Quarter Century

It doesn't ever feel different when you become a year older, until it really hits you that you are older. One thing I realised I was looking forward to is renting a car if I ever need to, without a premium insurance fee. Also figuring out health insurance was such a waste of time. That's probs the 2 main things which really 'solidifies' the extra stuff you have to do once you hit 25.

Pandan and coconut

This flavour got deleted literally 2 days after I ordered the cake, so I forgot what other flavour it had. It had layers of a darker choc sable, bits of mango and a lemony curd/sauce inside. The pandan was quite subtle in the mousse. It wasn't really sweet and the slightly sour lemony mango inside help balance it.

I have a thing where I like to have the exact amount of candles as the year I'm turning. Surprised 25 candles managed to fit on this small cake.

layers

Red velvet cake from Michel's Patisserie

Manager at work buys everyone a cake on their bday. Glad they chose this flavour for me (not a big fan of chocolate), but either way I wouldn't mind. She even puts in candles which is cute.

Thanks g8s for these cakes! Love trying new flavours. The mango and yuzu was the favourite of the night, also an og so you can't go wrong. I quite liked the guava and strawberry too, so cool how they're making more cakes shaped like fruit tasting like the fruit. No one liked the purple lavender one, I actually didn't mind it. I couldn't taste the soapiness, although it wasn't my favourite it wasn't bad either. The ume slice was delicious as well, full of various flavours. Love catching up with g8s, and was definitely delightedly surprised that Happy Apple came. 

Thanks Happy Apple for my first ever succulent - hope I don't kill it...

85deg Black forest cake

Finished off cake week with a simple cake to share at church. Thanks Blair for the surprise. Although I'm not a big fan of Asian cake, the good thing about 85deg is that it comes with plates, knives, forks and candles, so can literally just buy this cake and eat it anywhere. 

I think I'm caked out...for now....

Tetsuya's

I've been wanting to come try this place for a while, so have been saving up this place for a special occasion with a special person. So for my 25th birthday this year, decided to book the most expensive degustation dinner in Sydney (thanks Blair for the birthday dinner). I've been to a lot of food places in the past year, from fine dining (Bennelong, Catalina, O Bar and Dining, and more)/restaurants/local eats/cafes etc in Sydney, from East Coast to West Coast in America, and throughout Europe as well. Just haven't had time to do food reviews (last one was in Aug 2018 which was a backlog from March 2018), but had to do a post about Tetsuya's.

For a Tuesday night, the restaurant was surprisingly full. I made a booking around 2-3 weeks in advance, and was seated one 'row' behind the window garden seat. Apparently window tables are allocated based on reservation dates, so I guess there were some people who are more organised than me haha.

8 course degustation was $240pp. Yes, I still bring lunch to work, so I can then splurge once a year on fine dining. The food here is focused on seafood with 4/8 dishes being seafood, so if you don't like seafood then don't come. It has Japanese inspired dishes mixed with a bit of French cuisine.

Hidden on Kent St

I used to always walk past this to get to my bus from the city to home on Kent St. During the day the gates are closed, so this place is hidden away. You come here for the food not views, unlike other fine dining places 

View of the Japanese style garden

Can't really see it at night and I don't think you're allowed to walk in it, but it's cute. Of course if you ever go Japan, the original country is always more impressive. It's cute how they try to transport you to Japan.

Truffle butter + filtered water with lime

We ate pretty much almost all the butter. I never eat butter, except at fine dining. It was so light, and whipped well so very spreadable, but the truffle flavour was so intense and you could see so many bits of truffle in it. Makes my truffle salt and truffle oil at home seem like nothing. Even if you had a blocked nose, you would be able to smell the truffle. They offered sparkling, still or filtered water (no tap water option cause fine dining haha).

Bread options were Kombu scroll, rye or white sourdough. All of them were so delicious. The scroll was extra flaky and easy to pull apart, and sourdough had a nice crunchy crust without being chewy. Not sure if I filled up from the bread, butter and water...

Cherry Blossom: dry sherry, bombay gin, cherry beer, ratafia, lime-$24

Chose this one since it seemed to fit with the Japanese theme. It tasted like slightly sour cherries, and not sweet. It was nice but not one of my favourite cocktails.

Tuna with daikon and wasabi

You can definitely tell this fish was so fresh and the flavours weren't overpowering the fish flavour. Could hardly taste the wasabi which was good, since I'm not a big fan. Daikon gave it that extra bit of freshness for the dish.

Poached scampi with coffee vinaigrette and cannellini bean

Scampi perfectly cooked and full of flavour, and moving onto a warm dish. I couldn't really taste the coffee, but it gave that slight bit of acidity to cut through the butteriness of the scampi. The puree on the side help emphasis the smooth texture of the scampi.

Signature dish: confit of ocean trout with salad of apple and witlof

Wow, this dish lived up to the hype. The softest trout ever which melts in your mouth, perfectly seasoned with the kombu on top. Your knife just glides right through, and this is indeed my favourite seafood dish. Loved the crunch from the apple salad hidden underneath for some texture and slight sweetness. The caviar also gave it a pop of flavour. The parsley oil looked pretty on the plate, but I couldn't really taste it.

eating from books

Apparently, this is the most photographed dish in the world. Mainly because it was invented back in 1987. Most restaurants weren't even opened by then, and most chefs change their menu and remove signature dishes (like the Quay's snow egg) from time to time to keep people coming back. This dish has stayed on the menu since it was first created which explains why it's the most photographed dish. The recipe photo shows more parsley oil and caviar, but I guess that book was published around 2000, and 19 years later, inflation etc so they just cut out the extra bits without sacrificing the quality of the trout. 

salad to go with the trout

Salad had a nice dressing, I don't mind acidity, but some may find it a bit too acidic/bitter. Waiter suggested to have the fish first then have the salad as a side. I found the salad flavour to a bit overpowering, so I just had the salad separately after I finished the trout.

Queensland murray cod with confit fennel and young garlic

Moving onto the first hot dish where the plate was pre heated to preserve the warmth. This piece of fish was quite small, but again cooked to perfection. The skin super crispy and again the fish was very soft. It looked like a lot of sauce, but it was the perfect amount. This garlic sauce is better than El Jannah's (which is already one of the best for just cheap eats). The sauce was an emulsion, so it was super smooth without being too garlicy.

Pearl meat with jerusalem artichoke and navel orange

The first of the two meat dishes was this confit chicken which was really moist and smooth, and packed full of flavour with the accompanying jus. The orange was a nice element to the dish bringing some depth of flavour, rather than just savoury.

Wagyu rib eye with chestnut mushroom and yuzu

I loved the yuzu sauce on the side, highlight of the dish. It gave a lovely acidity to cut through the richness of the beef. The meat was perfectly cooked and loved the jus sauce. Mushrooms were plump and juicy. Good end to the savoury dishes.

Blood orange and beetroot sorbet with layer of white chocolate

This was the perfect palate cleanser, and the sourness from the sorbet really cut through to literally cleanse the savoury taste from previous dishes. A thin piece of white chocolate covered the sorbet to help balance the acidity, and on the side were some pearl like things. Apparently they use some science to make them. They're soft and not chewy like your usual tapioca pearls.

Chocolate stone with honey and milk

The dessert was nice but not amazing compared to other fine dining desserts I've had, wasn't expecting much from desserts since I was coming here for their seafood. The chocolate stone had a sort of milk ice cream filling inside and was really soft and not rich. Loved the quenelle of ice cream on the side with some crumbs for texture. The tempered ring of chocolate made the dish more fun. Could definitely hear the crack as your spoon cut through it.

Yay for birthday cake

Tetsuya's chocolate cake

The mousse cake was rich but not too sweet. I'm not a chocolate person, and if I do eat chocolate, it's always dark choc. The mousse was predominately dark choc which I loved, and just some sweetness from the white choc inside.

Petits fours: citrus tart, raspberry and mascarpone macaron, chocolate truffle lychee black sesame

I love these petits four, especially because it wasn't just chocolate. The chocolate truffle was my favourite, since it looked like truffle, but inside was this delicious black sesame filling, what a thin outer shell of chocolate. The macaroni wasn't overly sweet since the mascarpone was light and with a mild raspberry filling. Loved the acidity from the citrus tart as well with a thin layer of meringue.

His first cookbook

Thanks Blair for buying this book all those years ago (way before we met and even he didn't know who Tetsuya was when he bought this book around 10 years ago). So lucky we brought it along with us, since we got it signed! (Well Tetsuya was overseas but they swapped our copy with a signed copy in their stock).

Me being weird even though it's a fine dining place, I started taking photos of the trout dish with the book, and the usual taking a million photos before I eat, even though these days they just get stored since I don't really have time to upload to my food Instagram account or blog about it. Halfway through the meal a waiter said to follow him, and to take our phones. He ended up showing us into their kitchen! First time seeing a commercial kitchen (not through a window or on MasterChef). We were literally on the pass, and seeing all the chefs plate up. Inside was really big, and they explained how they don't use computers, since everyone eats the same 8 courses, so they just cross it out as you complete a dish then make the next one. So cool seeing the head chef in work as well.

peek into kitchen

Bit shocked at the invite into their kitchen, still in awe

Service was impeccable throughout the night as you would expect for a fine dining restaurant.  We did tip them extra since they went above and beyond for our dining experience. Although Tetsuya himself wasn't there (he was to return the following week, but these dining places are more once in a life time not weekly dining so we wouldn't obviously go back just to see him), we were just shocked that they let us have a peek into their kitchen and signed our book! Definitely a birthday dinner to remember.

Finally all 8

After over 3 years, all 8 of the G8s finally were in the same place at the same time. The last time was when half of use got back from holidays and met up in beginning of 2015. Since then, either someone if busy studying/interstate/overseas/working, so max we have is 7/8, and is very normal that someone leaves the country the day before or even same day as someone arrives. We don't even tell each other this, but somehow miss each other lol. Thanks to Dandelion for organising another birthday dinner, and doing a yearly quiz (which I feel like we do worse each year haha), but still fun to do. It was so good just chatting with everyone, especially just chilling at Central Park afterwards. Probs gonna be another 3+ years before we're all together again. I'm thankful for my hs group whom I don't see often, but are still tight and can just easily talk about anything. 

Steam Mill Lane

There's this new lane in Sydney which is sort of like Barangaroo, but smaller, and more 'young' and 'funkier' I guess, where is Barangaroo is more 'romantic'. I like these coloured lights though. Heaps of new restaurants opening up here where I'm pretty sure used to be the Entertainment Centre carpark and heaps of empty space/land.

Random balloon looking things on the building

We had dinner at It's Time for Thai. I think the one near uni is slightly better. Since I had a pre dinner, ended up taking away half my plate of noodles.

cakes from Koi

Green tea rose ganache with pistachio joconde, strawberry mousse and marshmallow

layers

The serving size suggested about 6-8 servings, which is pretty big for a piece of cake. I feel like it can serve about 16 small but not too small servings. Dandelion ended up skillfully cutting it into I think either 18 or 24 pieces so most of us could try both flavours. It's not cheap for a cake, but it's so pretty. 

Black sesame with yuzu marshmallow and passion fruit

Majority of us preferred the green tea rose ganache, as the strawberry flavour popped and gave it a nice refreshing flavour. The black sesame was nice, but the flavours didn't really differ that much, and couldn't taste as much yuzu to give this cake a different dimension. Both cakes were relatively heavy, so I guess still get good value if you calculate it by weight. I base cakes on looks and technique, and I can see why it's worth the price. Have I become immune to overpriced cakes? Maybe....but hey, birthdays only come once a year, and 'special occasion' cakes like 21st or wedding cakes are literally once in a lifetime. Well everything is once in a life time, but I guess that's why special events exists.

Red Rock Deli #TasteSpace

What to get your bro for his bday when he says nothing? Normally I do get nothing, but saw there was a pop up for these 'personalised' chips, and he likes chips, so why not get him a box of study food? I'm sort of like him when people ask me what I want I say nothing, cause the stuff I want but don't need are too expensive. So I don't put a value on presents since in the end, it's really the thought that counts right?

If you didn't know by now, I am a sucker for cute, pretty and personalised packaging (and yes to some people, it does mean I may have quite a bit of stuff lying around the house...). I'm also a sucker for truffle flavoured things.

$10 for 130g

Yes, I know it's overpriced, since normal packets are just under $3 for 165g, so you're essentially paying for that coloured piece of cardboard, and a lot of bulky packaging. The actual cardboard box was pretty big and so was the bag, but the actual packet was small. I'm just weird like that and like to pay more for personalised stuff (in this case, it doesn't have a purpose lol). They do taste a bit different since they're more 'premium' flavours.

Initially there are 5 main categories, each with 2 options, press one and comes up with 2 more options. Technically you can choose 2 flavour combos, but once you pick one, you have a forced choice of 2 other options. Sometimes the 2nd option connects back to the first, so really it's not personalised since everything is a forced choice (argh, this reminds me of research and when people pick 2 options instead of just 1 it just stuffs the results up...). They have pretty good marketing in a way, but you don't really choose your own flavours.

The guy said the tablet was really sensitive, so I pressed it lightly-no response. Then I pressed it again harder-no response. Then he said to 'gently' tap it. I think what it means is to hold down your finger longer than normal so it would respond. Another reason why Apple is better, never had a problem with their touchscreen. Can't even use this Samsung tablet without trying to jab at the screen.

all the flavour combos are preprepared

In the photo you can see up to number 18, so I think there are at least 18 combos with different seasonings. This reminds me of those permutations and combinations back in high school maths, just forgot how to actually work it out.

My own 'Worth It' version of Westfield pop ups. I would say this one is the least Worth It at its given price point. Yes, you can share it, but the personalisation is only a strip of cardboard, and you don't really choose or mix and match your own seasonings to make to really personalised. The magnum for around $8 a few years ago were pretty cool since you could choose your toppings and see it right in front of you but can't share it. The most Worth It was the personalised Kit Kats 2 years (?) ago, and although they costed more than $10 (from memory, ceebs digging back to previous blog posts), you could also choose the toppings, and get personalised packaging, and you can share it, so that ticks all the boxes.

Even with all that said, I still buy gimmicky things cause why not?

More Ice Cream and Cake

I feel like I should do a massive 'master list' of all the soft serve ice creams I've consumed this year. Even I have lost count how many soft serves I've eaten, but thank goodness for photos. I sort of couldn't resist trying more Aqua S, especially since they were in my fav colour, and the flavours were both new and sounded interesting.

 

Elderflower + blueberry, honey + lavender w/ wafer flower

You can taste a hint of elderflower in the blueberry one, however it was more on the icier side so it melted as soon as it came out. The honey in the lavender cut down the lavender flower. I prefer to have a stronger hit of lavender, even though it's a more potent flavour/acquired taste. Both flavours still worth a try though. Normally I don't get toppings for Aqua S since I feel like it's a waste of money, but these wafer flowers were so cute. It was $1.50 for 2 flowers, so decided to just have a flower for each cone, since not much point having 2 flowers in one cone. The ice cream purple colour turned out to be more murky in this batch, compared to previous photos and also their photo. Either they used a lot of editing or they just didn't add enough purple food colouring to these batches. 

When one cake it too mainstream, get 4. Finally had the chance to get individual cakes I've been meaning to try for a while for Mum's bday. Didn't get the chance for my bday since I was running on 4 hrs sleep and was dead/ceebs getting cake for myself...

Japanese Forest Cake-$10

Built to look like a divot of the forest floor, made with layers hojicha sponge, Choya confit ume fruits in umeshu infused cream, and garnished with matcha moss, leaves and bark of dark chocolate and confit whole ume

It does look like a forest. Would have preferred more hojicha flavour in the sponge. The cream was relatively light and could taste the slight umeshu (sort of Jap plum wine) in it. The confit ume had that weird sweet/sour taste, but it balanced nicely with the chocolate. I still prefer the strawberry watermelon cake. I think I was just expecting more from this one.

Lemon myrtle chiffon-$5

This was surprisingly delicious, and loved the myrtle flavour in it. Really light as well, hence the left side of the cake was slumping since there's no support from the other slices of cakes. The cream here with the desiccated coconut was light as well.

V8 Apple Pie-$11 (2 for $20)

Inside: Cinnamon almond dacquoise, cinnamon crumble crunch, apple crème, cinnamon chiffon, apple pie filling, apple jelly, apple crème diplomat finished with a green glaze and chocolate plaques.

You could definitely taste the flavours of the apple pie in this, and the crumble crunch gave the cake really good texture. Once you divide a serving into 4, it's quite hard to taste all 8 individual layers especially the chiffon, since the mousse (creme diplomat) surrounding it is relatively thick and becomes the majority of the cake. I found each layer quite thin compared to 2 years ago when I first had the V8 Vanilla. I think for these sort of cakes, better to find people and share the bigger cake size, so it's easier to taste more of the filling in the middle with less mousse/diplomat on the outside. Both the cakes were 'leaking' a bit though as if the water content in the glaze was seeping out...

V8 Tropical-$11

Inside: Coconut dacquoise, tropical crunch, passionfruit chiffon, tropical cremeux, tropical jelly, tropical crème diplomat finished with a yellow white chocolate glaze and yellow chocolate plaques.

The tropical one was also surprisingly delicious as it had the right amount of tang and sweetness from the tropical flavours. Again, you can see here the creme diplomat is quite thick, so less filling on the inside. Even my dad said the V8s were quite nice, and that's saying something since he normally doesn't appreciate any cakes/desserts (complete opposite of me, haha). Didn't bother trying other flavours since I feel like I can imagine what they taste like.