YAY: Mosaic

Mosaic is located in The Westin Hotel Sydney. Hotel restaurants are generally terrible and I always try to avoid them. However, The Westin as a very special place, since my sister is holding her wedding there! So my family and her fiancee's family went on a combined dinner at the restaurant in early July.

Caesar Salad Chicken

Arriving at the restaurant, we were immediately greeted by polite waiters who took our coats and offered us drinks. We were served bread and butter, which I shouldn't really judge on! For entree, I chose to have the Caesar Salad Chicken with Croutons, Three Year Aged Parmesan and Pancetta Chips. I know, highly unimaginative, but I found the salad to be quite pleasant. The Pancetta Chips and Crouton were both in an elongated shape, which was quite unconventional and which I found to be quite pleasing. The chicken was tender and delicious, and the aged Parmesan was a nice addition. Dressing was pretty standard. I did, however, find the hidden anchovies to be quite displeasing!

Beef Tenderloin

For main course, I had the Beef Tenderloin with Tobinambour Croquette, Small Vegetables and Watercress. It also had a foamy sauce of which I could not identify but regardless, was delicious. The beef , which I ordered as medium,was cooked to perfection and the small vegetables were balanced and complimented the protein very well. I was slightly disappointed that I was given only one tobinambour croquette because it was absolutely divine :(. Overall, a cohesive and well planned dish which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

So far, my meal was rather enjoyable, but dessert told a different story. Greedy and desperate to try as many desserts as possible, I ordered the Mosaic Dessert Trilogy, consisting of a Mango Gratin, Chocolate Pudding and Blackcurrant Ice Cream. I knew from the beginning that the dish would not be cohesive but would allow me to try a variety of desserts. This expectation was met, as I did not enjoy any of the desserts. The mango gratin was terrible as it was extremely sour. The chocolate pudding and blackcurrant ice cream were mediocre at best. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Mosaic. Entree was good, main was superb but dessert was disappointing. But I look forward to eating there again, particularly when they presumably cater for my sister's wedding!

                                 

Mosaic Trilogy

Food: 7/10

Service: 9/10 

Ambience: 6/10 

Value: 6/10  

About: 

The Westin

1 Martin Place

Sydney

(02) 8223 1110

YAY: Adriano Zumbo - Dessert Train The Star

Upon leaving Kazbah, the rain stopped and the sun kinda came out (mother nature shares the same feelings as me). We went on an long trek to Adriano Zumbo's Dessert Train in The Star. Basically, it is like a sushi train but with desserts only :D All dishes were $7 and Macaroons were $10. You can choose of the A La Carte Menu where all desserts are $12. Soft Serves were $1.80 for a cone and $4 for a bowl. That's pretty good value for the quality of the desserts there. There were so many that I can't remember what they were all called so I will provide a photo list below:

Food: 8/10

Service: 9/10

Ambience: 8/10

Value: 7/10 

About: Shop 1, Cafe Court The Star/80 Pyrmont St  Pyrmont NSW 2009(02) 9810 7318

NAY: Kazbah Balmain

Lovely Ambiance

Hey guys, it has been a while since a made a post here. Fortunately, for you drama seekers, my new season of blogging is on a low note. Okay, so today I went to Kazbah, an Arabian but generally Moroccan restaurant in Balmain. It was cold and wet, so on entering the restaurant, I was extremely pleased with the warm atmosphere. It was filled to the brink, and we had to wait for 15 minutes because our table wasn't ready. This did not irritate me at this stage.

Tabouli

Putrid Sausages

We ordered 2 Mezzes, the first being the Merguez, Ma’aneek, Sucuk, Chorizo Sausages and the Rocket, Walnut & Quinoa Tabouli. They got our order for the Tabouli wrong and gave us Rocket and Halloumi (which is understandable). This was quickly replaced. It had a wonderful flavour, among one of my favourite Taboulis. It had quite a nice tang to it and the quinoa was a nice substitute for the usual wheat. Now the sausages. Oh dear. There were 4 sausages and 3 of them were just putrid. The Merguez was just burnt and had a strong aftertaste whilst the Ma'aneek and Sucuk were just inedible. The only good sausage was the chorizo (ironically, the only one which is not Arabian). The pickles and Lebanese bread were just mediocre. Not impressive at all.

Linguine... Authenticity? 

Yummy Tagine

Following this, all I was looking forward to was the main. I ordered the Chicken, Chermoula, Lima Beans, Potatoes, Green Olives Tagine which was alright I suppose. The highlight of the dish was the cous cous which was fluffy and delish. The whole dish was just a tad dry, owing to the limited amount of sauce provided and I would have preferred my olives to be pitted. My cousin had the Harissa King Prawns, Squid Ink Linguine, Feta, Chakchouka, Baby Spinach which she said was nice. However, she couldn't get over the disgusting aftertaste left by those putrid sausages. Our waiter was very nice, however, he was not attentive at all and always forgot our requests. If there was something nice I could say about the place, then its that their toilets are FRICKIN amazing. I mean, they have like a little day bed in there!

Food: 5/10
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Value: 5/10
About: 379 Darling St  Balmain NSW 2041
(02) 9555 7067