Cafe Paci - Darlinghurst

I've heard many a good things about Cafe Paci but for some reason or another, it's taken me for ever to come and try their food in their ultra hip industrial-chic restaurant. Many people have told me that this pop-up restaurant offers crazy good and amazingly wow Mod Australian dishes and on a drizzly cold Friday lunch, I got to experience their astounding twists of flavours for myself.

Fridays at Cafe Paci mean the option of a fix prix lunch menu ($45pp) for a four and a half course meal (half course = 'snack'). For this Friday, our "snack" was their cheese sticks. Not just any cheesesticks but 'Omg what on earth is this?!?!?' cheesesticks. These deceivingly simple-looking cheese sticks were uber flakey and crunchy, topped with this fairy-floss texture which was snap frozen honey, and pollen (elderflower?) of some sort. That - and just the aromas of freshly baked goodies. It blew my mind away. Pretty good start to the meal.

We also got a loaf of potato bread. I think the waiter said something about this bread being made of potato and wheat and brushed with molasses on top to give that crunch and sweetness. The butter was also really super soft and creamy and made on the house. It's hard to say no to freshly baked bread. However, this bread was a tad dense and a tad too sweet for me.

Our first real course was Pig Tail. I've never eaten pig tail and by choice, I probably wouldn't order pig tail. However, this came out looking pretty picture perfect. The pig tail was lovely and caramelised giving a good crunch (kind of like when you eat pork crackling when you dig into some pork belly), it was super duper tender and the fat-meat ratio made this cut of meat super juicy and melt-in-your-mouth. Don't forget the awesomely sticky and delicious sauce and the thinly sliced celeriac to balance it all out. They also had some dehydrated cumquats on top to give that citrousy zing to it (kind of like when you add orange to beef cheeks). Pretty tasty introduction to pig tail I think.

Next up was a NZ snapper. Perfectly cooked fish with crispy skin. This fish sat in a pool of vadouvan (or as the waiter nicely explained - an Indian curry spice which goes well in French-inspired cooking because it blends well with garlic and shallots). There was also a lemon sauce, a super tasty spinach puree and some wilted and fresh spinach leaves. On top, there were these thin brown crispy slices of mustard. Very interesting and visually appealing dish.

With the fish came a side of potatoes. This was potatoes with a creamy potato sauce. Yes - we are talking potato puree with loads of butter and loads of cream and ZOMG let me lick the bowl clean now!

Our next dish was a palate cleanser or pre-dessert of cucumber sorbet and yoghurt mousse. This cucumber sorbet was sooooooo refreshing! I don't know how to describe it properly... You know how cucumber is 'crunchy water'? Well, cucumber sorbet is cold, smooth, tasty, refreshing water? The light yoghurt foam, which had just the right balance of sweetness, complimented the cucumber sorbet nicely.

Last course of the day was a milk sorbet with rhubarb, molasses syrup and meringue. The milk sorbet was a bit tasteless... kind of just cold texture. The thin meringue pieces were sugary goodness and the rhubarb was cooked nicely.

 All up, for $45, it was a pretty damn impressive lunch. Super delicious and really satisfying. Definitely in need of a visit if you haven't already.

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 8.5/10
Overall - 32.5/40

Cafe Paci
Level 1, 95 Riley Street
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9368 7000

Bootsdarling - Darlinghurst

I must be getting old because I can no longer sleep in on the weekends, and instead, find myself wide eyed at my normal work wake-up time without the need for an alarm. As such, my hubby had to force himself to go get up and have brekky with me somewhere - on this occasion, at Bootsdarling cafe in Darlinghurst.

Being super early, there were seats a plentiful. The coffee here was really smooth and tasty - rendering my usual need to add sugar to my capp surprisingly redundant. Definitely a good wake-up.

Food wise, hubby ordered the corn and zucchini fritters which were really light and fluffy. The fritters also had a hint of ricotta and were stacked nicely with a poached egg, bacon and loads of pesto salsa verde on the side. I have to say - I liked it so much that I stole the whole plate from hubby and swapped him my pulled pork after just a few bites.

The slow cooked pulled pork was mixed with a pea hash, kale and a perfect poached egg. A decent tub of Dijon mustard accompanied this plethora of meat. It was tasty and packed full of soft succulent meat... a bit too much meat for my breakfast liking - but hubby liked it muchly, which aided a smooth swap of meals :)

Quite a nice little gem of a cafe. Good vibe and friendly service. Will definitely be back for some awesome coffee.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 29.5/40

Bootsdarling 
333S Dowling St
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: 0421 181 534

Stanley Street Merchants (Icon Park) - Darlinghurst

I'm not good with details. So when my friend say's - let's meet at 11.30am for brunch, 11.30am is the time I think I need to get there. Any changes that occurs in following email chains just go 'whoosh' over my head. As such, I roused/pulled hubby from our warm beds early on a Sat morning to make it to Stanley Street Merchants at Icon Park at 11.30am only to find out that the kitchen wasn't going to be open til 12noon - nor were my friends going to arrive until that time. Nonetheless, they were happy for us to chill and sip our coffees and sneak glances at Matt Stone (recently on MasterChef - all about sustainable cooking and worked at multiple famous places) as he chilled out with his chefs and waiters.

The coffee was good. The vibe was good. The aromas wafting from the kitchen was enticing and we were so focused on eyeing their busy-ness we didn't even realised that our friends snuck upstairs. In our defense - they didn't see us either!

We pretty much had the whole upstairs area to ourselves. As we were a party of 8, they said that we had to get the set menu. There's no actual 'menu' but we realised soon enough that getting the set menu meant that the chef just dishes share plates out for like 3 hours until we can eat no more. Throughout this time, I seriously felt as though I ate a whole Australian farm... not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

First thing to come out was pickled vegetables. Cauliflower was a big chunk of the ingredients on the plate, and it just so happened that I like cauliflower and I like pickles... So I found this refreshing and tasty. One of my friends disliked veges and dislike pickles... I felt as though she didn't really get much food the whole lunch as we got a whole lot of veges done in different ways.

The baked spiced cauliflower (I think Cumin?) came out next. As I said - I like cauliflower so I liked this. However, I think I would have liked it just as much (maybe more) if there were no spices on it.

I was unimpressed by the next dish. The negative space on the plate just highlighted the creepy crawly creatures hiding under the sparing green leaves. Yes - grasshoppers and worms. Deep-fried and seasoned. But I hate insects. I want insects far far far away from me - yet it was on a plate, served as food... and my friend was emphasing how natural and normal it is to eat insects as it's super sustainable and in years to come, we might just all be eating these creepy crawlies....*shivers* Some of my friends lapped this up - couldn't stop eating it. "Just like chips" was how they described it. Me? I had to deliberate within myself and psych myself out to put a grasshopper in my mouth - chew - swallow - water - gargle. Not my type of food. End of story.

I don't normally eat eggplant, but for some reason, when it's in the form of baba ganoush I don't mind it. This baba ganoush combined with the thick cut grilled bread was yummy and smoky. Really really smoky. It made sense for the eggplant to be the smoky thing... but somehow, I felt like it was the bread that had the smoky flavour. Maybe the grasshopper that I ate just before this altered my immediate mental capacity...

The favourite dish of one of my friends was the beef tongue 'kimchi' burger. I use the word 'kimchi' lightly because it didn't taste like kimchi - just lettuce. The beef tongue was really tender though and the brioche was quite good. Not a bad little slider.

More veges came. I think it was carrot, parsnip and sweet potato? with labne and a sprinkle of smokey dust. There were also these really tasty seeds sprinkled on top... don't remember what they were...

The next dish was the chicken confit with sweet corn puree, artichoke chips and friend corn husks. Corn husk is normally part of the corn that I chuck out so I was really eager to see what it tastes like on a dish. Result? I think I chuck it out for good reason. The chicken wasn't as tender as I expected but it was tasty enough with the corn puree to carry it.

Next up - Kangaroo loin with some bush berries and wilted greens and mash. I don't usually eat kangaroo. This didn't change my mind. Hubby ate a bush berry and got the shock of his life - super strong, akin to warheads. The greens also had a really strong bittery aftertaste. Though the mash wasn't spectacular - that's what I stuck to in this part of the meal.

Then it was dessert time! White chocolate mousse with white chocolate spaghetti and kale & cucumber granita. I quite liked the white chocolate and I quite liked the granita. Separately. But eaten together? It was a bit odd in texture and flavour.

Last but not least - cheese platter. A super creamy mild blue cheese and a reasonably strong and tasty cheddar. Loved them both! Served with honeycomb, fig and a jam.

This meal took much longer than we expected. It also left a bigger dent in our wallet then expected. I seriously felt like I ate an Australian farm an though it was an interesting experience, I'm not sure if I would return. If you'd like to try - I think they will be open for another month or so?

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27/40

Stanley Street Merchants
78 Stanley Street (temporary location)
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 7901 0396

WowCow - Darlinghurst

The new craze in town seems to be Froyo. Although it's been around for quite some time, it seems to have really hit off with froyo places popping up all over town. Hubby LOVES froyo. So before dinner one night, hubby dragged me to the nearest froyo place which so happened to be WowCow.

WowCow is like all the other froyo places - yes, it's natural. yes, it's fat free. yes, it's healthy blah blah blah. There's a couple of flavours of frozen yoghurt to choose from (e.g. original, chocolate, strawberry, green tea etc) and a cabinet full of toppings to choose from to add on top (e.g. oreo, strawberry, choc chip etc). The difference between WowCow and the asian brands (e.g. Moochi, Noggi) is that the toppings are not  included in the price. Instead, with each topping, you are paying just that little more - meaning that overall, your froyo is slightly more pricey.

wowcow

I had a sample of the chocolate froyo here - it tasted alright ish~ More chocolate soft serve tasting than yoghurt tasting. Nonetheless, hubby is a fan of the original flavour and got it with mochi and strawberries this time. He loved it! But he seems to love all froyo so it's probably not a good measure of how good this place is...

original flavour froyo with mochi and strawberries

So I guess Froyo at WowCow is a bit pricier than some other places (for what you get), but when you're a froyo lover with no other froyo shops around to choose from, you tend to buy it anyway.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27/40

WowCow (Darlinghurst)
2/304 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9326 0400

Tomislav - Darlinghurst

For hubby's birthday this year, I booked for us to try Tomislav. It was a small, intimate restaurant - dim litted and with an open kitchen. For that Wednesday night, Tomislav was also there to teach a masterclass. We were seated just as the class finished. There were 2 waitresses for the whole restaurant and these waitresses were responsible for EVERYTHING - from answering the phone, to taking you to your seat, to getting your order, to bringing out your order, to clearing you table...absolutely everything! So whilst they were friendly and nice when their attention was on you, it was really really really hard to get their attention (as there were so many table and things they had to attend to). As such, we were up for a very very slow paced meal...

We started with their famous rice crackers. There are two flavours - sour cream and chives, and salt & vinegar. We chose the salt & vinegar version ($10) and it was yummy and playful. You get to spray the vinegar on yourself - as much or as little as you liked. The vinegar concoction isn't very strong and also brings along a subtle sweetness to it all. The crackers themselves were really thin and crispy. I think they're made of those viet rice paper sheets deep fried? I'm not sure why I think that... must have read it somewhere.

Rice Crackers (salt & vinegar) - $10

We were a bit torn between the 4 course meal or the 8 course degustation. At the end, hubby settled for the 4 course (which in retrospect, was a very good decision given the crazily slow pace of dinner). Even though we were ready to order and we flagged the waitress over wanting to order, it probably took a good 20 minutes before they allowed us to order our food. Looking around at some table which arrived after us, that seemed to be the norm.

The bread and butter came - butter on a fake stone cube and the sourdough bread looking ordinary. However, when you buttered your bread, a hint of coffee flavour crosses your palate which I found quite interesting. I couldn't tell whether the espresso flavour lay in the butter or in the bread. After tasting each separately (and copping a querying eye from the hubby when I scooped the super super crazily smooth butter into my mouth), I still couldn't really decide. Thing is, I felt as though the coffee flavour came from the crust of the bread... but it didn't make sense because Tomislav churns their own butter but just buys bread from the bakery... so if anything, they will be in a better position to flavour the butter. A question for me to ask them next time, when the waiters are less occupied.

butter on a stone

"coffee" tasting bread

I have to apologise for the crappy quality of my photos. Yes, I am a noob when it comes to taking photos of food on black plates in a dim atmophere and I don't realise it until I put it on my computer (cos it looks decent on the display of my camera).

Anyway - first courses. I picked the fried crystal bay prawns. The small prawns reminded me of popcorn chicken. They were lightly seasoned with seaweed flakes and swam in a pea and ham soup. The prawns were beautifully cooked and tasted delish. The soup with thick and crazily pea-tasting. If you don't like peas - do not order this dish! Luckily, I do like my peas and I did enjoy this course.

Fried Crystal Bay Prawns with seaweed and pea & ham soup

Hubby went for a venison tartare. This was a thin round disk of venison, beautifully seasoned, dotted with a small quail yolk and a small hint of mint crumbs. Crispy flatbread cracker thing added that textural crunch to the dish.

Venison Tartare, quail yolk, mint crumbs

My second course was a poached hen's yolk served with powdered (frozen?) foie gras and green peas. The foie gras, whilst powdery looking, went all smooth and creamy the moment it entered my mouth. Mixed with the gooey tasty yolk and the texturally firmer peas, it was really quite a good experience. The plate it came on also made it look cool and warpy :)

poached hen's yolk, foie gras, green peas

Hubby's 2nd course was the roast quail. The quail came with a sour cherry and XO sauce. The meat was succulent and cooked well... pink ish but not too pink.

roast Red Gate farm quail with sour cherries and XO sauce

Next up, in terms of mains, hubby decided on the roast lamb belly. I could have easily mistaken the looks of this for a pork belly (but probably more finness looking). It came with a wasabi powder, which was really subtle in taste, and a grilled pineapple. There was a creamy white sauce that I'm not sure what it was but I think it all came together nicely.

Roast lamb belly, wasabi and grilled pineapple

 The standout dish for the night was definately the braised beef short rib. This was OMG awesome. The short rib was soooooo succulent and sooooo tender and soooooo tasty. A bit of the beef with a dab of the crazily buttery soft smooth polenta (which really just seemed like butter), and I was floating in beef bliss! So delicious. There were also thin slices of buttered and herbed king brown mushrooms.

Braised beef short rib with soft polenta and king brown mushrooms

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the Heston-inspired tripple cooked crinkle cut fries ($11). Sadly, we weren't that impressed with it. Sure, it was crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside... but wasn't really all that much better than fresh chips from other places (e.g. El Jannah).

famous hand cut chips

Dessert-wise, hubby went for the cheese - the tarago river blue cheese which came with a pickled tamarillo pie and clotted cream. The cheese was really strong but very creamy and nice... when eaten in small portions. The pie was interesting - kind of like an apple pie but not.

Tarago River Blue with pickled tamarillo pie and clotted cream

My dessert was yummier. It was a vanilla cheesecake with apple ice shavings and roast apple icecream. The cheesecake was flavoured just right. Smooth round ball of smoothness with a crumbly buttered base. The icy-ness of the apple ice shavings and the flavoursome icecream added the temperature difference in your mouth. Although I'm not a fan of the apple taste, I was still a fan of this dessert.

Vanilla cheesecake with apple ice and roast apple ice cream

Coffees were ordered. Averate tasting long-black and cappuccino. No petit fours came with it which for a restaurant of this calibre, was a little dissappointing.

coffee

By the end of our meal (which started at 7.15pm), it was around 11pm. That was for a four course meal. Imagine the length of time required for the 8 course degustation! So only come here when you're feeling leisurely... wasn't really the fault of the waitresses... they were nice and friendly... but probably just worn thin having to look after everything (including making our coffee)!

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

Tomislav
2/13 Kirketon Road
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9356 4535

Millenium Bar and Restaurant - Darlington

As a gift from friends, we had a voucher to engage in a seafood platter feast at the Millenium Bar and Restaurant at Darlington. Stepping into the place, it was dimly lit and co-shared with a pizzeria. Not the most welcoming room and yet, there is a smell of good food wafting through the kitchen doors.

Drinks first - my hubby ordered a coke. It came in a relatively small glass with a slice of lemon in it. After a while (a slightly long while), our seafood main came out. Whilst the voucher promised pineapple cut squid, it was no where to be found on the plate. Nonetheless, the plate was filled with a generous portion of garlic prawns, mussels, john dory fillet, grilled octopus, soft shell crab and chips. It was a feast for the eyes and the stomach.


The soft shell crab was crunchy and tasty though not as battered as the normal jap-style ones. The garlic prawns were probably my favourite for the night - it was seasoned well and not overcooked or rubbery. Fish was meh - average, as were the mussels. The octopus was grilled a bit too much for my liking, but was seeminly perfect for my hubby. And chips were good - they almost always are.

seafood platter

Not a bad free meal. Service is slightly lacking here. We went up to the bar to pay the bill and ended up with $6.50 coke. $6.50 for a coke!?!?!?!?! Serious? And it didn't even come from a glass bottle ...

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - ?
Overall - 19.5 + ? / 40


Millenium Bar & Restaurant
103 Cleveland Street
Darlington
NSW 2008
Tel: (02) 9699 3999

Grill'd (6) - Darlinghurst

Grill'd

Ok - so after our many failed attmpts at chips with herbed mayo from Grill'd in Sydney outlets, I had decided to put it all aside and try out the newish branch in Darlinghurst ... only to be dissappointed once again *sighz*

For a late lunch, my partner ordered his usual - the 'Almighty' ($12.50). We've got the beef patty, the cheese, bacon, egg, beetroot, salad, relish and herbed mayo. The whole lot on panini bread. Crazy huge but I think my partner thought it was OK.

the 'Almighty' - $12.90

I ordered the 'Simon Says' ($11.90). Chicken, almost non-existant avocado, bacon, salad, relish and herbed mayo, on again, my chosen panini bread. I found my gourmet burger to be really rather heavy. Extremely extremely filling but I would have prefered a bit more avocado and a bit more herbed mayo. However, to give an honest opinion, my burger was pretty decent.

'Simon Says' - $11.90

Now, the subject of my complaint is yet again, the chips ($4.30 + 70c for sauce). I don't get it~! Is it the oil we have in Sydney or the potatoes? Or is it just the people who cook it? The chips here are almost never golden brown - normally burnt or ugly looking. And also, they are odd shapes and sizes. SOOOO different from what I know from Grill'd joints in Melbourne. *sighz* I need to go back to Melbourne I think.

Regular chips - $4.30 (+ 70c sauce)

I think I've had enough of Grill'd in Sydney - for REAL Grill'd, go to Melbourne. For some odd reason, the Grill'd in Darlinghurst is also unlicenced!?!?!?!

Ratings:
Food- 7/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27/40

Grill'd
314 Victoria St
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9331 6562

Mad Mex - Darlinghurst

Mad Mex

Hoping to eat Thai at Yor Yor, we unfortunately found it closed for lunch. As such, due to our laziness and the convenience of Mad Mex, we stumbled in. With supposedly 4 easy steps.
1. choose whether you want a burrito (normal, fajita or "naked" - ie. in a bowl), taco, nacho or quesadilla style
2. you choose your meat (beef, chicken, pork, vege)
3. choice of salsa and other toppings
4. pick your drink

It's actually a lot harder to choose than you think. My partner opted for the burrito with beef ($9.90). This was a soft tortilla type wrap with black bean, rice, pico de gallo salsa, cheese, cream and beef. There were instructions on the serviette on how to eat it so that it doesn't fall apart. It basically tells you to tear the wrapping off (not unlike an icecream) rather than to take the whole burrito out of its red foil.

Burrito - $9.90

My friend ordered nachos ($9.90). Corn chips with cheese, black beans, pico de gallo salsa, lettuce, sour cream and jalapenos (are the fillings sounding repetitive yet?). Guacamole came for an extra $3. I would have to say - nachos normally come with melted cheese. Cheese here was definately un-melted.

Nachos - $9.90

My choice was tacos ($9.90). They come in lots of threes - either soft white tortilla tacos or crispy yellow ones. As my voice was on the verge of being lost, I opted for the soft ones and that was probably a really bad choice. Again - guess what's in the filling... black beans, pico de gallo salsa, lettuce, cheese, sour cream and chicken. I told my friend to take one of my tacos as there were too many. She had a very wise comment - "they probably just taste the same anyway". I couldn't agree more - the same toppings cannot taste too different...right? Anyway - the downfall of my tacos were the shells. The tortilla wrappings were over floury, leaving a powdery unfreshly-made tortilla type feel in your mouth and basically just crumbled. And yes, my filling went basically everywhere as these crumbly floury powdery tortillas were not fit to hold any filling at all.

tacos soft shell - $9.90

Finally, my friend ordered something with fillings other those mentioned above and had cheese which was melted - and that was the quesadilla ($9.90). A large flour tortilla with melted cheese and sour cream and meat and salsa. I have to say - out of all our picks, this one probably looked the worse but possibly would taste the best as it was hot and melty. Downfalls with this is probably the the basket "plate" it comes in as it means that its very difficult to cut properly - unless you're eating with your hands.

quesadilla - $9.90

Overall, I have to say that I don't like Mad Mex and would probably not want to eat here again. However, to be fair, my partner did say that he enjoyed his burrito and wouldn't mind eating it again. But honestly, mexican food can be better - even if it's fast food. I mean - how hard can it be to just melt the cheese on the nachos?

Ratings:
Food - 5.5/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 25/40

Mad Mex
Shop 2
241-247 Crown Street
Darlinghurst
NSW 2010
tel: (02) 9331 7788