Balla

 

Balla

Soo....I pretty much dived into Balla just a couple of days after its opening.  When I arrived, Stefano Manfredi was near the entrance, talking enthusiastically about his restaurant and food.  This three chef hatter, Manfredi, Bel Mondo, Bells owner and masterchef guest isn't shy to pose for the camera.

Stefano Manfredi

Fresh Fish of the Day

Stefano dragged my mum to an array of fishies and highly recommended the fish of the day - Snapper and King George Whiting which, my mum ordered later on.

 

Complimentary Bread

The bread basket arrived and it came with three different types of bread to munch on with a plate of olive oil.

Mocktail

My brother being a minor, sadly cannot drink alcohol and they created this mocktail just for him.  It contains peach puree and fresh pineapple juice, decorated with a slice of orange and cherry.

Italian White Wine - Hofstatter Gewurztraminer 2010

We ordered a bottle of Italian white wine and it was amazing! Unlike Australian white wines which are very dry, this was velvetly smooth and slid down my throat oh so easily.

 

Italian White Wine - Hofstatter Gewurztraminer 2010

More Alcohol!

Share Plates and Entrees

We ordered quite a few antipasti and primi so we will get maximum coverage on the food without bloating our stomachs too much.

Burrata, Filetti di Pomodori, Carciofi $22

Fresh burrata, tomato fillets and artichoke salad.

Lingua di Vitello con Salsa Verde $9

Grilled veal tongue with salsa verde. An amazing little share plate. The veal tongue was grilled perfectly tender with a light smokey flavour. Oh my.

Freshly Shucked Oysters $4 ea

There are three different types of oysters to choose from - Sydney Rock, Pacific and Angasi.  I ordered two of each to try and the oysters are shucked to order!

 

Procsuitto di Pino $9 for 50g

While walking towards the entrance, I already had my eyes fixed on the awesome salami cabinet and of course, I've got to order some.  All the salami comes with sticks of grissini :D

Quaglie e Cipolle All'aceto di Barbera $24

Wood grilled quails, onions and Barbera vinegar.  A very generous serving of quail for an entree.  You get 4 quarters of juicy, flavoursome quail with caramelised onion hidden on the bottom.

Crudo di Pesce  $10

Raw fish dressed with lemon and Lake Como extra virgin olive oil.

Mains

Spalla D'agnello al Pangrattato $39

Wood grilled lamb shoulder, herbs and breadcrumbs.  I have to say that I'm disappointed with this dish as I ate a mouthful of muscle that was not removed from the lamb and had to secretly spit it out into my napkin.

Guanciale di Manzo al Babera $35

Braised ox cheek in Babera wine and pea puree.  This dish on the otherhand, was much better.  The meat of the ox cheek falls of with a little jab with the fork.  The pea puree was lightly sweetened but not overpowering the taste of the pea which complimented the ox cheek.

Gnocchi di Patate con Salsa D'anatra $26

Potato gnocchi with duck ragù.  Fluffy clouds of gnocchi with very flavoursome duck ragu is just plain awesome.

Wood Grilled Whole Fish Of The Day Served With Salad Verde, Salmoriglio and Salsa di Noci $49

As mentioned earlier, Manfredi dragged my mum in front of the seafood display and insisted her on ordering the fish of the day.  She ended up ordering the king george whiting and it was delicious.  Too bad she didn't know there are heaps of small fish bones in a whiting and had much difficulty eating it :P

 Wood Grilled Yamba Prawns with Caponata $59

The biggest prawns I've ever seen! Each with the length of my hand full of plump, juicy meat on the inside.  The dish serves four of these babies with each split in the middle. It also comes with a caponata salad on the side.

Caponata Salad

Insalata di Rucola e Parmigian $11

Rocket and parmesan salad with balsamic vinegar.  This has to be the best dressing ever.  It has the perfect ratio of balsamic vinegar, sugar and olive oil and I want to steal their recipe.

Desserts

Gelati e Sorbetti $18

Doesn't the wafers look like the ceiling?

Frittelle di Riso con Crema alla Vaniglia $18

Traditional rice and cream fritters, vanilla cream.

Cassata al Pistacchio $18

Pistachio and caramel cassata. Cassata is a traditional sweet from Palermo, Sicily which is like a Neapolitan ice cream (but in the form of a cake with ricotta cheese) with candied dried fruits and nuts. 

Mine was a variant of this traditional sweet which replaced the cheese with gelato, making it like an ice cream cake.   My cassata contained pistachios and topped with candied sultanas then drizzled with syrup.

Sformato di Zucca con Crema All'anice $18

Pumpkin and amaretto flan, anise cream.  I really love the pumpkin flan surrounded by anise cream.  The amaretto is an Italian sweet almond flavoured liqueur which is the black coloured sauce in the centre and really enhances the flavours of the dessert.

Balla

Location: Level G, Harbourside, The Star, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Opening Hours: Tue-Sat 12pm-2:30pm, Mon-Sat 5:30pm-10:30pm

Phone: 1800 700 700

Website: http://www.star.com.au/dine/signature-dining/balla.html

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VIP Cruise for the official opening of The Star

Hihi all! The Star had its official opening on 15 September 2011 and I was fortunate enough to be invited on their VIP cruise and got to view the opening in the harbour with a free flow of champagne, live band and beautiful food on the Blue Room Vessel.

 

VIP Cruise Tag

View of the Official Opening from the Blue Room Vessel

We first were moved to the top deck for appetisers while the dining area was being set up. 

Smoked Salmon Appetiser

I began my eating streak with a classic smoked salmon appetiser with cream cheese, spanish onion, rocket and dill.

 

Caramelised Onion with Brie Tartlet

You can never fail with caramelised onion with brie cheese. Such an epic combo.

Chicken Tenderloin Kebab with Sweet Chilli and Sesame Seeds

Unfortunately, the satay chicken was very and I mean VERY dry. :( I couldn't finish the skewer because it had the texture of cardboard.

Sweet Chilli Tuna

Grilled Scallop with Pesto

Upstairs was windy so we sneaked downstairs where it was much warmer and quiet. Not to mention we get first pick on the table :D

Live Band

 

Table Setting

Salad

Roasted Chat Potatoes with Rock Salt and Chives

Barramundi Fillet with Prawn and Avocado Salsa, Vanilla Infused Dressing

Beef Fillet, Asparagus and Kumera with Irish whiskey and Pepper Cream

The dishes were given alternatively and I got the beef fillet. It was a nice medium rare-medium but the kumera with irish whiskey was a bit overpowering so I left most of it there.

Banana and Palm Sugar Tart Tartin with Double Cream

Such an awesome tart with caramelised bananas ontop. Oh I haven't ate bananas for a longgggg time.

Baked Lemon and Lime Tart with Vanilla Cream and Fresh Strawberries

The Star

We got off the cruise and I snapped a pic while trying to cross the street. Too pro.  While inside the newly opened complex, I was immediately drawn to the Chanel boutique but then I saw Gelato Messina was almost right next to it....I ran towards the gelato.

Passion De Pierre $8

Pulse Cafe are selling these purdy cakes which very much resembles Baroque cakes. Hum...

Sushi Plates

Sushi Plates

There are many more eateries in the new The Star complex but I got to go >-< I will visit the newly opened Balla restaurant in The Star tomorrow and will blog about it asap!

Sugarpuffi attended the VIP Cruise courtesy of The Star.

The Star

http://star.com.au/

Blue Room Sydney Harbour

http://www.blueroomsydneyharbour.com.au/

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Porteno

The 2012 SMH Good Food Guide Awards has just been announced a week ago and Porteno, a newly opened restaurant jumped straight to 2 hats! That is a crazy effort and I was lucky enough to go before the announcement otherwise I'll never get the chance to make a booking...not that booking was easy before. After a fail attempt at trying to squeeze into Porteno, we tried again another week and success!

Now, I've never tried Argentinian food before but I was more intrigued by their asado, aka open spit. The idea of looking at delicious piggies being cooked around an open fire is enough to make me salivate.

Here is a hero shot of exactly what I mean.

Asado (Open Spit Barbeque)

Drooling? Yeah, me too.

Pan De Casa $2pp

We started the meal with some house baked bread with olive oil and pork pate.  The bread was soft and fluffy but the pork pate was too rich for me so I dunked it in olive oil.

Being the good alcoholic that I am, how can I live without a cocktail in hand.

 Santa Rosa $17

Aperol, orange and vanilla caramel, grapefruit bitters and fresh lemon juice.  I'm lately addicted to aperol and love their fruity and sour but refreshing taste.

 uh...I forgot the name of this cocktail >-<

Pimms Cup $17

San Telmo $18

Tradewinds gin, peach liqueur, Campari, fresh pink grapefruit juice and egg white.

 Lengua En Escabeche - Pickled Veal Tongue $8

Absolutely lovedddd this dish! The veal tongue has a perfect balance of sourness and I can eat the whole plate to myself.

 Ceviche Peruano $18

Kingfish ceviche, corn, cucumber, sweet potato and bottarga. The sweet potato is thinly sliced then deep fried till crisp like a chip. So much oil, but so much deliciousness.

 Chorizo Porteno $12

Porteno housemade pork sausage. You never leave a South American restaurant without chorizo. That is just wrong.

Beetroot Salad

Lightly grilled beetroot with feta cheese, stuffed olives and walnuts.

 Ensalada De Hinojo $12

Shaved fennel salad with apricot, black olives and amontillado dressing.  Another favourite of the night. I really like fresh, zesty dishes and this is exactly what it is. The fennel is crunchy and drizzled with amontillado dressing. The use of fruit just brings an extra sense of freshness and colour into the dish. Perfect to couple with a heavy, meaty meal like what we're having.

Special of the day - Steamed Barramundi

The steamed barramundi is wrapped in leaves and poured over with a creamy sauce. The dish wasn't very spectacular but still pretty nice.

Chanchito A La Cruz $44

Ahh..here is the top gun in today's meal. 8 hour woodfired free range suckling pig.  This came straight off the asado so numbers are very limited. The crackling is crispy, meat is juicy and fatty. I'm hungry just thinking about it now >-<

 Leche Quemada $14

Burnt milk custard, with orange jam and chocolate icecream.  The dessert was a very big failure. The burnt milk custard tasted well, just burnt. Nothing more. Orange jam tasted bitter too and even more weird when eaten with the salted popcorn.

 Budin De Pan Con Chocolate Y Helado De Te Ingles $14

Chocolate cream, fruit bread and tea icecream.  The tea icecream definitely tasted very 'tea like'. Fruit bread was nice but the chocolate cream was too rich for me.

Postre Chaja $14

South American Style Pavlova. I'm not a great meringue fan mainly due to my brother's obsessive meringue baking for the past 2 years which made me feel sick every time I look at them. The dessert I least expected to like turned out to be the most delicious. 

Two thinly sliced sponge cake sandwiched a surplus amount of chocolate ganache and kiwi then topped with fat squiggles of mascarpone and mountain high meringue pieces was adored greatly by everyone on the table.

Porteno

Location: 358 Cleveland Street Surry Hills NSW 2010

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday from 6pm

Phone: 02 8399 1440

Website: http://www.porteno.com.au/

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