Chophouse Steakhouse, Sydney & News

Chophouse

25 Bligh Street

Sydney

1300 246 748

http://www.chophouse.com.au/

Happy weekend everyone! This post is a bit delayed (oops). Its been hard to find time to blog but here we go! Other interesting news:

Adriano Zumbo has just opened the newest addition to the Zumbo chain at The Star. http://www.star.com.au/dine/the-chefs/adriano-zumbo.html

Also every foodie is awaiting the opening of David Chang's Momofuku seiobo at the Star. Seems like there is no chef that money cant buy. http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/seiobo/

The restaurant Bilson's has closed down after a financing rescue package fell through. Devastating news.

And Jamie Oliver's hotly anticipated Jamie's Italian http://www.jamieoliver.com/au/italian/home opens 24 October. Bookings are available for groups of 6 or more.

I will also be attending the eat.drink.blog blogger's conference on the 5th of November! http://eatdrinkblog.org/ There is a photo comp for anyone who is interested :)

Now back to Chophouse..

We arrived on Saturday evening and were seated at one of the booths. The restaurant is quite large and looks very spacious as the walls of the restaurant are lined with mirrors. Every table is given some complimentary bread to start with.

We ordered a pinot and a merlot. I ordered the Joseph Drouhin Laforet Pinot Noir ($12.50) which was light bodied and clean.

To start we were served some Pork Scratching, served with smoked salt, vinegar and chilli, compliments of the house. These were so naughty but so good!

Crisp Pork Belly & Sea Scallop, Chinese cabbage, coriander, pea shoots & soy vinaigrette chopped salad ($22)

I never thought that I would go to a steakhouse and rave about the salad. I mean the steak was great but.. in terms of salads, this salad is like the king of all salads. Seriously guys, you have to order this. Fricking damn awesome. The pork belly was actually crispy! None of that fatty stuff. And the scallops were huge, plump and fresh. Also the serving size was huge! Sooooooo good!

We both ordered the F1 Wagyu Striploin MB4+, harissa & jus 300g ($49.9) which was the smallest 'proper' steak on the menu but still really big. I really struggled to finish mine. Maybe it was because of the giant salad and cauliflower gratin we also ordered.. Must learn not to overorder!

The steak was divine and so tasty. We ordered medium and medium rare and we got exactly that.

Didnt really understand what the lemon was for though. Do you guys put lemon on your steaks? I've never been served lemon on the side before.. was slightly confused.

On the side we shared the cauliflower gratin ($8). Cauliflower+cheese, sprinkled with breadcrumbs and baked. I call this 'comfort food' because its just so warming and hearty. I really liked this :) Would also definitely recommend this as a side dish order.

On the Saturday night we went there was also a band playing. The girl sung an acoustic version of Damien Rice/U2's I still haven't found what I'm looking for which is one of my all time favourite songs! Best night ever.

The Good: Fantastic steaks, the pork belly salad (MUST ORDER), nice atmosphere

The Bad: This area of the CBD can be a bit of a ghost town on weekends.

August

Hi Everyone!

Apologise for the lack of updates. I've been trying to fix the website and havent had time to blog. At the moment all of my photos are uploaded onto facebook so if work/uni/school blocks facebook, the photos aren't visible. I'm going to try to upload everything onto picasaweb this weekend so that it'll work for everyone.

Another reason for the lack of updates is because I'm in between cameras at the moment (goodbye e-pl1) and I've been using my iPhone to take photos. The iPhone is pretty much useless in low lighting so all my recent dinner photos have turned out atrocious. Hoping to pick up a canon s95 over this weekend (or the next week) so will shortly have decent photos back on the site.

Hope everyone is well (and eating lots).

See you soon!

A quick post

A few announcements..

Firstly a big thank you to everyone for all your support.I'm currently ranked 26 on Urbanspoon which is a tremendous result. I'm in need of some cheering up and this definitely helps.

Secondly I'm going to try and reorganise this blog so that it categorises posts by cuisine/location and will hopefully be easier to navigate. So until then there will be no new posts..

See you soon

xx

Love never dies

The past week has been somewhat hectic. Hopefully by tomorrow I can upload my photos from Melbourne

- Maze by Gordon Ramsey

- Cumulus Inc

- Monarch Cafe

- Mamasita (best frickin corn EVER)

and also dinner at Fix St James.

Anyways just wanted to write a quick post saying that I watched the 'Love Never Dies' theatre production in Melbourne earlier this week and loved it. If anyone is interested in this sort of thing, you have to go and watch it. Absolutely amazing. The music is breathtaking and although its more dark and slightly creepy at times, its just.. mind blowing. A must see.

My favourite songs are:

Beneath a moonless sky, Devil take the Hindmost, Till I hear you sing & Love never dies. Absolutely brilliant.

Devil take the hindmost: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O996oKLAt7c

Devil take the hindmost quartet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZORcO94ScE&feature=related

Beneath a moonless sky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjhC7im428

Till I hear you sing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1aO_MjgP7M

Love never dies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLnbDnHm0ug

:) :) :)

Friends

A non food related post

I tend to miss the bandwagon. I've never watched the OC. I don't follow Gossip Girl and my favourite tv shows are usually shows that were cancelled mid-season (ie Pushing Daisies).

So this is why I started watching Friends ten years after everyone else.. and only just finished watching the show's finale tonight. What a show. Seriously I cant believe it took me this long to watch it, what was I thinking!??! And now that its over, its like breaking up with six friends that I got to know over the past two months. Whooo...

Anyways I'll be back tomorrow with a review of Astino's Newtown and some breakfast at Coogee Beach :)

The Final Stretch

Today is the final day. Judgement day. In order words- Lodgement day. Who would have thought that two months into this Grad program I would feel this way? Stressed working late nights for the past two weeks, I've come to the realisation that tax reporting is just as bad as financial reporting. But very interesting nevertheless. To celebrate we're having cupcakes from Ghermez for morning tea.

These are really good! Nice fluffy and moist at the same time. Just as good as baby cakes and HEAPS better than cupcakes on pitt/cupcake bakery etc. P.S I chose this cupcake without knowing what flavour it was- and I think its chilli cinnamon. Weird flavour. Back to work! More updates to come this weekend.