Full disclosure, my friend’s partner’s parents own this bakery, but this is a seriously good beef and pea pie.
The sausage roll? Less memorable.
Photos taken in my Patagonia better sweater fleece which is embroidered with my full name and place of work which I have LOST AT WORK for the last 12 months and it has not been returned.
Westmead Cake Shop
Shop 2/74 Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead NSW 2145
We went here essentially after my partner eavesdropped on two of her bosses talking about their separate weekends cycling to Leichardt and having their mini cannoli. Sadly and conveniently we don’t own bicycles.
We had the ricotta, vanilla, and chocolate mini cannoli ($2.20 each). The pastry portions are pre-baked, with the cannoli piped in with filling to order to minimise sogginess. The pastry was crisp at the time of eating and the ricotta filling, the least sweet of the three, was my favourite. I don’t have any prior experience with cannoli though, so I can’t actually say if they were good or not. I am told by general consensus, though, that they are considered good.
I do have prior experience with Portuguese tarts ($3.80), however, and Mezzapica’s was a bit sweeter than I would’ve liked. The pastry was also neither flaky nor crispy, and overall not something I’d want to have again.
At least they are close to Harris Farm.
Mezzapica Cakes
130 Norton St, Leichhardt NSW 2040
My junior/friend/colleague brought me these banh mi for lunch at work, not knowing that I am lowkey a banh mi influencer in the microsphere of Western Sydney. My thoughts, however brief, should be taken in the context of a approximately 5 hour dwell time within the enhanced post-operative care unit’s breakroom refrigerator.
Within limits of dwell-time, these were still only OK. The meat in the crackling pork roll ($7.50) was plentiful, especially for the price, but neither it nor the cold cut pork roll ($7) had adequate vegetable to carry moisture through the course of the meal. These rolls also lacked the deliciously unhealthy concotion of butter/Vietnamese mayo, instead featuring a rather more pedestrian and Western margarine-like spread instead.
I’m told there are a number of different hot bread stores in the area. Perhaps another, next time?
Nguyen Hot Bread
33 Canley Vale Rd, Canley Vale NSW 2166
PHOTOS TAKEN MOMENTS BEFORE DISASTER
We stopped at New Shanghai Workshop in Ashfield on our way to see a house that we ultimately locked ourselves into a $10,000/month mortgage on. Whether or not that was the right decision ultimately remains to be seen, but every day looking at my bank account and a series of consecutive interest rate rises I do wonder.
We had a number of pastries, that were all generally quite good.
Specific memories that I had include the egg yolk short cake with custard crisp ($5.50), which was rich, flaky, and not too sweet.
And the pan fried prawn bun ($5.80) which was only slightly above room temperature, didn’t have much flavour, and kind of sucked.
It’s just a shame we won’t be able to afford to eat here again for the next thirty years.
New Shanghai Workshop Ashfield
269 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
I was on a banh mi kick recently, and Banh Mi Bay Ngo, very close to Nam Fong Hot Bread, was a natural option for a pre-work meal.
Like its nearby competitor, Banh Mi Bay Ngo’s traditional pork roll ($6.50) was packed with cold sliced meats at a very competitive price. I’d say that in comparison with Nam Fong, this particular roll had a greater and attractive crispiness to its pickled vegetables, which provide for nice intra-bite textural variation. Please note that the roll did not come wiht the grill marks – the bread was heated up in a sandwich press prior to consumption – a technique I learned from the SRMO who keeps making me feel jealous every time he has a banh mi at work.
The nem chua pork roll ($6.50) was less attractive to me, owing to the physically smaller quantity of meat, without much extra in terms of flavour. Still a good roll, but doesn’t beat the classic in my opinion.
Overall, both were good, and I can’t recommend either Banh Mi Bay Ngo or Nam Fong over the other.
Bánh Mì Bảy Ngộ
49 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown NSW 2200
(02) 9709 8106