Tag Archives: foodie

Loud Shirt Day and Cakes by Cliff

December 3, 2016 Talyssa 4 Comments

What’s better than cakes and colour to kick off your Saturday morning? Cakes by Cliff and wearing colour to support a good cause! In October, I had the pleasure of attending Loud Shirt Day in support of deaf and hearing impaired children across Australia.

Held in the iconic Sydney Tower, the morning kicked off with drinks, delicious treats and was topped off with a one of a kind cake demonstration from cake master Clifford Luu.

Just one look at Clifford’s Instagram page, and it’s easy to see that his creations ooze talent. Filled with geometric shapes, patterns and an elegant flair, Cakes by Cliff offers a sensory experience for your eyes and your mouth!

Being diagnosed with a hearing impairment at birth, Loud Shirt Day is especially close to Cliff’s heart and because of this we were able to witness a VIP step-by-step demonstration on how he makes his awesome cakes.

Lucky for you, I’m here to share with you some of those secrets!

1. Cliff’s secret icing is….DUN DUN DUUUUUN~ buttercream. Yep it’s just buttercream.

2. After cutting the cake bases into 3 even sized layers using a cake slicer, Cliff stacked the layers on top of one another, separating them with a layer of buttercream between each (you will want to make sure your cake is stacked on a turntable). After, generously spread a layer of buttercream roughly around the cake.

3. Using a cake smoother at a 90 degree angle, gently turn the turntable and scrape off the excess buttercream icing. This will ensure all gaps are filled and that the icing is spread across the surface evenly

4. Cover up any areas where cake is still visible by piping another layer of buttercream and smoothing down with the cake smoother.

5. To get the watercolour look, Cliff pre-prepared 3 different servings of buttercream icing – blue, pink and yellow. He then dashed splotches of each colour around the cake and used the cake smoother to slowly smoothed out the splotches, blending the colours all together.

6. When the cake’s icing is completely smooth, heat up some chocolate and pipe along the edge of the cake so that it drips off the edge. TIP: pool the chocolate a little bit away from the direct edge of the cake, so you get a nicer dripping effect.

7. To recreate the abstract decorations that often adorn Cliff’s cakes, add food colouring to gelatine plastic and let it harden for a couple of minutes. While the gelatine is still malleable, sculpt it into abstract shapes to use to decorate your cake. Don’t forget to also add some fresh fruit and edible flowers as decoration!

The final product? Well, I’m so glad you asked!

Seeing Cliff demonstrate his talent showed just how important role models like Cliff and organisations like The Shepherd Centre are in shaping the perception hearing impaired children have of themselves and their opportunities. Cliff’s creativity and achievements is testament to these children that hearing loss is no barrier to success.

Please note that this was an invited event I attended on behalf of ningjaeats.

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake

July 15, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

When it comes to cheesecake, everyone wants to know Uncle Tetsu’s secret. And while I can’t say I’ve found out the secret to that deliciously soft texture, I was able to make my way to today’s secret opening in Sydney!!

Courtesy of Ningjaeats, I was able to indulge in a full Uncle Tetsu experience, with an up close and personal tour of the cheesecake being made to meeting Uncle Tetsu himself!!

So I know you’re all wondering what about the taste? Well…It’s fantastic! It’s not the same as Australian cheesecake – so if you’re expecting that…stahp. Instead it’s super light, fluffy and mild in its flavour. It’s like a perfect little cloud in your mouth and because it’s not overly rich, it is incredibly moreish.

And yes, it does wiggle wiggle.

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: 22 Grams, Randwick

June 5, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

Blasted with a shotgun,
left out in the rain in the night
betrayed by a friend
stranded in a foreign country
overwhelmed by the kindness of a stranger
floored by the stars in the desert sky
licked by a dog
stood on, shouted at and gave back as good as you get
danced till breaking point
and sung your song with everyone watching
travelled with depth, soul and life,
you, me
us

22 grams the weight of experience.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★

Amongst unfurbished warehouse vibes, 22 Grams provides a cosy hot spot for the Randwick locals. If the poem above doesn’t give you enough sense of the vibe here, I don’t know what will! 22 Grams is very homey decorated with knickknacks and trinkets on top of every surface. Priding itself on it’s coffee, their big, shiny coffee roaster takes centre stage upon entering the cafe.

The place can get crowded but it’s never too loud or noisy. Staff are always friendly so there’s an all-round cheery vibe.

Food

★★★★

22 Grams Randwick — Pink juice: Morning Flirt – mixed berries, OJ, yoghurt and a touch of banana | $6 Green Juice: Pick me up – apple, pear, pineapple and mint | $6

The menu at 22 Grams is small and simple, playing with traditional breakfast foods and flavours with an overall artisanal focus. All dishes and their presentation have a very homemade feel and you can really taste the difference through the little bits of homemade personalisation they put in all of their dishes. I really value the homemade taste and so for me, this gives 22 Grams extra brownie points. It just feels good to eat.

My favourite dish from 22 Grams so far has to be the Chipotle scrambled eggs. There was a nice flavour and spice to these eggs and they were cocked really well. I really appreciated the extra juices on the plate which were perfect to mop up with my lightly toasted sourdough bread. The only thing missing was an extra dollop of sourcream and fresh coriander to top.

The Goats cheese bruschetta and Poached eggs were tasty menu choices. The highlight of these dishes for me was the smashed avocado. I can’t tell you how happy I was to find a hint of something special in there, I don’t know if it was a lemon/spice infused oil, but it was fantastic. I’ve always grown up experimenting with avocado in different ways – in fact a staple for me was rough forking it with olive oil and salt (it’s seriously delicious) that I’m often bored when most Aussie cafes don’t do anything with their avocado.

The granola with grapefruit, yoghurt and berries is interestingly served with a side of orange juice. This dish was vibrant and beautiful, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to jump on the granola and orange juice bandwagon just yet.

P.S. I haven’t featured them here but you MUST try their sandwiches. They are AMAZING!!

Service

★★★★.5

I think the service here is fantastic. Every time I’ve come here the girls at the counter are very cheerful and friendly. Despite almost always having a full house, the overall service is quick and fast and you’ll rarely see dirty plates left on tables.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★★.5

I find the pricing here very reasonable, the portion sizes good and the food, tasty.

The Details

Where: 166 -168 Belmore Road Randwick

Contact: (02) 9398 2277

Opening Hours:

Mon–Fri: 6:30am – 4pm
Sat – Sun: 7am – 4pm

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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!

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

Greatly Terrific Food Outing: New Shanghai, Sydney

February 15, 2016 Talyssa 2 Comments

Drool-worthy dumplings? Yes please! Be transported to the colourful streets of Shanghai and while you’re there, let your tastebuds dance on ancient flavours for the ultimate Shanghainese experience.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★.5

Stepping inside New Shanghai is like stepping onto the streets of Old Shanghai and exploring the otherworldy charm of a back alley tucked away behind the bustling city streets. The setting is gorgeous and really a pleasure to dine in. It’s vibrant, it’s alive and it’s unique and while you’re there, experience first hand the art of traditional Shanghainese cuisine with a live dumpling-making theatre or simply enjoy the ambiance of such a beautiful setting with great company.

Food

★★★★.5

New Shanghai Pan Fried Pork Buns | $11.8

Pan fried pork bun – 8pcs $11.8 | Shallot, smoked ham and sesame puff – 6pcs $4.8 | Pork and Chive Dumplings Steamed – 10pcs $10.8

While the setting says “Old Shanghai” the food says “New Shanghai” as the restaurant puts their own modern take on traditional recipes passed down through the generations. And with good reason too – the food here is Měiwèi!! Everything tastes good and trust me when I say that once you’ve been dining here, you’ll be speaking Chinese too. As an avid fan of dumplings the ones here are up there with some of my faves. The pan fried dumplings are crispy on the outside with moist meat on the inside. The steamed dumplings are juicy and tender and finally the sesame puff’s pastry is flaky, crispy and melt-in-mouth perfection.

Though I have to say the highlights of the night for me were the Rainbow Beef with it’s gorgeous outer crunch and perfect chewy texture as well as the Braised Beef soup with it’s light and subtle flavours – a perfect contrast to wash down with the heavier dishes.

Service

★★★★.5

Wonderful prompt service and super friendly staff. Why then not a 5 star? Sometimes the service was a little too attentive that it felt a little rushed.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★★

Really great prices, especially considering the quality and portion sizes of the dishes.

The Details

Where: Westfield Sydney, Shop 1017-1020, 188 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

Opening Hours: Mon – Sun: 11am – 9:00pm

Website | Facebook

*Please note this was an invited event with the ever so lovely ningjaeats

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

GTFO – Greatly Terrific Food Outing: Nook Urban Fresh Bar

January 24, 2016 Talyssa Leave a comment

Nook Urban Fresh Bar is an oasis bursting with colour, warmth, vibrance and life in the middle of an otherwise stoney CBD. Amongst the bustling traffic this cafe provides the perfect “nook” to escape from it all and rejuvenate with a hearty, organic feed.

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★

Wow, this cafe is gorgeous! Everything comes together perfectly to create a farmhouse vibe that is cleverly contrasted with bright and colourful organic food displays. The natural woodwork compliments the aluminium and antique steel finishes that decorate the cafe. Everything about the atmosphere compliments the food and helps to created an overall wholesome and natural feel.

Food

★★★★.5

Nook Urban Fresh Bar — Sweeten Me Up | Lemon ricotta, honey caramelized fig and peach, smashed pistachio and fresh mint on organic fruit loaf

How best to describe the food at Nook Urban Fresh Bar? Natural, organic, fresh, homely, but on top of all that, indulgent. Every dish that hits the table is a piece of art, delicately constructed to look as good as it tastes. When my “Sweeten me Up” hit the table I knew that this would be the most beautiful breakfast dish I’d ever have. Another highlight of the breakfast was the chai tea latte. ninjaeats mentioned it was one of the best she’s ever had!

Service

★★★

The service here is your average order from the counter experience, so there’s not much involvement with the staff directly. Meals were a little slow to arrive to the table, however the place is very busy.

Pricing and Value for Money

★★★★.5

Great food at a great price. What more could you want?

The Details

Where: 4/83 Clarence Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Contact: (02) 9299 5050

Opening Hours: Mon – Fri 7PM – 4PM

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