Some weeks
ago my husband and I went and ate all that we could Japanese style. I bought a
voucher and it was all you can eat for only $59. We went on a Sunday
night and the restaurant was still pretty busy. The service was attentive
and seeing as we had a voucher I was kind of thinking we might get overlooked a
bit or they night ignore us as we were ordering pretty much every 10 minutes
for the 90 minutes that the voucher was valid for. We were told this at
the beginning so it was clear what we could do, which was pretty much “order as
much as you wanted and eat it in 90 mins.” If you did not finish anything
you ordered you had to pay for it. As if that would happen! Haha!
This is what we
ate minus the edamame beans which I forgot to take a pic of, but you all know
what they look like. . .
Natural oysters with salmon roe and shoyu and lemon - fresh! 7.5/10
Mixed sashimi of tuna, salmon and kingfish - nice big pieces! 9/10
Salmon sashimi x 2 - so delish! 9/10
Agedashi tofu - Had lots of sauce on the bottom which I liked a lot! 8/10
Beef tataki - A little bit chewy and not as neatly presented as I hoped. 6.5/10
Salmon carpaccio - So good with the red onion and mayo. 8/10
Seared salmon nigiri - my fave sushi. 8/10
Wagyu beef steak - The meat was tasty but too much of the Yakisoba sweet sauce. 6.5/10
Teriyaki salmon, good portion and standard taste. 7/10
Chicken karage, quite disappointed, not crunchy enough and again too much Yakisoba sauce. The brown sweet sauce. 6/10.
Dessert, green tea ice cream with tea leaves sprinkled on top. Flavour was great but texture a bit icy. 7/10.
Towards
the end of our 90 minutes, the manager came over to us as said since we were
eating quite a lot (really?? haha) would we be interested in purchasing another
"All-you-can- eat" voucher for the same price through the restaurant
rather than Groupon, which by the way receives 40% commission! So we
thought why not, service was good, ambience was good for a casual dining place
and we had not even tasted many of the other dishes like the Okonomiyaki
pancakes or the Donburis or the Dynamite roll! I think we ate more than
double what we paid, so overall, it was great!
I recommend Wasabi Bistro for
some standard pretty tasty Japanese dishes at reasonable prices. No stand
outs but a good option to satisfy that craving of sashimi or salmon.
Occasionally I get asked by family and friends where to
go out for a good meal. So I thought I’d share my list of restaurants
that I’ve totally enjoyed the food and atmosphere at. I’m sure there are
heaps more potential restaurants out there that I haven’t tried yet that could
top my faves below. I am looking forward to trying a lot more to
write about but at the same time think I might need to join the gym soon!
This cold weather is not helping one bit!
There are no photos to accompany my list below as all my
photos are on my hardrive and it’s kind of broken until I get someone to
retrieve the data off it. All my food photos that I wanted to post are on
there! I’m in denial that it’s all gone.
Anyway hope you find this list useful!
Spicy Thai: Spice I Am,
Haymarket. Must try the Chilli Basil Pork Belly.
Magic Malaysian:Temasek in Parramatta and
Mamak in Haymarket & Chatswood. Hainanese Chicken and Beef Rendang is
the best and at Mamak the handmade Roti Canai.
Delicious Korean:Seoul Ria,
Haymarket. The hotpots are the best!
Good Variety Breakfast:Trio, Bondi. Boss eggs are the bomb!
Best Ribs: Hurricanes, Bondi.
Pork ribs are the best not the lamb.
BBQ Meat: Porteno, Surry Hills.
The Wood-fired pig and the fried brussel sprouts is a must!
Tasty Cheap Pub/Bar Food:The
Norfolk, Surry Hills. I love the pork soft shell taco!
Fusion Mexican, good for groups:
Barrio Chino, Kings Cross. Tuna Tostadas!
Best Dumplings: Din Tai Fung, 3
locations in the city. The good old steamed pork dumplings are so soft and
juicy!
Classy Japanese:
Busshari, Kings Cross. The best Wagyu beef in Sydney, sizzling tobanyaki style.
Best Ramen:
Ramen Sun Sun, Crows Nest. All flavours are so flavoursome!
Mod Vietnamese & great for
a posse of 4 -6 catch up:Ms G’s, Potts Point. The pork
belly bahn mi’s for sure!
Best Pho:
Pasteur, Haymarket. Only ever have the beef pho, it's so yummy, especially with fresh chillis. I’ve
eaten heaps in Cabramatta but I can’t remember the names of the places!
Upmarket Italian: Pendolino,
The Strand, Sydney CBD. I had the best pasta dish here. Hand-made
taglietelle with pork belly and pork cheek in a red wine ragu. Omg!
Fancy Mod Oz:
Sepia, Sydney CBD. I had the best main here ever, can’t remember what it
was but it had bone marrow in it and it was beyond delicious! Want to go
again soon as the menu has changed a few times since I went a few years
ago. The interior is so dark and sexy. Definitely
recommend for a date night!
This is a really easy green curry sauce recipe. It's not a paste, it's a sauce that you can turn into a curry by adding in a can of coconut cream or use it for a quick stir fry sauce. It's so fresh and zingy not at all heavy.
This is a Jaimie Oliver recipe that I looked up on the net after seeing it on his 30 minute meal series. And it really is quick. The only thing that takes a while is the chopping up of all the ingredients.
Ok, so you will need:
1) Medium bunch of green shallots 2) 1 bunch of fresh coriander 3) 2 red chillies (for a medium heat) 4) 4 cloves of garlic 5) 1 stick of lemongrass 6) 2 cm of fresh ginger 7) Optional 2 or 3 kaffir lime leaves (I only did this once and then the 2nd time I didn't, still tastes great) 8) Sesame oil 9) Light soy sauce 10) Fresh lime juice ( I used the juice of 1 and a half limes)
Extra ingredients if making a curry:
11) Can of coconut cream 12) Meat of choice - For a quick curry I just use pre-cut meat strips or if you have more time, beef chunks that soften with time like chuck or skirt) 13) Stock of choice 400mls, depending on your meat 14) 2 medium potatoes 15) 1 onion 16) 2 carrots
Extra ingredients if making the stir fry: 11) a splash of coconut cream 12) 1 bunch of bok choy
Method:
Chop all the ingredients roughly and put into a blender along with a few splashes of the soy and then the sesame oil - blend until you get a beautiful green liquid.
The smell you get when chopping all the ingredients is just divine! ( I did have a pic of this somewhere, anyway. . . ) I suggest you have a taste of the blended up sauce of green deliciousness and make sure you have a good balance of the saltiness and sourness. I usually add some fish sauce for some extra saltiness. If it's a true Thai taste you are after you can add some palm sugar. But I always have carrots in my curry and I find the sweetness of them is enough.
Ok, so here is a trick, well a method I learnt from my mum for prepping your meat. In a bowl I put the meat in with a tablespoon of corn flour to dry the meat a bit with some light soy, pepper and some vege oil, in this order and stir around so the meat is coated evenly. This makes your meat brown off nicely when stir frying and will help your curry sauce thicken in the cooking process. I just hate the meat juices you get when it comes straight out of the container, so this is great to get rid of that and makes for better tasting meat which is the most important right?!
Now you can brown off your meat of choice, set aside. Cook off your sauce for a few minutes add the meat back along with your veges, then the can of coconut cream, a cup and a half of stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer until everything is soft.
For the stir fry all you need to do is stir fry the meat in vege oil, add the green sauce, a splash of the coconut cream and then the bok choy in the last few minutes. Serve with rice and there you have it.
My pork green curry stir fry!
I apologise for the crappy pics but I hope you try this as it is definitely one of my go to recipes and I can guarantee it tastes fabulous!
