Zeta Bar Hilton Sydney - Cryogenic Sorbet and Cocktail Bar

Impervious to the appeal of the multi-coloured cocktail? The Zeta Bar at the Sydney Hilton has added smoke and a splash of science with a new range of cryogenic cocktails and sorbets.Cryogenics? It refers to the study of the production of very low temperatures (below -150C or -238F). We found out more at the recent launch held for an assembly of media.Making mojitos at the barThe cocktails flowed

Freebie Friday: Win a spice hamper with African red drinking chocolate

Welcome to the first Freebie Friday for 2010!Are you on a health kick as part of a New Year's resolution? Determined to eat better, cook more or save money by eating in? Then you'll love our first prize for the year which comes from the good folk at Le' Spice.One lucky reader will win a spice hamper containing three spice mixes: peri peri, Mughlai korma and almond dukka - perfect for that

New Best Australian Food Blog Award and Golden Century, Haymarket

Food bloggers. Always ready to dig in.It's hard to believe that Grab Your Fork will be approaching its sixth anniversary in April 2010. The growth of food blogs since 2004 has been phenomenal - in 2009 alone, 56 new Sydney-based food blogs published their first post. I remember when I first started, I would say that I had a 'food website' because, back then, few people knew what a 'food blog' was

Haymarket Hot Pot Restaurant, Sydney

"Normal? Are you sure you want normal?"Our waitress looks at us with scepticism as she takes our order. "It's very hot. Do you like chilli?"We're ordering our soup base at the newly opened Haymarket Hot Pot Restaurant. The available options seem arbitary - normal or extra hot (presumably for the locals), or mild and ultra mild (presumably for the faint of heart). In other words, you're either a

Flying Fajita Sistas, Glebe

"Real Mexican..." says Suze, as we peruse the menu outside Flying Fajita Sistas. "Will there be cheese?"Table settingWe are a group of eight tonight, waiting with the rest of Sydney, it seems, for the second sitting of 8.30pm on a Tuesday night. The reason for the strict turnover is simple - Tuesday offers $3 tacos and $3 tequila shots. No wonder everyone looks so happy to wait.Wine glasses and

Restaurant Review #225: Pho So 1, Simi Valley

Charbroiled beef, eggrolls, vermicelli, and vegetablesIf you want Vietnamese food in Ventura County, you don't have a lot of options. There's Pho Saigon in Port Hueneme, Pho Oxnard (guess where), and two branches of local chain Pho So 1, which has been around for 20 years. After those, Yelp! starts suggesting Thai and Chinese restaurants. Or you can drive, for a long time, to get the really good

Ten Ren Cha for Tea, Haymarket Sydney

No, duck fat chips don't fill you up for long.Even before we've settled in our seats after dinner to see David Sedaris, Yas and I are already planning supper for after the show.We tumble onto the street and find ourselves trekking toward Chinatown. Bellies full of duck fat chips and wagyu and lamb cutlets and crema Catalan could do with a little counterbalance, which is how we end up at Ten Ren

Sean's Kitchen, Pyrmont

Duck fat chips. This is the main reason why Yas and I find ourselves at Sean's Kitchen for a pre-show dinner.We're seeing David Sedaris at the State Theatre - not a huge walk between that and Star City Casino - but it's the promise of duck fat chips that clinch our decision. We're easily swayed.Sean's KitchenIt's my third visit to Sean's Kitchen, the first at the launch of Sean Connolly's TV

Toriciya, Cammeray

The first thing you notice about Toriciya is the entrance. It's not the physical facade -- Spanish villa arches in a cafe latte brown--but the act of entering the door itself. A heavy glass-paneled sliding door utters a quiet shuuushhh as you slide it open. The low hanging noren curtain forces you to duck your head as you enter, an act of deference that imparts a sense of humility as you cross

Eaton Chinese Restaurant, Ashfield

"Do you want to eat the pigeon head?"Master Five looks at me and nods eagerly. I transfer the bird's head to his bowl where he picks it up, looks at it curiously, pauses, and then crunch goes the beak.I look at him nervously.Crunch goes the eyes. Crunch goes the top of its head."Look Helen, that's his brain".I'm a little mortified but mostly pleased. Actually I'm mortified that he's eaten more

Sushi Samurai, Pyrmont

Black vinegar and honey water $4.80 and mango soda $4.80Black vinegar on the drinks menu? Even as I read it, I knew I'd be ordering the strangest thing on the menu.Sushi Samurai is a small but cosy restaurant, timber tables and bench seating clustered in warm and earthy surrounds. It's reasonably busy at lunch and dinner, popular with local residents, nearby workers and Lyric Theatre patrons

La Tapa Guapa at the Sir John Young Hotel, Sydney

Pub grub. It doesn't have to involve steaks or mixed grills.You've probably walked past the Sir John Young Hotel on George Street hundreds of times. For years I'd looked on with curiosity at the outdoor tables, mostly men knocking back beers and lazily picking at terracotta dishes of tapas.Yes, tapas. Why did I wait so long?La Tapa Guapa is the Spanish restaurant attached to the back of the Sir

Lychee and jasmine cupcakes

Making up cupcake flavours is far too much fun. Chocolate? Vanilla? Why take the pedestrian route when you can go crazy with whatever flavour combination takes your fancy. Popcorn, Coca-Cola, strawberry balsamic and chocolate bacon cupcakes have all been baked recently, out of whimsy.Often, I'll try to match cupcake flavours to the cuisine I know we'll be eating, so Asian-themed dinners have

Sugarcane, Surry Hills

Prawns on rice cake with caramelised sugarcane $4 eachI admit that I'd been a little nervous.A hip restaurant interior, a menu that traverses the gamut of South East Cuisine and a website that is all fancy Flash graphics and hip schmoozy soundtrack. These are the things that make me wary on approach to Sugarcane.The Surry Hills restaurant is not without pedigree, headed by ex-Longrain chefs Milan

Hurricane's Grill & Bar, Darling Harbour

It's catching.Lately I've found that I'm not the only person at the table taking food photos. Somehow certain friends and colleagues have gotten into the craze too.Okay so they're not quite at the stage where they're lugging around SLRs in their handbags, but half the time I look up from my camera to notice someone else snapping a photo of the same dish as well.On my return to work after the

Makan at Alice's, Thornleigh

Teh tarik Malaysian milk tea $4.50Exhausted? Lethargic? It's funny how the mere mention of food will always make me sit up with interest.And so it was that a car full of food bloggers, silently slumped in their seats after a long day at the Sydney Food Bloggers' Christmas party, found themselves all smiles again when Karen suddenly pipes up out "should we have dinner at Alice's?"Oh how quickly we

Madeira Grill, Petersham

Doesn't food always taste better on a stick? The Portuguese espetada takes things one step further.Meat. On a sword.I'm instantly sold.Complimentary bread and olivesMadeira Grill in Sydney's Little Portugal, Petersham, is not overly busy on a Friday night, although they are playing host to a large party 16 people. The tables are decked in white tablecloths, but the feel is more of a family

Busshari Authentic Japanese Restaurant, Potts Point

There's nothing like a pre-dinner show to whet the appetite.At Busshari, in Potts Point, it feels like you're entering a cabaret show. We enter the darkened entrance to be seated in a dimly lit room, the ceiling festooned with paper lanterns and the only bright lights directed over the sushi counter, clearly the centre stage.A row of patrons, mostly young and well-heeled, line the sushi counter,

Interview: Ten Questions with Matthew Evans - former SMH chief restaurant critic

A full-time food critic. Isn't that every food lover's dream job?From 2000 to 2005, Matthew Evans ate at over 2,000 restaurants in his role as chief restaurant critic for the Sydney Morning Herald. Never afraid to speak his mind, his reviews were always entertaining, even if they did occasionally land him in the law courts. When he retired in 2005, Good Living ran his final column as its cover

Bak Kut Teh, Soba and a Mountain of Kueh - Final Day in Singapore

Happy New Year!With a New Year's resolution to tidy up the house and the blog, I'm finally concluding the posts on my Singapore trip. Oh yes, Singapore, remember that?Our fifth and final day in Singapore greeted Suze and I with the usual sticky heat and humidity. The taxi ride to breakfast took a circuitous 15 rather than five minutes, but eventually we made it to the Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha Restaurant