Otto Ristorante - Finger Wharf Woolloomooloo

24 degrees, no wind a beautiful sunny day, where else would you rather be than at a wonderful restaurant in a wonderful location. It always amazes me that it doesn't matter what day it is there are always people dining at one of the restaurants on finger wharf.

Today we chose Otto's as our guest had not been there for some years. For those of you who haven't been there it is an iconic restaurant with many tables outside and you get a fantastic view looking back at the city. And there are always beautiful people to look at.


Today was no different, so now that the atmosphere has been created what did we choose for lunch and what wine did we wash it down with. We started with half a dozen oyster natural, the special lamb pappardelle and a Porchini Soufle. The Lamb rageout was excellent with home made pasta and a taste that was rich and well rounded. The portion was small but very filling and just the right size for an entree.

The porchini soufle was presented on a plate covered with melted cheese and the soufle stood up on it's own in the middle of the plate, wobbling around like a jelly. The taste was very light and moist with more cheese taste than mushroom, but was worthy of the special.

For mains 2 of us had the grilled barramundi fillets and one had a spagetti seafood dish. The fish was cut rather thin for Barramundi which I liked as I don't particularly like fat fish. The sides were beans with pancetta, chips and a caprese salad. The spaghetti was an entree size and was full of small pieces of seafood with the home made spaghetti melting in the mouth.

All of this was washed down with a bottle of Polish Hill Grosset Riesling and a few beers. No one had enough room for deserts but they had some on the menu which made me wish I wasn't full. All in all a very rewarding dining experience with great service and wonderful food. I would rate this a 7/10 for both.

I suggest you wait for a few more weeks and when spring is here do yourself a favor and go to Otto's for a great afternoon out. But remember it is hard to go back to work if you have to.

Woolloomooloo Wharf
6 Cowper Wharf Road
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011
Tel : +61 2 9368 7488

District Dining - Surry Hills Sydney

The best way to describe this place is funky. the decor and ambiance is busy and bistro like. the food is quite different and is made up of small tapas plates which you share. this is well known chef Warren Turnbull's newest restaurant. his other restaurant is Assiette in Albion st. The service was excellent and the wine list not as extensive as most, which is good as you don't have to wade through pages of wines from around the world.

We started off with;

Crispy quail eggs tarragon mayonnaise,
Crispy courgette flower Kervella goats curd truffled honey
Seared scallops jerusalem artichoke crispy pancetta, prune.

These dishes were all the size of an entree and good to share.

There are some heavier dishes as well which we had
Rabbit ragout, pappardelle, green olive, pangrattato,
Cone bay barramundi, celeriac, peas and bacon, sherry vinaigrette.

and then finished off with a

Dark chocolate brownie, macadamia brittle, white chocolate ice-cream.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes something different but it is a bistro so not a romantic dinner for 2. it's somewhere you would go to before going to the theatre. The only bad point for me was it was a bit rushed as they have 2 dinning times and they need your table. My rating is 6.5/10 for food, service and overall dinning experience.


17 Randle Street, Surry Hills
Sydney, NSW 2010
(02) 9211 7798
info@districtdining.com.au

My Top 10 Restaurants

1. Berowra Waters Inn
2. Cutler & Co
3. Quay
4. Sepia
5. Universal
6. Nu's Thai
7. Otto's
8. Est
9. Comm
10.Saki

Peacock Trattoria Kyle Bay NSW

This is an Italian / modern Australian restaurant even though I think of Chinese when I see the name. This is run by 2 chefs which have had experience at the Riverview Hotel in Balmain. The restaurant is painted on the inside with plenty of colour apparently by a tatooist. This is a gem set in thew middle of the burbs in the southern suburbs or St George area.

The food is delicious but I did not take any photos so I will try and explain the dishes. We had the chefs choice which was $60 per head and gave us 2 starters, 1 entree. a main and a sweet. This was real value for money.

The starters were a duck salad with ridichio, apple, roasted hazelnuts and vincotta. I will come back just for this. The other starter was a pizza with anchovies. The next course was rabbit done in a shortcrust pastry with poppy seeds. The mains were Pork belly and a Barramundi both were cooked to perfection. The sweet was a cappacinno cassata which was true to its name.

Overall the service was terrific and the food as good as a fine dinning restaurant anywhere in the city. This was a real experience and one to go back time and time again as the menu changes weekly. Well done to owners. I give this an 8/10.

If you would like to go you will find it at 25 Kyle Bay Pde Kyle Bay phone 9546 6900

Atlantic Restaurant. Crown Casino Melbourne

Last week I was unfortunately stuck in Melbourne due to the ash cloud, so whilst I was there one of my customers called and invited me to dinner. He asked me where I wanted to go and I said let's go to Atlantic if you haven't been. This had also been recommended to me by my son a wonderful chef.

I knew where it was because it had taken over from a previous seafood place near Rockpool etc. So on arrival the waiter took us through the restaurant which I must say is well laid out, modern with an open kitchen and quite lively. So far the experience was very good. The menu is interesting and has a variety of different seafood options which should satisfy everyone.

The waiter came over to advise of their specials and went to great length to tell us about the risotto with scampi and black truffle making sure we liked truffle before we ordered. 2 of us ordered the risotto which sounded wonderful and one had soft-shell crab. That is where the experience came to a holt. The risotto came out without the scampi on top of the dish but rather a few small pieces buried in the rice. And as for the black truffle you could hardly taste it let alone see it.

The waiter took the orders for the main and convinced one to have the salmon special and one person had the kingfish and I had the ironbark smoked steamed baby Barramundi. However when the meals came out I was given a salmon as well which I kindly said that is not what I ordered. The waiter started to argue with me that he had convinced me to have the salmon, so you can imagine how I felt, no apology just an argument, eventually he said ok and my fish came out about 10 minutes later. Now for the review, the salmon came out in a broth and was excellent as was my smoked fish however the kingfish was so overcooked it was like carving a well done steak. Overall my fish was very very good and worth the wait.

Unusual as it may sound I also had desert which was a beautiful lemon tart with basil ice-cream again there was one desert not available and the other guest had a panacotta which was served in a glass with a berry granita. Very inventive and tasty.

Overall it is very hard to judge this place as the food was excellent but the service very ordinary and inappropriate. THerefore i have decided to give this place 2 scores. 8.5/10 for their food and 4/10 for service. I big question is would I go back and the answer is no.

You can find this restaurant in the Crown Casino complex in Melbourne and you should go and try for yourself.

Kingsley Steakhouse in king st sydney

This is an oldie but a goodie so my visit recently did not let me down. Firstly we started with a half a dozen oysters natural which were delicious. Trying to manage my waist line is difficult but I try to minimize my carb intake when I can so no sourdough bread. Bugger.

I chose the petite filet as it was only 160 grams and no fat. It was cooked to perfection medium rare to the point I had to say something to the chef as it could not have been any tastier. This was served with a salad but you can choose a number of mouth watering extras like chips, baked potato, plus some exciting sides. We had fresh steamed green vegetables. But they have many others and in the past I would have had the caramelized onions and chips. I did have the mushroom jus for my steak.

No sweets but for those who go to Kingsleys know they have chocolate coated coffee beans with coffee so we got stuck into them. No photos today as my camera is broken but I rate them a 7/10 for both service And food and they would have rated higher but their wine list by the glass is poor. I do suggest that if you are after a good steak then it's hard to go past Kingsleys or Stearsons. Contact them on wWw.kingsleyausteak.com.au 029295 5080

Auge restaurant 22 Grote street Adelaide

I had the pleasure of dinning at this almost hidden away Italian Ristorante with a client who we were celebrating their 10th anniversary with us. The atmosphere was excellent and they were very busy for a Wednesday night. Lots of attention by staff and some wonderful appetisers.This is a place I will return to try some more dishes. We started with scallops which were cooked to perfection.

Cape Sante della Baia di Harvey (Queensland) scottate in padella con mousse di pomodoro, crema di cetriolo e olio al peperoncino

seared harvey bay scallops with tomato sugo mousse, chilled cucumber soup, chilli oil & baby herb salad

Although the next course was steak it was exactly what I was looking for nicely pink in the middle and a good carmelised colour on the outside. The pea mouse was also different and was very tasty.

Filetto di Manzo al forno servito con vegetali estivi 250g beef fillet with summer vegetables - kipfler potatoes, baby carrots roasted cherry tomatoes, pea mousse & micro radish

Meringa con fragole alla sambuca nera e mascarpone alla vaniglia soft baked meringue, black sambuca poached strawberries with vanilla mascarpone

Kenzan Japanese Restaurant Collins st Melbourne

I was in Melbourne with some Japanese business colleagues who had just flown in from Japan and they suggested we go and eat some Japanese food which is unusual for these gentlemen as they normally want a good old Australian steak or some delicious seafood. They booked Kenzan in Collins st with a private room.I was very surprised at how busy they were on a Monday night but I now understand why. They ordered and the following was delivered.

Sushi dinner (or Deluxe Sushi Dinner)$75.00

Kobachi - A small appetizer
Sunomono - Seafood and vegetables in sweet vinegar
Sashimi - Thinly sliced fresh pieces of raw fish
Chawanmushi - Steamed egg custard with shrimp and vegetables
Ebi Shumai - Steamed prawn dumplings
Sushi - Vinegared rice, topped with varieties of fresh fish
Miroshiru - Soya bean soup
Kudamono - Fresh fruits in season

The food was excellent ans we washed it down with a Cloudy Bay Sav Blanc. The interesting dish for me was the Chawanmushi ( Steamed egg custard with shrimp and vegetables) which was sensational, hot and tasty. The word basically means teacup steamed  which is how they cook it. Believe it or not we also ordered a tempura plate as they were still a bit hungry.


During dinner I found out some interesting facts about Japan eg fruit like Rock Melon sells for about $90 each as does most tropical fruits. If you are visiting Melbourne I can recommend you try Kenzan (meaning Mountain) and try and book the private room to complete the experience. I have rated this an 8/10 for food and service.

Etch Restaurant - Intercontinental Sydney

The first thing I will say is boy was it hard to find the restaurant inside the hotel. We walked around for about 15 minutes going from one floor to another before one of the hotel staff pointed us in the right direction. What we found was a small quaint private dinning type of place. The lighting was very low and I would put this place in the romantic category. Unfortunately I was dinning with a male business associate, oh well. The good news was that it was very quiet and therefore we were able to have a good discussion without the excess noise which you get at most restaurants today.

Now the food. Being a Justin North restaurant I was looking forward to the menu. The menu was small but had excellent choices for all courses. For entree they had caramelised pigs head, scallops and a Kingfish Tartare. I had a mushroom ragout with a slow cooked soft hens egg with parmesan cheese. Absolutely delightful and the only complaint was that there was not enough. My guest had the Duck terrine with pickled cherries and coffee reduction. The terrine was a bit too salty but the cherries were sensational. For a main we both had the slow cooked blue eye trevalla, spanner crab scallop ravioli with sweet corn & roasted spring onion. This was very tasty however it looked quite untidy on the plate which is not what you would expect at one of Justin's restaurants. The sauce was probably a little creamy for me but I still enjoyed the dish. Other mains included Pumpkin Lasagne and smoked eel risotto.

To accompany the food we had a Petaluma Grosset Riesling which was beautiful. Neither of us had sweets but they all looked delicious. The service was a little over the top and overall I would rate this a 6.5/10. This is definitely somewhere you would go with romance in mind. Not a business lunch or dinner. The cost is mid to high so expect to pay about $160 per couple plus wine. They also have a Degustation  menu for $90 without wine and $135 with wine which is good value.

There are no photographs as it didn't seem right.

Sydney Rowers Club - Dedes Restaurant - Australia Day

Last minute decisions on where to go on Australia Day. Unfortunately I have just had a knee operation and I can't walk around for very long so what else can one do, but to go somewhere nice and have lunch. So we caught up with some good friends Narelle and Steve and we took off towards Balmain. We first stopped at the sailing club at Drummoyne but it was too busy and we had to sit outside. too hot. So we decided to go  to the Sydney Rowers Club at Abbotsford. We had been there once before but had not eaten in the restaurant only in the bistro. It was also busy but we managed to get the last table in the restaurant. It is very nicely appointed very spacious and good large windows so you can take in the water views. It was also very cool which was fantastic as the temperature was rising into the mid 30's.

After settling back and having a cold Corona we looked through the menu and decided on our selections. Service was good given it was quite busy. We decided to share a Smoke Salmon Brucetta and order a main. There was a good selection for mains from whole fish to Pork cutlet to steak, seafood platters  etc. We decided on The Pork chop, whole snapper and I had the grilled John Dory. One side only of Fetta, Peppers and Eggplant which my wife said was the highlight of the meal (not that the fish wasn't good either). In fact the fish was excellent moist and tasty. The John Dory was also cooked to perfection. The wine selection was a Watershed (Margaret River) Savingon Blanc Semillon Great with seafood.

Smoke Salmon Brucetta

Whole Snapper

whole baby snapper with lime, asparagus & coriander salad and chilli soy dressing on the side

Grilled John Dory

pork cutlet – murray river

As we were eating we noticed many people were ordering a share plate of deserts which looked very tasty so we had to indulge. It was just the thing to finish off a good afternoon.

baked lemon tart, passionfruit cream, meringue
dark chocolate and cherry trifle, raspberry nougat
mango & coconut crème brulee
summer pudding, gingerbread icecream


Overall I thought they did an excellent job on such a busy day. The service I could not fault, the food was delicious and the waterviews were great so I have rated this a 7/10. Well worth going and going back again. By the way it would also be a great place for a wedding reception.

To reserve a table at Dedes Bar & Grill:
PHONE: (02) 9712 1199