within the dessert and unfortunately the tanginess of the jam did take over a bit. This was a house specialty that, while special to the house, wasn’t great.
A petit-four, a nice little berry tart featuring the greenest strawberry I’ve ever eaten.
The Apple Island Fog ($30), served with liquid nitrogen, was not great. Don’t eat the petal.
DISCUSSION
Quay has two separate dining rooms, one lower level which is a bit more spacious and quiet, and one upper level offering 360 degree views of Sydney Harbour, which was more crowded and noisy. We were not given a choice of where to sit, and were led to the upper floor on arrival. While the views are nice, it definitely pays to either have lunch or a Summer dinner at Quay, as there’s not much to see once the sun sets.
I do want to make a special mention to the one Asian guy who was eating his $290 meal in a T-shirt and shorts all by himself. That’s real money.
VERDICT
I couldn’t help but feel – given the quality of the meal – that we paid as much for the view and the restaurant’s name as we did the food. Quay’s signature nine course degustation really wasn’t as special as I thought it would be, and was really comparable in quality, taste, and execution to many of the much cheaper ($100-150/head) meals we’ve had recently. If you’re looking to spend over $250 per head on food alone in Sydney I’d easily recommend Tetsuya’s instead.
My first introduction to fine dining was at Sepia after I had just finished med school, and this was the kind of experience we were trying to replicate for my partner’s brother. My meal at Sepia is an experience I’m constantly trying to recapture, but I think if my first ever fine dining experience had been at Quay I would’ve given up on the concept entirely.
I probably won’t go back to Quay unless someone has a wedding here.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed a new mole on my left palm. This worried me for a number of reasons. The first of these is that you’re not really meant to have moles in areas of skin that are not exposed to the sun. The second of which was that this was new and therefore something potentially problematic. As someone with the baseline anxiety grade of 7 out of 10 I decided that I needed to have this checked and hopefully biopsied as we know that tissue is king. And thus we made it to the Upper North Shore for a two minute skin check, and took the golden opportunity to get some brunch as well.
We rarely have an excuse to cross the bridge and I had a number of restaurants lined up just waiting to be eaten at. Near the top of this list was Chimichuri, yet another Asian fusion brunch cafe.
Soy Latte (L), Earl Grey Latte (R)
My partner ordered the Earl Grey Latte (L -$5), also known as a “large fun milk please”. Unfortunately the fun milk was not as fun as expected as we found it to be too far too sweet. My soy latte (S/R – $4) was just a soy latte, pretty good, but no different to every other soy latte I have every other day. Drinks aside, I thought that the cups were particularly nice, as they had a large clear base that elevated the liquid holding portion and made the glasses seem bigger than they were.
Chimichuri – Black Benedict
The Black Benedict ($24) was basically a deep fried soft-shell crab together with a charcoal hamburger bun poached eggs and black dyed hollandaise sauce. There is also a very small amount of salmon roe which I found to have an odd taste and lacking in freshness. The Black Benedict is one of their signature dishes, however ultimately disappointing. My humble opinion is that the flavours were not very good or cohesive. I was also not a fan of the charcoal bun, and I believe the jury is still out as to whether or not this is good for your health or will actively cause cancer. Either way, I don’t think black bread really adds anything to the taste of food and I try to actively avoid it where possible.
Chimichuri – Scallop Shell
I enjoyed the Scallop Shell ($24) much more. I thought that the croissant had a great warmth and airy texture to it. It was so buttery and tasty and probably one of the best croissant I’ve had in recent memory. The scrambled egg on the croissant was also very light and warm on the inside and reminded me of the scrambled egg from Dopa. I thought that the scallop was not actually as special as I thought there would be. While the main advertised attraction, there were only three scallops for the entire dish and I didn’t feel like they had much flavour to them at all. My partner, if given the opportunity to speak, will tell you that scallop is normally quite a light-flavoured ingredient and that there is often a lot of potential for scallops flavours to be muddled up by for example croissant or egg. She said it was much better eaten on its own, however even in its own mouthful I found the scallop to be a bit lacking. We will have to beg to differ.
3.5/5 , hit and miss
Chimichuri 1/6 Help St, Chatswood NSW 2067 (02) 8084 5272
Everyday when you’re walking down the street, Every pizza that you eat, Has an original point of view.
The first thing of note about Arthur’s Pizza is the rectangular boxes that they use to store and transport circular pizzas. These boxes are constructed in a way where they open as a bit of an envelope, with the exterior flap opening superiorly and an inferior flap opening inferiory, both held together by carboard tabs.
I took advantage of Arthur’s Pizza’s $12 medium pizza takeaway deal, which is available daily until 7PM.
Arthur’s (Pepperoni, Roma Tomato, Capsicum, Mushroom)
Arthur’s eponymous pizza, named after a rascally aardvark, features Pepperoni, Roma Tomato, Capsicum, Mushroom atop a tomato-sauced thin crispy base. It’s a very fresh pizza, loaded with large tomato slices, that delivers a juiciness with each bite. This fresh tomato-y juiciness is supplemented well by the slight spiciness of the pepperoni, creating a very well composed pizza overall. I liked this so much that I had the entire pizza in one day, bar one slice which I saved for my partner. Unfortunately my orange cat got to the slice before she could, and dragged it onto the floor. My partner will never know the joy that I know.
The Randwick pizza features Olives, Anchovies, Capers, Semi-Dried Tomato, Basil – a flavour apparently developed to appease Eastern Suburbs Prince of Wales types. I found it, from my traditional Western Sydney frame of reference, not to my taste. I keep trying to force myself to eat anchovies with the thought that maybe if I eat enough I will find an anchovy I like. While I didn’t hate the anchovies on this pizza, I did not like how it was just covered in olives. The combination of salty fish and salty olives did not do well at creating a balanced pizza. Unlike Arthur’s namesake pizza, each bite of the Randwick was more and more of the same. While I’m normally an olive fan I ended up just picking off the olives and eating the pizza without them.
VERDICT
Arthur’s Pizza, at the bargain basement price of $12 for a medium, provides a good feed with a thin, crispy crust. Get what you like, don’t get what you don’t like in the hope that you will like it.
This is a review of Rustic Pearl, a small hole-in-the-wall cafe that offers coffee and Turkish-inspired foods for takeaway only during the COVID-19 period.
The original “BOMBA” ($12) is basically a lavash toastie with eggs, sausage, tomato and filled with lots of cheese. The bread is thin and crispy, and the contents very hot and overflowing with tomato flavour. Definitely eat this one hot, it gets quite boring once cold.
The meat burek ($8) is cheap and wonderful, and in fact everything I thought the Bomba should be. It’s basically a giant ravioli filled to the brim with sauce, vegetables, and meat. It comes with an excellent chilli dippling sauce, which unfortunately isn’t available for solo purchase (however they tell us they’re working on a business case). This is an absolutely unmissable component of Rustic Pearl’s 2020 offerings.
The brownie was rich, and I really appreciated the nuts.
The Angel cake was rich also, but not too sweet. A winner.
This caramel cookie was light and crumbly, so much so that it crumbled upon holding. Yum.
Special attention should be paid towards Rustic Pearls’ dark hot chocolate. It is rich and dark and not too sweet, something which is often hard to find. I would rate it together with Bourke St Bakery’s hot chocolate.
Overall I can definitely recommend paying Rustic Pearl a visit. Start with the meat burek with the chilli sauce, and explore outwards.
