Writer & photographer of the Sydney food blog, the heart of food. IT professional, freelance photographer & food enthusiast, when time permits.
Corn chips, served warm & crispy, along with a guacamole dip to whet the appetite while you wait for the main event.
Burritos may not be the prettiest of foods but the California Burrito at Chica Bonita is utterly beautiful. Slices of grilled beef steak with a punchy, smokey flavour are wrapped along with a generous portion of fries (yes, within the burrito) and lashing of guacamole and cheese. A trio of sauces accompany the burrito, including (from mildest to spiciest, right to left) salsa verde with tomatillo, chipotle & habanero. The California Burrito was by far and away the best burrito I've had in Sydney to date. It puts all other burritos I've had in the past to shame. For you vegetarians, there is also a version that is served with black beans in place of the steak.
This crunchy petrified whole snapper is an impressive sight to behold as it arrives at the table. Served with a sauce that seems to be a nod towards the classic ginger and shallot sauce often served with Chinese fish dishes this was probably one of my favourite dishes of the meals.
Beef mince wrapped in betal leaf is tender and juicy with peanuts for textural contrast and a spicy sauce for a bit of kick. Not a bad starter dish.
Part food and part theatre, camp fire beef is presented with a lidded ceramic bowl perched in a bowl of gel fuel. The fuel is ceremoniously lit and mesmerising flames lick up the sides as you await for the mysterious contents to come to temperature and be revealed. What awaits within are slices of beef immersed in a somewhat rich and intensely flavourful broth with onions, tomato & shallots. The beef slices are to be served in rice paper rolls with salad & fish sauce but I would have been happy to have done away with the rolls and just have the beef and its delicious broth with a bowl of rice.
Crispy duck pancake as it's intended to be consumed.
Crunchy pancake much like Banh Xeo but with a filling of tender duck. The pre-cut segments are served at the table by the floor staff in lettuce cups with slivers of carrot and fresh coriander and sweet chilli fish sauce nuoc cham.
Relatively new pizza and Lebanese restaurant with a lunchtime special for $11.90 takeaway (at time of this spot). Purchased supreme pizza which contains pepperoni, cabanossi, leg ham, capsicum, onion & olives. Pizza base was thin, but unfortunately limp, bland and without any real texture to it. The pizza didn't use a lot of cheese, which can be seen as both a good or bad thing depending on how you like your pizzas. It make the flavours of the ingredients stand out more and taste more fresh with little concern for the lactose intolerance sucker-punch or bloating that some may experience post pizza. However, it still could have done with a little more cheese than what was there, to at the very least make up for the poor foundation it was built on. While I'm not unhappy with the price paid, I'm glad I didn't pay the full price of $19.
Limited edition duck pancake macaron for Adriano Zumbo's annual Macaron Day, a day where over 60 macaron flavours are sold to celebrate his birthday, some tame and some like this, very left of centre. The duck pancake has a small piece of Peking duck and cucumber cream filling sandwiched between macaron shells, smeared with hoisin sauce and then wrapped in a flour pancake typical of the dish that inspired this macaron. While the flavours are all true to form, the outer pastry was tough and on the chewy side and the sweetness and texture of the macaron shells takes away from the overall experience. Kudos for effort but unfortunately doesn't quite hit the mark.
The Valrhona Manjari flourless chocolate cake is the ultimate indulgence, even for those with gluten tolerances. It's a weird confluence of paradoxes - rich yet rather light; simple yet complex; decadent without the guilt; plain and yet far from it. It's only Achille's heel, it's Kryptonite, is that it feels like it needs to be consumed along with something, like a dollop of double cream, vanilla ice cream or even a talk glass of frosty milk.
Omit the word spicy from its title as this dish is far from it. It consists of your choice of protein or vegetable (chicken in my case), egg, onion, tomato and vegetables. Not bad if you wish to fill the pit in your stomach with something cheap but don't expect much fanfare from your taste buds. If you like acid reflux, you may be in for a pleasant surprise. If not, well...
Stir fried vegetables and tofu with Thai basil, garlic, fresh chili, chili jam, bamboo shoots, green beans, onions and shallots. Despite all the mentions of chili, this is piss-weak mild and rather sweet. Still, the vegetables are cooked well and are still nice and crunchy. It's cheap so it's alright for what it is.
Vegetable and tofu pad kee mao. Cooked to order but it was quite oily and sweet while lacking a chili hit. Student-level food, both in price and flavour.
