Category Archives: Vegetarian friendly

Meet My Suburb Tour: Cabramatta (Nine Eateries In One Day!)

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The Mall area

Last month, a bunch of food bloggers and I went on a Meet My Suburb Walking Tour of Kensington and Kingsford where I showed them around the secret local’s favourites in the area. It was so much fun so some other blogger friends and I decided to do the same in Cabramatta. Betty from Betty’s Bites grew up in the area and when she emailed us asking if we’d like to join her on a little eating tour of Cabramatta, I didn’t hesitate for a moment. I’m almost embarrassed to say that as a born and bread Sydney-Sider I’d never been to Cabramatta before. What I didn’t realise that apart from the fact that Cabramatta has great food, the people are what I enjoyed just as much. Cabramatta residents have fun and a lot of laughs and the kids…well they’re priceless and they love a camera. And I should warn you now that this is a long post so please settle in with a cup of coffee or tea (sweetened with sweetened condensed milk to put you in an authentic mood).

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Colourful desserts

Trissa and I are driving together for the first time Cabramatta from Balmain and the GPS is guiding us. We get into the wrong lane accidentally misreading the GPS. Trissa winds down the window “Please sir, I need to get into that lane” she pleads with the taxi driver who looks at her like she just told him he has a chicken on his head and it’s about to lay an egg. “WHAT?!” he says and before he can figure out what she means she manoeuvres into the space. We arrive at Cabramatta via the scenic route and spot Betty walking towards the train station, our designated meeting point. “Find a park where-ever you can on this street or the next” she says. Parking is notoriously hard in Cabramatta as crowds of people gather there on the weekends to buy and eat and the 50c car park (yep 50c to park your car, compare that to a city car park at $24 for 2 hours) is an option if we get desperate.

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Fruit sold at a store

We’re meeting Ja, Betty and journalist Carla and her photographer boyfriend James at the station. Trish is to join us later. It’s a gorgeous day, we couldn’t have asked for better for a food walking tour and Betty has been charged with showing us the best of Cabramatta.

Stop #1 Kim Thanh Company Hot Bread

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63 comments | October 21, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella

Cafe Giulia, Chippendale

“Have you been to Cafe Giulia?” Mel asks and when I say no but I’ve heard good things about it, she swings her Mini Cooper across a few lanes and zips up some side streets. “That was very naughty to do that” she says half seriously. Within a few minutes we’ve stopped near Cafe Giulia, famous around Sydney for their meals. “Why exactly is it so famous?” I ask Mel and she replies “The serves are huuuge and the service is wonderful and unpretentious, and that’s from everyone there”. A minor miracle has just occured and I check the ground for signs that hell has frozen over.

Housed in a renovated corner Butcher shop, it’s a large and long space with room out the back for a little courtyard. We’re greeted by a gigantic chalkboard menu and Mel goes through what is good. I have a feeling this a regular haunt of hers and I decide on the Breakfast Special (as a late riser, I love an all day breakfast). Juices are also said to be good so I order one of those. We order and pay at the counter and the staff are friendly – as the sticker on the chalkboard menu says “Campbelltown is for Lovers”.

Beetroot, orange, pineapple and passionfruit juice (left), Pineapple, mint, apple & ginger juice (right) $5.90

Our juices arrive and mine is sweet and delicious. Thankfully ice free and just full of fantastically fresh flavours and it’s a huge, fresh, frothy serve.

Breakfast Special $17.90

My breakfast special arrives and it’s a stack of three corn fritters, poached eggs, bacon, avocado, beetroot & onion jam and a yogurt sauce. The corn fritters are lukewarm (not because of excessive photo taking!) which is a bit disappointing (I like freshly fried corn fritters) and they more pikelety than other corn fritters I’ve had before. The rest of it is very filling though and there’s a lot of bacon and I particularly like the beetroot and onion jam.

Chips $4

The Rosemary and Sea salt chip serving is huge and they’re a tad more cooked that I like and a result a bit dry although this doesn’t stop me from polishing quite a few off.

Burger with bacon and egg $8.90

I don’t try any of Mel’s burger but she has trouble finishing it even though the bun goes untouched. A testament to it’s size methinks. It’s not fancy food, hell sometimes it’s cold, but with such friendly service and fantastic prices and ginormous serves I see why it has become such a hit.

So tell me Dear Reader, what is your weekend morning routine?

Cafe Guilia, Chippendale

92 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9698 4424
Open Tuesday to Friday 6.30am-4pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am-3pm
Closed Mondays and Public Holidays

37 comments | August 22, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella

At Perry Lane, Paddington (The Secret Weekend Cafe!)

“Morning Lorraine! Have you been to …at Perry Lane in Paddington? I grabbed coffee there on Sat & it was packed-wld love to hear your take!” said the lovely MsUnreliable from That Unreliable Girl in her twitter message to me. Upon further reading I find out that it’s bit of a local’s secret cafe in a little laneway cafe that’s only open as a cafe on Fridays and weekends so I immediately put it in the black Moleskine. One Sunday I had a meeting with a girl called Piglet and At Perry Lane it was. And little did I know that there would be Tarot reading involved…

Approaching it, it is indeed a hidden away cafe at the back of the Oxford Shop on Oxford Street in Paddington. It’s a multi level space with the kitchen set lower and chairs and tables set on three levels. I sneak upstairs as it’s busy and nab an empty table. I look down and a few minutes later there’s a smiling face looking up at me which I later learn to be the owner Chris. At Perry Lane is run by Chris, his mum and his partner all doing the cooking, coffee and waitering duties and on weekdays the space is hired out for fashion shows, events and commericals as well as Tarot and Jewellery reading. But more on that later!

He shows me the menu and explains that it’s a reduced size menu today as the chef is away and normally there are more complex choices but I am relieved to see that there is an all day breakfast available (you’ve got to love those fellow late risers in Paddington).  Prices are  reasonable with the most expensive item hitting the $16.50 mark with most around the $13-$14 mark. Teas are by T2 and coffee is by Campos and there’s a selection of several types of breads from a kalamata olive roll to a rye sourdough as well as gluten free bread (although they are out today). Piglet chooses the Proscuitto, two poached eggs and asparagus on kalamata olive bread and I choose the French Toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup.

Cappucino $3.50

The coffee is that uber rich and heady blend that Sydney siders clamour for. I’d love a little more foam on my cappucino but the coffee is fantastic-rich and with that unmistakable Campos flavour.

French Toast with Bacon, Banana and maple syrup $12.50

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43 comments | August 7, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella

Vespacific Cafe & Whale Watching, Narrabeen

There’s nothing more painful than ill conceived or contrived beachside chic and conversely there’s nothing better than welcoming true beachside chic. Sydney does it so well and so badly at times. Badly is when the view speaks or shouts louder than the food which is a scant afterthought and prices rival that of a 5 star restaurant just because you happen to be sitting across from the ocean. Vespacific cafe is of the other ilk, a little retro style beachside cafe with a Vespa theme running through it in Narrabeen on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Service is said to be friendly, servings tasty and huge and they also happen to be very vegetarian friendly (and incidentally we see that they also compost but not in that in your face kind of way that shouts “I’m fashionably green!”). It’s a beautiful sunny Winter’s day in Sydney so what better way to spend it than to be beachside. I confess it’s a compulsion of mine whenever we get a nice sunny weekend day in Winter.

Vespacific is relaxed – when I call them to see if I need a booking the woman says “Oh ok sure, for how many people?” and when I answer “Two” I hear her tell the staff “Hey guys there’ll be a table of two at two o’clock, just keep a table for them”. When we arrive, we see that the cafe is located across from the water where there is a raised wooden viewing platform. And what’s this for? For checking out the surf of course. Canny locals get their sustenance to take away from Vespacific and watch the waves breaking.

When we arrive we nab a table near the window. It’s not quite an ocean view, more a grassy view but there is some comfort to know that the ocean is past the grass. I breathe a sigh of relief to find that the menu features all day breakfast items. That means that their famous Mega Bacon and Egg roll is available and it’s got my name on it. We order the Punjabi Eggs for my husband and a croissant with banana and a liquid chocolate shot to share. The menu has a wide range of vegetarian options including some that have me switching allegiences from omnivore to vegetarian such as the “Gourmet toast with roasted capsicum, eggplant, caramelised onion, capsicum and olive tapenade topped with fried halloumi and fresh herbs”. Prices are extremely reasonable with most items under $10. I kid you not.

Australian Meat!

I look around. It’s almost like a set of Home and Away it’s so beachy and laidback. There’s plenty to see including a bookshelf with a book “How to do sex properly” and a battered but well loved 1869 edition of “Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management” simply propped up on the shelf without ceremony. I enjoy flipping through it and reading about the “Mulligatwany Soup made with Australian Meat” and the wages awarded to male and female household servants with different wages suggested for those that receive sugar, tea and beer.

Also true to the name, there’s a red Vespa adorning one wall behind a print of a surfer midflight (we spy a mini Vespa keyring on the owner’s key chain too), paintings from local artists and Barbie, Skipper and Ken in a red convertible on the countertop. Perhaps I’ve been too absorbed in my copy of Mrs Beeton’s Guide to Household Management but the food arrives quickly. It’s freshly made and hot and smells inviting so I dig in eagerly.

Cappucino in a Mug $3.50

Mega Bacon and Egg Roll $12

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31 comments | June 30, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella

The Sultan’s Table, Enmore

For anyone inclined to grab some delicious Turkish food at The Sultan’s Table, let this review serve as a warning to avoid the fate that has plagued many visiting, including us, of being turned away without a reservation on a Saturday night. Looking like a takeaway joint from the outside, it is deceptively large with tables to dine in towards the back and a loyal and numerous clientele that already know the score. If you want to eat here on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s a good idea to book ahead by a few days.

This Saturday night we are in possession of a reservation. And a good thing too, for even as we’re dining early at 6pm, we watch a steady stream of people being turned away. For those of you that do find yourselves in the same situation, there are tables outside where you can eat your takeaway but of course it’s not quite the same.

Prices for dine in are mostly $1-2 more than for takeaway except for the plates of dips which are double the price. We presume this is to discourage people from ordering a plate of dips and sitting there for an hour. We start off with a plate of the colourful dips with Turkish bread and then order an eggplant fritter, the Sultans Kebab, Iskender Kebab, Guvec and a Kusabilli Pide all topped off with a baklava.

Service it has to be said is very charming and friendly. It seems the gruffer types are behind the counter dealing with the takeaway customers (and even then they aren’t that gruff it should be said) and the friendly ones are taking care of the restaurant. We muse that they probably split themselves up beforehand and said “Ok you like people, you deal with them, I don’t so I’ll just cook and do takeaway orders.”

Mixed dips (medium) $14 with Turkish bread $3 Clockwise from top left: carrot dip, jajik, spinach, babaganoush, chili, hummous, beetroot and spinach dip with eggplant in the centre.

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31 comments | April 20, 2009 by Not Quite Nigella