Salvage Specialty Coffee - Artarmon

We were heading to a Jap pottery sale on the weekend in the Artarmon area and decided to brunch there too. It was a slightly difficult choice as 2 pretty popular cafes were right next to one another on Wilkes Ave but at the end, we opted for Salvage Specialty Coffee (as it had pretty high ratings on bean hunter :P).

We were seated quickly and served quickly - impressive. Coffee here was likewise impressive. Disappointing that they only have one size of coffee cos I would have loved a large cup of my skim capp.

Food-wise, the blackboard offered lots of temptations. Even though there wasn't tons of options, there were many that we wanted to try. After intense discussions with the waitress and much deliberation, we finally opted for the Sloppy Salv (?? I actually forget the name...) and the Croque Madame (which was a weekend special).

The sloppy salv was a brioche burger containing some really tomatoey and slightly spicey mince bolognese. It reminded hubby of a MOS burger. It was definitely sloppy - pretty much falling apart. But pretty tasty :)

 The Croque Madame was exquisite. A perfectly soft-poached egg with delicious running yolk sat atop my toasty of black forest gypsy ham (super tasty), swiss gruyere, and dijon. The other half of my toasty was topped with creamy delicious bechamel sauce. Loved every bite of this crunchy, soggy, tasty, flavoursome concoction. YUM!

All up, I liked this place. Coffee is good. It's chillaxy. The food is really tasty. Definitely worth a visit if you are nearby.

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

Salvage Specialty Coffee
5 Wilkes Ave
Artarmon, NSW 2064

Kitchen By Mike - Rosebery

I know that Kitchen By Mike has a big following. But for some reason, I'd never been a fan. Like  I know that the produce is fresh and made relatively well, but for that price, I think that you can get the same or better elsewhere. However, it does have a large seating area, making it convenient for our group of 10+ to all fit.

So at Kitchen by Mike, their menu goes from breakfast to lunch at 12pm. You line up like a good little school child waiting at the cafeteria and you make your selection. Salads are $5+ and meats are around the $15+ range. Everything you put on your plate adds to the amount you pay at the end of the line.

For this meal, hubby made all the selections. We got a roast chicken and a pork belly, with a cabagge and apple slaw, roasted root vegetable and bread. Came to around $25pp. Really not that cheap for self-service, no presentation style food. The chicken was OK, maybe just a tid bit dry for my liking. The pork belly (was quite a small serve) had good crackling but a ton of fat. If you weren't into eating mouthfuls of fat, there would have been very little of this slab that you could have eaten. The slaw was good. Fresh. Good amount of dressing. And the root vegetable was also decent. Highlight for me was probably the bread and butter. The bread was super soft and delish. The butter was also well churned - creamy and tasty.

Kitchen by Mike is right next to Black Star - so of course that is the obvious dessert choice. I was heaps disappointed that the only cake that seemed to be widely available was the watermelon cake. And if you were buying a big slab like we were, it was the only cake you could purchase. Yeh yeh I know it's big and popular and all that. But I'm not a huge fan and even if it was their best seller, I would want a bigger variety and more choice.

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 24.5/40

Kitchen by Mike
1/85 Dunning Ave
Rosebery, NSW 2018
Tel: (02) 9045 0910

West Juliett - Marrickville

Working full-time in a place far far away from any shops or cafes, I never cease to be amazed by the shear number of people who manage to just chill out at cafes and restaurants during working hours. On this particular morning, we just managed to get ourselves a table at West Juliett, only deciding to come here after seeing a pretty amazing-looking salted choc chip cookie.

Coffee here was decent. And the food served all seemed pretty average. Hubby ordered a bacon and egg roll and I had a haloumi and egg roll. They really did look pretty similar. The bun was a good proportion of crispy and soft. Mine had a ton of chilli mayo on it which gave it a bit more zing. I wish there was a bit more haloumi, but it all went nicely with the spinach and egg. Hubby's bacon and egg got no complaints either.

Coffees

Bacon & Egg Roll

Haloumi and egg roll

So that's all good and all that but really the main event came from their house baked goodies cabinet - the pink salt choc chip cookie. This was definitely pricey but definitely very tasty. Crunchy outer ring with a chewy center. Good amount of choc chips. Good sweet to salty ratio. Yum. I have to say though, I have since proceeded to bake choc chip cookies at home and sprinkled pink salt on them - just as tasty!

All up, a pleasant experience. Probably made more pleasant as it was a day off work. Not a bad cafe to stop by for a breaky or brunch.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

West Juliett
33 Llewellyn Street
Marrickville
NSW 2204
Tel: (02) 9519 0101

Cafe Shenkin - Erskineville

It was the long weekend and my uncle was over from Hong Kong. He seems to like coffee so I had every intention of taking him and my parents to Brewtown for some delicious coffee and cronuts. The plan was thwarted as a million other people also seemed to want coffee and cronuts that same day. Plan B? Cafe Shenkin we went.

Having some larger communal tables up back, our party of 5 were seated quite promptly (I did call ahead to put my name down on their list 10 mins before we arrived). Coffee was good. Better than I expected. The milk and froth in my cappuccino melded in smoothly and creamily with my coffee.

My mum ordered their Israeli Big Breakfast, only to be shocked by why it was so big. Two pita breads, two eggs, labne, smoked salmon, avocado, tuna and a cucumber and tomato tabouleh type salad made this plate look pretty impressive.

I convinced my uncle to try their shakshuka with chorizo. He was initially confused as to how to tackle this big pan full of red soup - but one he dug in, he seemed to quite enjoy the middle eastern flavours. My only gripe with this is that it looked heaps watery. I'm pretty sure I can make less watery but just as tasty shakshukas at home!

Hubby got the Ziva - which was a olive and sesame puff pastry with hard boiled egg accompanied by a plethora of dips. The hommus was tasty and came as a generous serving. The other dips and chutneys were also really tasty - I just don't know what they're called...

I ordered a spinach and feta puff pastry with fried egg and salad. I was a little underwhelmed by my choice. There was barely any puff to my puff pasty and any spinach and feta that was promised was scarce. The egg was just that... and nothing too impressive about my salad either. Rather a 'meh' dish.

My dad went for non-middle eastern flavours. He played it safe with the 'eggs benny'. Two poached eggs on english muffins with hollandaise sauce drizzled on top. A classic that really can't go that wrong.

So all up, I think my uncle was pleased to have tried something different - something that Honky people don't have much exposure to. I felt like the coffee was good, the waiters were patient but the food was a bit hit and miss.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Cafe Shenkin
53 Erskineville Road
Erskinville
NSW 2043
Tel: (02) 9550 5511

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

Rustic Pearl - Surry Hills

Before bracing ourselves to launch into our nephew's 3rd birthday party, we decided to grab a quick early breakfast around Surry Hills. We ambled into Rustic Pearl, a cozy small ish cafe on Crown Street.

Water served with a thin slice of lemon and mint was a nice touch. The menu appeared tasty and it took a while for us to deliberate our choices. At the end, hubby got a bruschetta and I opted for a fancy bacon and egg roll. And of course we got coffees which were creamy, smooth and tasty - not a bad start to the morning.

Hubby's bruschetta was a mess of sucuk (a dried, spicy turkish sausage), fresh tomato, rocket, pomegranate molasses and melted buffalo mozzarella, finished with soft boiled organic egg. Hubby's problem with this dish was the avocado that was smeared on the toast - he said that it made the toast all soggy and undesirable. The other components looked delish, but hubby said that it was pretty average.

Sucuk bruschetta

My bacon and egg roll was a crispy yummy bun encasing a beautifully cooked  organic fried egg, bacon loin, rocket, tomato relish and hollandaise sauce. Impossible for me to eat as a whole and a touch messy as I cut it up. It was tasty enough but not spectacularly amazing.

bacon and egg roll

All up, it was a pleasant experience. Food and coffee came promptly and it helped us chill out for a bit before heading to a hectic kids party. Not too bad :)

Ratings:
Food - 6.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 27.5/40

Rustic Pearl
415 Crown Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: 0406 930 083

Mooberry Dessert & Breakfast Bar - Neutral Bay

It was really nice of the Mooberry founders to invite hubby and I to a tasting at Mooberry at their recently opened 3-level flagship store in Neutral Bay.  Stepping in, there was a hipster-vibe with fake grass on the walls, green running vines, lit up trees and the rustic woody furnishings. Quite chillaxy.

Although we were running a touch late and the store was short staffed on the day, the store manager Jamie was super friendly and accommodating. We were first invited to sample their froyo. Choice of : original, chocolate, coconut, pomegranate, passionfruit and salted caramel. People who know me would know that I'm not an avid fan of froyo. However, salted caramel is also my weakness and I would salted caramel everything~ So no surprises as to which flavour I tried. There's a ton of accompaniments to have froyo with but I opted for the coco puffs, the 'gaytime' coating bits, and tim tam bites. Hubby opted for strawberries, passionfruit and mango to go with his pomegranate froyo.

I have to say - I was pleasantly surprised that I liked my salted caramel froyo, mainly because it didn't have a yoghurty aftertaste that I dislike. Unfortunately, that probably also means that avid froyo fans would think that it's not yoghurty enough - can't please all crowds :P My toppings matched my froyo well so it was really quite tasty. The pomegranate froyo was much more 'yoghurty' which is definitely to hubby's favour. I think he liked his refreshing toppings also.

After our froyos, we were served (again with a big friendly smile) with hot chocolates - one was the original Belgium chocolate, the other - salted caramel. My last salted caramel from Milse (in Auckland) was a bit odd tasting but this one... quite yum. There was good chocolate flavour with a yummy caramelly overtone. Loved it! I would order it again for sure. The original Belgium hot choc was also tasty. Not too thick but rich and creamy enough.

I have to say - a froyo and a hot chocolate for brekkie pretty much filled me already but Jamie came back with their Belgium waffles. Couldn't say no to chocolately waffles :) Jamie said that they have their own waffle maker and are making their own waffles in store. Our waffle was slightly too dense. They may have to alter the recipe slightly to lighten and fluffen it up a bit - but there was chocolate, strawberries and banana a-plenty. The chocolate froyo also a good addition to the package.

Jamie was going to come out with churros as well - but there was no way hubby and I could stomach it - we had hit our max sugar levels so maybe when we come back next time (at night - as Jamie said that the store looks pretty awesome at night), we'll have a try. On our way out of the store, I eyed someones crepes which looks delish - again plentiful and served with strawberries and chocolate drizzle...we might just have to try that too~

Mooberry pretty much monopolises froyo in Neutral Bay. They have two other branches - one in Rhodes (which serves Campos coffee) and their original Newtown shop (more froyo dominated). It's an interesting concept - merging froyo with desserts with brekkie.

Disclaimer : We were invited as guests to sample the desserts at Mooberry - but all comments  and opinions are my own.

Mooberry Dessert & Breakfast Bar
(Neutral Bay Branch)
162-164 Military Road
Neutral Bay
Tel: (02) 8957 9758
https://www.facebook.com/MooBerryFroyo

Element 6 - West Ryde

Being hungry on a Saturday morning but with only a limited amount of time landed hubby and I at Element 6 at West Ryde, a hipster trendy-looking cafe joint not too far away from home. There was crazy amount of people here already when we got there around 11am, all seated around tables that were relatively too small, and with chairs that look cool but aren't altogether comfy. But that's IN, right?

There were too many things on the menu that we wanted but we finally settled on a couple. Hubby settled on a way-too-healthy smoothie - the 'green with envy'. This green concoction had kale, celery, spinach, mint, cucumber, and apple all whizzed up, sweetened naturally with agave syrup. He really enjoyed it, and amazingly, I did too. My skim capp was decent too.

green with envy smoothie

skim capp

When our food came out, I experienced ultimate food envy. Lucky for me, hubby allowed free access to the source of my envy. The crazy looking and smelling dish comprised to rosemary garlicy mushies of all kinds. It was served with two perfectly poached eggs, squeaky yummy haloumi, baby spinach, roasted tomato and sourdough. Hubby also added bacon to it all. SOOOO awesome.

Garlic Mushrooms

I probably would have loved my meal too if it wasn't overshadowed by the garlicy mushies. I got the chorizo roll with egg, cheese, tomato and delicious aioli. The chorizo was tasty, same with the egg and cheese...Unfortunately, the sauce and the tomato made the bun a bit soggy and unsavoury.

Chorizo roll

We had a pretty tasty meal at Element 6. Probably would come back some time for some more tasty garlicy mushrooms.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Element 6
65 Ryedale Road,
West Ryde
NSW 2114
Tel: (02) 8021 2838

Brewtown - Newtown

For a lovely brunch catchup with awesome friends, we went to Brewtown in Newtown. On a Saturday at 11am, there was quite a crowd. That, coupled with the fact that we needed a table of 11, meant that we had to wait a bit. However, they accommodated us better than I thought possible.

Drinks first. My coffee was quite delish. Smooth and aromatic. Funnily enough, my coffee-addicted hubby went for the juice of the day - which I think had kale, ginger, apple and something else in it. It was a bit sour but refreshing. I just wish that freshly squeezed juices could be colder. After his juice, hubby succumbed to his caffeine addictions and ordered yet another pretty perfect coffee.

freshly squeezed juice

skim capp

We all ordered, but because we were all pretty hungry whilst waiting for our food, and because we eyed some freshly baked cronuts coming out from the kitchen, we decided to order a few to share. There was the cinnamon one, a glazed one and a jam-filled one. Cronuts remind me of a denser krispy kreme. I like it, but I'm not sure that I absolutely love it. My favourite of the three types was the glazed one :)

cronut variety

My brekkie of choice is the Mini egg benedict brioche roll ($8.50). I had it was a side of avocado smash. This was good and surprisingly heavy... I could barely finish it. Unfortunately, my egg (along with a lot of my friend's) was a bit over-cooked and didn't give that usual ooziness. I was glad I had the avocado to add to the flavours.

Mini egg benedict brioche roll $8.5

Hubby ordered the Corned beef hash with garden peas, poached egg and parmesan crumbs ($15). His meal came out quite a bit later than every one elses. But to reward him for his patience, his eggs were cooked to absolute perfection. The corned beef hash was also heaps tasty. There was a good balance to this meal.

Corned beef hash with garden peas, poached egg and parmesan crumbs $15

For the rest of my friends, they ordered a selection of different meals. I didn't get to sample, but I saw lots of full and satisfied looks around the table. The only critic coming from one of my friends is that their beetroot cured ocean trout was not cured enough and was more akin to sashimi... which he wasn't too huge of a fan of eating first thing in the morning.

meatball, tomato, basil sauce and mozzarella baguette $15

Beetroot cured ocean trout with goat’s cheese, caper berries and baby beats $16.5

poached eggs, sourdough, relish, avocado smash

Beetroot cured ocean trout, avocado smash, rye sour dough toast, dill, persian feta & beetroot relish $16.5

Baked polenta with mushrooms, grilled asparagus, poached egg & parmesan $15

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 29/40

Brewtown
6-8 O'Connell Street
Newtown
NSW 2042
Tel: (02) 9519 2920

Hardware Societe - Melbourne

We met up with one of hubby's colleagues for brunch in Melbourne scheduled for 9am on a Sunday morning. Sounds a bit torturous eh? But turns out - it was pretty lucky, cos any later, we'd be waiting in a super long line.

Coffee first - amazing Melbourne quality (as usual). The coffee in Melbourne just seems stronger and smoother than Sydney ones. Super delicious and much needed for such an early morning weekend breakfast.

skim capp

For the day, there were a couple of specials. One was a sweet dish... chocolate pancake? I don't remember... (my memory is failing me... must be old age). The other was a simply delicious sounding confit duck with poached eggs. I was soooooo close to getting the duck until I remembered... it's 9am. I don't think my stomach is made for oily duck at this time of the day. So instead, I had the bacon slab with corn croquettes, two poached eggs and toasted sourdough. ZOMG it came out like a mountain! The bacon slab drew the jealous eyes of my two male breakfast-eating counterparts. It was beautifully caramelised, crispy and a thick slab of meat! I actually loved this dish - particularly the croquettes with hollandaise sauce. But I think that this is the first time I wasn't able to finish my two eggs at a breakfast. So crazily filling (even with hubby picking at my dish).

bacon slab, poached eggs with croquettes

Hubby had the baked eggs with chorizo and manchego. He thought this was crazy delicious. It had really strong flavours - really tomatoey and with lots of spice.

baked eggs with chorizo

My hubby's colleague ended up ordering the duck. It turned out less impressive than the bacon slab, but it was still really well received. I think that the duck was fall off the bone, tender and tasty? Again, it came with perfectly cooked poached eggs.

confit duck with poached eggs

Colleague's newly-wedded wife went for the omelette. It was topped with a neat pile of prawns. Out of dishes on the table, it looked the most healthy. The fluffiness of the eggs looked quite cleanly appetising :)

prawn omelette

Lots more coffees were ordered around the table. By the time it was 9.30am, there was a ton of people lining up. Whilst the staff weren't crazily attentive, they were nice enough to not hurry us or kick us out.

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

Hardware Societe
120 Hardware Lane
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9078 5992