December 4th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
The Santa Barbara you find in Potts Point is not like the one that appears in maps of California. The latest venture for the Drink N Dine group (Queenie’s, The Carrington, The Abercrombie) audaciously redirects American cuisine by taking left-turn swerves into Asian territory. So there’s Char Sui Ribs ($18), Salt N Pepa Crab ($16), […]
December 4th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 3 Comments »
One way to conjure up the past is with sugar, cream and fizz. This is exactly what the new Jazz City Milk Bar in Darlinghurst does – it evokes the type of old-school American diner where you sip on shakes or root beer floats and then battle spoons over who gets to finish the banana […]
November 30th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 2 Comments »
So the year is almost over, but expect more ‘open’ signs to go up soon. You may spend your upcoming mealtimes at … Ippudo, which will be generating ramen steam-clouds at Westfield Sydney from December 6. (When the New York branch opened in 2008, Japanese news crews covered the event. I wonder if the Sydney […]
October 31st, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 5 Comments »
If you’re looking for an escape hatch to Jamaica – you’ll find it at Queenie’s, the new first-floor restaurant at The Forresters in Surry Hills. It’s a culinary switch-over from the pizza and pasta that was recently served in this space. Credit the change to co-owner Jaime Wirth and executive chef Jamie Thomas (of The […]
October 9th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Favourites, Restaurants | 3 Comments »
You no longer need a boarding pass (or tolerance of long bus trips) to get into MoVida. The well-regarded Melbourne institution has just opened its first NSW outpost in Surry Hills. And while it’s less than a week old, MoVida Sydney arrives with a robust, in-built fan base – the type that will excitedly single […]
October 3rd, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | Leave A Comment »
Here’s a quick snack-sized update. The Crave food festival started yesterday. You have just under a month to enjoy the many appetite-appeasing events that are part of the program. Incidentally, I did some Q&As with festival guests Ruth Reichl, Christina Tosi and Andrew McConnell, which you can read on the Inside Out blog, if you’re […]
September 25th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 4 Comments »
Who doesn’t love an all-purpose chocolate shop? At Josophan’s new city store, which opened last month, you can find spiced drinking chocolate, nut-encased blocks, colour-splattered slabs of cocoa and, importantly, The Best Ice Cream Topping In The World (made of wafer balls, multi-flavoured chocolate pebbles and other crunchy, scoop-enhancing ingredients). There are also chocolate lollipops […]
August 23rd, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 6 Comments »
Here’s a confession of guilt: I’ve declared war on some unending to-do lists and I’m not sure if I’m winning. So, being time-poor, here’s the laziest blog post I’ve come up with: a recap of recent meals via that hazy-coloured memory prop, Instagram. Youeni Foodstore, Surry Hills. The wedges, roasted with rosemary, thyme and Parmesan […]
August 13th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 5 Comments »
Mr Wong on Bridge Lane is next-level great – it’s the James Bond of yum cha restaurants. Whereas other eateries rely on the charm of leaky teapots and lazy-susan spins, this new place has sharp-suited waiters, details revved up to design-to-impress levels and there’s enough exotic glamour to fuel three Daniel Craig films. And like […]
July 30th, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Restaurants | 3 Comments »
Here’s one upside to weeknights – until September 27, it gives you a good excuse to visit The Larder, the pop-up taking place at Otto Ristorante in Woolloomooloo. Otto is great, undoubtedly, but the first I dined there in 2007, I did feel like an income-bracket tourist. It’s a restaurant known for its ritzy celebrity clientele, […]