Allpress cafe, Rosebery

Sorry about not posting for a few days, I have been busy!
As I said in my last post my family has a very old, decrepit car that barely works, so me, my dad and my brother hopped in our very old, decrepit car that barely works to find a second hand replacement.

We headed up to Sutton City Subaru to start, and basically we spent two hours standing around wondering why my dad has so much against the buying the perfect car for us. The only good thing was, afterward we got to go to Allpress cafe, in Rosebery.

Allpress cafe is in an unusual location, just off a very boring part of Botany Rd. But, the food and coffee easily makes up for the location problem. The atmosphere is great, the food wonderful and there are very interesting places to sit, including a strange, secluded circle of glass and wood that is impossible to describe unless you see it with your own eyes. there is also a large portion of the property devoted to coffee roasting. Talking about coffee, the coffee was the absolute star. As my dad Keith (http://www.keithsaundersphotography.com/) said, the coffee, an extra strong flat white was strong, rich, delicious and served at the perfect temperature. We took some photos, but unfortunately the waitress informed us that the pictures could not go online. they weren't very good pictures anyway.    

My Review: 
The coffee was incredible, the almond croissant almost perfect, and the pain au raisin was exquisite. The plain croissant was very good, although not up to the rest of the food's standard. All in all, I would recommend this THE destination in Rosebery for coffee and snacks. (luckily, Burke St Bakery is just over the border in Mascot)
Food: 9/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Value 8/10

Surry Hills

Today I went to Surry Hills to have my hair cut. My family has our hair cut by my Dad's Iraqi barber. After our haircuts were finished, we headed up the road to Taste, one of the best cafes in Surry Hills, only to have the door slammed in our faces.
Getting more and more hungry by the minute, my Dad, my brother and I hopped in our bucket-of-bolts car and headed around the corner to Dinky-Di pies.
Now ol' Dinky n' me go waaay back. When my family first arrived in Australia from England, we stayed in Camp cove for two weeks. We would drive around the eastern suburbs of Sydney looking for a place to rent. And, more often than not, we would stop at Dinky-Di pies on the way back.
Now, this was at the original shop, not the chains that are all over Sydney. We would eat delicious pies and go home with our stomachs pushing at the waistbands of our trousers. That is why we stopped of at Dinky-Di's place, for the sake of memories. Ah yes, and good food.
 This is what we ordered... enjoy drooling!

Sausage roll

 Carrot Cake
    

Almond Croissant 

Chicken and mushroom pie

These were so good that we couldn't wait for the photograph to be taken before tucking in!

Our Asian Style Stir Fry

Tonight's dinner was a lovely Asian style pork belly stir fry. We marinated the pork in a mixture of dark soy sauce, honey and sweet chili sauce.

We let it rest in the marinade for about five minutes, then fried it in our wok at a very high temperature. The hot oil spat everywhere when we added the pork, and the sides of the wok misted up.

When the pork was cooked, we started work on the vegetables. We chopped up onion, carrot, capsicum and mushrooms, then fried them up in the marinade left over from the pork.

When the onion was soft and the carrots no longer crunchy, we added the pork and the noodles.

We gave it a stir and poured some more marinade over the top, then generously spooned it out.

 

美味 (delicious)

Chicken, Chorizo and Prawn Paella

This is my favorite dish to cook. The recipe is originally Anna Gare's, and it is in the Junior MasterChef official recipe collection.
This dish is my main introduction into cooking.
The first time I made this dish was around February this year, and it was an instant success with my family. I cook for two food obsessed families, and this is a delicious and easy dish to make in large portions.
It can be twisted and changed any way you like by adding more chili or less chili, smokey paprika, normal paprika, more chicken, a bit of pork belly, whatever you like. I love this dish heavily laden with chili, lots of chorizo and the rice well cooked, but not soggy.
For me, the prawns must be added at the same time as the mussels or they will be overcooked and horrible.
If you don't like seafood then that's fine, just don't add any. This is guaranteed to be one of the best paellas you will ever have.

My Adriano Zumbo Adventure

A few weeks ago, I went to Adriano Zumbo's hide out in Balmain. We were queuing for ages before we finally got to the front.

They have this amazing system where you write your order on a mini white board of some sort half way through.

I have to say that what we got was not quite what i was expecting as he had put a twist on everything. i ordered a pain au raisin (raisin snail). The texture was completely unexpected. It wasn't crisp like a Croissant, but more cake-like. Dense. As if it hadn't risen. Weird, but delicious.

Meanwhile, the Macarons... i don't even have to explain. Sooooo yummy

The dish that really blew my mind was a chocolate cake thingy with a bit of gold leaf on top. it had subtle sponge texture that counteracted the strong chocolate flavours.

This is the most amazing dessert I have eaten to date.