Devon Cafe, Surry Hills (June 2014)

So here we are back at Devon Cafe, eating our way through their delicious winter menu. I love how Devon changes up their menu every season, bringing back some old favourites as well as serving up their new creations. (Also, winter = the Australian truffle season! Another reason to get excited hehe)

Our favourite spot in the cafe is in the court yard, but today we were seated at a communal table towards the back, in front of a garage door. Nevermind about the cold draft coming in through the door, as food photographers, our primary concern was that it affected the lighting of the photos :P Talk about #firstworldproblems. On the upside though, it was a relatively private corner, and you don't get people walking past you all the time. And a bit of fresh air doesn't hurt :)

Now without further ado, let's talk about the food! First up, we have Breakfast with the Sakuma's.

BREAKFAST WITH THE SAKUMA'S ($24.50)

Blackflower Patisserie (Haymarket, Chinatown)

Of course, it's not a complete meal without having dessert. Our next stop was Blackflower Patisserie which is on an easy to find, easy to spot location on Ultimo Road right across Paddy's market. 

Before going I have already decided that the cheeseburger macaron was a must try, the cakes however took us a little longer to decide as they all look pretty and sounded delicious. 

Cheeseburger Macaron $3.20

Let's start with the much anticipated cheeseburger macaron. I must say, this is the cutest macaron I've ever had, but also the least favourite macaron I've ever had. It's a little pricier than other quality macarons out there but I guess you're paying for the novelty of it. Taste wise it was just very sugary and sweet as the filling of the "cheese" and the "tomato" are just made from fondant and the "beef" red bean paste.

 Lust Rose mousse, lychee jelly, hazelnut feuilletine $7.50

The Lust cake was my favourite of the day as I'm a little bias towards rose flavoured sweets and the combination of rose and lychee is a match made in heaven. This cake was a combination of flavours and textures which is not too sweet and not too heavy. The frosty pink outside is actually white chocolate and cracks as you dig your spoon into it. Encased in this thin white chocolate case is the airy mousse with a layer of soft jelly between, as for the hazelnut feuilletine base? Fat Friday loved it. It was light, crispy and deliciously hazelnutty. 

OMG Salted caramel, chocolate mousse, caramel jelly, brownie base $7.50

Lastly OMG, this one was a lot richer compared to Lust and the texture was thicker and heavier. On top of the brownie base is the also airy chocolate mousse with the slightly gummy caramel jelly centre, this was all encased with the salted caramel mousse (?), the texture of this was a lot different to the usual mousse which is light, airy, and whipped, on the contrary it was a little stickier and heavier, however this did not compromise the taste, which reminded me of honey comb with a hint of saltiness. This is finished off with a sticky and glossy layer of chocolate ganache decorated with tempered chocolate and gold dusted peanuts. 

Overall a wonderful experience and great tasting cakes, will definitely be back to try more :)

Chez Dee (Potts Point)

WE'RE BACK!!! After a very long break. Now that exams are finally over it's time for us to keep up to date with our blogging, so stay tuned for our most recent Fat Friday adventures (as well as not so recent ones :P).

Our Friday adventure this week took us to Chez Dee Cafe at Potts Point in Kings Cross. Though we initially planned to have Ms G's but unfortunately when we got there they were closed for renovation (until dinner that night! If only we were there for dinner...) so we decided to head down to try out Chez Dee, which has been on our Fat Friday suggestion list for quite a while.

This little cafe is only around 10 minutes walk from Kings Cross station, so very convenient :) Located on Kellet Street it is actually a terrace house renovated to a cafe and with the colourful Asian/Middle Eastern/gypsy like decorations in the interior it certainly gives a very laid back and slightly exotic feel (sorry, forgot to take photos of the inside).

Anyways, on to the food. The menu consists of a range of breakfast items from muffins, muesli to the big brekkies with sausages, egg, bacon and everything else you'll want in a breakfast. Going down the list we can see the food uses mostly classic combinations such as poached eggs with ham, citrus with fennel as well as classic dishes like Nicoise salad. Their list of tea however was quite unique with different blends of florals, green teas, black teas and herbs which was definitely worth a try for the tea lovers.
After long indecisiveness we settled for the corn fritters and the beetroot salad.

 Corn Fritters with smashed avocado, lime mascarpone, bacon, cherry tomatoes and pesto.

Firstly the corn fritters, I can say it wasn't bad but was definitely not a dish that makes you go "wow, that is delicously amazing!" The thing I liked about this was the bacon, tomato and the pesto as they gave a contrast of texture and flavours from the saltiness of the bacon to the fresh sweet tomatoes and the aromatic pesto. The down side was that the corn fritters were quite mushy and soft and just broke down as we tried to pick it up with our forks. Together with the avocado and mascarpone it just all mushed and tasted the same. It would have been better if they put freshed avocado so it would be a more obvious existent in the dish and I really hoped for a larger piece of lime so I could squeeze more juice to give it a bit more acidity to it because the the "lime mascarpone" was also non existent amongst everything mixed together.

Beetroot and Spinach Salad topped with honey gorgonzola bruschetta with crispy bacon, apple, walnuts and a honey and mustard dressing.

The salad honestly was a little underwhelming. I found the cheese on the bruschetta too strong for my liking, however that is just a personal preference. On first taste the salad was very sweet from the dressing, we could see some mustard seeds but the flavour was not obvious and overpowered by too much honey. On the contrary the beetroot was very sour, very very sour.

Overall the food was so-so. Considering Chez Dee is a cafe and "gourmet grocer" it was very disappointing that they didn't use fresh avocado and instead used something that tasted like it came out of a container. We also never got our "crispy bacon" which was listed in the description for our salad. However our experience was pleasant, there is a lot more to offer on the menu than what we tried and it is definitely a great place to sit, have a drink and relax in the comfortable and relaxing atmosphere of the cafe.

Devon Cafe, Surry Hills (Sept 2013)

So here comes our very delayed post of our first visit to Devon at Surry Hills. I must say, this is definitely one of my favourite cafes around as it's only 5-10 minute walk from central station, nice atmosphere and the food is so good! Their menu changes seasonally which is something that makes you want to keep going back and try out their new dishes and one very exciting season for Devon is the truffle season in winter. 

We were lucky enough to be seated in the courtyard on a fine day (clear plastic covering so blocks rain but allow sunlight) which means good lighting for photos, yay~ The whole place gave off a really relaxing vibe, the staff were very friendly and the fresh flowers on the table added that little bit of love.

Anyways, on to the food :) Their coffee was great and nothing beats a fresh jar of juice at breakfast, you can't go wrong with the combination of watermelon, apple and mint in the refresher. 

Cappuccino and the Refresher 

The Ultimate Toastie

I was really excited for the truffle season (luckily we made it in time before it was over) so I had to try the famous ultimate toastie and it did not disappoint. It appears to be simple sourdough topped with mushrooms, cheese, fried egg and truffle shavings, but who doesn't love mushrooms??? The runny egg yolk, tender mushrooms, slight saltiness of the cheese and the aromatic flavour of the truffles was definitely a winning combination. On top of that the serving was quite big so it was a very filling and satisfying breakfast.

Citrus cured salmon: split dill cream, apple, celery, cucumber, fennel, soft boiled egg served with brioche

The citrus cured salmon was a much lighter dish compared to the ultimate toastie. The presentation was lovely with very clean and fresh colours from the green salad, cured salmon and that amazing runny egg yolk. The citrus and dill cream gave the dish a hint of tangyness that was quite refreshing and was perfect on that warm day.The dish is a mix of classic flavour combinations with a twist, giving eaters an experience of different layers of flavour and texture. Overall, very happy.

Little Lost Bread

And of course, we did end our meal with dessert, which was the Little Lost Bread, a brioche french toast with banana, nutella, jam, topped with a scoop of peanut butter ice cream. I loved the peanut butter ice cream, however I'm not a great fan of peanut butter and jelly together so it wasn't my favourite french toast. But it was still enjoyable and finishing this off after our large breakfast has left us in a deep food coma.

Ramen Ikkyu, Chinatown

Another Friday, another one of our food adventures~

So we started our day intending to lunch at the Devon café, but as the weather got cooler and windier we thought "it's so cold! why don't we have some hot, soupy ramen instead", thus we ended up sitting in the food court of Sussex centre with our steamy bowl of ramen. (But don't worry! On the next weekend when it was nice and sunny we headed down to Devon for a BIG Sunday breakfast, post coming soon!)

What is it about this humble ramen store in the middle of a typical Chinatown food court that caught our attention?

Well, since I haven't been around for a while I didn't know about its existence until elleeee suggested going there, apparently it was some really good ramen shop owned by a chef who once owned a fancy restaurant. After a bit of research (aka google) I found that chef Haru Inukai was owner of fine dining French-Japanese fusion restaurant Blancharu, until he sold his business and decided to settle for a little store in the food court.

Now for the food! A quite wide range selection of ramen (for a ramen store) as well a side menu with rice,  typical ramen toppings such as egg, bamboo shoots etc. Price wise(around $10-$15), I can say it is standard ramen price in Sydney and quite affordable (though there is one or two items on the menu that is above $20). Also, the shop offers free kaedama! (free refill of noodles when you have soup leftover) so for those that feel like maybe one serving of ramen is just not enough, remember to keep your receipts as you need to bring that to the counter for the noodles.

  

Salmon Ramen ($14)

Jamie's Italian, Sydney CBD

So it's our 3rd time dining here at Jamie's, and I guess that in itself says something. (For our 2nd experience, click here). The food has been consistently good, and the prices are reasonable if you go here for a special occasion (otherwise, I don't really think the price and wait is thaaat worth it). On this occasion, which was around noon, we waited about 30 minutes, after which we were taken to a table upstairs. Now, after being here 3 times and being seated at 3 different locations (upstairs, downstairs near the bar area and walkway, and downstairs towards the back near the kitchen), I'd say upstairs is the worst location - dark, noisy and quite cramped. I hate having to shout at the people on my table in order to be heard, and it was also more difficult to get a waiters' attention whilst upstairs. Service-wise, some waiters were more friendly and helpful than others, so it wasn't all good or all bad, but I guess it could be improved.

PROSCIUTTO, PEAR & PECORINO ($19.50)

Home Thai, Haymarket

We have an interesting situation here where this eatery is a cafe-slash-Thai-restaurant. I mean, of course a lot of cafes also have a lunch menu, but that normally consists of standard cafe fare, like sandwiches, pasta, salads etc. Meanwhile, this cafe/restaurant hybrid gives out full restaurant menus for lunch and dinner, with very similar offerings to their sister restaurant, Home Thai located on Sussex St (although with a slightly smaller selection available - hardly noticeable though, because the menu is still quite extensive).

We dined here for lunch, and were seated upstairs at a table right next to the kitchen area. The delicious smells coming from the kitchen were very, very tantalising, and luckily, the food itself didn't disappoint either.

Pad thai with pork ($10.90)

Japan: Lai Shiang Song Shu-ka

Greetings from Japan~!

It has already been six months since I've been in Japan and it's about time I made my first food post, never too late to start! And I hope I will come across more food adventures while I'm here. Even though I am in Japan my first post will be on Chinese food :P since I recently made a trip to the famous Yokohama Chinatown.

Chat Thai, Westfield Sydney

We love Thai food so here’s another one of our Thai spottings!


This little Thai restaurant has rapidly spread itself across Sydney with restaurants in Haymarket, Westfield Sydney, The Galeries Sydney, Manly and Randwick. You’d be amazed at the long lines outside the restaurants during lunch hour every day. There is very limited seating so if you’re eager to try it out, be sure to get there early!
Luckily, the queue wasn’t so long when we got there so we only had to wait for about 5 minutes.

Encasa Deli, Sydney CBD

So firstly, Encasa Deli is literally a deli (or delicatessen) .... I know, this is something that should seem obvious to most people, but for some reason, I thought "Deli" was a name (not actually thinking deli referred to the noun "deli" which are those stores and also section of the supermarket which sells processed meat, pickled vegetables, cheese etc.).

I had never dined in a deli before, so this was a novel but pleasant experience for me. Basically they had their front counter section to one side, with a large fridge displaying their cold deli items and sausages dangling down from above. Towards the back of the store, were shelves lined with long-life items such as cans of vegetables, jars of pickles, sauces etc.

The front counter, where you can order your food and purchase the deli items