Teppanyaki Time Trials

This week we head to Darlinghurst for a limited time event.
A 90 minute culinary adventure into the land of Teppanyaki!
Stay tuned for reviews, and pictures – there will be some this time, I promise!

In the mean time, salivate over this!!

Catching Up on Things Past…

There’s a been a hitch in our updating the blog such that we’ve neglected to post our two most recent dining experiences. Sorry ’bout that!!

So, to bring everyone back up to speed I’ll post a summary.

The week after attending the Shangri-La buffet we headed over to Bungalow 8 at King Street Wharf for their Tuesday night special of All You Can Eat Steamed Mussels ($22.50). Now this event has been going for some time, and people certainly turn out in big numbers. But clever us, we booked our table of 13 in advance, so there was a nice big space all set up for us when we got there. Following on from the previous week’s theme of adding an international guest to our table, we were joined by Rob Skerman, cruising through from Dubai.

The mussels were great. You are presented with a good variety of flavours and sauces for your pot of mussels and we did our best to cover the entire menu. The White Wine sauce and the Provencale seemed to get the best reactions, however.

But our downfall was starting the meal too late int he evening. With a 7pm booking we soon discovered that the supply of mussels for the evening had already been severely depleted by the other patrons who rushed in at the beginning. It was also noted that the mussels were getting noticeably smaller as the bottom of the proverbial barrel was being scraped. I think everyone managed to get two buckets in, although there may have been a cheeky third bucket for one or two hearty appetites.

So, note to selves for future Mussel Dining: Get there early!!

More recently we headed out to Gladesville in a group of 9 for a slight modification to the theme… It was ‘Not Quite All You Can Eat’ night with a set menu of Greek cuisine at Il Greco on Victoria Road. The meal consisted of 6 courses which certainly served up enough food to keep most stomachs filled through tot he next standardised meal-time. Unless you are Richard, but that’s to be expected I suppose. He’s always hungry! ;) This deal is pretty good value, however, with a price tag of $29 and it happens every Wednesday night!

So we’re up to speed now!
And looking forward to our next appetite-based adventure!

Evidence of the Shangri La Buffet Experience

I know this was ages ago….  please accept apologies for the lateness of posting. Better late than never, right??

A recap on our night:

Roll call = Jeff, Kirstin, Richard, Vanessa, Nick, Jen, and all the way from Hong Kong, Hugh Driver!

The buffet was separated into the following cuisine groups: ‘Seafood and Salad’, ‘China’, ‘India’, ‘Japan’, the grey area of ‘Western’, ‘Soups’ and finally ‘Dessert’.  For those with a penchant for crab and oysters, there was a good display on offer.  But the hands down winner was the Dessert bar, where we all got very creative with the options available, and then subsequently felt very full!!

All in all the buffet delivered a variety of options, but we felt that in representing the geographic cuisines we lost out on flavour and authenticity.  Was there value for money?  At $58, perhaps not.  But it was fun nonetheless!

Seafood Bar

After the Seafood Bar

[caption id="attachment_225" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="Indian Buffet Bar"][/caption]

Plate #1

[caption id="attachment_228" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="And then it's straight to the Dessert Bar..."][/caption]

More Dessert offerings

[caption id="attachment_227" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="Toughie!"][/caption]

Everyone loves a cone

[caption id="attachment_230" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="Especially one you can cover in chocolate..."][/caption]

What else can we cover in chocolate??

[caption id="attachment_221" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="How about Jeff?"][/caption]

Just one more plate!

The Mother of Buffets Awaits….

Just a quick note to prepare you for an onslaught of delectable photographs.

Yes, after a week of rest we are taking on the grand buffet spread at the Shangri La hotel tonight.
WITH dessert buffet. Get ready!!!

To start things off, here is a pic of the seafood options taken by another foodlover:

Mongolian live tally

Tally of bowls of Mongolian goodness:

Pang – IIIII
Alf – IIIII
Alex – IIIII
Ness – III
Jeff – IIIII
Keith – (piker!)

Plates of Sides – IIIII

The nice man who cooks it for you may slow us down a little. Only time will tell.

5 bowls apiece seems to be about our limit. The Mongolian sauce was the clear favourite (not surprisingly). Definitely a place to come back to.

But What Happened this Week???

Where are the scrumptious photos and the scintillating commentary, you ask?  Don’t worry, we haven’t been hospitalised for our gluttonous appetites! We’ve simply decided to have a week off – and we guarantee to be back in form next week.

Eat well and Prosper!

Do Raw Fish dream of Japanese All You Can Eat?

Following the infamous Barbeque Route of 20/7 it was with high hopes that we gathered once again to challenge things gastronomic. It was shortly after the destruction of Sashimi Boat #1 that Benjamin declared his immortality with all things raw and fishy. Who were we to argue?

The Crew

Kansai offers 2 major AYCE options; the $28 punters option, and the $38 Hero-that-shall-consume-sashimi option. We settled on a divided table, some proponents having claimed that too much raw fish can cause bad dreams.

• Heros – Alex, BJ, Richard
• Punters – Jen, Matt, Yvonne
• A La Carte – Leah

Launching of the Sashimi Boats

THE FINAL TALLY

(in vague order of appearance)

3 Gyoza
2 Edamame
1 Chicken Karaage
2 Small Assorted Sushi
1 Small Sushi Platter
2 Baby Octopus
1 Small Sashimi
2 Sashimi Boats
1 Agedashi Tofu
2 Prawn Tempura
8 Miso Soup
1 Katsu Chicken
1 Katsu Pork
1 Dragon Sushi
1 300mL Goshu Blu Sake
1 Rainbow Sushi
1 Volcano Sushi

Peoples Choice Award – Gyoza

Dragon Sushi

Volcano Sushi

Go-Shu Blue Sake

Roll Us Out The Door!

First of all, from our comfy horizontal positions, we wave a mighty thanks to Kirstin and Jeff for their photo update of their steak dinner.  Your meat looks good guys…  but check out what hit our plates!

Where it all happens...

Without Jeff’s on-the-spot live updating I returned to the good old pen and paper to tally our food count and record our goings on…

Our waitress explains to us at the beginning that the wooden markers in front of us are to be used like traffic lights.  Green means ‘Go Meat’, Red means ‘Go Away with your Meat’ and lying it on it’s side means you are about to do the same for a bit…

Our food began hitting the table at 7:15, with no respite. It was skewer after skewer action, and most of us could hardly keep our plate clear enough to accept the next offering. By 7:58 the skewers had slowed in arrival pace and Alex was rocking in the foetal position in his corner.  By 8pm Nick was spotted offloading contents of his plate to Matt.  Looking ahead to future AYCE challenges, Colin looked to Richard for some solid advice on good training tips.  Whereupon we all learn the value of a good two weeks of a vegetarian diet before doing credit to a big meat meal, handy tips!

By 8:31 Richard is out of the game.  In fact, we all are.  Here’s why:

Serves of Stuff on a Skewer

Picanha – Rump Cap = 7
Costela – Beef Rib = 13
Fraldinha – Thick Flank = 7
Alcatra – Rump with Cheese = 7
Linguica – Sausage = 7
Caracai de Frango – Chicken Hearts = 24 (an unexpected fave)
Asinha de Frango – Chicken Wings = 7
Sobre Coxa – Chicken Thigh = 7
Costelinha de Porco – Pork Ribs = 7
Paleta de Proco – Pork Neck = 7 (an expected fave)
Pernil – Pork Leg = 7
Alcatra de Carneiro – Lamb Rump = 7
Camarao – Prawns = 21
Peixe de Dia – Fish of the Day = 7    (hotly demanded by Matt)
Queijo – Cheese = 9
Abacaxi – Pineapple = 8 (hotly demanded by all)
Pao de Alho – Garlic Bread = 7

Side Dishes

Arroz da Vovo – Rice = 1
Salada Loca – Salad = 2
Viajo na Maionese de Batata – Potato Salad = 1
Ta Fritos do Braza – Cassava Chips = 3
Mandioquinha e Banana – Crumbed Banana = 4 (really really yummy)
Dorremifa fafa Farofafa – Roasted Cassava Flour = 1
Vinagretche – Tomato Salsa = 1
Pimentas da Malagueta – Brazilian Chillies = 1

Tonight’s AYCE adventure was brought to you by Alex, Matt, Ali, Richard, Colin, Nick and Jen.
Over and Out. Grunt.

Braza Meat!!

Pork

Pork Neck

Beef Rib

Chicken Hearts

Beef Rib Round 2

Fish!

The BBQ

Fun

Full Plate

Pork, Chicken Hearts, Cassava Chips and Fried Banana

Empty Plates

Halfway Done

Alex

Nick

The Flintstones

Fido

Boulder Salt and Chillie

Empty Plate :)

Pang Sleep Now

Room for Pineapple

Thank you for cleaning up after us!

The Walk Home

Not AYCE Live Update

Kirstin and I just wanted you to know that we were there in spirit, with our not-AYCE steaks.