Category: Café

Categories
Café Japanese

Cafe Oratnek – Redfern NSW Restaurant Review

I first visited Cafe Oratnek in May 2020, before this blog existed. The height of the COVID-19 pandemic back in May meant that Oratnek was open for takeaway only at that time, and it was not until very recently that I had an opportunity to have an eat-in meal.

The main stars of the Oratnek menu are basically the same as that at its sister store Kentaro, a mere 1.2km away. The wisdom of opening two of essentially the same cafe within a 15 minute walk of each is, in my opinion, questionable, however both establishments seem to have a healthy amount of patronage. If I were in their shoes I would have rather done a North-South thing like Cool Mac and Kurumac (though there’s a lot of competition for Japanese food North of the bridge), or even have opened up the second store in an affluent, Asian-centric area like Eastwood or Strathfield.

There is plenty of outdoor seating for the COVID-paranoid, but the lack of cover over the courtyard of this terrace-style house means that the sun is very much blaring and angry. Something to be aware of – you might want to wear sunscreen.

Port Katsu Sandwich

Oratnek’s pork katsu sandwich ($16) is essentially the same as Kentaro’s – a thick pork cutlet, lightly battered and deep fried for a juicy, tender outcome sandwiched between Japanese bread, cabbage, and mustard. Compared to Kentaro’s I think that Oratnek’s is not as oversauced and has more cabbage, but I’m not sure which one I prefer more. Both are delicious.

On my second visit to Oratnek I recommended the pork katsu sandwich, a known quantity, to my senior intensive care colleague and ordered myself the Salmon Rillettes & Legumes On Toast ($16.50). Unfortunately for me I didn’t really realise just how much legume would be involved. There was really only a smattering of salmon rillette, which in my opinion wasn’t quite enough for the thick toast. The sheer greenery and legumery was overpowering, and I found it a marathon to finish all of the crisp legumes provided to me. While some Japanese chefs may have earned the title “Legume Magician”, I would hesitate to offer this title to Oratnek based on what was presented here. Given the weighted composition of the dish I would more readily recommend it to a vegan rather than someone with no dietary restrictions.

Matcha Brownie

The matcha brownie is yum. A little bit bitter, sweet but not too sweet.

The mentaiko linguine ($22) I had back in May was the first time I had had mentaiko anything in Australia. The mentaiko topping was creamy, and enough to coat all the strands of pasta. I really enjoyed this dish, however after the past six months of tastemaker development I now consider this to be a bit overpriced. Cod roe is readily found at Asian grocery stores and isn’t that expensive.

The Kobe Hayashi Rice ($23) I didn’t really enjoy. It may very well have been the travel time, though the lukewarm onion beefiness was quite disappointing to me. Reasonable to try again fresh.

My partner enjoyed the Classic Omurice ($20 – no pictures) but hilariously told me that she didn’t think it was quite a classic, authentic omurice (not knowing the name of the dish).

VERDICT
Oratnek and Kentaro have the best pork katsu sandwiches I’ve ever had in Australia. In that sense they offer something special and are worth paying a visit to. A few of their other dishes are a bit hit and miss, but it’s likely that you will find something else you like in Oratnek’s diverse Japanese menu.

A recommendation. Bring a hat.

Cafe Oratnek
4 Pitt St, Redfern NSW 2016
(02) 8394 9550

Categories
Café Thai

Keramic – Westmead NSW Restaurant Review

New to Westmead this year, Keramic is a religious café and restaurant situated within a 100 year old (1921) Uniting Church owned cottage, the result of a collaboration between the Kongfucius team across the road and the Parramatta Mission. Originally a family home and subsequently a church coffee shop, the café is nicely decorated with period appropriate furniture, ornaments, and photographs of dead people.

Though there is adequate outside seating with park benches, we chose to sit inside in a well appointed family dining room for our post nights breakfast. I want to draw particular attention to these nice candles that my partner would’ve liked to see. She recently spent $16 on a candle stick from some inner west concept store because she thought they would melt nicely. As the owners of cats I really don’t see when they will come into use. My cat set herself on fire on the stove as recently as last night. (She’s OK)

I ordered Hannah’s Favourite ($15) for my 8:30AM breakfast, a fully lunchy meal consisting of a chicken curry of the day (massaman), sticky rice, and a fried egg. This was a very standard lunch meal that you could get from essentially any Thai restaurant. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this dish – just chicken breast in massaman curry sauce, a cylinder of well proportioned sticky rice, and a moist well-fried egg – though I guess you could say it is remarkable to have such a cultural lunch dish amongst Keramic’s otherwise mostly Western menu.

Late 2023 Update
The late 2023 update is that Keramic has clearly established itself in my mind as the best local source for coffee, far surpassing every Zouki-esque establishment within the grounds of the local health faciltiy, as well as local chain competitor Leaf. I normally call or text through my order and by the time I get there the coffee is ready for pickup, giving myself a chance to get in a little walk as well as skipping a long queue for closer coffees generally thought to be less good. The guy who runs the place is also an absolute hero and I’ve been the blessèd beneficiary of a free piece of day old croissant brought for the staff of the emergency department during a call-in for a NIHSS.

The (breakfast) menu has become more Western over the years, although they still run a Thai menu for lunch. The Prawn Star ($25.90) was the most interesting thing available when we visited for a post-nights breakfast in November 2023, featuring some unexciting buttered bread, some nicely fluffy and creamy scrambled eggs, and excellently cooked prawns without a hint of overcook. While good and somewhat wholesome, it suffered by reminding me of the superior chilli prawn scramble from Il Locale, a distant and unfair benchmark from Berry NSW.

Update October 2024

Keramic’s menu has expanded, and their coffee remains the one to beat for the 2145 postcode. The dragon balls ($23.90) were tasty and good, though the crumbed and deep fried eggs (not-Scotch) were too thoroughly cooked for my liking. The pulled pork was flavourful and moist, and the whole plate came together well, with a hint of spiciness from the chilli crisp hidden on the other side of this photo. Yum.

JULY 2025

The 1921 Breakfast Burger ($15.90), with its unmelted slice of cheese, hash brown, onionis, bacon and egg, was reminiscent of the Big Breakfast Burger at Maccas for twice the price. I think at the very least the cheese should’ve been a bit more melted. I don’t think I’d get it again.

Keramic Cafe and Restaurant
43 Queens Rd, Westmead NSW 2145
0451 231 921

Categories
Café

Good George (née Georgie Boy) – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

Parramatta’s much-loved Circa has popped out a new baby, and it’s a boy. Located at Parramatta Park’s George St gatehouse, this pop up of indeterminate longevity serves Circa coffee along with a completely unique menu of mostly quick eats made from familiar Circa ingredients, served in takeaway containers.

On my first visit to Georgie Boy I had the Barramundi Quesadilla ($15). These quesadilla were quite good, with the tortilla crispy and almost layered, with a roti-like quality. The filling of chilli marinated barramundi was cheesy and tangy and spicy, but not so much that the flavour of the fish was drowned out. Indeed the flavour of the barramundi was very clear, and brought me back instantly to the last time I had barramundi at Circa (which was not actually good, but this time it was good). The freshness and generosity of smashed avocado as well as the rest of the salad and garlic labne was a welcome foil to the slightly oily slightly rich quesadilla. Ultimately a good dish.

On a subsequent visit, I found that the Eggplant Wrap ($14) with an added egg ($3) is certainly no replacement for Circa’s famous Ottoman Eggs. It was actually quite disappointing, especially after the high expectations set by the quesadilla.

COMMENTS
It’s too early to write a verdict, and I plan on bringing my partner back once she’s back from her interstate locum.

Good George (née Georgie Boy)
O’Connell St, Parramatta NSW 2150

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Korean

SOUL Deli – Surry Hills NSW Restaurant Review

The husband and wife magicians behind Surry Hills modern Korean restaurant SOUL Dining have done it again with SOUL Deli, a still-Korean but less formal café and deli space just blocks away from the mothership. Where SOUL Dining succeeds by delivering a variety of quite substantial dishes cooked with fusion principles and a view for sharing, SOUL Deli’s offerings are more café-oriented, with single person servings that still retain some of that fusion touch.

The SOUL Galbi Bowl ($28) was the highlight of our meal. The star ingredient, black angus short rib, was delightfully tender and fatty inside with a good char on the outside – the result of a prolonged sous-vide process and high temperature grill finishing. Each bite of this prized beef showcased both the meat quality as well as the soy-pear marinade, delivering distinctly Asian flavours and showing that often it’s more about cut and culinary technique than whether or not the cow was born in Japan. The soy egg had a great umami flavour, and the pickles, kimchi, and fresh broccolini added a freshness that balanced out the meat. Last but not least was the fresh tomato, which was not only fresh but also added an additional glutamate enriched hit of umami which synergised well with the meat. Very good.

The Omelette with Korean “Caviar” ($24) was quite a nice demonstration of SOUL’s intersecting Korean and French cooking techniques. The omelette itself was delicate and moist, though I felt that the salted pollack roe within didn’t quite pack the punch that was expected. The trout roe atop omelette was fine, though there could’ve been more – there’s a difficult balance to achieve here with a relatively expensive ingredient that adds only a fine and subtle flavour. The beurre blanc, a sauce that some but not all French mothers teach their children added a creaminess that complimented the egg with its mozarella stuffing. It was a great sauce to mop up with the surprisingly decent sourdough bread. This omelette was overall a lighter tasting dish than the galbi bowl, but still good.

This Korean Fried Chicken piece ($8) was expensive compared to your regular serving of fried chicken, but quite good. The exterior was crispy, well sauced but not overflavoured, while the inside was juicy and tender. Served with some pretty high brow kimchi.

I enjoyed this Korean donut ($4.50), which was a slightly oily, slightly sweet dough twist.

This oat cookie ($4.50) was also not bad.

This was a fresh and fizzy Omi ade – a kind of Korean bberry drink. It is available also with alcohol but we tried very hard to be adults about our breakfast.

VERDICT
We really enjoyed the fresh Korean-fusion flavours at Soul Deli. The dishes are on the expensive side, but well worth it. A fitting sequel to Soul Dining.

Categories
Café Japanese

Ippuku – Rosebery NSW Restaurant Review

Ippuku is a small and in my opinion underrated Japanese cafe in Rosebery. Despite some somewhat middling reviews online I decided to take the plunge and visit for some sandos before an evening shift at work.

Ippuku is a nice, bright cafe with plenty of natural light and a selection of indoor table, indoor high table, and well ventilated outdoor seating, ideal for the COVID paranoid. Staffing was by a predominately Japanese crew with a Caucasian man making yummy warm juice from Single O coffee beans.

I was in a bit of a rush so I asked to have my pork katsu sando inside and the rest of the food to be packed for takeaway so that I could eat it later at work. I think unfortunately I did not communicate this very well, as similar to Yummy Duck BBQ just around the corner I received all of my food in take-away form. This was ultimately not a big deal as I was able to try each of the items that I ordered fresh.

The Pork Katsu Sando ($13) was really good. The pork cutlets were thinner than I’m used to from places like Kentaro, Oratnek, and Sandoitchi, but this was by no means a problem. Indeed I found this pork cutlet to be extra juicy, with the welcome addition of a few fatty bits around the edges to mix the flavour and texture up a bit. Unlike my previous experiences this sandwich was served with tomato, which provided an extra level of freshness to the sando and reminded me a bit of MOS Burger’s tomato burgers. Really good.

The Ebi Sando ($16) is a recent addition to the menu, and features a generous serving of thick, juicy battered and fried prawns in a bit of an egg-salad tartare sauce. I loved the juicy prawny prawns and how the sandwich was just jam packed with them. I really enjoyed the half of this sandwich that I had fresh, but found the sauce a bit too fishy when I had the second half a few hours later. It was a few dollars more expensive than the pork sando but definitely worth a try.

Pork gyoza

The pork gyoza (6 for $10) were a bit disappointing. I appreciate that they were pork and chive rather than pork and cabbage, but I just didn’t think they were all that flavourful. It tends to take a lot for a Japanese gyoza to impress me though – I tend to like Chinese dumplings more.

UPDATE 12/12/2020

Wagyu beef burger

The Wagyu Beef Burger ($16) is pretty good, but pretty expensive and ultimately just a normal burger. It was not a Japanese hamburg patty which is what I expected. It was really just a classic hamburger with a thick juicy internally-pink patty, cheese, pickles, tomato, onion, lettuce, and sauce. Quite steep for $16 and not at all special.

The Chashu Rice ($17) is quite bad, and I would recommend you stay far away from this. Forever. The egg is nice and partially cooked and runny, but that’s the end of the compliments. I found the fried rice to be sticky and not flavourful. The chashu was dry and not fatty enough to break up the bland fried rice taste. A very bad dish for you to avoid.

Chicken katsu sandwich

I drove home from Ippuku and dropped off this chicken katsu sandwich ($13) for my girlfriend. I can’t really tell you anything about it apart from the fact that she thought it was pork and enjoyed it. I asked her to save me some, which she did, but she left it in the microwave for 10 hours instead of the fridge so I didn’t feel safe enough to have any.

VERDICT
Don’t fall victim to negative Nancys on Zomato. I’d strongly recommend a visit to Ippuku for their delicious sandos.

4.5/5

Ippuku
Shop 1/1-3 Dunning Ave, Rosebery NSW 2018
(02) 8097 5925