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Archive for February 2018

Eating Barossa – Artisans

Feb26

Restaurant: Artisans of Barossa

Location: Light Pass Rd & Magnolia Rd, Vine Vale SA 5352, Australia. +61 8 8563 3935

Date: December 26, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: One of the best kitchens of the trip

_

On Boxing Day (the 26th of December) we traveled around the Barossa valley sampling giant Australian wines.

Our tour guide set us up at Artisans of Barossa and it turned out to be a lovely spot with great contemporary food.

The view in the middle of the vineyards with casual outside dining as well.

The menu.

The porch has a great view too.

As does the bustling modern interior.

Harvest sourdough with butter. Basic, but excellent!

Glass of Shiraz, of course.

Section 28 Monforte cheese and flat bread.

Fava and herb falafel with shanklish and roast pumpkin.

16 hour slow braised pork empanadas with house made relish. Meat in pastry is a classic and these were delicious!

Local heirloom tomato salad, Barossa Cheese Co feta and fresh herbs.

Fries.

Slow cooked pulled lamb with millet salad, yoghurt and barberries. Yum! Lamb is best this way, slow cooked, and with yougurt!
 Salted caramel sundae with toffee popcorn. Several times in Australia I had a caramel ice cream thing with popcorn. Kinda works as this was excellent.

Overall, a great meal from a great kitchen. Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a rush, but we slammed it in.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

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Take in the local sites

Related posts:

  1. Eating Adelaide – Skyline
  2. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
  3. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  4. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  5. Eating Uluru – Sails in the Desert
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Artisans, Artisans of Barossa, Australia, Barossa, eating-australia

Eating Adelaide – Skyline

Feb24

Restaurant: Skyline

Location: 1 South Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia. +61 8 8216 0388

Date: December 25, 2017

Cuisine: Australian Cuisine

Rating: Nice view

_

It was kinda hard to fine somewhere that was open on Christmas day (evening of the 25th). Most of the top places in Australia close for the holidays.
 We settled on Skyline which did have a lovely view off the edge of the city. Funny too as it’s atop a tall building for Adelaide — but is perhaps only 5 or 6 stories!

The Christmas menu. The gang in the dining room.

And even a shot of me.

During dinner the sun went down right in front of us.

Goats Cheese Tart. Beetroot meringue, succulent salsa.

Seared Scallops. Coral emulsion, chorizo crumb.

Salad.

Side vegetables (kinda like the Nicoise minus the tuna).

Simple pasta for the boy.

Fish & chips.

SA Kingfish Nicoise Salad. Green beans, kipfler potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sous vide egg.

Lamb Backstrap – Hay Valley Farms. Beetroot leather, burnt butter beans, roasted beets, goats cheese.

Ice cream.

Chocolate brownie. Honey caramel, toasted macadamia, burnt honey ice cream, egg nog foam, puffed black rice, candied muntries.
 Vanilla Panna Cotta. Rosemary short bread, confit rhubarb, balsamic jelly, strawberry jell, native mint.

A fun enough meal — although the kitchen was more clued in than the servers. They had that super friendly Australian thing going, but they were pretty clueless and made a bunch of mistakes.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Adelaide – Ding Hao
  2. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
  3. Eating Cairns – Tamarind
  4. Eating Uluru – Sails in the Desert
  5. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Adelaide, Australia, Christmas, eating-australia, Skyline

Eating Adelaide – Ding Hao

Feb22

Restaurant: Ding Hao

Location: 26 Gouger St, Adelaide SA 5000, Australia.  +61 8 8211 7036

Date: December 25, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Not bad

_

Christmas Day in Adelaide and what do you do, even when on the other side of the world? Eat Chinese Food!

Adelaide’s chinatown was just around the corner from our hotel so I picked the busiest looking dim sum parlor.

Inside it doesn’t look much — if any — different than it might in the states.

Chili sauce.

Sadly, since the rest of my party doesn’t like Chinese food I was ordering just for myself and so couldn’t get that much. Had to try the classics though.

Shu Mai. Fine version. Not too gigantic (I don’t like them huge).

Steamed pork bun. I would rather have had the baked type with the sweet glaze but the filling was very good.

Scallop and shrimp dumplings. Nice. Very fresh too.
 I was full but I saw XLB (xao lao bao) pork soup dumplings on the menu and had to order some up. Took 20 minutes to steam too but totally worth it.

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Not bad at all from the couple dishes I had. Considerably better than the place I ate at in New York’s Chinatown last summer.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating NY – Joy Luck Palace
  2. Eating Boston – Hei La Moon
  3. Eating Barcelona – Mian
  4. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  5. Lunasia Dim Sum
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dimsum, Ding Hao, eating-australia

Saddle Up Again

Feb20

Restaurant: Saddle Peak Lodge [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]

Location: 419 Cold Canyon Rd, Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 222-3888

Date: January 11, 2018

Cuisine: Modern American

Rating: Great ambiance and terrific game oriented food.

_

Ever year, both in the summer and winter, we Hedonists return to Saddle Peak Lodge. It’s pretty much the perfect venue for both a winter or summer food and wine blast, with gorgeous lodge patio, game driven food, and awesome wine service. For those of you who don’t know, Hedonist events have amazing wines (each diner brings at least one bottle).

Saddle Peak Ranch used to be a game lodge back in the early part of the 20th century. The rich and famous used to come up and hunt Malibu’s finest, such as this poor fellow. Now the deer are just served up on the menu.

The private room.

They offer a tasting menu, but our party likes to order ala carte. I’d actually like to build our own custom tasting menu which we sort of half managed to do tonight.

The regular menu. They have confusingly moved a bunch of the sides into starters — even though they make no sense as starters.

Stuffed animals!

The place was DEAD on this particular night. I didn’t see anyone else upstairs.

A freebee from my cellar. It’s a cheap “like rose champagne” from the Jura. Many of us actually liked it better next to the Billecart!

Pretzel bread and butter.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

2013 Vincent Dauvissat (René & Vincent) Chablis 1er Cru La Forest. VM 91-94. Bright, subdued aromas of pear drop and citrus fruit. Densely packed and saline in the mouth, offering terrific stony energy and depth along with a sexy impression of sucrosite . Still tight, austere and uncompromisingly dry for all its richness. More obviously soil-driven than the foregoing samples–really classic stony Chablis premier cru.

From my cellar: 1985 Nicolas Potel Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. BH 91. A very fresh yet mature nose of citrus, white flower and lightly toasted nut aromas combines with round and vibrant middle weight flavors that possess a seductive and rich mouth feel, all wrapped in a sappy and mouth coating finish. This is really a lovely effort with complexity and ample finishing punch and is a wine that will continue to hold well if not improve.

agavin: this bottle was more oxidized than the first I opened

2014 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet Les Ancegnières. BH 89-91. Mild reduction doesn’t significantly diminish the appeal of the citrus and slightly exotic fruit and petrol aromas. The solidly intense and delineated middle weight plus flavors are supported by a well-integrated acid spine and refreshing citrus nuances on the lingering finish. This is a quality Chassagne villages and worth considering.

2009 Louis Latour Corton-Charlemagne. BH 93. A discreet touch of wood sets off aromas of dried rose petal, lemon grass and green apple that precede rich, full and obviously well-muscled big-bodied flavors that possess an intense minerality on the powerful, driving and palate staining finish that delivers simply terrific persistence. This imposing effort is most impressive and should offer up to a decade of potential improvement.

Potato leek soup. These soup amuses are kinda boring.

1999 Château d’Yquem. JG 93.  I was very surprised to like the 1999 Yquem a bit better than I liked the 2001, as the vintage in general seems to be decidedly stronger in Sauternes in 2001. The 1999 Yquem offers up a complex and classic nose of toasted coconut, oranges, honey, butter, lovely soil tones, fresh apricot and a lovely framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and quite crisp, with lovely focus and balance, excellent mid-palate depth and a very long, bright and poised finish. A lovely bottle of Yquem.

Seared Foie gras with brioche and apples. An excellent seared prep, special ordered.

And served with the perfect pairing of d’Yquem!

1994 R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Tondonia.

Warm Octopus “Pouche-Grille”, Chermoula, Potato, Mache, Parsley, Lemon Vinaigrette. This was the weakest dish, overly warm and tough.

1999 Delas Frères Hermitage Marquise de la Tourette. VM 90+. Moderately saturated medium ruby. Roasted berries and leather on the rather shy nose. Juicy, firm and flinty on the palate; not nearly as full or explosive as the Cote-Rotie La Landonne but very nicely delineated and subtly aromatic in the mouth. Finishes very long, with fine but serious tannins.

Bandera Quail, Charred Onions, Fingerling Potato, Sage Soubise. This was tasty enough with a very strong char flavor.

1998 Le Petit Cheval. 89 points. Deep colour. And on the nose, deep fruit, seasoned with a little fresh garden mint and green peppercorn. This is fine. Integrating tannins on the palate which still provide a good structure, flavoured with a little coffee and mint. Delightfully structured wine, very approachable now, but will do some short term development I think.

Beef Tartare, wasabi, smoked avocado, crispy rice, herbs.

1997 Philip Togni Cabernet Sauvignon. VM 94.  Bright, dark red. Wild, sexy scents of raspberry, game, olive tapenade, pepper, cedar, mocha and mountain herbs are wonderfully perfumed and subtle. This firmly built, aromatic midweight Cabernet is not especially voluptuous or generous but has the energy and definition to continue to improve for years. Savory more than sweet but still with terrific dark fruit retention. This classic ageworthy wine (Old World comes to Spring Mountain?) still shows some reserve but is impeccably balanced. Finishes with perfectly buffered tannins and subtle rising length.

Mushroom agnolotti.

2002 Lail Vineyards J. Daniel Cuvée. 92 points. Not my type of wine. Big wine, might be more approachable in 5 – 10 years, but now it was way too big a wine for my taste. palate and nose dominated by cherries and chocolate, almost sweet. Wine was huge, good balance, tannins were resolved…just not my cup of tea.

Roasted Mushrooms, bone marrow, persilade, red wine, butter pastry. This was delicious. Like a mushroom pot pie.

Spaghetti Rustichella, white shrimp, uni butter, chili flake and garlic. Solid dish. Nice and buttery. Hint of spice.

Cast Iron Johnnycake, maple butter. Awesome!

Mac & Cheese, 4 cheeses, gouda, aged cheddar, reggiano, jack. Good, but a little dry.

1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 93+.  I have always been a fan of the 1989 Château Beaucastel, which I rank just behind the superb 1981 at this fine estate. The most recent bottle I tasted of this wine was still just a touch youthful, but offered up fine complexity on both the nose and palate and shows excellent promise. The bouquet is a blend of roasted fruitcake, cherries, new leather, venison, incipient notes of sous bois, woodsmoke and hot stones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and rock solid at the core, with a bit of tannin still to resolve, fine focus and grip and a very long, classy and slightly chewy finish. I would be tempted to give this wine a few more years to really resolve, as it will be a superb wine and it would be most enjoyable to drink it at the same plateau that the 1981 has been enjoying for a good decade already.

From my cellar: 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. JG 92+. The 1990 Château Beaucastel is a lovely wine and is just about ready for primetime drinking, but will continue to improve over the coming five or six years and then cruise along for decades from that point forward. The bouquet offers up a fine blend of dried raspberries and red currants, roasted game, incipient autumnal tones (fallen leaves) and a potpourri of spice tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and a touch leathery in personality, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the complex finish. Having had the good fortune to drink several older vintages of Beaucastel at peak maturity, my gut instinct with the 1990 would be to let it rest in the cellar for just a few more years and allow the last layer of aromatic complexity to emerge here, though it must be said that the wine is really lovely on the palate right now.

2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Dark red. Vibrant raspberry, blackberry, floral and spice aromas convey impressive purity and freshness. Supple and sweet, with deep red fruit flavors, hints of floral pastille and baking spices and gentle tannins. This wine has more grenache than usual for the property, which makes it one of the most graceful (despite the hot vintage) wines I’ve had from the Perrins. Clean and energetic on the finish, which echoes the red fruit and floral qualities. A touch of heat takes my score down a hair, but this is Chateauneuf, after all. I scored this wine 93 points on release.

Game Trio with Emu, Elk, and Bison.

Game Quadro adding in Water Buffalo.

Braised Bison Short Rib, smoked miso-potato puree, blistered asparagus, peppery jelly.

Water Buffalo Loin, dates, brown butter, brussels sprouts, grapes, juniper, blackberry.

Amaroo Farms Emu Strip, balsamic onions, potato, spinach, red wine jus.

Elk Tenderloin, bacon jam, cranberry, crispy yam strings.

Left over from the night before.

8oz Filet Mignon, mushroom, potato puree, pea greens, cider glazed carrots & turnips.

New Zealand Lamb Rack, smoked miso potatoes, blistered asparagus, pepper jam.

French fries.

Dessert menu.

1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva. 92 points. Seb brought this and didn’t even know it was super sweet. It was great though!
Cappuccino Cream, hazelnut fudge & cocoa crumble.

Banana & huckleberry bread pudding, Tahitian Vanilla bean ice cream.

Valrhona Brownie, chocolate cremeux caramelized white chocolate, raspberry, bourbon barrel ice cream.

Sorbet. Coconut, blackberry, and I can’t remember. Nice texture but way too mild in flavor.

This night was typical of Saddlepeak in recent years. Food is good. Prices are a bit high. Service is super nice and they really try — but the format isn’t perfect for wine dinners. I’d rather do it in family style waves rather than a few huge courses.

Our wines were mixed tonight with many very good but a few flawed.

Click here for more LA restaurant reviews,
Or for Hedonist extravaganzas.

Related posts:

  1. Saddle Peaked
  2. Saddle Peak Again?!?
  3. Saddle Peak Peaks
  4. Hedonism at Saddle Peak Lodge
  5. Food as Art: Saddle Peak Lodge
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Foie gras, Meat, Saddle Peak Lodge, Wine

Eating Sydney – Ibis Hotel

Feb18

Restaurant: Ibis Hotel Sydney Airport

Location: Sydney, Australia

Date: December 24, 2017

Cuisine: Weird blend

Rating: interesting, but not a lot of flavor

_

A mechanical problem with our plane caused us to spend an extra night in Sydney — at the exciting Ibis Hotel near the airport. We went down to their restaurant and discovered to my pleasure and everyone else’s that it was vaguely Asian. Sort of Indian/Indonesian maybe.

Cider.

Salt and pepper squid. Pretty tasty actually. Best thing. VERY salty though.

Creamy mushroom pasta.

Pasta pomodoro.

Steamed veggies.

Boring salmon.

Chicken curry. I wanted to like it but it was super salty without much flavor.

Ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Seeing as it was Christmas Eve they gave us some eggnog!

And I ordered this yummy-sounding caramel shake, but it basically tasted like milk and caramel not ice cream.

Not the best meal at all, but kinda interesting. The hotel had nice staff, but I can’t say I will be booking at another Ibis again soon — accommodations and service were minimal to say the least!

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Sydney – Salt Meats Cheese
  2. Eating Sydney – Gelato Messina
  3. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  4. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  5. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Ibis, Sydney

Eating Uluru – Sails in the Desert

Feb15

Restaurant: Sails in the Desert

Location: Uluru

Date: December 23, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: Not bad for in the middle of nowhere

_

Sails in the Desert is a hotel (one of just a few) near Uluru.
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Uluru used to be known as Ayers rock — regardless, it’s far more impressive in person than any name can do justice to!

Fruity mocktail.

Salad with grilled cheese — notice the rocket again.

Veggie Club and fries.

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The ubiquitous fish and chips.

Curry in the middle of nowhere! And kangaroo — which was a little tough and not good enough to overcome the cuteness factor of the bouncy marsupials, so I feel sad.
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Sails wasn’t bad for such a remote destination — and one with virtually no other choices unless you want to go all aboriginal and eat some monitor lizard.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  2. Hedonism in the Desert – Azeen’s Afghani
  3. Eating Cairns – Fusion Art
  4. Eating Cairns – Tamarind
  5. Eating Rome – La Campana
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Sails in the Desert, Uluru

Holy Roly

Feb12

Restaurant: Holy Roly

Location: 3450 W 6th St Suite 109A, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (323) 739-8828

Date: January 2, 2018

Cuisine: Rolled Ice Cream

Rating: Tasty, but still too cold

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After a tasty Korean meal we wandered around the corner to try this rolled ice cream joint.

Rolled ice cream is really a Thai thing, but this place doesn’t really seem to have any particular ethnic slant. It does bill itself on its website as healthy and organic — all the while sporting fruit loops, Oreos, and marshmallows on top — go figure!

You pick your flavor.

There are specials.

Then they (slowly) take a cup of your flavor and pour it on the frozen surface.

They then manually (and slowly) do the job of a batch freezer by mushing the mix around.

Finally spreading it out so it can freeze nice and cold with little consistency or aeration.

Then they roll it up into ho-hos and decorate.

Deep Dark Chocolate. whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow, fruity pebbles (apparently they ran out and decided on fruit loops or are confused), rainbow sprinkles (also out), chocolate syrup. If they think THAT is deep dark they should check out a REAL chocolate ice cream (gelato):
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NOT HOLY ROLY, but Chocolate Fondant Honey Nougat Gelato made by Sweet Milk (me).

Back to our featured location: Coffee, Oreo. Whipped cream, pocky stick, roasted marshmallow (sense a theme?), mini oreo, chocolate syrup. Not bad, but like all these rolled ice creams looks better than it tastes because the temperature is so cold and the texture so dense.

So like all the rolled ice cream places Holy Roly is pretty good (because how bad can house made ice cream be?) and very attractive, but suffers from being too cold and too dense. Plus the format is VERY SLOW. If it were even moderately busy you’d really be waiting a while since it takes maybe 6-8 minutes of straight labor from an employee to prepare just one of these.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Boston – Juicy Spot
  2. Holy Cow!
  3. Ice Cream Lab
  4. Not So Close Shave
  5. Eating Florence – Gelateria Santa Trinita
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dessert, hedonists, Holy Roly, Ice cream, Korea-town

Eating Cairns – Tamarind

Feb09

Restaurant: Tamarind

Location: 35-41 Wharf St, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia. +61 7 4030 8897

Date: December 22, 2017

Cuisine: Thai Fine Dining

Rating: Very good

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Tamarind is a casino restaurant in Cairns that is high end Thai-fusion fine dining.

Only that particular combination and the fact that they also had regular pasta (for our son) convinced my family to go — lucky for me.





Long menu.

An amuse of tomato soup.

Fruity cocktail.

A kind of alcoholic “ice tea.”

Tamarind Taster Plate with, left to right:

Pan Seared Scallops. Butternut anglaise, dried wakame, bacon crumb and pickled fig.

Tempura Zucchini Flowers. Pernod gel, ricotta emulsion, macerated currents, and salsa verde.

Gin and tonic Salmon. Blueberry, cucumber gel, feta cream, squid ink glass.

Watermelon Salad. Pink-ginger, watermelon, snow pea, and ponzu dressing.

Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese.

Beetroot Risotto. Goats chese croquette, roof top greens.

Penang Duck Curry. Caramelized pumpkin, roasted peanuts, chili, coriander, with scented rice.

A close up of the curry. This was actually a fabulous curry. Sweet rather than spicy but intensely flavored, rich, and sumptuous.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

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Above the great barrier reef

I’m glad we managed to get to Tamarind. It was one of my favorite dinners, particularly because the duck curry was so good and I love even a bad Thai curry — and this was a delicious one.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Cairns – Fusion Art
  2. Eating Sydney – Salt Meats Cheese
  3. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  4. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  5. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, Cairns, eating-australia, Tamarind, Thai cuisine

Eating Cairns – Fusion Art

Feb07

Restaurant: Fusion Art Bar & Tapas

Location: 5/12 Spence St, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia. +61 7 4051 3888

Date: December 21, 2017

Cuisine: Spanish Tapas

Rating: Excellent

_

Our Australian trip brings us along to Cairns, near the Great Barrier Reef.

And with it a more tropical feel and a well recommended tapas bar.

Attractive interior, but it was a nice night and we sat outside.

The menu.

Bar snacks.

Some kind of typical aperitif.

A glass of rose.

Coffin Bay South Australian Oysters.

Condiments include mignonette spheres!

Kingfisher Creek Camembert and bread.

Sardines with tomato chili relish and orange segments.

Pan fried Haloumi with strawberry salsa and fig balsamic.

Wild Mushroom Arancini with saffron aioli.

Prawn Beignets with grapefruit aioli.

Baked Aubergine stuffed with pumpkin, parmesan and roasted tomato dressing.

Creamy Coconut Chicken Curry with cassava chips and basmati rice. There is a lot of curry in Australia, lucky for me!

Mango passionfruit dessert.

Chocolate ice cream dessert.

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Waterfall on the skyride outside of town

This was one of our better dinners in Australia. It’s not fancy, and we didn’t tend to go to very elaborate places, but they had a solid kitchen and bright and interesting flavors.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
  2. Paiche – Fusion Panache
  3. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  4. Eating Sydney – Quay & Co
  5. Eating Majorca – Forn De Sant Joan
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, Cairns, eating-australia, Fusion Art, Tapas

Korean Kwicky

Feb05

Restaurant: Yangji Gamjatang

Location: 3470 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 388-1105

Date: January 2, 2018

Cuisine: Korean

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Korean

_

Only 24 hours after traveling halfway across the world (on my way back from holiday) some friends summoned me out to a quick meal in K-Town. We originally wanted to go to Sun Nong Dan but there was a huge line and they don’t allow so we went next door instead.

From my cellar: NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

Menu on the wall.

And laminated. Lots of stews — but that’s Korean homestyle food :-).

David L brought: 2012 Deux Montille Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses. VM 91. Subtle aromas of apple and minerals. Restrained and fresh, showing lovely cut to its sexy floral and spice flavors. Finishes with a touch of phenolic bitterness that calls for some time in bottle, but this very attractive version of Preuses has the density of material to support it. I managed to leave this very successful wine out of my Chablis coverage in the last issue.

banchan (free appetizers).

Sauce for something.

Bean sprouts.

Spicy pickled stripes of some vegetable, or maybe squid. I liked ’em.

Cucumbers.

Kimchi.

Sweet bean curd.

Spicy pickled radish.

Marinated potato. Slightly sweet.

Baby asparagus and sausage.

Spinach fried dumplings. Very hot and crispy. Nice texture, but not super exciting.

From my cellar: 2002 Maison Leroy Bourgogne-Grand-Ordinaire. 93 points. Balanced and complex. Medium body. Very nice

Spicy beef stew. A bit less sweet than next door. Beef short ribs with potatoes and rice noodle tubes. Yummy!

Spicy pork sparerib stew. Same sauce (and everything else) except for having pork ribs. A bit more “savory” and spareribby than the beef.

Yarom brought: 2008 Bisceglia Aglianico del Vulture Gudarrà Riserva. 90 points. I thought this tasted like Aglianico. It’s from Basilcata down in the very south part of Italy. A nice volcanic wine.

Spicy noodles with lots of stuff. I think they describe it as “mixed thick cold noodle.” Basically the same stuff as bibimbap but noodles instead of rice.

It got a special “hand job” (with gloves).

Here it is mixed up. Not bad at all.

Kimchi pancake. I like the Korean seafood pancakes better. This one was a little bland.

Seb brought: 2015 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. SO heavy and modern — tasted like grape juice with oak and vanilla extract.

Spicy sweet and sour chicken. Not spicy at all, and very sticky, but quite delicious. Ox bone soup with beef brisket and noodle. Very bland beef and noodle soup. Just collagen basically from cooked bones. Not my thing, but it’s “what it’s supposed to be” for this dish. I had to dump a bunch of spicy sauce in. Beef was pretty good though.

Overall, a nice casual Korean place with some variety on the menu (mostly soups and stews) and they were really really friendly. Plus they allowed wine.

Afterward we headed down the street for some rolled ice cream!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Homestyle Korean Double Dinner
  2. Korean Closer
  3. Hanjip Korean BBQ
  4. Gwang Yang – Beeftastic
  5. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beef, hedonists, Korea-town, Korean cuisine, Wine, Yangji

Eating Sydney – Quay & Co

Feb03

Restaurant: Quay & Co

Location: Gateway, 2 Alfred St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

Date: December 20, 2017

Cuisine: Australian

Rating: okay

_

Another quick meal in Sydney.

Right across from the Gelato Messina.

The menu.

Fish & Chips are everywhere in Australia.

Salmon Benedict “sandwich.”

Lamb shoulder with fries, pita, and yogurt.

1A0A8286

Sydney docks

Not the greatest meal ever, but certainly fine.

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Sydney – Gelato Messina
  2. Eating Sydney – Salt Meats Cheese
  3. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  4. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
  5. Eating NY – Baker & Co
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, eating-australia, Quay & Co, Sydney

Eating Sydney – Gelato Messina

Feb02

Restaurant: Gelato Messina

Location: Alfred St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. +61 2 9252 4480

Date: December, 2017

Cuisine: Gelato

Rating: Better than I’ve had in the states

_

Gelato Messina has been a big inspiration to me as a Gelato-maker because they have the best English professional gelato book.

Anyway I was psyched to find one right next to my hotel in Sydney! Had to eat there 4 times in 2 days — Italian style (gelato twice a day).

It’s a little corner spot at the entrance to a food mall at Circular Quay.

Crowded most of the day.

Various specials.

Juicy looking over piled cabinets.

Milk based.

Sorbet.

More.

More.

And even more.

Here is a strawberry sorbetto. Not quite as good as mine (with the strawberries from Avignon), but very very good.

1A0A8172

Old-town Sydney

Overall, some fabulous gelato. Very interesting flavors and a bunch of nice Christmas flavors. Not quite as intense as mine. I even tried two flavors that I have made from their recipes and they are slightly less intense. I probably use more expensive ingredients because at home I use the best possible regardless.

Great place!

For more Australia dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Sydney – Salt Meats Cheese
  2. Eating Sydney – Leura Gourmet
  3. Eating Sydney – Oyster Bar
  4. Eating NY – Laboratorio del Gelato
  5. Eating NY – Grom
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Australia, Dessert, eating-australia, Gelato, Gelato Messina, Messina, Sydney
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