Petit Tarte au Chocolat in Extreme Close-up

Max Brenner, Lindt, Guylian, Jeff de Bruges, Haigs, Vanderwee, Cafe Chocolate, and Chocogram… Chocolatiers are nothing new in Sydney. You got to ask yourself, do we really need another? You’d think the answer would be yes… or would you?

The newest praline pusher is Boon. Situated on the Darlinghurst restaurant strip, Boon’s tiny, two-tiered store is a shop downstairs and intimate cafe upstairs. With its hot address and colourful selection of chocolates, this independent Australian company has managed to create for itself quite a loyal following. This was then a must to check out. And my hopes were running high despite my knowledge that Aussie chocolate is typically hit and miss.

When it comes to hot chocolate, Boon provides quite a different experience to the bigger chocolate names. Served with a shot glass of chocolate mousse and a praline, presentation is wonderful. Rather unfortunate is the actual hot chocolate and the unimpressive praline. It was surprising and a little redeeming that the stand out on the platter was the mousse. This serving was definitely quantity over quality.

Also ordered tonight was the Petit Tarte au Chocolat. Neither quantity or quality, I’m not sure why this dessert needs French title, other than to fool gullible patrons into thinking what would follow would be a sophisticaed and elegant. Petit is the tart. In fact très petit. No bigger than a 50 cent piece and with a thick, offensive pastry crust, this dessert was a huge disappointment. Particularly as the chocolate centre itself lacked flair or intensity.

Under-scrumptiousness, over-pricing and a staff deficient in knowledge, Boon is less hit, more miss.

Grilled Pork and Noodle Soup

Vietnamese restaurants are hard to find in Sydney. With Manuka in Canberra being my fondest, local memories of the cuisine, I’ve been dying to find a restaurant that’s a little closer to home. So it was with great delight when on the prowl for a night of taste sensations that we happened upon Q Vietnamese Restaurant.

Sitting down to a very wobbly table, we soon learnt Q was BYO. No biggy on Victoria St with Camperdown Cellars only a short walk away.

A large restaurant with wooden floors, Q can be rather noisy. And with white walls, white, plastic tables and bright lights, the restaurant seems rather out of place for it’s Darlinghurst/Kings Cross address; in not following Sydney restaurant decorating 101, the restaurant is far from a sumptuous, aromatic cavern that have been cropping up in the area. But we weren’t there for the decor. The staff were surprisingly busy for a restaurant with several, large tables empty. I can only imagine it being madly chaotic with a full house. Our waitress took ages to take our order, but was wonderfully quick in bringing out the food.

First dish for the evening was the crispy calamari. Decidedly uncrispy and altogether oily, it is surprisingly tasty. But be warned, you may feel a little wrong afterward.

Pork and prawn fresh spring rolls (rice paper rolls) with a peanut sauce then followed. Before tonight, the only rice paper rolls I had ever tried were of the $3.30 kind from the Hunter Arcade. Q‘s were quite different. With the rolls being dry and thick and the sauce coagulated nuts, the dish would have better with different textures and ingredients. Perhaps a sauce that had more of a sweet chili, soy or fish sauce base. All in all a pretty tasteless entrée.

Next up was the chili and lemongrass chicken stirfry. A solid effort taste wise, it’s just a shame about the bland presentation.

Last was the dish I had been waiting for all evening, the grilled pork and noodle soup. Served separately, the pork was soon swimming the broth. Q‘s is a satisfactory version of a Vietnamese favourite dish, however, I would have preferred it with more bite, namely lemongrass, coriander and chili. Curiously, the meat was quite sweet, but the lumps of charcoal that came off in the soup were far from appetising.

Q offered an pleasant night out, but I won’t be in a hurry to go back. One of the good things to come out of the meal is that I realised that I need a new camera. I get to go shopping.