Lox, Stock & Barrel

Rare trip out to this side of Sydney for the Bondi Beach Markets, so decided to make the most of the trip with a stop at a cafe. I remember Dandelion coming here for some lattes, and so decided to try stuff here. Came here around lunch time around on a weekend but didn't have to wait for a table. The music here can get a bit loud at times. 

food spread

Mushroom latte: blend of chaga & lion's mane, lucuma, macadamia, espresso, almond & cashew milk (sugar free, dairy free)-$6.50

Large flat white-$4.50

The mushroom latte is definitely an acquired taste, more so than tumeric imo. It sort of tastes like coke without the sugar or fizz but with milk. It has some nutty flavour in it but doesn't really taste like mushrooms. Sort of like how truffle is a type of mushroom but has its own flavour. The coffee has a good hit of flavour to it.

Smoked lox w/ onion, caper, rocket and cream cheese-$15

It's not a cheap or amazing bagel, but wanted to try the smoked lox, which is just smoked salmon. It wasn't very smoky, but it's a decent bagel with cream cheese, capers and rocket. Does remind me of bagels from NYC...

Fattoush: raw vegetable and herb salad, spices, nuts, za'atar, dressing: lemon, olive oil, tahini-$18

Most of the time I try not to order salads outside home since technically I can make them myself, but I just don't have time to chop and prep everything. Chose this since it has za'atar. It's a really filling salad, and also loved the crunchiness from the croutons. It does have slight acidity from the lemon which helps keep it fresh.

Claire's Kitchen at Le Salon

I've literally passed this place almost everyday on the way to uni, and decided to finally come here with BW. I feel like this is one of those 'hidden gems' in Sydney, where you can get authentic French food without it being too expensive. Of course, French food is cheaper in France haha. This place has got a more 'romantic' feel without being overly priced, with ambient lighting and many tables for 2, plus a candlelight on each table which I thought was cute.

entree food spread

Finally used my Dimmi voucher which I have accumulated point for the past 4 years. You get $20 off if you make 10 reservations on Dimmi, or 5 reservations and 5 reviews. 

entrees

Souffle aux forages: Twice cooked three cheese soufflé-$25

inside

The cheese souffle was so cheesy, it was just so good. It’s not like a dessert souffle where it’s very airy and light. This savoury souffle wasn’t as light as a dessert one, but still quite light considering the fact that cheese is dense. There was some sauce at the bottom where you could have even more cheese. The top had that nice caramelised colour which gave it more flavour. It is a good dish to share since it would be too rich for one person. 

Escargots Bourguignons: Traditional French snails in garlic, parsley and Cognac butter (1/2 dozen)-$16

Can’t go to a French restaurant without ordering snails. I don’t think snails have much taste, as it really depends on what it’s cooked with, which is usually herbed melted butter. The melted butter tasted really nice when you dip the bread in it although you are pretty much just eating fat.

Steak tartare: "I recall Margaret Fulton lecturing me in the 1980's on how important it was to hand chop beef for Steak Tartare" so we do and serve it (raw) with condiments and toasted French baguette-$26

mixed

I think the first time I ever had steak tartare was in a small French restaurant in a local area, so nothing fancy but it tasted so good. I can’t eat raw meat or blue steak, but can do medium rare steak. I think I would only have raw steak at French restaurants since you can trust that they sourced the meat and it’s ‘clean’ and free of bugs which could make you sick…The waiter came to mix everything up after I took initial photos. I thought it was quite cute how the yolk is placed in the egg shell. All the condiments went together so well. The spice from the raw onion, mustard, and other stuff. I guess the slight acidity from the other toppings helps to slightly ‘cook’ the beef. It sort of tasted like sashimi, but with beef, so tasted like fresh beef from the ocean. It was served with some crisp bread which contrasted the texture of the beef well.  

mains

The mains we ordered were relatively light and healthy compared to the entree.

Ratatouille topped with truffled poached duck egg and crispy basil-$32

duck yolk

The ratatouille had heaps of different veggies in it. I think it’s the first time having this dish for me so don’t have much to compare to, but it tasted really healthy. The sauce was quite light which was mainly based with tomato. Loved the crunchy bit on top which gave some crunch, but didn’t do much flavour wise.

Ballotine de Saumon et Crevettes: Atlantic salmon and prawn roulade served with crab beurre blanc and rice Pilaf-$38

This is something I normally won’t order since I usually go for a more ‘safe’ option like a piece of meat, but didn’t feel like having steak here, and the only duck on the menu was in the form of a pie which doesn’t look that great in photos. The salmon was wrapped around a prawn mousse. I wasn’t a massive fan of this dish since it reminded me of bland asian fish cakes that my mum tries to make. The prawn mousse was firm whilst the salmon was soft. I loved the crab sauce since it was so flavourful, wished there was more of it. The salmon skin was really crunchy and loved how it gave the dish some height. If you look really closely towards the bottom half of the roulade, you can some glad wrap holding the roulade. They didn’t completely take it off when they plated this dish. Initially me being me and wanting to try everything I was like is this edible…? But then it was definitely glad wrap when trying to cut into it. During the meal the waiter came over and asked if everything was all good and I said yes, but then at the end I’m like might as well tell them. So after I finished the meal and showed the waiter the glad wrap on my plate, he was super apologetic with a French accent. They ended up giving one complimentary dessert.

dessert platter options

Mont blanc w/ macaron and grand mariner ice cream-$18

inside

I think because there weren’t heaps of people so they didn’t have the dessert trolley, but they had a sample of the desserts on a plate which you could choose. I decided to go with the Mont Blanc since I didn’t feel like chocolate or creme brûlée (which I can make at home). The dessert was nice but not amazing. Glad it wasn’t overly sweet but more chestnut flavour would help. One of the best mont blancs I’ve had is from Angelina, and it’s just as good in the original in Paris and also in Hong Kong. The dessert came with a scoop of ice cream and a macaron. The ice cream was a grand orange liqueur flavour, so a sweet dessert orange. Normally I don’t like dessert orange flavours, but it was nice in the ice cream. The macaron was choc mint flavour, again my least preferred flavour combo, but my love of macarons outweighed my dislike of choc mint.

petit fours

Wasn't expecting petit four, but yay for marshmallows. 

chandelier

They have a lot more seating inside and upstairs as well, so this place is bigger than it actually looks. 

this clock reminds me of the clock at Musee d'Orsay in France

It’s a really nice place to go to with good food and service, with a nice ambience. 

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.