Burnt Orange - Mosman, Sydney

It's nice to spend time outdoors when the weather is beautiful and warm.  This post is making me wistfully dream about summer weather, whilst I'm rugged up in bed and hibernating through this horrible cold and windy weather.

Burnt Orange is one of those picturesque locations, overlooking Sydney Harbour, that make you feel like you've had a mini escape.  Most of their dining area is located outside, and they even have a little boutique inside selling cute knick knacks, books and gourmet food - definitely my kind of place! <3

Cranberry juice - filled with strawberries and a wedge of lime

Lovely view on a beautiful day

This is the Burnt Orange fish pie - a selection of fresh fish fillets in a creamy leek and white wine sauce, topped with fluffy potato mash and a side of green leaves

This was deliciously creamy and rich, so the side salad was a very welcome addition.

Rigatoni Puttanesca - light spicy tomato sauce with kalamata olives and basil

This was pretty stock standard offering on the menu, chosen as a vegetarian option

Coconut panna cotta with a redcurrant jelly and sesame seed crisp - served on a cute patterned plate, this was quite nice. The sesame crisp didn't quite go with the dish though

Apple and rhubarb crumble with vanilla bean ice cream - a tricky balancing act trying to keep the ice cream on top of the ramekin, though it was worth it as this was divine.

Burnt Orange also have high teas, which I'm keen to check out next time I visit. I also couldn't help but buy one of the many candles they had in the boutique - a lovely Lucia pomegranate and redcurrant candle, which smells amazing!

After lunch, we slowly made our way back towards the city, but stopped past Kirribilli for a wander around - never tire of this pretty view!

Subway Moroccan Feasts dinner & new Moroccan Lamb sub

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending Subway's Moroccan feast.  This was to celebrate the release of it's new limited addition Moroccan Lamb sub with Mint Yoghurt dressing.

A cocktail to start off the night - SUBlime Peach, Vodka, black tea, fresh mint and fresh peach

A refreshing drink to start with - I couldn't really detect the vodka or peach. The mint was really refreshing though, and loved the cute glass that it came in. Actually, I loved all the crockery - there were these awesome mini tagines for salt and pepper/condiments that I was admiring, and they ended up being in the goodie bag that we received at the end of the night, so that was very cool!

The Moroccan Feasts menu - all the dishes for the night were all made from Subway ingredients, with a Moroccan theme. 

I wasn't sure what to expect before arriving at the restaurant, but the concept ended up being quite cool. The chef was given the regular Subway ingredients, and given the instructions to come up with his own interpretation of them.

First up, dips served with warm bread:

Cooked green olives in tomato and chilli jam

Open-fire roasted aubergine with home-made aioli

This was my favourite dip - it was delicious slathered on generously on the bread (had to try and stop myself from filling up on the yummy bread, and leave room for everything else!)

Nothing better than freshly baked bread sprinkled with rock salt, crisp on the outside with a fluffy soft centre. 

Our entertainment for the night - belly dancing. She was great, getting the bloggers involved in the dancing which got a good laugh from everyone. 

There were also a selection of wines by McWilliam's - I tried the Brands Laira Coonawarra Chardonnay

Spiced lamb cigars - deep fried morsels filled with the succulent lamb that you'll find in the new sub, I especially enjoyed the accompanying mint yoghurt.

Vegetarian pastiles served with mint yoghurt - I tried one of these and they were not bad, however I did find myself choosing the lamb cigars over these. 

Had to get a snap of the pretty tagine before it was opened to reveal...

The main dish of Moroccan lamb meatballs and aubergine tagine slow-cooked in root-vegetable and tomato sauce, served next to a bed of couscous 

This was lovely and hearty, the perfect comfort food for winter.  I'm almost inspired to go and buy a tagine for the impending cooler months. 

Side of mint yoghurt

Side salads - Finely shredded red cabbage, grilled haloumi, pomegranate and coriander

I have to say, any kind of salad that has pomegranate in it, always looks spectacular.

  Mixed herbs and rocket with hazelnuts and citrus vinaigrette - I'm not a huge fan of the taste rocket, so I'd have to say I preferred the red cabbage salad

Fresh figs, grapes and Silan (which is a delicious date honey)

And last but not least... my favourite part of any meal - DESSERT!

Pistachio ice cream with crushed cookies and raw tahini - loved the addition of the crushed cookies which gave it that extra crunch.  I can totally do this at home for an easy dessert!

Goodies to take home (with the aforementioned mini tagine!), some harissa, T2 red chai tea, and a discount voucher for the Fleur de Lys Medispa

It was such a fun night, especially seeing the fellow bloggers get up and attempt a belly dance (I'm glad I wasn't picked!) Looking forward to trying the new sub!

*missklicious attended courtesy of Subway and Hill + Knowlton Strategies

Universal - Darlinghurst, Sydney

Universal. This was one birthday dinner, back in March, that I was really looking forward to as I've heard rave reviews about the food, and the desserts, can't forget about the glorious desserts...

Hilarious cocktail list - with cocktail names such as 'Get in Cider', what's not to love?

Funky and colourful decor: 

Bitch slap cocktail

Geisha girl cocktail

Complimentary bread to start off the meal with

Olive oil

Sake time

As we ordered 2 savoury dishes each and it was a table of 12 - I missed out on the names of some of the following dishes, if any of the dining participants can remember, please shoot me a message! Thanks :)

Hiramasa kingfish sashimi, sweet grilled eel, shiso, finger lime, ginger sesame seaweed and yuzu jelly

Sichuan spiced duck, seared sea scallops, palm heart, smoked eggplant sambal

Air dried quail and pork sausage, biodynamic brown rice, avocado and green mango salad

Roasted rock flathead, crisp pork belly, garlic mushrooms, black pepper broth, gremolata

Grilled yellowfin tuna, roasted heiroom tomatoes, potato galette and spicy tomato jam

Sticky rice and salted duck egg cakes, coconut, pomelo and roasted cashew salad

The highlight of the night were definitely the gorgeous desserts, we happily ordered one of each dessert to share around the table of 12 (plus 1 more Gaytime to make up the numbers!) :

Universal's signature dessert - Gaytime goes nuts

Honeycomb ice cream, caramel parfair, chocolate crunch, salted hazelnut caramel

Loved this rendition of one of my favourite ice creams ever

Mocha bomb - valrhona araguani chocolate mousse, dates and espresso caramel, espresso ice cream

ménage à trois - roquefort mousse, walnut nougatine and candied cumquats

Definitely a dessert for lovers of blue cheese, for everyone else... it's an acquired taste. I happily passed this one on. 

The mains were interesting with a clear modern asian influence. I can't speak for the other dishes, but I did find that my savoury dishes lacked the 'wow' factor. The desserts definitely stole the show - absolutely loved them and would go back just for these alone.