Bistro 80, Pyrmont

Eating dinner with Laura in Pyrmont means dining at her current restaurant love, Fat Noodle.  Just as I am totally, and overly obsessed with Crazy Wings and could go there every week, Laura LOVES Fat Noodle.  The healthy food and fresh flavours are pretty addictive I have to admit.

Nasi Lemak with crispy chicken wings, omelette and pandan rice

On this particular night a group of bloggers meet up for a Fat Noodle dinner - this is a great way to sample the delights from a Luke Nguyen menu without braving the crowds at Red Lantern in Surry Hills, and at a fraction of the price.

After dinner we decide to head up stairs to Bistro 80 for dessert - may as well make a night of it seeing as we're at the Casino!

The Baking Lady from Work and I decide to order one dessert each and share, allowing us to sample a few items from the mouthwatering dessert menu.  Whilst I feel a tad guilty at this indulgent end to the evening, it seems that we are as soft as they come. R and Karen opt to share four desserts, and Laura and Tammi leave us open-jawed at their order of five desserts between the two of them. Tammi tells us later that she had to talk Laura out of ordering all seven items on the menu.

The Baking Lady and I choose the Milk Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel and Vanilla ($14.00) as well as the Poached Raspberry Meringue with Raspberry Sorbet and Lemon Verbena Custard ($12.00).

Unfortunately, if you take 20 photos of the Milk Chocolate Mousse you get to watch the lovely Vanilla foam deflate before your very eyes, which is a sad sight indeed. Nevertheless, the mousse was delicious, creamy and as light as a feather. I was a bit sad I had to share this one to be honest.

The Poached Raspberry Meringue with Raspberry Sorbet and Lemon Verbena Custard was a lovely fresh tasting dessert.  The tartness in the raspberry sorbet and zesty lemon custard were a nice offset to the chocolate mousse we'd just eaten.

Continuing with our hardcore approach to the dessert portion of the evening we decide to try a Mocktail each (yes, a mocktail is the sad, alcohol-less version of a cocktail).  I figure that as I'm catching a late night train back to Parramatta I need my wits about me and a Mocktail is just the business to keep me clear headed.  The Bistro 80 Iced Tea ($7.00) tasks my fancy, a pretty pink concoction of vanilla, raspberry and lemon juice mixed with traditional iced tea.

The Baking Lady opts for the feisty sounding Matador ($7.00), and we fall in love with its guerrilla knitted toothpick that spears some jauntily arranged apple slices. I'm told this is a lovely drink - white peach, cloudy apple juice and homemade cinnamon syrup. Ole!

I have to say that I've never gone to a restaurant just to have dessert - asides from the odd coffee shop or two that is.  It certainly was a fun way to end the night - but I sure am glad I was wearing my stretchy tights that day!

Bistro 80 is upstairs at Star City, 80 Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont.

 

Meet Fresh, Chinatown Sydney

After our ramen love-fest at Gumshara the BFF and I make a beeline for Meet Fresh, a Taiwanese dessert shop in Chinatown whose queues often rival that of its next door neighbour, Mamak.

The desserts on offer at Meet Fresh are a far cry from the Neapolitan ice-cream with hundreds-and-thousands I'd grown up eating as a kid.  I'd recently tried a few different Asian desserts and really liked their sweetness and interesting textures - I just had no idea what to order when confronted with the mind-boggling array of items on offer at Meet Fresh.  Although I'd be curious about Meet Fresh for months I was now in totally foreign-dessert waters.

The BFF and I stood bamboozled in front of the menu board for about 5 minutes. In the end we settled on the Meet Fresh Signature Herbal Dessert ($5.50) figuring that as it is their "signature dessert" it must be good.  As we're both feeling a bit thirsty after our ramen dinner we also order a Meet Fresh Milk Tea with Pearls ($3.80). Pearls, for those of you not 'in the know' Pearls are little chewy balls of tapioca and I LOVE them.

The Herbal Jelly is like nothing I've ever seen...or eaten before. At first I find the black, sludge-like jelly a little visually off-putting, but once I take my first bite I'm hooked.

The white and orange taro balls are fat and chewy. The herbal jelly is chewy and only slightly sweet and has a slight aniseed flavour.  Once we break through the slippery jelly - that's impossible to keep on the spoon due to its wibbly wobbliness - we hit a mound of shaved ice that has no real discernible flavour other than being cool and refreshing. Once we figure out we're supposed to empty the little container of cream into the bowl the ice melts and the dessert received the sugar hit that the BFF was seeking. 

Verdict for this Aussie chick?  It's weird, wonderful, wobbly and wacky. I cannot wait to get back to Meet Fresh to see what other delights are on offer.

Meet Fresh is at 13 Goulburn Street, Chinatown/Haymarket.

Adriano Zumbo Cafe, Rozelle

Can you believe that today is the first time that I've had an Adriano Zumbo Macaron? Or that I've been walking past his Pâtisserie on Darling Street in Balmain for years without even registering that it is there. Or that until Season 2 of Masterchef I didn't even know who he was.  I'm an idiot, I know.

After hearing/reading/seeing so much about Zumbo and his famous dessert creations I vowed to myself that when I was in Balmain today with Niecy Poo I would make a point to seek out his tiny, but very very famous, Pâtisserie.  The trouble with that idea though was that everyone else in Balmain seemed to be thinking the same thing. I could hardly get my foot in the door due to the crush inside, let alone check out what Macarons he had on offer.

As our parking meter in Balmain was quickly running out it was time for Plan B.  We overheard a crazed Zumbo fan saying that the Adriano Zumbo Cafe in Rozelle is open today so we head on over to try our luck there. 

Bingo! The cafe is open for the hungry masses and the queue is pretty small, although a tad chaotic with people milling about in a wide-eyed Zumbo induced stupor.  We only wait for five minutes before we get out turn out the counter.

Quite a few of the Macarons have sold out and I'm devastated to see that the much touted Salted Caramel is nowhere to seen.  Sad face.  As we umm and ahh over what to get one of the staff brings out an emergency tray of the Salted Caramel and I'm happy again.  I'm surprised however to hear the the Macarons are frozen and will take a while to defrost.  I had assumed everything was made fresh on the day, but I guess such a huge demand for these sweet delights means they have to make huge batches in advance in order to satisfy Sydney's crazed Macaron fiends.

In the end we decide to get six Macarons ($2 each) and go for a mix of the conventional and the slightly crazy.  We choose Carrot Cake, Chocolate Berry Mudcake, Marshmallow, Wasabi, Rosemary and Apricot, and (of course) Salted Caramel.  We were tempted to try the crazy sounding Vegemite and Sourdough but I guess we'll have to leave that one til next time.

We actually score a freebie as one of the Macarons (the Chocolate Berry Mudcake) is cracked - better to end up in my tummy than the bin, right?

I would say my favourite Macaron is the Salted Caramel with its lush, slightly salty buttery filling although in all honesty I loved them all.  Each Macaron has a fragile yet crisp shell that crumbles delightfully with each bite, giving way to the beautiful filling within.

I really enjoyed trying the unconventional flavours as they weren't as sweet as the more traditional  (or expected) flavours. I enjoyed the sensation of my brain thinking "I know I am eating a Rosemary flavoured Macaron, but why does it feel like I should be eating Roast Lamb?"

I feel like a bit of a fatty boombah after eating six Macarons today, but it was all in the name of research.  It was fun getting involved with all the hype and trying what one of Sydney's best known, and most adventerous, patissiers has to offer.

If I was walking past Zumbo's again and there was no crowd I would definitely pop in to see what other flavours he has on offer.  I'd also be hoping that a whole tray of broken goodies gets handed my way.



The Adriano Zumbo Cafe is at 114 Terry Street, Rozelle. The Patisserie is at 296 Darling Street, Balmain.

The Stuffed Olive and The Famous Berry Donut Van, Berry

Day two of our beach side honeymoon in Jervis Bay dawns cloudy, grey and pouring with rain. The Boy knows that I’ll go stir crazy in our tiny cabin within about 15 minutes so he wisely bundles me into the car, umbrella in tow, and we head up to Berry for some eating and shopping.

Our first stop in Berry is The Stuffed Olive – a little delicatessen just off the main drag.

Being of Hungarian descent I’m particularly fond of a good deli. I love salamis, cured meats, cheese and anything that comes in pâté form or pickled in brine.  Olives would have to be one of my favourite nibbley foods, followed closely by gherkins.  Stuff an olive with feta or anchovy and I’m literally in heaven.

The Boy and I decide to share an Anti-Pasto Plate for 1 ($13.90) as we have bigger, sweeter plans for later on and need the tummy room.

Our plate comes with a small selection of meats (prosciutto and two types of salami) and cheeses (brie, goats cheese and something that could possibly be a mozzarella).  We also have a little sampling of sun-dried tomatoes, lettuce and caramelised onions. 

 

The Anti-Pasto Plate also has a few pieces of deliciously crispy bread (similar to a large crouton).  I ask for some plain bread though as I know that the croutons won’t be enough for all of the goodies we’re sharing.   The extra serve of Italian bread costs us $1.00. Bargain.

Our deli selection is delicious and I’m in woggy food heaven.  I particularly loved the strong flavoured goats cheese and the tartness of the sun-dried tomato.   It goes without saying that the olives were amazing. The Boy tells me he liked the mystery round cheese (mozzarella?) and the salami.

As far as country delicatessens go I think The Stuffed Olive is pretty good (as far as most deli's go really). It has great variety and all the yummy goodies you’d expect to see in a city deli, as well as steady stream of customers (which did seem to overwhelm the staff a bit as they got flustered when the shop got more than half full).

The staff were also a bit weird about me taking photos – I did ask if I could snap a few pictures and at first it was OK, and then half way through I was told they’d have to ask their boss if it was OK. As far as I know they never asked their boss, or at least never got back to me about the camera, so I ‘assume’ happy snapping was OK after all?

After lunch we go for a wander and a shop in Berry.  We both line up for what seems like an age at the ONE public toilet cubicle this tourist mecca has to offer.   Seriously Berry, with the amount of tourists you get each day surely you could build us ladies another loo (or three).

As we head back to the car we stop off at The Famous Berry Donut Van.

I’d actually never even heard of this place until I read Grab Your Fork’s post a few weeks ago. But, The Boy (a donut connoisseur from way back) tells me he’s well aware of the Berry Donut Van – he just never thought I’d suggest we go there together.

The Boy conveniently fails to see that you can order just one donut, and goes for a bag of six.  I had a small lunch so I don’t point out the error of his ordering ways.

These donuts are made manually (not via an automatic machine like Donut King type establishments) and the donut lady pops the donut mix into the hot oil using a ye olde donut popping out machine. Way cool.

All donuts from The Famous Berry Donut Van are freshly made and come to you so hot that they have the potential to burn not only your fingers as you greedily grab them out of the bag, but a layer of skin off the roof of your mouth (I’m speaking from experience here).   Their claim to fame is that they’ve never served a cold donut, and they never reheat their donuts...everything is made to order.

The writing on the bag tells us these donuts will be the best we’ve ever had. I’m not sure about that as I'm not a true donut expert, but they were pretty good!  They were fresh, hot and dusted with loads of cinnamon sugar - much better than the mass produced donuts I have at a lot of other places (that makes it sound like I eat donuts all the time, but I don't. Hardly ever. Honest)!

The Boy confirms that as far as donuts go, these are pretty good.  They could only have been better if he could have seen them being popped out of the donut maker into the oil.

As we're leaving the van I spy HUGE 20kg tins of oil used for frying the donuts!  Kind of burst my fantatsy that fresh, handmade donuts aren't really that bad for you!

The Stuffed Olive is at Shop 3/ 65 Queen St, Berry (although I think they are actually 'on' Albany Street).

You can pretty much follow your nose to the The Famous Berry Donut Van, or find them at next to the Shell servo on Queen Street (aka Princes Highway), Berry.