$10 Angus Steak In Sydney

Can you get $10 Angus steak anywhere? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the sign when I embarked at Darling Harbour! Apparently it is some lunch special that they do serve medium Angus steak with a dash of salad for only A$10!

I went into the restaurant and enquired, and true to their word, the Angus steak was really only A$10! But that would just be the main course, not the set. Since it is such a good deal, I decided to order the steak.

 

However, the steak is not as big as I thought. I guess for A$10, what can one expect right? And the medium steak I ordered is more well done than medium. In fact, the salad side looks bigger than the steak itself!

 

I took a bite and the steak tasted a bit burnt. So it is well done after all, not medium as I ordered. It was quite a disappointment, but since I was hungry, I just ate up the whole piece. As I said, one should not expect much for A$10.

Angus steak with side salad

 

Still it was a good lunch. Sitting alfresco at a restaurant in Darling Harbour, overlooking the waterfront, enjoying a piece of steak, now that is a blissful life indeed!

Drinking Tea In Leura

There is this little quaint village around the Blue Mountains region of Sydney called Leura. It is really a cosy place to live in as it reminds me of a little English village. In this village, there is a Treasured Teapot Museum, where teapots of all kinds of variety are on display and sale. There is even a little cafe for guests to have their English afternoon tea.

 

I stepped in there after my Blue Mountains trip to enjoy their Devonshire Cream Tea. The interior is so pretty and the display really captivate my attention!

Some of the teapot displays

 



I really like this country style tea set!

 



The fireplace

 



The menu, which I fell in love with

 



My Devonshire Cream Tea set

 

True to style, the Devonshire cream tea set consists of English tea (what else?!) served in a pot, with a little jug of milk, scones, cream and jam spread. Delicious, and just the way I like! However, I would prefer it better if the tea set also comes with a quaint container for sugar cubes. That would be more authentic.

 

I would recommend going to the Treasured Teapot Museum if you are ever going to the Blue Mountains region of Sydney. Even if not for the tea, the teapot display, as well as the surroundings are really pretty!



The Biggest Burger Ever!

On my last day in Canberra, my brother took me to a burger place where he professed they serve the biggest burger ever. The place is just next to the Canberra Glassworks, called Brodburger. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the place was packed with people on their lunch breaks. We had to wait for a while before being able to get a place, and even then we had to be out in the sun. It was a particularly hot day that day.

We went in to make our orders. My brother ordered for me the bacon burger, which is supposed to be the smallest size already, but I still find it big. After ordering, we went to our seats and one of the staff then served us our food a few minutes later.

The burger is really big! I cannot even bite it in my mouth even when my mouth was opened to the fullest! I had to eat layer by layer. That is how big it is. I wonder how the others manage to eat like that? Perhaps they have bigger mouths than me.

We also ordered large fries to go along with the burger. After just half way through the burger, I was so full that I could not eat anymore! I had to pack it back for dinner that night. Unfortunately, I was still so full from lunch that I had to force myself to finish up the burger for dinner.

 

It was really the biggest and nicest burger ever! Now why can we not have burgers like these back here?

Partaking An Australian BBQ

On my second day in Canberra, I visited a farm where there is a kind of an outback experience, complete with a barbecue lunch and boomerang throwing. The barbecue consists of big sausages, steak, salad, potato and drinks. A staff was on hand to barbecue the meat for us.

 Sizzling of the barbecue

 

My barbecue lunch of steak, sausage, potato, bread with butter and salad

 

It was a really delicious Australian barbecue. After all, what can go wrong with a little outback experience and having the rugged life? One must partake a real Australian barbecue when one is there!

1 Twenty-Six @ East Coast Park

It is his birthday, as well as "anniversary" of our one and a half years of dating, so I brought him to this place right by East Coast beach called 1-Twenty-Six, which is a place we have always wanted to try. The location itself is already in a perfect place because we can see the beach from where we were seated. Growing up in an area near to the beach, this is really a great place to hang out and chill!

The front entrance of the restaurant

The beach from where we were seated

The food is of a communal dining concept, which means the bits and pieces all come in a plate for us to share, and we would take the food from the plate and pile into our own small plates. When I called in for a reservation, I did indicate it was a birthday dinner, so the service staff kindly gave us a specialised menu, consisting of appetizers (communal style), individual main courses with communal sides, and desserts.

Starters - Bread with water and olive oil

Appetizers - Calamari, Canapes, Salmon Paste

Tomato Puree

Main Course - Roast Chicken

Sides - Salad, Chips and Fried Calamari

Dessert - Blackberry Tiramisu with Vanilla Ice Cream

Because this was a birthday dinner, a complimentary bottle of red wine was also given!

2 glasses of red wine

All in all, despite the fact that I have wanted to go there, in the end, the food was a disappointment. The calamari was hard, the mains were overcooked, and the salad was too hard. Maybe salad is supposed to be hard, but I would prefer fresh soft lettuce anytime! For the price that was paid, I would definitely think the quality would be much better!

This is definitely more a place for drinks and chilling out than a special dinner.

Food - 3 out of 5
Price - 1.5 out of 5
Ambience - 3.5 out of 5
Service - 3.5 out of 5

Aston's Specialities @ Cathay

A few months back, I was at Astons Prime and ate a mean cut of beef. A few weeks back, I was at Astons Specialities for dinner, and I ate fish. Now, it is not a place for fish, but I was not that hungry for beef, so I ate fish instead. Still, the food is good.

Ambience wise, of course Astons Prime is better. After Astons Prime, I have wanted to try Astons Specialities for ages, ever since my friend told me about it. Astons Prime is the upmarket restaurant, whereas Astons Specialities is for the general public - heartlanders, students, people who are not as affluent as others.

My friend and I were at the outlet at Cathay. The first time I wanted to go there, the queue was so long that I had to change the venue. The thing is that the place does not take in reservations, so it is on a first-come-first-serve basis. With the place being a favourite haunt for students and movie crowd alike, the restaurant is always crowded.

Furthermore, when my friend reached earlier and went to queue, he had to call me and ask what I would like, since the waitress was taking orders for those who were queuing up in order to save time. Hmmm... good idea! But it would be easier if the table was reserved, is it not?

Still, when I reached there, I could sit down immediately thanks to my friend! The orders were already taken, but the waiter waited until I arrived before he served. How nice of them! The food was not too bad, but the ambience is not as good as its more upmarket sister restaurant. It is a small outlet, which explains why the queue is always so long!

By the time we finished our dinner, the queue still had not subsided. It was still a long queue outside the restaurant! I think the waiter was glad we went off when we did so he could free up our table for others. I think the outlet recently opened a stall called Aston's Express at a coffeeshop near my place, one of these days I must go check it out!

Food : 3.5 out of 5
Ambience : 3.5 out of 5
Price : 4 out of 5