Gnome Espresso and Winebar

I moved a few weeks ago, on a Saturday morning, and I think it kind of illustrative of how little I own, that I was able to go to the market before moving and meet up with my cafe buddies after moving.
We decided to visit Gnome, it was on our list and the blogs looked good. It was actually blogs about this cafe which led me to ordering the breakfast board at Toby's Estate the day before,
I got there much earlier than E&B, despite being late myself, and had an OJ, freshly squeezed, which was wonderful, but I forgot to take a picture of it.
I had plenty of time to look through the menu, and guard my table from all comers, it's a small cafe and very busy, and when I finished my juice I couldn't resist the allure of an iced tea with lemon and lemon sorbet.


You can see my point right - not something to pass up. It looked good and tasted great, not teeth curlingly sweet, like iced teas can often be. The lemon sober was nice and lemony and as it melted into the iced tea it gave it an increasing lemon kick. It meant the taste of the tea changed subtly as I drank it - really really good.


Once B&E arrived we decided on food, they were playing badminton after, so didn't want something too heavy and I had been eyeing off the boards for a week or so online. We decide on a chicken sandwich - which was pretty good - nothing to write home about, but I'd get it again if I was in the area.
The board on the other hand was fantastic, there was this one and a seafood one, and I think we chose well.
Lovely fatty salami, smooth pate and salty procuitto. There were sharp pickles to cut the salt and beautiful cheeses. A sharp aged cheese and a delicious creamy blue.




Definitely a place to return to, sadly Surry Hills is not my local area, and there are so many other places still to try. Obviously the answer is to eat out more:).
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Location:Surry Hills

Toby's Estate

Fridays on weeks I work nights, I get up early - around 11am :), and go for a walk and lunch with my parents. Previously these walks have been around the harbor, but I didn't have my camera then so all you get are this weeks pics, where we walked to Broadway, to get some shopping done :).
On the way we stopped at Toby's Estate on City Rd.
Excellent coffee and good food, pretty shop too, and in keeping with the rest of my blog, I didn't get a pic of the best wall - a wall of coffee.




I ordered a ristretto, just to try it, only to find out when it arrived that it wasn't supposed to have caffeine - I felt a bit betrayed at this, coming off night shift, caffeine was very important. But it was a very nice coffee, and something I will have to remember when avoiding caffeine in the future.
M&D shared a vegetarian toasted sandwich, which tasted really good.


I had been reading blogs about another cafe with boards, and was intrigued, so when I saw the breakfast board on the menu I had to try it.  Bread, boiled egg, ricotta, ham, avocado and tomato.  It was quite nice, I liked the egg, and the ability to make myself  a variety of small different sandwiches and to just eat the various components by themselves.

I am way behind in posting though, so this was three weeks ago, and I can't say the meal or the cafe has really stood out in my memory - although the ristretto and my parents coffee was very good.

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Location:City Rd, possibly Newtown

Sherpa Kitchen

On my last night in Newtown, eating alone, I wandered down King St trying to decide what to eat. I settled on a place and cuisine I've been meaning to try for ages - Nepalese at the Sherpa Kitchen. When it first opened a few years ago I was interested and after it's survival for a few years on the competitive King St, I knew it was worth a try.
So I wandered by and looked at the menu and was sold when I saw the Thali plates, one vegetarian, on non-vegetarian. Perfect for eating alone, a range of different choices in one handy meal.

After consideration I went with the non-vegetarian, spurred on by my love of butter chicken and the offered goat curry. It was a good choice.


Not the best photo ever. Non vegetarian Thali: $21.90. Tempered dal, goat curry, butter chicken, tomato chutney, rice and pappadums.
Of course as roti was on the menu, I had to get one as well, can't pass up a chance at bread, plain roti: $3


And well worth it, the bread was light, crispy and tasting of butter :).

The meal in general was delicious. I did find the dal a bit bland, could have done with a bit more something, but the butter chicken had that meaty smokey aftertaste which defines good butter chicken, the goats curry had a bit of a bite (and a marrow bone hidden in it's depths :)) - but wasn't too much and the tomato chutney was both tasty and a good way to swap between the chicken and goat without too much flavor transference.
The service was good, although that may have been because I went early on a thursday and was the only person there, but they brought a jug of water for me with the menu, which is a huge plus for me.


In summary: Sherpa Kitchen, tasty food, good service. A place I'd def go back to if I still lived in Newtown or found myself in the area, not sure I'd travel for it though.
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Location:Newtown

Harry's cafe de Wheels

After Badminton on Sunday we decided that pies were in order. E has been really excited about going here since we drove past last Sunday.

As a place with a good reputation, but mainly as a post drinking session snack I was intrigued. After extensive online research and blog reviewing I decided on the Harry's Tiger. An old classic, their signature dish. Consisting of pie with mashed potato on top, mushy peas on top of that and gravy on top of that, with the classic beef pie.
E and I decided that since we were there, and the hotdogs looked awesome we had to try one of those as well. So we got a Hot Dog de Wheels to share.



This is our hot dog being made, it was kind of epic, the Frankfurt, mushy peas, chilli con carne and garlic onions with cheese sauce and chilli sauce, and we got a bit of mustard on it too, we thought it might need it :).
I somehow managed to not take a pic of the decor of the place, but it was very American diner.
And of course it wouldn't have been an authentic experience without a thick shake, I got banana flavor, E had choc and B was a bit more restrained than us, he had a tiger, but with a curry pie and a vanilla thick shake.


The verdict - the thick shake was fantastic, thick tasty and I didn't feel sick after two mouthfuls!



The pie was good - not the best pie I've ever had, but I'm picky about my pies, and it made a good base for the mash and mushy peas. They were genius, and the gravy was really good. The addition of a bit of worcestershire sauce did lift it up to another level though.



The hot dog was tasty, but a tiny bit busy. I think without the mushy peas, would have been great. The heat from the chilli sauce and chilli con carne was good, and the cheese sauce was tasty - it would be great on chips, but they didn't serve any chips. Understandable with the mashed spud, but I do like chips with pies.



Overall, as you can see above a tasty meal, great for after badminton and I think it would be fantastic after a big night :), but not something I'd have on a regular basis.

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Location:Burwood