Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 2): Emperor's Cream Puff and Superbowl Chinese Restaurant ~ Review

After a fine morning in Newtown, we headed to Chinatown.

Chinatown Gate Entrance

We were there to get some glutinous rice dumplings as it was the start of the festival (my family follows this kind of tradition). We got ours at the Emperor's Garden Cake & Bakery and while I don't have a picture with me (sadly), what I can tell you is I've had way better tasting glutinous rice dumpling (aka bak chang). This bak chang is so bland and the rice is not soft and sticky enough -.-

While we were there, we also decided to check out the Emperor's Puff.

Emperor's Cream Puff on the middle with the Restaurant on the left and the bakery on the right

I've seen long queues for the Emperor's Puff many times during my previous visits and I promised myself that I would get one of those when the queue is not crazy. Lucky for me, there were no queue that Monday afternoon. One pull factor I notice is this thing is quite cheap.

The Review
This puff is definitely not the crispy-kind. It has a very soft dough with vanilla custard filling in the middle. This is served warm at best. To be honest, I am a person that prefers the crispy puff so this thing unfortunately did not make me jump off my seat in excitement. The custard filling here is also not that sensational in my opinion, it's okay (I think if it were sweeter and thicker, it would've taste better). In summary, I don't think it's worth the queue.

Our next stop is Superbowl Chinese Restaurant. A bit of a fun fact: I don't think there was a time when my family and I visited Sydney and we skipped this restaurant. We just love their food, especially...

The Review

This plain congee is not straight plain with no taste - it has a hint of savoury salty-sweet taste (upon further research, I realised it's pork broth). We just always find it perfectly seasoned and pairs well with just about any dish. We like it so much that we usually ordered 2 large bowls for 3-5 people, like this time around.

Their deep fried fritter is also really nice. It's really crispy and warm :) It's a tad too oily so be prepared to blot it with some tissue.

This time around we also got their Fried Pippis with XO Chilli Sauce and this thing taste soo good - the saltiness, sweetness and hint of spiciness. The fresh pippis was also another plus. Do get one when you're in a large group. It's not too spicy so even my sister who's not a fan of chilli can eat this.

Their homemade mapo tofu is also really nice - one of my favourite dish. I usually have problem with mapo tofu dish as it can be too bland but this definitely wasn't one of those. The combination of the tofu, the sauce and the minced meat is just right. I can eat this just about any day :p




Now for the so-so dish..

The Ginger Shallot Steamed Fish is pretty so-so for me. I mean it's nice and the fish is quite fresh but it does not taste any different from any other restaurant's take on such dish. I'd save my tummy next time for more mapo tofu or pippis.

I gotta be honest and say I am in general not a fan of lemon chicken because I find it most of the time has too much sauce and too sweet to mask the sourness of the lemon. This dish didn't escape those violation too in my opinion. Another thing is I find the chicken too oily (I think Superbowl in general need to watch the amount of oil they use for deep fried stuff). The only 1 perk - I find the chicken portion pretty generous and the meat is cooked nicely (not raw and easy to chew).

The salted egg prawn is also a bit of a letdown mainly because I tasted better. The taste of the dish was border-lining bland in my opinion, they should have used more salted egg. Also, I think the prawn is slightly overcooked as it not crunchy enough in my opinion.




In summary, I would recommend this place if you're in a Chinatown area, especially if you're looking for a quick fix of congee and deep fried fritters :)

Superbowl Restaurant: 41 Dixon Street Chinatown, NSW 2000.

Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 2): Blackflower Patisserie ~ Review

Cheeseburger Macarons?? Whattt????

I didn't know such thing exist as well but it does...

Long story short - my brother's friend was talking about this place prior to our trip and while we were heading to Chinatown for lunch at our regular Superbowl, we came across this place and we knew that we had to go back.

I didn't get the chance to spend a lot of time here but I must say I like the sleek and clean design of the space. I like how even though they use black paint, the space was well lit.

Compare to the other pastry place and cafe I went to so far, this is by far the most spacious - lots of indoor seating.

Look at those macarons. Yum. According to the staff, their most popular macarons are the cheeseburger macaron (most right side), the kungfu panda (second to right), lychee and rose, and patron XO & chocolate macaron. We decided to get those and the chocolate one as well.

The Review 

The macaron texture for me across all flavours are nice - airy, crumbles in you mouth. Though these have yet to beat Zumbarons, they were great.

Behold the cheeseburger macaron, the star of the show :) This thing taste just like a burger with the meat, cheese, tomato sauce and all..... NAH KIDDING! This mini 'burger' actually taste sweet, like chocolate.. Sweet but not too sweet which I like. And look at that intricate design, don't they look like very pretty cheeseburgers? I was having a hard time biting to it just because it looks so cute. A star buy I must say, really like this :)

Another star of the buy is the Kungfu Panda. It is the white macaron with 2 strips and a dot at the surface. The 2 strips are suppose to be the panda's eyes and the dot is either its mouth or nose. This macaron taste like salted caramel and I really like how the sweetness of the caramel was not masked by the salt. It's not over-the-top sweet, it's goooodddd ;p

The pink one is the lychee and rose macaroon. This one for me was just a so-so. I couldn't really taste the lychee but the rose was definitely there. Probably if you're someone that likes rose or flower-y taste in your pastry, you'll love this one. Not me unfortunately.

The last one is the XO Patron & Chocolate macaron. This is my least favourite from the bunch mostly because I found the chocolate too rich for my taste. 

All in all, this place is a must visit for me. I love the creativity they put in their macarons and as I've read more reviews about them, I am really keen to come back and try their other foods. I also like how strategically located they are (at Haymarket). See you again soon Blackflower Patisserie!

Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 2): Black Star Pastry ~ Review and Newtown Scenes

Second day of my trip was all about revisiting my sister's university neighbourhood - Newtown (and Chinatown later on). Newtown, in my opinion, is a really nice suburb for a few reason: 1. it has just about everything - nice cafes (lots of them), a mall (with just about everything in it) and a park to stroll around (not when dark though) 2. the beautiful old architecture integrated in the daily lives (I know this is something that you see in most parts of Sydney, but I especially like the vibe here..) 3. it's really near to the city area.

Enough about Newtown, let's just get into a pastry place I'd like to review...

                                                        

Prior to this trip, my sister's friend recommended Black Star Pastry for us try out and to specifically get the Strawberry Watermelon Cake. 

Oh I really wish I can take a picture of the storefront clearly but it is located behind a parking spot and there was a hugeee truck blocking the whole place. Sadly, this is the closest I get to taking a picture of their signboard (special thanks to the guy who didn't want to move and photobombed me with his elbow) and the place -.-

The place is really small and there is very limited seats, either the front porch (second pict) or a small corner indoor right behind the window (third pict on the left side). To be honest, for staff service, I expected a more friendly, cheerful person behind the counter. The lady serving seems to be having some PMS issue.. so yeah...

The stuff we got: 2 strawberry watermelon cake, 1 salted caramel panna cotta, 1 brownie, 1 custard tart and 2 danish

The Food Review

Let me be honest with you and say that unfortunately the stuff are majority pretty so-so for me and the only thing worth mentioning for its uniqueness is the Strawberry Watermelon Cake.

The infamous Strawberry Watermelon Cake with Rose Scented Cream

Ahh the cake that brought us to the store.. I must admit that this cake looks really pretty. Did you know that it is gluten-free? That's another plus point to it. The cake is not too sweet and feels light which is good. Taste wise, this is definitely unique. If you like cake that taste fresh (thanks to the watermelon slice) and taste like flower (due to its decoration and rose cream), then you will definitely love this cake. Sadly my tastebud doesn't respond well to this combo.

Gluten-Free Brownies

The Brownies I must say has a nice texture, not too rich and not too sweet taste and the macadamia nuts add a nice touch. Another plus point for being gluten-free. Yet again, I've had dozens of brownies my whole life (because I love them!) and I have to say that although this one is nice, it is not mind-blowing. **Thanks to my brother for the picture because I totally forgot taking this one.**

Salted Caramel Panna Cotta

Just skip this.  The salted caramel was a bit too salty for my taste and the panna cotta taste pretty bland. I stick to my bro's homemade panna cotta any time.

Custard Flan

Another skip for me. The custard is rather bland. I would have preferred it to be a bit sweeter. Or was I suppose to toast this before eating?

Anyway, my first experience with the custard flan is not pleasant but I wouldn't close myself in the future to try this again (or from other pastry place) just to get a comparison.

Danish

This is the one thing I can't remember eating (sorry guys!) though I must admit it looks pretty ;)

So I guess for me this place was a miss this time around because of the food, the service and the cramped space. I know they have another branch so maybe next time I'll head to that instead(?) and try their pastry again. Hopefully they can prove me wrong as I am really rooting for this pastry place. 

Black Star Pastry is located at 277 Australia Street, Newtown, NSW, 9557 and there's another branch at Roseburry. 

Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 1): Vivid Highlights and a Restaurant I Couldn't Review

As I was writing this post and trying to google the restaurant I want to review, I  found out that I actually dine there at the final hours of its operation. I remembered being the last customer going in and having late dinner there while enjoying the Opera House view. Such a shame it has to close down. If you wanna know why they close, visit this website.  

So the evening after our trip to Bourke Street Bakery, we decided to catch Vivid and grab dinner at Circular Quay in the evening.

Sydney Opera House (Vivid 2014) 

For some reason, we had this idea that Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are just next door from Darling Harbour....which is not..... 

Because of that we were starving and we land in this restaurant called Peter Doyle @ The Quay and below are the stuff we got:

Garlic Bread

Fried Calamari

Fish and Chip

Seafood Platter

I don't really want to go into details about my experience here because I don't think I should review something that doesn't exist anymore :( such a shame... All in all, my experience here was pretty good. Nice food, nice view (unblock view of the Opera house) but price are rather steep perhaps because of the restaurant's location and sort of fine dining concept (I was not dressed up at all but oh well).. check out my outfit below and the nice background. I believe at this point I was freezing because of the wind..

Behind: Harbour Bridge

Let me share with you more pictures from Vivid. I actually went there twice. First on 1st June (Sunday evening) where things are less quite and and the following Friday when the long holiday started and there were just too many people.. Another thing to take note is though Harbour Bridge and Opera House area are the main attraction, there are also other places lighted up such as University of Sydney and Darling Harbour. This post will focus more on the main area.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Museum of Contemporary Art

I'm thinking of compiling a video of my trip in Sydney and Adelaide. Will keep you all posted on this. I just hope that I get the time to get it done very, very soon. What's your Vivid experience like? I personally like this year's more compare to last year. 

Sydney Winter Holiday 2014 (Day 1): Bourke Street Bakery ~ Review

1. My sister and I were on a mission to try the best brunch places in Sydney

2. We googled our phones away.

3. Bourke Street Bakery came up on the search

4. Bourke Street Bakery came up on the search

5. Bourke Street Bakery came up on the search

6. Again, again and again...... so........

7. The next morning which is our first morning in Sydney, we decided to visit the original Bourke Street Bakery

Verdict: Boy it is far from disappointing. 

The bakery
It is tucked in a corner of Bourke street (thus the name).

The inside of the bakery is quite small with 3/4 of the space dedicated to kitchen, cashier and displays of cakes pies bread and everything in between.

There's a small seating area along the window (seen above) for indoor seating but not to worry as there are more seats outside (there are still more seats on the left area of the picture below, silly me that I didn't take any picture of those area).

The queue on a Saturday morning. More outdoor seats on the left side.

One of the bench provided for seating and more queues

Liking the bread display

A great companion: Latte

Get This

Pear Danish

This thing taste awesome! The crispiness of the dough combined with the sweetness and softness of the pear is divine :p I would've ordered another one if I could.

Beef Pie

The beef pie crust is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The beef is so easy to chew and the gravy starts oozing out once you cut into it. The pie is well seasoned and savoury is just right. If I can have access to this anytime, it'd be my go-to pie for a rainy day at home. It feels so homey :)

Lamington

Lamington is one of Australia's traditional cake and it is basically 2 sponge cake with a jam in between covered in chocolate which is then covered with coconut flakes. From the first bite, I was instantly hooked on this cake. The sponge cake is so soft and moist and combine it with the chocolate and (especially) the coconut flakes, the taste combination is so good - it is sweet but not overly sweet and the coconut adds a hint of salty-savoury element to the cake. Right after this trip, I was hunting for a Lamington whenever I spot a cafe or cake shop. I have to say, THIS IS MY FAVOURITE ITEM from the bakery :)

Rhubarb and Almond Tart

I really like the combination of sweetness and nutty flavour in this tart. And to be frank with you, I don't think you can go wrong if you get any of their tart. The tart base is just good in itself, it's buttery and crunchy yet soft at the same time.

Missing a picture - The Pork and Fennel sausage roll. You know how sometimes a sausage roll can have such a dry filling? Well this one is definitely not. The pork taste really nice -well seasoned and well cooked. The pastry use is also really nice - really crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. YUM! Such a shame that I accidentally delete the picture :(

The So-So and The Skip (and 1 Get This)

Stawberry Meringue Tart (left) and Ginger Creme Brulee (right)

Let this be a good learning point for me to always take pictures of different foods separately to avoid confusion.....

What I meant here is that though these 2 look super good, I recommend you to only get 1 of them and that is the right one - The Ginger Brulee Tart. The crunchy sweetness at the top, the soft and sweet custard in the middle and the tart crust are already creating such a great combination but adding a hint of ginger taste just creates the cherry on the top for this tart. Though usually I'm not a huge fan of ginger on cakes, this is one exception. For some reason, the ginger and the creme brulee just perfectly complement each other...

On the other hand, as much as I hate saying this, I would have skipped the Strawberry Meringue. Despite it looking so pretty, the taste, for me, is just so-so. The strawberry flavour for me just taste very artificial and the meringue does not have anything special about it. I'd much rather order other tarts (or Lamington haha!) than this.

Wagyu Beef with Swiss Cheese, Sour Cabbage
and Dijonnaise Sandwich

Don't get me wrong, this is a nice sandwich. It is just that the sandwich does not really stood out for me. The taste is nice, it is perfectly toasted but.... yeah..... nothing really special about this sandwich. For me, it's just a so-so...

Chocolate Tart

Another skip for me is this chocolate tart. The chocolate tart for me taste just like how any chocolate tart would. Just doesn't really cut it. I believe there is a berry filling (I think it's raspberry) at the centre of the tart but it is so little that you can barely taste it.

Carrot Cake

Another so-so for me is the carrot cake but I think this judgment is rather biased as I am not a fan of carrot cake to begin with. While the cake is very spongy and moist, again I am not a fan of carrot cake. full stop.

Overall

I would definitely visit this place again to try their other stuff (like their sausage rolls, breads, other tarts etc). There is still, I believe, some hidden gems inside this bakery right here. All their dishes are of great quality and feels very fresh (like just baked that day kind). Looking forward to my next trip if I went to Sydney again :) 

Location: 633 Bourke Street Surry Hills