The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
My wife and I are fans of bears, as animals that are vaguely friend-shaped, and so probably the fourth or fifth time we walked past YOU YOU Bear, we decided to go in.
We had a cup of thick-cut fried yogurt (though I don’t know how it’s fried, I think it’s more like a flash frozen sort of deal), for $14.80, consisting of an assortment of all the flavours that were available, ranging from oreo to succulent grape, and everything in between.
The whole thing wasn’t that great to be honest, most were a little bit sweet (true: not too sweet), and a little bit salty, but not something that really made either of us that happy, despite quite a long walk in the evening heat.
One of the important functions of this site is for me to remember what I don’t want to eat again, and this Samlip custard cream soboro bread bun was particularly bad and uninspiring.
It featured a semi-pineapple bun like exterior, however was damp and soft and not at all crispy or craggly.
The bread had a slightly bitter flavour and the custard filling was in reality much less substantial than what was pictured on the packaging.
I truly could not recommend this. Ever. Please avoid it.
We had an uncharacteristically nice meal for a weekday morning in a narrow little Inner West cafe that doesn’t quite have an all day menu, but does have some relatively elaborate options for breakfast. This was actually our second attempt at eating here, our first visit foiled by an extreme Saturday morning wait for one of their few tables.
The cafe’s physical space was very narrow, however brightly lit with large windows and nice artwork, it reminded me of a inner-west house I could not afford to live in.
We had the very photogenic confit king salmonwith salmon roe ($33), a pyramid of salmon, sorrel, and avocado puree on a deep fried potato bed. I enjoyed the taste of the herbs together with the salty and umami pops of salmon roe, the crunch and oiliness of the fried potato, and the soft and fatty semi-cooked salmon. It was really something reminiscent of when we used to eat small food on a large plate. My wife was less impressed by this whole thing, having been socialised (by me) over the last few years to appreciate larger foods on larger plates for fewer dollars.
My only complaint would be that I thought that the salmon would’ve been better served warm than how it was, which was cold.
The hot cross bun ($8) was one of the best HXB I’ve had in probably years ,and that includes looking forwards in time and considering the one I had today from Cherry Moon.
This hot cross bun had an unusually buttery and soft interior texture, as well as a filling of even more buttery sauce. The little raisins had the perfect dimensions of a little bit of sweetness with a touch of bitterness that made the hot cross bun feel extra premium.
I was less fond of this cheese scone ($8), which I thought was a lesson in dryness.
I think it’s a hard balance to strike, and this in house scone, despite its microplaned cheesiness, did not hit it. (The one I had today from Cherry Moon was better. You winsome, you lose some.)
Overall pretty nice! Everything baked is baked in-house, which is a plus, and the under-renovation photos of their space on their Instagram really shows what a bit of imagination and a couple of million dollars can get you a few suburbs west of the CBD. $1.2M in 2021 is unreal, but you really have to have that kind of vision.
We stopped by this small Chinese bakery/cafe in Burwood on an eat-pray-love of our local area, the second in three stops for a late lunch that day.
All we had was this uji matcha canelé ($6.50), quite expensive for such a small item, but quite tasty. It had a nice crunchy exterior, with a soft and gooey interior, amplified further by the inclusion of a matcha cream central filling. The canelé was overall not too sweet (as expected from a Chinese bakery), with a pleasant bitter dimension from the matcha.
Overall quite a satisfying little treat. They also sell a 6 inch cake for $88, which is kind of wild pricing, in my opinion.
It’s rare for me to pay so much attention to the fitout of a cafe or restaurant, but Halfday Deli’s grey and red colour scheme really got me going – looking more like something out of the inner city than a shop on the podium level of a Wollongong apartment building.
The food was good, though our first and second choices were sold out for the day.
The beef & dip ($20) was a sandwich on ciabatta with three key ingredients – roast beef, provolone, and horseradish dressing, and the alleged inclusion of pickled fennel, which was neither here nor there. The tanginess of the mustard dressing was strong and delicious mixed with the roast beef, which, though less pink than in the online marketing photos, was still adequately moist and tender.
I enjoyed every bite of this sandwich both with and without the chicken gravy dip, though my wife thought that the dip was necessary to add saltiness and temper down the strong tangy horseradish taste.
The sausage & egg ($18) with a pork and fennel sausage patty and a slab of egg was the lesser of the two sandwiches (in my opinion), with a relatively mild unexciting flavour and texture carried mostly by the yoghurt ranch and dill pickles. Not something I’d visit for, though the beef and dip definitely was. Seeing as the chicken cotoletta focaccia option was not available, the staff were gracious enough to make this one for us on focaccia rather than the ciabatta that it usually comes with.
We also chose to add a small giardiniera salad and two hashbrowns for $9.50, which was the right choice. My wife enjoyed the crispy pickled vegetables, especially the cauliflower, as well as the sweet roasted walnuts – to name just a couple of the salad’s components.
The dressing of yoghurt ranch was the same white fluid that carried the sausage and egg, and equally enjoyable drizzled on vegetables as it was in the sandwich.
The hash browns were decent – crispy on the outside, unusually soft on the inside, and definitely too salty to eat by themselves.
Overall Really quite a good sandwich, and a good salad, from an outlet with many more options I’d like to try. I’d be open to coming back both for breakfast/lunch and their pizza dinner.
Halfday Deli Shop 1/38 Atchison St, Wollongong NSW 2500
