It was a day smack bang in the middle of Winter. I was at home working and watching the temperature like a hawk and by midday it hadn’t climbed over 11.1°C/52°F. Then by that afternoon it flicked over to show 12°C/53.6°F. I let out a “Yaaay!” before realising how ludicrous it sounded. Getting excited over a mere 12°C degrees? Welcome to Winter.

I was just thankful because Mr NQN and I were seeing my two fabulous friends Queen Viv and Miss America that evening and we were going to a place most appropriate for the weather. Our destination was Smash Sausage Kitchen, a place that specialises in delicious sausages and mash with gravy among many other comforting foods. Originally a tip from tweeter @sarcasmcupcakes I was intrigued by the mix and match sausage concept.

We walk in and there’s banquette seating to the right and regular table seating on the left. A pop art collage takes up prime position on one wall with cartoon characters (superhero “Smash Man” it seems), Elizabeth Taylor and other sultry movie stars and starlets. A gigantic luminous picture of Marilyn Monroe sits on another wall. Cute mismatched chairs and colourful cushions are for sitting on and against and the waitress has a silver skeleton necklace to die for. And did I mention it’s warm too. We settle right in.

The menu has starters and hearty mains but there is also a mix and match section where you can order from one of nine varieties of sausage including one vegetarian one, several kinds of mash and four types of gravy and you can choose from either two or three sausages with your mash and gravy. We pick and choose and our original plans to have three different types are foiled. Apparently you used to be able to have different varieties of sausage but now you can only choose the one type. My face falls, we’re all of the sharing to try as much as possible variety so the waitress suggests that we try the sausage tasting plate whose selection changes daily.

Complimentary sweet potato and parsnip crisps

Each table is given a plentiful bowl of sweet potato and parsnip crisps, shaved thinly and every curly tendril or piece well salted.

Chunky fish fingers with lemon aioli $15

I love real fish fingers (and admittedly the frozen supermarket ones do hold a certain kitsch value although they always taste a tad watery). These come out first, four to a serve, all crunchy golden with proper fish inside. Along with it comes an excellent aioli and a wedge of lemon to accompany them.

Grilled sausage tasting plate with chutney $15

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There’s nothing I love more than discovering a new place and telling you about it Dear Reader. One such instance is a recent visit to Blackwattle Cafe, in Blackwattle Bay Glebe open since December last year. I know that waterside dining is usually the area of restaurants although sometimes, just sometimes, a cafe can sneak into the picture. And in turn it is usually embraced and loved by locals.

After the deluge of rain we’ve been having recently, a sunny day seems cause enough for celebration. I mean it’s not like we’re going to take our shirts off like they do in other cities when the weather turns warm but quite honestly I was shaking my fist at the sky every day while my laundry piled up demanding that the rain stop. So when Buxom Wench, Silver Fox and I find ourselves looking for a lunch date one gorgeously sunny Autumn Friday afternoon we decided to head towards the water. We arrive at Blackwattle Bay and following the map we drive as far as we can down the street.

“Where is it?” Buxom Wench says.

“I have no idea” I answer, completely clueless.

There’s perhaps really only one place it can be and approaching it from the street it isn’t immediately obvious as there is no signage so we head towards the water where sparkling Blackwattle Bay is giving us a prime view of its wares on this beautiful day. The Anzac bridge sits suspended up above and we pass a sandwich board for the Blackwattle Cafe as we take the long way round via the front. There are gaggles of mums with their babies who are playing with the toys provided (Buxom Wench notes with approval that they are good toys).

The cafe is housed in an 1896 Victorian house with Italianate features called Bellevue House. It is very busy this Friday afternoon with two large groups of diners in two semi private rooms and everyone else scattered among the rooms and outdoor area. The building is nicely restored with interesting treatments on the walls and a warm, cozy atmosphere. The menu is compact with about half a dozen offerings in total but it does encompass a bit of everything: a pate, a pie, a salad, a sandwich and a slow cooked dish. Coffee is by The Little Marionette and bread is by Sonoma but everything else is said to be made on the premises.

Chai $4

I try my chai. I’m not a huge fan of hot drinks in glasses and it always seems so counter intuitive to serve a hot drink in a glass without a handle but it seems most places are insistent on serving lattes like this. The chai itself isn’t a standout nor is it bad but I don’t think I would order it again.

Duck Liver Pate with toasted ciabatta $12

The pate comes out first as requested and it comes with caper berries and five generous slices of toasted Sonoma ciabatta bread and a sweet jellied top. The actual texture of the pate is firm, like fridge hardened ganache, perhaps too firm but the flavour is excellent without any bitterness and the overly firm texture is forgiven with the lovely flavour.

Pork and Pistachio Pie with Salad & Relish $18

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Sometimes you ring a restaurant and are told “No need to book, just come in”. Then you come in and the place is so busy there is not a single table free for another hour and you wished you had insisted that you had booked. Sometimes, if you are lucky, your Plan B ends up being better than your Plan A. This was luckily one of those cases.

I was meeting my darling friend The Second Wife and we exited the place of Plan A when we told that there wouldn’t be a table for the rest of the afternoon. So when we were left without a Plan B The Second Wife, in her infinite wisdom suggested The Norfolk. The magic words? “They have awesome soft tacos”. Now I need to admit one thing, I’m not a pub girl – a pug girl perhaps but not a pub girl. My low tolerance towards alcohol means that nursing three glasses of sparkling mineral water while everyone gets progressively happier isn’t my idea of good fun. However that said, beer or wine can be very happily substituted with good food.

We’re standing at the bar and it is 3:30pm. We’ve only had a lemon tart between the two of us and of course this leads to some crazy ordering.

“Let’s just get each of the tacos!!”

“OMG sliders!”

“Chicken wings! Do you like wings? I looove wings!”

“Ceviche-yum! I looove ceviche. Let’s just get one of everything!”

and in unison

“DEEP FRIED PICKLES!!!”

The menu has bar snacks and mains but even to our hunger crazed eyes the bar snacks look more interesting. The main menu has items like schnitzel, fish and chips, a burger, linguine an smoked trout salad. The bar snacks menu has more Mexican and North American fare. Also, it turns out that just yelling out every item in the menu won’t net you everything so I would suggest ordering in a calm, efficient manner as I realised that we didn’t get the chicken wings…

“This place used to be so dodgy” the Second Wife whispers to me. “We came here drunk with a bottle of wine and we just drank that here and nobody cared” she giggles “this was pre zhushing”. It certainly has changed and we make our way to the sun drenched courtyard where Surry Hills folk frolic and play musical tables and chairs. Zhushing involves Thomas Lim, ex of Tetsuya’s taking control of the pub menu and revamping it.

Ribena $4

I told you I’m a tee totaller didn’t I? Well I am when I’m driving as I’ve got a 0 alcohol limit and I’m too in love with my license to risk it. So Ribena with sparkling mineral water it is for me

Deep fried pickles with ranch dipping sauce $7.50

Now if anyone said to me that deep fried pickles were a) a good idea or b) so damn good you’d forget your diet instantly then I wouldn’t have believed them. But here they are in all of the deep fried glory, a spongy crispy golden batter on the outside and a pickle inside with a ranch dipping sauce. The Second Wife nails the description after just one bite “It’s like a fillet o’ fish but better.”

Fish taco $5.50 each

Tacos can be bought for 4 for $20 and come in five different iterations with pork, fish, chicken, beef and vegetarian. Beef is not available currently though so we settle for two of our favourite: the fish tacos. Having had fish tacos both here and overseas some have contained deep fried fish and some haven’t. These marinated grilled whiting pieces have an anchiote chilli paste, lettuce, pico de gallo and of course the lime wedge that all of them come with. It is packed full of flavour.

Pork taco $5.50

The pork taco has braised pork beck, onions, cabbage, apple, mojo verde sauce and coriander and although nice enough, it didn’t really appeal to me as much as the fish or chicken tacos.

Chicken taco $5.50

The chicken taco is delicious with grilled juicy chicken thigh, red onion, guacamole, lettuce, chipotle mayo (love this stuff!) and cucumber. It is my favourite along with the fish taco as it had a great balance of flavours.

Vegetable taco $5.50

The vegetable taco is tasty with fried mushrooms, braised red cabbage, almond pico de gallo and pickled cucumber which all helped to give the taco a robust flavour.

Salt N Pepa Squid with Jalapeno aioli $14

The salt and pepper squid is a generously portioned dish and the squid is tender and lightly battered but there is an absence of both salt and pepper so we dunk it in the hot sauce and the jalapeno aioli which reminds me of a tartare sauce.

BBQ’d sweet corn with chipotle mayo, queso cheese and lime $5.50

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