Arnotts Classic Assorted Selection

Taste

This consists of:

• Shortbread Cream - my favourite cream biscuits. Two biscuits sandwiching some delectable lemon creams
• Kingston - the chocolate cream is too sweet when combined with the coconut biscuit
• Scotch Finger - I love this, malty, caramel and buttery flavour. Good for a cheap "everyday" biscuit
• Monte Carlo Cream - I don't like this, probably because I am not a fan of pink cream!
• Farmbake Choc Chip Cookie - a bit dry and not quite chocolatey enough

This is a good choice if you want a variety of classics.

Rating - 6

Look

The pack is divided into little compartments for the different types of biscuits. Once opened it's hard to keep fresh and crisp, and I have to say the packaging is really boring, and the biscuits look kinda cheap.

Rating - 0.5

C-factor

500g for around the $5 mark.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 7.5

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Guillaume at bennelong

For this year's Good Food Month, we decided to do something a little different. We skipped our usual Sugar Hits, Cocktails and Hands On classes for something that I'd always wanted to do but never managed to, the famous Hats Off dinners. For those who don't know, this is the philosophy behind the Hats Off dinner:

On selected Tuesday nights throughout October, The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide hatted chefs draw on their past, their favourite dishes and more to create an alternative menu to their award-winning fare.

I was attracted to this description for the Guillaume event:

5 course degustation menu celebrates the best of Australian seafood, with matching wines.

so got on the phone straight away and managed to snare a table. Yup, that's right, one of the reasons we've never managed to go to one of these before is that all the Hats Off dinners get booked out before the first day of the GFM events schedule is released.

Food

We started off with my favourite bread of all time, Infinity sourdough with some luscious butter (I didn't manage to stop a waiter to ask where the butter is from). The bread though, on the Amuse Bouche of Mini Crab Sandwich was suitably soft and white. The filling was creamy, the flesh of the crab quite firm.

An hour after we arrived, our first dish arrived, HIRAMASA KINGFISH SASHIMI with Sterling caviar and traditional accompaniments. This is on their regular menu, and consists of a circular disk of sashimi, sitting on a mayonnaise sauce, topped with caviar and sprinkles of vegetables and other things I can't identify. The fish had been marinated in a lemony vinaigrette, and tasted tangy but fresh, the flesh melt in your mouth.

It was a long time between courses, the next one up was the SEALED QUEENSLAND SCALLOPS in the shell with a confit of leek and ocean trout roe, 3 medium sized scallop (with the roe off :() were served lightly seared, topped with some crunchy roe. The leek reduction tastes like the leak soup I make at home (which means it tasted good!).

We thought that this might be a "main" style dish, but the ROASTED BARRAMUNDI with white asparagus, baby tomatoes and a lemon caper vinaigrette was still quite small. The barramundi was cooked just right so that it was still juicy. The baby tomato was the sweetest I've ever tasted. I am not as big a fan of white asparagus as green, I feel white lacks flavour. It is served softly cooked, tasting more like mash in texture. The vinaigrette smelled and tasted heavenly, and went along so well with the fish.

What followed was a sight to behold. For the LIGHTLY COOKED CLARENCE RIVER SCHOOL PRAWNS in a tomato consommé, a line of waiters carried some extravagent cocktail glasses filled with very very finely chopped up tomatoes and other vegetables, with 2 little, and I mean little, prawns in the middle. The next lot of waiters carried little white jugs with some brownish liquid, which they then poured into the cocktail glass. It was a spectacular display, but what's even better is, the consomme was the BEST consomme I've ever tasted, sweet and sour and balanced. I didn't know how the prawns added anything to it though, they tasted of nothing much - was it just to clear the seafood theme?

At this stage we weren't quite full yet as each dish had been delicious, but quite small. The LOCAL LOBSTER wrapped in Bangalow prosciutto with carnaroli risotto and a veal jus reduction though, was just the right size. A pretty generous piece of firm-fleshed lobster was wrapped in some absolutely delicious prosciutto that actually tasted like the stuff we had in Italy, a little sweet but tasting like REAL PORK! The thing that pushed this over the edge from great to extraordinary though, was the stunning sauce - which must be made from seafood stock, such is its depth of flavour!

After that last savoury dish, I was very satisfied, having just enough room left for the dessert. The PASSIONFRUIT SOUFFLE with passionfruit sorbet is probably my least favourite of the night, nowhere near as good as the one at Claudes. I found the passionfruit flavour too strong and too sweet, overwhelming the delicate texture of the souffle. I was disappointed that mine was on the darker side of brown. Slokky's though was perfect. I also found the passionfruit sorbet, presented on a Chinese soup spoon, too sweet to be a palate cleanser for the souffle.

Coffee (only latte was offered) was again a bit variable. Mine was absolutely spot-on whereas Slokky's had been pulled slightly too long. Our table was offered a plate of petit fours that we had to share amounst 6, which didn't work out well as there was only 4 of everything. Other people were sharing amoung 4 so we got the raw end of the deal. There was a chocolate coated pistachio cream (yum!), orange turkish delight (pretty ordinary), mini merigue (I'm not a fan of sugar and air so they NEVER wow me), strawberry on a cream tart (yum!), and lemon drops (I like these, but they are a bit normal, in fact they taste a lot like the lemon cake I make!). The meal finished after 11pm but it was definitely not just a meal, but an occasion.

Rating - 9

Atmosphere

The whole restaurant was filled for the occasion. It feels very special to dine in a Sydney icon. The architecture and layout looked very impressive, the restaurant laid-out over 3 levels. Although we were told that it wasn't very practical as the huge glass panes let in a lot of heat and light and becomes unbearable in summer. Of course none of that affected us tonight. We sat on a huge table in the middle of the bottom level, with views to the city out of the huge windows. We shared the table with 4 other couples, that's how huge the table was. All around us are little pods for groups of 5-6 and on the outer edge, the prime seats with tables for 2-4. Well, we didn't get the best seats in the house, but we did get to enjoy the conversation with some lovely foodies (a rarity) who totally understand taking photos of their food. They all shared our passion, but they were also a lot older than we were. I hope when I get old I can continue to enjoy these outings and to share it with my children like these couples are.

There were 2 things that I wasn't impressed though:

The pregnant lady at my table who downed a couple of glasses of wine with her dinner.

The nice looking but really uncomfortable chair - with low back and no cushioning, after seating for 4 hours, is not good for the butt!

Rating - 2.5

Service

There were a lot of wait staff, and they were all professionals. We didn't have an assigned waiter tonight, so I missed that personal touch. No one really paused to talk to us, and they told us about the dish only if we inquired. I think on a normal occasion this would be different. I think it's funny though that the higher class you go, the less each waiter carries - but that's to give you more attention of course!

Rating - 4

C-factor

$130 without wine. Their normal menu costs $190 so I guess we saved. As usual, for the quality I got it was exceptional. I was just disappointed that Guillaume didn't come out at the end of the dinner to great diners and nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. There was also no talk about the philosophy behind the menu. Really the only indication that there was an event going on (besides everyone eating exactly the same thing of course) was the printed menu on each table setting.

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 17.5

Info

Sydney Opera House,
Bennelong Point,
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9241 1999
Website

Harris Farm Pate

Taste

I tried the Duckling and Brandied Apricot. At first taste, I wasn't very impressed, it was bitter and overly alcoholic, but once I was warmed to the taste however, I was quite impress. This pate is more subtle than the normal chicken liver pate. It's not as bold in flavour and has a more gamey taste. Made by Just Entrees, the apricot jelly was actually quite bitter and very nice.

I also tried the Duck Liver & Mandarin. This one has a strong pate taste, but the mandarin made it bitter. Still, much better than the supermarket stuff.

Rating - Apricot - 7.5, Mandarin - 7.5

Look

Quite pretty, if you like the look of pate! I had a piece cut from a great log.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$18.99/kg for the Duckling, $22.99/kg for the Mandarin, not a bad price to pay for pate.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - Apricot - 10, Mandarin - 10

Ingredients

Apricot

duck liver (64%), onion, margarine, port (3%), brandy (3%), apricots, gelatine, orange juice, apricot nectar, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs, preservative

Mandarin

duck liver, margarine, onions, cream, herbs, slices, gelatine, mandarin essence, salt, preservatives, antioxidant, water

Available At

Harris Farm Markets
Website

True Cravings

I was a bit hesitant to venture to Sydney Central Plaza again after my handbag got stolen at the food courts last year, but I thought, what better way to overcome my fear than to go and eat at the same place as that time?

Taste

True Cravings is on the right corner after you come down the central staircase, and true to its name, specialises in roasts and baked vegetables. I ordered the Roast Turkey with mixed vegetables ($10.50) - creamy cauliflower, beans, snow peas, fennel. The turkey was great, with a salty gravy accompaniment and some great veges. Slokky ordered the Roast Pork with mixed vegetables ($9.50) - mashed potatoes, roast pumpkin, carrot, broccoli. The pork was not as tender and juicy as the vegs, but Slokky said that's because I don't like pork. I don't agree, I love pork belly and pork knuckle and Chinese BBQ pork, just not pork fillet! Well, I guess if you like pork fillet you might like this? The mash was heavenly, slightly lumpy, just the way I like it

Rating - 6.5

Look

Like a mess, and it is a mess, you don't eat roast dinners for their looks! The colours of the veges made this very vibrant though

Rating - 1

C-factor

2 for $6 in their afternoon sellout. And I was hanging on tightly to my bag so nothing happened to it.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 9

Available At

Store LG25A
Lower Ground Floor
Sydney Central Plaza
450 George Street
Sydney
NSW 2000 Phone (02) 9221 9188

Provolone Dolce

Taste

A sweet cheese that tears off in strips, I quite enjoy this one. It's a bit different, but as bitey, but quite smooth and mellow, not quite creamy, more string-like, if that's a good way to describe cheese...

Rating - 6.5

Look

A milky, off white colour, they come in big balls with wax coating. They peel into these interesting looking strips!

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$18.99/kg, a bit exy, but they are from Italy afterall.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

heat treated milk, salt, rennet

Available At

Harris Farm Markets
Website

Jesters Pie

Taste

We decided to try their Jaffle collection, which seems to be a lower fat alternatives to their normal pie range. But don't be fooled, the way they do this is to have less weight per pie, offering 170g instead of the usual 200g in each serving. The egg and mushroom jaffle pie ($3.95) was quite good, a thin and flaky pastry encasing a whole egg, with a creamy mushroom fix. The egg was cooked through but I didn't think you could have it any other way as they aren't fresh out of the oven. The egg, bacon and cheese jaffle pie ($3.95) was a bit too dry, there was no oozing cheese and I can tell that the bacon was cheap. I actually think their jaffle pastries is better than their normal thick, definitely not flaky and light offering, so I would go the jaffle pie next time with a dry ingredient.

I got the opportunity to try the beef and potato pie with salad ($4.50 for pie or 7.45 for both). This one had the classic Jester pastry - which is flaky and pretty good, but can never compare to Jackman & McRoss. The beef was a bit better than average and the potato had a crusty top. I guess they're ok for a chain, but their standards have really gone down. The salad? They don't even list it on the menu anymore... but it was very fresh, with spinach and rocket leaves, cherry tomatoes, radish and carrot, but no dressing. That's ok by me but it would be nicer if it was dressed.

Rating - 5.5

Look

Dinkier than their other pies, the inclusion of the whole egg makes it look kinda cool. I'm a fan of the fun purple Jesters brand, now if only their products measure up!

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

For a fast food place, and especially for a pie place, they are very expensive. I won't call their products high class but they are charging quite high prices. The jaffle pie is actually one of their cheapest offering, with most pies around the $4 mark and a few of their "gourmet" selection up to $5.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 8

Ingredients

Available At

Kiost 5
Rhodes Shopping Centre
Phone (02) 9743 4979
Website

The Little Snail

I have been going to this place since 1995, when our French class used to come for an "excursion". In the years since, I've faithfully visited for LOTS of birthdays, catchups, Christmas parties... I've seen them move from their old digs at Broadway to their swanky new spot at Pyrmont.

In this time, I'd like to think that my food palate has evolved and not the quality of the restaurant has decreased, because I used to think that their food was wonderful and cheap, to lately, it being just average and expensive.

Anyway, I'm back again, this time for a work function, so here is what I think of this latest visit.

Food

We started off with some garlic bread, which unfortunately, arrived at our tables only warm. The bread was soft and had a crunchy centre, but the garlic was very faint. Also delivered with this was some coleslaw type salad - cabbage, onion, tomato, carrot, smothered in salad dressing. I only had a bit of this and it tasted like nothing much.

Soon our entrees arrived, my "in short supply" (see Service) Honey cured ocean trout with watercress salad should really be described as Water cress salad with honey cured ocean trout instead, such is the lack of trout. Maybe that's how they made 4 servings enough for the rest of the restaurant, by dividing them into 20 serves!! Seriously, there was only about a 50 cent sized worth of trout in the whole thing. The trout itself lacked the deep smoky flavour and was a bit sweet, but I actually quite like the salad, the water cress had a crunchy texture and the dressing was nicely controlled. Still, I felt like I was ripped off.

Maybe that was a good thing because the mains were HUGE. Since I'd tried every single thing on their normal menu, I decided on the blackboard special of Lamb fillets with eggplant and lentil puree, which turned out to be the BEST MAIN I've ever eaten at this restaurant. Admittedly it's not that hard since all their other mains are only so-so, but this one, wow! The lamb was cooked medium as requested, the still pink flesh tender and juicy, atop a huge mound of creamy and nutty puree. The sauce was complex, slightly salty, and complemented the slight sweetness of the puree very well. I polished this one off. It's just too bad this is not on their menu all the time, because I know what I would be ordering! All mains come with a platter of mixed vegetables - carrots, beans, squash, potatoes on this occasion. Actually, on ALL occasion it has been this combination of veges. They are ok but not great.

I was quite full after the main, and at another restaurant, I probably would have stopped ordering, but since you HAVE to have dessert, I ordered another off the specials board (yup, tried all the normal dessert offering) of espresso ice-cream with wafer basket. The wafer was well done, more brown than normal. The ice-cream was smooth, the coffee flavour was strong but a bit too sweet for my liking. I also taste tested some chocolate fudge cake which was very dense but a bit dried.

But wait, there's more, with our coffees (which I didn't try so can't comment) came a plate of petite fours, or maybe they should be "grande" four, as each morsel took at least 3 bites to consume. The rum balls were low on rum and not very chocolaty, the cinnamon biscuits a bit better, but nowhere near as good as my desserts :)

Rating - 6.5 (7.5 for the lamb and 5.5 for the other stuff)

Atmosphere

Every other time I've visited, it's been a Friday or Saturday night (except for those lunch visits for school of course), so I was used to seeing a full restaurants with lots of groups and the waiters being run off their feet. This visit on a Thursday night was completely different. There were only a few tables and we were definitely the only group there. The atmosphere is nowhere near as good as when it's a full house.

Still, our group created our own atmosphere, with our "Porn name" name tags, trivia questions and tasks we have to do. Plus, if you don't enjoy the company, you can always look out the huge glass windows at the passing parade outside Darling Harbour.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Our waiter was melodramatic (I don't think he was French though), making it out like he was especially serving us, and throwing in lots of hand gestures for good measure. He explained how we were to order, and said that there were only 4 trout entrees left on the menu, and that we would have to be quick to snap it up, as if he was doing us a favour by telling us about some exclusive deal.

We can't really blame them, but we kept swapping seats, so they just had to call out the meals when they brought it out. They could have been better at refilling our jugs of water and replenishing empty bottles of wine though.

Rating - 3

C-factor

The Little Snail works on a 3 course system, where you pay a set price for all 3 courses. It's usually $45, and they also have a special price for groups, where for $55 p.p you get 3 courses and garlic bread, salad,s coffee and corkage. B.Y.O is $5 corkage per bottle. Of course, for me, this was all free. Even though I'm not a huge fan of their food, I had a good time. As a whole package, especially for a group, it is one of the better places to go in Sydney.

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 12.5

Info

50 Murray Street
Pyrmont
NSW 2009
Phone (02) 9212 7512
Website

Gluten Free Gourmet Expo 2006

I didn't know what to expect when I set foot in the Sydney Showground, but I need not fear, as my favourite activity in the whole world, free tastings was only feets away. We gave our donations, collected our trendy showbags filled with some great goodies, and set off to sample land.

I certainly learnt what people with Coeliac disease cannot eat (wheat), as there were stall after stall of cakes, biscuits, breads, and other items you usually associate with wheat. BTW - I did say items you associate with wheat, so yes, there was a wheat free beer too, but I didn't sample it so can't tell you how that tasted.

After all the tastings, I have to say that I am glad I can eat wheat, as bread made without wheat is not bread at all. All the bread and pizza bases we sampled kinda taste and feel like cake, with a heavy dense texture and certainly no spring in their steps. The cakes and biscuits on the other hand, were quite heavenly. Interestingly, because of this intolerance to wheat, all the ingredients that are used to make these food products are usually organic and of high quality. Sure you can't eat as much, but you can certainly eat well.

Here are some of the standouts for me:

• The excited people at Trialia Foods and their "peanut" butter
• Peppercorn Food Company sausages.
• The fabulous soup mix at Basco Gluten Free Foods.
• Excellent range of vegan burgers, patties and dips from Syndian Natural Food Products.
• Watching people lap up the offering at Muffin Break.
• Delicious made on the spot pancakes from White Wings that is of course not made out of real flour.
• The people at San Remo giving me a free pasta sample but ignoring Slokky even though he walked up to the stand a couple of times.
• The generous people at Freedom Foods churning out pizzas, fish fingers and pies to the eagerly waiting crowd.

I came away with a load of goodies I would normally buy anyway (being Gluten Free had nothing to do with it), they included:

• Jalna Fat-Free BerryFruits Yoghurt for $4 - normally around $5-6 in the supermarkets.
• 3 Yumi Dips
, normally around $3-5 each at the supermarkets.
• Tender Value Meats Moroccan Lamb & Raisin Sausages, $7.50 for around 500g.
• Pure Gelato Hazelnut Gelato, normally $7.90 for a litre. We picked up the showbag of a 1L gelato + $10 voucher + cooler bag for $20.
• Kuranda health bars, 3 for $5.
• Alfa One Rice Bran Oil, 2 for $6.

The Expo is on again in 2007. I've got it marked in my diary, so see you there!

Info

The Coeliac Society
Website

Tender Value Meats Moroccan Lamb & Raisin Sausage

Taste

We picked up these little (or should I say big) babies at the Gluten Free Gourmet Expo. Being gluten free isn't their only claim to fame though, they also Won Best sausage in NSW and a Gold Award in the Sydney Royal Fine Foods Show.

They taste quite meaty, but the raisins add a sweetness to it, which I actually don't like. The sausage itself is great quality but I prefer my sausages to taste more savoury than sweet. Sometimes a hint of sweetness lifts the sausages but I think these are overpowered.

Rating - 6

Look

Like a sausage... a dark brown colour but with bits of raisins dispersed throughout. And it also came in your typical sausage container

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

$7.50 for around 500g, pretty good for the quality of ingredients but not really to my taste.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 8.5

Available At

12 Florence St
Hornsby
NSW 2077
Phone (02) 9987 4028

Caffe Due Mondi

Taste

I decided to try some of the other offerings besides Ton Ton from my favourite food court today. Caffe Due Mondi is not situated in the food court but is a standalone cafe in Chifley Plaza. We dined in and ordered the Pasta of the Day, which was Penne Bolognese ($9.50). It's a simple dish but you'll be surprised at how many people get this wrong. Happily, I can report that CDM's version was excellent, with a deep and richly flavoured tomato paste, mixed with some fine mince and mixed with a splattering of Parmesan. Not exactly authentic Italian (way too much sauce for the pasta) but tasty and comforting. The only complaint I have is that the pasta is a bit past al-dente.

I also got a skinny cappuccino ($3.00) as part of the deal. They use Piazza d'Oro. It's slightly bitter but their foam was excellent, and the chocolate sprinkling tastes of more cocoa than the others.

Rating - 7

Look

Another one of those cafes where you're sitting in the middle of the shopping centre. You can watch people going up and down the escalators while enjoying your lunch, a snack or coffee. It's one of those places to meet people, whether it's for business or pleasure. The waiters are quite friendly and definitely efficient. They bring salt and pepper, cutlery and napkins. Yes, very basic stuff but surprisingly many places can't even get this right.

They also do a brisk takeaway trade as well as lots of coffee, and they provide lots of magazines to read while you wait. Very thoughtful, I like it!

Rating - 2

C-factor

Another one on the specials October deals for Chifley Plaza, for Pasta of the Day plus a coffee or tea for $6.50. The pasta was generously sized and you get decent coffee, proper cutlery and service, def worth it!

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 11

Available At

Shop F6, Upper Ground
Chifley Plaza
2 Chifley Square
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9223 9413

Ton Ton 2

Taste

I couldn't help it, went back here for another ramen fix. This place is always really popular at lunch times and had loads of people lined up there. They do all the Japanese favourites, including the full range of ramen flavours. I ordered the miso ramen ($9.00) which I think is the best ramen that they make. The soup had great complexity, the pork was of great quality, and the buckwheat noodles cooked just so. Topped with seaweed, shallots and bamboo shoots, it's a satisfying meal. Did I mention that their food actually come from Azuma's kitchen?

I came back again for the October deal, this time I tried the udon noodle soup ($5.50), and it brought me right back to Japan, it was that authentic! Filled with fried batter and shallots, the noodles were silky smooth and the soup complex, and so cheap!

Rating - Ramen -8, Udon -8

Look

Served up in a wonderful Japanese ceramic bowl, it looked very inviting too. Eating, or slurping it with the wooden chopsticks adds to the authenticity I think.

Everyone knows this by now, but Chifley Plaza is my favourite food court, with loads of comfy seatings and plasma TV (incidentally tuned to Oprah when I was there).

Rating - 2

C-factor

They have a special deal for October where you can get a Ramen and a bottle of water for $8.50. The Udon was $4 with the October coupon, what a bargain! Like I've said before, Ton Ton is more expensive than other Japanese, but I always pay for quality.

Plus, I was entertained all lunch with stories about the gauntlet of ACRM.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - Ramen -11.5, Udon -11.5

Available At

Shop F2, Level 1
Chifley Plaza
2 Chifley Square
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9222 9960

Croydon Park

Now here is a suburb that doesn't appear often on the foodie's radar. My favourite gelato place was having their annual fundraising day, which I have attended for the past 2 years, so that's how I found myself wondering the streets of Croydon Park on a Tuesday night. We arrived at Pure Gelato around 6:30pm, and found the place pumping, with a DJ spinning the tunes, lots of kids going crazy on the jumping castle, and the parents having a good old yarn. The smell of BBQ filled the air. I love to eat for charity, so we gladly parted with $3 for a sausage sizzle, cooked up by the local Lions Club. The sausage was average, the bun was better than average, combined with sauce, is just comfort food.

The sky was clear, the air was chilly, but that didn't stop us from indulging on ice-cream, all in the name of charity. A couple of gold-coin donations later, we walked away with caramelised figs,ricotta and honey,oreo, and bounty. I have to admit that these 4 new flavours were the only ones we haven't tried from their counter of about 12 flavours... we've been there that many times. Most of their gelatos have won awards, and you can't really fault any of the flavours, and believe me, I've tried enough of them. My favourite though is still the hazelnut, creamy and with the unmistakable flavour of fresh ground hazelnut. Following close behind though is the new flavour, caramelised fig. They've always had figs as a flavour which I have dried and is very good, but this version just beats it hands down. Is it the caramelisation? There are chunks of figs mixed with gelato with a caramel swirl. Yum! The 2nd best for tonight was the ricotta and honey, which was a bit less creamy but the honey added another caramel flavour. 3rd was the oreo, which was like chocolate with biscuits, and last bounty. I was surprised because I really liked their coconut and mango and coconut gelatos, but I found the coconut flavour in the Bounty a bit fake and the chocolate flakes didn't have a strong enough cocoa taste.

We watched people enjoying gelato with their friends and family, but was disappointed that they weren't running the gelato eating comp or the factory tour, so we decided to depart. Oh, they also raised more than $10,000 for charity, so good on them, and I will be back next year.

I hadn't paid much attention before, but there were quite a few Middle Eastern food places on Georges River Rd. In the interest of comparisons, we stopped off at Samir Abla's Pastry. After deliberating for about 10 minutes, finally decided to get a mixed plate of pastries, which came on a plastic plate, nicely wrapped and tied with ribbons. Their pastries are sold for $16/kg, so our platter came to $20.

When we got home, I brew up some lychee teas and tried their offerings. The verdict? The pastry is not quite as flaky as El Bahsa Sweets in Bankstown, and the filling not as nutty. But it was better than Baladna Pastry in Auburn. I prob won't be back because Bankstown is closer, but next time I go to get gelato, I will def swing by.

Info

Pure Gelato
30-32 Brighton Ave
Croydon Park
NSW 2133
Phone (02) 9716 4488
Website

Samir Abla's Pastry
159 Georges River Rd
Croydon Park
NSW 2133
Phone (02) 9797 9697
Also at Guildford

Moon Festival & Other Celebrations

The day started off with the marriage ceremony of Ming & Mel. The church was lovely, they had a huge wedding party, and they put on some finger food afterwards. The food was the usual sandwiches, curry puffs, mini pizzas...etc. The food wasn't that great as they were kinda warm and it's messy to eat finger food dressed in your finest while tettoring on stilettos. One good thing though, was the great range of Asian style swiss rolls they had. The sponge was soft yet kinda solid, the cream subtle and the best thing of all, not too sweet!!

In the afternoon, we made our way to "Homebush West", or without the marketing hype, Flemington, for the Moon Festival. Well I really have to say, this is like the worst street festival ever. When we got there, part of the street was closed off, and we caught the end part of the Tae Kwon Do demo. This guy was trying to break a piece of wood and it took him about 5 tries before he succeeded. The cooking demo was badly organised, basically the guy from my favourite eating place, Ta Fong, started cooking, then he pours whatever was in his wok onto a plate, then people just dive on it, taking away huge chunks on food, with no idea or explanation coming forth of what it is. Well, if you can't beat them, join them, so I pushed my way through the crowd to sample the various fares - I think there was beef, chicken and pork in the mix... Hey free food is yum no matter how you look at it.

I was expecting more to happen, but the rest of the festival resembled the food - a mess! There was a music competition, where little Asian kids were pushed to perform their instrument for the audience. They all looked pretty uncomfortable, dressed in their finest (princess dress & bow ties), but some gave quite good performances. They were all rewarded with a moon cake afterwards, but the biggest sin was actually the terrible MC, who jus left audiences waiting for about 5 minutes between each act.

Sick of the wait, we went off to Happy Chef Cafe to get a honeydew iced milk tea with pearls ($3.00) - it was certainly refreshing after all that taste testing but it was too icy not to mention too sweet because the ice hadn't melted yet.

Breadtop Bread

Taste

I've tried Breadtop many times before. All their stuff had been a bit hit and miss. Since I loved their Pork Floss loaf, I tried the Taro which wasn't as good. This time, we picked up the Coconut Loaf ($4.90). I think this was the worst of all the loaves. The coconut was too sweet, the bread was much harder than I expected, The coconut, like the rest of their loaves, came in big chunks in bits of the bread. This worked quite well with the Pork Floss and to a lesser extend the Taro, but for the coconut, it meant you were either eating very sweet filling or very plain bread. The combo of coconut and bread is not new, the problem is that it was perfected in the form of a cocktail bun, and there ain't no need to improve on perfection! You might ask, why would I choose this bread to start with? In my defence, it wasn't my choice, I would have stuck to their more unusual offerings.

Rating - 5

Look

Hey, this certainly looks more appealing than your run-of-the-mill cocktail bun, but I don't judge my food on their looks...much.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

For $4.90 I could buy 6 cocktail buns, I know which one I would choose.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 7

Available At

Breadtop everywhere
Website

Eastshore Kitchen

TGV have been running this food promotion in October, where you can scratch and win lunch vouchers. Lo and behold, I won, so off I went to claim my prize.

Taste

TGV has one of the best food courts in the CBD, including the famous Chat Thai. The Chinese and Malaysian shop next door, Eastshore Kitchen, is where I won my Wonton Noodle Soup ($5.90) and water ($2.50). I haven't tried anything here before, but I was definitely missing my wonton since the Canada outing. I have to say, this was not bad at all. The noodles had a real spring and bite, just like any good wonton noodle should. The wontons were not as juicy or tasty as Canada, but the wrapping was very smooth. The soup was great, quite clear, had a depth of flavour, and was not too salty. A few sprigs of vegetables completed the look.

Rating - 7.5

Look

For a food court, beautifully presented in a big bowl. The vegetables were a vibrant green, the noodles a vivid yellow, add a dollop of fiery red chilli, and lunch is served.

The food court is also better than some. It gets quite busy there, but there's a raised section off to the side, with banquette seating, that's a bit quieter. The tables there are also quite spacious, so there's plenty of space to put your stuff.

Rating - 2

C-factor

Free food that tastes great, not to mention great lunch company, makes me happy indeed. I will be back, even if I have to pay for my own meal.

Rating - 2

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

Eastshore Kitchen
TGV
Lower Ground Floor
500 George St
Sydney
NSW 2000

Yumi's Dip

Taste

I picked up this little gem at the Gluten Free Expo. I've tried some of their dips before, and they were indeed Yumi!. This time, I picked up the:

• Smoked Trout Mousse - a creamy mess with a deep distinguishable smoky trout flavour
• Gourmet Tuna Mousse - heavily of fish and lemon, also creamy but with more solid.
• Gold Chunky Pumpkin & Pepitas - I wasn't sure what pepitas was but it turned out to be pumpkin seeds, so pumpkin on pumpkin! Anyway, there's a very sweet taste of pumpkin and a hint of spiciness, but it's not very chunky at all!

Rating - trout - 8, tuna - 7, pumpkin - 7.5

Look

A bit old fashioned. Each one came in a foiled-sealed container. As mentioned, all the dips looked creamy and smooth. The pumpkin had a really bright colour and was very inviting, but the other two were just pink and brown gook.

Rating - trout - 1, tuna - 1, pumpkin - 2

C-factor

The seafood comes in 200g and the Chunky in 150g. It's usually quite expensive but I picked up the 3 for $7.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - trout - 10, tuna - 9, pumpkin - 10.5

Ingredients

Smoked Trout Mousse
smoked trout (48%), mayonnaise, pure lemon juice, preservatives

Gourmet Tuna Mousse
tuna (49%), mayonnaise, onions, preservatives

Pumpkin & Pepitas
pumpkin (50%), vegetable oil, honey, lemon juice, pepitas (5%), eggs, garlic, vinegar, herbs & spices, salt preservatives

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Lowenbrau

Beer Halls seem to be sprouting up everywhere in Sydney nowadays, but this Oktoberfest, I decided to to relive some of the glories of Hofbrauhaus am Platzl, and visit the original. I don't think there is anyone in Sydney who hasn't heard or seen the distinctive (the guys will know what I'm talking about) advertising of this place.

Food

We certainly weren't disappointed. All the stereotypical Bavarian fares were present, as well as fares to cater for Australians and anorexic girls. We were all going for the full hog. All the guys ordered schnitzel, and the Löwenschnitzel - Löwenbräu's giant pork schnitzel served with French Fries ($27.00) certainly lived up to its name. A giant piece of crumbed meat covered the entire plate, with some shoe-string fries underneath. I have never been a huge fan of schinitzel, I never really understand the appeal of flattening your meat and putting crumbs on it, but as far as schnitzels go, this one was great. Still, a schnitzel is a schnitzel, I wasn't blown away by it. By the time I got to the chips, they were a bit soggy and only warm, so I don't think I am in the position to pass judgement on them, but the mayo that accompanied the dish was quite nice.

Last time I was here I had the Knuspriger Schweinebauch - crackling Roast Pork Belly with Beer Sauce, sautéed potatoes & red cabbage, so I decided to try the Schweinshaxn - Oven-roasted pork knuckle with sauerkraut, Lowenbrau bier sauce and mashed potato ($29.50). A huge knuckle arrived sitting on a bed of mash, with a mound of sauerkraut to the side. It had the best crackling ever, crunchy, salt, thick and satisfying. The meat tasted just like Chinese roast pork, except the texture of the meat was softer. The mash had a lot of other stuff added to it because there wasn't that much potato taste. I actually prefer my mash a bit lumpy but this one was silky smooth. I only hope it was made using real potatoes and not that powder stuff. The sauerkraut on its own wasn't that nice, a bit salty, a bit sour, a bit limp, but paired with the salty meat, it was a nice foil.

Of course, a visit to a beer hall wouldn't be complete without some beers. A lot of people had multiple 1L steins but we started on the "baby" 300ml Löwenbrau Original on tap ($6.00). I'm not a huge beer drinker but I am very fussy. This beer was palate cleansing, with a clear, wheaty, honey taste with a slight hint of bitterness, and is absolutely gorgeous.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

This is what we come for and this is what we pay for. The party was already on full swing when we arrived, the Ommpa Band belting out the obligatory tunes (I had no idea the Chicken Dance was universal), as well as a few unexpected ones, including Sound of Music and Waltzing Matilda. The 6 of us was one of the smallest groups in the beer hall, (there were a lot of small tables outside, but that defeats the whole purpose really), groups of 20 or more were not unusual. The beer hall was much smaller than I thought, you were basically squished in. People were celebrating birthdays, bucks night, more birthdays and more bucks night. We were the only ones there for no occasion at all, and felt very left out when they called out the "special" person from each table. Never mind, half the entertainment was watching all the drunkards carry on. The table next to us were dressed up in German garb, including some guys in very tight breeches. We witnessed more oldies getting up on the dancefloor (thank God they weren't on the tables yet). We stayed for a large part of the antics, including the mexican waves and the stand-up, sit-down segments. Nic went out and came back in while we were doing it and she got totally confused, apparently there were a lot more to come, including some Ockoberfest specials, but we decided we didn't want to lose our voices, so we left before the excitment was over.

Rating - 3

Service

I sure know what they mean about service. The door Nazi stopped us in our tracks when We showed up at 7.40pm. We told him we had a booking. He said that everyone was supposed to wait outside and we will be called to your table. So there was nothing we could do but wait. Sure enough, nobody came to call out any names. So sick of waiting, we approached another waiter instead, and this time, we finally got lead to our table.

It took us awhile to get some menus, and even longer to get our orders across, we stopped 2 waiters, (and Clete stopped one of the guys who had dressed up as he thought that was a waiter), before we put our orders in. You can never get the waiters attention, but at least our food arrived without any problems. You'd better remember what you ordered though because the waiters certainly don't.

I have to give them credit though, having to deal with drunks and rude people in such a cramp space, and having to wear those ridiculous outfits.

Us girls had a lot of fun observing the female waiters (the males were boring) to see how they compare with their advertisment. I have to say that they certainly don't discriminate, but the beers are so heavy that they need to lean back and stick out their chests every time they carry something.

Rating - 2

C-factor

We got our beers for free, we used two e-book vouchers, so our final bill came to $110.50. It's not the best value based on food, but you can't get this sort of atmosphere anywhere else - watching your friend get their leg pulled by a drunk dressed in German gear, and checking out the status of female waiters - except prehaps in Munich!

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

Crn Playfair & Argyle St
The Rocks
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9247 7785
Website

Pinto Thai

To conclude a long and eventful day of food shopping, we settled on this eat-in/takeaway place on the trendy Darling St strip.

Food

We arrived at around 6:15pm, and surprisngly, there were already quite a few people here. The menu contains your typical Aussie Thai dishes (curry, stir-fry) as well as a few special gems. I wasn't very hungry after constantly eating all day, but Slokky decided he was ravenous (hehe funny how shopping does such different things to people). So we ordered 3 dishes to share between two.

The first dish to arrive was the chilli jam noodles with chicken ($14.50) - the thinking behind this (from Slokky of course) was that this was meant to accompany our other dishes in place of plain rice. Well, as you can imagine, there's quite a strong taste of chilli jam, adding sweetness and sourness to the thin Thai style noodles. It's oily and sweet, the flavour certainly stand on their own. There was NO WAY I was mixing this with the hot stir fry with beef ($14.50), which had a completely different taste. This too was quite oily, but the taste was hot and salty rather than sweet. The sauce was crying out to be mopped up but alas, we had nothing to mop it up with. At this stage I wasn't blown away by anything and was beginning to feel that this was yet another Thai place to be forgotten about, when out came the piece de resistence, the soft-shelled crab salad with lychee ($23). It was expensive, but the dish was quite massive. A mess of green salad leaves mingled with flakes of red chilli and capsicum, the golden coating of the crabs, with the creamy flesh of lychee poking out. Fortunately it tasted as good as it looks. The crabs didn't have much crab taste but the batter coating it was thin and crunchy. The chilli salad dressing was excellent, hot and sour and sweet, ticking all the boxes for Thai flavour. The greens and reds help cut through the heat, and the lychee added a sweet, welcome relief. Just don't eat too many of the whole fried chilli or your throat will burn. I was absolutely stuffed after we finished the meal.

Oh, they also have these really yummy prawn crackers next to where you pay. They were crunchy, not oily and had this great spice flavour. I would go back here just to get my hands on a few more of these crackers.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

Like most of the other places on this strip, the shop is open to the streets, with a few al-fresco table. We sat inside, quite close to the open kitchen, so we could watch all the wok-tossing action. On the outside, this place looked great, purple wall, a funky menu, squarish Asian bowls and yougn staff clad in black, but on closer inspection, you discover that all the bowls are chipped, the kitchen and the toilets are gross and the table is unstable. Who knows how they handled my food?

If you want to go to a fast and buzzing place, and don't mind the little extras, this is a great place, but if you want to go somwhere nice and enjoy the surroundings and talk, this is not the best place.

Rating - 1.5

Service

They weren't rude but they weren't very professional. There were a lot of confusion when we came in and asked to look at the menu as they thought we wanted take-away. Anyway, once we settled in and they took our order, they were actually overly attentive, they kept coming to fill up our water (which is usually a good thing until they start coming to fill up after you've had 1 sip). One of the waiter kept trying to take our dishes away, even though they weren't finished yet. I put it down to too many waiters and too few customers.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

With the 25% discount from the e-book, our bill came to $40. Kinda expensive for your surburban Thai, but the experience was slightly (just slightly) better than average.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 12

Info

315 Darling St
Balmain
NSW 2041
Phone (02) 9555 6745

The Margaret River Dairy Company Baked Ricotta

Taste

There are several baked ricotta in the range by the Margaret River Diary Company. I tried the Chilli. The ricotta, as expected was quite plain. I'm not sure what the baking actually did because I couldn't taste any difference, except that the ricotta was harder than normal. I like the chilli, adding the kick the ricotta really needs.

The Chives and Onions is much more subtle in flavour. I couldn't really taste very much distinguishing factors at all. I would use this more as a plain ricotta, maybe to add to a salad.

Rating - 6.5

Look

The red chilli flakes and the brown "baked" edges makes it very interesting. The not uniformed look makes this seem very homely. The packaging is not crash hot but then again, being wrapped in plastic is not that great.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

250g for $4.99 is ok, but I think I would rather buy plain ricotta. I could eat ricotta with anything...

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

cheese whey, milk, salt, acetic acid, chilli flakes (.45%), parsley flakes (.05%)

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Tilba Club Applebox Smoked

Taste

A rather unremarkable cheese if I do say so myself. The smoky flavour was not that strong, but you can taste a subtle hint of it. The cheese is also slightly sweeter than I thought it would be. The thing I didn't really like was the waxy and slimy texture - but that might be due to its packaging?

Rating - 5.5

Look

Quite pretty with a smoky brownish tint. The wax covering was a light grey, a change from the reds and blacks you always see. Like I mentioned, Harris Farm shrinks wrap this which might have contributed to its texture.

Rating - 1

C-factor

$26.99/kg is quite expensive in my opinion. Tilba is not really marketed as a boutique brand so I expected it to be cheaper.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - 7

Ingredients

cheese(pasteurised milk, salt, cultures, enzumes, rennet), natural smoke flavour (min .2%), sweet paprika, mineral salts, preservatives.

Available At

Harris Farm Market
Website

Wraptt

There's a new franchise in town, and it's my duty as a committed food blogger to go and check it out. The first shop of what is meant to be many is located at my favourite shopping centre, Rhodes.

Taste

All they do are wraps and drinks. Basically you choose a meat or veg combo (beef, chicken, veg), the type of bread (regular (i.e. white) or wholemeal), choose a size (small or regular), add a drink, pay, get your docket, and wait for your number to be called.

While I was waiting I sampled some of their juice offerings - there are about 6 different varieties. They aren't freshly squeezed but are organic. They were nice but not spectacular. I don't know if being organic actually adds anything to the taste. Before I knew it, my order was ready.

I chose the Regular True Blue Wrap ($7.95) - strips, lean bacon, tomato, lettuce and BBQ sauce all on a freshly made and baked wholemeal pita bread, and a Regular Raspberry and Apple Organic Juice ($3.95). The wrap was warmed in the oven, and you can certainly taste the difference. It was soft and fresh, the chicken of great quality and the vegetables fresh.

On my second outing, I chose the Mediterranean – chicken strips, roast capsicum, lettuce and low fat pesto mayo ($7.95) - which had a bit of bite in the sauce, but was not too out there. As usual, the bread was excellent. Slokky's Ultimate – beef strips, lean bacon, tomato, lettuce, grilled onion, beetroot chutney and dijonnaise ($7.95) was not bad either. the beef was a little bit too cooked for my liking, but the accompaniment and the sauce were all wonderful. We also had one of their organic cappuccino ($2.40), especially made by their barista, but it was nothing special at all.

Rating - 8

Look

This place reminds me of Wellbeing, with the same white and green logo, and the emphasis on quick, fresh, fast food. It certainly looked promising, a bright place with fresh-faced young people eager to serve you, and you can view the people rolling out the fresh wraps. The wraps are nicely wrapped too! You tear along the dotted lines which exposes the middle of the wrap, and viola, no mess.

Rating - 2

C-factor

Compared to the other fast food places like Maccas or Oporto, it is more expensive, but theirs is much higher in quality, I just wonder if people will pay for quality. I hope they do well.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11

Available At

Lvl 1 Food Court
Rhodes Shopping Centre
1 Rider Boulevard
Rhodes NSW
Phone (02)9798 8437
Website

Northern Suburbs Exploration

Our first suburb of call was Northbridge. There really isn't anything here except for the famous Tokyo Mart, and the reason for this expedition in the first place. It's located in Northbridge Plaza, a small suburban shopping centre with quite a few gourmet shop. Tokyo Mart was much smaller than I expected, stocking all sorts of Japanese goodies. What was disappointing was that there was not a lot of the food I saw in Japan, and everything was ultra expensive. We were hoping to pick up some bento boxes there for lunch but there weren't any available. The household items were also small, nothing like Daiso in Vancouver and the 100 Yen shops in Japan. We only picked up some rice vinegar, instant noodles, and a Yubari Melon caramel from Sapporo.

We wanted to lunch at Neutral Bay, but everything was closed, so we headed over to Crows Nest for Indian. Alas, all the places we were hoping to go to were also closed for the holidays, so we ventured to Pino's Fresh Pasta instead. The verdict? Read my review.

After lunch, we went to the grand daddy of all organic stores, Macro Wholefoods Market, which I was quite impressed with, lots of fresh produce, deli with tastings, great bread, with ALL my favourites, including Infinity, which I haven't been able to find at many places. We picked up some Zuppa Uno soup and Infinity Potato Bread before heading off.

The last stop was to Manly, for their annual Jazz Festival. The roads were chockers and there was no parking, and we knew why. The place was packed! The atmosphere was great though, and after we picked up some NZ Natural ice cream, kicked back to enjoy the music, we couldn't complain.

Info

Northbridge Plaza
79-113 Sailors Bay Road
Northbridge
NSW 2063
Phone (02) 9958 2648
Website

Tokyo Mart
83 Sailors Bay Road
Northbridge
NSW 2063
Phone (02) 9958 6860

Pino's Fresh Pasta
2 Clarke St
Crows Nest
NSW 2065
Phone (02) 9439 3690

Macro Wholefoods Market
13-19 Willoughby Rd
Crows Nest
NSW 2065
Phone (02) 9004 1240
Website

New Zealand Natural Ice-Cream

Taste

We got Tiramisu and Mocha Almond Fudge. The Tiramisu was rich and taste just like the tiramisu I made last month. Not too sweet, but with that coffee and cream cheese combo. The Mocha Almond Fudge was also great. The coffee was stronger in this, it's a bit more bitter than the tiramisu, and there were lots of little bits of almonds. The fresh waffle cone crunchy and sweet, like real waffles should be. I am becoming a big fan of NZ Natural's products!

Rating - 8

Look

Cream and brown. These actually come in normal size, not the giant cones that a lot of chains are doing nowadays. A slip on cover separates your dirty hands with the cone.

Rating - 2

C-factor

Ice-cream is never cheap, at NZ Natural, they are $4.00 for a small 2 flavour cup (the "Regular"). But who can go pass the experience of eating ice-cream by the beach while listening to great jazz?

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 11.5

Available At

New Zealand Natural
Website

nudie juicie - lychee, lemon, lime & more

Taste

Before you complain, I didn't make up any of the descriptions, this juice is actually called limited summer edition lychee, lemon, lime & more. At least their products taste good. This one combines the sweetness of lychees with the tanginess of lemon and lime, a good summer hit.

Rating - 7.5

Look

nudie is renowned for their branding and marketing, the bold pencil figure distinctive to their products. I think they have a good thing going, and the way they market reflects their philosophy, even though this is more an empire than a small business now, having branched out into ice-cream, ice-block, and who knows what else.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

Here is what I don't like, the price. You're really buying the brand and the lifestyle, nudie is like a designer-label of juice.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11

Ingredients

1 crushed apple (50%), 6.5 crushed lychees (22%), 1/4 juiced pear (15.5%), 1/5
squeezed lemon (7.5%), a good splash of lime (5%)

Available At

posh stores, almost all food shops, Coles

Sapporo Yubari Melon Caramel

Taste

It reminds me of Swiss lolly, you know, the little square chewy lollies, but with a much more interesting flavour. This lolly is very sweet but has a fresh fragrant aroma. It's amazing they got this to taste just like melon with the ingredients they use. It's very Japanese actually.

Rating - 7.5

Look

Like all Japanese products, the packaging is very cute. A white background with cute melon picture. It was easy to reseal and each lolly is individually wrapped of course.

Rating - 2

C-factor

80g for $1 on special. It's expensive but then it's from Japan.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10.5

Ingredients

glucose syrup, sugar, condensed milk powder, vegetable oil, melon flavour, vegetable protein, salt, flavour, colour

Available At

Specialty Asian stores

Zuppa Uno Pumpkin and Rosemary Soup

Taste

Zuppa Uno is supposed to be a specialist in Italian style soup. Reading the ingredients on this one, you can certainly see that it is very good for you. The taste though? Very strongly of chicken stock and pepper, with a faint sweetness of pumpkin. The pumpkin was not the dominant player here, and the soup was saltier than I though. The texture was not too creamy and had chunks of real pumpkin, which was appealing.

Rating - 6.5

Look

Very sexy packaging, with a "personal story" delivered to you by the company. Pity you couldn't heat the soup up in the packaging. You have to pour it into a saucepan or a microwave-proof container.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

750ml for $8.95, discounted to $3. For $8.95, it's almost as much as going to a cafe to have soup, but for $3, certainly a satisfying meal.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 9

Ingredients

pumpkin 50%, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, home made vegetable stock, salt, olive oil

Available At

Health Food Stores

85 Degree

As soon as I heard about this new cake shop, I made sure I could check it out at the first opportunity. I believe this is a Taiwanese chain, whose philosophy is to bring 5-star hotel style cakes to the masses. Well, everyone else seem to have the same idea, when we got there, there was a line (apparently the line is constant and doesn't disappear). It took 30 minutes from when we started to line up 'til we walked away swinging the 2 little boxes of cake.

Taste

The limit for each customer is 2 cakes, so we got the:

• Hazelnut Chocolate ($4.00) - beautiful rich chocolate with a smooth mousse. The passionfruit mousse went surprisingly well with chocolate. A textural masterpiece.
• Strawberry Panna Cotta ($4.40) - the panna cotta tasted like passionfruit cream. It was nice, but it wasn't panna cotta. It was topped with some fresh berries.
• Coffee Brule ($3.60) - the only actual cake we have. The coffee sponge was soft, deep coffee tasting, but a tad dry. Never fear, the cream sandwiching the coffee layer together coats the cake well.
• Blackberry Vanilla Mousse ($3.80) - taste quite like the others, but with a jelly/juicy berry layer.

I actually wanted to get the Passionfruit Mousse and the Hokkaido Cheese, but it was a bit of hit and miss. They were constantly churning out the cakes in the back but it was constantly selling out, so you get what is available at the time of your order. Oh well, more excuses to come back later.

Just a note that the cakes cater very much to Asian taste. The cakes are not very sweet, very dainty and immaculately decorated. They also serve a range of Asian drinks like bubble teas.

Rating - 7.5

Look

There's a huge glass display outside, and they look absolutely beautiful and look mouth-watering. Each one carefully decorated, whether it's a little coffee bean or little "85 degree" branded flags. Luckily they taste as good as they look.

The reason why the line is so slow moving though, is that each cake is not only separated by clear plastic, they are placed in these adorable red boxes with little handle, that takes forever to assemble, especially when the packer has to try to fit the cakes and the forks into these tiny spaces AND close the lid. The shop itself is very small, you order, they give you a receipt, you wait. Their location right next to the George St Cinemas should see plenty of business.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

We got there on the 2nd last day of their Grand Opening Promotions, where every cake was $2. After that, everything reverts back to the normal price. $2 was very good, and the wait was almost worth it, especially when they sent out some sample Grape Green Tea (a bit sweet). I would like to see how their business holds up when the special offer ends. For the labour intensive process in their business, their prices are not outrageous, comparing quite well to the prices they charge at cafes, although you get a much smaller cake here. Still, they should be applauded for bringing new concepts of food into Oz.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 11

Available At

Meriton Tower,
Shop 9
545-551 George St
Sydney
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9798 8437

King Island Roaring Forties Blue

Taste

Before I even comment on this, regular readers should already know I am biased, being a lover of blue cheese, and being a fan of King Island Dairy. I've tried their Bass Strait Blue and their Lighthouse Blue Brie, and this one is, in my opinion, slightly better than the others. The blue-vein taste is stronger, the cheese itself is sweeter, the texture is more crumbly, but on the palate, it melts in your mouth. I paired mine with dried apricot - heaven.

But hey, if you don't believe me, you can check out the range of awards they've won.

Rating - 8

Look

A layer of deep blue wax covers a creamy cheese with lots of blue-vein throughout. The cheese came plastic wrapped, not the best, but there is never enough to last more than a few days :)

Rating - 2

C-factor

120 g for $4.99, a great price for a great cheese.

Rating - 1.5

Swiss Points - 11.5

Ingredients

pasteurised milk, salt, mineral salt, enzyme, cultures

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Papa Aldente Chicken Lasagna

Taste

You are definitely overwhelmed with the layer of bechamel sitting on top. Fortunately the sauce displays a depth of flavour and was not all cream-filled, and was especially good mixed with the melted cheese. Cutting through, the pastry was quite thick, hiding some chicken mince.

I still don't understand the people who eat their lasagne layer by layer, how do you get the combination of meat, pastry and sauce, which makes it what it is then?

Rating - 7

Look

Not pretty, unless you are seduced by the sight of melted cheese... hmmm... melted cheese. It was easy to make though, pop it out of its outer container, then straight into a hot oven.

Rating - 2

C-factor

500g for $5.99. A decent price to pay, and you doesn't like lasagne?

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - 10

Ingredients

water, chicken (21%), wheat semolina, bechamel sauce powder, tomato powder, garlic, textured vegetable protein, dried onion, cheese powder, salt herbs, spices

Available At

Harris Farm Markets
Website

Ronda-epicure with Edge Pate

Taste

I tried theMaison first. I expected this to have a strong taste of alcohol, but it was not the case at all. In fact, it did not taste strongly of anything, including liver, which, for me, is the whole point of having pate. The texture was also a bit dry and the jelly top also tasteless...

I did warn Slokky about buying another of their pate, but he didn't listen, so I sneaked a taste of their Green peppercorn and cognac to see if that Maison was a one off. Alas, I should have gone with my instinct, this one still has no taste, but the green peppercorn sure gives it a sting, to the point of being overpowering.

Rating - 4.5

Look

Unlike others who don't like the colour, I always like the look of pate. This one came prettily packaged. You peel the backing, run a knife around the ages, and serve. Easy really.

Rating - 2.5

C-factor

150g for $4.60. I've had better.

Rating - 0

Swiss Points - 7

Ingredients

Maison

chicken liver (53.47%), chicken stock, butter, onions, potato starch, soy isolate, food acids, salt, seasoning, Maison

Green peppercorn

chicken liver (53.47%), chicken stock, butter, onions, potato starch, sultana, soy isolate, cognac (.71%), green & black peppercorns (.53%), food acids, salt, garlic

Available At

Supermarkets everywhere

Choco.ch Chocolate

Taste

Choco.ch is a Swiss chocolate exclusive to Priceline. The Milk Chocolate was smooth, but had a fake sugary vanilla taste.

The Nougat Chocolate was much better. The nougat was soft and gooey, and there wasn't too much of the chocolate to get in the way.

Rating - Milk - 5.5, Nougat - 6.5

Look

Looks cheap, but is otherwise like any other chocolate block, wrapped in foil and divided into squares.

Rating - 1.5

C-factor

100g for 99 cents. I guess you get what you pay for.

Rating - 1

Swiss Points - Milk - 8, Nougat - 9

Ingredients

Milk

sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass (28% min), whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, sweet whey powder, butter, emulsifiers, vanillin

Nougat

sugar, hazelnuts mass, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, cream milk powder, whole milk powder, sweet whey powder, skimmed milk powder, butter, emulsifiers, soya lecthin, vanillin

Available At

Priceline
Website

Green & Black's Organic

Taste

Green and Black's is one of the first organic chocolates on the market. It's really expensive in Australia but you can buy it at supermarkets in the UK (not that it's any less expensive). While we were there we tried the Dark 70% and the Raisin & Hazelnut. This time we tried the Maya Gold, their original bittersweet dark chocolate with orange and spices. This one has 55% cocoa content.

I have to say though, I am only impressed with this one, the orange spice really draws out the cocoa taste. It's not too sweet with a smoother texture than the other 2. The others taste pretty ordinary and is not worth the price.

Recently I got the chance to try the Bittersweet dark chocolate with hazelnuts & currants, which I declare to be better than the normal rasin and hazelnut. Still, I won't be rushing out to get this anytime.

Rating - Maya Gold - 7, Dark - 5.5, Raisin - 6 , Bittersweet Raisins - 6.5

Look

The packaging is very sexy, all dark brown. On the inside of the package is printed Green and Black's philosophy. A little bit different and a little bit special.

Rating - 2

C-factor

It was exy for a supermarket chocolate but on par with other organic chocolates. In Aust you can find them at most organic food stores and DJs, for around $5-6 each.

Rating - 0.5

Swiss Points - Maya Gold - 9.5, Dark - 8, Raisin - 8.5, Bittersweet Raisins - 9

Ingredients

Maya Gold
organic cocoa mass, organic raw cane sugar, organic cocoa, butter, emulsifier, soya lecithin, natural fruit and spice extracts (0.1%), organic vanilla

Dark 70%
Organic Cocoa Mass, Organic Raw Cane Sugar, Organic Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract

Raisin & Hazelnut
Organic Raw Cane Sugar, Organic Whole Milk Powder (18.8%), Organic Cocoa Mass, Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Raisins (12%), Organic Hazelnuts (8%), Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Organic Vanilla Extract

Bittersweet dark chocolate with hazelnuts & currants

organic cocoa mass, organic raw cane sugar, organic hazelnuts (9%), organic currants (9%), organic cocoa butter, emulsifier, organic vanilla

Available At

organic food stores and DJs

Pino's Fresh Pasta

Food

I've heard such good things about Pino's from when I used to work at St Leonards, that on this Public Holiday Monday, when our first 2 lunch choices were closed, we decided to give Pino's a try.

Pino's is a very basic cafe/trattoria, serving pasta, paninis, focaccias, cakes and coffees, and that's it. Seeing the place was called Pino's Fresh Pasta, we decided to give their pasta dishes a go. About 5 minutes after we ordered, our pasta arrived, so it means everything was just reheated in the microwave. The Spinach and ricotta Ravioli with Gorgonzola sauce ($8.90) came with big plump ravioli, with great pasta but very plain and tasteless filling, drowning in a bitey blue cheese sauce. A sprinkling of not fresh Parmesan fails to lift the dish. The Fettuccine with Boscaiola sauce ($8.30)'s pasta was more al dente, but alas, the Boscaiola sauce tastes like milk and flour, with no depth of flavour whatsoever. All in all, it wasn't the best pasta experience, but passable for a quick lunch feed. What I cannot forgive though, is the sin of drowning their pasta in sauce too.

Apparently the coffee is good, but I didn't try it on this occasion, so the advice is? Despite the name, stick with coffee and cake, and give the pastas a miss.

Rating - 5

Atmosphere

It's basically a hole in the wall, with only a couple of very small outside tables available. However, it's not really a eat and go sort of place, with people who linger over coffee and discuss all facts of life. The people next to us were having a very intellectual conversation on politics. Another table had 2 grannies enjoying a leisurely lunch, and a family was working through Spaghetti Bolognese on another.

On this sunny day, it was a good place to pass the time, if you ignore the traffic.

Rating - 2

Service

You order and pay at the counter, and they deliver their food to you. The lady was helpful and explained to us the different pasta options, and their service was certainly quick - not really a good thing in this case.

Rating - 3

C-factor

Great place for coffee and a catch up, if you're lucky to snatch a table, but for lunch? You can do a whole lot better for your money.

Rating - 0

Brownie Points - 10

Info

2 Clarke St
Crows Nest
NSW 2065
Phone (02) 9439 3690