La Boca Bar and Grill

First ever Zomato meet up and first time having Argentinian food made this dinner last night super exciting! I actually had an exam the following morning, but couldn't give up such a good opportunity to meet up with some foodies and try new food, so no regrets (test ended up being alright). I was too excited throughout the night, so don't remember the exact ingredients in drinks/methods of cooking.

La Boca is actually located inside a hotel near Mascot (next to the airport). It's a 10ish walk from tha station, but they're doing construction around the area, so it's a bit muddy...Got there alright in the end.

open kitchen

I love an open kitchen! Shows they have confidence in their cooking, and also gives some entertainment (: You're not supposed to go up on the stairs, but we ended up taking a closer look at the food. Almost everything is grilled/cooked and plated there on the spot. The have sides prepped and their meats on the side ready to go.

meattt

side wall murals

menu

Loved how it was a selection of their main menu, since it meant more variety to try.

sangria

Good hit of alcohol in it and some fruitiness. Would prefer it to have more fruity pieces in it, but it's fancier with a slice of lemon.

Head Chef: Nicolas Arriola from Adelaide, explaining the cured meats

Plating up

Cold Picadas: Homemade dry chorizo, prosciutto, home cured pork scotch slices with cheese

Picadas Nick explained how it was all made, which I unfortunately forgot (should have taken notes haha). Their chorizo isn't spicy like Spanish one, definitely not as salty but well seasoned. The prosciutto was actually the least saltiest, and the flavour mainly came from the sliced cheese, which was soo creamy and delicious. The other cheese in a block was average. The pork scotch slices which were apparently from a pig's head and compacted down to be cut up, was surprisingly delicious. Hard to explain the flavour, just one of those weird things you have to try. The bread was very hard to cut up, didn't eat much of it since too much carbs...

Seafood Picadas

Fresh oysters w/ criolla sauce

Smoked scallops with sweet tomato pesto

Grilled prawns with garlic and lemon sauce

So they not only do meats, but the seafood was amazing. The stand out was definitely the pesto sauce, which have similar ingredients to a pesto sauce, but not as green or herby. The tomato definitely brought out the sweetness, and completed the scallop perfectly. Could it spoonfuls of that sauce if I knew how to make it...The prawn was a bit tricky to eat since the sauce covered the shells and hard to cut the prawn out of the shell even though it was butterflied open. Sometimes you would eat a piece of the shell, or end up weirdly trying to get it out of your mouth...Oyster was filled with toppings, and definitely fresh. For those who don't like the 'seafood' taste (I don't mind it), you'll find the toppings cover that taste, and slightly  reduces the 'slimy' oyster feeling. 

Cocktail with mains: ginger beer, lime, rosemary, other stuff, alcohol

Yes, I forgot what exactly was in it, but it tasted like a not as sweet and more sophisticated version of ginger beer. There were more flavours, and not too fizzy either. First time having a sprig of rosemary in a drink. Maybe I should pop some fresh ones at home the next time I have ginger beer...

Mains: Mix of Asador cooked meats

Woodfire beef, suckling pig, lamb

that crackling

The pork was my favourite, such a lovely crackle to it. It's not your normally crispy pork belly with the bubbled up orangery skin, but it achieved the same effect. There was quite a lot of fat on it though, which is expected since they cook it for so long. Most meats are put at around 9am without marinating, and just slowly cooking it in their wood fire. The puree of pumpkin was nice and smooth. The beef was unfortunately way too dry and didn't have enough jus on it. I guess it was very lean, hence the dryness compared to the pork. Also wished the lamb had more sauce on it, but it was served pink so it was alright. Never had such a long wooden board before.

Dessert: traditional chocolate and coffee cake.

I love my desserts, and this cake was mind-glowingly good. On the menu it sounds boring, but once it arrived it's a whole different story. It's not too sweet, rich, heavy, creamy or dense, yet still encapsulated a bit of everything. The texture reminded me of tiramisu combined with some mousse and moist cake. The dulce de luche definitely made a difference in terms of flavour depth, kind of like condensed milk but not as sweet. I'm not a big chocolate fan, so was so happy with it wasn't the milky  chocolate type of flavour, rather it had a good dark choc flavour. Biscuits in the cake were finely blended, so the cake went down your throat smoothly. It was balanced with some bitterness from the coffee powder and the reduced slightly alcoholic, berry sauce. The berries on the side gave it good acidity and made it real refreshing. Normally berry sauces are just sugar, but this one had more alcohol than sugar, so can't complain (: I wish I could have taken my unfinished piece home...I couldn't finish it since I was that full, which is saying something...It was a massive piece though, as warned by the chef.

Dessert wine: some alcohol and other ingredients shaken up with egg white

This drink reminded me of some medicine, definitely has a unique and interesting taste. Again, I was too full so couldn't even finish the dessert wine.

We also got to take home some of their homade chimichurri sauce, which is jam packed with herbs and other flavours. Excited to eat it with my bread and meats. 

Such a delicious and fun evening! The staff there were super friendly. Hope to have the opportunity sometime to attend another of these events. Going to places I would normally never go to, and trying food from different cuisines! 

The Butcher's Block

This is the 'it' cafe for locals in this area, and I was finally in the area to try this cafe out,

We arrived at around 12pm, and got a seat out at the back without waiting. We came out at around 1.30ish, and there were heaps of people waiting, but mainly families waiting for the big tables since it was school holidays.

Entrance looks small...

It's actually a narrow but long cafe and quite a lot of seating. The tables aren't too squished together. They actually grow some chillies, some veges and fruits around their garden wall.

menu (the menu online doesn't have prices...)

drinks

large capp: $4

Marsala chai (spicy): $6

We expected the food to be expensive here, since this is in the north after all. It's similar toWild Pear Cafe in Dural where the prices are at least $20 and average $25, whereas in the city you can get a decent dish for around $15. Surprisingly the drinks are quite cheap in comparison t6o the food (and relative to other cafes haha). You can get a smoothie for $6.50 and it looks quite big and they have at least 4 flavours. I decided to get the chai this time since I saw the person next to me ordered it, and it looked quite cute. It comes out on a wooden board, the milk is already added into the tea, and there's around 2 cups from it. First cup I didn't let it soak in the spices for longer, second cup I poured definitely was more flavourful. Loved all the spices here. They also put a dash of honey into your cup beforehand.

No coffee art here for this capp, and the coffee was more on the weak side and not as much froth. It was quite hot as well and may be slightly burnt (I prefer my coffee not too hot, more of the drinking temp hot). Hot water here cost $2, the most expensive by far. In The Rocks, almost all restaurants/cafe charge $1 for hot water, so $2 is pretty ridiculous. Pretty sure they want you to just spend that extra $1.50 for a regular coffee...

foood

The Butcher's Burger: beef brisket, wagyu beef mince, jack cheese, onion rings, smokey bbq sauce, fries-$20

the meat!

Almost every table ordered the burger (or the quinoa salmon salad), so it looked like it's a must try, and so glad we ordered it. The meat had so much flavour. Liked how they use different cuts of beef here. The cheese used reminded me of American burgers...Onion rings sounded cool in a burger, but they weren't that special. Probably would have like a little bit of salad to lighten the burger. The fries weren't that great and there wasn't any sauce/aioli (ended up dipping it in the leftover pasta sauce and it was delish). The chips were kind of flat and slightly hollow. Our batch was more on the borwn side compared to other people which were golden brown.

Crab, lobster and prawn pasta: capellini pasta, fresh herbs, saffron, cream-$29

Probably one of the best pasta's I've had, and for a cafe, this is definitely good quality. It did take a little longer to come out, but I guess it's expected. The night before someone was cooking lobster on Masterchef, and then I had a lobster craving especially since I haven't had lobster in ages. Was going to get the lobster tail and in hindsight glad I didn't since it was quite a small bread roll and lobster tail. Pretty sure they use the rest of the lobster for this dish, as there were heaps of generous pieces of juicy lobster scattered throughout. There was actually less crab and prawn...so yes, well worth your money. Pasta was cooked al dente (: Seems expensive for cafe food, but in restaurants, a pasta is normally over $25+. Saffron the most expensive spice in the world, and loved how it added a sweetness to the sauce. 

The pasta was definitely a lot more worth compared to the $33 crispy skin smoked salmon. Yes, crispy skin is hard to perfect, but looking over at the table next to us, the salmon was tiny, smaller than Devon Cafe's Breakfast with the Sakuma's and more expensive as well. The salmon was only accompanied with salad and nothing else.

So if you're ever in this area up north, make it your lunch location (:

Rasa Delights

A new place in Eastwood has popped up on the Korean side, near the building with Aldi inside. I used to go Eastwood often when I was younger when I lived around there, but now I hardly go, and so many new places to eat are being opened. The last time I went to the Aldi in Eastwood, there was nothing there except Aldi. 

We hardly ever eat out as a family, but since my brother finally got a job, he shouted dinner (also it was Mother's Day, and I shouted high tea earlier in the day-yep, this this post is quite delayed.)

There isn't a lot of variety in the Malaysian/Hong Kong fusion menu, and I can't say it's super cheap Asian food, but I guess they did open just only 2 months ago, so hopefully they'll add to it overtime. It was also a family friend's friend's new startup business (he actually has another day time job, but felt like opening a restaurant).

front

menu

Laksa fish balls (4pcs-my dad was too hungry hence 3 in the pic)-$3

drinks: homemade lemonade-$3.50, teh tarik (cold)-$3

I really like their laksa since it's just the right amount of spiciness for me, which means for most of you it won't be spicy at all. the lemonade was average, and I would have liked a stronger flavour in the teh tarik. Couldn't see it being 'pulled' like you do at Mamak and other similar places. I have the exact drinking jars at home.

Laksa w/ king prawns-$14.80, spring rolls-$6.80

Loved the laksa, and there were about 5-6 massive prawns in there, was expecting less. The spring rolls weren't too oily but still had a crunch.

Also ordered the Hainan chicken w/ coconut rice-$13.80, chicken wasn't too fatty and still had good flavour. The Nasi Lamek w/ Lemongrass Pork Cutlet-$13.80 was probably the most disappointing. The pork cutlet was really small and since it was deep fried, the lemongrass flavour wasn't as prominent. Last time my parents brought home the lemongrass deep fried chicken wings, they had heaps of flavour, maybe because it was smaller. They don't use MSG here, which is a plus.

Har Mee Soup-combo of egg and rice noodles in prawn based stock, thin slice of pork, prawns, egg and kang kung (asian veggies)-$14.80

This looks like an average bowl of noodles, but the stock was so full of flavour! You can definitely taste the prawn base soup in it, and has a tiny bit of spice. This was my favourite of the night. It's also interesting to have a combination of noodles in one bowl.

Egg Waffles! $3 (takeaway only)

Definitely my new go-to place for HK style egg waffles if I ever miss authentic HK ones. There are some places in Chinatown in the city, but some of them aren't as authentic. This place is definitely fresh, crunchy shell and soft on the inside. It's about the same price as HK, and it's also a bit bigger than you average HK egg waffle. Yay for fresh egg waffles closer to home!