Marrickville Crawl

Exams are finally over and holidays begin. Inspired by the article in TimeOut Sydney titled Marrickville Cafe Crawl, my friend and I were in dire need of a catch up, and took advantage and tried to hit as many places as possible.

First stop: Cornersmith (314 Illawara Road, Marrickville)
Cornersmith was given the Local Hero Award in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Cafe Guide 2012. It is a little cafe located down the road from the train station and is becoming one of the most talked about cafes. They provide fresh ingredients, where some are self grown in there own set up garden located in the back patio of the store.

Left: Free range poached eggs with beetroot
& ginger relish with sour dough toast.
Right:  Poached egg with pasture raised ham, fennel & brussel slaw, garlic aioli and beetroot relish 

Both the dishes were similar in terms of content. The main difference was the bread. The eggs were perfectly poached, so when you cut through them the yolk oozes out. The beetroot relish was the highlight of the dishes. It was slightly warm and filled with flavour. It accompanied my sandwich extremely well in combination with the fennel & brussel slaw. The dressing that was on the slaw contained a great balance of acidity and sweetness. The whole dish just all went well together. Just to state again, the beetroot relish was just wow!

Second stop: Coffee Alchemy (24 Addison Rd, Marrickville)
Brunch done, now for a coffee break. From Cornersmith, Coffee Alchemy is about a 15 minute walk. When walking into the store, it was very dark including the decor being all black. The windows are barred, gives this strange gaol feeling, but don't let that put you off the coffee. I am not a coffee fan, but since trying coffee at Coffee Alchemy I am finally giving it a go (and hoping I don't become caffeine dependent).

Left: Sparkler Right: Mocha

The sparkler is an ice cold coffee that is served from a beer tap. It combines the taste of coffee, with the fizz of a beer. The mocha was the first good mocha I have ever tried so I now know that good coffee does exist.

Third stop: Bourke St Bakery (2 Mitchell St)
Bourke St Bakery is famous for there tarts, but this time around we didn't try the tarts and looked for what's new and different.

Left: White bean, fennel & black olive with baby spinach
 Right: Macadamia honey caramel sticky bun

The toasted sandwich was different. The olives added the saltiness, which was counterbalanced by the white beans, which also provided the bite. A very good healthy sandwich, and suitable for all taste buds. Now to the sticky bun, that reminded me of a cinnamon scroll. It was texturally the same as a cinnamon scroll, with layers of honey instead of cinnamon. The macadamia's coated with honey caramel on top were finger-licking good.

Fourth stop: Double Roasters (199 Victoria Rd)
Thinking this was another coffee store, we were going to give it a miss. Once walking by, and realising it provides good interesting food, we sat down and were ready to order. Since we had done a lot of walking, I was in need of a drink and the pink grapefruit mineral water sounded most refreshing, and it definitely was!

Roast pork belly sandwich with apple & mint relish, rocket, aioli on toasted sourdough

Avocado and feta mash with cherry tomatoes and rocket on Turkish bread

The last dishes of our Marrickville Crawl. The pork on the sandwich had a great crackling skin, where the apple & mint relish provided the sweetness. The main down side to the sandwich was the bread used, I found it too crunchy where it almost cut my mouth.

I am not normally a fan of avocado, but the dish sounded appetising. Mixing avocado and feta created a perfect balance. I thought it would feel soft and mushy against the bread, when in fact the bread added the bite against the soft mixture. The rocket provided the bitterness, with the sweetness of the tomato. This would be perfect for a quick afternoon snack.

Good food, good times!