Categories
Asian Fusion Café

Il Locale – Berry NSW Restaurant Review

I had a very difficult time trying to actually get here within their opening hours to have this meal, but I’m glad I was able to. Sadly I came after my last in a run of night shifts, only able to catch the breakfast menu. The following fortnight I woke up from my nap too late to catch the lunch menu. Such is life.

This chilli prawn scramble ($22) was seriously good. It was the only thing on their breakfast menu that really caught my eye (the lunch menu has a number of options that I guess I’ll never have the chance to eat) so I almost didn’t go in, but I’m glad I did and I got to eat it. The scrambled egg was sweet and soft, with a very generous serving of large, juicy, and sweet prawns. The kimchi and pickles were bright and flavourful, working together with the protein to create a highly umami-filled dish. The topping to bread ratio was perfect, and again I can’t emphasise the generous serving size of all the important parts, without too much unnecessary carb (sourdough). I wasn’t the biggest fan of the tumeric mayo, and thought that it was better without it, but I’m glad that it was placed essentially on the side as I guess some people might like it more than me.

In short: A great scrambled egg on toast. I suspect their lunch offerings might be just as good, but sadly the opening hours just don’t work for me. I doubt I’ll be able to make it at an appropriate time over the next month in the Shoalhaven area.

Il Locale
85 Queen St, Berry NSW 2535
(02) 4464 3355

Categories
Café

Roastville Coffee Roasters – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

I love a good all day food menu, and while I’ve been delving into the world of making espresso at home, it’s been a two in one action to try out cafes with their own beans to see if I manage to find something I really like for the home machine.

The Tasmanian salmon fish cakes ($22) featured two rounded fish cakes atop a bed of yuzu aioli and covered in herbed slaw and radish, with a side of poached egg. The slaw was crunchy and fresh, perfectly countering the friedness and unexpected potato-ness of the fish cakes and the creaminess of the mayonnaise bed. It was a tasty dish, kind of reminiscent of the salmon salad at A Man and His Monkey which I also enjoyed, but I wish I had been forewarned about the potato.

The green chilli scrambled eggs ($25 including extra halloumi) was solid, comfort stuff, with a huge serving of tasty eggs with green chilli, red banana chilli, cherry tomatoes and herbs on seeded sourdough. I rarely get scrambled eggs at cafes, but I actually quite enjoyed this. It was, like the salmon fish cakes, a creative dish that ventures outside of café staples.

The side of fried chicken ($5) served with spicy mayo was sadly not good in all the worst ways – damp on the outside, but dry on the inside. There are a couple of dishes on Roastville’s menu that centre around fried chicken, like their waffle dish, so unfortunately those don’t sound too promising either. No one kicks every goal.

Coffee was alright, but not phenomenal enough for me to dial in a new bag of beans.

COMMENTS: Despite being a commercial coffee roaster, Roastville’s cafe operation actually has quite a fun and interesting all day food menu, that matches the expectations set by Sydney’s top notch of cafes. I had a good meal. I’d definitely like to return for seasonal variations.

Roastville Coffee Roasters
157 Victoria Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
(02) 9560 4802

Categories
Café

Black Seed Eatery – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

We ate at Black Seed following a set of nights.

I, along with most of our party, had the Ricotta and Chilli Jam Scrambled Eggs ($14.90), with crispy bacon, sliced avocado, and grilled sourdough bread. I enjoyed the fluffy scrambled eggs, and though to date no scrambled eggs have been able to hold a candle to the perfect eggs at Dopa, these came pretty close. The chilli jam and feta added spicy, salty, and creamy flavours to the egg, the bacon was well cooked and adequately portioned, and the advocado provided a good degree of freshness and balance. Overall this dish had a high degree of cohesiveness, and I can actively recommend this.

Black Seed Eatery
105 Phillip St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9635 0602

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Japanese

Bloc145 – Redfern NSW Restaurant Review

Some restaurants deserve a wholeheartedly lukewarm response, and in my opinion Block145, a cafe we drove half an hour to eat at, is one of them.

We were tempted by the Salmon Okonomiyaki ($20) and a desire to relive some good meals we had overseas. Unfortunately the gap between expectation and reality was quite large in this dish. While the grilled salmon was well cooked with a crispy skin, that was the first and last superlative of the meal. The okonomiyaki itself I found disappointing, with a high flour content. It was sadly not what I was looking for.

After a recent success at Cafe Mckenzie in Randwick we decided to go for yet another Toastie with truffle oil, honey, and parmesan ($14). Sadly this particular toastie was far less exciting than the benchmark set by its competitor, with no great feeling of substance to it. It was quite small, and I would have much rathered more toastie than a salad I didn’t ask for.

These crispy smashed potatoes ($10) continued our breakfasts’ trend of being completely unsatisfying. I don’t really see what made them crispy or smashed. They really were essentially regular roast potatoes with a sprinkling of salt.

Pictured above, a photo of a bloody mary that I did not have. My partner did.

THOUGHTS
I’m sad about my trip to Bloc145. Their menu has so many wonderful looking items I am left wondering if I simply chose the wrong things, or if my experience would have been like this regardless of what I chose. I wouldn’t go back.

Bloc145
145 Redfern St, Redfern NSW 2016
0403 655 661

Categories
Japanese Korean

Sushi LAB – Belmore NSW Restaurant Review

Sushi LAB is a local inter-Sea of Japan collaboration serving a mixture of Korean and Japanese dishes in a family-oriented vibe, complete with children playing on iPads sipping from juice boxes and very nice service.

The deluxe sashimi ($37.50) was a well priced assortment of 15 pieces of seafood. I enjoyed the surprising inclusion of marinated octopus, though was not so fond of the giant oysters. The surf clam I felt was a bit icy at service, so I left my second piece (my partner does not eat such unfamiliar sea creatures without a fight) until the end of the meal to allow it to thaw a bit. Overall I felt this was well priced with good quality of salmon in particular.

I enjoyed this dragon roll ($20.80), though some may scoff at the choice. Sometimes you just need a dirty, non-traditional snack of tempura prawn, crab salad, eel, and teriyaki-mayonnaise to ruin your macros.

This wagyu beef ramyun (spicy, $17.80) was actually great. The flavours of the soup, though not very spicy, were very enjoyable, as was the bean sprout which inspired me to cook some more bean sprout related dishes at home the next few days. The beef was tasty and not too fatty, and the noodles, though probably not super special in and of themselves, were cooked to a degree of perfection unknown to this blogger’s girlfriend who do anything with instant noodles except immerse them in hot water.

OVERALL
I think we had quite a nice meal at this small family restaurant, and wouldn’t hesitate to go back.

Sushi LAB
328 Burwood Rd, Belmore NSW 2192
(02) 9758 9720