We've got beef, more beef, and if you don't want beef...

Well there's always beef. That's the sentiment of the day. Especially when it comes to this place we tried for our yearly department dinner. Yes, another freaking dinner in 2 weeks. But seriously, I think it's my privilege to partake in these expensive dinners, after all the work I've slaved over for them.

Back to reality. We all caught a maxi taxi to this city bar, where I had my first schooner of full strength VB. Now, not having anything to eat since lunch, I thought, hey, yeah, I can manage that. It's just one beer. Everyone else was raising their eyebrows though, thinking, what's this little girl drinking a man's beer for? and asking me if I was sure I wanted to drink that. Well, it can't be that bad people!

Next half an hour, I'm feeling just a bit woozy, but I managed to make it to this place called Kingleys Steakhouse @ King Street for dinner. I sit down and all I can see are about 6 empty wine glasses of different sizes at each place setting. And I'm looking this menu, and it's filled with beef dishes. Everything, except the cheese platter was beef. It was the first time I tried rare, or as I like to call it, raw, beef. Thank god I wasn't a vego.

And they were all matched with a specially selected red wine/white wine.

So I start drinking... and next thing you know, I'm holding onto the rails going down to the toilets, struggling to focus, smiling like an idiot to my boss, being overly interested in what people were saying, and shouting at people because it was so loud in there I couldn't hear myself. Then they decided to bundle me into the taxi as soon as desert was over. Hmm, maybe it was all that beef.

Longrain - A Review

I've told a couple of you guys already about Longrain, but let me boast about it over the net anyway. Now, I had high expectations from this place that we went to dinner for, as a special occassion for one of the staff at work.

This first thing I thought was, they've done up an abandoned warehouse in the back streets of Surry Hills. God, how much are we paying for this? This place is renowned for their modern thai cuisine. Yes, cuisine, cos god knows it's freaking upmarket, and the dishes don't come cheap. We're talking 77 bucks a head people, for a dinner banquet, plus drinks, and plus a compulsory 10% service charge. So if you think you're going to get a cheap meal here by ordering the cheapest thing on the menu, well go ahead, but we'll get you through our service charge thanks.

But who am I to complain? I ain't paying nothing to no one. It was a supposed to be nice thing to do for this woman at work, and I made a nice comment to her that was well received, something I wouldn't normally do in front of a crowd of people. Must have been the alcohol. That, and the fact I'm such a legend.

The stand out dish of the evening was probably the char grilled barossa chicken with blood plum sauce. Seriously, the boss was insisting it was the best chicken he's ever had, and trying to get everyone try it. For once he was right. I've just noticed it also just happens to be the most expensive dish on the whole menu. No freaking wonder it was good. You try eating a $39 dish.
Pretty bloody easy isn't it? He even had to ask me if my favourite dish was the chicken the next day. The guy is obsessed.

Overall, I'd rate this place an 8. It's not an every day thing, but if they're paying, well, there's no point in wasting good food.