Celsius Coffee Co

Let's just take a moment to admire the food and views

Not going to lie, came here for the views. These cafes are one of those places where you have to make an effort to get to, since you won't pass by it on your commute to uni or work (unless you're filthy rich and actually live in Kirribilli or catch a ferry to Circular Quay). I knew there was going to be a wait, even on a Thursday got there at around 12pm and waited around 45mins for the coveted window table seats. There are only 3 of them, or there are other bar seats with views, but not as expansive. I mean, if you already made an effort to come here, might as well wait a bit longer for the nicer table. If we didn't wait for the window seat, it was still roughly a 30min wait since they don't have many seats to begin with. Yeah, I may have taken one too many photos...

  

Food arrived pretty quickly, just need patience waiting for the nicer table.

Capp-$4

 Celsius waffle with berries, maple syrup, toasted nuts and peanut butter cream-$19

Edible flowers just makes the whole dish so pretty! The waffles were soft the soft type, would have preferred a bit of a crunch, but the peanut butter cream went so well with the waffles. Not as thick or salty as normal peanut butter. Loved the berries on top as well, and maple syrup wasn't too sweet here. 

 “The Benedict”: Braised lamb, Japanese Yuzu hollandaise, raw almond dukkah, poached eggs on sourdough-$19.50

#yolkporn

I think I've had one too many eggs benedict these days, but they are all so different! Gone are the days of the normal hollandaise sauce over eggs on toast with some ham. You could taste the slight acidity in this hollandaise sauce, but I would've liked more yuzu in it. The lamb portions were quite big, but parts of it were dry, so wished there was more sauce as well. The dukkah helped give the dish some crunch. It's the first time I've been to a cafe where they cut up the toast before they serve it to you. The sourdough crust was a bit tough to cut through with the normal knives they give you.

 

Highly recommend this cafe if you're looking for decent food with super nice views. It's just so peaceful out here eating food on a wharf by the water.

where the rich people live

Kirribilli Wharf

Haven Take 10+: Egg Waffle Series

I've been here too many times to keep track, but I always love their food and super friendly service. I know I'm 6 months late to the egg waffle party, but better late than never right?

Loving the latte art on this capp

Hokkaido red bean & matcha: hokkaido red beans, coconut cream, matcha sauce, matcha ice cream, classic plain waffle

Sexy Me: black sesame cream mochi, black sesame sauce, black sesame crisp, vanilla bean ice cream, lemon zest, mint, classic plain waffle-$16.50

inside

The egg waffles are not the typical ones you find in HK. These are a lot more dense and thick, without the crispy outer and thin shell, and light and chewy insides. I guess since with all these toppings, sauces and plating things on top of it, you would need a thicker batter to hold it and soak up all the sauce. Both dishes were surprisingly filling. Wasn't adventurous enough to try the kim cheese waffle (not a big fan of spicy stuff/kim chi).

We preferred the green tea on as it was less sweet. Loved the little tea pot with matcha sauce you could drizzle at your own leisure and without drowning the waffle in it. Ice cream had a good hit of green tea and red beans weren't overly sweet.

The black sesame mochi was on the sweet side, and with the sesame pralinethe whole dish was sweeter than the green tea. Still a lot of black sesame with different textures throughout made this a fun dish. The sauce is more of a paste, rather than the matcha sauce which is pourable over the waffles. The lemon zest on top of the vanilla ice cream really helped to give this dish a refreshing element, would have actually preferred more to help balance the sweetness.

Zero Degrees

I came here truly for the novelty of it-ice cream on a fish! I heard it doesn't taste that great so I wasn't expecting much apart from of fish shaped waffle.

Puffer fish: vanilla and taro, fruit stick, red bean (inside)-$6.50

The ice cream is quite icy, more like a sorbet but not quite (go upstairs for creamy ice cream. Even maccas is creamier). I prefer creamy soft serves over icy ones. It started to melt quite fast as well on a cold winter's day, dripping on the side which made it messy to eat. Pretty much have to eat fast without it going on your hands. The flavour was just sweet, like vanilla essence more than vanilla, and taro wasn't really strong in taro flavour, just more sweet with a hint of taro. I do have to give credit for a decent serving size of ice cream, a lot bigger than other soft serve competitors. 

Going down the escalators, you could see the pre-made fish waffles, so they weren't made to order and not fresh. The waffle didn't have the crunch on the outside or soft-warm fluffy inside. It was a bit dense and bready (but not too thick) which doesn't taste the best and reminded me of pancake batter, but I guess it does it's job to hold up the ice cream and try to soak whatever is dripping. The fruit stick is cute but doesn't do much. Luckily the red beans at the bottom wasn't the really sweet type. 

Don't expect much from here, except for a cute ice cream on puffer fish waffle photo.

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!

The Choc Pot Take 2

Taking relatives out for food runs in Chatswood, and decided to visit this place again. I love collecting points, so was sad when last time I spent $30+ and didn't collect points. Roughly 30 points can get you a coffee.

Large capp: $4, French Earl Grey w/ Milk Choc Latte-$5

The coffee was actually not great, definitely watery but my mum wanted a coffee...but really I'm here to try their other drinks/desserts. The french early grey latte was so delicious. Exactly like the tea but in latte style with a little bit of chocolate to sweeten it without it taking away from the fragrance of flavour of the tea.

Trying their cold drinks, crepes and waffles which I didn't get a chance to last time.

Banana Choc-$8, Pine Mojito-$8

The Splits (left): crepe with banana, whipped cream, honeycomb pieces, melted Belgian choc w/ salted caramel on the side-$14.50

S'more Nuts: crunchy waffle with nutty butter, melted belgian choc, roasted hazelnuts, toasted home-made marshmallows

We actually shared these desserts between 7 people which was a good idea since we had a massive lunch before hand, I had an ice cream, and chocolate is generally decadent.