Laduree

'If I am not going to Paris, Paris is coming to me' 

I stubbornly said at one stage this year and yes, there is a little piece of Paris down in Sydney, at Westfield Pitt St as evidenced by these photos!!

Laduree at 11:30 on a Saturday morning

I We chose to sit in behind the long cues outside mulberry - where I can stare at the yummy looking leather - and order us some refreshingly expensive good tea =D

Pastel green menu, pastel pink tea cups served by sleek looking waiters with heavy french accents (not pictured).

Tea #1 Josephine:-
A Chinese black tea wrapped in various citrus fruits of mandarin orange, grapefruit, orange and lemon, delicately enhanced by a ring of jasmine flowers. A fine blending very elegant. A tea to enjoy throughout the day

I am not a big fruity tea person because I think of it being super deceptive! This is what normally happens: as soon as you start pouring this tea, the fruity citrus-y aroma hits your senses and it send your salivary glands into over drive as you prepare yourself for a tangy sweet drink. You pick up the cup and take a deep breath to inhale this mouth watering scent and you think - YUM. You take a sip and you taste...........

nothing 

I know, it is a tea that is 'wrapped in various citrus flavours' and the aroma is indeed elegant, however I'll just feel let down and disappointed....

Not the case with:

Tea #2 Marie Antoinette:-
An dulcet marriage of Chinese black tea combined with rose petals, citrus fruit and honey. An pastoral walk at the « Petit Trianon ». An delicious afternoon tea for a sweet and romantic pause. All the spirit of Ladurée.

Tell me I am boring, but this is is very similar to one of my favourit teas the lady grey. Don't ask me how it is different, but it is and I like it!

Macaroon flavours available

Macarons flown all the way from France selling at $3.20 sounds like a bargain but because we sat in, they are a whooping $4 each!! and yes we tried all the available flavours - apart from licorice of course like so....

Clockwise from top left: vanilla, raspberry, blackcurrant violet, almond marshmellow

Nice smooth vanilla, sweet raspberry, liked the tangy blackcurrant filling which balanced out the sweetness of the shell and almond marshmellow.... which left an almond essence taste in my mouth.

Clockwise from top left: Lemon lime marshmellow, coffee, Violet marshmellow and pistachio

On to my second marshmellow macaron which I am still undecided about... and at that stage I was still undecided about it!! Liked the coffee flavours: strong, indulgent, YUM! Liked flavours of the violet macaron, however I realised why I did not like the marshmellow macarons 

1. they are too chewy 

2. do not really like marshmellows in the first place and 

3. as soon as you attempt to bite into them the shell completely breaks apart!

 Clockwise from top left: mystery macaron, chocolate, salted caramel, lemon

We were really puzzled at the mystery macaron that did not appear on our menu until we went around to the front of the counter and went ohhh, there is a bigger menu! It was Orange blossom not that it mattered, my favorites were still the classic salted caramel, coffee and chocolate. 

The macarons themselves were not as sweet which was great and flavours were really smooth and not over powering (like some other more adventurous/avant-garde macaron makers)

With the introduction of carbon tax, rising fuel costs and more public awareness of 'food mileage' - these are beyond being a luxury! Yes these are the coveted macarons from one of the best of the best macaron makers in Paris, but I can't help to think about all the effort it took to bring them down here! 

Oh well regardless, very soon I will be packing some of these babies up and flying them - express courier style on top of the 17,000km journey from Paris - across the country to my extremely pregnant friend in Perth, or should I say another 3300km for these precious macarons!!

I am awesome...!!!

....as evidenced by these pictures!!!

Perfect macaroon with its 'foot'!!

4" sponge cake - for one!

ANZAC biscuits - gifts (excuse the macbook as the background!)

More awesomeness on its way!

Backlog #2 Galileo

During one of my visits back to Sydney, I was fortunate enough to be involved - some what - in a couple's (or should I say one person's act of) commitment to the next stage of their relationship.

The day started with purchasing a BIG bunch of flowers - which unfortunately I didn't get a picture of as we were too busy scheming/thinking/hoping that our plan would work - Roses to be exact.

Next, to hide it without crushing it, destroying it or ruin the beautiful arrangement for the next 3 hours where it will safely and (un)happily reside in the boot of the car. Thinking back, it was good that we were in the middle of winter, and not a scorching hot day in summer - don't think flowers agrees with saunas...

Then we happily made our way to our dinner destination:

Galileo at The Observatory Hotel - 89-113 Kent St, Sydney, 9256 2222

I first went to Galileo in 2007 during the much lesser known SMH Good Food Festival (now better and more widely known as Sydney International Food Festival) where we had fantastic soft, juicy and perfectly seasoned pork belly on top of mash and bok choy drizzled with plate licking worthy asian style sauce. That meal was simply too good to forget, I still reminisce that $35 let's do lunch - have not found one that matches the pork belly!

 Selected pictures taken 2007

I simply adore The observatory Hotel. Decorated in the old 1920s (correct me if I am wrong) glamour. The whole place is decorated to make you feel like home, inviting, welcoming and the furniture actually says 'sit on me, be comfortable and a butler will serve you tea shortly'

Entree of Crab Mille Feuille layered with (perfectly) sliced avocado & tomato coulis

We opted for the al carte menu and even though I never liked avocado, but with crab I'll eat anything and I was willing to try this. I am glad that I did, not because it tastes good (did not go beyond 2 bites) but because I realised why I did not like avocado in the first place - allergies! As soon as I swallowed the first bite, my throat slowly swelled up and I began coughing quietly, took a sip of water and swapped my entree with K.

Entree of pork belly.... *item no longer on menu hence the descriptiveness*

 The pork belly was rather dry and despite the pretty presentation which I promptly went "Ooo" for, it was huge disappointment!

Principaux of Duck and fois gras pie with mesclun salad and sauce aigrie doux

Forget about all the fancy stuff after the 'duck and fois gras pie...' THIS is a pie, this is a HUGE and expensive pie! The extensive description reads:-

"The duck pie is a long process which requires a level of experience to integrate the marriage of flavours with optimum ingredients. The duck and fois gras has been marinaded in Hennessey XO and truffle jus for 3 days, which is then encased in a traditional hand made French style 'puff' pastry"

X-section of the pie with visible chunks of fois gras and duck meat

With the first bite I was blown away, literally with the powerful and intense flavours that was hitting my taste buds like...(how do I put this)....whip. Don't get me wrong! It is very nice, and I can understand how it would take a very experienced chef to be able to integrate, work with and make all the different flavours of each individual ingredients really complement each other.

With each mouthful, I come to appreciate the skills of the chef in presenting these bold and aromatic flavours. I polish off 1/2 of the pie and swap with K. This pie is definitely not for cowards and this would definitely appeal to a particular crowd of diners with a very matured palate. Much like preference of red and white wines!

Principaux of fillet of grilled wagyu marble score 9+ 150g tenderloin fillet cut with baby vegetables and pomme paillasson

What can go wrong with steak, as a matter of fact Good steak. Have to say though after 5 months, I cannot remember much about this steak meaning it was good, but not memorable!

Petit fours which came with coffee/tea

We were so full to the brim - me especially with my tastes buds trained up for this meal - we have to battle on with dessert! Not before a cup of coffee to aid digestion! These petit fours were "complementary" (not quite when tea/coffee cost $10.50) but we still needed to try the dessert!

Dessert persimmon tart?

Excuse my unbelievable memory. We picked a dessert to share and as I have seldom seen persimmon used in desserts I picked this. In hind sight, it was probably not the best choice! It was nice, but still not memorable. 

I came out of Galileo thinking when is bed time when I realised 'Hey! There's still a flower dying in the trunk!' We ventured over to circular quay where Vivid Sydney was transforming the opera house into a huge canvas.

Finally, after a tiny mishap, the guy drops down on one knee and pops the question with an enviable ring in his two hands. Just as the back drop of the opera house projects 'LOVE' the girl screams hysterically excitedly and graciously consent to building what will be the next stage of their long and happy relationship/marriage.

Ahh love stories with happy endings!!!

Fix St James + Azuma Patisserie

Me: Weeee entertainment book!!!
Y: let's go Fix St James!

Just like that it was decided. Even being a midweek dinner, this little restaurant was already packed with only 2 tables left - one being ours. We take in the atmosphere, tables lit with candles and an impressive wall of wines complete the look. A cheery and upbeat staff comes and distribute the menu and after a short explanation of the frequent menu changes he points out the tasting menu to share, where we would be able to taste the best dishes, picked by the chef. Having NO idea of what to choose at all, we nod and agree to having the Quick Fix at $39pp.

By this time the last table in this restaurant was filled and I observed (lame math terms coming up) the positive linear relationship between the number of bottles of wines opened to the increasing loudness of the restaurant.

We happily munch on the complimentary warm sourdough dipped in olive oil while we wait for our dishes to come, we don't know what we are getting yet

Stuffed Zucchini flowers 

First course, stuffed zucchini flowers, it is delicious, juicy, firm and not over cooked. The for those who didn't know it was stuffed zucchini flower (eyeing K) he had a little surprise when he was savagely destroying (being the hungry person he is) the flower when the gooey cheese started oozing and popping out of the flower!

Tomato, anchovy and buffalo mozzarella salad

Our second course doesn't seem to appear on the menu nonetheless the salad was tangy balanced by the sweetness of the red capsicum(?), saltiness of the anchovies and the smoothness of the lovely buffalo mozzarella. I have to say though, it was a tad bit oily (look how shiny the salad leaves are in low light!) but sharing it among 4 peeps was just right.

Chicken liver pate with caramalised onions and crustless toast

While we were still finishing off the salad, a funky looking plate of food appears and the cheery wait staff explained (to only 1 person of the table as noise level at this point was... beyond -  lets say interesting - for my throat). I did a little 'woot' in my mind as I loved pate (excuse the missing dash above the 'e') since the first time I tried it at Caliniere. However I was puzzled at the choice of I guess, 'bread' but sandwich toast!? really?! The caramelised onions were tangy and it helped to cut through the creamy, fatty liver. I wish there was more bread - although we didn't ask any - or maybe another type of bread?

Next was a dish that I forgot to take a photo for... sardines with caviar and couscous. The pan fried sardines were slightly crispy. I was a bit annoyed at this point as the serving sizes were SMALL! and this was already the 4th dish!

Pine mushroom risotto with parmesan cheese

The final dish had me happily scrapping my plate and wishing for more. The huge pine mushrooms were so aromatic, juicy and plump! The risotto was cooked perfectly, the rice was slightly chewy and not soggy and heavy on the cream + cheese! Just the way I like it!

I think we all some how damaged our vocal cords that night trying to yell over the 'background' noise, the portion sizes were a bit disappointing, but as we had the entertainment card, I wasn't too upset.

With our entrees and main meals done, we were searching for our last course - dessert - to properly finish and fill our stomachs! We arrive at the new Azuma Patisserie, next to the famous Azuma Kushiyaki Japanese Restaurant at Regent Place for Japanese tea and cake!

They were not cheap cake + tea deal is $9.80. Love the teas though =]


Fix St James
111 Elizabeth Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9232 2767

Azuma Patisserie 
Ground Floor Regent Place Shopping
501 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000