XO

The egg added a richness to the utterly delicious ragout – Kent explained that this is one of his Mum’s dishes, which he knew he wanted to include on the menu here – I’d come back for this alone (once again, there I was scraping the sauce off the plate with my spoon!). We had two main plates – the crispy lamb ribs ($29) and the confit duck leg ($28). The ribs were a close second for my favourite dish – even my friend who doesn’t really like lamb loved them and has decided she can eat lamb if it’s cooked like this. The ribs are piled up in a tower, topped with corriander and Vietnamese mint, and coated in a gooey, sweet plum sauce, as well as XO’s housemade lemon oil, to cut through the richness. Whilst not elegant to eat, the ribs were tender and tasty – the herbs supercharged the flavours for me, elevating this into a really spectacular dish. Finally, we enjoyed the confit duck leg – this was a good last dish, given how spicy it was. The duck was perfectly cooked and tender, and I enjoyed the mushroom broth, but definitely needed some rice as a spice-balancer! XO ticks all the boxes, service included – absolutely worth a visit. Or two…

XO, 16 Iluka Street, Narrabundah ACT, http://www.xo-restaurant.com.au

XO

Walking into XO feels like stepping into downtown Melbourne – the space is modern, fresh and very stylish. The menu is equally exciting, organised into starters, small and large plates, sides and desserts. We started with the bao ($8 each), which had the most incredibly fluffy texture and were served as burgers, rather than wrap-arounds. Co-owner Kent told us that he and the chef spent months perfecting the recipe, so that they stayed fresh upon service – I can confirm, they certainly do! The combination of the pickled daikon, the unctuous pork belly and the freshness of the cucumber was magical and set our palettes up for the rest of the night. Dish two was the steamed prawn and pork dumplings ($16, includes 4), served with the most delicious soy vinagrette – it had a perfect balance of spice, sweet and vinegar flavours and I may or may not have drunk the leftovers with my spoon. The dumpling filling was fresh and had great, distinct textures – I adore prawns in dumplings and could taste them loud and clear. Yum. My dish of the night was the Asian Bolognaise – fried udon served with a ragout and a 60 degree egg, this is comfort food at its best.

XO, 16 Iluka Street, Narrabundah ACT, http://www.xo-restaurant.com.au

Ryo’s Noodles

I was very excited to see that Ryo’s Noodles had opened in Adelaide – the more ramen available the better, in my books! We ordered the lunch special, $19.90 for a bowl of ramen, a side (we chose gyoza) and a cup of green tea, either hot or cold. For my ramen, I chose number 6 – a Tokyo-style soy broth with roast pork and all the trimmings, while Mum picked the miso broth with roast pork. Dad opted for the karaage (spicy fried chicken) and tempura prawns,both of which were lovely and crisp, and we started with a bowl of edamame, served hot, to share. Our food didn’t take long to come out and it became clear very quickly that Mum had ordered the pick of the bunch – the miso broth (with reduced salt on request) was beautifully complex, with a rich, glossy flavour. Mmm. My Tokyo ramen broth tasted a bit weak in comparison, but if you prefer lighter broths then this is the one for you. The noodles had a great amount of bite and the roast pork was lovely and tender – as always, the tamago was the highlight. Oh yes, I will be back!

Ryo’s Noodles, 80 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA

Pepper Lunch

I was very excited to see that Pepper Lunch had opened in Adelaide – I’d enjoyed their food years ago in Sydney and stopped in for a quick dinner on my way back from the airport. My first impression was that the restaurant was untidy – the floors were dirty and the tables hadn’t been wiped down, but the staff were hanging around playing on their phones. I can’t fault the service though, my order was taken promptly and the food came out quickly and beautifully presented. I ordered the kimchi beef plate, which includes thin slices of raw beef, a big mound of rice with corn and lots of kimchi. The plate is sizzling hot and you cook your food at the table. The beef was thin and didn’t take long to cook – whilst it wasn’t a high quality cut, the flavour was nice and there was a good amount on the plate. The kimchi was wonderfully spicy and I loved the way the rice started crisping up at the bottom, the longer I left it without stirring. Sure, this isn’t fine dining, but if you’re after a tasty, filling, inexpensive meal, stop in and give it a try.

Pepper Lunch, 82 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA                   http://www.pepperlunch.com.au/

Kinn Thai

It’s always lovely to catch up with friends who have been overseas – deprived of good South-East Asian food in Europe, they asked to have Thai for lunch so we agreed to meet at Kinn Thai. I was very excited to see a red duck curry on the menu (it’s one of my favourites) so we ordered that along with the crispy pork belly and chicken pad thai to share. The pork belly came out first and I think it was my pick of the three – I loved the crispy skin and tomato on the top. All the flavours, including the added dressing, just worked, and I probably ate more than my share of the plate! Next was the red curry – this was the favourite for most of the table. There was a perfect balance of spiciness and flavour, with tender duck, pieces of lychee and good helpings of tomato and chilli. I would recommend this as hearty comfort food without hesitation. Finally we shared the large plate of pad thai, which had plenty of chicken and bean sprouts, and was perfect with a drizzle of lemon on top. Thai cravings very well satisfied!

Kinn Thai, 125 Bunda Street, Canberra ACT                                                    http://kinnrestaurant.com.au/

Eightysix

Part one of this review is here. My dish of the night would have to be the next plate – if you’re going over the next couple of days, please be brave and try the sichuan wallaby tartare! The meat was out-of-this-world good, tender and coated in a complex dressing that was elevated to a whole new level with the crisp garlic flakes. The garlic actually created a creamy coating in the inside of your mouth, which made each mouthful of meat just that bit better. Our last savoury plate was the sweet & sour lamb, which we ordered because we kept getting wafts of as it was plated in front of us! The flavour packed into the masterstock was really something else. I told Christine how much we were enjoying it and she summed it up perfectly with a knowing smile -“finger licking good!”. The lamb was amazingly tender and the perfect note to finish on. Well, until dessert! We picked the ‘sugar daddy’ – a chocolate praline mousse and candied cumquats. The mousse was inside a chocolate pastry tart shell, and overall the chocolate part of the dessert wasn’t as sweet as I expected, but that was ideal as the cumquats, both syrup and freeze-dried versions, added a great tart-sweetness. It was a real privelige not only to enjoy such a diverse yet complementary meal, but also to watch a real master at work in the kitchen. I stick by our comment in the guest book – “make her stay!!!”.

eightysix, 11 Elouera Street, Braddon ACT                                       http://eightysix.com.au/

Eightysix

#icecreamthurs will resume next week; eightysix will be a double post today. You may have heard the buzz – Christine Manfield is in town, taking over the kitchen at eightysix. My friend and I booked bar seats with a kitchen view on her first night and here’s what happened. We started out with cocktails whilst scouring the rather long pop up menu full of Asian-inspired dishes. I picked the ‘Jessica Rabbit’, a lovely concoction of gin, strawberry, pickled ginger and prosecco that started out sweet on the front palate and grew into a warm gin flavour at the back. Our first dish was the prawn toast. This take was sophisticated and plentiful – the toast was deep fried but remained fluffy, and there was plenty of crispy prawn meat on top along with a delightful mayonnaise and sesame seeds. I am now wrecked for packet prawn toast! Our next dish was the enticingly named ‘strange flavour chicken noodles’ – this was an exciting mix of spice and flavour, definitely not for the faint-hearted. The chicken was delightfully tender and the somen noodles were cooked to perfection. The best mouthfuls were the ones with the micro corriander – absolutely perfect. Next up was the bulgogi beef steamed bun with kimchi pickle – we shared one, and found the bao to be light and springy and the beef to be nicely balanced with the kimchi. Part two to follow.

eightysix, 11 Elouera Street, Braddon ACT                                       http://eightysix.com.au/