Simon Food Favourites: Media Invite

18 April 2018

Mark + Vinny's Spaghetti & Spritz, Surry Hills (17 April 2018)

G08, 38-52 Waterloo St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
http://markandvinnys.com
https://www.instagram.com/markandvinnys/

Spaghetti & Spritz Bar

Thanks to Pendulum Communications for the invite to a menu tasting. But first it's refreshments of The Pash Me Spritz - Vermouth bianco, passionfruit, prosecco, soda ($18)
and the classic Florence Spritz - Aperol, Prosecco, Fever Tree Soda ($16). Both enjoyed and there's plenty of other Spritz variations on the menu to tempt. Starters consisted of a few of vegan dishes. Cece - Chickpea hummus, farro, schiacciata ($14) was tasty and easy to share and the Caprese - Soy mozzarella, heirloom tomato, basil, lemon vinaigrette ($18) could probably fool a few like myself with its soy-based cheese. The Fiori di Zucca - Zucchini flower, smoked almond curd, romesco ($15, 2 pieces) had an excellent crispy batter and was one of my favourite dishes of the day. Back to something meaty was the Polpette - Adrian’s meat balls, slow cooked tomato sugo ($18, 3 pieces) that was good but comes at a price of $6 a meat ball so probably best not to expect to fill up on this dish alone.

Pushing the flavour boundary for a vegan pasta is the Charcoal Bucatini - Smoked mushroom pancetta, vegan egg yolk, plant based parmesan ($26). I enjoyed the richness and clever vegan egg yolk although it might take me a while to get used to the mild gritty texture of the charcoal in this dish. The Blue Spirulina Tagliatelle - Blue swimmer crab, bottarga, pangrattato ($34) had gutsy crab and bottarga flavour with plenty of garlic added for good measure. The eye-catching greenish blue colour is probably setting itself up to be one of their signature instagrammable dishes. Back to another vegan pasta the Zucchini Linguini (The Impasta) - Chickpea ragu, cherry tomato, slow cooked tomato sugo ($22) is gluten free and retains a pleasant crunch from the zucchini and crispy pop from some deep fried chick peas. Hard to go past the Vegan No-tella Ravioli - Cacao nibs, raspberry, coconut ice-cream ($18) for dessert. A flakier pastry is the only thing that could improve this for me. I didn't realise Nutella wasn't vegan so this housemade No-tella hits the spot as a vegan friendly substitute. Mark Filippelli, Vince Pizzinga and chef Adrian Januloski have certainly created quite a unique menu for Sydney diners and I like how there's a good selection of both vegan and non-vegan dishes which I think will suit a wider audience.

27 August 2014

New 'Eat on Time' app allows you to pre-order from Westfield Sydney's food precinct, CBD Sydney (21 Aug 2014)

Cnr Market & Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000

http://www.westfield.com.au/food

No time to queue

“Developed by Westfield Labs and currently piloting at Westfield San Francisco, Westfield Sydney is the first Australian centre to trial the app. The progressive web ordering system allows diners to pre-order and pay for their food purchases, then skip the queue when they pick up orders from 16 retailers in Westfield Sydney’s food precinct.”

Thanks to Westfield for inviting me to trial their free app ‘Eat on Time’ available for Westfield Sydney Food Precinct as a paid sponsored post. If you hate queuing, and who doesn't, then you can now preorder your meal to avoid queuing from 16 retailers located on Level 5 and 6 of Westfield Sydney. I initially tried to order via the website as I prefer to view menus on a large screen. I thought I ordered it correctly but never got an text message confirmation so when I turned up to Jones the Grocer there was unfortunately no sign of my order. Important lesson learnt, if you don’t receive an text message confirmation of your order then it hasn’t gone through. I might have done something incorrectly when trying to order or gremlins were at play that day.

My second attempt was then to use the app on my iPhone while at Jones the Grocer. This allowed me to see the process in action. Once I ordered I received a text message confirming my order and an estimate time for collection — hooray! I noticed the kitchen started preparing my burger and fries so everything looked promising. As the order was being finalised in the kitchen I received another text message saying my order was ready. It arrived at the pick up point about 1 minute before the estimated time. I ordered the Jones Burger and Fries ($22) which arrived well-packaged for takeaway, cooked to order and was a yummy and enjoyable. If you know what you want for lunch then the app will definitely save you time for those eateries which have long queues and dishes that take a bit of time to prepare.

How to Eat on Time:
1. Download Eat on Time from the App Store, or access it online via
https://www.westfield.com.au/food
2. Register with name, email address and securely store credit card details
3. Browse the full menu from 16 food retailers at Westfield Sydney
4. Order and pay securely
5. Receive a text message once food is ready
6. Jump straight to the counter for collection, VIP-style

Eat On Time restaurants include:
1. Mero Mero
2. Sassy’s Red
3. Thairiffic
4. Jones the Grocer
5. Din Tai Fung
6. Snag Stand
7. Sky Phoenix
8. Chat Thai
9. Becasse Bakery
10. Cod & Co
11. Charlie & Co
12. Streets of Saigon
13. Spuds n Crepes
14. Janus
15. Chinta Ria…Mood for Love
16. Dergah Grill

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Saves queuing time, You can choose a pickup time, Well-designed app and website with good quality dish pictures

CONS: You'll still need to find a table once you collect your order

MUST TRY: Jones Burger and Chips

VERDICT: For those who know what they want for lunch it will be a useful app to preorder to save time queuing, waiting and paying

—

Jones the Grocer Pick Up Point

Jones Burger and Chips: Premium 100% Australian wagyu patty, bacon, melted Swiss cheese, truffle mayonnaise, pickles, yellow mustard, caramelised onions, house made bun, rustic chips ($22)