COOH, Alexandria

Date Visited: Sunday 25 March, 2018

I have wanted to try this cafe for the longest time, and finally managed to visit for Sunday brunch. The place was busy, and we had to wait somewhere between 10-20 minutes for a table. The menu has so many options for dairy free eaters like myself, including quite a few vegan options. I already knew what I wanted to order before arriving, and that was their dairy free pancakes.

The dish is a large buckwheat coconut and berry pancake topped with seasonal fruit, organic coconut yoghurt and toasted coconut chips. Whilst dairy free, be aware it does contain eggs and nuts. This was such a delicious pancake and I loved devouring all of it. The pancake doesn’t look like too much, but looks can be deceiving, and I actually found this to be really filling. I loved how pretty the dish was, how the fruit added such lovely colours to the dish and how healthy it tasted for a pancake. This definitely makes my top 3 dairy free pancakes list! I’m salivating at the thought of eating these again.

Buckwheat pancake – $22 – df, gf

Aside from my one true love of pancakes, I also really enjoy fritters for brunch. The fact that COOH has dairy free fritters was perfect for me, and these were served with tomato relish, avocado and corn salsa with house cured king ora salmon. There was also the choice to get free range nitrate free bacon or haloumi instead of salmon. I’m glad we went with the salmon because the salmon was of a really high quality. I really enjoyed this dish tremendously as well, and there is nothing I can fault about the fritters. The consistency of the fritters was perfect, and tasted so good with the tomato relish, avocado and corn salsa. This is the kind of brunch I would love to have every day.

Zucchini buckwheat fritters – $22 – df, poached egg – $3

Even though adding an ethical free range poached egg cost $3, which is really quite expensive for one egg, I simply could not resist. Poached eggs are my absolute brunch weakness and it completes any dish. See below for fabulous yolk porn. There is honestly nothing better than a runny poached egg.

Last of all, the drinks! Well, to be honest, they were the first things that come to the table, but I always figure people want to read about food first. However, the two drinks we ordered were definitely highlights of the meal as well. My favourite colour is blue so it was no brainer to get COOH’s vegan butterfly blue latte. It’s a nutritional caffeine free latte that consists of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom butterfly pea flower, and almond milk. This is exactly the kind of warm drink I love to enjoy with my brunch and butterfly pea flower lattes are becoming really popular lately in cafes.

The other drink was the even more inventive vegan peanut butter latte. Have you ever had such a drink? The menu described the drink as espresso, peanut butter and coconut blended together to create a creamy dreamy vegan heaven, and dreamy heaven it was! Personally I’m not a fan of any kind of coffee, including espresso, but my friend thought this was a really unique and tasty drink, with the right amount of balance between the espresso and peanut butter. It’s so amazing that both these drinks are vegan!

COOH’s vegan butterfly blue latte – $5 (front), COOH’s vegan peanut butter latte – $5 (back)

I adored this cafe and COOH is without a doubt definitely a place that I have to visit again. I saw about 10 other things on their breakfast and lunch menu that I wanted to try, especially because they were dairy free and/or vegan! I would also love to experience their dinner menu. The food was all so aesthetic and delicious, and service was on point.

COOH is very spacious, with a lot of tables so it would be such a great place for a group gathering, although you should probably book ahead. The lighting inside COOH was a little dim, not helped by the fact that there wasn’t any sun outside. I struggled a little with taking photos, so my flatlay didn’t turn out so well, but luckily photo editing helped with the rest. All in all, COOH embodies what brunch is all about, and I can’t wait to go back.

COOH | 90-96 Bourke Rd, Alexandria | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Night Noodle Markets 2017, Hyde Park

Date visited: Wednesday, 11 October 2017

This is my third time going to the Night Noodle Markets and every year I am as excited as ever. There’s just something that I really enjoy about having so many choices of foods and being able to try unusual foods that I’ve never eaten before or don’t get the opportunity to eat often normally.

Got there just after 6pm, and whilst I knew there were a few things that had piqued my interest, I didn’t really have a set plan of what to eat. Since I was starving and POKLOL was one of the first stalls I saw, we headed straight there. I had really fond memories of the Korean tacos from last year so I just wanted to enjoy them again, which I definitely did. Could have gotten 3 tacos for $20, but in an attempt to save tummy space for more food, we got 2 for $15, one bulgogi beef and one chilli chicken. I enjoyed the bulgogi beef more while my boyfriend enjoyed the chilli chicken more, but both were delicious!

POKLOL: Korean tacos (chilli chicken, bulgogi beef) – $15

Next I wanted to try Cloud Thief’s new school trifecta baos (barbeque plum beef spare rib, chilli soft shell crab, oriental buttery mushroom). I loved the ideas of them, but I didn’t like them as much as the classic baos of pork belly, chicken, etc. The mushroom and rib ones were a bit tough to chew, so a little hard to share. I wasn’t very keen on the sauce on the crab one, but despite these flaws, I still ate all the baos with happiness.

Cloud Thief: new school trifecta baos – $20

We then decided to try the soft shell crab po boy from House of Crabs. This was personally my least favourite item, but a major disclaimer that I am not someone who enjoys chilli food. Since this was covered in chilli sauce, it was a bit too much for me, but if you like your chilli then I’ve heard plenty of positive feedback. Despite this, I can say that I felt this was one of the better value items to buy. For $15 you get quite a generous amount of crab and there’s a lot of bread so this is actually very filling. Since I made my boyfriend eat two thirds of it, he was already full after this.

House of Crabs: soft shell crab po boy – $15

A friend recommended I try Churken’s chicken, and since I adore chicken, I followed the advice. They had 3 flavours but I picked the me soy honey flavour. This was one of my favourites as the chicken was so juicy inside and drenched in flavour with the soy honey glaze on the outside. It was also a massive winner for value for money in my opinion. This was supposed to be the small size, costing $14 (large was $25), but this serving had around 8 or so chicken wings/drumsticks. This was way more than enough since I pretty much indulged in these all by myself. It was so finger-licking good, but I also can’t help feeling that it’s undone all my hard work exercising over the past week.

Churken: me soy honey chicken (small) – $14

Dessert time! My boyfriend had a hard time deciding but ended up trying Aunty Tomsu’s cheesecake (Japanese cheesecake, strawberry & cherry blossom cream, strawberry meringue, strawberries, strawberry gelato). For $12, the portion size gets a pass, and my boyfriend seemed to enjoy it, but it didn’t exceed his expectations. To him, it felt like he had tried better gelato elsewhere, and the cheesecake tasted more like plain cake than ‘cheesecake’.

Messina Gelato: Aunty Tomsu’s cheesecake – $12

Lastly, I had to have a look at what Nutie Donuts had to offer because I absolutely love donuts, but I’ve never really had anything other than cinnamon donuts. Having heard plenty about this place, it was especially enticing because everything they had was vegan (and hence dairy free)! I was way too full at this point to eat anything more, but I had to buy something because their home in Balmain is too much of a trek for me. I decided to get the deluxe donut (Hong Kong bird’s nest donut delicacy: coconut crusted mango donut with a surprise “egg” donut hole) and the yuzu and lychee donut, and they nicely gave me a paper bag to take these away in.

I tried these the day after, and they were incredibly heavenly. If I had no concern for my health, I definitely could endlessly devour these donuts because every bite was addictive and made me want to keep eating. I couldn’t really taste the mango or lychee in their respective donuts though, but I can still confirm that the hype around Nutie Donuts is worth it. I really want to go back and try their vegan ice cream cookie sandwiches now!

Nutie Donuts: deluxe donut – $11 (left), yuzu and lychee donut – $7 (right)

The Night Noodle Markets provides the perfect date night opportunity for a foodie like me. Maybe it was because we went on a Wednesday night, or because we didn’t go to the really popular stalls, but the lines were honestly not bad at all. We didn’t have to line up for most of them, and even for Messina we only lined up for 2-3 minutes. I kind of want to visit the markets again before it ends on 22 October, as there are still more dishes I want to try (Harajuku Gyoza’s long fries, Taiwanese Noodle House’s noodles, Nutie Donuts’ vegan ice cream cookie sandwiches…), but I guess I’ll have to see if I can find the time.

In terms of cost, the total spent on everything above was $94, which is a lot of money for one night. My boyfriend and I were both super full, but it’s still pricey at $38 per person (when you exclude the cost of the donuts that I kept for the next day). However, I maintain that it’s worth it for one night of the year, and I can sympathise with the costs that must be involved in running the markets. The Night Noodle Markets are an iconic event and I’ve enjoyed myself for three years running now.

Night Noodle Markets – Good Food Month | Hyde Park, Sydney, NSW | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Earth to Table, Bondi Junction

Date visited: Sunday 8 October, 2017

Earth to Table is a short walk from Bondi Junction train station, so it’s convenient to get to. One word to describe the inside of the cafe would be homely. In terms of food, if a cafe has vegan and/or dairy free options, it’s already got a big tick from me. So when I can eat everything on Earth to Table’s menu, it’s definitely super exciting. There were a lot of options, and I had an especially tough time choosing a drink.

I ended up picking the Shepherd’s pie because I’ve never eaten Shepherd’s pie before, and from what I saw on Instagram, the presentation looked interesting. It’s made from a mix of 10 vegetables topped off with a cauliflower mash, sweet potato chips and zucchini gravy. No regrets. It tasted great, the vegetables, mash and gravy worked well together, and though it looked small, it did end up filling me okay. I wouldn’t really call the sweet potato sticks ‘chips’, and they were a bit tough to chew at times, but they did add a nice crunch to the dish.

Shepherd’s pie – $19.90

My friend ordered the berry acai bowl (blend of acai, berries and banana topped with organic GRAWnola). Compared to other cafes, this acai bowl is pretty average. However, if you like acai bowls, then you’ll definitely enjoy this one too. The flavour was spot on, with a good amount of fruit and crunchy granola.

Berry acai bowl – $14.90

Lastly, the drinks! We both ended up opting for organic smoothies. My choice was the pink dragon smoothie (pink pitaya, mango, berries, baobab and coconut water) while my friend got the give me beauty smoothie (coconut mylk, berries, banana, macqui and vanilla). The pink dragon smoothie in particular is very pricey, even though I did enjoy it. Both tasted really nice, just with different emphasis on the fruit flavouring, so I would have equally enjoyed the slightly cheaper smoothie.

Give me beauty smoothie – $9.50, pink dragon smoothie – $11.90

Like many cafes, eating out here does leave a dent in the wallet, with the total bill being $56.20 for two people. I feel like you often do have to pay a premium for vegan/dairy free food, so I guess it’s worth it. A downside I’ve pointed out about some cafes that was also evident at Earth to Table is that the portion sizes aren’t huge, so if you are a big eater or very hungry, you will probably not last. As a relatively small eater, even with my smoothie and pie, I was only satisfied, and not yet very full.

The service was on point and always seemed ready, coming by right when we were ready to order. Ultimately, this was another positive cafe experience, and I would not hesitate to come back and try more dishes and drinks.

Earth to Table | 85 Bronte Rd, Bondi Junction | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Hills Organics, Dural

Date visited: Sunday 10 September 2017

When I discovered there was a relatively new healthy wholefoods organic cafe in the Hills area, I was pretty excited. Even more so after stalking the Instagram photos. I absolutely love organic wholefood cafes because I always have so much choice on the menu, compared to normal cafes where I’m usually restricted to only one or two dishes.

Even though we were there for lunch, I had to treat myself to the vegan waffles. I am a massive sucker for vegan pancakes (as being lactose intolerant, I can never have pancakes in most cafes) and I have never tried waffles before in my life! This was the perfect opportunity to give them a go. Having had several amazing vegan pancakes before, I was hoping these vegan waffles would be a delight, and they more than lived up to my expectations.

Vegan waffles – $18 ($16, add $2 for Cocowhip)

I really enjoyed the dish as the flavours were all great and the strawberries and banana were a nice touch. I also tried it with Cocowhip (vegan, dairy free ice cream made from coconut milk) as I’d never had it before, and found it was quite refreshing and went well with the waffles. I think the waffles would still taste great without it though!

The other dish we ordered was the paleo benny, which had two poached eggs, vegan hollandaise sauce, paleo bread and sauerkraut. The eggs were cooked perfectly, and I was in heaven tasting the runny yolk combined with the ‘hollandaise’ sauce. Another dish I would happily eat again.

Paleo benny – $18 (special)

As I’m also fairly new to the cafe and drinks scene, I also decided to try a turmeric latte for the first time. As the regular is $5 and the large is 50c more with a good upsize, I thought I may as well take a leap of faith and ordered the large. I can’t compare it to other turmeric lattes since it was my first one, but I enjoyed this one! It definitely had a very unique flavour and to be honest, it didn’t really go with my vegan waffles, but that’s my fault.

Turmeric latte – $5.50 (large)

All in all, I definitely enjoyed my experience at this cafe and can see myself coming back here to try out more of their dishes. I really like how their menu says that pretty much every dish can be made vegetarian or vegan to suit your needs. One thing to note would be that the service wasn’t the fastest. The cafe was less than half full and it took them 20 minutes to come out with both dishes. I thought the wait was on the borderline side of acceptable and worth it for the deliciousness, but I’m not sure what it would be like at peak hours with all tables full.

The only other thing I would say is that the portion sizes aren’t huge, so whilst the vegan waffles were enough to fill me up, if you’re a bigger eater, you’ll find that dishes like the paleo benny won’t be quite enough. However, perhaps a smoothie, drink or one of the vegan desserts will get you there. If not, the cafe also includes a small store part with a nice selection of organic foods, so you can always buy more healthy food to eat! Overall, I had a positive experience here and would recommend the food.

Hills Organics | Shop 12, 286-288 New Line Road, Dural, NSW | Website | Facebook | Instagram

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