Vicky Lalwani

Restaurant Review – Longrain, Sydney

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 ...

Internet Statistics

Awesome video with some mind blowing numbers! JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Restaurant Review – Becasse by Justin North, Sydney

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 ...

Restaurant Review: A Tavola, Darlinghurst

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 ...

What a year it’s been!

I think I’m way overdue for a blog post. So what have I been doing since my last post? Aside from dinning out and creating a backlog of restaurant reviews, I bought a new house in June last year (yay!) along with a new car (double yay!). I have moved out from the CBD, where I rented for over 4 years, and now live in a much quieter and close to some new favourites down at Waterloo - rated 2009′s #5 in Sydney on RP Data’s list of ‘hot suburbs’ – (triple yay!) Let’s start first about why I decided to move? Rent in the city wasn’t bad and I admit, the apartment was absolutely convenient, 24-receptionist meant that security wasn’t an issue, it was close to shops, transport and a walk to work. However, interest rates were good and the government grant was quite appealing – which made it easier to repay (when comparing to how much rent was in the city!). And, of course I based my calculation on interest rates going up and factored to about 14%. So, aside from rent as a motivator, the other reason was noise. I faced Castlereagh and Liverpool streets, which have fire brigades screaming down every few hours – not ideal for relaxing at home after work. The apartment was ...

Restaurant Review – Guillaume at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House

Eating at Bennelong makes you feel like a celebrity or a socialite to some extent. You feel a little special to have a meal in a restaurant that has the same roof as the Sydney Opera House. More importantly once you do get a booking (which isn’t easy) – you tell your friends about dinner plans and you hear this “Whooo” sound coming out of their jealous lips – well maybe not, but you feel a little excited about the evening before it has even started. Located near the main entrance of the Opera House (towards the left past the cloak room), Bennelong run by head chef Guillaume Brahimi, has an amazing warm welcome as you are seated to your table. The view is spectacular, and during your booking you can make a request of what aspect you want your table to face (if available). Once again, I’ll re-iterate, booking is essential and it showed throughout the course of the evening as there weren’t tables free. We had got a table which was part couch and part chairs for six of us. Some had views of the bridge, while the others made do with the view of the city. After being presented with ...

Restaurant Review – Astral Restaurant, Star City, Sydney

Eating at the Astral restaurant was quite an interesting experience. I don’t mean this in a bad way – however, Sean Connolly has changed the meaning of your 3 course fine dining to Tapas Fine Dining. First off, we started with drinks at the Astral bar. This is a great place to unwind at the end of a working day with a couple of glasses of wine, bubbles, or select your poison from their cocktail list. Better still, take a seat, and let the friendly staff attend to your requests. I would also recommend a few selection from their nibbles menu. I can highly recommend the twice cooked pork served with a spicy dipping sauce. Also try their warm olives with sliced bread and marinated feta. Already had dinner? Then try their chocolate pavlova with ice cream or selection of European cheese. From the cocktail section I can recommend the watermelon martini or perhaps the Bueller (rose flavoured vodka with lime, orgeat and some Ruby Red) – but they have a 3 page list to select from. From their wine list, I loved their Otago Sauvignon Blanc by the glass or ask the bartender to pour you something they can recommend. The Astral ...

A deal with menulog.com.au

Recently, menulog.com.au and I have entered into an agreement where both parties are promoting one another. In the near coming future, I will set up competitions and surveys where a winner will win vouchers giving them discounts when ordering on menulog.com.au Also, if you follow me on twitter, I’ll send you a link to some exclusive specials that menulog.com.au have from time to time. To follow me on twitter, simply click this link – http://twitter.com/vlalwani and click the ‘Follow’ button once you’ve logged in. Meanwhile, if you’re feeling hungry, why not order at menulog.com.au =) Note: you can also book a table on menulog.com.au saving you the hassel of finding the restaurant’s number, calling up, getting put on hold blah blah blah! tags: australia, brisbane, discount vouchers, home delivery, melbourne, specials, sydney, vicky lalwani, menulog.com.au

Restaurant Review – Red Lantern, Surry Hills – Sydney

Brother and sister Pauline and Luke Nguyen along with Pauline’s husband Mark Jensen are the minds behind Red Lantern. Through family recipes, skills and cooking techniques, this family owned restaurant produces some very good quality Vietnamese food in Sydney. Now I have been to Phamish before and found their food impressive – however, Red Lantern is a few levels above the quality of service and presentation. But does that matter? Well, read on to find out. I called up Red Lantern on Tuesday, to reserve a table for 4 that same week Friday. I was told the last table available was at 8:30 – “I’ll take it!” was my reply. After a couple of drinks at the Dome Lounge at the Crown Hotel (just around the corner from Red Lantern) – we strolled along and arrived in time – worried that even a few minutes delay could make us to loose our table. As we took our seat, a waiter with a French accent was assigned to our service, and presented us with a extensive, but not overly confusing wine list and food menu. As we ordered our wine, we immediately looked at the menu to humour ourselves by attempting to read the dish names ...

Twitter-race: How this helps Ashton Kutcher reach his million:

Yesterday, Lamar Advertising rolled out a billboard that read “Follow Ashton Kutcher” with a link underneath to Ashton’s profile page. This was put on 1,133 digital billboards within hours of request. This is to be running for a hours even after Oprah Winfrey plugs her new Twitter account on her talk show.