Portia's Place Kingston Wednesday 8 September 2016

 

 

 

Andrew, Ron, Megan, John, Jim, Karen.  Kim had a cold

 We had Crispy Duck Pancakes, Chicken with Dry long Beans stir fried; stuffed eggplant; rock salted soft shell crab; wasabi King Island Steake, Sizzling Fish with giner and shallots.

 The duck pancakes were delish, fantastic, excellent, almost the best we've ever had?

The beef had a not too hot wasabi flavour, was lovely and tender, with mushrooms.  It was  the standout favourite of the night.   The beans had a lovely smokey flavour, stirfried with black beans and bits of chilli;  the fish was lovely but a bit bland. It had a nice ginger flavour and  was a nice contrast to the other dishes which was needed though it was a it overwhelmed by the richness of the other dishes.  The Eggplant was really nice with a strong garlic, black bean and chilli flavour and the crab was the nicest we've had for months also.

 And the desserts were just fabulous.

A great meal, not a single dish which was not good, we enjoyed them all.  The service was quick, restaurant was a bit noisy, but not over noisy, we could hear ourselves talk.  Always reliable.

Dumpling House Jamison Centre Macquarie Wednesday 24 August 2016

Diners:
John, Megan, Karen, Andrew, Ron, Jim and Kim

Entrees:

Sesame Rolls with tasty chopped meats – Delicious. Like San Choi Bau but instead of lettuce leaves there were pastry cases to hold the filling.
Fried Dumplings – Delicious.  Like pot sticker dumplings served with Chinese vinegar.

Mains:

Mushrooms with Chinese spinach (shitake mushrooms with English spinach) – Delicious. Generous serve.
Deep Fried Flounder with hot rock sauce – the fish bone skeleton was deep fried and served as the bowl – it was edible.  Generous serve.
Barbeque lamb with Shan Tung sauce (like Shan Tung chicken but with lamb) – tasty but was a bit dry.
Fillet steak with wasabi – very tender generous serve.  Those who like wasabi liked it a lot (as there was a lot of wasabi on the top layer of the dish).  Those who did not like the wasabi had to find a piece of beef at the bottom of the pile.
Pork and eggplant in hot pot – bland.  The hotpot dishes were rated as the least interesting dishes of the evening.
Combination Seafood Bean Curd in hot pot – ok. Not very interesting. The hotpot dishes were rated as the least interesting dishes of the evening.

Dessert:

Red bean pancake - Delicious (although there were only 3 serves there was enough for 2 pieces each).

Accompaniments:

Rice.
Additional comments:
Reasonably priced.

Flavours of India, Woden Plaza 27 July 2016

Entrees:

1st   :   Prawns with the chilli pesto sauce.  Liked the mild pesto
sauce with the hotness and firm texture of the prawns.
2nd  :   Chat.   Nice and crunchy.
3rd   :   Golgappa (?). The glass vials of cumin, tamarind and mint
sauce added to the novelty and entertainment value of this dish.
Together with the 'all in the mouth' experience


Mains

1st   Lamb in coconut.  I like the sauce and the meatiness.
2nd  Butter chicken.      Good standard,
3rd   Can't remember name.  Bland but OK.

The mains were all very acceptable.  But no dish achieved the
exceptional rating.


Dessert

You missed out of the highlight dish of the evening.

Chilli panna cotta with spring rolls having sweet carrot (definite
orange sweetness as well ?)  filling.    Brilliant and innovative.









Karen's comments:

This restaurant serves great Indian food but is often very quiet so it was nice to see it quite crowded and noisy when we arrived.  The recently updated menu might explain the renewed interest -  Less extensive than before but with some really innovative Indian dishes which we were keen to try.

The chaat is a favourite staple for us but this version had an interesting twist - using sweet potato which combined well with the tamarind chutney dressing. The dish still had a nice crunch (presumably from the wheat crisps - whatever these are).

The third dish was the shahi kofta (which Andrew couldn't remember). It was described as having dry fruits, cheese and potatoes in a cashew nut and almond sauce which sounded really nice but as Andrew noted below was actually a bit bland.

Garran Kitchen 10-8-16

 

  Date:             10  August 2016
Location:                    Garran shops
Attendees:               Ron, Jim, Karen, John, Andrew 

Cuisine style:           Asian Malaysian
Entrée:
Karen selected the short soup for everyone.  A good choice indeed.

  Comments:
  A workmanlike offering      - Andrew
  Ideal for a Winter night       - Jim or John (?).  Very true
  Unpretentious start              - John


 Mains:  Four selected :-

    1 . Char Kway Teow.                               

  Comments:- One of the best tasted         - Karen
  Very hot chilli kick
  Very nice / great                    - Jim
 2.Rock Salt Eggplant.
  Eggplant battered then deep fried. Contains chicken mince.  
  Comments:
  A hit
  Delicious
  Winner
  Similar in style to Victorian potato scallops - Andrew
3. Shantung Chicken.            Comments
 Very nice
  Very good
 4. Mango Prawns
   Battered Prawns in mango creamy sauce with cucumber. Strong presence of French Mustard   (  Karen).  A fusion dish (Andrew).  
  Comments :-
  Similar to  honey prawns but with the sickly sweetness sometimes found with honey prawns toned     down - Ron
  Beautiful big prawns             - Jim
  One person commented that the dish too creamy for their taste.
  French mustard inclusion made the dish delicious and very interesting         - Andrew

 Desserts
Standard fare.  Banana fritters, fried ice cream, etc.
Servings were generous and the cost inexpensive.

Wine
 Jim supplied a superb red for this dinner.  Ron has label photo with details.

Summary

The printed menu just looks like a standard unexciting suburban Asian restaurant.  But the mains were very good and interesting (Andrew).   There were nice surprises at this restaurant (Karen).
Serving sizes for the mains were very generous.
The cost of the dinner very reasonable.

Garran Kitchen Wednesday 10 August 2016

Date:             10  August 2016
Location:                    Garran shops
Attendees:               Ron, Jim, Karen, John, Andrew 

Cuisine style:           Asian Malaysian

Entrée:

Karen selected the short soup for everyone.  A good choice indeed.

Comments:
A workmanlike offering      - Andrew
Ideal for a Winter night       - Jim or John (?).  Very true
Unpretentious start              - John


Mains:  Four selected :-

1. Char Kway Teow.                                Comments:-

 One of the best tasted         - Karen
Very hot chilli kick
Very nice / great                    - Jim

2.Rock Salt Eggplant.
Eggplant battered then deep fried. Contains chicken mince.  
Comments:
A hit
Delicious
Winner
Similar in style to Victorian potato scallops - Andrew



3. Shantung Chicken.            Comments

Very nice
Very good






4. Mango Prawns
Battered Prawns in mango creamy sauce with cucumber. Strong presence of French Mustard (Karen).  A fusion dish (Andrew). 

Comments :-
Similar to  honey prawns but with the sickly sweetness sometimes found with honey prawns toned down - Ron
Beautiful big prawns             - Jim
One person commented that the dish too creamy for their taste.
French mustard inclusion made the dish delicious and very interesting         - Andrew

 
Desserts

Standard fare.  Banana fritters, fried ice cream, etc.
Servings were generous and the cost inexpensive.

Wine

Jim supplied a superb red for this dinner.  Ron has label photo with details.

Summary

The printed menu just looks like a standard unexciting suburban Asian restaurant.  But the mains were very good and interesting (Andrew).

  There were nice surprises at this restaurant (Karen).

Serving sizes for the mains were very generous.

The cost of the dinner very reasonable.

Chairman and Yip 13 July 2016