Firepop

Firepop is very new; my friend mentioned it to me amongst other hip and cool restaurants in the Newtown/Enmore area, and this one appealed to me quite a bit - I love places that cook with fire, and the description of the place sounded right up my alley - chicken hearts! Chicken tails! Padron peppers!

Look at the fish bones drying for stock!

My friend and I went for the a la carte menu since I wanted the chicken bits that weren't included in the set menu, and it turns out that it's possible to try all the things on the menu (not the mains or salads unless you have a super big appetite). We went through the priority items first and then later went back to get the things we missed!

This was the lamb marrow and it was my first time eating lamb marrow, it was good!

They didn't have oysters that day, but instead had some really nice hapuka with really tasty watermelon radish!

This is a terrible picture of a really nice wagyu cube. It's not as dark as it looks, and the flavour was good and it was nice and tender! I actually think this would go really nicely with some wasabi rather than the garlic chips, but I'm not complaining!

Wagyu slices, which did come with wasabi! It was also soy marinated so it had a great flavour.

And here are the chicken tails! I love that fatty goodness, it's so bad but so good!

The chicken hearts were really delicious too, maybe one day I should think about possibly cooking with chicken hearts?

They actually had a grilled tofu option which was really interesting, had a slightly spicy sauce if I remember and was quite enjoyable. I had been complaining lately how a lot of cheaper, almost fast food places (and even not cheap fast food places!) often don't do tofu well - I have no idea how. It's so simple to make it tasty, and Firepop demonstrates this well!

Ahahaha the padron peppers, with a side of shishito peppers. I love chilli roulette, and there was a frozen long grape on the side if we got the spicy one. Because I have no spice tolerance though, it's hard to tell if I actually got a super spicy one. I think I can gauge whether or not something is spicier than normal for me; the final padron pepper was noticeably hotter than the previous one I ate, and the heat continued to build up well after I stopped eating more, so I imagine I might have hit the jackpot, and so I asked for an extra frozen grape. I should really freeze some grapes as edible sweet ice!

And here's where we went back to the top of the menu and ordered the things we skipped. Corn ribs with a mountain of cheese, one of their popular dishes, and with good reason! Very tasty corn!

The lamb was also very impressive, I actually don't eat enough lamb but whenever I order it, it's so good. I really think I should look into learning to cook more cuts of lamb too; I didn't cook lamb forequarter chops very well once (I had no idea how long to cook them for) and usually end up specialising in backstrap and cutlets, both of which are some of the most expensive cuts ever. Lamb ribs and lamb leg seem to be grisly? I have no idea why it'd be grisly? So shoulder is the only cut that I really enjoy slow cooking - it's so good! Maybe one day I need to find a cut that I can short cook well.

And the pork belly, a classic, tasty stick!

Okay, this panna cotta was actually amazing. The chef mentioned that they make everything from scratch, even the buttermilk, which is really cool! There was rhubarb and strawberry that cut through the panna cotta nicely, and also the drops of olive oil in there were really nice too! The panna cotta had a texture similar to the type of custard that Teeter Bakery in Perth makes, it's smooth, rich, very, very nice!

What a cute little restaurant that makes tasty food! It's so simple and we could try everything without feeling overly full (I managed to save enough stomach space to go a few doors down and try out some vegan salmon sushi lol - which was fun to eat!). Hopefully they'll do well!

Petermen

Haha, I'm so silly for starting a post about a seafood restaurant using a picture of a flat white! But there's a reason for that, I was here for brunch, and, the coffee was surprisingly good! I've never had coffee this pleasant from one before (including Saint Peter's Artificer batch brew; that was nice but not at an Artificer level).

Ok, let's get onto the seafoody goodness. Petermen is a newly opened Josh Niland establishment, and conveniently (for me) located in St Leonards. I'd read that it wasn't quite as experimental or out there as Saint Peter, but I was here specifically for brunch, so that I could get a chance of tasting those wonderful sea urchin crumpets again. But I couldn't just have the crumpets, I had to try some other things too! More oysters, especially as I hadn't had a wapengo oyster in forever, so I had to get one, plus a merimbula rock oyster too.

Here is the delightful little expensive crumpet! Yes, how delicious! I remember really loving the actual crumpet at Saint Peter, and it's just as good here! The best thing about this little morsel is that the crumpet is at the same level as the sea urchin, super crispy crusty on the outside and soft on the inside!

They had larger dishes that I also wanted to try, but since most of these were for two people, I had to think strategically. I couldn't order anymore appetisers or else I'd be too full to finish the main, even though I really wanted to try the scallops. Maybe next time! I decided on the fish sausage with tomato, since I haven't tried a fish sausage yet. I really wanted to know how the taste and texture would be, and it was very good. It absolutely fits right in with beef sausages on a barbeque! Super extremely good! And the best thing about this dish was that the tomato dressing was the perfect accompaniment to the sausage! So much flavour! So much so that I realised I needed bread to mop up all the sauce!

I was so full, but I did have to try out a dessert too. This was the apple tart, and it was a nice simple dish! I was hoping for a shortcrust pastry crust, rather than this flat style, but this wasn't bad! Not quite my style of dessert, but I already knew that too - I deliberately chose something I wouldn't usually go for to expand my palate!

And the best bit of all was that Josh was actually there at the restaurant! So I had to turn on my stalker mode and take a photo!

What I love about this place is that it's so much easier to get to than Paddington, which is automatically a plus for me! It means that I don't miss Saint Peter as much. The seafood here is very good, even though the prices are through the roof. It's worth the experience, even if it's just once!

Gildas

First there was Firedoor, and now there's Gildas, a new Lennox Hastie establishment!

My trip to Sydney was rather impromptu, and I found myself without any plans on a Friday night. So what do I do? I google Gildas to see if they're walk in friendly, and lo and behold, I got myself a spot!

Look at these lovely bite size gildas! I love the naming system too. I was only in here for something small, and this fit the bill perfectly! They had three gildas on offer - gilda, grillda, and matilda. The gilda is a classic - anchovy, olive, and pepper. The grillda was bonito and caper, while the matilda was kangaroo and desert lime. My favourite (if I had to choose one) was the grillda, but to be honest, all three were fantastic!

When I saw the retired dairy cow tartare on the menu, I totally had to get it! I've been wanting to eat more dairy cows, and this one was great! Because of the way it was prepared, I couldn't tell that this was any different from a beef cow. There was a cute cup of kipfler chips to go with it!

I can't get enough of mushrooms, so I had to order the oyster mushroom and smoked yolk dish. Oyster mushrooms are too expensive to buy at home, so it was a great excuse to splurge!

And lastly, the tocino de cielo. I'd never had anything like it so I had to try it, and I'm glad it was small! That's what I get for having a pre-lunch and a late lunch! This had the most interesting texture, it's described as being similar to a creme caramel, but this was soooo much richer. It's like a creme caramel if it was made of 90% egg yolks! It was the perfect size and I love all the tiny glistening grapes on top!

I'm really glad they take walk ins so that I could try out a few of these dishes. It's very much a case of simple things done well, and some food I've never had before! It is a great place to have drinks and some food!

The best bit about the visit was the souvenirs, I have no idea if these are given out to every table, but my bill came with fat matchsticks and a ... coin? thing? I have no idea if it has a name. But it was very fun to get, better than just a business card! I left the matchsticks behind though since I didn't want to take them on the plane. It's so retro, it's great!

Sydney 2023 - Chaco Bar

Wow, has it been forever since I posted about a restaurant! In this Sydney trip, I wanted to do a mix of new and old. Technically, this is both, since I've been to the old Chaco Bar, but not this new one in this new location! It was interesting to see what was the same and what was different!

These dried fish bones were pretty awesome, I wonder if they're going to be used for stock. They look so cool just hanging there!

The grill's nice and hot! I took a few different photos of this but I couldn't get the framing or focus right once the fire started up, so this one is the nicest shot of the lot.

Some wilty but pretty flowers as decor too! It's same same but different from what is now Chaco Ramen, but what's interesting is that all the yakitori boards got moved here, even though they're no longer as yakitori as they used to be? There's also a dyson on the table, and it has a digital air quality display. It was all green until the flames started up on the grill, then the numbers went sky high!

First things first - pickles! I love pickled vegetables, though this didn't quite taste like I expected, because I had made an assumption that these would taste like a Japanese sweet vinegar pickle. They were instead quite different, but still yummy!

Gotta get my fill of oysters while I'm on holiday!

Ok, stuff off the grill time! King browns with sharp comte goodness and cured yolk! I love barbequed mushrooms!

Chicken wing prawn toast. Not quite the flavour I was expecting; I was hoping it was exactly as described, that it would taste like prawn toast inside a chicken wing, however, it was more gingery and not quite as prawny as I wanted it to be.

And the yakitori - this one was the chicken thigh, and it was great! This was just like the Chaco Bar stuff I had in my previous visit, super delicious!

Chicken skin too, which were very flavoursome!

Lastly, some pork belly. It was interesting to compare what my brother and I liked, my favourite was the thigh, and his favourite was the skin. We liked the stick we took first, which was interesting, because I didn't think that time or order would normally affect the taste that much. It could be that we simply liked different things! Definitely a possibility!

Now this was the dish that I was anticipating the most. Horumon yaki - chicken hearts, giblets, cartilage, coriander. I was sad that they took the offal off the yakitori menu, so I wanted the dish that still contained the most delicious bits of a chicken. The flavour was totally not what I was expecting at all! It was a spice mix that I would generally associate with... my random cooking than a Japanese style. It was still very tasty, all the bits were cooked so nicely!

This was probably my favourite dish of the night. Yeah, the yakitori was just as good as I remember, but this special - a 4 week aged rump cap, was amazing! I wasn't expecting to eat a steak at a yakitori joint, and I don't usually get rump cap as a cut, so I didn't really have any expectations for it. But wow, WOW, I love steak from non steak houses, cause they're done so much better (controversial I'm sure)! This had so much flavour and was so tender, and cooked to a lovely rare to medium rare ish. I absolutely loved it!

And finally we tried the daifuku for dessert. Mine was the yuzu coconut one, and it was quite nice! The mochi skin was great! The only reason I'd pick the Sokyo mochi ice cream over this one is because Sokyo's ice cream is softer; it's at just the right melty point for consumption, whereas this one was very much a "just out of the freezer" feeling.

What was interesting about this visit was that there was a couple sitting next to us on the communal table, and it seemed like their first time there. They started talking to us about the place, and it was interesting to hear that it wasn't quite as amazing as they expected. I can't remember exactly what they ate, given the menu's range and smaller yakitori choices, they probably had a mix like we did. Not all of their non-yakitori were quite up there in terms of what I like for flavour, so I can see where the couple were coming from. That being said, I do hope they were in fact very pleased with some of the dishes, because there's some very good food here!

Overall, I think I can't compare this Chaco Bar to the old one; this is its own new self with a balance of all kinds of dishes. I do really miss the sansho tuna salad that I had last time, and the offal yakitori, but the yakitori still remains one of the best, for which I'm glad! And now I know they make awesome steak specials too!

Firedoor in 2019

Most of the restaurants I go to leave a big impression on me. Each restaurant generally has one or two dishes that leave a huge impression on me. And then there's a dish that changes the way you think about something forever. Those come by only every few restaurants, and one of them is the Firedoor steak.

It was the thought of that steak that made me book Firedoor again, even though this time I would be dining alone and wouldn't actually be able to order the steak. But I also think this place made headlines after I visited because they had a goldfish to accompany solo diners at one point? I could be wrong on that. Either way, I was eager to come back.

Bingo! I got the fireside table! Yeah! Perfect for the obligatory fire shot to begin with!

A mocktail to start. I like that restaurants are starting to feature interesting non alcoholic drinks! This one I think was beetroot based, and the foam on top is made using aquafaba. Nice stuff!

Oh. Oh yeah. Marron was on the menu. I mean I should be sensible buuuuut LOOK HOW CUTE THIS LITTLE GUY IS! How could I not eat it??? So I decided to go for it. What an absolute cutie.

Ok, so this visit was actually very special for me. Since it was early and quiet, and I was fireside, Lennox himself introduced himself to me! How awesome!!! He asked me if it was my first time and I said that I was a returning customer. He also shook my hand! Woah! Yay! I SHOOK LENNOX HASTIES HAND this is so exciting!!!

He even gave me this kangaroo dish as a complementary starter as a way of saying thank you. That's so nice! Already this makes me feel like coming back again for a third visit in the future! I think that small gestures like this are really nice. I really don't expect it at all, especially as it was only my second visit and years after my first, it wasn't even like I was a regular or anything!

I chose a light dish to start off with. I can't remember exactly but I believe this was albacore tuna with kohl rabi, persimmon maybe? And you can see it also has tendrils of seaweed! I liked the combination of flavours and textures in this dish! So interesting!

Ah, look at that fire go! It was hard to get a good shot that includes the little sparks flying off to the side. It was interesting to see how the kitchen worked, since the height of the grill was adjustable so you could bring it down closer to the coals or further away. It was also interesting to see how long each item stayed on the grill too - it was actually longer than I thought! I think that's the beauty of cooking with an open fire, it looks spectacular but the flames seem to be cooler than a gas stovetop, so the way food cooks is different too!

My lovely marron was ready now! Isn't it so cute? Tiny limes with ice plant leaves! I liked this version better than the original I reckon!

Also, DUCK HEARTS! Yeah! I'm eating so many hearts this trip! I had the chicken hearts at Chaco Bar and now duck hearts here! I'm pretty sure duck hearts featured a few years back and I really really wanted them, and finally they were back on the menu, so I was very excited about this! And so tender too. Man, if only I was brave enough to cook hearts myself... maybe one day, but I'd want the super good stuff rather than the 500g packs you get at the supermarkets.

For all the greatness of meat and fire, Firedoor is actually a vegetable heavy restaurant. Veges taste just as good with a lick of flames, and this seasonal dish of asparagus and peas with hazelnuts was too good to pass up! Yeah! It's always worth getting the seasonal vegetables, you don't get fresher than this!

And remember to always leave room for dessert. They'd been advertising a bombe alaska for a while and I was so worried that it was only on the chefs menu or otherwise inaccessible, but no, it was on the a la carte menu too! Yeah!

I prepped my camera in advance since I was anticipating some amazing shots. Look at that brandy or similar go! Yeah! I love those flames hahah. There's fireside, then there's fiery food at your table! It wasn't just a pretty show. That was a solid, delicious bombe. I think there was raspberry ice cream inside? Oh man so good. I love chefs here, they have such a great sense of humour too! After I'd finished, the dessert chef came over to collect my plate and teased me! He said it mustn't have been that good because there was a tiny melted puddle that I couldn't quite scrape! So I said I could lick the plate to make it all better hahahaha. Friendly staff are the best!

I don't know what it was about this trip but everything was just so much better than my first visit of many restaurants! Firedoor is such a lovely place, I want to come back again and again!

DID I MENTION THAT I SHOOK LENNOX HASTIES HAND?! TWICE!!! We shook hands at the end too and I tipped a heap since I got the free dish haha. Plus that saw. I loved hearing the bandsaw go again and again!!!

Ok that's enough blogging for now, it's so tedious hahaha.