Jimmy Liks, Potts Point

After having heard people talk about Jimmy Liks in Potts Point, I recently dined there with a 50% off internet deal. Asian shared style eating is always great for group dining so I went with a table of 4 so we could try a lot of dishes.

My first impressions were that I really liked the decor - with its long tables and mood lighting I could see it being an awesome group event place, especially because set menus always work well with asian food. I'm sad to say the positive comments mostly stop there. I certainly didn't hate it, but I didn't think it was great and if it weren't for the 50% off I would probably have felt more negatively towards it.

The cuisine isn't strictly from any particular region, instead the menu reads like a 'Best of' South East Asia and Chinese influenced dishes.

Son-in-law free range duck egg $8.50

I love soft shell crab ($23) so we had to order this - it was crispy and tasty, though every asian restaurant nowadays does a decent rendition so it wasn't ground breaking.

This was my favourite dish of the day - crispy skin salmon with watermelon salad ($28). It was fresh, the salmon perfectly cooked just a bit under, with a nice mix of zesty dressing and watermelon. 

Twice cooked sticky pork hock (large size for $29) - this dish was so rich and hard to eat by the end, and it wasn't because it was bad necessarily, it just felt like every other dish in terms of flavour but with a heavy fatty pork hock. 

The duck was meh. And I love duck! But this was just average. Mainly because the flavour base was a sticky sweet sauce which you can see at the base of the dish. Just not how we expected crispy skin duck to be served!

Crispy skin half duck ($35)

Char grilled roti bread ($5 a piece)

So overall the problem really lies with the fact Jimmy Liks isn't the cheapest, and then everything kind of tasted the same. Every dish seemed to have the same flavour base and while at least everything wasn't overpoweringly spicy (which I hate, because it just kills any sense of taste you might have), all the sauces lacked punch. So then you just added more sauce and got overdosed on sweet MSG. When you can get such amazingly authentic, cheap asian food in Sydney, it's a pity that Jimmy Liks didn't live up to the hype for me. That said, we didn't drink cocktails with our meal but we saw others drinking what looked to be amazing concoctions, so maybe that's the trick, to get happy on alcohol?

Are you at a hipster wedding?

You know I love my infographics, and with weddings being all anyone is talking about recently amongst my friends, this was to cute not to share.

Post Holiday Blues

I've been neglecting this blog which is 1 part I-have-been-on-holidays and 2 parts life-has-changed-faster-than-I-have-been-able-to-keep-up. So now I'm using this winter hiberanation period to really focus on me and for once being in some semblance of stable life.

Anyway. That is all not very exciting. What is exciting is that I recently returned from holiday! My second trip to the US this year, my 4th in 4 years, but sadly likely to be my last for some time now. I think I need to give the North American continent a break from me for a while!

I'll try and post about my holiday highlights if I get around to it, but for now, here are some of my photo faves :)

 Perfect white sand and pristine blue seas in Barbados. I probably should have noted above that I actually spent half my time in the Caribbean, not just the US. And it was, like my last Caribbean trip, breathtaking. And blissful. And just what I needed!

Trunk Bay in St Johns, USVI. Consistently rated amongst the top 25 beaches in the world, and I wouldn't disagree!

A rare shot you'll see with me in it. I don't generally like posting photos of myself on this blog, but this is me hanging on a boat in St Lucia.

 The famous Alamo, in San Antonio, Texas. American History worthy.

Texas State Capital in Austin, Texas. I loved the architecture. I loved the patriotic scattering of the state Star on everything and anything. And I love this shot.

Laguna Beach, Orange County, CA. Teenage dream come true. I used to be obsessed with MTV's Laguna Beach, and am still a huge fan of LC. Long live MTV.

I realise all my photos look like postcard pictures I've stolen from the internet. I can assure you, everywhere was just that photographically amazing that it didn't take much to snap a postcard worthy shot, though I do like to claim some photographic skill ;) These were all shot on my beloved travel camera the NEX6 with kit zoom lens (I didn't even touch the second Sigma lens I took with me!).

And before you ask, I bought one item of clothing my whole trip! Yes, one! After enough visits to the US in as many years, I can definitely say I am probably one of the rare visitors who can abstain from shopping :)