Xanthi, Sydney

The idea of restaurant dining inside a shopping centre is a bit of a foreign concept in Australia (well it is to me). As far as I know Westfield Sydney is the first shopping centre in Oz to have no only a food court but a plethora of restaurants, and some very good restaurants at that.

My inner-tight arse is lured to Greek restaurant Xanthi for their $30 Tuesday night dinner as part of Westfield’s “Chefs Club” – an initiate aimed at boosting diner numbers during the slow winter months.

I’m pretty impressed with how nice Xanthi is – for most of the evening I forget we are inside a shopping centre and bore The BFF to tears exclaiming “wow, it really doesn’t feel like we’re in a shopping centre does it”? I get a roll of his eyes in reply.

For our $30 we are treated to a dinner of Greek Cha (little bites) and I’m well and truly full by the end of the night. Service is quick and fairly friendly, though we do almost end up with our food in our laps a few times as the waitress keeps sneaking up behind us to put the plates on the table. Stealthy.

Things kick of Tarama (fish roe dip) and Pita Bread. The Tarama is light and fluffy with just the right amount of saltiness for this salt fiend. The Pita Bread is like a soft, fluffy pillow. This is good stuff!



Moving right along we're presented with a great Greek Salad. Greek salad is my all time favourite salad and this is great - the big creamy hunks of feta and dried herbs really making the dish a winner. The Spinach Pie comes in neat little cigars, like a Greek spring roll and it's delicious. The pastry is super crunchy and the filling lush and creamy.

Next up is a delicious serving of crispy Fried School Prawns.  Man, these are good. I love crispy school prawns - it's a dish that never fails to disappoint wherever I have it.  The BBQ Octopus is another winner, being charred perfectly and wonderfully tender.

The Lamb Chops are amazingly tender and flavoursome and it seems a shame to just have one chop each.  And last but not least another of my all time favourite dishes - BBQ Haloumi Cheese with just the right amount of squeak.

We finish our Greek Cha with a lovely Patsavoura - a sticky, sweet phyllo pie that is the dessert of our dreams.

Xanthi is on Level 6, Westfield Sydney (take the escalator up from Pitt Street Mall, next to Sportsgirl - or just follow your nose).

Pho Pasteur, Westfield Parramatta

Today I have a day off work (yay) so I put on my walking shoes and wander up to Parramatta and see a chick flick (double yay).

I end up seeing the new Katherine Heigl movie Life as we know it.  It is pretty funny and Katherine Heigl has great hair as always, but the movie just has too many baby poop scenes to make me think having a baby could ever be a good thing.

After the movie, when the baby poop jokes are but a distant memory, I decide to check out Pho Pasteur at Westfield Parramatta.  The Boy and I went for dinner at its sister restaurant on Church Street a few weeks ago so I am keen to check out the differences between the two.

I’ve been living in Parramatta for a few months now and I’ve skirted around the outside of the Westfield but not really gone inside other than to see a movie. The place is just too huge.  I think shopping centres like this are what an alien abduction would be like…bright lights, lots of weird looking people everywhere and you get plonked back on the sidewalk four hours later blinking into the bright sunlight and wondering where the time has gone.

So, I am VERY relived to find that Pho Pasteur is located on a strip of outside restaurants on Argyle Street, underneath the movie theatre complex. 

This Pho Pasteur is much newer than the Church Street restaurant and everything is shinny, new and trendy. It doesn't really have that laminate-table-ambience or budget food feel of many other Vietnamese restaurants I've been to. But if the food is good, I don't really mind.

When I arrive the ultra modern looking restaurant is full to the brim with office workers having a quick bite to eat, so I grab a table outside and watch the world go by. 

All of the Westfield restaurants on Argyle Street are smack back in the middle of the Parramatta Bus Exchange so it’s not exactly peaceful, or scenic, outdoor dinning.  That said I do enjoy watching people running for their buses as it is usually me missing the bus by just a few seconds.  I do however feel as though I am “being watched” as I eat by everyone waiting at the bus stop (I guess I feel that because I AM being watched).  A very weird feeling.

The waiter promptly provides me with a jug of tea that holds more fluid than a single person should ever drink in one sitting. 

I’m also given two menus.  One contains pictures of everything on offer; and another with just text.  This menu system is slightly less confusing than the restaurant on Church   Street, which has a text menu, a picture menu of some items and other pictures on the wall.  I still find it odd that they don’t combine all of the pictures and text into one menu.  I find myself cross referencing everything in order to decide on what I should have for lunch.

I decide to order a Bun Vermicelli which is something that I’ve had many times before and that I love. 

The text menu helpfully tells me that Bun Vermicelli is a ‘refreshing noodle salad of angel hair rice noodles, cucumber, mung beans, sprouts and fresh herbs; topped with roasted peanuts, pickles and nuoc man sauce’. 

Unlike Pho Pasteur on Church Street, the Westfield restaurant assumes that its diners don’t necessary know what the meals are. I really like, and appreciate the explanations that the text menu gives me on each meal. 

Whilst I do know what Bun Vermicelli is I really enjoy reading what all of the other options are, and am sure novices to Vietnamese cuisine would find it helpful too.

I’ve ordered a Bun Dac Biet ($12.00) today, which is a Bun Vermicelli with topped with a plump sugar cane prawn, seafood spring roll and grilled pork.

My bowl is filled to the brim with tasty goodies.  The prawn, pork and spring roll sit nestled beside the salad goodies and everything sits atop a huge mound of noddles.  Drool.

I pour the nuoc mam sauce on top, chop the sugar cane prawn, seafood spring roll and grilled pork into pieces and mix everything together.

This meal tastes so fresh and healthy, and as I breathe in the bus fumes from the passing buses I know that I’ve chosen myself  a tasty and healthy lunch!

Pho Pasteur is at Store 2185A, Level 2 (which is street level), Westfield Parramatta.

Glamorous Food Court, Westfield Sydney

I’ve FINALLY been to check out the new Westfield on Pitt Street Mall. I feel like the last person in the universe (or the blogging universe at least) to venture here.

Last night I met up with my friend CocoChanel after work.  We both finish work quite early so we arrive at Westfield just before 5.00pm.

As we start looking around the new shops CocoChanel tells me that she’s quite hungry and would be it be OK if we found somewhere to eat?

Would it be OK?  Hello! The whole reason I’m here is to check out the famed Level 5 food court (oh, and to catch up with CocoChanel of course).  

I figured since it’s before 5.00pm this is the perfect time to check out the food court given most people wouldn’t be eating quite this early (unless a bus load from the local nursing home is also checking out Westfield today that is).

I really wanted to try the Charlie & Co burgers last night, but as it is only a month til the big wedding day I’m trying to be marginally healthy so I don’t have to be surgically fitted into the wedding dress and then cut out of it at the end of the day.  It seemed such a shame to bypass Charlie & Co as there was NO queue AT ALL and a team of chefs standing by twiddling their fingers just waiting to cook someone (ie me) a burger and fries.  Oh well, next time.

CocoChanel spots the middle eastern eatery Dergah Grill and we umm and ahh for quite a while over what we should have. The guys behind the counter are very lovely and talk us though what’s on offer and offer to make up us a plate of whatever we want.   In the end we settle on a Mixed Grill Platter with Chicken and Lamb shish ($19.00) and a Vege Plate ($14.90).

CocoChanel doesn’t really “get” my foray into food blogging and there is much rolling of eyes as I try to explain it all to her whilst at the same time snapping away on my phone camera, as I left my real camera sitting on the couch at home.

She’s further unimpressed when I mention there’s no eating til the photos of the meals have been snapped.   She actually won’t sit down at the table until all the photography is over and done with.

We both enjoy our meals (when we’re finally allowed to eat them). We are sharing both meals so we can have a taste of everything.  I especially like the meat from Lamb Shish as it is juicy and flavoursome.  The dips are lovely and creamy, and the salads fresh and colourful. However I do think the falafel is a little tough and over cooked. 

Mixed Grill Platter

Meat Platter

I approach the Cabbage Roll on the Vege Plate with much hesitation. My mother used to make Cabbage Rolls for dinner and I always thought they were REVOLTING! The cabbage was so overcooked that it smelt, and tasted, like a smelly old football sock.  Blech. 

I am surprised, and pleased, to report that the Cabbage Roll from Dergah Grill is really lovely. The cabbage doesn’t taste like an old football sock at all, in fact it hardly tastes like cabbage which is a big plus in my books.   The cabbage leaf is smooth and silky and the mince it surrounds has a lovely mild flavour.  I wish that I’d had an entire roll to myself.

As we eat our dinner we admire the food court and its shiny new interior.  The décor is fancy and modern and the whole area feels very expensive.  I do however feel that the dim lighting and black tiles make the food court feel quite dark, even though it is still bright daylight outside.  Perhaps this is modern and trendy, but I don’t really get it.

The mirrors everywhere give the feel that we are in a house of mirrors – we spot food outlets in the mirror but aren’t really sure where they are.  At first we couldn’t even find Charlie & Co as we kept seeing the reflection in various mirrors, but couldn’t figure out where it was hidden.

After dinner we go for a wander around Westfield and check out the shops…I even manage to buy a few Christmas presents so am very pleased. 

We head back up to the food court after about an hour for dessert and a rest – shopping is tiring! I’m abstaining from dessert and CocoChanel is embarking on a fitness regime that she doesn’t want to undo.  We window shop the cakes and goodies at Via del Corso Pasticceria e Caffe but CocoChanel settle on a fruit salad from Top Juice ($4.90). 

 

It seems that CocoChanel is coming around to my food blogging exploits as she offers to let me take a quick photo before she eats her fruit salad. 

It looks very tasty and I’m told the mango is amazingly fresh and juicy. We agree then that it is probably worth the $7.50 price tag Top Juice are charging for whole mangos.

As we sit at Top Juice we talk about different places that we’ve eaten at recently and places that I’ve blogged about.  We discuss our mutual love of Lebanese food and CocoChanel suggests an outing to Lakemba in a few weeks time.  It seems I’ve converted her to become a food blogging buddy after all!