Restaurant Reviews

So sorry it's been such a long time since my last post. Here's a few places I've been to recently.

Element 6 in Ryde: 

Very cute and cozy cafe with lots of whimsical elements. Seating is a little small, 2 outdoor tables and chairs. If you go through the back, theres a verandah type area where you can find the toilets, I think there may be seating there too. Place is easy to get to from Ryde station.

I ordered the baked eggs, quite a standard order for me. This one was pretty average in terms of flavour, predominantly tomato but wished it tasted more moroccan. One egg and one piece of haloumi bulked it up a bit as did the chickpeas, it didn't taste too rich, which made it differ a bit from some of the other baked eggs I've had. The tomato mixture was also a little liquidy. I wished the poached egg was a little runnier, appreciated the herbs and nuts, which really lifted it. All in all, a fairly average dish that lacked a little in flavour.

The naan bread it came with was house made, it was delicious - very soft and perfectly dense. Really liked it especially to mop up the liquid after.

Friend had the pulled pork burger, said it was very tender and flavoursome.

Cute cafe, with more menu items on the blackboard as seen in picture below, near entrance.

The best meal of the week has to be at the Glenmore at the Rocks. It was for our work xmas party.

No bookings so we got there a little earlier to get a seat at the rooftop. It wasn't too busy at 11:40 when we got there on a Wednesday but quickly filled by 1. Excellent location with views of the bridge.

We ordered a few sides: salt and pepper squat, hot wings, wedges and fish cakes, all excellent. The salt and pepper squid was delicious. Very well cooked, not at all rubbery, still very juicy, very light batter and perfectly seasoned, incredibly addictive! The fish cakes were also great, not at all oily, great flavours, inside isn't as dense as some that I've had but actually preferred it that way.

I got the salmon. Probably the best salmon I've ever ordered and I normally order salmon. This one was just perfectly cooked, very juicy and still slightly pink on the inside. Very tender. The skin was crispy, a little hard to cut into and most of the saltiness came from that. The quinoa salad was nice, a little plain and lotus root chips were good too but the salmon was the star.

On a more disappointing note, I went to Vrindivan Indian at Pyrmont. It was quite expensive and a little quite for my liking inside, a lot of seats though.

One friend got a rose lassi, it was my first taste of lassi. It tasted like a thick yogurt, mildly sweet and a little like cheese. I didn't mind it but it seemed a little rich to have too much of in one go.

We ordered a naan basket, the naan was very soft and perfectly dense. The basket included a cheese naan, garlic and buttered naan. We also got some free roti which tasted healthier - it was thinner, drier and didn't have as soft or chewy a flavour. We also ordered a side of white rice to go with the curries, of the 3, we preferred the naan to heap our curries onto.

I actually enjoyed this dish, it was eggplants and tomato with indian spices. The vegetables were soft, a little oily but not overly so and worked with the naan and rice and you could taste the spices.

I also chose this goan fish curry, a traditional dish from Goa I believe. It wasn't as coconut-ty as I'd liked but menu did say it was made with coconut extract and not coconut milk so that may have contributed. The fish was soft, around 6-8 bite sized pieces. We were surprised by the serving dishes, relatively small but still very filling. I don't really like the taste of butter at all and this tasted like butter chicken but the fish version so I wasn't overwhelmed by it.

3 williams has also been on my list of places to visit, after popping up on numerous blogs and instagrams this year.

Easy place to get to, located a few minutes walk from Redfern and Central station. However, it's hard to find. You need to look for 3 dots and a w placed underneath the dots on the side of the entrance. We went at 11 on Saturday and there was a 20 minute line.

I ordered the apple, carrot and ginger juice, which I liked. It has a strong hit of ginger and the sweetness from the fruits counterbalanced it perfectly. It was blended well and a little frothy. A bit expensive from memory though, I think $7.

I ordered the chicken salad. I didn't care much for it to be honest. I liked the chicken which was tender and the red pepper which was soft and sweet but the ratio of them to the abundance of kale was a little disappointing. There were also 2 big pieces of pumpkin, which wasn't really a nice pumpkin, quite watery and I would've preferred smaller pieces. The dressing was a garlic yogurt one, it was ok and worked with the chicken but didn't love it. The kale was exactly that. The brown bits in the picture are sourdough croutons, they added a crunch to the dish but all in all, sadly, quite average.

I'm pretty sure they are known for their brioche french toast and my friend enjoyed this one with bananas and chocolate.

My other mate got this mushroom dish with ricotta and sourdough and added a poached egg.

Me & Art

I've been obsessed with brunch places lately as you can tell from my previous posts. This place is seriously cute and all kinds of lovely.

The outside:

As you walk in, there are lots of little tucked away spots for you to sip on your coffee and have a bite. 

As you keep walking through the place, there is a courtyard with lots of seating areas.Such a welcome surprise (especially since the day was gorgeous and sunny). 

Breakfast menu

Soy cappuccino

My coconut chai latte, I normally don't drink coffee but the coconut milk and chai suckered me in. This was delicious and the coconut was just perfect (the coconut was quite mild, just an aftertaste and not overpowering)

I got the chia trifle which was chia seeds in coconut milk with berries and coconut yogurt. I was expecting a dollop of coconut yogurt on top which I really wanted to try. You can't taste the coconut yogurt or milk which is dissapointing and I only got through half as I didn't taste any flavour except the berries which were nice and necessary. Sadly, I wouldn't recommend this and I would go for the bircher which I have heard good things about. 

My sister got these cocoa and cinnamon buckwheat pancakes with banana, berries, nuts and seeds, maple syrup I think. I really liked these! The pancakes were fluffy and not at all chewy and the syrup is nice but a little sweet at the end once it's totally saturated with it. My sister thought they were filling but I couldn't really detect any nuts, I'm not sure if they are hidden under the bananas.

The lunch menu. I must go back for the Thai vegan pie (drooling!) and the tofu cashew sour cream sounds interesting

Pros: The service! I love everything on the menu and I wish I'd taken a photo of the drinks because some of the smoothies and milkshakes sounded incredible. Very convenient to get to, it's only a few minutes walk from central station.  Prices are very reasonable.

Cons: The food on the menu sounds better than the taste but that could've just been my dish.

I would definitely recommend this place for the coffee and a relaxed vibe and if you want to check out some Japanese art. Also, if you like vegan or healthy food. I'll definitely be back to explore more of the art (I'm not sure if there is more on the second level) and try out the bircher muesli, scrambled tofu, vegan pies and other drinks.

Cornersmith

I've got a list of all the eateries I want to go to and this place has been on it since it got quite popular last year on the blogosphere (maybe when it opened) and it seemed to still generate good reviews so I thought I'd check it out.

I'm guessing this is for when they are really busy but luckily we didn't have to wait but it was quite busy at 11:20 on Wednesday when we went.

Friend got a blood orange juice which tasted like squeezed blood orange.

One of my friends had this Pear, Custard Apple and Cardamom milkshake which was quite milky and rich. Whilst it had a nice flavour and the cardamom wasn't too pronounced, it was hard to finish and it lost it's appeal over time.

I had the soft poached egg over blue lentils and potato with preserved lemon, feta and baby cos lettuce.

I was hoping this would be more substantial and I did get hungry quite quickly after. The egg was perfectly poached however there was a lot of lettuce and lentils. There wasn't much feta and I think I did get a chunk of some but I didn't recognise it and just thought it was a lump of salt that wasn't well distributed. There is a balsamic vinaigrette over the salad and the egg combined well with the lentils but it was quite an ordinary dish and something that could be re-created, I was pretty dissapointed. Next time, I think I would try the porridge if it's still avaliable.

One of my friends had the soft poached eggs with sourdough toast and pear and rosemary chutney, the eggs were again perfectly poached. The chutney was quite sweet and my friend didn't spear much on her toast.

My other friend had the Pasture raised pork salami, chili jam, cheddar and pickles sandwich. Sorry I didn't get a shot of the innards but she said it was decent but nothing special.

On a plus note, service was quite friendly but tables are very small and it was quite busy when we went so the 3 of us had to share a table. Also seating is very limited so I wouldn't come here with a large group of people. There are also seats outside but no tables.

Overall, I thought this cafe was cute but definitely overrated. We all thought the food was underwhelming, although I like the idea that the blackboard changes based on what's in season so we could've just come at a bad time as I've read other blog posts about it and a lot of the food seems really nice. I think this place would be a gem if I was a local and could just pop in to see what's on the menu but I wouldn't travel to visit here. The coffee is also supposedly good but none of us had any coffee that day. It is easy to get to if you don't drive as there is a train station in Marickville and it's only a short walk from there.

The Ground of Alexandria

While you wait you can peruse the grounds which has a florist, vegetable patch and live animals and a lot of seating areas.

Food:

We went on a Wednesday, got there at 11:10 and the 3 of us were seated in 10 minutes which was a wonderful surprise after hearing the long wait times (on weekends). Especially because we made the breakfast menu (which finishes at 11:30) and the lunch menu starts at 12. 

The breakfast menu (there's also a takeaway menu which is on a blackboard as you walk in)

Breakfast Burger

Both my friends had this and enjoyed it but said it was messy to eat as it had a poached egg that dripped everywhere.

Lemon lime bitters 

Turkish style eggs 

I had this and it had 2 perfectly poached eggs, beans in a tomato sauce, pistachios and labna yogurt with a side of buttered sourdough bread. It was delicious and so filling. The beans were perfectly cooked and tomato sauce was quite thick and well spice. It reminded me of baked beans but much nicer especially with the egg and yogurt mixed in and the bread the mop up the sauce. 

Green tea with a cute teapot (made 1 1/2 cups of tea). 

Toilets:

Chicks for the chicks

Rooster for the lads

Overall: I really liked this place and the little whimsical elements, it had a great communal relaxed atmosphere and the food was pretty good but I do think it's a little overrated. I would return though and check out the lunch menu and possibly try the wellbeing breakfast and porridge.