Author: No Expert

The Rocks – Omelette challenge

Having  just finished watching the Omelette challenge on Saturday Kitchen, my choice of breakfast in The Rocks Restaurant may have been subliminal.  When my ham and cheese omelette arrived in a matter of minutes from order to table, unlike those on Saturday Kitchen which take seconds and look on the whole inedible, this omelette was close to perfect.  Delicious with a really light and fluffy texture. Actually it was easily the best omelette I have had in a long time.

The Rocks on Vauxhall Bridge Road is fairly new, formally Cafe Rocks – a well respected sandwich bar,  it has expanded to double its orginal size and is now a full blown restaurant.  It is a good spot to stop on route to Tate Britain.  The monochrome decor –  black marble tiles, black tables and chairs, may not be to everyones taste, but I thought it was both effective and practical.  I definitely plan to return to try their all day breakfast. The rest of the menu looked interesting too,  it included several Turkish dishes.  I need to make a few more visits and try more of the menu, but based on the omelette (known to be one of the best ways to judge a chefs ability) I suspect The Rocks is something of a Gem! (Pun intended).

Marks out of 10

Food 5.2

Service 5.2

Ambience 6

UPDATE : January 2011 – Made a return visit.  One dish on the menu to avoid is maybe the Eggs Benedict, which is actually not Eggs Benedict.  It tasted ok,  but was missing key ingredients like muffins and ham.

UPDATE : January 2014 – Nice to see that The Rocks is still going strong. Everyone who came in got a warm welcome and the service was good. It had a nice turn over of customers on my visit, with people choosing to both to eat in and take away. I  would recommend the Börek as a main course, it was tasty and nicely presented, although there was too much salad for my taste. They also had a decent selection of cakes and pastries.

 

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Albannach – style on the square (Closed)

The Albannach is pretty established now.  I went there a few times just after it opened, eating in the restaurant and in the bar. I was impressed by the quality and style of the place, especially when you consider its location in Trafalgar Square. So now several years later we decided to make a return visit.  The decor and layout had changed a bit, but the Alabannach still has its own distinctive style.  The interior design incorporates some stunning customized lighting, using a Stag and Antlers theme.

My reservation was based on ordering from the set menu (part of a deal I used to cash in on some of my toptable points). This turned out to be a bit of a false economy, as we found this menu to be a little too basic for our taste.  On past experience I think going a la carte might be a better option here.

The 3 fish terrine we had for starters was good, but the main courses were disappointing,  in that I had to order an extra dish to go with my sea bass and the alternative main course option of lamb stew would not have been out of place in a soup kitchen.  The watery stew was definitely not sophisticated enough for this type of venue.  Fortunately we ordered a very nice (if expensive) bottle of Gewürztraminer to drown the rather disappointing food.

UPDATE : CLOSED

 

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Manta & Blue @ Woolloomooloo!

A post from No Experts Australian Correspondent

I have been meaning to visit Woolloomooloo for quite some time, and finally got the opportunity when a friend invited me to a Bordeaux tasting at the amazingly chic  Blue Hotel. The name Woolloomooloo,  had always held out a fascination for me.  Needless to say 21st century Woolloomooloo bears no resemblance to the outpost I had imagined, instead, this former docklands area has now been re-developed, in a very sympathetic manner.

Manta is one of several top restaurants that line the length of Finger Wharf, housed in the former dockside warehouses, that typified this area. We decided to take advantage of their lunch offer of 2 courses and a glass of wine for $49. As the sun decided to honour us, despite being winter, we elected for an outside table, which offered water views as well as sunshine!

The food was very tasty, with 2 of our party going for the Goats cheese, chive and hazelnut stuffed cannelloni which was deep fried, and delicious. The alternate starter of Prawn cocktail, enlivened with an avocado dip, was superbly fresh! The Sirloin was beautifully done, rare, and accompanied by a divine side order of “Angle Fries” which were topped with shaved parmesan and truffle oil! At $15.50 this one of the most expensive bowls of fries I have ever had, however the amazing taste probably justified the cost. We polished the bowl off, quick smart!

Time did not allow for desert, and we regretfully headed off to an amazing Bordeaux tasting, where the highlight was a 1909 Domaine Sainte Croix Rivesaltes, a partially fortified wine from the South of France. We ended the day laughing, as the gentlemen drawing the prize, bowed to one of our party and offered her the opportunity to pull out a name from the box. She pulled out a name with a flourish,  only for her to draw out her husband’s name from the box! Brilliant! The prize a magnum of 2001 Domaine de Chevalier, Classed Growth Pessac Leognan, which was taken home to be laid down! Great day!

Marks out of 10

Food 6.5

Service 5.8

Ambience 6.9

 

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Tamesis Dock – Hot spot in Vauxhall

Vauxhall may not seem an obvious place to find a riverside bar on a sunny day, but there are a couple – Aqua River Brasserie and The Riverside.  They are directly on the river in St George Wharf, and are sun traps when the weather is good, however they are both rather soulless.  I would pass them by and go for a more quirky venue, namely Tamesis Dock a dutch barge permanently moored on the Thames, with a fabulous view of the Houses of Parliament.

Tamesis Dock is not that much of a gourmet experience  (the menu is mainly wraps and burgers), it’s basically a floating pub, in a great location that regularly hosts live music events.

Marks out of 10 for Tamesis Dock

Food 4.5

Service  4.5

Ambience 6

View 9

 

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Racine @ La Colline

A post from No Experts Australian Correspondent

Racine is beautifully located at La Colline winery, on the lower slopes of Mount Canobolas, in Orange NSW, the restaurant has beautiful views across the vineyards to Orange. Named after the restaurant of the same name in London’s Brompton Road, Racine specialises in local produce, from an area that has become known as “ The Food Basket” of NSW, with the majority of the dishes having over 75% of their ingredients sources locally.

Our initial amuse bouche of Duck and Orange Bullion was beautifully spiced with lemongrass and ginger amongst other spices. It just left us wanting more, which I guess is exactly what a good amuse bouche should do. It was simply delicious!

I started with the Quail Breast and Leg pumpkin purée, garden peas & eschalot accompanied by a 2010 Angullong Sauvignon Blanc. Having tasted a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc earlier in the day, I was not totally shocked by the fact that the wine was so young. The Quail was wonderfully offset by the sweet pea and pumpkin puree.  My partner  started with The Perigord Ham & Pea Consommé which  was delicately spiced, with plenty of ham hock , and crisp fresh peas. This was matched with a lovely ripe Chardonnay, which somewhat over powered the Consommé, but was delicious in it’s own right.

For mains courses we decided to tuck into slow roasted venison loin accompanied by parsnip and white chocolate purée with minted broad beans, which was a very strange combination indeed. The parsnip and white chocolate puree seemed to be completely lacking in any sort of flavour whatsoever. Minted broad beans did seem to complement the venison although this is not a traditional combination. My main course of Slow Cooked pork Belly with pumpkin cream, Brussels sprout leaves, currents and almonds was superbly cooked, with the lovely crackling on top, and wonderfully tender meat. The almonds appeared to have been substituted with hazelnuts at the last minute, which added an extra very likeable dimension to the dish, however I was not totally over awed by the pumpkin cream’s resemblance to diced carrot!

Our finale of Textures of Chocolate, was the star of the evening. A lovely dish, we had chosen to go with 2 spoons, leaving me to wish that I’d ordered one all to my self! Delicious! The textures were well defined, and this dish exceeded in expectations my last experience of this dish at Sidart in New Zealand.

Over all a good night, although the restaurant could certainly have benefited from better supervision of staff, who appeared to spend more time chatting at the bar than serving customers.  I could certainly have managed a couple more glasses of wine had the staff been more attentive. It is a shame that so many country restaurants with superb kitchens, are let down by a poor front of house, never the less, should your travels take you to Orange, I do recommend Racine.

Marks out of 10

Food 6.9

Service 4.9

Ambience 5.9

 

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Highland Heritage – Highland Lodge Meets Swiss Chalet?

A post from No Experts Australian Correspondent

We turned up at Highland Heritage at 1:20pm, amazed to be greeted by a sign that said the restaurant was closed! Quite a shock at 1:20pm on a Sunday afternoon. On popping onto the Railway carriage which Highland Heritage uses as  a Cellar Door, we were advised to go in and ask, because some other customers had just gone inside! We decided to have a try, and were rewarded with a window table with lovely views of the vineyard.

The restaurant itself had the interior design that was somewhat of a cross between a Highland Lodge and Alpine Chalet! The venue specialises in Weddings and other functions, however the food was fairly decent. Our starters of Crab Ravioli with Prawns had good flavour and the prawns were well cooked but the crab stuffing in ravioli was slightly dry.  Scallops and Chorizo were well balanced, however the Chorizo had been chopped so thickly, that it made it quite difficult to chew. Main courses were much better, with a lovely piece of Angus Sirloin and soft well cooked duck.

We skipped desert, as the road to Sydney beckoned.  A  nice enough place, but I don’t think we’d go out of our way to go back, especially in light of the number of fine dining restaurants in the Orange region.

Marks out of 10

Food 4.6

Service 4.2

Ambience 5

 

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