The Cooks Larder, Avalon

April 6, 2011 — 10 Comments

After watching my niece play soccer, I wandered up the Northern Beaches, to Avalon. I love Avalon. It has village feel, with plenty of choices of places to eat, and some cute little shops (such as one selling decorator items for beach-houses). Avalon has a relaxed feel, without being grungy as beachy places can be, having an understated style.

We settle on having lunch at The Cooks Larder. I don’t think it has any identifying signs from the street, but the locals sure know it, judging by the constant stream of people we saw looking for a table. I can understand why.

It was the first day out of daylight savings, so I was hungry early. We got a table at just the right time: at the end of the breakfast service, and just before lunch began to be served. Good timing.

Atmosphere

Our table was in an ideal location on this sunny autumn day, looking out into the street, so we could watch people strolling by (and cute gentleman driving his mobility scooter to do his grocery shopping, complete with a Ferrari flag at the back!). The restaurant has these old hand-beaters hanging from the ceiling along the wall:

Cute. And at the back of the restaurant, there is a shop selling all sorts of delightful produce. Apparently they also have cooking classes, including for kids during the school holidays.

Menus

The menus at The Cooks Larder sure do looking interesting. Here are some items from the current lunch menu, to give you a feel for what they offer:

  • Homemade pork terrine or chicken liver pate with onion marmalade and sourdough toasts.
  • Antipasto plate, with homemade marinated, chargrilled vegetables with bocconcini, caramelised balsamic and sourdough.
  • Zuchini fritters with cucumber, watercress, mint and fetta salad.
  • Prawn, lemon and fennel risotto.
  • Homemade linguini with zucchini flowers, ricotta and herbs.
  • Grass-fed scotch fillet steak sandwich on sourdough with onion marmalade, mayo and rocket, fries – thickcut.

While waiting for our lunch to arrive, we saw the last of the breakfasts go by, and they looked fabulous. The ingredients are fresh, interesting, good quality, and the serves generous.

The restaurant is not licensed, but they accept BYO, and there are two bottle-shops very close by.

Mains

I wanted to leave room for dessert, so ordered the oregano, chilli and garlic marinated squid with lemon, aioli and rocket salad:

The squid was tender, with that gorgeous char-grilled taste. I couldn’t really taste the distinct flavours of the marinade, but it was tasty. The lemon and olive oil dressing on the rocket salad went so well with the rich aoili and squid. A light, yummy dish.

The person I was with ordered the croque monsieur with free range ham, gruyere, homemade ketchap and greens:

The sourdough bread was nutty and rich, with the outer sides being crunchy, and in the inner side soft. The sandwiches were piled thick with beautiful ham. The homemade ketchap was strong and rich, a perfect complement to the ham and cheese. That sure was a good-sized serve.

Dessert

I saw the list of desserts before ordering the main course, and the only question was which to order:

I ended up choosing the pecan, fig and maple syrup cake with caramel sauce, served with vanilla bean ice cream:

I love figs, so I loved the richness of the figs with the maple syrup, with the soft pecans throughout the cake adding some texture to the cake. The caramel sauce was a good one, not too strong or thick, matching the cake well.

So, my first visit to The Cooks Larder was a good one. With the interesting menu, the relaxed atmosphere, the great location, I’ll be back. I’d particularly like to visit for breakfast next time.

Up the road

After leaving the restaurant I saw this:

I couldn’t resist taking a photo. Funny, heh!

Details

Here are the details about The Cooks Larder at time of posting. Please check their web site for more current details.

Web site http://www.thecookslarder.com.au
Address 21-23 Old Barrenjoey Rd, Avalon, NSW, 2000
Phone (02) 9973 4370
Open Breakfast: 8am – 12pm, 7 days
Lunch: 12pm – 3pm, 7 days [3-6pm light menu]
Dinner: 6pm – late, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Menu Modern Australian. Breakfast $10-$17, Lunch Mains $18-24, Dinner Mains $28-29.
Cooks Larder on Urbanspoon


I know this was for lunch, but I’m thinking about breakfasts out. Where do you like to go for breakfast?

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Yum cha at The Eight, Haymarket

April 4, 2011 — 6 Comments

When I heard that the owner of Zilver, Henry Tang, had opened a new restaurant, The Eight, I just had to get there and check it out. The Eight is on the top floor of Market City (on the site which once held Kam Fook). It’s large, holding about 750 people.

We got there to The Eight about 11:30am on a Sunday, and managed to walk right in, and sit down at a table right away. By the time we left there were people queuing up outside.

The size amplifies the hubbub of activity always surrounding yum cha, with a constant stream of carts passing by.

Please forgive me if I don’t use all of the correct names of the dishes (gwei-lo!). We started with the scallop siu mai. Gorgeous.

Followed by vegetable dumplings, with mushroom and corn inside:

Spinach and prawn dumplings:

The char siu bau and other dishes:

The char siu bau was particularly tasty, with a touch of ginger.

Towards the end of the meal, one of the ? managers ? came around, making sure that we had eaten all we wanted, and to tell us about the parking. Most helpful. And that seemed to be unusual in a yum cha place, where the service is usually brusque.

The dumplings which had been fried. Full of flavour.

After we had finished eating, we saw this grill at the side of the room on the way out. Apparently the taro, turnip and chestnut cakes, and the other things here have to be ordered specifically, either by asking a waiter or coming here to order it, rather than choose it from a roving cart:

So I’m still figuring out how it all works. I’ve also heard of some ordering additional dishes from menus with pictures, which would be helpful, but maybe that referred to the evening meal instead of yum cha.

Apparently parking between 11am and 2pm (on a weekend at least), you can pay The Eight $1, and they’ll stamp your parking ticket from the car park downstairs, so you only pay $3 there, making the parking $4 for that whole time. That’s a good deal.

The food we tried in yum cha at The Eight was fresh and delicious, with some new spins to some of the dishes, and good-sized serves. I’ll certainly be back to try it again, especially as I know now about how ordering dishes like the taro cakes separately (i.e. not waiting for a cart to drop by).

Details

Here are the details about The Eight at time of posting. Please check their web site for more current details.

Web site http://www.theeightrestaurant.com.au
Address Level 3, Market City, 9 Hay St, Haymarket, NSW, 2000
Phone (02) 9282 9988
Open Mon-Fri 10am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-11pm
Sat-Sun 9am-4pm, 5:30pm-11pm
Menu Chinese: yum cha for lunch, a la carte for dinner ($25-35 mains)
The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant on Urbanspoon


Where do you like to go for yum cha?

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