Captain Cook Cruises & high tea, Sydney

One afternoon during Yuye and I's Sydney trip, we decided to take a boat cruise with Captain Cook Cruises around Sydney harbour. The package we purchased was $55 per person including the cruise and high tea. Sometimes Captain Cook Cruises holds special offers and I managed to get my tickets for $55 with a guaranteed window seat (normally guaranteed window seats cost an extra $10 pp). Breakfast is also available for purchase but knowing me, I wouldn't be able to get up that early and I had quite a liking for high teas at that time so it was an easy choice.

The boat was scheduled to depart at 2:30pm from No.6 Jetty Wharf at Circular Quay and runs every Wednesday and Saturday all year round and also Sundays from May to October. We had arrived a bit early that day so decided to walk around the harbour first. It was a lovely day, albeit with a slight overcast at times. As we went on a Wednesday, the harbour wasn't as full of people and we were able to leisurely stroll around. The one thing I really like about Australian cities is the lively music played by talented artists on the streets and that day we were able to enjoy the presence of two very different musicians - one was indigenous and one was an Australian country musician.

Right next to the boarding wharf is the Museum of Contemporary Art. At the time (June 02, 2010), the 17th Biennale of Sydney - The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age exhibition was on show. This exhibition brought together artistic creations from around the world to celebrate the beauty of distance. We didn't really have time to go inside but did get a chance to look at the wonderful stainless steel structure outside of the museum. It represented a network of neurons which had been supersized called Roxy Paine Neuron by Roxy Paine, courtesy of the James Cohan Gallery in New York and stood at 1097cm high by 4066.8cm diameter. Look at its complexity!

Roxy Paine Neuron sculpture outside Museum of Contemporary Art

The photo of Sydney Harbour Bridge from here is also quite stunning.

It was then time to board the boat and enjoy our lovely afternoon! I, like always, got too busy taking photos that I had to eat the food in a rush. :S Sorry about the blurred images, I was obviously a very bad photographer at the time, only knowing how to use manual with an ISO of 100! Yeah..…..

We were served with a complimentary glass of strawberry champagne upon boarding (it was sweet and refreshing) and then the waiter took our tea orders. I couldn't remember what types of tea they were but was definitely very delicious. Yuye ordered a fruity one and I ordered a flowery one. Every table had a set of cream, butter and jam arranged in a cute way as well. Look! That's me on the teapot! :D

Complimentary Strawberry Champagne

The high tea included pots of beautiful tea, a range of sandwiches and canapes, scones with strawberry jam and cream, curry puffs and sausage rolls and of course desserts. All the food tasted good, although a little on the boring side and somewhat expected to appear on a high tea menu but there's not much I can complain about. I didn't really like the desserts though, the browny slices were way too sweet for my liking and I didn't end up finishing it. The scones were not as soft as others I've had and sausage rolls were just….sausage rolls. Nothing special. The boat cruise was mainly for sightseeing anyway so I wasn't too fussed with the food as long as Yuye was kept happy and I got to take my photos :P. I just had to arrange a little plate of food in front of me as well because without a plate there, it just didn't seem like I was eating properly. Yes I know, I'm strangely picky about these things sometimes.

The official menu taken from the Captain Cruise website (sample menu but mostly applied to our meal):
Crystal Bay prawns on dill blini creme fraiche
Finger sandwich selections including: cucumber dill and four creme dill fingers, smoked salmon, chive cream cheese and caviar
Porcini mushroom, chilli jam and spec pork sausage rolls
caramelised onion, beetroot, goats cheese baby tartlets
Mini scones with strawberry jam & vanilla cream
Glazed mango and coconut custard tartlets
Chocolate dipped strawberries and assorted petite fours and truffles.

High Tea aboard Captain Cook Cruise - $55 pp

Din Tai Fung, Sydney

Everything I did during my Sydney trip seemed to be in pairs. Now that I think about it, I went to Makoto twice, Masuya twice and even, Din Tai Fung…twice. That just shows how good these restaurants really are right? After dining at Din Tai Fung in Sydney, I really thought the dumplings I had in China were nothing in comparison. That is, I haven't been to the Din Tai Fung in Shanghai so I can't comment on that, but I know, the xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung Sydney beats anything I've had on the streets and even, most restaurants in Shanghai, my second home (or my first rather since I was born there). As you can see, Din Tai Fung is immensely popular so if you don't want to wait outside for half an hour or more, it's recommended that you go early. We knew this was going to happen during our second visit (mistakes are well learnt here) so went there at about 11:15am, just after they opened for the day.

I really like their internal decorations with the large and small bamboo steamers on the walls and assorted bowls and spoons arranged in a pattern. These provide amusement for patrons while they wait for their food and is an interesting and fitting decor for this restaurant.

You can also watch the chefs at work in the fishbowl like kitchen. They make the dumplings in a very orderly and efficient manner.

First visit

Xiao long bao, for those of you who don't know, are made by hand by kneading flour into a very thin skin and then placing ground meat together with a blob of congealed meat broth inside and wrapping it up in an artistic twirly way. The frozen broth when cooked, gives the lovely soupy broth that oozes out when you bite into them and this is also the best part of xiao long bao. The best way to eat them is to pick it up with your chopsticks, take a very small bite on the side and then sucking out all the broth (or if you're lazy like me, pour the broth into a spoon and then drink it). Then the rest of the dumpling is dipped in vinegar and ginger and then eaten. Below are a few simple tips when eating:

1. Watch out that the hot broth doesn't burn your mouth when you're sucking it out
2. When you pick it up from the steamer, be careful to not break it because the skin is mostly quite fragile and can often stick to the steamer. The last thing you want is delicious soup going to waste.
3. Don't wait too long when you're eating xiao long bao because as they cool down, the broth will return to a congealed form and thus giving you less enjoyment.
4. Do not use a fork to eat this - piercing the skin will surely make an unhappy eater.
5. Eat as many as you can before others get a chance, because they are just so good!!

Anyway, enough of tips. On both occasions, we ate Din Tai Fung's xiao long bao (8 pieces for $10.80) which, I must say, was superb. The skin is very thin and taut so doesn't seem like it will break easily. The broth is meaty and flavoursome and there's LOTS of it! I can eat them all day. Sometimes the broth is too oily in badly made xiao long bao and makes me feel a little sickly afterwards. But Din Tai Fung's is not. I think I'm in love. Ahhh…

Masuya, Sydney

Masuya, situated in a heritage listed building at 14 O'Connell Street, Sydney. It was in fact, right next to the Radisson Hotel, where we were staying for the duration of our Sydney trip. So Masuya is where we had our first dinner, together with a few friends. Now, there was something I really regretted doing during our meal and that is not ordering the Ootoro sushi (fatty tuna) during the tuna festival that was taking place at the time. The sole reason for this is because my friend didn't eat raw fish (no way right?) and Yuye and I decided that we can come back a few days later to enjoy it. Little did we realise, the tuna festival ended that day. :( Even with this biggest regret ever, our two meals at Masuya were thoroughly enjoyed.

First visit

My friend was late for the meal and since Yuye and I were very hungry, we decided to order a few a la carte sushi for ourselves first. The ones we ordered were (I think) grilled kingfish belly and (possibly) flathead. My memory does not go back far enough and I know nothing about white sea-fish. :S They tasted as expected - fresh, deliciously fishy on top of nicely cooked rice. The rice on sushi is actually very important - each grain of rice has to be distinguishable (so can't be too soft), the right amount of sushi vinegar has to be used and the right proportion of rice to fish is important too.

Even though I said my friend didn't eat raw fish, I couldn't help myself but order the Masuya's Sashimi Boat ($78) anyway :D so Yuye and I ate almost all of it by ourselves. There was a great variety of sashimi on it, including the usual yellow fin tuna, salmon, kingfish, oysters and beef tataki (although this probably doesn't usually feature on sashimi platters), and also the less common scampi, scallops and hokkigai. I may have missed a thing or two on the platter, but the most important thing is, it was a wonderful mixture of fresh seafoods arranged in the most appetising way. The colours were so vibrant to match the lovely taste! :D It was quite a good value platter I thought.

We also ordered, of course, dishes for the not so fortunate - for my friend who didn't eat sashimi. Ok, I admit, I ate and liked these dishes too :P. One of them was the Eel Bo Rolls (unagi/eel) for $17.80. There were quite a few pieces, as you can see, there were 8 altogether, but I really only got to eat…..one. I couldn't complain though since I ate a lot of sashimi :D. They tasted sweet and eel like - as expected. I've never had bad eel and most eel dishes taste similar (since you can buy them in a pack and all), but I'm not sure if Masuya buys or makes their own eel sauce.

We also ordered a spider roll dish for $17.80. This consisted of soft shell crabs with crab sticks, avocado, cucumber and mayonnaise. Again, I only ate…one. I was getting deprived! It's ok, I wasn't left hungry for the night since we had pancakes at Pancakes on the Rocks later :). This dish was similar to Makoto's spider rolls and was crunchy, flavourful and definitely worth getting. I like the long plates the rolls come with :D I think I should get some for my kitchen…

Makoto (sushi train), Sydney

Ever since I went to Makoto (city store) back in 2009 after our trip up to Sydney for the Jay Chou concert, I've been dying to go back. Makoto's one of those beautiful existences that Melbourne lacks. As most Melbournians know, we have NO really good sushi trains here. Just thinking about it makes me cringe with sadness (for my taste buds). Anyway, since I had been preparing to go to Makoto for so long, this trip was like heaven for me and to match, I went to Makoto twice (over a period of only 4 days). :D

Makoto, for those of you who don't know, is a sushi train restaurant under the Masuya Group family where there are 5 Japanese restaurants in total, all in Sydney. I will also be posting about Masuya shortly as we also visited this restaurant twice. :) Makoto doesn't take bookings as space is quite limited and really rarely needs to fill their space (there will constantly be a line outside). So, in order to get a seat, going early to beat the peak hour lines is essential.

Unlike the first time we visited Makoto when we had to wait outside for 45 minutes and everyone were served hot green tea to warm up, this time on both occasions, we were able to get seats fairly quickly. All the staff here are Japanese and work very diligently when they prepare and serve their famous sushi. There is also a great variety of sushi to choose from, including the ones I ordered below.

Out of the sushi I tasted, I especially liked the grilled salmon (below). It just melted in my mouth every time and has a beautifully charred aroma. Coupled with the slightly salty sea flavour of the salmon roe and the subtle sweetness of the mayonnaise, the mixture of flavours and textures are just superb.

The grilled tuna is also quite nice, although for some reason, the fattiness of the salmon makes it taste better when grilled.

Vivid Sydney 2010, Sydney

Happy New Year everyone!

May 2011 bring prosperity and happiness to all my readers and a year full of good food, good stories and plenty of laughter. I suppose this post is festive enough to celebrate the occasion so enjoy!

Vivid Sydney

One of the main events we attended whilst in Sydney was the Vivid Sydney festival. Vivid Sydney was first started in 2009 and has since become the major winter festival showcasing the wonderful illuminations on Sydney Opera House and numerous other buildings, live music as well as a series of conferences and seminars about ideas and creativity. This ran from May 27 to June 20 in 2010 and operated nightly from 6pm till late.

Sydney Opera House

We started our night at the Sydney Opera House (the opposite to most people just because it was closer to where we were). As it was very windy, my photos didn't turn out too well even with a tripod (although the tripod was quite a bad one…doh). Every few minutes, the light on the Opera House changed. I could have stood there for hours on end because it was SO beautiful and different to the usual Opera House we always see. However, there had to be an end to our night. The following were a series of the photos I took, isn't it lovely? :D

Radisson Plaza Hotel, Sydney

Radisson Plaza Hotel

Continuing on from our trip to the Gold Coast, we next visited Sydney, which was also our last stop. I decided to indulge a little bit because…you know…it's nice to. :D I booked a studio spa suite at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, which has a 5 star rating. It is located close to Circular Quay where all the buzz is, but is not directly next to it so still requires a little stroll to get there and it's also wedged between Pitt St and O'Connell St, in an awkward V shape. As you can see from the photo below, the shape of the hotel is quite interesting. The hotel also houses the 3 hat restaurant - Bilson's - which featured on Masterchef, however I didn't have the privilege to try it out during this visit. A true shame. :(

The lobby was slightly small for a 5 star hotel in my opinion, from a number of 5 star hotel comparisons, however I understand their pain due to their location. The concierge was very friendly and I will go into a bit more detail about that later (as I had made a few complaints during my visit :S).

The studio spa suite is at one end of the V shape (at the top of the V) and is directly next to an office building. Although the room was quite comfortable, I totally disliked the 'view' which was pretty much non-existent. When I opened the curtains, all I saw was the wall of the next office which was really only a few metres away and during the day I can see every movement of the businessmen working away. This also prevented sunshine from coming through the window. At night, there was a gap in between the two sides of the curtains (which didn't close properly) so a thin line of light always shone on my face while I was sleeping - so totally annoying! Putting those issues aside, the room was adorable despite being a bit minimalist on the furnishings and decorations. It was clean, spacious, had wireless and wired internet as well as, of course, a lovely spa bathroom. The bed was very soft and comfortable and was very big too, king size I believe and we were allowed to order extra pillows for free (we got 2 extra V shaped pillows, how suitable for the hotel eh? :P). There were many complementary items such as the usual tea and coffee (which were in a nice wooden box), a sewing kit and many others, even an ipod dock which I tried out but realised that I had recently formatted my iphone and had absolutely no music on it. :(