Juan Bowl & Tea

This place feels like a cafe which would open during weekdays, but it's actually opened more weeknights than lunches. Would recommend to make a booking since there's not heaps of seating, but for walk in there are bar seating. They are quite 'high tech' in terms of using payment systems connected to iPads, and also they show their daily specials on photos on their iPads which I think is quite smart, since specials change and they can save ink since they don't need to reprint menus every day. The menu is super simple, with only 5 items available, 1 of them weren't available on the night but they had a special, so still a choice of 5 for mains, and one entree special, and 2 desserts. They suggest teas to pair with each dish as well. 

food spread

Tonkatsu-rice with onion, 2hrs slow-cooked bungalow sweet pork tonkatsu, free range scrambled eggs, house apple mustard mayo, roasted tomatoes, red cabbage, miso sesame sauce-$23

inside 

It's not cheap for a tonkatsu with rice, opted for the normal koshihikari rice with this. The pork isn't super thick, but it is still a decent area. It could have been a tad bit more crispy/light in terms of the batter, but the pork was moist. Liked how there were two dipping sauces as well. I normally don't like scrambled eggs, but I like the smoothness from Jap style scrambled eggs since they're not really creamy/milky.

Matching tea-organic lemon myrtle: native Australian from QLD rainforest, tangy and sharp, sweetened to taste, provides a refreshing and zesty palette cleanser, great health tonic-$8

It's not cheap for tea, but when tea is in the restaurants' name and they suggest pairing teas, well then I couldn't resist not trying. It did give a nice subtle tang and slight zest to help lighten up the pork, mainly cause deep fried food is generally oily and relatively heavy. It's a nice light tea, but I like teas more flavourful. The only other time I've had a matching tea was in some tea region in Taiwan, where it's an actual tea house with like 50 tea options.

Wagyu: rice with garlic butter sauce, 2hrs slow-cooked wagyu roasted beef, free range onsen egg, crispy lotus root, beetroot miso, wasabi, snow pea sprouts, onion sauce-$24 (extra $1 for 12 grain rice)

no yolk porn from the onsen egg ):

12 grain rice

Beef was thinly slices and also quite tender. It wasn't super flavourful in terms of the meat itself. Was disappointed that it looked like an onsen egg, but the yolk was overcooked from the normal leaky yolk. The lotus root could've been crispier as well. The 12 grain rice is sort of like brown rice and tasted quite healthy, but wasn't really garlicy. The waitress warned us that the onion sauce is quite salty and just pour it depending on our taste, but I didn't actually find it that salty when you mix it with the rice, although it could be more oniony. It's an expensive dish for beef and rice, but it's good quality and nicely plated. 

Matcha tiramisu-$12

the top is so flat

 

inside

I've had a similar dessert in HK, where it was also a matcha tiramisu or some matcha cake inside a wooden box. There was a nice hit of matcha, but not the really bitter type. I think cause they premade it quite early on so it was quite soggy/wet inside. There wasn't much sponge, and a bit too much cream. Some of the liquid from the cream/marscapone/alchool just seeped out over time, and you end up with a watery puddle at the bottom. The dessert was nice, but I've had better tiramisus before.

inside

Auvers Cafe

I’ve been wanting to come to this cafe for over a year, and finally decided to come here on the weekend. Since it’s generally a place I hardly pass by, decided to order 3 dishes between 2. Took a while to finish it since the portions here are a good size and not too pricey, but we managed.

food spread

Taro latte-$3.80

The black sesame latte ($3.80) has been highly recommended by Dandelion multiple times, so of course I had to order it. It definitely did not disappoint. The black sesame was finely ground so hardly saw any of it, but it had a nice intense black sesame flavour and was quite aromatic. The taro latte was more on the sweet side, and I would have preferred more taro flavour. 

Auvers' Pancakes: matcha pancakes, premium matcha glaze, sponge, red bean paste and raspberry sorbet-$18

inside

The pancakes still had a lot of steam when it came to the table and you cut open them. They aren’t super fluffy (or maybe I’m just a bit spoilt having tried really good pancakes overseas), but they were really soft and not too dense. The standout was the raspberry sorbet on top, good amount of sourness to cut through the sweetness from the pancakes and matcha sauce. The matcha sauce was more on the bitter side which I like since and was generously lathered over the whole dish. If it was a sweet matcha sauce, then that would be way too sweet for the amount of sauce they gave.

Egg nests corn fritters: corn fritters, smashed avo, herb and garlic mushrooms, caramelised pineapple, nori sour cream, onsen egg, alfalfa and snow pea tendrils-$20

#yolkporn

This was the dish I was thinking of not ordering so we would only have 2 dishes, but so glad we ordered these corn fritters. They were filled with heaps of filling esp corn rather than just batter and drowned in oil. I loved the onsen egg with a nice runny yolk. The salad at the bottom was really refreshing, and the flavour combos worked well together.

 

Salmon terrine: salmon terrine, puff pastry, yuzu avocado, caviar, green peas, pomegranate, nori crisp, alfalfa and mango-$22

inside

I liked the plating of the salmon and how the seaweed gave the dish some height. I found there was a bit too much filling/cream cheese inside the salmon, which made it really filling, I guess that’s a good thing if you did order a dish per person. 

interesting lighting

They have art and bits of handmade stuff around the walls which you could purchase. I think it gives it a more modern feel and makes it a bit different to other cafes. Seats were not the comfiest since half of them were stools so you couldn’t lean back. Wouldn’t mind trying their matcha latte, juices or coffees if I ever come here again next time since they looked pretty interesting. 

One Tea Lounge and Grill-Take 4

I don't often 'repeat' restaurants, but this place is probably one of the exceptions. Finally won a food competition thanks to this photo from Night Noodle Markets (NNM) earlier this year, so decided to use the $50 voucher to try the new summer menu. It was also an excuse to over order and to try some things I never got around to trying at the NNM earlier this year and previous years. I've tried most of the things that always stay on the menu despite the season, It was quite quiet for a Thursday night, unlike when I came on a Monday night in August when they had the matcha ramen special. Love how they include lots of photos for some items on the menu.

entree/snacks

Salmon Tataki: lightly seared salmon with matcha yuzu-$12

Salmon was seared well and fresh. The matcha and yuzu both could be stronger, but you can taste more of the yuzu than matcha. Still a nice combo of flavours on salmon.

 

Peking duck fries w/ waffle fries: shredded duck with housemade spicy hoisin sauce and fried shallots-$18

I've always wanted to try these at NNM, but I hardly every order fries as a side, so would feel bad ordering it, but since I had a voucher, can justify ordering this. Duck is my fav protein, and love the combo of using peking duck as a topping. The amount of duck was decent and also included some skin in. The waffle fries were nice and potatoey, but a tad oily. The sauce did have a nice kick of chilli but it was bearable. Wished there were more shallots to help try to lighten this dish.

matcha coconut chicken: tender chicken thigh with matcha coconut cream served in a brioche toast box with grilled vegetables & matcha rice-$29

 

curry in a toast box!

It's a very Taiwanese thing to have a toast box, then they cut up the inside and fill it with the cut up bits of bread, but normally its sweet. First time having matcha curry inside a brioche toast box. It was a nice amount of matcha and creaminess from the coconut in the curry and chicken was cooked well. Wish they gave a bigger portion of rice and veggies though. The matcha rice had a sort of seaweed flavour to it, those people who don't like matcha because of that weird flavour would understand. I guess I didn't mind having that different matcha/seaweed flavour in the rice since it helped contrast a bit to the matcha coconut curry.

dessert spread

Matcha heaven on fire-$23

Our most popular creative dessert show as you watch the orange liqueur burn the candy floss heaven to reveal a beautiful matcha terrarium filled with matcha castella cake, caramel walnut, meringue & red bean azuki mousse

 

She lit the orange liqueur to pour over the fairy floss, then melted it more with the blow torch to reveal the inside

inside

Yes, you are paying for the theatre of the dessert. The matcha cake inside wasn't too strong, but the matcha sauce was quite intense with a bit of orange liqueur in it to make the dessert more matcha-y. Could also dip the fruits in the sauce as well. I did find the candied walnut s way too sweet, and there were heaps of it so couldn't finish it all. The red bean mousse had a slight nutty flavour in it which was interesting. You can't actually eat the fairy floss since it just melts and sticks to the table/plate.

Matcha hokkaido cheesecake: a perfect balance of texture & taste with the famous creamy hokkaido cheesecake paired with matcha along with candied candied lemon, berries & cream-$16

Love the creaminess and cheesiness from this cheesecake, whilst still being light. Still struggled to finish it since we did order 6 things between two...Good balance of matcha in this cheesecake, and the fruits also helped cut come creaminess. 

Cookie shots: delicious crunchy cookie shots with a hot creamy beverage

 

inside after I added some matcha liqueur 

cheers

 

matcha and red velvet with matcha latte

I have to admit, this is a copy of Dominique Ansel's cookie shots, who had a chocolate cookie in the form of a shot class, and filled with vanilla infused milk. His cookie shots are more refined with a thinner pastry all around and coated with choc inside. These ones have a relatively thick cookie base and wall, so the actual volume inside inside that big, and filled each 'shot glass' around 3-4 times with the match latte which I found was quite weak and more towards the milky side. The flavours in the cookies were a bit too sweet afterwards since they're coated with white choc inside to prevent the hot beverage to melt or seep through to the cookie. The red velvet sort of tasted like it, but again the white choc flavour was more prominent. It's still decent for Sydney standards.

Love the inventiveness of the food here with a bit of theatre. If you love matcha, then this is the place for you.