Tag: grilled salmon

Categories
Café

Superfreak – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

We had quite a yummy and leafy brunch at relatively new spot Superfreak in Marrickville.

Taking a break from tradition, here’s a photo of an ultra-cozy shaggy booth bench to start.

The lunch plate ($32) allegedly with seasonal vegetables (in today’s case – carrot, cucumber, and strawberries), comte, LP’s saucisson sec, ham, sauerkraut, fig (where was this), whiped ricotta, butter, house pickles and bread was a medley of freshness and deliciousness on one plate. Each portion of the meal, apart from the comte, had its own fresh and non-overpowering flavour, layering upon each other to create a variety of mixed mouthfuls. The whipped ricotta was mild and delicious, the ham was similarly not too salty with a good mouthfeel (from Emilio’s butcher), and the bread was crunchy and excellent with a bit of butter and layered with everything else. The dutch carrots were served somewhat annoyingly with long stalks for no reason but display, but were fresh and cruchy, and the strawberries were very sweet. I didn’t have a strong adoration for the comte, especially in such a large quantity, but the sauerkraut was nice. Ever my partner, someone not generally in to cured salumis, enjoyed the saucisson sec from LP’s. This plate was overall a fun mixture of flavours.

Even better than the lunch plate was this trio of salads ($24), to which we added a side of gremolata encrusted Ora king salmon ($10). The pumpkin wedge salad was probably the best of the three, with a delicious sweet and moist wedge of roasted pumpkin in a green coriander and cashew cream dressing. The fioretto and lentil salad would be my second pick, not for the pulses, but for the mustardy leek, roasted fioretto (which soaked up so much dressing flavour) and dill, while the crunchy green salad made predominately of lettuce was quite missable, in my opinion.

The gremolata encrusted Ora king salmon ($10) was absolutely delicious, slightly seared on the outside and perfectly fatty and soft on the inside, served wiht a tangy leafy topping. It was absolutely a key component of the salad dish, if optional, and deserves to star in its own adventure on the menu on its next iteration.

Decor

The rare subsequent decor photo, they painted the air conditioner 1980s tobacco yellow to match the wall, as well as a ceiling fan and opposing wall air conditioner green. Kind of cute.

Overall thoughts
Yummy. Can recommend the salmon. Parking is OK around the corner.

Superfreak
Shop 2/333a Enmore Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Japanese

Koku Culture – Ashfield NSW Restaurant Review

Koku Culture is home to one of the best brunches I’ve had all year. I’ve never been shy about my love of Japanese-fusion breakfast and brunch foods, and Koku Culture’s tiny Ashfield store fits the bill completely.

The Torched Confit Ora King Salmon Fillet with 63 degree egg ($24+$2) was sublime. Ora King Salmon is always a treat, featuring a rich oiliness and delicate mouthfeel far beyond your average grocery store Tasmanian Atlantic salmon. I try to order some Ora King salmon every now and then from the popular online fish delivery services, and even when cooked inexpertly by me at home the difference is noticeable. Koku Culture’s torched confit king salmon fillet definitely lived up to expectations – tender inside with a slight char on the outside reminiscent of aburi sushi. The miso dressing was tasty but not overpowering, and the green tea soba salad surprisingly refreshing, especially with the egg (a $2 supplement but important) and miso mixed in. This has to be a must-order dish from Koku Culture.

This Crispy Rice Cheeseburger ($15) with Chips and their secret sauce was also fantastic, but in a completely different way to the salmon. Where the salmon felt clean and healthful, this was perfect in terms of sheer debauchery. The rice “buns” were perfectly cirspy and fried out the outside, with a light but slightly sticky texture on the inside – a bit “QQ” as we would call it in terms of Chinese food. The seafood was similarly crispy, enjoyable and not merely for decoration. I opted for an extra patty ($5)(probably wasn’t necessary in this case, and I’d just stick with a single patty in the future) , and both beef patties were cooked to a delicious level of juiciness, mixed in with their special sauce and fresh lettuce. Even the chips were good.

The matcha affogato, which I can’t see on their menu any more, was pretty OK. The ice cream was good, the coffee was black. Mixed together it remained a bit black for my taste.

That’s a good Matcha Brownie right there.

COMMENTS
I enjoyed Koku Culture. Definitely worth a visit, but make sure you budget in some time for the queue outside.

UPDATE
These guys are now closed forever, before the publication of this review. This is part of why I’ve pushed this review far into the future in terms of scheduling – they’re not going to get more dead. Hopefully Kenji Okuda and Donna Chau can bless us once again something good.

Koku Culture
1/355 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
0402 697 475

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Italian Korean

Amuze – Darlinghurst NSW Restaurant Review

This is not a criticism of Amuze at all, but as I was driving to Amuze in one of Sydney CBD’s many 40 km/hr zones a man in a white Porsche Cayenne aggressively tailgated me, beeped his horn at me, then ultimately did an illegal U-turn through double lines. As I was looking for parking near Amuze I once again saw this man, still in his car, parked adjacent to one of the only free spots directly outside the restaurant. As I didn’t want to be assaulted by this bad man I had to keep driving and eventually park around the corner.

Amuze salmon steak

I had the salmon steak ($19.50) consisting of a piece of pan-fried salmon atop salad with spiralised zuchini, sun dried tomatoes and carrot and a side of potato. The salmon itself was delicious, with crispy skin and a partially cooked inside. I’m surprised how much I enjoyed the spiralised zucchini salad – it was really tasty with its zesty flavours. The potatoes had a nice fried exterior however I felt the interior was too starchy.

While I ate outside, the interior of the restaurant looked really nice. There’s plenty more on the menu that I’d like to try – the cafe pride itself on a number of Korean inspired dishes, and has a few Korean chefs.

Will come back soon I hope.

UPDATE 15/11/2020

So I did come back, five days after my initial meal – this time with my partner and one of our emergency medicine friends.

Amuze cream cheese pancakes

The cream cheese pancakes ($17.50) were good. The pancakes themselves were soft with a complex slightly sourdough-like flavour, and not too sweet (yum). There was a huge serving of cream cheese topping (yum), compote (yum), and fresh strawberries and blueberries (standard).

Amuze spaghetti white truffle ragu

The spaghetti white truffle ragu ($19.50) was delicious! The sauce was creamy and flavourful. The sausage mince added additional bursts of flavour atop the sauce. The spaghetti was cooked a bit too al dente for me, but still yummy.

Coffee ($3.80 for a latte), was unfaultable – very good.

Closing comments – while Amuze bills itself as Korean-Italian fusion, my impression is that their menu consists of either Korean or Italian dishes. The three dishes that we’ve tried (and the chicken parma that my ED colleague tried – not pictured or reviewed) were all firmly in the Italian camp of things, with no real Korean touches. I wonder if the other half of the menu – which consists of kimchi ramen and bibimbap among other things – have more Western elements in them. Not a complaint – just an observation.

4.5/5

Amuze
1 Burton St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
0487 037 757

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Japanese

Pokemeow – Rosebery NSW Cat Cafe Review

Cats are my favourite animal. Even though we have two small cats at home, we often find ourselves in wonder of cats on the internet, on the streets, and now at Pokemeow Cat Cafe.

One of the great joys of Pokemeow Cat Cafe is being able to sit outside and peer into their cat playground. Their clowder of cats, consisting of two Maine coons, a sphinx, a ragdoll, a munchkin and a very beautiful but average domestic shorthair, are an absolute delight to watch. Being able to watch them play and interact during our meal really elevated the experience. There’s also the opportunity to pay $10 for a 30 minute play session inside the playground (book beforehand online), but we chose not to as we felt it would be a bit weird to have all the diners look at us as we did so.

The overall vibe of the place is very pet friendly as well, and many of the other patrons brought their dogs along for brunch. There was, in particular, a very good yellow labrador who my partner got to pet.

While the six beautiful resident cats at Pokemeow are undoubtedly their main draw, their Asian fusion brunch menu isn’t anything to sneer at either.

I had the black sesame latte while my partner had just a normal large cappuccino. It strikes me that asking for a black sesame latte is more or less asking for fun milk please. A protip to new players, make sure to mix up your black sesame latte – there tends to be a lot of stuff that sediments at the bottom.

We enjoyed the truffle chips, which came covered in a cheesy parmesan. They were fresh out of the fryer and unfaultable.

I quite liked the six spicy fried chicken wings. I thought that they were reasonably priced (≤$10) and freshly fried and delicious. My partner thought they were not as good as the ones we had at Belle’s Hot Chicken the previous night but I thought they stood well on their own.

I felt that the earl grey pancakes were a bit dry on their own, but just fine when combined in a single bite with the provided mascarpone, berries, and sauce. I probably wouldn’t get these again, but my partner was a big fan.

The grilled salmon green tea soba salad was a bit of a weird one. The salmon was pretty standard (no better than anyone could make at home), however I would’ve liked a bit more of it. I couldn’t really appreciate the green tea flavour of the voluminous soba noodles until I had a further bite of a chicken wing to contrast against. I thought that the soba noodles perhaps were featured too prominently in the dish, however did enjoy it once the soba were mostly powered through and I could pair it better with the remaining sesame dressing, carrot, and tomato salad components. My partner didn’t really like this dish, but in retrospect and on deep introspection I did. I probably still wouldn’t get it again. Offer to pay for double salmon if they will let you.

I really enjoyed my visit to Pokemeow. Their food was pretty good, and there are a lot more Asian fusion brunch options left to try. I loved watching the cats play and interact, and would absolutely come back agian.

Pokemeow
1/8 Crewe Place, Rosebery NSW 2018
0416 668 468

Pokemeow Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato