A couple of years ago, I attended the Taste of Sydney festival – and I remember trying some of the dishes from Longrain, which I thought was fantastic. Especially their tapioca dessert.
So recently, we decided to give them a go. Longrain is a restaurant where you can’t book a table, and when you do get table… you’re pretty lucky (or so you think!)
First impressions of the place was friendly atmosphere with a decent sized cocktail lounge on one end and the restaurant and the other – in between you have a long hallway (Tony Hawk would love to convert it to a skating ramp).
The place looked busy, and I think know why. Since you can’t book a table, people rush in early to get their names on a list by the restaurant’s… let’s call him the bouncer, this guy meant business. So once you’re names is on the list, you wait – in their cocktail bar.
We asked for a “table for 2”, and he said “Sure, that’ll be 2 hours”. I had to clarify if he misheard me mentioning the number of people and not the number of hours. Clearly, I was put in place to say that it will take 2 hours. Great, so where to? Of course we were ushered to cocktail lounge and asked to “enjoy ourselves” while we wait – nice touch.
6 x cocktails (at $16 – $18 each), sparkling water, some oysters and a dish of mince pork lettuce cup kind of thing. I’ll be honest, I can’t remember much of it, partly because I wait for 2 f@*king hours! By then my taste buds had given up and it probably preferred a chicken kebab as opposed to a curry. Just as we were contemplating our decision, bouncer man comes and offers us a table.
As I sat down, I noticed that our ‘table’ was in between a birthday celebration to my left, a couple trying to have an intimate moment to my right, and a couple who were previously getting drunk at the cocktail bar now sitting opposite me – lovely!
Dinner time, and we ordered 2 main dishes, a salad, brown rice – all to share, followed by dessert (yes, I had their tapioca pudding) – but let me say that the food didn’t compensate for the lack of table service, mannerism of the restaurant staff and not even the table setting. Honestly the restaurant could do with more space dedicated to the dining area.
All in all, cocktail, nibles, mains, dessert came to $110 per person – so value for money wise, it’s okish. I’d rather spend an extra $80 and go Universal for a 5 course world cuisine with matching wine.
And to top it off, the staff decided to charge my credit card twice within a space of 1 minute. I got a call from my bank on Monday morning (thanks St George) to call back the restaurant if it was a mistake.
Admittedly, their accountant was much better to deal with and I would rather have her serve my table.
Longrain –I wish they called it Longwait!
Atmosphere – 7.5/10
Food – 6.5/10
Wine (cocktails) – 7.5/10
Staff – 5.5/10
Value for money – 6/10
I had been taken here for my birthday – and the experience was second to none. This had to be in the top 3 for me in 2009!
Run by Justin North, Chef of the Year 2009 (by SMH Good Food Guide), Becasse is quietly located on Clarence Street, Sydney. The first thing I noticed, was the calm welcoming feeling of a fine dinning restaurant with staff who you knew would make you have a comfortable evening.
You didn’t feel that you needed to be your best to enjoy Justin North’s impressively looking and tasting Modern French menu. We were shown to our table, located near a corner with views of the restaurant’s mezzanine level. The interior is comfortably lit with just the right amount of lighting to have a nice intimate dinning experience. With two tones of brown curtains draped along one side of the wall, and the opposite side matched with similar tone paints, all then tied in together with brown matching wooden chairs, gave the entire room a nice warm and expensive feeling. You can’t miss the round chandeliers hovering around the centre of the restaurant.
Our host for the evening I believe was the Sommelier himself and his casual and humorous professionalism made our night even more enjoyable. We ran our eyes fairly quickly over the menu for a bit, given that our intentions were to have the degustation menu ($130 pp). However, after spending a little too much time over the extensive wine list, we decided to go for the degustation with matching wine ($190 pp).
Given my lack of palate for seafood, our host was able to speak with the chef to alter just my courses – which was a treat. I think more and more restaurants are getting better at this, as opposed to ‘Sorry sir, the tasting menu is fixed – here’s our A La Carte menu’ (knob!)
Now do forgive me, as I dined at Becasse back in December – so I maybe short on the details of all ten courses – but more importantly having 9 or 10 glasses of wine didn’t make things easier.
I remember starting off with an Amuse Bouche of some sort after which we received 3 different varieties of bread – rosemary, pumpkin and poppy seed (I think). Then I recall a basil with tomato and olive oil sorbet. And I remember this clearly because of the olive oil sorbet – rich, but cold and yet perfectly matched the tomato and basil concoction. I then recall a course of sliced pork with a little salad and another of a steak fillet of some sort (told you I was hazy with the details). However, one of the dishes that I knew didn’t settle well with me was pork liver – I just couldn’t handle that stuff. A bit too gamey, with a texture that didn’t quite suit.
Also failing to please the palate was dessert, but I think I blame this on the 8 courses of wine before dessert arrived, as well as the bottle of champagne that was knocked off before dinner. I’m not having a go at you Mr. North, I just don’t think my stomach appreciated the consumption of the last 2 hours before dessert was placed in front of me.
Complimentary coffee helped, as well as a short conversation with the host and some of the staff towards the very end. Friendly yet attentive staff, minimalist décor, creative cooking and nicely matched wine made things simply enjoyable.
I definitely intend to head back to Becasse – the next time I’m hoping to remember all the dishes.
Just a wonderful way to celebrate my 26th.
Atmosphere – 8.5/10
Food – 8.5/10
Wine – 8/10
Staff – 8.5/10
Value for money – 8.5/10
Located on Victoria St, Darlinghurst, this Italian restaurant doesn’t have people standing out the front asking people to walk in. It’s not a busy hyped up place like Bar Reggio or a restaurant that you’ll find on St Kilda in Melbourne.
A Tavola is fine dinning Italian with a casual yet modern décor. The interior is very warm and welcoming. It’s not too noisy and a table in the covered courtyard towards the back of the restaurant is a different experience. A second level also exists for functions and a more private dining experience.
After a couple of drinks at Victoria Room, we jay walked across Victoria St and met with the Maitre d’ who checked our name and asked us to follow her to our table. Some of group members were a few minutes late and walked right in, however, the Maitre D’ was quite adamant on knowing who they were with – as opposed to letting them stroll right in.
Now, when I saw our group – I better mention who the group includes. Of course there was myself, Maia Michaelis, Sam Wadsworth, Amy Kwok, Sophie Chappelow, Stuart Pond, and Sophie’s lovely parents from the UK.
As we sat down, we found a piece of paper with the menu for the evening. This is where things took a tumble for me. As an Italian restaurant, I’m sure the owners and the chef like to keep thing very traditional. However, the menu written in Italian with no explanation of each dish, took things a little too far. We had to wait for our waitress to explain not only each dish on our menu, but also each dish on the specials board. 10 minutes later and hoping we hear correctly with her thick accent, we all needed a good 10 more minutes to absorb what was the best fit for our appetite.
We ordered several entrée dishes to share. A bowl of warm olives, meat stuffed olives, a couple of salad dishes – including one with buffalo mozzarella with prosciutto and some focaccia bread. The salads were the highlight for me. The cheese was brilliant, rich and worked perfectly with the prosciutto and lettuce leaves topped with a well balanced Italian dressing.
My main course had to be in my top 10 list of 2009. I had veal, slow cooked in milk (and a tomato base), placed over freshly made pappardelle. The veal was cooked to perfection. Tender, gamey and full of flavour. It was one of the most satisfying meal for dinner.
Dessert for me was a complete let down – I ordered a chocolate fondant which turned up to be an overcooked cupcake. I did however give a good go at some deep fried ricotta served with marsala ice cream. The waitress was kind enough to ask what was wrong with my fondant, and after mentioning to the chef they took it off the bill – nice touch. I wouldn’t say dessert was brilliant, so I’d recommend to skip that course and after a cup of coffee or go across the road to Gelato Messina.
In terms of a dent to your pocket, A Tavola is what you would expect to pay. It’s not overly expensive, but it’s not your average pasta take away. You have to appreciate your food to justify the bill, and I enjoyed my entrée and main to justify the expense.
Overall, I would give A Tavola a thumbs up – well cooked food, great staff and a good place to catch up with your mates. I’d definitely visit this place in 2010.
Thanks for introducing us to this place Sophie! =)
Atmosphere – 8/10
Food – 7/10 (a let down because of dessert)
Wine – 7/10
Staff – 7.5/10
Value for money – 8/10