Quarter Twenty One

Quarter Twenty One

Level 5, Westfield Sydney

Pitt St Mall

(02) 8064 7900

www.quartertwentyone.com.au

Take the express elevators up and on your right will be Quarter Twenty One. Sleek, modern and contemporary, the restaurant has been on my 'must try list' ever since it opened. So when Quarter Twenty One announced they would be participating in this year's Crave Sydney Food Festival 'Lets do lunch' promotion, my tastebuds were already salivating in anticipation. ready for the lunch.

Fast forward two weeks later and finally we have lunch! I was joined by the lovely Dolly and the awesome KSY.

Don't the ladies in this photo look so carefree and happy? Wish I could have long breezy lunches every day :)

We were served some complimentary bread to start. The butter that was served with the bread was really cool, it was foamy rather than hard. The bread roll was warm and freshly baked.

Slow-cooked short rib of beef, spring vegetable ragout and fondant potato

The beef is slow cooked for 38 hours which meant it was incredibly tender. The flavour was also spot on but I found my rib a little fatty though. I loved the spring vegetable ragout! It was colourful, vibrant and an array of textures. It makes the dish look really beautiful.

The 'Lets do Lunch' promotion also includes either a glass of Brown Brothers red or white wine, coopers beer or sparkling water for $38. If you can spare an hour during your lunch break, I definitely recommend you try the Quarter Twenty One 'Lets Do Lunch'. Also the three guys sitting across us ordered an amazing looking dessert which I think must have been the warm 68% alto beni zokoko chocolate pudding, orange & tonka bean ice cream. The dessert looked so good that I think I'll be coming back just for it..

The Good: Good location, Ambience, Fantastic friendly service

The Bad: I didn't get to try that dessert! Damn :(

Azuma Sugarhit

Azuma Kushiyaki Bar & Grill

Sydney International Food Festival- Sugarhit Event

501 George Street

Sydney

9267 7775

http://www.azuma.com.au/kushiyaki/home.php

You've just got to love Sydney sometimes. Not only do we have some of the best restaurants in the world, we also spend a whole month (Yes guys. A whole frickin' month) celebrating food. Food oh glorious food. So if you haven't made arrangements yet, definitely check out the www.cravesydney.com website and maybe try a Sugarhit, Lets do lunch or a pop up dinner. And please tweet me about how it went!

And when this is all over in November we can all talk about how badly we should join a gym.

So on Friday a few of the bloggers and I (the lovely sugarpuffi, misskilicious, vxdollface, ayana, the creamy middles, idreaminchoc) went to check out Azuma's Sugarhit. (This is the one near the cinemas, not the Chifley Azuma btw)

The sugarhit was a selection of Asian desserts served with either Brown Brothers dessert wine or green tea for $20. Obviously I got the dessert wine :)

Anmitsu (Assorted seasonal fruits, tapioca pearls, shiratama rice dumplings covered in kinako powder served with Japanese brown sugar syrup) and Hand-made white sesame ice cream.

The anmitsu was absolutely gorgeous. This was by far the best dessert of the night. The fruits were so fresh and the flavours were light but intense at the same time. Go good! The white sesame ice cream was also good but quite unusual because this was the first time I've tried white sesame ice cream. It also wasn't very sweet.

Sake sample, Japanese green tea tiramisu (shochu soaked sponge fingers layered with mascarpone, fresh cream & matcha powder), handcrafted chocolate (dark & milk chocolate praline with caramel ganache enrobed in dark chocolate with an explosive finish) and sake sponge bliss (bite sized morsels of butter cake soaked in fine japanese sake)

The chocolate was literally explosive. Hidden within the chocolate was little bits of those like popping candy bits.. really fun to eat :) The green tea tiramisu was really indulgent and rich. The only one I didn't really like was the sake sponge bliss.. I wasn't really feeling the bliss with that one.

I had a lovely time and thanks to Betty for inviting me. The SIFF festival only runs for October so if you haven't a sugarhit yet, get booking! Enjoy :)

The Good: Getting that sugar high and then being hyperactive for the next few hours

The Bad: They dont let you share the sugarhit, so everyone has to get one. Lame because one sugarhit is big enough for two people.

BBQ Madness, Woolloomooloo Wharf Barbecoa

Woolloomooloo Wharf Barbecoa

Day 1 of the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF)

What better place to spend the Saturday afternoon with something off the spit while sipping a classic South American cocktail than Woolloomooloo Wharf?

I wonder how many people can actually spell Woolloomooloo properly without having to double check with google. Hah! I certainly cannot.

Gotta love the long weekend! I headed down to Woolloomooloo with a few friends on Sat to check out the BBQ Madness. We were lucky since it didnt rain and the weather was actually nice enough for a long stroll around the city. I remember around this time last year they had the Breakfast on the Bridge event which was freaking awesome. Shame it got replaced by Breakfast on Bondi this year. Sorry but having breakfast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge kicks ass over Bondi Beach any day.

I was actually quite surprised as to how small the event was. There were only about 5 stalls and 1 cocktail bar.

We started off with Otto's Bistecca Di Manzo, Wagyu flank steak with south american quinoa salad. This was the stand-out dish of the event. The quinoa salad was delicious and the wagyu oh-so-very tender.

We then tried China Doll's Rum Glazed BBQ Pork Rib with Palm Heart Pineapple Salsa. Palm heart pineapple salad? I didn't really know what that was but the pineapple salsa was a perfect partner to the rich juicy fatty pork.

Kingsleys! I've never been to Kingsleys actually.. They offered a South American BBQ Plate which included Chorizo, Rodrigues Morcilla and Chicken hearts. Yum.

I love Aki's. They had either a lamb or chicken plate and were sweet enough to let me mix them. Thanks guys! This was really tasty :)

Last but not least we tried Manta's Whole King Prawns, preserved lemon, garlic and parsley. How does one preserve lemon? I don't think the lemon was preserved.. it looked & tasted very fresh. Love the presentation of this dish (And every other dish actually). Everything looked so good that eating it kind of made me sad.

Hooray! So excited about the Sydney International Food Festival. Can't wait for brunches, lunches, high teas and sugar hits. And night noodle markets!

Want more information? Check out the website :) http://cravesydney.com/

Happy eating and hope everyone enjoys the last day of their long weekend!

xx

J