Tag Archives: sydney

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

GTFO: Porch and Parlour

December 6, 2015 Talyssa Leave a comment

If you’re in to hispter cafes then the Porch and Parlour’s cafe x night bar is for you. It’s creative, it’s got soul food, it offers vegan and vegetarian options and of course, it’s located in Bondi. Need I say more? Hipsters assemble!

Setting and Atmosphere

★★★★

If you’re anything like me, you’ll breathe a sigh of relief when you hear that the Porch and Parlour cafe is located on the quieter, northern side of Bondi. While the cafe does have open front windows for you to enjoy the ocean breeze, the beautiful view of the ocean is unfortunately obscured by the surrounding buildings – which is a bit of a shame. Nonetheless, the hipster interiors are pretty spech and the cafe plays homage to the all too familiar vibes of ‘refurbished warehouse’ and ‘open industrial roofing’, which actually, I still quite enjoy!

Porch and Parlour is small, cosy and not too overcrowded. I especially loved how all the tables were garnished with a small posy of fresh flowers – it’s the little things.

Food

★★★.5

Porch and Parlour North Bondi — Seared Chicken Breast with Steamed Greens: Broccoli, green beans, peas, fresh herbs, baby spinach, kale and herb pesto. | $22

Porch and Parlour North Bondii — Raw Cosmic Salad with mixed herbs, lettuce, apple, fennel, beetroot, quinoa, sprouts, guacamole, raw sisterhood sauerkraut, sprouted crackers and ocean trout | $25

Both the seared chicken with steam greens and the raw cosmic salad tasted great, as did our mocha. The chicken was organic, cooked well and moist. The steamed greens were well cooked and well seasoned – deliciously lemony. The raw cosmic salad was well dressed, fresh and creative – I really enjoyed the combination of flavours in this dish.

While the dishes and drinks tasted great, unfortunately we couldn’t help but feel a little cheated for our money. The seared chicken dish at $22 was very small with the chicken portion being particularly underwhelming in size. Similarly adding ocean trout to the raw cosmic salad was an additional $7 and unfortunately, the size of the trout was also not the most generous. With the overall salad amounting to around $25 there seemed to be a bit too much lettuce and less of the good stuff – trout, beetroot etc – and for $25 I expect more of the good stuff. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the sprout crackers which for me took away from the otherwise pleasant taste of the salad, and most disappointing of all was the ‘guacamole’. Just because you smash avocado with a fork, does not make it guacamole!!!!

Lastly the “large” mocha would be a regular size in most cafes, especially since it seems to be the trend nowadays to serve mochas in those huge mugs – I like those mugs.

Service

Rating: ★★★★

Good service, fast and pleasant.

Pricing and Value for Money

Rating: ★★★

Quite pricey, small portion sizes, but the overall taste is good.

The Details

Where: 17-18/110 Ramsgate Ave, North Bondi NSW 2026

Opening Hours: Monday – Tuesday 6.30am – 5pm | Wednesday – Sunday 6.30am – 10pm

Contact: info@porchandparlour.com.au

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FML - Fashion Monthly Look

FML: Floral Transition

September 11, 2015 Talyssa 4 Comments

Jacket: No brand from Japan | Cardigan: Hollister | Crop Top: Forever 21 | Pants: Forever 21 | Shoes: Randa (Japan)

Ahhhh oh my gosh! I almost can’t contain my excitement for Spring!

I absolutely love this look – it’s super girly and colourful and I get to have a sneak peak of florals announcing “spring is here!” Yes!! Spring is finally here!!

Unfortunately though, it’s still a little chilli and the transition seasons are always hard to get the balance between keeping warm and keeping cool just right. Especially since Australian weather at this time varies drastically throughout the day – the mornings are winter freezing and the day heats up to almost summer temperatures.

So what do you do? You layer! Layering is probably my favourite thing to do with my outfits because it always ends up looking stylish. Plus an added bonus – you can always take the layers off as the day heats up!

Talyssa xx

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

GTFO: The Tea Salon – Katherine Sabbath High Tea

August 23, 2015 Talyssa Leave a comment

Nestled in the bustlingly chic Westfield CBD, is The Tea Salon best described as a shoppers whimsical haven after a morning of intense retail therapy with the best friend.

Through August, The Tea Salon is to be hosting the Katherine Sabbath High Tea, deemed the most Instagrammable High Tea to come to Sydney. With imagery like this in it’s advertisements, we were nothing short of excited to sink our teeth into it:

All girls know that conversations over food naturally progress to updates on all things awkward in ones life, particularly those concerning men. “So how’s things going with that guy you’ve been seeing?” your friend asks, leaning closer. “Finally” you think to yourself, the question you’ve been dying to have her ask all day – you need someone to talk to.

You explain that while this guy seemed great at first, and is still really nice…it’s just not working, and now you have to awkwardly tell him.

It’s unfortunate to say this, but our experience with the Katherine Sabbath High Tea was like an awkward “friend-zone” conversation.

Setting and Atmosphere

Rating: ★★★

Just like when considering a potential partner, we’ll start off with assessing the looks. Now, The Tea Salon isn’t as immaculate as other High Tea places I’ve been to with the pretty gardens or antique buildings nor is it as quiet and tranquil (?). However, considering it’s located in the middle of a major shopping centre, it does it’s best with what it can and cleans up well, looking quite cute. The crockery is on point being exceptionally pretty and it also matches one other delightfully.

Overall The Tea Salon is no Johnny Depp (or insert preferred hot guy here). But often the looks aren’t the only thing that matters and to be honest we were quite happy to continue our date with the Tea Salon at this point.

Food

Rating: ★★.5

Unfortunately the food is where everything went downhill. Layer by layer as we got deeper into the date things got worse, almost to the point of no return. Let’s weigh out the positives and negatives. Things started off great and the highlight of the food was definitely the savoury options, the scones were delish, as were the pinwheel sandwiches and the savoury tartlets were divine.

BUT this was the Katherine Sabbath High Tea and the sweets were suppose to be the highlight. The advertisements for the sweets deemed that the Katherine Sabbath High Tea was to be the most “Instagrammable High Tea” and it looked amazing in the advertisements. We couldn’t wait to sink our teeth in (after taking photos of course).

After devouring the savoury layers and pleasantly happy w so far, we moved on to the last layer of the high tea – the Katherine Sabbath sweets. Unfortunately our high hopes were crushed and the sweets were the lowlight.

The Rose & Pistachio Pannacotta with Persian Fairy Floss, was probably the best of the sweets, albeit too overpoweringly sweet that it made it difficult to finish the tiny portion of it. The Chocolate Brownie Koala Donut tasted dry and cold but worst of all was the Lemon & Raspberry Zig-Zag Gumball Donut which was cold, doughy and flavourless. I didn’t even know that it was Lemon and Raspberry flavoured until I read the menu for this write up!

The gumball center of the donut was also a poor choice. Besides the fact that at the time, Siree and I thought the gumball was a jawbreaker because it was too hard for us to bite, you don’t really want to be chewing on gum during your high tea experience. Especially if you’re sampling a little bit of everything, you don’t want to have to discard an old piece of chewed up bubble gum on the side of your otherwise elegant plate. I think it would have been smarter if the gum ball was changed to a truffle type, jaffa coated chocolate.

It is unfortunate to say that it was at this point that I knew the Katherine Sabbath high tea was friend-zoned. Gone was the excitement I felt upon looking forward to the most “Instagrammable High Tea” and gone was the addictive need to taste the rest of the food in front of me, that I had felt with the savoury elements.

Service

Rating: ★★★

Good service and friendly staff. They kind of stay out of your way, which is something I prefer. It would have been nice if the waitress told us what each of the sweets were upon service – we found ourselves asking a lot of ‘what’s this?’ questions.

Pricing and Value for Money

Rating: ★★★

Pretty good value for a high tea at $43, usually most are 50+, however overall I was a bit disappointed because I expected more of the Katherine Sabbath High Tea.

The Details

Where: Westfield Sydney Level 4 (Designer Gallery), Cnr Pitt Street Mall and Market Street, Sydney NSW 2000

Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday: 10AM – 6:30PM

Website: www.theteasalon.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tea-Salon/257659904285209

Australia Food Guide, Greatly Terrific Food Outing

GTFO: Secret Garden

July 16, 2015 Siree Leave a comment

If you find yourself wandering through the busy hustle of Newtown to the quieter edge of Enmore, you are now in the hush-hush circle of some new age food buzz scene going on every weekend.

Newtown might always take the favourite for brunch time, but Enmore is probably one of the most diverse eating areas in outer Sydney you will experience on one street. From African to Turkish ice cream, this place is the eating melting pot that enjoys a little obscurity overshadowed by its big sister next door making it peaceful and quiet – perfect for some late brunching!

The truth of the day was, we were supposed to check out some vegan food but ended up finding Secret Garden and past the vertical flower arrangements and curtained fern vines, was a cozy hole-in-the-wall that was pretty damn cool to walk away from.

Setting and Atmosphere

Rating: ★★★★

First impressions count and Secret Garden sure does welcome you to “smell the roses.”

Every corner to the ceiling is filled with an assortment of plants both fake and real which proves, if you have a theme you better go hard or go home!

Is this a garden or some tropical jungle we stepped into?

However you may define it, the decor is a good transition from the day cafe (7am – 5pm) to the bar at night (5pm – 11pm).

Think small and cozy communal lounging or get intimate in the loveeee seater under the canopy (oh-la-la).

Food

Rating: ★★★

Browsing through the cafe menu, you’ll find your standard favourites of bacon and poached eggs to fancy steak sandwiches.

Until you see dinner.

Have you heard of ‘arepas’ before? Neither have we until we came to Secret Garden.

It’s a Colombian white corn meal pocket with filling and sounds interesting only, they serve it at night. Why?!

We gave up being vegetarians today for you~ sigh

But moving along, we chowed down to some of their other cafe grub to ease the pain.

Talyssa was in the mood for something avocado and light so the “Poached Eggs” was the obvious choice.

Recalling back, I don’t remember seeing or tasting feta or lemon oil which would have been nice.

For $16, I’d would say even with 2 eggs on top, without the other elements, it’s slightly better than your usual piece of toast.

Crushed again to hear that they sold out on the “Black and Blue” (rare roast beef sandwich), I opted for the “Montreal Ruben (typo for Reuben?)” instead and I’m glad I did.

I loved the sauerkraut and pickle combo which cut through the heaviness of the cheese and the swap for smoked wagyu instead of the usual pastrami was a good choice. It really showed off a mature side when eaten.

I wasn’t too sure about the side of Wasabi Potato Salad as I felt it didn’t really match together and the noticeable hit of wasabi was missing.

Service

Rating: ★★★

As with most, if not all order-and-pay-at-the-counter sort of eating services, you’re pretty much left alone after your interaction with the staff which is fine since the cafe vibe is very relaxed.

For the moments of service at Secret Garden, it was a pleasant experience.

Pricing and Value for Money

Rating: ★★★

Price points on the menu would be marked on the average scale for Sydney brunching.

If you want something light and simple for a weekend feed with that true “suburban local cafe” drop-by with change still left in your pocket,

Secret Garden fits the bill.

The Details

Where: 134a Enmore Road, Enmore 2042

Opening Hours: Mon – Tue: 07:00–17:00 | Wed, Thur, Fri, Sun: 07:00 – 23:00 | Sat: 07:00–22:00

Website: http://www.secretgardenbar.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secretgardenenmore

FML - Fashion Monthly Look

FML: Back to School

June 21, 2015 Siree 4 Comments

Top: Zara // Skirt: Zara // Shoes: Seed Heritage // Bow Brooch: DIY

Class Starts Now

… and you’re running around wondering what you are going to wear!

Attending the school of style and judging between rocking up in pajama party gear or better-look-like-I-ironed-this-shirt OOTD, the campus is a great place to play dress up or dress down (or forever in whatever works mode. I tend to get sloppier as the years went on).

Seeing this combo on a Zara mannequin, I knew I had to get ALL of it. But something was missing.

Although I wanted to add a proper bow-tie, I think this little bowsie brooch I whipped up gave it a whimsical touch playing the part of a good studious student, though I would never get to the lecture room on time to save my life.

Time to end this with a fashionably late pun!

Until Next Time!

Siree

Travel, USA

Alone in The Bay – San Francisco

April 26, 2015 The Hidden Thimble Team Leave a comment

The last entry in my solo trip before heading to Hawaii to meet my sister for my birthday. My time in SF was cut short to only two days and I only wished I had found a local’s guide to the slope hills of The Bay like Soothing Sista’s awesome list to better navigate myself. For the city that was the backdrop to my favourites Mrs Doubtfire and freakin Charmed, I found the city that everyone seemed to gush over was just not AS exciting as I thought it would be. I dunno for some reason I could not figure out where to go and what to do on my own. Like I was on Valencia and just didn’t know what to do with myself… The Mission = Boring? That would be seriously whack in any local’s mind I bet!

There were 3 thoughts that ran though my mind when observing the scene in San Francisco:

First, is this animal or human shit/piss I’m seeing/smelling on the streets?

Second, why are there so many homeless/hustlers in the city area?

Lastly, why are the shops closed at 7pm and train station closed until 9am on the weekends?

Nevertheless, I was able to enjoy a couple of sights, eating spots and lots and I mean lots of walking (like from the beginning of the Financial District to the Golden Gate Bridge along The Embarcadero and Marina by foot – you do the math) to explore the major parts of the city.

By pure coincidence I happened to land on Fleet Day so everything along The Embarcadero was in full military and navy celebration with plane shows and military personnel in uniform, as well as lots of food stalls. Damn them BBQ turkey legs were huge and smelt good! But I wanted something a little more than just grilled protein while I was there.

Since I wasn’t able to make it to the South, there was no way I could not stop at Brenda’s French Soul Food to try my first taste of Southern food. Beating the crowd I was lucky to get the bar table since I was a solo diner but was worried they might have sold out on all the goods. Lucky for me that wasn’t the case! Gumbo and signature beignets mmm, the breakfast for a hungry traveler.

And how could I pass up on the chance to eat seafood! Though everyone says that you need to eat seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf, looking online I found Swan Oyster Depot on Polk St and it was the best experience of eating seafood I have ever had so far! The staff were super friendly and prepared everything so nicely and the selection was so fresh you just wanted to eat everything – sashimi style of course unless it’s the chowder. There were some things that I wasn’t able to find on the menu that was available like the sea urchin so being friendly with your waiter is the trick to see what they can whip up for you if you want something fancy.

If you can only stay in San Francisco like me for a couple of days, definitely check out the Walt Disney Family Museum near the Presidio area to appreciate the work and life of the man behind the mouse. If you are an animator, art student or just a very devoted Disney fan there is nothing that beats seeing the painted cell drawings in person or enjoy reading Disney’s personal menu and miniature toy collection. I can’t describe the feeling of seeing these drawings on display, especially since I took my Film major seriously when I was in university as I wanted to be an animator but it was exciting to be able to be up close to see the paint work of each line and the sketch scratches on each draft of a character’s face. For me that was a really exciting moment while being there.

I think I would give San Francisco another chance in the future. Perhaps on a bike, with a friend and another beignet on the go.

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!