Showing posts with label Fried Ice Cream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fried Ice Cream. Show all posts

Friday, March 16, 2012

Taste of Sydney 2012 - Recap

Do you ever wonder what some of Sydney's amazing restaurants have to offer? But then, unsure whether it's worth the visit? Taste of Sydney is the answer!






Jaguar was one of the sponsors

Taste of Sydney is a yearly event dedicated to presenting some of Sydney's prestige restaurants. The restaurants involve gets the chance to showcase their dishes to the public. The items offered at the event are all sampling sized dishes worth mostly around 8-12 crowns. Crown is the official currency at Taste of Sydney (1 crown = $1). Some dishes that are referred to as "icon dish" were worth around 20-32 crowns.

A week has passed since a league of food loving people and I had our Taste of Sydney experience. But memories of good food still linger in my mind. I could almost still taste them all!





What was even epic about my visit to the event, is that we scored a V.I.P. pass! Thanks to the Stellar* Concepts and Simon of "The Heart Of Food"! Besides entry to the event, the pass gave us access to the HSBC lounge where celebrity chefs were chillin'. There was an amazing band playing and awesome espresso drinks were free. Yes, I did have a huge smile in my face as I was typing all of that.

Ok, back to the main focus of the event. This is a short re-cap of the what went down (more like what went down my belly):

Longrain:

 The Crispy Pork Belly, Pickled Daikon and Chilli Jam in a Sweet Roll (10 crowns) was one of my favourite dishes. The pickled daikon and chilli jam compliments the delicious pork belly well.

Quarter Twenty One:


Another favourite of mine (and of the group) is the Slow Cooked and Caramelised Short Rib with Bone Marrow Persillade (12 crowns). Super tender short rib has a good balance of caramelised sweet, salty and tangy flavours.

The Montpellier Public House:

The Braised Shoulder of Lamb with Polenta and Green Sauce (12 crowns) is very tender that was quite easy to pull apart. It has a green sauce that is exquisite.

Crisp Brisket of Pasture Fed Beef with Creamed Wild Mushrooms (10 crowns). The creamed wild mushrooms is the star in this dish. It tasted a  bit like truffle in cream sauce. The light earthy flavour  in the sauce is what I like most in this dish.

Charlie and Co. :

The Burger Charlie wagyu beef & cheese slider (10 crowns)

The Dog Miniature artisan frankfurter (8 crowns). I like it so much that I will definitely order this again on my next Charlie and Co. visit.

Four In Hand:

 Roast Suckling Pig, Coleslaw, Onion Rings and Hot Sauce (12 crowns)


ICON DISH
Pigs Tail with Corn and Crab Salad and Lobster Bisque (20 crowns)

The Desserts

Efendy:

 Pistachio dessert trio of traditional Baklava, Dolma and Kadayif (8 crowns).

Cut Bar and Grill:


Deconstructed Vanilla and Blueberry Cheesecake with Chestnut Crumble (8 crowns).

Aside from restaurants, there were also a line-up of artisan producers and boutique suppliers. We had the pleasure of sampling their products too.




Rekoderlig ciders


Vanilla lace

Hot chocolate
Pat and Stick's ice cream sandwiches (6 crowns per ice cream sandwich). I've always adored their ice cream sandwiches especially their vanilla lace and caramel pecan ice cream sandwiches. When I saw them at the event, I couldn't resist the urge of devouring a sandwich or two! Mr "The Heart Of Food" with his powers of persuasion, tricked me into trying Pat and Stick's new Hot Chocolate. It is said that it  has a hot and spicy kick.  As I took a bite, it just tasted like a very nice chocolate ice cream. But towards, that's when the party really starts! Oh yeah! It was hot and spicy alright!


So, be on the look out for Taste of Sydney next year. This is one food event a food loving human being wouldn't want to miss!

For more info, check out Taste of Sydney's website:

Friday, December 16, 2011

Holy Basil - Laos and Thai Cuisine

"Holy awesome Laotian/Thai food Batman! Holy Basil food, sure is good!" is what Robin would have told the Dark Knight if a Holy Basil restaurant existed in Gotham City. Luckily for the citizens of Western Sydney, Holy Basil does exist! In the busy strip of Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights.

I've been hearing and reading about this place from a lot of food blogs in the last few months. The fried ice cream here is amongst the most popular dishes ordered. Mrs Ramen Raff and I thought to ourselves, "Hey, let's check this place out!” so, we did visit Holy Basil, two weeks in a row!




The first visit was pretty awesome. It was lunchtime on our rostered day off work and there was no queue (Note that this joint does get packed and a queue eventually builds up). The decor was contemporary with a Southeast Asian (Laos/Thai) type theme. We sat down and having reviewed the menu days ahead, we knew what we wanted. We ordered marinated quails, red duck curry and the black harbour.

Red curry roast duck
The red curry roast duck ($17.90) had a generous serving of succulent pieces of roast duck meat. We picked medium spicy for the red curry sauce (a choice of mild, medium and hot was offered). We still found medium to be on the mild side but the sauce was overall very good.

Marinated quail
The marinated quails ($10) are amazing crispy fried pieces of joy. The skin was so crispy and the spicy dipping sauce that it came with takes the dish to another level of awesomeness. The quail doesn't have to be dipped in the sauce, as the fried quail is good on its own.

Black harbour
 The black harbour ($13.90) was an excellent dessert to end our lunch with. The vanilla ice cream with sweetened sticky black rice are partners in crime guilty of being dangerously delicious.

Lychee drink

We decided to visit Holy Basil once more on Sunday lunchtime to try the masaman beef and fried ice cream.

Beef masaman curry
The beef Masaman curry ($16.90) was as good as I expected it to be. The twist of using tamarind separates this from the usual Thai version. Same thick consistency but the taste is a bit lighter. The beef was so tender that it was effortless to pull it apart.

Fried ice cream


The fried ice cream ($13.90) is the "amazesome" item at Holy Basil in my opinion. The best fried ice cream I’ve ever had. The filo pastry & ice cream tastes like sweetened butter caramel popcorn!


Holy Basil now has a branch in the CBD inside the Shark Hotel on Liverpool Street, Sydney. I really want to go back soon even just for the fried ice cream. I found a new “happy place” in Holy Basil. Our lunch at Holy Basil was yummy for our tummies! How's yours?


Holy Basil – Canley Heights
233A Canley Vale Rd
Canley Heights NSW 2166
Phone: 9727 7585

Lunch 12pm to 3pm
Dinner 5pm to 10pm Sun- Wed
5pm-11pm Thu-Sat


Holy Basil on Urbanspoon