Orsum places to eat

Dinner at Etch

I recently started a new job and have been unable to find the time to update my blog :(

However, things have settled down I am planning to get right into the swing of things again! I have plenty to post about!

First up, tucked away on Bridge Street, next to the Intercontinental is a fairly recent addition to the CBD restaurant scene- Etch. Part of the same group as Becasse, it follows the food philosophy of Justin North and adds a contemporary menu containing the freshest ingredients from local producers.

The atmosphere is formal but not prohibitively so. It has a low light setting with a number of tables for large groups or couples. It feels like eating at a friends living room - but with more tables.

Prices of the dishes are fairly reasonably priced considering the quality, however, it's not somewhere I would be eating everyday, haha.



First up, we ordered the entrees. Whilst there were a few choices, the most enticing ones seemed to be the trout and the Quail Kiev.



The Kiev was delicious- de-boned and with juciy filling, I could have easily eaten a few more of these! The garlic shoot puree and the radish sides provided a nice refreshing contrast to the deep fryness of the Kiev.

For mains, we ordered a combination of lamb, beef and spaghetti. The best recommendation I would have would be to order a side of the potatoes for every 2-3 people eating. Topped with proscuitto and roasted to perfection, the potatoes went really well with all the other mains.



The Prawn Spaghetti was cooked well, but a bit underwhelming in the prawn category. The peas also tasted a bit strange with the bisque.

The beef and lamb were said to be mouth-watering, the beef especially- considering it was braised for 6 hours!

Finally dessert came, and this was another highlight to the meal. The Ginger Pudding was served at the perfect temperature and had a real gingery taste, the burnt butter icecream (the first time I've heard or tasted this flavour) was really nice. Caramelly and buttery, and not too sweet. But the tastiest part of the dish was actually the syrup! The streaks of earl grey tea syrup had a genuine earl grey tea taste and everyone was scraping it off the plate! I would love to get a jar of that for my home and add it to my desserts!


Etch Restaurant
62 Bridge St
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9247 4777

Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 12pm - late, Saturday 5pm - late

Customary Pizza Dinner

This will be the last post featuring places that I've eaten at whilst at a snow trip (for this year at least :P). As I mentioned in an earlier post, pizza seems to be the traditional dinner fare on any ski trip.



This time, we ventured out into the quiet town of JINDABYNE! From memory when we visited Jindabyne last year, Bits and Pizzas was a pretty cosy and yummy local pizza joint located on the strip of shops which is known as the town centre. However, choosing a pizza place based on memories from a year ago seemed to cause a bit of tension in our gourp, but after a heated kerfuffle, we eventually made it to Bits and Pizzas....

The place is pretty small and mainly caters for takeaway or delivery orders, but there is a few booths to sit at and a stooled bench at the window.

Given that we had around 12 people, and considering that we ordered 10 large pizzas, I think we may have slightly over ordered....

First up was the garlic pizza, which in hindsight we shouldn't have ordered as we also had garlic bread.....it was garlicy and cheesy....but not much flavour other than that....a good substitute for garlic bread but not much else...

Next up was the Jindabyne Special, which was probably the highlight pizza of the place (naturally). Toppings included the usual, plus pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms and...EGG! Not usually seen on pizza, but adds some depth to it I must say....



Last but not least, was the BBQ meat lovers- everything you would expect from a good meaty pizza, but nothing too exciting.

Overall, the pizzas ranged from $15-20 dollars which isn't bad considering that it is peak snow season for the town. One observation I did make of the pizzas was that the cheese tasted different.... a bit more rubbery and oily than I would have expected...but that might be just me...


Bits and Pizzas
Jindabyne Town Centre
Next to the Pub

Friday Flat's Noodle Bar

Another trip to the snow makes it my 5th time this season.....the snow coverage is getting thinner and thinner, but this doesn't make it any less irresistible....

On this occasion, there was a new shop opened up right at the bottom of the Friday Flats area near the Easy does it chair lift. This is the beginner right where the Thredbo ski resort begins and is always full of people. It was a noodle bar!


Being the asian I am, I had to try these noodles whilst everyone else had a variety of pies, burgers and chips.

On the menu here, like the takeaway noodle joints in the CBD, you can select the meat (chicken, pork, beef or prawn), the noodle (egg, rice or actual rice) and the sauce (satay and others).
Alternatively, there are a few set items including the asian pork noodle soup and pad thai. Also they have prawn crackers at $2 a bag. Cost of the noodles overall is pretty good value considering that other places on the slopes are pretty pricey (refer to other posts!). There are also toppings that you can add for free, being fried onions (like in mi goreng), chilli and soy sauce.


I chose the chicken with rice noodle and satay sauce. The quality of this dish does not compare to what you would get in any decent noodle takeaway in the city, however, given that this is a ski resort and the prices are not too extravagant, and I was starving after boarding all morning, I didn't think it was that terrible. The noodles were a bit soggy, the chicken frozen and the sauce a bit bland, but I still devoured it like a pig :P

The asian pork noodle soup was like a pork based MSG soup, but on a cold, snowy day- it could not have tasted any better!

Friday noodle bar
Friday Flats
Thredbo

Awesome stay at Crackenback Resort, Snowy Mountains

You may have noticed that I go on a number of trips to the snow every season. Whilst the quality and price of the trips varies considerably, one of the best and nices places that we stay at is the Novotel Crackenback resort. Here you can hire a house for the weekend which is 15 mins drive from the slops of Thredbo and has nice hire gear and not to mention great food :)

The hot breakfast normally costs $30 per person, but if you hire a house you get breakfast included for the number of beds in that house.


The selection is what you would expect from any decent hotel. There's fruit, cereal, fresh juices, variety of toasts and spread, pastries, savoury hot food and pancakes.

Of course you don't want too big a meal....otherwise you might be on the top of the mountain without a toilet in sight when mother nature calls :P

Lake Crackenback resort
Snowy Mountains
1650 Alpine Way
Crackenback
NSW 2627
Ph: 1800 020 524

Pizza dinner at Jindabyne

I don't think I've been to many trips to the snow where we haven't had pizza for dinner, whether it be at Jindabyne Village, the town of Methven or in this case at Perisher's station resort. Maybe cos we're too poor to afford anything gourmet for dinner or maybe because it's the satisfaction of the cheesy, greasy goodness of a pizza that entices us everytime....


This time we stayed at The Station and went to their onsite Pizzeria - The Pizza Station. Quite a popular place judging by the amount of people waiting for their pizzas.



We ordered 2 Large pizzas between 6 people as some people weren't as hungry as others. The good thing about the Pizza Station is that it is located right next to the Stations Bar so we went over to grab a few beers whilst we waited for our order to be cooked...


Thirty minutes later, our pizzas were ready! As there was next to no room to eat inside the store, we raced back to our accomodation so that our pizzas wouldn't get cold.


Our first pizza was a Supreme with anchovies. Having never had anchovies in my life, I was quite surprised with how yummy they were! An intense salty-ness with not as much fishy-ness as I expected. No bones or anything and it added a lot of flavour to the usual supreme pizza flavour.
Definitely reccommend trying anchovies on pizza if you haven't before!

The next pizza was the Tandoori Chicken pizza, standard in comparison, but still delicious with a sprinkle of cashews and a drizzle of yoghurt dressing. Not a bad pizza at all.

Quick bite on the slopes of Perisher

Tapas Banquet!

This restaurant is located a short walk from Broadway shopping centre and not too far down Glebe point road so you are unlikely to miss it.

The atmosphere of the place was like most Spanish places I've been to and had the usual exposed brick walls, candle like lighting, wooden seats and tables and a real rustic feel.
We started with a basket of herb and garlic breads as well as bowls of garden salad. These were nothing special with some of the bread a bit burnt on the edges, but otherwise exactly what you would expect from it. The garden salad was a nice light start to the meal but again, was nothing special.

Garden Salad

Garlic and herb breads

Next came the tapas! The best thing about tapas is the large variety that you can order! It's great when you have a large group of people eating as you get to try so many more dishes! We were allowed to choose 1 tapas per person, and I'm not sure who chose the tapas because after looking at the menu later, there were soooooo many tapas choices that I would have picked that weren't :( Alas, that is the dilemma when sitting when sitting on one end of a very long table.

The tapas we did get to try were:

Patatas bravas (potatoes in spicy tomato sauce)

Patatas al ajillo (potatoes in garlic sauce)

Not sure exactly why we got 2 potato dishes, but they both tasted quite nice, however, I am bias as I am a big fan of roast potatoes.....

Alas de pollo al ajillo (chicken wings in white wine & garlic sauce)

Chicken wings had a nice sauce and a nice golden brown look, however the chicken was a bit tough, kinda like they were too dry.

Gambas al ajillo (garlic prawns)

Easily the best tapas of the night, but again, I am known to be bias towards garlic prawns...the aromatic garlic transfers to the oil and it becomes a pot of oily garlicy goodness that is best mopped up with some bread (just don't think about how unhealthy it is, haha). One note is that the prawns appeared to be of the frozen variety.

The tapas I would have loved to try are:Codornices a la plancha (grilled quails) Almejas al vino blanco (pippies in a white wine sauce) Mejillones a la marinera (mussels cooked in tomato sauce) Pulpo a la plancha (BBQ octopus)
Gambas a la plancha (BBQ prawns)



Chicken Paella

To be honest, I have never been a big fan of Paella, but people always order it as there are always some people who are absolutely adore it. I usually have a spoon or 2 to try the taste and leave it for the others to consume. These Paellas were similar to other ones I tried and nothing to write home about.

Service was great and dishes came out steadily for the whole table, Jugs of drinks were refilled promptly and the waiter even helped us to cut and serve our cake with no extra cake-age charge.

Overall, a great and tasty birthday banquet!

Spanish Tapas Restaurant

26 Glebe Point Road

Glebe 2037

Ph: 9571 9005