Hurricane's Grill and Bar - Top Ryde

It was our friend's birthday so we decided to visit Hurricane's Grill and Bar at Top Ryde for some awesome steaks and ribs! For super meat lovers (ie. Bun), this place is like a total heaven. The restaurant was about 95% full when we got there, and just when the giant Christmas tree started to lit up in front of Hurricane's Grill and Bar.

The waiters and bartenders were extremely busy, and diners inside Hurricane's Grill and Bar seemed happy and enjoying their meals. The atmosphere at Hurricane's Grill and Bar was vibrant and cheerful, quite perfect for the festive season coming ahead. We stood there a little to wait for our booked table, while the irresistible sights of ribs and steaks hovered around us a couple of times to make us swallow our own drool.

Garlic Roll $4.50

Finally after we sat down at our table, we decided to pick this starter to kick off our meal. The crust was quite crunchy, so I guess we all loved this as it was gone in a speed of light.

Natural Oysters (half $21.00 / dozen $38.00)

How can we ignore the oysters on Hurricane's Grill and Bar menu? As soon as we saw it, we decided to order a dozen. It comes with fresh lemon and Tobasco sauce for us to indulge, and the oysters lied neatly above the rock salts. I loved that moment when you gulp down the oyster, when the salty flavour hits you with a tiny sting, and they were so fulfilling.


Main dishes (drum roll):

Orders from our friends A and J (below), they seemed very happy with their meal...mmmm meeeeat!!!

Our orders for the night:

Junior T-Bone (400gm) $32.00 (either with chips or baked potato) with pepper sauce ($2.50)

Bun has always been a fan of T-bone steak (median rare), when I asked him why, he always says it had a different taste to other parts (yes, Bun has popped out again...). While he was imagining the steak talks back to him and admiring its juiciness, I managed to take a snap shot. One bite of this was good enough to make you dance around in joy, as it was extremely tender with a tiny bit of fat to compliment. We swear at Hurricane's Grill and Bar, you probably don't even need sauce to go with its meat, it was already so good just by itself.

Beef Ribs (Half $31.90, Full 42.90) either with chips or baked potato (You can also pick lamb or pork ribs)

This was said to be Hurricane's most famous dish, so I knew I had to pick this to have a try. While everyone else on the table having fun eating their meal, I waited another half hour or so until it finally arrived. The waiter gave me one of those (shown in bottom right picture) to me to prepare me for the craziness later on (I can sort of imagine the bits and pieces from the ribs flying everywhere as I get too excited). This certainly entertained the others as I looked like a chubby baby trying to learn how to eat for the first time. I don't know what the "secret sauce" at Hurricane's Grill and Bar is, but it definitely hit the right spot! My hands were covered with this sticky sauce with that bit of sweetness, and I really couldn't resist licking the fingers like what people did on the other table. As you bite off one side of the rib, the beef just started hanging down to give you that amazing second to bite all the rest of the meat in one bite. Mmmm...200% SATISFACTION. Oh, the bonus point? Order it with the baked potato!!


All of us loved Hurricane's Grill and Bar, they were certainly one of the best places in Sydney for meat lovers! We noticed that they actually had burgers and skewers on their menu too...oh well...next time :D


Address:
Top Ryde City Shopping Centre
Shop R 3006 Ground Level
Cnr Blaxland Road & Devlin Street
Ryde NSW

Phone number:
02 9130 7101

Opening time:
Lunch:
Mon - Fri 12pm - 3pm
Dinner:
Mon - Fri 5pm till late
Sat, Sun & Public holidays 12pm - late


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Pancakes on the Rocks - Canterbury

Situated at the busy intersection of Beverly Hills, Pancakes on the Rocks seemed to be forever popular here since its opening. The line usually started to built around 6pm, so we decided to arrive slightly earlier to avoid the crowd.

Potato wedges $6.95 (With sweet chilli sauce add $1.50, with sour cream add $1.50)

The wedges were cooked to the perfect golden brown colour with a crunchy edge and soft core. Every time we loved it as a little side dish, especially with the sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. They were chopped to the right size to just fit into the grasp of 2 fingers.

Mexicana $15.95

Our favourite savoury pancake from Pancakes on the Rocks has got to be this one, the Mexicana. As one of their top sellers, it contained the mouth-watering filling of Mexican style beef, tomato salsa, spicy tomato sauce, tasty cheese, guacamole, sour cream and shallots, together served on a bed of lettuce and 2 pieces of Nachos. The burning sensation from the chilli slowly crawls from the tip of your tongue down to your throat, and then you get a chance to cool it down with a satisfying gulp of guacamole.




Devils delight $14.95

As another one of the popular pancakes from Pancakes on the Rocks, the Devils delight consists of 2 spongy chocolate pancakes placed on the plate with surrounding strawberries. The scoop of chocolate ice cream sits comfortably on the layer of cream, along with the dancing patterns of chocolate sauce. It was a great dessert to share between 2 people, we loved every single bits of it.


For some reason, both me and Bun found the pancakes at this chain to be more fresh than all others. It also seemed that the staffs were more friendly and attentive, and the orders arrived at a reasonable timeframe. We loved the fact that Pancakes on the Rocks has always seemed to be full of energy, and the kids truly enjoyed their meals here with lots of smiles and laughter.


Address:
Cnr King Georges Road and Stoney Creek Road
Beverly Hills NSW 2209

Phone number:
02 9580 7200

Opening time:
Sun - Thu 7am - 12am
Fri - Sat 7am - 1am


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Batch Burgers & Espresso

There's something fascinating about the traditional American diner style, the New-York themed café and its giant sized burgers. With half of the area inside "Batch Burgers & Espresso" being occupied by the kitchen and constant sizzling aroma crawling to the street outside, the friendly waitress showed us our high bar seats right in front of our chefs for the night.

The menus were almost like they were stamped onto the tables, displaying their impressive list of burgers with familiar names such as Brooklyn and the Miami, and as well as a whole range of side dishes. The workers smiled and greeted their customers, occasionally having a small chat about foot ball and Saturday night drinks. Multiple numbers of takeaway bags filled up the kitchen tables, lining up and shuffling in the speed of light. The chunky mince patties flashed right before our eyes, accompanied by a whole bunch of fries dancing in the frying spots. It was hot, and certainly appealing for a Saturday night dinner along with lively American Hip Hop beats on the background.




Snacks - Chilli Fries $7.00

We had never thought fries could come in this form, where it's covered by small and chopped up pieces of mince along with cheese and spicy sauce. The mixture turned out surprisingly zesty, and every mouthful was full of flavours. Bun loved it, so there goes 3/4 of the bowl. I would certainly recommend this, and it's probably more enjoyable when shared with someone.





Burgers - Spicy Mexican $14.00

While we sat there, I think we heard about 3 others ordering this same burger, so it got to be GOOD! This humongous burger contained chilli mince, smoked cheddar, tomato, Spanish onion, Jalapenos & sour cream with hot taco sauce, so it was an absolute masterpiece I must say. The burger was so big that I found it very difficult to fit into the bite of my little mouth, so I had to slice it apart and watched the precious cheese and mince fell and splat on the plate. The buns has done a good job trying to hold each layer properly in place, despite the obvious observation that the chunky mince patty wanted to shoot out desperately. The Mexican flavour has immersed into this burger perfectly in every single way, and it was just so satisfying to chomp it all down and enjoy that flame left in your mouth.





Very unfortunately, I was way too full after 3/4 way of the burger, and I felt so sad to leave that very little piece behind. We laughed at the mess that I have made on my plate, with bits of cheese and mince tangled together and looked as if they'd come alive in any minute and start wiggling. We were satisfied, more than 200%.

This place will be awesome to come with a bunch of friends to have a quick catch up before heading down to the town for a big night, and you can even start your pre-drinks here if you want. I imagined this place will probably be in a totally different atmosphere if you come for breakfast or lunch, and we have to say the breakfast menu looks pretty welcoming! (NEXT TIME!! ho hum)


Address:
2/3A Broughton Street, Kirribilli NSW

Phone number:
02 9929 8883

Opening time:
7days 7am - 10pm


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Chur Burger

"Does this place sound familiar to you?" One day Bun asked me randomly. "Hummm..." I hesitated as I desperately searched inside the memory storage inside my brain with less than 1mb of space left. DING-DING! That's where Assiette use to be? I started remembering us driving pass by that little restaurant every weekend or so, with the label of "Chur Burger".

So here we were, trying out Chur Burger on a lively Saturday night at Surry Hills. When we got there, the place was full of people, young and old, male and female, casual and semi-formal, families and singles. The diners had one thing in common, as they all loved that vibrant atmosphere where it felt more like a party than a dinner at the restaurant. We ended up picking a seat near the windows, so that we can tease the people outside with our hungry faces.

Milo Milkshake $8.00

Bun loves Milo, and as well as milkshake. The combination certainly satisfied his craving. Before I watched him gulping down that large amount of liquid in less than a few minutes, I managed to sneak a few sips of its sweetness. Mmm...quite gooooood.




Sides - Chips with chilli salt $5.00

Our little bad habit of "can't survive without some fried food" got to us, so we ended up grabbing a bowl of chips with chilli salt. It was funny how we both strangely thought the chips flavours reminded us of those chilli "Kettle" chips. They were hot and fresh, but may be a little too salty.

Burgers $10.00
Top: Grilled beef cheese, tomato jam, mustard mayo, pickle.
Bottom: Grilled lamb, mint sauce, feta, red onion, aioli.

Want to know the biggest difference between the 2? While the beef burger with that melting cheese created that exploding juiciness in the bites, the lamb burger remained consistently dry except for the swirling bits of sauce. Bun didn't like pickles so those were taken out from the beef burger, thus making it even more perfect =3= While I find myself becoming more and more lagged to eat the last bits and pieces, I realised I liked the lamb much more than the feta. In the end, we both managed to finish the burgers as their portion was quite reasonable (not super big)!

In addition, it was both fun and weird to sit next to the window, with people stared at your face while you turn into a perfect advertisement for whatever you were eating. I remembered we were quite distracted as we saw a bunch of people dressed up as fairies, people going on Buck's night, bored-looking dog walkers etc etc. Yes, we should really sit at the middle of the room and just concentrate on our food?!


Address:
48 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW

Phone number:
02 9212 7979

Opening time:
Mon 11.30am - 5pm
Tue - Sat 11.30am - 10pm
Sun CLOSED


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Lord of the fries

The moment we walked into this small takeaway shop, we were overwhelmed by the size of the crowd. Yes, this was "Lord of the fries"! They were fresh and not frozen, with less fat, skin on, and cooked in quality oil. Started as a food truck venture in Melbourne all the way back in 2004, they have then arrived at one of Sydney's busiest street, George Street, just a little while ago.



Before we even visited here, I had my eyes locked on the "French Canadian" deluxe sauce. The sound of shredded CHEESE and hot GRAVY was just too hard to resist, we could almost picture it with drools coming out of our mouth.

Large fries $6.95 + French Canadian sauce $2.50 (Shredded cheese + hot gravy) Total $9.45

When we finally got it...well...I don't know. Shall I say it was a little disappointing? The fries didn't taste that special to me, it was like something in between hot chips and hot wedges. Not too crunchy and yet not too soggy, and we didn't taste much of the skins. As much as we loved the magnificent sauce combination, this box with a price tag of $9.45 in total could still be quite overpriced in comparison.


Every time we walk pass by, there was still a line outside waiting for the freshly made fries. With people smiling and laughing everywhere, we still believe a lot of them indeed loved the fries. However, we just can't really see ourselves going there over and over again just for the fries. Perhaps we can try something else next time??


Address:
537 George Street, Sydney

Opening time:
10am - late



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Charlie & Co Burgers (Sydney Westfield)

Burgers. Mmmm yuuuum! Both me and Bun love burgers (not to mention how addicted we were with McDonald's lamb burger awhile ago), so when we heard about Charlie & Co Burgers inside Sydney Westfield, we got very curious.

Coke $4.50

This place was quite big with bright lighting, a little different to what we thought. We found a seat near closing time and ordered an icy coke first to relieve the exhaustion from walking around. They gave us one of those buzzers to wait for our order...



Charlie's Hangover Burger $12.00 (prime Angus beef patty, hash brown, cheddar cheese, fried egg, prime back bacon and BBQ sauce) + Sea salt fries $6.00 (side dish)

Ta-da! Bun and I decided to share a burger and some sea salt fries! The reason we picked the Hangover burger was because...

1. Somehow it sounds disturbing and entertaining at the same time *cough* we love odd names like these.
2. It included ALL the ingredients we would ever wish for to be inside a burger, especially the hash brown. Mmmm..




Gosh the burger was huge! I'm glad we actually decided to share one beforehand...Bun said it was almost the size of his face!

We both totally loved every single layer of this burger, from top to bottom! The combination of hash brown, beef patty and bacon was such a genius idea. The beef patty squeezed out its juice everytime when you bite into it, along with the flavoursome bacon and the soft hash brown...not to mention the heat slowly melted down the Cheddar cheese, and the fried egg that came with a splash of awesome BBQ sauce!!! We were happy about everything, except maybe the bread was a bit too chunky and perhaps this burger was more suitable for breakfast.



Address:
86 - 100 Market Street
Westfield Sydney, Sydney NSW

Phone number:
02 8072 7777

Opening time:
Sun - Wed 10am - 6pm
Thu 10am - 9pm
Fri & Sat 10am - 8pm


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Bloodwood

 

The Bloodwood Restaurant and Bar was located at the quieter side of Newtown, mysterious and secluded. The interior reminded me of the movie called "Inception" where no ordinary rules applied for its designs, thus you will see bottles forming part of the wall, random recycled materials, illusional patterns that merged with stairs, and light bulbs hanging down the ceiling like a starry sky.

 

We got allocated to a table upstairs just near the staircase, and we were delighted by the warm and friendly waiters. When the menus were given to us, we had absolutely no problem in selecting the first entree dish, as we came to try out this dish since the beginning.

Polenta chips with Gorgonzola sauce  $9.00

I've heard stories about these chips, mostly just about how fat and chunky they were. So we have decided to see it ourselves, and exactly how fascinating it was. The size of each chips were like wedges, except they were 10 times more delicious. The golden crust coated the soft inner core, and they were ready to be dipped deeply into the white Gorgonzola sauce. Bun said he found this dish quite bland and tasteless, but I actually liked it! (I have this weird habit where I like to eat the very original flavour of chips) Not sure whether it was because of the crust, or due to the creamy sauce, but I found every bite was very fulfilling.

PS: Polenta is a paste or dough made from cornmeal as used in Italian cooking. Gorgonzola is a type of rich and strong-flavoured Italian cheese with bluish-green veins.


Seared tuna, plum glaze, apple and snow pea tendrils  $18.00

This was quite an interesting dish, where the sweet and sourness of the fruits helped to highlight the freshness of the tuna. I liked how thin each slice was, and how easy it was to swallow them (very very smooth!). Although we had to say we wished the portion was bigger than that.


Glazed hombrea chicken with chickpeas, kale, smoked sausage and pickled onion  $32.00

Funny how with this dish, I actually enjoyed the vegetable side more than the meat. The vegetables were all soaked with full flavours and they complimented the meat really well. I liked the smoked sausage but still found it a bit salty to my taste. Along with the pile of crunchy chickpeas, there lied the row of juicy chicken, and I do find their skins were a lot more tempting than the actual meat.


Being the Best Bar with Food and Best Casual Restaurant previously, we found Bloodwood had some really smart and sophisticated dishes to offer for its customers. However, we thought the portion could be seen as quite small for some people. The restaurant itself had dim lighting, funky music and as well as a chatty crowd. We wouldn't mind to return to this place again one day, just to try its range of cocktails and desserts.


Address:
416 King Street, Newtown NSW

Phone number:
02 9557 7699

Opening time:
Mon  5pm till late
Tue  CLOSED
Wed & Thu  5pm till late
Fri & Sat  midday till late
Sun  midday till 10pm


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New Zealand Part 2: Queenstown

Hello again! Hope everyone had a great start of 2013 and a good Christmas/New year holiday there! Now I finally get the time to go back writing my posts for New Zealand trip, here's the entry about Queenstown...


After 1 hour something of flight, we saw the realm of endless mountains, transparent rivers, and clear blue sky. The first breath of Queenstown was magnificent, we felt as alive as ever.

I've totally anticipated the moment when we stopped at the Skyline and we just couldn't wait to take a ride on the Gondola. The view was breath-taking, so great that I felt like I'm above the clouds.



We arrived at our table to find a perfect panoramic view of the alpines and flowing rivers, it was unbelievable to dine here.


The restaurant itself was huge, with groups of tourists gradually showing up to fill the tables.

They had a wide range of selection too, although I guess the main focus here is still seafood.


Here's my first plate, full of slices of beef that just got cooked on the spot, the fresh prawns, the potato and vegetable salads, and my favourite salmon and prawn roll wrapped in warm pastry.



I decided to go abit lighter with the second plate, so I grabbed a big chunk of Salmon, plenty of lettuce and cauliflower, another salmon and prawn roll, and a bowl of pumpkin soup (ohhh it's so delicious!). Ummm...ok the little cupcake was an accident (as if!)....actually I couldn't wait so I had to grab one!!



Finally, the plate of flooding desserts! I got the chocolate and caramel mousse, brownie, coffee cake and some other caramel cake. They were quite sweet so I couldn't indulge as much as I wanted to...

It was a brilliant meal and totally worth it, I would recommend this visit to anyone who goes to Queenstown.


Address:
Brecon Street Queenstown 9300
New Zealand

Phone number:
64 3441 0101

Opening time:
http://www.skyline.co.nz/queenstown/opening-time-qt/


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Some of the sceneries along the road trip around Queenstown/Milford Sound:

I took this at a pond I found on the way to Milford Sound, and the trees formed a perfect frame for the mountains in the background.



This is Milford Sound, the eighth wonder of the world?? The view was stunning! Highly recommend a boat ride there!



In a country where there are more sheep than human beings, no doubt they look so relaxed and happy everywhere!



One of our other stop was at the famous Fergburger place, we first noticed this place from Tripadvisor and decided to see why everyone loved it so much!

The place was actually quite small with very limited tables, and it was full of people in every corner! Surprisingly they also had a Japanese menu, guess there must've been alot of Japanese tourists coming to this place too.

The tables and seats are very limited, so we were very lucky to have found one after our order.


Here it is! The burger that's bigger than your face!


We couldn't believe how good the burger tasted, and the ingredients used here were so fresh and fulfilling. The only thing you gonna worry about here is probably how to eat it! I tried bitting it but had an epic fail, you can't seem to consume a mouthful even if you opened your mouth to the maximum width!



Our favourite city of the South Island trip is probably Queenstown, just because we were totally amazed at its sceneries. The beautiful mountain peaks were still covered in snow when we got there, which created numerous photos that could be used as post-card materials! We loved the air there, it was 200% pure and clean! If people ever get a chance to visit New Zealand, Queenstown is definitely the place you wouldn't want to miss out.


Address:
42 Shotover Street Queenstown Town Centre 9300
New Zealand

Phone number:
64 3441 1232


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*To Be Continued*

Coming next: Beauty of Lake Tekapo