Friends in high places, they mean a lot of course but friends in the right places means a lot too. My friend M was just the person that I needed to speak to about a very important topic and she suggested that we meet up at Saks Espresso & Wine in Surry Hills as she works nearby. I did my due diligence (i.e. looking up reviews) and it all looked good. There’s a selection of arty books resting against the banquette near the window and inside is all red and it’s full with patrons.
Many moons ago, there was a heritage listed sandstone building in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. It used to be an Italian restaurant but then lay unused for years. It then became The Pond, a pop up restaurant serving local produce and with a constantly changing menu. And like Cinderella at midnight, on January 31st 2010, the sponsorship by Pure Blonde beer expires (although there are plans to keep it running with the intention of making it a profitable business that doesn’t need sponsorship).
A glass of fragrant lavender and rosemary marks the spot at our table at Martin Place Bar, the recent winner of the Bistro of the Year at the I love Food Awards. Even on this Wednesday afternoon it’s crowded with people eating and taking advantage of the “Lunch Within the Hour” where diners can book and pre-order what they want and within 5 minutes of sitting down they can eat their meals and for the rest of the time can enjoy themselves rather than feel rushed and anxious if their meal will arrive. Today we’ve got a bit more time to enjoy things though and are partaking of a 3 course sampler lunch.
My friend Teena has been telling me about Ganache many times over. You see she is a friend of the owner’s wife and as a croissant fan or fiend, she adores the croissants here. So after a lunch together one day we make our way over to Ganache in Castlecrag. Having undergone a recent renovation earlier this year it looks oh so French in an understated way.
If you’ve been reading my tweets on twitter, you’ll know of my ongoing saga with our house renovations. We were originally told that the bathroom would take 12 days. It had been 6 weeks exactly since that fateful day and we’ve endured complaints from neighbours about hammering at 2am and yawning stretches of them disappearing for 2 weeks. So my Mother got serious and asked her friend Janice who works in construction to have a word to them. She did and he snapped into action and before we knew it, our bathroom was done. Of course one way to thank her for her help was with lunch and we asked her where she would like to go. Kaki Lima (which means 5 foot way or sidewalk in Malaysian) was the best choice. If anything is going to intrigue me, it’s a name. Kaki Lima caught my eye many months ago as I was always interested by the name “Malaysian Breakfast Favourites”. I love breakfast food (but at much later in the day).
It’s a small space, not quite 5 feet long but perhaps 5 metres long. On the right there’s a display of the food and kueh (sweets). A list of drinks sounds good and we pick 4 different kinds – cold drinks are $3.20 and hot drinks are $3. As for breakfast food, I need to confirm this with Janice – is this really what Malaysians eat for breakfast. “Sure!” she replies. Okaaay…
Bandung on left $3.20 and Tea Tarik on right $3
The Bandung is more an Indonesian drink with condensed milk and rosewater tinged a lurid candy pink. Whilst it has ice cubes floating in it, the drink is warm and sweet and reminds me of a Strawberry Quik from my childhood with a rose flavour. Tea Tarik or pulled tea is usually served foamy due to the pulling of the tea (pouring it from one glass to another).
Kopi $3
The copi isn’t as sweet as I like it and of course it’s Nescafe so a coffee connoisseur would probably give this a miss.
Barley water $3
As seen in the Foodies Guide 2010
Receive daily updates via email. Just enter your email address and press Subscribe.
Thanks to our sponsors.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Australia License.
What is NQN up to now?
NQN on Facebook
RSS