Aroi Me By Amanda Jiang

Saturday, 21 January 2012

Scenic Drive - Wollongong back to Sydney

Our pleasant road trip to Wollongong was a great and I can't to wait to share with you.

If you or your friends have a car, this is a great low budget trip to follow.

A must visit spot in Kiama - Blowhole

Under the right conditions, the large wave enters in the Blowhole, compress the air within the inner cavity and accompanies the water spout.

It was a calm day when we visited, so action wasn't so impressive.

Here are some great moments someone else captured. (google source)

Discovered by Surgeon George Bass in December 6th, 1797

Beautiful light house right next to Blowhole.

Famous Jersey Lookout in Fitzroy Fall

Tracks are very easy to follow, here we are -Fitzroy Fall

Some pleasant surprises of exotic flower that lives in the forest

There are 5 different scenic drive from Fitzroy Fall back to Sydney.

We picked #2 via Burrawang

Highlight to us was Belmore Falls

Beautiful little creature

Carrington Falls

Barren Grounds Nature Reserve is a great place to stop for a picnic lunch near the river. A lot of friendly birds lives around the park, very entertaining for young families too.

Useful info to planning your trip:

1.http://www.kiama.com.au/

2. http://www.highlandsnsw.com.au/nature/fitzroy_falls.html

District Dinning - Surry Hills * highly recommended*

The first time I heard of District Dinning was during a conversation with Sarah who had the same interest as me in food. The key word of that conversation was "Pork Belly"! I have been craving for some decent pork belly for a while. So decision has made to head to the city!

They offers 2 set of sitting: 6:30pm or 8:45pm. At first, we thought 8:45pm for dinner is a bit late, turn out, just right for us.
Due to recent menu change, pork belly has been removed. very disappointed to me!!
Anyways, let me walk you through their well-planned food sharing menu.

Sichuan flavored deep fried Pig's ears $10

Crispy School Prawn served with lemon and mayonnaise $16
The small prawns are crunch from inside out, perfect starter to share with everyone. It's well seasoned and flavorsome.

Veal Tongue served with homemade pesto sauce, seasonal vegetables and almonds $19
Their pesto sauce was superbly done, and the veal tongue melts in your mouth bursting with flavor.
This is my friend Andre's favorite dish of the night. He walked out District Dinning with a big smile on his face and kept on saying "their tongue was so good!"
Given that testimonial, I guess only thing I will add here is ORDER it!

King Salmon, green harissa, moghrabiah cous cous served with lemon $28

12 hour Roasted Lamb shoulder, cauliflower salad, moroccan spices $30

This dish is highly recommended even for peoeple usually don't eat lamb. Great combination of spices!

Herb Gnocchi, summer vegetables, parmesan cream, pangritatta $27

This is one of the best homemade gnocchi we had. If you only tried them from supermarket brand, expecting a shocking discovery - yumminess!

King Fish

Steak tartare, aioli, french fries, sourdough $20

This is another highlight of the night. Well cured steak tartare served with french fries (who would thought?) and toasted crunchy sourdough. Do you like Tabasco? Mix Tabasco with the steak tartare and layered on sourdough, mouthwatering flavor is coming your way.

They offer a very long list of wine.
If you like me found difficult to read 6 pages of wine list. Our way of choosing a wine was oddly simple, firstly pick a type of wine you usual like, such as Pinot Noir, Shiraz, then pick a state or a country of choice. If multiple options available then draw down to your favorite city, voila, you got your wine.

Our jackpot of the night is Joseph Chromy Pinot Noir, very nice wine!

For white wine - Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris
This is very subtle white wine with hint of fruity flavor

Desert Time
I can't believe it's 11pm and we are still ordering food.
Reading the menu just getting too much for us, so we pick the top 4 lines on the menu to share.
When the desert came, was surprisingly good!

Meringue, berries and cream, raspberry sorbet $14
Freshly made Meringue topped with generous amount of berries and homemade raspberry sorbet, yummo!

Cookie sandwich, coconut and chocolate, honeycomb parfait $14

Chocolate mousse, hazelnut brittle ice cream, hazelnut crumble $14

Passionfruit Brulee, honey, madeleines $14

Thank you all for a great night out! Loved every bit of it!

Where is it?

District Dinning

Address: 17 Randle Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
1 minute from central station
Tel: 9211 7798
Website: http://districtdining.com.au/

Snacks from HongKong - A JI ICHIBAN

What souvernier should you buy when you visit HongKong?

A JI ICHIBAN's franchise is everywhere in Hongkong, even in the airport duty free sections.

So if you forgot to buy them on the way back, you still have your last chance to grab it in the airport.

Thanks to EJ brought back so many snacks this time to share.

Usually you can buy or custom made a mix pack like this one.

Yummy Preserved Olives

Nice Japanese Salted Plum

Premium Ted Tea Plum - NO comments on this one.

Seedless plum - my favorite!

Biscuit looks like donuts, but it's biscuit.

Wasabi beans - Best present for your muscly colleagues.

Pineapple Soft Candy <3<3

Orange candy

Sour plum - quite a strange taste, more like pickle plums.

Don't you just love the sour lemon and sour cherry!

Durian candy

If you not sure what Durian is, give this one to your boss to try. I guarantee they will love it!

I think we can still find this one at the candy store in cinema here.

Salted plum coasted with toffee

Marshmallows

3 different flavors, they're not too sweet, I personally prefer the pudding one.

Waqu Japanese - Crows Nest

Guess where I am today? Yes, that's right WAQU!

WAQU located in the heart of Crows Nest and offers a fine dinning experience.

Currently they offer Early bird special for January 2012

Don't forget to book before your visit, they're very busy at moment. This is a great place to have your anniversary dinner or take you girlfriend out for a nice dinning. Good valentines day choices!
Come to WAQU and order before 6.30pm and receive one complimentary entree course. (Booking Essential) You can enjoy 6 course menu for $60pp (normally $75pp) with 6 course matching wine for $100pp (normally $123pp more info on: http://www.waqu.com.au They dinning experience was rather hilarious to us. I didn't mean to be negative here. We couldn't understand their waiter's explanation when the food was served, even thought they all dressed and sound professional :P. In fact, we were so confused which dish we were having and constantly checking our menu to confirm. Part of the fun I guess....

Complimentary for the night

White wine daikon sauce with diced cabbage on prosciutto

They offer nice selection of beer too

Sake Mojito - Yummo!

First Entree

Three layered chicken and vegetable terrine, served with roll cake

This terrine is very well thought through. We enjoyed each layer of it!

Second Entree

Scallop Tartare Creme Vichyssoise

We love the tomato water jelly with diced fresh scallop served with creme soup mixed with touch of wasabi and red capsicum mousse on the side.

This dish is one of the highlight of the night!

Third Entree
Ocean Trout Three way
Slow cooked, cured and brandade ocean trout, smoked egg yolk flake
Do not miss the slow cooked trout, simply superb!

You can make your selection of 2nd entree (actually 4th entree) and main.

Pork Belly (choice one)

This dish show case the two different way of cooking pork belly by Japanese - modern kitchen crispy skin pork belly and melt in your mouth kakuni style (Japanese braised pork)