Bakehouse Garden and Cheeky Chocolate

First time coming to eat in this part of Sydney. I didn't realise this used to be the old Arnotts factory, but I like how they've tried to keep the old factory walls for the local car park, and walls inside and out for the restaurants here. Came here on a hot Autumn evening for wollamsam, the Korean version of rice paper rolls.

Wollamsam. $22 pp

love the vibrant colours

rice paper roll

It is definitely cheaper to have it at home, but you're essentially paying for someone else to wash, cut and prep all the ingredients for you. There are heaps of veggies to choose from including avocado, and 2 types of meat. It's a decent price for a buffet style restaurant, and it's relatively healthy. I don't think I ate $22 worth of veggies, but at least $4 worth of avo, if one avo is $2.50-$3. I ate heaps of rolls that I forgot how many...Was so full at the end.

Blueberry Cheesecake: white chocolate mousse, green tea sponge, blueberry jelly, yogurt cheesecake-$10.50

It's more expensive than your average piece of cake, for an average cheesecake. It was quite dense even though the cheesecake is only about 1/3 of the height of the slice. Wished there was more acidity from the blueberry jelly to cut through the denseness. It wasn't too sweet luckily. Couldn't taste the green tea at all. The bottom was sort of leaking some moisture, looks like from the sponge but tasted creamy. I like this cafe as it also kept features of the old factory within the walls inside. 

   

The Clean Treats Factory

Decided to go here coming back from an airport drop off. Parking here is hard to find, since I think all the street parking is pretty much taken by the people who work in the warehouses in the area. This place is so spacious since it was an old warehouse, but they redecorated it and loved the sort of open feel and relaxed decor. It’s a plant based cafe with heaps of vegetarian and vegan options.

food spread

 

Blue dream latte-$4

Gypsy rose beetroot latte-$4

I decided to go with the butterfly pea latte with macadamia milk mainly to have more colour on the table, even though I know the powder is pretty much tasteless. Paired it with macadamia milk, which I think is the first time for me having it. It has a slight milky/nutty flavour, but I feel like the taste isn’t as prominent compared to almond milk. The rose latte was super fragrant, but the taste is pretty subtle.

Tumeric cinnamon pancakes, walnuts, mixed berries-$17.90

I feel like these days I’ve had one too many pancakes, but when the pancakes are one of the more popular dishes on the menu, I can’t help to order it. The pancakes here I feel like lacked both cinnamon and numeric flavour. Texture could be more fluffy and a bit more moist. I feel like it’s something I could make it home if I tried, or at least just chuck in more cinnamon and numeric in it. The pancakes here weren’t too sweet and the yoghurt helped not make the pancakes too dry.

Zucchini linguine with cashew sauce, spinach, tomato-$17.90

The linguine sounded nice on paper but tasted too healthy/bland in my opinion. I feel like the creamyish dressing was just missing some herb or spice flavour. The bottom was quite oily which doesn’t help since at the end you feel like you’re just eating olive oil at the end. Even like pesto or something would have helped elevate the dish. I’ve had vegan pasta before, and I remember the pesto dressing really made that dish really flavourful.

Didn’t get any desserts to take home even though they all looked good. Didn’t feel like the food here was amazing so opted against their vegan treats. 

Switch

All members of the G8s that were in the Southern Hemisphere met up tonight, as Jo correctly put it. I think 6/8 is an achievement, really don't remember when we had 8/8...at least 3 years ago though. 

I played the Nintendo Switch last week but only on Mario Kart, which is a go to classic. Didn't realise how portable the Switch is, with super cute tiny controllers! Didn't realise consoles still cost a fair bit, but $500 now is worth a lot less than $500 13 years ago when we got our first big console...Love how the multiplayer games are team games, rather than versing each other. Overcooking is hilariously fun, a stressful fun if that makes sense. Half the time I couldn't see where I was, but I like how it's relatively realistic, like if the kitchen catches fire then you need a fire extinguisher before you can keep cooking. Thanks Tess and fam for having us over and the delicious home made food!

Vegetarian rice paper rolls

Those wrapping skills which I don't have. Love how it's filled with so many veggies, and don't need vermicelli noodles to fill up the space. Peanut sauce with it is so good. I hardly ever have this stuff, and just walking past places at the shops they're pretty pricey compared to buying the ingredients and making it yourself. Just a whole lot of prep to chop up the veggies etc.

Vegetarian peking duck

First time having vegetarian duck, didn't even know it existed. It taste just a tiny, tiny bit like duck. It's still nice for fake meat though. Loved the cute coriander poking out in the presentation. We also had a 'third course' of the typical Chinese beef and bean sprouts stir fried flat rice noodles. Dessert featured Happy Apple and Dandelion's cookies and an ice cream cake we got Nancy last week lol. 

So good seeing everyone. Once again, we didn't end up playing boardgames but just ended up chatting and talking about random stuff. I think the best catch ups are not what you do, but just talking with people and the company. So great to see Happy Apple!

Didn't realise you don't have to do any more tests to get your full licence...I also never experienced the 'paper' temporary licence, and you just get the licence immediately after you pay for it...how times have changed since I got my fulls over 3 years ago...

Didn't realise how much Castle Towers has changed, since nowadays I don't go shopping, and if I do, it's normally in the city since it's on the way home from uni. Or it's overseas since I feel spending money in Aus isn't as worth compared to spending overseas. So many shops have moved around, I feel like at least a quarter of the shops. You can tell which stores are profiting. Pandora is finally in a larger space, cause the Towers one was always in relatively small shop but always packed with people. I have to say, whoever did the marketing for this year's promo, the green is quite an ugly green. Not as ugly as Baulko olive green, but it's like a dark Christmas green which doesn't really match their sort of stuff. I don't mind the green, but seeing people hold multiple bags of that stuff feels like that green doesn't match it. Nespresso also moved into a much larger space since they used to only have a tiny store which sold the pods, but now they demonstrate machines like the store in the city.

Other shops moved into an old bank fit out which is weird, cause they took out the glass windows, but there's still metal poles in between what used to be the service desk and the actual bank behind it...And what happened to the 3rd floor of Myer...they added an extra floor a few years ago and then took it away..? What a waste of money...Apparently Wendy's ice cream got rebranded...There's also more 'hipster' stores like a place that does men hair cuts, and super spacious with a pool table inside, and selling just a few other guys products. Like I'm pretty sure rent ain't cheap, how do they afford such empty/spacious spaces place have room to put in a pool table?

Other photos from the past week and don't know where to put them. Neighbours from across the road made us cute pot plant cheesecakes as an xmas present. 

 

love the whole pot plant and spade spoon

There was too much soil on top, and had to dig a bit before you get to the cheesecake. It's a more lighter Japanese style cheesecake, rather than your usual cream cheese cheesecake. 

Also, fresh xmas trees were on sale for $20 day at our local Woolies. We would have bought one, if not for the fact that you need a proper xmas tree stand so you can continue to water the tree and it'll actually stand up. We also don't have the space at home, and it's a lot of maintenance since you'll need to keep vacuuming and watering daily. We don't even have time to vacuum weekly to begin with...$20 is pretty good price to have fresh pine smells at home, cheaper than flowers and the tree lasts longer as well.

Someone gave us this to try, and I don't like Vegemite, but here it's only a tiny bit salty to flavour it. It's made of bread 'bagels' instead of potatoes, and a lot harder than normal. Also, Tyrell veggie chips are really good.

Internal placements are finally up for the first 6 or so weeks. Always takes a while to figure out how to read optom timetables, esp with each week changing. Like what if I miss a clinic lol.

Earth to Table

Vegan, healthy and delicious-really can't go wrong. This place was on my list to go ever since first year uni (just like many of my other places on my list to eat lol). I used to have a physical list 4 years ago, but the cafe craze kicked off way too fast that within a year I sort of ditched a physical list and just made a mental list.

Food spread

   

Give me beauty: fresh coconut mylk, berries, banana, macqui and vanilla to make you glow

Their drink menu is quite extensive, so I couldn't decide if I should go with a hot drink like a chai latte or which smoothie. I decided to play it safe with a berry based smoothie, which I tend to normally go for to 'compare' them between places. Loved the small details on sprinkled on top. It was probably a bit too safe since it tasted like other berry smoothies, just healthier with stuff added. It was thick without being too icy, and only a hint of vanilla. Maybe should've tried a cacao one next time, since even though I have cacao powder at home, I can never seem to blend it properly with other smoothie ingredients...The banana smoothie next to it was very bananary and quite thick.

  

Rainbow Seaweed Slaw: kelp noodles, beetroot, carrot, broccoli and red cabbage immersed in a ginger-miso dressing-$16.90

Super colourful and well dressed without being too salty, since it's easy to over use miso. Veggies were really fresh and had a good crunch. Interesting to see seaweed being used as noodles.

  

Kale Pesto Pasta: kale and zucchini linguini mixed with a superfood pesto spinach, rocket, basil, spirulina and hemp seed served on braised spinach with kale sprinkles-$18.50

This was my dish, and when it came out it looked massive with a large pile of pasta. I loved the crispy kale sprinkles on top. This dish was super filling, but would've have liked a more pesto flavour, and a bit less of the dressing since it ended up being quite oily (even though they used healthy oil), and I didn't really like too much of the acidity in it. There was heaps of spinach as well which helped to make this stack. 

Matching drinks and cheesecake 💜

Lemon and blueberry cheesecake: cashews and lemon blended with a blueberry swirl-$11.50 (takeaway $9.50)

This was unintended to make it match, since it sort of meant I can't try more flavours from the cafe cause the top of the cheesecake is pretty much the same mixture from the smoothie.. I definitely knew I wanted to get the blueberry cheesecake, because of the colour, although I also wanted to try their other raw desserts. I've tried making raw cheesecakes before, but my blender can't seem to blend the nuts finely enough to get a soft non chunky base, or the cashews being creamy.

I highly recommend the cheesecake. Not too dense yet still creamy without being too rich. There was a good amount of sweetness, but also a lot of zing from the lemon. The blueberries on top and berry layer cake it a nice acidity as well. Loved the chocolate and coconut cream spread on the plate.

I really recommend everyone to come here. Who knew vegan food could be so delicious?

 

 

cakeeee

Yulli's

As much as I love a good piece of steak, pork crackling and my fav protein duck, I also love my veggies. I actually have vegetarian stuff for breakfast and lunch normally. From greek yogurt, granola, almond milk etc to my jam packed salads with avo sandwiches. I thought dinner vegetarian places would be hard to find, but thanks to Dandelion, there is an impressive list out there!

Made a booking on the day, but didn't realise they were so busy. We had to give up our table by 8:15pm, but the timing turned out to be alright and not too rushed. It's not very big, but almost all tables were filled. We got seated at the back in the courtyard, and there was natural lighting through the awning. Definitely felt very 'hipster' like.

glass bottles used for candles and plants


Kale and cabbage salad w/ puffed brown rice, tofu, konjac, fresh mint, black fungus, smoked mozzarella and a sesame dressing (small plate)-$15.50

That was one good slightly creamy sesame dressing, with good texture throughout. Flavours balanced well. 

 
San choy bow w/ five spice tofu, lotus root, beans, baby corn, lily flowers, peanuts and coriander (medium)-$16.50

The flavours are a bit more salty and sweet in this one, and more lettuce would have been nice, but a good twist on the traditional san choy bow. One of the favourites amongst the table.

Baked zucchini and roasted Summer vegetable w/ balsamic-glazed bok choy, parmesan, chèvre, finished w/ cranberry and Shiraz compote and almond flakes (large)-$18.50

That cranberry and Shiraz compote was so delicious, definitely tied the whole dish together. There wasn't much zucchini or other veggies on this, but I just loved the slight sweetness the cranberry gave to the whole dish. Another favourite from the table.

Pan-fried haloumi w/ ginger and lemongrass sauce, fennel, shaved rockmelon, pickled beetroot and endive (medium)-$15.50

Haloumi is very salty on its own, but with the rockmelon and bitter greens, the whole dish balanced perfectly. Couldn't really taste the pickled-ness in the beetroot, just tasted less beetrooty- which is a good thing for someone like me who doesn't really like beetroot.

 
Roast pumpkin w/ cauliflower and kimchi, crispy capers, cashew cream and pea tendril-$16.50

Another super smooth cream here smeared on the plate.Pumpkin cooked well, and kimchi wasn't spicy but wasn't sure of what this did to the dish. 

 

Definitely recommend this place even if you're not vegetarian. So inspired by all the dishes here, and proves vegetarian food can be both delicious and filling.

Duck Duck Goose

Slight regrets not using Uber Eats when they first launched. They now charge $5 delivery fee (which they didn't around 2 weeks ago, since I wanted to order something, but my card didn't go through...) Still pretty sure the $5 delivery fee only came about recently. Please use my code guys $10 off foood: 

eats-elisa976ue

 
Crispy Miso Cured Egg with sencha smoked tofu, avocado, nori and sesame dressing on a warm brown rice, kale and umeboshi salad-$17

Duck Duck Goose is literally around the corner of uni, but no time to go during uni. The food arrived within 30min of ordering, just the guy didn't walk onto the campus grounds, so I had to go out a bit...Was surprised that this was piping hot when I got it, like too hot to place on your lap. The dish itself was pretty filling. The egg wasn't really crispy, but I guess probably from the condensation from the takeaway container. The tofu had a weird taste and was really firm in texture. I love green tea, but it was weirdly smoked in this one. The avo was nice and creamy. I really loved the flavour of the dressing and the salad. Probably a bit too over seasoned in the rice, but that helped to cover the weird flavour in the tofu.

I think Uber Eats is good especially if you don't have time to go the a particular cafe/restaurant and it's out of the way, but you still want to try their food. It's never going to be as good as the restaurant since it's not on a plate, so presentation is a bit dodgy, but at least the flavours are there.