Ocean Room, Circular Quay

The other day we celebrated the Boy's birthday at Ocean Room, which has excellent views of the Opera House. In our case, we were seated around the time a massive cruise ship was meant to be departing. Our waiter apologetically explained that there had been a bit of a delay because one of its passengers had gone walkabout and was being retrieved. In any case, we didn't mind since the view of the boat was just as entertaining as the Opera House.

yay filter!

The birthday boy decreed that we go for the $120 12 course tasting menu ("YOLO", as he phrased it) and, since he's partial to them, cocktails. I rebelliously went for an orange mocktail called "Tokyo Rose", decorated with a single rose bud. A combination of soda, rose water, cherry syrup, red grapefruit juice and fresh lime juice, it was light, fizzy and full of citrus. It oddly made me think of tutti frutti and bubblegum - common slushy flavours when I was a kid.

Blueberry fizz ($19.00)

Tokyo Rose ($10.00)

After the ship left, tourists began to flock over

Food

The 12 course degustation took us 3 hours to plough through, with the first third being churned out swiftly. As my stomach is wont to do, the drawn-out process caused it to feel full at around the 8th dish. I tenaciously battled on, but my tastebuds didn't appreciate the latter third of the menu due to the stomach's turgid state :(

1. Kaki (oyster): Two cold smoked oysters on top of flat metal spoons. The tomato water jelly (the white cloudy substance) indeed tasted of cold tomato juice, while the chilli pearl burst on my tongue. It was a refreshing change from the usual plain natural oysters we normally have, and got us talking about having another round of oysters some time in the next few weeks.

Kaki

2. Ochazuke: The waiter poured gyukuro (one of the highest grades of green tea) and dashi (stock) into the wasabi-rimmed glass. This room-temperature mixture  contrasted starkly with the icy umeboshi (plum) sorbet, giving me a brain freeze when I naively shovelled the entire mixture into my mouth. There was crisp rice crust, similar in texture to those Asian rice cracker snacks/ rice puffs.  The flame-seared latchet (fish) was a little jarring - not a contender for favourite entree.

Ochazuke

3. Maguro (yellow fin tuna): This was pretty fun to eat. We were advised to mix everything up on the plate and to have it with the tomato chips. I loved the green olive and buffalo mozzarella drops, which burst open with a light poke.

Maguro

4. Canned Ocean Room (no preservatives!): We were a little stunned when the can was set before us. I was afraid we'd open it to find supermarket tuna or something similarly banal, but I was proven wrong. There was a large variety of seafood inside that little can, including sea urchin, crab, scallop, cuttlefish and salmon pearls. I'd snapped a photo of what was in the can, but it's mysteriously gone missing :S

Canned Ocean Room

5. Onsen (natural hot springs?): When this arrived, my first thought was "Ewwwww vegetables".  They tasted great with that anchovy and garlic oil "bath" in the centre, though. The tea light candle below the oil ensured the dip remained warm, while the black shichimi (seven spice flakes) provided a gritty kick. Interestingly, there was also a small fried riceball (yaki-onigiri).

Onsen

  

Setting sun

 6. Kassen: Selection of fresh sashimi - Loved the variety and quality. The smoked-salmon-in-a-glass was a nice touch.
 

Kassen

 

 

 

 

 7. Foie gras: The thought of offal makes me gag, and thankfully there wasn't much of the foie gras. It was even almost tasty when pan seared (a little bit of char does wonders) and eaten with the soup stock and giant cylinder of stewed daikon.

8. Miso cod: Zucchini flower, miso cod, orange miso and a bit of ginger risotto. Nice, but not memorable (in all fairness, I was also entering a food coma).

9. Butabara (pork belly): This came in a hot plastic bag, which the waiter snipped open. The yuzu chilli ponzu came in a test tube, which was left to us to pour into the bag. The pork belly wasn't as melt-in-your-mouth tender as I expected. Regardless, the hot melting tofu and simmered pork belly made for decent comfort food.

 10. Deconstructed 'Burrito': This was definitely a bit of a filler, with the tornado potato on a stick, sizable slab of wagyu flat iron steak, bits of tortilla, and carby chilli con carne. The steak came medium-rare, which is bloodier than I like, but it meant the beef was very easy to bite into. The tornado potato tasted like soft wedges, so it was hard for me to refrain from eating too much of it.

11. Edo-mae sushi:  3 types of nigiri sushi (sashimi draped on top of rice) which was explained by the waitress to be served without soy sauce because it was already seasoned. The Boy reckoned that it could have done with sauce, in fact, and I would have to agree. It was pretty dry, even eaten with the young ginger. A pity, because it would otherwise have been quite enjoyable.

Bonus round- Birthday cake on the house: Thanks Ocean Room!

12. Hotondo ichigo (almost/ a little strawberry): This was a pot of strawberry mascarpone, with strawberry chips and sweetened beetroot, accompanied by candy and minty lemon air on top of a strawberry. It was all nice except the beetroot. I guess it was meant to act the same way as rhubarb in desserts, but half the glass pot was beetroot, overpowering everything else.

 

Service: Couldn't ask for more. Attentive, friendly, unobtrusive.

Overall impression: Good food, views and atmosphere. We want to return for the a la carte dishes - of particular interest, I saw people grilling meat on top of a cubic BBQ contraption.

La Lupita, Circular Quay

Ever since my first visit to London last year, I've been on the hunt for a non-Tex-Mex restaurant in Sydney that is similar to the likes of Wahaca. La Lupita isn't quite up at that level, but with the right combination of dishes, makes for a satisfying meal. On a sidenote, I don't think 4 pound plates of 3 tacos ($7 - 8 AUD) will be the norm in Australia any time soon :(

La Lupita is situated in The Basement, a music club that mainly hosts Jazz musicians. For the Jazz-haters, not to worry! The dining area is quite separate from the live music - except it might be a disappointment for those who want a dinner/ show experience. Having said that, the salsa bar looked very makeshift, with salad bowls to contain each different salsa type - so perhaps this particular arrangement was just for the one night?

Ordering consists of the following steps:

1. You are provided with a slip of paper (see below) and a coloured pencil.
2. Using the pencil, circle the quantity of each menu item that you wish to order.
3. Hand the paper to either a waitress/ waiter or the bartender.

We asked for one of everything, except for the special taco. This turned out to be a fatal mistake because we ended up with two tortilla chip baskets - albeit with different toppings.

Tortilla chip basket 1: Troelotes

If I were to return, I would pick this tortilla basket over the other one. The spiced corn didn't taste very spiced but provided a bit more texture and juiciness that the other basket lacked. The lime was quite dry, so there wasn't much juice to squeeze over the top, but the cheese, salsa and crema mexicana (as well as the corn) made up for it in moisture.

Troelotes ($10.00)

Spit Roast Hot Wings - with spiced chipotle, lime and garlic crema

Once again, not spicy. They were still tasty though - the meat on the bones was moist and the combination of the sauce and the charred, smoky flavour provided a bit more complexity.

Spiced chicken wings ($10.00)

At $6.00 each, the tacos seem a little steep. They are a little bit bigger than some others I've seen, which somewhat made up for it. One was pork, one was beef and one was chicken. Aside from bearing their respectively different meaty textures, I couldn't distinguish between their accompanying marinades. Slathered with salsas and toppings of our choice, though, we were pretty happy.

Tacos ($6.00 each)

Tortilla basket 2: Frijoles with salsa roja, crema mexicana, chiltepin (chili pepper) , queso de oaxaca (Mexican cheese)

As much as I adore frijoles, there was a bit too much starch and not enough of a spicy kick. It's still worth a try if you're into your legumes - there just isn't that much to say about it :/

Would I return? One day, yes. Although the menu is limited, the food isn't bad, and I really ought to sample their drinks.

Selah, Circular Quay

Selah is situated about a minute's walk away from the high-tourist-density part of Circular Quay. It comes across as providing business-casual dining at a decent price, and if I were to go by the photos on the website alone, I would wholeheartedly agree and wonder why they aren't hatted. Upon visiting, I felt let down by the flavours - the portions are reasonable and the food is tasty, but the dishes lack that special something which makes you excited about the prospect of returning. I did, however, have a really nice glass of pinot noir, which makes me want to go back to sample more of the wines on their list.

The word 'selah' is used frequently in the Old Testament book of Psalms. It indicates a pause which one should use for reflection and deep thought. Selah the restaurant indeed cultivates a relaxed atmosphere, with its gentle lighting and simple furniture. As I visited at dinner time, we were amongst the non-corporate patrons, who filled the place with a gentle buzz. The waitresses were friendly enough... Just not as polished as the other higher-end restaurants I've visited recently (I do appreciate my constant refills of water).

First, the wine. I hadn't had a good red in quite a while and I settled on the 2011 Holm Oak pinot noir. A rich, bright red in colour, it was smooth on the palate and had a light fruity scent. Delicious and pleasant to drink.

Pinot noir ($11.00 a glass)

The soft and dense bread that arrived next was not bad. We were served organic sourdough, served with parmesan oil (cheese steeped in olive oil for a lengthy period of time) and little bits of rosemary.

Sourdough ($4.00)

I have started to refrain from eating all my bread before the entrees and mains in order to better utilise precious stomach space and any tasty leftover sauces from my mains. Which is why I am glad I could eat some of it with my entree. My friend and I shared an entree because we were scared we wouldn't be able to stomach 3 courses each. We were nearly right - 2.5 courses sufficed to make me really full. The entree that arrived was large and made us glad we decided to share - we had also mentioned our intention to do so to the waitress, so I'm not sure if they had thoughtfully adapted the entree to suit sharing or if it already comes like this. In any case, I think this was a highlight of the evening.

Trio of tuna ($22.00)

The spring roll pastry was not like the conventional deep fried vietnamese skin - it was crisper, breadier and thicker. It would have made quite a nice canape with the pairing of the skin with the threadlike meat of tuna. The spring rolls were served with a mayo-like rouille sauce.

Spring roll

I next tried the tuna tartare with cucumber. The tuna was fresh and similar to sashimi, except sliced into cubes and compacted into a little slab.

Tuna tartare

Finally was the seared tuna. The tuna itself was, as with the tartare, fresh. However, the tuna slices were a bit dry, which I thought was a pity.

Seared tuna with sesame & herb crust

My main was pan-baked saffron snapper with scallop stuffed zucchini flowers, quinoa and fennel salad, and vanilla bean shellfish bouillon (a broth). The fennel & quinoa salad were served at room temperature and quite refreshing for a warm night. The stuffed zucchini flowers were by far the highlights of the dish, crisp and lightly battered. The snapper itself was cooked well, but the bouillon sauce tasted slightly strange at first. I got used to the flavour quickly and found it enjoyable eventually, but that relates to my first paragraph about the flavours not being fantastic. At the risk of sounding like a certain judge on MKR, I enjoyed the generosity of the sauce on the plate. You can guess what the rest of my bread was soaking up!

Saffron snapper

For dessert, I ordered the hazelnut baklava, crunchy filo pastry with nuts inside. It was accompanied by slices of fig, vanilla bean ice cream, and Pedro Ximenez syrup. I loved the syrup, the baklava was crunchy and mouthwatering, and the figs helped to balance off the high amount of sugar I was enjoying. I have no complaints about the vanilla bean ice cream.

Hazelnut baklava ($15.00)

I also ordered tea - gunpowder tea! For a type of green tea, it was pretty thick and strong, but it went surprisingly well with the dessert.

China gunpowder tea ($4.00)

For completeness, these are my friend's dishes:

Spatchcock ($34.00)

Apple caramel custard, apple gel, butterscotch mousse & oatmeal ($15.00)

Verdict? It's alright.