Christmas Lunch 2011 at Banana Leaf Restaurant, Canberra

This year the family decided to opt out of the traditional Christmas Day cook-up, instead choosing to dine out at a restaurant for our Christmas lunch. We wanted to eliminate all stress of cooking up a storm and then the washing up later on. Everyone could enjoy themselves and each others company instead of worrying weeks in advance about hosting lunch at home.

Banana Leaf was our third option after the two popular hotels in Canberra were fully booked out for Christmas Lunch buffet. Despite that Christmas was just 3 weeks away, we were able to secure a booking for 11 adults, 1 kid and 2 babies. There is no full pre-payment required as the restaurant does not want to make it an obligation to turn up. Its either you like their food and pay on that day, or you just don't dine there at all.

The Christmas Lunch Menu as below: There are 4 options for the main meal. They were also able to offer a kid's menu, which consisted of Chicken Snitzel with chips and ice cream for dessert.

 Chilli & Lime Marinated King Prawn and Tasmanian Smoked Salmon wrapped lobster terrine

Roasted coconut and carrot soup

Passionfruit and black pepper sorbet

Main meal option 1 - Lamb cutlets

Main meal option 2 - Oven roasted Christmas turkey with Sri Lankan spices

Main meal option 3 - Grilled Barramundi

Gin and Raisin Panacotta

Estate Range Shiraz 2008 (we ordered 2 bottles)

Lily's comments: Good. Service was a bit slow as expected as it was Christmas day. The entrees were overall delicious. The main meals are of a mixed bags review. The grilled barramundi was very delicious and the fish cooked to perfection - not too tough nor too tender. There are 3 cutlets in the lamb option - 2 ppl out of 3 that ordered this main commented that one of the cutlets had quite a bit of fat in it, but not the other 2 cutlets which were very tender. The roasted turkey was a disappointment as the turkey was quite tough.  Overall, it was still enjoyable. We had been to this restaurant a couple of times before and the advice here is to stick to the traditional Sri Lankan cuisine such as Chicken Bryani, Fish Curry and etc as it can't go wrong. Although a few times, the pappadums served were not fresh.

Masa Japanese Restaurant

24/12/2011 - Dinner at Masa Japanese Restaurant

As usual, Masa offers a speciality menu of the day and their standard menu.

We ordered the Grilled Salmon cooked in miso sauce from the speciality menu.
From the standard menu, we ordered the Agedashi tofu steak, deep fried soft shell crab, deep fried white bait, prawn tempura and a plate of tuna & salmon sashimi. We also had miso soup.

Masa Restaurant

Deep fried soft shell crab with a light dipping sauce.

Agedashi tofu steak topped with strips of seaweed.

Grilled salmon cooked in miso sauce.

Deep fried white bait.

Tempura prawn.

Tuna and salmon sashimi.

Miso soup

Lily's comments: Excellent. As usual, the service and quality of food is outstanding. It was Christmas Eve, we booked at the last minute and was still able to get a table for two by the window. Mr Shinji has hired an extra helper in the kitchen. Masa opens from Wed to Sunday for dinner only.

Lat-Dior African Eatery - Enmore, Sydney

22/12/2011 - Dinner at Lat-Dior African Eatery

I have been craving for African cuisine since my last visit to La Kilimanjaro at Newtown quite awhile ago. As LK seems to have closed down, I wanted to search if there was any other African eatery around the viccinity of Newtown. My search showed Lat-Dior African Eatery which had a similar menu to LK.

Entree:
Beans with African herbs.


African Flat Bread - the texture is similar to crepe.


Main:
Yassa - boneless chicken marinated for hours in African spices.


Sossou-Sipakh: Prawns steamed with fresh tomato and mild African spices.


Beverage - Ginger drink.



Total cost for 2  = $45

Ratings
Food quality = 6/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 6.5/10
Value for money = 8/10
Service = 7/10

Lily's comment: Good. The dishes are reasonably priced where main meal ranges between $10 to $13. The entree is about $6. The portion should be sufficient for 2 people. The deco is simple and a couple of big posters of beautiful African woman are hung on the wall. It is not a spacious place, so one would probably have to wait to get in, as it won't be hard for the eatery to be quickly filled up. I particularly enjoyed the Ginger drink and it is a must try! The flat bread goes well with the main meals' sauce.

Zimzala, Cronulla

We wanted to dine at Zimzala after reading very good review about this restaurant, and also it had won the Best Restaurant - Fine Dining 2010 awarded by Leader

So we booked a table for two 3 weeks ago on a Wednesday evening.

Just a quick review on this restaurant as I don't want to comment too much in detail. Overall, I think this restaurant is over-rated, and it is not really a fine dining restaurant as they serve breakfast during daytime! When we first arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by the captain and another waitress. Both of them seemed very polite and professional at first. However, as the place got busier, it was difficult to get proper service anymore. In short, they were understaff, there were only 2 staff waiting on the patrons the whole night, and in the end I think they let a kitchen helper help serve the patrons. There were only one big group table plus probably 5 or 6 tables occupied by 4 patrons each. They could not cope with the crowd. Food is over-priced and doesn't taste very good. The cuisines are badly presented, my soft shell crab was served in a soup bowl???? We ordered a rocket salad and when it came, the portion was so big it could feed a whole army - not that we are complaining but we just couldn't finish it and this is really wasteful. Our table is located very closely to the big group table, that it was hard for the waitress to move around between us and them. The waitress bumped into my back twice - just to let you know how tight the space was. There was literally about 5 cm of space area between my chair and another patron's from the big group. I felt very awkward with the sitting arrangement.

Anyway, this is the first and the last time for us.

MASA Japanese Restaurant, Sylvania

Dinner at MASA Japanese Restaurant on 17/11/2010.

We booked for a table for two at 6.30 pm. We arrived on time, and Mrs Shinji said we could have the table by the window (near the main door) or we could be seated at a table inside. We chose the one inside.

There were already three tables occupied, and phone was busy with calls for more bookings for that evening. They also had a new helper, a middle age Japanese woman. From the looks of it, she's new as Mrs Shinji would inconspiciously showed her what needs to be done, from giving us the menu to taking drink orders. Mrs Shinji is still the one taking the meal orders.

We ordered from the special menu of the day as well as from the standard menu. We had seared salmon sashimi with crusted black sesame and tuna sashimi. We also ordered deep fried calamari, soft shell crab, prawn tempura, salmon and tuna sushi, miso soup and some rice.

Kevin had a beer and we both had some green tea as well. As for dessert, we shared a Green tea ice cream.

We felt really special when Chef Shinji came out to serve the meal himself. He would chat with his customers and shared a joke or two. At one point, he was showing us how the tuna sashimi should be eaten by wrapping it with a kind of mint leave that was served on the side of the dish. He is always making sure that we enjoyed the cuisine.

Total cost = $109.

Verdict: As usual, outstanding!

MASA Japanese Restaurant, Sylvania

I highly recommend this Japanese restaurant. One of the best in town. Great cuisine. We are regulars now of this restaurant, its like an addiction!

I have nothing but praises for this husband and wife team.

Please check out the review from SMH website.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/masa-20100802-1134t.html

Nicks Bar & Grill, Kings Street Wharf

June 2010 - Weekday lunch at Nicks Bar & Grill Restaurant

It was my mother in law's 70th birthday and we celebrated it at Nicks Bar & Grill.
There were four of us.

Entree:

Oysters and turkish bread with dips

Main:
Seafood basket

Grilled Whole Baby Snapper (x 2)

Seafood linguine

Beverage:
A bottle of red wine (I can't remember what brand we ordered)

Dessert:
Apple pie tart
Pancake

Ratings
Food quality = 7/10

Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10

Value for money = 7/10

Service = 7/10

Lily's Comment: Good. We had lunch there for the first time when we celebrated my MIL's birthday there. The service was adequate and good (presumably it was a week day). The food was really nice and I've never tasted such a nice seafood linguine. I told my husband that we would definitely be back again, if not for the seafood linguine.
Last Sunday on 26th Sept, we were back again for lunch. Unfortunately, we had to walk out of the restaurant. We were ushered to a table with a nice wharf view by a waiter after a long wait even though it wasn't that busy. After getting us the table, the waiter failed to provide basic service such as getting our drinks order let alone the main meal. It was a hot day. Moments later, another waiter served some partrons that came after us, and that was when we decided to walk out. I would say the food is good but basic service needs improvement especially on weekends. One waitress seemed more interested in setting up the table than serving us!