Saturday, November 26, 2011

Anniversary dinner

It was just another ordinary Saturday except for the surprise text that I received from my friends announcing that they just got married and were having celebratory drinks at The Rocks.

Pepe had been planning to surprise me for our anniversary dinner as well. However it wasn't long before the cat was out of the bag and since it was already arranged for my mum to babysit at 6pm we pushed it forward to 4pm so we could head off early for a drink with friends.

We had dinner reservations at Sokyo for 6pm but we cancelled as we'd rather spend time with our friends. So after a few drinks at The Rocks we were starting to feel peckish. We tried to get into my other favourite restaurant Sake but it was booked out til 830pm and we only had a babysitter til 9pm.

As we sat in the cab heading back home, we thought we'd stop in for a drink at Helm bar, which was previously known as Pier26, as that is where it all began. The deal was to have a shot and I had to decide which one. In the end, we decided the bartender could choose for us. He suggested a snickers, a shot with Kahlua, Frangelico and sprinkling of salt on top. Tasted just like a snickers bar.

The plan was then to stop into Momofuku Seiobo and if we couldn't get in, we'd try Sokyo and if that didn't work out we'd just have fish and chips from Flying Fish.

First stop Momofuku and we walked past and Pepe didn't have high hopes but having a quick chat with the front of house, she let us know that there was a spot at 830pm. With a degustation menu that was going to take 2.5hours, it would mean that we needed our babysitter to stay on til 11pm. 

Now to deal with the babysitter... Was there drama involved, yes and after some heavy negotiating, blackmailing, a spoonful of manipulation, the ideal outcome was achieved. Talk about elation and excitement of finally dining at Momofuku. I needed a cocktail after that which Sokyo could offer. 

Scanning the cocktail list, only one cocktail could fit the bill, O-Ren-Ishi. That's one for all the Kill Bill fans. With a orange peel rub around the rim of the glass, the taste of rum and amaretto and just the right amount of citrus bite at the end.

Sokyo sweeps you off your feet and so starts the love affair. This is how it is described. Beautifully furnished and I thought it was a great little bar. The music was pumping and it was busy with people catching up over a cocktail or two.



The highlight of the night was finally getting into Momofuku Seiobo. If you didn't know, this restaurant works on an online booking system which only releases 10 days in advance and is only open for dinner for 3 sittings (6.30pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm). The other odd thing is that they only take bookings for 1 person, 2 people and 4 people.  Not sure what would happen if you wanted to book for a party of 3.

The online reservation system opens at 10am and each time I've tried to book, there were no availabilities.
I was told that cancellations are put back on the system and advised to check the online site throughout the day. You got to be kidding, as if I have time to sit in front of the computer and check??!! But they do take walk ins based on availabilities and I think trying your luck doing that is easier than trying the online system.

We decided to have the matching wines with the degustation course.
The degustation will set you back $175 and the matching wines would be another $95.

It wasn't long before the snacks arrived, which was a plate of shitake chips, nori, mocha in chilli paste and smoked potato with apple puree. A taste sensation which I was not expecting.


The next dish was the much talked about steamed pork bun. I understand when people have described the experience of having died and gone to heaven. It is divine, I wished that I could have had a few more. Probably a good thing that I didn't, especially not knowing that there are 15 dishes in total.


The next dish was the striped trumpeter with blood orange with green tea powder. It was different but not really my cup of tea.

The next dish of white asparagus with marron, szechuan pepper and tripe sauce. Pepe was digging into this one as he loves tripe. I'm not usually a fan of tripe but as it was only a small amount it married well with the marron and asparagus.

Now this next dish was wagu beef with radish, fermented black bean and wait for it burnt watermelon skin sauce. It was a very strange dish and the flavours were intense, I couldn't make up my mind if I liked it or not. 

The next dish was smoked eel with jerusalem artichoke and pink grapefruit.

This was definitely one of the highlights of the night. Mud crab with butter, pepper sauce and yorkshire pudding. That pepper sauce and mud crab was soooooo good especially since you had the pudding to mop up the sauce.

Next was the egg dish with toasted rice and brown butter. It wasn't quite a savoury or sweet dish but in-between.

The hand torn pasta with goat's cheese, chilli and mint was another of my favourite. So simple and so tasty.



Next came the blue due with fennel and wakame. It was at this point I was thinking that there can'r be that many more dishes to come right? Quizzing the staff, he let me know that he couldn't let me know too much but there was another main to come. What??

So the last main dish of the night was the lamb neck with diakon and pink turnips. Check out the amazing cutlery. Knives are made by David Brodziak of Albany in Western Australia. At this stage as we were dining at the table and away from the counter where all the action was, they moved us closer to the action. As we were served the sous chef commented that our sight had decreased, very funny.



The next was a cleansing palate of pecorinio cheese with honey liquorice and bee pollen. So good with the percorino.
Dessert time which started with wattle seed ice-cream, malt and crispy milk skins as you can see on top. These were intense for me.


And lastly the miso, pickled strawberry, toasted rice and mustard pudding. Whilst waiting for our desserts, the line outside the Zumbo is growing with what Pepe calls FABs (female, Asian, bloggers)

I was thinking yay, its over but there was a hunk of meat sitting on the main counter and I queried the staff and his answer was just as you think you're stuffed they serve you more meat. I think my eye nearly popped out of my head. It was a pork shoulder that had been marinated with a sweet sauce and slow cooked for 10 hours. The option was to keep eating or they could pop it into a take away container for you. As time was ticking past, we opted for the take away option.

It was an amazing meal and you were given the menu after you had finished, probably a good reminder of the night, as it's starting to be a little hazy now.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Australian Museum


It's been a wet, miserable week and keeping Jaeminkins indoors was enough to make me go batty. So, I decided to investigate what my options were.


Googling away, I came across The Australian Museum. What appealed straight away was the fact they had a kids space specifically targeted for under 5 year olds and they also had a baby friendly space for the babies to crawl around. Admission was $12 for adults and children under 5 years are free.


So I was keen to check it out as it had been awhile since I'd been there. Even with the drizzling rain, the city was buzzing, the David Jones Christmas windows were attracting many passer-by's, a sign of the Christmas craze.


With 2 of Jaeminkins good mates, we were 3 prams in tow. Walking through Hyde Park, it was good to see signage at the Australian Museum for a ramp entrance through the the boom gate.


Can I tell you that Kidspace is AMAZING!! The space is designed especially for the under-5's. It's a mini museum dedicated to stimulate young children's imaginations and encourages them to explore the natural world. The kids are encouraged to investigate, touch, feel real life objects and specimens through magnifying glasses. There's stuffed animals to touch, plastic replicas of snakes, spiders. Pepe would have been terrified but the kids were loving it.


 You can park your pram just outside of the space. Its marked up with line markings just like a car park. There is a nappy change and feeding area and you can ask for staff for a bottle warmer. What else could you ask for?




As soon as I put Jaeminkins down on the floor, he was running off exploring. Playing with the toys, real life spiders encased  in glass and crawling through the cubby house 'pods'.

The Kidspace features five 'pods', these include a bug pod, marine pod, volcano pod, observation pod and imagination pod. Such a fabulous set up, I couldn't find Jaeminkins for a few moments but I could hear his shrieks of joy.







Jaemie with his mate Paul, were busy discovering and crawling from pod to pod, stopping along the way to touch the puzzles on the wall, look through the glass windows and make new friends. 


It was funny to watch Jaemie climb into a box and crawl out landing face first and Paul copying the same move. Maybe I shouldn't been photographing this moment but it made me laugh.



There are bee, lady bug, frog, dinosaur costumes that you can have your little one dress up in. Jaemie didn't like keeping on his outfit at all. Luckily Jordan did and happily posed for me.


There's also a painting space set up with easels and paints where the bubs could paint and pick up their drawing once it had dried.


I love Kidspace and I think the boys did too. We spent all morning there, the boys running riot whilst we photographed their antics.







After the boy's lunch, we managed to walk around the museum and check out the dinosaurs, birdlife and Australian marine life and extinct animals. Jaeminkins didn't enjoy this too much as he whinged his way through the  sightseeing tour I was giving him. 






It wasn't too long before we were hungry and Pepe suggested Bodhi at Cook and Phillip Park. It was close by but I was dubious about having a vegetarian meal as I'm a meat lover. We tried their pumpkin, mushroom and beetroot dumplings. Also tried their dishes of fake duck and fake pork noodle with tofu.
Not too sure if I want to repeat that experience again.







After a fun day, let's say that Jaemie fell asleep in my arms whilst drinking his bottle of milk before going to bed. I've found that's a definite sign that he enjoyed himself immensely and also tired himself out. I highly recommend Australian Museum for keeping the cubs amused.


Anyone else know of well kept secrets like the Australian Museum?? Please let me know.


Australian Museum
6 College Street Sydney
NSW 2010 Australia
(612) 9320 6000

9.30am to 5pm daily (except Christmas Day)
Adult: $12
Family (2 adult, 2 child): $30
Family (1 adult, 2 child): $18
Concession: $8
Child (5 - 15yrs): $6
Under 5s: FREE
Members: FREE

http://australianmuseum.net.au/event/Kidspace