Six States of Beer [QLD] at The Oaks, Neutral Bay

It is no surprise that I do love a drink. Most types of drinks actually. Whether it's whisky, wine, vodka, gin and tonic or even beer depending on the occasion. While I do like to drink, I'm not much of an expert on beer so I was surprised to receive an invite to attend Six States of Beer at The Oaks in Neutral Bay. This is an ongoing series of events where it focuses on a selected range of craft beers made from the state and a themed degustation of matching dishes (previous events involved cheese, chocolate, pork and bites). This was the fifth installment of the Six States series which focused on beers from QLD and matching seafood dishes. It was hosted by the passionate beer expert, Kirrily Waldhorn with food being prepared by The Oaks' chef, Danny Russo.

Bighead - Burleigh Brewing Company

The Bighead was served to all diners on arrival. While this drink is a 100% natural, full-strength beer with loads of flavour, it also has zero carbs! With its smooth, balanced texture, this was easy to drink with any meal such as a pub lunch or dessert at a French restaurant.

Hef - Burleigh Brewing Company

Another beer from the same brewery was the Hef, an unfiltered wheat beer brewed from malted barley, malted wheat, water, hop and yeast. This was inspired by German wheat beer with its smooth, creamy texture and a slightly sweet banana and clove flavour. Out of all the beers I've tried, this was definitely my favourite of the bunch. 

Crab cake and Oaks slaw slider

The one dish I have been looking forward to the most out of this event was the crab cake slider. Been dreaming about getting my hands on crab cakes ever since watching it featured on numerous American food travel shows but been disappointed that this has been rare to find around Sydney. When it arrived packed inside a brioche bun, I was surprised that it wasn't in its crumbed form that I usually see in those aforementioned US food travel shows but was delighted at the healthier look of the shredded crab meat. These bite sized treats were fresh and delicious though also quite salty. Wouldn't mind trying more of this.  

Pale Ale - Four Hearts Brewing Company

This craft beer was an American pale ale with a passionfruit sweetness followed with a strong, deep and bitter malt flavour. You can also taste a bit of marmelade as you sip this beer. Apparently the bitterness is average for this type of drink so I didn't mind it at all. This is the first drink brewed by the Four Hearts Brewing Company, which will become an official brewery by the end of this year.

Crispy flash fried squid and school prawns served with squid ink aioli

This was accompanied by the crispy squid and school prawns with squid ink aioli. The squid was tender and juicy with a nicely crisp batter while the school prawns were crunchy and not too sharp so it was easy to pop in your mouth. This also came with a wedge of lime that gave a good flavour boost to this dish. 

Anzus Ipa - Fortitude Brewing Company

Unlike the pale ale, the Anzus Ipa had a very clean and light malt backbone by placing focus on the hops this time. By boosting the amount of hops in this beer, this gave the beer an earthy, piney and fruity aroma and flavour that is suitable for the Australian climate. It certainly helped in cooling down our tastebuds from the heat and spiciness of the following dish.

Whole baked snapper with Thai flavours, Asian greens and rice

And boy was this one intensely spicy fish!!! We were amazed at the size of the baked snapper when it arrived to our table. This was cooked with a Thai green curry to soften the fish and add a hint of creaminess to the overall dish. While the fish was well cooked and freshly made, the spiciness was close to the level that you can expect at Thai restaurants. Was so glad to have that beer to cool down that heat.  

For that extra hotness if you dare!

White chocolate and raspberry Pilsener - Bacchus Brewing

While it looked like a glass of cocktail or wine, this was actually beer! It was a strange but lovely mix of spicy Czech Pilsener with the flavour and aroma of raspberries and white chocolate. This was perfect for the final paired dish of the night.

White chocolate mousse with raspberries and sea salt snow

The night finished off with the equally matched white chocolate mousse with raspberries and sea salt snow, which had a creamy and milky taste mixed with...pureed scallops! There's even a hint of anchovy in this dish as well. Never expected seafood to show up in a dessert like this since I didn't even detect it as I tasted this dish but it was a nice surprise.

Beermosa

I rushed through this final drink because I had to leave pretty early (living in south west Sydney is a pain) but from what I tasted, this drink had that sweetness that I would expect from a citrus-based beverage with the added beer taste. Would like to get another one of this.  

Had a great time learning about various beers across Queensland and getting into the tasting experience where you explore your senses. As for the Oaks, there are heaps of decent quality dishes to try and lots of space to chill even on busy nights. The next and final Six States of Beer event for 2014 will focus on Beer vs Wine from SA. This will be held on Wednesday 10th December 2014. Tickets cost $60 + booking fee which is worth it for the four course plus drinks degustation experience.  

Disclaimer: The Random Foodie dined at The Oaks Hotel as a guest, courtesy of Wasamedia. Opinions are however, my own.

The Oaks Hotel
118 Military Road, Neutral Bay NSW 2089
(02) 9953 5515
http://www.oakshotel.com.au/
Mon-Wed: 10:00am - 12:00am
Thurs-Sat: 10:00am - 1:30am
Sun: 12:00pm - 12:00am

Le Pub, Sydney CBD

Back in my uni days, I used to check out Red Eye Records at least once a week at their old King Street store. Next door to Red Eve was St Patricks Tavern, which operated as an Irish pub. Years later, Red Eye Records moved to York Street close to QVB (thankfully still open) while St Patrick's Tavern closed down due to renovations and new management under Gallagher Hotels. In October last year, Le Pub opened in that same spot with a focus on delivering French bistro cuisine. While Le Pub still retained that noisy pub-like atmosphere especially on Friday and Saturday nights (and the pokie room is still there), it was the food that takes the venue up a notch especially after winning the 'Three Schooner' Award at Sydney's Good Pub Food Guide 2013.

While I walk past Le Pub fairly often, it was CC who suggested to check this out one night after seeing the menu. When I saw the logo for Le Pub, it immediately reminded me of the Paris Metro train station logos. When we were given our menus, we were indecisive. Really indecisive. Everything on the menu looks good to try and it didn't help when the waitress said that the Beef Bourguignon pie might be too big and the Confit de Canard (duck leg confit) would be too small. Bonus points for the staff being incredibly patient with our indecisiveness.

When we saw snails on the menu, we knew we had to try these sneaky little buggers. It was a while since I've had snails so there was a slight trouble with getting the snails out of the shell using the metal tongs. They were tasty though I think it really needs more garlic and herb butter so I can dip the toasted baguette bread. I guess for me, the garlic and herb butter was what I like the most when eating snails.We did think that the toasted bread was crustier than what we usually get.

Escargots de Bourgogne - snails, garlic, fresh herb butter and baguette ($15.00)
 

Lamb neck with quinoa and herb crumb sounds fascinating and slightly healthier in my books so after much debating, I decided on this dish. Although one of the lamb pieces needed a bit of effort on the knife; the rest of the dish was quite tender, full of flavour and beautifully presented. Also, the quinoa crumb gives the lamb a crunchier texture. Would have liked it if the quinoa stuck to the lamb instead of falling everywhere on the board but that would be pretty hard.  
 

Collet D'Agneau - lamb neck with quinoa and herb crumb, cauliflower puree, shaved cauliflower and pea salad ($26.00)

After much decision making, CC decided on the seafood dish of Pan fried Barramundi fillet with Potato Dauphinoise, Sous vide onions and Caper Veloute based on the recommendation by the waitress. CC gave this dish a thumbs up for the crunchy and flaky skin and the soft fillet. Personally I am a big fan of green salsas and from what I've tried, it worked well with the barramundi fillet.  

Poisson du Marche ($28.00)

We were quite full but we knew we had to try the desserts from checking out the menu. CC had her eyes on the Pots de Creme and we were definitely pleased with that choice. While it looked like a creme brulee, it didn't have that hard toffee top. The custard was so luscious, sweet and creamy. I wanted to have more of it but that will make me too greedy since I have already ordered another dessert. We were quite puzzled on whether the flowers on the almond praline were edible. Despite that, the crunchy almond praline was perfect to have with the creamy custard. Definitely recommend this dessert.

Pots De Creme - Honey Pots De Creme with Almond Praline ($16.00)

My choice was the Tarte Au Chocolat Cacahuete, which is a chocolate and peanut brittle tart with edible chocolate soil and magic gold dust...yes edible magic gold dust! I loved this dessert as well as it has everything I loved - chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! It was fun cutting up the tart especially when the knife hits the bottom so you can taste the creamy, rich chocolate mousse with the flaky chocolate and peanut tart. There was so much to take in with this dessert from the chewy nougats to the caramel sauce. I enjoyed mixing everything on this plate together just to excite and test my tastebuds. As for the 'magic gold dust', a highlight for us was when I accidentally blow into the nougat coated with lots of gold dust while I was talking. Soon it was flying everywhere on our plates like Tinkerbell sprinkling lots of dust so we can fly! I tried to blow into it again but it didn't work. Wished we had taken a photo of this.

 

Tarte Au Chocolat Cacahuete ($16.00)

While most of the food didn't seem to be traditionally French (except for the snails of course), it was still delicious for us. I reckon the food was basically French cuisine with a twist - and we loved it. The desserts were a hit for us that night and we're keen on coming back to try the confit duck and the beef bourguignon pie. In fact, we were already talking about coming back here just last week so another visit will definitely be happening soon.

Le Pub
66 King Street, Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9262 3277
http://www.lepub.com.au/

The Forresters and Queenies, Surry Hills

In the last year, two more restaurants were opened under the rapidly expanding Drink and Dine Group empire where they reinvent seedy old pubs (The Carrington, The Norfolk, The Abercrombie to name a few) and turn them into gourmet feeds thanks to D&D's executive chef, Jamie Thomas who is keeping a busy life looking after and designing menus for all of Drink and Dine's restaurants! While most of them are pretty much 'dude food', it is the food that delivers a buzzing atmosphere where you can literally drink, dine and have fun with your mates as you like. The Forresters and Queenies are no different to the others when it comes to tasty food with an incredibly social atmosphere.

THE FORRESTERS

This was originally set up primarily as an Italian restaurant but since August, they have drastically changed their menu to include Americanised specialities but keeping the pizzas and some of the pasta favourites as well as their daily specials - a common theme under the Drink and Dine restaurants.

I was so keen to get the Pulled Pork slider as a starter. This did not disappoint. It is a single serving snack (thankfully!) with a mouthful of tender, shredded pork tucked between a buttery and crusty brioche bun that is just tempting to the eye.

Pulled pork slider ($ 5.50)

CC was keen for the nuggets which are crunchy to our liking. Since the rest of us ended up having a lot of food (more on that soon), we did not manage to finish this as it is a generous serving on its own.

Chicken nuggets ($10)

MT is keen to try out the Picnic Chicken. I presume that it is a chicken as messy looking as a Picnic chocolate bar. Anyway, we thought that the Picnic chicken will be a reasonable size. That the chicken itself will possibly be the size of a chicken that you will get at say El Jannahs. It even has Parmesan fries and a Southern salad on the side. How big could it be? Oh man we were wrong.
On the positive side, it did taste pretty juicy, the salad helped with balancing the overall taste, and at $22 it is very good value for money. But it is just too massive. I think had we not order other dishes, we may have been able to finish this off.

Picnic Chicken... ohmygawd...($22)

However on the night we went, it was their Wednesday special of $10 pizzas with a selection of 5 of their popular flavours. CC and I chose the 'A Meatball Affair' pizza to share while we order "smaller" dishes. After seeing other customers getting their pizzas, we were aware on how big this pizza will be. Just as big as MT'S picnic chicken. Personally, I think there needs to be a bit more meatball but the hero of the dish is the light and thin crust which made it all manageable for us to finish it.

A Meatball Affair Pizza with smoked mozzarella and meatballs ($10 on Wednesday 6-10pm, $22 every other day)

It is no surprise that about this point we were horribly stuffed and it did not help that we have already ordered a pretty generous bowl of fries. They were so crunchy yet fluffy so we did our best to eat as much as possible. The sauce helped us a lot with this dish though.

Fries ($8)

And the lesson is: when the Drink and Dine Group say their food is meant to be shared, the portions will be incredible that it is impossible to eat a main meal on your own. Despite all this, we all really enjoyed it and CC and MT were definitely satisfied with how delicious it was on the whole and are all very keen to come back here soon. In fact, it was a fun experience on the whole. We'll go easy on ordering the food next time.

QUEENIES

A month or so later, I checked out Queenies, a Caribbean/Jamaican restaurant which has been opened recently. Now located in The Forresters old sit-down area upstairs, this is big plus for diners who are keen to try a different cuisine while having a beer under the same roof.

In Queenies' menu, it's all about the jerk (a type of Jamaican spice) and a good dose of shredded coconut. Even on the complimentary dish of pickled cucumbers, there are shredded bits of coconut with a very sneaky jerk seasonal rub to give a good amount of heat to something as simple as cucumber. And that's just the starter!

Pickled cucumber

Bammies. I think you have become my new favourite food! It looks very similar to a taco with a thicker, crusted, cassava-based flatbread. It's a bit hard to cut through but it's bite sized so you can manage to eat it by hand. There are two flavours offered by Queenies: Pulled Pork & Pineapple and Prawn, Mango & Ginger. Both are perfect to have for yourself. The prawn flavour tasted quite fruity and sweet thanks to the mango and ginger while the pulled pork has that juicy meaty taste with a helping of coriander and chopped radish - making it look almost like a taco al-pastor. Definitely coming back for these next time!

Pulled Pork and Pineapple Bammy ($7)

Prawn, Mango and Ginger Bammy ($7)

The first reaction when coming across this dish was how it looked so much like those yummy empanadas or even curry puffs. These are just as delicious with a slightly spicy curried filling and juicy oxtail meat. The uniquely refreshing cucumber and chilli yoghurt balances perfectly with the seasoned, meaty filling.

Curried Oxtail Patties ($14)

This dish is so refreshing to have on a hot day with a colourful presentation. It is full of juicy, sweet and crunchiness from the soft fillets of snapper to the abundant mango being piled onto the tortilla chip. Was hoping for more tortilla chips because the ceviche is very generous. Though it has pieces of chilli, it's actually very mild. Great for the spice-intolerant and perfect for the summer weather.

Hellshire Ceviche ($16)

While the curried patties were similar to empanadas and curried puffs, and the bammies looked like tacos; the decent serving of coconut soft shell crab reminded me of the crispy soft shell crab from Japanese restaurants. Only much crispier. Golden brown crunchiness. Despite its name, I didn't seem to detect much coconut flavour but nevertheless it's worth a try for the crunchy battered coating and the juicy crab. And the hotstepper sauce really lives up to its name!

 Coconut Soft Shell Crab w/Hotstepper Sauce ($16)

Got very full when our side order of dirty rice arrived. It's packed with coriander, spring onions, mint, more shredded toasted coconut (I seriously think that coconut is one of their signature ingredients along with the jerk) and assorted spices throughout the dish. Though it is listed as a side dish, I recommend that you should order this to share with others as it is a decent serving for at least 2 people.

Dirty Rice ($5)

While Jamaican cuisine is something we don't see very often in Sydney, their food seems to inspired by various cuisines. Keen to come back for the jerk pork burger and the smoked pork loin next time. Hope to see more Jamaican restaurants around in the near future. Especially those bammies!

The Forresters
Cnr Foveaux and Riley Street, Surry Hills, 2010
(02) 9212 3035
http://www.forresters.com.au/


Queenies
Level 1 (Upstairs), The Forresters
Cnr Foveaux and Riley Street, Surry Hills, 2010
(02) 9212 3035
http://www.facebook.com/queeniesjerk