Hiroba and The Smelly Cheesecake

This place is conveniently located next to the station. It's a Korean run Japanese restaurant, and has a mix of Jap and Korean food, so was glad when they had sides.

Sashimi and udon-$16

It is pricey for what you get since it's a bowl of udon and some raw salmon. Fish was fresh thankfully, since sometimes small shops sashimi might not be as fresh, which is a problem if you ate not super fresh raw fish. Udon soup was well seasoned without being salty and always reaching for water.

sides

Vegetable Tempura (large)-$15.50

It could've had a lighter and crispier batter, but it was decent and had different veggies. Thought the large size would've been bigger though.

Agedashi Tofu (medium)-$13.50

This had a nice firm skin on the outside, and the sauce with it wasn't too salty.

Cheesecakes-$23.50

Been here a few times. Didn't get the individual prices. I've had the matcha souffle and the blue cheese cheesecake before, so opted for other flavours this time.

Parmesan cheesecake

Nice and light cheesecake with a good amount of cheese and not too overpowering. It had a tiny bit of sweetness which worked. This one was our favourite.

Camembert cheesecake

Super dense cheesecake, and had a nice cheesy and slightly salty flavour. Good to share since probs way too hard to eat by yourself.

Mixed berry cheesecake 

I liked how it had seperate layers in this, and it was quite light. It wasn't sweet compared to your average cheesecake, but in comparison to the other 2, it was sweet. Would've liked more acidity from the berry flavour.

Yayoi

I didn't even know there was a Yayoi in Chatswood until a friend recommended. There was a 24/7 one in the neighbourhood I stayed in Tokyo but ironically, I never had the time (or stomach space) to go there even though it opened throughout the night. It's a good place to go if you want your own meal since this sort of stuff is hard to share.

Udon-$15.50

I didn't feel like the whole set meal even though it's probably more value for money compared to the udon as I was still full from earlier in the day. I think it is a bit pricey for a bowl of udon, and not that much meat. The soup wasn't overly salty that you're reaching for water all the time. The actual udon was average, nothing special in terms of texture.

Edition Coffee Roasters

Brunches are the best especially when you haven't seen friends in a while. Spontaneous cafe choosing led us here. 

foood

Before I talk about the food, just some photos which show what this cafe actually looks like-because they don't have any signs! Google said we were in the right spot, but there was also a cafe next door (that did have a sign), but we still weren't sure if we had arrived. I decided to look at the menu, and lol, it didn't have the name of the cafe either. My friend recognised some items on the menu, so we new we had arrived. It's a cute little corner cafe, but they don't have any blinds, so in the late afternoon it's super sunny if you're sitting next to the window. We ended up moving the tables around a bit to avoid the sun (but it eventually caught up to us).

inside is smaller than the average cafe, with not much seating

Food in order of consumption:

Yakuza's Breakfast: matcha hotcakes, passionfruit, preserved plum, native honey ganache-$19

The matcha hotcakes were really soft and light. The sauce not overly sweet, texture and acidity from the passionfruit, and some creaminess from the marscapone (or ganache in this case). Would have preferred even more matcha, but for people who don't like strong green tea flavoured stuff, this is a good balance. The matcha was there in some bites but not prominent enough in every bite. Couldn't really taste the preserved plum. 

Mushroom Pond: mushroom, warm mushroom broth, mushroom cream, udon noodle, soft herbs-$14

This sounded good on paper, and did resemble a 'pond' when it came out, but I was hoping for a large hit of mushroom flavour, and more juicy mushrooms. This was an average dish, and could have had more mushroom flavour incorporated into the sauce. Quite pricey for a not so bit portion of udon.

Porco Rollo: smoked and braised Berkshire pork, tamagoyaki (Jap egg), ginger slaw, white miso BBQ sauce, brioche roll-$15

Super soft pork and lovely brioche style roll. Quite hard to share but we managed. The flavours there with the veggies were really tasty-you really can't go wrong with Japanese style mayo which wasn't too heavily BBQ flavoured, but again this is one expensive pork roll.

Chrysanthemum Bircher: spelt oats, Jap plum, poached pear, candied puffed grains, dehydrated rhubarb-$17

My first time having bircher at a cafe, normally I don't order this stuff since I can make it at home. It's a lot more prettier here, but unfortunately it was quite bland. Needed some sweetness from the fruit or even a dash of honey or vanilla, but it just tasted like plain oats which was a bit disappointing. The sultanas weren't juicy or sweet either. There was a bit of tartness from the Jap plums (was hoping for sweet plums). The candied puffed grains reminded me of popcorn, which gave it some sweetness, but I wished there was more. The plating there with lovely edible flowers, just not the flavours. Quite pricey for a bircher with a relatively small serving. We ended on this dish, and was our 'palate cleanser'.

It's a nice corner cafe, but the portions were on the small side for the price you pay.