By Blackbird

Back to visiting our sinfully good friend, Blackbird, to try out some of their latest additions to their pastry collection. Their front counter has an amazing display of freshly baked produces and this time round, the pastry chef had been increasing the quantities of "kitchen exports" to cater for their growing customer base.

Strawberry and pistachio tart ~ aesthetically pretty and delicious! The pistachio cream does not taste strangely overpowering and blends in well with the frangipane filling.

Lemon tart ~ classics are always best when executed well. Smooth, creamy lemon filling encased in a buttery tart shell. Had to order another one after I finished this one!

Mushroom quiche ~ I like Blackbird for the fact that they do not compromise their quality standards to keep up with quantity. This mushroom quiche was love at first sight when I had it last year and it still tastes the same!

Mini tartlettes ~ I can't wait until Blackbird comes up with a tasting platter or even an afternoon high tea session:)

Apple pastry ~ flaky pastry and soft apple slices. I have upgraded from eating apple pies from McDonalds.

Chocolate croissant ~ multiple layered pastry which had probably been handled by the chef for hours, showcasing the chef's labour of love (which I shamefully finished in less than 5 minutes).

Astonish Patisserie

Alas, an opportunity to visit Astonish after what felt like ages since I indulged in a sinful piece of sweet! Have to admit that this trip was pretty unexpected as we had no idea where to head to after dinner in Chinatown. We could have gone to Dessert Story for Asian inspired desserts or Gelatissimo for gelato or even the newly opened St.Louis but perhaps another day. On the flip side, rumour has it that San Churros is opening another outlet in the heart of Chinatown soon? ;)

Astonish is not exactly located in the middle of Gouger Street but if you don't mind walking for at most 7 minutes, you are bound to find a very homely decorated dessert place that has an interesting array of wine selection to cater for the alcoholics out there. And by homely, I mean it. I felt at home just from starring at the book shelves and chimney (wonder if Santa Claus is going to make an appearance for Australia's Christmas in July?).

Iced  chocolate ~ Tasted fine to me although I preferred having the ice blended into finer pieces rather than having big ice cubes floating in my glass:)

Tiramisu ~ was craving for a good serving of tiramisu and got my wish granted! I enjoyed every bit of this and the only downside I could comment on is that it needs to come in a bigger pot!:(

Chocolate tart ~ Gotta admit that a lot of preparation went into constructing this dish but I personally felt that it did not need the white chocolate decor or a big plate to serve it in. Was a good tart on it's own:)

Chat Thai

After being filled with Japanese ramen on day 1, we decided to venture out of our comfort zone and sample some Thai food. I am secretly proud of Adelaide's Thai food standards and often wonder how would it fare compared to the ones from other states. Chat Thai sits on the top of my Sydney Thai food list and being conveniently located in the heart of the city, I made sure it was the only one I try if I am craving for it!

Knowing that most restaurants in the CBD area would be buzzing with the afternoon lunch crowd, we quickly brought ourselves here and managed to squeeze into a small table at the corner of the shop. Each plate of food that arrives at a table appeared vibrant and fresh; exactly how I like my Thai food to be!

The menu was very extensive and how I wished I  could try most of the dishes. I was very unfamiliar with the interesting variety of dishes Chat Thai has to offer! If only I have not been snacking too much before lunch, otherwise I would have gladly ordered myself a few dishes and a steaming bowl of rice, of course:)

Ki mao ~ Stir fry rice noodles with chicken, chilli and holy basil in dark soy sauce. My first impression of the dish? Loaded with chilli and luckily I can tolerate hot food pretty decently but be warned if you have a low threshold! After a few bites, I found the noodles to be a tad oily for my preference but overall, I did enjoy it. Definitely not the same as the one I had in Adelaide but still packed with flavour:)

Khao Mhu Daeng ~ assiette of pork with pickled plum, lemongrass sauce and rice. Generous portions provided and I like how the chef ensures there's sufficient gravy to mix your rice with. Was yummy and pork was not dry!:)

I love the amazing variety of dishes available here and if I do drop by Sydney again in the future, would certainly head here, but with more backup tummies, that is!

N2 Extreme gelato and Laduree

I like how I am ending this write up about my first day in Sydney on a topic that I am most familiar with aka SUGAR. As usual, my inner child personality wanted to taste the sweeter side of life and made it a point to visit these places whilst I am within walking distance.

So after our ramen dinner, we went strolling around and behold, we stumbled upon a gelato shop! Strangely enough, you cannot see what flavours you are choosing from (aside from the menu on the walls) and I felt blindfolded! The sister decided to chose our flavour and I was glad she did as I was clearly overwhelmed with choices :S

I am still quite puzzled with a particular saying on the board which implied that customers do not need to get 2 scoops of gelato as 1 would be sufficient. Well....I wouldn't mind a bit more if I have not had snacked too much along the way hehe:)

I wouldn't mind working in this quirky and experimental kitchen myself:)

This is a scoop of gelato and it was big for $6 (from memory). Yummy indeed and can be considered fresh (?) as it was prepared upon request:) Wished I had time to sample their other flavours too!



As most of you know, Laduree opened up in Sydney and despite being put off a bit with the pricing of the macarons, I found it hard to resist the urge of getting a few just for sampling purposes. The entire set up had this high-tea posh-ness feel to it and the front counter displayed some very pretty baked goods. I would like to explore French patisseries more but for now, this will just have to do.

Do be warned that it is going to cost more to dine in as compared to doing a takeaway. I have bought 6 macarons from them and well...I kinda wished they had given me a box to prevent them from breaking because they are so freaking expensive! Ah wells....

Salted caramel~ despite reading other food blogs review on Laduree's macarons, I found their macarons to be just right in terms of texture and flavour. I daresay some of our local macaron chefs can give Laduree a run for their money but all in, it was still a lovely piece of sugar. Not too dry as I had expected it to be.. at least it was worth the $$ I spent on it:)

Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe

If you know me very well, you can probably guess that I have compiled a list of dessert places to check out whilst in Sydney. GuyLian was not on my list but fate somehow brought us together as I was strolling along a busy row of restaurants after dinner. I immediately dragged the sister in with me despite noting that the items on display were a little more expensive for dine-ins as compared to takeaways. The YOLO feats I do *sigh*

It was difficult trying to decide between a yummy looking tart or a pretty looking piece of cake. I must have stood at the counter for what felt like hours! Finally made up my mind and opted for the tart although looking back at the pictures, I wished I could fit in a cake as well!:)

This has got to be one of the fanciest chocolatier shops I have ever visited!

The sister wanted to have a piece of chocolate and eat it to. So she did..an alcoholic one it was.

Could not resist having a cuppa of hot chocolate and I love how there's chunky bits of chocolate floating in the jug (slowly melts away with continuous stirring). Anddddd... you get a piece of chocolate to wrap up an already chocolate-y ending!:)

I had one of their chocolate tarts and it was deliciousssss... rich, dark chocolate layer and crumbly tart pastry served with strawberry coulis. So sinful and yet so irresistible.

Probably a very nice place for couples to head to as the entire restaurant's ambience is just stunning!:)

Gumshara Ramen

After wandering around the malls in Sydney (Westfield shopping centre is a must go!), we stopped by our hotel to freshen up before heading to Chinatown to feed ourselves for the night. I have read a lot of positive reviews on Gumshara Ramen which prompted me to whiz there soonest possible!

Was a little tricky trying to find this particular food court but we managed to in the end. Thankfully, it was not extremely crowded (must have been because we sneaked in before the dinner crowd arrives) and were able to place an order without waiting in line:)

Honestly, there were too many different bowls of ramen to choose from but regardless of which variation you get, you are most likely going to have their awesome broth! Yes, their broth is unique. All the required broth ingredients must have been brewing for hours to achieve that wonderfully thick and rich stock. As the picture depicts, they were quite generous with the amount of meat provided and diners can have as much side toppings as they want. We had the pickled ginger, roasted garlic and chilli oil dipping sauce. Yummy!

The ramen noodles itself were thin and had adsorbed quite a lot of the stock liquid. Consumed with some freshly chopped spring onions, this is a clear winner for the price!:)

Ippudo

One of the reasons I have not been updating my blog as much would be *drum rolls* that I have been exploring a different region and hence, am constantly glued to the computer trying to filter through the good and ugly pictures. And goodness me, am I a camera nazi or what?!

Will ramble more about what I actually did in Sydney in a separate post. For now, let's focus on the food part! I have done some research on urbanspoon on whereabouts is good for a quick bite and have came up with a small list of must-try places. Ippudo, being one of them.

This place is located in one of the busier shopping districts and hence, do note that it can get extremely packed with diners. The sister and I managed to squeeze in and settled in nicely with the Sydney lunch crowd:)

Service is quick and efficient although it may be a tad too noisy in the restaurant. The things I do for food, ey?

Ippudo pork bun ~ I had envisioned this to be similar to the barbequed pork versions that I get from Malaysia and boy, was I wrong. The pork was marinated well and to me, the bun was the star of this dish as it was very light and fluffy!

Shiromaru Motoaji ~ Ippudo's original tonkatsu served with thin ramen noodles, black mushroom, pork loin and garnished with spring onions. Was a bit disappointed when this hit our table as for $15, I was expecting at least more than 1 piece of pork loin =/ The broth was indeed thick and the noodles were probably one of the thinnest ones I have had so far.

Unagi don ~ Unagi  served with rice and garnished with shredded pieces of seaweed. Not too bad although I was hoping for a bit more unagi on the rice. From memory, this bowl costs approximately $10 and it wasn't a large one.

Overall, I may have ordered the wrong items on the menu but if I do pop by Sydney in the future, might give this another go?:)

 

Bracegirldes encore!

I have blogged about Bracegirdles before so here's a little mini, bonus post dedicated to one of my favourite chocolate shops in Adelaide. Not only do they offer a huge variety of chocolates, but also an equally extensive range of desserts as well.

If having a chocolate fondue does not tickle your fancy, how about a luscious piece of mudcake or a light, fluffy waffle instead? Feeling a tad parched? Hot chocolate or coffee? :)

I was adventurous (or too sleepy) one day and decided to have an affogato shot. Yep, sure did wake me up after that.

Almond croissant ~ not exactly the fluffiest ones I have had but I do like a sticky and dense one at times:)

Alas, my absolute must have at Bracegirdles - a piece of waffle with vanilla ice cream, chopped strawberries and a small pot of warm, melted chocolate to drizzle over the entire plate. Probably best consumed whilst the chocolate is still warm otherwise it may harden up and that won't be an appealing foodie moment at all:/