Rupert and Ruby, Darlinghurst

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it,

No one wants to be defeated,

Showin’ how funky strong is your fight,

It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right,

Just beat it, beat it …

Old school music is pumping left, right and centre at Rupert and Ruby’s creating an uplifting vibe throughout the café as the waiters are seen bouncing to the music.

Henry's cider $13

I did not think I would be able to make it here before their doors closed, but low and behold Miss CC, Mr CH and I managed to make a booking for a Saturday lunch.

Iced Coffee $4.50 | Bloody Mary $18

Upon disappointment, I noticed the fried chicken and waffles were crossed off on the menu. It was then confirmed that they had bought enough stock for the weekend yet by Friday they had completely sold out. And, that was the main reason as to why we were sitting there, the fried chicken and waffles…

Fried chicken $24

So we settled for the fried chicken, although tempted to go out and buy our own waffles to add to this dish.  Fried in their secret spices and buttermilk, this is finished off with honey butter and a bed of coleslaw sitting on top of it all. The sweetness from the honey really does wonders on this chicken and I can only imagine how much more amazing this could be with some waffle carb-ness running through with each bite.

Big BBQ brekkie $26

In replacement to the fried chicken and waffles, a dish was promptly created. The BBQ  platter with pulled pork, beef brisket, two poached eggs and purple carrots. The brisket was unfortunately a little too tough, unless you manage to get some with a little fat does it melt in your mouth. But I’ll tell you what was nearly blow your socks off amazing – that pulled pork! The meat falls apart at the a wriggle of your fork and is soft and tender. The mustard adds a nice touch to the char-ed meats.

Fries with aioli $8

We can never say no to fries! These are moreish with a side of aioli sauce.

Emerald city salad $16

The emerald city contains grilled witlof, cauliflower, shaved apple and toasted walnuts and has a slight zing from the dressing however I’m not sure why, but I cant figure out whether I like this or not, perhaps leaning more towards the not. But that’s just me, because Miss CC and Mr CH loved this completely.

We were unsure whether we had enough food when ordering, and the waiter did suggest for us to see how we go. But when we mentioned we also wanted to try the wagyu skirt, he mentioned it takes 20 minutes to cook.

Ruby's skirt $29

So when all was placed, it was already decided we wanted the wagyu – no surprise there right? Smoky flavours are definitely evident, and that’s what makes this a great dish – because it’s supposed to be! The wagyu was still pink, the way I like it and no extra flavours were needed. I understand this sounds a little contradicting but I’m not sure what was missing, I felt it may need some sauce but at the same time, I understand that it doesn’t, so I’m left confused trying to work out what it needed…

Sounds like I had a very unsure meal right? Unsure whether I liked the salad, unsure what was missing for the wagyu … or perhaps I was just in a very unsure mood myself due to lack of sleep …

Have you ever had a meal or dish that left you feeling confused or unsure about certain aspects?

Rupert and Ruby closed their doors on 21^st December 2014

Rupert and Ruby

78 Stanley Street,

Darlinghurst

The Fish Shop, Potts Point

‘Tis the season to be jolly,

Fa la la la la,

La la la la …

I can’t sing, but I like to, and that’s why you get these random songs every now and then in my posts. At least I’m not making a video and having you all sit through it – if you even dare to click play to begin with.

Coconut water $9.50

Following our ritual, Miss CC organised yet another great Christmas get together and this year at another of Merivale’s baby, The Fish Shop with our group of friends, those including the girls from Next Stop: Food. We were slightly confused with the signage saying ‘Fish & Chips’, however stepping in you will not miss the Merivale feel you get across their branches.

Snapper $21

Most had their eyes on the snapper ceviche from the daily specials board, and unfortunately it lacked that zing and pow, it was rather bland in taste. That’s when I see the bottle of Tabasco sauce and add a dash, and it instantly brings this dish back to life with the peppery kick.

School prawns $19

The school prawns caught my eye from the daily specials; the prawns were crispy and seasoned perfectly. They were just what I needed to help enjoy my chilled glass of apple cider on a hot summer’s day.

Salted barramundi croquettes $11.50 

Croquettes never go pass us at all, usually served as three, we were lucky enough to have four in our serving as we had a party of seven. I feel that slight crunch as my knife goes through, the fish is cooked to perfection and I love adding the spicy salsa to give the croquettes an extra spicy tomato touch.

A break is met between our meals, so we take advantage of this time and have our gift exchanging. Miss CC attempted to have us do evil secret santa, without really going through the ‘rules’ we realize midway that all had a different set of rules on how this worked. But no fear, I believe most people got what they wanted. And I got a cheeseboard, something that was rather popular at the Food Blogger’s picnic this year.

Dan's famous cheeseburger $18

Miss CC and I jump between meals and weren’t sure what we wanted… well, we knew what we wanted. The cheeseburger, but we’re in a fish shop – why would you order that? YET it was highly recommended, because it apparently beat Mary’s burgers.

Ok, the burger is good yet I probably wouldn’t make the call that it was better than Mary’s Newtown. Personally, I much prefer Mary’s. Don’t get me wrong, the burger is nice, the patty was cooked well, we noticed a consistency of the way it was cooked. The cheese was slightly melted, and there’s BACON!

Crumbed fish, bacon & chilli burger $19

Yes, Miss CC and I decided to share our burgers thus they are cut in half in the photos. And yes, the cheeseburger is unfortunately better than the fish burger.

There is something about the bun not working so well with the fish than it does with the patty. I did love the crumbed fish with the chilli just not in the bun, it felt like a KFC sesame bun – and I don’t know why I don’t feel the same about it on the cheeseburger when it is exactly the same bun. Perhaps it just did not work together so well…

Fish schnitzel, jalapeño salt and coleslaw $21.50

Mr TR ordered the fish schnitzel and it did look good, guess Miss CC and I should have ordered this over the burger. It was a bigger piece of crumbed fish to be shared!

Fish 'n' chips $22.50

Miss ES ordered the fish and chips but asked to have the chips changed to a salad. I believe Miss CC took a piece of fish, and was simply having a wave of bliss wash over her (geddit?) with the soft fish covered in light batter.

Quinoa and feta tabouleh $7

We’re not sure why, but our sides came out much towards the end of our meal. The quinoa and feta tabouleh was nice, but I do much prefer one’s like Arabella where there are filled with more zing with lemon, as I found this was a little on the palate.

Coleslaw $7

It was cute to see the coleslaw being served in a lettuce leaf, our waiter does not usually like coleslaw and had recommended this. As I personally do like coleslaw, I again found this a little light in flavour, it seemed to miss that subtle sweet yet sour like kick.

Cute plates

The things we observe while waiting for our desserts to arrive is always interesting. Miss CC had mentioned the latitude and longtitude markings inside a hanging light from the get go, but it seemed the rest of the gang did not really hear her and were amazed once they noticed it.

Light hanging above our table

“I wonder where it indicates…”

“It’d be so cool if it was right here!”

“Let’s google it, read me the coordinates.”

I repeated myself two or three times for Mr TR, but low and behold…

“Wait, what street is this? Challis? It is here!”

Coconut tapioca & pineapple sorbet

Miss FC, Mr TR and I dig into the one tapioca dessert before the sandwich (which is recommended) and were surprised with how much we loved it. Only because it was not as recommended by the staff, the lightness of all the components were very comforting along with the subtle sweetness from the coconut sorbet which was very refreshing.

Ice cream sandwich & salted caramel $10

We had ordered four servings of the ice cream sandwich, and I am instantly eye wide at my first spoonful. The sweetness was a little overwhelming after having the tapioca, although it should have been expected from salted caramel being drizzled all over. It’s a nice dessert if you are an absolute lover of all things sweet, it reminds me of a morocco bar with a very generous drizzle of salted caramel. The ice cream had bites between, I assume this is choc chips?

Pipsqueak apple cider $7

This isn’t the first time I have been surprised that I liked a dessert that I believed I wouldn’t like. I have found that sometimes when you see all things good in one dessert, does not mean that it works all that well together and are better off alone or suited with something else. So, tell me, have you ever had this discovery yourself and what were these discoveries?

Hit: Dan's famous cheeseburger

Miss: Coleslaw

The Fish Shop

22 Challis Street,

Potts Point

1. 

Hotel Centennial, Woollahra

Hotel Centennial is the place to be,

As this is totally my cup of tea,

For when in there I felt so esprit,

I may have portrayed the infamous Queen B…

Queen B? Yes, I felt like I was in the upper east side of Manhattan (despite the fact that I have never been, through Gossip Girl, I have lived through the television screen) once I first stepped foot into Hotel Centennial.

A glass of wine in hand, a classy ambience and prestige furnishings completed that inner girly me.  

White: 2013 Cape Mentelle Semillion/Sav Blanc WA $14
Red: 2011Artadi Tempranillo, Rioja Spain $13

“Should we just put a tab on?”

“Sure.”

Not sure if this was the best decision ever or … not?

But knowing the way Miss CC and I go, I guess tab or not – we would have spent our money as if we were Queen B and S regardless.

Here at Hotel Centennial you are spoilt with choice. You can either go to the restaurant (reservations required), the bar, or join the high table (much recommended to reserve a table as there are limited seats).

What is the high table?

Every Monday – Thursday head chef, Justin North, will have a daily dish prepared for the evening with sides to share on a communal table for 30. This comes at a price of $24 and if you want dessert with tea and coffee, all you do is add $10 on top! You can check their tumblr website for their daily updates. It's a pretty nifty and awesome price for dinner if you ask me! 

But on this fair night, Miss CC and I decided to go with nom-ing our night away with bar food. We will definitely be back to try the high table! (They had our beloved pork belly that night!)

Hummus, olives, garlic and flat bread $12

We start the night with flat bread and olives with hummus. The flat bread is nicely toasted; dipping into the humus gives you that great satisfaction with its smooth like texture. With a glass of wine, what a perfect Wednesday this was.

Sweet potato fries with pickled chilli mayo $8

Sweet potato fries! We absolutely loved the dry, crunch exterior versus the soft, fluffy innards. Dipping into the chilli mayo was a way to help counter balance the sweetness from the sweet potato with the subtle chilli and mayo.

Fries with celery & herb salt $8

We decide to rest, but not for long as we ordered our next round of food. The food here really is served fast! We get the fries, because it’s normal potato and not sweet potato. However, they did require a dipping sauce, so we asked for more chilli mayo for this.

Manchengo & prosciutto croquettes with smoked paprika mayo $8

Croquettes!! The cheesey goodness from the manchengo mixed with the saltiness of the prosciutto offered us a squeal with deeeelight. “Oh my, it’s so crunchy!” Miss CC stopped and looked at me puzzled, apparently she thought I said it wasn’t crunchy enough and was wondering how much more crunchier I wanted it. But that smoked paprika mayo brought out the manchengo's cheesy-ness all the more, mm~

Please sir, can I have some more? Must Queen B and S ask that? They merely bring their blue card up  to the bar (your tab number) and order some more!

Bring on the burgers. Well, we were going to have one. But were told they were bar sized, I was puzzled.

“So, like a slider?”

“A little bigger than a slider.” Was what the lady told me.

This is when I decided to go for one of each. But this is when Miss CC and I both had different slider portions in our head… what is the correct size for a slider?

Dry aged beef burger with caramelised onions & fontina $14

The beef pattie was soft; the caramelised onions were sweet, sending my taste buds in a happy dance.

Roast pork belly burger with winter slaw and apple sauce $14

Pork belly always wins our hearts, the winter and apple slaw holds that nice tang making that pork belly slide down all the easier. The pork belly was tender, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. CRACKLE was also present, and we all know how much crackle can make Cassie a happy girl!

By now, we were hugging our stomachs. Walking is classified difficult. And our second stomach was already full, there was no room for dessert. However, as I had been to the dining side of Hotel Centennial previously for work’s EOFY dinner, the waffles are to die for! "It's like eating air" Was what I was told, and low and behold - it was!

As we left, we were introduced to head chef Justin North, honestly, this night could not get any better! However, being a little in shock, and Miss CC in her star struck mode – we completely had missed a photo opportunity… until next time perhaps?

Yet before I sign off … let me shoot you another question Miss CC brought up: Do you have the pickle before or after your burger?

xoxo
Gossip Girl

Hit: Sweet Potato fries, croquettes
Miss: Fries

Hotel Centennial
88 Oxford Street,
Woollahra