Rosenbaum and Fuller @ Bondi Beach

February 16, 20191 Comment

This cafe is in a busy area in Bondi off Hall street where there’s heaps of cafes to try. Rosenbaum and fuller has only been open a few months and trying to pave their way in a busy industry. We visited after finding this via Instagram and liked the idea of its vision with an ethical and sustainable supply and use of fresh organic ingredients.

It is a cafe by day and restaurant by lunch and dinner, they often have live music in the evenings with some dinner specials.

We like the set up of the space, it is nice decor, ambience and the kitsch features, like the hanging bouquets and alcohol bottles. The pottery cups are also a nice touch.

The service was excellent, the waitress was very helpful and personable and dealt well with our many questions.

We really enjoyed our meal, although only 2 of the party ordered since the menu online differed to what is actually on the menu when you arrive (and some of us decided what we wanted before we arrived and they didn’t have it). In addition, the printed menu is a bit vague, ie “avocado on toast or mushrooms on toast”. In reality, the food is far more creative, interesting and enticing than the menu suggests. So we recommend taking a punt and giving something a go because it is better than it sounds.

We had the gnocchi with mushrooms, kale, potato and a poached egg which was super delicious.

The roasted granola was lovely and came with a huge serving of coconut yoghurt and berry compote. Quite a good choice for vegan diners.

The coffee is good – they use edition roasters. There’s tea and other drinks and well as some brunch cocktails and alcohol at lunch and dinner time.

We like the cafe and hope to see them do well.

13 O’Brien St, Bondi Beach NSW 2026

rosenbaumandfuller.com

Bear With Me

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019Leave a comment

Thanks to the knowledge of my hip little brother and trendy girlfriend, we found this cafe in South Hobart and were pleased to find it open on Australia Day, especially when pretty much everything was closed.

We enter into this good sized cafe with a little lounge area and the front, and plenty of tables inside and a huge shared table where we sat. The space is fresh and modern with lots of greenery and the ambience is buzzing and it has a really positive vibe about it. Our waitress was excellent and very hospitable.

We would say that the food could be describe as creative twists on dishes you know with lovely flavour combinations and everything that hit our table was enjoyed and devoured by all.

Always a fan of ordering granola, this is possibly the best we’ve had. It is far more than your typical granola. With Macadamia and Wattleseed granola, served with Waiora Natural Honeyed Yoghurt and fruits – the fruit gels were incredible!! We could have demolished a few plates.

We loved these Peanut Butter Salt and Pepper Tofu Gua Bao buns – with shaved cabbage and mustard cress and burnt chilli mayonnaise, roasted peanuts and cucumber. We enjoyed this vegetarian dish and were impressed at its quality of flavours.

Our friends sampled the eggs Benedict, sitting on a crispy potato rosti flavoured with thyme, crisp apple and smoked master stock braised ham hock. This was a great choice.

The breakfast salad would normally be my go to so I’m glad one of us got it; with grains, roasted nuts and seeds, kale, broccoli and avocado, pomegranate, beetroot, hummus and olive oil dressing. Add a poached egg and hot smoked salmon and you’ve got a healthy dish that is inspired.

Not to be left to last was the amazingly fluffy lemon ricotta hotcake that deserves accolades. With creamy ricotta, fresh local berries, blackberry gel, crisp raspberries, ginger crumble organic maple syrup, it’s such a generous serve and incredibly tasty.

They also have kaffir like coconut chia pudding, and açai bowl as well as Brioche breakfast rolls and toasted croissants. The chocolate and raspberry croissant looked incredible. The bread is from Imago bakery and patisserie and we personally enjoyed the gluten free bread.

This cafe also has great coffee, using ona brand. They also have smoothies and even matcha lattes. The cafe is really a top notch spot and it’s a shame it’s not in Sydney, we’d be there every week.

Bear With Me

399 Macquarie St, South Hobart TAS 7004, Australia

Speciality Coffee and inspired menu @ Single 0, Surry Hills

January 25, 2019January 28, 2019Leave a comment

Over the holiday period, we finally had the time to just chill out and visit some cafes that we’ve had on our list for a while now. We do enjoy Single O coffee, and have had it a lot when the roaster was previously in our local area. Since it’s departure, we’ve enjoyed it at a few cafes around Sydney. Recently we opted to visit its popular specialty coffee cafe in Surry Hills. In a side street that’s not too busy with vehicles.

Whenever you drive past, it’s always busy, evidence of it being a quality cafe. We arrived and had our name on the waiting list, but not for long, we were seated fast. Staff are obviously experienced in high turnover of customers, taking our coffee order as soon as we sat down to enjoy whilst selecting and ordered our food.

Nice smooth milk based coffees, which use only 3% milk but they also have filter, pour over, batch brew and iced drinks too.

The menu is extremely appealing and the majority of the menu items are healthy and made with using ethical produce, interesting flavours and Australian native ingredients.

We had the avocado and beetroot hummus, as well as the mothership bowl, with poached eggs, avocado, roasted mushroooms, roasted pumpkin, fermented cabbage, kale, turmeric cashew cheese, mixed grains and hazelnut dukkah. We often order this sort of dish if it’s on the menu, but this was one of the better ones we’ve eaten. The flavours are really lovely, a nourishing brunch dish we enjoyed a lot.

The coffee spiced beef brisket burger sounded extremely inviting and looked superb, however new year new me and went for a healthier but also appealing meal, the native nori toasted tomato with black rice, edamame, tempeh, asparagus, sesame dressing and a poached egg.

We’re also good authority that this place does a great bacon and egg roll, one of the best in Sydney. We’ll be back to try some of the other menu items in the near future.

Single O

60-64 Reservoir Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

Phone: 02 9211 0665

Mon – Fri 6:30am – 4pm

Sat 7:30am – 3pm

Sun 8:00am – 3pm

Food ’til 2:30pm

Calabur cafe – hidden little gem in Bondi Junction.

January 19, 2019January 28, 2019Leave a comment

Calabur cafe is super close to Bondi Junction Westfield and Eastgate shopping centre. Walking by, you would probably not notice it, underground off the Main Street. Definitely make it a destination to visit.

It’s a vintage, rustic style place, with exposed bricks, pipes, rustic chairs, succulent plants, and feels like some of the cafes we’ve seen in Bangkok. They hold a few events like live music and charity fundraise too.

On walking in, the waitress and waiter were super polite and were warm and friendly. We took a seat at a table for two, and they offered us a larger table if we pleased. Very nice atmosphere!

We ordered the granola fruit market which was delicious – greek yoghurt with granola, kiwi fruit, blueberries, kiwi fruit and passion fruit, there was also some honey to put atop the creation. It looked beautiful, a real work of art!

We also had the ‘spicy’ Onsen eggs, which actually were not too spicy, served with avocado, heirloom tomatoes, radish, carrot and mushrooms.

The ‘magic’ noodle salad of purple steamed butterfly glass noodles that are meant to turn a lighter purple with a touch of lemon, served with carrot, seaweed, cucumber, zucchini, radish and a sesame dressing. You can have this with raw fish, so we opted for the tuna. This is a lovely fresh and healthy dish.

The coffees were excellent and a nice smooth brew.

Thai food at any time of the day @ Boon Cafe

January 18, 2019January 18, 2019Leave a comment

Cafe by day, thai street food style eatery restaurant by night. Located in “Thai Town” in the Haymarket end of Pitt Street, Boon Cafe is a winner in our books, especially for cheap eats.

The cafe has a good vibe to it and the decor is modern and has a market place vibe to it with exposed brick walls, a bicycle up on the wall and rustic flowers at each of the tables.

Inside the same building is an attached Asian grocer and fruit and veg market selling plenty of sauces, noodles, frozen foods and fresh items to cook with. The counter also has pre-prepared meals to purchase and take to work or home to reheat.

The cafe has a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. At breakfast you can grab a western meal, pan-baked eggs or congee.

At lunch time, some of their sandwiches sounded brilliant – basically it’s the typical thai meals on a Sandwich! Wow, like chicken cashew sandwich, mushrooms and holy basil sandwich or a fried chicken and papaya salad burger. It’s gotta be seen and ordered for sure!

We were there for dinner. The food is described as Isaan cuisine (from Northern Thailand), with Som Dtum, grilled and fried dishes, warm salads and fish, and rice or noodles. We ordered the larb soon sen / spicy glass noodles and minced chicken. I asked for mild, and it unfortunately came out way too spicy. The waiter was observant enough to notice and offered to replace the dish with a new, and less spicy one. We appreciate this gesture.

Our favourite dish of the night was the Padt Mee Kha ti – like a pad thai, this one has stir fried thin rice noodles but with tamarind, tofu, coconut milk, garlic chives and shredded omelette. This was super tasty and we’d easily order it again.

If you’re just here for dessert, there’s pandan croissants, toast with house smoked chilli relish and dried shredded pork or condensed milk and milo to name a few. Combine this with a coffee or matcha latte, homemade iced tea or traditional thai coffee, and you’ve got yourself a great combo.

The food here is super tasty, and the menu items are actually inspired and interesting! Prices are extremely reasonable too, and for $6, an entree sized soup is amazing.

Boon Cafe

http://www.booncafe.com

425 Pitt St Haymarket 2000

Specialty coffee and barista training school @ Veneziano, Surry Hills.

January 16, 2019Leave a comment

Veneziano in Surry Hills is a specialty coffee shop, coming out of Melbourne. The Surry Hills store is its flagship store in Sydney. It is also a barista training site in roasting, barista work and latte art training. I visited here upon the suggestions of a friend and glad I did.

The space is contemporary and chic, with minimalistic furniture and sleek concrete walls and counters and plenty of space to sit with some Scandanavian inspired chairs.

Milk based coffees, pour over, batch brew or filter, you name it, they have it. I spoke with the barista regarding how I like my coffee and she was great, offering that if I didn’t like it, she’d remake it. My latte was lovely and a nice smooth blend. When you order your coffee, it comes with sparkling water, which is a welcome addition.

They have coffee products on sale, beans, cups and more. They have some beautiful ceramics for sale “Sit Still Lauren Ceramics” which they use in store too. If I had more money, I’d grab a few of these for my house.

The business is also promoting sustainability of their suppliers and I was pleased to see a recycling station for coffee cups and lids.

They don’t serve food other than doughnuts and pastries, and when this is the case, it’s usually because the coffee is so good. Which it is.

352 Bourke St, Surry Hills NSW 2010

Jally’s Cafe @ Camden

January 16, 2019January 16, 2019Leave a comment

We love that the cafe has a bit of history to it. In its previous days it was a garage owned by a chemist in the 1970’s. The cafe is opposite what once was a theatre, you’ll see reflections of Camden’s historic past on photographs on the wall. This is brilliant, considering Camden is one of Australia’s oldest towns.

This was turned into a cafe in early 2017 and it looks like a rustic garage with indoor and outdoor seating (made of light wood) and there’s also a backyard garden area.

Its vision is to serve wholesome food and great coffee. Open early, you can pop in for your morning coffee rush. They have plenty of varieties of milk if you have certain health requirements.

Food wise, the kitchen is open 7am – 3pm.

Whether it be smashed avo, bacon and egg rolls, pancakes or a brekkie bowl, we’re sure you’ll find something up your alley. It’s predominately a healthy menu. They’re pretty popular for their range of Acai bowls too.

We went for the brekkie bowl with quinoa , kale, mushrooms, roast pumpkin, avocado and 2 Holbrook eggs with almond dukkah . They were kind enough to replace the avo with feta for me, and add chicken. A super healthy dish and it was quite big, so I took a bit home.

We also had a gluten free dish – the zucchini, lemon and feta fritters, served with roast pumpkin and tomato, beetroot hummus, rocket and poached Holbrook egg. We both thought the pumpkin on both dishes was super flavoursome.

Plenty of options are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free etc, so you will definitely find something for you.

There’s a heap of health based bars and sweets in the front counter, as well as pre made salads for those on the run.

Jallys also have a whole foods store in Whitemans arcade. It’s stumps me why it’s not next to the shop, but it’s worth a look. Selling grains, nuts and environmentally caring products, we purchased a few things. They give a card for a free coffee which is a bonus.

Jally’s Cafe

10 Larkin Pl, Camden NSW 2570, Australia

https://www.jallys.com.au

Specialty Coffee @ Comoros Coffee, Mascot

January 15, 2019January 15, 2019Leave a comment

Mascot have plenty of coffee shops and cafes and so when I saw yet another one was opening, I was extremely confused by this as a business decision. Especially when Comoros opened next door to another café. However, I was pleasantly surprised when this coffee shop opened as it is probably one of the only speciality coffee shops in Mascot selling quality coffee.

Just off the main strip in Mascot, Comoros occupies a small space, not yet air-conditioned, but it’s not really that in need of one. A couple of stools at the window and a bench seat with a few tables if you wish to dine in. Minimalist décor, a couple of plants and coffee related equipment for sale. The place is only small and probably suits a high volume of take away orders.

It’s not designed as an eat in café, but you can if you are up for a pastry. There’s Smoking Gun Bagels with your choice of spread or ‘smears’. From 11:30 after the morning coffee rush, you can grab a topped bagel such as a pastrami, pickles, mustard and Swiss cheese bagel.

Coffee wise they’re using Seven Miles Coffee Roasters, and a range of other boutique beans are for sale. Sparkling water is given with your coffee.

You can also get filter coffee, cold brew, nitro cold brew or an iced coffee. I’m quite a fan of the iced coffee here. Didn’t need a sugar in it (which I often do) so it’s a sign of a good coffee.

Service is efficient, staff seem pretty quiet and a little hipster and the place will be popular with coffee goers after a good brew.

Shop 4, 1 Robey St, Mascot

Three Blue Ducks @ Rosebery

January 11, 2019January 11, 2019Leave a comment

The Three Blue Ducks concept began in Bronte and they’ve since expanded with stores now in Byron Bay, Rosebery and Brisbane. They also host weddings and functions and you often see them at other events off site. With a big team of staff, you will note one of them is an ex-Masterchef contestant.

Stores vary in look and menu, however their approach is the same. We went to the Rosebery store which could be described as an open kitchen, large dining space and rustic decor. The store also sells some homely products like chopping boards, keep cups and cookbooks.

The restaurant group likes to use ethically sourced and organic produce and generally from local suppliers, ensuring the menu has fresh food, and as such the menu continues to evolve.

We were pleasantly greeted, taken to our table and perused the menu. Entrees, larger plates as well as the weekly sandwich special (this day was a smoked lamb) and even a bottomless brunch are on the menu. We were visiting mid week so unfortunately a bottomless brunch wasn’t on the cards for us, perhaps another time.

We ordered the oysters, which were beautiful. served with a shallot and red wine mignonette, the flavour was very refreshing. The lamb kofta was incredibly tasty, served on a spread of romesco, parsley and accompanied with a flatbread. This was a very good dish, but probably a little pricy at $19 for the size.

The other dining partners chose the poke bowl, with the addition of kingfish. A good serving, quite fishy with all the seafood and kingfish too, topped with a poached egg. Again, a lovely meal, but well above your typical price range for a poke bowl ($27).

We also had the wood roasted kingfish. Perfectly cooked, with a crispy skin and served with charred broccoli and a macadamia cream, pickled chilli and anchovy vinaigrette ($35). Flavours worked really well and the wood roasting enabled the natural fish flavour to be retained.

Other menu options include BBQ prawns, porchetta, sticky chicken, pumpkin salad and a buttermilk chicken burger (to name a few).

The bar has a range of boutique beers and ciders, cocktails and a wine list, as well as tea and coffee.

It is a lovely place to dine, staff are warm and welcoming and service was prompt. The food was extremely delicious, but it’s probably a little overpriced. We would recommend this for a special lunch. There’s a brunch menu too which we’d be keen to try at some point.

Three Blue Ducks

1/85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery NSW 2018, Australia

Urban Pantry @ Manuka, ACT

January 8, 2019January 8, 20191 Comment

We were in Canberra for a weekend and looked up cafes to visit via google & Instagram. This café caught our eye and we are glad it did. We headed down to Mankua area, which is thriving with cafes, which we were pleasantly surprised about given it was between Christmas and New Year’s.

The Urban Pantry occupies a corner location just by a small open arcade. Its big swinging doors greet you from the front and it’s interior styling has a white cottage chic vibe going on, very pretty, with plenty of greenery. You can also sit alfresco.

It wasn’t too busy and we were seated quickly. The food being served to other diners looked fabulous and the menu is very approachable so we had a very difficult time deciding what to order. Breakfast is until 11:30 or all day dining on weekends – we were brunch visitors but the lunch meals also looked very appealing, in particular the house made gnocchi or meat skewers. This will be for another time!

For the breakfast choices, their sweet dishes include Brioche French Toast and buttermilk pancakes. There’s also plenty of amazing choices to make that are savoury. Whether it be the chef’s pan or urban avocado, mushroom bruschetta or an omelette, you will find something to suit. We decided on their spring onion crumpets, topped with campari cured gravlax, creme fraiche and a toasted grain panagratto. The crumpets were light and fluffy and the topping was a lovely flavour combination. We really enjoyed this dish.

I had the summer fruits – a plate of mango, dragonfruit, kiwi fruit, watermelon, pineapple and a coconut yoghurt pancaotta with macadamia granola. It was lovely and refreshing for summer. Could have done with a more generous serve of the granola for the crunch factor, but that said it was a good dish.

To be honest I’m slightly regretting not ordering an open toast; the option that had oven roasted maple pear, basket ricotta and Majura Valley Vanilla honey is still calling my name. At least, it gives me a want to return!

The coffees are good too – we enjoyed an iced coffee, on what was a scorcher of a weekend.

We really like that this café is not one of the typical cafes we often see in Sydney with their run of the mill bacon and egg rolls or over the top sweet colourful insta worthy dishes. We like that they are inventive and creative, making delicious dishes with beautiful fresh ingredients in an interesting way. Everything was stunning and we are super keen to revisit when in the area.

Urban Pantry

https://urbanpantrymanuka.com.au/

5 Bougainville St, Griffith, ACT

thewhereto

food | travel | lifestyle

Tag: coffee

Rosenbaum and Fuller @ Bondi Beach

Bear With Me

Speciality Coffee and inspired menu @ Single 0, Surry Hills

Calabur cafe – hidden little gem in Bondi Junction.

Thai food at any time of the day @ Boon Cafe

Specialty coffee and barista training school @ Veneziano, Surry Hills.

Jally’s Cafe @ Camden

Specialty Coffee @ Comoros Coffee, Mascot

Three Blue Ducks @ Rosebery

Urban Pantry @ Manuka, ACT