We don’t venture out to the foodie wonderland that is Newtown much but today we decide to check out Grub and Tucker, one of the many restaurants on King Street. The vibe of the place fits in with the breezy weather – kind of a beachy restaurant with flaking polish on their wooden furniture, high back rattan chairs and padded cushions.
Filed under Australian, Newtown
On the recommendation of a friend, we headed over to Walsh Bay where a row of cafes and restaurants sit right behind the wharves. It’s hard to get to by public transport, but trust me when I say it’s worth it. We hadn’t really done much research on Cafe Sopra before we went so we were pleasantly surprised to see that it was a SMH Good Food Guide one-hatted restaurant.
It is an unpretentious cafe, sharing the space with the Fratelli Fresh deli on the other side of the warehouse-like shop. There is no food menu on paper, instead all the dishes are scribbled onto huge blackboards placed all around the cafe – it gets a bit confusing but we finally settle on the crisp polenta (recommended by the friend) and a risotto milanese as well as a cappuccino.
The cappuccino comes first and is quality coffee according to the boy, we also take a look around and see that the wall next to us is a tall shelving system with lots of wine bottles neatly displayed but apart from this, there hasn’t been much fuss made with the decor of the place.
Our lunch comes out and the polenta is impressive, with slices of it stacked up high with melted gorgonzola cheese oozing all over it while the risotto is decidedly less appealing, it just looked like a pile of soggy rice on a plate. But appearances can be deceiving, the risotto turned out to be intensely flavoursome despite its lack of meat. It had been cooked in hearty beef stock and had hints of saffron (a bit of a metallic tangy flavour) in it, which is apparently Milanese style as the name of the dish suggests.
Risotto Milanese $20
The crunchy polenta was a masterpiece of textures, with the crisp exterior resembling a fish finger whereas the innards were soft and mushy. Polenta is made from cornmeal but it tasted more like regular potatoes to me and went very well with the smooth creamy gorgonzola cheese sauce, spinach leaves and fresh mushroom which soaked up all the flavour.
Crisp polenta $22
We were very full and satisfied after our carb heavy meal and will be passing on the recommendation to people wanting to try some authentic Italian dishes outside the conventional pizza and pasta usually served in Italian restaurants. It was a bit of a hassle to get the waitress’ attention to order and to pay the bill but otherwise, great spot for lunch and fantastic location for working off your food with a stroll to and from the cafe in one of the most pictureseque areas of Sydney.
Cafe Sopra
Shop 8, 16 Hickson Rd
Walsh Bay NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 8243 2700
Filed under Cafe, CBD - Walsh Bay, Italian
The Chophouse is an unassuming restaurant that is tucked away off the slanted Bligh Street in the heart of Sydney’s business district. Once you step in, you can feel the unconventional vibe of the restaurant in their decor which has some macabre touches playing on their association with meat and slaughter, such as the animal skulls hanging from the ceiling of the bar.
The whole restaurant is very dim and cavernous with high ceilings and arches which give the impression that the Chophouse may have once been some sort of abattoir, since it also has an industrial atmosphere due to the peeling paint on the walls. I’m sure that’s the authentic slaughterhouse feel that they were aiming for but luckily all the furniture and cutlery were spick and span.
We had a bit of a mix up with our booking time but the manager was very accommodating and we only had a short wait at the bar before we were ushered to our table. I ordered a bellini which was very sweet, consisting of sparkling white wine mixed with a scoop of peach sorbet which gradually melted and gave a lovely touch of fruity honey to the drink.
Bellini $18
We started with some complimentary sour dough bread served with butter on a cute plate bearing the Chophouse insignia and it was appropriately soft, great with the butter and sprinkles of salt or pepper which came with it for you to season to taste. That being said, I’m not actually much of a fan of sourdough in general, so I was eagerly awaiting my mains to be served.
We had originally planned to get two steaks but spotted the Chophouse Mixed Grill Platter to share between 2, which was perfect for us to get a good selection of different types of meat that the Chophouse had to offer and we were not disappointed at all.
Chophouse Mixed Grill Platter $59
It doesn’t look like a huge amount of food when the platter is first brought out but once we start nibbling away we realise that it is a LOT of meat to get through (especially when one of the diners is yours truly, notorious for getting full very quickly). We are spoilt for choice by the platter, it offers a couple of spicy merguez sausages, boerwurst (another sausage), meat skewers, dry aged rump cap, some onion rings and grilled tomatoes to satisfy our vegie intake for the day. It was also served with a small pot of BBQ sauce and little tongs to handle the food with.
We dig in to the sausages first and they were very flavoursome, not too spicy but just enough to give the meat a bit of a kick and were nicely grilled. The boerwurst is slightly more tough, but not actually sure what type of meat it is (maybe pork). Then we each take a few cubes of meat off the skewers (there’s a couple to share) and the grilled beef is amazing – it melts in your mouth and is just the right balance between being slightly chewy but still soft enough. The rump is carved into small slices ready for us to share and it is not as delicious as the beef skewer but still decently tender, tastes better when dipped in the BBQ sauce. The onion rings were also fantastic – light and crunchy batter and the slices of onions within were still a bit juicy despite being fried.
The service at Chophouse is very attentive, we had a nice waitress who is “watching us like a hawk” (her words, not mine). Every time we finished our dishes, she would come over to clear our table and she was also very obliging when we requested extra mustard – bringing us a little plate with Hot English and Dijon mustard. Both went well with the meats and provides a good alternative if you don’t like the BBQ sauce that comes with it.
Icecream, 3 scoops for $12.90
We finish off our meal with a dessert of 3 scoops of house churned icecream - one scoop each of fig and frangelico, vanilla and green tea which are served with some broken pieces of real honeycomb (nothing like what’s inside a Crunchie…) and a small pot of chocolate sauce. We don’t even need the sauce as the icecream is so fragant and creamy on its own – especially the fig and frangelico, where you can taste the hints of hazelnut and sweet fruit.
The green tea was also nice but a bit more creamy than I am used to having (especially since the night before I had eaten at Suminoya buffet where you can order as many scoops of green tea icecream as you like). The gamechanger is the honeycomb, you can break it up into little pieces and eat it together with the icecream and it really brings out the sweetness of the icecream but adds a touch of caramelised honey flavour to it. A simple ingenious touch to bring humble icecream to a whole different level of enjoyment.
If you like good meat, definitely head to Chophouse for some tender cubes of meat that will give you a bit of a foodgasm in your mouth – my friend is a self-professed meat connoisseur and he was blown away by the quality of the meat here.
Chophouse
25 Bligh Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 1300 246 748
Filed under Australian, CBD - Wynyard, Steakhouse
A simple way to gauge whether a restaurant is worth your money is to see how packed it is…so naturally we followed the masses into Reuben Hills – a brand spanking new cafe in Surry Hills which opened on January 1st 2012 on the gentle slope of Albion Street. We had been casually strolling past when we noticed the crowd waiting near the narrow entrance of the cafe and knew we had to investigate what everyone was waiting for…
Filed under Cafe, Surry Hills
So what is Dutch food? None of us really knew when we landed in Amsterdam but luckily for us, Amsterdam is filled with plenty of different restaurants in their lively entertainment quarters. We lived close to one called Leidseplein which boasted all sorts of cuisines for us to choose from.
One of the nights we set out to finally discover what Dutch traditional cuisine actually was and we found it at De Blauwe Hollander, which is on one of the alleys in Leidseplein. The restaurant is dimly lit and filled with long wooden furniture and quite packed when we arrive. We ordered stamppots, which translates into “mash pot” and is pretty much mashed potatoes mixed with different kinds of vegetables and meat. I chose one that came with bacon, endives and meatball with gravy.
Endives Stamppot – €11.50
The mash was delectably creamy and the taste of the endives is pretty bland in comparison, it is just a steamed leafy vegie chopped and mixed into the mash. The stamppot is a hearty and filling meal with all the meat and the carbs from the potato mash. The gravy goes well with the lightly crunchy bacon and the meatball is appropriately chewy and salty but not overly so. It is nothing amazing flavour wise, especially not compared to the flavoursome Belgian dishes we had just feasted on prior to entering the Netherlands.
We also tried the curly kale stamppot, which comes with sausages and gravy. Despite the cute name of “curly” kale, again the vegetable is quite bland as it is a kind of cabbage but the sausages were quite tasty and delivered a much needed flavour hit to the dish.
Curly kale stamppot – €12.25
I wouldn’t say that Dutch traditional cuisine has a lot to offer in terms of flavours and variety, though admittedly we didn’t try many other forms of savoury Dutch food apart from the stamppot. We did have some little Dutch pancakes (“poffertjes”) for breakfast one of the mornings, and while it was interesting to watch the stall owner cook the pancakes in little half spherical batter pans (similar to a takoyaki pan, with rows of small half circles for the batter to be placed into), the smell of the cooking pancakes was more enticing than the actual taste of the pancakes. Rather disappointingly, they were just mini pancakes with a dusting of icing sugar on top and some butter – not particularly fluffy or sweet.
Poffertjes – €7.50
Our best meal in Amsterdam was actually at a sports bar offering all you can eat spare ribs with salad and potatoes for only €9.95 – what a bargain! On the main street in Leidseplein, many of the restaurants have a sign outside offering a similar meal deal but apart from this sports bar, all were priced at €13.50-€13.75, which made our decision of where to try these spare ribs a lot easier to make.
We were a bit wary about the quality of these spare ribs, thinking that it was likely to be a tourist trap but figured that even if it was crap, it would fill us up anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to find a generous serving of a rack of spare ribs with a beautifully glazed marinade, plenty of leafy green salad and a choice of either fries or baked potato with sour cream as well as a pot of either garlic or barbeque sauce.
Spare ribs – €9.95
I went for the garlic sauce of course, but the spare ribs were so flavoursome from the marinade (a kind of BBQ sauce) that the garlic sauce was barely even needed. As for the taste of the spare ribs? Think of Hurricanes or Ribs and Rumps in Sydney – but 10 times better and much better value. I’m not even a fan of spare ribs and I happily gobbled up my whole rack of ribs and asked for a second serving (which I half finished) – they were THAT good. You don’t get a refill of any of the other things except for the spare ribs but it’s fine because you don’t want to fill yourself up with carbs from the potatoes anyway. I would say the spare ribs meal was definitely one of our culinary highlights from the Europe trip, so definitely try them out if you’re heading to Amsterdam in the future.
Restaurant De Blauwe Hollander
Leidsekruisstraat 28
1017 RJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Phone: 020 6270521
Filed under Bar Food, Dessert, Dutch, Netherlands
Excuse Me Waiter is a documented food adventure run by two hungry Gen Y food fanatics DK & Yvn. We can often be found roaming Sydney in search of interesting foods from food courts to high-end restaurants.
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