Porteno, Surry Hills

Yahooo... I finally got to visit Porteno on my Bdayyy this year.. :) Thanks for arranging siblings <3 We had an amazing feast there and yep, now I have experienced myself the meaty goodness of the 8 hours cooked pork and lamb!

Arrived there at 6PM sharp cause they have a seating policy of 6 - 8:30 PM and then 8:30 PM onwards. I've passed through Cleveland st many times but never realized the location of Porteno. The place is quite dark from the outside, its almost invisible ;p

After choosing our red wine, we immediately ordered the foods cause I have been eyeing of what to order since last year! So to start with, we had the Pan De Casa - Home made bread with Olive oil, Chicken liver & Ham pate. The crusty bread with fluffy inside is a good one to start the meal. I don't usually eat Pate but I don't mind it this time.. 

Pan De Casa - $3 per person

The Beef Empanadas is the second starter that I chose. We just bought one cause it is pretty exxy for a single serve and we just really curious on the taste and besides we ordered a lot of other foods anyway.. The fillings are mince beef, some veggies and boiled egg. It taste almost similar to the one we have back in Indo.

Empanadas De Carne $7

Next is Porteno Chorizo - Pork Sausage with white wine, Garlic and Spanish Paprika. Big fan of Chorizo and this one I tell ya is sooooo delishh! It came in 5 huge chunks, meaty and oily ;) Full of flavour and I can really taste the garlic :)

Chorizo Porteno $15

Now.. the mains that we've been waiting forr!! The fancy name is Chanchito A La Cruz - 8 Hours Woodfire Pig. I cannot describe it any further besides juicy tender meat and crispyyyy salty crackling!! There's a bit of sour note in the ribs area, not sure what's that but it's still so tasty!

Chanchito A La Cruz $50

Entrana - Kobe Cuisine Wagyu Beef Outside Skirt grilled over Charcoal...  It is a perfect match to the leafy earthy chimichurri sauce provided there. I'm not a fan of this one cause there's a fat layer covering the meat ;p But bebski on the other hand looked for the fat layer instead ;p

Entrana - $44

One of my favourite of the night, after the slow cooked lamb ;p Bife Ancho - Range Valley Sirloin 350gm girlled over Charcoal. It melts, literally melts in the mouth, that salty meaty savoury meat is just perfect and tender and juicyyyyy ^^.. not sure whether this is the wagyu or the sirloin instead. But this one below here is a mustttt order!!

Bife Ancho $44

The star of the night and most of us agreed. Cordero A La Cruz - 8 Hours Woodfired Lamb! Same as the pork, tender and juicy meat but not sure what makes this dish more special than the pork ;P The crackling is not as tasty as pork but the meat itself is justttt yummooo ~~

Cordero A La Cruz $50

And for the sidess.. we order the Famous Repollitos De Brusela A K A the Crispy Fried Brussel Sprout with Lentils and Mint. Charred crispy Brussel sprouts, it did not taste like we're eating veggies at all ;P One bowl is not enough, literally!! It's so goodd..

Crispy Brussel Sprout $16

The second side that we got was Polenta Agridulce - White Polenta with Sweet & Sour Radicchio. The polenta is sooo creamy but a bit gritty.

Polenta Agridulce $16

Now after all the meatssssss and fatsss.. we move on to the desserts. There are four dessert on the menu and we're getting 3 of them. 

First is the Rice pudding with caramelised poached pear. It is not as sweet and the rice pudding got a mushy creamy texture. I think I'm the only one who actually liked it ;p

Rice Pudding $16

Bread/Custard pudding is the next one A warm custardy puddings serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Nothing special on this one, it tasted like creme brulee with ice cream :)

Bread Butter Pudding $15

They call it Chocolate "Bahibe" - Chocolate Brownie with passionfruit and Pear Sorbet. Everyone were reluctant when I decided to order this one. They said it's just plain brownies and I can even bake them at home. But! It proved them wrong haha. The brownie was moist and oozing gooey chocolate came out from the middle, with gelatinised chocolate mousse (I guess) and the crunch chocolate crisp provided a complementary texture to the dessert. The passionfruit is not too profound but the pear sorbet however is delicious! I think the quenelle was too small ;P The dessert of the night for us!

Chocolate "Bahibe" $16

Nothing can makes me happier than yummy foods and good company. Lamb, Beef Sirloin, Sprouts and Brownies were the highlight of the night for me. I posted some pictures up on Fb and even my mom was drooling over it and asked me to bring her there next month when she's in town. I will gladly accompanied her here!

Thanks Porteno, My bday Dinner was a blast! :)

Master Bowl Chinese Restaurant, Chinatown

A short post on Master Bowl in Chinatown.. I've always wanted to try their spicy stir fry dry pot.. My usual go to place is in Hurstville butit may take awhile by train now that I live in Mascot and car-less ;P So Bebski and I decided to have it a go to the one in Chinatown, along with Mr.P

The place is usually crowded during dinner time but last Saturday, there wasn't too many people queuing, so good for us :) We were handed the menu and the writings are mostly in Chinese which none of us have the ability to read, so we just go by the symbols for the dry pot tee hee..

The thing to be careful in this place is not to over order on the dry pot.. The price may seems cheap but It'll pile up to a massive $60 easily ;p

They have other side dishes and noodle dishes as well, but that night we just ordered the dry pot with steamed rice :)

Because Mr.P can't handle chilli that well, we ordered the Level 2 spiciness. With Pork and Beef slices, Crispy Pork, Cauliflower, Sweet potato Noodle, Puffed Tofu, Pork Intestine, and Mushrooms. The taste is similar to the one in Hurstville (Chilli Garden), but I think the price and portion are better in Chilli Garden. And there was too much oil at the bottom of the pot. But we got no complain otherwise cause we went out happy with full tummy :)

 ~$55

Orto Trading Co, Surry Hills

Went to Orto trading 2 weeks ago with my brunch team Mr.P and ms.L.. We waited for a good 20mins to be seated but looking at all the foods that came out from that magical kitchen assure us that it would be so worth it.

I knw coming to a popular brunch spot on a Sunday at ard noon is totally a queue suicide, but we got no choice as we only have free time on Sunday and that's the only day we are supposed to sleep in ;P

The interior of the cafe is bright and a bit crowded with tables. The front coffee area is full of hanging glass decorations. The kitchen located at the back of the cafe and is partly open so we can see the busy chef cooking all of the orders. I noticed there are a lot of people working in the cafe and everyone were very friendly and helpful.

I must say, the wait on the foods was pretty long.. We had to wait for at least 35mins before the they arrived. Luckily we haven't seen each other for quite a while so we had a lot to talk about and plus I just got that Good Food Guide book from Mr.P which can nicely shut me up for a good amount of time while sipping my chai :)

And finally, when we the food came, it didn't only look appetizing but they tasted amazing as well! There were three of us but we ordered an extra dish just cause ;P

Let me introduced the best dish of the day for me! It is Orto's Southern Fried Chicken Beni.  The Fluffy english muffins underneath the perfectly crispy fried chicken and also the creamy hollandaise with perfectly poached egg is just the best combo one can ever tasted :) I usually not a fan of muffin, but this one is an exception! All of the wait becomes worthed once I put this heavenly food in my mouth, like literally ~~!!

Southern Fried Chicken Beni $18

Second dish that we tasted is the Scotch egg with Salt cod and Picalilli. I can't believe Ms.L never tasted scotch egg before and this dish is the first time she ever tasted this. This dish is not too big and I think it's best ordered for a shared dish.

Scotch Egg $12

In almost every table in the cafe, there will always be the chicken beni and this Hash 2.0 !! This colourful dish consist of Birkshire Ham, cherry tomatoes, avocado puree, rocket, asparagus and poached egg. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of rocket butttt I keep diggin into this plate! The mini fried hash is just delightful :) The many texture of the components made you want to keep munching them.

Hash 2.0 $16

Lastly, we move one to Orto's Muesli. Sheep yoghurt, Organic Honeycomb and Seasonal fruits. I love love loveeeee this one! It's a good dish to end our brunch, its not as sweet but it's really filling after all those savoury meals :) And it always good to end things with sweet stuff ;P

Orto's Muesli $12

That pretty much covers up our great time in Orto Trading. Its been awhile since we have to wait that long to be seated and wait for the foods, but all I can say, we went out with a happy face and full tummy, so we couldn't ask for a better experience. Even when we walked out of the place, there were still queue outside. that's how good this place is!!

Bread & Circus, Alexandria

One fine Tuesday, while I got my day off work, I visited Bread & Circus with my sister. Been wanting to try this place out but never got the chance. I got a friend working there as the barista, so I thought might as well visit him :p

The place is located behind Campos in 21 Fountain st. The minute you walk into the cafe, all you see is everything Pink and is surrounded with displays of fruit and vegetables. A very good sunlight too for pictures hihi.. But the place can be a bit chilly during time like this, so make sure you wear thicker clothes when visiting.

The menu changes daily and they always update it up on their website, so exciting, it does make u wanna come back every day ;P

I would love to work here where everything is pink and oh so girly ;P
On every dining table got a large pumpkin and other perishable goods. They only provide brown sugar here and no other sugar.

I got my Capuccino and they are using Mecca coffee.

Cappuccino $4.50

A quick shot of what we had on the day.. ;P

They call the dish Breakfast with Gwyneth. Sautéed Quinoa with Kale and mixed greens with chilli and garlic along with the two fried Biodynamic egg. The dish was very tasty and the garlic is quite strong and fragrant. The eggs were perfect with oozing yolk. I couldn't be any more happier getting just the quinoa and fried egg ;P

Breakfast with Gwynth $20

My sis and I decided to get a savoury and a sweet breakfast each to share. So we decided to get the Morning Jumble (Small size). Seasonal fruits with a choice of either crunchy granola or very brilliant bircher  and biodynamic yoghurt with a drizzle of Agave syrup. We also have an option of Coconut yoghurt which we picked!

Morning Jumble $15 + $3.50 Coconut yoghurt

We had a great breakfast here and would definitely come back for their lunch menus, I heard their salads and sandwiches are amazeballs as well!! This place is highly recommended for healthy eatings!

Granny's Noodle, Burwood

On a cold day like this, noodle soup is the best remedy to counteract the windy and wet weather and I have been eye-ing Granny's Noodle from the first time they opened back in March. So I went here with hubby and Mr.US last week to try out their foods.

The atmosphere of the place is bright and cheerful with the yellow designs all over the walls and all of the waitress were so friendly which is rare especially in Chinese eatery ;P

The first dish to come is the Sichuan style Soft Pork Bone in Special Chilli Sauce. Stir fry pork with capsicum and onion are the best combination. The dish is so fragrance and the chilli sauce is not too spicy and yet so full of flavours.

Soft Pork Bone $13.80

 Hubby ordered the Pork Belly Noodle Soup. Tried the pork belly a bit, it was so tender and yet fatty. The fat layer was sooo thick .. I'm not a fan of that gooey thing except if they're deep fried to crisp perfection ;P

Pork Belly Noodle Soup $12.80

We also ordered the Fried Chicken Wings. Nothing special about the taste. I was expecting more and the unfortunate thing is some of the wings were a bit under cook. We ended up leaving them behind.

Chicken wings 2pcs for $4

And lastly.. the star of the nightt... Mr.Us and I ordered the number 1 dish on the menu, Braised Beef Noodle Soup. I ordered the special set which comes with Spiced egg and Tofu as a side. The soup is so light and yet rich in flavour, I can really taste star anise and chinese five spice in the broth. I'm not sure if everyone can enjoy the broth. But me on the other hand, I love it!

The portion not to mention is huge... It can easily feed two girls. The beef brisket too has been braised perfectly. It was juicy, tender and just scrumptious! Highly recommended!

Beef Noodle soup $12.80 plus special set $3.20

We walked out warmed and happy .^^.