Tag: hash

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Café

Baby Finger – Camperdown NSW Restaurant Review

I like to eat food first and foremost, and I’ve always thought that an all-day menu is a key component of success to the operation of a good cafe. There’s only so many different ways you can do avocadoes on toast or an eggs benedict, and I’ve spent far too many breakfasts being sad about not being able to order from the lunch menu. Luckily, Cafe Baby Finger’s all-day menu gives visitors the option of both breakfast food and – let’s be honest – real food, all day long.

Much of Baby Finger’s all-day menu is quite potato forward, and the two dishes that we picked were no exception. The salmon potato cake ($26) was a umami combination of potato and cured (though it seemed cooked, or at least hot cured?) salmon, nicely seasoned with dill, topped with caramelised onion and watercress, and served with two poached eggs.

Though not much to look at, the starchy potato texture, light but umami flavours, and luxurious aoili made for quite a yummy dish.

The other dish we had was the ‘nduja smoky beans ($25) from their specials board, basically a potato hash with speck, ‘nduja, caramelised onion, a single excellently poached egg, all in a beany tomatoey sauce, topped with manchego and served with two pieces of focaccia. I enjoyed all the different textures and flavours that were present in this dish, even the unexpected pops of saltiness in some bites and the sweetness of the tomato base that came out in others.

The speck was portioned generously and cut to quite large pieces to provide a quite meaty chew, balancing out the otherwise meatless meal (the ‘nduja being mixed into the sauce and difficult to macroscopically identify).

The size of the dish was quite large (the photos don’t do it justice) , which meant that I found that two pieces of focaccia were insufficient to eat all of the saucy goodness with. A third piece would’ve been great.

Overall we enjoyed both things we had here, and can recommend it to a friend or colleague. The food kind of reminded me of Circa’s greatest hits. More like this!

Baby Finger
Unit 27/12 Layton St, Camperdown NSW 2050

Categories
Café French

Bitton Gourmet Cafe – Alexandria NSW Brunch Review

My partner took us to Bitton a couple of mornings (years now, by time of publication) ago. I had pre-peeked the menu and nothing struck my fancy, but the reviews were good and my partner was keen.

We arrived to an almost full house. There were 4 dogs in the cafe’s outside seating, but none inside. We didn’t have a booking but that wasn’t a problem on this Saturday morning – they were able to ready a table for us in minutes, however didn’t wipe it down.

The coffee at Bitton was good, but not a standout. We did enjoy these nice red mugs that it was served in, however.

The Croque Madame ($21) was a enormous letdown. I had wrongly assumed that $21 would afford me something greater than a mere ham and cheese toastie with egg on top. There are numerous places in the local area to get a croque madame for $12-14, and I truly regret paying this amount. For what it’s worth, the sandwich was fine and tasted good. The spicy tomato sauce and the side salad were also good, but it didn’t really justify the cost.

The Lamb Merguez Sausage (2 for $7) were actually quite coarse and complex. We enjoyed them and they added a much needed meatiness to the baked eggs and sweet potato hash.

My partner enjoyed the Baked Eggs and Sweet Potato Hash ($18) much more than I did. I generally don’t like hash, and this was no exception. The dish alone is vegetarian, and $7 was spent on some much needed sausages. I often find hash too bland in taste, and this was again true this time. They serve pepe saya butter with their bread.

I literally don’t know how much they charged for this Vanilla Slice, but I thought it was only ok. The vanilla slice itself was one of the better that I’ve had, though far from the best – a title which still belongs to Bourkies Bakehouse in Woodend, VIC. I did appreciate the vanilla ice cream and berries, which we weren’t expecting. The vanilla ice cream had black dots, an unmistakable sign of quality.

Overall I can’t recommend Bitton Cafe. We paid an exorbitant amount for food that was just fine. I’m particularly angry at myself for paying $21 for a toastie. I don’t care if it’s French. Never again, though I’m sure that I would have fonder feelings about the place had the prices not been so high.

Bitton Gourmet
36/37A Copeland St, Alexandria NSW 2015
(02) 9519 5111

Categories
Café Middle Eastern

Silly Tart Kitchen – Potts Point NSW Cafe Review

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

The Silly Tart Kitchen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato