Categories
Asian Fusion French Japanese

Auvers Dining – Darling Square Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

When my partner was a wee lass working in Concord she would always try and drag me to Auvers Cafe in Rhodes for brunch. “Why?” I ‘d ask her. “Why do you keep wanting me to go with you, even though you can go by yourself for breakfast after a night shift?” Her answer was always that she wanted to share this delicious food with me.

A few of nights ago we happened upon Auvers Dining in Darling Square. It was amazing for my partner to see her favourite local cafe all grown up into a legitimate French-Asian fusion restaurant in the big smoke. It also happened to be part of Auvers’ 1st birthday celebrations, and as such we got to have a free cocktail each.

  • Starry 75
  • Death in the Afternoon

Starry 75 – Good. Bubbly. Not too sweet

Death in the Afternoon – Quite sweet. Also good

Lobster on Souffle

I had the Lobster On Souffle ($38) with caviar, bonito creamy sauce, and black garlic. It was a dish of a few firsts for me – first caviar and first souffle. I enjoyed how light and bouncy the souffle was, and we both really liked the creamy sauce. The fact that it was bonito based was not immediately clear, as it didn’t taste fishy at all, just umami. There was a reasonable quantity of lobster for the price, as well as a sneaky serving of scallop which wasn’t listed in the menu. I don’t normally care much for black garlic, however my girlfriend liked it. I also enjoyed the kumquat – it was the first time in a very long time I had tasted it.

Piggy Roulade

My partner chose the Piggy Roulade ($28) with poached saffron pear, celeriac remoulade, apple yuzu puree, Tonkotsu sauce. You will see that the word “pork” is not listed in the menu, and my partner was kind enough to double check with our waiter to make sure there was some meat involved. The meat that was involved was juicy and well cooked, however felt a bit stagnant towards the end. There was probably just too much of it in the same style for one dish, something that was apparent even as each of us was eating only half of it. The apple puree and the poached pears stood strongly on their own, but I felt like they did not pear well with the flavour of the pork. My partner disagreed with me on this and she liked that they brought some acidity into the mix.

Overall I had a really good time at Auvers Dining. There are still quite a few items on the menu that I’d like to try, and I’d ideally like to try them this month to take advantage of their free drink offer.

UPDATE 28/9/2020 – We went back

  • Whiskey sour
  • Spring special sour

Whiskey sour – enjoyed more

Spring special sour – enjoyed less. Bit too sweet.

The Ox Tongue Soba Cabonara ($22) was quite good, and well priced. I liked the creaminess of the cabonara, but thought that the ox tongue was a bit tough. My partner didn’t mind this however and happily ate the ox tongue pieces in one bite. I did like the addition of reticulum, which I thought provided a fun texture and taste. (My partner, though Chinese, does not like weird animal parts).

Wagyu Beef Skewers

I really enjoyed the Wagyu Beef Skewers (2 for $18), although I thought the price was a bit steep. The beef was tender and juicy, and I liked that shallots and mushrooms skewered between the pieces of meat. While it was quite a price to pay for merely two skewers the taste of these skewers really sets them apart from the competition. I’m still yet to find a nice, quality but cheap yakitori place in Sydney (let me know if you have a line on one!)

The Szechuan Calamari with salted egg mayo ($15) were a reasonably priced starter with good taste. I liked that they weren’t too salty, and I think that this is actually one of my favourite salted egg dishes I’ve had recently (and boy have I had a few – I think it must be in vogue.). I also liked the half lime that they gave us to drizzle over the calamari, although I can’t figure out why they decided to blacken it.

Dragon Well Tea Creme Brulee

The Dragon Well Tea Creme Brulee ($15) I could’ve lived without. I thought it was quite sweet, and I couldn’t really appreciate the green tea flavour. My partner liked it quite a bit. More power to her.

Auvers Dining – Darling Square
Shop 4/12 Nicolle Walk, Haymarket NSW 2000
(02) 9188 2392

Categories
Chinese

Brother Restaurant – Rosebery NSW Chinese Restaurant Review

I am glad to tell you that I think Brother Restaurant is actively bad.

We had the pork dumplings ($16.80), the small braised chicken – not pictured ($30), and the beef fried noodle XO Sauce ($16.80).

The pork dumplings were small and had strong frozen supermarket dumpling energy. I don’t want to slander them but if you set me up with a bowl of dumplings that were from the frozen section of your ocal Asian grocery tsore and these dumplings I would not be able to tell you which one was $16.80 from a restaurant and which one was $4 from the supermarket.

The beef fried noodle in XO sauce was very salty with minimal meat.

The braised chicken had a reasonable flavour with chicken and potato, however was a very small quantity (a takeaway box) for $30 – did they just make this number up? – and the chicken was very bony.

I cannot recommend Brother Restaurant at all. Skip the graded escalation and just tell me to STOP if I try to order from them again.

Brother Restaurant
411 Gardeners Rd, Rosebery NSW 2018

Categories
Café Modern Australian

A1 Canteen (Revisited) – Chippendale NSW Brunch Review

When we heard that A1 Canteen in Chippendale was closing down, we knew we had to visit again to try their famous curry eggs before they disappeared off the face of the planet. These were the same eggs that mesmerized me during my previous visit to A1 Canteen back in July.

Armed with months of insider parking knowledge, we booked ahead and found street parking early in the day. This was a much less awful process than last time.

Curried scrambled eggs

While visually arresting, the curried scrambled eggs ($19) were ultimately a bit of a disappointment. The dish basically consists of three elements – egg, sausage, and muffin. The egg is meant to be the star of the dish, but I found it the weakest component. Despite its orangey look, the eggs were in fact not that curried. The curry flavour was quite weak, and did not live up to the expectations set by the eyes. They were cooked just fine, but definitely were not as light and perfect as those at Dopa. The muffin component was superb. They were toasted to a crisp ideal of perfection, contrasting synergistically with the runniness of the eggs. The sausage, which is from local delicatessen LP’s, was complexly textured and enjoyable. My partner specifically remarked how nice it was to get a normal sausage as opposed to a chorizo which she feels is a bit overdone in the brunch scene.

Panna Cotta

A1 Canteen also served me my first ever Panna Cotta ($13) with stewed rhubarb ( I thought it was strawberry), long pepper, and olive oil. I thought it was fine. My partner was more enamoured with it than me, so I will let her explain in her own words: “The olive oil added a lot to it in a surprising way. It was creamy and yummy and I really liked the olive oil and it was not something I thought would go with it, but it really brought out the flavours. I never experienced such an olivey flavour before.”

Overall I was again a bit disappointed by A1 Canteen, but I would’ve been equally disappointed if they had closed down without me every trying the curried eggs. Go if you want.

A1 Canteen
Ground 2/10 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Categories
Chinese 广东 (Guǎngdōng/Cantonese)

Eastwood Seafood Restaurant – Eastwood NSW Restaurant Review

One time when I was 14, back when the restaurant was named some permutation of Eastwood garden peking seafood restaurant, my parents were attending an open house in Eastwood and left me here to have lunch here by myself.

I went back a few weeks ago (June 2020) with my partner for dinner, just as the COVID-19 restrictions in NSW were relaxed to allow 50 patrons in a restaurant. I think there must have been 100 of us inside by the time we were done with dinner, which gave me a sense of unease.

The Shandong chicken was a standout.

The deep fried salt and pepper tofu was in surprisingly big pieces but yummy.

The tofu and salted fish hot pot was not what I expected (you can see from the photo it was white).

This chicken mushroom soup was also very good and wholesome.

Overall the food was good but the disregard for public health regulations lost this restaurant points, and perhaps should lose this restaurant its license to operate. Keeping people safe is more important than making money.

Eastwood Seafood Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Categories
Chinese

Canton BBQ Restaurant – Maroubra NSW Restaurant Review

I had a bit of an odd experience ordering from Canton BBQ Restaurant in Maroubra. For starters no one I spoke to was able to actually speak Chinese. They didn’t have a good understanding of their menu which is posted online, so much so that when I asked for a specific dish they told me they didn’t have it – only to have it when I arrived at the store.

Mixed vegetables with tofu in hotpot – I called to order this dish and they told me it wasn’t on the menu. Upon arrival they told me that they looked at the menu again and found it. Was only fine.

Singaporean noodles – a disappointment

Lamb and cumin pancakes – very oily but actually tasted quite good.

Roast duck – This must have been the most lean and athletic duck ever! Supermarathonist duck, with minimal fat or muscle. Very bony.

Spring rolls – hard to mess up. Just fine.

I wouldn’t recommend going to Canton BBQ Restaurant in Maroubra. It ended up being very expensive and not very good. There are better alternatives out there. 3/10.

Canton BBQ Restaurant
17 Maroubra Rd, Maroubra NSW 2035
(02) 8021 1402