The Choc Pot @ Chatswood

On Wednesday night, a friend and I went on a dessert experience at the Choc Pot in Chatswood. 

It has been a while since I've been to the area and upon arriving I have noticed so much has changed since I went there last.. which must be about 15 years ago! The Choc pot is located in the District on the Podium level of Chatswood interchange. 

My first visit to the district, I loved the place - the area is packed with of great eatery and restaurants. We finally located the choc pot and I quickly looked around the cafe. The cafe was cheerfully decorated with Halloween theme along with the staffs wearing fun costume headpieces. Love their slogan " live cheeky"

It took me a while to get to know the menu and order... there are so many options of sweets and chocolate dishes to choose from as well as some great tea and drink options.
Also it looked like they have some fun Halloween inspired desserts available too! 

After a careful consideration... :-)  I decided to order a choc pot, a lord of the crepes and the matching tea and passionfruit and guava drink.

First arrive was Passionfruit guava drink. A very yummy passionfruit and guava juice with a frothy ice creams on top... a sweet and inventive drink! This was deliciously fruity and creamy..

Since we are in the Choc Pot, how can one not to order this dish when you are here for the first time?
And as you could imagine this wasn't a disappointment :-)  Scooping out velvety smooth melted rich chocolates out of oven fresh chocolate jar...the each bite so decadent and you are in a chocolate heaven. If you are a chocolate lover, you've got to try this one!
I think the pot is massive for one person though, this was definitely enough for two people to share.
The pot came with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and strawberries - which was good companion for the choc pot. 

The lord of the crepe and the recommended Japanese Lime tea was indeed match made in heaven. I absolutely loved this tea, as it explains 'Japanese sencha infused with lemon and lime peel and sprinkled with pretty daisy blossoms' This green tea had a beautiful limey aroma and it was perfect with the crepe. I think tea is a great idea with these dessert dishes, it offsets the sweetness and makes dessert taste more elegant.

I am not a huge chocolate person in general, I mean I do love chocolates time to time but I would say I am more of creamy dessert person than chocolate person. I was very happy when I saw the crepe filled with fresh creams inside. Texture was fantastic, it has a thin slices of wafer inside of the crepes and it created very pleasant crunch texture. It took me a while to figure it out how this crepe was so crunch! I had to open up and investigate especially when the crepes didn't lose it's crunchiness until  it's at the last piece. I think it's very smartly executed dessert. The crepe also arrived with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

All in all we were very satisfied after the choc pot's desserts. Great service by staff and pleasant surroundings. If you are in the area and in a mood for desserts, definitely give this place a go!


Pollo-Pesce Me dined as guests of the Choc Top. All opinions here are our own and independent.

Luyu & Yum Yum - Gorgeous Dumpling Experience

My husband and I are huge dumpling fans, in fact we make it our bussiness to visit yumcha restaurant at least once a week. When I saw a picture of dumplings at Luyu & Yum Yum I had to make the booking right away! We arrived the restaurant on Sunday early lunch at 12PM. The restaurant is located in middle of busy King street area in Newtown. Upon arriving, I noticed interesting dumpling decor at the gate of the restaurant. As you walk up to the stairs you are greeted by a golden statue  with a bottle of Lemann's Shiraz :-)

The restaurant decor is modern with pleasant and comfortable lighting throughout the interior. We were the first came in the restaurant so place was quiet and I can see the chef's dumpling making room over the glass window.

 We set down on a corner table and looked at our yellow paper menu, ordered green tea and few different dumpling dishes.

They also have an extensive Tea menu, we ordered one pot of Iron Buddah Tennin.
The tea was absolutely beautiful, made with fresh tea leaves. It tastes rich and of great quality.

Tea pot was rather small, through out our lunch I think we refilled with water about 4 times and it tasted still great on each refill. I would've like more if they had used a bigger tea pot.

First dish we had was Duck Pancake at $16.80 (4 pc). The tender duck breast pieces were wrapped in fresh filo pastry accompanied by beautiful hoisin sauce, chili, cucumber and shallot pieces. I love the presentation and the taste was great.

Next dish was Luyu mixed Steamer $18.80(6pc) which is mix of herb dumplings, fungi dumplings & starburst dumplings. They also brought three dipping sauces - chili oil, vinegar & soy sauce. I loved the chili oils. I think it brings out the flavor nicely.

I loved fungi dumplings, I am a fan of vegetarian dumplings and this was done well. Herb dumplings were my favorite out of the three, it taste so refreshing with touch of chives combined with prawns.

I did not like Starburst dumplings which explains 'chicken & Mr Luyu homemade soup in fruit infused flour dough steamed'. I found this dumpling to be rather gamy and didn't taste very nice.

We ordered more dumplings, Caviar dumplings $13.80 (4pc) , flying fish dumplings $13.80 (4pc) and Snow White rabbit dumplings$12.80 (3pc). Caviar dumplings and flying fish dumplings were incredible. Best dumplings ever. So fresh and tasty not to mention how beautifully they are made!

 The Caviar dumpling tasted amazing with the chili oil sauce.

I think these dumplings are decent sized and the ingredients are really fresh.

The next dish was Snow white Rabbit dumplings and as name suggests it looked like little rabbits. It is almost too cute to eat! although I didn't enjoy this one as much. I found it tasted little bland.

Our last dish arrived. It is called Manga Dumpling. $12.80 (3pc) A.K.A Hedgehog. I absolutely loved this dish. I have to say this was my favorite dish from the lunch. This is vegetarian dish made with King oyster mushroom, Chinese mushroom, fungi, carrot, coriander in flour dough baked.  The dough was fresh straight out of the oven. It was so pleasantly crunch outside and the slightly sweet dough was complimented by the savory mushroom fillings. Total Heaven. I can tell this would be something I will crave and made me want to come back!

All in all I really enjoyed our lunch here, most of the dumplings were amazing and service was great.
Final bill came it was $103.80.

Yes the dumplings are more expensive than the average Yumcha restaurants in Chinatown however I think it's worth that extra dollar. They are made so beautifully and unique. If you are a dumpling fan I think this place is a must visit.
I wouldn't recommend Starburst or Rabbit dumplings but other than these two all other dishes were better than any other dumplings I have tasted before.
I would definitely come back and to try other dishes next time.


 

Zomato Meet Up at Otto Ristorante

I was totally excited to be invited to a Zomatomeetup event and have been counting the days! The event was held at Otto Ristorante in Wolloomooloo.

 

I have been to Otto on several occasions in the past but it has been a while.  I was looking forward to the pasta making experience as well as the Otto dinner.

Arrived just after 6pm I was greeted by the Zomato's community manager Nick and the team. The table was decorated beautifully with name tags and the foodie lists. Piano accordion player was cheerfully playing Italian music in the background. It was so festive! 

It was also great to meet fellow foodies on the night, I met some nice people who we share the passion for food, writing and sharing.

 

I had a glass of Negroni which is Otto's signature drink - This drink is quite alcoholic with a strong Campari taste and bitter orange flavor. It is served on cosmopolitan cocktail glass with a large ice sphere, very stylishly might I add. The specific ingredient is Martini sweet vermouth, gin, campari with orange twist. If you haven't tasted it before, it's a must.

We also had couple of pre-snack canapes which were very nice.  

Graham, the restaurant manager started the introduction of the evening's event of special pasta making experience.

We were dressed in Otto's aprons and move to the Pasta making room. We were divided into 3 groups, our team started with the tortellini makings. I must say it was quite tricky... definitely need more practice! We also learned making of Pici, Casarecce and showing of how to use Pasta machine to make many different type of long pastas. It was quite fun and informative. Now I know how to make fresh pastas!!

 

After we were finished with past making experience, we were back to our table for dinner.. I think everyone was quite hungry by this point. 

I had a glass of Vino Bianco Pinot Grigio which I enjoyed with my meals throughout the dinner. 

I also loved their in house made focaccia bread.

 

Our Entree was Buffalo ricotta, green asparagus, broad beans, peas and preserved lemon. 

It was really delicious. Asparagus and beans were cooked to perfection and the accompanied the creamy ricotta flavor beautifully. I must say I had a similar dish recently at a restaurant in Surry Hills and compare to that this was on the moon. Now I understood what that restaurant was trying to achieve.

Second course was Tagliolini which is made with black and white long pasta, Moreton bay bug, cherry tomatoes, chili, garlic and basil. This dish was amazing and I dare say one of the best pasta I have ever tasted in recent years. I am not a fan of squid pasta but this was different, it had very subtle flavor perfectly matched with Moreton bay bug, with fresh tasting pasta texture. It was fantastic! Every bite was pleasant. I was very full by the time I had half of the plate but I couldn't stop eating.. but to clean out the dish!. Truly beautiful pasta made me think that when I feel like having a Italian food this is the place to be.

Dessert was Tiramisu - I guess it's one of those dish you need to have in a true Italian restaurants.
I am not a huge chocolate person in general but love creamy desserts. This was in between of the two. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish it had nice crunch texture of coffee beans and biscuit pieces with thin layer of cocoa dusted chocolates on a bed of mascarpones. Yummy yummy yummy....

To finish off, we had Otto's house made digestive Limoncello. It is quite alcoholic but nice. 

I also want to mention how amazing the waitress was on the night. I forgot to get her name but she is exceptional! 

To summaries, it was absolutely one of best events I have been on, 5 star all the way. The night was so well organized and everyone had so much fun. Otto's food was absolutely delicious and we were given fabulous gift packs to take home along with restaurants' voucher. 

I am so coming back here to try other amazing Italian dishes on the menu in the near future. 

Thank you Zomato & Otto for this amazing night!