Porteno Take 2

Porteno
358 Cleveland St, 
Surry Hills


This is my second visit, and I can say for sure, that this is one of my favouritest restaurants.  I may say this quite often, given that I do love to eat a lot of different type of foods. But, I can say for sure, that this is my favourite Argentinean restaurant! 


The meat is so good.. just so good, everything just melts in your mouth good. 

The good looking pigs getting roasted!

Picture of the pigs again

The suckling pigs all pretty for me to eat

Poor little pigs, to make them feel any better, they tasted absolutely beautiful

Ohh .. Porteno, you do not know how much I love you.  I will be back once again.  
Too bad I didn't take a photo of the desserts we ate.  
We had the South Amerian Pavlova, which was a normal Pavlova with some peanut butter layer.  Ohhh.. so good!


My rating: 9.75/10
The only reason why I would take 0.25, is that it takes effort to get a booking.  You can only book with 5+ people, and then if you have more than 7 you are required to have the banquet menu.  
We had 5, and total cost came just under $200, which is fantastic value.  And my stomach was stuffed! 


xoxo... mich

Ms G's

So.. since it has been a good while since I've last updated, I have definitely still been eating. 


Here it goes


1. Ms G's 
155 Victoria Street, 
Potts Point


This is the newest Merivale restaurant, and I've been quite excited to try this place out as one of the chefs is Dan Hong, who is the brother of a high school friend of mine.  It is a funky Asian place, with cool cocktails that are packaged up like an Easy Way kind of shop. 


But, overall, I thought it was slightly overrated. The food was cooked quite well, not as overly creative as I imagined, but there was a load of shallots, corriander placed on ALL the dishes.  Not sure whether it is a way to "fill up" the plate, but sometimes it was just a little overboard. 


Service was good, given that we were such a large group. But, the felt a little too cool to help you out.  I guess the typical Merivale good looking hire that are more likely hired to be attractive rather than any waitering experience.  But, by no means that they were bad, just lack of friendliness.  


Here are some pics.  My rating would be 6.5/10

My cocktail: Forgot what it was, but it was so sour, but it did have Aeroplane Jelly

Mini Banh Mi: Very cute, tasted OK

The standout dish: Ms G's Corn on a cob, with parmesan and lime

Buddha's Delight: Here is when the corriandar comes piling up

Fried Chicken with Mayo: Not too much to it.

Egg Noodles with braised duck

Must have forgotten to take a photo of braised beef, but it had "woo see", little parcels of taro noodles.  It may look cute, and creative to foreigners, except these are like $1/packet in Asian groceries, and we use this all the time in hotpot.  So, I'm not judging, but, its a very cheap ingredient, which they would have used these packets, so it doesn't reflect all too well on their "creativeness" 

Splice: Mix of pineapple slushie with coconut and lychee jellies with an ice cream. 

Chocolate rice bubble slice with toasted marshmallows with a scoop of a good flavoured ice cream.  Too bad I can't remember the flavour. 

On an aside...

What I made: Opera Cake 

This is the first time that A has ever eaten anything that is coffee flavoured and liked it.  It tasted fantastic.  Coffee cream was nice and light, except presentation can definitely be improved a little.  

Happy Eating .. 
xoxo Mich

2010 is long gone .. now its 2011

It has been a long time since I have last posted.  And there have been a lot of memorable meals since then. 


Thought it would be nice to update and capture the last of 2010 and the beginning of 2011... So, here are the best bits of the year that has passed. 


1. Good Food Month

 - Bacco Sugar Hit - 

- Tomislav: Dessert Degustation - 

- Tomislav: Rice Crackers - 

- Tomislav: A's Bday Dinner - 

 - Balmoral Public Dining Room - 

- Sepia - 

- Sepia: Dessert time - 

- Sepia - 

- Trip to Macau - 

And from here, I will be starting to bake and eat a lot more from now on.. so let 2011 be an eventful one!! 

xoxo Michelle 

It's been a while...

Well well well.. 
I did think that I'll become a little better and update the blog a little more often , then every 1.5 mths... but, I've just been so busy this month. I haven't stopped eating in the past month, but I have baked a whole lot less. 


This week however, has been a full pig-ness filled week. 


Starting off with Alio 


Alio 
5 Baptist St, Surry Hills


Alio is celebrating their 10 year anniversary, by having the "Greatest Hits" dinner.  This was a 10-course dinner, where each dish was the best dish from the past 10 years.  And given the fact there was a voucher on jumponit.com.au for it, even better reason to give it a go. 

Hand made foccaccia and grissini with parmesan and olives 

This was one of the most oily foccaccias I've ever eaten.  It did taste good fresh, but too bad it wasn't warmed up! The olives, however, were warmed up, and that's the way I like them! 

Air dried beef with truffled baby green peaches and parmesan 

Not sure whether air-dried beef just means prosciutto, but they taste like the same thing, and prosciutto has a nicer sounding name compared to "air-dried". I would think if i ate something air-dried, it would be when I'm an astronaut, and having my meal in space.  Overall, dish is good, but not overly creative or unusual.  But, until I typed in the dish's name, I had no idea that it was "truffled baby green peaches", because I could not taste either of those ingredients.  Honestly, I thought it was an aoli / mayo sauce. 

Char grilled eggplant with buffalo mozzarella drizzled with 25 year old balsamic vinegar 

Given that I don't like eggplant, it was going to automatically be on my black list.  But, the taste of the mozzarella did overpower the eggplant taste and texture.  It had a tomato salsa on top of the eggplant, so it did taste quite nice.  But I didn't eat any of the eggplant if there wasn't any cheese left.  The balsamic vinegar was beautiful.  It worked really well with the combo on the dish, but I do not know what a normal balsamic, and a 25 year old one diff.  Remind me to do a taste test of the differences. 

Hawkesbury calamari with fresh chilli and lemon

I only found out this week, that when squid is cooked, its callled calamari.  (This is after the whole psychic octopus world cup fiasco).  So, this dish... extremely unimpressive! Calamari was not cooked well, a little chewy, and the sauce.. was like a lemon-y version of a sweet chilli sauce.  We concluded, 2003 must have been quite an unimpressive year! 

Next dish .. wait for it 

Red wine, pancetta and radicchio risotto

Well... I'm not sure whether I can properly describe my facial expression when I saw this dish plated in front of me.  But, really, if I was a chef, I would consider presenting this dish differently! The risotto was quite nice, had quite a strong parmesan taste, so was quite cheesy, which made the red wine flavour a little to subtle.  The dish was served from behind, so once it was laid in front of me .. wow, I was definitely shocked! That's about all I can say about it

Barramundi baked in a bag of mussels, thyme and vermouth on cavalo nero

I usually love barramundi, as I consider it one of the smoother fish other than john dory.  But, I think mine was overcooked, and given that mussels are my least favourite crustaceans, it made the fish very fishy tasting.  There's a chinese term to describe fishy-fish, seang.  Others thought that this was a good dish, but considering 2 people out of the 6 suffered from food allergy rashes, I would blame this dish compared to the others.  Then again, not sure whether they can blame the food! Hahah.. 

Lightly beaten char grilled black angus beef with fresh peas and potato al forno

This was a long long meal, we started at 7:30 and I think this dish came out around 11pm.  So, everyone on the table was very tired, and some of the boys were still very hungry.  This dish was good.  Steak cooked perfectly (not that they asked how we liked our steak) but the potatoes were a nice touch.  Sorry, can't give an opinion on the peas.  But, peas are peas, and they don't taste good! By the way, please excuse the fact that I had already started eating the dish prior to taking the photo.  Given my eyes were slowly closing up, I wanted to get out of the restaurant asap. Hence, eat the food asap. 

Finally... dessert and the end of the 10 dishes 

Panna cotta with fruit salad and mint

Prior to this, we had a blood orange sorbet to cleanse our palate.  Then finally, what I was waiting for... dessert!

Panna cotta is always a favourite of mine, especially after eating the one at Jonah's.  A and I always have fun eating them, and yes, we do admit we are immature, but noone is judging!? The panna cotta was smooth, not too rich and was complemented well with the berries, and other fruits (which I have already forgotten what they were).  

That was a long night for a school night.  We were all so glad that we had a voucher for the meal, and we had all decided as well, that we probably would never return to the restaurant.  Not sure whether they gave us a good representation of their best 10 dishes, because we were not impressed.  Some dishes did taste nice, but it was more to do with personal preference of the ingredients in the dish, rather than how the dishes were cook.  

My overall rating: 6/10.


6 is to represent the fact that the restaurant had survived 10 years, which is a sign that they must be decently good for people to return and for business to survive.  The service was nice and attentive, however, the serving of each of the dishes was way too slow, given that by the 3rd hour into the meal, we were 1 out of the 3 tables left in the restaurant.  

xoxo 

Michelle

Crystal's Birthday

I finally tried out the Black Forest Masterchef recipe. 
And, if I was on the show, I would definitely get eliminated. 
It took me around 2.5-3 hours to cook, and here are the results. 

xoxo Michelle

June.. the best month of the year

Well.. it's already been quite a busy and definitely exciting month. 


Probably, first thing worth mention, is that A proposed! 
Tehehe... so there is a nice new bling bling on the 4th finger of my left hand! =) 


I have been in Adelaide for the past 2 weeks for work. And, am I ever so glad to be back in Sydney. 


B & S came down to Adelaide to visit me for a few days, which was good to get away from my team from work. So, there was the chance to actually see some parts of Adelaide other than the hotel room and the office.


1. Eros 
277 Rundle Street
Adelaide, 5000

I was late for dinner coz I was working late, but I did read the Vogue forum, and it was recommend by some people, so they chose well.

1/2 duck with bed of spinach

OMG.. i usually never order duck at restaurants, no particular reason why because I do like my roast ducks.  But, this duck was amazing.  A little asian styled, coz the sauce was like a sweet soy sauce, and wow it was good. 

It was cooked really well, meat was soft and delicious. 

S's dish: Quail with olive salad 

B's dish: Seafood fettucine

I thought it was a great restaurant, but I did only eat my dish. 

My rating: 8/10

2. Capriccio 

10 Sussex Street

Glenelg, Adelaide

So, this was the restaurant we went to after A proposed.  He did organise it to be at "Top of the world", but I've driven past that place before, and it looked dodgy! 

Hence, the quick change of plans to go to Capriccio instead.  The team had told me that mains cost around $50/head, but the desserts were to die for. So that's a definite yes for me! 

Hunger set in, so i ate the mains before I remembered to take a photo of them.  Pasta is homemade, and was really good.  

A had the Fettucine Cabonara, and I had the Seafood ravoli in creamy tomato sauce.  Really good, and really good service.  

But, more importantly, dessert. 

Ferrero Rocher Homemade Ice cream

Tiramsu

The photo of the tiramsu isn't very good, or doesn't look appealing.  But, OMG, I do agree with the others, and it can definitely be one of the best tiramsues I've had for a long time! 

This is a italian restaurant in a touristy area, but with a home-y feel to it.  So, I don't see how it can charge such prices! But, it was for an occasion, so price itself didn't really matter that time.

My rating: 8/10 

Here's some random pics of the Adelaide trip... well in particular the proposal

xoxo Michelle

Really.. one month already?

Wow... so it really has been a month since I last posted. 
Not that anyone reads this, given that I'm too shy / embarrassed to read this blog, but the purpose of it was to keep this regularly, and hence allow me to bake more regularly. 


I guess overall, nothing has changed that much in a month.  I was in Adelaide for work for the past week, and heading there again for the next week.  At least, B & S are heading down for a few days to come visit me!!! Wooohooo to that! 


But, on the other hand, its not like I haven't eaten or baked in the month... I have! 
And here are just some of it .. 


1. Selah
12 Loftus Street
Circular Quay


Decided to come here, because it was on the entertainment card.  And given that I always regret buying those entertainment cards every year, I've been in a habit to get it every second year.  But, there are quite a few new additions on the card for the coming year, I think I will just buy it. 

Serrano ham & fresh pea risotto with seared scallops, chives & fried leek

Marinated roast lamb backstrap with marojram, mixed bean, mint and cos lettuce salad  

I had the lamb, and it was SO good! Lamb was perfectly cooked.  Pink on the inside, but not too raw.  I'm usually not a fan of beans, but the bean salad went really well with it.  My only comment is about the cos lettuce.  Not being a food snob (because I usually eat most things), but cos lettuce seems to make the dish cheap.  Its something like chinese cabbage, which is cheap, and used as a filler or a dish.  So the cos lettuce to me, is like the same thing, could use baby spinach or something a little more "classy" for something lettuce equivalent.  


Otherwise, the dinner was great! Nice ambience, side comment as well, its next to a pookies place.  But, have never noticed the restaurant before. 


My rating: 8/10 


2. Kazbah
379 Darling Street
Balmain


Finally, got to try Kazbah! Been wanting to try this place out since my disappointing experience at Efendy (down the road).  And, OMG, totally met and exceeded my expectations, and my stomach capacity! 


You need 6 or more people to have the Feast Menu, which luckily we had! Only comment, we booked the table at 1:30, and didn't get seated till around 2ish, and given this was brunch, this has to be the lastest ever I've ever had brunch! 


But, they did redeem themselves by giving me a fabulous meal! 

L-R: Sweet Couscous, Mix Nuts, Dried Fruit, Stewed Rhubarb, Cardamom Milk, Banana Porridge, Date Compote, Stewed Rhubarb, Warm Rice Pudding, Saffron Poached Pear, Hazelnuts


Honestly, we all didn't think these dishes were necessary! There was already enough food, and this actually wasted space in our small Asian stomachs! 
The best of the 3 was the pear rice pudding, but not nice enough for any of us to go for seconds, except to try out what it all was. 

Lamb mince and roast pumpkin tagine 

As I mentioned, this meal was very very late, and I had saved my stomach.  So apologies for digging into the food without remembering to take its photo first.  Usually the lamb mince tagine is in a separate dish to the roast pumpkin one, when you have enough people.  But since we only had 6, I think that's why they combined the 2 together.  It was fine with me, because I eat lamb, but for those that don't like it, they are forced to eat the vegetarian one with the lamb. But the mix of the 2 on one dish was good, as I assume the lamb mince would be a little too dry if its by itself, so with the veggies next to it, it makes its more saucy. 


On the left of it, (sorry no pictures of it), but was a platter full of turkish bread with different styles of eggs, hash browns, sausages, bacon and halloumi.  


Did I mention that this meal nearly killed me? So much food!!!! and it was just SO good! 


Apparently the turkish bread was spread with crack or something, because there was something about it that was so addictive.  It was spread with butter, but I don't think it was ordinary butter, it was just so good! 


After ALL of this, there is still dessert! 

Chocolate & Raspberry Pancake with Butterscotch sauce and Chocolate fudge ice cream

Hence, why I thought that I was going to have a heart attack from this meal !


My rating: 9/10 


I have not figured what does constitute a 10, but the only reason this place loses a point is the waste of the puddings / museli and also the slowest of getting our table even though we had booked.  But, great great place, will definitely go back again. 


3. Soban
Westfield Chatswood, next to Kam Fook


Been here a few times now.  Quite a good Korean restaurant, but I think it is on the pricey side.

Shall update a little more later. Extremely tired. 


xoxo Michelle