Subsolo, Sydney CBD

They say that when you make a habit of setting your expectations low, you're bound to be pleasantly surprised. This was definitely the case for Subsolo, since the first sentence I think when the word tapas is tagged on to a restaurant description is "this is going to be a rip-off". In a smaller group, perhaps our wallets would have been feeling much lighter. However, our band of 7 left the premises having tasted at least 8 menu items, feeling almost uncomfortably full and smiling at the pleasant service we'd received- all for around $30 per person.

Living up to half of its name, Subsolo is a subterranean restaurant (read: basement) in-between Wynyard and Town Hall. Thankfully there were plenty of lights as well, so at least we could examine our food here :P

After much debate, we decided to share everything. Thus, our parade of food descended from waiters' hands in the following fashion:


Though we had ordered both styles of patatas, I had neglected to take a photo of the creamy patatas aioli ($9), which outshone its ("fiery") tomato-coated patatas bravas ($10) sibling (below) in flavour. The tomato sauce of the latter was actually pretty spicy, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but there was something sharp about the whole dish that made it a little offputting.

Patatas bravas with fiery tomato sauce ($10.00)

The pork belly with Calvados apples & Jerez cabbage ($24) was one of my favourites. The brittleness of the crackling made it difficult to cut in half, but it was well worth the struggle to share the tastiness of this dish. Pork belly has the tendency to go dry if not done well, but the apple and red cabbage helped immensely to moisten the meat.

Pork belly tapas ($24.00 for 4 pieces)

The Spanish meatballs on Romesco sauce with cheese ($18) were good but not that memorable. I don't recall having issues with the mince (little nerves/ hard bits that have to be spit out), which I think is a great trait to find of one's meatballs.

Spanish meatballs ($18.00)

By this time, my appetite was satiated. However, the food kept coming, the others kept eating, and I had a bit more room in my stomach, so what choice did I have but to push on??

The Valencia ($39) is Subsolo's signature paella dish. It's an all-in-one dish with chicken, chorizo, mussels, chunks of fish, and calamari. Lots of rice below, but there was plenty of meat to go around, even if it was solely placed at the top.

Valencia Paella ($39.00)

Since I figured the chicken & pork chorizo paella ($34) would be the same as the Valencia, except without the seafood, I decided not to dig into that one. Our non-seafood eaters were pretty happy with it, in any case.

Chicken & pork chorizo paella ($34.00)

Our final round of dishes arrived - the skewers. Despite the generosity of the meat, I wouldn't recommend either of these. The chicken fillet with peri peri ($32) was very spicy/ salty and it was just too flavoursome for any of us. The Pork Belly with Chorizo skewer ($36) was not as heavy on the palate, but exceedingly dry and tough.

Pork belly and chicken fillet skewers ($36.00 and $32.00 respectively)

Would I return? Sure. I'd just avoid the skewers at all cost.

Thainatown, Haymarket

Thainatown's a really basic Thai eatery which, as its name suggests, is in close proximity to Chinatown (although further east along Goulburn Street than the main strip of pubs and restaurants near World Square). With white tiled flooring and garish lighting, my friends and I felt a prick of dubiousness, but we ruthlessly squelched these misgivings and ventured inside. Please excuse the photo quality - taken with phone camera.

Chrysanthemum tea (~$3.00)

I ordered the crying tiger, expecting a plate of chargrilled steak with an accompanying spicy sauce. What I received was a pretty underwhelming plate of slightly grey, limp beef strips. There was no sauce - looking back in hindsight, I think we were expected to scoop sauce from the little metal bowls on each table. The beef was tasteless and not particularly enjoyable to bite into. I guess I got my money's worth, though, because there was a LOT of beef on that plate.

Crying Tiger (~$11.00)

The sticky rice was a large bowl's (2 - 3 rice bowls?) worth of rice, steaming hot inside a woven bamboo basket. They made it pretty well and it tasted great with the ingredients of the tom yum soup.

Sticky rice (~$3.00)

The tom yum soup stock was flavourful (albeit a bit sweeter than expected and not spicy). It had strong flavours of lemongrass and cooked coriander, while mushrooms and prawns made up the majority of solids.

Prawn Tom Yum soup (~$9.00)

My overall feelings are torn. It's certainly value for money because what the crying tiger lacked in flavour, it made up for in portions, and vice versa for the tom yum soup. I just don't think I'll be trying much meat here next time.

Globe Bar @ The Langham , Millers Point

Before the heritage building housing the Sydney branch of The Langham joined the international chain, it used to be a boutique luxury bearing the name of the Observatory Hotel. We'd been to the Observatory for high tea many years ago and had enjoyed the atmosphere, so my family decided to pay a visit post-ownership-change.

On the ground level and next to Galileo the restaurant, the Globe Bar & Brasserie offers Tiffin afternoon tea sittings that start from $49 on weekdays and $59 on weekends. Wooden bookcases, dim lighting and dark upholstery differentiate this lounge from its more formal, British counterpart. Kind of like distinguishing between the more relaxed drawing rooms from the sitting rooms a few centuries ago in England. Both elegant and formal, but with different purposes.

There's a relatively small list of teas to choose from, but there's a good mix of black, oriental and herbal teas. I opt for the sencha green tea, which tasted a little strange - sour notes and lacking the fragrance that usually makes green tea so identifiable.

Sencha

Our 3-tiered stands arrived. On the savoury plate there were smoked salmon and cream cheese, beef (I think?) and egg sandwiches, as well as chicken pot pies. The finger sandwiches were pretty standard, while the pies were pretty tasty, though the pastry was more dense and soft than flaky.

Finger Sandwiches

The scones, with the double cream and homemade strawberry jam, were quite tasty. Mum wasn't the biggest fan of them because they had quite a biscuit-like texture (she prefers the soft, cakier scones), but it's hard not to find scones that have that slight crunch.

Plain and raisin scones

Due to the vast variety of sweets, we couldn't finish them all, but we were assured that we would be able to take them home in plastic boxes (except for the rhubarb crumble, as they were in those little ceramic pots). They were all really sweet - the sweetest was probably the slice of mud cake, because it was pretty much a slab of thick, fudgy chocolate ganache. The little banoffee "pie" was good - the cream, thin slice of banana and the chocolate pastry balanced against the intense sweetness of the caramel inside. I'm not the biggest fan of rhubarb because of how sour it is, but I think the rhubarb crumble was pretty standard, as were the maracrons.

Pastries and cakes

And so we left at the end of our 2 hour seating with stuffed stomachs and still had a box of goodies to take back with us!

Mejico, Sydney CBD

Mejico's received a lot of hype since it first opened its doors a little over a year ago. I'd been avoiding the place because I didn't want to hyper-inflate my expectations - I've long realised that Sydney-based Mexican food has a long way to go to compete with the stuff I tasted in London (and despite sounding like the gourmet travellers on My Kitchen Rules, London has quite a few saliva-inducing Mexican-inspired restaurants).

The Boy and I had a chia concoction each (chia-based mocktails). Mine was the white nectar, which reminded me of those Asian aloe vera drinks that you buy to trick yourself into thinking you're opting for the healthy alternative to soft drink. I was similarly hooked. The menu said it also contained coconut, a subtle hint of which permeated the drink.

White nectar ($6.50)

Food came pretty slowly... It took 10 to 15 mins for the waitress to come over to make our guacamole, another 10 to 15 mins in-between the guacamole and tacos, and the ribs arrived 15 to 20 mins later.

The signature guacamole was served with plantain chips (a fruit/ herb similar to banana). Mashed with a mortar and pestle at our table, we witnessed bits of pistachio, chilli and lime juice being ground into dollops of avocado. Normally I'm crazy over guacamole, but this tasted a little bland? I think it needed something like salsa to add moisture to an otherwise creamy paste. And more chilli. Saved a bit to eat with the tacos, but as the dishes come in bits and pieces (and we were famished), we'd gobbled most of it up.

Signature Guacamole ($12.00)

When my boss heard that I was going to Mejico, he really talked up the trout tacos. Can't say he was wrong, because the trout was light and seared beautifully. The chipotle mayonnaise and jalapenos added a bout of much needed flavour. Highlight of the meal.

Trout tacos ($16.00)

The chicken tacos were alright. Came with chorizo, cumin and cucumber salsa. Not dry or tasteless, just overshadowed by its fishy sibling.

Chicken tacos ($16.00)

It took a while for the glazed pork ribs to arrive. There were maybe.. 6 ribs? It was quite a heavy dish, particularly paired with the polenta. The glaze wasn't spectacular, but tasty enough. Meat was tender and fell off the bone.

Glazed pork ribs ($38.00)

Of the 4 food items I ordered off the menu, I would probably re-order the trout tacos (delicious!) and the ribs (as a stomach filler). It's not to say the other 2 were bad, but they weren't that memorable/ can't quite justify the prices.

York Trading & Co, Sydney CBD

I first noticed York Trading & Co (and the new nearby sushi place) looking out from my bus on weekday mornings. Although it looks like a bar, the fact never quite sunk in because the coffee and breakfast grabbers impressed me with associations of the morning.

Regardless, I've since realised they serve liquor and not-so-breakfasty food. The concept is simple - it's New York themed, fittingly on York Street and caters for both the sharers and the selfish (or more accurately, the germaphobes). Being a bar, it was too dimly lit for me to bother taking photos of the premises, which was divided into a narrow bar area and a more open restaurant section. My friend hadn't made a reservation, so a table wasn't an option. Instead, we perched ourselves precariously on the slightly wobbly bar stools.

A quick glance at the menu revealed there were no specials that day - the caption for Friday was something like "because you deserve a drink".

"Since we need a drink at the end of the week, we should be paying full prices," one person mused. My dad would certainly applaud the business sense of levying the captive market!

At the time of ordering, I was feeling ravenous, cantankerous, and certainly did not want to share. I didn't want a heavy meal, though, since one drink is enough to make me half-full. Instead, I selected the "roast pumpkin, smoked mozzarella and guacamole piadina", thinking it would be similar to a panini. Turns out it's more like a quesadilla of flatbread, or an Italian version of naan bread cum cheese melt. Sounds obscure, but it was prettttyyy good. Though the pureed pumpkin was sweet, it wasn't overly so. In any case, it was offset by the richness of the cheese and avocado. Portion-wise, it's great for sharing, but you can also eat it on your own - it certainly made me full!
 

Pumpkin piadina ($15.00)

Having a penchant for cocktails, I also had the "I Heart NY" and the "YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant".

"I Heart NY": Apple jack brandy, blood orange liqueur, passionfruit, orange citrate bitters. As its contents suggests, this one was heavy on the citrus. Strong lemony flavours abounded.

I Heart NY ($18.00)

"YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant": Very fun to say. Basically an espresso martini- Campos coffee, vodka, coffee liqueur and vanilla. Strong coffee taste, not that creamy - the top layer of foam isn't as thick as it looks. Halfway through and I couldn't finish as it was too sweet. Pity because it's actually quite nice.

YT Pharmaceutical Stimulant ($18.00)

Sushi E, Sydney CBD

The Boy and I intended to pop into the Establishment Bar for quick dins, but because he has his fob moments, we ended up heading to the lift and away to the Hemmesphere level for sushi.

Nigiri whipped up right in front of you!

 I've stated a zillion times that I hate sushi with dry rice and tough seaweed. The dragon ash roll we shared was AMAZING. Strong smokey flavour in the salmon made a great companion to the fried shallots, which are so often relegated to the role of a garnish to noodle soups.

Dragon ash roll ($22.00)

That moment when people eat food while taking happy snaps >:/ How dare they?!

 Had my first beef tataki - thinly sliced seared beef fillet. Really tender - not sure if it was because it was grain fed, Angus, tenderloin, or all of the above. Could have eaten it alllll on my own.

Beef tataki ($30.00)

The grilled miso cod was flaky and light. It was hard to eat without rice, though, as the salty flavour reached a crescendo after a few bites - the same feeling you get when you eat too much lobster.

Miso cod ($34.00)

Summary
Chill atmosphere. Pricey food but well worth it.

Le Pub, Sydney CBD

When I visited Le Pub as part of a group of 5, I was expecting a set-up with more similarities to a Parisian bistro (the menu certainly consists of bistro food), but the DJ with doof-doof music operating under dim lighting reminded me of the Square Bar instead. I guess it's more lucrative to appeal to the drinkers on Friday nights, as evident from the empty tables in the half of Le Pub reserved for diners.

Our energetic waitress highly recommended the special of the day - the organic free range country chicken, leek, mushroom and tarragon pie served with truffled mashed potato. She also good-naturedly handled the barrage of questions asking whether she would pick the lamb or the pie, the chicken or the lamb, and so forth. Most of us chose the chicken pie - we were told that pie is one of Le Pub's specialties, along with the lamb. Someone cynically remarked that perhaps they'd made too many pies that day and were trying to push them off onto us. I'd had the same suspicions, but didn't want to voice them for fear of the truth...

One of my childhood friends exclaimed, "Who would pay $24 for a pie?!" He'd imagined those little frozen pies with the nervy beef filling that school children love buying at sports carnivals. Disgusting stuff. But no, these are pot pies served in ramekin dishes, with golden puff pastry wrapped over the top and a stew of meat and vegetables inside. Ours weren't the prettiest to look at, but the pastry tasted handmade and they were generous with the chicken inside. The truffled mashed potato was smooth, silky and buttery. If it contained a few potato clumps, it'd be just the way I like it. Sadly, most people have a phobia of lumps in their mash :(

Chicken pie ($24.00)

 

The childhood friend ordered the chicken - chicken breast on corn puree, with semolina frites and crispy jamon. I tried a chunk of it - tasty, crunchy, but a bit dry. 

Poulet ($25.00)

The other non-pie-eating friend received her lamb neck (with eggplant fritters, tomato dust, herb pistou and shaved cauliflower salad). She cut off a piece for me. The lamb could have been served alone and it would have been delicious. As a result of the long cooking (simmering?) process, it was cooked through entirely, yet tender and juicy. Lamb Eater must have sensed my food envy, as from time to time she muttered triumphantly that she'd made the right choice.

Collet d'Agneau ($26.00)

Kobe Jones, Darling Harbour

 Quite a few months ago, I bought a $135 Groupon voucher for Kobe Jones' 13-course "Winter Romance" set menu for 2 with sake. It wasn't until recently that I remembered that it needed redeeming, so the Boy and I made a booking to go on a Sunday.

I didn't read any reviews until after I made the booking (I'd only heard of Kobe Jones through friends and family), so it was to my dismay that there were so many negative reviews, albeit prettyyyy contradictory.

The list of negative attributes that I gleaned from my 'research' is as follows:

• Too much mayonnaise
• Too much food
• Too little food
• Pacing is too fast
• Food comes out too slowly
• Service is bad, but food is good
• Food is bad, but service is attentive
• Loud doof-doof music
• Waitstaff don't deliver the usual spiel when setting down the plates

Needless to say, I was thoroughly perplexed (and worried at the thought that what we were hoping would be a nice evening out could possibly leave us both hungry!). Thankfully, the only gripe was that our waitress never explained what we were going to eat - each time she just placed the dishes on the table, muttered the name, and walked off.

When we arrived, we were taken to our table, which looked onto the harbour. It got a little chilly at night, so I was glad I brought a jacket with me.

Nice views

The sake was delivered warm in a small sake flask with a couple of cute matching cups. We weren't told what kind of sake it was, so we just shrugged and poured it out. It was pretty low in alcohol content so we ordered a couple of cocktails as well.

Sake

First to come was the Number One Special - avocado, (fake) crab meat and their creamy 'special sauce'. I like crab stick, fake or otherwise, and it wasn't drowning in mayo like I feared, so it was a nice start.

Number one special (for 2)

More alcohol came! Was in need of a pick me up, so got the espresso martini, which had a nice strong coffee flavour/ aroma.

Espresso martini ($18.00)

Harlem Shake ($18.00)

A tasting plate (per person) of 5 items arrived:

1. Never had a spider roll in my life. Soft shell crab was a little tough... 
2. Had no idea what poke is, either, but apparently it's just a Hawaiian salad. Loved the juiciness and fresh flavours.
3. Lollipop sushi: Raw fish on a stick with cucumber wrapped around it
4. Wagyu tataki: Thinly sliced raw beef, dry
5. Spicy ebi nigri: Don't remember it being spicy...

Sorry about the beef and ebi nigri photos! I was getting pretty hungry...

Spider roll

Salmon poke

Lollipop sushi

Wagyu tataki

Spicy ebi nigri

Surprisingly, the salmon tataki was one of my favourites that night. Possibly because the lemon juice brought out the sweetness of the salmon, partially because salmon roe is so fun to eat!

Jalapeno salmon tataki (for 2)

Panko-crumbed calamari. It tasted like it sounded. Not bad for a filler.

Pacific calamari fritto (for 2)

The volcano roll was like a more substantial version of the number one special. By this time, we were both becoming pretty full.

Volcano roll (for 2)

The tobanyaki was definitely meant to be a stomach filler - rice with crunchy fish flakes, seafood and mushrooms. It made for good comfort food. We managed to finish most of it.

 

Spicy seafood tobanyaki (for 2)

The Alaskan crab legs were about a forearm long each. There was surprisingly a fair bit of meat. Any fishy smell was killed off with the lime.

Alaskan crab (for 2)

Loved the novelty of the lobster hot rock - the only problem was that not all of the meat was cooked at the end (part of it a little cold).

Lobster hot rock (for 2)

Decided on the flaming anko - red bean and green tea brulee. Nice presentation when it arrived on fire. The taste? Well... the red bean was quite overpowering and there wasn't much crunch. It was around 9pm that fireworks began - quite unexpectedly, considering fireworks are usually only set off on Saturdays?

Flaming anko

 

















Was it worth $326 for 2? I don't think so, but $135 was a pretty good deal.