Wild Pear Cafe, Dural

A very late post to my visit to Wild Pear Cafe in Dural. I think it was Australia Day holiday or something that we decided to visit this cafe... There was a looongggg waitttt at the cafe, we waited for atleast an hour for a table. When we decided to leave for another place, that's when we got called and provided with a table heehe..

I've seen a lot of photos from this place especially the ones with that pinky fairy floss thingy! The drink tasted like what we have in Indo.. Mixture of Milk with rosey syrup topped with the fairy floss :) It was too sweet for me but for bebski it was just perfect ;P

Mr.M got their Steak sandwich which was very generously portioned but he said that the beef was too overly done.. I thought it was okay :)

$21.90

I got their Prawn Linguini with lemon, garlic, chilli, basil and parmesan. Prawns were fresh but it needed a bit more salt and garlic in my opinion to bring out the flavour more!

$25.90

My bro and his gf order the corn fritter. Forgot the description of this but I thin it's a healthy one hence the taste wasn't that good according to them ;P

Since it was The Australia Day, they got this special Lamington Cheesecake up on the menu. Soft sponge of the lamington and creaminess from the cheesecake is just amazing! Lamington cheesecake is a brilliant comboooo!! Really can't get enough of ittttt :) I hope they keep it on the menu!

The very Instafamous Pavlova! Turkish Deligh Smashed Pavlova. Very refreshing and yummy for the tastebuds! Now wonder they're so famous besides being photogenic ;0

So the verdict is the desserts are better than the mains! I've seen some interesting foods from their breakfast menu, may be I should give this cafe another go and comeas early as I can :)

Jones the Grocer, Westfield Sydney

I Finally can tick off Jones the Grocer from my wishlist in 2014! Went here for brunch with Bebski, Mr.P and Mr.WJT on a saturday, I'm surprised there were no queue that time! We immediately got seated and I got the chance to look around and took some pictures of the place before ordering..

Apart from the tempting cakes an pastries display at the front of the restaurant, they also have a selections of groceries in shop, from cheeses, wines, tea & Coffee, and even gifts!

It was almost christmas when I came so they have a lot of Christmas goodies to choose from for gifts..

After looking around the place, we ordered the food and my food came first. I ordered the Beef Cheek Papperdelle - 8 hours braised beef cheeks with thick egg papperdelle, basil, tomato and gruyere. The beef cheek was a winner, tender and juicy. But that's about it. the pasta was undercooked and there was lack of flavour in the overall dish :(  I was quite disappointed cause the description of the dish did salivate me!

Beef Cheek Papperdelle $20

I also ordered a side of veggies just cause I'm in the mood for brocolli - stir fry with garlic and chilli

Broccoli side $8

Bebski ordered the Atlantic Salmon - Grilled Salmon fillet, Cherry tomatoes, coriander, mint, bean shoot and black bean vierge. I'm not a fan of Salmon so I only did try it a bit, it was well seasoned and the salad at the bottom was fresh too, the unfortunate thing is the salmon again was overcooked :( I was expecting the pink salmon in the middle like how they did in Masterchef hehe..

Atlantic Salmon $26

Mr. P got the Jones Burger - Wagyu Patty, melted Swiss cheese, Truffle mayo, pickles, mustard, caramelised onion and home made buns served with rustic chips.

Jones Burger $22

Mr.P also got a sides of smoked salmon which was delish! I don't remember how much they charge for the sides, but i think it's definitely worth it, unlike the atlantic salmon ;p

Mr.Wjt ordered the Corn Fritter - Corn & Sweet potato fritter with poached egg, rice noodle and thai herb salad and tamarind dressing. It was scrumptious! The perfectly poached egg yolk flows down the crispy pan fried fritters, the sweetness of the corn and the tangy salads, everything just works perfectly! I highly recommend the corn fritter! It may sounds simple on the menu, but the flavours definitely delivers!

Corn Fritter $17

And when you visited Jones the Grocer, you can't just miss the dessert time! Cause they are famous by their Sticky Date Pudding! The pudding was warm, smothered in the middle of caramel sauce and topped with Vanilla bean ice cream. Just a perfect end to finish my meal! We did share the dessert which is one of my slightest regret haha, next time, I'm definitely not sharing ;p

Sticky Date Pudding $10

The next dessert that we ordered was the Ice Cream Sandwich with salted peanut caramel & Milk chocolate parfait. The dessert was too heavy for me but it was a nice combination of ice cream, the saly caramel and also the crunch from the nuts, Mr.P loved it and he finished every bit of it!

Ice Cream Sandwich $10

That concludes my Jones the Grocer visit ! :)

Chiswick, Woollahra

Have been meaning to check this place out since a couple months ago and I finally got a reason to drag bebski into Chiswick! Our double date partner Mr.V and Ms.S is going back for good soon and Chiswick is in their bucket list, so there, my reason ;p

Made a booking on Sunday, really want to go for lunch cause the restaurant itself is located in the middle of a beautiful green garden and the building itself is build with see through glass all over :)

Thankfully 6PM in October is still pretty bright so we got to taste a bit of the scenery before darkness took over..

The waitress approached us and letting us know about the special menu they got that day and also this special drink  - Japanese Pear - Bevedex Vodka, Sake, St. German Liquer & fresh Pear Juice. Love the cocktail mix, it was refreshing and yet have quite a strong sake note.

Japanese Pear $17

From the small plates menu, we ordered the Pressed duck, Prosciutto, pickled carrots and grilled Sourdough to start with. It tasted like spam to me somehow, Ms.S agreed. 

Pressed Duck with grilled sourdough $22

I've read a lot about this Crab Slider so this dish is in my top list to order! The slider consist of crab patty, lettuce, gherkins and kewpie. Hmmmm kewpie, a secret weapon that made everything so delish! I know now why this slider is so pupular! The bun was soft and the patty was scrumptious. I really recommend this one.

Crab sliders $10ea

Ms.S wanted to try the Chicken parfait, Crispy Chicken crackling, Daikon and Date Chutney. Everyone loved it except me! The parfait taste weird to my palate, it's like eating raw blended chicken? But seriously I think its just me. ;p The crisp crackling, though, was indescribably yummy!

Chicken parfait 2pcs $14

From the mains, we got the Paccheri pasta, spanner crab and snow peas. The tomato based sauce was rich but lacks a bit of salt in my opinion to bring out the flavour and unfortunately the paste was a bit undercooked, it's still quite hard...

Next come the Wood Roasted Moran family Lamb, artichoke and Hawkesbury Broccoli. I know it doesn't look that appealing but oh boy, that lamb was really tender and juicy! It was dish of the night for me, even though bebski and Ms.S wouldn't agree ;p Loved the smokey note in the dish and also that salsa verde on top is just like an icing on a cake! The portion was geenrous as well, I think it can safely feed 4people provided you order other dishes as well.

Matt Moran family lamb $75

I'm keeping the best for last. The uhmazing Roast Pork Belly with toasted Barley and Shallot Dressing. I know, I know, I hate shallot, but that dressing is a perfect complement to the pork! Shame that pork has to be shared between the 5 of us, cause I can just finished it all by myself haha ;p Perfect roasting and perfect crackling ~~

And,... we love our carbs! So we got these fluffy Hand cut Chips as a side with Black garlic aioli to dip in. Didn't really taste the garlic. To me, it just tasted like gravy ;p

Hand Cut Chips $9

All fixed up from savoury side and of course, a meal wouldn't be complete without dessert! So we ordered Chiswick Hazelnut Rocher with Vanilla ice cream. Chocolate and vanilla combination is always a good old classic. The chocolate was rich and smooth with the ferrero crunch at the bottom and nuts on top, the texture was just right and bebski is lovin it! On the contrary, I didn't really like it cause it was too rich. But then again I was never a chocolate lover to start with ;p

CHISWICK Hazelnut Rocher $17

The second dessert that we could fit into out belly after those foods is the Passionfruit Pavlova with Mandarin and Blood Orange Sorbet. I'm in love with this dessert! The pavlova is fluffy and yet still have a bite to it, the passionfruit provide that crunch and the tanginess from the sorbet kinda binds everything together. I literally can finish the whole plate by myself :)

Passionfruit Pavlova $17

Overall dining experience..... Foods were good.. The service was average, they were attentive before and half way through the meal but when the place started to be filled with people, they lost track of us T.T I also found a small piece of rubber band in the Lamb but didn't got the chance to let the waiter know about it.
Hoping to see Matt Moran himself there, but I'm not that lucky haha.

Do I recommend this place? I would say, it's worth a try.. ! Considering the amazing view, the Pork, the Lamb and the Pavlova and Ooh the slider!!

The boathouse (Balmoral Beach), Mosman

Bebski and I went to Balmoral beach last Saturday for a brunch date with my old friends from Subway Mr.C and Ms. C :) I just found out that Balmoral beach is located in Mosman area, an area that I always passed through when I was still working in balgowlah.. I was amazed by the scenery and my brunch target for that day is The Boathouse :) There is one in Palm beach but it is too far, luckily I found out the one in Balmoral. 

Parking is not a problem in this area, it's really easy to find free parking near the residential area. We arrived around 11:30AM and the place was crowded with people queuing and others were waiting for table to sit.  The place was pretty and very alive! Unfortunately there were not enough table for everyone to sit, some even stand while eating on their bar table.

The ordering system here is to choose the menu from the displayed board and then order the food to the ordering counter, take your order number and pray that you got a table straight away ;p We waited not long until this small group of people gave us their table, how nice :)

Now to start with.. I got the Mini Banana Smoothie for $6, the smoothie is rich with honey and has that hint of cinnamon, I'm lovin it! Bebski got Strawberry milkshake $8 and Mr.C got the Chocolate Milkshake!

The plan was to order the fish and chip and the burger, but it turned out that the other couple is ordering the same thing so for the sake of my blog, again, I picked other dishes. I ordered the Corn Biscuit, which comes with chickpea balls, aubergine and harrisa. It has that middle eastern taste that bebski didn't like and I'm not a fan of the aubergine, so it was an okay dish for me :)

Corn Biscuit $18

Next come the Lettuce cups - Tender and juicy pork with the really yummy crispy skin, and also mint and couscous salad with some kind of Nuoc cham dressing, tangy and sweet at the same time. This dish impressed me! It sounds so simple and yet everything works perfectly well with each other! My favourite dish in The Boathouse! No complain about it especially the scrumptious pork!!

Lettuce cups - pork, couscous and mint $19

Then came Bebski's Beer Battered Flathead, the must order dish from the menu. It's even listed on the 50 tops must eat in Urbanlist ;p The portion was really generous, the handcut chips was delish especially when it's dipped in their special tartar sauce! And you can refill the sauce all you like :) Bebski didn't really like it, he thought its just like any other fish and chips anywhere ;p

Beer Battered Flathead $29

Mr.C ordered the Beef Burger which comes with bacon, baby cos lettuce, pickles and onion. he thought that the beef was pretty dry and lack flavour. I did tried a bit of the beef patty, he's right, it needed more salt to bring out the savoury note :)

Beef Burger $24

Overall, we had a great time and experience visiting the Boathouse even though waiting for the table can be an annoyance and the waiting time for the food exceeds 30mins T.T Would love to come back just for the view and the yummy pork! Maybe worth trying their breakfast menu next time ^^