I look back at bad meals with a degree of anguish. When my good friend Queen Viv took me to Wollongong she did so on a wisp of memory of a good meal seaside. Not quite remembering the name she didn’t call to see whether it was still open and sadly it was no longer and so we settled on a meal at a place that replaced it. It was fine but not spectacular. But I felt reader’s pain when they told me of the other places we could have eaten at. I could imagine them saying to themselves “What a wasted opportunity!” but of course they ere too polite to say so. One reader Jen recommend Fireworks Cafe in nearby Austinmer and another reader Lulu recommended the homemade gelato at Austi beach cafe so one afternoon during the Christmas break Mr NQN and I took the drive there.

Fireworks Cafe is on a side street away from the main street and the minute you walk into the converted butcher shop the first word that you think of is quirky. The menu is written on the walls and there are mismatched, colourful lampshades that hang from the ceiling as well as woollen knitted pink balls that look like furry lanterns that trail the front window.

Orange, watermelon and ginger juice $6

We start with some refreshments after the  drive. I start off with an Earl Grey tea and Mr NQN starts with a juice with orange, watermelon and ginger which is refreshing and warm with ginger.

Earl Grey tea $4

I didn’t want to stare too long at the menu-there was a table of people right next to it that perhaps thought that I was busy staring at them so I honed in on the words “pork belly” and “ocean trout”  and ordered these at the table.

Pork belly salad $16.50

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Israeli food? Now that’s something of a missing cuisine here in Sydney insofar as restaurants or cafes go. Shenkin is a family business with five brothers, two of whom work here and one brother who owns the Max Brenner franchise (yes the Max Brenner franchise). As befits a family business their father bakes all of the cakes and pastries himself and the breads are home made too. One of the brothers tells us that their grandparents owns a bakery in Israel that is still operating now under the helm of their grandmother now that their grandfather has passed. And as for the name? Shenkin is named after the famous Shenkin Street in Tel Aviv and a photograph of it sits in prime position above the pastry display.

Making siphon coffee

A picture of Shenkin Street above the pastries

Given a renovation merely a week ago I was put onto it by the lovely @InnerWestMumma. The space is airy and welcoming and there is a window that opens up to the street so that patrons can order coffee from outside which also acts to open up the room and give it a breeziness on this hot, stifling Sydney weekend. There are also two other sections in the back and on in the side on the outside where diners can sit.

While we are waiting for our food I find myself lured to the pastry display (what’s new right?) and a friendly voice asks if I need any help. Service here is uniformly friendly and warm and there’s not a single snippy one in the bunch. The waitress talks me through all of the cakes but I think I have my heart set on the Napoleon. I am a vanilla slice freak from young and this one looks heavenly. “I’ll be back for you later!” I whisper to it under my breath giving it a sidelong glance.

Lemon and mint frappe $5.50

When we sat down one of the brothers (who later introduces himself as Din) asks us what we would like to order to drink. “Something refreshing? Do you want me to choose?” he asks and we nod. He ends up bringing the two drinks we had our eye on on the menu. The lemon and mint frappe is refreshingly sweet and tart with the freshness of mint and a scoop of lemon sorbet. Like an icey cold lemonade but better.

Pina Colada frappe $5.50

The alcohol free Pina Colada frappe is gorgeous with a perfect blend of coconut and little pieces of pineapple and is refreshingly tropical. Both drinks are perfect for this sweltering Sydney day.

Shakshuka $14.50 with labne $2.50

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Hello my Dearest Readers and what a bang 2011 has gotten off to! January isn’t even over yet and it’s time for another To Market To Market! That’s where I tell you lovely readers about the things that I have been given that I like and then I give you the chance to try them for yourself Just leave a comment at the end of the story telling me which product you’d like to try and why. The giveaway ends at Midnight AEST on the 30th of January.

Be Natural “Four” muesli bars

Now I didn’t expect to go crazy over muesli bars let me be quite honest. I usually prefer actual muesli to the bar form but these ones were so chock full of nuts and fruit I actually went out and bought another two boxes of the apricot ones as soon as they were finished. There are two flavours and I loved the coconut, apricot, oats and chia (the latest superfood) which tasted like a delicious apricot, coconut and oatmeal cookie with almost 1/4 of the bar made up of nuts which is the good stuff. Mr NQN preferred the slightly tangier currant, berry, oats and pepita. Each box has six muesli bars in them and I would almost put money on you going and purchasing another box once your stash is finished

Thanks to  Be Natural,  ten lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will receive a box of the coconut, apricot, oats and chia and the currant, berry, oats and pepita muesli bars!

Nepenthe Wine

Last year I was lucky enough to visit the lovely state of South Australia and spend some time in the Adelaide Hills where I visited the friendly people at the cellar door at Nepenthe Wines. I tried a few of their wines and one of my favourite was their Pinot Gris which was just lovely stuff! They’ve just released their latest 2010 Altitude Pinot Gris which is exclusively hand picked and whole bunch pressed for minimum phenolic extraction. For this release 20% of the wine was fermented in French oak to give it extra character and complexity. Plus along with a bottle of this they gave me a delicious sounding recipe which complimented the wine.

Thanks to  Nepenthe Wines, five lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will receive a pack with a bottle of the 2010 Altitude Pinot Gris and also the lovely Nepenthe 2010 Sauvignon Blanc! This is for readers 18 years and above only.

McCain Sweet Potato Fries

I happen to be a french fry nutter-give me a bowl of them and you can be promised of at least 10 minutes of silence from me. Last year I was sent a bag of McCain’s new sweet potato chips. I was a bit skeptical as I usually make my own chips but I was pleased to see that the ingredients list didn’t contain any artificial colours or preservatives and it was pretty much like what I would make at home if I had the time. There are two types of sweet potato fries-a crinkle cut and a thin cut. I personally loved the crinkle cut version a bit more. And apparently these were so popular last year that the supermarket stock was pretty much all depleted!

Thanks to  McCain, twelve lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will receive a 450g bag of the crinkle cut sweet potato fries and a 450g bag of the thin cut sweet potato chips! As it is a frozen product and to ensure that they arrive in perfect condition, delivery can only be made to Sydney and Melbourne Metropolitan areas.

Sunrice Pour And Store

If your pantry looks anything like mine, it probably has a couple of bags of rice sealed together with a twist tie or an elastic band. They’re sort of piled on top of each other and not very attractively so and I tell myself I should really buy a container to decant the rice into so a) they are better sealed and b) so I can stack them on top of each other. So it was a bit embarrassing when I got three canisters of rice and got all excited because it meant that I suddenly had a neat pantry (I’m a bit Bree Van Der Kamp that way). The new Sunrice Pour and Stores have a twist cup lid which has a measuring cup to help you measure how much rice you need for 1 or 2 serves. There are three rice types: jasmine, long grain and basmati. Bree Van Der Kamp would be proud.

Thanks to  Sunrice, five lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will receive a pack with a canister of the Sunrice long grain rice, jasmine rice and basmati rice!

Black Swan Flavoured Yogurts

When I first met Mr NQN many moons ago, he was fending for himself on the food front and working til late at night at a software development company. At about 10pm he would wander down to the supermarket and buy a tub of yogurt and eat that and only that for dinner. So when I tell you that he loves yogurt that isn’t an understatement. I like creamy yogurts and natural yogurts and the new range from Black Swan is lovely and creamy with a blueberry yogurt, a vanilla bean yogurt (with specks!) and a breakfast yogurt which is a naturally sweet yogurt which tastes amazingly thick, creamy and sweet.

Thanks to  Black Swan, five lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will receive a pack with a tub of the Black Swan blueberry yogurt, vanilla yogurt and breakfast yogurt! As it is a refrigerated product and to ensure that they arrive in perfect condition, delivery can be made only to the Melbourne Metropolitan area.

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