Wild Duck 24 July 2013

Wild Duck 24 July 2013

Wine: Krinklewood 2012 Verdelho

St Hubert Rutherglen Cab Savignon 1993

We had:

Roast Duck Paper Rolls
Shao Lin Tofu Puffs

Xinjiang Lamb Skewers

Cripsy Xiang Sui Duck

Yu Xian Pork

Massaman Beef Cheek

Dragon Cut Baby Eggplant

The duck pancakes were lovely and tender, tasty as always.

The lamb skewers came with a yoghurt honey sauce and an onion tomato salsa.  Jim loved it with the honey flavour balancing well the cumin flavour on the lamb.  It went extremely well with the Verdelho.

The tofu puffs were very interesting, very different.  The fritters had a mixture of tofu, veges, water chestnut, very unusual.  It was served with some silken tofu and a small salad mix of funghi and cashews.  I really enjoyed it (I like tofu) but it was something completely different and tasty.

The pork was shredded with veges and funghi.  It had a strong underlying flavour whith was balanced well with the mantou sweet bread, a fried chinese bread with a sweet flavour.

The duck was fried, crispy, shreds of duck in a batter with no strong sensation, no unique flavour, a bit of a let down “doesn’t hit a taste bud climax” (who said that?).

The eggplant was crisp on the outside with a beautiful soft flavour on the inside,  the texture was lovely.

Mussaman curry was liked by the blokes, it had a balance between, the meat and the veges, the meat was tender with a strong beef flavour.

The restaurant is situated in "New Kingston" amongst all the new apartment blocks.  The ambience is pleasant, not too crowded, not too noisy, decor refined..  The waiter was friendly and knowledgeable.  It's not a cheap eat but  not top of the range expensive either.  There were a couple of dishes that didn't stand out but overall,the quality and variety of the food was great.  Recommended.

Nonya 10 July

Not all of us went: Andrew had just come back from o/s, Kim was in Perth and I was feeling poorly.   Lara joined the group for the night. So, they had:


Chicken satay skewers
Cumin flavoured curry chicken
Roast duck curry
Char kway teo
Crispy Fried eggplant tossed with chilli and spicy salt
Kangkey(?) belacan


The highlights were the duck dish and the eggplant dish.
 Ron and Jim had sticky date pudding for dessert.

And that's all the comments I got.
 

Rubicon, Griffith shops, 19 June 2013

 

Hurray, it was a special dinner (Karen’s birthday) so we went to a special place, Rubicon in Griffith shops.  We’d been there before, as a group and found the food exciting and a bit different.  We were all there, except for Andrew who is continuing his globe trotting.

We had the five course degustation: tofu with eggplant and nori: pork belly with chilli lime caramel and boudin noir; duck confit with shitake terrine and pomegranate molasses; rib eye steak with sauces and condiments and then dessert.

They started us off with a spoonful of barramundi, nicely presented, tempting to the taste.  The eggplant and tofu we’ve had before bit perfectly done, wonderful to start with, went well with the sparkling white.

The duck and pork were great, beautifully cooked and the accompanying sauces went well with them.

The steak was spectacular.  Plainly cooked, presented with four sauces, a wonderful experience and a great match for Jim’s red. Kim even liked the polenta parmesan chips that were presented with it (she normally avoids all polenta dishes), the French fries and even the beans with almonds.

The sorbet was extra, and a brilliant course in it’s own right.  And the desserts were all voted superb, a glorious conclusion with the dessert wine.

Overall, it was very good value for a “fine dining” experience.  It is good that the offer a degustation menu without alcohol (for those who don’t drink alcohol). 

A few issues: it would be worth asking for a table away from the front door during the winter months, the cold air from the constant comings and goings were a bit off putting (especially when you have a nearby table of young people who kept wanting to come and go, come and go).

And although we arrived about 7pm, we did not leave until 10:15pm, about 3 hours.  Maybe it was designed to be spaced out that way, but sometimes the spaces between the courses got to be a bit stretched.

And personally, I found the overemphasis on meat was a bit much, but this was a result of what we ordered rather than what was on the menu, which has a number of very fine vegetarian options.

Overall, highly recommended.

Golden Drum 5 May 2013

Wine: Cradle Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2011 Marlborough New Zealand

Westend 3 Bridges 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon Griffith

We’d been to the Golden Drum some years before, when it was the Master Legend.  We’d like it then because of its emphasis on Hunan cooking, spicy, hot, different from your normal run of the mill Cantonese cooking.

The menu was still the same.  For our seasoned Asian tastes, it is an exciting one, with lots of new dishes to mull over with unusual ingredients, lots of offal done strange ways.  We decided not to bother with the offal, and went for:

• Panfried spring onions and shallot cakes
• Prawn sesame rolls
• Crispy aromantic duck with YuXiang sauce
• Stir fry eggplant with green beans
• Chairman Mao’s red braised pork belly
• Prawns with aromatic cumin
• Fried Rice.

So what did we like?  The entrees were plain, we decided that we didn’t need to bother with them.

The hunan dishes were lovely.  The cumin prawns were interesting.  We queried the waiter on this, because we didn’t think cumin was usually found in Chinese food, but apparently it is a traditional ingredient (you learn something all the time).  The eggplant and beans was the standout pick of the night.  The duck had too much sauce, the pork was fatty but otherwise the sauce was nice.

The owner of the restaurant spends much of his time wandering from table to table, keeping an eye on the wait staff, some of whom seemed to be in learning mode. The restaurant was almost full, and almost all of the diners seemed to be of Asian origin which is always a good sign.  We asked him what some of the other tables were having, and the answer was mapo tofu; hot pots; stewed chicken with 3 sauces; braised beef with taro; spicy minced pork with vermicelli, all duly noted for next time.

Present: Megan, Ron, Kim, Karen, Jim, John

The conversation?…staffing, bosses, psychos and training….

Water's Edge 21 May 2013

Well, what can we say about Water’s Edge. It is one of the best, upmarket places in Canberra?  The chef from Sage moved here some time last year and the quality of the food reflects that. 

It was one of our special dinners because it was Ron’s birthday, so he got to choose.  The setting is gorgeous, opening out onto the lake, (not at its best at night but what the heck); the tables are nicely set apart so the noise level is not too much for our ageing ears, (not yours Kim).

Being an upmarket restaurant, we of course didn’t share our dishes, we had to choose our own, something which the blokes managed without too much trauma. 

Wine:

Blue Ranges Midnight Cuvee 2008

Jeir Creek Chardonnay 2009

Penfolds Bin 389 1992, which Jim and Karen first thought had gone off “like a green orange, wet dishrag”.  The sommelier persuaded us to let it breathe etc and it did come good, but I think the rest of us would have drunk it anyway.

Jeir Creek Botritis Semillon SB 2008 (gosh, did we drink all that?).

Food:

The highlights were the mushroom soup, with crunchy bits at the bottom which was delicious and intense: the patè was glorious: bonemarrow tempura very good: the pork entrée exquisite  (Ron “ the fruit in the wine, chardonnay,  really exploded in my mouth"); squid was tender, an amazing combination with the chorizo.

And the rest of the dinner was in the same vein….every dish delicious, inventive, amazing flavours, no overwhelming sauces, incredibly presented.  The service was excellent, always in the background, not intrusive.  The sommelier knew his wine and made us feel better about the Bin 389 which was not at its best.

This meal was something to be remembered, and highly recommended for special occasions,  special nights out etc.

Chiang Rai 8 May

After the damage inflicted on our ears by noisy Bodega, we thought we would try tried and true Thai restaurant, Chiang Rai in Kingston.

We’d been there before, so knew what to expect and knowing that they do lots of lovely duck, decided to give it another go.

We were all there, Megan had promised to bring the viola player from the Canberra International Music festival, but he didn’t materialise.

Wine: Deepwoods Estate 2011 Verdelho Margaret River, another serendipitous selection given the tick by Jim.

St Huberts, Cabernet Sauvignon 1993 from Jim and Karen’s seemingly inexhaustible cellar.  Fabulous.

Entree:

Rice paper rolls, nice, sauce (hoisin and peanut)  was lovely with plenty of prawns.

Duck pancakes: the filling was very tender, luscious, the pancakes were quite big.

Mains:

Duck paa-lo, duck legs cooked in Thais herbs and Spices.

Another duck (can you ever have too much duck)?  It was tender, rich in flavour with a fabulous sauce.

The beef mussaman dish was tender, beautifully spicy with the addition of chilli.

Macadamia Scallops were very delicate, the macadamias were a nice touch

Pad Thai was very nice, but not the best in Canberra.  We thought it had tomato sauce in it, and didn’t seem to have the authentic taste as it was too rich and sugary.

Chicken red Curry was nice, the sauce was punchy but it was a standard red curry.

All the dishes were standard Thai, good, basic and well done.  A good place to go if you want reliable, tasty Thai food and that doesn’t disappoint.