Cooking Crusade

Do you guys have a family favorite Chinese restaurant? I think everyone has one. Its kind of a tradition, isn’t it?

I’ve been going to the Golden Singapura since I was knee high to a grass hopper. A family fave, we still occasionally frequent this place, although I have to admit, less frequently in the recent years, mostly because my Mum is less of a fan of takeaway foods these days. (She’s become a staunch vegan in the last year or so.)

Ever since I started dating my fiance, we discovered a new place close to his family’s home which has quickly become a favorite. Even though it’s not close to his place or mine, whenever we visit his family, we love visiting this place!

I still remember the first time I ever visited Eastern City Chinese restaurant – we were with some friends from Mike’s church who frequently there and after that first time, we were hooked. We had many Sunday night dinners which quickly through the years turned into countless family and birthday dinners.

Oh Eastern City Chinese restaurant, I heart you!

Here are some recent pics of a yummy dinner there recently Pics are a teensy bit dark, sorry bout that peeps!

Honey chicken

Peking Style Beef Strips – Amazing! We order this every time we come..

Mike’s brother’s fave, Mongolian Lamb

Salt and pepper tofu

The chef always makes these amazing little carrot carvings with the dishes – so much detail!!

Who could forget dessert?
Deep fried ice cream with caramel sauce

Vanilla Ice Cream with Lychees

My absolute fave dishes have to be:
Peking style beef strips
Sweet and sour fish
Pan fried snake beans (we generally ask for these without pork, but they do come with them by default)

Eastern City Chinese restaurant is located at:
7 Hillcrest Road
Pennant Hills NSW 2120
Phone number: (02) 9875 1411

They’re also a stone’s throw from the Pennant Hills Train Station if you’re traveling by public transport and as a side note, they also do takeaway!

If you’re in the area, definitely give this one a try!

xoxo
Christine

I know. This post is waaay overdue. I actually went to Bilsons eight months ago. but I feel like it would be a waste of the pics and the dinner if I didn’t at least blog about what was a truly fabulous dinner! Since Tony Bilson taught Tetsuya Wakuda how to cook, my friends and I heavily anticipated Bilson’s restaurant as we figured that his food would be nothing short of epic, and, I’m happy to say that we were right!

note:
I’m still learning my way around my camera (esp. eight months ago!) so pls. forgive me for the less than stellar pics

We arrived at Bilson’s on a Saturday night that we had booked in advance. After we were seated, it wasn’t long before the magic began

We started with some fancy cheese sticks to start;

Then came sourdough with salted butter

Honestly is there anything better than fresh bread (especially sourdough) with butter? mmm.

My alternate amuse bouche (cos of the no eating shellfish/pork thing)

The regular amuse bouche, pea and ham soup

Gazpacho soup that was separated and reintegrated at the table. haha. reintegrated. whenever i see that word, it makes me think of a sci fi for some reason..

One of the best dishes of the night, olive oil cured salmon with goats’ cheese, basil seeds and volcanic salt. the salmon was meltingly tender and the sauces had a wonderful flavour. my friends and i agreed that the sauces were what made the food at Bilsons so special.


Another winner – crispy skinned fish with the most amazing buttery sauce in the world + lobster foam

Mine came without the lobster foam. My friends and I (somewhat) shamefully (are you meant to do this at fancy restaurants?) mopped up the amazing sauce with the sourdough… It was so good that there was no room for regret.

Then came the lamb.. anyone who knows me probably realises that i have a love affair with all things lamb related.. this was the deboned rack of lamb with pureed garlic, aubergine parmiggiana, hollowed out cucumber with a tomato salad and a red wine reduction. getting so full at this point, but the lamb was velvety tender, mm.

A quick shot of a mint/peach palate cleanser that was fruity and refreshing before dessert

Our dessert, the petit sucre (“little sugar” in French) was peach themed.
Dessert was chocolate sauce with pureed peach, with a grilled peach slice, dehydrated peach slice, lavender marshmallow, chocolate mousse and a crispy chocolate square. This was lovely with the peach flavors. The mousse tasted almost like a brownie; it was quite dense and very chocolatey. The crispy chocolate square was amazing – i have no idea how they made it but it tasted wonderfully caramelised so that it was almost smokey.. and the lavender marshmallow also gave this dessert a hint of freshness, just lovely

The petit fours, little almond cakes and chocolate orange macarons (which reminded me strongly of jaffas. but in a really really delicious way!)

I was excited cos I got to wear my new dress for the first time

Summary:
Bilsons was a lovely night out for dinner. Gorgeous food, beautiful service lovely setting – what more can you ask for? (Well, except maybe for a discount. Haha.) I would definitely recommend it for a romantic dinner or out with some friends for a special occasion. I really enjoyed my time here and would love to go again sometime soon.

You can grab three different kinds of degustation at Bilsons;
Petit menu (7 courses) @ $145 AUD per person [$215 AUD with matching wines]
Grand menu (9 courses) @ $195 AUD per person [$290 AUD with matching wines]
These both come with vegetarian degustation as an option as well. Also, my friends shared the matching wines between them and each got a half glass of wine (which was a pretty decent amount) with each course. Bilsons were more than happy to accomodate them for this.
Ultimate degustation menu (15 courses!!) @ $280 AUD per person [or $395 AUD with matching wines]

Hope y’all are surviving this weather!

Peace and love!!
xx
Christine

Bilsons: 27 O’Connell Street Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 8214 0496
Open Tue-Thu,Sat 6pm-10pm; Fri 12pm-2:30pm, 6pm-10pm
Click here for the Bilsons website
Click here for the Bilsons eatability link

After a lovely time of apple picking, my friends and I thought the day would not be complete without some afternoon tea. On the recommendation of Jordy’s brother, we headed towards Megalong Valley Tea Rooms for some soup, pie, warm scones and tea ; and it was total perfection

Brekky menu (sadly we were there too late, but it sounded great!)

Kira and I ask about the soup of the day. Today it’s Split Pea and Ham, Potato and Leek and Pumpkin. After careful deliberation, we both order the pumpkin soup. Jordy orders a steak (made with locally grown “Megalong” beef) and onion pie. For tea, I get my ole fave, peppermint and Jordy tries the Russian Caravan, which is a blend of lapsang souchong with assam black tea. He says it is delicious. We also order some scones, which come with home made blackberry jam and freshly whipped cream.

Jordy with his Russian Caravan (..tea. Sadly not a real Russian Caravan. That would be awesome.)

My peppermint tea.

The pumpkin soup comes deliciously hot with creamy sour cream and butter melting calorifically into the soup. They also sprinkled some coriander leaves on which adds a lovely kick. I loove my coriander. The soup comes with warm bread rolls and butter for $9.50 each.

Jordan’s steak and onion pie. This looks wonderful – with crisp pastry that surounds melt-in-your-mouth beef – that is clearly not mince, but a gorgeous cut of beef that is cooked to perfection and falls to pieces. I drool over it but I am content with my creamy soup and warm crusty, buttered bread. Honestly, is there anything better when you’re super-hungry, than a piece of warm crusty bread with butter? Noooo sir.

The home made pies at Megalong Valley Tea Rooms are $9.50 each and also come in steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, creamy cheese, onion and garden sage.

Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for… the scones. Or should I say, The Scones.

They come out warm with home made jam and softly whipped cream. I don’t know if I’ve told you this, but I have a hugeee weakness for scones, especially fresh, warm scones. The combination of cream, jam and scone is something purely magical. Scones from Megalong valley tea rooms are $9.00 for three scones with jam and cream.

According to history (and a info card I found at the tea rooms), Christine Bundy has been making the scones at Megalong Valley Tea Rooms to her grandmother’s recipe to this day. I’m glad she hasn’t changed anything, cos her granny was doing a top job.

We sat outside and had a pretty magnificent view of the bushland.

The Megalong Valley Tea Rooms are located on Megalong Rd in Megalong Valley, NSW. For more details, photos, menu, history and more, you can check out their website by clicking here.