Home Thai Restaurant

Good restaurant choice Matt, did your research? No, not really.

Source: Home Thai Restaurant website

I decided to drop by this place to see what the fuss was about, as this restaurant was always crowded outside with people whenever I pass by after my weekly dance lessons ( popping is cool ). Atmosphere was blazing the moment I walked in, as it was jam packed in here.

 Note:
To people who may have an interest in visiting this restaurant after reading this: The restaurant has a "booking" system just outside the entrance where basically you have to "book" to get in by writing your name on the paper and how many guests there are. This is essential if you want to get in, I had the unfortunate chance to see this couple who sat at this short bench that was at the door of the restaurant, who didn't "book" themselves in and ended up waiting for a table longer than they hoped for.

Getting off-track. The waitress brought me to this nice looking table just next to the entrance and handed me a menu, as you would expect in all restaurants. Your usual sight of the waitress filling up your glass with water and heads off. Flipping through the menu, there was a variety of dishes to choose from entrees to salads and main course dishes. Being budget limited and finding out that minimum to pay by card is $30, I only sampled one dish and one small bowl of soup.

The restaurant was quite busy so that meant getting a waitress' attention was not the easiest jobs of all. Luckily, I managed to get one before my arms got sore waving. I ordered a dish called 'Grilled marinated pork neck served with nam jim jiew and fresh vegetable' and one spicy prawn soup with mushroom and Thai herbs. Oh, and one bowl of white rice.

I should point out that white rice does not come included with any of the dishes (unless you ordered fried rice of course) so prepared to fork out an extra $2.50 for each bowl. However I would add that the rice itself was of a big serving for that price so that compensates a bit. It came in a plate, which in my opinion, wasn't really a good thing to do because the rice just fit the plate nicely and that meant it was easy to have rice falling off the plate if eating carelessly.

Waiting wasn't too long as my food came shortly after. While waiting though, it was interesting to observe how they had the kitchen located right to the side of the entrance and how transparent the kitchen was in that one could see everything going on by just observing from the window outside.

I first started the soup and two words can describe the soup: SUPER SPICYNESS. I had to gush down the whole glass of water the first time I tasted it. It wasn't as bad after that but the spiciness was there the entire time. That's what expected of a Thai dish though I suppose. Content in the soup didn't disappoint as I got what I paid for.....I think. Nice portions of mushrooms and prawns in there. When I tasted the prawn, all it yelled out was the spiciness so there wasn't really any flavors contained within the prawn so was a tad disappointing. My tip is unless you can handle really spicy stuff, don't order this soup as it will just make you feel as if your mouth is on fire. Good thing water refilling was done pretty quickly by the waitresses there as I needed to refill quite a lot of times for obvious reasons.

Spicy!!!

Honestly, at first glance, I was a bit disappointed when what came out for my main dish wasn't what I was really expecting. I had doubts at the start on how good it would be at the start but I was proven wrong quickly as it was quite a nice dish. The meat was tender and just fine, unlike in some restaurants where they cook it too dry or tough. It was a delicious dish and the dipping sauce that came with it matched the grilled marinated pork neck meat nicely and accompany that with my side dish of rice; I would say the mean was enjoyable and pleasant. The presentation was clean and made the dish appealing in a way.

Wish I could have tried more dishes but my budgeted student life stopped me. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience from what I could see, not somewhere students like me would go on a regular basis, but coming here once in a blue moon or so is good. Wish they had dessert or cold drinks to their menu, as that would really have helped me conquering the spicy prawn soup, hopefully that will be added to the menu in the future. Price was decent, what you would expect from a restaurant like that, the grilled marinated pork neck cost $ 11.90, spicy prawn soup (small size) $ 6.90 and the side bowl of rice, $ 2.50. All in total $ 21.30. A decent price I would say.

Bill.

I definitely would go again in the future because it is quite a good place to dine at and it is just next to my dance school so why not. :)

Oh, and if you want to know more about this restaurant, they have their own website: Home Thai Restaurant

Matt. Out.

Rockpool

Rockpool

When deciding where to dine for a recent celebratory dinner with my friend, I decided, albeit uncharacteristically, to dine at a venue which doesn't specialize in student priced meals. After looking at several restaurants online, I settled on Rockpool Bar & Grill on George Street.  Upon entering this restaurant, the high ceilings were delightful to observe. I hoped the food would be just as delightful as the architecture of the building. To my delight, it was. I ordered a delicious chorizo dish as an entree served with sauteed tomato and onion. This was only the beginning. The second course, steak was simply the best I've ever had. It was tender without being overly rare. It was cooked to perfection. But it was only a steak. There were however, several side dishes.

Indeed, the side dishes were nearly as good as the steak itself (see illustration below). My friend and I selected Mac and Cheese and onion rings, these two deceivingly simple dishes were fantastic. the batter on the onion rights was light, delicate, melt in your mouth. Whereas the Mac and cheese was delicate and creamy.

All in all, this meal is easily worth the hole which now exists in my wallet. Highly recommended!

~ Ben.

Jamie Oliver's Roganjosh. pt 2

The other night, as I previously explained I made Jamie Oliver's Roganjosh. The dish itself was wonderful, flavoursome and interesting. It was well received by my family and friends.

Before I get into the dishes I would like to analyse the recipe for a moment. My main complaint though was that the time and budget went severely over. The recipe did not state how many people the recipe provided for so in blind faith I invited six guests to enjoy, as this seemed to be the amount pictured in the dvd. From here it became obvious that I either did something wrong, or the recipe was for ten. The price tag was through the roof but I am sure that if someone was to have a larger amount of basic cupboard staples this would lessen. The meal took closer to an hour than the half an hour estimate but I guess this could be reduced through familiarity with the recipe and practice. My final comment was that the recipe seemed to call for every dish in my substantial kitchen and created so much washing up that the few minutes saved in his "30 minute meals" was cancelled out.


Now that the negative comments are out of the way, lets get to the good stuff. The dish itself was well balanced and hearty. Using spice paste as a base made a simple and approachable based.

Balancing out the roganjosh there is a smooth and creamy tzatziki. This tzatziki was easily as good as any I have purchased at a take out place, and as simple as stirring a few ingredient together.

 The lemon pickle was what most surprised me about the accompaniments. Cooking lemon slices for just a few seconds with some mustard seeds and turmeric produced a potent tangy pickle, with an intensity that caused a few weird faces.

Finally there was a grated Almond Carrot salad that added a light tangy crunch of texture that is much needed. This was made in seconds thanks to a food processor. I would make this salad again for lunches or to accompany other dishes as I feel this to be the most versatile of the dishes.

As I previously mentioned the recipe seemed to make for more people than I originally counted on, hence there was large amounts of left overs.

Sarah ~

Jamie Oliver's Roganjosh. pt 1

Today I am not going be reviewing a restaurant but rather a recipe plan I have. It will be a two part post where I will first tell you of my cooking plans and then tomorrow will post about the results. By tomorrow I am hoping to have successfully attempted to make Jamie Oliver's Roganjosh from his 30 Minute Meals collection. This will be the first Jamie Oliver meal I have attempted. Roganjosh is an aromatic lamb dish of Persian origin, and a staple in most curry houses. Curry is becoming increasingly popular throughout Britain so I can see why Jamie would want to make this his own.

This meal set, as with all his 30 minute meal is not just a single main dish but also contains a series of side dishes. I will be making to accompany my curry, a grated carrot sesame and corriander salad, tumeric flat breads, clover scented rice, creamy and fresh taziki and a tangy lemon pickle. The aim is to make all these in under 30 minutes, as challenged by Jamie.  I will go in to detail about each of these tomorrow in my next post. 

 I am a big Jamie Oliver fan as he takes good food and makes it easy to achieve in simple and quick ways. I would not turn to Jamie on those days where I want to make a master piece but rather on those days when I am tired, got home late but am sick of a take away life style. Many people on the internet have been complaining that his meals are not 'traditional' or 'authentic' but I feel that those people are missing the point that Jamie is trying to make. Jamie aims to make people who would be intimidated by unfamiliar cultural foods feel secure enough to give it a go at home. Sure he could use authentic ingredients that you have to go out of your way to find, but in this case simple super market stables are proving a reliable winner.

Jamie's 30 minute meals are available as both a series of DVDs and a companion book. These can be purchased from the ABC online store. I have purchased both, and after watching the corresponding episode twice, I think I am safe to commence. Wish me Luck. 

Sarah ~

Pancakes on the Rocks

For my second post I am going to be blogging with you about my pancakes at the rocks experiences. Over all I found it to be an over hyped reliably mediocre experience. When I first entered the Circular Quay location there was a long line to get a table. Although in most places this would mean great things to come, in this case it meant slow service. Peaking through the door there were many empty tables still with the leftovers of previous customers and some of the staff seemed to be standing around chatting. The decor had an old style american feel which I found to be vintage and nostalgic.

Me and my friends decided to order dinner. I ordered a tandoori chicken pizza and another of my friends ordered a supreme. The pizzas were soggy on the base and the cheese was over powering. Two of my other friends ordered steak and ribs both which were chewy and left them only half eaten.  My final friend ordered a chicken caesar salad which seemed to be the highlight of our food orders. The salad was light and fresh with a good blend of toppings. I would recommend ordering if ever in the situation.

The second benefit of ordering salad is that you leave ample room for the star pancakes. After disappointing food, our meal really turned around when it came to dessert. The pancakes were light and fluffy whilst still maintaining a rich silkiness. We ordered a variety of pancakes including caramel banana, chocolate and lemon and sugar. Each dish was amazing and began to convince me that the was merit to all the fuss. 

In conclusion I will say that the restaurant is a bit touristy, a bit over hyped and horribly crowded at the best of times. But if you can stand all of these things and are looking for a sweet treat, you will be hard pressed to find better pancakes anywhere else. 
6/10 

~ Sarah

Acacia - Japanese Fusion

 

Today I will be reviewing a new fusion Japanese restaurant that has just opened in Gordon, called ACACIA. Here the décor was surprisingly stylish and modern compared to the already existing Japanese places in the area. The furniture was western in design though once combined with the dark pallet tone maintained a Japanese feel.  The service was very good. We were seated quickly and brought water. The waiter was quick to explain the menu to me, which was unnecessary but understandable, since I am not Asian. 

My friend and I both sampled differing bento lunch specials. Firstly I got the teriyaki chicken. In this contained lightly pan fried chicken and a wombok cabbage side topped with kewpie mayonnaise (a traditional Japanese brand of mayonnaise, slightly sweeter than western kinds). This to me really expressed the idea of fusion as the cabbage/mayo combination brought the idea of coleslaw when combined with the fried chicken, almost like a southern American dish but entirely Japanese. In addition to this there was beautiful sushi style rice, miso soup and pickled daikon (white radish). 
 
My friend ordered the Oyakodon set. This is a very common dish in japan consisting of eggs poured over rice and chicken. He found the dish to be more of a congee or risotto style, which shies away from tradition. He still enjoyed it immensely and said he would be happy to order it again. His lunch special also came with sesame dressed lettuce, miso soup and pickled daikon. Both lunch specials were $13.50 which I feel is very reasonable considering the quality of the food and service. We looked through the menu to notice that the dinner options were much pricier but as the quality is assumed to be the same, this could be okay. I would be happy to make this a regular addition to my local dining.

Sarah

Creation of the blog.

Well this is the start of many many posts I hope. Just to lay it out briefly, purpose of the blog is to share/ review food that we have tasted and just share them with anyone and everyone on the internet.