Previously on Adam Riff™:
April 2019
mcdonald's / black star pastry / biang biang / gelato messina / ms. g's / bourke street bakery / acme / marrickville pork roll / paper bird / kurtosh / butter / aqua s / bl burgers / ciccone and sons / ester / saga / general chao / bills / yomie's rice × yogurt / saint peter / edition coffee roasters / mary's / grill'd / m.r hot dog / nomad / gelato messina / dutch smuggler / chef's gallery / banh xeo bar / black star pastry
THE GOOD
(Ester) was the best restaurant I tried in Sydney.
★ Potato Bread (Ester)
kefir cream, trout roe
★ Blood Sausage Sanga (Ester)
★ Hanger Steak (Ester)
anchovy, harissa, onion
★★ Leftover Sourdough Ice Cream (Ester)
blackened sourdough crumb
★★ Mi Goreng Toastie (Dutch Smuggler)
mi goreng noodles, free range egg, cheddar, magic sauce
^ Southeast Asian fried noodle sandwich.
★ "Stoner's Delight Part 3" (Ms. G's)
doughnut ice cream, peanut dulce de leche, peanut and pretzel brittle, crispy bacon, mars bar brownie, raspberry curd, potato chips, deep-fried nutella
★ The General's Fried Chicken (General Chao)
too many herbs and spices served with house fermented sriracha, kewpie mayo
★ Thai Green Curry and Rice (General Chao)
salted coconut rice pudding with roasted rice, mango, chilli, and thai green curry ice cream
^ A dessert featuring curry.
★ Yomie's Purple Rice Yogurt (Yomie's Rice × Yogurt)
—Instead of tea and tapioca pearls, drinking yogurt and rice.
★ Chongqing Popcorn (Paper Bird)
★ Shallot Pancake (Paper Bird)
jamon and shiitake
★ Chocolate and Murray Cod Fat Caramel Slice (Saint Peter)
—A dessert featuring caramel made with fish fat.
THE BAD
While (Ester) was the best restaurant I tried in Sydney, it also produced the worst dish I tried in Sydney:
✕✕ Squid Ink Noodles (Ester)
caramelized yoghurt, potato
^ Utterly unpalatable.
✕✕ Korean Caesar Salad (General Chao)
lettuce, pork crackling, pickled ginger, fried garlic, seaweed seasoning, with kimchi buttermilk dressing
^ Limp cracklings, oppressive ginger…
✕ Flame Canada Burger (BL Burgers)
beef pattie, american cheese, maple glazed bacon, chilli maple aioli, jalapeños, habanero poutine, on a chilli milk bun
—Eh.
✕ Traditional Pork Banh Mi (Marrickville Pork Roll)
—Tasted off.
✕ "Mapo Tofu" Agnolotti (Ms. G's)
tofu- and stracciatella-filled pasta, mixed mushrooms, mapo sauce
—At least you tried.
✕ Richard's O Couto Peppers and Esperance Bass Grouper Taramasalata (Saint Peter)
—I expected a dip, but not a dip for blistered peppers.
✕ Smoked Mushroom and Bone Marrow Empanada (Nomad)
—Waste of $8.00.
✕ Sweet Corn Fritters (Bills)
roast tomato, spinach, bacon, avocado salsa
—This is a signature dish?
✕ Sea Salt Soft Serve (Aqua S)
^ Bland ho.
THE OTHERS
Strawberry Watermelon Cake (Black Star Pastry)
two layers of almond dacquoise, watermelon, strawberries, garnished with pistachios and dried rose petals
^ Impossible to eat without a knife. I stuck a fork in and couldn't pull it out.
Mini Cake "Peggy" (Saga)
passionfruit bavarois, chocolate fudge cake, baked cheesecake, passionfruit curd, salted caramel, candied hazelnut, torched meringue
Choux Buns (Saga)
pecan pie filling, salted caramel chantilly
Banana Cream Pie (Saga)
chocolate biscuit base, salted caramel, banana cream, jack daniel's gel, vanilla chantilly
Nutella Laces (Butter)
shoestring fries covered in nutella and crushed hazelnuts
^ Too much, even for me.
Chicken Skin Gelato Sandwich (Butter)
crispy chicken skin, peanut butter, salted caramel gelato, peanuts, on wonder white bread
Frog Skin Melon Sorbet, Yoghurt Mousse (Acme)
—Not frog skin and melon, but frog skin melon, also known as Santa Claus melon.
M.R Original Hot Dog (M.R Hot Dog)
—My first experience with a Korean myungrang hot dog – basically, a corn dog with a chewy rice batter shell that you can opt to roll in sugar before enjoying with ketchup and mustard.
Japanese Soufflé Pancake (Edition Coffee Roasters)
cascara jelly, lemon thyme cream, ume and cascara sugar
—My first experience with Japanese soufflé pancakes.
Miso Banana Bread (Edition Coffee Roasters)
yuzu curd
Ricotta Hotcakes (Bills)
banana, honeycomb butter
Coconut Sorbet (Ester)
cloudy sake
—Served in a pool of nigori.
Burrata "Strange Flavour Style" (Ms. G's)
sesame sauce, chilli oil, spinach, peanuts
^ Needs to be served with something dry.
Macaroni, Pig's Head, Egg Yolk (Acme)
Roast Pig Head Banh Xeo (Banh Xeo Bar)
Mooloolaba Albacore Eye Chip (Saint Peter)
—Raw fish served in a chip made out of fish eyes.
Albany Bar Cod Stomach XO Crumpet (Saint Peter)
—Not a crumpet made out of fish stomach, just one topped with it.
Hoedeopbap (Paper Bird)
a rice bowl of cured kingfish and salmon roe, rice, scallion oil, seaweed
^ Korean poke bowl.
Shrimp-Brined Chicken Karaage (Paper Bird)
mussel emulsion, beer-pickled daikon
^ Gentrifried chicken.
MISSED CONNECTIONS
Vego Burger (Peanut Butter Jelly)
dorito-crumbed cauliflower patty, mac 'n' cheese and romesco sauce, lettuce, slaw
—For unhealthy vegetarians?
David Chang's Ramen Gnocchi (Mr. Miyagi)
wagyu bolognese, salted buffalo ricotta
Japanese Forest Cake (Black Star Pastry)
hōjicha sponge, choya confit ume fruits, umeshu infused cream, matcha moss, leaves and bark of dark chocolate, confit whole ume
—Black Forest cake with green tea and plum instead of chocolate and cherry.
Where’s all the chocolate you go Gaga over? Figured the page would be loaded with nothing gut cacao
But*