Any occasion is a good occasion to gather up and share the moment with good food. To celebrate a birthday occasion for our good food-loving friends
Gianna,
Phuoc and
Rita,
we gathered up tonight with our hungry stomaches for newly opened Greek restaurant
Xanthi.
As many of you might already know, the well-respected Greek restaurant Perama has closed its door in August and now reopened as Xanthi at Westfield Sydney. They offer a banquet set menu (mandatory for a group over 10+), and we went for the $55 banquet menu.
(Some of dishes shown below are not included in the set menu. Please refer to their set menu on the website.)
お祝いごとには、友達と集まってうまいもん囲んでわいわいやるっつーのはいいもんだよねぇ。今回は、友達のGianna, PhoucそしてRitaの3人の誕生日のお祝いもかねて、新しくオープンしたグリークレストラン、Xanthiにやって来ました。
グリーク料理で有名なPeramaが、今年8月をもって閉店しちゃったんだけど、こちらのXanthiは、同じシェフ・経営者が新しくシドニーのWestfieldに移転して再オープンしたお店であります。ここでは、グループ用バンケットメニューがあって、今回はそちらのコースを堪能してきましたよ。（$55、10人以上のグループはバンケットメニューのみ。なお、以下の写真の中には、バンケットメニューに含まれていないディッシュもあるので、詳細はウェブサイトで確認してください。）
Shortly after everyone seated, a few bottles of Tsipouro – a Greek spirit contains 44% alcohol. This is often accompanied with ice cubes and/or water, and diluting with water causes it to turn white colour. This is just like the turkish Raki – a.k.a. Lion’s tear. We were told that Tsipouro helps stimulatie and induce appetite, but my stomach was already ready and finishing the glass of Tsipouro would have rather pushed me toward a night of embarrassment.
席について間もなく、Tsipouroっていうお酒のサービス。グリークの蒸留酒で、44%もあるとかいう強烈な。あれですな、トルコのRakiってやつのギリシャ版。ライオンの涙、とも言われてるこのお酒、通常氷や水を入れて飲むんだけど、水分加わると、白濁するんすよ。薄めても全然強烈な度数なんだけど。シェフのDavidさんが言うには、食前酒として飲むことで、食欲を増進するらしいんだけど、すでに空腹なので、空きっ腹にこんなの飲んだらヤバス。
Pickled Octopus
Greek Salad
Tarama dip
Hot smoked eggplant dip
BBQ haloumi
Starter dishes arrived one after another. And oh how I love haloumi cheese.
そうしてる間、どんどんスターターディッシュが到着。ハルミチーズがうますぎ!
Herbed Skordalia Croquettes
Sheftalies BBQ pork meatballs
Fried veal sweetbreads
More savoury dishes continued to follow. Herbed skordalia croquettes, Sheftalies BBQ pork meatballs, fried veal
sweetbreads – these were the dishes I didn’t see at Perama the last time. I loved the chunky pork meatballs!
続いてセイボリーディッシュもやってきやした。グリークコロッケ、シェフタリスBBQポークミートボール、フライドヴィールスイートブレッドなどなど、前回Peramaでは食べたことがなかったものが出てきてニンマリ。ゴロッとしたポークミートボール、食べごたえもあってやばいです。うまいです。ちなみに、スイートブレッドって、甘いパンっつーわけではなく、日本語では「
シビレ」っていわれる部位の名称。
Prawn and scallop bougatsa
Spinach & feta bougatsa
Pork belly baklava
There’s one bougatsa included in the set menu, but thanks to David the owner/chef at Xanthi, we’ve got two – Prawn & Scallop bougastsa and oh yes, the signature pork belly baklava. We also got two more bougastsas as nut-free alternatives – Spinach & feta, and lamb fricasse bougatsas. Crispy pastry and tasty fillings are hard to resist, I of course had to have taste of all four. The pork belly baklava was definitely one of my favourites dishes of the night, but hmm I think I like the old one better. (read a little more insight regarding the pork belly baklava at Helen’s post.)
セットメニューには、１つしか含まれてないんですが、シェフのご好意で２つ出してくれました。エビとホタテ、そしてシグニチャーディッシュでもあるポークベリーのバクラヴァ。これに加えて、ナッツの入っていないスピナッチとフェタチーズ、ラムのBougastsaもアレルギーのある人用に登場。サクサクのペーストリーに包まれたフィリング、たまんないお。アレルギーないけど、がっつり図々しくナッツフリーのやつも味見させてもらた。ウマスー。このポークベリーバクラヴァ、今夜のディッシュのなかでも特に美味しかったやつなんだけど、どうだろ、Perama時代の、バクラヴァそのものな感じの方が好きかも。（今回は、巻かれた状態ででてきて、春巻きみたいな感じ。）
Meat from the spit (extra $15)
Instead of lamb skaras, we were given meat from the spit, thanks to David again! Accompanied with potatoes and lemon wedges, the lamb and pork were just luring me into stuffing myself to the max. I usually like pork better than lamb, but tender and succulent lamb won me over this time.
通常セットメニューではLamb Skarasが出てくるんだけど、またまたシェフのご好意で、ローストミートを出してもらいました。ホクホクのラムとポークのロースト、お腹いっぱいになりつつあるのに、更にがっつりくっちまうTHEY。普段はラムよりポークの方が好きなんだけど、このジューシーで柔らかいラムにやられました。うまい。これはおすすめ。
Garden of Aphrodite (Not included in the banquet menu)
Sokolata Castania (Not included in the banquet menu)
Caramel Baklava Ice Cream
Salted caramel peanut & banana sweet bougatsa
Good old favourite dessert dishes – Caramel baklava ice cream and salted caramel peanut & banana sweet bougatsa. But we were also given extra dessert dishes: Garden of Aphrodite and Sokolata Castania. Both were beautifully presented, but I especially loved the Sokolata Castania the chocolate mousse. Very nice.
Those who loved Perama, you’d definitely love the new and improved dishes at Xanthi. And those who missed the opportunity to dine at Perama before closing, I highly recommend to visit and enjoy the great Greek feast!
最後はデザートで締め。Perama時代から人気のキャラメルバクラヴァアイスクリーム、ソルトキャラメルピーナッツとバナナのスイートボーガッツア。それに加えて、さらにご好意で新しくメニューに加わった、Garden of AphroditeとSokolata Castaniaまで登場ー。どちらもプレゼンテーションが綺麗で美味しいんだけど、このチョコレートムースのSokolata Castaniaが特に美味しかったす。
Peramaの料理が好きな人は、新しいXanthiも絶対大好きなはず。行ったことない人は、是非足を運んでグリークフィーストを堪能してみてくだせー！おすすめ！
γεια μας!
Xanthi
Level 6, Westfield Sydney
Corner Pitt street mall and Market street
Sydney
02 9232 8535
http://www.xanthi.com.au
(After hour entrance is located further down the street)
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Hai. Do you still remember me?
Just like the last time, “I can’t believe it’s been awhile since the last post.” And I have to say that again, but this time, a year later! Sometimes life takes different turns on its own, and you just simply need to go with it, right? That’s pretty much what it was.
But you know what, I’ve got something else to confess. The Japanese double post that is. It’s very flattering to have gotten many requests from Japanese readers to add Japanese translation, which in fact I have started. But it’s just damn hard for me to keep it up simply because I myself can’t even feel the same *vibe* from written Japanese… So that’s the huge reason for the long overdue neglect. Oh well.
ども。ヤバイくらいサボってましたが、覚えててくれてまするか。
毎回毎回、「いやー、久しぶり！！」とか言ってますが、今回もそんな感じ。さすがに1年も放置はなかろうが、って。まぁ、色々毎日仕事やらなんやらあって、そういう時には流れに身を任せてやってくしか無いじゃないですか。そんなこんなで完全放置ですよ。えぇ。
いや、それも理由なんですが、日本語でも書いてくださいよー、という嬉しいリクエストがしばしばあったので、英語に訳つける感じでスタートしたものの、えらいめんどくさいんですな、これが！！なんかねぇ、、微妙にニュアンス違って、本人が違和感覚えてるっつー感じで。すんまそん。ま、そんなわけで長らく放置に至ったっつーのが本音ですｗ すんまそん。
Anyways. Now that I’m back blogging again, I’ll just wait and see if Betty
the hungry girl would keep her promise – “I’ll get back on blogging if you did” ;p
まぁそれはいいとして。ブログ再開したにあたって、友達の
The hungry girlこと、ベティーも、約束通りブログの再開するんだろうよ、と。「あんたが再開したら私もそうする」って言ってたからねぇ。ほんとかよ。
So the first post after a year of absence is Sepia. I have quite alot of back logs from the past eating occasions, but this is relatively recent. And just as I was thinking of posting this, a good news came in. Sepia won Restaurant of the year. Woohoooooo, congratulations!
さて、再開第一弾のお店はSepia。過去に行ったレストラン、まだまだ書いていないので溢れかえってるんだけど、こちらは最近。そしてそして、Sepiaのこと書こうかな、と思ってた矢先に、Restaurant of the yearに選ばれましたなー！オメデトウー！
You must have read other posts on Sepia like I have. I have to say they definitely live up to their good reputations – the fantastic dishes with eye-opening creativity and attentive, friendly and knowledgeable staff. And that’s why I chose Sepia for this special celebratory dinner with Tomo.
シドニーフードブログを読んでる人なら、多分見たことあるであろうSepia。クリエイティビティあふれる素晴らしいディッシュと、親しみがあって知識豊富なスタッフ、やっぱりいい噂通りのとこでして。だからこそ、お祝い事ディナーのレストランとしてSepiaを選んだわけであります。
Tomo changes into his fine-dinning cloth. Looking sharp’n'slick? Yeah, until this was revealed.
スーツ姿に変身するTomo。シャープでスリックな感じ？ 、、、とか思うのは今のみ。
I’m just saying I wasn’t the only fat one here. And this is even before the dinner, just so you know. ;p
はちきれそうじゃん。つか、食う前からじゃん。自分だけがメタボってるわけじゃない、ってことをここでアピール。
Arrived and greeted by the staff, we seated at our table and went through the menu quickly. As I Looked around other tables, I already spotted some interesting dishes on other tables. I assumed those were from a la carte menu, but we went for degustation menu ($150/pp) this time.
到着してスタッフにお出迎えされ、テーブルについたらさっくりとメニューに目をとおして、と。周りをみてると、アラカルテメニューからのディッシュか？という良さげな料理がいくつか目についたんだけど、今回はデガステーションのコースにしましたよ。（$150/一人)
(デガステーション：レストランのシグニチャーディッシュや、おすすめする食材・テクニックで作られたディッシュのコース）
Optional starter dish – oyster
I cannot eat oysters after a bad food poisoning experience, so only Tomo gets this. *sucking finger*
スターターは、追加オプションのオイスター。食中毒にあってから食べられなくなったので、Tomoだけ。ええのぉ。
Amuse bouche – Hiramasa king fish
Beautifully seasoned Hiramasa King Fish – I don’t know what it is about the fish, but you can’t fail me with Hiramasa king fish. We both enjoyed the Japanese influence of the dish.
ヒラマサのお刺身・カルパッチョ、とでも言う感じ。ソースがヒラマサの身の締りと合ってとってもウマー。なんかしらんけど、ヒラマサってすごく好きなんだよねぇ。ペロリと頂きました。
“Scallop Sushi” – Nori rolled scallop, pickled ginger, puffed sushi rice, avocado cream
Looking at the menu, I was wondering about the quotation marks and here’s why. The dish visually resembles essential elements of sushi – The pink (Gari: Pickled ginger that’s always comes on the side), White (Sushi rice & scallop), Black (seaweed paper) and Green (Wasabi) I guess this is something you would need to actually taste the dish to get it, but the combination of these flavour and visual elements literally conjures up a real sushi. It’s like eating actual sushi with your eyes and mouth at the same time. Very interesting.
メニュー見た時に、何でクオテーションマークついてるんだろ、とか思ってたんだけど、見たらわかった。これ、いわゆるデコンストラクション（分解）の寿司ってやつですな。この、黒いやつ、細かい海苔がロールオンされたホタテで、切ると中は真っ白。まず、視覚的にピンク（ガリ）、白（酢飯）、黒（のり）、緑（わさび）という感じに、寿司の色要素が取り込まれてるっていう。これ、実際に食べないと説明しにくいんだけど、味付けと視覚の要素が合わさることで、ほんとに寿司を彷彿させる感じなんだよねぇ。目と口で同時に寿司くってます、みたいな。これはおもろかった。
Tartare of yellow fin tuna
warm leek cream, poached egg yolk, soy and wasabi, sprouting caviar lentils, amaranth grain
I should’ve taken this picture differently so the yummy looking poached egg yolk in the middle! This was soooo flavoursome and I loved the texture of it as well. Soft smooth texture of tuna, leek cream and egg yolk against crunchy sprouts and amaranth grains. I wanted another plate of this.
あー、これ、真ん中に置かれたポーチドエッグヨーク写真に取ればよかった、って今更残念感で悶々。味もさることながら、食感が良かった。ツナ、リーククリーム、黄身のスムースな食感と、対照的なボリボリ感のあるスプラウトとアマランスグレインが良い感じに交わって美味しいー。オカワリ！みたいな。
Queensland spanner crab and buckwheat risotto, mustard butter, shellfish essence
Oh how I loved this – it’s just packed with flavour! The form on the top was full of umami from shellfish, and it creates absolutely amazing flavour when mixed with the risotto underneath as recommended.
これが激ウマ！カニの旨みたっぷり、って感じの。この上部のアワアワが貝類のうま味がたっぷり凝縮されたフォームで、ウェイターさんに勧められたように、下にひかれたリゾットと混ぜあわせていただくことで、スパナークラブとの美味しさと混じり合って、すんごい美味しい。
Scampi & Cod fish with fennel and scampi cream
You know, this was also a great dish, but I guess I was loving the risotto so much that it didn’t strike us too impressive, to be honest.
これ、美味しかったんだけど、1つ前のリゾットに惚れすぎて、あんま印象が残って無いんだよねぇ。
Angus beef sirloin with Nameko mushroom and miso sauce
The first meat dish! There’s no explanation needed for the angus beef, right? It was visually screaming that it was perfectly cooked and seasoned. I was kind of intrigued by the Nameko mushroom on the side. Sticky & slimy mushroom that is in which I never had thought of putting on the dish along with meat. But it goes really good with all other elements on the dish. And the amazing tenderness of the beef just makes this dish perfect.
ニークッ、ニークッ！つか、これは見た目通りとしか言い様がないす。パーフェクトな焼き加減と味付け。あ、そういや、ディッシュの説明で「ナメェコォ」とか言ってたので、マジ？ってオモタス。普段あんま肉やらなんやらに添えるようなキノコじゃないのでさぁ。でも、その他の要素とよく合ってて、とっても良い感じ。さらに、このアンガスビーフの柔らかさが尋常じゃないくて、もう完璧。
Cocoa and sansho seared Mandagery creek venison, baby beetroots, rhubarb, chocolate, beetroot and boudin noir crumb
Again, this dish was also great but the previous dish was so good that this appeared less impressive compared to the angus beef. But the interesting part was the boudin noir crumb. It sort of added bitterness/smokiness to the venison, I wonder if that’s because the boudin noir had been smoked?? Or the cocoa & sansho that is?
先ほどに続いて、これも美味しかったんだけど、アンガスビーフがはるかに上回ってたので、そこまで印象的ではなかったかな？面白い点はブロッドプディングのクラム。なんていうか、これが苦さ・スモーキーさをヴェニソンに追加した、みたいな感じで。これってブロッドプディングがスモークされてるやつだからなのかな？こう、なんとなく焦がしたレバーみたいな感じの。
Blue and mascarpone cheese with macadamia granita (Optional dish)
This is another optional dish. I always love discovering a new combination to go with blue cheese, and this is something new I’d try. The dish has sort of half savoury half dessert feel to it.
追加オプションメニューのディッシュ。ブルーチーズって、他と合わせると旨さ倍増、とかいうコンビネーションあるから、そういうの発見するの大好きなんだけど、これまた新しい。マカダミアのグラニタと合いますよ。なんか、半分デザートっぽいような感じの一品。
Pre-dessert: Buttermilk, mint jelly and Japanese pumpkin granita
As a palate cleanser. Sourness of buttermilk and chilly granita really cut through the richness of previous dish, and we were so ready for the next dish to come.
口直し用のデザート。バターミルクのサワーな感じと冷たいグラニタが、1つ前のブルーチーズのこってりさからすっきりさせてくれますた。
“Chocolate Forest”
Soft chocolate, chestnut, elderflower cream, blackberry sorbet, blackberry candy, green tea, licorice, chocolate twigs, crystallised lemon thyme
Doesn’t this just look so pretty? It was a virtual forest in my mouth. As every spoonful of this went in my mouth with the sorbet, and chocolate elements made sounds like I was walking on a path in a forest, snapping off twigs with my foot as I walk. Love it!
これかわいくねー？？スプーンで口に入れる度、下にひかれたソフトチョコレートとかチョコレートツィッグやらがザクザクと音たてて、口内森林散歩みたいな。さっぱりしたブラックベリーのソルベと、ジャクジャクとクランチーなチョコの食感がウマス。
As I mentioned earlier, during our degustation course their staff was very attentive and that made our dinner even more enjoyable. Highly recommended, and I definitely would like to revisit soon.
最初の方で書いたけど、コースの間じゅう、スタッフがキビキビと対応してくれて、ディナーもとってもエンジョイできました。絶対オススメのSepia、また近いうちに行きたいな、と思うレストランデッス。
Sepia Restaurant & Wine Bar
201 Sussex street, Sydney NSW 2000
02 9283 1990
http://www.sepiarestaurant.com.au/
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Lately I’ve been actively trying to gain more clients from Japan as they have more interesting stuff happening over there in terms of “use of new technology”
I have just been informed that I’m most likely to win a new job from Japan. Yay!
OK, now, this company called me up and said,
“Since you are not a Japanese resident for a quite some time, we are going to have to ask you to give us a result of Japanese proficiency exam. I know you speak Japanese natively, but it’s just a policy and formality of our company.”
… WHAAAAAT?
Yes, I do speak Japanese natively. But at the same time, I’m one of those who would be identified as “Kikoku shijo” or “semi-lingual (Limited skills in multiple languages.)” Since I’ve been away and never been in Japanese working environment, my business Japanese is VERY limited. Pretty much everyone says that I sound “Extremely friendly” in general conversation (which is a good thing) and “Questionable” in formal/business speech that would make people go “huh? … oh you mean —-”
After taking a mock exam, my Japanese proficiency grade resulted in significantly lower than what I thought it’d be. 4th grade. – Intermediate (Junior high school to High school level.) *gasp* Apparently experienced workers should have 1st or 2nd grade.
WHAT AM I GOING TO DO….
To save my dignity (if any exists ;p ), the exam is actually not PRACTICAL day-to-day Japanese but is literally to test your knowledge in formal and business speech levels. There’re ALOT of expressions and words that I had never heard of before, and those are generally used rarely in very specific context or very formal client-to-company situations.
I think I can handle the most part, like remembering new Chinese characters and their multiple pronunciations, and expressions. But the problematic one is to identify different speech levels among sentences. Some expressions from different speech levels are very similar and quite often sound correctly. But mixing different speech levels is considered “uneducated” in Japan, I’m going to have to work on that….like, VERY HARD.
Also, Japanese have MANY MANY counter words. You can’t count stuff just like in English, you need to use a proper counter word for the stuff you are counting. There’re so many exceptions….. ugh…..
(check out this Wiki entry about Japanese counter word just for the sake of it….) I mean, seriously, we could just say “one book, two books” and so on, if you don’t know the counter word.
*moans*
The only logical thing left me to do is
I always wonder how people type Chinese, Korean, Thai, and other non-alphabetical languages. Japanese is basically very phonetic language, therefore it is quite easy to type – just type as it sounds, like “Sa Yo Na Ra.”
What’s difficult is, due to its phonetics, choosing the correct / intended characters when you convert the roman characters into Kanji/Hiragana/Katakana.
For Japanese, input method application automatically picks words for you based on a frequency of words and sentences. Usually it shows relatively accurate results, but you’d be shitting in your pants when it failed to pick appropriately.
Japan Kanji proficiency exam association has released the result of “funny character conversion contest”.
Best funny conversion award
“UMAKU IKANAI GAZOU SAIZU NI NATTA.” (The image size gone wrong.)
gotten recognised wrongly by splitting word break as “UMA KUI KANAI GA ZOU SAIZU NI NATA”
which reads “My horse-eating wife became size of elephant.”
The runner-ups
“KYOU INAI MON NE. GOMEN.” (You won’t be here today, will you? Sorry.)
recognised as “KYOUI NAIMON NE. GOMEN.”
that reads “You have no breast. I’m sorry.”
“NANIKA TO USAN KUSAI TOKI GA ARU.” (There’s a time when it somewhat looks suspicious.)
recognised as “NANIKA TOUSAN KUSAI TOKIGA ARU.”
that reads “There’s a time when dad is stinky.”
I had a good one myself too:
“KA NI KUWARETA.” (I’ve got bitten by a mosquito)
became “KANIKU WARETA.” meaning “Meat of the fruit gotten cracked”
Ah Japanese language is funny.
