3 Steps Cafe; Bondi

Australia Day was spent this year with the husband's uncle, whose birthday co-incides with this auspicious occasion. We suggested lunch at one of his local haunts, the 3 Steps Cafe in Bondi. What I love about this cafe: it's run by super-friendly staff, has all-day breakfast (woot!!) and it's really cheap. You can get a huge plate of food for under $10.

It looks like a takeaway joint from the street ...

But the inside is more cafe-like, with soccer jerseys all over the walls.

 

They have no printed menus here - just giant ones printed on the wall. As you can see, a huge selection of breakfast food.

 

It's over 40 degrees and I'm melting, so I go with a Cascade Apple Isle to cool down. Love these things. They're like crack.

 

And on to the food. It arrives super swiftly, and the staff are happy to customise orders. My "blunch" (what the husband calls breakfast-for-lunch) is GIANT but I'm so hungry I scoff it all down.

 

Poached eggs, mushrooms, toast, hash brown, tomatoes and baked beans.

The husband has bacon with his - worth the photo to show off the slab of scrambled eggs he receives. It looks weird but tastes pretty good.

 

Bacon, tomato, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, toast.

Because the uncle is a regular, we score a complimentary plate of baklava. Sweet! I love this stuff.

 

This place is a favourite because it's off the main road, so parking is much easier, and the staff are so super friendly we always feel welcome - unlike in some of the more up-market places closer to the beach. It's also close to my favourite bagel store, Glicks, which is where we went after wards to stock up on bagels. Oh, and did I mention it was super cheap? Love value for money in Sydney.

Ode to Sonoma

The husband and I have an obsession with Sonoma bread at the moment. We truly can't get enough. My favourite is their Country White Sourdough. It's great for sandwiches, toast and dipping into olive oil as a snack.

The perfect bread loaf - not too hard and crusty on the outside.

 

For an afternoon snack, the husband and I cut up some bread and poured caramalised balsamic and olive oil into one bowl, and regular balsamic and olive oil into another, plus filled a third with dukkah.

 

 

Fauchon; Paris

I'm a sugar junky. Will cry if sugar levels are depleted. On a trip to Paris last year, the husband took me to Parisian store Fauchon on the day he proposed (he knows me only too well).

The store has bright pink doors. Nothing says welcome more than that. The store is split into two buildings - one that's a cafe, the other is a store where you can buy their treats in boxes to take home. We go to the store first to stock up.

We find fresh jellies, truffles, biscuits, hot chocolate, coffee, tea, dessert toppings, plus much, much, much more. I went a little berserk.

 

The hot pink theme extends to their boxes. I bought several boxes just to take home the packaging.

 

In the cafe, we ordered desserts and sat down to recover after the chocolate-shopping extravaganza. Of course there were macarons, we are in Paris after all. Fauchon is well-known for their avante guard desserts, much like Zumbo is in Australia. I could definitely see where he gets some of his inspiration from after visiting this chocolate establishment.

 

 

 

Mona Lisa eclairs.

 

Truffles on sticks.

The husband ordered the interesting dessert below - I can't remember what it was, but it had rum shooters in it.

 

I ordered a take on the traditional fruit tart. The biscuit base was a lit crisper, with pistachios, and topped with raspberries. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

 

 

If you're visiting Paris, make sure you drop by. The staff are extremely pleasant and, as you can see, happy to let people take an excessive amount of photos (unlike at Laduree, where they told me to put the camera away). Plus, you get to take home lots of hot ink boxes ...

Zest Restaurant; Nelson Bay

After our January 3 wedding, the new husband and I head up to Nelson Bay for a mini-moon. We found a hatted restaurant up there - Zest - and booked in for an evening to celebrate. The restaurant is in the middle of the main shopping drag - a tiny place amongst takeaway shops and the local Coles. It was quite a delightful surprise to step inside into an elegant dining establishment and leave the tourist town outside.

While Zest doesn't have any vegetarian mains on the menu, they were prepared for us and offered me several off-menu choices on arrival.

Because the items I chose weren't on the menu, I don't remember exactly what I ate. The portion sizes were great though, and we were sadly too full for dessert.

We started with warm sourdough with cultured butter & sea salt. No photos though we were were so hungry we waffled it down before I thought to get out the camera.

My entree was the ricotta gnocci with mushrooms - along with other tasty ingredients I sadly can't remember. The gnocci was light and fluffy - totally delicious.

Ricotta gnocci with mushrooms.

Next, the risotto. Standard dish for vegetarians at a lot of restaurants. This was beautifully cooked, with the peas adding a delightful freshness to it.

 

Risotto with peas.

We also shared a salad - from memory heirloom tomatoes with bocconcini and basil. Very tasty and a large serving.

Tomato salad with bocconcini and basil.

The staff were extremely friendly, the service outstanding. I would definitely return for a nice night out next time I'm in the area.

Home Cooking: Breakfast - Eggs

Weekends I make eggs for breakfast for me and the husband. I usually scramble but I'm on a poached egg kick lately. I've never poached them before (don't ask), so I asked friends over Twitter for tips (thanks for the quick replies!).

Step one: roasting tomatoes in the oven. Our oven only has one element that works, so I put it on about 200 degrees and hope for the best.

I am a lover of white bread. It took me a long time to give it up in it's pure, sugary form. It was only after much trialing of many brands that I found this Helga's Sourdough White with mixed seeds.

 

On to the eggs. I only eat free-range. It's hard to know with a lot of brands if they are genuine free-range or not since the laws governing labelling of packaging are very vague. I like Manning Valley, but prefer eggs from chickens I actually know when given the choice. The husband's mum often has chickens so is our egg source, however she had a sad incident where her chickens were all killed, so we're back to the supermarket while her fence is being rebuilt and new hens bought.

My eggs look funny. And there's a lot of white rubbish remaining in the water. Is this normal?

 

Ta-da! Tasty breakfast to power us for a day of spring cleaning.

 

Not Bread Alone; Crows Nest

My absolute favourite breakfast place, not only near me, but in Sydney thus far (I know, big call!). Not Bread Alone is a cute little cafe that is always packed. We turned up for brunch yesterday, when the temperature was soaring over 40 degrees. Yeouch ...

 

 

They serve all-day breakfast (huzzah!) plus a lunch and dinner menu.

 

The husband orders an ice coffee. Delish, but fails to finish it. He blames the extreme heat and it takes him a while to recover from the excessive dairy.

 

My mango frappe is a much better choice.

 

  Breakfast has several vegetarian choices, plus they are happy to customise menu items to make them vegetarian.

 

 

Poached eggs, sourdough toast, tomatoes, spinach and house backed beans.

I feel like protein today hence the double-hit. It's all so tasty I hoover it down and grown as my stomach aches.

 

The perfect poached egg.

NBA also make the most amazing corn fritters. On the menu it comes with bacon, but I like to substitute the bacon for a hash brown.

 

Sweet corn and chives fritters.

When we pay the bill we get Fantails with our change. A little bonus to keep us going. Yum!

Glebe Point Diner

On the way to see a play at the Seymour Centre, the husband and I stopped for pre-theatre dinner at the Glebe Point Diner.

The diner is on the quiet end of Glebe Point Road, and has an unassuming front to it - we almost walked straight past it.

Inside it has an upmarket diner feel to it. Cute chalk boards, loads of wine on the shelves (indicative of the massive wine list we were about to encounter), and supremely quirky staff. We were served by a girl with a '50s look to her - very retro-chic. The staff were all extremely friendly and helpful, making for a relaxing, enjoyable evening.

 

 

The menu was a folded A4 piece of paper. The front food, the rest devoted to wine. The vegetarian selections weren't huge (a few appetisers, one main, and some sides, plus desserts), but they certainly were really tasty.

 

The husband and I shared a few dishes this evening before watching a play at the nearby Seymour Centre.

 

Glebe Point Diner bread with house churned butter.

 

Pinot Gris Farago Hill

The wine came in its own little carafe - cute!

 

House-made lemonade.

The lemonade was a hit with the husband. I'm not usually a fan, but this was not acidic like lots of fresh lemonades often are. It was refreshing, and I loved the paper straw!

 

Fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with three cheeses.

The zucchini blossoms were delicious. Light and not overly-filling. 

 

Seasonal vegetable plate.

Delicious vegetable spread with some surprise inclusions.

 

Poached peach with vanilla ice-cream and raspberry.

 

Meringue with passionfruit curd, passionfruit ice-cream and fresh passionfruit.

The desserts were exquisite. The meringue light and crunch with delicate filling, the peach bursting with flavour.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner here, and, seeing as it's so close to work, we will be back!

Australian Food Blogger Award Launch @ La Mint Restaurant

I managed to score myself an invite to the launch of the first Australian Food Blog award category, hosted by the Australian Association of Food Professionals at La Mint Restaurant in Darlinghurst with my friend Forager.

I've never been to a food blogger meet-up before, so was super-keen to check it out and meet some more bloggers.

The event was hosted by Australian Pork, and we were shown the new Australian Pork TV commercial before it aired on TV.



Afterward, I stayed for dinner and got to know some excellent bloggers like Peter G from Souvlaki for the Soul and Ed Charles from Tomatom. The food was also excellent - a whole page of the menu devoted to vegetarian options. Yay!

I was inspired to start this new blog just for food, as I find there is a huge lack of Australian food blogs out there.