EyeBall 2018

I can't believe it's already half way through my last rotation. Only 3 weeks to go before 3 weeks to cram for 5+ years of knowledge. Help. EyeBall was three weeks ago, but CFEH has been so draining with at least 8.30-5 everyday. Or sometimes say behind till after 6. Even though you're sitting there sometimes doing nothing is tiring. Also somehow squeezed time to visit a rotating restaurant at O Bar and Dining, and going up Sydney Tower. Not enough time to upload photos. Haven't even gone through my America photos yet...

Decided to still do this post, since did it for all the other EyeBalls. This year a person in the cohort pretty much single handedly did all the deco, and it was definitely lit for the theme 'A Starry Night'. There were like lit up fake cherry blossom trees, branches, and a massive Eyeball sign. Held at the Hilton this year, so fancy again. If we didn't have sponsors, the tickets would've cost so much (at $100 each they're still not cheap). There was one photographer who actually took decent pics (well not overly exposed), but the photobooth this year was pretty bad. Photos weren't focused at all, hence I think that's why they never uploaded the photoboooth pics, but I don't mind. I like the instant printouts.

Table

menu

Food was pretty nice (I think at this rate I have over 20 places to blog about in Sydney, and let's not get started about NYC, Melbourne etc where I had 6 meals a day...) Yeah, the food blogs and insta posts can continue after I graduate. Probs only rant here on random things in the next few weeks. I don't even have time to review this food lol. They only had one choice of dessert, would've been nice to have 2, but maybe they compromised that to choose more expensive entrees or mains..

not your traditional creme brûlée 

snap chat filter

BW finally debuts on my blog (after over a year lol)

One of my fav photos of us. Thanks for accompanying me this year (and driving me after I had over 4 glasses...) It's different this year since no going with the usual optom crew, but going with this one was super special. Thanks for all you do for me, and also letting me crash at your place to save about 45min-1hr of bus commutes. Much appreciation and thanks. So lucky to have you in my life. 

No time for food adventures since here on in it's all writing reports/preparing to be grilled and trying to squeeze study in. 

EyeBall 2017

The theme was Fire and Ice and held at Hyatt Regency this year (would've been cooler if they called it Ice and Fire to go with GoT). I was actually quite excited to use the geo filter on Snapchat and there was a candy bar this year as well. The photo booths line were a lot longer, probably because the photos printed inside the machine. It was a really fun night!

yes, first thing I did was raided the candy bar

There were less people this year...

table

menu

Food was generally pretty good. Everything was piping hot, which is hard to do for such large masses. The plates were all heated as well, so hot to touch. They also had more waiters at this venue. I didn't bother getting any drinks on arrival.

entree: chicken

prawns

main: beef + loved the smell of the truffle oil in the mash

yes for medium rare

salmon also had really good flavours

wine which tasted like water. the white wine was quite bublly/sparkling as well, but not quite sparkling wine

dessert: one of the saltiest ice creams I've ever had

cheesecake-I already halved it with my friend, but still couldn't finish my half since it was so dense

chocolate

Darling Harbour views

Music was good (since I only listen to mainstream music lol). May have had a bit too much to drink...but luckily no hangover. I know my limit is 4 good glasses of wine, but 4 here I didn't feel any effects. The unofficial afterparty was at Cargo Bar, and it was sponsored, so of course why not make the most of it with more free drinks? I remembered the whole night, except probs the last 15minutes...So maybe just a bit tipsy... I can do wines but not shots. Apparently they don't serve shots after 12am? Who knew, I never go to these things because 1. Alcohol is expensive 2. Just too unhealthy.

Discovered how awesome Uber is, and it's quite cheap when you share with friends. So glad we rented an apartment for the night. Think we ended up going home around 2am...Wished I had morning city views every morning...Although you could hear the light rail once you're awake. Also broke my longest streak record of 2.5 months of no brunch in Sydney the next morning.

The Meat and Wine Co

What better place to take someone from overseas to have ribs and steaks. The last time I walked past here looking for dinner they were fully booked until 9:30pm, so this time I definitely made sure I had a booking. Even coming here around 6pm, the tables were filled quite quickly.

Lamb ribs (half rack) + rump steak (200g)-$49

Pork ribs (full rack)-$59

Beef ribs (full rack)-$49

Each rack came with a side, we chose salad

The ribs were really tender without being drowned in sauce. I loved the pork ones the best with the super long bone. The lamb had a nice hint of citrusy flavour. They also give you bowls of water with lemon to help wash your hands.

Rump steak (300g) with mash-$28 and Portuguese sauce-$4

Even though we ordered a cheaper cut of meat, the actual beef quality was really good, so the rump steak was super tender. Shouldn't have ordered that sauce since it was too spicy for me, but we wanted to try something new. Next time will stick with the good old mushroom sauce. The sauce was quite. Mash was decent, not overly buttery or rich.

MWC Magnus: Amarula semifreddo, rooibos tea jelly, apricot marmalade and butter milk rusk-$15

This is by far the most expensive ice cream I've ever had. It was super small as well, but they didn't judge us too much even though we shared this between 5 people (just one bite per person). Couldn't really taste any of the amarula alcohol in it or the tea jelly. The flavours sounded interesting but generally quite subtle. It had different textures which was quite interesting.

Table:30 - ParkRoyal

I think I've told almost everyone I know that work cut our pays almost a year ago. So it's nice for the store to win something and for work to shout dinner for once. We went to the newly renovated Park Royal Hotel in Parramatta. The lobby is quite spacious for a hotel in Western Sydney, but that being said, Parra is transforming rapidly with 'luxury' apartments everywhere. On Friday night they have happy hours at the bar down stairs which was quite loud so the noise went up to the restaurant. They closed off more than half the restaurants seating where there's normally breakfast buffets which would have avoided the noise more, but all the tables around us good hear the bustle down stairs since the dining area was open spaced.

No pictures but we had garlic and herb bread ($6.50 for 4 pieces). It was on a sort of soft flat bread not your normal toasted bread. It wasn't too salty or garlicy which was good. The chunky chips w/ aioli were indeed quite thick cut which almost looked like wedges, so heaps of potatoes inside and crunchy outside. Wedges also had decent chunks of potatoes and came w/ sour cream and sweet chilli, both $4.50 each for a bowl. Lemon lime bitters $4 more on the sweet side with a bit too much lemonade.

 

Berkshire Pork Double Cutlet 350g: served with sweet potato gnocchi, maple glazed carrots and spiced honey jus-$38 

I normally don't order pork at restaurants unless it's pork belly, but so glad I ordered this pork cutlet. The pork was perfectly cooked, moist and juicy with a lovely spiced jus to accompany it. Carrot cooked well and although it says maple glazed, it still had that natural sweetness from baby carrots. The sweet potato gnocchi was interesting but way too salty. I think they added the extra salt to balance the sweetness but it wasn't that sweet to begin with.

Cape Grim Tenderloin 200g: served with desiree mash, steamed broccollini and diane sauce-$45 

Had a bit of the steak and it was super soft and melt in your mouth as well. We also ordered sneaked veggies $6.50 a bowl, but they were sort of your stock standard frozen veggies from supermarkets just steamed.

 

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble: served with caramelised anglaise and vanilla ice cream-$18 

  

I didn't want anything chocolate for my dessert and none of the desserts really appealed to me. I opted for this, first time ever having a crumble at a restaurant. Tbh it loos like my morning granola. It had a nice sour rhubarb flavour throughout it, but the whole dessert was quite big so I didn't finish it. I liked how they scooped the ice cream into a super round ball, but it was on the icier side. The cremes anglaise was super sweet as expected, but paired with this dessert in a way, but I didn't touch it much since I liked the sourness and some sweetness in the ice cream was enough.

 

Sticky Fig and Pecan Pudding: served with chocolate butterscotch sauce-$19 

It was a massive pudding, so glad I didn't order this. I'm not a big fan of this sort of dessert with the rich chocolate/butterscotch sauce. Had a bit and the pudding was alright, maybe a bit dry so I guess that's why there's so much sauce.

I had a chamomile tea ($4) and they give you 2 pyramid tea bags on the side and a pot of hot water. Found it odd you had to brew your own tea.

Overall it's a fancier and more expensive dinner in Parra, but worth giving a go. I think they charge 1.1% surcharge for credit cards though. 

  

EyeBall 2016

It was a fun night at Four Season Hotel. First time tickets were 3 digits, and they were already sponsored, but I guess it's because of the location.

It was spring themed this year, so pretty easy to dress up. I actually bought a dress earlier this year which was super cheap, and coincidentally floral. The table centrepieces were on point, I think this year is the best so far, but also had the worst music/dj. When there was food, the music was alright, then once people started going on the dance floor, the music went down hill.

Everything felt really rushed this year. I think everyone was running late, and took forever to get seated. Entrees came out quickly, but waited a while for mains and desserts. Didn't get a lot of photos in the Photo Booth, but the lighting on it was better, and the space was also bigger. Before you know it, the lights were on and the dj just stopped abruptly, and the night was over.

Love the table setting

rosemary on name cards


Real flowers <3


menu (no time to type it up)


Scallops

Cooked well considering the large numbers of people. Pancetta wasn't really crispy, and not enough puree

Pork Belly

This was mine, and again not enough sauce. The pork wasn't too fatty which was a plus, but since it wasn't crackling, quite hard to cut the skin.

Salmon

Cooked well but wished there was crispy skin...again, probs hard to control for so many people. Wasn't much chorizo in the salad, 

Beef

Tried a bit of this, and yes, pink in the middle and quite soft. The potato gratin was also nicer than the mash, but the jus lacked flavour.

We got out desserts quite late when the lights were dimmer than before, and in a rush to eat dessert, didn't have time to take a good photo...

Cheesecake

Quite ordinary, tbh I think my baked cheesecake is better. The compote wasn't too sweet, and the twig is cute as well. Liked last year's desserts better

Praline and chocolate dessert

The praline ice cream was nice, wished my cheesecake had ice cream...

some friends who decided to make use of the decorations on the table

rare selfie with flowers

stole a leaf (?) crown

#eyeball2016 #flatlay

It was a really fun night with friends, and everyone looked so lovely! (: