Farmhouse

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Every once in a while, a restaurant just comes along and blows you away. Their execution is precise and yet they do it so effortlessly. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to Farmhouse, our favourite restaurant of 2016 thus far. I know we’re only early into 2016, but it would take a miracle to topple Farmhouse as our restaurant of the year.

When we recently went to Sydney, we made it our mission to not only revisit some of our favourite restaurants there, but to also expand our horizons in search of something fresh. When Helen told me excitedly she booked a restaurant called Farmhouse for my birthday, I was more than intrigued. She told me this mythical story about a place that brings the country to the city. Country style cooking using fresh produce and everyone sits on a large wooden communal table. That was all I needed to know, and I never looked up the menu or any photos as I wanted to be surprised by what they had to offer.

To my amazement, I found out they were located at Kings Cross! Not the sort of place I’d expect a restaurant with this theme to be located at, however once we got there, I realised that they blended in so seamlessly with their surroundings that I actually forgot where I was. A top notch restaurant should be able to take you on a journey, a place that makes you forget where you are, and their food capable of bringing back vivid past memories, this is what Farmhouse does so well.

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When we arrived we were greeted with an earthy and wooden, rustic feel. Their Farmhouse name was actually etched on a wooden palate outside the entrance – how cool is that?! There were 3 seats available away from everyone else at the bar, that looks into the restaurant itself. However, our preference was always going to be the communal table! Once inside, more rustic wooden cabinets to the left and the exposed wooden beams really set the place off! Due to us being a little late for the 6:30PM session, we were a little bit behind with the first course. This wasn’t a problem at all, as they quickly brought the food out to us, and we soon caught up to the others with our lightning eating speeds!

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Farmhouse hits that magical sweet spot of $60 AUD per person for their 5 course set menu. Even though Helen and I spend a lot of money eating out, it still feels a bit expensive when the food is $100 or above per person. This price is exceptional value for the quality of food you get here.

Whilst all the dishes were great, there were 3 dishes which really stood out. The spanner crab with a light corn soup, asparagus and radish, the whole baked Rainbow trout with mash, farmhouse tabbouleh, wasabi/sour cream condiment, zucchini & pine nut salad and the cold ‘apple pie’ were the cream of the crop! The texture and sweetness of the crab meat is boosted when combined with the light corn soup. The whole rainbow trout was really fresh, and I love it when fish is served whole! I think we tend to forget what fish looks like at times due to us eating so many fillets. Texture was soft and tender, the wasabi and sour cream condiment gave it a nice little kick. The colours of the whole carrots, the thin slices of zucchini and the rough scatter of dill shows that this is indeed country style cooking.

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I was most skeptical with the cold ‘apple pie’, as I don’t generally like apple pies much. This turned out to be one of my favourite desserts of all time… this cold and deconstructed apple pie was very creative as it had granita on top. The combination of the crumble was crunchy and every bite sent chills up my spine! Delicious.

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Our visit to Farmhouse has been an eye opening experience. By creating a set seasonal menu, the chef is working around the fresh produce. I don’t believe it should ever be the other way around as no chef could make bad produce taste good. By having a set menu it presents everyone with the same foods, therefore people don’t get to pick their own dishes. Whilst this may sound negative, I believe it opens up people to foods which they otherwise would not order. This is a form of food education and I like the fact that it takes people out of their comfort zone. For example, I would have never ordered a cold ‘apple pie’ if I saw it on the menu, but because I got it as part of this set menu, it became one of my favourite desserts of all time! Funny how sometimes having a choice can hinder your food experiences.

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Chef and co-owner Mike Sung also came out to have a chat to us and even gave us free dessert wine for my birthday. Farmhouse really is the complete package and I’m so happy to have enjoyed this experience. I cannot wait to revisit next time I’m in Sydney. Until then we wish Mike and his team all the best!

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Farmhouse
Approx $60 AUD per person
Website: farmhousekingscross.com.au
Address: 4/40 Bayswater Rd, Rushcutters Bay NSW 2011
Phone: +61 448 413 791

Farmhouse Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Korean / American fusion @ Little Oscar

We were recently invited by Little Oscar to come check out their restaurant and were of course delighted and accepted! Thank you again Little Oscar for the awesome food and great hospitality, let’s get straight into it!

Little Oscar is very new and only opened a couple of months ago in Brunswick, specialising in  Korean-American fusion. Yes, you heard right! Our interest was piqued, and boy were we pleased!

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We loved the layout of the place as soon as we entered. From the rustic bricks, modern wooden decor and ropes woven throughout the restaurant, to the live band that was performing; it had a really chilled out vibe about it.

Little Oscar Feature photo

 

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Our waitress was super friendly, talked us through the menu and took our orders. The food also came out really fast. We ended up ordering the Little Oscar Burgers, which consisted of a wagyu beef patty, cheese, lettuce, onion jam, pickles, tomato and their Little Oscar sauce, the Gangnam Style was the Korean influenced burger with fried chicken, Asian slaw, kimchi and roasted sesame seeds. Both were mini burgers and served in lots of two. They were both really nice, the wagyu beef patty was well flavoured but the fried chicken burger stood out for us. They do their chicken exceptionally well, crispy on the outside whilst soft and moist on the inside.

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So of course we had to get their popular KFC (Korean fried chicken) which was sooo good! Again it was crispy and moist but the flavours of the seasoning was just spot on too. It wasn’t overly salty or sweet so we could devour heaps of it. We also got their Little Oscar’s battered onion rings with their special chilli creamy sauce. They were probably the best onion rings we’ve ever had! They were freshly deep fried and so crispy and flavoured, we couldn’t stop eating them! To complement the mains, we ordered the sweet wekame (seaweed) and organic silken tofu salad which provided a healthy acidic touch to our meal. Tofu was silky and textured.

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Finally for dessert we ordered the Hwarang which had sweet wekame seaweed and sesame jelly with mango, coconut ice cream with pomegranate and desiccated coconut. Again it didn’t disappoint and we scoffed this dish up pretty quickly! The combination of fresh fruit and sweetness was perfect.

Overall we were really happy with the food, service and vibe and would highly recommend this place to anyone. Staff were so nice and Lorance in particular was so great and informative to chat to. Little Oscar is a young but upcoming place to eat good food, drink and chill. They’ve got all the core elements in place to make a successful place blossom and we have no doubt they will do well!

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Little Oscar
Approx $25 AUD per person
Website: www.littleoscar.com.au
Address: 41 Lygon Street, Brunswick VIC 3056
Phone: +61 3 8383 3165

Little Oscar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

ST. ALi

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Since it’s the weekend, I thought I would write a review for you guys, to let you know about one of my favourite brunch places. There’s always been a bit of hype around the St. Ali coffee, but I found their coffee at the Church of Secular Coffee at Monash University a bit underwhelming. I was skeptical to say the least venturing all the way to South Melbourne at the risk of being disappointed again. Well what can I say, I too like to live dangerously, so off to St. Ali South Melbourne we went!

After driving around looking for parking a bit, we finally settled for a spot around 800 metres away. I don’t mind parking a little further sometimes as we’re usually stuffed to the max afterwards, and I’ll take any cardio I can get. If you insist on getting parking close to St. Ali, all I can say is, expect to be disappointed.

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When I got to St. Ali I noticed it was just a massive warehouse, it reminded me of a place you’d pick up furniture from. When we walked in, we soon realised that this place was way cooler than any furniture warehouse, it was home to culinary goodness! I had to take a break from looking at all the nicely presented dishes flowing to the tables, and soak in the atmosphere a bit. The decor is very rustic and has a distressed furniture look about it. Other places need to deliberately make the inside look rustic, but with St.Ali being an old warehouse, it achieves this feel effortlessly. There were no consistency with the chairs and tables, as long as it looked old school, they were in! I personally loved the look of the place, the high ceiling makes air conditioning redundant.

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The latte which we got here was a lot better than the one at Monash University. It was smooth and had the right amount of bitterness. It also wasn’t too weak and served at the ideal temperature. So much emphasis is placed on their coffee, but I actually found the food to be the standout! Presentation was top notch and the dishes had a certain finesse about it. The food tastes as good as it looked, I was very impressed indeed.

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We got the Kingfish Crudo, My Mexican Cousin and a Bircher Museli. The waiter was nice enough to warn me that the Kingfish Crudo was raw, and I wouldn’t want it any other way! This dish was so appetising, acidity was bang on, the fish was fresh and the watermelon balanced everything out beautifully. Not that cheap for $22, but I’d say it was worth it. It wasn’t that filling as my first meal, so I also got myself a Bircher Museli. This was the best Bircher Museli I’ve ever had! The lemon cured labneh just did it for me. I had to google what labneh was, it’s just yoghurt strained to remove the whey. The lemony taste elevates this dish to another level, how can I possibly go back to other Bircher Muselis!?! Topped with berries and half a passionfruit also, it felt like this dish was custom made for me. It was my favourite dish and I highly recommend it. I didn’t get to eat much of the My Mexican Cousin. Helen said it was too good to share, she offered me a bite and it was pretty damn good also! None of the dishes we had could be faulted, perfecto!

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Great atmosphere and outstanding food has shot St. Ali up to be one of my favourite brunch places. I admire the thought and creativity which has gone into their menu. A lot of brunch places tend to just follow one another and play it safe with their food. Full credits to St. Ali for breaking away and putting their own twist in the dishes. Make it your mission to check them out if you haven’t already been, because I’d hate for you to miss out!

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ST. ALi
Approx $30 AUD per person
Website: www.stali.com.au
Address: 12-18 Yarra Pl, South Melbourne VIC 3205
Phone: +61 3 9686 2990

St Ali Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato