Holiday

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Cara and Co @ Westfield Sydney

Friday, 06/01/2012

Okay peeps, I have finally decided to post Cara and Co after contemplating for several months. Slap my selfish-ness, initially I was not keen to post it coz I dont want Cara to get popular too soon (Cara please dont crucify me). Imagine if they starting to intro '1 month to book a table' policy. What a nightmare.

Oh well after all I am not a heartless soul and I am more than happy to tell the universe how AWESOME Cara and Co is.

Cara & Co is located on level 4 of Westfield. How easy to find Cara? It is easy but tricky. Here's my story. Let's start with my bad habit that I always carry across regardless the country, timezone, or place ... as usual I left everything to last minute to find the exact whereabout. Feeling helpless & lazy to walkaround Westfield, I went to 'INFORMATION' hoping for some miracle.
Me               : Hi, I am looking for Cara and Co.
Concierge 1  : Sorry...what's the name again? what is Ca_ _ and...?
Me              : Cara & Co, C_A_R_A (I had to spell it), Fashion store and restaurant, the restaurant is  inside the clothing store
Concierge 1 : Sorry I dont know, what's the name again let me ask my collegue' (helllo...INFORMATION desk were you there for real? Did you pass training program?)
Concierge 2 : Excuse me, are you looking for Cara & Co, Oh yeah ... Cara and Co, level 4, next to Sambag, on the top of Mulberry'.
Ahaaa now we are on the same page, what a life saver. Quest sorted.

Found it ...Cara & Co shop the clothing store, the restaurant supposed to be inside the clothing store. I stepped in & still trying to find the restaurant...till I saw the 'Restaurant' signage at the really end of my right side. Hhmm I still had the weird feeling (in a good way though) to know the restaurant is inside the clothing store. Anyway as I stepped towards the restaurant, my eyes really wander around the store (pretty massive store) enjoying all the tiny bits of decorations, toys, retro games, accesories or anything funky and edgy. The shop looks more like a showroom to me, spacious, tasteful, and entertaining.

Reached the restaurant, we were greeted by the friendly waiter - who end up recommending good champgane to us. Pity I cant remember the brand of the champagne. It was not Moet, 1 level down from Moet. Menu - very simple and clean, not much description on each though, they had catchy names for the dishes, e.g. Caesar in disguise, In tune with tuna, Fish united etc. We had the summer menu, ordered 3 course dinner and each of us tried to order different stuff, please enjoy my photos ...

Cara & Co shop front...hope this help finding the restaurant
Entrance to the restaurant, 'Restaurant' sign in neon lightings
Pre-Starter - Cauliflower pure with eggyolk - silky smooth, subtle with mix of textures - grainy yet smooth from the yolk & cauliflower pure, plus crunchiness from the little cracker - well combined
Can I have all 4 for myself?
Pre-starter - Seaweed rice crispies with ?? Sorry I forgot the details



My Starter - 'Smoke a Crab Cigar' - crab cigar with spinach cream, basil oil, parmesan jelly and nitrogen grapefruit. Crab cigar is such an awesome starter, light, thin crunchy cigar, generous crab filling with well balanced sauce. Who need real cigar really? Time to convert.
Friend's Starter - Caesar in Disguise - Green gazpacho, glazed chicken oyster, parmesan crisp - Awww so pweeety, parmesan crisp was delicious, chicken was moist and succulent, the color of the sauce is quite misleading..hehe...it looks strong and thick but it was mild and not overpowering at all.
Friend's starter - 'In Tune with Tuna' - tuna, different types of tomatoes, cream of verbena, puffed wild rice. My friend raved about it, according to him 'really fresh tuna & tasty tomatoes'. Pretty looking and resembles a garden.
Friend's Main - Beef Story - fillet tartare, slowly cooked sirloin, glazed potato, lettuce, pickled tomato, Bearnaise sauce
Sides - Greenies on a plate. Fresh and crunchy, with a hint of vinegar.
My Main -Perched on cous cous - silver perch with hand rolled cous cous, baby fennel, sheep's yoghurt, apple confit and shallot jus. I was not sure how the sheep's yoghurt will work with the fish ....but wowww the nicely cooked fish went well with the fennel, potato, the shallot jus and the sheep's yoghurt (didnt taste yoghurt-ey at all). I was really pleased with my main, such a nice portion, presentation & quite light.
The silverish rocky looking bits...not sure what they were but how cool does it look?

Dessert - In Rhubarb we trust - rhubarb, yoghurt and lime leaf. Yoghurt was very fresh and natural. If you are leaning towards the fresh and sourish department then this baby is yours.
Dessert - Smurf's and Violets - Belgian chocolate, strawberry and violet
Hand Towel soaked in Water
Hand Towel after the soaking process, ready to use

These days our ideal dining place is a restaurant where we can chit chat without screaming at each other (sign of maturity sighh), spacious (ie. you are not sitting super close to the next table), warm feeling, nice food & service of course. Cara does fulfill our requirements and they have never disappoint us so far and we have visited Cara 4x. We are not bothered at all with the restaurant being inside a clothing store/ in a shopping mall even though I do feel majority of Sydney people are still not used to dine in a shopping mall. Yes it is a brand new concept for Sydney - clothing store mixed with restaurant and it is in a shopping mall,  yeah why not? it is a new thing but a change is good sometimes. Hurry ..book a table and step into a hidden gem in the city. I am sure you will love Cara in no time, they showcase the best fashion collection in store and showcasing art on a plate too - trust me, they taste as good as how they look.
PS. I will post their winter menu soon.

Cara and Co (close every Monday)
Shop 4001, Westfield Sydney
Level 4
188 Pitt st, Sydney
Phone. (02) 9226-9988



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