Besser - Surry Hills

Besser is a casual Italian joint settled among the old collection of Besser blocks. It gives off a relaxed vibe and an old-school style. The waiters are heavily accented but quite friendly. Given the concreteness of the restaurant, it gets super noisy as human voices bounce around the room.

As a party of four, we decided to just order dishes to share. We opted for two entree dishes - the meatballs and the pork fingers. The meatballs were reasonably bite sized and packed full of cheesy flavour. There was also quite a delicious tomatoey sauce that covered the meatballs. The pork fingers were lightly crumbed and eaten with an oniony-yoghurt sauce. There was also an intense mustard flavour to the soft pulled-pork innards.

We chose three pastas. Two of the pastas were part of their specials for the day. Due to the noise and the waiter's accent, I don't quite remember exactly what they were, just that one was a creamy risotto with scampi, and the other was a pappardelle with sausage and mushrooms. The risotto was quite tasty - scampi give or take, but the cheesy creaminess and the al-dente rice created pretty awesome rich flavours all round. The pappardelle was not bad either. Slightly creamy, slightly tomatoey and again, perfectly cooked pasta. Whilst both pastas were delicious, what surprised me most was the gnocchi with turkey that we ordered. Not that it was better than the other pastas. Just that I've never liked gnocchi (like EVER) but this gnocchi is beginning to change my mind. The gnocchi was really fluffy and pillowy - not dense or carby like the normal ones, and the turkey meat added the right amount of saltiness to it all.

Other than the pastas, we also ordered the grilled scotch mushroom (sorry about the photo.... I didn't take it...). Having no expectations of what a scotch mushroom was like, it ended up as a plate of thin grilled scotch fillet steaks with juicy mushrooms and wilted greens. The steak was cooked well - tender enough. But I think I would have been happy enough with just tons of the mushrooms (which was really flavourful as it soaked in all the meat juices) and the wilted greens.

Dessert-wise, nothing really appealed. And, Messina was just next door (even the waiter agreed). So... Messina we went.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Besser
3/355 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Tel: (02) 9331 1611

Bishop Sessa - Surry Hills

For hubby's 30th we went to Bishop Sessa - a cosy French restaurant in Surry Hills. Having seen lots of yummy photos on Instagram, I was really quite excited. Luckily, their delicious-sounding degustation menu did not disappoint.

The amuse bouche set a good precedent for the night. I don't remember exactly what it was, just that it was heaps tasty. The cracker was crispy and light, and the sprinklings of seaweed powder on it was awesome! The cream was tasty too... just don't remember what was in the cream... 

 Unfortunately, course 1 did not appeal to my palate as much as the amuse bouche. There was a wobbly mussel creme caramel with calamari, small grapefruit bits and this green slightly bitter fennel sauce. I didn't really get it. It was all a bit sloppy. The creme caramel's flavour was really subtle and and when combined with the green dallop, it was just a bit weird. Guess its frenchie though.

 The second course was heaps yummier. Thin scallop pieces lay under avocado mousse, cucumber and carrot thins, and a lemon & ginger beer sorbet. This worked. The sorbet was really refreshing and went well with the scallop ceviche. The thin rice cracker was also a good addition.

The miso glazed Melanda Park pork came next and was super melt-in-your-mouth. It was super tasty with tons of flavour. There were also these little cubes of deep fried pork fat which just disintegrated once bitten. It was pretty amazing! Definitely not for the faint hearted though. The pork was served with celeriac puree, pickled enoki, and some greens.

The confit duck tortellini was well received by hubby. I agreed that the duck meat was cooked well - really soft and tender. However, the seasoning was a bit heavy. I found it really quite salty. I also felt that the pasta was a bit too thick. The tortellini came with baby carrots, walnuts and a citrus sauce.

The last meat dish was potato wrapped red wine braised organic wagyu. This was like a high-class sausage roll. The potato pastry was super crispy and crunchy and the beef cubes were tender and with good seasoning in the sauce. I loved the cauliflower puree and the wilted silverbeet. A bone marrow sauce finished the dish off.

I also loved the pre-dessert. It was a refreshing sorbet of some sort... parsnip? (I don't remember ... >.<) But it was really good and really delicious!

The actual dessert was the chocolate nemesis. Super rich chocolate ganache was served with slow roasted pear puree, brioche and a yummy ginger icecream.

All up, I think that it was a pretty good meal. The food was tasty and plentiful - definitely value for money. Service was attentive enough.

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

Bishop Sessa
527 Crown Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 8065 7223

The Devonshire - Surry Hills

$35 for a three course meal at a hatted restaurant? I'm in!

The Devonshire does this pretty awesome deal every Friday lunch time. The menu changes from week to week - they post it up on their FB page most of the time. As amazing as it sounds, it's actually taken me a (long) while to get here - you know, with the whole working a full time job not in the city type deal... But I have to say, this place is so awesome that it might just be worth that day off work ;)

We walk into this intimate, classy little mirror-laden room to be served by two really friendly waiters. It's all a little Frenchie and a little bit posh. We a quickly given a little wooden slab with two types of butter - housemade honey butter and normal salted butter - cut perfectly I might add, and two piping hot, fresh out of the over baguettes which is just oh so heavenly (especially when the slightly sweetened honey butter melts all over the super soft hot bready innards)... I take such a liking to their honey butter that I am soon using the bread as an accompaniment to my butter, much to my hubby's amusement.

Our entree for this Friday was a smoked pork belly beignet. Perfectly crumbed and golden brown, full of flavour and just pull apart meat, all sitting happily on a pool of celeriac veloute. This celeriac veloute was mindblowingly good. So smooth, so rich, so creamy and oh so so soooooo good. Pickled fennel and apple added a good balance to the dish. And did I say that the veloute was mindblowingly good???

For the main, we had seared Barramundi with potato noodles and an orange, pine nut and chive salad. The fish was cooked perfectly - well seasoned and silky smooth. Hubby didn't like the potato noodles much... it was a bit fiddly in the mouth. But the side of potatoes that we ordered were pretty fantastic. Triple cooked for that extra crunch and with a rich garlicky aroma. YUM!

Dessert was a bittersweet chocolate mousse with a rum & raisin milk sorbet and chocolate biscuit crumble. The mousse was not the least bit sweet - perfect for dark chocolate lovers but a nightmare for sweet-tooths. However, it did combine well with the sweetness of the sorbet. The crumble also added good texture.

So for $35 (less if you have an Entertainment Book), this is probably the best value fine-dining quality lunch you can get. Pretty amazing stuff - I'd definitely be back for more!

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 9/10
Overall - 32/40

The Devonshire 
204 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9698 9427

Chur Burger - Surry Hills

I had put off going to Chur Burger, not because I don't love burgers, but because whenever people tell me it's the 'best' one around - I'm usually disappointed. But when our friends told us to go and check out Sydney's supposed 'best burger', we thought we'd go with an open mind.

I read a lot of blogs on the place prior to our visit so I knew to steer away from the pulled pork burger. I'd also read that the salted caramel milkshake was a bit on the thin side. But you know me - salted caramel anything, I will order it. So, against my better judgement, a salted caramel shake landed in front of me. It wasn't as thick as I usually like it, and it was really really sweet. Redeeming factor though - it was very much salted caramelly.

The four of us also shared a plate of corn fritters. These were AMAZING. Beautifully crumbed and golden brown, and oozing in corn pasty sweetness. The dipping sauce was also really good - creamy with a hint of chilli. Really really yum!

If only the burgers were on the same caliber... Three of us ordered the beef burger whereas hubby ordered the lamb burger. The beef burger came with a thick patty cooked medium, tomato jam, melted cheese, mustard mayo and thin slices of pickle. All this was sandwiched between slightly overly browned, bit powdery, overly dense and waaay too buttery brioche buns. I have to say that it was an average-tasting burger, at best. The only redeeming factor was that the cheese was nicely melted.

Hubby's lamb burger had mint sauce, red onion, aioli, and a cute little slab of feta cheese. He said that it tasted alright. He wasn't super impressed, but he didn't complain too much about it - apart from the fail bun.

Between the four of us, we ordered both types of chips. The normal potato ones with chilli salt, and the sweet potato ones with garlic and lime. The sweet potato chips were a bit mangy looking - 'cooked to death' was the phrase my friends used. The thicker ones were still ok though - kind of like baked sweet potato. Unfortunately, they were far outnumbered by the crazy browned cooked to death ones... The normal potato ones, on the other hand, were actually pretty tasty. Cooked well with crunch and fluffiness.

With loud pop music playing and shared tables that are slightly too high to be comfy, the atmosphere was not the most conducive to chatting. The supplemental food was yum but 'voted the best burgers in Sydney'? I think not. I probably wouldn't come back.

Ratings:
Food - 5.5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 5.5/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 23/40

Chur Burger
48 Albion Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9212 3602

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

Spice I Am - Surry Hills

After a day of chilling around in the city, hubby and I decided to grab a quick dinner at Spice I Am before meeting up with a few friends. We got there around 7.15pm ish, and as expected, there was a bit of a crowd. Lucky for us , we were the only ones wanting a table for two - meaning that we got a table in around 15 mins or so albiet tucked away in a tiny table next to the wall.

Hubby wanted to eat EVERYTHING. It was so difficult to contain him and narrow our orders down to an entree and two mains. For entree, we got the mini curry puffs (6 pieces for $8.50). These little puffs were golden and flaky on the outside,with a tasty curry and potatoey  filling. I liked it. The pastry was a tad on the thick side though...

curry puffs

We also opted for a beef massaman curry ($18.50). This was really tasty. The beef was really tender and soft. There were two big bits of potato which weren't too mush or too hard. Loved this curry :P

beef massaman curry

Lastly, we couldn't resist but order deep fried whole snapper. The crunchy, crispy, perfectly cooked snapper was topped with garlic, chilli, eschallot, lemon grass and corriander. It also came with a green mango salad. There was a tiny shot of chilli sauce... I licked a tiny bit of this and couldn't take it.... it was hot hot hot. But the fish itself was pretty amazing~ really smooth, tasty and fresh tasting fish meat with a crispy skin.

deep fried whole snapper

I had a pretty good meal here. It was bustling and a tiny bit hot and stuffy. But for the food, I'm pretty sure we'd come back at a later time.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Spice I Am
90 Wentworth Ave
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9280 0928

The Paramount Coffee Project - Surry Hills

I've read about this relatively new kid on the block and really wanted to try it. Located in a relatively quieter and car-space available part of Surry Hills, the aromas of this cafe wafted to our noses the moment we stepped out of the car :)

Located in the Paramount, the cafe has a super stylish and casual decor. It's relaxing and chillaxy, and even has a Tokyo bike shop on the side. They have pretty awesome sounding blends of coffees, but hubby and I wanted Cappuccinos rather than their drip coffees. And my oh my were their coffees tasty, smooth and rich!

 

Cappuccino

Food-wise, though the menu isn't massive, we still had loads of difficulty deciding between the delicious-sounding options. After much deliberation, we settled on a burger each.

The 'Cap'n Morgan' ($19) was hubby's choice. Super massive tempura king prawns we sandwiched between two milk buns. The sauces and the flavour came oozing out through the rum and mango sauce and the guacamole. Hubby really enjoyed this, especially the super meaty chunks of king prawn. I felt like it was a little too flavoursome - if that can be considered an issue....

Cap'n Morgan

My burger choice was the 'Crab Po Boy' ($18). This was crazily ginormous chunks of super crunchy soft shell crab with really fresh-tasting house slaw and ranch dressings, all within a butter bun. Pretty awesome! Hubby didn't like it as much as his prawn burger, but I really liked it :)

Crab Po Boy

This cafe had a pretty awesome vibe. The staff were friendly but a bit too busy to be attentive. A pretty cool cafe to visit if you're in the area :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 6.5/10
Overall - 30/40

The Paramount Coffee Project
80 Commonwealth Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9211 1122

Kürtősh - Surry Hills

I've been wanting to visit Kürtősh for quite a while now because all their cakes sound absolutely deliciousness. Though they are famous for their Chimney Cakes, chimney cake was not what sparked my interest. I was mainly after their peanut butter and chocolate ganache cake.

As we visited Kürtősh on a weekday before noon, the Surry Hills shop was virtually empty. The number of people coming for coffee, even, was quite scarce. Cakes here are sold by weight, so how much you pay depends on how greedy you are when asked how big a slice you want cut out of the massive slab. I have to say, this is a really dangerous thing - it' so tempting to get a big slice of these delicious looking cakes and it takes loads of will power to say "just a really small piece". On the other hand, an advantage of this way of buying cake is that you can sample as many flavours as you want as you can control the portion size.

Looking at the counter, I couldn't resist getting their flourless chocolate cake on top of my original choice of peanut butter and chocolate ganache cake. Both were super delicious! The peanut butter cake was rich and smooth and creamy - but not cakey (which is good for me, cos I'm not a huge fan of fluffy cakes). The flourless chocolate cake was also densely chocolately. Possibly wouldn't have minded more of either of these.

flourless chocolate cake, peanut butter and chocolate ganache

Hubby initially wasn't going to get anything but after seeing me have so much fun choosing the cake, he couldn't resist the tiramisu. "How many bubbles?' was the question asked - but it took a few goes before hubby understood what it meant. He got two bubbles. He absolutely LOVED it. Good portion of cake and mascapone. I didn't think that there was enough coffee flavour, but hubby didn't care.

tiramisu

I quite enjoyed this cake heaven. Because we held back from large slices, the three cakes together cost us $8.50. And so, if I have my way, I will be back to sample more delicacies here.

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

Kürtősh (Surry Hills)
604-606 Crown Street
Surry Hills 
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9319 7701

Fish Place - Surry Hills

Our friends have recommended this place in Surry Hills and talked up how awesome it is. As such, we couldn't resist a visit to "Fish Place". I believe that the magic hand behind the supposedly awesome smokey fish was ex-Smoke House, so I guess that smokey meals are in good hands.
After ordering, we were able to chill in their cool looking courtyard at the back.

Hubby ordered their fish of the day - which was perch, opted for grilled and served with a chinese cabbage and broccoli salad. The fish was cooked reasonably well, but sadly, there was nothing really WOW about the fish or the salad.

perch and salad

I couldn't resist their hot smoked salmon with potato bake. My crazy anticipation of this awesome perfectly cooked smokey fish was unfortunately not met. I think that it is largely because it was the tail piece  as it was quite overcooked and really dry,taking away all my enjoyment of the meal. The smokiness is pretty good though!

hot smoked salmon with potato bake

Both of us were a bit unimpressed. May have just been our bad luck, but I would be a little hesistant to revisit.

Ratings:
Food - 6/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 26.5/40

Fish Place
70 Foveaux St
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 8958 0159

Devon Cafe - Surry Hills

My friends and I had decided to check out Devon Cafe in Surry Hills after hearing tons from the place all around. It's a cafe opened not too long ago opened by two hot shot ex-Guillaume chefs. Stepping in, it is a bit like Asian Central - I guess because of the location and because 90% of food bloggers and food blog readers tend to be Asian?

After a brief wait, our party of 6 was seated up the back on a share table. Definitely an interesting interior design concept. Rustic and hip? The cups and stuff reflect the same style (especially the rust on the water cups? :P ).

The coffee was pretty good - with Alchemy beans. The fruit juice concoctions were also decent and served in funky jars.

coffee alchemy beans

juice in cute glass jars

Hubby ordered the 'two chicks in a basque'. This was two 63 degree eggs sitting pretty in a ramekin full of a flavour-packed piperade, swirls of pistou and dollops of goats cheese. It's a massive BANG of flavour - almost too much so, and the tiny slice of sourdough toast that come with it was unfortunately finished way way way before the eggs were even barely touched.

Two chicks in a Basque

One of my friends opted for the citrus cured salmon. The house cured salmon looked really appetising and was topped with a perfect soft boiled egg. Apple, celery, cucumber, fennel and a split dill cream accompanied this all - giving the 'fresh and healthy' allure. All this came with a soft brioche.

Citrus cured salmon

One of the house specials for the week was the ‘Breakie with Sakuma’. This was a pretty much perfectly cooked miso grilled king salmon fillet. with their specialty 63 degree egg, smoked egg croquette and generous dollops of kewpie mayonnaise. I loved the look of it. My friends loved the fish. What he wasn't too sure about was the type of egg - I think he preferred the egg cooked in another way?

breakie with sakuma

But you know what would have been perfect with the 63 degree egg? This super famous truffle toasty - 'the ultimate'. This was a super massive portion of toasted bread with loads of sauteed mushrooms (all types of mushy - enoki, button, shitake, the whole lot), melted cheese, sunny eggs and a heap of truffle shavings. Just one whiff of this dish made us all salivate! Loved it! Wish I had two stomachs to gobble it all up.

the ultimate toasty

I also couldn't go past the chips with aioli. I saw it on other blogs and absolutely couldn't not order it. Crazily crispy and crunchy golden deep fried chips with a generous amount of super delicious aioli. ZOMG I could have this every day - SO YUM!

chips with aioli

I really liked Devon Cafe. Yummy food and casual vibe. Pretty damn good.

Ratings:
Food - 9/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 31/40

Devon Cafe
76 Devonshire Street
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9211 8777