Le Monde Cafe, Surry Hills

Catching up with good friends over a meal is always a fun affair and this time, it was a last minute invite from Hubes to join him and a few others for brunch at one of his favourite cafes.

The neat layout of the cafe drew my attention immediately. The tall tables were lined with magazines for those waiting for their takeaways or just wanting to have a quick cuppa before heading off. Smack in the middle is another row of tables which seats about 12 people facing each other. Along the 3 sides of the wall were table of 2s for those wanting a little 'privacy'.

The staff here are really attentive and friendly. In no time, my skim flat white was served.
I notice on the wall behind the barista that he had an assortment of coffee beans including kopi luwak. Asking him what he pulled for me today, I was told it was a house blend.
I  think the barista's head was probably tilted a little to the left when pouring this. heheeh

I tried to get a babychino review from 3yr old Dean but failed to get a word out of him. This was surprising as he wouldn't keep his mouth shut about dinosaurs, rockets and gorillas before he got his drink! Judging from his unwavered attention to spooning all the chocolate syrup into his mouth, I shall take it that he enjoyed it thoroughly.

bad photo. Potato Rosti with smoked salmon, spinach, feta, poached eggs, hollandaise & pistachio ($16)

I didn't ask Lou for a bite of her dish but using my other senses, I heard the crack when she cut through the potato rosti which revealed a steaming pile of shredded potato. When sliced, the poached egg yolk flowed out like a river of gold. Apparently this is her go-to dish whenever she visits this place. Writing this now, I want some potato rosti too!!!

poached eggs with haloumi, avocado, lemon, truffle oil and toast(16)

WN commented on how she enjoyed this dish. Two perfectly poached eggs sitting atop thick slices of avocado and haloumi. The toast itself was drizzled generously with truffle oil giving it a nice aftertaste. It was mentioned that the haloumi was not overly salty nor chewy.

Pork belly with poached eggs, avocado salsa, cherry tomato, garlic puree, radish pickles, watercress& toast ($16)

 What pretty plating. Seeing the speed of which Hubes, smashed it down, he must have really liked it. Then again, Hubes likes anything with pork in it. :P Once again, the egg was perfectly poached and the pork looked super tender as it was sliced up and vacuumed into my good friend. 

Smoked house chilli bacon with chilli jam, mayo, fried egg, avocado on a brioche bun ($13)

For a moment, it crossed my mind whether I could squish the burger down and fit it in my mouth. I decided against it and commenced the deconstruction process.

Chilli Jam with bacon goes SO well together. It cuts away a little of the saltiness to it. Anything with a brioche bun is always a treat and this was put to good use at the end to wipe up any leftover egg yolk on the plate. What impressed me the most was the egg! It was fried so that it could stay in the burger but the top layer was translucent enough to see through. Cutting it in half, the yolk had an almost jelly-like form as I took bits of every other ingredient to form a mouthful of goodness. I would recommend this dish to anyone.

Le Monde impressed me! The staff are ever so friendly and attentive. Our glasses of water were never empty. Their own blend of coffee tasted good and the service was fast. There were a number of other dishes that I am keen try so this is definitely a place that I'll be putting on my list of cafes to revisit. 

Good job Le Monde Cafe!  :)

Le Monde Cafe
Address : 83 Foveaux St, Surry Hills
Opening hours
Mon - Fri : 6:30am to 4pm
Sat : 7:30am - 2pm
website / Google map

Dear Delicious, Dulwich Hill

Mornings like last Sunday should be spent at  home, with a whole lotta junkfood, a few movies and a thick quilt....but nooooo, my bodyclock had to wake me up at 8am and my stomach asked to be fed. My brain used 'the force' on me and said that I had no desire to make pancakes at home but instead to go check out some place new.  It was against my will! 

It was pouring down with rain and as much as I wanted to take a picture of the shop front, I couldn't be bothered as my umbrella was already at risk at being blown inside out. So here's a photo of their logo instead. :P

I like the interior of DD. It's lovely high ceilings and spacious interior gives it a sense of spaciousness. It's kid friendly with colouring books and crayons in 1 corner of the room. There's even a massive round table at the back for those with large groups.

errr...constellation latteart? No I did not stir it.

Coffee at DD is pretty good, serving up a SingleOrigin of a unknown brand, I had no complaints except that, I didn't get any sort of pretty fern leaf, loveheart, hello kitty or even a round blob of milk! I mean, we were there just before 9am and the place wasn't even half full. Their FB page boasts of latteart photos so one would think that the barista would have put a little bit more effort in? Anyhow, I still drank my coffee as it was a good one. :)

Croque Monsieur with free range ham and horsradish clotted cream n fried egg ($15.90)

The missus thought this dish was a pretty good but halfway through changed her mind as the flavours of salt and the sourness of the clotted cream overpowered the dish. The bread which came from Brickfields was throughly enjoyed though, so thumbs up to them! :)

Gypsy baked eggs - smoked hazelnut dukkah, bacon, tomato, feta, eggplant ($18)

This dish had the right balance of flavours to it. Not one ingredient overpowered the other and I would happily order this dish again if I revisited DD. The only constructive feedback I would give would be the plating. It was slightly tricky to cut up the bacon pieces on the already cramped plate without knocking the bread onto the table. I ended up mashing everytthing in the bowl up and tearing the bread up with my hands.

Dear Delicious is the new kid on the Dulwich Hill block and definitely has potential. 2 customers (and myself) were served dishes that we didn't order and to me this is a no-no especially when the cafe was only half full.

On a positive, the waitresses were always cheerful and the food was pretty good overall.
So with that, let's see how they fare with time.

Dear Delicious
Address : 245 Wardell Rd, Dulwich Hill
Opening hours : 
Facebook / webpage (which has no content yet)

The pig & pastry, Petersham

I've always had a bit of a chuckle whenever I drive by this cafe. 6months has gone by and I've finally decided to give it ago and it looks like I've picked the right day. It was their one year anniversary :) Right outside the cafe, they set up a table with mulled wine served and a spit roast going on for those who just wanted to take something away and sit in the park whilst soaking up the sun. Across the road, there was a little kiddie petting zoo going on much to the enjoyment of kids and parents alike.

At 9am in the morning, it was dead easy for us to get a table and the first thing I noticed was that every staff member had a pig painted on their faces. I should have taken a photo.

 Today, the missus and I both ordered skim flat whites. It was nothing much to shout about but decent enough to not complain.

First dish up was the eggs bennie with salmon. This was served on top of soft fluffy toasted brioche and the missus gives her thumbs up here.

Eggs benedict on toasted brioche with salmon $15.50

 Whilst I was busy taking photos of the above, my Sweet corn fritters turned up. Now there's only 2 ways that I like eating my bacon. Either super crispy and not dripping in oil, or rindless and tender. It was the former today. I guess you could say it was a given seeing how the dish DID state 'crispy bacon'.  I poked my fork through it and it broke into little pieces. AWESOMEEEE!!! This would go well with the other soft textured items on the plate.

Sweet corn fritters with a poached egg, crispy bacon & avocado salsa

The Corn fritter was delicious with a slight crunch on the outside but soft and sweet inside. Avocado anything is good and lastly the egg. Where do I start! It was worthy enough to make a collage which I stuck up on instagram. I also made a little animated gif but thought that was going a little overboard so decided against uploading it. Anyhow, check out the below!

oozing out like lava

Bottomline was that I thoroughly enjoyed spreading abit of avocado salsa on a slice of corn fritter, mopping abit of eggy goodness  on it and adding a few crunchy bits of bacon  for abit of texture. mmm mmmmm....

We didn't stop there! Checking out the display unit, we just HAD to get something so between us we shared the following

baked green apples a thin crust pizza base? Sorry, no idea. :P

salted chocolate chip cookie

 The baked green apple pizza (i'm just gonna call it that) was pretty good. It wasn't overly sweet and had just the right amount of tartness to it.

If you've ever had a chocolate chip cookie from West Juliett, then you'd know what this one tastes like. It was quite large so we broke it down to smaller pieces. What I loved most about it is that the chocolate chips were still soft and semi-melted. The cookie made for a sweet and satisfying way to end our brunch. 

Across the road, we saw animals of all sorts. lambs, babygoats, guinea pigs, ducks, chicks, rabbits and even the cutest little piglet I've ever seen!

it was so cuuuuuuuuuuuteeeeee!!!!!!!!!

Squeeling away, the keeper had to pick it up and apply sunscreen to him(her?). I want a pet miniature pig now!

I never knew how docile rabbits could be when they're in a little bag. All the keeper needed to do was to put these large rabbits into small sacks and just passed them to the kids to hang on to.

As opposed to some places in the inner west, PnP is able to cater for larger crowds and I can foresee myself organizing something here with my other friends in the near future.

The Pig and Pastry

Address : 1 Station Street, Petersham

opening hours : Mon to Fri 7:30am - 4:00pm (closed Tues)

                           : Sat to Sun 8:00am - 4:00pm

Google Maps / Website / Facebook

The Grumpy Barista, Petersham

With a name like The Grumpy Barista, I just had to visit the place and see if he really was grumpy ...and to check the food out as well of course! 

Pretty damn chilly when in the shade. Try to sit inside during winter.

We had a late start to the day as Friday night was pretty boozy and alcohol fueled. Whilst waiting outside we saw the menu lying close-by and decided to check it out. I've mentioned this in previous posts about how I give points to cafes that try doing things differently be it good or bad. In this case, I liked how they gave their menu that rustic look. The hanging signboard was of a furry moustache too! I wanted touch it for some strange reason...

The rustic menu. The torn bits at the top were purely coincidental I think.

lol!

the cosy inside can seat 20 odd people.

Cool stool.

Can't remember the name. Grilled chicken sandwich?

This weekend, WN decided to go for something a little more plain so she ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. I forgot to take note of what was on the menu. oops. On the inside it had spinach, grilled chicken, pumpkin, homemade relish and abit of aioli sauce. This dish didn't really impress her as the sourdough bread was not toasted so it didn't have that nice crunch. The pumpkin pieces were chopped into large cubes which made it slightly tricky to handle. The taste wasn't bad but it failed to impress the missus. 

The Italian Pot

Looking through the menu, I decided to go for the eggplant stack. 5 minutes into sipping my coffee, the waitress returned to say that they've ran out of eggplant. No problems here. I always have a backup dish and asked for the "Italian Pot". 5 minutes passed again and the waitress returned to say that they've ran out of mushrooms. This ingredient was replaced with eggplant (hang on, I thought they told me earlier that there's none left??) Turns out they use different type of eggplants for both these dishes. 

The Italian pot consisted of baked eggs, eggplant, chorizo and a chilli/tomato sauce, sprinkled with parmesan cheese on top. I really liked the tomato sauce as it wasn't too tangy and had an almost sweet like. The egg was still nice and runny and the chorizos added a good salty kick with each mouthful. With this dish, I tore up my toasted sourdough bread into bite sized pieces and drown them in the mixture. Once soaked through I took large spoonfuls of the goop and smashed this dish down. 

We wanted to end this meal with a cronut but because it was already so late(12:30pm), they ran out of it. 

The Grumpy Barista is another addition to a somewhat quiet suburb. The coffee is excellent and the food was not bad. Definitely worth a visit however do dress up warmly just in case you get the outdoor seats during winter. 

The Grumpy Barista

Address : 110 Audley Street, Petersham

Opening hours : Mon - Sat,  7am - 3pm

Google map

Aslan Coffee, St Peters

Aslan Coffee is a place that I drive by quite regularly.  I've always thought it was humorous to name your cafe after a character from the series of Narnia books. The owner must be a massive fan. 

rawr

Located just off May street near St Peters station lies this little cafe. Whilst small in size, the one thing they are big on, is their coffee.

Always good to know what time it is in Bali

skim milk makes for tricky latte art

The aroma of coffee beans drew us to sit inside the shop with it's red bright walls. From what I saw, most of their customers came by to get takeaway. There were the occasional 'compliments to the barista' as well (Good job Ryan!) :) I like the fact that you can place orders via text message... Good for the person who's on the move. 

Ryan hard at work.

When it got a little quiet, I had a chat with Ryan, Aslans barista about their beans. Now I'm probably not going to do him justice and get this wrong but from what I understood, the boss (who is Indonesian)  sources for his coffee beans from his home country, testing out different regions to find the best one possible. In the past few months, they've purchased Bali coffee beans whilst still green and have been experimenting with different ways of roasting them in-house. For a more information about their coffee, do visit their website. Their story's actually pretty cool!

The Roastmax

Breakfast choices here is pretty limited and it was amusing to see Beef Rendang on the menu. I chuckled and ordered it! Maybe next time, you could also add Martabak Manis to your menu as a sweet treat!! :)

Beef Rendang ($12.50)

The beef was pretty good, really tender and had a good kick of spice to it. Perfect for a winters morning. Brown rice was served and this was cooked well. I would have preferred the salads to be replaced with green beans or something else stir-fried to go with the whole asian theme.. 

Breakfast roll on organic mini soft baguettes ($9.50)

WN had the breakfast roll in a mini baguette. No complaints from her. 

I forgot to mention earlier that there was also an assortment of cakes and pastries too which they get from Lux Bakery in Newtown. I took a photo of but it turned out pretty bad. :P I blame my super slow Iphone 4.... (note to self - please buy yourself a new phone)

Social marketing is the way to go in this day and age.

Overall, I'd come back here for a takeaway coffee any day. The staff are friendly and the coffee is good. I'm going to save their number down for when I do drive by again sometime in the future. 

Aslan Coffee
Address : 1 Council Street, St Peters, New South Wales, 2044
Opening hours : 
   Mon to Fri : 7:00am - 2:30pm
   Saturday   : 8:00am - 2:00pm
Google map / Facebook / Website 

It Happens To Be A Secret, St Peters

My initial plan was to have coffee at one of my wishlist places but I failed to check their opening hours. Closed on Sundays. Boooo! Nevermind, there are plenty of  other 'cafes' out there in the sea. That's when I stumbled across a quaint little place called "It Happens To Be A Secret"

Love the wall art!

Situated just past the southern most side of Newtown and walking distance from St Peters station lies this cafe. Points have to be given to Bo the owner for coming up with such a name and if that isn't catchy enough, the wall art of the 'shushing girl' would! She's spraypainted on most of the wooden tables. Maybe an idea would be to place this logo on their napkins and takeaway cups. :) I must ask them the next time who she is. :)

 The cafe has a cosy rustic feel about it, with its cast iron furniture and wooden tables. good thing the chairs had cushions, else I would have frozen my butt off!

foreground :Skim flatwhite, background: Latte

 The cafe was quiet empty when we arrived and our coffees came promptly. No complaints here. I think the beans used were from Crave coffee. Compliments to the Barista for a well made cuppa! :)

Eggs benedict ($13.50)

 I wasn't too adventurous this morning so I went for the good ol eggs bennie which usually works as a good benchmark. Everything was good on this plate except for the eggs. Hoping to capture some egg porn and with my mobile phone ready, I sliced it open and was disappointed to see nothing ooze out. Besides the slight dryness, I still enjoyed this dish.

 

Salmon the secret (14.50)

WN went for the 'Salmon the Secret'. Smoked trout served on zucchini-carrot fritters, dill-sour cream, a tiny dollop of french mustard and some spinach. I thought this dish was interesting. Definitely perfect for someone who wants something deep-fried. the Zucchini carrot fritters had a sweet taste to it, almost as if sweet potato was also shredded in as a secret ingredient.

In my books, this cafe is decent enough to warrant a visit. They are also not overly priced as per some other cafes these days. They also have a dinner menu which has an 'asian fusion' twist to it and I will definitely come back to check that out.

Good service, decent food, value for money.


It Must Be A Secret
address : 29 May Street, St Peters
opening hours :
     Mon to Fri :  6:30am - 9:00pm
     Sat - Sun : 9:30am - 9:00pm
location : google map