Excelsior

The Chinese name for this restaurant translates to “without boundaries” and rightly so. In a modern yet casual setting this restaurant offers a wide variety of cuisines. Whether you are a fan of Asian food or would fancy a steak, pasta or risotto, the Excelsior is sure to offer something that will tickle your fancy.

The place is very clean and the wait staff friendly and polite (although it could be because the head waiter was a friend of my uncles). Their wide selection of soups start from $5 and entrees around $10. Mains start from $10 with the most expensive item no more than $20. If you live around Kogarah and you are looking for a cheap eat, check this place out.

Starter: Seafood Soup $7.80

Entrees: Oyster Kilpatrick & Mornay, Salmon & Avocado salad $12.50

The oysters were really good, especially the mornay! the salad tasted a lot better than how it looked but is nothing exciting.

Mains: Sweet& Sour Seafood with rice, Peppered Steak $18.00

The cut of steak was tender and cooked exactly how I wanted it but be warned that if you order the peppered steak they go real heavy with the pepper

Level Basement
7 Belgrave St
Kogarah

Phone: 02 9553 1866

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So I went there again tonight with a different group of family friends and I got some more pictures (using my camera phone to be discreet).

The outside and inside of the Restaurant

Spaghetti bologanise $9.00 (a bit on the sweet side), Baked seafood Spaghetti ($12.50) -I advise that you share this because It's very rich.

Desserts: A type of custard with fruit underneath and ice cream on top, Soufflé, pancake with strawberries in the middle. Sorry I have no idea of prices because they were recommendations by the owner, I would say that they range from $10 to $15 at the most.

Meet the Chongs

Caught up with my 2 cousins for dinner tonight haven't seen them in a few years, the boys have grown up so quickly!!! When did I become so old?!?!

Wilson (right) has always been a walking brain and is studying Med at Melbourne Uni. I'm very proud of him and I tend to get very amused at the idea that my little cuz will one day be Doctor Chong =P.

Martin (left) has just finished school and is having a break until he decides what he wants to do. He is a fitness fanatic who idolises Bruce Lee. At 18 he has a black belt in martial arts and a 6 pack which puts Jacky's abs to shame. My cousins are half Korean and half chinese and it's great to see the mix of cultures in their backgrounds.

Then there's my sister Sophia who probably doesn't want me writing about her on this blog...

4 out of 17 grand kids

Cocktail Party / Dinner and an Engagement

Friday Night Cocktail Party

Hosted by Katina - Thanks for a really enjoyable night Kat!

Feeling really short here with everyone in their heels, I took off my shoes so that I wouldn't slip in the kitchen. We're missing Nat in this photo

Prosciutto & Rockmelon- seems to be very popular at parties these days

Thank you Roula for organising the platters


Dessert galore!! Deana's homemade Tiramisu was amazing! who knew that so few girls could eat so much.

Bigger size pics Here

Friday Night CNY Dinner

Had to leave the cocktail party early to have a late dinner (11:00pm) with Jacky's Family in Beverly Hills for CNY.

Remember Baby Issacc look how big he is now!

Saturday Night Engagement

Luke & Sally's Engagement - West Pennant Hills

Congratulations to the both of you! After 7 years it was about time!!

Happy Straya Day!

To celebrate Australia Day we went on the Skywalk. I was hoping it'd be like Matty's experience in Macau but the Australian version is very "safe" and you feel slightly restricted at times. The view is excellent! and there's nothing like getting a birds eye view of the place you call home.

The walk goes for about 1.5 hours, where for half an hour they dress you up and talk through safety. The walk at night time is a little more expensive, but if I got to do it again I'd definitely do it at night.

Masuya

Back from my holiday. We went to Terrigal and The Hunter Valley but because it rained on the last two days we didn't end up going to The Entrance or Port Stephens. The break was relaxing, and for once we actually didn't take any photos.

Dad's over from Hong Kong for the next 2 weeks, to celebrate his arrival and my new job I took my family out to dinner at Masuya. Instead of writing a review again I'm just going to cheat a little by posting a comment I made to Bosco a few weeks ago.

The Masuya restaurant is owned by the same people who run Makoto and Musashi with these two restaurants giving off a more relxed and casual feel.

Masuya on the other hand is more restaurant like - the good thing being that it is very affordable. Entrees start at $12-16 and mains start from around $18?The Sushi and Sashimi is standard and presentation is good. A must try is their Japanese style 'steam boat' where instead of a clear broth they use a soy bean milk as base, it's very heavy and texture is a bit like a laska soup. It looked interesting and tasted pretty good.

Suprisingly a lot of the people that frequent is Japanese, so if they are able to fill the tables with some of the biggest critics then they must be doing something right. A must try if you haven't done so already. Do make sure you book because the place gets very busy!

They have quite a big selection of Mocktails, but my Pina Colada was a little strange must be Japanese style

Eel Bow Sushi$14.80, Tuna & Avocado Salad$8.80

Sashimi Boat $56

Sapporo Hot Pot $23 per person -Because the waitress served us, I didn't get to take a photo before she placed most of the items (crab, mussels, fish) into the soya bean milk soup. A very interesting twist on the usual Asian steamboat.

My dad bought us one of these, and because I have to give my company phone back to Hudson I bought myself one of these.

Road Trip

Off on a short holiday see you when I get back!

Pampered Out

I really am a spoilt girl. For my anniversary/Christmas gift Jacky bought me a voucher for a 5 hour Spa Pamper Package at the Observatory Hotel

The service was very professional and after filling out my forms I was given a dressing robe and asked to change out of my clothes. I've been to a day spa before and despite having to strip down to my underwear I was covered by a towel so I didn't feel too uncomfortable. I was glad that I had worn my black Bonds – safe, conservative and good coverage.

The Massage
When I was ready I was introduced to a Japanese lady who lead me to a room that was filled with candles and the warm smell of lavender. Meditation music whispered from the speakers to help set the mood. My Japanese lady was very little and extremely polite. Speaking with a strong Japanese accent she held up something white and said “Thank-you for coming to-day, to pre-pare prease remove all jewellery and change into this disposable g-string. I will give you a few minutes, but prease put your robe back on and wait for me on that seat when you are ready”.

Disposable g-string?!!? I nearly died.

When she came back into the room I think that she could sense that I was very uncomfortable (or maybe having my robe wrapped tightly around me and double knotted gave me away). For my first massage I was wrapped up in warm linen, soaked in herbal water (to detoxify the body). Instead of being face down on the table, I had to lie on my back feeling exposed and self-conscious.

Having said that you do get over it. The next 2 hours involved a very relaxing full body massage with heated stones as well as the Ayurvedic Shirodhara treatment. This is where your head gets massaged as warm oil is dripped on your scalp to nourish and moisturise your scalp and hair. Everything was going really well until I was lead away to have a shower to shampoo the oil out of my hair before my facial. The showers were in quite an open area (next to the sauna and steam room) shielded with see through glass doors and not much else. I felt really exposed and prayed that no one would walk past.

The Facial + Manicure + Pedicure
Dressed in my robe I had to jump into the lift to go up a level to the facial floor, on the way up all these tourist jumped in my lift, I must have looked pretty strange walking around with a towel in my hair and a robe on. One old guy looked at me and said "let me drive Honey, what floor?".

I’ve never had a facial, the beautician did say that I had really good skin so she didn't need to do too much besides refine my skin tone and give me a hydrating mask (the facial massage took 1 hour). After that I was given a manicure & pedicure, had my arms and legs exfoliated, moisturised and dipped in paraffin wax (leaves your hands and feet feeling silky soft).

The facial was lovely and my hands and feet look great, my toes a cute pink colour (I just wondered why I had to do all of this part naked?? although I was covered with a towel this time!) I’m back at work today feeling happy, relaxed and with enough nakedness to last me a lifetime.

Thank God for Clothes!!

Today I Resigned...

After 2 years with Hudson I bid farewell to take on an opportunity as a Graduate Recruitment Coordinator/HR for Sydney & Canberra with an international Law firm.

In 4 weeks I will be Here! Lunch anyone?

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The news has just been broken to my team and a few people burst out crying, I knew this was going to be hard...really mixed feelings, excited and happy but so sad at the same time.

Slide bar-restaurant-club

I caught up with Rodna, Caroline and Jill on Friday night at Slide bar-restaurant-club in Darlinghurst for a spot of dinner. Unfortunately the website doesn’t show any photos of the actual place because it is the unusual décor that makes this bar-restaurant-club a unique experience.

This place is a mix of everything from crystal chandeliers to the scribbles of modern art hung around the walls, emphasized by fluro blue spotlights. The dining area is on a raised platform highlighted by blue and white floor lights (think Saturday night fever style), you almost feel as though you have stepped into a different dimension.

The food

We selected this restaurant because the prices seemed pretty reasonable with Mains around $16, sides around $5 and dessert $8. If you order your dinner before 7:30pm you get 10% off the total bill (come to think of it, I don’t think that they gave it to us and no one on the table remembered).

Whilst the prices appear to be reasonable you end up getting what you pay for. The portions were pretty small and when Caroline’s snapper came with nothing else besides soy sauce, she ordered white rice and was charged another $5.

Rodna and I ordered ‘medium’ for our beef tenderloins and pretty much got a rare piece of steak, because it was so small it seemed like too much of a hassle to have it taken back to the kitchen. There were only 2 desserts to choose from, lemon tart and tiramisu and both were very ordinary.

Slider Cocktail : Vodka, peach schnapps, watermelon liqueur, guava, ruby grapefruit & cranberry juice $9
Roast Duck: Homemade pancakes, finely sliced cucumber & hoi sin sauce $18

Beef Tenderloin :Flame grilled with chunky fries $20

I don't think that I will come back for dinner in a hurry, but I highly recommend this place if you're looking for somewhere to have drinks.

Catching Up..

So I found her, and we caught up for dinner last night at Masuya (I’ve been to Masuya before, but tonight wasn’t about the food). It was great seeing her again and she was exactly how I remembered her. She’s doing well and had some exciting news for me; she’s getting married in May! The ring was absolutely gorgeous!! (especially the way that the diamond is set from the side view) and her fiancé seems like a really nice guy. She asked me to be part of the bridal party (Chinese style not i.e. not a bridesmaid), which I’m very excited about.

2006 is going to be an exciting year.

Cafe Sydney

I had been dying to try Cafe Sydney for months, when the time came to suggest a place to eat before watching Carl Barron at the Opera House, Cafe Sydney seemed perfect.

Café Sydney is located in Historic Custom’s house (right across the road from Maccas at Circular Quay). To get to the restaurant you must catch the lift up, where you will then be greeted by the wait staff upon your arrival. The layout of the restaurant is very comfortable with a glass ceiling letting in plenty of light and the décor giving the room a classy yet relaxed feel. The dark wood finishes and entry lifts reminded me of Zeta Bar at the Hilton (but a lot brighter).

The view is stunning and if you book early enough you can grab yourself an outside table. We chose to sit inside this time as rain was expected, it turned out to be a good choice as the glass doors next to us were opened up to give a ‘sitting outside feel’.

The staff at Café Sydney is generally quite young and funky which I guess helps set the mood and feel of the bar. Our waiter was a young guy (with David Beckham hair) who seemed to try a little too hard at trying to be ‘very professional’. He always stood with his hand clasped and spoke so softly that half the time we couldn’t hear what he was saying, we would just nod and smile and ask each other what he said after he had left. During the night Betty made it her mission to try make him crack a smile or to relax just a notch, he wasn’t going to budge.

• Woodgrilled veal cutlet with potato and garlic cream, turtle beans, pancetta, celery heart, sage, roast tomato and aioli 36.00

• Tandoori roasted blue eye cod with eggplant, mustard, baby spinach, choko chutney and raita 34.00

• Oven roasted snapper with steamed asparagus, lemon, watercress and sauce gribiche 36.00

• Spring lamb with sourdough, pecorino and basil crust, crushed kipfler potatoes, baby green vegetables and sauce vierge 36.00

Overall the mains were pretty good although a bit pricy for what it is (you're probably paying for the view and ambience.

Dessert platter 39.00

The dessert platter changes regularly (so don't expect to have the same thing when you visit), this time we had a pecan and peach tart, a tropical trifle, a rich black cherry and chocolate cake and gelato with almond bread.

The other girls seemed to enjoy the platter but I was a little disappointed. I found the pecan tart to be a bit dry and would have been better matched with ice cream than cream. The dark chocolate cherry cake was very rich and drenched in a bit too much liquor making it rather soggy at the bottom. The gelato was nice but very ordinary, the trifle on the other hand got the thumbs up from all of us.

Whilst the experience was good, there's probably a lot more places I would rather try before making a return visit.

Cocktails @ JY's

It was a fun and relaxing night

With plenty of cocktails...

And a few games of Charades. The highlight of my night had to be Ken and his crotch pointing 'Free Willy' moment.

Thank you JY for a great night!

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Driving around Epping last night was very strange for me. It brought back a flood of childhood memories that I had long forgotten. It’s funny how much I could remember, I was only so small. The streets were all so familiar, if I ignored the details it would almost look as though nothing had changed.

I remember walking past the brown cellar doors with the hand painted grapes and running my fingers along the wood panels, I think that someone took me there for pizza once but my memories are a little jumbled. The wood panels are gone but the oval windows are still there, in its place is a Korean BBQ…time escapes no one.

I pretty much grew up in Epping because her family would baby sit me whilst my parents were at work; my parents were always at work. My sister wasn’t born till I was 5 and if it wasn’t for her I would have been a very lonely child.

She was five years older than me, had hair like mine and the best Barbie play set on earth! We fought; we hung out and did everything that real sisters would do. When she had school holidays she would come over my place and then I’d be the boss because we were in my domain!

Then I started school and because of the distance we saw each other less and less (as you get older it also becomes less cool to hang out with someone 5 years younger than you). I never forgot her, and when we did see each other we’d always share all our secrets.

I haven’t seen or spoken to her in years; I don’t even know where she is. Last night brought back too many memories – I have to find her.