Cream Gourmet Deli

Welcome to Cream Gourmet Deli, one of my regular favourite finds at Naremburn affiliated with Katipo at Bondi!
Best way to spend a lazy weekend enjoying good food and coffee.

Eggs benedict at Cream

The atmosphere at Cream is perfect for a cafe with options of inside and outside seating AS WELL as in between on the ledge of its comfy couches where u can stick your head out for some fresh air!

Cream's cozzy interior with sunshine opening couches

It was soooooooooooooo difficult to choose my lunch because they have my all time favourites including lots of eggs, bacons, chorizos, melts mmmmmmmm~~ but in the end I chose their wall special Chorizo Melt.

Lunch Melt - Chorizo, wilted baby spinach, tasty cheese & rocket ($14)

This was SOOOOOOOO tasty with a combination of salty chorizo sausages and a forest of baby spinach and rocket that makes you feel so much more healthier :P Often the melts i see are quite standard like ham, cheese & pineapple or the capsicum vege melts. This combo makes it all the more exciting.

Daily wall specials, eggs benedict, Cream menu

Their Eggs benedict is also very amazing with hollandaise sauce that is not excessively sour or creamy. This is the avocado one.

Eggs Benedict

Hot Chocolate ($3)

Coffee and cake is a must! their flourless chocolate cake is certainly worth the wallet, home-made and rich, although I’d prefer it to be less sweet. I like my flourless chocolate cakes to be 99% chocolate and 1% sugar, makes the chocolate all the more punchy in flavour.

Flourless Chocolate Cake, Mocha, Cake display

Mocha is a MUST! Lovely presentations with delicate litt-le spoons on the side.

See you again soon.

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Societié food & wine bar

Happy New Year! This year I’m going to do quick on-the-spot posts as well as the normal fancy ones so apologies in advance for less than perfect photo qualities!
Today we came across yet another random find at Waterloo, Societié!
we were planning to try the sonoma bakery right next to it but it was always closed when we went past..
neways, this little darling is a nice friendly cafe/bar, we were greeted to a seat when we arrived!

(L to R) Racks of wine, Latte & House Smoothies menu

We felt like something sweet this lazy afternoon.

(L to R) Bar and Blackboard, Chocolate Muffin and Mocha

so we got a Chocolate muffin from the display which was delicately warmed and decorated :)
My mocha was nice & very chocolatey but got too intense towards the bottom.

Societié also has a full blackboard of lunch & dinner to choose from, shall definitely come back here next time!

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Thai Pothong

Winner of best Thai Restaurant in Sydney 4 years in a row – Thai Pothong in Newtown.
First impression – this restaurant is MEGALY MASSIVE! You would have no idea how deep and wide this humble door-to-restaurant ratio is when u pass it! Pretty amazing scene.
The place packed! Make sure u make a booking in the weekend if u’r keen to impress ur date!

Beautiful pastry entree

A fresh start to an exciting adventure. Crispy pastry, plated beautifully & very unique.

Special shredded meat with herbs

Herby main for the hungry.
Oh & they have super friendly Thai staff! :)

Chinese Broccoli with Crispy Pork

Delicious soy sauce base. This is one of my favourites whenever I go to Thai restaurants. So tasty yet so healthy with all the green veges.

Snapper with three flavours - sweet, sour & hot

Ok, so if u don’t like sweet, sour or spicy, DON’T order this. It is a rather strange taste and not everyone will like the combo. If you don’t like the fuss of fish bones either, stay right away.

Thai Pothong gift shop

Thai Pothong has a little gift section on the side selling authentic Thai ornaments & pieces of artworks. Great shopping experience for authenticity!

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Il Caffettino (Westfield Sydney)

Grab a quick coffee in Westfield Sydney!
Il Cafettino, the pop-up looking café hiding under the escalators!

Say hi to the European barista with sparkling eyes ;)

Great coffee with the right amount of chocolate :)

Kaz Cafe

I found a little treasure while I was looking for a “quick” meal before gym… (yes, that is not strange at all.)
Should I share my secret?!

Kaz Cafe @ Sydney

Kaz Cafe was definitely one of my best random finds for a longggggggggg while! A small cozzy cafe hidden behind the streets of the offices at Town Hall.

Chicken Schnitzel with salad on turkish

Perfectly crisp chicken schnitzel on the outside & extremely tender inside! Fresh salads. DELICIOUS!!!

Pesto Penne

This was a surprisingly tasty pasta although I did intend to pick it coz it “looked” healthy as a “light meal” n with the parmeasan cheese on top was just mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm*

Mocha

My mocha made by the extremely friendly & helpful Thai waiter who helped us pick our dishes today as I didn’t want the fries nor the salad that was supposed to come with the lunch special! The quality of his coffee actually took us by surprise!

Cafe Latte

The latte was not bad either :)

Kaz Cafe often have lunch special deals with a blackboard OVERFLOWING with options! so it was definitely a very decent meal that was reasonably priced :)! n plus if you’re indecisive, look for the Thai guy!

Will definitely come back all the time! (but most probably for a filling meal!)

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277 Sussex St, Sydney 2000

Bean Drinking

Afternoon tea was at Bean Drinking, Crows Nest!!!
The great thing about this place is the option to sit inside OR outside in the sun next to a grassy patch.
Families & pets can all enjoy this experience as well!

Bean Drinking lab

Loved the atmosphere filled with coffee-related environmentally friendly/sustainable coffee decoz such as the big grinder, the small coffee pots & straw enviro bags!
Bean Drinking is famous for its freshhhh roasts as they roast their own coffee beans on site in small batches!! Very sustainable & customer-experience focused indeed!!

Cappuccino (Large)

Extremely appetitising cap!! Only a coffee art expert can make such a heart to perfection!

Almond shortbread ($3.60)

Very fresh almond shortbread, crisp to the bite & dissolves in your mouth!

Mocha & more decoz

Last but not least, MY MOCHA!!!! It was extremely smooth & aromatic with strong punches of flavours to the smell & to the buds! A fine balance of coffee to chocolate ratio of my liking, where the chocolate was not overpowering to the coffee nor too subtle to be noticed.

THe use of the cute straw table numbered sags were a plusss n effectively emphasises their earthy environmental objective!

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An Restaurant

Today I had a mini roadtrip to Viet Central, Bankstown!!!
I have been hearing too much good things about this Pho restaurant, An, so here I am to validate this!
As starters, I have been educated by my 2 Viet friends, that Lemon Soda is compulsory!! (perhaps for the pending dose of MSG?)

Lemon Soda

Lemon Soda is the BEST kind of “lemonade” around! It is not super sour like the freshly squeezed lemonades u find at markets, nor the super sweet cordial-like lemon juice! So fresh & balanced! I guess the Viet cuisine are the perfectionist to the art of balance!

Beef Rice Noodle Soup (Large)

This was wt I have been anticipating!!! Without tasting it, I could smell a very pungent ginger to it… (Yes, I hate ginger…)
The broth was obviously brewed for a very long time and this tasted VERY distinct, not just because of the ginger, it also had a different balance of the other herbs as well. I guess that is why others like this version of Pho so much since it is so unique.
Unfortunately, the ginger killed it for me.
For those interested, this meal amounts to $16.50, not bad for a LARGE bowl of pho which i could not finish.

I’d happily come back for Lemon Soda!

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The Little Snail

Welcome to the Little Snail @ Pyrmont! one of the rather popular French cuisine in Sydney with a beautiful harbour view, just off the pyrmont bridge near Darling Harbour. A romantic troll to walk through before a romantic meal with the romantic Frenchmen… mmmm*

The Little Snail @ Pyrmont

King Prawn - Flame grilled with lime, chilli and sweet tomato concasse on a pastry crust ($18)

YummiesTTT entree of the night* fresh prawns & pastry with a very tangy sauce :)

Ravioli of Blue Swimmer Crab, Prawns and Salmon - With a lemongrass and chervil veloute ($19)

This dish was super filling, much like a prawn fishcake but comprised of extremely fresh seafood!

Escargot de Bourgogne - Dozen snails marinated in herb-infused court-bouillon, oven baked in garlic butter ($18)

A beautiful plate of the rather ugly creature…! The garlic butter is a popular number but I personally didn’t like it very much… tasted like tasteless slugs dipped in garlic oil..sorry.

Fillet of Beef Tenderloin - With buttered broccolini, pommes croquettes and red wine jus ($38)

A fail aperitif that is supposed to stimulate the appetite…
But the beef tenderloin was very tasty! salivating on the juicy red wine sauce, cooked just right (medium rare)!

Corn-Fed Chicken Roulade - With french beans, vichy carrots and madeira sauce ($29)

A fail corn-fed chicken roulade. Tasted dry n bland with the carrots… worst dish of the night!

Magret de Canard - Duck breast fillet with wok tossed spinach and a cassis and raspberry sauce ($32)

Yummoooooo duck breast fillet in a rather interesting sweet/soury raspberry sauce! Duck cooked to pink perfection!

Seafood Plate - Of grilled salmon, garlic prawns, salt and pepper squid, chilli mussels, beer battered soft shell crab and mesclun salad ($35)

Was rather surprised to see this dish when it came! Looked like one of those seafood platters u get at a fish & chips shop! hows that french? hmmmm… But it was a much glorified plate of deep-fried seafood platter overflowing with seafood!

Handmade Profiteroles - With crème patisserie and mint chocolate sauce ($12.50)

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM! absolutely beautiful presentation of the richly minty chocolate sauce.

Chef Churned Hazelnut and Praline Ice Cream - On shortbread and Grand Marnier caramel ($12.50)

beauuuuuutiful hazelnut ice cream, perfect with a bite of the crispy shortbread and smokily sweet praline!

Classic Crème Caramel ($12.50)

PERFECTTTTTTTT Crème Caramel! fat & wobbly yet is able to stand as a solid blob! Cute n richhhhhh!

$15 Cocktails

Cocktail deals!! Just $15!

French Meringue Birthday cake :)

Today was a special bday dinner so we requested for a *surprise* which was completely ruined by a fail waiter who assumed that the cake was for the table NEXT to us!!!! SUPER annoyed for utterly demolishing our plan n we had to WAIT for another meringue cake to be whipped up which was wayyyyyy under-done as the cake was extremely fragile & mushy. You can see that the meringue had no stiff peaks but looks more like a sloppy puppy…

The Little Snail :)

Overall, it was a satisfactory dinner considering that we had a special three-course deal. Unfortunately, the quality of a restaurant is not only dependent upon the food on the table but also largely to its service. Although the manager was very apologetic and the other waiters were extremely charming, ON TOP of my obsession with the French, the disappointment to tonight’s surprise was unredeemable and it hurts me to say so.

Pendolino Restaurant

Today was a special lunch treaaaaaaaaaaat at Pendolino Restaurant on Level2 of The Strand Arcade!

Pendolino Restaurant @The Strand

Pendolino Restaurant is a One Chef’s Hat Italian Restaurant at the heart of Sydney CBD. For a more casual breakfast/lunch, attached to it on the outer skirt of the restaurant is Caffe Pendolino. There is often much confusion between the two although the food is targeted for very different niches where Degustation course is available in the inner seatings of the Ristorante, whereas the Caffe offers food for a quick(er) lunch!

Unlimited supply of Sourdough with their worldclass premium extra-virgin Olive Oil dips

Not after we were seated inside in the dark (& I MEAN the dark!), some waitress whisked through out of nowhere and served as bread & olive oil with a funky mushroom-like lamp (because it was SOOOOO dark u literally can’t see the menu without the “bread lights”!)

I happened to saw the Sonoma supplier heading up at The Strand, so am 90% sure they were heading to Pendolino! So THAT’s where they get all their freshhhhh sourdoughs from~!

TROTA SALMONATA CON ERBETTE - Petuna Ocean Trout house marinated with Sicilian Capers, Anchovy Mayonnaise, Lemon Vinaigrette, Baby Herbs ($22)

After what seemed like YEARS to decide what to eat, we chose the Ocean trout appetiser *primi*. It turned out to be pretty small when you roll the flattened trout slices into a mush but it was OHHHHH-SO-TASTY! I absolutely adoreddd the vinaigrette with a hint of mayonnaise that’s not overpowering the slight sourness! My PERFETTO appetiser! (PLUS, i feel 50x healthier after eating this!)

SPAGHETTI CHITARRA CON PESCE D’ACQUADOLCE - Freshly-made Chitarra Spaghetti with Barramundi, Wild Prawns, Chilli, Capers, Garlic and Pinot Grigio White Wine ($26/39)

For *secondi*, I had the beautiful bello chitarra seafood spaghetti. That Pinot Grigio balances the creamy base sauce’s acidity to perfection. I was personally a bit afraid that I ordered another one of those heavy creamy hardcore pasta but this was as light as a feather! I’ve never had a non-tomato based spaghetti that I actually liked! Brownie points for Pendolino!

GNOCCHI DOLCI - sweet potato gnocchi with cherry & custard filling dusted with cinnamon crumbs with a fresh cherry sorbet ($16)

How can u leave an Italian restaurant without having some sweeeeeeets?! Surprisingly, this was actually new to the menu! At first I was unsure about the mix of a savoury potato gnocchi in a sweet form but this turned out to be 30x better than I had expected! First of all, that crunchy cinnamon outer layer of the gnocchi was blissss! and out comes the oozing custard cherry filling. The overall effect tasted like an apple crumble with a twist!

Pendolino is extremely cunning in balancing (once again) its gluggy heaviness of the sweet-filled gnocchi ball with the soury lightness of the cherry sorbet. SO at the end of the day u don’t feel stuffed & guilty but rather, refreshed! Absolutely amaaaaaaaazing!

Cappuccino ($5)

Last but not least, a COFFEE is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL when you visit an ITALIAN restaurant! I have not yet seen such PERFECT SILKINESS of the froth in a cappuccino in my life! It was like a cloud on a cup! Perfect proportions of a third of espresso at the bottom, followed by a third of hot milk and finally a third of milk foam on top! More importantly, it was so HOTTTTTT yet no bubbles were visible, it was not burnt nor overboiled!

How CLEVER are the Italians? geeez louiseeeeee!

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North Sydney Market

Today I decided to venture out to North Sydney Market which happens every second Saturday of the month! They also have fashion markets, design markets etc. on different sundays of the month!! But the main purpose of coming here today is coz I really want to try the Mayan Coffee that I missed out at Aroma Festival after that mystical man lured me with his Xocholats..

North Sydney Market - 2nd Saturday of the August

The market had a range of stalls to browse through among the live relaxing Jazz music in the background :) They included LOTS of second-hand book stalls, many second-hand & local designer clothes stalls, a handful of food stalls to choose from (Aussie, Chinese, Turkish, Japanese), funky gadget stalls, puzzle stalls, a FRENCH STALL (OMG I GOT TOO EXCITED HERE!) & of coz, Coffee stall/s!

Apple & Cinnamon Dutch Pancakes ($7.50)

The only visible food stall when we reached the market at Miller St was the DUTCH PANCAKES! so off we ran to grab a plate each! (Next to it, was exactly what I was looking for – Mayan Coffee!)

Apple & Cinnamon Dutch Pancake @ North Sydney Market

My apple & cinnamon dutch pancake with maple syrup & icing was PERFECTTTTT for a bright Saturday under the sun on the grass! The apples gave the pancakes a crunchy texture to its softness. mmmmm*

Chocolate Lovers Dutch Pancakes - with Bananas ($7.50)

Dutch pancakes with bananas, chocolate sauce & icing sugar. The chocolate sauce was what I’d avoid! Chocolate sauce is a big no NO for me. Plus this one was the slightly watery sauce ughhh… No chocolate dutch pancakes in the future – noted*

Mayan Coffee Stall

HELLO Mayan Coffee! They still had that hippie-style vibe & music as we arrived :) But they were closing pretty early (at ~1.30pm)!!
As we walked further into the inner strip of stalls, I found the other food stores & FORSYTH COFFEEE!!!!!! I would have had Forsyth if i tried Mayan already coz…

Mayan's Mocha ($4)

THIS COFFEE IS SO FREAKN BIG! Only one size was available @Mayan today, the equivalent of a LARGE!
N yes I finally tasted this! Expectedly, it tasted very different, very earthy, I’d describe it with a slight ginger taste to it! But because of this very fact, the gingerly taste, I didn’t like it very much. We thought it was the chocolate powder that they used in my Mocha which gave that quirky taste.
So if you wana try sth different, I’d recommend Mayan.

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