Rockpool Bar & Grill (Sydney) - a burger for your thoughts

Bad timing.

For many, chronological mishaps have been rather unfortunate. Silverstein Properties purchasing a 99-year lease for $3.2 billion on July 24, 2001 for the World Trade Center was one. The playing of tsunami-opening film Hereafter in Japanese cinemas during the middle of March this year was another.

For a food blogger - especially a pictorial one - there is little worse than restaurants with light dimmer switches and overzealous staff, as I found out during one Thursday evening visit to Rockpool Bar & Grill in the city.

Rockpool Bar & Grill is famous for its monolithic and marbled art deco restaurant dining room, and its wagyu hamburger in the bar. Having dined previously in the restaurant without the food making an indelible impression, we were keen to taste what is universally regarded as Sydney's premiere hamburger. Food blog after food blog have sung its praises, and its reputation received an unofficial crown in the form of Time Out's recent Burger Wars, where it was anointed the champion over the likes of Four In Hand, Lotus, and Charlie & Co. With such a reputation, the expectations are high and our hunger even higher.

The bar, an anteroom to the side of the restaurant, is intimate, cosy, and elegantly appointed in black. It is open from midday until 11p.m. on weekdays, making it ideal for a quick drink or meal almost anytime. Arriving at 5p.m. on shopping night, the bar was comfortably abuzz with after-work imbibers, and we were the first people to order food, as is the norm.

The bar menu is more substantial than expected, and besides the famous burgers, there is an excellent selection of sandwiches (steak, chicken, prawn, crab, etc.) and tapas-sized nibblies (oysters, garlic prawns, empanadas, and even a fish ceviche). But we didn't come here to be wowed by a pork sausage sandwich or cured ocean trout on toasted brioche; we are here for the legendary burgers, and to experience a dose of bad timing.

On first seating, the darkness of the bar dining area was alleviated by sufficiently bright ceiling downlights; we could comfortably read the menu, see each others faces, and avoid squinting. But not more than thirty seconds after receiving our food, some not-so-bright spark (pun intended) decided to use the dimmer to lower the light to an eye-straining luminosity. Someone's having a laugh, and it ain't me. My inner Sue Sylvester felt like punching the person responsible smack bang in the teeth, but instead my inner foodie prevailed.

Fried Fish Burger with Chilli Mayonnaise ($24)

There's not much publicity about the fish burger here, most likely because the name of the burger is not prefaced by the neon-bright pretentiousness of "David Blackmore's Full Blood"; seriously, how can one compete with that? Not only is it the "David Blackmore's Full Blood Wagyu Hamburger", but it's with bacon, gruyere cheese, and zuni pickle. I bet the no-frills bacon felt left out. And the fish burger? Chilli mayonnaise. Gee, thanks. Despite being saddled with such an unwanky name, it is the same price as the wagyu hamburger at $24, so one hopes it is just as good. Luckily, it is good. Very good in fact. K is disappointed but I thought the battered fish is superb: expertly battered and delicately crispy on the outside, flakily moist and yielding on the inside. The chilli mayonnaise is mildly zingy and creamy, while the rest of the burger provided solid if unspectacular support.

David Blackmore's Full Blood Wagyu Hamburger with Bacon, Gruyere Cheese and Zuni Pickle ($24)

With the piscine burger so good, the wagyu hamburger should be a-mazing, but it somehow falls short. The wagyu beef patty is generous, scrumptious, and cooked to perfection medium-rare, but the accompanying bacon, cheese, and pickles are oddly imperceptible. In fact, I couldn't taste the cheese at all, so it's all about the wagyu. But as good as the beef is, the whole burger isn't as palate-provoking as we had expected.

Hand Cut Chips ($12)

Hot chips are one of my (many) weaknesses, so even for $12, I had to indulge in some fried potato worship. Having found many restaurants' 'hand cut' chips to be specious, we are overjoyed to see Rockpool's actually are hand cut. Massively cut, most of the chips are bigger than wedges and taste similar. Lightly battered and mildly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, these chips are good but far from being my favourite, and apart from the zesty tomato sauce dipping, needed more seasoning.

So what to make of the already famous wagyu burger? Its legend already precedes itself, so what I say won't be worth a damn, but $24 for a burger is still a pickle or three too far. I would happily pay $18 to $20 but not more, because after all, it is still only a patty of ground bovine meat sandwiched between a burger bun. In an era of ubiquitous inferior fast food burgers, anything above average would seem an icon to the jaded, but Rockpool's - while excellent - is not quite the apotheosis of burgers.

The good: burgers are excellent; bar operating times; ambience

The bad: burger prices; chips are disappointing

What the?: lights getting dimmed straight after getting our food

www.rockpool.com.au/sydney/bar-and-grill/bar/

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Sassy's Red (Westfield Sydney) - ready, steady, queue!

Forget Zara. At mega mall Westfield Sydney, the queues to be are found at the sophisticated and sprawling food court on Level 5. Now fully open after six months, it is home to dining options a few belt notches up - figuratively and literally - from your average suburban food court. With no McDonald's or KFC in sight, more expensive fare have found their way into this part of town as a point of difference. Few food courts can lay claim to serving wagyu beef burgers, truffle and parmesan fries, Reuben sandwiches, or seafood tasting plates, and fewer would have the celeb-chef star power of names such as Justin North, John Susman, and Michael Moore. Not only that, the food court is the new home to perennial two-toqued fine diner Becasse, one of Sydney's best restaurants. No wonder then the queues on a weekday lunch hour are maddeningly long and the whole place resembles a giant snakes and ladders board.

To snaffle a table at the height of lunchtime takes patience, ingenuity, fancy footwork, and capriciousness. The best method I've found is as follows. One, purchase a bowl of Charlie & Co.'s famously moreish truffle and parmesan fries; sure it may cost a bit but it is worth it. Two, place the scrumptious potato and cheese batons in a trail leading away from the food court; they are so irresistable anybody in their right mind will follow the trail and leave a table free for you to take. Three, hug the table in exalted joy at your fine accomplishment.

Such effort is unbecoming of me however, as I am neither patient nor fleet of foot, so I prefer the Joey method: turn up to the food court at a ridiculously early eating hour (on the weekend no less), and choose virtually any table of my choosing. Hurrah for being an abnormally early riser. Thanks a lot career.

The wealth of options available at Westfield Sydney is extensive, with everything from pizza to Japanese to dumplings to Indian to pies to Mexican. There is even an incongruous and conspicuous Telstra shop and Priceline on this level, although I am not aware of their culinary credentials. Seeing Malaysian is the cuisine du jour, Sassy's Red is the obvious choice for me on this particular Sunday morning.

Sassy's Red is the food court sibling of Darling Harbour stalwart Chinta Ria, a Malaysian noshery known for its huge smiling Buddha statue and sassy authentic food. Sassy's position in the labyrinthine food court is ideal and it has its own separate dining area, although dining near the counter during a busy weekday with a sea of people gawking at your food can be a little unnerving.

Sassy's menu is predictably simple (snacks, noodle soups, wok-fried noodles, rice, roti, and desserts) but it allows quick and efficient service, which is essential in a food court as potentially busy as this.

Lohbak rolls ($6) - minced chicken blended with spice seasoning wrapped in bean curd skin and fried

My previous experience with lohbak rolls was at unpretentious Albee's Kitchen in Campsie, and it was a good one. Sassy's version, while smaller, are even better. Light and well crisped with a moist filling of spiced chicken mince, each bite was juicy, tasty, and texturally interesting.

Sassy's ($12) - prawns and minced chicken stir-fried with blended sambal paste sauce, vegetables and red bird's eye chillies served on rice with fried egg

Sassy's prawns and minced chicken stir-fried is quite the mouthful - couldn't they have come up with a better name? - but despite the horribly overcooked production-line fried egg and the neon-orange unctuosity, it's not a bad dish. Its saviour is the punchy chicken mince and prawn mixture, which is deeply flavoursome and moreish. A pleasing lunchtime dish.

Fried chicken ($10)

My fried chicken resistance level is low at the best of times, but when the gallinaceous dish is of the Malaysian or Indonesian variety, it is virtually non-existent. This dish is not listed on the takeaway menu but on the specials board above the counter, and its description is simply 'Fried chicken $10'. Thankfully the fried chicken is complemented by a hillock of rice and the ubiquitous slices of tomato and leaf of mesclun lettuce, making it a complete meal. The golden pieces of chook are beautifully herbaceous, crispy, and for the most part, tender and moist. Superb fried chicken worthy of being on the podium.

A second visit during a Friday lunchtime was not as successful however. The nasi goreng ($10) is neatly presented in a square parcel of thick greaseproof paper on a plate, but once unwrapped, the fried rice is not sufficiently hot and the flavours are strangely anaemic. The sambal has as much bite as a neutered chihuahua while the pieces of chicken, tofu, and fried shallots are not overly generous. I definitely prefer my nasi goreng much spicier and with satay skewers and a fried egg or two.

Despite the jejune nasi goreng, my impression of Sassy's Red is still favourable. The service both times - whether it was on a deserted Sunday morning or a manically hectic Friday lunch period - was friendly, super quick, and no fuss. The food is very competitively priced in this otherwise-expensive food court, with meals hovering around ten dollars and maxing out at thirteen. The selection is fairly standard but the additions to the menu of roti, desserts, and fancy drinks (teh tarek, kumquat lime, etc.) distinguishes it from the crowd. The food quality is generally excellent and the flavours are jazzy and well executed, so Sassy's Red is certainly a great choice in Sydney's premier new food court.

The good: fried chicken, lohbak rolls, flavours, price, quick and efficient service (even during peak lunch period)
The bad: effete nasi goreng, overly oily Sassy's prawns and minced chicken stir fried
What the?: why Sassy's Red?

Despite the temptations of Sassy's five-dollar desserts such as Cool Bo Bo Cha Cha (a favourite of my mum's), Chendol, and Sago Gula, the drawing power of Justin North's Becasse Bakery was too great. Its range of baked goodies is greater than that of its sibling at Opera Kitchen down at Bennelong Point, so indecision is a welcome new nemesis. Brioches, tarts, friands, danishes, muffins, etcetera all compete for one's sugary attention, but on this occasion the raspberry custard brioche won out.

Raspberry custard brioche ($6.95)

Surprisingly light, the brioche pastry is flaky and airy, a vessel holding the most gorgeously smooth custard and macerated raspberries. Each mouthful is tantalisingly sweet, sour, and a joy. It is a tad expensive for what it is, but a treat of this quality should never be undervalued.

With so many goodies left to try, Becasse Bakery is sure to be a new perennial favourite, and I don't even work in the city. But I will be sure to follow my own rule of never venturing there near lunchtime, since I have better things to do than stand in queues.

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Mamak Village and Happy Lemon (Glebe) - "Go ahead, Mamak my day."

After the unbridled success of Mamak in Chinatown (have you seen the queues still?!?), there were bound to be imitators left, right and centre. To the right is where Mamak decided to branch off into the North Shore, opening an off-shoot in Chatswood last year. To the left and we have Mamak Village in inner west Glebe, arrogating the Mamak name but adding a 'Village'  to distinguish itself.

Situated in a refurbished terrace house on rowdy Glebe Point Road, Mamak Village is another casual version of an eatery serving Malaysian hawker-style food, including the roti made famous by the window-hogging antics of Mamak in Chinatown. Here the roti is made to order in an enclosed kitchen on the street level, and dining is predominantly on the upper level.

We are here after a movie at the adjacent cinemas in Broadway, and a light lunch is the order of the day. Seating ourselves in the upstairs alfresco balcony area with a view of Glebe Point Road, we peruse the menu and find a selection of our favourites, which naturally includes something fried and crunchy.

Ayam Berempah - authentic Malaysia spices fried chicken ($4)

The special ayam berempah fried chicken is coated in rich spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, star anise) and low on calories (ha!), but despite the carcinogenically burnt edges, we tuck into our halves of the breast with voracity. Glistening but not too oily, the skin is crispily moreish. The poultry flesh is generally moist but has areas of dryness, even near the bones. Overall, it is good and fried chicken-worthy.

Roti Hawaii - roti filled with pineapple, chicken and cheese ($9.50)

Roti is next, and K chooses the Hawaiian, presumably a Western-Asian hybrid and ideal for this warm weather. It looks as one would expect, but chicken, cheese and tartly sweet pineapple  enveloped by a suitably fluffy roti is a surprise. Otiose squiggles of mayonnaise drizzled on top is distracting though. For added flavour, two accompanying curries (one hot, one not) and a dollop of chilli sauce are essential for that Malaysian experience.

Penang Char Koay Teow - wok fried famous rice cake strips, popular hawker's food, served with crunchy bean sprouts ($9.50)

Lastly the char koay teow, a hawker staple. Presented on a plastic green phylliform plate like the ayam berempah, the aroma and vibrancy of the wok-tossed mound of slippery rice noodles, plump prawns, fish cake, egg, and bean sprouts is arresting. The ingredients are sparing but the soy and chilli balance married with the noodles wok-singed with caramelised edges is light and fulfilling.

With only three dishes sampled, Mamak Village still looks like a winner. Great quality hawker food at affordable prices (especially at lunchtime) will ensure the inner westies won't get roti rage by not venturing into Chinatown. Perfect for Sydney University students across the road and shoppers at Broadway Shopping Centre alike, Mamak Village is here to stay and about time too. 

Not too far from Mamak Village is Happy Lemon, an Australian outlet of a Hong Kong-based drinks franchise.

Situated around the corner from Mamak Village on bustling Parramatta Road, Happy Lemon is filled with cartoon-cute graphics of lemon-headed characters winking from all angles. Too much lemon juice in the eye perhaps? Consistent with the sunglasses-requiring decor, the drinks served are eclectic and strange, to say the least. Among the horrisonant and incompossible combinations are Yakult green tea, Italian blood orange black coffee, and milk tea with taro. Lost in translation for sure.

Boldly proclaiming to be the "world's yummiest drinks" on the wall, the drinks are served in cute (what else?) plastic cups emblazoned with "world's yummy drinks!!" and another winking lemon face. So far, so nauseous (wait until you visit the website), but oh so very Asian. Being so disciplined, we decide to share one drink, the relatively normal cocoa with rock salt and cheese.

Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese ($4.20)

The cocoa part is fairly innocent and is basically a chocolate milk, but the intriguing component is the cheese; in what form is it incorporated into a drink? The answer is apparent immediately, as we notice the pale banana yellow froth sitting on top of the cocoa milk. The froth did not last long and was not easy to consume - we had to pull the straw out from the milk and slurp the cheese - but it tasted like faux cheese. Together with the chocolate and the subtle salt, it was a little sweet but certainly drinkable. World's yummiest drink? Sure, if you're ten years old or under.

Having half of one drink does not allow us to give an informed opinion on Happy Lemon, so for now we will leave it to the target audience of uni students and young Asians to determine its success.

The good: (Mamak Village) great quality Malaysian hawker food, cheap prices (especially at lunch time), roti in the inner west, no queues out the door, friendly service
The bad: (Mamak Village) limited dining area, some servings are small
What the?: (Happy Lemon) rock salt and cheese and some of the combinations




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London Eats Part 4 - Gilgamesh (Camden)

Hands up anyone who has come back from holiday and is immediately overwhelmed by duties? Nobody? Well, I am one of those, whose life gets turned upside down in a maelstrom of clothes, photos, bills, mail, television shows, food, and work. More often than not, I end up ironing the mail, uploading the food, and laundering the photos.

It's even worse when on holidays as a food blogger, as one tends to dine out more, and every morsel of food can become the subject of a post. From breakfast to dinner, day-after-day, the task of cataloguing all the photos, all the menus, and all the minuscule details can take a heavy toll. Especially the onerous and herculean task back home after the holiday when there is the combination of a mountain of photos and lack of time.

 

Therefore, on our recent trip to London and Singapore, we decided to eat at a select number of "post-worthy" eateries so that the entire holiday isn't dictated by food. We chose Gordon Ramsay and Yauatcha, and left everything else by chance. And lucky we did, because otherwise we would not have found a hidden gem like Gilgamesh. Strange name though right?

When I hear the name Gilgamesh, I immediately hark back to my teenage video game days and the game that occupied my every waking moment: The Final Fantasy RPG series. Gilgamesh is a travelling sword collector (of course!) who has appeared in the Final Fantasy games as an ally, a villain, and an almost-omnipotent summon, but this has nothing to do with the restaurant though. Damn.

Gilgamesh is inconspicuously located on top of one of the market buildings in Camden, and access is by escalator. The menu at the bottom of the escalator alerted us to the restaurant's presence, and as we perused over the menu, it showed a curious pastiche of Chinese, Japanese and South-East Asian dishes.

Having been in London for three days and yet to experience Asian cuisine, we were happy to allow the escalator to take us into the unknown.

As we made our way up, we saw the restaurant was surprisingly its own mini Bali/Thailand/Indonesia. The dining room was cavernous with a high glass ceiling, and natural light pouring in through the floor-to-ceiling windows enhanced it. The decor was appointed in beautifully handcrafted wooden furniture from India and small tropical trees, rendering the feel of an island resort hotel reception area. It had a very inviting atmosphere, but the problem was, we were the only diners there, even though it was past midday. Undeterred, we placed our order of a light lunch with the friendly waiter.

Avocado and sweet potato tempura with orange ponzu (£7.15)

Tempura anything and it is bound to taste good, but when that anything is sweet potato, it is a match made in deep-fryer heaven. Tasting like a potato scallop, this was scrumptious: a super-crispy slice of sweet potato made even sweeter by the orange ponzu sauce. The asparagus tempura was also good, with the acquired taste of the asparagus nicely masked by the crunchy batter and ponzu dipping sauce.

Prawn and banana spring roll: prawn and banana wrapped in rice paper (£7.25)

When we ordered the spring rolls, we didn't expect them to be deep-fried because of the rice paper, but we were wrong. After tasting it, we realised why we hadn't seen deep-fried rice paper rolls before: because it renders the texture a little chewy and hard. It lacked the crispness of ordinary spring rolls, but the savoury-sweet filling of prawn and banana was a satisfying taste and textural mix.

Son-in-law eggs: 2 crispy fried eggs topped with chilli jam, chillies and coriander (£5)

Yet another interpretation of son-in-law eggs, this one was fried rather than the ones I've had before, which were whole eggs boiled then deep-fried. This one was a little crispy and the yolk was semi-runny, which is perfect for me. The tried-and-trusted combination of chilli jam and coriander gave the dish its colour and flavour, but although it was good, I missed the traditional son-in-law eggs.

Black rice wok-fried with Chinese sausage, prawn and egg (£7.25)

The black fried rice looked identical to the usual fried rice except for the rice being black. The glistening grains of rice stood out clearly amongst the peas, prawns, Chinese sausage, and egg. It was fragrant and delightful in its simplicity, was fabulously moreish and more filling. I hope someone down under will be brave enough to add black rice dishes to the menu, as it'd be a hit.

Unfortunately, there was no room left for dessert, having already thoroughly enjoyed the liquid nitrogen ice cream at Chin Chin Laboratorist earlier in the day. It is not a regret but we knew the chances of us returning to Camden would be slim, but at least we had the opportunity to sample excellent pan-Asian cuisine.

As we made our way down the spiralling stairs into the warrens of Camden Markets, we knew the impressive Gilgamesh had left a lasting indelible memory. And if it were to be the only Thai/Japanese meal on this tour of the UK, we would still be happy to have enjoyed a slice of Asia in this bustling corner of Camden.

A post about Gilgamesh would not complete without mentioning the restrooms. Impressive in size, the male restroom would be bigger than some restaurants I've ate at in Sydney. As with the dining room, the restroom is appointed in ornate decor from the urinals to the wash basins. It is good to see the Indochine theme of the decor is kept throughout the restaurant.

Pierre sends his love from Camden

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Pho 236 (Newtown) - don't you pho(get) about me

When it comes to minimal no decor, it is hard to top this unprepossessing little eatery. When it comes to cheap, quick and tasty Vietnamese food in Newtown, nobody comes close.

Welcome to Pho 236 on King Street Newtown, who I would imagine has been here since time immemorial, maybe even longer. It really is minimal decor at its finest, with absolutely nothing on the bare white walls: no posters enticing one to visit Vietnam; no scrolls of Vietnamese text; no mirrors to make the space appear larger; no good luck charms to ward off evil decorators; and certainly no daily specials printed on fluorescent cardboard ala Chinese eateries. It's simple dining and it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

The menu is very compact, with all dishes listed as photos and fitting on a single worn laminated sheet of cardboard. Most of the Vietnamese favourites are here, such as pho, crispy chicken, pork chops, and tomato rice, as well as some Chinese staples like wantons and steamed chicken.

Earlier in the day we were at home catching up on television, and one of the shows was Luke Nguyen's Vietnam; that is one reason we decided to eat here, apart from the fact most of the other eateries were not yet open.

Rice paper rolls ($6)

Such a bright sunny humid day out and all we can think of is fresh rice paper rolls. These are neatly assembled and with three plump prawns visible on top, the hopes were high. The usual suspects of shredded carrot, vermicelli noodles, lettuce, etc. were packed into the rolls, although as not tightly as we had hoped. One bite and the innards decided to plan their escape route onto the table and floor, much to our chagrin. They were fairly standard taste-wise, much like the dipping sauce of hoi sin sauce.

Pho special ($8.50)

Pho was next, and as usual the bowl is mammoth and filled to the brim with beef broth goodness. Slices of beef and beef balls, slurp-worthy thin rice noodles, onions and coriander compete for space as the aroma wafts from the hot bowl. It was a perfectly good but unremarkable pho, although I would have preferred the beef slices to be a little rarer; the broth on the other hand was flavoursome and deep, and as always in a pho the star of the dish. I didn't feel the need to drown my throat in water afterwards either so that was also a good sign.

Rice vermicelli with pork ($8.50)

The pork and rice vermicelli came in the same-sized bowl as the pho, meaning stacks of vermicelli and lettuce and peanuts and lemograss and pork. The pork was super tasty, tender and moreish. Lots of crunch, lots of flavour, and lots of satiating goodness.

With our bellies full, we sauntered off down King Street once again, knowing that if we craved tasty Vietnamese again in say, ten or so years time, Pho 236 would still be here satisfying the appetites of students and locals. And ladies who fancy a bottle of red wine with their cheap Vietnamese ....

The good: cheap and quick, flavoursome pho broth, grilled pork on the rice vermicelli

The bad: mains not served at the same time, no decor

What the?: red wine with cheap and cheerful Vietnamese





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