Cafe Ish

A quaint corner cafe in Surry Hills serving Japanese Australian cuisine ...WAT? Immediately I think of kangaroo meat and sushi! But I was pleasantly surprised by the super friendly staff and my morning cup of coffee...

Wattle Maccacino

Their signature coffee ~ kind of a cross between a chocolatley, nutty, macadamia-ey, coffee flavour ~ YUM!! Arguably none of the best coffees I've had in Sydney, full of flavour and not too strong (no sugar needed !!)

Three types of Salt

Citrus salt, Volcanic salt and Green Tea salt.

I'm sure to a salt connoiseur, it would have tasted different and delicious, but to me, it just tasted like...salt

Big Ish

The equivalent of a Big Breakfast - fried eggs, crocodile sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, and fried mochi

and OMG its was yummmmm!!! Havent had such good mochi since I came back from Japan. It was crispy on the outside, soft and gooeey on the inside. Another great thing about this dish was the baked beans. NOT out of a can...they mixed it with good chunks of beef and some special sauce...I could eat it forever!

Deef Fried Soft Shell Crab Omelette Ish

I can't remember what it was called, but that's basically it, with me adding "ish" at the end haha. You can definitely taste the asian influence in this dish with the chili/garlic/xo dressing. A little heavy for brunch, but still a winner with all of us!

And as usual, us girls always have room for desert...especially after looking at the desert menu on the blackboard directly in front of us!!

Cheesecake Brownie Sundae Ish
(just me adding ish again haha)

Rich chunks of cheesecake pieces in a cup full of chocolate fudge...oh my, so rich and so fatty and so bad but sooooooo good

Cafe Ish
Shop 2, 102 Albion Street

Surry Hills

NSW, 2010

Desert @ Top Speed Thai

C'est la vie

On our way to watch the musical West Side Story, we decided to have dinner at The Little Snail since it was close to the Lyric Theatre. Apparently they're very used to people stopping by for dinner, rushing to make it in time for the show, hence service was quick (fastest 3-course meal everrrr!)

It took quite a long debate whether or not we were game enough to try the ultimate french dish: Escargots. We figured where better to try eating snails then at a restaurant called The Little Snails...right?

one dozen marinated in wine, herbs and stock, oven baked in garlic butter.

They were actually...not bad. I always imagined snails to be really slimy and...dirt tasting. But i guess the best way to describe it was kind of like a cross between an oyster and a mussel. Anyway, our waiter was really nice and patient as he tried to teach us how to eat them lol

Next entree... Terrine of smoked salmon

with lemon aioli and vinaigrette dressed baby rocket and toasted baguette

This was YUM! ...then again, I love anything with salmon in it =)

For mains, I chose Magret de canard, which was described as "Duck breast fillet with cassis and raspberries, served with sweet potato puree and silted baby spinach". This was really good too, but maybe is also because I love duck and I love rasberries. Surprisingly, the combination of the two were really good. A true fusion between sweet and savoury!




And of course, we cant miss out on desert... Classic Crème Caramel. The texture was reaaaalllyyyyy smooth, but somehow the taste of the egg was abit too strong. We also tried their Handmade Profiteroles which were really good.

3-course meal for only $55... C'est la vie!

The Little Snail -

50 Murray Street

Pyrmont NSW

On another note, I didnt quite like West Side Story as much as I liked Wicked. Disappointing =(

More Friands?

Haven't been baking much these days, but I think my only success so far are friands ....



So I decided to make a new flavour: Coconut and Banana Friands =)











It was gooooooooooooood!! So says I! lol



Anyway, talking about sweets, everyone is just slightly obsessed over Adriano Zumbo and his cafe / patisserie ever since MasterChef. I begged my boyfriend to take me there....and OMG the deserts look YUMMMMMMM!!!



So hard to decide, there were so many choices and all looking mighty fine! Got some Pokemon looking blueberry tart thing....





and his patisserie has every single quirky flavoured macarons that you can think of! Pumpkin Rissoto?? Pear and fennel? heh, just got a variety of macarons...mmmmmm





There's one light pink one that the guy described as "spiritual" ...and it reallly was! My favourite flavour! =)

Bring it on, 2010!

SO, a I guess its time to say goodbye to 2009! I have to say though, that The Noughties have been good to me. To start off, an unforgettable holiday in Malaysia and a very memorable week in Langkawi. Came back to my casual job. Got a management position within a few months. Move to the city store within 2 months. Bought a CAR (which is so full of AWESOMENESS!). And just got a new phone N97...from which I am blogging now (I know, wtf! hence the lack of paragraphs cos I'm still figuring out how to press enter lol MAJOR FAIL! but I'm loving it cos I now look like I belong in Gossip Girl!). So, you may ask, how did I usher in 2010? I curled up in my bed at 8pm and slept all the way through to 10.30am the next day. YES, 14hrs, occasionally waking up because of random new year SMSs. I was feeling very pathetically anti-social and tired...full time work does that to you. As for 2010, I have no idea what it will bring, but I'm ready for it! (I think...)

Strawberry Sponge Cake

Recently, I've been haunted by anything pink, red, white, lace, raspberry, strawberry, cream, girly ...whatever..

So anyway, I had my mind set on making a strawberry sponge cake, and it was gonna look awesome...something like...THIS:

so I googled for a recipe...and set about making one !!


Baby in the oven

Yeah, I know, its lookin pretty gross huh? The red bits are squashed strawberries...swirled into the cake mix.


Trying to make the cream ! It took such a long time to thickened, I thought there was something wrong and started adding egg whites and more icing sugar?? hmm....anyway...it thickened in the end =)

I slathered cream all over the first cake, put a layer of strawberries, and then more cream, and put the second cake on the top...

Tried to make some kind of super awesome pattern with the strawberries on the top...but...failed...

and....




TADAH!!

Finally all done....

a SUPER AWESOME STRAWBERRY SPONGE!!!

A Slice View...

Well, to be honest, it didnt taste as super awesome as I wanted it to. The sponge was a little too dense...not light and fluffy and yummy.

Leichardt

After 10 years living in Sydney, I decided it was high time I went to the 'little Italy of Syney" , Leichardt! Well actually, that weekend was meant to have the Italian Festival, but when we arrived...lets just say it wasnt very festive... =(

The Italian Forum

So no festival! Dont ask me why...I have no idea! In fact, stopping at some random restaurant, we asked the waiter about it...and...he didnt know what we were talking about! wtf! but right in the middle of the street was a HUGE banner claiming the festival was meant to be on that weekend! hmmpphh! sorely disappointed!

Stopped for some lunch of smoked samon salad, pasta, pizza and wine...

Considering we were dining in 'little italy', we decided to order the only wine that actually came from Italy...and I think I can safely conclude that AUSTRALIAN WINES ARE SO MUCH BETTERRRRRRR!!!!

BABYCAKES!!

so small, easy to eat, looks delicious

BUT

is super oily and fattening!! The paperbag was soaked after only a few hours! Gross!