Valet, Cabramatta

Date Visited: Monday 7 October, 2019

This has long been on my brunch list, not only for the aesthetics of the food but for the interesting ideas on the menu. I couldn’t wait to try the Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries and find out what the beach balls actually tasted like. Cabramatta is a bit of a trek for most people and finding parking around the area is a task in itself, but it is well worth the effort. My first impression of the cafe was that I loved how plush all the chairs and sofas were. Very spacious and makes you feel like royalty.

Being quite a warm day we opted for some cold drinks, including the tropicana smoothie. The smoothie was a lovely creamy mix of house-made mango jam and mango blended with honey, yoghurt and ice. I had the watermelon and lychee cold brewed tea, which was super refreshing. There was quite a generous amount of lychees in the drink itself as well which was a pleasant surprise.

Tropicana – $8 (back left), watermelon and lychee fruit tea – $7 (back right), butterfly pea flower lemonade – $7 (front)

My friend ordered the homemade lemonade with butterfly pea flower syrup. You know it’s a gimmick but it’s still fun to watch the pouring of the butterfly pea syrup change the colour of the otherwise ordinary lemonade.

Butterfly pea flower lemonade – $7

Croissant for breakfast is a pretty standard choice, but Valet really elevates the humble croissant with two wonderfully runny poached eggs, a unique salted egg yolk hollandaise, smoked salmon and golden flakes for decoration. Even though I adore salted egg yolk, the dish didn’t leave much of an impression on me. There’s also a lot of greens on the plate which you may or may not love. It was still a nice dish, but everything together wasn’t fully cohesive so it didn’t wow me.

Golden moon – $18

Another classic with a twist were the Asian baked eggs with Vietnamese meatloaf, Chinese sausage and Thai pork mince, served with toasted sourdough. I loved the Asian flavours added to this dish and it was certainly very heartwarming comfort food. I feel like I would’ve loved even more of the baked eggs to go with the amount of sourdough given.

Aunty’s baked egg – $15 – df

One of my favourite dishes of the brunch were the beach balls and I really enjoyed these deep fried sweet potato mochi balls. The edible ‘sand’ and butterfly pea flower custard went so well with the mochi balls and this was such a delight for the eyes and mouth. Such a genius idea and so well executed as well. I have such a big sweet tooth I definitely ate more than my fair share of this dish.

Beach balls – $16 – v

For something more filling we tried the katsu sando as well. The chicken katsu was a bit dry and the flavour was a bit lacking, so it was a bit disappointing. Knowing that there are other places that can do a better katsu sandwich, I wouldn’t order this one again at Valet. We did love the fries though, which had awesome seasoning and were a very generous portion size.

Katsu sando box – $17

Another highlight of the brunch was the deep fried soft shell crab with Singapore chilli sauce, bread and fries. For something you just want to stuff your face with, this is the kind of dish you need. Though the chilli was relatively subdued, I was happy about that as I can’t really handle super strong chilli. Loved the soft shell crab in the delicious sauce on its own and didn’t really find myself needing or wanting any of the bread. Considering how filling this dish is and how there are several decent crab pieces, it is definitely one of the best value for money dishes on the menu.

Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries – $18 – df

For dessert, this matcha plate is so stunning. With a matcha brownie, matcha crumble, matcha sauce and matcha ice cream it is definitely matcha happiness. All the elements definitely tasted better together than on its own. The brownie needed the ice cream to cut through the denseness of the brownie, while the matcha crumb added lovely texture to every bite.

Sundae in Tokyo – $15 – v

Valet was such a fun brunch experience and there was something about almost every dish that made me really excited to try it. I love the Asian inspired flavours they’ve added into classic dishes, as well as the creativity in reinventing Asian food for brunch. Though not all the dishes were better than my expectations, it was still an enjoyable meal and my favourites were the beach balls and the Singapore chilli soft shell crab fries. Such a clever menu, I’d be happy to visit Valet again!

Valet | 38 Arthur Street, Cabramatta NSW 2166 | Facebook | Instagram

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LUHO, Crows Nest

Date Visited: Sunday 19 January, 2020

I love some good modern Asian food, so I was pretty excited to give LUHO a try. I don’t recall when the last time, if ever, I have been to Crows Nest, so this was a fantastic reason to visit and check out the area. Walking into LUHO, I really loved the relaxed stylish vibe of the decor inside, but there’s also outdoor seating as an option.

We visited today to try the bottomless rosé lunch, which is $55 per person. The lunch features five dishes and is available Friday to Sunday. Something to note is that the dishes really involve various Asian flavours – I usually associate edamame with Japanese, spring rolls and san choi bao with Chinese and mee goreng with Indonesian. Places that sometimes do multiple cuisines end up not doing any of them well, so I was definitely interested to see how LUHO would do. Also, I really love how pretty and well designed the bottomless rosé lunch menu was!

We kicked things off straightway with some La La Land rosé. I’m not one for drinking on an empty stomach so I only had a sip or two before eagerly waiting for the food to arrive.

La La Land rosé

Starting us off was the edamame. I’m not the biggest fan of these beans, but I know some people love them. Probably the dish I was least excited for but I can admit that they can sometimes be fun to pop into your mouth. We ended up eating our food out of order, so the edamame worked quite well as a refresher in between the dishes.

Edamame

I wasn’t sure what to expect for the prawn wonton tacos, given that tacos are not really in Asian cuisine. However, I was absolutely blown away from the first bite. I fell in love with these tacos and was so impressed by the incredible prawn and sauce fillings. I also thought it would fall apart as soon as I ate it, but it actually kept its structural integrity pretty well. If you visit LUHO, these tacos are a must order. They were so good that I would have loved to have more than one!

Prawn wonton tacos

I had pretty average expectations of the spring rolls, having had so many in my life, but these spring rolls were definitely elevated up a notch. They were surprisingly brilliant with a super flavourful filling and might possibly be one of the best spring rolls I’ve had. This was another dish that really impressed me and far exceeded my expectations.

Spring rolls

Next was time for the chicken san choi bao, where I ended up getting my hands very dirty from how saucy the chicken was. However, getting your hands dirty is how it’s best eaten, by wrapping the chicken into the lettuce and trying to shove it into your mouth in an acceptable public manner. I also really enjoyed this, though my partner found the chicken quite salty. The flavours were definitely very strong, but for me it was balanced out okay with the lettuce and I liked the kick in the chicken.

Chicken san choi bao

The dishes started off quite small, but rest assured you would definitely be full, especially after the mee goreng. I believe my partner and I are both big eaters but we were struggling by the end to finish everything. These mee goreng noodles definitely tasted very authentic to me, though there was quite a lot of excessive sauce. I loved the big prawns and the fresh lettuce on the side, so it was only the sauce that I wanted less of.

Mee goreng

I can easily say that I was impressed by LUHO’s bottomless rosé lunch. The prawn wonton tacos and spring rolls were especially my favourites. Though LUHO managed to nail the flavours of every dish, the tacos and spring rolls were on another level. We were also so full after the five dishes, so I really feel that the lunch offers fantastic value. The ultimate verdict: Asian fusion done right!

The service was also so lovely, being very promptly attended to and having our glasses getting filled up when near empty, so a big thanks to the staff for contributing to the positive experience. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and have a nice long lunch with multiple dishes to share, and I would highly recommend LUHO’s bottomless rosé lunch. Would be especially great for a date or for a quality catch up session with a friend.

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of LUHO, but all opinions and photos are my own.

LUHO| 77 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest NSW 2065 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Hello Auntie, Darling Square, Haymarket

Date Visited: Wednesday 22 January, 2020

Darling Square is the newest place to be, so I am slowly trying out all the wonderful new restaurants in the area. I’ve heard of Hello Auntie in Marrickville before, but it wasn’t until recently that I learnt about their new Darling Square space. For anyone else working in the city, it’s so much more convenient to pop by Darling Square for dinner. What gets me excited is that Hello Auntie isn’t your typical Vietnamese restaurant! Whilst they have all the wonderful classics including banh xeo and pho, I love how they’ve added some unique twists to the menu and brought new life to Vietnamese flavours!

Hello Auntie also stands out with their huge beverages menu with some seriously inviting cocktails, and the Asian-inspired flavours especially appeal to me. Auntie’s Happiest Hour is 5:30pm-6:30pm on weekdays and 6:00pm-7:00pm on weekends, and is such a great deal, with selected $10 cocktails, $15 sake, $10 wine and $8 spirits. I loved the sound of the Pandan Summer cocktail with pineapple, coconut sorbet, campari and pandan rum, so I had to give it a go. First time I’ve ever had a cocktail with pandan flavour. I’m a big lover of pandan, so I easily enjoyed this refreshing and sweet concoction.

I was also lucky enough to try the Red Pocket, a special cocktail from Auntie’s Chinese New Year menu. It’s inspired by a Vietnamese tradition of bringing home a watermelon, with the more red it it is when cut indicating how lucky the year will be. I loved hearing about the story behind the drink and learning something new about Vietnamese culture! This was another cocktail first, as I’ve never had a watermelon cocktail before, but it worked perfectly with the vodka, lime and mint – so perfectly I don’t know why this isn’t a more popular combination. This one tasted stronger than the Pandan Summer, but would definitely be perfect for those looking for a fruity hit with summery vibes.

Pandan summer – $19 ($10 during Happiest Hour) (left); red pocket – $19 (right)

A recommended small dish to try was the beef tartare. This was such a lovely entree with the flavours being fairly subtle and light. I felt that the crunchy texture of the purple rice chips accompanied the tartare excellently, and all the ingredients in this were well balanced. I wouldn’t normally expect to see a tartare dish on a Vietnamese menu, but this was a very pleasant dish to start off with.

Beef tartare, parmesan, chives, crispy shallot, caper, cornichon, purple rice chips – $25 – gluten free, dairy free option

If I see sashimi anywhere, my mind is usually set on ordering it, and this was no different. The kingfish sashimi was beautiful, and the radish pickles and grapes went surprisingly well with it. I would have expected this dish to be on the lighter side, but the wasabi vinaigrette made this feel a bit heavier. The wasabi vinaigrette felt like most of the flavour kick in this dish, and was a little bit strong for me compared to all the other natural elements. It was an unusual combination of flavours that still held my attention and a dish you’ll especially love if you enjoy wasabi.

Kingfish sashimi, wasabi vinaigrette, radish pickles, grapes, chilli oil – $25 – dairy free, gluten free

One of the highlights of the meal was the Banh Khot. I absolutely adored these Vietnamese pancakes and would really recommend this to everyone. They tasted even better than they looked, and wrapping them in the lettuce and dipping them in the sweet chilli sauce was the happiest flavour explosion in my mouth. I also loved the touch of roe, which I don’t believe is a standard ingredient in this Vietnamese dish (correct me if I’m wrong). This is one dish that’s well worth the price and a dish I’d come back for again and again.

‘Banh Khot’ coconut and turmeric pikelets, prawn cutlets, smelt roe – $29 – dairy free, gluten free

Another star dish was the rigatoni and after one bite I fell in love with this Asian inspired pasta. With prawn, scallop and smelt roe, it’s a luxurious main that I couldn’t get enough of. Every spoonful was heavenly and packed with flavour, maybe caused in part from the added sumac. I had to Google this, but sumac is a flowery plant that can be made into a tangy lemon spice, which clearly does wonders for flavour. I was a bit apprehensive on how good this rigatoni would be, but safe to say, I was very impressed and satisfied.

Rigatoni, XO sauce, prawn, scallop, parmesan, tomato, smelt roe, sumac – $36 – dairy free option

The last main were these thick and chewy noodles that reminded me a lot of udon. I love my udon and onsen egg so this really appealed to me. I loved poking the onsen egg and mixing all the yolk, but it wasn’t noticeable in the overall flavour. The menu was not lying when it said it was tossed with fermented chilli, as this was probably the main flavour of the dish with some cheesiness added in. I didn’t enjoy these noodles as much as the rigatoni, but the rigatoni set an extremely high standard and chilli isn’t my usual go to. However, I still found these noodles addictive and it’s certainly another set of uncommon and inventive flavours.

Thick and chewy noodles tossed with fermented chilli, pork, smoked tasmanian cheddar, onsen egg, katsuobushi – $27 – dairy free option

Lastly, I will never say no to ending a meal with dessert, and this passionfruit crème brûlée tart easily exceeded my expectations. The balance of the passionfruit custard with the smooth vanilla cream and pistachio crunch was sensational. I was so full after all the dishes I’d already had but had no problems cleaning up this dessert plate. Hello Auntie often switch out the tart flavour to keep things interesting, and I’d certainly love to try some of their other flavours as well, such as yuzu or durian!

Passionfruit crème brûlée tart with vanilla cream – $15

It’s very easy for me to say that I was super impressed with my visit to Hello Auntie Darling Square, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole dining experience. The service was so accommodating and incredibly friendly, with the waiters and waitresses being very patient with my slow decision making and also being more than happy to offer suggestions. The highlights and must orders for me were the rigatoni, Banh Khot, and the crème brûlée tart. Definitely some amazing food to be had, and I would highly recommend that you #payyourauntieavisit for a memorable meal!

Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of Hello Auntie, but all opinions and photos are my own.

Hello Auntie| Shop 2/16 Nicolle Walk Darling Square, Haymarket NSW 2000 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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X23 Cafe, Chippendale

Date Visited: Sunday 6 October, 2019

I’ve been meaning to visit this cafe for awhile, as I love the idea of an Asian fusion inspired brunch. With elements such as pandan, sambal, chilli crab and rendang on their signature menu, it’s enough to get anyone’s mouth watering! I went with a friend on a Sunday morning around 11am and was surprised that the cafe was empty aside from one solo diner. Though it’s a fair walk from Central station and at a fairly obscure location, it’s a beautifully designed modern cafe that deserves more visitors. It got more busy closer towards lunchtime though, with the place almost full by the time we finished up.

Starting off with drinks, I chose one of the X23 specialty drinks, a taro latte with soy. This taro latte was extremely flavourful and definitely one of the better ones I have had. I was also pleasantly surprised with the super cute paw that was on the top! It was similar to a marshmallow lolly and was a really sweet addition.

My friend opted to try the winter special Mandarin orange oolong tea. Unfortunately, this was far below expectations as it did not have much flavour. It was very watery and we both struggled to taste the oolong or the orange. There were lots of sago balls at the bottom but those were also very plain. Even though it looks really pretty, we did not feel that it was worth the $7.

Mandarin orange oolong tea – $7 (left), taro latte – $4 (right), with soy – $0.5

X23 have a specialty menu and a more standard menu of brunch classics. I always feel that it is better to try the specialty dishes at any restaurant, so one of our first picks was the X23 red eggs. This was probably the most generous scrambled egg dishes I have ever had. Flavoured with homemade spicy sambal sauce, the eggs were certainly the star of the dish. I am super weak with chilli but it barely tasted spicy at all to me. Adding sambal into the classic scrambled eggs was such a clever and unique flavour combination that worked so well.

The portion size was so generous. I wonder how many eggs went into this dish because it certainly felt like a lot. The egg was so filling that I didn’t even really eat that much of the croissant. The few crab pieces were also good but I did not pay too much attention to it compared to the egg. As this is such a heavy dish, I would definitely struggle to finish it myself, but it’s a great one to share.

X23 red eggs – $19.5

Having recently returned from a Singapore trip, I have fallen in love with salted egg yolk, so the salted egg yolk prawn pasta was a must order. The black squid ink linguine with butter glazed prawns and mushrooms was presented strikingly against the yellow salted egg yolk. I really loved this dish. The linguine was deliciously immersed with the glorious salted egg yolk – you could really taste it. I can certainly see why this was marked as one of the suggested dishes to get and I can see why you would pay $29 for this. This was one of the dishes that we pretty much universally saw every table order.

The dish was also marked as being chilli, but it was not chilli at all. The prawns were also quite big and lovely, even though there were only four pieces. It looks like quite a small dish but there is quite a good amount of noodles once it is all unravelled. However, my friend claimed that our dish had less noodles than two of our neighbouring tables. I can’t confirm if this was actually true or if we loved it so much we just wanted more. This was the favourite dish for both my friend and I, and we both wholeheartedly agreed that we would return just for this dish.

Salted egg yolk prawn pasta – $29

We ordered a third dish because I really wanted to try the pandan waffles as well and I didn’t want to not order the eggs or the pasta. These pandan waffles with homemade kaya jam and vanilla ice cream were delicious. Sometimes cafes put ice cream with waffles just to have something hot and cold, but the pandan and vanilla actually complimented each other really well. Admittedly, the kaya was very subtle and not really noticeable, but the consistency of the waffles were perfect and this was another winning dish for me. The lychee and seasonal fruits were lovely as well.

Pandan-lah – $19.9

Having not brunched in over two months, this was definitely the way to get inspired again from Sydney’s brunch scene. The specialty menu is truly original and I love how X23 have rejuvenated the standard brunch dishes with some classic Asian flavours. With such a diverse menu, it is a strong way to stand out from other cafes. There were so many delicious sounding dishes that I would love to have also been able to try. The three dishes we ordered between two was definitely more than enough and we were both struggling at the end with no regrets. I greatly enjoyed my brunch at X23 and am a huge supporter of the Asian fusion concept.

X23 Cafe | 102/18 Park Lane, Chippendale NSW 2008 | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Flour Drum, Newtown

Date Visited: Monday 2 July, 2018

Newtown is full of amazing places to eat, but this time I travelled there to check out Flour Drum. It’s not the closest to Newtown train station, but it only made me more ready to eat by the time I got there. There’s three outdoor tables, but otherwise most of the seating is indoors. Luckily we managed to snag an outdoor table, which is always nicer for photography and also allows for people watching.

My friend and I both started off with a pot of tea each. I got sticky chai tea while my friend went with green jasmine tea. I felt like my chai tea was honestly a little watery, and not the best that I have had. Whilst it was nice for that chilly Winter day, I wouldn’t order the chai tea again as it missed the mark for me. I believe the green jasmine tea was better, but I can’t say too much since I didn’t drink all of it. The portion sizes for the tea is very generous for the price paid though, with enough to fill up the cup several times over.

Sticky chai tea – $5.5, green jasmine tea – $4.5

I feel like when a café or restaurant has a specials menu, it’s always wiser to order from that. Whilst so many of Flour Drum’s specials sounded delicious, the choice was obvious for us. If you’ve read any of my other brunch posts, it should by now be very clear that pancakes are my absolute love. I was super excited to try their banoffee buttermilk pancakes stack, with grilled caramelised Cavendish bananas, Dulce De Leche, toffee, whipped pure cream and mascarpone, toasted Anzac biscuit crumbles and maple syrup. That’s a long description, but the resulting dish was absolutely amazing.

There are four pancakes in the stack, so you do get your money’s worth for $24.5, which is not something I can say about every café’s pancakes. Even better, I think these might be my new favourite pancakes, as they were basically perfect! So fluffy, generously sweet and indulging, exactly the way I like my pancakes. The only thing that sticks out is that I think our one was missing the signature toffee disc, which was a bit disappointing, but otherwise these pancakes were so on point.

Banoffee buttermilk pancake stack – $24.5 – v

Also from the specials menu was the pappardelle pasta with lamb shank ragu. Flour Drum apparently hand rolls their pappardelle from premium Italian durum flour and Italian wheat flour, which is accompanied by an 8 hour slow braised South Australian lamb shank ragu, shallot, chilli infused olive oil and Cyprian volcanic black sea salt. I had high hopes for this pasta, and whilst it was pretty good, it didn’t quite hit the extraordinary wow category for me. Perhaps it was because it’s a weird mix sharing the really sweet pancakes with this pasta, but the flavour of this pasta didn’t blow me away.

Having said that, it was still super enjoyable to eat and I wouldn’t mind having it again. The lamb was definitely well cooked and tore apart super easily. It might be worth noting that I was sold on the pancakes while my friend actually liked this pasta more than the pancakes, so it could well be down to whether you prefer sweet or savoury food. This pasta was also a very generous serving, and compared to other brunch and pasta places, the pricing is not too bad for the portion and quality of the food.

Pappardelle pasta with lamb shank ragu – $24.5 

It’s been a long wait for me to try Flour Drum, but it was all worth it as soon as I took a bite of the pancakes. I hope these pancakes stay on the menu forever as I definitely need them again. Flour Drum serves up some really interesting fusion dishes as well, and I’d be keen to give some of their Asian inspired dishes a go to see how accurate the flavours are. The great thing about having such an extensive menu is that it gives people a reason to keep coming back!

Food aside, the service was fine, though we did have a little trouble waving over a waiter since we were sitting outside. Flour Drum is definitely going to become one of my favourites in Newtown!

Flour Drum | 531 King St, Newtown | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Mas.Que, St Leonards

Date Visited: Friday 15 June, 2018

This cafe has been popping up very often on Instagram, so naturally it meant that a visit was in order! Their menu seems super inventive and full of mixed fusion dishes, with their puppy dessert garnering the most attention – make sure you read to the end to find out how the puppy actually tasted! I went for a late Friday lunch, and we were seated at a table immediately. Most of the cafe was still full, so I imagine that on the weekend it would be absolutely packed.

To start with, Mas.Que does some incredible drinks and all three of us chose one of their specialty drinks to try. My friend ordered the brûlée latte with cinnamon stick, described as a funky way to have your latte. The presentation was definitely on point, and is probably how they can justify the $7.5 price for a latte. The waiter torched the hot drink in front of us and it was something cool to watch, since I haven’t seen this anywhere else. According to my friend, the latte itself was pretty average, so taste wise it wasn’t that special.

Brûlée latte with cinnamon stick – $7.5

Another popular drink is the magical, which is a natural colour changing drink with homemade flavour and lemonade. I really enjoyed this drink! It actually tasted so good that I wouldn’t mind paying $8 to have this again. I believe the blue liquid in the little perfume bottle consists of butterfly pea flower and pouring it into the drink makes it turn a lovely dark blue/purple. It didn’t actually change the flavour of the drink though. Fun fact is that you can add an alcohol shot to this for $6, which could potentially be really tasty, but I’ll have to try it some other time.

The magical – $8

My other friend decided to go for their dragon smoothie, which consists of dragon fruit, banana, apple, lime, honey, and coconut water. I’ve had quite a few smoothies in the past and this one was as good as the rest. The consistency was good and the kiwis on the side made for interesting presentation. I don’t think this was as ‘special’ as the other specialty drinks, but when you’re in the mood for a smoothie, it’ll definitely do the job!

Dragon smoothie – $10

Onto the more exciting part of the food we ate! Having seen this in pictures, I loved the idea of soft shell crab on gold sand congee. Trust me, this tastes as amazing as it looks! I’ve never had crab with congee before but this duck york golden crisp crab was absolutely delicious and us three girls devoured this bowl so incredibly fast. The congee itself was full of flavour and not boring at all. This might be the best congee I’ve ever had, and I’m already dreaming about having this again.

Soft shell crab on gold sand congee – $23

Next was their wagyu tataki and soba. Surprisingly, I don’t think I’ve ever had this dish before, though I know other Japanese places serve it too. I’ve never been the biggest fan of soba, preferring both ramen and udon, but I really loved this dish too. The wagyu tataki is pan-seared marble graded wagyu sirloin (M6+), and it was also topped with a Japanese onsen egg, so there was really no way this could go wrong. There was also a homemade soba sauce to go with it and it was mildly spicy, which gave the whole dish an extra kick. Eating the wagyu, egg yolk and soba together was super tasty and refreshing! I don’t think this dish alone would have been that filling though, so sharing with others or ordering an extra dish or drink might come in handy!

Wagyu tataki and soba – $25

The grand finale was of course the puppy dessert! This is made of nutella and chocolate mousse, and is filled with a honey sponge cake and garnished with biscuit and mixed fruits. After taking way too many photos of this insanely realistic puppy, I let my friend have the honour of cutting the puppy open. It actually tasted quite nice! My friend thought the mousse was a little dense but we imagine it’s necessary to hold the shape of the puppy together. There isn’t that much cake inside, but the little I did have was really yummy. Mixing the mousse with the biscuit crumbs and fruit made this a real delight to eat.

On their menu, it says they have limited stock of this, so that might be something to keep in mind when deciding when to visit. This puppy is also smaller than it looks, but for the novelty of it and the fact that it is actually an enjoyable dessert, $28 is not too bad.

My puppy – $28

Having lunch at Mas.Que was definitely an experience in itself. All three of the dishes we had were something I’d never had before, and I always love that about trying new places. The drinks were very special as well, and I really commend the cafe owners for creating such a unique menu that not only looks good, but tastes good as well! Given that they dabble in a few different cuisines, with some clear Asian influences, it’s even more impressive that the dishes we tried were all done so well.

One thing to note is that their service wasn’t the fastest. It took our drinks alone about 15 minutes to come and then another 10 or so minutes for the food. It’s not that bad, but considering it was past 2pm when we went, I feel like it would be even worse during weekend peak brunch time. Regardless, I wouldn’t hesitate to revisit to try more of their dishes or honestly just order the exact same dishes again as I enjoyed them so much. Located a couple minutes walk from St Leonards train station, this cafe is sure to remain a staple go to on the North Shore.

Mas.Que | 2/38 Albany St, St Leonards | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Meet Mica, Surry Hills

Date Visited: Sunday 11 March, 2018

This cafe was much hyped up last year, and has been on my food list for months. I remember hearing how ridiculous the crowds and lines were when Meet Mica first opened, so I suppose it’s a good thing it has taken me so long to actually try this place! When we arrived around 12pm, there was still a wait, and we got a table after 15-20 minutes. The cafe is pretty small, with not that many tables, so the number of customers they can serve at a time is limited.

The dish I was most excited to try was the lobster congee, as I have never had such a dish before. I really enjoyed it, and being a massive egg lover, the slow cooked egg in the middle was absolute perfection. Every spoonful of the runny egg yolk with the flavoursome congee was heavenly. The lobster meat was also really soft and seemed well-cooked. $28 is a steep price but I guess lobster is expensive, so overall I do think it was worth it. I pretty much licked the bowl clean.

Lobster congee – $28 – df

Another dish I saw all the time on Instagram was the matcha french lava toast. Definitely a very pretty dish, this also had some really nice flavours. It’s a fun dish as you can pour the matcha milk foam for the perfect Insta shot (unfortunately I’m not coordinated enough) or simply cut it up to see the lava oozing out. The toast was a bit dense for one person to finish, so the seasonal fruit on the side was a refreshing touch.

Matcha french lava toast – $18 – v

The crab and egg croissant was apparently much more delicious than the matcha toast. The crunchy croissant with soft scrambled eggs, crab meat, butter corn and fish roe was a winning combination. This was also very filling and was a dish that was really worth the price. One of the better croissants you can find in a cafe.

Crab and egg croissant – $22

I can see why this cafe has maintained its popularity since opening. The dishes are inventive and have a unique twist from your usual brunch dishes. Being Asian myself, I also like how some of the dishes seem a little Asian inspired, such as the congee. Not only is the food extremely aesthetic, everything also tasted great with some beautiful flavours. Service and ambience was also good, and I liked how open and light the space feels inside. Definitely a perfect brunch spot in Surry Hills and I can’t wait to revisit in a few months for another hearty, comforting meal.

Meet Mica | Shop 5, 492-500 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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