Guylian Café (Sydney, AUSTRALIA) ★★★☆☆

I thought Guylian only makes tasty chocolates but they proved me wrong on this day with some pretty impressive cakes.



Before we started munching on their cakes, a few signature beverages to get us going first, starting with my Guylian shake that was smooth and absolutely thirst quenching.



Our "main courses" finally arrived much to our delight. 

Passion Temptation, white chocolate mousse with caramelized passion fruit cream
The white chocolate mousse was not as sweet and heavy as we originally thought it would be. The passion fruit was a tad too sour for my liking but the chocolate mousse helped to neutralize that acidity.



The 100% Pure Pleasure was true to its name. This gem features a Belgian dark chocolate and Guylian praline enriched with coffee sponge and delicate almond panna cotta.

That was just pure pleasure.



Looks like a storm is coming soon, perhaps it's time to pack and head home.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: 91 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

Website: www.guyliancafe.com.au

Luciano's Restaurant & Bar (Queenstown, NEW ZEALAND) ★★☆☆☆

We visited the gangster-themed Luciano's restaurant on Steamer Wharf before taking a flight back to Sydney to meet up with friends and family the next morning. Steamer Wharf was relatively quiet but most restaurants inside were packed with customers, mainly tourists. We had to wait almost half an hour for a table.

Finding a server to place our order was almost as equally difficult as getting a table. Thankfully we managed to do so after a long wait.

We started things off with a lovely crispy calamari.



Spaghetti carbonara was next but I thought it had a little too much cheese in it.



Pan seared scallops was a little small and it had way too much seasoning.



We were still a little hungry after these dishes so we added another starter before calling it quit - porcini mushrooms.






Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$

Address: 88 Beach Street, Queenstown-Lakes 9300, New Zealand

Tel: +64 3-409 2460

Mercure Queenstown Resort (Queenstown, NEW ZEALAND)

I wasn't a big fan of staying at ski resorts but since they offer pretty nice discounts in non-peak seasons, we decided that it wasn't such a bad idea after all. Mercure Queenstown Resort was our pick for this trip and other than the fact that it was quiet, there wasn't much to say about it. 

The hotel was made up with a series of three-story buildings. There was a small swimming pool in the middle of the resort which we didn't get to check out personally.

The hotel restaurant (I think called South Eatery) was the only area in the resort that we saw some life. 

The room badly needed a facelift but thanks to our extensive time spent on the exploration of the city, we didn't really spend much time inside our room. 

The lone bright spot of staying at Mercure was its proximity to Skyline Gondola. Just a 6-minute drive.

Rating: ❤❤

Price: $$

Address: 21 Sainsbury Road, Fernhill, Queenstown 9300, New Zealand

Tel: +64 3-442-6600

Website: https://all.accor.com/hotel/1994/index.en.shtml

The Fat Duck (Te Anau, NEW ZEALAND) ★★★★☆

Not to be mistaken with THE Fat Duck in UK run by Heston Blumenthal. This one is located in the town centre of Te Anau (New Zealand), just about an hour's ride from the famous tourist attraction Milford Sound.

Our final destination was Milford Sound but the plan was to first stay one night at Te Anau to get ourselves re-energetized. We originally planned dinner at the Redcliff after reading all the raving reviews at Tripadvisor but its rustic decor on the outside turned us away! We had to turn our attention to the nearby Fat Duck.

It was around 8pm and The Fat Duck was absolutely packed with customers. We tried to wait for a dining table but finally gave up and dined at one of their bar tables instead. The waitress was very friendly and attentive despite having only 2 staff to cover the entire dining area.



Our dinner began with a nice creamy clam chowder, followed by a crispy duck leg confit and fresh mussels in a tomato sauce. All three were excellent choices and we were quietly singing praises of the food here. To be honest, it was a little unexpected coming from a small bistro in a tourist town.




The best is always saved for last. The most mouthwatering dish finally arrived and it was a grilled vension medallion served with a vinegar and red wine sauce. The meat was very tender and juicy. It was totally worth the extra waiting time.



If you are on your way to Milford Sound, treat yourself to a nice dinner at the Fat Duck!

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$
Address: 124 Town Centre, Te Anau 9600, New Zealand
Tel: +64 3-249 8480
Website: Link

Opening Hours: 5:00pm - 9:00pm (Wed - Sun)


 

Distinction Hotel Te Anau (Te Anau, NEW ZEALAND)

It's my first-ever trip to New Zealand. I won't say I was super excited about it but it was a convenient one to check it off my list en route to Australia. 

Jelloman wanted Milford Sound as part of the itinerary. I wasn't so sure about that. After all, we needed to make a special tour driving a few hours non-stop. And as a Canadian, I thought it looked way too similar to Lake Louise and Banff, only less impressive.



We did some research on the lodging options near Milford Sound and it turned out that Te Anau was the closest town in the area. The closest town with food and hotel. And from there, it was a toss-up between a couple of hotels with Distinction Hotel finally getting the call.

I didn't like staying on the ground floor of any hotel but that was what we were offered. Well, at least we got a nice garden view from the windows.

Part of the catch from this stay at Distinction Hotel was the view of Lake Te Anau. There wasn't much to be seen though as the mountain view was always blocked by the fog.

I didn't get the chance to take a shower after we checked in and it's time to hit the road again.

Rating: ❤❤

Price: $$

Address: 64 Lakefront Drive, 9640 Te Anau, New Zealand

Tel: +64 3-249-9700

Website: www.distinctionhotelsteanau.co.nz

Kingston Corner Shop & Cafe (Kingston, NEW ZEALAND) ★★☆☆☆

We are finally in! I thought it would be a short flight from Sydney to Queenstown but when we finally touched down, it was almost 3pm already. Time to pick up our rental car as we have a lot of ground to make up.



There really wasn't much to see from our drive to Te Anau, where we will be spending the night. In fact, we didn't even spot a restaurant/cafe except this one called Kingston Corner Shop & Cafe in a small town called Kingston. It's a gift shop, bar, cafe and restaurant. Whatever you want to call it.....

I really wasn't picky about what to eat for my very late lunch this afternoon. I figured anything that's warm I would just wash it down with my coke.

This didn't take long. We were watching our watch very closely hoping to get into Te Anau just before dark. 

Price: $$

Address: 1 Kent Street, Kingston 9793, New Zealand

Tel: +64 3-249-8596

0pening Hours: 6:30am - 7:00pm (Mon - Fri), 8:00am - 7:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Glass Brasserie and Wine Bar (Sydney, AUSTRALIA) ★★☆☆☆

Glass Brasserie and Wine Bar in Sydney is the latest project by celebrity restaurateur Luke Mangan. Situated in the Hilton hotel on George's Street, the restaurant invited world-renowned New York-based designer Tony Chi to handle the interior design and I thought it was tastefully done.

Our first impression of the restaurant - well, it was a little cramped. Just not enough spaces in between tables and seats. We had a party of 5 and had to scramble into a table that normally fit 3-4 maximum.

The second thing we noticed was the service being very slow. We ordered a bunch of food to share but after the arrival of our first two starters, we had to wait over an hour for the remaining dishes. And sadly, consulting with our server did not help speeding things up at all. 

Okay, so back to the food here. The crab omelette was our first starter and it was quite nicely done. 



The next dish, roasted quail with quail egg was also a good one although the portion could have been a little more generous.



As I have already mentioned, most dishes arrived way too late so I lost my patience to take a photo of each course. This was one of the few that I did remember snapping a shot of - beef tenderloin in a light wine sauce. If my memory serves me correctly, it was just average at best.



Food rating: 4.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 2/488 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9265 6068
Website: www.glassbrasserie.com.au

Kuniya (Ayers Rock, AUSTRALIA) ★★☆☆☆

I had to admit, this was not one of my most adventrous trips. But it had to be done. Ayers Rock was one that I needed to check off my list.

During our 3-day stint, we tried to photograph this magificent piece of rock from different angles during different hour of the day.



After all the hard work done photographing the Ayers Rock while fighting off the incredible number of attacking flies, we had to treat ourselves something nice for dinner.

Only one problem here.....

There were only a handful of restaurants in the region. We decided to first start with Kuniya, which was located at the hotel where we were staying.



Our dinner started with a galette of scallops on crisp green apple and fennel, witlof salad. The dish was beautifully decorated and we particularly enjoyed the delightfully sweet taste of raw scallops (5/10).



But the next starter, spiced kangaroo carpaccio with truffled parmesan shavings, sour dough grissini, rocket lettuce and baby capers was able to top it.

The kangaroo carpaccio tasted a bit like a beef carpaccio but with a little gamey flavor (6/10).

Our main course turned out to be a bit short of disastrous. It was a pan seared yellow fin tuna steak served alongside a nicoise salad and quail egg in a gazpacho.

The tuna steak had a pretty hard crust probably due to overcooking and we all knew what happened to an overcooked tuna steak (1/10).



After a simple petite four, we decided to crash. We have a morning call set up to catch the Ayers Rock before sunrise.

Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$$

Address: Sails In the Desert Hotel, Yulara Dve,Yulara, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia
Website: www.ayersrockresort.com.au