Tag: scrambled eggs

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Japanese

St Kai – Mortdale NSW Restaurant Review

We had a really great meal at St Kai, a Japanese-inspired cafe with great food, but not that many Japanese people on its staff.

The tantanmen ramen with miso pork ($22) was a really good bowl of ramen. The broth was incredibly thick and rich, heavy on the umami and heavy on the creaminess, with the perfect amount of spice from Mama Liu’s chilli oil (thinking about this now, I might actually pick up a jar for home). The noodles were very jīndao 筋道 (a term which I think is being slowly eroded by the increasingly popular “Q” of Taiwanese origin) in texture, with great chewability and springiness. I enjoyed the included greenery (seaweed and bok choy), and there was plenty of meat in the bowl for neither of our two adult humans to not feel like we missed out. An additional thoughtful touch to our experience included the provision of a pre-warmed share bowl, which I have a photo of but will only post on request because that’s not why you’re here. Overall a great bowl, quite elaborate for a breakfast, but actually somewhat breakfasty in its flavour.

Next, the first of two breads. The folded dashi eggs on soft milk toast ($21), allegedly with flying salmon roe as per the menu but thankfully with non-flying salmon roe in reality was a treat. The eggs were perfectly cooked, just a little bit runny but still with some of its own structure. The dashi and bonito powder added a high degree of umami to the meal, whilst the generous serving of ikura, juicy and salty, was perfect to flavour the dish. I don’t know if the shokupan is made in house or if it’s from elsewhere, but found it to be nice and sweet with a good toasting around the outside but still soft on the inside. Very good.

Next, a sweet dish. The french toast with black sesame butter & miso caramel ($18) was at its base essentially the same as the dashi eggs on toast, with what is probably bread cut from the same loaf. Where it differs is in its taste and execution, a real testament to how versatile bread as a vessel is. This was a sweet dish, highly buttery and decadent from the mass of butter served. The black sesame itself wasn’t particularly sweet, if at all, and indeed they also add some of it to the tantanmen for extra sesame-ness. Most of the sweetness of this dish came from the miso caramel, which all added up was just the right amount of sweetness (ie. not too sweet) for my mood that day. My partner actually got bored of all the bread, but I did not. Very good. Love bread.

The Ichigo Tokyo Milk ($4.50) tastes like steamed Big M and I have regrets.

STRAY THOUGHTS I don’t know who Peggy Gou is or why she features so prominently on St Kai’s promotional material. Do they have a commercial arrangement in place, or are they just fans? Another stray observation I will make is that during our one our stay at the restaurant, all tables inckluding our own were inhabited by Asians, but none of the locals who were just dropping by for a quick coffee were. Does this say something about Asian-Australian yuppies (another dead word) as a social group? Who knows.

ACTUAL THOUGHTS We enjoyed our meal and recommended St Kai to our friend and colleague BJCHC. Who would’ve thought such a place would exist in a small side street of Mortdale?

Update June 2023

We went back for another meal. Unfortunately, and I don’t know if it is just what we chose this time around, it didn’t really do it for us.

The wagyu cheeseburger donburi ($23.50) was a bit oily and didn’t feel the best, though the egg was great. Maybe it would’ve been better as an actual cheeseburger, possibly with the rice formed into “buns” a la Koku Culture (RIP).

The melon pan ($7.80) with jam and cream was like a scone but not.

The udon sama ($23.50) with black garlic with forest mushrooms, truffle oil & charred lemon felt really oily, and even my partner who is a big lemon fan didn’t love this. Maybe I’m just a lover of meat, which was noticeably absent from this.

A ghost coffee flight ($16), designed for someone more into their Hoffman-esque coffee content than me.

Second round thoughts: I think there are still things on the St Kai menu that are really good and worth a try, but unfortunately visit number 2 downgraded them from a strong recommendation to a mild recommendation from me.

St. Kai
38 Balmoral Rd, Mortdale NSW 2223

Categories
Café Thai

Keramic – Westmead NSW Restaurant Review

New to Westmead this year, Keramic is a religious café and restaurant situated within a 100 year old (1921) Uniting Church owned cottage, the result of a collaboration between the Kongfucius team across the road and the Parramatta Mission. Originally a family home and subsequently a church coffee shop, the café is nicely decorated with period appropriate furniture, ornaments, and photographs of dead people.

Though there is adequate outside seating with park benches, we chose to sit inside in a well appointed family dining room for our post nights breakfast. I want to draw particular attention to these nice candles that my partner would’ve liked to see. She recently spent $16 on a candle stick from some inner west concept store because she thought they would melt nicely. As the owners of cats I really don’t see when they will come into use. My cat set herself on fire on the stove as recently as last night. (She’s OK)

I ordered Hannah’s Favourite ($15) for my 8:30AM breakfast, a fully lunchy meal consisting of a chicken curry of the day (massaman), sticky rice, and a fried egg. This was a very standard lunch meal that you could get from essentially any Thai restaurant. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this dish – just chicken breast in massaman curry sauce, a cylinder of well proportioned sticky rice, and a moist well-fried egg – though I guess you could say it is remarkable to have such a cultural lunch dish amongst Keramic’s otherwise mostly Western menu.

Late 2023 Update
The late 2023 update is that Keramic has clearly established itself in my mind as the best local source for coffee, far surpassing every Zouki-esque establishment within the grounds of the local health faciltiy, as well as local chain competitor Leaf. I normally call or text through my order and by the time I get there the coffee is ready for pickup, giving myself a chance to get in a little walk as well as skipping a long queue for closer coffees generally thought to be less good. The guy who runs the place is also an absolute hero and I’ve been the blessèd beneficiary of a free piece of day old croissant brought for the staff of the emergency department during a call-in for a NIHSS.

The (breakfast) menu has become more Western over the years, although they still run a Thai menu for lunch. The Prawn Star ($25.90) was the most interesting thing available when we visited for a post-nights breakfast in November 2023, featuring some unexciting buttered bread, some nicely fluffy and creamy scrambled eggs, and excellently cooked prawns without a hint of overcook. While good and somewhat wholesome, it suffered by reminding me of the superior chilli prawn scramble from Il Locale, a distant and unfair benchmark from Berry NSW.

Update October 2024

Keramic’s menu has expanded, and their coffee remains the one to beat for the 2145 postcode. The dragon balls ($23.90) were tasty and good, though the crumbed and deep fried eggs (not-Scotch) were too thoroughly cooked for my liking. The pulled pork was flavourful and moist, and the whole plate came together well, with a hint of spiciness from the chilli crisp hidden on the other side of this photo. Yum.

JULY 2025

The 1921 Breakfast Burger ($15.90), with its unmelted slice of cheese, hash brown, onionis, bacon and egg, was reminiscent of the Big Breakfast Burger at Maccas for twice the price. I think at the very least the cheese should’ve been a bit more melted. I don’t think I’d get it again.

Keramic Cafe and Restaurant
43 Queens Rd, Westmead NSW 2145
0451 231 921

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 Modern Australian

A1 Canteen (Revisited) – Chippendale NSW Brunch Review

When we heard that A1 Canteen in Chippendale was closing down, we knew we had to visit again to try their famous curry eggs before they disappeared off the face of the planet. These were the same eggs that mesmerized me during my previous visit to A1 Canteen back in July.

Armed with months of insider parking knowledge, we booked ahead and found street parking early in the day. This was a much less awful process than last time.

Curried scrambled eggs

While visually arresting, the curried scrambled eggs ($19) were ultimately a bit of a disappointment. The dish basically consists of three elements – egg, sausage, and muffin. The egg is meant to be the star of the dish, but I found it the weakest component. Despite its orangey look, the eggs were in fact not that curried. The curry flavour was quite weak, and did not live up to the expectations set by the eyes. They were cooked just fine, but definitely were not as light and perfect as those at Dopa. The muffin component was superb. They were toasted to a crisp ideal of perfection, contrasting synergistically with the runniness of the eggs. The sausage, which is from local delicatessen LP’s, was complexly textured and enjoyable. My partner specifically remarked how nice it was to get a normal sausage as opposed to a chorizo which she feels is a bit overdone in the brunch scene.

Panna Cotta

A1 Canteen also served me my first ever Panna Cotta ($13) with stewed rhubarb ( I thought it was strawberry), long pepper, and olive oil. I thought it was fine. My partner was more enamoured with it than me, so I will let her explain in her own words: “The olive oil added a lot to it in a surprising way. It was creamy and yummy and I really liked the olive oil and it was not something I thought would go with it, but it really brought out the flavours. I never experienced such an olivey flavour before.”

Overall I was again a bit disappointed by A1 Canteen, but I would’ve been equally disappointed if they had closed down without me every trying the curried eggs. Go if you want.

A1 Canteen
Ground 2/10 Kensington St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Categories
Japanese

Dopa by Devon – Darling Square Haymarket NSW Restaurant Review

Dopa Toothfish Don Set (July 2020)

I met with my friend for lunch at Darling Square a couple of months ago. I had wanted to try Dopa by Devon for a while, and the weekend provided the perfect opportunity as parking was more readily available. I parked at Novotel Sydney Central, which was $9.20 for weekend parking.

I had the Grilled Glacier 51 Toothfish Don, which was $38 for the est with miso soup and some salad and pickles, plus an exorbitant Sunday surcharge. Toothfish is one of the rare and somewhat unknown treasures of the sea, and until quite recently a forbidden animal, owing to a lack of a sustainable way to capture it. It was only recently that an Australian fishery out of Heard Island has been able to apply sustainable fishing techniques to bring the joy of this fish to the table.

The toothfish serving in Dopa’s toothfish don was huge and the texture just so delicate. It really melted right into my mouth, and the taste of the marinade complemented rather than overwhelmed the fish. It was only my second time eating toothfish, and I thought it was equal to the toothfish I had at Sokyo for a much higher price. It was much better than the toothfish I had at Zushi Barangaroo.

While expensive and with a nonsensical weekend surcharge, I really enjoyed the toothfish don at Dopa. I want to bring my girlfriend here soon.

SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATE #1

Dopa Toothfish Don (September 2020)

I brought my girlfriend here. We had the toothfish don (again) and she loved it. There definitely wasn’t as much toothfish this time, which was a bit disappointing, and I have the photographic evidence to prove it. I also thought the toothfish wasn’t cooked as well, but was still better than Zushi Barnagaroo.

Dopa Scrambled Egg and Furikake Don (September 2020)

We also had the Scrambled Egg and Furikake Don ($8). Wow. This dish really went far to show just how good and wholesome a simple meal can be. The eggs were perfectly soft and fluffy, and made for a great topping for the warm rice, and the furikake provided a great tasty addition. To use a now overused phrase, the scrambled egg furikake don really warmed me up from the inside. It was just so wholesome, and cheap!

Dopa Yuzu Green Tea (September 2020)

My partner enjoyed the yuzu green tea more than me.

SEPTEMBER 2020 UPDATE #2

Damn it, we went back. This time we were a bit too full already, having had a light meal at A1 Canteen in the morning.

Dopa Mentai Salmon Don (September 2020)

The Mentai Salmon Don I didn’t really enjoy. It was a far cry from the other light, fresh, unami dishes that Dopa serves. The spicy mentai mayo was too thick and overpowering. I liked that it helped to cook the salmon a bit, and I did really enjoy the salmon component. It was overall too tasty and I wouldn’t recommend.

Dopa Wagyu Don A5+ Shallot and Ginger Don (September 2020)

We also had the A5-7 Wagyu Don with shallot and ginger. I thought the thinly sliced beef was quite tender, however I thought that the ginger and shallot, a mainstay of Chinese BBQ cooking, did not work well with the beef. It split the meal into two components in my mind – the light Japanese taste of the beef, seaweed, and egg, and the salty and strong taste of the ginger and shallot to be eaten with rice. My girlfriend did not get to enjoy this dish as she was moving the car and by the time she got back it was cold.

Overall Dopa is one of our new favourite places. It offers well priced, homely Japanese fare. They never have any uni available when I go but I hope one day they will and I will be able to update this post. Yum.

Dopa Donburi and Milkbar
Shop 5/6, 2 Little Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000
(02) 8060 4861