Platform 82

I've been wanting to come here since I saw this, because who doesn't want food stacked on a platter? It's a short walk from Concord West Station. There's a decent amount of seating, but relatively dimmer inside. It is next to the railway, so lighting occasionally changes when a train goes past/can be a bit noisy, and with the open doors, heaps of flies do come in. Ended up asking them to turn on the fans to help get some wind to get the flies away, but towards the end, there were some small flies stuck onto bits of food...

Breakfast platter for 2-$32pp

 

since it's not cheap, may as well get a few shots in

eggs 3 ways: fried, scrambled and poached

veggies: mushroom, spinach, does avo and tomato count?

Platter also had bacon, hash browns, salami, other deli meat, feta, four pieces of toast and meatballs. Opted for the breakfast platter since it's the OG, although the stuff itself is pretty basic and you can make it at home. You're really paying for the presentation and the ability to eat from a platter and a plate on a stand. Bacon wasn't too fatty and had heaps of slices. The eggs were cooked well, but I found the toast a bit tough and not toasty enough. There was heaps of food here and we didn't manage to finish some of the veggies.

dessert plate: cornetto, crumpets, heaps of nutella/chocolate, cookie crumbs, oreo, strawberry

Lucky we didn't upgrade the dessert to pancakes or churros, because we didn't even finish the crumpets. Crumpets are probably my least favourite packaged breakfast item (compared to bread, pancakes, waffles, pikelets, cereal, granola etc), but it was way too sweet and chocolatey since it was lathered with layers of nutella. Wished there was more fruit since there was only one strawberry cut into 4 bits, and it really needed the freshness and acidity to cut through the cookie crumble, chocolate, maple syrup and melted ice cream.

This place does give you a good feed, although not cheap, but it's fun for a novelty thing as a one off.

White Taro

Long time no brunch! This post isn't actually backdated unlike my previous ones (and the ones to come). Had a break during summer school today, so spontaneously went out to eat in Surry Hills at this relatively new place. It's near Reuben Hills, and you don't have to walk up the main hill, so that was a plus. Modern Vietnamese fusion food in a classic Surry Hills cafe setting and decor.

cafe

It was actually smaller than I expected. There is some seating around the back, but the tables are quite squished together. There's some outdoor seating, but being summer and with warmer days, there are quite a few flies around, even on our indoor table. The food took a tad bit longer than expected, but our eyes lit once it arrived =D

drinks (but not my drinks)
Frappes-$7.50
Mango heaven: mango, mint, green apple and pineapple
Pine/Berry Blast: pineapple, blueberry and mint

The mango one wasn't like your typical mango drinks with mango nectar/overly sweet. Nice and refreshing, and I think the green apple helped to make sure the drink wasn't too sweet. The berry one was refreshing like other berry drinks

Waffles: Salted caramel bacon, poached egg and oat ginger crumbs-$14

This dish sounded exciting, but was the most disappointing and least traditional. The waffles were soft and not too buttery, but would have liked a bit more of a crunchy outside bit. There wasn't enough salted caramel though ))): Since the caramel wasn't salted enough, and on top of the super sweet maple syrup, this dish was definitely too sweet. Didn't help that I freely poured the maple syrup over my waffles since it's not normally that sweet, but this one was. The bacon didn't have too much fat on it which is a plus. The poached egg was fried, but it did have a runny yolk. Couldn't taste the oat ginger crumbs because of the sugar already on the bacon plus maple syrup.

Taro's deconstructed 'Banh Mi': crispy pork belly, house made apple and date chutney, crunchy veggie picked, spiced kumquat butter, kimchi, chicken orange pate served w/ baked baguette-$19

pork belly!

Definitely a favourite, it was so cute to make your own little rolls. Yes, a normal pork roll is around $5 or less, and this one is 4 times the price, but there is pork belly! It was tender and soft, but the pieces we got weren't crispy, and did have a lot of fat on it. Loved the cute little pate jar, which was so delicious I ended up eating it by the spoon (but stopped since it's super unhealthy). The jar toppled as the waitress brought over the dish, but she was carrying 2 super long boards I guess. Loved the chutney, gave it some sweet fruitiness. Couldn't eat the kimchi since it was too spicy, but I did fill my roll with the pickled veggies. Wished they gave more bread since dividing the bread up between 3, you don't have much left. Too many toppings left and no bread. The roll was really soft and toasted well on the outside. The butter had a sort of crumb, but couldn't taste any other flavour apart from butter lol.

Grilled watermelon salad: BBQ prawns, two way watermelon, Bulgarian feta cheese, glassy pecan, exotic greens in palm dressing-$18

Ordered a salad because the chicken salad on the table next to us looked very generous, but we ordered the prawn one (recommended by the waiter) and unfortunately it was in a smaller...There were roughly 5 prawns, not massive king prawns, but still cooked and seasoned well. The dressing had a bit of pepper and by the end it was a bit spicy. I think seafood and watermelon salad is a thing now since it's summer. Some watermelon was served slightly warm which tasted a bit different, and could have been sweeter, preferred it just normal. Loved the pecans which gave it so much texture even though it's deceivingly small. Greens were delicious with the dressing, and slightly creaminess from the cheese. Pretty different flavours for a salad (:

foood

   

kitchen 

entrance

They also forgot to charge us for the salad, but mu friend went back to them since it was unusually cheap when she paid...Vietnamese food is generally considered cheap, but modern Viet fusion is really delicious and interesting!