nuffnang meetup + dinner at ocean room

3 February 2009, 12:10

About a week ago Nuffnang held a bloggers meet up to meet bloggers face to face and letting them know what Nuffnang was all about. Ming, co-founder of Nuffnang and Dave the Nuffnang aussie manager did a mini tour around oz stopping off at melb, brissy and perth before reaching sydney (saving the best for last heh). The meet up was held at The Loft on King St Wharf one friday evening before the chinese new year/australia day weekend which meant i found myself wandering around belmore park which was packed full of stalls selling food glorious food


Apam Balik MY FAVOURITE!!! Crispy peanut crepes! Ground peanuts with caster sugar and a giant dollop of butter! Hello cholesterol!


At an inflated price of $4 though. Sadness.


Randomly saw a vegemite stall surrounded by a huge huge crowd. Turns out they were giving away free vegemite bags with goodies inside once you taste a sample of their vegemite noodles and vegemite buns. No pic cos i shovelled it into my mouth just so i could score the vegemite bag…


Tube of vegemite and vegemite snack packs lol Helen was already halfway to king st wharf before turning back just to get the free bag hehehe


(I blurred the background cos there was a man making a face) Arrived at the loft to be greeted with a sweet bar tab and bloggers Karen, Howard, Linda & Teresa, Belle, Simon and my favourite little matchbox girl Sonya. ah meeting people and matching them to the fabulous minds behind their blogs is much fun!


Some nibblies which got wiped out pretty fast


As the bloggers started leaving a couple of us foodbloggers were talking to Ming and Dave and the topic of where to go for dinner came up when Ming exclaims “take me to the BEST seafood restaurant in sydney! ill treat!” hehe my ears perk up and I immediately suggest Ocean Room (Ground Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, The Rocks, Sydney) lol a short walk later we arrive and with Helen’s super connections to Chef Raita Noda we score some free entrees w00t apologies in advance for the crappy photos I didnt want to bring the dslr cos then Id have to bring a big bag…


Cured Ocean Trout, barely spiced cured with Parmigiano icecream and preserved lemon salsa ($19). Loved the idea of a cheese icecream! Salty, cheesey and slightly sweet i think i could have eaten it in a waffle cone…


Wasabi Prawns, crispy fried king prawns with wasabi aioli and fried wasabi mayonaise ($19). I was a tad worried about the wasabi as I am weak and unable to handle it but it was not as spicy as I feared


Soft Shell Crab Tacos, spiced, crispy fried served with pickled vegetables and crispy wafers ($18). This is Chef Raitas signature dish and I can still remember the awesomeness of when I first had it at Rise so many years ago. Hey what’s not to like about deep fried crab in a taco!?


Sushi and Sashimi Indulgence ($39). Loved the presentation of the sushi it looked like an artist easel!


Anchovies & Tomato Sorbet, marinated anchovies with smoked vine ripened tomato sorbet and croutons ($16). I wasnt too fond of this one. It might have been the tomato sorbet that just didn’t work for me. I liked the anchovy. Salty goodness hehe


Autumn Truffle French Fries, with sliced truffle ($12). Sadly this was devoid of the truffle scent which was surprising considering there were actual pieces of truffle sitting on top hmm


Bang-Bang-Ji Chicken, steamed chicken fillet with spicy sesame sauce and cucumber salad ($17) lol Ming saw this and straight away ordered it because he loves all things spicy and wanted to challenge Dave hehe


Ocean’s Eleven, eleven sashimi shooters with different flavours and condiments ($29). My main! When it arrived I was super happy because presentation is everything except I got a bit sad when half way thru I realised I wanted to eat some hot food! Luckily food bloggers are a sharing bunch and my tastes of everyones main filled me up pretty good that I ended up giving most of my sashimi to Karen who was more than happy to eat it hehe


Howard & Linda’s Dry Aged Prime Rib for two, maldon salt and pepper crusted 40days dry aged beef with accompaniments ($75). Out of everyones mains I was the most jealous of this dish! Thick cuts of soft juicy cow nomnom


Helen’s Flounder Basket, crispy fried new zealand yellow belly flounder fillets in herb mixed salad basket ($36)


Ming’s Salt & Five Pepper King Prawns, wok fried with sea salt and ocean room’s five peppercorns blend ($39)


Dave’s Kingfish Fillet ($36). The fish looked so lonely! Hope you got enough to eat dude!

I spaced on taking photos of Karen’s wagyu meat pie and Teresa’s giant roasted tuna wing bah but i had a super lovely time meeting up with the bloggers and a giant thank you to Ming for dinner! Here’s to more Nuffnang meetups!

1. I can never say no to a freebie, esp a kitsch Vegemite bag with Chinese on it!

   A great night. And thanks for sharing your Apam Balik too :)

   — Helen    Feb 3, 12:36 PM    #
   
   

2. wow you received awesome freebies. Shame we didn’t have the time to visit Belmore park to try all the fantastic delights. How lucky were we that Helen knew Chef Raita, yay to more freebies =D

   — Linda    Feb 3, 01:09 PM    #
   
   

3. oh how i LOVE the ocean room :)

   — trish    Feb 3, 01:35 PM    #
   
   

4. Looks great, I would’ve ordered the Oysters Eleven too I think! :P

   — Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella    Feb 3, 02:22 PM    #
   
   

5. Yum yum yum I should’ve got myself over to the markets to have Apam Balik!! I loved that photo of you! So atmospheric and trippy!

   — Karen    Feb 3, 03:43 PM    #
   
   

6. What a fun food-filled night you had! I’m imagining the crab taco stuffed with chips…mmm!

   — BELLE    Feb 3, 04:21 PM    #
   
   

7. Wahhh I keep seeing the Ocean Room posts everywhherree and making me so jealous! hee hee oohh how did the vegemite noodles and vegemite buns taste fair? They sound interesting esp the noodles!

   Haha the blurred photo I thought it was a Ring photo until I read the caption

   — FFichiban    Feb 3, 10:02 PM    #
   
   

8. awww they should have had a Vegemite stall in melb! I so would have been there.

   — Fiona    Feb 4, 08:36 AM    #
   
   

9. What is Vegemite?

   It sounds like a cockroach.

   — Cristina    Feb 4, 04:19 PM    #
   
   

10. wow when i saw that sushi on that plate…

    i can feel my saliva forming

    — Lisalicious    Feb 4, 09:06 PM    #
    
    

11. I love those pancakes too!! Hmm wished I was there for the Sydney meet… :)

    — Grace Lee    Feb 4, 11:48 PM    #
    
    

12. bah! i was going to go too but my blog wasn’t up and running yet! double bah!

    on another note, vegemite in a tuuuube! mmmyum!

    — shez    Feb 5, 10:07 AM    #
    
    

13. helen: ahh free vegemite now who do i give it to…
    linda: noone else at belmore park was giving away free stuff other than the vegemite stall lol but i wouldve loved to go back for more dessert!
    trish: i looooved the food! i want to go back for the degustation!
    lorraine: trust me youll want hot food for a main after eating about 3 shot glasses of cold sashimi =P
    karen: noods reckons that was a pisspoor attempt at photoshop hahaha
    belle: it was indeed very good i love deep fried foods!
    ffichiban: lol you shouldve come!! heh i love the ring! didnt like ring 2 tho
    fiona: hehe i dont actually like vegemite…
    cristina: lol guess youre not australian… its a very salty spread that aussies like putting on toast for breakfast
    lisalicious: heh im hungry now too!
    grace lee: aww next time dude!
    shez: im sure there will be another meetup soon probably at the taste festival in march?

    — chocolatesuze    Feb 6, 12:16 PM    #