Christmas Eve Dinner at Zen Yai, Canberra City Centre

24/12/2008 - Christmas Eve dinner at Zen Yai - Thai Restaurant

12 of us dined at this Thai Restaurant on Christmas Eve. We opted for the dinner banquet which comprises of entree, main and dessert.

Entree
Curry puffs and spring rolls.

Main
Beef Red Curry
Marinated Grilled Fillet Chicken and Salad
Stir fry prawn with chilly and basil
Rice

Dessert
Green tea ice cream
Coffee

Cost = $24 per head excluding red wine.

Ratings

Food quality = 7/10

Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10

Value for money = 8/10

Service = 7/10.

Lily's comment: Good. This is one of a better Thai restaurant in Canberra. Service is good. My only complain is the green tea ice cream, which wasn't authentic as it was just vanilla ice cream with green colored toppings.

Bayblu Seafood Restaurant, Blakehurst

12/12/2008 - Dinner at Bayblu Seafood Restaurant

It was Peter's birthday, so Shirley, Sean, mom, Kevin and myself celebrated his birthday at this seafood restaurant.

Entree:
Natural Sydney Rock Oysters - 3 dozens - Shirley, Peter and Kevin opted for this
Char-grilled baby octopus mediterranean w herbs, lemon, olive oil - Mom had this
Mango and prawn salad, this was the special for that evening - I opted for this
Grilled Calamari - Sean had this as part of his 3 course daily special offer.

Main:
Kevin and I had the grilled steak tuna, mine was well-done and Kevin's medium rare (special of the evening).
Mom had the Snapper fillets, grilled.
Peter and Shirley had the grilled coral trout (special of the evening)
Sean had the Flathead fillets crumbed, deep-fried.

Beverage:
Cabernet Savignon Dennis Of McLaren SA x 2 bottes.

Dessert:
All of us shared these dessert.
Trio of homemade gelato or sorbet w biscotti wafers
Crepes suzette for two
Blueberry banana pudding
Latte

Total cost for 6 = $520

Ratings:

Food quality = 7/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 8/10

Value for money = 9/10
Service = 7/10

Lily's comment: Good. The restaurant is located at the Sydney side of Tom-Ugly bridge. This is the second time Kevin and I have dined there. On our first visit, it was really quiet due to 'school night' and we had the seafood platter but it was too much for two. It was really busy on Peter's birthday as expected since it's the festive week. Despite the restaurant being busy, service was still adequate. The food is good, especially the oysters, they were really fresh. The portion of the food is really huge. I could not finish my tuna steak. I thought mine was a little bit over done, though, Kevin's tuna steak is cooked just right. They do great value meals if you opt for the daily special offer. It was a great night out.

Miranda Chinese Restaurant

23/11/2008 - Dinner at Miranda Chinese Restaurant

It is always a big challenge to find a good Chinese restaurant in Sydney. I am normally not that impress with the Chinese restaurants here. They are determine to cater to Australian taste buds (sad!). Some of the common dishes that are so not Chinese food at all are - sweet & sour pork that looks like it has been covered with red dye, honey prawn that tastes so blxxdy sweet, mongolian lamb, sweet corn and chicken soup to name a few.

There were 5 of us and little Charlene.

Entree
To be honest, it's really not a Chinese tradition to start off the meal with an entree. All dishes, be it entree, or the main, and even the soup are served at one go. But okay, since we're in Australia and it's customary to have an entree before the main meal, we ordered the Pipi with black bean sauce.

Main
The various main that we had are:
- Mongolian lamb
- Tofu, chicken and salted fish hot pot
- Fisherman's treasure (this is a vegetarian dish - brocolli, and mixed vegetables wrapped in tofu skin)
- Ma Wong fish steamed in shallot, ginger and soya sauce
- Steam rice

Beverage: A bottle of Brokenwood Cricket Shiraz, and Chinese tea for all

Total cost for 5 = $240

Ratings

Food quality = 8/10

Ambience and cleanliness = 7/10

Value for money = 8/10

Service = 7/10.

Lily's comment: Excellent. This is definitely one of the better Chinese restaurants that I've been. We've dined several times here and never disappointed. The dishes are indeed very authentic. We were all very impressed! Loved the steam fish - it was cooked to the right amount of time, not too raw nor overcook, just melted in our mouth. I would also recommend the Fisherman's treasure vegetarian dish.

Angus Steak House, Darling Harbour

28/09/2008 - Dinner at Angus Steak House, Darling Harbour

Shirley's very good friends from Thailand were visiting Sydney. We took them to Angus Steak House to try the Australian beef and lamb. There were 8 of us.

Entree: Garlic bread, chips, and stir-fry vegetables.

Main:
The various main that we had are:

• Rack of Lamb - Tarragon Mash, Eggplant and Tomato Gratin with Port Jus x 4
• T-Bone 600g with your choice of Port Jus, Mushroom, Pepper or Bearnaise Sauce x 1
• Prime beef 300g x 1
• Giant King Prawns - Butterflied with Garlic Butter, Crushed New Potatoes, Seasalt and Garlic Aioli x 1
• Vegetables salad x 1

Beverage: Juices, beer and Red Wine

Total cost for 8 BYO = $380

Ratings

Food quality = 8/10 for the red meat, 6/10 for the king prawns

Ambience and cleanliness = 6/10. Because we were a big group, they couldn't let us have the table outside with a view of the harbour. We had a table near the open kitchen, where we could see the chef barbequing the meat. The table is covered with the charcoal dust, and of couse we all smell like 'Angus Rump' after the meal.

Value for money = 7/10

Service = 7/10. We waited quite long before our meal were served. It was a busy Sunday night.

Lily's comment: Good. It's a good restaurant for the meat lovers. The menu does cater for diners who like seafood and vegetarian as well.

Holy Cow - Surry Hills

30/08/2008 - Dinner at Holy Cow

Entree: Both of us had the Tandoori Sizzler and Vegetable & Cheese Croquettes to share.

Main: Goan Fish Curry and Khatta Meetha Prawns to share. We had a garlic bread and basmati rice as well.

Beverage: BYO Red Wine ($30)

Total cost for 2 excluding BYO = $52.50

Ratings
Food quality = 8/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 6.5/10 (Ventilation problem - best to wear your old clothe in case you clothe smell like deep-frying)
Value for money = 8/10
Service = 8/10

Lily's comment: Good. Holy Cow offers amazing North Indian Cuisine with a large range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes as well as tandoori breads and meats and healthy alternatives for the weight and diet conscious. It is located at Surry Hills, which as usual has limited street parking. We were looking for a spot for a good 20 mins before we found one on a Saturday night. I would suggest that the owner put in a good ventilation. Your hair and clothing would stink when the sizzling dishes come out. Despite this, the taste of the food is quite authentic and it is definitely value for money.

Summer Salt Restaurant, Cronulla

22/08/2008 - Dinner at Summer Salt Restaurant

Entree: Kevin had the Sichuan duck salad, mom had the Sichuan silken tofu stuff with chicken and crab mince with sweet Thai chilly dipping sauce, and I had the salt and pepper squid.

Main: Kevin had the whole baby steamed snapper, mom had the pan fried John Dory, I had the BBQ whole local sand whiting.

Beverage: Wine: 04 Cockfighters Ghost Premium Cabernet Savignon - Coonawarra SA, mom had ginger beer and we had coffee for dessert.

Total cost for 3 = $250

RatingsFood quality = 6.5/10
Ambience and cleanliness = 8.5/10 (The bathroom is very clean)
Value for money = 7/10
Service = 7.5/10

Lily's comment: Good. The restaurant is located right on the beach, ample parking space. Floor-to-ceiling windows display the beauty of Cronulla Beach to its best advantage. We have dined there twice and both times were night time. I would love to have lunch there next time in order to take in the beautiful view of the beach.

Moksha, Jannali

27/07/2008 - Dinner at Moksha Indian Restaurant

Entree: Mixed Grill Platter for 4 of us (Kevin, me, Yen and Nick)
Main: Beef vindaloo, Mixed Vegetables in curry, Barrumundi fish in tomato and chutney sauce and Curry chicken dish. Plain naan bread and basmati rice.
BYO

Total cost for 4 = $150

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

Lily's comment: Good. This is popular Indian restaurant with the Shire people.