Cowbell 808, Surry Hills

I got to hang with some of my oldest and closest pals yesterday, and we found the perfect lunching spot at Cowbell 808, a cafe located on Bourke Street in Surry Hills. And when I say "perfect lunching spot", I mean that it was perfect in every sense of the word. Not only was the food and service excellent, the table we chose was situated right next to a ginormous open window, and we were caressed by gentle gusts of cool air the whole time we were there. I don't think you can appreciate how welcome a phenomenon that is unless you've experienced summer (or the lead-up to it) in Sydney. 

Despite the warm weather, I ordered a long black. Having just spent the past few weeks subsisting on watery instant coffee, this freshly made long black sent my brain's pleasure centre into overdrive. I enjoyed the full-bodied smokiness of the black coffee with a few more sips before I asked for a small glass of milk to add to my beverage. 

The window we were seated next too. Natural air-conditioning.

For lunch, I ordered the roasted beetroot salad with orange cous cous and mint. Whoever plated the dish did a totally awesome job. It came out on a wooden board, looking like an artwork and oh-so-fresh. The cous cous was generously drizzled with olive oil and was still warm, which went nicely with the cool, sweet beetroot and mandarin slices. 

 

Roasted beetroot salad with orange cous cous and mint ($10). Pretty as a picture!

My friend L. went straight for the Cowbell 808 burger, which came with a side of onion rings. L. was totally awed by the size and height of the burger, and we spent some time debating the best way to eat it (she eventually settled on using a knife and fork, the dainty creature she is). The patty looked so juicy, and when she cut into it, we saw that it was nicely pink (my favourite way to eat meat!) I tried some of the patty and it was very tender, though perhaps slightly under-seasoned. I didn't try the onion rings, but L. seemed to like it very much.

Cowbell 808 burger, with fried onion rings ($18)

My other friend H. chose the poached chicken sambo. A 'sambo', H. explained upon our quizzical looks, is simply the Aussie slang for 'sandwich'. L., who has always lacked the propensity to let things go (I love you dear, but you know it's true), asked why you would replace a two-syllable word with a two-syllable slang. Just...eat your burger, L. ;P

Poached chicken sambo (didn't note down the price)

H.'s sambo came piled high with alfalfa sprouts and chicken pieces mixed with mayonnaise. H. said she liked it a lot.

 

We enjoyed our meals at a leisurely pace, then spent some time chatting about nothing in particular, and admiring the deco. I thought the basketball hoop in the middle of the room was very cool, and H. wanted to shoot some goals with our used napkins (I talked her out of it). 

Graffiti!

I can see Cowbell becoming 'our special place'; somewhere to return to again and again for the ever-changing specials, the calming atmosphere, and the attentive and welcoming staff. 

Cowbell 808

616 Bourke Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

(02) 9698 5044

My Hong Kong trip: notable eats! (Part 2)

Okay, here's Part 2 of this series of posts on the foods I saw and ate during my recent trip to Hong Kong.

A trio of roast ducks at Maxim's MX.

On our very first morning spent in Hong Kong, we opted for breakfast at Maxim's MX. Listed as a "fast food outlet", the dining environment here was very orderly (read: lacking in personality) in comparison to the less-modernised breakfast stalls and restaurants in the area. I hate to sound like a snobby foodist, but I personally would have preferred to eat at one of those more authentic (and chaotic places), if only to soak up some of the local flavour and atmosphere. However, MX was chosen in concession to the younger children we were travelling with, who baulked at the idea of perching on cracked stools eating beef liver and pork intestines for brekkie. Their loss!

Picture perfect siu mei...to the point of looking too perfect.

I ordered a 'tasting bowl' of the siu mei on offer. There was roast goose, roast duck, char siu pork, red sausage, and half a salted duck egg, served with cabbage and rice. Let's just say it looked better on the picture menu. The amount of food given was paltry, and the various animal proteins quite shrivelled and, um, pathetic looking.

The 'six meats' combo.

My fellow diners opted for spaghetti bolognese. Kids being kids :D

I swear I was not this picky as a child; the little person who ordered this dish wouldn't even touch the egg! I ate it for her, since I was still hungry after my own meal. Urgh.

An eating opportunity wasted! This sentiment was felt particularly keenly when I later spotted some of the real siu mei places. Check out the gorgeous flesh on offer:

For $25 HK, this quarter of a roast duck is yours!

Beautifully plump birds. 

Not to worry - shortly after parting ways with the rest of my travelling companions (they wanted to go shopping; I preferred sight-seeing), I went looking for alternative means of filling my stomach. There was much to choose from! 

Lookee, it's Tony Bourdain! Or, an article featuring him, at least. These days, I travel with at least one Bourdain text tucked in my backpack.

A selection of take-away hot meals.

Various casserole-style dishes.

Deep-fried goodies for those who like to start off the day with a hefty dose of grease and carbs.

Perhaps a few egg tarts? Or...a whole pizza.

I eventually stumbled upon a stall selling the usual variety of Hong Kong hawker snack foods - skewers of beef and fish balls, deep-fried vegetables, animal entrails, etc. 

Skewers! So many of them!

Also available were waffles, both in the traditional "waffle iron" grid pattern, as well as the Hong Kong style egg waffle (known as the "eggette". Which I decided to try!

The HK style egg waffle (eggette) is made using a special mould.

I ate this with a sense of child-like glee. It was fun breaking off the individual balls of waffle, and then eating it one by one. The best thing about this kind of waffle, in my opinion, is the still-soft interiors of the crispy spheres. 

Crispy exterior. (Excuse my gross-looking hand).

Fluffy interior!

I also had a skewer of jellied pig ears. The crunch from the cartilage was delightful. As was the thick, sweet and salty sauce. Which dripped on my shoe, of course.

Pig ear skewer.

I finished off my second breakfast with a bowl of beef offal and turnip in broth. I think what I was eating was liver, lung, intestine and tripe. 

Eating this was like exploring a treasure trove. I kept uncovering different bits of offal.

Fatty, delicious intestine.

After this...I finally felt full :D

It was time to go exploring!

A Toblerone double-decker bus!!! Why don't we have these in Sydney? :D

For Part 1 of my Hong Kong adventures, click here.

Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meal for lunch

In addition to being an amazing artist, a skilled textiles designer, a compassionate human being, and the best friend a girl could ever ask for, my friend H. is an excellent cook. I jump at any and all opportunities to dine at her place (wait, does that make me a scab? Moving on...), because it means being treated to a veritable feast, regardless of the nature of the meal in question.

My contribution to the table: a herb roasted chicken.

H. was quite emphatic that we were not to bring a thing, but I just couldn't resist trying my hand (again) at roasting a chicken. It's so simple to do, but it looks so darned impressive. Especially if you truss the bird, which, as you can see from above, is something I've had little practice in ;D Anyway, I knew H. would forgive me for being a bit of a show-off once she tasted the chook. I'll write up the recipe in a future post.

My beauuutiful chooky, all shredded up and ready to be devoured.

H. chose one of Jamie Oliver's 30-minute meal plans for our lunch. Seriously, who doesn't love Jamie Oliver? That man is single-handedly responsible for my willingness to venture beyond the realm of toss-together-various-unrelated-ingredients-and-call-it-a-salad and start cooking for real. And yet, I still don't own a copy of Jamie's 30 Minute Meals. I guess it's because his recipes are found easily enough on the Internet through people's food blogs; yet another testament to the popularity and user-friendliness of his work.

Berry fruit punch

The fruit punch is something we're used to seeing at H.'s parties, but that doesn't stop us from ooh-ing and aah-ing when we first catch sight of it sitting on her pristine kitchen counter. While H. works diligently at putting together our lunch, myself and her other guests lounge about, sipping at the cool, refreshing punch and munching on crackers and dips.

Hummus at the bottom and a salmon & cream cheese spread on top. The salmon spread is H.'s mother's own recipe, and the hummus is from a local restaurant. H. swears that it's the best hummus in Sydney.

The reference text. No copyright infringement intended.

There was a great balance of flavours and textures across the meal. The courgette salad, consisting of thinly sliced strips of zucchini (we are in Australia, after all!) and bocconcini  tossed together with olive oil, lemon juice and mint, was a refreshing accompaniment to the rest of the dishes. (ETA: my friend H. advised me just then, after reading the post, that the recipe for this salad comes from another one of Jamie's 30-minute meals).

Courgette salad.

Something which I ought to have tried long before this: pan-frying pancetta.

This made the house smell amazing. I got told off for repeatedly stealing pieces right out of the pan.

The fried pancetta was then chopped into bite-sized pieces and scattered over baby salad leaves. Instead of the melon the recipe called for, H. subbed in grapes. Salty + sweet = WIN.

Prosciutto Pancetta & melon grape salad.

The carbohydrate component of the meal came from the pasta, which was boiled and then tossed in a curious conglomeration of ingredients:

Instant pasta sauce: just add pasta!

Fascinating; I've never made pasta sauce like this before. All the good stuff in there made for a rich, creamy, and...highly nutritious dish ;D

The bountiful spread:

We had to take a break after this before we moved onto the desserts. Yes, we had a separate dessert course for lunch. I told you it was a veritable feast.

Just a gratuitous picture of yours truly, doing what she does best: playing sous chef to someone who knows what they're doing in the kitchen =D

Moving onto the desserts! H. made half a dozen pear meringue tarts from Jamie's book. I love the browning on the meringue. Guess I don't need to buy a blow-torch after all for my upcoming lemon meringue pie project. The oven seems to do a fine job of it.
 

Pear meringue tart.

P., another friend, made dark chocolate truffles (no added sugar!) and dusted them with kinako (roasted soybean powder), which was an interesting and pleasant twist on an old favourite.

Chocolate truffles dusted with kinako.

I brought along some lemon curd friands (recipe coming soon!):

As well as freshly churned vanilla bean ice cream (see: my previous post):

If we were stuffed before...we were pretty much immobile by this point.

We all retired to H.'s sofa, and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up, making fun plans for the rest of these holidays, and simply...digesting.

It was the best time I've had in months.

So, recently...(the Reader's Digest version)

Salutations! As much as I would love to sit down and type out a long and detailed recount of all my fabulous eats over the past few weeks, I still have two huge exams to get through before the holidays. Despite being basically house-bound in the weeks leading up to my first exam, I did manage to squeeze in some nice yummies. I find eating to be quite a good coping mechanism (not to mention procrastination device xD). It's like: oh, stuff it all, who cares about [insert complex scientific concept], I'm gonna get me a big ol' slice of CHOCOLATE MUDCAKE.

Chocolate mudcake from Pasticceria Papa



And another one -

Chocolate mudcake from Pasticceria Sulfaro

Believe it or not, I actually acquired both of these on the same day, to be eaten on the same day. Let's just say I was in a very self-destructive state of mind at the time; blame it on all those disease flowcharts I had to cram into my limited brain space!

While we're on the topic of chocolate, I developed an addiction to Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa last week. I admit to having a weird obsessive-compulsive personality where I get fixated on one kind of food for a period of time, where I would keep eating it day-in, day-out, until I get sick of the taste. Don't be shocked by this next picture - they were on sale at Woolworths! In the week leading up to my second exam, I (no joke) ate a whole bar every. single. day. It was very liberating...

Note: only the 85% bars were on special; I bought the 99% ones from the Lindt cafe in Martin Place. They're half the size and double the price of the regular bars, so I couldn't afford to develop an addiction to them!

Being a good big sister, I somehow managed to bake and ice 165 cupcakes for my sister to take to her grade at school as part of her birthday celebration. There I was, smothering vanilla cupcakes with thick, buttery icing in semi-darkness, with only my iPad screen (showing my study notes) as the only source of illumination. Good times.

Ahem, yes, I was inspired for the design of these from a well-known cupcakery in Surry Hills...

What else, what else? Ooh, that's right - I turned 21 years old! I celebrated it with a dinner out with friends and family. My birthday cake was a whole ricotta cheesecake from Pasticceria Papa (my goodness, do I love that place or what?)

More recently, I went and had brunch at 2042 Deli & Cafe in Newtown with an old friend who happened to be in Sydney (she studies interstate). It was a delicious affair, and the joy of her company made the food taste all the better.

Perfectly poached eggs in 2042 Deli & Cafe's Eggs Benedict.

Okay, I can no longer stand the voice in my head screaming at me to "GO STUDY", so this is where I will end the entry. Will write in more detail once these exams are over! (soon...soon...)