Category Archives: Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: Bangbang Cafe, Surry Hills

May 9, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

Bangbang cafe is a chillax man-cave of a cafe located in the heart of Surry Hills. The staff are super casual, yet charming and pride themselves on their hearty meals, especially their gigantic burgers. In saying this girls, don’t completely rule this one out because of the man-cave vibe. They have some really unique dishes on their breakfast menu, more than I have seen in a lot of cafes recently, and their burgers are delish. Overall I was terribly impressed!

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★.5

This place is hell chill. I really loved the vibes in this cafe. Although small, inside was super spacious and airy and I love how much sunlight streams through this cafe. Decor is filled with strong and bulky timber furnishings, black tiled counter tops and industrial lights, yet everything is super stylish that I found it super nice to dine at! Ladies, like a man that catches your eye down the street because he’s dressed amazingly, that’s the vibe this man-cave cafe will attract in you too.

Food

★★★★

Bangbang Cafe — French Toast with Chorizo – French toasted brioche with grilled chorizo, caramelised red onion jam, poached egg and a side of avo smash | $16.90

Overall, I really enjoyed the food at Bangbang cafe. I’ll start with the Turf & Turf & Turf burger because it was freaking amazing. First of all people, homemade sauces. And boy these sauces were damn good. The BBQ one in particular MADE this burger.

Somehow I managed to make my mouth big enough and get a little bit of everything in there at once. YUM. It was everything a burger should be in one mouthful. And it was seriously, man-sized. We’re talking gigantic, I don’t know how anyone could finish this whole burger and still be hungry. With its 3 different types of meat and double cheese, this burger is a serious feed that even the likes of Epic Meal Time would be satisfied with.

We also ordered the French Toast with Chorizo. This dish could have been great but it was unfortunately a little dry. I learnt from My Kitchen Rules that chorizo gets this way when it’s pan fried (a contestant on the show made the same mistake). I was also hoping for a little more of that onion jam. Over all a good dish, but something was missing.

Service

★★★★★

The staff here are super friendly and always down for a good chat. The thing I love most is that conversation doesn’t feel forced, strained or unnatural. You can also genuinely feel that they care about the food they put in front of you and want you to have an all-round a fab time.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★

Okay, not gonna lie, Bangbang Cafe is expensive. Most dishes will set you back around $17 which to me is pretty pricey for brunch. In terms of burgers though, they are massive and indulgent, so you do get what you’re paying for.

The Details

Where: 113 Reservoir St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Contact: (02) 9281 0018

Opening Hours:

Mon–Thurs: 7:30AM – 3:30PM
Fri: 7:30am-3:30pm & 5pm – 9pm
Sat – Sun: 8am – 2pm

Facebook | Instagram

Please note that this was an invited event courtesy of Ningjaeats

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: The Royal Hotel Paddington

April 27, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

While I usually avoid the cold and winter like a snowman would avoid the summer, one good thing about the changing seasons are….AUTUMN MENUS!! And as good menu’s go, today I’d like to share with you The Royal Hotel Paddington’s brand new Autumn Menu.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★

Loud and bustling, there’s nothing short of elegance at The Royal Hotel Paddington. Sit yourself down at one of their white marble tables and enjoy the provincial French decor and luscious floral displays that adorn each and every table.

Dim lighting accompanies your dining experience, which is great for an intimate night, but the worst when it comes to a blogger event – we need the light for our photos!! All in all though, dining at The Royal Hotel Paddington is a pleasure and the attention to detail helps the night feel just that little bit more special.

Food

★★★★

The Royal Hotel Paddington - Autumn Menu — Elderflower Rosé Punch – Le Chat Rosé, St. Germain, vanilla syrup, lemonade, blueberries, strawberries and lime,

Royal Hotel Paddington - Autumn Menu — Beef Carpaccio w/ olives, green tomato, rocket and sourdough toast | $19

Starting with entrees, the highlights on the palate were the Parmesan and Truffle Fries and the Tuna Tartare. While the other two dishes were also nice – the Vine Ripened Tomatoes were deliciously sweet -they just lacked a little flavour and seasoning.

For Main, we were served the Beetroot Ravioli, the Spanner Crab Linguine and the Lamb Shoulder. Starting with the Beetroot Linguine one thing I can say is that if you’re a nut fan like me, this dish will be a highlight for you too. The best thing about this dish was it’s uniqueness and with all elements combined – blue cheese, beetroot and walnut cream – it tasted delicious.

Moving on to the Crab Linguine, I was slightly disappointed. It’s a nice pasta dish, but considering the price sets you back almost $30, I was hoping for more crab (there were only tiny little strings of it), and I really wanted to be able to taste the bold garlic flavours as described on the menu. As a result, the dish fell a little flat.

Visually, the Lamb Shoulder was gorgeous and for most guests, this dish was the favourite of the night. For me personally, I didn’t quite enjoy the flavours, however the lamb was cooked really well.

Finally, to sweeten our tastebuds we were served the Rhubarb Bombe Alaska and the Chocolate Lava Cake for desert. With it’s strong rhubarb and tart flavours, rest assured rhubarb loves, this Bombe Alaska will satisfy all your rhubarb needs.

I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate, and usually when I see chocolate desserts on the menu I can’t help but think “boring.” I was surprised to find, however, that I quite enjoyed The Royal Hotel’s Chocolate Lava Cake which was the perfect balance of chocolate flavours and decadence without being too rich.

Service

★★★★

Service was good and attentive, but lacked a personal touch – which is not something that bothers me personally.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★

Over all, the prices for the dishes are average. I felt that a few of the dishes were overpriced though.

The Details

Where: 237 Glenmore Road Paddington
NSW 2021, Australia

Contact: (02) 9331 2604

Opening Hours:

Mon–Fri: 11am–12am
Sat: 10am–12am
Sun: 11am–12pm

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Please note that this was an invited event courtesy of Ningjaeats

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: Sonoma Bakery, Rose Bay

April 10, 2016 Talyssa 2 Comments

Enter through elegant glass doors and find yourself inside the local Rose Bay hot spot that is Sonoma Bakery. Here you’ll find feel-good food, great coffee and a sprinkle of happiness. Whether you’re looking to treat yourself for breakfast, a quick coffee or a loaf of your favourite sourdough, Sonoma has something that’ll tickle your tastebuds.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★.5

Sonoma Bakery is a bold, open-spaced setting filled with a lively crowd. It’s slightly noisy and busy, but I found that the size of the place absorbs most of the noise, so you don’t have to shout over you friends when speaking. All in all, you get to enjoy the perks of a energetic atmosphere without having to compromise on good conversation!

The dominating colours of black and white suit the interior perfectly, and with matching black tables and crockery, the vibrancy and colours of the food really stand out on the table.

Food

★★★★

Sonoma Bakery French Toast — Morning Bun French Toast with Greek Yoghurt, Lemon Curd and Berries | $12

Sonoma Bakery - Scrambled Chili Eggs and Feta Tartine — Scrambled Chili Eggs and Feta Tartine | $16 – Also added Pancetta which is an additional cost.

Sonoma Bakery - Baked Eggs — Baked Eggs with Merguez Lamb, tomoto, chilli and potato served with Greek Yoghurt, herb salad and sumac

Sonoma Bakery - Hot smoked salmon Tartine — Hot smoked salmon, Avo, Kale and Poached Eggs Tartine | $18

Sonoma Bakery Tartine — Hot smoked salmon, Avo, Kale and Poached Eggs Tartine | $18

Sonoma Bakery - Hot Chocolate — Belgian Hot Chocolate | $5

Built upon humble beginnings, Sonoma is founded on a simple desire to make great bread. It is bread that Sonoma prides itself on and as a result it’s the hero in many of the dishes on their menu. I would definitely describe the food here as rustic, yet modern and homely with generous portion sizes – you won’t go leaving hungry. Each plate served up boasts excellence, care and detail – a quality Sonoma prides itself on back all the way back to it’s roots.

Everything made at Sonoma is created with fresh, wholesome ingredients. Sonoma’s signature flavours came out in every dish with my personal favourite being the Scrambled Chilli Eggs and Feta Tartine. This was a bold dish and the flavours explode in your mouth. There was a hit of chilli, texture from the crispy pancetta, saltiness from the feta cheese, silkiness from the scrambled eggs, sweetness from the roasted tomatoes and freshness topped off with spring onions and parsley. It was a winner dish that was a hit amongst all us bloggers (ningjaeats, phillxiaaaaa and willxia1).

Next, for the more health conscious, try your hand at the Chilli Smoked Salmon Tartine. It’s fresh and light flavours are jam-packed with super foods like kale, salmon, avo, eggs and seeds. What I would have liked to see on this dish would be some kind of lemon vinaigrette drizzled over the dish. I feel it needed something to help marry all the flavours together and balance the dryness of the dish.

For the sweet-tooths and dessert breakfast enthusiasts you can’t go past the French toast. Not being a sweet-tooth, the flavours on this dish packed a serious punch! It’s not your typical French toast, and I’m assuming this is because of the type of bread used. I also couldn’t really taste if it had been dipped in egg. Because of this I found this dish a little too “bready,” but the flavours will definitely satisfy the sweet-tooths.

Finally, I found the hot chocolate delicious and rich without being overly sweet.

An important thing to note is that not all Sonoma franchises have the same dishes. We found that some dishes that took our fancy on Sonoma’s Instagram account, were only available in other stores.

Service

★★★★★

Okay so this was an invited event, and naturally during invited events bloggers really do get VIP attentive service. But the guy who served us went over and above any kind of service I’ve ever seen. He knew the deal with bloggers, he knew, for example, to bring our drinks at the same time as our food so that our coffees don’t get cold and stay looking their best for the photos. So many times we go to cafes and the drinks come out way before the food ever does, so you’re left with cold drinks and destroyed coffee art.

Not only this, he gave us insight into the dishes that taste really great but don’t get as much love as they really should. He was very attentive to us and to our neighbouring tables.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★.5

The portion sizes are fantastic and flavours are delish – although some dishes can be a bit of a miss, so choose wisely. Sonoma is on the pricey side of things, so I wouldn’t say I could make dining a regular thing, but I’ll definitely be returning when I deserve a treat!

The Details

Where: Shop 1, 779 New South Head Road
Rose Bay NSW 2029

Contact: (02) 9371 0635

Opening Hours:

Mon–Wed: 7am–5pm
Thurs–Sat: 7am–9pm
Sun: 7am–5pm

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Please note that this was an invited event courtesy of Ningjaeats

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: Petal Met Sugar, Woolloomooloo

April 7, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

With all the Instagram hype I finally made my way to Petal Met Sugar! I’m sure everyone has seen images of their decadent desserts against floral tabletop backdrops. So, without further ado, welcome to Petal Met Sugar, a cosy and intimate cafe x florist x patisserie, tucked away in the streets of Wooloomooloo.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★

What I liked about Petal Met Sugar was the inside space. It’s white, crisp and elegant. To one side, watch behind large glass windows a theatre-like performance of the patissiere’s at work, and to the other, browse the flowers freshly arranged by the florist.

Petal Met Sugar is a workspace first and then a cafe. They primarily take cake and floral orders, but if you’d like to have a sweet treat, there’s a seating area located outside (no tables are located inside). It’s a simple arrangement and not as flash as rising cafes nowadays, but it does the job. The cute floral posy’s add a nice touch on the tabletops.

But what disappointed me the most was the state of the tables. Ningjaeats and I arrived quite early in the morning, around 10AM, and the place was not busy at all! The two free tables were really dirty and the young guy at the counter seemed to be more interested in his conversation with his co-worker, than his potential customers…but more on this later.

Food

★★★★

IMG_1986-5 — Tasting Trio | $10 | From left to right: Peach Oolong – yoghurt mousse, Lupicia peach Oolong tea brulee, blood peach compote, coconut macaron, coconut glaze (Gluten-free) | Chocolate Candy Bar – chocolate flourless sponge, burnt butter ganache, praline feuilletine crunch, sprayed milk chocolate mousse | Eclair

Petal Met Sugar - Terranium — Terrarium passionfruit finger lime panacotta, cocoa nib soil, baby lemon balm, edible flower garden, Callebaut 29.5% white chocolate | $10.50

IMG_1971-1 — Smoked ham and gruyere croissant | $6.50

My goodness. The food here is beautiful! I really love the way that all the dishes look like an artwork. For our tastebuds we ordered the Tasting Trio which included the eclair, peach oolong cake and chocolate candy bar; the ever famous Terrarium and the smoked ham and gruyere croissant.

The peach oolong cake was by far my favourite on the plate. Yum. I would have ordered a whole slab if I knew how delicious it would be. Definitely the highlight of the Tasting Trio, it’s light in its flavours, fruity and not too overly sweet. Also it’s gluten free! I actually recommend you order this standalone as the other two treats on the plate didn’t excite my tastebuds nearly as much.

Secondly the Terrarium is not just a pretty face – it also tastes really good. A little on the sweet side, the trick to eating this is to destroy it – literally. If you try to eat it piece by piece, you won’t get the full combination of flavours as you would smashing the delicate white chocolate globe and grabbing a chunk of cocoa nib soil, passionfruit panacotta and white chocolate all in your mouth at once. All elements together balance perfectly to create a delightful array of flavour combinations on the palate.

The smoked ham and gruyere croissant is fairly standard and tasted like a regular ham and cheese croissant. It was a good accompaniment to reset the palate from the sweetness.

The menu here is limited and I would definitely not go here looking for breakfast or brunch. This place is strictly best for a sweet treat or a small snack, with the only savoury options being a selection of croissants. It’s the perfect place for morning or afternoon tea.

Service

★.5

I feel so terrible having to recount a truthful experience that is so negative, but above all, I promise my readers the truth. I’m sure every other day, Petal Met Sugar has a wonderful person on the service desk, but the young guy in service on this particular morning was terrible.

Okay. There are only 3 tables at Petal Met Sugar and when they’re not busy, I expect them to be clean or soon to be cleaned.

Upon arrival, the young guy at the front register pretty much ignored us. No warm friendly welcome or a “Hi, how are you?” “Where would you like to sit?” or even a “Can I help you?” He knew we were there, we stood literally in front of the register, but he was too busy having a conversation with his co-worker.

So after some time, I gave up on him and decided to take a seat at one of the horribly dirty tables. I grabbed ourselves some menus (after searching for them on the front counter myself – the guy was still in conversation) and took them back so we could order. Once we decided, I went back to order and he seemed almost annoyed that he had to serve me?!!? What?!?! Not only that, I had to clean my OWN table with a napkin.

I went back and asked him if he had a bin to put the napkins in (there were also napkins on the table left from the previous customers). He looked somewhat disgusted at having to touch the napkins with his bare hands, to which I assured him that they weren’t all mine and belonged to the people before me. He reluctantly took them away, making sure to pinch the very far corner of each one so as not taint himself with germs.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★★

The prices here are really reasonable and the portion size is good.

The Details

Where: Ground Floor, 68 Sir John Young Cr, Woolloomooloo

Contact: hello@petalmetsugar.com.au or 9360 6226

Opening Hours:

Monday – Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 8.00am – 4.30pm
Saturday 9am – 5pm | Sunday 9am – 4pm

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

A Day Out With Spotted Cow Cookies

March 17, 2016 Talyssa 1 Comment

Once upon a time in the industrial wonderland known as Alexandria, lived a bunch of crazy cookie eaters, tucked away in a quaint little cookie making warehouse know as “Spotted Cow Cookies”. They spent their days endlessly creating and tasting cookies, and so it went on until they discovered the secret formula to the perfect cookie – nothing too fancy but always delicious and filled to the brim with love.

One day, Tahnee, the leader of the crazy cookie eaters came up with a wondrous new invention – the brookie, bringing together the two most decadent treats known to mankind – the cookie and the brownie. To celebrate, she decided to open her cookie warehouse to a select group of very lucky cookie enthusiasts, one of those cookie enthusiasts being me, courtesy of ningjaeats!

IMG_1667-6 — Brookies – Brownie X Cookie filled with peanut butter cream or vanilla cream.

The day was a mixture of cookie making classes (yes I have the secret recipes, and maybe I’ll share them), a tour of the factory and a feast that would make the cookie monster jealous – you’ll see what I mean later on.

Upon arrival, we were greeted to Spotted Cow’s new invention – the brookie. A combination of a brownie and a cookie, the brookie is soft, chewy and filled witha peanut butter or vanilla cream centre. And yes, it’s everything you’re imagining – rich, decadent and yum.

We were soon herded (heh heh get it since we’re at spotted COW cookies) into the room we would be cooking in, and it was set up like a Alice in Wonderland tea party! Sweets and treats dressed the table top and had everyone’s mouth watering!

First, we made our own stuffed cookies – don’t worry I’ve spared you the photos of my creations. We were able to stuff the cookies with anything available on the table. There was chocolate, salted caramel, smarties, peanut butter, Nutella, coconut and more!

IMG_1669-7 — The cute, bubbly and ever-so talented, Tahnee, owner of Spotted Cow Cookies

After we made our cookies they were put in the oven and in the mean time we took a tour of the factory. It was really fascinating learning everything involved with making a cookie. Spotted Cow Cookies really care about the ingredients they use and even take the time to assemble some of the cookies by hand too!

After the factory tour, we were taken to a room to unveil Spotted Cow’s newest range of cookies:

COOKIE. MONSTER. WORTHINESS

Please don’t get jealous over what I tell you next. Not only did we get to help ourselves to the delicious spread, we also got to take anything we wanted home, plus 5 bags of cookies!!!!!!! You can see everything I got to take home below!

So where can you get your hands on these cookies? You can order them online here or find them randomly stocked in places – I recently saw some at Event Cinemas!

Greatly Terrific Food Outing, Japan, Japan Food Guide

V-Day Girl’s Day at the Alice in Wonderland Restaurant, Shibuya

February 18, 2016 Siree 2 Comments

You’re Late for Tea!

It seems that Valentine’s Day is a bit upside down here in Japan.

Rather than being all about the girls (let’s be honest), here, all the chocolate and hearts go to the fellows. If you happened to have walked around Shibuya on Sunday you might have spotted some lone hearted guys holding signs saying “Free Hugs” and “Chocolate please.”

Being in single town myself, I turned V Day into Galentine’s Day and went to the Alice in Wonderland theme restaurant for a girl’s day out. Girl Parties or 女子会/joshikai in Japanese is a pretty popular social gathering activity for gal pals here in Japan with hotels and venue restaurants offering lunch, dinner or dessert courses for some Sex and the City female bonding. But don’t worry boys! You have your own 男子会/danshikai version as well here!

Technically this restaurant chain is called Alice’s Fantasy Restaurant and each location has its own “version” on the Alice in Wonderland theme eg. Alice in a Labyrinth, Alice in a Fantasy Book and so on. The one in Shibuya is called Alice in a Dancing Land – 舞踏の国のアリス – and has a cute as hell carousel right in the middle of the restaurant where you can sit surrounded by lights and porcelain ornaments with a giant chandelier dangling from the center.

Pretty right?! Everywhere you looked each ceiling panel or even the fabric used for the chairs remind you of a character or page from Alice in Wonderland. Even the floor staff waitresses wore Alice’s signature blue dress with at least one girl wearing bunny ears for the March Hare and the waiter at the front wore an outfit similar to the Mad Hatter. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take any photos of the staff but if you visit their Facebook page, you can see some photos of their staff :D

But I digress, to the food!

To mark the special day the restaurant offered a special event course at ¥2500 (roughly $25) per person which includes 2x entrees, 2x mains, and dessert. Considering it was also an all-you-can-drink with unlimited juice, coffee and tea it was a great price!

Look at all these tea types! I tried to make it my personal mission to drink each and every one of these tea flavours but could only drink three: maple, chocolate, and grape kyoho black tea. Although at a lot of places these types of layouts usually mean lackluster and bad quality teas, all the ones I tasted were really delicious and tasted exactly as they said. I especially liked the maple flavoured tea!

The first course was a small amuse-bouche which was I believe some kind of cream cheese spread with “rose” shaped smoked ham and toast.

The waitress explained that the dish represented the scene where Alice finds the “eat me” cookies.

The next dish was a salad with a cute avocado face for the Caterpillar in his “garden” which was a Caesar Salad.

On to mains, the first was a pasta dish with a simple tomato style sauce with cute mozzarella cheese cut into a spade, club, diamond, and heart. The second was a consommé/nabe style soup filled with veggies, chicken, and sausage with some tasty bread and mustard for the sausage. I love the clock plate for the soup! It’s unfortunate that this restaurant doesn’t have a gift shop on site to buy souvenirs as I’m sure there will be many people who would love to buy some of the items here.

Finally, the last dish was these cute blueberry mousse tarts desserts shaped like bunnies! The taste was quite interesting as it was sweet but also a bit tart, I liked it a lot!

One of the girls has food allergies and we were unsure if she could eat the planned dessert so she ordered the Cheshire Cat Parfait off the menu which was equally adorable!

The main menu at this Alice in Wonderland is actually different from the food we ate off the planned course meal but the food quality was quite nice and somewhat affordable. I believe there is an entry fee of ¥500 or so which was included in our course price. If you do decide to come I recommend coming a bit earlier for lunch as the place can be quite busy but if you come after the rush hour after 2 PM, you’ll find it’s a bit quieter and you might get a better seat.

I definitely recommend coming here if you want to have a unique experience with your friends for afternoon tea.

The Details

Where: Zero gate B1, 16-9, Udagawacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-0042

Opening Hours:

Monday – Sunday

Lunch 11:00am – 2:00pm (last order 3:30pm)

Dinner 4:00pm – 11:30pm (last order 11:00pm)

Website | Facebook

Until Next Time!

Siree

Run by two travel and lifestyle bloggers, The Hidden Thimble focus’ on creating truthful and in-depth travel guides, food & beauty reviews. Enjoy drool-worthy photography from around the world!