The Ancient Britton 225 Glebe Pt Rd tel 02 9660 1114 http://www.abhotel.com.au/

There have been complaints from one of our nine devoted readers that the postings are too short so I am going to make this a long one. Its a pity it's the Ancient Briton because I think a very short review would suffice for this establishment.

To wit: Go there if you must but don't eat the food.

If you are reading this blog just to find out whether the AB is worth going to for dinner, you can stop now but for the remaining reader please read on.

I can't remember if it was Oscar Wilde or Bernard Shaw but you know the type, who said when the pre Raphelite school of painting emerged "where have all those milk white women with heavy auburn hair and slender necks been hiding" or words to that effect. Well the Ancient Britton Nouveau (because there had been and ancient Ancient Britton) emerged about 3 years ago in a lather of faux communist vodka posters like a great many other pubs in Sydney at the same time.

It has Kentucky Fried Chickened itself and now styles itself the AB. It has evocative posters about vodka on the windows and I thought it would be a kind of dark and interesting meeting place for disillusioned ex communists brooding over their Stolichnaya.

Have you seen that wonderful advertisement at cinemas about Stolichnaya where there is a red line of marching vodka bottles which takes over the world to a catchy marching tune.

Dragging myself away from vodka I have to report that the AB is a very large pub. It has It has 4 distinct areas. Noisy bar in the front room slightly less noisy beer garden (here the soviet overtones work well, high blank walls on 3 sides and the door into the pub on the other wall and an inexplicable long trough along one wall) the other two areas are quiet but a bit like distant gulags they seem strangely desolate.

We sat in the beer garden which had mood lighting so we only actually saw the dishes we ate when Janet's camera flashed. I can't remember why we decided that would be the best place (don't you wish I had stuck to a short review!)

We shared two entrees duck pancakes and salt and pepper tofu. The duck pancakes looked deceptively good.



The duck itself was good but the pancakes!! Pure stale burrito.

The salt and pepper tofu was actually good. The tofu was soft and juicy and there were plenty of tiny fresh chilli slices.

I thought it would be bad but no it was the only good dish we had.

We also had a jug of beer!! That was a mistake.

For main course Dave and I had lamb cutlets.


They were properly cooked nice and pink but tasteless. Not entirely tasteless said Dave who wanted to be fair. The vegetables looked ok but were as the song says just backdated, watery bok choy and a few tiny tomatoes.

Janet and Stephen had chicken cantinas which sounded a bit South American and was billed as organic. It was served with rice and fresh coriander which was unexpected and if it was organic I would suggest that the AB buy from a different supplier. It was soft and watery in the way that industrial chicken is. It was edible, says Stephen.

We did not stay for the desserts which included apple pie but were totally forgettable. Although to be fair as Dave would say the jug of beer may have contributed to that decision.
Now don't you wish I had stuck to my usual brisk and brief report?








Tom-Yum Tum-Gang 249 Glebe Point Rd Tel 02 806 50859

What makes a good restaurant? As I think back to the evening we spent at this ordinary little Thai restaurant, which sadly was quite a few weeks ago, my recollections of the food are not of specific dishes and stunning flavours but more of a mood. Lots of people family, friends children, 15 of us in all. Two noisy tables which ranged from hearty indiscriminate eaters, children who want food food to look and taste familiar and the inevitable palates.
This restaurant may not have produced food which rises above the ordinary but it produced food which satisfied everybody.
Isaac aged 6 "chicken is yummy" his brother aged 12 was more discerning. "The Tom Yum soup tasted like pasta but it needed more flavour and some parmesan cheese would have helped." I should add that these two particular palates are visitors from Rome so perhaps more used to parmiggiano but they too left satisfied and happy. Not much Thai in Rome said their mother.
"Teabag tea!" said the aesthete" "jaunty stripped mugs" said Pollyanna "too much rice" the no carbs contingent. "I don't need the TV but if we have to have it put on League" who said that?

What we ate
Fish cakes
"A bit rubbery" but I who am not a great fan of Thai food, think that rubbery is what they all are. "Pneumatic" said Stephen or was it Dave.

Samosas
"A bit bland"

Spring Rolls
"Crisp and corny?"

Wrapped prawns (Choo chee king prawns)
"Well made."

Tom Yum Soup
Missing something maybe more chilli (or parmesan)
Missing some punch said the pugilist.
Not a great tom yum said Yaya.

Basil beef
"The flavour was good but the texture of the beef was too braised."

Satay chicken
"Tasty tender can taste the peanuts."

Crispy chicken wings
"Very good good hand food."
"Nice and crispy."
"Very crispy, quite tasty,very hot deep fried"

BBQ chicken
"Chicken and fresh salad was good. There was too much, but the flavour was ok."

Kra Prao
Mixed seafood with with fresh basil and chili "Very spicy and fresh. The way I like it."

Pad see ew
This was stir fried flat rice noodles. Kate said "not bad, a variety of vegetables including mushroom and cauliflower which is not usually found in in pad see. Not the best in Glebe but decent value for money ($10)."

Sour Curry
"Good tasty intense."

Jungle curry
"Very thin but hot."
Nerida on the other hand "oh this is divine"

Stir fried tofu with snow peas tofu and egg
There's always a vego but it only cost $9

Cashew nut chicken and basil $10
"Very bland and uninteresting."

What we thought

What did we agree on? The crispy chicken wings were very good. it was cheap (the most expensive dishes are the seafood dishes at $14) and yes it had lots of very accommodating and cheerful staff. A good place to go with a motley crew.

Sushi Teppan (315 Glebe pt rd),

Firstly I would like to introduce myself as a guest writer. I am the daughter of Rosa or Stephen or Janet or Dave. The reason for this uncertainty is I am still not sure I understand the elaborate identity swapping that has been effected in the name of identity protection.


Wednesday night, and after careful calculation (a week or two off and I could have ended up at the Ancient Briton!), I invite myself to dine and write as a guest of eatingglebe at Sushi Teppan (315 Glebe pt rd), a tiny hole in the wall restaurant that you'd never have noticed unless you use public transport in Glebe. Sushi Teppan is situated at the bus stop where the 431 and 433 fly in and out as unpredictably as a rock star.
A little glass door opens into a corridor shaped restaurant, with a small display cabinet of sushi at the front and four or five tables behind it, with the kitchen at the back. Stephen keeps going on about how the restaurant reminds him of the 'tardis' effect. Apparently some Dr Who reference that I am sure I met in a crossword once before but doesn't really mean much to me.
As we sit down I order green tea, needing something to heat me up quick smart, as I am soaked to the bone.

It arrives promptly, served in a way that is very typical in China-not sure about Japan-simply

tea-leaves in the mug topped with water so that sometimes you have to discretely spit out tea-leaves. The tea is genmaicha, roasted rice tea that has a nice nutty flavour, but the roasted rice adds another dimension of difficulty to the spitting.

A small dish of complementary endamame comes with the tea-great!


The entrees

We order some entrees to share. A seaweed salad, not different to seaweed salad in your everyday sushi joint, very nice. Stephen describes it as crisp, lightly dressed and delucious. I agree.

.

Vegetable tempura-crisp and yum. A plate of sashimi is salmon and tuna sitting on a bed of strange crunchy and gelatinous noodle things. I want to ask what it is but I forget. Various opinions around the table include jellyfish, a type of seaweed and plastic. I try hard not to think about the sustainability problems of salmon and tuna and enjoy my overfished delight with generous measures of wasabi and pickled ginger (of which there is plenty). The last entree we order is salmon belly sushi. It is very delucious but I can't help but be a little a bit disappointed because it's really just salmon sushi. 'Belly' makes me think it will be something exciting, different and special. On the up side it was carefully made : a warm slice of salmon laid on top of a little sausage of sushi rice bound by a seaweed belt. The salmon is very nice and oily, in the way that salmon should be.


The Mains

We all order different mains, so get ready-there are six of them!
Three different teriyakis, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki seafood and teriyaki spare ribs. All arrive on a sizzling hot plate (as a point of interest, you might like to know that the hot plate in Japanese is called a 'teppan'. I guess that's where the restaurant got its name then. Teppan derives from the Chinese tie ban meaning iron board or plank. The Chinese really did invent everything)
Janet's teriyaki salmon is all salmon and nothing else, and is very nice. Stephen's teriyaki seafood has prawns, fish and

a mussel. It is hidden under a generous pile of vegetables (good for the bowels). Stephen says it tastes like teriyaki. It's not too sweet but the sauce is a bit strong. Janet agrees. I have a taste and I concur. Dave says his spare ribs are the best he's ever had. He adds he's never had them before, but he can't imagine any better. Rosa has chilli octopus, which also comes on a sizzling hot plate. It is satisfyingly chilli and the octopus are very tender and very small, probably baby octopus (I won't mention the sustainable fishing issue again even though I want to). Unfortunately it is overly sweet. All these meals are served with a small bowl of rice. Stephen likes rice, and he likes this rice especially. He says it is particularly good. It is excellently cooked; it is plump, dry and tasty. It is good because it clings without being sticky. Stephen really likes rice. He asks the waitress where it comes from, and she says it's American. We are all surprised by this response. These meals also come with a small miso soup and a little dish that has some tiny little strange things in it that no one can really work out what they are. Maybe pickled peanuts and a slice of Japanese omelettes. The miso and the unknowns are advertised on the menu as 'two free side dishes'. If I were a stickler for the rules I might say this is somewhat misleading...
Tee's unagi don (smoked eel on rice) described by Tee as a nice, typical unagi don, although it's a little on the small side. He does admit that at only $10, it is value for money. There's a couple of nice extras in the bowl, a little pile of pickled ginger and a little mound of the same delucious seaweed salad from the entree, and Tee appreciates this. 
As everyone else ordered rice dishes, I took it upon myself to sample the restaurant's noodles. Zaru soba is a dish I first discovered when I was in Japan in a stinking hot summer. It's a cold dish of soba noodles with a delucious dipping sauce. Very simple but very delucious. In Japan it was usually served as a plate of noodles with an accompanying bowl of sauce. When you finish a waiter is meant to come and fill the sauce bowl with a broth, which you drink to finish off the meal. Every time I have had it since in Australia, this has never happened. It just all comes in a bowl. At Sushi Teppan they gave me a tiny little bowl with some chopped shallots to place on top and a generous dollop of wasabi. I liked this touch. This dish is much more suited to summer time, but it was still very nice and refreshing and the noodles had a pleasant chewiness.


The desserts

The dessert options were few but good. A choice of green tea ice cream or black sesame ice cream. We order three of each. The ice cream comes in a little plastic cup-not made on site-but very very nice. The flavour of both is pleasant, not too sweet. The black sesame is a little bit crystallised, Tee astutely notices that the use-by date on the side of the cup ismuch closer for the sesame; it obviously does not improve with age.


The cost

The meal comes to $138 for all six of us. For $23 a head we are all very satisfied. This includes corkage at $2/head.

The verdict

I would go back in a flash.

Lien's Restaurant

Lien’s Restaurant

331 Glebe Point Rd

Glebe 2037

Tel 02 9566 4385

This restaurant has an unexpected city view from the back room where most of the tables are located.I was rather unenthusiastic because I had eaten there a year or two ago and have avoided it since. I was however pleasantly

surprised.

The entrees

We ordered two to share. One was do it yourself spring rolls. They included tofu fine noodles salad vegetables and the skins were served separately on little plastic perforated plates. Who knew that such an item existed! Anyway we assembled them in a rustic fashion but they were quite good. Fresh and satisfying. They were served with a dipping sauce. The sugar cane prawns came on a stick of sugar cane which we were not sure whether to eat or not. I did. It was chewy but sweet and therefore good.

The mains

We had Crispy Chicken Sambal fish prawns with chilli and basil pork with chilli and lemongrass (lots of chilli).Janet said all quite nice. We all agreed.

The desserts

Not the highlight of the meal. Two kinds of fried ice-cream, or one kind served with and without chocolate sauce and you guessed it lychees and ice cream. I thought fondly of the banana pudding and the black rice with pandan custard.

The Cost

The Lien is licensed a glass of wine was about $7.50(not sure what it was but quite drinkable, Janet and I had two each) and a beer was $6.00. The food cost $115 for the four of us.

The Verdict

Well its not Italian but I would go back. Also there is this plastic house for children to play on and did I mention that the waiting staff were friendly and helpful.

Naggy's Cafe & Espresso Bar

Naggy's Cafe & Espresso Bar
333 Glebe Point Rd
Glebe NSW
2037 (02) 9566 486
Friday 28 May 2010


We were looking forward to Naggys which is always full of people having coffee and food during the day. It looks like a cheerful place and its decor is interesting. It is divided into 4 distinct areas, the outdoor area which it being a chilly night we rejected, the front of the restaurant which has the usual square wooden tables, the back left hand side which has a large handsome communal table and the back right which has Florentine brothel style red velour couches and grandma chairs. There are elaborate wrought iron light fittings on the walls and the whole thing is pulled together by crisp white painted walls. We tried all the seating options but for a dinner for 4 people who want to talk to each other the best option was the boring square tables. I imagine that for coffee and a chat the Florentine lounges would be great and for a meal with a propped up book, you couldn't go past the big table. I had thought that the name was Hungarian on the analogy of nogmoma but it is named after the owner who is Nepalese. No Nepali food on the menu but I guess there is no reason why there should be.
The menu
There was a written menu and half a dozen daily specials. When we saw these I at least got quite excited. The specials included wild boar ragout with chestnuts and Tuscan cabbage ravioli (the name of the dish should have sounded a warning too many and too disparate) and bouillabaisse!
The entrees
We ordered two because the meals looked quite substantial. We shouldn't have ordered any or we should have stopped there depending on your point of view. As you can see from the photo they were very large. We could hardly fit 2 on the table. I guess it would have been separate tables if we had ordered 4. We had a selection of four dips and bruschetta with tomato and rocket . The bruschetta was quite good. The dips were extravagantly presented and ok. There was too much bread which I ate and then was unable to finish my main meal.

The mains









Stephen had the ragout which seemed to be a miscellany of stuff!! All the ingredients were there but it was not drawn together into a proper dish, disappointing. I had the bouillabaisse which had plenty of fish but was in a heavy very peppery soup. Now I like pepper (I like chili even better but that's another story) but this was not delicious, I left most of it which being greedy, is something I rarely do. Janet had salmon with citrus and taragon risotto. The salmon was okay but the risotto had a burnt taste. A bit disappointing!
Dave had a lamb dish, the lamb was finely cut, served on a potato base with other trimmings; I hesitate to call it mashed potato but mashed potato does give an accurate word picture. Which he said he enjoyed immensely and that certainly appeared to be the case.
The deserts
Although the meal had been altogether too filling in the interests of science we ordered two deserts to share. The creme brulee which sadly Janet and Dave had, was very good. The best thing on the menu although I wouldn't make a special trip to eat it. Stephen and I shared three balls of Serendipity ice creme which were nicely presented but were well, 3 balls of Serendipity ice cream.
The cost
$140 for four BYO no wine menu so I guess unlicensed.
The verdict
Maybe its better for lunch. I forgot to mention the waiter and waitress who were both charming. The waitress was even good humoured laughing at our dad jokes about ragout and rag-out, but not enough to make me go back.

a Tavolaccia

a Tavolaccia

355 Glebe Point Rd

Glebe, 2037

Open Mon to Sat 6 to 10;30
BYO and licenced

Saturday 29 May 2010

This restaurant which opened in 1979, deserves to be more popular than it is. On the night we went which was a wet and windy one there were two couples, one left as we arrived and the other shortly after. Maybe they didn't want to be in the blog. So we had the restaurant to ourselves. Memory may deceive but it seemed to me that the decor had not changed since it opened. Faux rough hewn pine and soulfull large black and white photos of Italy.

I had never noticed that it was "a Tavolaccia" (Roman dialect) rather than "la Tavolaccia" (standard Italian), a flavour of Roma Citta aperta in Glebe. The menu is not especially roman but it does have that pleasant local eating place feel which is reminiscent of Rome. A place to go to if you don't feel like cooking. Maybe Montalbano's local if he lived in Glebe.

The other aspects of the meal which deserve favourable comment were the portion sizes, as Goldilocks would say, just right and the under complication of the dishes.

The entrees

This is the first restaurant we have had entrees so things are looking up. We shared a bowl of mussels with

white wine

and fried crumbed squid. They were both very good. The mussels tasting of themselves a change from tasting of garlic or tomato, and the squid unexpectedly light and tender.

The mains

Janet had barbequed prawns which she described as simple and tasty.

Dave said

I had a veal dish in some type of sauce which had artichokes in it. With beans on the side. I can't remember the name but it would be unfair to say that it was forgettable.

Stephen had calf's liver in a tomato based sauce. He said it was nice in a particular style. The liver was cooked through and a bit cardboardy but it was a good vehicle for the tasty sauce.

I had penne with eggplant. What I liked about my dish was firstly that as we had discussed having sweets the waitress/owner suggested I have the entree size which as I said was just right and secondly that the taste of the pasta (penne) was an important element of the dish.

The deserts

Limited but good. Not orgasmic or delushious but just good. Dave Janet and I had the homemade gelato which were hazelnut and coffee and Stephen had the tiramisu. Sounds pretty boring but the gelato tasted of its flavours and was not puffed and swirling. It was soberly served in those steel gelato dishes popular in the seventies and still in Rome, just two medium sized slabs of dense tasting gelato, good even on a cold night. The tiramisu, also looked homemade and un-ostentatiously assembled. It tasted a bit of caramel which is not usual.

Look I can't say if the deserts were home made and I am usually sceptical of these claims but in this case I would be prepared to believe the claim. Let us know what you think?

The cost

$35 per couple or to be more inclusive $17.50 per person (I had to use my phone to do that calculation!!!) and we brought our own wine. We should have checked the wine list, sorry.

The Verdict
I have been there before and I will go again. Maybe Montalbano will be there.

Eating Glebe

Because we are all sooooooo busy we had already done 3 restaurants before we set up the blog but don't worry we took pictures and notes.

Week 1

Friday 7 May 2010

Deli’s Thai

381A Glebe Point Rd

phone: 9660 7792

Free home delivery. Lunch specials.

Thai will feature large on this blog. There are at least 5 on Glebe Pt Rd and that's not counting the $5 Thai which is in Bridge Rd and so does not meet our criteria. By the time we get down there I expect the Thai which replaced the long moribund Glebe Hardware will be open. Hooray!!!! The Thai Intra and Thai on Wok (I like the Chinglish senselessness of the name) are next to each other so Thai two weeks running and me hankering after pasta!

This Thai, Deli's Thai (no pictures sorry) does have the recommendation of longevity. It appeared in the late seventies or early eighties and is still there. Like Tony the delicatessen (now occupied by Toast Soldier which is not open at night) long enough to put a number of sons through Grammar. If they sold shares I would buy some.

Deli's Thai

The waitress look confused as we collected 4 menus from the counter. They have about 6 or 8 small tables but mainly it is takeaway. The waitress cheered up and was very pleasant and helpful with wine glasses etc. The decor was honest Thai or Thai honest or about what you would expect.

The mains

Best forgotten although the waitress was nice as i mentioned above. I recall Janet said they had lots of vegetables which is good but probably not reason enough to go.

The desserts

We tried two: black rice and pandan custard and banana pudding.

I looked suspiciously at the very green blanket on the black rice but it was delicious probably too much for one person but as we shared between two just the right amount. The pandan custard aka the green blanket was especially good, not to sweet subtly flavoured and good texture. Janet and Dave were less than impressed with the banana pudding which looked very glutinous. It was a rice cake and when I had a taste, I thought it was very good possibly, no actually, the best thing we ate all night. It reminded me of the tiny kueh which I ate in Bali in the seventies, no not hash cookies just sweet little cakes. This was not tiny, one portion is enough for two. I think we are narrow too minded about cakes.

The price

Very cheap about $75 for four. We brought our own wine but they got us very nice glasses to drink it out of and did not charge corkage.

The verdict

I may go back for the deserts but I think I will be on my own.

Week 2

Sunday 16 May 2010

Perry's The Authentic Woodfired Gourmet Pizza & Ribs‎
381 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe NSW 2037
(02) 9660 8440‎

Well it was going to be every Friday but even aging boomers are difficult to lock in so we went on Sunday. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

(Ralph Waldo Emerson ESSAY II Self-Reliance http://www.rwe.org/complete-works/ii---essays-i/ii-self-reliance accessed 25/05/2010).

Perry's only just made it into the blog as it has only one four person table which when we went was occupied by two young men waiting for take away. They agreed to move to a two person table. The waitress looked bemused but said nothing. The chef just carried on behind the counter.

The mains
Dave had the pizza (cebu) Stephen and I had the ribs and Janet had lasagna. Hearty servings but probably not good for your heart. The ribs could have been OK but had trails of sweet sauce which was all you could taste. I sampled Dave's pizza and it was intense and savoury but I couldn't identify any taste except cheese of no particular sort. Janet's lasagna was also mainly cheese.
So in summary no better than the Thai.

The deserts
Intense nostalgia!! Mr Pisa gelato! Rockmelon and lemon served in their respective skins, cassata with the small piece of soggy cake in the middle. The coconut was a tour de force in a mock coconut shell made of chocolate.

The price
The pizza comes in 4 sizes and ranges from $7 for small to $17 for large for the ordinary pizza and up to $26 for the family gourmet pizza. The ribs are about $15 and the pasta around $12. The gelato is $5.

The verdict
The waitress was nice. No other reason to go back unless as Dave said you are having the boys over to watch the footy (and you don't like them).

Week 3
24 May 2010

TOXTETH HOTEL 345 Glebe Point Rd Glebe 2037
Phone: (02) 9660 2370 Fax: (02) 969 29517

This time we went on a Monday night because the Toxteth Hotel has a two meals for the price of one Monday to Wednesday. We sat in what was called the fireplace room, a little quieter than the rest of the pub and Dave could keep an eye on the enormous tv in the beer garden.

The mains
As we had just got back from Darwin and I was missing the barra and chips I ordered the Thai style barramundi on a bed of greens. Too much sweetish sauce (where does it all come from) a bit overcooked and far too much rice, otherwise perfect. Dave thought so too.
We had a guest reviewer with us, Elena, awkward for the two for one but a good opportunity to explore the vegetarian options. She chose lentil moussaka. said it would have been good if there were less lentils and it cost half the price. it was $15, $18 with a drink (soda water, no one laughed)
Stephen had spachcock with piri piri sauce and Janet had Atlantic salmon
Our meals , on the two for deal cost $31 which was the cost of the spachcock and Janet and Dave's a modest $27. The cheapest meal so far said Janet. Gentle reader the fact that I am able to recall the meals speaks more to recentness rather than the quality but I am happy to report that so far the Toxeth mains have been the best (but remember the low threshold).

The deserts
NY baked cheese cake and sticky date pudding were chosen on the basis of Elena's advice that these are the only things to have in a pub. The desserts are $7.90 and not two for one. I had a coffee which was described as Illy coffee and this turned out to be unusual but in a good way. See photo below. It had some taste and lacked any bitterness a good quality in a long coffee.
The other two deserts were carefully presented and very sweet. Two balls of ice cream on each, well it looked odd.