Tag: hot cross bun

Categories
Café

Cafe Lewi – Lewisham NSW Restaurant Review

We had an uncharacteristically nice meal for a weekday morning in a narrow little Inner West cafe that doesn’t quite have an all day menu, but does have some relatively elaborate options for breakfast. This was actually our second attempt at eating here, our first visit foiled by an extreme Saturday morning wait for one of their few tables.

The cafe’s physical space was very narrow, however brightly lit with large windows and nice artwork, it reminded me of a inner-west house I could not afford to live in.


We had the very photogenic confit king salmon with salmon roe ($33), a pyramid of salmon, sorrel, and avocado puree on a deep fried potato bed. I enjoyed the taste of the herbs together with the salty and umami pops of salmon roe, the crunch and oiliness of the fried potato, and the soft and fatty semi-cooked salmon. It was really something reminiscent of when we used to eat small food on a large plate. My wife was less impressed by this whole thing, having been socialised (by me) over the last few years to appreciate larger foods on larger plates for fewer dollars.

My only complaint would be that I thought that the salmon would’ve been better served warm than how it was, which was cold.

The hot cross bun ($8) was one of the best HXB I’ve had in probably years ,and that includes looking forwards in time and considering the one I had today from Cherry Moon.

This hot cross bun had an unusually buttery and soft interior texture, as well as a filling of even more buttery sauce. The little raisins had the perfect dimensions of a little bit of sweetness with a touch of bitterness that made the hot cross bun feel extra premium.

I was less fond of this cheese scone ($8), which I thought was a lesson in dryness.

I think it’s a hard balance to strike, and this in house scone, despite its microplaned cheesiness, did not hit it. (The one I had today from Cherry Moon was better. You winsome, you lose some.)

Overall pretty nice! Everything baked is baked in-house, which is a plus, and the under-renovation photos of their space on their Instagram really shows what a bit of imagination and a couple of million dollars can get you a few suburbs west of the CBD. $1.2M in 2021 is unreal, but you really have to have that kind of vision.

Cafe Lewi
8A Victoria St, Lewisham NSW 2049



Categories
Asian Fusion Bakery Japanese

Azuki Bakery – Newtown NSW Restaurant Review

Despite their small size and tiny amount of available seating, Azuki Bakery in Sydney’s inner west has some of my favourite pastries of recent times, incorporating mostly-Japanese but broadly East Asian flavours into a universally loved medium (bread).

We’ll start by talking about this Kimchi Pork Sausage Roll ($5.80). This Korean inspired sausage roll was the savoury highlight of our meal, with a good flaky pastry and a warm and flavourful meaty filling.

While I had great expectations for Azuki’s Beef Curry Pan ($5), this was unfortunately not quite the picture of perfection that I had hoped. I enjoyed the light and sweet bread and the crispy oily external layer, but sadly found that the internal filling was just a bit too cool for my liking. While it is true that we waited maybe five minutes for one of the three outdoor tables to free up (our prediction for which of the three Asian couples presently seated would leave first and be replaced by us, also an Asian couple, was completely wrong – the ones who had finished eating first actually ended up staying the longest to sit and chat), this bun was otherwise straight from their counter. It is a shame as I could tell that the filling would otherwise be pretty good, but was just lacking a bit of warmth to open up the flavours and aromas.

Azuki is not the first bakery to advertise its Hot Cross Bun ($4.20) as the best in Sydney, but to be honest my knowledge of hot cross buns is neither deep nor broad enough to dispute or support this claim. This particular hot cross bun was quite densely packed compared to your average supermarket variety, with a good amount of spice in the dough and a deliciously heavy load of fruit and walnuts. It was, all in all a good hot cross bun.

The Yuzu Doughnut ($5.20) was pretty good, not too sweet apart from the candied citrus slice on top. I enjoyed the soft dough and the mild but delicious yuzu custard cream within.

This Custard Puff ($4.80) came on its own in a little cake box, so you know it’s special. It had a strong Beard Papa energy, and I loved everything about this, from the sweet and buttery cookie choux pastry to the light and creamy vanilla custard filling. So good.

The Strawberry Extra Decoration Cake ($58), which I ordered for a family birthday based on our good experience with their other offerings was sadly not as exciting as the rest. It was a fairly basic sponge cake with an interior layer of strawberry, and in my personal opinion too much whipped cream. It did not stand out as a cake against competitor cakes. At least it was not too sweet.

THOUGHTS

We tried and liked a great number of things from Azuki, but the one dessert I think you can’t walk past is their excellent custard puff. We’ll definitely be going back for another, along with some other things.

Azuki Bakery
3/63-71 Enmore Rd, Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 8542 9317

Categories
Bakery Café French

Croquembouche Patisserie – Botany NSW Café Review

Wow! This review has really been a long time coming.

When we moved to Botany in January 2020 one of the first things we did, before we even started unpacking, was load up Zomato and look for places to eat. Croquembouche Patisserie caught our eye, and since then we’ve eaten there at least ten to fifteen times over the course of a year.

Croquembouche bills itself as one of top French bakeries in Sydney, and as the only French (non-Vietnamese) bakery I’ve ever been to I’d have to agree. We’ve eaten so many things at Croquembouche that I will only review our favourites.

The Reuben Sandwich is huge and flavourful. It’s actually the first thing I ever got from Croquembouche and has become a regular favourite. I would recommend to get it toasted.

The Ham and cheese croissant with béchamel sauce is excellent. The croissant is fluffy, and the béchamel makes the whole thing very creamy. They do an alternate ham and cheese croissant with gruyere which is a bit more expensive but I don’t like as much – no béchamel.

The Citron tart is my partner’s favourite thing from Croquembouche. In her words, “it’s probably the best lemon curt tart [she’s] ever had. Its balance of tanginess and sweetness is pretty perfect, and I wonder if it has some other complex citruses in there as well. Lemon parts are one of [her] favourite desserts, and [she] thinks that Croquembouche has one of [her] favourite tarts [she’s] ever tasted. You can’t quote me word for word, because I refuse to have non edited words and thoughts on a public platform. You’d better not be continuing to write what I’m saying.”

There is a healthy assortment of crepes on offer, which are all delicious and packed with ingredients like cheese, meat, and mushrooms.

This salted caramel tart was quite good, and not too sweet. This is coming from someone who generally doesn’t like salted caramel.

Croquembouche also offers an assortment of hot meat pies and sausage rolls. They’re pretty standard, and not really at the level of perfection as their other stuff.

Through the course of the year we had an assortment of fruity dessert pastries, which were mostly good and not too sweet.

This was an expensive but elevated hot cross bun.

The level of glaze on this apricot tart is enough to reflect stars in distant galaxies.

$10 for a bacon and egg roll and a coffee is actually quite a good deal. Unfortunately I think not everyone in the café can make coffee, and the wait for coffee during the morning rush can end up being a bit long.

My girlfriend loves chocolate mousse.

Some kind of savory bread of which I have no recollection. Looks cheesy.

This was a really nice sandwich, maybe Cuban, maybe something else, packed with ingredients including a generous amount of pickle. I’d get it again.

Look at this slice of unnamed tart.

Tart of berry. Small but concentrated.

This is one that surprised me. You would never expect such a dish sitting in the counter to have such perfectly poached eggs. Indeed this an entire brunch dressed as a sandwich. Really good, but flies under the radar.

I had a couple of these truffle and salami sandwiches throughout the year. Very tasty, but very oily.

The Salmon and Dill and Chicken and Dill sandwiches are also quite yum. A very pleasant dill taste mixed into a mayonnaise-like sauce with either salmon or chicken rillettes. I’ve never had one uneaten for long enough to take a photo.

THOUGHTS OTHER THAN EFFUSIVE PRAISE

If there’s one somewhat negative component of Croquembouche Patisserie it may just be the exquisite amount of care and time they put in to make the coffee and toast the sandwiches. I’m often in a rush in the morning before work, so I know to get my sandwiches untoasted and without coffee. Their food is also quite rich and buttery, which may be a problem in terms of long-term cardiovascular risk.

Having gone so many times in 2020 and not at all since moving to Western Sydney in February 2021, I wonder if these guys think I’ve died.

Croquembouche Patisserie
1635 Botany Rd, Botany NSW 2019
(02) 9666 3069