House, Surry Hills

House on Elizabeth Street has a bit of a reputation...a HOT reputation. The food is authentic Isaan style from Northern Thailand...where the generous use of chilli is not frowned upon (at all), fermented anchovies are used liberally as a seasoning and the dishes are generally quite dry, not saucy like the Thai food most of us might be more familiar with. The food is designed be shared and enjoyed with friends and family, as is the way in Thailand.

House has long been on my wish-list so I was thrilled when Rachel organised a blogger meet up via twitter.  And the #ThaiFoodParty was born.

I think I probably missed out a bit on the true “House experience” as I wasn’t ordering any meat dishes.  Unlike other Thai restaurants there wasn’t a lot on offer for vegetarians (other than a few salads), and really only a few seafood dishes.   I didn’t spot any tofu on the menu at all (yes, meat lovers rejoice).  I have friends who LOVE House...they rave about the pork and duck dishes, but as I’m guessing they’re not free-range I abstained.

So what did I eat?  A really delicious Tum Mua Pla Krob ($8.00). In English that's a green papaya salad with crispy anchovies, dried shrimp, beans, Thai eggplant, cherry tomatoes, peanuts, garlic, lime and chilli. This dish had a bit of a chilli kick to it but it wasn't anywhere as severe as I was expecting.  It had a good amount of "dressing" too which helped wet the rice.

I also ordered the Pla Som Tod ($14.00) which is a deep fried fermented fish, seasoned with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, eschalots and chilli. It looks a bit like fish fairy-floss, very dry, packed with dried chillis and very very fishy in flavour.  I think this dish is probably great when ordered with "something" that goes really well with it...but I'm not sure what that would be, which is always the difficulty when eating WAY outside your normal eating-zone with others as unfamiliar with the cuisine as I was.

I only snapped a few dishes that the others were eating. The Jaew Horn ($18.00), an Isaan style hot pot of chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, squid, pork liver and seasonal green was a big hit down the other end of the table, and looked perfect for (another) wet Sydney night. Gai Yang ($16.00) was another popular choice - char grilled marinated chicken served with Jim-Jaew dipping sauce (the sauce was pretty spicy judging by the coughing and glasses of water being reached for).

It's not only spicy food that House is well know for. Their BTS (Better Than Sex) dessert gets a pretty good rap around town ($15.00).  Toasted brioche served with pandan coconut gelato topped with Thai caramel sauce and sprinkled with roasted black and white sesame seeds.  It's good...but is it better than sex? Depends on how bad the sex is your having I guess.

I really loved the Nam Kaeng Sai ($5.00) - Thai style shaved ice desert with sweet potato, sweet taro, pineapple and toddy palm seed was topped with Thai caramel sauce and coconut milk. Totally DELICIOUS and totally moreish...and totally better than sex...the dessert, not actual sex.

House is at 202 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. Phone them on 02 9280 0364.

In My Kitchen, July

I thought I'd do something a little different on my blog this month...just to prove that I don't actually eat out all the time. The thing is however I'm dog/house-sitting for my brother...so all I've done this month is pretty much eat out - apart from a few sad and random stove-top meals at home.

Like I said, there's not much happening cooking wise this month. There is however A WHOLE LOT OF DOG FOOD in my brothers kitchen.  Despite all the tins and treats Pip only gets fed once a day - which to a food blogger who eats pretty much non-stop seems kind of mean.

The stove in my brothers kitchen is a BEAST...it's pretty intimidating.  I'm not sure what all the bells and whistles do so I've just bought a few "canned goods" that I can heat up on the stove without (hopefully) blowing myself up.  At my house I've gotten into cooking soups from scratch in a BIG WAY this winter. These tinned jobbies aren't that flash.

Last week I did duck down to the Marrickville Organic Markets to pick up a few things.  I bought some great Organic Sourdough Bread to go with my tinned soup, some fruit and some lovely smoked salmon pasta. I had a bit of trouble cooking the pasta - it took forever and all clumped together with bits of it still being hard? I thought I new how to cook pasta - wonder what I did wrong? Anyone?

Hopefully when I do this post again next month it'll be a bit more...healthy with less tinned food.

The In My Kitchen blog-hop is hosted by Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

Miss Piggy xox

Chophouse, Sydney CBD

You'd think a restaurant that is discretely tucked away under an office tower at the "big end of town" would be dead empty on a cold, wet and windy winters night -- but it seems like the perfect place for the CBD office workers to chow-down and wait out one of the worst storms of the year.

Of course I don't work in the CBD, so the journey to Chophouse to meet The BFF consisted of an 80 minute trip up George Street on a bus (yes, I could've walked faster than that but it was raining cats and dogs...and the wind was blowing a gale) plus a 10 minute walk up to the restaurant in the driving, sideways rain. When I finally arrived at the restaurant, nearly 40 minutes late (yes, I rang to say I was late late late) I immediately ordered a serve of Pork Scratchings with smoked slat, vinegar and chilli to help me recover from my epic 5km commute pilgrimage into town.

Chophouse, whilst being pretty well known for their steaks, has a damn fine chopped salad section too...and I don't just mean your "green salad" or "green salad" type of thing. When Chophouse does salad they really "do" salad.  The BFF and settled on the Crisp Pork Belly and Sea Scallop Salad ($22.00) because when crispy free-range Esk River, pork belly is on offer resistance is...well, futile. The salad is filled with token greens such as Chinese cabbage, coriander, pea shoots and is dressed with a soy vinaigrette.

We decided to share our mains...as we always do. The Corned-Beef ($26.00) was one of the specials for the night and it seemed perfectly matched to the dreary weather outside - a perfectly warming dish.  And it would be silly to come to a steakhouse and not order steak. The pasture fed Petit Fillet MB2+ ($34.90) seemed like the best option - being small enough to leave us with some stomach room for dessert later on.   The steak came served with chutney and jus, so if you need a bit something extra for your main just order a few sides.  I really do like how the menu at Chophouse lists the provenance of the meat...our steak hailed from Grasslands, NSW.

And dessert. I was pretty full, but The BFF can not be deterred when he has his eyes set on dessert...in particular the Chophouse Ice Cream Sandwich ($10.00).  We'd said hello to Chef Eric Tan on our way in (I met him at the cooking class I did at Chophouse a few weeks ago) and he very kindly sent out a complimentary dessert for us to try - the Malted Farro Cheesecake (normally $10.90) with white chocolate and cocoa crumbs. I was fit to burst - but the Cheesecake was spectacular, so creamy yet light.

Chophouse is at 25 Bligh Street, Sydney. Phone them on 13 0024 6748.

Petty Cash Cafe, Marrickville

Massive props to Big Brother for letting his sisters wheel him out for brunch within moments of him stepping off a long-haul, overnight, international flight. I think he was so delirious from lack of sleep that he really couldn't say no - even though I'm sure he'd rather have been heading to bed. I knew that we could not go anywhere that required waiting...Big Brother was needing to sit down ASAP.

Marrickville seems to be a suburb on the move in terms of great little cafes with Ground Roasters, Cornersmith  and Vesbar all hitting the 'hood recently.  Petty Cash Cafe has been in the neighbourhood for quite awhile however and somewhere I'd been wanting to try for ages. Luckily it wasn't too busy and we got a seat within about 5 minutes.

The cafe is adorable - I love it! It's quirky (vintage spoon collection anyone) with a retro/rockabilly vibe going on.  I love the mismatched furniture and tableware - both make this little corner of Marrickivlle feel comfortable, homely and cozy.  The place is quite small - only two prams allowed inside at a time...but they do provide blankets so you can take your food across the road to Enmore Park (if we ever have a sunny weekend that is) and picnic.

The Boy and I share a HUGE pot of Chai Tea ($5.00).  It's a pretty good Chai though I forgot to ask for Soy milk which was a bit of a failure on my part.

The menu at Petty Cash is HUGE...with everything tempting the taste buds.  That said, The Boy went straight for his favourite of breakfast choices - The Big Breakfast ($16.90) and this really was BIG!  Free-range eggs, toast, bacon, chipolatas, house-made beans, mushrooms and rosti. Phew - that was a mouthful! Big Sister chose the Petty Cash Breakie ($14.90), a more petite version of the Big Breakfast. 

Left: The Boy's Big Breafkast. Right: Big Sister's Petty Cash Breakfast.

I have to say that everything on the menu looked good to me (homemade brioche ice-cream and chocolate ganche sandwich - OMG, talk about temptation)! Big Brother had his heart set on Pea and Ham Soup but they had just sold out, so he had the Lamb Burger instead.  Paralysed with indecision I um-ed and ah-ed for an eternity, but ended up with a great choice - Rosti with sour cream, smoked salmon and salad ($15.90, and probably healthier than the ice-cream sambo).  I was thrilled that my salad had a generous scattering of flash-fried capers, something I LOVE to death, but you don't really see around that often.

Left: Big Brother's Lamb Sambo. Right: My smoked salmon and rosti salad.

Writing this post has made me really excited to go back to Petty Cash Cafe and try some more of their yummy menu on this days we do our meat shopping at Urban Food Market.  Knowing that you can grab a picnic blanket and sit in the park means you don't need to queue for ages waiting for that most coveted of prizes...a table at an inner-city cafe.

Petty Cash Cafe is at 68 Victoria Road, Marrickville.

Three Ropes, Parramatta

It's no secret that Circa Espresso is my favourite cafe in Parramatta.  Man, I LOVE that place. I love that someone saw potential in Parramatta and realised that Westies love good cafes, trendy fitouts, good food, good coffee...and they love not having to leave Parramatta to have it. I love that someone turned west off George Street and not east and didn't open another bloody cafe in Surry Hills. We love cafes in Western Sydney too you know!

And now the guys behind Circa cafe have crossed the (railway) tracks and opened up their second espresso bar, Three Ropes.  Nestled in tiny space that was formerly the manky Parramatta Hotel's bottle shop Three Ropes has transformed a nondescript laneway into a groovy little espresso bar that would rival anything you'd find in Melbourne in terms of great coffee and "cool factor".

I visited the cafe for a takeaway coffee on my way to work on the second morning they were open (yes, I'm keen). Ordering through the side shutter made the whole exercise feel a bit like a food truck (and we all know how much I LOVE those).  I was REALLY keen to head back for a proper visit but as they're not open on weekends (I know right, so sad) I had to time my visit to fit in around my commute to work.

The cafe really is the definition of "hole-in-the-wall" with only a few tables inside and a smattering of outdoor stools to perch on in the laneway outside (eat your heart out Melbourne, we've got cool laneways too).  I started my brunch with a lovely Skinny Cappuccino ($3.50) and it was perfect.

 
The cafe has no kitchen to speak of, so it's freshly made toasted sandwiches and sweet treats all around.  I asked for "something with no meat" and was presented with a seriously delicious toasted Turkish-bread sandwich ($6.00) that barely contained its filling of (free-range) egg, home-made chutney and rocket.

It's not a food blog without something sweet to finish with and Three Ropes has more than enough to tempt even the most stoic amongst us (not that I stoically avoid anything, but it sounded good). I settled on this rather large biscuit dipped in chocolate with a jam filling thingy-ma-jiggy.  I'm sure it has a name, but God knows I don't know what it is.  And really who needs a name for something that I devoured within seconds.

As much as I loved the coffee and the food I REALLY enjoyed the warmth and community feel the cafe had.  After being open less than a week it already felt like it'd be around for years with local shop owners, guys from the police station and friends of the staff/owners popping in and out for coffee and a chat. And, it's hard not to strike up a conversation with the people sitting next to you in such a small cafe and to me that's exactly what a local cafe should feel like...like belonging to a community.

And the name Three Ropes? Well, it's local too. Back "in the day" (1803) convicted criminal Joseph Samuel was sentenced to death by hanging in Parramatta. On the first attempt the rope broke, the second time the noose slipped from his neck. The third time the rope broke again and "the powers that be" decided that Samuel had more lives than a cat and he was pardoned for his crime. So there you go - a food blog AND a history lesson.

Three Ropes is at 10a Darcy Street, Parramatta.  They're not opening weekends - just Monday to Friday 6.30am - 3.30pm.