Sydney 2023

Ah, finally, my first round of travel after many years of staying put! Though, with pigeons to look after now, I hadn't actually thought about planning any trips, instead, this just happened to be a work trip where I tacked a few extra days for myself to explore.

What does Sydney look like post COVID? How much of what I remember would still be there? How many of my favourite places would have closed down?

This time I was staying with my brother, and so I was super close to the city - it was nice walking everywhere and re-familiarising myself with everything. Central Park looks roughly the same, hello heliostat!

Dinner was a pretty epic feast at Ho Jiak, a Malaysian restaurant that is hip and tasty! We ordered some salted egg yolk squid, a KFC crispy rendang, sam wong dan (steamed eggs), roti, and har mee bombs. Wow, this was so good! I mean it was so expensive too, but it was so good! I actually haven't eaten steamed egg pudding in so long, and the century egg being in this one made it taste so good! There was actually also a "make it eggstravagant" or some similarly punny option where you could add salmon or trout roe at extra cost, but honestly it wasn't needed and I think it would have been over the top. Basic is best! The soup for the dumplings was so good too! The only one that I thought was so-so was the pork roti, I still like Mamak's roti the best!

It's cool that the Saturday night fireworks are still a thing, I can't believe so many people are here to see it! I forgot that so many people live in Sydney!

A random street party in the Redfern area? I thought it was pretty cool.

There was a book that caught my eye at my brother's place - of course something titled The Pigeon would be something I noticed! And I still haven't read the single Patrick Suskind book that I own; Perfume. Luckily The Pigeon is a short read and really wild! The amount of mental catastrophisation (is that a word?) upon seeing the pigeon is quite amazing.

Yay Paramount Coffee Project! I've missed this place so much. But you know what I've also missed? Good, "simple" coffee. This coffee was probably a washed Kenyan, which in itself sounds very everyday, but I get fed so much experimental/new age coffee these days by my baristas (thermal shock, carbonic maceration, extended fermentation) that I was actually really enjoying how easy drinking this batch brew was.

The food is also great! The avocado toast looked like a great treat since avocados have gone up in price again, and it goes so well with the LP pork sausage. I can't help but order the sausage every time because it's so tasty and it's so hard to get anything this good in Perth!

Then hopped over to Lode Pies, because I remembered just in time that this was a thing, and wow, look at this pretty pithivier! It is a very, very lovely pithivier! Extremely pretty pastry work and it tasted good too! I realised too late that you're supposed to pour the gravy in through the chimney at the top though haha, so my brother and I kind of just dipped or spooned the gravy onto the pieces we broke off with a spoon.

The spoon? That's the Artificer coffee spoon! Because we didn't realise we needed cutlery to cut open the pithivier lol. Luckily Artificer was close by, so it was perfect for coffee and pie!

And here comes some picture spam!

Oooh I haven't seen the bridge "open" in forever! And the Crown Tower in the background, that's new!

Dinner was then at Chaco Bar, which had moved shortly after my initial visit there. There's less of my favourite cuts of yakitori but it was still a good feed!

Room 10, or Pina, that was the dilemma the next morning! I decided to try Pina first, and wow, everything is pricey! I mean everything is pricey these days but for some reason I felt that this place was more expensive than others? On their menu they had an avocado on toast, which was $17 (for one slice), and then if you wanted a side of corn ribs, it would be an extra $13. Imagine an avocado and corn toast costing $30!

The scrambled eggs was pretty good, and made super tasty with the chilli oil that wasn't too hot and a little bit sweet!

After that I had a great old adventure walking around Potts Point until I ran into the naval base, and then circled back around to the royal botanic gardens!

The goal today was to get to Charcoal Fish in Rose Bay. I decided to take a bus there to see what the trip was like via land, and it wasn't terribly exciting. The fish and chips, on the other hand, was tasty! It was so hard to decide if I wanted to try a cheeseburger or other things on the menu, I guess it just means one day I'll need to come back.

Just a couple of shops down there was a barber with a canary outside! Ever since owning pigeons and letting them roam around in a room, it's interesting to think about how many pet birds end up spending so much time in cages. Of course, I have no idea if maybe they let this canary out at other times of day, but always food for thought!

I opted for ferry on the way back, and that was definitely the way to go! It was a very fun and it was cool to see the warships that I spotted earlier that day!

I did a quick stopover at Sample Coffee, trying not to consume too much coffee. Last time I was here, they stocked Penny Fours croissants, but this time they stocked Tuga Pastries. Penny Fours was relocating or renovating at the time so I couldn't get a fix of my favourite croissant. The Tuga ones were pretty good too though!

Every time I visit Sydney, the one thing I don't miss at all is the humidity. It wasn't actually super hot on any given day, but I was sweating so much. Chaco Ramen was definitely on the books, and I had my eye on their cold ramen! They had been selling a yuzu prosciutto cold ramen, but I wasn't sure it'd still be on the menu. Alas, no, but that was ok! This was the tomato truffle cold ramen, and it was great! The umeboshi in the middle gave it a well needed and amazing zing, and that tomato had really good flavour too. I love good tomatoes, they really are the best. I also added an extra scallop because why not!

Ah my old favourite - make your own toast with tomato, avocado, ocean trout. Can't get enough of this combo!

Since I was here for work some days, I got put up in a hotel close by! What an amazing view!

Toby's Estate's flagship cafe was also high on my place to visit, and they have such a fancy coffee menu now! In fact, I've noticed that most places on my list have extensive coffee menus these days. It's quite nice, but also bad for my wallet because of all the nice coffees on offer!

I tried their marshmallow brownie espresso and a filter from Myanmar. That Myanmar coffee was super nice! I'd also taken a really terrible shot of the breakfast food, which was a pastrami and egg roll - it was really good!

Some Belles Hot Chicken for dinner!

Only Coffee Project was one that one of my Perth baristas suggested I visit. They have some unique roasters on offer! A good selection of Sey and Onyx coffee, and a few other roasters too.

I was also curious if the Rockpool Bar and Grill Sydney David Blackmore full blood wagyu burger was as delicious as I remembered. It used to be my absolute favourite high end burger, but my last visit was underwhelming. This time, the service was ok, but the burger... was not that amazing? I am also sure that the burger is cheaper than it was several years ago. Did the sale to Hunter St Hospitality change several things about the place? This burger was not as delicious as I remember it to be anymore, it used to be juicier, with a better balance of flavours? Something for me to think about.

I finally made it back to my parents' place and look! My Reinium is alive and well!

Marrickville is so hip right now (did I say that last time too?), and both Ona and Marrickville Pork Roll are the must visits for me! Because of how much coffee I was going to consume, it was important to make sure I got enough food! How good is this chia pudding!

Such yummy coffee! I do enjoy reading through Ona's coffee menu, and it's hard to stick to only 3-4 choices. I definitely wanted an espresso, I seem to have extremely specific preferences for espresso, and the Interstellar option was right down my alley! $28 for an espresso is pretty crazy still, though it was a Panama Geisha extended carbonic natural process.

The flat white was the hardest choice; there was an Aussie coffee on the menu from Crater Mountain Estate, but I wanted the caffeine free filter plus one of the fancy coffees. As a result, the Aussie coffee went into my flat white. It was certainly not what I was expecting! It was very bold and the acidity did blend nicely, but because I like my milky coffees milky, it wasn't quite for me - I would have preferred to try it back.

The caffeine free filter - Colombia La Fantasia, Castillo varietal, carbonic natural process - I call it that because that's how it was labelled, and there was another one that was labelled as <1% caffeine. Not sure why the two had slightly different nomenclatures, but the caffeine free coffee was tasty! Not quite as bright as I'm hoping non caffeine coffees can be one day, but it did allow me to consume extra coffee and not feel terrible.

The final coffee I tried was the Bolivia finca Floripondio, another geisha, with an experimental natural process. I do enjoy coffees from "less common" regions. It was a great visit, and I'm glad it's only a sometimes thing, otherwise I'd be completely broke!

After the chia pudding, half a Marrickville pork roll was just right. But the shop moved!! Next door!! I do miss the dingy-ness of the little shop, now it's too shiny for the area, though at least it means that the branding is consistent with the city store. Some change is good!

Since I was full and caffeinated, I walked around the area for a bit and saw Kurumac on the map. Why yes, let's be cool at Kurumac! I managed to order a matcha orange juice, an unusual drink, that was quite nice and refreshing. Unfortunately I managed to order what I felt like was the largest dish on the menu, the salmon don. It was tasty but I was so full!

Yeah ok I said I was full, and I'd bussed it to Newtown to walk from there. I remember a little shop that sold tofu ice cream, which doesn't seem to be there anymore. But, I think it might be that exact location, that Mapo Gelato has now popped up on. I guess I had to try a scoop! Watermelon and lime, a great combo!

I was so full for so long, and being a Friday, I wasn't sure what to do about dinner. How do I get a small nibble? My thoughts lead me to Gildas, where I had a great set of snacks!

I love Steam Tank! Had to visit it and I'm so happy that it survived COVID! I accidentally made the baristas make a new batch brew - I asked about a roaster I hadn't seen before, Headlands Coffee, and the barista said she hadn't made it with that coffee, but somehow, I interpreted that as she hadn't made any batch brew at all that day, so... I asked in a politely insisting manner whether or not she could make a batch with the Headlands coffee. Oops! It wasn't till later that I realised they already had another batch on! I am still not sure it's the most popular drink so I felt bad and thanked them profusely afterwards!

I visited a friend and her family, which includes two cats! How cute are they!

Woah a rice cake shop! We went out for lunch I had requested Korean food, most of the restaurants were packed but we found a little shop that was empty so we ate there. It was tasty, but the kimchi wasn't spicy??? Anyway, I spotted a rice cake shop and had to buy treats from there! I think I was super full and the items were pretty plentiful, but the mugwort injeolmi and a doggy rice cake (a rice cake with a dog print on it) were nice and had great texture!

Apparently this is a Michelin starred milk tea shop, I had no idea such a thing existed! There's always a queue outside of it, and other people mentioned it too, so I decided I should try it out. Forking so much money for something that tasted like... taro milk tea with bubbles. LOL. It was nice to see the not-espresso machines putting out tea for the drinks, and there was definitely chunks of taro in there, so maybe it's good because it's made of real stuff.

On Sunday, I made to the final Josh Niland establishment that's currently open! Petermen is his newest restaurant, and Crows Nest is far more accessible for me compared to Paddington, so it was an easy decision to book the place and check it out. Sunday brunch was the most appealing and I figured it'd be the easiest to book. It was so fantastic but so expensive! I think I'm starting to that a lot now.

I also found my fivefingers intact! Yay!

Speaking of feet, I'm amazed at how much intense walking around Sydney actually takes it out of you. I don't think I'm too unfit, but since the streets are much hillier than Perth, and with the speed of my walking, I was actually feeling fatigue from pedestrianing (yes a made up word) which was a surprise! A good surprise.

Burwood has completely changed, not that I really knew it that well in the past. But it's hip and happening, and apparently it's the new Chinatown. People now don't visit the city that much anymore. There's so much delicious food here and a super popular noodle restaurant I should one day visit too. I had heard about a specialty coffee shop called Pillar coffee brewers so had to check them out! Here's the "weekend guy" casually searing some pork. The filters were really good, again, a nice extended coffee menu with tasty options!

Look at this gigantic radish!!

Tried out a cute looking sushi train in Town Hall. I figure I wouldn't post the usual suspects but here's some scallop frill salad and salted cucumber!

Multicolour dragonfruit tasting!

Good old Edition! I love their souffle pancakes!

I also took another picture of Super Bowl, for some reason it's a nice restaurant to take a photo of!

Parramatta is another changing suburb, and I haven't been back in decades. Homage was a noteworthy cafe to visit, and the staff there are really nice! Enjoyed their batch and they even plated up the chia pudding, how cute!

It's nice to see a tram line being installed, but I didn't find too much that piqued my interest here. It's mostly same same? New buildings here and there for sure, but it was also rainy so I didn't explore too much, only what I was already familiar with.

Circa Espresso has been around for ages, and finally I made it! As always on my trips, I was pretty overcaffeinated (again), but I played it safe with a flat white and a vege/nourish/wellness bowl too!

I returned back to Burwood; on my initial visit I was far too full to eat anything at all, so I had to come back again! I ate things on sticks, and so much fried chicken giblets. It's impossible to get offal in Perth, and I love how accessible it is in Sydney now!

And some random photos. The pigeon picture turned out to be a pretty interesting shot, because I had reason to think back to it when I went to Melbourne and dined at Komeyui!

RaRa Ramen! My brother said the vegan ramen was good and worth trying, and why not! Except I think I got some poisoning from eating so much fried offal earlier or something, at first I thought maybe it was overcaffeination, but later on I was pretty sure I had mild food poisoning. Not enough to stop me from enjoying most of my meal! The tomatoes... I really like good tomatoes, but these tomatoes were okay tomatoes. Isn't it interesting that so many tomatoes out there are ordinary? They're meant to be so tasty and not just one dimensional watery sour things. Everything else about this ramen was great though!

And lucky last visit in Sydney was good old Single O, and just in time for their 20th birthday celebrations too! It's so great to see a cafe like this still doing so well in a market that's now saturated with specialty coffee.

A great feed every time! And now to head to the other coffee capital :D

Komeyui Melbourne

I only really wanted to choose one restaurant to book while in Melbourne, and Komeyui has been on my list for several years and seems to regularly pop up as a great restaurant to visit. Some of the research I did shows that this omakase would be interesting, since they also offer kaiseki options, so I wanted to see what dishes they'd have on offer!

Autumn sunset - fresh oyster, scallop, grapefruit, scampi caviar

Hello scampi caviar, I haven't seen you in so long! So many of my favourite things in a combo I haven't had before!

The Jewel of Heard Island - cured toothfish, shaved qukes, yumepirika tart, miso oroshi ginger sauce

Okay this plating is so fun and interesting too! I definitely love the way the dishes are presented here. This is my first time having cured toothfish too, and it was nice! The yumepirika rice tart was very crunchy, which was a great contrast to the fish.

Onsen Tenaga Ebi - steamed scampi, soy curd skin, ginger ankake

This was the cutest dish of the night! Look at it! An adorable little scampi complete with flower decoration! Of course, I took multiple pictures of it as a result. The chef also recommended to scoop the brains out of the prawn to mix into the ginger ankake. How fun and tasty!

Konnichiwa Wagyu-san! - Seared Mayura MB9+ wagyu, truffled creme fraiche, shaved shiitake

Even the menu description is excited! This doesn't look like much but it was my favourite dish of the night! I thought it would be the scampi, but as soon as I bit into the beef, I knew. The truffle oil and the shiitake made it nice and aromatic, but it was the bite of the beef that sold me. It was tender, but there was this lovely hint of resistance, like sinew? But not chewy - I don't know how to describe it exactly but it's my favourite kind of texture where it gives a little, before it gives way. Sooo good!

And then came the 10 piece nigiri selection!

Snapper, alfonsino, tuna, and Salmon with fried radish (I think it was fried radish) were the first in the lineup. The salmon was actually a pleasant surprise because that fried radish?? was very crispy and the texture worked so well! It's something I haven't had before in that combo so I was very happy with it!

Josper Wagyu Bouillon - Josper grilled MB9+ wagyu soup, cherry tomato, shallot, pumpkin.

Soup time! What a cute little soup! It took me a while to remember what a Josper was, but I recalled it being a super fancy oven! This was a light, clear soup that was perfect to have between courses.

The last few nigiri were kingfish, scampi, otoro, wagyu, scallop, and anago. I was curious as to how this wagyu would taste, considering the previous wagyu dish was so good. The seared wagyu and shiitake from earlier was definitely a clear winner!

What's also interesting is that I seem to recognise anago! The size and shape is different from that of unagi! It was good to have this as the final piece!

Born in Kochi-ken - matcha gateau, adzuki red bean paste, yuzu panna cotta.

I was super amused at the olive branch in the middle, only because my pigeons love olive branches haha! The waitstaff recommended alternating between the two desserts, but I had a clear favourite, the yuzu panna cotta.

There was also a most delicious matcha and soybean tea that was served at the end! Funny story, I tried to order this at the beginning, since I saw it on the menu, but I was told that coffee or tea was included at the end, so that I could choose another drink if I wanted. The tea turned out really tasty, and it was so good that I got an extra pour of it!

Overall it was quite enjoyable, and I liked the variety of dishes. It's been so long since I've done any kind of fine dining and this was a great experience!

And we're not quite done yet. On the way to the bathroom, I noticed the photo on the wall. Wow, pigeons!! Haha I can't believe they'd have a photo of pigeons! I found that adorable, but was also puzzled that someone would actually print a photo like this! I mean, I took a similar photo in Sydney lol, maybe I can "publish" a pigeon photo!

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!