Blue River Chinese Restaurant - Woonona NSW

Tasty, tender and uplifting - lamb braised with garlic on a hot plate.

They  have San Choy Bow for entrees; butterfly shaped prawns which are deep fried with spicy salt or garlic butter;a rather unusual prawn and bacon rolls entree; satay chicken skewers; the popular crispy skin chicken; a traditional boneless chicken with plum sauce;and instead of Mongolian lamb, there is  a chicken  version  of the dish.   The location is suburban, the guests come from residential areas and the name of the restaurant is Blue River.

There are several accompaniments to the sweet and sour, a formula well tested and tried when Chinese immigrants started cooking outlets to survive in a  foreign land many years ago.   Pork is offered in fillets, ribs or cut as small slices.  The menu is not new fangled Hong Kong or fusion South-east Asian, but rather a southern Chinese based menu that also caters for the preferences of more Caucasian tastes.

Ready to start the meal!

Pineapple fried rice was under in my expectations.  However I was taken with the so many different ways they can cook chicken, lamb, beef and seafood in a rather extensive menu.   The basis of this all is good wok technique.  Chinese dishes tend to be prepared bite-sized, there is no chunky stuff here.  Also lots of different kinds of vegetables that can be picked up by chopsticks.   Deep fried tofu is symbolic of the extensive use of frying in this restaurant.  My eye caught the dish called King Prawn Fu Yum, egg omelette with succulent prawns.   Noodles are categorised nicely - crispy, pan fried or steamed, linked to the name "Chow Mein".

NZ stand out from Hawkes Bay, this was a BYO.

Long and short noodle soup still remains on the menu, with that iconic corn and crab meat version that is a staple in Western countries but which you don't see much in Asia itself.   I always had problems distinguishing between the terms long and short for noodles, for to me they are simply egg noodles and wantons.

For seafood, Blue River has fish, scallops, King Prawns and squid cooked with a combination of flavours like chilli, garlic, King Doo sauce, shallots, black pepper and more.

One of the popular dishes in south-east Asia for Chinese restaurants is steamed fresh fish, but alas this is not offered here.  Instead, deep fried fish fillets come with lemon or mushrooms or black bean sauce or snow peas and broccoli.   I do not find black pepper sauce goes with fish, but they also have that with lamb and beef.

Prices are reasonable and service for us that evening was rather on time, there was no mucking around in the kitchen.  Next time I must try their garlic infused chicken,  the steamed duck done Cantonese style; omelettes for dinner; and some vegetarian choices.

Cashews with prawns and veg - not exactly my favourite and the wok heat could have been better in the outcome.

Oh yes, Blue River has deep fried ice cream,  banana split and banana fritters, very much devoted to a  market that still yearns for a Chinese menu from 1970s Australia.  And why not?  The restaurant is not that big, has tables in a compact space but has a lovely Caucasian lady at the counter and interacting with customers, perhaps a rarity in Chinese restaurants in Sydney CBD.   There is in house wine list but Blue River is also BYO for wines.  We sat not too far inside and I could see McDonalds obviously across the Princes Highway.  Not far up is Emerald and Moon Sushi is on the northern side.  Woonona is coming up with a bit of variety in the commercial strip, although Blue River has been in business for many years.




Blue River Chinese Restaurant is located at 365 Princes Highway, Woonona NSW, north of Wollongong city centre.
The restaurant is closed on Mondays.
Opening hours are from 1130am to 230pm for Tuesday to Sunday lunch and 430pm to 930pm for Tuesday to Thursday plus Sunday dinners.   For Friday and Saturday dinners, it is from 430pm to 1000pm.
Contact +61 2 4284 9711

The Eight Restaurant, Langham Auckland

I was tipped off about the modern interactive lunch experience at the in-house restaurant of the Langham in Auckland's Grafton precinct, especially its ala carte offerings.   Due to time scheduling and logistics one weekend, we could only try breakfast - but I was sufficiently impressed.

Omelette met my expectations, although the lady making this was not chatty and reserved towards customers.  My benchmark for breakfast omelettes are those made in Vietnam, fluffy, delightful, with many ingredients and full of flavour.   There is a usual  queue to the omelette making place but i did not notice this on that Saturday morning.

Dried fruits, cheese and other nibbles; waffles and pancakes; and the several choices of fresh morning juices made me happy.   The croissants and breads came from a good baker in practice, for I loved their brown colours and crispy textures.   Presentation was paramount; at times I thought i was at a corner of a village bakery, at others at a garden party's spread.

Oh yes, there were pork and chicken sausages, hash browns, baked beans and other reminders of a New Zealand breakfast from not too long ago.  Add to this the variety of colourful and varied fruit cuts and slices that only a successful agricultural nation can bring - peaches, plums, Kiwis and more.

The variety of muesli and breakfast cereal at the Eight astounded me.  What caught my eye most were the NZ produce and brands which I do not normally see in Australia.  And the accompanying milk, what a treat!  I especially treasured the Bircher muesli - that Swiss concoction that combines currants, chopped dried apricots, rolled oats, grated apple with skins on, seasonal berries, chopped crispy almonds before garnishing with fresh orange or apple juice,ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon.

Most of the staff attending to our table were alert and responsive, but one did forget to bring a tea blend requested, as opposed to the rest of us having the ubiquitous coffee.  We did get good seating, a private corner removed from the main traffic going to and fro from  the tables with the food spread.   There was even soup, fried rice and what you may call brunch items as well - that is generous. What was missing if I may say so was sushi and sashimi, but hey this is still breakfast time.  The staff cleared our plates diligently on a regular basis.

There are five hours every day available for guests to relax and partake in the offerings in the main hall, but outside in a kind of sunken lobby area, one can have ala carte breakfast but for shorter hours.

The ambiance at the Eight is just nice for a meal get together.   There is no outdoor dining but think of smoked salmon, pickled offerings like "mops", ice cream available for breakky and platters of cheese and other dairy products.

And now for lunch and dinner!


The Langham Auckland is located at 83 Symonds Street, Grafton, Auckland.
Opening hours for the Eight Restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel are 6am to 11am every day for breakfast.
Contact +64 9 379 5132.


 

Viet Kitchen, Mount Eden - Auckland

Rolls packed with brimming freshness and delicate taste.

A new player in Dominion Road's food scene offers a lilting menu and a variety of yummy Vietnamese dishes for take away or for an easy time out.  The Viet Kitchen has a modern decor, has a spacious interior and friendly staff.   My group was seated in an friendly and efficient manner and staff made sure to ask if everything was going all right with the food after we had started taken them. Young Kayley was captivated by the framed paintings and photos on the wall - and took time out to also check the bamboo plant with her Mum.  The restaurant is sited in an already existing hub of food outlets and not far from the Countdown supermarket in Mount Eden.

Grilled offerings are popular in Vietnam - the Viet Kitchen provides this entree which is flavourful, authentic and  wholesome, grilled pork on lemongrass sticks.

The egg noodles in soup are a must to try.  The day the four of us visited, with an infant in tow, the stringency, freshness and texture of the noodles stood out positively.  The other test for such a delicate and simple dish is the satisfaction the soup gives you on the palate - this one for dinner time was not over whelming, not salty and you could taste the chicken in the stock.   In contrast, to my palate, I found the tomato based soup with vermicelli and garnishing (photo above) did look colourful but in taste lacked a certain oomph.

Other recommended items to try are the duck flavoured soup with egg noodles, the traditional iced coffee using condensed milk, grilled beef skewers, Pho noodles, combination plates of grilled meat with rice and salad and deep fried spring rolls.
The menu pricing is moderate and practical.  I suggest this place to keep in mind after a busy day, when no one feels like cooking and is suitable for couples, families or friends gathering.


The Viet Kitchen is located at342-344 Dominion Road, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024.
Opening hours are 11am to 10pm every day.
Contact numbers are  +64 212787999 and +64 96302218

TLC Cafe, Wollongong NSW

Eggs Benedict with fresh and yummy cherry tomatoes and herbs.

There can be Eggs Benedict in so many versions, but that morning I realised I had a good looking , flavourful version on the table.   The garnishing also stood out and the bread nicely toasted.  The Hollandaise sauce stood out.  A bite on one half led to a gratifying taste on the palate, the eggs particularly good.The coffee is strong but hearty.

An option for a hideaway seating.

There is a large fern leaf incorporated into the bricked wall along a narrow enclave on one side of the back of the cafe.   Even if the space is compact, I noticed regulars heading straight for this alcove-like
corner.  The beauty of this is that this is smack in the middle of Wollongong city centre, a stone's
throw from the IPAC auditorium and across Burelli Street from the Council.   If you like, you can enter through a lane beside Lee & Me Cafe on lower Crown Street.

Emphasis on coffee but also a practical menu for breakfast, brunch and lunch.

What seems to be city centre workers come in and out regularly even early on a weekday morning.
The menu is limited but easy, all for daytime snacking or a meal.  There are sweet stuff in the lit display.  The sunlight is kept out on the bricked plaza outside, whilst inside it is a refuge in a cottage surrounding.

The coffee blend is in house.   The staff that day were friendly, smiling and passionate about their business.   It is relaxing to come to this cafe whether for a short while, a take away or to linger on a while more.  The street is not in your face, the barista is knowledgeable and the rustic feel envelopes you with a comforting embrace.


The TLC Cafe is located at Town Hall Place, Wollongong NSW.

Guillaume, Paddington NSW - Revisited

A room with a view and verandah.

Guillaume's Restaurant had renovations in August 2014.  I would like to share my impressions on my most recent visit in December last year.

The Royale of Asparagus entree has always been a winner with me - served with truffle gems and mud crab meat, I reckon my focus moved away from the asparagus to its enhancing companions on the plate.

The Moreton Bay bug warm entree is always a winner with me, served with delicate but flavourful pork cheek, sea spray, cauliflower and radish - providing a yummy harmony between land and sea produce.  For those being inducted into gourmet Australian cuisine, this is a symbolic experience for a sea produce that is unique to the eastern seaboard of this continental island.

For beef lovers, it is irresistible to have the Shioro-Kin full blood Waygu from the Macquarie Downs region in Queensland.  This is accompanied by pickled radish and Jerusalem artichoke, before being drizzled with jus gras right behind serving.   The other beef offering comes from the Rangers Valley in New South Wales - the Waygu Tartare, with a cast of Sterling caviar, oyster and mushroom.  ( A side note is that the term Wagyu literally means "Japanese cow", a reference to the origins  of this cattle breed.)

Scampi from Wellington New Zealand is uplifted with shisho, ocean trout roe and peach slices, together with cucumber bits, croutons and chili bits.  Shisho is part of the mint and basil family of herbs - it is often used as a garnish by itself, just like here, but can also be a popular ingredient in Japanese cuisine, in preparing tempuras, shashimi and salads.   It is both an edible herb and an ornamental plant and also called the Perilla and Ooba.  It is aromatic, provides a citrus flavour and also herbaceous to the nose.

Pineapple dessert is reliably refreshing when it is provided with cashew nuts, ginger, coconut and caramel sauce to offset texture and send contrasting flavours on to our palates.  The primary tone is definitely tropical and is a salute to the South Pacific.   This theme is also echoed by the passionfruit dessert, which comes with Creme Anglaise, in a mixture of both passion fruit and banana sorbet and souffle.

What I aim  for on the next visit is the suckling pig carved slices, presented with endives, pumpkin and caramelised apple.  A twist on the traditional roast and veg!

The attending butler for our table exudes experience, professionalism and engagement. Hailing from Italy, he has worked in the USA and now enjoys his sojourn in a country at the forefront of experimental and fusion culinary styles with available quality ingredients.

At Guillaume's, you expect the best in human interaction at the table - and you do get one of the best in Sydney's competitive field.  It is refreshing to hear various accents from Europe as the smiling and hard working staff articulate the menu with intimate knowledge and readily answer your questions.  The private dining room we were in at Guillaume has views of Sydney Harbour from afar but also closer views over the inner city streets.

Another young man fascinated my table guests with his French accented English - we really loved it - but he was so mindful of being in an English speaking nation.  Hey, we just wanted this person to be himself when pronouncing his way through the dishes placed on the table  it can be a lovely change to our ears.

A complimentary delight in between the menu offerings.

Each creative dish is linked to a place of origin for its main ingredients used.  From the northern parts of Australia, comes mango from Darwin and passionfruit in Gympie.  To the south, Patagonian tooth fish is harvested near Glacier 51 on Heard Island in the Antarctic.  Partridge served was raised in Woodville in New South Wales, flavoured with cumin, eggplant and carrot on the plate.  Lamb is from Flinders Island off Tasmania.   What a culinary adventure!

Although the sourcing emphasis is emphasised locally, Europe does beckon as Chef extraordinare Guillaume Brahimi himself is French - and the elegant touches around the restaurant, not just in the food, do bring guests to an ambiance of a continent so far away.  He was away in Melbourne that evening so we missed his usual friendly gesture of coming out to speak to diners as the night hours continue.

Lamb served with asparagus, peas and turnip.

A severe thunderstorm raged outside even if we were in the middle of our culinary proceedings, like us being in the middle of a light and sound show from Nature herself -  the heavens poured down with a fury not normally or often witnessed in the Sydney Basin, with regular lightning strikes outside the windows near and far.   This added to the quality of the night out, in terms of displays of the randomness and volatility of Nature, in stark contrast to the skillful and careful interplay of technique and use of ingredients by the culinary team at Guiliame's.

Inside the restaurant was refinement and order, whilst thousands of fans who attended the Ed Sheehan concert at nearby Moore Park were at the same time being drenched in an intense manner.

Brioche from Guillaume.

Guillaume is located at 92 Hargrave Street, beside a small roundabout with Elizabeth Street in Paddington, an inner city suburb of Sydney.
Telephone 612 9302 5222
Opening Hours at the time of this blog post are from 545pm for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday.
Guillaume is open for lunch from noon every Friday and Saturday and on the first Sunday of each month.