Culture Bean Cafe, Kogarah

Last Christmas I left my heart in Culture Bean Cafe...
Been seeing this lovely photos of their Acai Bowl made me gather up my foodie troops to invade this sweet little spot in Kogarah.

This blog is a late post from Dec 2015 which is the reason why the cafe is amazingly decorated with Christmas ornaments and filled with Christmas inspired Cronuts and Sweets :)

Culture Bean Cafe is a local cafe serving traditional breakkie from eggs benedict and big breakfast and breakfast burger with Acai Bowl being the Star of the place. They don't have much variety up on the menu but that means they are perfecting each and every dishes they got there rather than having piles of things on the menu :)

We start off with Breakkie Bruschetta which comes with Asparagus, Field Mushrooms, Grilled Haloumi, roast Tomato and Avocado on sourdough

Breakkie Bruschetta $12.50

Then the Culture Burger came with Kafta, Haloumi, tomato, rocket and char Capsicum on a brioche bun. The kafta is beautifully cooked and the sauce on the burger is delish!

Culture Burger $13.50

Culture Breakkie is next which is culture beans interpretation of Big Breakkie :) It got everything from bacon, mushrooms, poached eggs, haloumi, chipolata and sourdough. Ooh, they used beef bacon here, which is the first I saw in sydney - beef bacon ;P tastedd sooo good. We have heaps of beef bacon back in Indo cause majority of the people there don't eat pork ;P

Culture Breakkie $16.50

Our favorite apart from the Acai Bowl is the Egg Bean Benedict. Placed on the top of the menu, this dish does not fail to satisfy us! Simple elements done right creating a perfect benedict with salmon and hollandaise sauce :)

Egg bean benedict $14.50

One word. Love. Love is Acai Bowl from Culture Bean Cafe. Hands down the best I've ever tasted. The dish came along with the rest of the other dishes but we left it last for dessert. It is still so icy and refreshingly good! The blended Acai berries is topped with Spelt Maple Muesli, coconut shavings, Berries and bananas and topped with black Chia seeds.

Couldn't get healthier and yummier than that!
Highly Highly Recommended! I might ask bebski to go there tommorow ;P

Acai Bowl $15

Recommendation from me is their Benedict and Acai Bowl!
Super friendly staffs and you order at the counter and pay there :)

Paul's Famous Burger, Sylvania

Continuing the journey in Sylvania last week, we arrived 10mins early to Seven Lantern and we saw this burger joint next to it was packed with people queueing! I was curious how good is the burger and it's weird that I heard about it before. As we dine in Seven Lantern, I asked my friend if the burger next door any good and he said yes.

Bebski then told me to get the Burger while we're in Sylvania. Cause it is far from our house and we wouldn't be back anytime soon just for a burger. So I decided to get one and try. Good thing that Bebski realized that they close at 7PM. It was unbelievable that there's a food business that closes during peak dinner hours.

I went there, with no cash with me but luckily they provide their own ATM machine inside. Haha!

A giant sign of their menu was displayed behind the ATM and a lady approached me asking what would I like to order. I asked her what's the popular dish in here and she recommended 'The Works', so I got one of those and also the Chilli Chicken Burger

While waiting for my order to be ready, I saw a lot of article posted on almost every wall in the place, showing so many awards this place has got, they have been in the business for 50 years now and they have won their first award in 1998 from The Daily Telegraph and their recent one in 2013 for Sydney Cheap Eats Awards.

The only unfortunate thing is that we can't taste em while they're still hot cause we were in the middle of our Degustation in Seven Lantern, so I put those babies in the car and ate it at home 2 hours later T.T

The works is definitely their best burger! The combinations of Bacon, egg, beef can never go wrong! It just match perfectly. Even after 2 hours and our belly were full, the burger still taste so gooodd and the bun was soft. The pic definitely did not represent how good the burger was but trust me, it's worth a try!

The works $9.70

The chilli chicken was nothing special. The chicken breast was quite dry and tough when we got home. It was really disappointing that we can't taste the fresh warm burger T.T

Chilli Chicken Burger $7.20

 I would probably be back again to eat their burgers properly with some hot chips and peanut butter crunch!

 ^^

Seven Lantern, Sylvania

Mr.M works as a chef in Seven lantern and invited me to come and enjoy their Degustation menu! I've been there before on Valentine's day last year but haven't got the chance to write a review of the place. So this time, I'll make sure I take a good pictures of the food and write a review!

If it wasn't for Seven Lantern, I think I will never visit Sylvania as it is quite far from where I live and I rarely hear anything exciting from that Suburb hehe.
Mr.M made the booking on Sunday cause that day is a more relaxing day so he can serve us fully and chat at the same time.

The design of the entrance looks like we're about to enter a Chinese Dynasty or something ;p

But inside is a modern table setting and decor, with few paintings on the wall and a good lightning.

The place have 2 floors but it is not so busy on Sunday so they close upstairs. The counter besides where bebski sits is the Teppan Station where Mr.M works those magic hands creating delicious foods for us.

To start with I order a cocktail called My Name is Ryan and I'm an Alcoholic , what a catchy name ;p It is actually a fresh strawberries and passion fruit based Sake Cocktail. It is sweet and refreshing, the alcohol note is not too overpowering.

$9

Then the Degustation starts of with Beef Tataki, fresh vegetables strips wrapped in a thinly sliced seared Angus Beef carpaccio drizzled with Nash Pear and Soy & Ginger reduction. I thought I wouldn't like them and Bebski was so ready to take it away from me but after a full bite of it, I was mesmerized by how flavourful the beef was with combination of those crunchy veggies and yummy dressing!

The second dish arrived, Chef's Selection - the dish differs every week depending on the outcome of 'conflict' between three chefs in the kitchen :) This time they serve a seared scallop with pea puree and topped with salmon roe. The scallop was fresh and cooked to perfection with some smokiness in it and complemented by that creamy puree, but one scallop is never enough for me! hahaha..

Third dish to come is the Huyau Pork, Crispy Pork Belly with Lemon, apple and Honey Fusion sour sauce and garnished with cold wasabi daikon. Those pork was just delish. Melts in the mouth and the crispy skin is a winner! I really can't get enough of the sauce as well, never tasted anything like that before, it made me salivate even more couldn't wait for the next dish to come!

Dish No.4 is the Tom Yum Salmon, The salmon was cooked to perfection and the tomyum sauce was tangy but I don't really get the idea of matching the two hehe.. To be honest it was an acquired taste for me but I don't mind trying new things together :)

The dish that Bebski and I was waiting for!! The Emperor's Prawn. Teppan grilled fresh King Prawn topped with a mixture of Japanese Mayo and Cheese Sauce and then blow torched to burnt brown! I can only say that the taste was just Divineeee ~~ I would really like to try making that mayo-cheese combo and blow torch it at home! And again, 1 is never enough for uss T.T It's just sooo gooooddd ~~

Next to come is a beef dish. You have a choice of Angus steak or Imperial Beef Rib but we are getting both! hehe. The Angus Steak was teppan grilled with butter, streaked with honey roasted soy sauce and served with steamed rice and teppan grilled veggies. The beef melts in the mouth and the sauce was just great!

The Imperial Beef ribs is made from Beef short ribs marinated overnight with garlic, shallot and sesame then cooked for hours in Soy reductions served with steamed rice as well. I meat was so tender and fell of the bone. The sauce however has a strong onion flavour and onion is never my friend so Bebski ended up cleaning the plate for me :) If you're wondering those 2 small balls, it was a carrot and a radish hehe!

Apart from the dishes that were included in the Degustation Menu, Chef M, aka my friend Mr.M gave us a couple of dishes from the A la carte menu such as this scrumptious Bork Goroke, Cream cheese encapsulated in garlic marinated mince beef and pork neck served with hoisin and gochujang sauce..

It was meaty and yet have that creaminess from the cheese, crunch from the veggies and tanginess from the sauce. A mouthful of pure yuminess! Would definitely back for this one little bomb! They sell it 4pcs for $17

Another dish that we got to taste is the Cuttlefish curls, the cuttlefish was lightly grilled on the teppan, dashed with their homemade Teriyaki sauce and served with a couple of heart-shaped potatoes :) The cuttlefish got that smokiness from the teppan and the sauce complemented it really well. From the A la carte menu, it costs $16 per plate.

A pic of Mr.M doing his thing while the other two kids were impressed by his skills hhehe

Finally, the dessert came! First let me describe this sexy Sticky date pudding. Warm, moist and springy pudding topped with fresh berries, covered in Caramel sauce and served with a dollop of creamy vanilla ice cream. A perfect dessert to end the night with smile :) Nothing beats a warm cake with ice cream!

Second dessert to come was Bebski's favourite and not mine cause it's all about chocolate. It was a Chocolate Mousse Fondue, the Mousse is made up from Belgian Belcolade Dark chocolate with creamy warm white chocolate sauce and shaved milk chocolate curls on the side. It is literally 3 types of chocolate in one plate ;p

Sometimes I'm glad that my palate is different from bebs so we don't have to fight over one dish! Well, pork belly is an exception though kekekke..

A pic with the chef of the night and the owner, David. He was a very nice and friendly guy. He will be in the restaurant almost everyday, going over to almost every table, greeting them and sometimes sits down chatting with them. He is a generous guy and always smile :) Mr.M always told me how fun his work place is and work almost never feels like work ;p

Picture compilation of the Degustation Set for the Valentine's Dinner back in Feb 2012/2013.

Overall, I had an amazing night with my friend, had alot of great foods and will definitely come back when they have a new Degustation menu :)

Thanks for the invite and hospitality Mr.M!!

Brothers Kebab, St George

Bebski used to live in Banksia and he was the one that introduced me to this awesome yummy cheap Kebab~! We have been going to this spot for Kebab cravings for almost 4 years now. The service and quality are consistently good. The place is easy to spot as it is located in the Princes Highway and with the bright shining sign, you won't miss it :)

Went here on a Tuesday night with my sister and bebski. Our planned was to eat in Chilli Garden but the thought of having those meats was just unbearable! So we took a turn to Brothers Kebab

They serve all kind of meats from chicken, lamb and beef. I like their chicken meat the most. it is so flavorful and Juicy! They are really generous with the meat portion as well. Apart from the regular kebab and the kebab on plate, they also have souvlaki, burgers and rolls.

And the chips is a must! They always made it fresh and serve hot with their homemade chicken salt. Its really fluffy and crispy at the same time with the saltiness of the chicken salt, what a great combo!

My sister & I got the Mixed kebab wrap and share it among us. The wrap itself is quite thin and the diameter of the wrap is not as wide but the filling is aLOT! We had it with mayo and BBq sauce plus extra cheeeeseee. The BBQ sauce is another favourite of ours. Its not as sour as the BBQ sauce that you find in the supermarket.

If you think that half a wrap is the only food we're having then you are totally wrong! We also got the famous Whatsup box which is their specialties to split between us two. In that box is a bed of chips at the bottom and mountain of beef & Chicken meat pieces smothered in sauces of our choice (we choose sweet chilli and bbq)

It seriously is BIG and only for $10!! We ended up leaving some chips and meats behind cause we are too full. Bebski on the other hand, he ordered one Whatsup box and he finished everything off ^^ To his defense, his meat was not as much as ours...It's a ladies thing I guess hehehehe...

Another thing, do come in dinner time cause there a lot of people having takeaways at that time. From 11PM onwards, the place is packed with people dining there while they only have 3 dining table that fits 4 people each ;p