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

The Sparrows Mill, CBD

Today was supposed to be legs day at the gym. Emphasis on the word 'supposed'. I was pumped and ready to push out a PB on the squat rack, I had my routine in mind and was in the right headspace. That fantasy went straight out the window when WN asked if I wanted to join her and a few other for dinner at Sparrows Mill. Tough choice ain't it? Sore legs and bum or an evening out eating fried chicken. No prizes for guessing.

Sparrows Mill is one of the newest Korean Fried Chicken restaurant to open up it's doors in the city. With a massive menu in the shop window showing 12 different ways you can have your fried chicken, how could one say no to coming here!
After much debate on what to order and why, we finally settled on 9 dishes and they are as follows.

Nothing to shout about but here's an obligatory photo of the Banchan anyway.

Stir fried glass noodles and veggies $12.80

 Probably the healthiest dish we ordered tonight, the glass noodles had the right amount of flavouring to it. This dish vanished in less than 5 minutes as the portion size could have been shared by 2 small eaters.

 

Prime pork spare ribs with Kimchi casserole ($45)

First up was a massive pot of spare ribs soaking in Kimchi casserole. We immediately turned the fire up and soon it was simmering away happily. Seeing broth looking that good, we couldn't resist ordering a side of noodles to chuck in it. Once cooked, N had the task of slicing up the ribs and serving it to us. The ribs were the lovely kind of fall-off-the-bone similar to that of "bak kut teh"(google it if you don't know what it is. Perfect Malaysian dish for winter!). It was also a good idea ordering this to have in between the onslaught of chicken that was to come. 

Sweet and spicy chicken ($18 half)

First up was this chicken dish that reminded me of the chinese sweet and sour sauce. It would have gone really well with a bowl of rice to balance out the strong flavours however I heard no complaints for our group. In large doses, it was a little over powering but in small doses, it was lip smacking good.

   

chicken with wasabi sauce sprinkled with spring onion(half $18)

Firstly, I think they used the word 'sprinkled' loosely here. It was more like a giant handful of spring onion! Nonetheless, we pushed it aside and dove straight in. Their specially made wasabi sauce is unique in taste and gives the chicken that extra bit of zing.

Soy sauce Gangjung ($17 half)

Based on the little blurb on the menu, these chicken cutlets were coated in a sauce similar to that of a traditional rice cake called Gangjung. The sauce had a hint of sweetness to it which probably came from the honey (sugar?). It wasn't as sticky as the Sweet and Spicy one but it was just as nice. A few rice cakes found its way into our dish and I wasn't sure if that was a mistake or not. Meh, we still ate it anyway. :)

good ol fashion fried chicken ($17 half)

 The plain fried chicken arrived in a lovely shade of golden brown. It wasn't too hot to eat straight away and was cooked to perfection. The bones were easy to pull apart and whilst some of us ate it straight, others took the opportunity to wipe clean the various sauces from the other chicken plates.

Snow cheese chicken ($18 half)

 Now with a name like that, how could you NOT order this dish. It was by far everyone's favourite.
I had a tough time trying to pinpoint the flavours and here were a few thoughtsfrom the group. 

•  It tastes like Parmesan cheese mixed with abit of sugar
•  It's like chicken coated with cheezels
•  I don't know whatever the h*ll it is but I like it!

In the end, we all had our own thoughts on it but I decided that it tasted  like a coating of a particular type of Japanese rice crackers and Super Ring combined. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see below... 

 
Sparrows Mill really knows how to cook fried chicken. It didn't come out soaking in oil, there were no hint of blood or rawness in any of our pieces and it was just a downright pleasure dining here. 

I'm definitely coming back here in the near future but first, I better try and work off what I ate. Tomorrow's gonna be legs day at the gym. Promise!

The Sparrow's Mill
Address : Shop 3, 116-120 Liverpool Street, Sydney
Website : Urbanspoon / Google Map

 

Rustic Pearl, Surry Hills

Nothing is better than finding a parking spot right infront of the designated cafe...well besides the food that we're gonna be having of course!

Situated on busy Crown Street where I could name at least 10 cafes in a 200m radius lies Rustic Pearl. This cafe sets itself apart from the others with a heavily influenced Mediterranian twist to it.  This is evident in the decor, the tiles embedded in the tables, the assortment of Turkish coffee and the variety of Gozlemes on the menu.

Capacity of roughly 15 inside and 8 outside, this cafe certainly packs a punch

We got ourselves an inside table and I straightaway had a "foot in my mouth moment"
Waitress : How's it going?
Me         : Good! It's a gorgeous day and I don't have to be at work!.......oops
Waitress : Well, I do. *chuckle*
Me         : *laughs* Sorry!!! I didn't mean it like that, I hope you're not working tomorrow???
Waitress : Actually I am...
Me         : I think I'll shut up now... 
 WN       : *frowns* Can't take you anywhere!"

Small things like these never fails to leave a huge impression on me

Ok back to the cafe. I like it when cafes make little changes to the way they do things. Something as simple as using a fruit as a bottle stopper and also putting a slice of lemon and a mint leaf into our cups automatically makes them 'different'. Little things like this goes to show that they really do care about what they serve and the impression they give. 

Latte art interpretation : I love football(soccer)?

What do you see in the latteart above?  I don't know if it's because World Cup is on now but I see a guy kicking a football and there's a heart to the right. Rustic Pearl sources their beans from Mecca Expresso so you know it's going to be good. 

Delicious-must-order-beverages

Next up were 2 really good beverages. 
Left : Chocomole Smoothie  Avocado, cocoa, honey, pistachoe, pomegranate
This drink is rich! It's super chocolatey and thick due to the avocado. Even with the honey, it wasn't overpowering in terms of sweetness. This drink goes well with the tartness from the pomegranate.
Right : Turkish apple iced tea w/ lemon, rose, mint & cucumber.
Somewhat similar to the line from Anchorman, it's like a party in your mouth. The tartness of the granny smiths works well with the mint. Throw in the sweet rose for flavouring, the subtle taste of cucumber and a dash of lemon for abit of zing and there you have it! It's like tripping out on tea!

No bigger than my iphone. I wonder what else, one could use this for. ;)

Bosphorous Benedict - grilled lobster meat with poached organic eggs, crushed avocado, hollandaise, chives, coriander, chilli

WN and A ordered the above eggs benedict with lobster but unfortunately, they both agreed that the star of the dish was a little on the bland side. I tried some of it and had to agree. It had no flavour...just the texture of prawns. No complaints on the other elements of this dish though.

Smoked wagyu omelette, buffalo mozzarella, spinach skordalia, bacon dust, tomato relish & toast

I on the other hand, had a smashing dish! The smoked wagyu was wrapped in a moist scramble of eggs which had just the right texture. Combine this with a small piece of sourdough and a dollop of spinach skordalia, every bite was thoroughly enjoyable. The cherry tomatoes were really sweet and I wouldn't have minded another helping of it. Whilst it sounded cool, the bacon dust didn't really have much of a presence in this dish. I literally wiped this plate clean with the last piece of bread and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Rustic Pearl. 

Mediterranian sweets with our bill? :)

In my books, Rustic Pearl is another one of Surry Hills must visit cafes. The menu is vast so revisiting this place and trying out new dishes is no problems at all. I initially planned to get the Gozleme but got swayed by the word wagyu. That's ok as it's another reason for me to come back here again another time.