February 2nd, 2012 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Cafes | 6 Comments »
Here are a few things that preoccupied me, appetite-wise, in the last week. The Lamington Affogato ($6) at Sample Coffee Bar in Surry Hills. It’s a 2-in-1 megahit of coffee and cake – and a fine enough reason to seek out this new-ish cafe. If you’re looking for (heart) trouble, try its custom Pacemaker blend […]
November 30th, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
From the people who used to make your weekend breakfast great when they ran Baffi & Mo comes … weekend breakfast at Orto Trading Co (a new thing, even though the restaurant has been open since April). Zero surprise: these guys still know how to nail that first meal of the day. You can order good […]
August 29th, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Cafes | 6 Comments »
Just when you thought Surry Hills was at maximum cafe capacity, along comes another great new addition: Joe Black. With a mural showing the evolution of human caffeine dependency, this place takes its coffee ultra-seriously. The blackboard offers two Single Origin special brews a day and a house blend, there are take-home packs galore and […]
August 15th, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
You could accuse 2011 of being a repeat offender when it comes to good new places to dine. Surry Hills is often the scene of this particular crime, given the location of the recently opened The Carrington and its likeable pintxos bar meets old-school pub approach; the truly excellent Orto Trading Co. (still titleholder of […]
July 20th, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »
The Chocolate Cake with Baked Quince and Condensed Milk Ice Cream ($11.50) is one of many good reasons to check out the new Izakaya Fujiyama. (And I say that as a choc-cake skeptic, given how people will over-praise a floury brick ‘cos it has some cheap cocoa thrill inside.) The choc in this cake is […]
June 6th, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
El Capo in Surry Hills is shot through with surprises, from the stacks of fake cash in one corner to the three-milk cake that looks so visually spectacular that it could easily go undercover in a hatted restaurant (but here it is, in a canteen selling Latin street food – curveball indeed). Things seemed to […]
June 1st, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
It’s fun smashing tacos at the El Loco cantina in Surry Hills, but a major serviette-frisk of your face/hands afterwards may be necessary – the one-way slide of fillings as you work through the ingredient-crammed tortilla is kinda inevitable. I’m enjoying the rise of the messy, eat-with-your-hands approach. Like The Dip, this eatery is about fun, […]
April 21st, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 17 Comments »
I think this may be my new favourite restaurant. I kinda had high-level suspicions that Orto Trading Co. in Surry Hills would be good – it’s by the people who started Baffi & Mo in Redfern (Anne Cooper, Louise Hunt, Chris Low), a cafe that near-instantly became one of Sydney’s best breakfast joints after it […]
January 31st, 2011 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
There’s no mystery as to how this restaurant got its name, but The Devonshire is still sharp-witted enough to catch diners by surprise. Located near the point where Steel Street sneaks into Devonshire in Surry Hills (or as your mental GPS will calculate it: footsteps away from The Shakespeare Hotel), this new establishment takes its […]
November 11th, 2010 | by Lee Tran Lam | published in Uncategorized | 16 Comments »
Pictures from the new Bentley book, available now through Murdoch Books At Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Brent Savage uses a colourful mix of ingredients – lychee glass, coffee puree, orange blossom gel, red miso oil – to create dishes that are spring-loaded with flavour. It’s one of my favourite places in Sydney and it was […]