In the interest of exploration, I chose the most interesting looking cafe for brunch I could on Zomato (and peaking at Google reviews too) and we tried this place on a Saturday morning. I expected a regular old hipster café, and that’s what it looks like with its cold drop coffee and delicious looking pastries at the counter. But we happened to try the breakfast bowls, and I loved the Asian influence. If they do just as well with their breakfast burritos, then this place is totally a winner.
Plus, it’s got a great vibe: a loyal clientele dropping by, many known by name, it seemed, dressed casually and with interesting tattoos and some with keep-cups for takeaway coffee. I decided to try a cold drip coffee; it’s been a while. It was like a delicious smooth iced coffee, no ice cream added. They give it to you in a cute little bottle and you pour it over ice yourself. Yum. Five bucks.
As I said, we both had breakfast bowls. The scrambled eggs and spicy braised eggplant (melt in your mouth) is the perfect thing if you’re avoiding starch and grains. With chili and spring onions on top, this was a nice dish ($14). Eggs scrambed are a favourite of mine; and they’re not always done well. These were.
For only $4 more, the bowl with perfectly crisp pork belly, a dash of fried onions, a fried egg and various pickles and veg, all on brown rice, was generous, and perhaps too much for one person. We did the obnoxious couple thing of each eating half of our bowls and swapping though which worked out…
We always go to Merchants of Ultimo as part of our Saturday morning shopping run at Harris Farms at Broadway, so it was good for a change of pace, and a new place to blog, and I was very impressed. Also, prices seemed just a little bit cheaper for everything on the menu, compared to Surry Hills!
Lucky Pickle is hidden away, around the corner from Crown Street, and I’m surprised I’ve never stumbled across it (as I managed to stumble across Paddock next door). It’s a tiny hole in the wall serving up tasty sandwiches and a salad. It seems to have been around since at least 2014, and handed over to new owners in 2016.
I like this concept. Not unlike Raita Noda in terms of size and economy (although of course worlds apart in what they do), the idea of making a limited number of fresh dishes for a loyal crowd is appealing and makes sense to me. Their website says that they’re busy and if you want to eat, you better get in quick before they run out!
So, it says to me that the food is fresh and well thought-out and that they know their customers. Amusingly, after we sat down at a nearly empty cafe, not more than five minutes later, we were surrounded by a crowd of maybe ten or fifteen people all crowded around ordering take away.
My pal had the salad, and thought it was fine, and that the yoghurt dressing wasn’t overpowering. I thought it an attractive dish. My sandwich was delicious: pork belly, duck liver pâté, pickled carrot, pickled daikon, cucumber, mayo and sambal, a banh mi with a crusty baguette instead of the softer, crisp roll it usually comes with. Both were $12 and we also had a fresh carrot and orange juice, only $6, which for Surry Hills is a serious steal.
I looked up Harbin. It is in the far northeast corner of China. Like really far. So cold that it’s famous for an ice festival, and close to Russia to have some cultural influence (though probably not electoral influence…). In any case, it looks like an interesting place, with an interesting food culture, and a bit hard to visit. So, bringing the cuisine of Harbin to Darlinghurst is really rather an awesome thing to do.
Ginkgo is a pop-up restaurant, and will only be popping up for a year (but if it is a year old, is it still a pop-up restaurant?). Owners Carly and Tim Jin have a tiny restaurant on Broadway called Chulin that sounds like it caters to the student crowd; this is a completely different kettle fish: high quality food in beautiful surroundings and interesting cocktails.
Still, it’s going to take a little while to get some kinks worked out. We stopped in for a quick snack before going to the theatre, and it really looked like they were still setting up, with some confusion and tardiness in the kitchen. For the small amount of food we had, the price was very high, nearly $70 for the two of us, but then I figured out they’d made a mistake and we had a main dish, the beautiful smoked pork knuckle, instead of the appetizer we’d ordered, a bao with pork knuckle.
While this sounds a bit disheartening, the food was stunning. The yum cha was unusual, with ingredients that I wasn’t necessarily familiar with (or seen used in yum cha) and the presentation was amazing. Eel in a pastry of delicate deep fried rice vermicelli (‘unagi thread roll’); traditional spicy pork wonton is what we ordered but got these dumplings with a dense spinach-like vegetable inside; a round sesame-encrusted pastry that reminded me of a favourite dish, Taiwanese turnip dumplings (‘Chinese wine sausage puffs with mushrooms and shallots’). I didn’t get a picture of the prettiest dumplings though, translucent architectural triangles with an indeterminate filling (‘Cordyceps and Nokin dim sum’).
And the pork was very, very good, sliced pork knuckle, smoked, luscious and fat in a nice gravy. We paid, ate our frozen grapes (yup, the bill comes with frozen grapes), and headed off, but I think Ginkgo could really be a winner. I’d come back when I’m not in a rush and ready to splash out. Also: those cocktails looked really tasty.
Reviews tend to mention that Noda was the chef at the Ocean Room at Circular Quay, which I didn’t get to try, but I do remember, fondly, Rise restaurant near Kings Cross. It was really interesting multi-course Japanese food (marketed as a degustation rather than omakase) and very good value. I went a few times, brought friends, and was sad when it closed.
Raita Noda is an interesting model. Two Nodas for the price of one… Mr Noda and his very efficient son. Just eight seats. And such an interesting, strange room, higher than it is wide. The last time we were here was for an orange wine tasting at the Riley Street Wine Bar (I think that was the name). Now, there are shelves of memorabilia (I think Mr Noda is a bit of a sports fan, with a pair of trainers, in a glass box, and some jerseys up on the wall), and a treasure trove of ingredients and machinery, all carefully arranged.
It’s pretty magical to watch. As we were sitting down, Mr Noda was preparing the John Dory, and some herring. The herring would magically appear every once in a while for another step to be done to it, and then disappear (to reappear for the last course, with a series of fine knife criss-crosses across its flesh.
Raita Noda also has an interesting tone. With eight seats, it is exclusive, but is made more so by various rules and requests. Reservations must be made by SMS, with full credit card information. A cancellation within 72 hours incurs a penalty fee (as they are planning their menu and buying produce during this period).
I was a bit dismayed at the admonition to not share the matching wines (as we always do this: I order it, and husband takes small sips. Luckily the younger Mr Noda said it would be OK to do this). The length of the meal is three hours or so, and because you are in the hands of the chefs, there is no rushing to be done. You need to commit to the experience.
And in return, you are treated to amazing, carefully prepared dishes, often surprising and very delicious. Oysters were a perfect start: note the gold flake atop the basil and shizo sorbet. Soft-shell crab tacos were tasty… and informal. A tuna dish was interactive. You pop the tin yourself then mix in freeze-dried nato (fermented soy beans which are an acquired taste in their usual form).
The scampi was a highlight (and I missed taking a photo of the whole plate). The mille-feuille flakes are made of pounded scampi and then made into thin deep-fried layers, and the flesh of this crustacean was sweet and tender. The variations in form and texture, and the rhythm of the meal, were also lovely. From the rich scampi to a much cleaner and simpler taste palate, a clear broth with clear noodles, a bit of chewy mochi, the tastiest prawn ever, and a piece of delicate fish (matched with a lovely sake).
It’s a small, delicate portion of sushi rice, a bit wetter than in the cheap restaurants where the rice has been left out for a while, and not treated so well. That cuttlefish again… yum. And to finish, seared salmon.
First of all, props to the Whole Meal Café for opening up right at Taylor Square with an offering of healthy food (‘Vegan!’ shouts their chalkboard). This isn’t a spot I’d expect nutrition, surrounded by so much alcohol and decadence. But of course, folks in the Eastern Suburbs purport to be healthy and go to the gym an awful lot.
I just stopped by to treat myself to a coffee and then decided to half a little sweet treat. They are too healthy to have my favourite indulgence, a caramel slice, but the chocolate granola bar was sweet, tasty and didn’t taste healthy (that’s a compliment). And my coffee was just fine.
The ambience was comical: a lovely sunny day, and to one side, a tranquil view of Taylor Square, a little too hot to be busy. But on the other side, in front of the convenience store and the nightclub ARQ, there were a bunch of rowdies sitting on the sidewalk and milk crates shouting at each other, drunk, and possibly having an argument. Ah, Sydney.
Oh, I wanted to like this so much: ramen, regional ramen, and a dish I’ve never tried before. Plus it’s in my ‘hood, taking over from Salaryman (with its slightly objectionable theme and decor but really very good food). And it’s the company behind Ippudo, a restaurant chain I like very much.
We ordered a handful of other dishes to try. I was excited about the miso black cod (or was it another fish?), but this rendition had an odd flavour where the sake really stood out. I love this dish normally, the tender buttery flakes of fish melding with a buttery grilled flavour or miso, but this wasn’t quite right.
The rock potatoes, as promised, were super crispy potatoes with a creamy, salty sauce (kombu and kelp were the flavour).
It was packed with Surry Hills hipster and style mavens. I’ll come back to try the other ramen dishes, and I’d normally give a new restaurant like this the benefit of the doubt, just because of the novelty, but my two pals pointed out that they didn’t actually like any of the four dishes… It will be interesting to see how the menu, vibe, food and crowds develop…
Two Good Eggs does a cracking business, meaning I should have a breakfast and see what the fuss is about.
But I just wanted a coffee, after doing some chores in the ‘hood. It’s got a nice view of Harmony Park and was buzzy with, I assume folks working nearby, as well as some possible food tourists.
I usually have a bit of a sad when I don’t get coffee art… but my latte was so tasty, I couldn’t fault it.