Bin 24; North Strathfield

I've been moving house and have no internet in the new place yet, so my posts are a little behind.

This dinner was for my dad's birthday last weekend, while we were smack in the middle of moving house. We met at Bin 24 in North Strathfield, a hatted Italian restaurant in the old Arnotts Factory complex.

This restaurant has some tasty food, but sadly only a few stock-standard vege dishes. I had the option of Tagliatelle with Mauri Taleggio, olives and rocket or pizza (there were four vegetarian pizzas).

I started with the sourdough, sharing with the husband. The service was pretty abysmal, particularly for a hatted restaurant, and the sourdough came out without the extras. I had to ask for them to be given to us, which is a bit of fail. The bread was lightly toasted and the pesto, oil and butter super delish once they actually arrived.

 

Grilled sourdough with pesto, olive oil and house churned butter

  

For mains we ordered some salads and extras to share, like the rocket and Parmesan salad. It was a great size, and tasted great - lots of Parmesan throughout the salad rather than the stingy amount you sometimes get with this dish.

  

Rocket and parmesan salad

My margherita pizza was delicious. Way too big for this person to eat on her own however, so we boxed up half to take home.

  

Margherita, mozzarella, fior di latte, fresh tomato and basil pesto

Tasty, tasty chips - these came with the husband's dish and I sampled a few.

  

Fries with house made tomato sauce

Broccoli with almonds - really delicious. The almonds were caramelised and were a great pairing with the broccoli.

 

Broccoli with almond

Dessert always features highly in our family. Chocolate mousse is one of my absolute fave dishes, so we had to order it. The presentation was beautiful, and the mousse - exquisite!

Chocolate mousse with orange cake and white chocolate sorbet

Morter & Pestle and Ben & Jerry's; Manly

The husband and I had a date night in Manly. We head to a little Thai place we discovered on our last trip called Mortar & Pestle. It was a hot evening, so they had the walls/windows wide open, creating a lovely open environment which felt very suitable for a beachy environment. Since M&P is off the main roads, it's filled with locals and is reasonably priced. Add friendly service and tasty food, it makes for an excellent dinner in Manly.

 

Massive fold-out menu.

  

Hello vegetarian section! Woot, the choices.

  

The interior is very modern, with the Thai food authentic =  a perfect combination.

  

The husband has a coconut ice drink, the name of which escapes me. Young coconut? Whatever it is, it's refreshing and light, and probably full of sugar.

  

We order the vegetarian spring rolls - the serving size is only three, which is a weird number. They are tasty and filled with delicious things, and we fight over the last one.

  

The husband chooses a seafood main - calamari. He says it's super tasty.

  

I have vegetarian Pad Thai - my fave. It's really delish and I eat it all, despite registering fullness half-way through.

  

  

Next stop is Ben & Jerry's, which is across from the beach. The ice-cream market must surely be reaching saturation point (we counted seven ice-cream sellers while walking around Manly), yet B&J is going gang-bustas. We enter the store and join the queue ...

  

A very apt sign, as this was indeed where the queue began.

  

Lots of flavours, some sadly sold out.

  

I love the cartoony design, and the cute cows. They look happy, and I like to think my ice-cream comes from happy cows. We had simple single scoops, but next time I want a sundae.

  

I had a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone, plus chocolate fudge on top. It was a huge scoop (it would want to be for the price) and was more than enough to satisfy this one. We watched the staff make waffle cones while in the queue, and it made me keen for the waffle since it was literally made in the store.

  

  

The ice-cream was really nice - but not spectacular. I enjoyed the giant chunks of cookie dough and chocolate chips, but would really prefer a stronger ice-cream base. I will definitely return though, and try more flavours.

 

Flying Fajita Sistas; Glebe

A good work friend wanted to take the husband and I out to celebrate our recent wedding as he was overseas at the time and unable to make it. The friend is a fellow vegetarian, so it meant we could share multiple dishes and everyone was happy.

I wanted to try the Flying Fajita Sistas on Glebe Point Road, Glebe, because I noticed the high number of dishes they can do as vegetarian.

 

The menu has stacks of vegetarian options. We ordered three entrees and three mains to share *burps*.

  

  

Complimentary nuts

When ordering Mexican, it's best to get some punchy drinks to match the spicy food. The sangria was great - tres potent and delicious. The margarita - excellent!

  

"The perfect margarita"

  

A litre of sangria

To the left of where we were sitting hangs the "wall of pain". Sauce up your meal to dial up the spice-factor.

  

  

Trio of pepian, queso fundido and frijoles (V) $14.90

  

Empanadas Poblano Chilli with Tomatillo Salsa (V) $14.90

  

Mango and cheese quesadillas (V) $14.90

  

Chimichanga Braised chile and onion (V) $19.90

  

Enchiladas Ropa vieja (two vegetarian options available) $19.90

 

Burrito with Frijoles (V) $19.90

The food was delicious and plentiful (some might say too plentiful, but that was because we ordered like pigs). After fabulous food and a fabulous evening, I'll be back, many times over!