02 December 2011

Kopi Tiam Wednesday 30 November 2011

 Entree
Zucchini flowers stuffed with crabmeat and tomato sambal dip
Roast duck rice paper rolls






sand whiting tempura with baby fennel salad

Main
Crispy skin chicken with coriander salsa

Aubergine and tofu with sambal




Chilli lemon king prawns and baby squid

Sizzling ginger lamb with shao tsing sauce






Kopi Tiam is one we always come back to from time to time.  As Karen said, "when they do something well it's to die for" but when they don't it's a bit ordinary.
And such was the case this time.
The Zucchini flowers stuffed with crabmeat and tomato sambal did, the roast duck rice paper rolls, the aubergine and tofu with sambal were to die for.
The baby fennel salad definitely enhanced the flavour of the sand whiting tempura. The prawns and squid were "nice" , but the silverbait (whitebait?), the chicken were ordinary, the lamb tender and well made but dull.
On the other hand the desserts were especially delicious, envied by those who had not ordered them.

Ron ("I was wondering why my leg suddenly felt warm") liked the tofu best, it was the standout. He liked all the dishes, said he's not fussy like the rest of us.  The white bait had delicate flavours and was nice with the lemon he said
John said the lamb "lacked in flavour" but apart from that enjoyed the meal very much, liked the variety.
Karen"there were some spectacular dishes as always but you have to choose them otherwise the meal can be a bit ordinary". She gave the evening 3/1/2 stars.
Andrew: The desserts looked very good (he did not have one, he is looking after his weight); the mains and starters were a mixed bag
Jim: enjoyed it all especially the sago pudding: overall an improvment on last time.

The service was very fast, the kitchen small, only 3 people cooking. The bill came to $263 between the 6 of us.

Desserts

Black rice with coconut palm sugar
Sago pudding








WINE:

Shottesbrook Chardonnary, McLarenvale 2010
Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 1993



Jim and Karen

17 November 2011

Tosung Firewood Barbeque 16 November 2011

Entre :

Seafood pancake and Dumplings

Main
BBQ combination of beef, intercostal and chicken and hotpot of marinated beef, vegetables and noodles


BBQ meats
Hotpot


condiments



BBQ and exhaust








Dessert
Green tea icecream with bean paste
Wine:
Champagne
Leewin Estate Art Series Riesling
1994 Lark Hill Cabernet Merlot

Tosung is a new restaurant in Manuka, where previously had been a pizza restaurant and a long time before that, the post office.One of us had walked past and seen the menu on display and we were also tempted by their web site which had lots of picture, including the one of pig’s intestines which really tempted Ron.
The first thing we noticed was the noise in the restaurant and this seemed to be the case even when, towards the end of the evening there were only 2 other tables apart from ours.  The loud music did not help of course, but as per normal it was the sound bouncing off the ceiling and walls etc.
The menu was somewhat confusing, even though it had lots of pictures.  We ended up asking for help, which didn’t really clear things up that much.  We were warned off the Combination Firewood BBQ (Ron wanted duck), told we wouldn’t like it so ordered another combination BBQ.  And we were told that the hotpot was not really a soup (which it was) so ended with one really nice dish and one ordinary.  The hotpot would have been better as a seafood.

The service was REALLY quick, the BBQ and hotpot came before the entrĂ©e, but that didn’t matter.  They were both cooked at the table, the BBQ was fabulous, marinade flavour was great and everyone loved the condiments of which we each had a selection. 
The green tea icecream with bean sauce was just divine, perfect combination.

Would we go back?  Yes.

Ron: loved it, hilarious night
Andrew: Good, fun night
Karen: fun for the kids
John: most enjoyable
Jim: Yum