Excelsior Jones @ Ashfield

A friend of mine has been telling me to try Excelsior Jones for months, and when they won Best Cafe in Time Out Food Award 2013, I figured it was about time I went. I personally, would have never thought such a cafe would exist in the suburb known for their dumplings. Therefore, as a brunch date, we headed to Ashfield to check out Excelsior Jones.

Excelsior Jones is located on quite a strange intersection, where apart from the cafe itself, there are homes and a few mechanics. But, never judge a book by its cover right? Upon walking in, there was a great smell of coffee and pancakes! The pancake smell was extremely deceiving considering there wasn't a pancake item on the menu.

Pretty Mocha

Berry almond tart

After smelling the pancakes, and not seeing them in sight I thought we would need a sweet hit. I went to the cabinet, and from the several pastries such as friands and cupcakes I chose the deliciously looking berry almond tart. My partner ordered a cappuccino while I ordered a mocha for myself, and accompanied with the tart was a great way to start the day.

Poached eggs with toast, relish, feta and sauteed mushrooms

We both ordered the same dish of poached eggs with toast, however chose different sides. Excelsior Jones allows you to choose from a range of sides such as; bacon, relish, mushrooms, feta, relish, avocado. I ended up with the relish, feta and mushrooms and my partner chose a nice and simple side of avocado. The relish was amazing and when added with the feta, a great balance of sweet, salty and tangy flavours. There is not any other way of having mushrooms for breakfast than with a lovely butter based sauce. Of course, the best part of a breakfast are perfectly poached eggs!

Overall, Excelsior Jones was a great place for breakfast. The staff are friendly, where a staff member saw my partners film camera and had an in-depth talk about photography and cameras for a good 10 minutes. I definitely want to go again and try their lunch menu.

Good food, good times!

Metro St James @ St James

A day out with a friend, always calls for a good meal to be involved. We then decided to hit up Metro St James. Metro St James has been open since March this year, and has been getting a great level of business. There most recent enterprise was pay with a kiss. The idea is to pay with a kiss, meaning you get your coffee for free if you are at the counter and kiss your partner. I didn't part take in this, however a lot of people did and it had a lot of buzz on radio and other social media websites.

Big Healthy Breakfast

Poached free range eggs, hot salmon, avocado, roasted tomatoes & ricotta on soy quinoa toast

A lovely big hearty and healthy plate of food. All the colours that you want to see when eating breakfast, with fresh flavours. A great start for anyone's day!

House made baked beans, poached eggs and feta w/ side of toast

My choice for breakfast. I wanted to try the baked beans, to see how they compared to The Grounds of Alexandria. They are more tomatoey than the grounds, but just as good. The addition of the feta adds a lovely saltiness to the dish. Eating baked beans on toast was a very fulfilling breakfast.

Metro St James is a great place to start your day in the big city. 

Good food, good times!

The Grounds of Alexandria @ Alexandria

Finally, my first trip to The Grounds of Alexandria! I have been wanting to try the Grounds for a very long time, but just never got around to it. When half my family decided to go overseas, I thought as a last outing we would go eat breakfast together, and what a great idea that was! 

My lovely mocha

Smoked ham hock with crushed peas, parmesan and 

house preserved lemon on sour dough with poached eggs

The ham hock is roasted for 6 hours before being served. It had a wonderful taste with a mix of salty and sweet. This was a simple breakfast with great flavours. The peas and lemon help balance the the semi-salty ham.

Pancakes with fresh ricotta, plum compote served with toasted pecans

These could possibly be the best pancakes I have ever tried. The pancakes were big and fluffy with a lovely touch of cinnamon. Crunchy toasted peacans with fresh ricotta and plum is a match made in heaven. There was no flaw to this dish, it was amazing!!

Grounds breakfast board - ham, avocado, fresh tomato, persian feta, two poached eggs, house made pesto and toasted sour dough

The breakfast board is a simple array of breakfast options. For the price, we all thought it was pretty ordinary. However, they do provide fresh ingredients, but if you want a big oily breakfast, may be not get the breakfast board and choose something else on their tasty menu.

Turkish style eggs - poached eggs in a rich tomato sauce with cannellini beans, spinach, pistachio labneh and sour dough bread. 

Sided with spicy lamb sausage and kipfler potatoes

The best of the best! I don't normally like anything that is similar to baked beans, but this dish was wonderful! The poached eggs were perfect, and probably the best poached eggs that I have ever cut through. This is a dish for a big hearty breakfast filled with flavour. I was extremely satisfied with this dish, I couldn't finish all the beans.

Another great part of The Grounds is their garden. They have a large garden area where you can enjoy your coffees, have a chat or just sit and think. The garden has a small play house for the kids, chickens and a pig (with an awesome name of Kevin Bacon). 

The Grounds of Alexandria is a hustle and bustle area of Alexandria where people gather for meetings or friendly catch ups. There are a lot of people stating they have to wait a long time for a table, so get there fast! We got there just before 10, so we were seated straight away. 

Good food, good times!

ExpressOrganica @ Concord

We all love a good brunch spot, but what about a place that is practically open all day everyday? ExpressOrganica is the place to be. . They are known as one of Sydney's Best Coffee Spots, and have been mentioned in SMH Everyday eats guide 2012. 

They provide an all day breakfast, lunch menu and dinner menu. The menu showcases an array of various foods, without having too many choices. The breakfast menu was my favourite, where I have never spent so long trying to decide what to eat. We decided to order some coffees and 2 breakfast/brunch choices.

Pretty Mocha

Vegetarian Stack

All the brunch favourites, avocado, poached eggs, sautéed mushrooms, baby spinach and roasted tomato and sourdough bread. I chose the dish without hollandaise sauce, because I am not the biggest fan, but either way, it was tasty. You can also add extras to the dish such as salmon, if you want some more flavours to start off your day.

Asparagus & sweet potato salad

This was part of the specials, and sounded too good to not order. It was composed of asparagus, sweet potato, mixed salad, cherry tomato, feta and walnuts. I thought the highlight of the dish would be the asparagus, where in fact it was the sweet potato. Perfectly cooked sweet potato, that helped with the salty feta and balsamic dressing.

The overall dining experience was exceptional with wonderful service, and great coffee. The store itself provides a warm vibe, with the brown and cosy décor. The bill was $44 for 2 people, which includes 2 coffees and 2 mains.

Good food, good times!

Pancake Parlour @ City Centre, ACT

The Pancake Parlour is a Melbourne based family restaurant, that has now expanded to Canberra. The Pancake Parlour has been around for decades. The restaurant sells a powder form of there buttermilk pancake (like a pancake shaker) at some Woolworths stores, but I have yet to try it and compare it to the actual parlour. The great part about this restaurant was that a majority of the seating was arranged in booths. I love restaurants with booths!

Cappuccino

Chocolate Strawberry Jubilee

Chocolate pancake with fresh strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate flakes and chocolate sauce. This is any chocolate lovers delight.

Buttermilk pancakes with strawberries

Two pancakes, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and strawberry sauce. A simple start to a great day.This is an ideal sweet breakfast, basic and can easily satisfy.

Potato pancake with salad

A potato based pancake topped with cheese, and some butter. This was an interesting dish. It didn't tickle my fancy, but my friend liked it. I did like the celery in the salad, but the salad was cut into very small pieces which made it difficult to eat.

The Pancake Parlour is very similar to Pancake on the Rocks. Personally, I find Pancakes on the Rocks to be nicer and more worth for the money. For example, Pancakes on the Rocks provides 2 chocolate pancakes instead of one, and it's cheaper. 

Good food, good times!

Circa Expresso @ Parramatta

This cafe has been on my eating list for a very long time now, and since it was uni holidays it was about time I went (which resulted in me going twice). Circa Expresso is located in an alley way outside of Westfield shopping centre. It is a quirky cafe with a painted wall upon entry, a bike hanging on one of the walls, and little bits and pieces everywhere (definitely not what you expect in Parramatta). 

First:

Baked eggs with sujuk, Danish feta, diced tomato & chilli and toast served in a pan

This is what I call a great breakfast (that isn't bacon and eggs). Sujuk is a spicy Turkish sausage which I found similar to a spicy chorizo sausage. This entire dish was delicious, all the bits and pieces were beautiful, and the eggs had a runny centre. A slight hint of chilli to the dish bound everything together. To me, there was not one bad thing to the dish.

Breakfast granola: Poached rhubarb, yoghurt and fresh fruit

This was my vegetarian friends dish. I don't eat granola, or yoghurt, so this dish isn't a very me dish. However, I did like the poached rhubarb.

Second:

Coffee

A mocha to start a lovely brunch with a good friend and it was the first coffee I have ever finished. I have always given coffee a chance, but never been happy or pleased with the taste. But this time, I was very happy.

Penne with portobello mushrooms, pork & fennel sausage, baby spinach and parmesan

One of the specials of the day, pasta for only $12. This was a great pasta dish with simple yet strong flavours that complemented each other. For the price, it was a great pasta, even better than some pastas I have tried in high end restaurants.

Pork and fennel sausage served with caramelised onion, pickled cucumber, baby spinach 

served on sourdough bread

We all love a good sandwich, and this is one for the books. The pork and fennel sausage were juicy and filled with flavour. I really enjoyed the pickled cucumber, it added a saltiness that was balanced with the caramelised onion. 

French toast with poached rhubarb, labne and pistachio

After our savoury part of brunch, we turned to the sweet and seeing French toast on the line of specials, was an offer not to be refused. The French toast was different to how I make it at home, using bigger bread that soaks in more of the batter. The poached rhubarb, with the subtle labne and crunch of pistachio. Nothing wrong with this dish, it was just spoonfuls of tastiness. 

Banana bread with passion fruit butter

This was so tasty, I could eat it every day. The banana bread was served slightly warm, but the passion fruit butter is what makes it great. It was smooth and delicious. It was just gloriously wonderful! Possibly my favourite thing on the menu.

Both times at Crica Expresso were exquisite, with friendly staff and even better food. Definitely hits the spot for a great brunch!

Good food, good times!

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!

Sydney Aroma Festival @ The Rocks 2011

It was that time of year again when the The Rocks at Circular Quay becomes filled with people who love coffee, chocolate, tea and spice for the Sydney Aroma Festival (generally held on the last Sunday of July). What a beautiful day it was, with the sun out to play and being surrounded by friends and of course FOOD!

Once arriving at The Rocks the first stop was to get some proper food into our system before devouring on the endless sweet tooth options. Where do you go for a good lunch? well there is no better spot then to go for a Turkish gozleme! After craving it for a few days after seeing the stand at the Sydney Winter Festival it was absolutely satisfying. There is nothing like sitting along the wharf, looking out onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge and eating some traditional Turkish food on a warm winters day. (always squeeze on the lemon, it just makes it that much better.

Turkish Gozleme - Beef, spinach and cheese $10

The rest of the day was just enjoying the lovely day out and trying all different foods from various stands. Trying all different chocolates and fudge become a bit overwhelming. There are so many options and different types. Its a shame I am not the biggest fan of fudge, but if i was I would have spent way to much money. Here is a look at the various food I had.

Mango and Passion fruit Pavlova $4.50

Cherry and Chocolate pavlova $4.50

 Churros

Lush Berries $.350 each 

Blue Raspberry and watermelon snow ice $5.00

All the food we ate and tried was great. The pavlova wasn't to sweet or sour and the strawberries were some of the best I have ever tasted! The only disappointment was the churros. It tasted like pure oil and the dough seemed under cooked. I have yet to find a place where the churros are nice. Please, if you know a place let me know!

Good food, good times!