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

Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Myself and a few others made the inaugural trip to Japan City, located within the Chatswood Westfield, the day after it'd opened. This happened all the way back in March, but I've only recently uncovered the photos of our dinner, so you will have to forgive me if some of the details in this post is a little hazy. Still, I had fun eating there so I thought I'd share anyway!

Japan City is a cool concept - it's like a mini, Japanese-centric shopping centre within Westfield. It has its own food court or "Eat Street" on one side of the complex, and a retail section on the other side selling Japanese home wares, fashion, souvenirs etc. The "Eat Street" consists of numerous, distinct stations, which specialise in different types of food. For example, there was the Sushi Bar where we got our sashimi fix:

Quite pricey, but I do love the presentation, and everything was indisputably fresh. We also ordered a few types of nigiri:

Seared scallop nigiri (bottom) and what I think was Wagyu nigiri (top).

Prawn and salmon nigiri.

And then there was the Noodle Bar, which offers the usual suspects. As with everything else we ordered on the night, the two noodle dishes we ordered were shared between all of us. I think I've said this on many occasions, but I do love dining out with a large group of people. Unless they're stingy germ-o-phobes who won't let you steal bites off their plate.

Nabeyaki udon.

All our food came out quickly enough, considering that the restaurant had literally just opened. The Nabeyaki udon was heavy on the udon and light on everything else, lol. I could never see the point in ordering noodles at restaurants if the price is over $10 per serving, unless the noodles are handmade and the ingredients flown in from the Swiss Alps. Or something poncy like that. Otherwise, I'll make do with instant noodles at home. Not that I would ever voluntarily eat packet instant noodles, foul sodium-laden things they are. Okay, now I just sound like I'm PMS-ing. Moving on. The point is, if you're going to charge something hefty like $15-17 for a bowl of noodles, they better darn well be worth it. This wasn't. And neither was this:

Some other kind of noodle dish.

See what I mean by the details being a little hazy? I can't remember what the name of this noodle dish was, but I do remember the taste. It tasted...funny. I don't know if it was the leftover liquid from the preserved bamboo shoots (I'm guessing that's what those brown stick thingies are), but there was an almost chemical-like quality to the broth and noodles. We left most of it untouched.

Pork katsu with rice.

I think this pork katsu rice set usually comes with curry sauce, but my fellow diner preferred to eat it without the curry, hence the somewhat bare look to the dish. The pork was nice and tender, though, and the breaded crust very crunchy. I can't remember if this came from the noodle bar or the Teppanyaki House, which was where we ordered this teriyaki eel dish from:

Teriyaki eel.

Haha, is that a random mussel I see? The portion size was again on the smaller side, but the eel was well cooked and fatty, which is the way I like it. The teppanyaki beef, on the other hand, was a bit dry:

Teppanyaki beef.

My favourite from the night was the korokke, which for the uninitiated is like a creamier and richer version of the hash brown. The potato on the inside is mashed extensively, and then mixed with seasoning. There is usually some sort of filling in the middle, like meat, cheese, or vegetables. There were two kinds on offer (sorry, again the details escape me!), and we ordered four of each. They were served with a generous pile of sweet mayonnaise on the side. No skimping on portions here - these were huge! I won't tell you how many I had xD

Overall, I had a fun time dining at Japan City. Unless the quality of the food has improved drastically from when I went, I probably wouldn't go again, simply because you could get so much better Japanese food for cheaper prices elsewhere. Sorry, it was just too novel for me. And I'll stick with Ichiban Boshi for my next noodle fix.

Japan City Eat Street, Chatswood

Level 6, Shop 605

1 Anderson Street Chatswood, NSW 2067

Random Round-up! Part 3

Here's another one of those "closet clean out" posts; just a little something to entertain everyone until I come up with a proper post :D

1) High tea at Tea Parlour, Redfern.

An awesome-looking spread, yes? And not your usual "High Tea" fare either. We visited this quaint little hole-in-the-wall 'parlour' for a friend's 21st. All the goodies you see above are baked by the owner herself, onsite; a feat I am most impressed by. The scones featured in the middle are THE BEST that I've ever tasted. Yes, even better than The Tea Room's down at the QVB! I love this sort of baking: unapologetically unpretentious, and clearly made with real butter xD Everything I had on the day (and I tried everything!) was so good that I couldn't help but eat, eat, eat the whole time I was there. The pecan pie! The cheesecake! The apple crumble tart! *salivates*

2) Durian ice cream from Breadtop.

I know my recommending ice cream from a chain bakery may raise some eyebrows, but this was actually really, really nice! The durian flavour was unmistakable, and did not taste at all artificial. The texture was smooth, but with that "chewiness" which I associate with added thickeners in ice cream. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite liked it.

3) Various small cakes and slices from George's Hot Bread Shop, Hurstville.

Situated right near the ticket barriers at Hurstville Railway Station, this little bread shop appears unassuming from a distance, and I for one often passed it by with nary a second look. Had I ventured closer though, I would have discovered much sooner its amazing display of cakes and slices. We're talking real old-school, Australian baking; they even have chocolate crackles! On this occasion, I purchased one of their  sizeable Anzac biscuits (only 90 cents!), which was delicious and one of the best I've tasted, and the three cakes shown above: Black Forest cake (left), vanilla custard slice (right) and baked cheesecake (bottom). All three were bona fide fresh and scrumptious. My favourite was the vanilla slice: cold, sweet eggy custard, contrasted with the crisp, multi-layered pastry which shattered when I sliced into it. Mmm. And you know what? It's all so affordable. Where else can you get a ginormous slice of cake in the $3 range these days?

3) The 'Multi' at Noggi, Strathfield.

To celebrate a recent piece of happy news, I took my siblings out for frozen yoghurt at Noggi. And since we were all fro-yo aficionados and possess iron dispositions impervious to the wintry climate, I went ahead and ordered a 'Multi', the second largest size on offer. I don't think there were quite enough of us to tackle the 'Groupi' xD We got all four flavours (original, pomegranate, biscotti and green tea) and five toppings (gummi bears, Tim Tam, mochi, fresh strawberries, and Crunchie chocolate bar).

4) 'Fine apple tart' and the panna cotta lamington from Flour and Stone Bakery, Woolloomooloo.

After hearing rave reviews all around about these two items from Flour and Stone Bakery, I went and purchased said items the first opportunity I got, and could barely stop myself from tucking into them on the train trip home. The apple tart was visually stunning, but was a bit too tart for my liking, and perhaps would have tasted better warmed up. The panna cotta lamington was an indisputable winner. Incredibly moist, yet not soggy from being drenched in panna cotta mixture - a true wonder. This was one HUGE lamington, yet I managed to finish half of it in one go, and would have eaten the other half as well if I hadn't been sharing with my sister :D

5) The 'I need to unwind with sugar after a long, long week' fridge clean out.

I credit myself on being able to assemble a sugar feast on the slightest whim. It's most likely to do with the fact that my fridge is always stocked with leftover bits of cake, dessert liquers, and embarrasingly, heavy cream. Or in this case, 'lite' heavy cream. No, I'm not at all fat-phobic, it was simply because the lite version was on discount, lol. This concoction of cream, milk and Baileys, along with a slice of homemade caramel cake and the last of my precious Nigella Lawson brownies, sent me into a pleasant, dreamless slumber, and I awoke the next morning cheerful, well-rested, and 10kg heavier. Ahem.

Here's Part 1 and Part 2 of my 'Random Round-up!' series.


Tea Parlour
569 Elizabeth Street
Redfern, NSW 2016

Breadtop, Hurstville

Shop 2, 227-231 Forest Road
Hurstville, NSW 2220

George's Hot Bread Shop

Hurstville Railway Station (Hurstville Central shopping centre)

Noggi

2/2 Albert Road
Strathfield, NSW 2135

Flour and Stone Bakery

53 Riley Street
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011

Whipped cream black tea @ Meet Fresh

Who knew something so simple could be so good? As I made my way towards Central Station in the semi-darkness of dusk, I felt compelled to duck into Meet Fresh on the corner of Dixon Street for a little something to warm myself up. Most of the items are available as hot or cold options, but in my haste I didn't check if what I'd ordered was available hot. I left the store clutching an icy cup of sweetened black tea, topped with a thick layer of foamy whipped cream:

Oh well. At least it tasted good. Very, very good. Swish the cup around gently to mix the whipped cream with the tea, but do leave some unblended so that, once you're done with the liquid, you can eat the tea-tinged cream with a spoon. Two desserts in one!

(For my previous post on Meet Fresh, click here)


Meet Fresh

13 Goulburn Street Haymarket 2000
(Corner of Goulburn Street & Dixon Street in China Town)

Gelato Messina, Part II

Ever had salsa and corn chips mixed in with your gelato before?

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the 'Nacho Libre' gelato. It's exactly what it sounds like, consisting of avocado gelato, sweet tomato salsa, and corn chips. Even if I hadn't mentioned it in the title, the very nature of this concoction should alert you to its origins. I guess the only place crazy enough to make a nacho-flavoured gelato is Gelato Messina. I ordered it more for the novelty factor than the taste; I had a tiny bit to try beforehand and it didn't have that 'wow factor', like some of the other specials on offer that day: Baklava, Dr. Evil, etc. But I really, really wanted to brag over Facebook that I just had Nachos in gelato form xD

Can you spot the Nacho Libre? Back row, second from right.

After lunching at Mizuya, my lady friends and I took a leisurely stroll down Oxford St, and eventually navigated our way to Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst. Sadly, there was no peanut butter-based gelato on offer today. I'm a PB addict in general (the Kraft Crunchy on soft white bread is like crack to me), but peanut butter in gelato simply elevates my favourite spread to a whole new level. During a previous visit, I had the fortune of trying the "Gooey" flavour - peanut butter gelato with gooey peanut praline:

I was awash with sadness after the last bite.

To make up for the absence of peanut butter gelato, I ordered three scoops on this visit. In addition to the Nacho Libre, I had one scoop each of the pandan & coconut, and salted caramel and white chocolate.

The salted caramel gelato...oh wow. Smooth, rich caramel gelato, the sweetness tempered by the salty edge, with HUGE chunks of white chocolate and streaks of white chocolate ganache dispersed throughout. Two of my friends also ordered this, and they appeared to enjoy it as much as I did. The pandan and coconut flavour was also very, very good - a refreshing contrast to the richness of the caramel gelato!

Don't judge...yep, I didn't just stop at three scoops of gelato. I also shared a small gelato cake with one of my friends. This is the 'Mini Me'. The mushroom cap is made of chocolate fondant gelato streaked with dulce de leche and peanut butter cookie. You can't see it from this angle, but the mushroom had a stalk of vanilla gelato. The green stuff tasted like the chocolate crackles from my childhood. Indeed, the "grass" literally crackled...from the popping candy mixed in!

And there you have it: another memorable visit to Gelato Messina!

(For my first post on Gelato Messina, click here).


Gelato Messina

Darlinghurst Store
Shop 1/241 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Degustation dinner at Al Muntaha, Dubai

Dubai - what a city! For those of us who never quite excelled at geography in high school, Dubai is not located in India (I deserve any judgement you throw my way), but is in fact one of the seven cities (or 'Emirates') of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE itself is situated on the Persian Gulf, and lies north of Saudi Arabia, west of Oman, and south of Iran.

Image from wikipedia; amateur annotations my own.

Dubai is a shopaholic's paradise, and those with the resources may splurge to their hearts' content on designer fashion wear, beautifully crafted jewellery from the gold souks, and - my personal favourite - edible goodies from various gourmet food stores. Truth be told, my own relatively modest 'resources' restricted my splurges to the edible variety; think of how many bars of camel milk chocolate one can buy for the price of a Louis Vuitton bag!

The Burj Al Arab

Designed to resemble the sail of a ship, the Burj Al Arab is described as a "7-star hotel", and is the 4th tallest hotel in the world. Room prices apparently vary from $1000 to $27000 per night. Egads! For that amount of money, I'd rather book myself into a couple of degustation dinners. And still have enough left over to buy a cat. I've always wanted a cat.

The very cool, futuristic roof design of Al Muntaha restaurant

I was delighted to find out that we would be celebrating a family member's birthday at Al Muntaha, one of the restaurants in the hotel. Not only would I have the opportunity to check out the hotel's interior design, I would also get to enjoy a 6-course degustation dinner while suspended 200m above the Persian Gulf. 

Complimentary bread basket

Soon after we were seated, our server brought over two bread baskets and pats of salted and unsalted butter.

Unsalted butter on left, salted on right

The bread wasn't amazing, but I ate loads of it anyway. I've always harboured the irrational fear that I would starve while dining at a fine restaurant, because of the legendary tiny portions. As it turned out, we left the restaurant feeling comfortably stuffed. I needn't have worried - the portion sizes were reasonable, and the food was so rich that a little went a long way!

Complimentary amuse-bouche

I didn't note down what the three elements of the amuse-bouche was, but I think the soup was pumpkin, and the stuff in the spoon is cucumber salad. No idea about the middle one.

Yellow fin tuna tartare, wasabi, confit ginger, soy & coriander, dashi broth

Our server, who was very friendly and had a nice, soothing voice, acquired a copy of the degustation menu for me to keep as a souvenir. I can therefore describe the rest of the meal in better detail. The picture above shows our first proper course for the degustation. The tartare tasted exactly the way it's described. The dashi broth reminded me of those packet miso soups. Sorry.

The tuna tartare

Seeing the next course on the menu had me buzzing with anticipation even before they'd brought out the dish.

Escalope of Foie Gras, wild mushroom fazzoletti, winter truffle emulsion

I won't pretend that I understood half the words in its description, but FOIE GRAS and TRUFFLE jumped out at me. It's like a foodie wet dream come true, yes? I admit that my excitement was partly due to the hype and 'aura of chicness' surrounding foie gras and truffle, but there was a large part of me that was genuinely interested in tasting the two ingredients. Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to describe my first bite of the foie gras as "transcendental", it did cause this euphoric feeling that could best be likened to the first time I ate butter on its own. It was like, 'wow, I didn't know so much flavour could be concentrated into such a small package!' Sadly, only that euphoric feeling has stayed with me; I have already forgotten the taste and scent of both the foie gras and the truffle :'(

Seared Norwegian scallop, declinaison of Topinambourg, aged balsamic

The scallops were well-cooked, the artichoke ("Topinambourg") puree tasted interesting, and the concentrated drizzles of balsamic vinegar balanced out the fattiness of the scallops. I liked it.

Grilled Angus beef fillet, pea puree, beetroot fondant, pomme puree beef jus

This was the last of our savoury courses. I felt assured by this point that I was not going to starve from eating a degustation meal ;) The beef was very tender; a bit too soft, I thought. Possibly cooked sous vide beforehand? 

Brillat savarin sorbet, poached quince, star anise sabayon, candied ginger

I had no idea what this dessert would taste like. It looked like some sort of panna cotta, so I was pleasantly surprised when my first spoonful tasted like blue cheese! I found out later that brillat-savarin is a type of cheese - a triple cream brie, to be exact. This dish has inspired me to incorporate savoury cheeses into my future desserts.

Winter fruit & balsamic compote, chocolate & raspberry chantilly

This was our second dessert course, and final course for the degustation. This dish was visually stunning, but left me uninspired taste-wise. The pairing of (what tasted like) chocolate-coated fruit cake and raspberry sorbet was not ideal.

The restaurant also kindly gave us a cake to celebrate our family member's birthday. We had it for lunch the next day :D

Over all, this was an experience to be treasured. The food was undoubtedly delicious, just slightly unmemorable. Perhaps I set my standards too high? Did I go into the degustation with unrealistic expectations in my head, because I had read about so many other degustation meals with far more breath-taking dishes? Watching the documentary ' el Bulli: The Last Waltz' on the plane probably hadn't helped either ;) Still, I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to dine in such an environment. 

Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst

OH YESSS - I have finally made the trip to Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst!

I have literally spent weeks fantasising about this visit. It got so out of hand that I travelled by light-rail to its other store at The Star, in Pyrmont (not realising at the time that the Darlinghurst store was actually closer) two weeks ago, just to take the edge off my cravings. I had a scoop of the delicious 'Apple Pie' gelato, and that in combination with three macarons from Adriano Zumbo a few stores down sent me straight into a sugar coma. Not an entirely unpleasant way to round off the working week.

However, my brief encounter with the "best gelato in Australia" at The Star only intensified my desire to visit the flagship store. It was mostly borne out of a sense of curiosity over the 'Creative Department (Laboratorio and Patisserie)' which recently opened next to its main store at the Darlinghurst location. From what I'd seen on other people's blogs, as well as on Messina's own website, the Laboratorio sells an amazing array of gelato-based cakes, in single-serves or as big cakes which will feed 14-16 people.

One of the big cakes: 'Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom'

My jaw dropped when I saw the 'Dr Evil's Magic Mushroom'. Or rather, a whole troop of them (yes, "troop" is the collective noun for mushrooms!). Fingers-crossed that Messina keeps making them until the end of this year, because I cannot think of a cake I want more for my birthday!

Some more large cakes

All of the large cakes looked fantastic.

And still some more.

As did the small cakes.

The small mushroom cakes are called 'Mini Me', lol xD 

It was very cool (pun intended!) that some of the small cakes were being made on counters right next to the entrance to the lab. My friend P., who'd met up with me for an ice cream date, and I watched the making of the 'Samurai' for a while, before proceeding to the main store for some gelato! 

The 'Samurai', which to me looks like an 

upside-down Magnum that's been attacked by Gloomy Bear 

 We did originally have plan to sample at least one of the small cakes, and P. in particular was looking forward to trying the 'Darlo Bar', which is an ice cream sandwich consisting of peanut butter gelato and spiced gingerbread, amongst other things. However, I really wanted to try some of the gelato flavours which were on the 'Specials' board that day. P. was nice enough to split a 'Misto' with me - a sampler or tasting plate of 5 gelato flavours, if you will.

As you can probably imagine, we had a very hard time picking only 5 flavours. Everything sounded so good!

But choose we did...there was the '1985', which was from the 'Specials' board. It's a coconut gelato, with huge shards of chocolate and cherry jam stirred in. It does look like a lot of jam, but it wasn't overly sweet. I really liked this one! The gelato tasted strongly of coconut, and I think I could taste bits of desiccated coconut in there.

The '1985'

The 'Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich', also from the 'Specials' board, had real bits of bread in it! Well, "vanilla soaked brioche', to be specific :D The gelato was peanut butter flavoured, and the raspberry jam was swirled in. I love my peanut butter, so I loved this flavour. An even stronger peanut butter flavour would have been even better.

'Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich' - can you see the bread?

The 'Boss's Wife', consisting of "coffee and hazelnut gelato with hazelnut and white chocolate praline", was my favourite. There's no mistaking that this gelato had COFFEE in it - I got a caffeine kick out of it, and I usually take my coffee strong and black. I admit to being guilty of deliberately finding the pieces of praline, and eating them while my friend P. was preoccupied with the other flavours.

'Boss's Wife' - I hope the actual allusion is a lot more innocent than it sounds ;D

Talking about my friend P.; her favourite flavour was the 'Saffron with Pistachio & Orange Cake', which was also the last 'Specials' flavour that we ordered. No surprise there, as she's a major fan of the pistachio and orange cake that Black Star Pastry in Newtown does. I was happy to let her have her way with it since I was busy prying the praline pieces out of the coffee gelato anyway.

'Saffron with Pistachio & Orange Cake'

And last but not least - the 'Poached Figs in Marsala' was loaded with dried figs, and my friend and I both enjoyed it.

'Poached Figs in Marsala'

The scoops weren't huge, but we had plans to have dinner after our gelato date so we agreed to leave the cakes to another day. And with flavours being changed on a weekly basis, there's no doubt that I will be back for many more visits in the future!

Gelato Messina - Darlinghurst Store/The Creative Department (Laboratorio & Patisserie)

241-243 Victoria Street,

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Phone: (02) 8354 1223

Website: http://www.gelatomessina.com/