Aqua Dining, Milson's Point

For me, the view of Sydney Harbour is strikingly picturesque and as touristy as it sounds, I never tire of it. Framed by the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, it’s hard to find another scene which manages to completely encapsulate the essence and style of Sydney. With interstate visitors, we ended our weekend with lunch at Aqua Dining, above the swimming pool at Milson’s Point. It was a gorgeous day, clear and sunny and it was unfortunate that we couldn’t sit outside (too many people). With the Harbour view on one side and Luna Park on the other, every view was postcard worthy.

Bread

Complimentary bread was provided and topped up throughout the meal, served with olive oil (which I prefer over butter). The bread was soft, nothing spectacular but a satisfying carb hit nonetheless.

Pan fried yamba prawns
On creamed leek, persian feta and salsa verde

Immaculate presentation, which the large, juicy prawns sitting within the delicately balancing tower.

Pancetta wrapped canadian scallops with grilled haloumi salad
Preserved lemon and green olive salsa
Crisp fried zucchini flower with white anchovy

This dish was ordered by nine of the ten people present at lunch (including myself). The scallops were fat, succulent morsels, which married well with the preserved lemon and olive salsa to provide a light, fresh flavour explosion. The crunchy zucchini flower, filled with salty white anchovy adorned the haloumi and added a heartier dimension to the plate. A hit with the entire table, I loved these scallops!

Rack of Western Australian “Q” lamb
Fig and hazelnut tarte tatin, croquette potato, caramelised pancetta,
Accompanied by a smoked tomato lamb jus

I didn’t try any of this but I was told that the lamb was perfectly cooked and the fig and hazelnut tarte tatin was to die for.

Roast fillet of blue eye cod
Fregolone, spinach, parmesan, white asparagus and a sorrel sauce

I was in a seafood mood and ordered this fish dish which was one of three fish options on the mains menu (the others being a barramundi or ocean trout). Simply satisfying. Perfectly cooked fish, atop a mass of fregolone mixed with wilted spinach. The foamy sauce was light and the asparagus sweet. I’ve always wanted to cook fregolone at home but have never seen it for sale here. My understanding is that it’s a pasta made with semolina, but to me, it tasted more like miniature spaetzle (which is flour based). Like rest of the mains, a decent portion, I managed only half of the fish fillet, passing the rest to Herr Moutarde.

Proscuitto wrapped veal fillet
Spiced with juniper on braised leek with a cauliflower fritter and a seeded mustard jus

This dish arrived to my left and directly across me. I didn’t try any but reports for the tasty looking veal were good.

Baby beans with spiced nut crumble

Crisp baby kipfler potatoes, confit garlic, rosemary and parsley

Amedei chocolate tasting plate
From tuscany, this chocolate has won
Best chocolate in the world, consecutively for 3 years,
Here showcased in four different styles

A true chocolate fiend, Herr Moutarde could not go past this dessert choice. From the far left: Chocolate cake type crumbs topped with ice cream, chocolate tarte, chocolate slice/cake/brownie served with cherries and cream, chocolate crème brulee type dish. The chocolate crème brulee was almost mousse like in texture, yet still decidedly rich and dense. The fine layer of caramelised sugar was sweet with no burnt tasting quality (which I prefer). The cake with cherries was nice, being a square of heavy chocolate cake, but for some reason didn’t stand out like the rest of the offerings. The chocolate tart could easily have bought a tear to my eye (if I was that type). Silky chocolate filling encased with a short chocolate tart shell – chocolate heaven. I didn’t try the chocolate crumbs but was told they too were delicious. Overall I think a nice showcase for the distinctive flavour of Amadei chocolate, which seemed to have a well rounded cocoa flavour without being overly bitter, sticky or sweet.

Orgy of summer berries
Mascarpone and champagne mousse,
Crisp meringue and raspberry sorbet

My choice to end the meal. I am by no means a dictionary (so please don’t berate me if I’m wrong here), but for me, the word orgy is synonymous with unadulterated pleasure and excess. After seeing this pretty concoction served to neighbouring tables, then reading it’s description when our time for dessert came, it was an easy decision. The mousse was light yet luscious, contrasted by the juicy berries (mainly strawberries mixed throughout) and crunchy meringue. The sorbet on top was lovely and I found myself thoroughly enjoying this summery dessert. I think it would have been very easy for this dish to become much too sweet but it wasn’t, which was a pleasant surprise to those at the table who ordered it.

Braeburn apple crumble souffle
With double cream and poached apple

The last time I was at Aqua Dining, it was for my birthday dinner last year (before I started blogging), where the enjoyable experience was tainted by the fact that I was served a raw lemon soufflé…twice. It truly was an unsettling end, mitigated by the awesome company I had, the impeccable staff and the otherwise flawless food. The menu has since changed, with an apple soufflé now on offer. This meal was chosen by almost all on the table, and I’m happy to report, arrived perfectly cooked! I tried some on my right and was blown away at the delicate texture and seemingly pure apple essence which emanated from the warm mouthfuls. I definitely recommend.

Petit fours

White chocolate ganache balls, either plain or mixed with chopped dried apricot and rolled in toasted coconut. YUM!

For our group, Aqua Dining provided a remarkably pleasant and satisfying dining experience, with fresh contemporary food and comprehensive wine list. – Not a bad way to ring in the new year. Smart service didn’t unnoticed either. The lunch specials (which I had for the first time this time round), offer additional value, but I think it’s worth going either night or day.


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Aqua Dining
Corner of Paul & Northcliff Streets
Milsons Point, NSW, 2061
Phone: (02) 9964 9998
http://www.aquadining.com.au/

Twelve, Newtown

Belated post. After another round of exams, the last for Madam Saucy, unless she wants that 3rd degree, my close girlfriends and I decided to have a long overdue catch up (and celebratory drinks) after our long self imposed study exiles. Another reason I just couldn’t wait for it all to be over was that I knew my great friends MedicineWoman and H would be coming from Brizvegas and Eden respectively to visit and celebrate the end of exams with us – aren’t they the best?!

Sindel and I kicked off our celebrations with a post exam bbq at our house, but emerged later to join the rest at Twelve on King St. I like the exterior look of Twelve as a restaurant, it’s huge glass front offers a peek not only at the fixtures, but allows people like me to spot friends inside:)

Antipasto Platter

Starting with the antipasto platter to share, we were lucky it consisted of mostly chargrilled veggies (MedicineWoman is vegan). The veggies tasted fresh and even though it’s not in the picture, there was large, crispy bread sticks to mop up all that dip:) Nothing spectacular but still a nice start. In the past I’ve also had the saganaki prawns as a starter and they were yum (not to mention the serving size was huge).

Lamb with Roasted Beetroot and Pumpkin, served with a Mint Jus

This dish was quite large. The meat was cooked well – tender and juicy, but I thought the beetroot could have been more flavoursome. The jus was a lovely compliment to the meat and Madam Saucy had no complaints with this meal.

On a side note, this restaurant is extremely noisy. There’s something about the acoustics of the place… It used to bother me but I guess I must be used to it now. If you touch underneath the table you can feel the foam they’ve added there to absorb the noise but I don’t think it does much. Note the noise never stops me from coming

Fresh fig, chilli and basil fettucine

Sindel and I voted for pasta. My usual pasta dish here is the fettucine with WA swimmer crab, champagne, parsley and marscapone, which is divine:) but that night I didn’t feel any desire for a seafood oriented dish. Instead I opted for Sindel’s old faithful, the fig, chilli and basil pasta. This wasn’t an entirely bad thing as I always stare at her plate and ask for bites when she has it anyway lol. The figs are gorgeously sweet, and the amount of chilli is just right, offset by the tiniest dash of cream. The combination of flavours was beautiful, although I do think it would benefit from less pasta and a more figs lol (that’s just me being cheeky and wanting mooooore!)

The staff here are just great, every time I’ve been here I’ve had an efficient, friendly waitperson and tonight was no exception. MedicineWoman needed to make some small adjustments for a pizza in order to accommodate her veganism and both the wait and kitchen staff were more than happy to switch menu items for her:) I didn’t manage to get a decent shot of this said pizza (apologies), but it looked fabulous:)

Italian pavlova with marcscapone and vincotto macerated black grapes

H joined us just in time for dessert – looking smashing as per usual. This dessert was the special on the night and H, Sindel and I shared it (Madam Saucy and MedicineWoman were done with food for the night). It looked beautiful, the pavlova was cooked to perfection and the creamy marscapone was deliciously sweet but not sickening. The grapes were large and juicy.

Overall I love coming to this restaurant. Not only is it close and convenient for me, it also offers something unique on a street that is undoubtedly dominated by thai food. Sure, it’s a little noisy, but I’ve always found the food and staff really enjoyable, PLUS the fact that it’s BYO, and there’s a Vintage Cellars next door :D


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Twelve
218 King St

Newtown, NSW, 2042
Phone (02) 9519 9412

http://www.twelvenewtown.com.au/