Cibo e Vino Castle Hill

My friends and I decided to get together here at Cibo e Vino (Castle Hill) where a degustation menu was on the menu for the night.

We had all decided that we could only experience the great food with the matching wines. Unfortunately some of the photos were a little out of focus due to the many laughs we had over the evening and I was trying to quickly take these photos without too much fuss....my apologies, but I think you get the idea...

The menu:

Roasted marron with her butter and sorrel and cress salad
Forest Hill Rieslng South Coast WA 2009



Salt cod brandade with egg and oregano
Heggies Chardonnay Eden Valley SA 2008



Fennel risotto with proscuitto di parma
La Vielle Ferme Cotes du Ventoux Rhone FR 2009



Norther rivers veal crudo
Pirie Pinot Nori Tamar Valley TAS 2008




Char-grilled glenloth squab
O'Leary Walker Shiraz Clare Valley SA




Manchego, quince paste and oat biscuits
NV Elegante Amontillado Jerez SP



Lemon tart with creme fraiche and edibile violets
Frogmore Creek Iced Reisling TAS 2007

We all thoroughly enjoed ourselves with our french friend quoted as saying "the salt cod brandade tasted like it does in France". The ladies loved the Manchego cheese with the homemade quince paste. I loved the squab and amongst us, we decided the best pairing of food and wine went to the lemon tart with the iced riesling.

Will definitely be back next month; where the SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) has their 100 mile sustainable living promotion happening and that Cibo is a part of. It will be interesting to see the produce (from within 100 miles) that will be served for the next dining - degustation experience.

Spice Temple Sydney

We went out in search for some food and we had heard mixed reports in regards to Spice Temple (Bligh St, Sydney).

We love Rock Pool Bar and Grill (right next door in the same building) so it was a eventual choice that we get to Spice Temple...... You enter through a heavy door adorned by a LCD screen simulating a breezy day where Spice Temples sign can be seen just behind it.

Passing these doors you go down the stairs to the basement and you are greeted by dim lighting, busy waiters and behind raw timber partitions you are able to see your fellow diners........welcome to Spice Temple.




There are 2 banquet menus to choose from or order from the menu which is exactly what we felt like doing that night.

We ordered jasmine and chamomile tea to accompany our food. We ordered the pork shoulder with smoked tofu, black fungi salad with fish fragrant dressing. Aromatic duck salad with tea eggs, waygu Beef brisket in Ma Po style with silken tofu and chinese broccoli with homemade oyster sauce.

Pork Shoulder with Smoked Tofu and Black Fungi







Aromatic Duck Salad with Tea Eggs
Beef Brisket with Skilen Tofu in a Ma Po style


Mandarin sorbet, marmalade and candied almonds with chilled almond and soy pudding


sesame (white) ice cream with candied popcorn and chocolate

We really enjoyed all the mains and salads that we ordered. Desserts were a little different and not as impressive as the mains and salads. Overall, we really loved the food here at Spice Temple and would definitely be back to taste more from their salads and mains selection.

Mizuya Japanese restaurant in Sydney

Mizuya restaurant

We dropped in for a green tea ice cream which was served with red bean and non filling mochi's. It tasted just as good as the green tea ice cream we got in Japan. This is definitely a place to go if you're in town and would like to have some food and desserts. They serve lunch, dinner and have karaoke rooms for hire as well if one desires some singing with their meals. There are touch screens to navigate through to order and there are lots of food you can order here from grilled meats to sushi, shabu shabu, rice and noodle dishes.

Lunch at Black Star

I finally took a friend of mine to Black Star Pastries in Newtown to try a lamb shank pie and some desserts. We had a rose macaroon and orange blossom, pistachio and fig slice to try and throughly enjoyed ourselves in the sun. A lazy afternoon with good food.....thats the life!

Rose macaroon

Orange blossom, pistachio and fig slice

13th day in Tokyo on the way to Hakone national park

We decided that a day trip was in order before we left Japan.

Hakone national park is only about 1 1/2 on the train from Tokyo and there are quite a few things to do there. There are hot springs there with sulfur and it is well equipped there for people to spend a day there. There are cable cars, train railways and even a pirate ship ferry to move you around and about the area. There is also an indoor water fun park to go to if it takes you fancy. A little steep to get into but it might be fun if you're staying around the area for a couple of days.


Train railway up the mountain

Cable car for a scenic view over the sulfuric mountainside

Sulfur coming up from the ground

Pirate ship

These ice cream wafers are absolutely fantastic, they have now become a favourite for us. The wafer is not soggy, its soft and the ice cream tastes great. Love 'em.

13th day in Shibuya at night

After Hakone we came back into Shibuya and soaked up the busy atmosphere of Shibuya

I loved the Shibuya 101 shopping complex. There was so much fashion in this one complex and this is where all the younger japanese girls get their clothes. Every shop as a definitive style where the sales assistance dress and go all out in the style!

So there is from boho chick, to french country style, feminine rock chic and bubblegum styles all clothing merchandise to be bought from the one place. It is a definite place to be visited.









Shibuya is also home to one of the busiest intersections in the world and even though this is a weeknight i think it was still quite busy.

12th day in Sushi Dai at Tsukiji market again for Sushi Dai

Sushi Dai

We were on a mding articles and blogs on the internet and found that we should've waited in line to try Sushi Dai. I was dubious as to how much better sushi could be after we had caught benito and kingfish previously in Narooma in Australia ourselves on a fishing trip and the fact that the blogs had warned of long waiting lines. In addition to that they are open from 5:30am till only 2pm. Were we going to make it?

To add insult to an already wary mind it was raining and there is not enough awning to wait underneath the line. We were there from ission to go back to Tsukiji fish markets to try Sushi Dai. After our first trip we were rea8:30am (we couldn't be bothered waking up early again). But we were wrong. There was already a line underneath their awning (which is about an hour wait from there) but also a line around the corner of the building in the rain. It poured and we waited underneath our umbrellas all us tourists watching for people to not to push in line underneath the awning without knowing that us poor people in the rain were also waiting for the same place.

So we waited in sans- awning line for about 1 1/2 and finally we were getting somewhere and got underneath the coveted awning where we could see satisfied and happy people eating, chatting and taking their time (cause we'd all waited at least 2 hours to get in there). There was no turning back from here. We weren't going to turn away now we were so close....We decided to go without the "set menu" and we wanted to order a la carte. We befriended other tourists and chatted and finally after 2 and 3/4 hours of waiting at 11:50am we were in!

Octopus

Red Clam

Abalone

Baby Shrimp

Botan Shrimp

White Bait

Sea Eel

Japanese Pan Shell

Japanese Gizzard Shad

Spanish Mackerel and Fatty Tuna

Omelette

Baby Snapper

Sea Urchin

Half Beak

our favourite sushi were the baby shrimp, Sea eel and spanish mackerel

12th day in Tokyo

After visiting the Sensoji temple at asakusabashi (lots of little stalls with a shrine at the end of the long line of stalls) we wanted to find soba noodle bar we had read about in some articles.

This soba noodle place is around 160 m south from the main entrance (past 3 intersections) from the temple down the main road on the right. It is a small place called Namiki Yabusoba. We ordered some cold soba noodles which is served on a bamboo plate and dipped into a dashi-soy sauce with toasted seaweed, white onion and wasabi. when the noodles are finished the water from cooking the soba noodles can then be mixed with the left over soy sauce dip and enjoyed like a soup to finish.

11th day in Tokyo

We moved hotels to the Olympic Inn Shibuya. Not really worth it if you don't smoke. The non smoking rooms are just non smoking if you don't smoke in there. Apart from that we smelt like cigarette smoke until we got home a few days later. The train station closest is not shibuya either it is Ikejiro-hashi.

Although the hotel was not as nice as we had experienced in our previous ones we did have a nice shabu shabu at a restaurant very close to the station, bbq'd leeks with soy bean paste (their specialty), cold tofu with benito flakes, shallots and soy sauce and a platter of grilled pork, chicken, and duck on skewers. It was a great meal and we had a lot of fun there when we finally got some help from a Japanese customer who helped us order.