Friday, December 31, 2010

Glass Brasserie

Welcome to the last post of Brunch, Lunch & Munch.... for 2010 :p No, I'm not planning to close my blog down just yet, even though at times I seemed to have abandoned it. It certainly doesn't feel like I've been writing this blog for more than 1 year already. 
Being 1 of the lucky people that was approached by the organiser of Sydney Festival, I jumped at the opportunity to sample the Fast Festival Feast special offer at Glass Brasserie, Hilton. It's $30 for a main course with a glass of wine. (For list of other participating restaurants, visit the Fast Festival Feasts website

This was the wine that I had. Stoneleigh Pinot Gris. I quite like this actually because it's got a bit of sweetness in it. Not so much like moscato which I really like, but this was also quite easy to drink. 

Started off with some freshly baked bread with olive oil. If you're thinking the presentation of the bread looked odd, there's a very simple answer - I forgot to take photo before I went for the bread. Was too busy chatting with Cindy from Marketing Department in Hilton who was having this lunch with me. I guess if I gave an impression it'd be "the blogger who forgot to take photo" :p 

Here's the main - Confit chicken leg, rocket salad with pickled orange zest, cauliflower puree and dates. I was surprised how well the sweet dates went with the tender chicken which was cooked for 2 hours in its own juice and goose fat. Rocket salad with the pickled orange was nice and refreshing too. 

We actually had six Petit four :) From right to left, started with chocolate orange logs and mango passionfruit jelly
Then there was nougat, the very pretty orange marshmallow and chocolate friand. The nougat was really good! Chewy and sticky with strong honey taste. The orange marshmallow was good too! Looked so pretty. 
  The last was a new French dessert that I learnt from this meal. It's a canelé. Made with rum and vanilla. By looking at it I thought it was similar to a custard tart or with some filling inside. There's actually no filling. The outside was caramelized giving it a crust, while the inside was soft. The texture was a bit like a cake, but not soft and fluffy it's little bit more doughy and a bit more chewy. Quite interesting. 

Lastly, a hot chocolate with a cookie to finish off the satisfying meal :) 

Even though it was just a main and a glass of wine, but having the bread before main, then half a dozen of petit four AND a cup of hot chocolate, I was really full. 


glass brasserie
Level 2, Hilton Sydney
488 George St, Sydney
Tel: 02 9265 6068




My table was very close to the big window looking straight at QVB. It would've been a really good view if QVB wasn't under renovation. I really should start taking photos at lunch time rather than dinner. It was so much easier :) 


*YW dined as guest of Sydney Festival at glass brasserie

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Brasserie

Went Melbourne for work a while ago. It was quite a good trip! Work wise, learnt a lot, came back feeling much better about my new role than before. Food wise, my boss actually said "go and have some good food, don't just get red rooster and stay in hotel" :D Then, I actually got to meet up with a blogger friend and had a great dinner (talk more about that next post). Anyway, so 1 evening me and my colleague finished work, so we just walked around Southbank looking for dinner. We actually walked into Nobu thinking should have a table at 830pm, but NOPE. So we had to pick another restaurant. Ended up at the Brasserie. 


Since our boss actually said 'go and have some nice dinner, get a glass a wine or something', so being a good employee of course I follow my 'orders' :p Ordered a The Nesspresso Martini - A smooth blend of Grey Goose Vodka, Kahlua, Frangelico and a shot of Nesspresso. Coffee kept me awake, alcohol made me sleepy, so they should cancel each other out when combined :p It was actually quite nice. 
Then some bread was served with olive oil and some salt with cracked pepper and something else (can't remember what those were). 


After a while, entrees were served. I had The brasserie chicken liver and foie grae terrine with toasted onion jam tartine, mesclun salad - $22.50. I really liked the onion jam. Terrine was really nice, but the only problem I had was I didn't have enough toast and onion jam to go with it. 


I tried a bit of my colleague's Steak Tartare - hand-diced raw wagyu beef with condiments - $22.50. It was really good!! I liked his entree better than my own actually :p I should've got that too. I would've been very happy with my terrine if I didn't try this :p 


Colleague ordered the Dorper lamb rack - herb crusted with eggplant caviar - $38.50. Didn't try this, but it looked really good. He was very happy with it. 


I was thinking of ordering something different, something that I normally wouldn't order. So I got the Cep mushroom gnocchi - with truffle oil and new season asparagus - $35. Saw a lot of gnocchi making on masterchef, but I actually can't remember when was the last time I ate them. I was surprised how fluffy and airy each 1 of them were. Basically a plate of yummy mini soft edible pillows. Loved those crispy cheese that were on top too! 


We were very full after entree and main. Colleague asked if I wanted dessert. I decided not to have dessert here because while walking from hotel to restaurant, I saw a gelato stall. So I decided to go back to that stall for gelato instead. 
Guess what flavour was this? Licorice!! When I first looked at it I thought "hmm.. licorice ice-cream..I'm not a licorice person.. maybe I'll get the hazelnut" but I was very curious because it was my first time seeing that flavour. So I asked if I could try a bit of it. It was definitely love at first bite!! It was so sooo good! My favourite flavour now. Unfortunately I still don't know where I can get licorice ice-cream in Sydney. I got 1 scoop and this was how my 1 scoop looks like. More ice-cream outside of the cup than inside (by the way, colleague was the hand model here). He ordered a scoop too, but he only got his cup filled and only a little bump in the middle that's taller than the cup's rim haha.. Not sure why that guy gave me so much more, but I'm definitely not complaining :D 


The Brasserie

Crown Entertainment Complex
8 Whiteman St 
Southbank VIC 3006
Tel: (03) 9292 7808 



Lighting wasn't too bad at our table. Little bit dark, but still not too bad. I just felt a bit awkward taking photo of food with colleague because he was quite new and I didn't know him well. Not many people at work knows about my blog. He was cool with me taking photos of his food though. Ended up telling him about my blog and got him 'cooperated'. He would turn his plate for me and even volunteered to be my hand model haha.. Needless to say, we got along quite well :)