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 :)

Ho Jiak, Starthfield

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Ho Jiak, recently opened inside Strathfield Plaza offers a Hawker Style experience with their mini dining area and a delicious authentic Penang taste in every plates.

I went there with my foodie troops a couple months back

The foods there are well priced and the portion was good as well. To start with, there is nothing better than Penang Chee Cheong Fun. Steamed Rice Roll with Tofu Skin, Fish Balls and Sweet Black Sauce. Love the sweet sauce! And a great start to begin the meals.

Chee Chong Fun $7.80

Next to come is the Bah kut Teh. Pork spare Ribs, Pork Belly and Deep Fried tofu cooked in a Chinese Herbal Soup. The soup is lighter in colour than the one I had in Penang but the taste itself is really good and not too herby as might be offensive to some people. Bakut teh that night was one of the favourite among us..

Bah Kut Teh $13.80

 And the must order whenever you visited Penang or Penang-food restaurant is their Char Kwey teow. With a nice smoky wok aroma and chewy rice noodle is the perfect sign that this is legit stuff! Cooked with cockles, lap tjeong, prawns and egg! I did add a bit more soy sauce and chilli to it cause i love my food salty and spicy ;p

Char Kuey teow $12.80

Nasi Pattaya is Malaysian Fried Rice inside Omelette almost like Omurice in Japan but this one is more complex in terms of flavour in my opinion. Almost every table got this dish and yeah, it tasted amazing ;) It looks simple but hey it's really hard to make a perfect fried rice without ready made paste, in my opinion :)

Nasi Pattaya $12.80

Another fried rice that night but the special thing about this one is the Sambal Durian. Yes ladies and gentlement, there is a hint of Durian inside that chilli paste and I love it. It tasted pretty weird on the first bite cause who put durian in chillies right, but it actually is a good combination after all.

Harmee - Penang Prawn Noodle soup is my personal favourite! Rich broth with perfectly cooked noodle, fresh prawns and sliced of pork belly with boiled egg and fried shallot! You just have to try them. No words to explain ;P I also did put heaps of belacan sambal in it. Yuum

Harmee - $12.80

Overall, I love their foods! We ate our heart out and we were sad cause we didn't get to try the Hainanese Chicken rice and did not get to taste their Michael Jackson. But that means, another reason to visit! The pic below shows how crazy we were, 6 of us and we bought that much, plus the Roti Canai with Chicken Curry that I didn't get to take photo cause we were too hungry and the foods were too precious just to be photo-ed and stared ;P

Sticky Finger, Surry Hills

Foods are okay.. I would love to come back and try their padthai! they have a variety of dishes on their menu and as we can tell from the photos, they are asian inspired brunch spot :)

White Taro, Surry Hills

I just found a new favorite brunch place of mine! I recently went on a brunch date with Mr.P. Since he needed a private catch up with me on a regular basis ;P
It's been so hard to gather up my foodie friends to come with me here, so I thought going with Mr.P would be a great idea since we will order extra stuff anyway ..

White Taro is a fusion of Vietnamese and Western style brunch and they are just located across Reuben Hills! I arrived at the place at noon and we got seated immediately. Their have outdoor dining area as well, but I always prefer inside, unless the lighting outside is better :)

The place itself wasn't as big but it feels kinda comfy and welcoming :)
Without further ado, we made our orders!
The not to be missed Deconstructed Banh Mi is the first thing to come to our table. Crispy pork belly with house made apple date chutney, crunchy veggie pickles, spiced Kumquat Butter, kimchi, Chicken orange pate served with Freshly Baked Baguette. There are so many elements in this dish and for me the best way to eat them is to put a little bit of everything inside the baguette. It tasted amazing! Nothing that Ive ever tasted before. Writing this literally made me drools that I really wanted to go back there asap!

Deconstructed Banh Mi $19

 I was hesitant at first to order the Chook in Broth, because the clear broth to be honest does not tempt me whatsoever. But we order it anyway cause it falls under the "recommended" menu. It came in this huge bowl and topped with grilled chicken which undoubtedly so tasty and the clear broth is actually rich in flavour but light. It has a strong sesame oil note which Mr.P and I loveeeesss. The noodle was perfect with the crunchy beansprouts, wild mushrooms and the oozing boiled egg. highly recommended!!

Chook in Broth $15

 Lastly, we got the Acai Bowl cause its not only looks fantastic on Instagram, but it was actually delish! Served with seasonal fruits, muesli and greek yoghurt. It so refreshign and at the same time satisfied the sweet thing needed after a savoury meal :)

Acai Bowl $14

To sum up, White Taro got 4 thumbs up from me! They serve beautiful foods and service was great. Even though waiting time for the foods can be quite long, but good food is made with love and it takes time :)

Spice Alley, Kensington Street

So couple weeks ago, my friends and I visited Kensington street for the first time on a Sunday. We reached the place 2pm after church and we were starving! Luckily, the place wasn't as crowded as I imagined it would be.

This place is located just next to Central Park and they got so many entrance to the area. We went through this small lane to reach the place and once we entered, we were amazed by the design of the dining area and how the placed the food vendors. Definitely bring me back to eating street foods in Malaysia.

Went to Spice Alley with Ms.N, her sister and not to forget Bebski. The four of us ordered each dishes from each stalls. They were so cheap and so delicious at the same time! So let me break down the list of the food vendors:

• Alex Lee Kitchen : was planning to try their Durian Roti but they run out, so we got the Roti Telor and Roti Canai with Curry
• Old Jim Kee: Char Kuey Teow, Hokkian Noodle, Sambal Pipi, Lohbak and Fried Chicken Wing
• Bang Luck : Oyster Omellete fritter and Crispy Pork Belly with Chilli Jam on Rice
• Hongkong Diner: Roast Duck with Salted egg on Rice
• Drinks: Ice Kacang and Milk tea

Believe or not, each person spent $25 for everything. We ate our heart out and tummy are fully satisfied! :)

Spice Alley is a great place to chill and they sell a variety of foods to choose from.

Had Froyo from Anita for dessert. I know.. i know. After all that feast, i still got room for this :P

Bar Luca, Sydney CBD

Bar Luca is o ne of the best Burger place that I've visited here in Sydney. Located in Philip st near Circular Quay, it's no surprised that this place is always packed with diners during peak hour lunch time as blogger/students/part timer like me has to compete with the executives that work in that area ;P

The good thing is they are open for bookings! So rest assured if you are organised, you will definitely secure yourself a table. 

Bar Luca offers different specials everyday from Monday to Friday and unfortunately they close on the Weekend T.T I went there on Wednesday with my fellow foodies, 9 of us to taste first hand this amazeballs burger that we saw a lot on Instagram. The specials on Wed currently is free add of Bacon or Cheese !!

I ordered a side of the Crab, Coriander and Corn Fritter with the creamy Aioli. They are good especially dipped into the sauce. I would love to taste more coriander in it thoughh ;P

Fritter $9

Tried the Pulled Pork Burger which comes with Coleslaw, Coriander, tender juicy Pulled Pork and Chipotle Aioli with side ons for Fried and Chicken wing for $6! Oops not to forget the additional cheese and maple glazed bacon, yummm ~~

Pulled Pork Burger $14 

Chicken Karage Burger comes next to our table which comprise of Crispy crumbed Chicken Karage, Coriander, Wasabi Aioli, Pickled Veg and Coral Lettuce (add Bacon).
Hmmm.. you know  how when u visited a burger place that is specialised in beef burger, and you kinda don't wanna look at other varities, at Bar Luca, you better think twice cause this karage burger is at the same level of yuminessss!

Chicken Karage Burger $14

As can be seen from my epic pic below, the star of Bar Luca, the thing that occupied most of my Insta News Feed! The Blame Canada - 200g Wagyu Beef Pattie, Maple glazed Bacon, Maple Aioli and Poutine, with addition bacon and chesse and fried and chicken wings ~~~

The buns were so soft that you need to take the photo almost immediately when it arrives before it started to be less fluffy, the pattie is always serve with a pink center, and the combination of all eleements just made this burger taste heavenly delish!

Highly Highly Recommended !!

Blame Canada $15

Some shots of behind the scenes of how we foodies dine! ;P

It's so good that I'm coming back again today with different troops and so glad the special is $10 bucket wings1 yummmm ~~