Flying Fish, Pyrmont, NSW

Since it was the last night of our stay in Sydney, honeyhype & I decided to have something nicer to end our trip, before travelling to Melbourne on our food hunting journey. We chose Flying Fish, because alas, it is owned by Peter Kuruvita who was a guest chef on Master Chef - Season 2 (can you tell I'm obsessed much?). 
Since Flying Fish is famous for its seafood, we decided on the seafood tasting menu so we could try more varieties. This was a wise decision indeed.

A nice little entree to start our meal - king prawns with a avocado mayo. Juicy prawns, full of flavour, the mayo was light and had a hint of avocado taste in it. Different, but it worked.  

King prawn with avocado mayo

Our first main arrived promptly shortly after- seared yellow fin tuna. I was salivating even when I first saw this on the menu!  The tuna had a vibrant, red colour, which looked and tasted very fresh. There was an interesting mix of flavours in this dish; citrus from the red grapefruit, crispy pork crackle, tender pieces of tuna, all of which were layered on top of a juicy, soft piece of pork belly. The pepper caramel gave the dish a nice finishing touch as the tanginess from the grapefruit was balanced by the sweetness of the caramel.

 Seared yellow fin tuna with ruby red grapefruit, sweet crackling pork and black pepper caramel

Our next dish was Seafood tapas. This dish was really enjoyable, as it had a small portion of four different tastes of the ocean. All three types of fish (trout, himarashi kingfish, and smoked bonito) had characteristic of fresh sashimi: sweet, creamy flesh and a pleasant texture. But I enjoyed the cuttlefish noodles the most. The cuttlefish just melts in your mouth, and the mayonnaise dressing gave it a nice twist.

Seafood tapas

Our seafood tapas was followed by another fish - confit of petuna ocean trout with pea and black sesame mousse, puffed quinoa and tangerine oil. This was a rather refreshing dish, as the tangerine oil gave the fish a mild citrus scent, but there was also a tanginess to it - I later found out what gave the ocean trout roe a bit of a tangy flavour when eating was the addition of finger limes used in the dish. I later found a few small bones though - so please be careful when you eat this!

Confit of Petuna ocean trout with pea & black sesame mousse, puffed quinoa & tangerine oil 

Next up was a prawn ravioli with poached scampi. This was one of my favourites for the night. Fresh sweet prawns hidden inside this giant ravioli which was delicious when eaten together with the broccolini and tomato. The pasta was also cooked very well - pastry was thin and al dente, just the way I liked. I wish there was more than one ravioli on my plate though! 

Prawn ravioli, poached scampi with tomato & broccolini

There's not many types of fish which I like, because I'm always scared of the unpleasant fish smell and taste. But our next dish - pan fried John Dory with king prawns, really changed my mind. The fish had a nice crispy skin and the meat was firm with no fishy taste at all. The dish also came with some house made hand-cut chips and a fresh salad with vinaigrette - kind of like fish and chips, except with lots of vegetables which made this a very healthy dish! :) 

John Dory – pan fried john dory with king prawn, young autumn vegetables, yuzu and seaweed butter

We also ordered several mocktails throughout the night as we wanted something non-alcoholic. They were all delicious, but if I had to choose, my favourite was Penny Lane - fresh strawberries and lime with a touch of sugar poured long with cranberry juice. Fabulous. 

Penny Lane

Royal Counsel - A stunning blend of pear, lychee and mint all finished with a taste of apple and lime juices. 

Sultry Miss - A delicate taste of apple juice, lychee and Dilmah natural ceylon ginger tea with a touch of lime. Gorgeous.

 Dinner was wrapped up with dessert – petit fours, as well as individual tasting plates, which consisted of coconut marshmallows, passionfruit souffle, carrot cake, and a guava sorbet with spun sugar. I felt dessert was lacking a bit of creativity, but the flavours were nice and again, I loved the idea of having a tasting plate with different things to try.

Individual tasting plate

Petit fours and tea

Overall we had a great dining experience at Flying Fish. It is obvious why people enjoy dining here so much, as the food is of a high quality, staff are helpful, not to mention amazing views of the Sydney Harbour. The only thing to note is that I would love to see Flying Fish give their tasting menu some more variety and include other seafood such as shell fish as part of the menu. 

 

(Credit to honeyhype for helping with the photos!)

Vue de monde, Melbourne, VIC

Vue de monde is owned by the renowned Shannon Bennett - another amazing chef who I only learned of after religiously following last season's Master Chef. I wish I had visited Vue de monde earlier, because I can honestly say it was the most amazing culinary experience that I've had on my food adventures to date.

Chat Thai, Sunnybank, QLD

Having travelled to Thailand and got a taste of traditional Thai cuisine, I kind of got spoilt with such good food over there that it's been hard to find anything comparable in Queensland ever since. I'm always keen to try new restaurants and Chat Thai was no exception.


One of the signature dishes Thailand is known for is the Papaya Salad. When I had this in Thailand, the way restaurants could use raw paw paw and turn it into a delicious, refreshing dish when mixed with the right ingredients really amazed me. Unfortunately, that amazing taste was not replicated by the papaya salad at Chat Thai. The papaya was not crunchy and did not taste fresh (as it should!), but the cherry tomatoes and beans were crunchy and were flavoursome. The dressing is one of the most important aspect of the dish, but it was rather salty without much sweet and spicy taste at all.

Papaya Salad

We ordered Pad Thai and Crispy chicken with coconut rice as our mains. The Pad Thai was presented nicely and I was really hoping it would have a great taste to match. The noodles were fresh and the chicken and prawns tasted fresh and juicy, but the pad thai in general had more of a sweeter taste, which might not suit everyone's taste buds. If you prefer a more savory taste, make sure you add some fish sauce (or chilli sauce) to the pad thai to give it a more balanced taste.

 Pad Thai

The fried chicken with coconut rice was my favourite dish of the night. The outer layer was crispy and not too oily. The chicken tastes like it had been seasoned prior to cooking, which gave the chicken lots of flavour. It was moist and tender, which, when eaten with the slightly sweet tasting coconut rice, was a rather enjoyable meal. 

Fried chicken with coconut rice

I absolutely love Tom Yum Goong. When I saw it on the menu, I was really hoping it would taste as authentic as what I had tried in Thailand. My tom yum noodles looked very appealing when it arrived. But it was such a shame that the chef had not done this Tom Yum Goong justice. The soup was very salty and not very spicy, if at all. I could taste the fish sauce in the soup with some tangyness, but it was just a salty and sour soup with no seafood taste at all. Perhaps the soup was not made with prawns and shrimp? 

Tom Yum soup with rice noodles

The chefs at Chat Thai have put a new and different spin on traditional Thai cuisine, but unfortunately, I'm not sure if I like it. I think there's been mixed feelings about this restaurant, so I will leave it up to you to give Chat Thai a go. I am definitely keen to try out Chat Thai in Sydney (not affiliated with Brisbane's Chat Thai in any way) and report back with my experience.
If anyone has been to Chat Thai, what was your experience like? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know!


But in the mean time, I think I will keep trying different Thai restaurants, until I find the restaurant which serves the best tasting Tom Yum Goong in Australia!


(Credit to honeyhype for helping with the photos!)