#63: thanh binh

Cabramatta is not too far to go for pho…

I finally made it to Cabramatta the other day, for the express purpose of eating pho. When I get round to going to Vietnam it’ll probably be for the same reason, and I’m not being the least bit facetious.

Walking along John Street in Cabramatta is like being in a mini-version of Asia somewhere. You can peruse vegetable stores filled with fragrant Asian herbs, Vietnamese music stores with the latest in Asian MTV and buy a sugarcane drink on the way. It’s rather nostalgic.

We wandered in and were served by an harried looking guy who continued to speak to us in Chinese although we replied in English. But that’s all inconsequential.

This is the best pho I’ve had in Sydney. My pho tai was packed with tender wafer thin slices of beef and slippery noodles swimming in sweet fragrant broth. With a handful of mint, smattering of chilli and squeeze of lemon it was absolutely glorious. J’s pho with brisket was great as well, with the brisket being tender and well flavoured. Simple food at it’s best.

pho tai

shop A, 52 john st cabramatta 2166

everyday 9am-9pm

#62: dining bar musashi

I like this place. Yet another arm of the prolific Masuya restaurant group, it has a nice ambience, and both the quality and price of the food are pretty reasonable. The problem is that it is always crazily busy (it doesn’t take bookings) and you need to be prepared to wait with the hordes for a table.  On several occasions we’ve waited here, gotten too hungry, and ended up eating somewhere down the road…I think we are just impatient people though

Mushashi has the usual staples of sushi, sashimi, donburi and so forth. They also do hotplate style teriyaki/miso dishes, which are good value as they come with grilled meat, some vegetables and a plain onigiri, so it’s almost like a set if you aren’t particularly hungry. I like the chicken teriyaki and miso beef here.

http://www.masuya.com.au/en/musashi/

447 pitt st(cnr pitt & campbell st)

ph: 9280-0377

mon – fri (lunch) 1145am- 230pm

mon – sat (dinner) 530pm – 10pm, sun 530pm-930pm

#61: max brenner (revisited multiple times)

one thing I love about Sydney are the array of chocolate cafes available (although, no Koko Black…yet).

There are multiple Max Brenner stores around Sydney. It sells fairly middle of the road chocolate, but there are a large number of items on the menu in terms of beverages and desserts, so there’s something for everyone. Unless (heaven forbid) you don’t like chocolate. And prices are definitely more reasonable than Lindt.

I’ve always found their chocolate a bit too sweet for my liking, but there are a couple of items that I like. These include the waffles, which come drizzled with warm chocolate and fresh fruit, and the Italian dark hot chocolate, which is thick, chocolate-y and not too sweet.

waffles with chocolate

http://www.maxbrenner.com.au/

numerous locations around sydney

#60: le pain quotidien

i’m always a bit concerned when a place claims to be ‘a cafe, a bakery, a shop and a restaurant’ rolled into one as this place does. Most places can’t even do one of those decently; four seems a monumentous ask. However, in spite of my misgivings, my experience of le pain quotidien was positive. And despite this being a global franchise and the exterior of the building being a bright, almost avert-your-eyes shade of blue, on entering, this place feels surprisingly homely.

The theme could perhaps be described as rustic french. The coffee was good and comes served in a bowl, which I love. I don’t know why, coffee always tastes different when it’s in a bowl We ordered the omelette with ham and gruyere cheese ($14.5) and the sugar waffle ($7.5). The omelette was served simply with a small crisp salad and some freshly baked ciabatta and sourdough. It was fluffy on the outside and squidgy in the middle as omelettes should be. The sugar waffle came with a drizzle of syrup and some fruit. Yum.

omelette

sugar waffle

http://www.lepainquotidien.com.au/

cnr fitzroy & bourke st, surry hills 2010
ph: 02 9360 8460

mon-sat 7.30-5pm, sun 8-5pm

#59: chocolat café

it’s a happy street for dessert lovers that has not one, but two shops under the hand of Adriano Zumbo, the pastry chef who made several guest appearances on the recent Australian series of Masterchef to torture the contestants with challenges of recreating his fantabulous toffee profiterole towers and so forth.

What I don’t understand though is how a pastry chef could possibly be so thin. What is your secret Adriano?

J and I couldn’t decided whether to opt for the cakes in his patisserie or the chocolate café down the road, but in the end we went for the café,  choosing to sit in the sunny alfresco area.

Service was cheerful and courteous. Having just had a massive brunch we could only manage one dessert between us, so we tried the Younger Years on recommendation from several other blogs. This is a chocolate fondant pud, served with peanut brittle ice cream alongside a raspberry crème anglaise syringe. I thought the pudding and ice cream were great, but I found the presentation (in a metallic kidney dish, with a 20 ml syringe filled with haemoserous appearing stuff) rather disconcerting. It reminded me way too much of work for my liking We resolved to try the patisserie on our next visit.

I think overall, I prefer the understated charm of Boon, which still rates as my favourite chocolate café.

the younger years

shop 5, 308 darling st
balmain
ph:  02 9810 7318
mon-sat 8am-6pm; sun 8am-4pm

#58: boon – the chocolate experience

i can’t believe I forgot to mention my favourite chocolate café. How remiss of me.

Boon opened sometime late last year (down the road from the hospital, how fortuitous ), and has been making a name for itself based on the quality of its handmade chocolates. It is run by the brother and sister team of Alex and Fanny Chan. Alex works out the front whilst Fanny (a Belgian trained chocolatier) sweats out the back making chocolates.  Their chocolates and truffles use a selection of local and international produce, and feature some interesting combinations (in a good way).

Being a compulsive chocoholic, I think I’ve tried nearly all of the chocolates now, and my favourites are probably the balsamico (strawberries and balsamic vinegar) and the kurobiko (sesame praline). They used to have a tonka bean praline which was fantastic, but unfortunately this is no longer available. Some of their creations more closely resemble minature works of art, and it’s almost a shame to eat them.

Upstairs there is a small sitting area where you can try some of their other chocolate creations.  It’s cozy and intimate, and the service is personable and friendly. It’s a world away from the heavy commercialization of places like Max Brenner, Lindt and San Churro. The menu is quite limited, but most of the items we’ve sampled have not disappointed. I often opt for the hot chocolate, which comes with a praline and small bowl of chocolate mousse (good value at $7.5). The Belgian waffles with warm chocolate sauce are good as well.

I’ve been bringing people here for a while now, and they keep coming back. I think that says something. Good things come in small packages.

hot chocolate

waffles

251 victoria st, darlinghurst
ph: 02 9356 8876

sun-wed 12-7pm, thurs – sun 12-1030pm

http://www.boonchocolates.com.au/menu.htm

#57: the book kitchen

brunch for me evokes images of sunny skies, alfresco dining and lazy weekends.

For a long while, this was one of my favourite places to have brunch (okay, well, more like lunch usually by the time I get up on weekends) in Surry Hills. Book cafes are always a winning combination I reckon. Queues, wobbly tables and the occasional grumpy waitstaff aren’t sufficient deterrents for countless hungry locals. The Book Kitchen, as its name suggests, is filled with books, which you can browse through at the communal table whilst waiting for your food.

The single origin coffee is fantastic and the food is reliably good. I particularly like the Angus beef open steak sanga with house made chips and the fig pikelets with vanilla mascarpone.

angus steak sandwich

The best thing is, after brunching here you can stagger across the road into the fantastic but tiny Bourke St Bakery and stock up on bread (and chocolate tarts) for the week.

www.thebookkitchen.com.au

255 devonshire st
surry hills 2010

ph: 02 9310 1003

#56: wagaya

It’s been a long hiatus. As usual, work, study, travel and any number of other distractions keep getting in the way.

Wagaya is an amalgamation of good ideas, and it’s quickly understandable why it’s so popular. I’m a huge fan of the buzzers that you sometimes find in Korean and Japanese restaurants. It totally beats futilely trying to catch the eye of the surly and overworked waitperson. I reckon all restaurants should take a leaf out of this book. Wagaya takes this even further by removing the need for any human interaction at all. Perhaps surprisingly though, on the occasions we’ve been here, service has always been courteous and helpful. There is even a waitperson who goes around filling up your water glasses.

Every table contains a touch screen where you can select from a huge number of dishes ranging from sushi to sukiyaki to deep fried cheese. There is also the intriguing option of ‘sushi roulette’ which consists of 6 pieces of innocuous appearing sushi, one of which contains a deadly amount of wasabi. Fun party game You can also review your orders in the system, and when you’re finished  request the bill. Prices are extremely reasonable.

I’ve been here a few times now and it’s always busy, so it’s advisable to book ahead. It’s surprisingly spacious considering how small it appears from the outside. The décor is tastefully somber and minimalist, and there are also a few private rooms for functions. Food always seems to magically appear in good time once you order. The food itself is fairly average, in my opinion, but good value for money. We’ve sampled the takoyaki, salmon sashimi, grilled wagyu, temupura udon and sukiyaki among others.  Wagaya’s strength lies in its novel ordering system, variety of dishes and  reasonable prices.

menu

wagyu skewers

level 1, 78-86 Harbour St

ph: 9212 6068

5pm-late

#55: miso

this is one of the numerous branches of the Masuya group restaurant chain, which seems to be attempting to cater for all tastes and budget requirements in Japanese dining.

Miso is a cute and colourful place conveniently located in World Square which caters for casual dining. We saw quite a few people dining solo, grabbing a quick bite on the way home. We ordered the chicken teriyaki and tempura udon. The tempura came served on top of the udon, and was completely soggy, which I detest. I don’t entirely understand why some places will serve the tempura on the size so it stays crispy, and some wont. But perhaps, some people like it soggy Apart from that the udon itself was okay. My friend wasn’t a huge fan of her teriyaki either, because the chicken itself was dry and lacking the sweet caramelised flavour of teriyaki. The extras were good though – it came with a salad, miso soup, several small side dishes and a small omelette.

Overall, it was passable but I wouldn’t rush to go back.

They also do takeaway bentos. I’ve only tried the salmon bento ($14.5) which I thought was quite average in terms of quality, but a generous size.

salmon bento

shop 20 world square
sydney ph: 2 9283 9686

#54: swiss bakerz

whilst doing night shifts getting a croissant from this place was the best part of my day. The croissants are buttery and flaky just as they should be – the plain and chocolate ones are the best for me. I’m also a fan of their tarts – especially the chocolate and lemon ones, although in recent times the chocolate tarts seem to have gone downhill somewhat.

chocolate tart

101 Oxford St Darlinghurst, NSW 2010

(02) 9361 5643‎