District Dining ~ Jump On It Deal , Surry Hills

Jump On It Menu - February 2011

By the time this post is up, the Jump On It deal at District Dining is probably over :P

Just had a quick peek at their current menu on their website, looks like all of the items in this reduced special menu is available on their regular a la carte menu, so hopefully this post can still be of some use (I hope....)

Bondeville Blanc

With the voucher, it only costed us $69.00 on a 3 course meal for 2 people, plus you get to choose a bottle of wine.

Excellent value for money especially if you are a wine drinker, unfortunately both of us were not so the good bottle of wine kinda go to waste, we only managed to drank half of it...struggling....

You can choose either a red or a white, we have obviously chose the Bondeville Blanc which had a crisp, sweet fruity flavours and went well with our meal.

Chef's Selection Platter

The first course is a Chef's Selection Platter to share - a selection of 4 of their popular entrees, and I'm so happy to see that the veal tongue is part of the platter. Enjoyed it very much when I had it on the last visit here.

Smoked Eel Pate, Cucumber, Epi Bread

The smoked eel pate was served in a cute sardine tin, it was creamy and love the smokey flavour. Served with a cooling cucumber with dill while the epi bread replaces the usual green onion flatbread that this dish is served with.

Crispy Quail Eggs, Tarragon Mayonnaise, White Anchovy

The egg was fried till crisp but with still oozing centre, the tarragon mayonnaise added a nice herby tang to it, made a pass on the anchovy though, too strong for me :)

Veal Tongue, Pickled Turnip, Salsa Verde, Almonds

The veal tongue once again was a hit ! It was just so tender and melts in your mouth, the pickled vegetables added a nice zing and texture to the dish.

Beetroots, Sumac, Salted Yoghurt, Basil

I actually quite like this plain looking entree, it would have been perfect if our order of bread had came before the platter as it should have.

Turned out they forgot our bread order and we had to inquiry what happen to it after noticing other tables arriving later than us got theirs first.

Back to the salted yoghurt, it was creamy yet clean tasting and very refreshing, the dusting of sumac added extra flavours and the crunchy pickled beetroot and pinenuts was a lovely addition.

Bread  $3.00



A basket of piping hot epi bread served with olive oil and sea salt that came a tad to late - didn't stopped us demolishing them though. Warm crusty bread was just too irresistable.

When it comes to choosing 2 mains out of the 3 options, it was easy :)

Neither of us is a big fan of pasta and olives hehehehehhe.....

Crispy Pork Belly, Watermelon, Cashews, Pickled Daikon

The pork belly though crispy was a tad bland....wished it had more salt to it, non salty pork belly is just not right somehow....

The sweet peanuty dressing was delicious and the pickles goes well with the rich pork belly (seems like pickles is everywhere at District Dining isn't it ?)

Baby Snapper, King Crab, Sweet Corn, Congee

Don't judge the dish by how it looks - and this is a good example of that. It turns out to be the highlight of our lunch !

The fish was cooked perfectly, silky smooth, with nice crisp salty skin. The congee itself was amazing, the combination of sweet corn and the equally sweet king crab with soy sauce was simple but tasted so beautiful !

It's a bit fiddly to share this dish, with the soupy bits...and not to mention you don't want to share it with anyone else - I want the whole plate to myself !!

Crispy School of Prawn w/ Lemon & Mayonnaise  $15.00

We couldn't go pass ordering something extra from the Specials board though, the sound of crispy school of prawns with mayo just sounded too tempting.

The spiciness of the prawns took me by surprise - I thought it would just be salted.

It was indeed a moorish dish, the prawns were crispy, salty, spicy....

Strawberries, Raspberries, Meringue, Vanilla Cream

A.k.a. Eton Mess with raspberry sorbet and sprinkling of pretty flowers :) A dessert that tasted as good as it looks.

There was just a right balance of sweetness and tartness in it, right amount of meringue, strawberries in whipped cream and refreshing frozen raspberries and sorbet.

Buttermilk Pannacotta, Spiced Peaches, Mint

The vanilla bean speckled buttermilk pannacotta was served in the glass jam jar, and served on the side in a sardine tin was cubed peaches with mint and slivers of pistachio.

Not quite sure what was the jelly flavoured with, it was quite non descript - there was a subtle hint of flavours that I just couldn't figure out (frustrating!).

Spiced Peaches

Another satisfying meal at District Dining, I've been here only during lunches (for obvious reason - natural lighting) and also it is less hectic and more relaxed compared to dinner time.
Can't wait for my next visit there :)

Universal Restaurant, Darlinghurst

One of the perks (if you can call it that) of starting blogging is that you get to meet new people that shares the same interest (read : eating).

When Ms. Doctor (fluffy makan) wrote me an email asking whether I'd like to meet up with her for dinner, I must confess, I did hesitate for a while LOL

I've never met her before, so the thought of going out dinner that can last for hours is a bit daunting, what if we don't have anything to talk about ? (crickets chirping in the background *chirp, chirp*).

Turned out I have nothing to worry about, that girl can talk hahahahaha !



Fat Chicken Statue on Republic 2 Courtyard ; Universal hanging mobile

 

We got a bit lost getting to Universal as none of us have ever been there before. With just my Where Is map print out and her iPhone GPS, we finally got there...the long way.....

Turned out that it was right where I parked my car, but we went around the block LOL

Christine Mansfield's Universal Restaurant is located inside the Republic 2 courtyard, next to the ever so popular Vietnamese eatery, Phamish, which was already packed so early in the evening.

Please excuse the reddish tinge in all the photos, the lighting in the restaurant was pure red...dark red....the horror of editing the photos.......ARRGHHH !

Fuji Mama  $9.00
apple & honey puree, Peruvian spice syrup, apple juice

I picked one of the 2 choices available for the mocktails, or as they call it here, the Detox Virgins.

Drinking Fuji Mama was like drinking sparkling apple pie, sweet spiced concoction of apple with slivers of crunch fresh green apple.

Baguette & Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Not long after the drinks arrived, a plate of baguette and olive oil for dipping was brought over.

The baguette was served cold, which was a bit of a let down.

Olive Oil Dish 

The olive oil was served on a dish that reminded me of Optrex eye wash cap LOL

It was a bit off balance so we were warned to be careful when dipping our bread into it as it would easily topple over.

The menu layout in Universal is different to any other places, there are no entrees nor mains.

The items in the menu was laid out as progression from the lightly flavoured to the heavier flavoured dishes.

We decided to pick a few items from the menu to share, leaving rooms for their famed desserts.

Octopus Terrine  $27.00
watermelon, mint, green chilli and persian feta  

The octopus was incredibly melts in your mouth tender....it was amazing !

There was just right balance of saltiness from the fetta and olives, and the classic combination of watermelon and mint never fails.

This is a dish that packs a lot of punch although the flavours were light and refreshing.

Just couldn't get enough of the tender,creamy octopus though....

Amazingly Tender Octopus

Sansho Beef Tataki  $27.00
miso pickled seaweed, taro wafer and shiso 

Next dish is still one of the lighter dishes, thick slices of wagyu tataki, with sweet and salty miso dressed wakame salad mixed with  baby shisho and scallions. Topped with thin crisp taro chips and avruga caviar.

The beef was not as tender as expected and overall the dish tasted too salty for me.

Miss Doctor who had a high level of salt tolerance didn't find it salty at all LOL

Sticky Rice & Salted Duck Egg Cakes  $26.00
green mango, ruby grapefruit and roasted cashew salad

We ordered this dish as we have read on reviews that this is a must order dish at Universal.

Chewy deep fried rice ball, drenched in sour Vietnamese style dressing, with a mixture of  mango, grapefruit and cashew nuts salad, resting on  betel leaf topped with fried shallots.

Couldn't taste the salted duck egg in the rice cakes though, probably masked by the strong dressing flavour.

Though it is a tasty and moorish dish, I still preferred the first dish of octopus terrine.

The next 2 dishes were from the heavier dishes list and we were hoping that the serving size would be more generous than the 3 we had, which was very small for the price.

Chilli Salt Soft Shell Mud Crab Tempura  $31.00
palm heart and caramelized coconut

The look of whole crab on a plate looked very promising ! The soft shell crab was fried to crispy perfection...my only problem with it was that is was super salty >__<

Thankfully the green curry like sauce was sweet, which helps to offset the high level of salt.



Coorong Yellow Eye  $31.00
black truffle potato galette, caramelized foie gras and spinach 

When the last dish arrived, I have to stifle a laugh.....This would have to be the most expensive fish dish I've ever ordered. I had to point out to Miss Doctor where the fish was - if you look very closely...it's the thin layer in between the foie gras and the potato galette - we had nothing else to say but to laugh LOL.

The fish was cooked well, and the foie gras was creamy and nicely caramelized and topped with sweet caramelized onions.

The spinach puree was again very salty...can't wait to get something sweet...



Gaytime Gone Nuts  $19.00
honeycomb ice cream, caramel parfait, chocolate crunch, salted hazelnut caramel



The dessert that made Miss Doctor goes Nuts !

We finally got to taste the famous Universal's Golden Gaytime inspiried dessert.

It was a delicious layer of honeycomb ice cream, salted hazelnut caramel, topped with crumbed cookies and caramel parfait, encased in a thin tuile. It was heaven.....so bad but oh so good...



Madame Pompadour  $19.00
white peach curd, peach and rosé jelly, peach macarons, fromage blanc sherbet, fairy floss

I chose something light from the dessert menu...okay...I chose it because the name sounded fancy...French fancy....like Marie Antoinette fancy....

And it didn't dissapoint, the pretty dessert arrived in a glass topped with fairy floss - pompadour like indeed :) Adorned with jewels like super cute mini macarons and frozen raspberries.

Love the dessert overall, the white peach curd, the jelly and fromage blanc serbet was a lovely combination.

Salted Butter Caramel
to accompany tea or coffee

We ordered tea to accompany our desserts, I got the Mariage Frères Thé des Mandarins ($10), a  rare Chinese white tea, silver needle buds scented with jasmine blossoms. Miss Doctor had the Casablanca ($6 ), blend of green tea and Moroccan mint with bergamot flavoured black tea.

Served alongside the pots of tea was the very yummy salted butter caramel - it was a perfect close to a meal.

There are hits and misses with the savoury dishes here, the flavours were off balanced at times and I must say, the prices are a bit steep for what we got.

The highlight of the night would be the desserts that were amazing ! Not to mention very reasonably priced compared the rest of the menu.

We will be back ...maybe just for desserts ^_*