Sydney Day 4 - Raise the Red Lantern

After watching several cooking shows with Luke Nguyen cooking in the streets/boats/unusual locations in Vietnam, I have been dying to dine at his restaurant 'Red Lantern'. It is just a stone's throw away from my sister's place, so it was the perfect place to catch up with a friend for lunch:


Compliments from the chef...

Goi cuon - prawn rice paper rolls at Red Lantern

Muc Ruong Moi - lightly battered chilli salted squid

Goi Du Du - green papaya, tiger prawns & Berkshire pork salad

Goi vit - roast duck & banana blossom salad with pickled vegetables & Vietnamese herbs

Panfried tofu with lemongrass, in tomato, chilli & black pepper sauce - as my friend 'A' dubbed it...tofu a la Parmagiana

Bo Luc Lac - cubed pastured fed black Angus sirloin tossed in a flaming wok with garlic, sesame & black pepper

Chim Cut - twice cooked quail stuffed with Kurubota pork served with salad of fennel in citrus & soy dressing

Love my friend's satchel!

Spotted this cute doggy as we walked from 'Red Lantern' to our 'dessert' location...

Although my friend was stopped for photos at least 3 times within that one block (and not just by schoolgirls)...My sister, hubby & I chuckled a little each time, or when the schoolgirls yelled out from across the street: "We love you 'A'"!

Three guesses as to where I suggested we go for dessert...Yep, Bourke Street Bakery. How I love that it is so close to my sister's place (and Red Lantern)! I had the chocolate tart (pictured in the window) and yet another chocolate & rasberry mousse tart...My sister is coming to visit me this Friday, wonder if I should ask her to bring me some tarts?

Sydney Day 3 - Sweets & Asian Treats

Warning: This post may be overladen with food pictures.
Viewing this post may induce hunger.



I finally got the chance to visit Adriano Zumbo's patisserie, as I have been dying to try his macarons and incredible creations...We started with an almond croissant (which was devoured before I got the chance to photograph it), and the berry brioche above. We decided to save the other treats for dessert later on the day. After picking up a boxful of goodies, we headed back into town for lunch at Mamak's, for some Malaysian food:


Goat curry

Roti

Sambal prawns

Spicy chicken

For dinner, after all that rich food, and knowing we had some special desserts coming our way, we decided to eat something light, so we ordered takeaway from Monkey Magic (wish I could have gone there for dinner, but trying to keep to lil J's sleep schedule, we decided to stay in - so if you cannot get to the mountain, bring it to you, I say):


Sushi

Sashimi

Passionfruit curd tart

I'll get back to you Barry (yes, that was the name of the dessert) - chocolate yogo creme brulee, chocolate gel, chocolate cereal crunchy, chocolate sable breton, chocolate caramel mousse and chocolate piaquette

Macarons: vanilla, orange & chocolate, pear & vanilla

The Shabalicious - caramel crunch, caramel sponge, caramel cheesecake, caramel chew and caramel cream cheese mousse. It is soft, sweet, crunchy, spongy, rich and toffee like – all in one. It is like a cheesecake, hold the cheese and add the caramel.

Roses are red, mandies are orange (name of the dessert) - rose & mandarin macaron, rose creme brulee, mandarin curd and mandarin creme legere - this was my favourite dessert we bought at Adriano Zumbo's!

Sydney Day 2 - The Winery

Staying in Sydney at my sister's place with lil J in tow meant that this visit was different from my previous visits to this city. Instead of shopping at designer stores, I mainly frequented baby stores, and instead of seeing some sights, I explored my sister's neighbourhood...It was a lovely way to experience Sydney. On day 2, we caught up with some friends at her 'local' called 'The Winery', a pub/bar/lounge/restaurant which I absolutely adored! The decor was incredible, the service beautiful (great Brazilian waiter with a gorgeous smile), fabulous food & lychee sangria:


Indoors

Outdoors




Now this is some beautiful fish & chips! (served with mushy peas & tartare)

Kingfish carpaccio with chilli, lime & ginger

Crispy peppered squid with mint & coriander

Angel hair pasta with Alaskan crab, bisque, tomato, snow peas & crispy shallots

This bird was huge!

Love the cute arquitecture in Surry Hills

And in this neighbourhood is my favourite bakery: Bourke Street Bakery. This time I tried their chocolate & rasberry mousse tarte: DEE-LIGHT-FUL!!!

Caught up with more friends at another pub

Of course I had to take away some tarts, another choc & rasberry mousse tart, some ginger crème brulée tarts and a lemon curd tart. Greedy? Who, me?

Sydney Day 1 - Brigadeiro's Birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday with my family and friends, and lots and lots of food...is there any better way to celebrate a birthday?


Started with deliciously fluffy and light blueberry pancakes made by my sister

Followed by a Brazilian churrasco (bbq) rodizio (all you can eat) lunch, with 23 different types of meat, and all the Brazilian trimmings...

The best soft drink in the whole wide world!!!

All my favourite foods on one dish! Arroz, feijao, salsa, farofa, polenta & mandioca frita, couve & churrasco...

I was already in pain after all this food, but my sister surprised me when they brought out a Brigadeirao cake!

As if that humungous lunch was not enough, at dinner time, my sister brought these out: she made Magnolia's Red Velvet cupcakes with creamcheese icing, and yes, you guessed it: brigadeiros! They were both DEE-LI-CIOUS!

I was spoilt by hubby, who gave me a wallet to replace my very old one, which is exactly as the one above, but in yellow epi leather, and dark purple lining - I loved my wallet, and did not want to replace it because of the contrasting colours...love my new one though! Reminds me of a Pierre Herme macaron? Must be the luscious purple colour!

And as if I was not spoilt enough, my sister and her hubby gave me two tickets to see Wicked - the Musical! I had been wanting to see this for years! She also made me that beautiful hand-painted card, and the tickets included babysitting duties, so that hubby & I had our first date since Lil J's arrival.

I could not have asked for a better day!