Address:
Centric Park, 4 Hyde Parade
(Parking available undeneath, entrance just pass Gloria Jeans)
City:
Campbelltown
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2560
Telephone:
4627 5656
Email:
campbelltown@pancakesontherocks.com.au
Okay, here's another ever popular family restaurant opening up in the changing and expanding Macarthur area, Pancakes on the Rocks. Many of you may think this famous restaurant only exists at "The Rocks", Sydney. Well, that's what I initially thought. I must be the last person that lives in Macarthur who found out about Pancakes opening here. Apparently, Pancakes on the Rocks have also sprouted in Northmead and Darling Harbour. Here are the list of locations.
THE ROCKS
4 Hickson Rd, The Rocks, Sydney
Trading Hours: 24 HOURS, 7 DAYS A WEEK
Phone: 02 9247 6371 | Fax: 02 9252 2900
Email: therocks@pancakesontherocks.c om.au
NORTHMEAD
100 Briens Road (Corner of Redbank Road) Northmead
Trading Hours: Sunday to Thursday 7am-11pm | Friday and Saturday 7am-Midnight
Phone: 02 9683 4322 | Fax: 02 9683 7587
Email: northmead@pancakesontherocks. com.au
DARLING HARBOUR
229/230 Harbourside Shopping Centre, Darling Harbour
Trading Hours: Sunday to Thursday 7am-11pm | Friday and Saturday 7am-Midnight
Phone: 02 9280 3791 | Fax: 02 9280 0467
Email: darlingharbour@pancakesonther ocks.com.au
CAMPBELLTOWN
Centric Park, 4 Hyde Parade, Campbelltown
Trading Hours: Sunday to Thursday 7am-11pm | Friday and Saturday 7am-Midnight
Phone: 4627 5656 | Fax:4627 8086
Email: campbelltown@pancakesontheroc ks.com.au
PARKING AVAILABLE underneath, entrance just past Gloria Jeans
Since it opened in Campbelltown earlier this year, I'd been keen to give it a go and see whether it was able to maintain the standards of its mother restaurant at the Rocks, Sydney. I wasn't in a hurry to enter it's doors. I knew the place will be totally packed for the first few months after opening. Campbelltown residents have been deprived too long from restaurants other than McDonald's, Red Rooster, KFC etc... etc..
I was able to finally drag the hubby out of bed for 10 o'clock Sunday brunch. I decided it was pancake Sunday. So off we went. Not knowing exactly where is was. All I knew is that it was in the new development area between the Catholic Club and Macarthur Square, called Central Park.
When we got there, the place was about half full with lots of staff walking around. We sat and decided our menus. The waitress came and took our orders. Then the long waiting game began. It was unbelieveable. We waited for about 40 minutes for a simple pizza and chicken mushroom crepe. It was only after we did receive our meal, our drinks decided to turn up. It took for my husband to go up to the bar himself to alert them we were still waiting for our drinks. I thought that was bad enough.
While we ate, the people next to us were receiving their drinks. Suddenly, there was a huge splash of sticky drink everywhere. The waitress accidentally spilled the drink all over the customers table, clothes and on the floor. What we thought to be very wrong was that the waitress just stood saying sorry while the customer started cleaning it up with their serviettes, including the floor!! I don't know if those people got compensated for that. They should have at least been given a free meal.
Food was ok. Nothing surprisingly exciting about it. I thought is was just right for brunch. I did not like the long wait very much at all. By the time we finished, it was lunch time.
It's what happened next after we got up to pay for our meals that made me realise what was one thing this restaurant was lacking. A waitress (I'm not sure if it's the same one) carrying a glass of strawberry milkshake dropped it and splilled it all over the timber floor. I couldn't look. I felt so bad for the waitress. The waiters were inexperienced. Well, either that or just very clumsy.
The total cost of the meals was very cheap. Having the Entertainment Book voucher makes a huge difference. We only paid about $24 for two people. Overall, I wasn't too impressed with the place. I think I won't be going back there in a hurry. I think I'll wait until they settle in a bit more. Hopefully the service improves significantly and speeds up. It's a bit of a worry that we had to wait so long for simple brunch in a not so full place. I can imagine what it may be like during a full house during dinner, eeeccckkk.... Yep, definately can wait awhile before I go back there.
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Address:
Located at the Hungerford Hill Winery
1 Broke Road
City:
Pokolin
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2320
Telephone:
61 2 4998 7666
Email:
terroir@hungerfordhill.com.au
Of the many, many times I have been to the Hunter Valley, this was my first time to try Hungerford Hill's famous restaurant in the region, Terrior Restaurant. We tried to have lunch here last year by just rocking up there with no reservations. Not only did we get rejected at the door, we felt it too. The waiter, or who ever he was was so rude. There is a pleasant way to say they are fully booked. Oh well. Maybe he was having a bad day at the time.
Although our first impressions were not so good from last year. I was still determined to try this place out. It's been highly recommended by the Hunter Valley tourism booklets. So I made sure I made reservations days before we arrived.
When we arrived around lunch time, 12:30pm on a Saturday, we were very surprised on just how empty the place was. No one was there at all! A huge contrast from last year.
We took our seats near the window with the view and sun ( because it was a rather chilly day). Since we were the only customers there at that time, we had very nice personalised service. Food arrived at the right time and it was a delight. Terrior Restaurant is considered to create modern Australian cuisine. Menus which purposely compliments the Hungerford Hills award winning wines.
For mains, husband ordered the eye fillet of beef with truffle butter, mushrooms, roast garlic and confit tomatoes $40; wine match glass - 2005 Hungerford Hill Shiraz, Hunter Valley, NSW
I was feeling a little ill from the ride from Sydney to Pokolbin, so I ordered an entree for my main. scallops, almond tarator, asparagus and green olive salsa $24:
wine match glass - 2007 Hungerford Hill Pinot Gris, King Valley, Victoria
Food was top class. Hubby enjoyed his very tender beef and I very much enjoyed the scallops. Serving was just right. Service was a lot more friendly this time. The waiters would come to chat a little with us and made sure we were ok with our meals. It was a pleasant experience. Soon the place started to take in more patrons. I thought, thank goodness for that. I just hate being the only customers in a big restaurant. There's something about being the only one there and the waiters are so attentive to our every bite 
Ahh.. maybe it's just me?
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Address:
1014 Hermitage Road
City:
Pokolbin
State:
NSW
Postcode:
Telephone:
02 4998 7888
Email:
info@casuarinaestate.com.au
Casuarina Restaurant is the name. It's not in Sydney but rather in the heart of Sydney's closest wine country region, the Hunter Valley. The Hunter Valley is a very popular destination for Sydneysiders and it's only 2 hours from Sydney. So even if it's not a "Sydney" Restaurant, I thought I should make a review on their faboulous restaurants. Casuarina is a definate favourite of ours.
Hubby and I made our annual pilgrimage to the land of the vine over the Queen's birthday long weekend. Being lovers of wine, dining and cheese, I can't think of a perfect place to visit and not having to travel too far for it.
This is our 3rd time dining at the Casuarina Restarant. The restaurant is part of an estate which includes accomodation and facilities for wedding receptions and conferences. I, myself have never stayed in this place. I may consider it next time because the restaurant is simply amazing.
Casuarina's specialty is the flambe. Flambe is a cooking technique when the chef would usually bring along the cooking trolley up to the customers table and cooks the food in a flambe type frying pan. The chef will then use alcohol (usually brandy) in the dish and set it alight into a big flame. It's all fancy and very different.
That's me on the right, avoiding getting burned
Hubby had a Seafood Chowder $18.00 (baby clams, mussels, smoked cod, saffron, hunter chardonnay, fresh herbs, lemon rind & a touch of cream).
For mains we ordered the Chilli Lobster & Prawns $90.00 for two a Singaporean recipe with tomato, ginger, lemongrass, shrimp paste, coriander, coconut cream, blackbeans and chilli prepared as hot or mild as you like it.
I thought is was awesome! I was carefully observing exactly what the chef was putting into the pan in the hope I'mm be able to remember all the ingredients and try it at home. We did attempt to recreate it last time and it wasn't a bad. I regret not video taping it. Sad, I know, but it looks quite easy and it's so yummy.
As far the service was concerned, we felt the waitress that was assigned to us was totally ignoring us. Clearly, she was pampering the other couple next to us. Our flambe chef was absolutely amazing. He made sure we were paying attention to what he was doing and even told us to get the camera ready when he was about to flame the pan. When he asked the waitress to give us cracked pepper, she totally ignored the instruction. The matre' d was polite and cheeky as always.
Highly recommend you give this place a go if you ever are in the region.
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Address:
43 Stewart Street
City:
Narellan
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2567
Telephone:
02 4647 2735
Email:
Wow.... I was totally impressed with this place. For years now since moving to the Camden area, I've been wanting to try this place out. It's been recommended several times in the Macarthur Dining Magazine and won many awards.
It finally happened one cold Thursday night when our plans to exit the M5 and head for Macarthur Square was abolished after seeing the ridiculous Narellan Road traffic. Instead we turned right and headed for Narellan. I then thought it was a great opportunity to try out Lexies. The hubby was hungry so he was not in the right frame of mind to say no. Bingo!
At first, we had no idea how to get to this restaurant. It's located at the end of Narellan Road. It's in a street that is parallel to Camden Valley Way. So we turned right into Camden Valley Way and then left into a small side street and followed the road to the left. Success again!
The restaurant is actually an unusual colour purple on the outside. So it's hard to miss.
Once we made it in, I was a little turned off by the pink, or was it peachy, coloured walls with teal blue cornices. It was like a time machine that took us back to the 1980's. It brought back memories of mum and dad's old place before it was repainted and brought in line with the times. It was hideous.
Service was absolutely wonderful. The waitress and the owner, Marion(? I think her name was) were so pleasant and made us feel very welcome. At the end of the night, as we were about to leave, we were surprised when the waitress asked us if we could wait a moment because the owner wanted to see us before we left. We felt so good after that dinner. It was a very pleasant and homely experience. So what about the food?
Double WOW! Food was just amazing. Being located on the outskirts of Sydney, we didn't really expect too much from this purple residential house looking restaurant. Man! we were wrong. Previous critics mentioned gourmet... well gourmet it was. I was amazed just how much the restaurants in the Macarthur region has developed. It's about time too!
For entree I had salt and pepper squid. It wasn't your usual deep fried variety you find at a Chinese take-away, it's the most gourmet squid I've ever tasted.
Salt & Pepper Squid
For mains I had sliced beef stack with garlic mash, roasted eggplant, sweet potato, and wheat flour type chips drizzled with aioli. Side serving of salad. Oh.... divine!! The beef was so tender it really did melt in the mouth. It was a taste sensation. Servings were very generous. Neither my hubby and I could completely finish it. Maybe we should have shared an entree instead. I was so impressed that I sent my compliments to the chef.
Prices were reasonable considering the quality of the food and wonderful service. I can't remember exactly the price range. I'll have to get back to you on that. They don't seem to have a website or I'm just not aware of it.
Oh... the place is BYO. They have no alcohol on the premises. Make sure you bring a bottle of your best wine to match the gorgeous food.
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Address:
104 Majors Bay Road
City:
Concord
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2137
Telephone:
02 97433400
Email:
Chilli Jam recently opened on Majors Bay Road, a road that already has a plethora of good crowded restaurants with Chilli Jam quickly becoming one of them.
I didnÃÂt know what to expect from a Thai restaurant décor but grey walls with slashes of orange and red werenÃÂt some of these. The décor is very modern and contemporary. From memory, I saw two long rectangular tables down the middle of the restaurant with more intimate settings along the side. The tables are wooden with comfortable seats, some of them ottomans in different alternating colours.
At 7pm on a Friday night, the place was already crowded, frequented by people of different races, ages, shapes and sizes, with several empty tables displaying the RESERVED sign. I noticed that most of the patrons were in big groups and despite the large space, the restaurant tended to get a bit loud. Especially as the tables are set quite close to each other ÃÂ that the little girl next to me practically hit me in the face when she stood on her chair and kicked out.
The girls at the front desk (which happens to be just inside the entrance, giving passerbys the impression that the line for the tables must be quite long as itÃÂs spilling out on the pavement) were a little disorganised. But they managed to find us a table and within 5 minutes of sitting down, we were given menus and our orders taken.
I was a bit worried the food would take a while as my previous experience in other Thai joints have attested, but lo and behold, the entrée came out within 5 minutes and the mains another 5 minutes after that.
We ordered money bags for entrée àa chicken and crab mince bundled up in wonton skin, shaped like miniature money bags. The skin was a little too crispy for my liking and I found it a little hard to bite into it, but the inside was beautiful.
For mains, we ordered Massaman Beef Curry which was to die for. The beef was tender, the potatoes cooked just right and I couldnÃÂt get enough of the sauce. We ordered Chilli Jam Chicken as well, which was excellent (but I was too engrossed in the curry to pay much attention). Thinking about the food now is making me hungry.
The prices were OK ÃÂ just slightly more than what the other Thai restaurant (not really much of a restaurant, a kiosk perhaps) across the street is charging. But for the large servings and the quality of the food, well worth it.
That was the first time my hubby actually told the waitress the food was great, without any prompting. WeÃÂll definitely come back again. The good news is they also do take-away so itÃÂll be great for those nights where you just donÃÂt feel like dressing up and want good quality food.
Bookings are essential, especially with more than 2 diners. Only open at night from 5pm. Good thing is they do takeaways and free home delivery if total order is $20 or over.
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Address:
423 Pitt Street
City:
Sydney
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2000
Telephone:
(02) 9211 4257
Email:
This has got to be the best spanish restaurant I've been too. It certainly is the only one I would like to come back to. Encasa is located in the CBD. It offers a large variety of tapas and other menu items including the ever famous paella. I say this because even when my husband and I got to the place rather early, there was already 5 orders of paella waiting to be cooked. Sadly, therefore we weren't able to try out the paella. We couldn't wait 1.5 hours for it. So Tapas it was for us.
Coming to Encasa for Friday night dinner was a last minute thing. We decided to have dinner in the city before heading home. My husband has been talking about Encasa for quite some time. He's been boasting about it since his business lunches were held there.
I have to say, we were extremely lucky to get a table there without reservation. We ended up taking the last available table just near the front door. From there, we were able to see all the disappointed faces of those people being rejected because the restaurant was now fully booked. I reckon they should put a sign up on the window letting people know they are fully booked. Saves people from analysing the menu on the window for 20 minutes before they enter just to only find out they can't dine there. Or maybe it would be wise to ask if there are available tables before wasting time checking the menu.....or even better call and book!
Food and service was absolutely fabulous. The waitresses were all polite and very accomodating. We were approached numerous times to see if we were ok and if we wanted anything else. Food arrived very quickly except for when we ordered a second lot of mushrooms. We didn't complain. we found out later that the chef was confused thinking we already received our mushroom order. It was nice that 3 waitresses came over the check if we'd received our order yet and then quickly chased it up with the chef.
Thanks to the wonderful sangria, I melted away my weeks worth of stress and giggled the evening away. That jug of Sangria was a lifesaver.
The tapas were really yummy! We ordered the Chorizo a la Plancha - Grilled Spanish sausage, Gambas al Ajillo - Peeled king prawns in sizzling garlic oil and chilli,
ChampiÃÂÃÂÃÂñones al Ajillo - Garlic mushrooms
, and Pinchos de Pollo con Mojo - Chicken skewers with red capsicum,olive oil,cumin,vinegar.
Overall, this place is is fantastic. I'll definately be back here soon, this time, I'll book early and preorder the paella!
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Address:
Shop 1, 72-80 Allison Cres
City:
Menai
State:
NSW
Postcode:
2234
Telephone:
(02) 9532 0699
Email:
yourhost@RockSaltRestaurant.com.au
I love it, I love it, I love it. This place totally reconsidered my perception about outer Sydney restaurants. If there is one restaurant that dispels any notion of outer Sydney restaurants being below par with the inner city restaurants, then this is the one.
I really didn't expect much out of this local Menai restaurant & bar. But the moment I walked in, I could sense that this was no ordinary local eatery. The entire place is somewhat of a mix bag. The front of the restaurant has the bar with very comfy lounges and bar stools. A large LCD TV that is constantly on the sports channel. There is an upstairs, I believe caters for private functions. The atmosphere of the dining is very classic. The tables are covered in classic white linen, the furnishings are elegant and matches perfectly with the timber floors. There are artworks displayed on walls for customers to look at and possibly purchase.
The food is really the ultimate reason why I come back here as often as I can. They have soft shelled crab!!! YUMMO!! There is absolutely no dish that has disappointed me. The steaks are amazing as well as the fish and chips. Servings are very generous.
The ambience is great and the waiters and bar men are cute and friendly. Great place to bring the kids. We've had a few large family get togethers here and left very excited about what we just ate there. Can't wait to use up my Entertainment Book again soon.
I highly recommend this place if you are ever in the vicinity of Menai at the Shire.
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