Quay: the long awaited dinner

Day 6 dinner = Quay. Booking 6 months in advance for this. Since Thach watched Masterchef 3 years ago, he has always wanted to try the snow egg dessert that was featured. After the movie, we went back to the hotel to rest. I had a nap and woke up in time to get ready. We were thinking of whether to take the monorail or the free shuttle to Circular Quay. Decided to get the free shuttle and got to experience the rush hour traffic congestion. Took us about 45 minutes when normally it will just take 10 minutes. As we were still early, took some photos around the area.

Harbour Bridge

Opera House

Quay

Finally went in and got seated. Was a bit disappointed as there were a cruise ship docked at the harbour and blocked our view of the Opera House. And it did feel weird to have people looking into the windows while you were eating. But thank goodness that the ship left during the second course of the meal. 

The ship leaving the dock

the view for rest of the night

We decided on the eight course tasting menu. As with fine dining, the courses are all in small portions but it was enough to fill us up. Truly, it was an awesome experience. The food was presented beautifully and the taste filled our taste buds and I loved the lobster course most. 

menu - ala carte or degustation

watermelon cocktail

starter - seaweed with beancurd

raw marron, young almonds, bergamot marmalade, pomelo, green mango, elder & chamomile

mud crab congee, fresh palm heart

poached rock lobster, tasmanian squid, golden tapioca & lobster velvet

smoked and confit pig jowl, shiitake, shaved scallop, artichoke

slow cooked quail breast & truffle butter

organic bread with unsalted butter

David Blackmore's full blood Wagyu, bitter choc black pudding & oxtail consomme

white nectarine snow egg

ewe's milk ice cream

latte & flat white

petits fours

After the amazing dinner, we decided to walk back to our hotel. The night scenery of Circular Quay is so beautiful. So was the dining experience at Quay! Do check out the menu at Quay and booking in advance definitely recommended (seatings were fully booked for weekends six months before).

before sunset

after sunset

night view of Opera House

View of Sydney City

Kangaroo LV

Lizard LV

Town Hall Christmas

Mamak: of Roti & Satay

I'm suffering from not getting enough sleep also from not drinking any coffee - one of my new year resolutions is  to cut down the intake of coffee daily. So, looking at these photos isn't helping! Wish I can have a good cuppa flat white on my hand right now. 

On Day 6 of our visit, that was the day of our long awaited dinner at the Quay. so, not wanting to do much, we just had plans to have breakfast at QVB. We stopped at Vanto and ordered pancakes to share. The husband has discovered his love of coffee but his choice of coffee actually involve ice cream as well, which is the affogato. 

Vanto at QVB

affogato for the husband

my lovely flat white

pancakes to share

Pretty decoration for Christmas and we walked around QVB, city and Chinatown for a while before heading to Mamak for lunch. Mamak is the place where a lot of people actually queue for the food and luckily we were there before the lunch rush. Shortly after we were there, the lunch crowd started to tickle in. Food at Mamak was quite decent but the husband and I both agreed that Little Singapore in Brisbane is comparable to Mamak. But Mamak does has teh tarik which Little Singapore doesn't so I do miss that a bit.

decoration in QVB

The early lunch crowd

chicken satay

mee goreng (uses shrimp paste that the husband does not like)

curry chicken to share

limau ais & teh tarik

As we had decided to not do much, we went to the cinema for Mission Impossible movie. We bought the deal from Chatime but later upgraded to Vmax. That was the first time that we were in Vmax and it was totally worth it. The couple seat is definitely more comfortable than the regular seats!

Bondi adventure

One of the touristy thing that we did was to pay a visit to Bondi. Set out bright and early at 9am and witnessed the morning traffic as we walked to Central station. Central station is one of the major interchange station and it has 25 platforms! We certainly did feel quite lost as the station is big and all was sorted out when we asked the staff of which platform to board from.

Central station

Arrived at Bondi Junction in a jiffy and started exploring Westfield Bondi. As we were quite early, there were not many people around. Started to notice the crowd when it was time for lunch as we headed to Spiceme Thai (next to Coles) as recommended by Thach's cousin Anh Bao. The Thai food was pretty standard and okay for the price. Continue exploring and decided to head to Bondi beach not long after.

Love the little cafe at the bottom

Christmas decoration in Bondi Junction Westfield

Myer at every floor

Took the bus to Bondi. Upon arriving, headed immediately to the beach. Bondi beach is beautiful. Comparatively smaller than Surfers Paradise. We walked towards the end of the beach and spent some time exploring the beach and enjoying the sunshine. It was a gloriously beautiful moment. The sun, the sea and the sand. What else do we need?

Beautiful Bondi

We then headed back to Bondi Junction as Thach wanted to track down the famous Bondi vet, Dr. Chris Brown. We found his clinic along the streets of Bondi Junction but did not went in as we have no pets with us! *so sad*

We headed back to Sydney city not long after and looked for a place for dinner. Decided on BBQ King at Chinatown as Thach has read some reviews on Urbanspoon. The meal was quite okay but was pretty ordinary. But then, it was a pretty interesting as a group of diners came and we were quite amused of their (little) knowledge of Chinese food! We then had dessert at Meet Fresh. The Taiwanese style dessert was not bad and especially like the winter melon tea with taro balls.

winter melon tea with taro balls

it was a good day out and good company at the beach