Cosmetic Cupcake

I haven't done a food post in a while so I thought I would share with you all a fabulous meal I had recently! At the end of last month, I had dinner with 2 awesome friends (hi Jade and Anita!) at Est.. For those not playing in Sydney, Est. is an award winning contemporary Australian restaurant. Boy was it a lot of fun! It was so great to unwind with some girlie talk over cocktails and fine food =) We ended up going with the chefs tasting menu (4 courses for $150) as it had more choice compared to the tasting menu (6 courses for $175). Unfortunately my camera pics didn't turn out so Instagram pics will have to suffice.


We started off with a round of cocktails. I don't drink much at all but I do love a good cocktail! Vodka is my drink of choice so I went with a Moscow Mule. It was delicious x)


For the first course, we all chose the salad of spanner crab with heart of palm, avocado, pink grapefruit, mint and lemon. I could eat this salad everyday! The crab and pink grapefruit went so well together.


For my second course, I chose the grilled white scallops with heirloom carrots, goats curd, roast garlic and black truffle chicken jus. The scallops were beautiful but I think I should have gone with the quail.. there just weren't enough scallops in the dish! LOL.


The highlight of the night - our "off the menu" Périgord truffle mash! We were only expecting truffle through the mash but instead we get thin slices of French truffle atop the most smooth and creamy mash imaginable. We literally could have licked the bowl!! Except of course we were all too ladylike to lol.


For my fourth course I chose the saddle of venison with pickled sour cherries, blackberries, baby turnip, game chips and salad of cresses. Venison is served on the rare side and I don't usually like my red meat too rare but this was just melt in your mouth.


For dessert I chose the mascarpone citrus cannoli with macerated summer berries and pink grapefruit sorbet. Oh my goodness it was so heavenly! It was summer on a plate. I could have eaten a whole tub of the pink grapefruit sorbet mmmmm.


We were even given an extra dessert to share! Caramelised blood plum, brown sugar cake, labne and spiced plum caramel. The flavours in this were so interesting but worked really well together!


Yummy petit fours!


Overall it was a fabulous dinner and night out! The service was impeccable and the atmosphere was great - and of course the food was divine! I'll definitely be going back in the future. Est. is located at Level 1, Establishment 252 George Street Sydney 2000.

Thanks for looking as always =) Don't forget to enter my 2nd birthday giveaway here!

No beauty post for you ladies today but instead I have some glorious food! D and I went for a drive to the mountains on Saturday to indulge in some yummy food and to take some time out. We haven't been for a drive in AGES and the weather happened to be beautiful on Saturday so it was perfect!! The photos in this post will be a mix of Instagram and camera pics ;)

First stop was Leura which is such a gorgeous little town! I love the Leura Candy Store (Shop 6 178 Leura Mall Leura, NSW) which is an old fashioned little candy store. Shelves upon shelves of CANDY!!!! Seriously heaven for this sweets guzzler. I bought a few things but unfortunately my family attacked the sweets before I could take pics!!


Then we headed over to Josophan's Fine Chocolates (132 The Mall Leura, NSW) for a chocolate hit. Oh my goodness this chocolate boutique is so calorie inducing! The award winning chocolates are handcrafted on site and the flavour combinations are quite unusual.



We picked up some choccies to take home but unfortunately I can't remember exactly what we purchased doh! I know the red one is a chilli chocolate, the pyramid is blueberry and the small round ones are lime and basil I think. Sorry for the crappy plating below - it was late when I got home and had to quickly snap a pic before I devoured them!


We had lunch at The Swiss Cottage Restaurant (132 Lurline Street, Katoomba NSW) which is a favourite restaurant of D's from his childhood. It was my first time going and Oh. My. God. It was one of the best meals I've had all year!! It comes second in my top dining experiences of the year after Tetsuya's. I didn't get a main as I'd been snacking all morning though xp


The decor of the restaurant is so quaint! Such old world charm and really puts you in the mood for Swiss/French food.



A dozen escargots ($26). So more-ish. So garlic-y. SO DAMN DELICIOUS.


One of the specials of the day French onion soup ($12). I love French onion soup and I'm hard pressed to find decent ones. This was absolutely delicious and definitely homemade.


Country rosti with grilled cheeses and sour cream ($15). Rosti is one of my favourite dishes and this didn't disappoint at all! Sour cream + cheese + potatoes = winner in my book. I must say D's version is slightly better though ;)


White Farm Rabbit cooked in a basil sauce ($28.50).


The bill is brought to your table in a cute little cow with a bell! So cute x)


Last stop was Bakery Patisserie Schwarz (Shops 1 & 2, 30 Station Street Wentworth Falls, NSW) for a slice of cake and coffee or in my case a hot chocolate. Schwarz Patisserie is a well known German bakery and we just had to make a stop to try out some of the delicious offerings. We ordered a slice of the black forest cake and we had to order another straight away!! D isn't much for sweets but he literally inhaled half the slice in 10 seconds. The cherries were the best bit - huge chunks and so tart and delicious - the best black forest I have ever tasted hands down!


I'll leave you with a pic of the Blue Mountains on Saturday. Could the weather have been any better??!


What did you get up to on the weekend? Did you have any food adventures?

Thanks for looking as always!

Yesterday was my beloved boyfriends 30th birthday and we celebrated it in style by enjoying lunch at top Sydney restaurant Tetsuya's. The poor timing of our lunch did not escape me at all – while his family and I were sitting down to a wonderful Japanese meal, Japan is reeling from the devastation caused by the worst earthquake and tsunami in their history. Tens of thousands of people are missing, families and homes torn apart and the looming possibility of a nuclear accident. All my petty life issues pale in comparison to the scale of this disaster. It really makes you re-evaluate what is important in life and to value your family, friends and your health as you never know what mother nature will throw at you. Still, a celebration was in order as my boyfriend only turns 30 once =) This is going to be one heck of a post so read if you dare!!

Tetsuya's is the world renowned restaurant of chef Tetsuya Wakuda and is famous for his 11 course degustation. The cuisine is "based on the Japanese philosophy of natural seasonal flavours, enhanced by classic French technique" and is just simply in a class of its own. The degustation is currently priced at $210 per head (not including drinks) and it's literally 11 courses and 4 hours of PURE FOOD HEAVEN! My boyfriend didn't want a party or big celebration so I booked a good 5-6months ahead of time to ensure we could celebrate his 30th at his favourite restaurant. I was just as excited as him to experience Tetsuya's again!


The restaurant is right in the city but you wouldn't know it at all. The restaurant overlooks a beautiful Japanese garden and you just feel so peaceful and serene as soon as you step into the restaurant.


The service and attention to detail at Tetsuya's is absolutely impeccable and just plain fantastic. The waiters are of course wonderfully professional and knowledgeable but still super friendly. Dining at Tetsuya's is one of those food experiences you never forget - I still remember in great detail everything I ate and drank plus the excellent service and ambience from the 1st time I went.

Hi ladies! How was your weekend? Work on Saturday was crazy busy (think drunk and fighting patients!) so I was looking forward to spending my one and only weekend day off with the boy. We went on a relaxing outing to the city yesterday for a lovely French lunch and to do some browsing. Too bad it was so darn hot!

I made a beeline for Myer to take advantage of the Illamasqua Make-Up Amnesty. Until January 30th at Illamasqua counters in Aus, you can bring in any unwanted make-up product and they will give you a huge 25% discount off your IIlamasqua purchase. It was too good an opportunity to pass up so even though I'm not supposed to be buying so I only did a very mini haul. But as @IllamasquaAus said on Twitter, I AM saving money so it was definitely worth breaking my no buy hehe ;)


I had to limit myself to 2 polishes and it was SOOOOOO hard to choose which colours to purchase! I ended up choosing Baptiste and Wink - gorgeous purple shades. They retail for $34Aus which is over my budget so with the 25% discount the polishes came to only $24.50 each which is reasonable for the quality of the polishes. I had a $40 Myerone voucher to use so all up I only paid $11 for 2 polishes!! What a steal =D


We then went to The Little Snail for lunch which we haven't been to in ages. It was another bargain for the day as we went courtesy of the Entertainment card and got 25% off woot. Everything was absolutely delicious as always!

We both had Escargot de Bourgogne (Dozen snails marinated in herb-infused court-bouillon, oven baked in garlic butter) for entree. These were SO deliciously garlicy!

I had the Prime Australian Beef Fillet served with pommes puree and red wine jus for my main:

The boy got the seafood plate which included grilled salmon, garlic prawns, salt and pepper squid, chilli mussels, beer battered soft shell crab and mesclun salad. It wasn't really enough for him so I gave him some of my steak hehe.

I love dessert so it was hard choosing what to get as their selections are always so yummy. I ended up getting the chef churned Hazelnut and Praline Ice Cream on shortbread with Grand Marnier caramel. YUMMO!

While the boy had his favourite Crème Caramel:

All in all a nice end to the week! What did you guys get up to?

Thanks for looking!