Foodies memoir

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The Boathouse Palm Beach

Just when I was thinking what to do over the weekend, my lovely friend Faye invited me to join her and her friends to celebrate Miki's birthday lunch at Palm Beach. I've only met Miki once over a year ago, was contemplating if I should attend. But knowing that I will be spending my weekend with friends, I happily accepted the invitation.

The lovely entrance decorated with many beautiful flowers

I've been to Palm beach a couple of times before but never know this cafe existed. The cafe is hidden right inside Governor Philip park and far away from the main street, which feels like one exclusive cafe. The surroundings is beautiful, overlooking the beautiful Palm beach. The perfect location for a weekend birthday celebration.

Tiger prawns ; local beer battered flathead and chips

Salt and pepper squid; Steak burger

All the dishes we ordered looks fantastic. I had the local beer battered flat head and chips served in a wooden box. The beer battered was crispy and not too greasy. Moreover, the home made tarter sauce aren't bad at all.

Birthday cafe from Bread Top

Of course, how can we celebrate Miki's birthday without a birthday cake. The 3D cake in the shape of a dog looks amazing and tasted great. All in all, was happy to see Miki, not to mention had a fantastic Saturday surrounded by lovely friends at such great cafe overlooking Palm beach.

The Boathouse Palm Beach

Barrenjoey Boathouse

Governor Phillip Park

Palm Beach NSW 2108

Phone (02)9974 3868

www.theboathousepb.com.au

Breadtop

www.breadtop.com.au

Ryo's Noodles

"Let's have lunch at Ryo's."

The first time I went to this Ryo's noodle place was only roughly two or three months ago but I still remember the taste of the delicious soup in my month. When R suggested to go there for lunch, I agreed straight away.

Remembering the first time we went there, we need to queue up in front of the little shop at the corner of Falcon and West St for a little while. As I was really hungry and do not feel like been in the queue, we hurriedly go to the noodle place. Luckily, they just opened their doors and we're the second customers. The place filled with customers quickly within a short period of time.

Salt flavor pork soup with mix veggies and meat

This is the second time I tried this noodle place and once again I ordered the same dish I had previously. The sour flavor chicken soup ramen with prawn mince balls and veggies. Yes, I know what you may be thinking, how boring ? Ordering the same dish again? But hey, how often do you go to a Japanese noodle place that offer to serve a sour flavored soup? I love it so much, I would not mind having it again and again.

Sour flavor chicken soup ramen with prawn mince balls and veggies

When the soup first arrived, you can smell the sourness straight away. The smell was so strong, the effect of smelling it, is similar to having too much wasabi on your sushi. In a split second, I have doubted if I would be able to finish this bowl of ramen. The flavor of the soup was quite mild, together with the ramen and prawn mince, it seems to be a great combination. The doubt faded away with me happily eating the entire bowl of noodle. On the other hand, the person whom sitting right opposite me ordered the same thing but by the looks on his face, he does not look impress.

Beside the soup flavor ramen, there are lots of other choices of ramen soup as well as side dishes. All sounds very temping and I bet they would be as satisfying as the soup flavor soup I had.

Ryo's Noodle

125 Falcon Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Phone: (02) 9955 0225

RISE restaurant

"Where should we go for dinner? " I always have lots of restaurants that I would love to try but when asked the question, often it takes me a while to come up with any ideas. This time we decided to try RISE restaurant's Omakase degustation.

Spicy pork belly salad with tofu & bean sprouts namuru

Sweet corn soup with scallop mousse

When the first dish arrive, the fragrance of the dish smells beautiful. The combination of tofu with pork and bean spouts goes really well. Then it comes the weet corn soup with scallop mousse. Scallop mousse sounds very tempting, however when I tried the soup, it was a bit on the creamy side for my liking while I can't taste much of the scallop.

Assorted sashimi

Soy flan, shiitake sauce /rice paperroll of cured salmon and mango/ blanched scampi, green papaya & citrus pepper mayo

Oyster tempura , soba salad & ponzu sauce

I enjoyed the soy flan with shiitake sauce. It was really smooth and silky with the sauce gives some extra flavor. Oyster tempura was crispy but the soba which was sock in the ponzu sauce was very sour.

Roasted duck breast, stuffed zucchini flower tempura and hoisin sauce

Finally the main - roasted duck breast. The duck cooked beautifully, beside the zucchini flower, there were also eggplant underneath the duck. This dish comes with rice which is great to mop up with rest of the sauce on the plate otherwise the dish seems to have far too much sauce.

Last but not least-dessert. Coconut granita with coffee custard with some black pearls. Overall, I found that this restaurant like to use different sauces on their dishes, however some seems to be too overpowering for my liking. With the price of $48 for this degustation, it is worth the try .

RISE

23 Craigend St,

Darlinghurst NSW2010

Phone (02) 9357 1755

www.riserestaurant.com.au

To Mollymook ( Berry Sourdough cafe, Cupitt's Kitchen, Pilgrim, Rick Stein)

Just a few days before the start of the Australian day long weekend, R decided to go to Mollymook for a weekend trip away. I was happy. Happy to be away from Sydney. What's even better is that R initiated to have a holiday away. The next thing I know I was researching what cafe and restaurants around the area.

First stop, Berry Sourdough bakery and cafe. Just about 2 hours drive from Sydney, Berry is the perfect place to have a rest. A small little town with lots of cafes and boutique shops. One thing for sure is that the Berry sourdough bakery and cafe could be easily miss when driving towards town as it is not located on the main street.

Orecchiette with honey and thyme baked ricotta, peas, spinach and hazelnut crumble

Oxtail terrine with soft boiled egg, radish and celery

I had the pasta dish while R had terrine for lunch. Although it's a vegetarian pasta, it was beautiful. Something light with a bit of character brought out by the texture of the hazelnut crumble. After lunch, I was thinking of having some of their tart that was on display but thought I might get some on our way back home. Unfortunately, they were closed on the day we head back to Sydney. Next time, when I do travel to south coast I will definitely come back again. This trip to Mollymook, having lunch at this cafe certainly start the trip on the right note.

A further hour of driving , we finally reached our destination- Mollymook. We stayed at one of the motels with a walking distance to the beach. Later the same night, we went to Cupitt's Vineyard Kitchen.

Cupitt's Winery in Ulladulla is only 5 mins drive from Mollymook . When we first arrived, I was totally amazed by the view. From the restaurant, you could view the Burrill Lake. A beautiful background settings for this county home like interior restaurant.

When I was researching about this restaurant, on their website , it mentioned that they are based on the philosophy of slow food movement where food are sourced locally which has been produce in an environmentally friendly way . I love this concept knowing there are restaurants do pay attention on sourcing local produced food

Smoked ham hock and rabbit terrine,pear and saffron relish, rustic bread with smoked ham hock butter

Blue Eye trevalla with pommes noisettes, cauliflower puree, baby vegetables & lemon oil veloute

Pasture fed beef eye fillet (200gms) served with muscatel puree, potato galette, walnut and mushroom veloute

Chocolate cake

The dinner was lovely. I had the Blue Eye trevalla and it was cook to perfection. Writing about it now and thinking of it, make my mouth water and wish I could have some of it now. Overall fine dinning restaurant with a casual layback. Staffs were friendly, and I am please to see they are kids friendly as not a lot of fine dinning restaurants cater for children.

Second day , we went to Milton, a small town 10 minutes away from Mollymook. Had brunch at Pilgrims cafe. When we arrived, the cafe was full. Luckily we only waited for 5 minutes and was able to get a table.

Egg Omelet with mushrooms on toast

Berry pancake

The brunch was disappointing, my pancake was really dry while R found that his brunch was really oily. I think it could be during the holiday weekend, there were more people in town and they were short staff staff to run the place.

Had a scroll around town after brunch. Went into some art galleries with beautiful paintings on display, some home ware shop with interesting products on sell. Then head back to Mollymook and relax on the beach.

Dinner time, we head to Rick Stein at Bannisters. The restaurant that I most looking forward to dine at out of the whole trip. They were awarded Suoth Coast Restaurant of the Year 2009 and Winner restaurant in a resort 2009. With these awards, I come with high expectation.

The view from the restaurant

Grilled tasmanian scallops in shell with toasted hazelnut and coriander butter

Marinated tuna with passion fruit, lime and coriander

For entree, the scallops were nice but nothing out of the ordinary. The tuna was different having it marinated with passion fruit , lime and coriander. However, I find the taste a bit strange. The passion fruit have a really strong flavor which does not seems to go well with the tuna.

Escalopes of Tasmanian Salmon with Sorrel Sauce

Fillet of Blue Eye Trevalla with Tasmaniam Summer truffles, silvers of potato, mushrooms

As I had the beautiful Blue eye trevalla at Cupitt's kitchen, R would like to try it at Rick Stein and compare the difference. Certainly the way both restaurants approach to cook the fish is different, but we both agree Cupitt's style of cooking is our preference. More simpler , yet able to bring out the flavor of the dish better.

Red wine poached pears with raspberry and chocolate ice cream

Panna Cotta with Poached rhubarb

Dessert time. I had the Panna cotta with poached rhubarb. The panna cotta was really smooth and delicious. Although I am not overwhelming satisfy with the meal, it is overall a very nice dining experience.

Having dine at Cupitt's Kitchen and Rick Stein was certainly my highlight of the trip. Who knows a last minute plan for a weekend getaway turns out to be a gastronomy trip for me.

Berry Sourdough bakery & cafe

23 Prince Alfred St ,

Berry , NSW 2535

Phone (02) 4464 1617

Cupitt's Vineyard Kitchen

60Washburton Rd,

Ulladulla NSW 2539

Phone (02) 4455 7888

www.cupittwines.com.au

Pilgrims cafe

Shop 8, The settlement

Princess Hwy,

Milton NSW2538

Phone (02) 4455 3421

Rick Stein at Bannisters

191 Mitchell Pde,

Mollymook NSW2539

Phone (02) 4455 3044

www.bannisters.com.au

Pier Restaurant

Although married, somehow I still wonder if R remembers our anniversary since we start dating. Yup, the day since we start dating and not our wedding anniversary. I guess I was hoping he would at least get me a card and I'll be really happy. On the day which falls on a Friday, he asked what do I feel like for dinner. I casually replied anything, thinking we'll probably cook the beef left in the fridge. Instead, he took me to Pier for dinner as a celebration for our anniversary. He remembers !!!

Complementary- Kingfish in cone

I was over the moon as I always wanted to try the desert by Katrina Kanetani. However, I was unsure if Katrina is still working at Pier as a few months ago from Gourmet Magazine, I read that she's leaving Pier. After all, beside Katrina, Pier was awarded the three hats in the Sydney Morning Herald since 2007 up to date.

Lobster Blini - potato-Oscietra caviar-chervil

The food on the menu looks really attempting and it took me a while to decide wether to go with the degustation menu or their market menu. Eventually, we went with the market menu. As a complementary, we were served with kingfish in a corn cone. The kingfish was beautiful. R ordered a starter -Lobster Blini. The blini is nothing like I tried before. The lobster blini texture is so soft that it almost melt in my month. Even better, it comes with the Oscietra cavia.

Tian of Spanner Grab- scallop ceviche pea salad and jus

Gazpacho- Yabbie avocado mousse - apple

The minute I saw yabbie on the menu, it reminds me of the dinner I had at Billy Kong where I absolutely love their fry yabbie dish. This time at Pier, I could not resist to order it. When they serve the dish, gazpacho (a tomato based vegetable soup) was elegantly pour in fount of you. Taste wise, just like the kingfish, the yabbie was fresh. Together with the gazpacho making the dish a refreshing one.

Steamed Bass Groper -'textures of seasonal mushrooms'

Slow roasted lobster -pancake-truffle-jus

Lucky for me, truffles from France just arrived their restaurant and the chef incorporated it on to some dishes. As I love indulging food with truffles, naturally I chose my main course with it - slow roasted lobster with truffle. Having lobster slowly roasted brings out the sweetness of the lobster meat, this dish was divine. I would be happy to have this dish even without truffles.

Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

goats curd powder -ash-chestnut crumble- white chocolate yoghurt

Comes to dessert time, before ordering I asked one of the waitstaff if Katrina has left. He politely inform me she has left Pier a couple of weeks ago, while Greg is overlooking the dessert menu at the moment. At the same time he assures me the deserts that we would like to order is created by Katrina.

Mango & Passionfruit Migas

Crumbs-grains-Sauternes custard-mango

When the dessert came. Both R and I were thrilled just by looking at it. The way it presented to us is defiantly not ordinary. What's even better is the taste and texture of the desserts were both very unique. The blueberry cheesecake ice cream having the combination of goat curd powder and the ice cream, brings out both savory and sweet at the same time. It may sounds strange but it does goes well together.

For the mango and passionfruit migas, the way this dish presented looks amazing. The mango looks just like a smooth and soft egg yoke. Having crumbs and grains together with the custard, gives an extra texture to the dish. No doubt, it taste great.

After trying Katrina's dessert creation, I wonder where will she head to next as I would very much love to experience more of her creation in the future. While for Pier restaurant, I absolutely enjoy the meal. No wonder they have won the title of the best seafood restaurant for four consecutive years.

Pier Restaurant

594 New South Head Road,

Rosebay NSW2029

Phone: (02) 9327 6561

www.pierrestaurant.com.au