Tag: coffee

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Café

La Lune Market – North Strathfield NSW Restaurant Review

La Lune Market in North Strathfield is a sunny Korean-run but not Korean-themed cafe, located under a gym a little bit away from the hustle and bustle of the old Arnott’s factory precinct. Their house specialty is their basque cheesecake, though on my first visit to La Lune it was some of their other offerings that caught my eye.

The ham and cheese croissant ($7) is a little more than just ham and cheese in a croissant. La Lune Market employs the use of a sticky honey mustard glaze atop the croissant for an extra depth of flavour. While this is an innovative touch, it unfortunately doesn’t distract from the actual croissant and its filling itself, which I found a little lacking. Review of the cross-sectional images will reveal a somewhat denser pastry, with inadequately melted cheese. While I don’t profess myself to be a croissant expert, I do think that it would’ve been a stronger showing with a warmer and meltier slice of cheese inside.

Contrastingly, the house sandwich ($14) may just be one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. This sandwich’s bulging contents include ripe avocado, tomato, lettuce, chicken in mustard mayonnaise, cabbage, and a slice of cheese. It is in fact so bulging, that wrapping paper is needed to keep it together in one part. The creaminess of the mustard mayonnaise and soft chicken synergised perfectly with the ripe avocado and tomato, while the crisp, fresh lettuce provided the perfect foil for those rich tastes. A sandwich generally has no right to be this good, but to be fair, a sandwich generally has no right to be $14 either. A big recommend if the budget is willing.

The iced matcha latte ($7) was a little sweet but still quite refreshing and nice. It is extremely unfortunate however that they saw fit to load the cup up with such a vast quantity of ice, leaving little room to put the actual drink. Really poor value, in my opinion.

OPINIONS
A couple of things rubbed me the wrong way, but one thing that I can’t look past is the sheer quality of their house chicken sandwich. It’s so good, and so wholesome, that I would be happy if there were a shop that sold just that.

Not my dog.

UPDATE, JANUARY 2025.

I had never really planned to return to La Lune despite the excellent chicken house sandwich pictured above, however was drawn back after a string of night shifts by my colleague who sold us on the fact that every fortnight she goes for a run around the bay and then stops by here to have a beef bulgogi wrap.

This is a woman who is a KNOWN foodie, someone who puts actual effort into being an influencer, and as the bulgogi wrap ($16) hadn’t been on the menu the last time I visited, we all agreed to go along. What I found (and she will probably dispute this) was quite disappointing. It was essentially a wrap with some beef bulgogi, a little bit of tomato, garlic sauce, hummus, parsley and cheese. It was not exciting.

The wrap was $16, which is the same price as the house chicken sandwich (only a $2 increase in 3 and a bit years, that’s honestly not that bad), but nowhere near as good or as special. I found it a bit dry, the flavour wasn’t that exciting, and the beef wasn’t the best quality (although to be fair I had actually made myself some shabu-shabu with raw beef, with rare Wagyu beef from 2GR during my night shift – also taking a leaf from the same friend who introduced me to nocturnal microwave cooking for one).

I had half the wrap, but finishing it was just one of those cases where it didn’t feel like it was worth the calories to continue to consuming a thing that wasn’t that enjoyable, so I gave it to one of my hungry juniors who was eyeing it after having demolished his chicken sandwich.

I also had an iced mont blanc ($9), generously donated by friend, colleague and good bloke PMR, which I felt was oddly expensive for something that tastes exactly the same as a cold brew mixed with water from my sodastream and topped with a dessicated slice of orange. I literally made this for myself this morning, and apart from the layer of cream which I didn’t have on hand I don’t think it tasted that different. Anyone with an extra nine dollars should note that the orange slice was bitter and not candied.

This basque mini cheesecake, which may be have been around $16 – I don’t think the price was actually on the menu – was expensive but very delicious, paid for and shared with PMR. The fresh cream and the delightful, and the cake was not too sweet, and just the right balance texturally between airy and dense. I regret not getting a cross-section of this cake, but it is definitely something worth trying, especially if you have a wealthy benefactor shouting.

La Lune Market
Shop 1/13 George St, North Strathfield NSW 2137

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Vietnamese

KINX Cafe – Bankstown NSW Restaurant Review

Kinx is an absolute gem of a cafe tucked away in the culinary wasteland of South West Sydney. Kinx’s creative Asian-fusion brunch menu exceeded all geographic expectations, and our visit instantly propelled Kinx to the top of our list of cafes we enjoy in Sydney.

The Pho Beef Ribs were the reason we drove half an hour to go to Kinx in the first place, and boy did they not disappoint. Our waiter suggested a half serve ($20) rather than a full serve, as the kitchen was running low on ribs and we hadn’t had the foresight of booking ahead for this magnetic weekend special. The beef ribs were extremely tender and were in the perfect sweet spot where they fell right off the bone but retained enough internal structure for a good mouthfeel. The pho marinade was true to specification, with a delicious herbal umami taste. The rice noodle cakes, lightly deep fried were absolutely delicious, crisp, and soaked up the saucy marinade well. My partner thought that they had a much more delicate flavour and mouthfeel than just plain old rice cakes, and thought that they emulated thin noodles very well. The small amount of salad with bean sprouts, pickles, chilli, coriander, and Thai Basil was fresh and delicious, cutting through the strong umami flavours of the meat. Overall an excellent dish that I hope all beef-eating readers of this blog can have the opportunity to try.

The All You Can Beef Rice Bowl ($16), was nice but very much overshadowed by the pho beef ribs. The rice bowl features a smoky soy rice, 63 degree egg, and a wagyu beef hamburg katsu patty in bulgogi sauce. Whilst I enjoyed the menchi katsu (the first I’ve found outside of Japan), I thought that the smoked flavour of the rice was a bit too strong, and not to my taste. The 63 degree egg was excellent as always, and the bulgogi sauce was a good pairing for the patty, but neither of us ended up keen enough to finish the rice on account of its smokiness.

The Mama’s Siu Mai was essentially vietnamese pork meatballs in a tomato based sauce, served with bread – a Vietnamese spin on what you would often find on the menu of an Italian restaurant. The meatballs were yummy, as was the sauce and bread, though I think if I’m being honest we could’ve done with only one of this dish or the smoked beef bowl. My partner also wanted to get chips, and I’m glad I said no.

We also rolled for a wild card on the expensive but delicious Taro Coffee ($8). It is a very thick iced drink, of mostly taro with a hint of coffee mixed in, topped with some mixed cereals. It is a special and different experience, and quite good to boot. Sweet but not too sweet, kind of like the taro milk tea of your childhood but all grown up.

The regular coffee is regular.

SECOND VISIT
We spaced out our second visit to around twelve months after our first, taking advantage of their seasonally updated menu as well as a chance to try their weekend special.

The weekend special was the Braised Beef Cheeks ($23) in bio kho sauce with potato puree, baked onion, charred enoki, and scallion oil. This was a surprisingly large dish for the price, which we ultimately found we could not finish. The beef cheek was incredibly tender, and melted in the mouth without much need for chewing. The potato mash was rich and smooth, made in a French style. The sauce and the onions imparted a milder taste to this dish, which started off welcoming but towards the end became all a bit samey. I think that ultimately with such a large volume of food in a dish it can help to incorporate a few more flavours, and while we started eating these cheeks with enjoyment we just couldn’t finish it in the end.

Though the braised beef cheeks were a fumble in sameness, the Pork-E Pot ($21.50) was an absolute masterclass in variety. Arriving in three separate bowls in a wooden tray, each component of this meal had a refreshing and delicious uniqueness to it.

The claypot braised pork belly was sweet, rich and herby, with a melted egg tossed in for good measure.

The pickles, herb, and beansprout salad was extremely fresh and an excellent foil for the richer claypot pork and rice dishes, and the ginger and shallot atop the bowl of sticky rice was just a divine use of one of the best condiments from Chinese cooking., with these little buttery but crunchy bits of likely fried lard that just made the whole thing come together.

I just can’t say enough good things about this dish, and I hope that anyone reading this can find their way to Kinx to try it before it leaves their menu.

The girlfriend, now fiancée, enjoyed a very good soy matcha latte, with a small warning from our waitress that it was not very sweet and that we may not like it without sugar. We found the sweetness level perfect however with soy milk.

INTERIM THOUGHTS AFTER TWO VISITS
Wow. What a wonderful place. You owe it to yourself to pay them a visit once the southwest is liberated.

THIRD VISIT (Dinner)

We had the opportunity to have dinner at Kinx just as they started to field their dinner menu in August 2022, and thoroughly enjoyed everything they had.

The charsiu pork jowl skewer (3 for $18) with apple slaw was quite good. The fatty meat was soft and melted easily in the mouth, and though jowl is fattier than the leaner cuts of pork used in traditional char siu the fattiness was not at all overpowering. The marinade was again sweeter than your stock standard Chinese char siu but with an excellent charcoally smokiness which was evidence of excellent grilling. The apple slaw was crisp, fresh-tasting, and a good complement to the fatty pork.

The pulled pork & wagyu brisket pad kee mao ($26) with 63 degree egg, gailan, basil, and bean sprouts was excellent. There was a great sense of wok-hei, plentiful vegetables and tender and flavourful meat, though I must admit the fact that there were two different animals in this was lost on me during eating. The use of cheung fan (肠粉), rice noodle rolls (like the things you would fill with prawns or pork for steaming at yum cha) rather than your standard rice noodles was excellent, as these are much softer and more delicate, easily chewed and great for soaking up the chilli and basil flavours. I don’t understand why chángfěn isn’t used more for Thai noodle dishes. It’s not traditional, but it’s absolutely amazing. Kinx’s pad kee mao is my all time favourite pad kee mao, and by extension my all time favourite Thai style stir fried noodle.

My partner was a big fan of the ox tongue taco ($10 each) with salsa verde, pickled onion, herbs, and khao khua. She really enjoyed the “flavours” of it, though she couldn’t quite elaborate on why. Possibly it was the mixture of herbs and avocado that did it for her. The meat had a bit of texture to it as ox tongue is meant to, and it was overall a pleasing dish, though not extremely different like the last ox tongue taco we had at Cafe Paci. I liked the thoughtfulness of providing each taco with two tortillas, though I realised too late that the intention was probably so that each taco would turn into two tacos after consumption and loss of the original taco’s fillings onto the second one.

Finally, the Smoked and Fried Quail with Lime Pepper Dipping Sauce ($25). Not every part of every meal is always amazing, and their nightly special, the smoked and fried quail, was certainly not. Chicken and duck are by far my favourite fowls, and while I like to eat quail eggs, quail as a bird meat is not something that I really go for. That was not the problem with it. What I didn’t like about this was the completely unexpected and weird batter, which was not at all hinted at in the photo (see below). I guess that it makes sense that smoked and fried bird would have a bit of batter on it, but this pale thin batter with a smokiness that tickled the same neurons as staleness just really didn’t do it for me. I really wish that the batter hadn’t been a part of it, as the lime and pepper dipping sauce was actually really tasty, and would’ve gone well with just a regular bird. Not even peeling off the batter could make me feel better about this, and so we ended up having like one and a half pieces each and leaving the majority of the plate untouched. We didn’t even take it home. I could not see a future in which I wanted to eat it.

Compare expectations vs reality. My partner tried to tell them about our disappointment at the quail but she dropped her spaghetti in the worst possible way, and failed to use a compliment sandwich. I fear that my partner might have been a bit rude and I really hope they let us back. We loved every other component of our meal, and Kinx remains one of my top cafes and restaurants in all of Sydney. This quail does not make me want to go back any less, and I will continue to go back and recommend them to anyone who reads this blog.

FOURTH VISIT
A quick update for our fourth visit (August 2023)

The Pork Claypot (kho quet – $22) was pretty good and tasty, with a good mix of lean and fatty pork, and steamed rice to soak up the flavourful sauces.

The bun bo hue ($21.50) with extra ribs ($6.50) I really did not love.

Kinx Cafe
3/432 Chapel Rd, Bankstown NSW 2200
(02) 8772 5117

Categories
Café

Homage Specialty Coffee – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

Tucked within the outside wall of a semi-smelly carpark in Parramatta is a small café serving what is probably Western Sydney’s best coffee, and some very good toasties.

Staffing at this carpark café is quite minimal, with only two people working to serve the teeming masses from the local legal community. The wait for my two toasted sandwiches (which were premade, mind you – all that had to be done was put them in the sandwich press) took about twenty minutes.

This bolognaise jaffle ($10 I think) is probably the best jaffle I’ve ever had, though the only of reference that I have for comparison are those made by my father (he owns a jaffle maker, but has no other formal jaffle making qualifications). The bread was suitably crispy, and the warm gooey cheesy filling of mince, tomato and cheese was warming and full of flavour. Well executed.

The mushroom toastie ($15-ish) was also very good. It was stuffed full of pickles and cheese, which gave it a good tangy flavour not found in all mushroom toasties. The mushroom added quite a bit of bite and chew to the toastie, and I didn’t even miss the lack of meat in it. The one complaint, if I were to nit-pick, would be that the tangy, salty flavours of this toastie might have just been marginally too flavourful for me. Nonetheless, a good toastie.

This soy latte may actually be the best I’ve had in my life. I’m not familiar with all the fancy terms reviewers use to describe coffee, but I know quality when I taste it.

EARLY THOUGHTS (MAY 2021)
The food was good, and the coffee was amazing. There is an unfortunate dearth of free parking in the area, and the nearest easily accessible free parking is probably in Westfield Parramatta (a 9 minute walk). I also think that given how busy they were on the day they’re probably bringing in enough revenue to buy another sandwich press. This could potentially cut their service times for a toastie down from twenty minutes to something a bit more reasonable. Having said all this, I’d definitely still recommend Western Sydney dwellers pay Homage a visit.

5/5 (coffee bonus)

A NEW LOCATION (MAY 2022)
A year after my first visit to Homage I had the opportunity to take a number of my colleagues on our customary post-night shift breakfast to their new location on George St Parramatta, just around the corner from their old spot but now with ample room to cater for their loyal customer base.

I had some kind of Veggie Bowl (vaguely $22, the menu has since changed), a vegetarian offering of quinoa, broccolini, carrot, avocado, beetroot and other greenery which I ruined (ethos-wise, not taste-wise) through the addition of grilled chicken ($3) and a fried egg ($3). Though it’s been a little while since I’ve had it, I remember enjoying the variety of tastes and textures, and the complexity of such an offering for a Parramatta breakfast.

Even a year later, Homage’s coffee remains probably the best I’ve ever had. I don’t know how they do it.

JULY 2022

My colleague ELT had such an enjoyable meal at Homage on our May 2022 visit that she insisted we go back after our run of night shifts in July 2022. Beating some kind of mid-morning rush, we entered the empty café at 10AM just before it was swamped by hordes from the surrounding office buildings on their daily coffee run.

I had the Mediterranean Baked Eggs ($20), again a vegetarian dish at its base that I ruined with the addition of chorizo ($3). Our wait for food was a little longer than expected owing to the single hardworking guy at the back, and while opinion around the table was varied, I thought it was worth the wait. Homage’s baked eggs was a surprisingly wet and runny dish, best eaten with a spoon rather than a fork. This held for both the tomato base as well as the very softly baked eggs, the yolks of which were unexpectedly creamy and pleasurable, though not something I’d go out of my way to eat ordinarily. The loading of dill, pine nuts, pomegranate, and vegetables including capsicum, chickpea, and eggplant was generous and added both textural and flavour interest above and beyond that of your regular garden variety baked egg dish. Brickfields sourdough bread was served with Pepe Saya butter, a high-end choice that surpasses budget alternatives and surely deserves a mention on the next printing of the menu. The chorizo was unnecessary and therefore not recommended, owing to the good balance of flavours within the base dish.

REVISIT, OCTOBER 2024
A series of excellent visits to Circa led us to not patronise Homage for over two years. On our October 2024 attendance we found that Homage no longer carries Five Senses’ Crompton Road as its ‘house coffee’, rather now having their own house blend from the same roaster.

I had this chilli scram with extra chorizo. The scrambled egg was deliciously fluffy, and if a little salty when eaten in combination with the cheese on top. The chilli oil was tasty and umami, but again more salty than spicy, in my opinion, limiting how much of it I could have. I neglected to note down how much this cost, but the chorizo was a salty topper that was definitely not needed – the dish stood strongly on its own without any additional meat. Reading back, I can’t believe I literally fell for the same chorizo trap twice in a row. Hopefully this post prevents others from suffering the same fate. The eggs were great though.

THOUGHTS
With its diverse all-day menu and coffee so good that it’s a bit suspicious, Homage Specialty Coffee enters the A tier of Parramatta’s cafes, nestling vaguely alongside Circa and Lil Miss Collins, and earning a spot within our regular post-nights brunch cycle. Seasonal variability in their food menu would take them to the next level.

Homage Specialty Coffee
Shop 1/71 – 73 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150

Formerly: Beneath City Centre Carpark, Shop 2/71 Horwood Pl, Parramatta NSW 2150

Categories
Café

Two Fives – Rosebery NSW Café Review

We’ve eaten at Two Fives both in person and via delivery services.

This grilled chicken salad with Lebanese bread was not exciting. Very healthy. Wouldn’t recommend.

I really really loved the pea, smoked salmon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce thing. I can’t find it on their menu any more, but I would really recommend it if you see it on their specials board.

The mint coffee was good, the iced latte was pretty standard.

Two Fives’ I Stand Carroted ($21) is basically carrot cake pancakes drowned in mascarpone (however I don’t know how submerged they would be if eaten in person). I didn’t care for it much but my partner liked it.

We enjoy the Crispy Bird ($14), a chicken schnitzel sandwich with Tomato, Cheddar Cheese, Lime Garlic Mayo & Lettuce.

The cure ($16), a breakfast burger/sandwich with a hearty helping of bacon, 2 eggs, potato rosti, lettuce, tomato, and sauces is delicious. It is one of the best bacon and egg rolls in the area, helped by the fact that it is not merely a bacon and egg roll. I can recommend this one.

The Miss Maroubra ($14 – not pictured) is basically a ham sandwich but yummy.

While their sandwiches are very expensive, they’re absolutely jam packed with ingredients. I can recommend Two Fives.

Four out of fives.

Two Fives
355 Gardeners Rd, Rosebery NSW 2018
+61 (02) 9669 1611

Categories
Café Latin American

Costas Arepa Bar – Bondi Beach NSW Restaurant Review

I’m generally not a very beachy guy, and though I’ve lived in Sydney almost all my life, my visit to Costas Arepa Bar also marked my first visit to Bondi in over a decade. Bondi, as some may know and many are about to learn, is home to a population mostly consisting of well off Caucasian youths, who have the benefit of their family having lived in Australia since the First Fleet. One outcome of this very well off population is the incredibly boomy corner store industry, with the mini-grocer next door to Costas Arepas Bar seeing plenty of egg-and-or-milk runs from the above mentioned cohort during our brief visit.

Mama Chang (L), Yankee (R)

The arepas at Costa Arepa Bar are essentially little, corn based toasted sandwiches filled with an imaginative and plentiful range of fillings. The arrangement is similar to what you would find if you toasted a crumpet, cut it in half and filled it to the brim with proteins, salad, and sauces, though the arepa itself is a bit more grainy, thinner, yet somehow still more substantial feeling.

Though the displayed menu confusingly offers its arepas in pairs for $14, the chef was quick to point out that any combination of arepas could be had.

The Mama Chang featured a crumbed hoki fillet, kimchi, slaw, and a mixture of mayonnaise and “Korean BBQ Sauce”. Whilst the flavours were OK, I wasn’t a big fan of the sesame crumbing that they used on the fish, which I found gave it a bit of a harder bite than it really had to (no doubt designed to suit Bondi’s anti-gluten cultists).

The Yankee, was advertised as featuring beef short rib in BBQ sauce with coleslaw and jalapenos, though what we actually got was a pulled meat, not at all comparable to the juicy piece of short rib as we were expecting. The blandness of the meat and boring BBQ sauce made this the weakest arepa of the bunch. Not even the jalapenos could save it.

Pepiada (L), DownUnder (r)

The Pepiada arepa was the strongest of the bunch. The shredded chicken was coated in a rich sauce of lemon mayonnaise, coriander, and avocado. Unlike the other arepas, the filling in this one was homogenous, with no unexpected surprises or difference in ingredients eaten bite to bite. If you find yourself here and only have room for one arepa, this would be the one to go for.

The DownUnder arepa of the same shredded chicken but in peri peri sauce with a side filling of bacon and avocado just wasn’t executed as well as the Pepiada. The spicy filling wasn’t quite spicy (though the additional hot sauce for $1 made up for that), and the differing elements made it difficult to eat.

Soy Cappuccino

Costa Arepas Bar’s soy cap is essentially the same as any other soy cap, made with Little Marionette beans. What’s worth mentioning is the cup from Huskee, which is made from coffee husks and has a nice handfeel. I’d think about getting one of my own were I able to keep a keepcup longer than a few days.

VERDICT
3.5 NOT BAD.

Costa Arepas Bar
112A O’Brien St, Bondi Beach NSW 2026
0480 276 880