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 Small Talk’s Lox Bagel ($17.50). I don’t know the physical or legal difference between a bagel with filling and a sandwich, apart from the type of bread, but nonetheless enjoyed this bagel with filling. The bagel has a sweet and savoury flavour, with a mildly dense texture providing a perfect balance of bite and chew. The filling of smoked salmon, caper paste, pickled onion and cream cheese was deeply umami, with a good mix of different textures and flavours. My partner and I shared the one bagel, and I do not think it was inadequate. They come pre-sliced in half, so if eating with a friend or colleague they are optimal for sharing two different halves of two different bagels.
Another item pre-destined for sharing is their Raspberry Fritter ($7.50), essentially a square glazed donut with a light hint of raspberry filling. If you were to close your eyes it would be almost indistinguishable from a Krispy Kreme original glazed donut, though the grooves did make it extremely convenient to tear and share. Not the strongest dessert though, and I feel too expensive for what it was.
Please note that this venue is more takeaway oriented, with only very limited outdoor benching available.
My partner and I live in constant and recurrent disappointment at birria tacos, which often look so good but taste only not bad. Our recent trip to a market day in Wentworth Point in Sydney’s “expanded inner-west” found us queuing up at yet another food stall for yet another serving of birria tacos. Maru’s Kitchen, originally from the kitchen of a Mexican grandmother four and a half hours inland from Sydney proper, do regular pop ups and market stalls around Sydney. Though possibly the best tacos in Wagga Wagga, how would they hold up in the decidedly more cosmopolitan big smoke? Would they be good? Would they be better than the other offerings around? The bar was low.
The answer was surprisingly, yes.
The Birria Tacos (3 for $20) at Maru’s Kitchen were probably the best we’ve had to date. The filling was tasty but not over-tasty, cheesy but not over oily. Quite remarkably and importantly in our experience, the consome was quite good and drinkable, with a mix of spices and flavours rather than just saltiness (looking at you, Chololo). Finally, birria tacos that I’d entertain the idea of having again.
Maru’s Kitchen Lake Albert and Wagga Wagga, NSW Various market stalls around Sydney 0407 083 047
Though I’ve lived in Wentworthville in the heart of Sydney’s South Asian community for a total of eleven years now in two separate runs, I still don’t really have a good gauge on South Asian food. It’s hard for me, as someone who didn’t grow up in the culture, to know what’s actually good and what’s actually bad, so I must apologise in advance if my thoughts about Dulwich Hill’s The Fold are coloured by my complete lack of cultural competency.
We started our meal with this quite-good Sri Lankan Iced Coffee ($7.50), which was essentially a mixture of chai spices, coffee, and vanilla ice cream (AKA a cold dirty chai). It was quite enjoyable, though a bit expensive, and I had no qualms about recommending it to a random vegetarian who walked into the restaurant just as we were leaving.
The Appa-Appa with free range chicken curry ($24) was a plate consisting of two plain hoppers and one hopper with an egg in it, along with side pots of a mild chicken curry, lunu miris (sambal paste), and seeni sambol (a less spicy onion sambal). We enjoyed the chicken curry, though found it to be extremely mild – likely a product of the restaurant being in Dulwich Hill rather than Pendle Hill. I have literally no standard to compare these hoppers with, but can remark that I enjoyed the crispy thin edges much more than the bases, which I felt were a bit too thick and bready. Again, I have no idea if that’s how it’s meant to be. This is just how I feel.
To illustrate how out of my depth I am here, after eating it as a taco I found out via the internet that you are not meant to eat hoppers as a taco.
The Butterfruit Pann with two poached eggs ($21) was really just another name for avocado toast, but with one delicious twist. This otherwise standard avo toast came with a tiny but delicious pot of pineapple chili relish, with a fascinating sweetness that went incredibly well with the bread and avocado, and elevated each and every bite. I only wish that the pot were a bit larger as we ran out two thirds throughout our meal.
Look at this SICK cutlery.
INTERIM THOUGHTS The food at The Fold was really not bad, and even the otherwise standard avo toast had a nice little twist that elevated it to a new level. Their pastries on display also looked quite good, and though I don’t know if they’re made on site I think I will end up coming back at some point to eat them all.
RETURN On a subsequent visit to grab some pastries I learned that they are in fact all made on site. There’s an assortment of relatively standard French as well as South-Asian inspired pastries, though for this visit I erred on the side of caution.
The Plain Croissant ($5.50) was certainly, as described, a plain croissant. I took a leaf from my friend the Sydney Croissant Hunter’s book and brought a serated knife to capture a cross-section from my visit, though in doing so left quite a mess on their table. I wasn’t blown away by this croissant – it was adequately crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but keep in mind that I’m not a croissant expert, and I got this about half an hour before closing, so it wasn’t quite fresh out of the oven.
Next up is this Salted Caramel & Macadamia Scroll ($8.50), a hefty and dense bread-like creation that was a meal in and of itself. Entire bites of this were devoid of any caramel, but this was not so much a problem as this scroll truly reminded me of my love for bread. The salted caramel swirl tasted a little bit dark-cooked (I don’t want to say burnt, I doubt it was ever on fire), and ultimately I think my craving would have been equally served by some stock standard brioche or something.
The Portuguese Tart was a bit sweeter than I usually like, but I enjoyed the flavour as well as the pastry. Even my partner, who doesn’t usually like Portuguese tarts, enjoyed this. It is a shame that she dropped it on the floor before she was finished.
I actually really enjoyed this Black Forest Cake ($8.50). I often get black forest cake thinking that I’ll like it, but it’s never really lived up to my expectation until now. The Fold’s black forest cake was absolutely lovely, with plenty of moistness, dark chocolate, and a discrete and highly tasty cherry layer sandwiched between two layers of dark sponge. Every part of this cake, including the well proportioned mousse-like icing was well executed, and this is now the best black forest cake I’ve ever had.
I always fear that my review for non-East Asian food might come across similarly to the reviews that I read of East Asian food written by non-Asians. Anyway, here goes.
This was my first time eating a tamale, and thus, rightfully or wrongly, will form the basis by which all subsequent tamales are judged. We had the chicken tamale with green mild sauce ($10). The closest thing in Chinese cuisine that I could compare this steamed maize-flour, banana-leaf wrapped edible to would be lo mai gai(糯米雞), though there are still many differences between the two. This particular tamale had a filling of shredded chicken breast (nicely moist), along with some mild flavouring of Mexican green tomatillo, green chilli, onion and coriander. It was overall less tasty than I would’ve expected, acting more as a base carb than as a full meal, and definitely benefiting from the provided spicy sauces (pictured below), compared to lo mai gai which has a lot of its own flavour and is not intended to be eaten with any sauce.
These pastor nachos ($17.50) were also not as I was expecting. Again I am sure that I will offend, given that Rosa Cienfuegos’ food is widely believed to be authentically Mexican and I am mere non-Mexican who has probably never had good Mexican food in his life. I personally found these nachos to be too creamy. Everything, from the guacamole to the nacho cheese to the sour cream was just very goopy and creamy. Perhaps how it is meant to be, and just not for me.
No complaints about these saudero tacos (3 for $17.50). Plenty of flavour when supplemented with the sauces pictured above. Enjoyable tortillas.
COMMENTS Honestly maybe my palate is so westernised by Tex-Mex that I actually can’t appreciate authentic Mexican food. I hate to be the guy who complaints that their dumplings had too many chives though, so please do take my negative commentary with this proviso. For what it’s worth, my partner had a great time.
This will be a quick play by play of our yum cha lunch at The Eight, chosen because sadly Marigold is no more, and The Eight had 2 hours of free parking (though we overstayed by like 20 minutes and paid $9 for the privilege).
These pork spare ribs in black bean sauce were fine. Pretty meaty, not super fatty. Flavour I thought was a bit too mild.
I think these steamed chicken feet could’ve been steamed a little bit longer, but the flavour was good.
I actually also thought these bean curd skin rolls could’ve been more flavoured.
The steamed chive dumplings were fine, not extraodinary, and could’ve used more chive taste. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my specifically, things just tended towards blandness.
The shu mai were good, and adequately flavoured.
The texture and flavour of this this doufu fa was good.
The steamed custard buns were really good! My first one burst hot liquid all over me and the table, and our friend MP gave up hers so I could have an extra.
Overall We had a pretty decent and well priced meal, spending around $32 per person for yum cha, with 2 hours free parking down below during the day, and unlimited free parking after 6PM (important for CBD lunch considerations). My partner had had dinner with her mother and brother the previous week and had a similarly good experience.
Not bad (though I think Marigold was better. RIP.)
The Eight Market City Shopping Centre, Level 3/13 Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000 (02) 9282 9988
