Left of Field Take 2

Coming here for Better's birthday (back in March lol, yeah, super behind on posts), and also a catch up with high school friends. Saw people I haven't seen in years. Thanks again Better for the food! The food was alright, but the company was better. Here's some snaps of the food. Probably had one too many bowls of chips.

food spread

this granola was a bit burnt with a weird after taste and we ended up returning it. The coconut panna cotta wasn't really a panna cotta. They offered to replace it with another dish I think.

too bad the yolk was pretty much cooked through

I've had these pancakes before, but this time it was a pavlova/fruity flavour

thanks friends for waiting for me to get my flatlay shots

They also do alcohol here as well

Duck In Duck Out

If you didn’t know by now, Duck is one of my favourite proteins, and I didn’t even realise a permanent store which is also promoted by Manu from MKR opened in World Square until I walked past. It’s fast food but a bit fancier, and hence cost more than your average burger and fries. They have mostly outdoor seating, or bench stools inside. It is quite windy sitting outside.

food spread

Quack Daddy: crispy confit duck, celeriac remoulade, red onion jam, pickles, rocket, harissa aioli-$14

inside

The burger had a decent amount of duck in it, and could taste the duck flavour in it as the toppings/sauces didn’t drown out the flavour of the meat. The duck also wasn’t too fattening. The aioli gave a very mild spicy kick to it, and the jam helped compliment the burger with some sweetness.

Duck dog: duck sausage, fried shallots and other stuff-$12

First time having a duck sausage hot dog. This was a special for the week and forgot what other ingredients it had. I think if I used my imagination I could taste the duck in the sausage, but really it just tasted like a mix of beef and chicken. Sausages are normally a mince mixture anyway, so hard to distinguish the duck flavour. I like the fried shallots as it gave it a slight crunch. 

Ducking loaded fries: crispy confit duck, harissa aioli, spring onion-$12

The chips were cooked well with a nice crunch, but I would have liked a bit more potato inside. Loved the bits of duck and sauce which topped the fries. I didn’t think it needed the additional salt on the fries itself.

 

One Tea Lounge and Grill-Take 4

I don't often 'repeat' restaurants, but this place is probably one of the exceptions. Finally won a food competition thanks to this photo from Night Noodle Markets (NNM) earlier this year, so decided to use the $50 voucher to try the new summer menu. It was also an excuse to over order and to try some things I never got around to trying at the NNM earlier this year and previous years. I've tried most of the things that always stay on the menu despite the season, It was quite quiet for a Thursday night, unlike when I came on a Monday night in August when they had the matcha ramen special. Love how they include lots of photos for some items on the menu.

entree/snacks

Salmon Tataki: lightly seared salmon with matcha yuzu-$12

Salmon was seared well and fresh. The matcha and yuzu both could be stronger, but you can taste more of the yuzu than matcha. Still a nice combo of flavours on salmon.

 

Peking duck fries w/ waffle fries: shredded duck with housemade spicy hoisin sauce and fried shallots-$18

I've always wanted to try these at NNM, but I hardly every order fries as a side, so would feel bad ordering it, but since I had a voucher, can justify ordering this. Duck is my fav protein, and love the combo of using peking duck as a topping. The amount of duck was decent and also included some skin in. The waffle fries were nice and potatoey, but a tad oily. The sauce did have a nice kick of chilli but it was bearable. Wished there were more shallots to help try to lighten this dish.

matcha coconut chicken: tender chicken thigh with matcha coconut cream served in a brioche toast box with grilled vegetables & matcha rice-$29

 

curry in a toast box!

It's a very Taiwanese thing to have a toast box, then they cut up the inside and fill it with the cut up bits of bread, but normally its sweet. First time having matcha curry inside a brioche toast box. It was a nice amount of matcha and creaminess from the coconut in the curry and chicken was cooked well. Wish they gave a bigger portion of rice and veggies though. The matcha rice had a sort of seaweed flavour to it, those people who don't like matcha because of that weird flavour would understand. I guess I didn't mind having that different matcha/seaweed flavour in the rice since it helped contrast a bit to the matcha coconut curry.

dessert spread

Matcha heaven on fire-$23

Our most popular creative dessert show as you watch the orange liqueur burn the candy floss heaven to reveal a beautiful matcha terrarium filled with matcha castella cake, caramel walnut, meringue & red bean azuki mousse

 

She lit the orange liqueur to pour over the fairy floss, then melted it more with the blow torch to reveal the inside

inside

Yes, you are paying for the theatre of the dessert. The matcha cake inside wasn't too strong, but the matcha sauce was quite intense with a bit of orange liqueur in it to make the dessert more matcha-y. Could also dip the fruits in the sauce as well. I did find the candied walnut s way too sweet, and there were heaps of it so couldn't finish it all. The red bean mousse had a slight nutty flavour in it which was interesting. You can't actually eat the fairy floss since it just melts and sticks to the table/plate.

Matcha hokkaido cheesecake: a perfect balance of texture & taste with the famous creamy hokkaido cheesecake paired with matcha along with candied candied lemon, berries & cream-$16

Love the creaminess and cheesiness from this cheesecake, whilst still being light. Still struggled to finish it since we did order 6 things between two...Good balance of matcha in this cheesecake, and the fruits also helped cut come creaminess. 

Cookie shots: delicious crunchy cookie shots with a hot creamy beverage

 

inside after I added some matcha liqueur 

cheers

 

matcha and red velvet with matcha latte

I have to admit, this is a copy of Dominique Ansel's cookie shots, who had a chocolate cookie in the form of a shot class, and filled with vanilla infused milk. His cookie shots are more refined with a thinner pastry all around and coated with choc inside. These ones have a relatively thick cookie base and wall, so the actual volume inside inside that big, and filled each 'shot glass' around 3-4 times with the match latte which I found was quite weak and more towards the milky side. The flavours in the cookies were a bit too sweet afterwards since they're coated with white choc inside to prevent the hot beverage to melt or seep through to the cookie. The red velvet sort of tasted like it, but again the white choc flavour was more prominent. It's still decent for Sydney standards.

Love the inventiveness of the food here with a bit of theatre. If you love matcha, then this is the place for you.