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.
This is a review of Rustic Pearl, a small hole-in-the-wall cafe that offers coffee and Turkish-inspired foods for takeaway only during the COVID-19 period.
The original “BOMBA” ($12) is basically a lavash toastie with eggs, sausage, tomato and filled with lots of cheese. The bread is thin and crispy, and the contents very hot and overflowing with tomato flavour. Definitely eat this one hot, it gets quite boring once cold.
The meat burek ($8) is cheap and wonderful, and in fact everything I thought the Bomba should be. It’s basically a giant ravioli filled to the brim with sauce, vegetables, and meat. It comes with an excellent chilli dippling sauce, which unfortunately isn’t available for solo purchase (however they tell us they’re working on a business case). This is an absolutely unmissable component of Rustic Pearl’s 2020 offerings.
The brownie was rich, and I really appreciated the nuts.
The Angel cake was rich also, but not too sweet. A winner.
This caramel cookie was light and crumbly, so much so that it crumbled upon holding. Yum.
Special attention should be paid towards Rustic Pearls’ dark hot chocolate. It is rich and dark and not too sweet, something which is often hard to find. I would rate it together with Bourke St Bakery’s hot chocolate.
Overall I can definitely recommend paying Rustic Pearl a visit. Start with the meat burek with the chilli sauce, and explore outwards.
My partner had a hankering for mimoas last week and it was my duty and pleasure to fill the role of designated driver on our trip to Silly Tart. She had the bottomless drinks, a choice of any four cocktails for $35 per person for 1.5 hours, and we both shared the “feed me” tasting menu, also $35 per person. While the menu lists the “feed me” as being only for a minimum party of 4 people, they were happy to accommodate our indecisiveness as a couple.
We sat in the outside “garden” portion, open to air but with a translucent roof covering which provided a degree of shade. There was a nice breeze and some grapes on the tree outside. Semi-fit for COVID-19 dining.
Hummus with lemon sauce and warm flatbread.
Our first dish of our tasting menu was the hummus with lemon sauce and warm flatbread. This was a good dish to start on. The hummus was mild but flavourful, and as you can see quite well plated with its garnish of shallott, tiny radishes, and cut up cherry tomato. The warm flatbread was indeed warm and served in two forms. There was more than enough flatbread to mop up all of the hummus and even enough left over to eat with the next dish.
grilled asparagus, apple, pecorino with lemon sauce
The grilled asparagus, apple, pecorino with lemon sauce was quite good. The asparagus was drenched in olive oil which I think is pretty much unavoidable for grilled asparagus. The lemon sauce was the same as the previous dish, and I wish they had mixed it up a little. The green sauce was I think a pesto but not too pesto-y.
Hash of pumpkin, salt and vinegar potato, herbs and shallot
This is a hash of pumpkin from the chef’s father’s garden in Goulburn NSW with salt and vinegar potato and herbs and shallot from the herb garden that we were sitting in. I’m not particularly sure why the provenance of the pumpkin was so important to point out, as if the unnamed chef’s father was some kind of famous pumpkin king (if so, why not tell us his name?). We liked this dish overall. Salt and vinegar is one of my partner’s favourite seasonings on her favourite legume. There was a lot of shallot, as with the previous two dishes, which was not all finished.
corn fritters and tomato relish with their house-smoked 2 week crispy bacon
The house specialty, corn fritters and tomato relish with their house-smoked 2 week crispy bacon was the fourth and final course. The house-smoked 2 crispy bacon was indeed extremely crispy, thin, and delicious. It was just packed with umami and flavour, and we were sad that there was so little of it – especially as this was the only meat we got all meal. The corn fritters themselves were quite bad, with a poor internal texture that was more bready than corny. The tomato relish was nice and just the tiniest bit spicy.
As mentioned, my partner enjoyed three different cocktails while I indulged in a delicious glass of water.
The water was filtered and chilled, served in a glass bottle and drunk from quite a large and heavy glass. I did have the opportunity to sneak a sip of each of the cocktails – Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Grapefruit Gin Spritzer, however take it from my partner that they were all quite good. My partner’s favourite cocktail was the bloody mary, which she thought was bloody delicious.
VERDICT
While ultimately a good time, I would have liked it more if there was more meat. The dishes were all quite repetitive, with an overreliance on shallot a recurring motif. It would even be a very reasonable place to come as a vegetarian, if you’re happy to miss out on a few pieces of bacon. Silly Tart Kitchen otherwise provides good value as a $35 pp tasting menu, as well as a $35 pp bottomless drinks service. They also offer 700mL premixes of their cocktails at a very low price ($15-ish).
4/5 but give me more meats
Silly Tart Kitchen 1 Kellett St, Potts Point NSW 2011, Australia +61 2 9331 1048
Mum’s Kitchen (not my mum – someone else’s mum) should be commended for their early opening hours. It is a rare Lebanese restaurant that opens at 6 in the morning, and while its food isn’t great, it’s one of the few interesting options for breakfast after a night shift in the area.
The Half Cheese Half Lahem Pizza ($10) was some of the worst half cheese half meat Lebanese pizza I’ve ever had. Somehow both the cheese and the meat halves were dry. If you’re looking for something like this that actually tastes good I suggest you try Mina Bakery, the closest of which is in Carlton. Nonetheless, despite it being very bad, it was still good, as meat, cheese and carbohydrates tends to be.
The mixed plate ($21.50) was equally disappointing. The meat was dry, and the hummus was very watery. The garlic sauce was too creamy and didn’t have enough garlic flavour. Nevertheless a dry man finds a cactus in the desert.
The Chicken Wrap ($11.50) was actually quite good. There was a good ratio of filling to bread, and the pickles and chicken and sauces inside were synergistic. This is a good pick of a bad bunch.
Overall, Mum’s Kitchen is quite bad. But where else are you going to go if the craving hits before noon?
Rose Borek was Rose Boring. We had a selection of pretty samey boreks, including the Spinach and Feta Cheese Borek ($9 – better as a glozeme), Mince Meat Borek ($10 – better as a gozeleme) and the Potato Borek ($9 – better as a pizza). I don’t want you to think that I am a hater of boreks. Indeed, some of my favourite friends are borek. I just didn’t think that these really excited me. I must say however that the creamy cheesy sauce that accompanied each borek was very nice.
The Pogaca (middle- $4) was very similar to a cheese breadtop from breadtop. It was ok in this regard. Similarly the Sweet Borek (left – $5) reminded me of a Chinese sesame paste pastry. I liked it, but not for its borek qualities. The lamb roll (right – $15) I did not enjoy.
Overall I would not recommend coming here. Perhaps if you are a big fan of borek you will not find it as disappointing as I did. The sweet borek is a standout however seems to have some strong Chinese vibes, which is probably why I enjoyed it.
This is a takeaway review of Camy’s Chargrill Chicken in Mascot. It could also be a takeaway review of Camy’s Charcoal Chicken in Mascot. At this point I’m not sure what they’re called.
The Lebanese Wrap with chicken, tabouli, garlic sauce and lettuce and tomato was really good. Freshly cooked chicken, fresh salads and a generous amount of garlic. Quality was not dissimilar to any Western Sydney charcoal chicken restaurant. A slight shame that tomato was $1 extra but for $12 all up it makes for a reasonably healthy and yummy lunch.
The Hail Caesar Burger was also not bad. I misread the menu and thought that it would be beef but it came with chicken instead. I guess it makes a lot more sense for it to have come with chicken. I’ve never seen a Caesar salad with beef before. The egg in the burger was quite good. Not fully cooked, with a runny yolk. The lettuce, egg, cheese, chicken schnitzel and Caesar dressing came together well, like a salty meaty greasy salad. Yum.
The Charcoal Chicken, however, is where Camy gets into trouble. I have no pictures to show you, but basically we found Camy’s charcoal chicken to be very middle of the road. It was not as moist or as flavourful as the charcoal chicken I’ve come to expect after living in Western Sydney, but certainly not the worst I’ve had either. The fact that Camy offers toum (garlic sauce) as an addon but doesn’t bundle the chicken with any at all is very disappointing.
The 3 Empanadas and Salsa Verde ($14.90) I thought was a bit disappointing and overpriced. It’s really not a lot of food for $15. The salsa verde was yummy.
Overall I can recommend the wrap and burger, but can’t recommend the stock standard charcoal chicken. If charcoal chicken is what you’re after, you’d be better off going to El Jannah.
