Sydney - Quay

It's hard to imagine anything dwarfing the Sydney skyline, but that is exactly what Quay's food does. Directly across the Harbour from the Opera House, the restaurant offers stunning city views that are hard to ignore. Until the first course arrives.

Quay's signature menu was a bit intimidating. I was skeptical about dishes like sea pearls made of sashimi tuna, aquaculture caviar, sea scallop, smoked eel, octopus mud crab, abalone. The only thing I knew about sea pearls was that they had a frou frou name, and the combination of raw fish would either be amazing or terrible. I was relieved that they looked appetizing and was astonished by how good they tasted. The texture was just right, and the flavor combinations were clever.

It only got better from there. The best dish of the night was dessert. It was an ambitious mousse that skillfully combined eight different kinds of chocolate. The subtle differences of the chocolates melded together into the most divine dessert I have ever had.

By far, Quay was my favorite restaurant of the trip. Chef Peter Gilmore created imaginative dishes, setting the bar high and never disappointing.

Best Stuffing in the World

As I start a new, painfully full week, I am wishing it were Thanksgiving Day again and I were still eating the most amazing stuffing ever:


The genius behind the stuffing? My friend Doug. He makes the croutons from scratch. Brilliant

A Thanksgiving Thought

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to explore my love of food at home, fancy restaurants, hole-in-the-wall diners, cupcake boutiques, wine shops, specialty cheese shops, etc. But many people are not so fortunate and struggle just to put food on the table. So at Thanksgiving, I like to make an extra effort to help those less fortunate by donating canned goods at local food drives and contributing to food banks, like Feeding America. Bread for the City also has a cool holiday campaign where you can donate a meal to a family:

'Tis the season for pies

I'm momentarily interrupting my never-ending Australia food write-up to focus on Thanksgiving, the most important holiday of the year. Thanksgiving is at the heart of every foodie, and pie is at the heart of every Thanksgiving. Without pie at Thanksgiving, a foodie may aimlessly eat through the entire holiday season never finding satisfaction, no matter how magical a Christmas cookie or beautiful the buffet. Something is missing. Pie.

Fortunately, you can find pie everywhere this time of year. My pie pick for the season is Dangerously Delicious. It offers every pie you've ever dreamed of from sweet to savory, including Pumpkin, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chess, Strawberry, Steak Mushroom Onion and Gruyere, and Sausage Tomato Fennel.

The shop opens early next month. In the meantime, for information on how to order a Thanksgiving pie, go to http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/77271/Dangerously-Delicious-DCs-Early-Holiday-Orders.

Sydney - Bar Roundup

Though the best drink of the trip was at Jimmy Liks, here are some other stand-out Sydney bars with great drinks:

The Victoria Room - A Victorian atmosphere with a twist. Addictive drinks made with real sugar cane.

Lotus Bar - Every city seems to have a Lotus Bar, so I expected drinks equally as generic. I was pleasantly surprised by the well-made drinks, creative cocktail menu, and friendly bartender.

The Argyle - Good drinks in an awesome space.

Sydney - Jimmy Liks

King's Cross is Sydney's red light district, where hardly anything is understated. I heard Jimmy Liks' bold Asian flavors were no exception, so I was shocked when I saw its unassuming entrance. Could this be the right place?

Inside, the decor was modern and simple, with lighting that gave a cozy warmth to the dining room.

I already knew I wanted to try as much as possible. The tasting menu promised a challenge with its eight different dishes with copious amounts of rice:

Oyster with Nahm Jim
Chicken Betel Leaf with Smoked Eggplant Chili & Eschalot Relish
Salt & Pepper Baby Squid with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Poached Chicken Crab Salad with Leomongrass Coconut Mint & Thai Basil
Crispy Pork Hock with Tamarind & Tamarillo Sauce & Bahm Plah Prik
Aunty Tao's Grilled Chicken with Peanut & Kaffir Lime Dipping Sauce
Vietnamese Braised Waguy Beef with Thai Basil Vietnamese Mint & Chili Lime Dressing
Steamed Gailan with Ginger & Yellow Bean

All of the dishes were impressive, skillfully blending dramatic spices with the featured ingredient. I felt like a kid at Christmas as I made my way through each new concoction. The Poached Chicken Crab Salad with Leomongrass Coconut Mint & Thai Basil was heavenly, the spices were savory but did not overwhelm the crisp, fresh salad - I could have eaten it forever.

The drinks were the best I had on the trip. (I will post later with a quick overview of my favorite Sydney bars, but in the meantime take my word, Jimmy Liks had some tough drink competition.) I tried two teas: Ho Chi and Thai. I didn't think it could get any better than the Thai Tea with fresh lychees, lime vodka sake, and lychee liqueur topped with lemongrass tea, until I tried the Ho Chi Tea. Its green apple and mint smashed with bison grass vodka absinthe and topped with blackcurrant tea were absolutely incredible. I would fly back to Sydney right now just to get one if I could.

Jimmy Liks was not the most critically acclaimed restaurant on the itinerary, nor was it the fanciest, but it was refreshing to go to a restaurant with the confidence and skill to let the food speak for itself.

Canberra - Ginger Room

I am a big history nerd, especially when it comes to politics. So when I heard there was a restaurant in Canberra's Old Parliament House, I geeked out. From 1927 until 1988, the Australian Parliament was based out of the Old Parliament House, then known as the Provisional Parliament House, since it accommodated Parliament while the government built a permanent Parliament House. 61 years later, the Parliament finally moved to the new Parliament House. The Old Parliament House became a venue for cultural events and home to The Ginger Room restaurant.

The Ginger Room restored the Parliament members' private dining room. The restaurant remained faithful to the art deco room while incorporating modern accents and views of the New Parliament House. The menu offered contemporary food with Asian and French influences. To make the most of this impressive menu, I opted for the degustation with matching wines, it included:

Prawn Wantons with Shiitake Mushrooms

Tomato and Basil Croquettes

Kangaroo Fillet with Pear and Parsnip Purée and Red Currant Glaze

Selection of Cheeses

Red Wine Poached Pear with Cinnamon Spiced Doughnuts

The food was good, but did not live up to its artful presentation. The wantons and croquettes were bland and unmemorable. I was wary of kangaroo dish, hesitant to eat an animal so tied to the country's identity that it is on the Australian Coat of Arms. But, with the kangaroo population burgeoning and my curiosity getting the better of me, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Sadly, the kangaroo was not nearly as thrilling as I imagined. The seasoning was nice, but did not bring out the flavors of the meat as well as it could have. I was left wondering if kangaroo fillet was as unexciting as my 100th kangaroo siting (they really are everywhere).

The menu's strengths were the cheese plate and dessert. Diners could chose several cheeses from The Ginger Room's well-stocked cheese cart. (I was impressed that they had a cheese cart - it is a brilliant concept I haven't encountered often enough.) I have a weakness for doughnuts, so I knew I would love dessert. But the poached pear was surprising, momentarily distracting me from my cinnamon doughnut rampage. This may sound unimpressive, but it is no small feat - when I am in the midst of a doughnut rampage, I have a laser-like focus that is rarely deterred.

The historic setting distinguished The Ginger Room, not the food. The menu's concept was clever, but its execution was lacking.

Blue Mountains - Darley's Restaurant

The Blue Mountains in New South Wales are majestic, with their sandstone plateaus covered by gum trees (eucalyptus to those of us in the States), deep gorges, and rain forests. The mountains got their name from the gum tree oil that seeps into the air, covering the ridges with a blue haze.

Darley's Restaurant overlooks the Jameson Valley from the Blue Mountains. A historic home houses the restaurant, and it still has the original fire places and stained glassed windows. Executive Chef, Hugh Whitehouse, features fresh, local food in his seasonal menus. The wine list is expansive, offering local and international wines. The Sydney Morning Herald awarded Darley's its 2009 Good Food Award for 'Regional Restaurant of the Year.'

Clearly this is a restaurant I needed to try.

After ordering a Pinot Noir from Orange, a town about 100 miles west, I took a closer look at the menu. Oddly, it referred to appetizers as "entrees" and entrees as "mains." I didn't care what the menu called each course, everything looked delicious. After long consideration, I settled on thee following three courses:

Entrée -Tortellini of local Jannei goat’s cheese, prawns, tea soaked raisins, pine nuts, brown butter, perorino. This was my favorite dish of the night, it was perfectly indulgent and rich.

Main -Cowra spring lamb - apple wood smoked, carrot puree, cassoulet of borlotti beans, Herbs de Provence, spring garlic, sourdough crumbs. The lamb was tender, but too smoked; it overwhelmed the other flavors. I was disappointed because I had such high hopes for this dish.

Desserts -Indulgence of white chocolate, rose and strawberries. I'll admit, I am a chocolate snob and rarely chose white chocolate, so I was crestfallen that this was the only chocolate option on the menu. Though it would not have had a chance against a chocolate coconut Georgetown cupcake, this dish pleasantly surprised me. The strawberries were fresh and sweet, and the white chocolate ganache was a very nice complement to them.

In all, Darley's didn't quite live up to the hype. The food was good, but not phenomenal. At times the menu was overly ambitious without delivering. I would be interested to revisit the restaurant at another time of year to see if a different seasonal menu lived up to the restaurant's potential.