Tel: +61 2 9259 5656

Website: www.sakerestaurant.com.au

Costs per head:   Starters c.Aus$15, mains c.Aus$25-35, sushi c.Aus$10 per 2-pieces, beer Aus$8 per bottle

Date of visit: Monday 19th July

Having been recently featured on the hugely popular Masterchef Australia, my expectations were high when I was told we had secured a table at Sake, located in the ultra-trendy heritage Argyle Precinct in Sydney’s Rocks, close to Circular Quay.

As the name suggests the influence here is seriously Japanese, and Australian ‘sushi guru’ Shaun Presland serves up some exciting and innovative dishes that offer a modern contemporary take on traditional Japanese cuisine. Our very attentive waitress advises that dishes are meant to be shared and that the food is served tapas-style i.e. randomly as each dish emerges from the pass.

My host and I are relaxed with the format, and we choose a variety of interesting-sounding dishes from the folded-up menu, split by hot and cold starters, kushiyaki (skewers), mains, salads, soups, sushi, sashimi and maki (rolls).

First to arrive are some sashimi tacos, one each of salmon and tuna alongside a chilled tomato salsa and washed down with a shot of Kozaemon Junmai sake. The fish is incredibly fresh, succulent and moist, and coupled with the crunchy texture of the taco and the sharp fresh salsa the ensemble is a resounding success – what a great start.

We follow with a selection of sushi, all sea-fresh and divine, and then a couple of maki rolls, one crispy salmon-skin, the other tuna & avocado, both scrummy. Next up some crispy-skin pork belly bites, served with edamame puree and reduced balsamic teriyaki sauce, and then a selection of vegetable and seafood tempura – crispy light batter and with a delightful dipping sauce.

An encore of the wonderful tacos and some miso soup finish us off, with everything washed down with clean-tasting Kirin beer.

The prices are not extortionate, however be warned with this kind of more’ish food, the temptation to eat and eat can easily run up quite a bill. Luckily for me, my host was happy to pick up the cheque.

For quality Japanese food in a great setting, you will have a struggle to find better.

Paul Plant

Web site: www.thewalterarms.com

Telephone number: 01189774903

Date of visit: 03/08/10

Approx. cost per head: £15 – £20

Comments on wine list/beer: Fullers on tap, £3.15 for a pint of London Pride.

Media link:

Review:

First impressions were that it was well decorated, well laid out and slighlty upmarket for a pu

Complimentary bread with oil and vinegar to start was a nice touch.

To start we shared a garlic pizzette (£6.95) between 3 of us which was delicious.

Mains were also good. One of us had cod and chips with mashed mushy peas (£10.95). The chips were fat chips – unsalted. The others had spagetti carbonara (£9.50) and risotto (£10.95) of the day – chorizo, pepperoni, chicken and pesto – it was a bit on the wet side. However if you are not particularly hungry, we recommend the smaller size (risotto and pasta were all available as starter or main course portions) as we both found our meals slightly too much which meant we couldn’t manage dessert.

The waiters were friendly, however one forgot our drinks and did not check to see how the meal was. We would say service on the whole was average.

We would go back again, however we wouldn’t race back.

Click on the link again

Telephone number: 01424 842281

Website: www.thecoodenbeachhotel.co.uk

Date of visit: 8July 2010

Approximate cost per head: main course under £10. Set lunch @ £13.95 for 2 courses, £16.95 for 3 courses

Comments on wine list/beer: Not a beer or wine connoisseur’s paradise

Summary:

Bexhill-on- Sea is located on the coast between Eastbourne and Hastings. This area has a very high population of retired people.

On a bright sunny day, I drove through Brighton, expecting to drive along the coast to have lunch with a friend at Cooden Beach Hotel. Unfortunately, the main road is the A27 which is inland with no sea view.

The hotel is sited at the end of the road right on the sea. It’s a modern looking hotel with 2 bars and a restaurant. New wooden tables were strategically placed round the outside of the hotel and on a big patch of lawn outside the club bar.

I started off in the lounge bar with a pint of Harvey’s Sussex bitter (£3.10). In this bar they were serving sandwiches and there was a hot food counter with baked potatoes, lasagne and some sort of top crust pie.

When my friends arrived, we proceeded onto the restaurant – it was packed out. We were then advised to take up one of the wooden tables that over look the sea by the club bar. You ordered food at the bar and they will bring it out.

I had another Harvey’s and my friends had a glass of house wine and a pint Knonenbourg (£3.40). The house wine turned out to be a piesporter @ £4.60 for 250ml. I think this sums it up what sort of place it is. I bet you that the local best selling wines are Blue Nun and Mateus Rose.

For food, we had the scampi and my usual fish and chips – all priced at £9.50. The “fish and chips” was heavily advertised as posh and fantastic. When it came, it was Ok but nothing special. There was a lack of seasoning on the chips and fish batter – a plus point for me as restaurants tend to forget that there are people on a low salt diet. The mushy peas were a disappointment – it was very bland.

I have to admit that it was a sunny day and I would be happy to sit there and look at the sea all day.

On the way back, my friend advised me to go back along the A21 as it is closer to the M25. That was a mistake as the A21 is mainly a single lane until it’s near the M25. There were also plenty of roundabouts which added to the congestion whereas the A23 is a dual carriage way and you also have the M23 when you are near Gatwick.

E

This is the slippery white rice pasta that comes with all sorts of fillings and is covered with a sweetish soy based sauce. Unlike lasagne, instead of being layered, it is rolled with the filling in the middle. The pasta can also come plain or with cut up bits of spring onion and dry shrimps incorporated into the pasta.

At China palace, the prices are as follows:

Prawn Cheung Fun                                                       £4.10

Roast Pork (Char Sui) Cheung Fun                               £4.10

Beef (minced) Cheung Fun                                            £3.00

Deep- fried Dough Cheung Fun                                    £3.00

The deep fried dough is worth a special mention. Its Cheung Fun with what the Chinese call yu tew. The nearest thing to it is churros in Spain. So in this dish, you get both the soft and crisp texture. Cheung Fun is always steamed never boiled – it breaks up.

These dishes are only available during lunch time or for breakfast. I have never come across it in the evening in any Chinese Restaurants in the world even ones that offer dim sum all day.

Category: Others

Name: Baked egg tarts

Chinese name: dan tart

Price: £2.30

Summary:

This is Chinese custard tart. The difference is that the custard is enriched with egg yolk and the pastry is more like flaky (puff) pastry.

Under dim sum, you can also be offered pots of rice, congee (rice porridge) – just boil rice in plenty of water till the rice disintegrates, mixed meat platter (char sui, roast duck and crispy belly of pork) and occasionally suckling pig.

Enjoy.

I have nearly all the recipes. If you want to try making it, do write in and I will let you have it. However, please note that all sorts of dim sums are now available frozen so hardly anyone (except restaurants) make them. In fact I suspect that half of them simply warm up bought in frozen dim sum.

The only one worth making is spring roll and it is very easy. Just buy the pastry skin (frozen) from a supermarket and then put in any sort of filling that you fancy and finish it off by deep frying.

E

Please note that the price is for guidance only – it is what China Palace charged in July 2010

Web site: http://www.canicorestaurante.com/

Telephone number: +351 282 458 503

Date of visit: June 2010

Approx. cost per head: £60

Comments on wine list/beer: broad wine list but imports rather overpriced

Media link:

Review:

Canico

Canico is cool. But that isn’t much of a review, so to expand, you reach this bar/restaurant/music venue either from the beach (which involves a refreshing wade at high tide) or via a cliff top path and lift which disappears inside the cliff itself.

The venue is arranged over three floors all sunk into the sandstone cliff face; it’s impressive to see and the views out over the beach, rocks and sunset are up there with SE Asia. On the middle floor there is a bar where the long serving barman thinks he looks like Michael Douglas. In so much as he has a hook nose and is about the right age, we humoured him; he also made very good Caipirinhas. The bar hosts beach parties several times a year which are apparently huge, but whilst we were there the entertainment was a Portuguese saxophonist who was very good and an Irish guitarist who was rather bad.

Having checked the menu a few days earlier, and booked a table looking out to sea we chose Canico for our last meal of the holiday and were very pleased that we did. Prices are about 20% more than anywhere else we ate in Alvor, but this is justified by the venue, service, and the extra attention to detail paid to the dishes. The fundamentals, i.e. very fresh, beautifully cooked fish and shellfish were the same here as for other places, but everything around the fish was somehow better.

Our meal began with a Gazpacho amuse bouche and the usual selection of traditional Portuguese tapas including octopus, local sheeps milk cheese, grilled sardines, pickled carrots and olives. The bread was homemade and very fresh.

For our main we shared a large red snapper, about a kilo’s worth which is what bumps up the price, snapper was €70 per kilo but there was plenty on the menu for more than that. The menu is transparently arranged to show what is fresh that day and what is available but either not local or frozen; it’s probably the most comprehensive fish, shellfish and mollusc list I have seen, you would have made an enemy of 50 or more species by the time you’d tried the lot.

Our snapper was presented with fresh greens, traditional potatoes (new potatoes which are salted, parboiled then baked with the skin on) which we washed down with a bottle of 2009 Planalto; this is a trustworthy Portuguese dry white made from traditional Portuguese grapes Malvasia Fina, Viosinho and Gouveio in the Douro Valley which is in the north of Portugal.

We managed to time our meal for sunset, and whilst the restaurant was full all night it didn’t ever seem rushed or hectic, just very relaxing, very tasty and very much recommended if you are ever in the south of Portugal Canalco is certainly worth driving to from the more well known resorts in Albufeira and Portimao to the east.

Michael Le Brocq

Catergory: Fried and Grilled (usually shallow fried  in a grill pan)

Name: Yam Croqueuttes       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Woo kok                   

Price: £2.60

Description:

This is a must try dish. Finely chopped pork and mushroom is bound in a rich dark sauce. This is the covered in Yam mash and then rolled in finely shredded yam and deep fried – similar to what deep fried shepherd’s pie would be like.

Name: Fried Prawn Dumplings with salad cream                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Har kok                   

Price: £2.80

Description:

Prawns wrapped in a pastry case and deep fried. There are normally 2 versons. A normal pastry case or a rice pasta skin similar to Fun Kwor. Inside is similar to Har Gow (the har gow skin does not deep fry well).

Name: Deep fried spring roll Vietnamese style                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                 

Price: £2.60

Description:

There are several types of spring rolls – the difference is: the skin and fillings. Vietnamese’s spring roll and Thai spring roll uses rice paper as a skin (not as crispy as the Chinese version which is flour and water). They also contain rice vermicelli in the filling. With Chinese spring roll, it’s normally shredded meat (chicken or pork) with shredded vegetables. Sometimes prawns are used but this is a modern version. With northern spring rolls (e.g. Shanghai), cabbage is added. Curry spring rolls and chop sui rolls are western inventions and is normally only served in fish and chip shops. Spring rolls should also be thinnish – finger size. Chop sui literally means mixed bits and was invented by Chinese Coolies working on the US Railway several centuries ago.

Name: Minced Squid Cake                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                     

Price: £2.80

Description:

This is similar to a Chinese fish cake – prawns, fish or squid. The “fish” is fincely minced and then made into a thick paste with flour and water + seasoning. It is then formed into balls or fish finger shape and cooked in boiling water or fried. The version in China Palace uses squid.

Name: Grilled Prawn Bean Curd Rolls                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.60

Description:

Bean curd is very versatile. You buy it in sheets (dried). After soaking in water, it becomes soft. You can the add any sort of fillings, roll it up spring roll shape and steam, fried or deep fried it.The fried version is crispy on the outside yet soft on the inner layer.

Name: Deep fried vegetable meat buns                    

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Shan cheen choi yuk paw                     

Price:£2.80

Description:

This is actually not deep fried but grilled (2 sides) of a bun with minced pork and pak choi filling. The shin is similar to char sui paw. Please note, in certain restaurants, this is served steamed – its is then simply called choi (vegetable) yuk (meat)  paw (bun).

Name: Mixed meat croquettes                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Harm sui kok                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

This is a strange piece of dim sum – like char sui paw, it is both sweet and savoury. The skin is made of sweeten glutinous rice flour. The inside is a savoury meat mixture – similar to that used in yam croquette. The resulting product is crispy on the outside, sticky on the layer just beneath the crispy bit and savoury and slightly runny on the inside – work this one out!

Name: Won Ton (deep fried)             

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.50

Description:

Won ton is minced pork and prawns with chives, wrapped in a dough skin and is usually boiled and served with a broth or noodle soup. The deep frying produces a large crisp skin.

Name: Pan fried Turnip Paste                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Law bat koh                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

This is made by mixing mashed turnip with flour and water. To this dry shrimps and Chinese sausages are added. The “cake” is then steamed, cut up into sliced and fried.

I have not come across many westerners that likes this first time – it’s an acquired taste.

Name: Grilled Pork Dumplings (pot stickers)                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese): War tip                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

Minced pork (can be minced beef or chicken) in a dough  skin that is fried in a frying pan.  In the case of China Palace, they add prawns to the pork mixture. After 5 minutes – do not disturb the dumplings, a small  glass of water is added, a lid is then put on the pan – this allow the rest of the dumpling to be cooked in the steam. The pan frying gives the dumplings a crispy bottom.

Name: Roast pork puff                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese):   Char sui sow                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

The contents of char sui paw in a puff pastry – baked.

E

Traditionally, Dim Sum is only served till mid afternoon. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch and as a fill me up before dinner. There are many types and are very different between Southern China and Northern China. Most of the dim sum available in the UK originated from Canton although one or two of the northern dim sum has made it onto the list. For example, steamed Shanghai dumplings (sometimes called soup dumplings) and pot stickers (grilled dumplings) have become part of the dim sum offerings in this country.

This article is based on the dim sum menu at China Palace (Reading). I have only included the more common ones which should be available in any Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum.

Please note that each portion normally contains 3-4 dumplings.

Category:  Steamed

Name: Glutinous Rice Dumpling                   

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Nor Mai Kai                    

Price: £3.20

Description:

This is made up of chopped up chicken cooked  a soy sauce based sauce. The chicken is covered in glutinous rice, wrapped in lotus leaves and steamed.

Name: Seafood bean curd skin roll               

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price:£2.80

Description:

This is mainly prawns in an oyster sauce, made into a spring roll shape using bean curd skin – steamed. Bean Curd skin is more texture than taste.

Name: Prawn Dumplings                  

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Har Gaw                   

Price:£2.80

Description:

Whole prawns wrapped in a light rice based pasta skin and steamed. In certain versions, chopped bamboo shoots are added to give it a slight crunchy texture.

Name: Welks in curry sauce              

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price:£2.80

Description:

Exactly what the name says.

Name: Prawns and chives dumplings                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Fai Choi Har Gaw                    

Price:£2.50

Description:

Same as prawn dumplings but with the addition of a lot of chives

Name: Minced pork dumplings                     

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Sui Mai                    

Price:£2.50

Description:

This is an open top dumpling with a minced pork meat ball surrounded by a pasta skin. In certain version, crab and prawns are added to the meat ball

Name: Steamed dumplings Chiu Chow style            

Chinese Name (Cantonese):  Fun Kwor                  

Price: £2.50

Description:

Same type of pastry as used in prawn dumplings. The Chiu Chowstyle is filled with chopped up root vegetable and will come slightly crunchy. In certain Chiu Chow dumplings, prawns are added (not here)

Name: Steamed Minced Beef Meat Balls                   

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Knaw Yuk Yeun                     

Price:£2.50

Description:

Finely minced beef meat balls.

Name: Steamed Beef Tripe with Ginger and Spring Onion                           

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Knaw bat yip                   

Price: £2.50

Description:

Exactly what the name said.

Name: Spare Rib in black bean sauce                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese):                      

Price: £2.50

Description:

Chopped up spare rib – bite size with the bone still in – in a black bean sauce.

Name: Spicy Chicken Claws in Black Bean Sauce                

Chinese Name (Cantonese):Fun Chow                

Price:£2.50

Description:

Exactly what the name said. The Chinese eat for texture and they like squid, skin etc. Chicken feet is mainly eaten for the skin around the foot.

Name: Roast pork bun                       

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Char Sui paw                 

Price:£2.50

Description:

Char sui in a bun. If it’s in pastry its char sui sow. The slightly sweet sauce with in is based on oyster sauce.

Name: Steamed Shanghai Pork Dumplings                                      

Chinese Name (Cantonese): Shui loon paw

Price:£2.50

Description:

Minced pork with chives and ginger to which soup jelly is added. Therefore when the dumpling is cooked, there is liquid (melted jelly) within the dumpling. Beware, you can burn your mouth if you eat this straight from the steamer.

E

 Part 2 – fried dim sum

PS I’ll offer some dim sum recipe later this week including the easiest way to make char sui.

Web site: http://www.titoseateries.com/

Telephone number: 020 7407 7787

Date of visit: 5th June 2010

Approx. cost per head: £20

Comments on wine list/beer: The wine list is limited from a predominantly South American choice. Decent Chilean House Red

Media link:

Review:

First impression was the welcome sight of an open-fronted entrance way giving this tucked away restaurant an airy feel on a balmy June night in London Bridge. As is often the case when dining with a group we initially stalled for time while late-comers arrived. The staff were very patience and friendly while we took our time choosing from an interesting menu with a variety of South American dishes. Our aperitif was a Pisco Sour, the traditional and popular local tipple of Peru which was met with unanimous approval (it’s similar to a margarita but more sour than sweet). However at £6 a glass the price was a bit of a shock – in downtown Lima you wouldn’t pay much more than £1 for the same.
To start I had the Causa Rellena, you can have this dish with chicken or tuna, this is a traditional Peruvian dish of stuffed or mashed yellow potato with a chicken/tuna mayonnaise filling. I also sampled The Ceviche (raw fish in a citrus sauce) and the empanada (similar to a pasty), both were very good. For the main course I had the picante de marsicos, this is seafood in a spicy sauce. I was a bit disappointed with this dish as I was hoping for something spicy but it really wasn’t spicy at all. However, I seemed to be the only person who was disappointed as everyone else seemed to enjoy their main course. I skipped desert and went straight for an Incan Coffee! This was the first I had seen this on a menu and was intrigued by the concept. It is basically an Irish coffee but instead of whiskey they use pisco, and very nice it was too. So despite my main course choice the meal on the whole was good.
For those who like to throw some shapes to a salsa rhythm there is latin-themed dance club in the two floors below the restaurant. £6 entry and a good way to work off those extra few pounds you’ve just consumed!

Richard Yule

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