Jamie's Italian

Jamie's Italian

107 Pitt Street

8240 9000

http://www.jamieoliver.com/au/italian/sydney

Lines often signify great things. The apple iPhone 4s. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Din Tai Fung. So if you see the line outside 107 Pitt St be aware that yes, it is the new Jamie Oliver restaurant. Yes its the first of Jamie's Italians in Australia. Yes there is a min 20 minute wait to get a buzzer. And yes its another hour wait after that buzzer to actually get a table. But dont worry, it serves some pretty good pasta and its served by some pretty good looking waiters.

We start off with the must order antipasti plank ($13 per head). When I say must order, every table orders this. And for good reason, its damn good.

We also share a Crispy Squid served with really garlicky mayo ($12). Crunchy goodness.

Our mains were the Bucatini Carbonara ($12), Truffle Risotto ($17) and a special of Pork chop served with Pumpkin ($26) (in order).

For desserts we had the Our Special Tiramisu ($9), the Creamy Panna Cotta ($8.50) and The Ultimate Brownie ($8.50)

The damage was $45 each which was actually quite good considering it was basically a three course meal and we ordered some sparkling water. I guess its also a bit of a novelty- I mean come on. It is Jamie Oliver. I liked it but wouldn't really say that its worth waiting an hour for.

The Good: Reasonably priced food, celebrity chef (ish), cute waiters and cool atmosphere

The Bad: Feel sorry for all the people who were still in line at 9pm waiting

The Commons

The Commons Local Eating House

32 Burton Street

Darlinghurst NSW

9358 1487

http://thecommons.com.au/

The Commons is styled like a farmstyle eating house but with restaurant quality food. Its situated in Darlinghurst but also a short walk from Town Halll station.

On Sundays they have a reduced menu, but at amazing prices. Most of the entrees are $10-$15, all mains are $20 and the first glass of house wine is $5. An offer too good to resist.

Personally I was amazed by how good the food and service was. I'll definitely be coming back here and recommend all of you to give it a try :)

We ordered the sourdough toast w/anchovy butter ($7). I've never had toast with anchovy butter but this was really good. There was no fishy taste, it was more of a salty savoury taste. Definitely recommended.

We shared the stuffed zuchinni flowers ($14) which were amazing. Seriously so ordering these again.

I absolutely love gnocchi. If a restaurant serves gnocchi I'll often order it. This was by far the best gnocchi I've ever had. The mushrooms, the flavour.. delicious! The pasta was so rich and creamy. Actually I'm really glad we shared all the dishes as this was quite heavy and probably too much for one person. My favourite dish of the night :)

The rest of our mains were all amazing. We shared the Fillet Mignon, the Crumbed Latchet and the Slow Cooked BBQ Ribs and Chicken (As well as the gnocchi) between four and were absolutely stuffed.

To top it off we then had a huge chocolate cake called The Duchess from Christopher's cakes. Now this was no ordinary cake, this was a massive cake that would easily have fed a party of thirty.

We actually ended up sharing the cake with the waitresses/waiters/kitchen and also the table of 6 people next to us and still managed to take a quarter home (Yes. It was that big.).

An amazing night. Thank you to the Commons for their wonderful and warm hospitality. We will be seeing you more often :)

The Good: Warm service, casual atmosphere, delicious food, gnocchi!! and great value

The Bad: Nope. None whatsoever.

http://www.christopherscakeshop.com.au/

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 :(

District Dining, Modern Australian

District Dining

17 Randle Street

Central, Sydney

9211 7798

http://www.districtdining.com.au/

I've been looking forward to fooding at District Dining for months. When a few friends agreed to celebrate the end of exam (singular) by giving District Dining a go, I didn't hesitate to book lunch four weeks in advance (haha).

The restaurant is in Surry Hills but to be honest, its actually opposite Central Station. This is great in terms of convenience (wooo no need to organise car pool pick up/drop off).

Apologise for the slightly lopsided photos. We were given 20 minutes to order before the kitchen closed, hence less focus on photo taking and more focus on menu ordering.

We share the Kingfish, wasabi pannacotta, quinoa and ponzu ($19)

Can I just say that YES! this does taste as beautiful as it looks. Wasabi pannacotta?! What an ingenius idea. I actually thought this was wasabi mayonnaise at first but it didn't have the right texture for mayonnaise. Absolutely gorgeous AND delicious. Must try.

We also order the Crispy Pork Belly, asian style salad, chilli and peanuts ($24). This reminds me of Longrain's eggnet salad. This was refreshing, crunchy and very flavoursome. Recommended by Miss Piggy :) I don't know how to write the code for links so please refer to the side bar for foodie blog links! (IT fail.)

The mushroom risotto, truffled marscapone and parmesan crisp ($25) is the best damned risotto I've ever had. Creamy risotto rice grains covered in buttery marscapone. Mushrooms galore. Delicious.

And what better way to accompany a meal AND reward oneself for finishing an exam other than by eating hot chips. Reminds me of High School :)

French Fries ($7)

The Good: The Mushroom Risotto, the Kingfish and the Pork Belly. Wow 3/3 stand out dishes. Kitchen for lunch opens until 3pm. Modern interior. Great value $75 for 3!

The Bad: Nothing I can think of :)

Hurricanes Bar & Grill, Darling Harbour

Hurricanes Bar & Grill and Sunday Night Easy Listening

Harbourside Shopping Centre

http://hurricanesgrill.com.au/

02 9211 2210

Bookings strongly recommended

Its that time of the week again- Sunday! Do you guys also have a love/hate relationship with Sunday? Its usually the most relaxing day of the week (sleep in after a big Saturday night out, brunch and do nothing all day) but its also the last day of the week and means Monday is around the corner :(

Sunday is also easy listening time! This week its all about One Republic- Good life. This song keeps me sane. I've been trying to read these damned Auditing standards but every single sentence goes on for like five lines and use fifty commas.. Gargh! Its taken all my control to refrain from throwing the Handbook out the window.

You know what? I'm going to do two songs this week since I don't have work tomorrow (muahaha). Neyo because he is such a boss.

So back to Hurricanes.. I'm sure everyone already knows that Hurricanes is one of the most popular restaurants in Sydney and does the best ribs (apparently) in Sydney. I must be really unlucky because that night my ribs were sh!t. On a positive note, the ribs are usually really good. These were too dry (sigh). Epic fail.

Half rack pork ribs, $29.90

Oh I forgot the obligatory photo of the restaurant..

New York Strip Steak, 350gms $33.00

Sigh. Perfectly cooked steak that wasn't mine. No fair.

Okay.. so for the past year I've been having an ongoing argument with a friend about whether or not the Pyrmont Bridge opens up.

Apparently, from an engineering perspective, its not physically possible for the bridge to open up because there's a monorail along the bridge. Well well well.. I prove you wrong! I have photo evidence that the bridge does open. In fact, it swings open.

For once I am actually right. Woo!

Hope you guys had a good week :)

The Good: Good ribs (usually), good location, must-try factor, fireworks on Saturdays, free mentos with your bill (yay!)

The Bad: Can be overrated, too many tourists, may need to wait for up to 2 hours if you don't book, 10% surcharge on Sundays, tables are too small, too dark to take decent photos, all the waitresses/waiters seem to be on holiday visas, dodgy toilets, too crowded and also quite impossible to eat ribs elegantly

Pony's Lounge and Dining, Sydney

Pony's Lounge and Dining

Corner of Kendall Lane and Argyle Street,

The Rocks, Sydney

9252 7797

http://www.ponydining.com.au/pony_the_rocks.htm

After a three hour hike around the Blue Mountains, (Yes. Three hours through waterfalls, caves, creeks, ponds and pitch black tunnels) we caught up with J&J for a much awaited dinner at Pony's.

Restaurant interior

The place was packed and there were no empty tables, even on a Sunday night. If you plan on coming to Pony's, definitely book ahead.

The restaurant is centrally located in The Rocks precinct. You would be forgiven if you missed it as its in one of those historic buildings and doesnt have any flashy signs.

After much deliberation we ordered the duck liver parfait (starter) and seared scallop salad as entrees to share; lamb, chicken and angus as mains and creme brulee, choc pudding and cheese platter for dessert.

Salad of seared scallops, sesame wakame, coriander, cucumber and lime ($24)

I'm starting to see a trend with all my blog posts.. I seem to have a thing for scallops. These were large and succulent. I think there were 4 scallops in this dish. Loved the fresh coriander as well.

Duck liver parfait, toasted sourdough baguette, cornichons ($11.80)

Quite a large serving, enough for four. Parfait was rich and melts in your mouth. If you've never tried duck liver parfait before than maybe hold off on ordering this dish.. It might be too 'meaty' for some people.

Grass Fed Angus Scotch Fillet 250g, beetroot, zucchini and silverbeet with fresh pesto ($36)

J & I both ordered this after hearing really good things about Pony's steak. To be honest I found it a little too fatty and the pesto didnt work that well.

Mirool Creek Lamb Rump, Spinach and Fetta Parcel, Truss Grape Tomatoes ($35)

T ordered this and said it was really good. I had a small bite and the lamb was delicious :)

Thirlmere chicken, ox heart tomato, fennel puree, goats cheese and hazelnuts ($32)

The chicken was really tender and cooked well. Also the salad of ox heart tomato (cant see any ox heart so I assume its a type of tomato??) added a nice fresh zingy flavour.

Amaretto Creme Brulee, Apricot Compote, Almond and Orange Biscotti ($14.50)

The top layer of caramelised sugar was thick, so it was quite fun cracking it! Delicious creme brulee.

Dark chocolate pudding, salted peanut brittle, espresso ice cream ($14.80)

Chocolate and coffee are like just meant to be together. The warm chocolate pudding and the ice cream is insanely good together. Shame that from tomorrow, Pony's will have a new dessert menu and the chocolate pudding will no longer be on it :( I agree with what the waitress said, 'It's a sin to take something so good off the menu!'

Cheese! Old Telegraph Road Triple Cream, Manchego and Berry's Creek Tarwin Blue ($19)

We ordered the triple cream but was accidentally served manchego, so in the end tried all three cheeses.

By this point I was so food-comaed that cheese just tasted like cheese to me. I like cheese though, so it was allll goood.

The Good: The scallops, the chicken, open plan kitchen (the chefs prepare the food before your eyes), the service, creme brulee & dark chocolate pudding to die for.

The Bad: No restaurant toilets, so you have to use the vistor's centre's facilities (which are kind of dodgy). A bit of a long wait between courses.