Bona Fides Cafe @ CBD

Town Hall has never been the place for brunch - that award goes to Surry Hills which all its quirky and delicious cafes and restaurants. The places at Town Hall, okay but ordinary. Bona Fides is one such place. Nothing special but an alright place for a meal.

A simple breakfast menu. I thought the prices were quite expensive for what we were served but before today, I've been here at lunch and the lunch specials have been quite good and creative. The breakfast menu, however, is the same old traditional Aussie brekky dishes.

Hazelnut latte and cappucino. The glass and mug were huge! I couldn't finish mine even though the coffee was good. It was just too much straight dairy for the morning.

Fancy water glass.

Cute pear shaped sugar holder.

The brazilian breakfast. Eggs and toast with bacon and chorizo.

The amount of bacon and chorizo they gave us was nowhere near the price of $16.90. So no go for this dish! The Man did mention he liked that the bacon was smoky and crispy on the edges.

Salmon benedict. The poached eggs are placed on top of ciabatta bread, different to the conventional English muffin benedicts. The hollandaise sauce is very yellow, almost too yellow and quite thick so my guess is that a lot of butter went in to make this sauce. It would have been better it the sauce had more tang to it. The butter on the toast gave more flavour and it was too much of just cream.

Each ingredient is placed separately so you have to make your stack yourself. It makes the dish look like a colourful flower garden.

Rolls of red salmon.

The egg was poached beautifully. Look at that explosion of yolk!

This place is easy to go unnoticed unless you walk right past it. For a simple, no fuss meal, it's a clean and convenient place to go.

The Bean Cafe Bar and Bistro @ Rozelle

Where else can we go for breakfast on a lazy weekend morning? Rozelle and Balmain are bursting with cafes and restaurants, bakeries and patisseries, and it's an easy drive, except the stark lack of parking spaces. We meant to try out Rosebud but on the way there after a grueling parking experience, we were entranced by this cozy retro cafe. The Bean. What a cute name! It reminds me of a Dr Seuss book.

The decor is very retro and old school but still has a modern tinge to it. Posters of old and famous rock stars and movies are hung up across one wide wall. On another wall, they've placed colourful old school toasters on display. Books lines the shelves and it looks like you can exchange one of your own books for one of theirs.

The menu isn't snazzy like a Surry Hills cafe but keeps to simple but essential dishes. I was torn between the pancakes and the muesli but gave in to the pancakes in the end. The Man got the big brekky, as an excuse to add another on the big brekky list.

Latte and cappuccino. Our usuals. I wanted a fresh juice but they only sold bottled ones. The coffee was smooth and well brewed so I didn't mind it.

My buttermilk pancakes! Don't be fooled by the simplicity. These stacks actually have an addictive flavour that forces you to eat beyond your limit. The pancakes are huge and thick, very evenly cooked through and have a subtle eggy/creamy flavour. The delightful mixture of the sweet and sour poached rhubarbs with the sweet and crunchy almond crumble is irresistible and although the creme fraiche melted really quickly, it was good while it lasted.

The almond crumble. It seemed like they crushed an almond shortbread. I'm always up for sweet breakfasts and desserts so I wouldn't have even minded if they buried the pancakes in crumble.

The big bean, their big breakfast.

The Man is polishing his stacking technique. He was rather proud of this one..

Other things to note were their service. Food came out quickly enough but their waitresses are always occupied somewhere, sometimes disappears even, so don't miss your opportunity and end up starving. The noise levels are quite high and sometimes it was hard to hear what the other person was saying and I think we both spoke an octave or so higher. But still, everyone is comfortable in their conversations and we enjoyed our meals so put this on your lists!

Tommy Thai Smile @ West Ryde

While travelling Thailand, I've had pad thai nearly every second day. There was cheap street food everywhere, delicious and fresh, so we were constantly eating and constantly searching for new dishes to try. I thought I wouldn't have Thai food for a looooooong time afterwards but I came to crave it soon enough. Thai Curry was closed so we went to the other Thai place at West Ryde, Tommy Thai Smile.

If Thai Curry has that homey, authentic feel to it, this place makes you feel like you're in a Thai palace.

The decor is neat and fancy but the lighting a bit dim.

Coconut juice! I really missed this!

The calamari. One calamari is fried to a crisp, but don't be fooled by the exterior. The calamari is soft and nicely spiced so you don't even need the sweet chili sauce. It'll only overpower the subtle spice flavour.


Spicy noodles with chicken and chicken panang curry.

The curry was sweet but not overly coconuty. The chicken was soft and you could tell they used fresh chicken instead of pre-cooked chicken, which leaves the chicken tough and dry. Little pieces of veggies are submerged in the creamy curry and add their own flavours to each bite.

The spicy noodles with chicken. It's a simple fried noodle dish but I couldn't help but admire the subtle details. Set on a piece of banana leaf, this dish looks like is should be served at a beachside resort. Sprinkles of orange egg strips decorate the peak, making this dish fun to see as well as eat.

The egg itself doesn't have any special flavour but the noodles are certainly full of flavour. I've asked for medium spiciness so the flavours were thoroughly enjoyable. Sometimes, simple dishes are the hardest to master but these dishes have been flavoured and presented beautifully. Plus, their friendly service really did put a smile on my face :)

Makanai @ Chatswood

Now that I'm back home, my friends are going overseas one by one. The weather's also clearing up which means I must go out somewhere but it looks like this summer will be a quiet season of relaxing and typing up long reports. My sole comfort will be eating yummy foods and my friends and I met up on Friday night to try the newly transformed Chatswood.

The old library area has been cleared and a magnificent new building erected on its spot with a lawn, fountain and new restaurants! The Concourse, it's called, and they also have a Ben and Jerry's which I've already tried twice in a span of a few days :p

The restaurant we tried out this day was Makanai, a Japanese ramen place, where Hello Happy used to be. The interior is what first caught my eye - a fiery red maple tree stands at the entrance with wooden benches underneath for those waiting for seats.

It's not a big place and the tables are squeezed in next to each other on one side of the room with the open kitchen on the other side. It reminds me of little ramen places in Japan, although they're much smaller, and feels cozy yet chic.

Huge, white ramen bowls decorate the walls. From afar, it looks like a big, scaly fish.

Rows of triangular sushi are placed at the front. These forms of sushi are popular in Asia and they're also fun to open! Grab the two sides and pull and a cute triangular sushi pops out with the plastic still wrapped around the bottom so you don't get your hands dirty. You can buy a couple of these and go relax on the lawn at the Concourse.

The menu is a wooden board with detailed descriptions and photos of some dishes. The menu is divided into 4 main parts - ramen, udon, donburi, and bento. You can also get Japanese home dishes like meatballs. With the ramen, you decide between three soups - Sapporo miso (chicken, bonito, miso), Tokyo shoyu (chicken, pork, bonito, soy) and Hakata Tonkotsu, a pork bone based soup.

First dish, the tan tan ramen in sapporo miso. This ramen is based on a spicy miso soup for those who love spicy foods. It's not that spicy though but just enough. The soup in this one is slightly thicker as it as sesame in it.

Ajitama Ramen in sapporo miso. It's a signature dish from Yokohama with soy flavoured half cooked marinated egg in their stock broth. I liked the soup from this ramen the best out of the three. It was slightly spicy and had the most flavour. The half cooked egg was soft and beautifully marinaded.

Mine, the cha shu ramen in sapporo miso. Succulent slow braised pork in their famous stock broth. The pork was so soft and tender and broke easily with your chopsticks. They were cold but soon became warmish in the soup.

You can really taste that the soups were prepared with care and dedication. Other ramen places stink of pork so that I can't even finish half of it. The serving portions were also plentiful and especially because the soup was so well brewed, you end up getting full on liquid than the noodles.

The restaurant was constantly full and food arrived very quickly upon ordering. I saw other people take out their cameras and intently snap at the food and the very oriental interior. There are only two waitresses so you might need to wave your arms a bit to catch their attention but their service was still quick and attentive when you do manage to grab them. Definitely a must!

Cafe Topiary @ Epping

It's time to catch up with old friends! I've missed everyone so much while I was away and everyone is so busy near Christmas and New Years that it's so difficult to arrange a time for everyone to meet up together. Soooooooo, I met up with one friend today to enjoy the beautiful sunshine over brunch at Cafe Topiary.

The cafe was quite busy this morning with families laughing and relaxing over breakfast and coffee. Many had come out for grocery shopping post-Christmas and came to get some takeaway coffee. Among all the comings and goings it may be hard to get the staff's attention as I noticed when I was waving my hand in the air for a few minutes to get the bill.

Brunch! I wasn't in my top condition so I had an orange and ginger juice to boost my energy.

Pear and raspberry bread, oh so beautifully toasted. The floral plate is so cute and pretty, I feel like I'm at a tea party.

Cinnamon butter. Spread this on your bread and voila! a lovely subtle cinnamon flavour on top of the sweet pear and raspberry.

French toast for my friend. Two slices of thick toast served with grilled bananas, bacon and berry compote. I don't normally like grilled bananas but the ones here were cooked to perfection. It was slightly cooled so it didn't feel like you were eating hot baby food. The bread itself was soft and well coated in its egg mixture.

The berry compote with huge blueberrires, strawberries and other little berries. And thus makes the wonderful combination of french toast goodness.

Da Wan Lai - The Poet's Restaurant @ Top Ryde

With New Years looming ahead, the shopping centres are more packed than ever as eager shoppers try their luck with the stocktake sales. I endured it for Christmas but I'm still in post-Thailand mode and I want my peace and quiet. Instead, I ventured out to Top Ryde City at nighttime for dinner and a relaxing movie.

I've passed by Da Wan Lai many times but never thought to try it. This night, I felt adventurous to try this new restaurant and ignoring the massive line at Hurricane's next door, me and the Man snuggled up on the pillar seat.

Complimentary prawn crackers. Better quality than most places, it was crunchy and salty. They were also huuuuuuuuge!

Oolong tea.

Apple juice. It wasn't the prettiest but it still tasted nice.

San Choy Bow. This wasn't as oily as other places. The duck was beautifully flavoured and was very tender yet chewy. The fried noodles on top and the fresh lettuce leaf made up for the missing crunch.

Multicoloured capsicums and the fried noodles make the dish look very pretty and colourful. It was stimulating to the eyes as well as the palate. I could never eat this neatly. My hands were wet with the oil and by the end, the san choy bow exploded from my hands so I had to eat it from the plate. Embarrassing, but I never quite mastered how to eat this yet!

Dan dan noodles. Served in a giant's bowl.

I expected this to be spicy but it was a little bland and boring for me. The noodles itself were stiff and had no flavour. The meat disappeared off to somewhere after mixing so weren't really helpful with the much needed flavour. Normally, the soup is the best bit of a noodle soup but this one really didn't make me want to drink it. I left more than half and just ate the quail eggs instead, which were soft boiled.

Chef's Special Lamb Cutlets. Spiced, juicy lamb cutlets fried and arranged in a crunchy pyramid. It's set on a bed of chili onions, which really didn't have much chili flavour. Still, the lamb itself had enough flavour for us to enjoy this dish. If you don't bite it hard enough, the fat will rip off by itself so bite carefully!

However, it didn't feel like a side dish you eat with rice, instead it was like fried chicken. The Man held it by the bone and ripped it off with his teeth as they only provide you with chopsticks. I guess we could have asked for a fork and knife set but it's always more fun eating with your hands!

The overall quality of the food was better than most Chinese restaurants and wasn't as greasy as other places. They also had a specials menu with unique dishes designed by the chefs here so when Chinese food gets a bit boring, you should try Da Wan Lai and see if you can reach that poetic epiphany with their food.