Danks Street Depot, Sydney Airport

There are many things I associate with airports – tearful farewells, joyous reunions, the romance of leaving your cares behind and travelling to faraway places and, unfortunately, bad airport food with jacked up prices. But all this has changed with Danks Street Depot’s outpost at Sydney Airport, with many more non-fast food dining options to come.

I first ate here when seeing Mum off on a trip in November, and again a month later when Monsieur Poisson and I left for holidays ourselves. There were small changes to the menu in that short period between visits, which is testament to Danks Street Depot’s mission to use seasonal, sustainable produce.

Firefly Lodge Lane Cove (again!)

The lure of good pizza, share plates of snack foods and ever-changing seasonal menus (not to mention easy parking) keep Monsieur Poisson and I coming back to Firefly for easy, casual meals. Combined with reasonable prices and the provision of Campos coffee has meant that we’ve also managed to convert a few friends to being frequenters as well.

Lucy’s Espresso Bar

We park the car and are just about to set foot into Lucy’s Espresso Bar when we hear, “So, are you happy with it?”

We look up to see a shaven-headed man who proceeds to strike up a conversation, asking us about our car as he is thinking of buying the same make and model for his wife. Ahhh, such is the casual friendliness of Shire locals!

We are down in this neck of the woods to catch up with my beloved Wifey and Mistress who are already seated inside when we arrive. Lucy’s Espresso Bar is tucked in a small shopping alcove surrounded by houses – you know, the sort that has a fruit and veg store, a newsagency, an all-purpose grocery store in place of a supermarket, perhaps a dry-cleaner, a post office and an Anglicised Chinese takeaway. The cafe is full-house on this particular Sunday and we discover the food is better than its removed location would otherwise suggest. Shade umbrellas offer coverage for families sitting in the winter sun, and orders are placed at the front counter from the blackboard menu.

Wifey and I have a long history of brunching together. And coffee dates. I often feel a little seedy on Sunday mornings so it’s eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and a BLT panini for sharing between Monsieur Poisson and myself. Eggs have magical soul-restoring powers in my world and Hollandaise sauce just helps it go down that much easier. Bacon never requires much justification for its smoky, salty presence but the creamy mayonnaise and pillowy bread do make it that much more comforting.

I have eschewed my usual cup of tea in favour of a flat white and am rewarded with a robust cup of Toby’s Estate. Wifey digs into her generous serve of ‘Smoked Salmon Salad’ – look at all that avocado and ricotta as well as the salmon! – while Mistress goes for the ‘Fetta & spinach omelette’. The fetta is mild and creamy, but still delivers that requisite salty punch.

We linger for quite a while, cradling our coffees and then glasses of water, whilst the conversation flows and never are we hurried to leave.

Lucy’s Espresso Bar

4/284 Belgrave Esplanade, Sylvania Waters 2224
Tel: (02) 9522 4433

happy eating!

Big John’s Sans Souci

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve eaten at Big John’s, either dining in or getting takeaway, over the years. Having previously lived in the Shire, Big John’s at Sans Souci is an easy location to get to and offers big, value-for-money serves. Service can be a bit brusque when busy and the seating is cosy, but the food is tasty and always generous.

Funnily, however, I’ve never tried their pasta possibly because I get sidetracked by other things. Their Caesar Salad, at only $13.90 and large enough to feed 2 people as a main meal, has a creamy, garlicky and not-too-tangy dressing, hard-boiled egg segments and a smattering of bacon bits. Pizzas are generally thicker-based than I’d like but that’s so they can stand up to the all the toppings which make the pizzas a little difficult to eat without the aid of cutlery. A lighter option is their garlic pizza crust (not pictured) but be warned that this is not for the garlic-phobic. Or vampires.

Monsieur Poisson gave their American-style ribs a try on a recent visit. There are pork, lamb or half-half combination varieties and ribs are smothered in a smoky, tangy sauce on a bed of steak-cut chips for “relief”. The pork ribs are fall-apart tender and receive my mother’s stamp of approval. The sauce gets thicker and stickier on the surface of the ribs as they cool, but this makes for a wonderful caramel-y surface when they’re reheated.

And reheat you will, because you are bound to have a container or two of leftovers to take away with you.

Big John’s Sans Souci

502 Rocky Point Rd (between Sandringham St & Russell Ave), Sans Souci NSW

Tel: 9529 8094

happy eating!

Kashiwa Yakiniku, Japanese BBQ Restaurant

Food-blogging, or indeed photographing your food, can be a funny thing. The practicalities of finding a safe place for your camera to sit whilst enjoying your food is one matter, and looking back at your food memories fondly to relive the meal are another.

Except in this case, where we went to a Japanese-style barbeque joint. And (vegetarians, beware!) the photos are pretty much all of raw meat! In this instance you are not visiting a place for their cooking skills, although there are of course cooked items on the menu to be enjoyed, but rather the quality of the produce, the marinades and sauces used, and the service.

The pork neck (pictured above, top left) has an excellent ratio of meat to fat with the fat crisping up to a bouncy sort of crunchiness when cooked, but without any greasiness. The scallops (top right) require some seasoning but I do like how they come with the roe attached. Mushrooms (bottom left, foreground) are expensive at $3.80 for only 4 of the little guys, but the ox tongue are thinly-sliced and grill up to be crispy. The ‘Wagyu short rib’ (bottom right, foreground) is tasty from the soy marinade and tastes like beef jerky once cooked, whereas the ‘LA short rib’ is meatier in flavour being attached to small pieces of bone and mildly sweet from the use of honey. ‘Miso Chicken’ (unpictured) is sadly a little lacking in miso flavour.

Butter corn (unpictured) is well seasoned and provides some crunchy relief in amongst all our meat. As does the tofu seaweed salad which awakens the senses with a rather tart dressing! Mistress and Monsieur Poisson share the yukke which they report as being creamy and rich (and not frozen, heh), whilst I sit to one side and watch their consumption of raw meat.

Things which will impress you about this place are the fact that coals are used for the cooking process, resulting in a most smoky flavour, but there is no need to dread that clinging post-barbeque burnt stench because their downward-adjustable exhaust fans are most effective.

For me, it also proved to be a relaxed à la carte experience versus the somewhat rushed feeling of all-you-can-eat versions with time limits. And with getting older and not being able to consume as vast amounts of food (Damn you, slowly metabolism!), this is much kinder to the stomach. Make sure you make a reservation though, as it is cosy and seating is limited.

Kashiwa Japanese BBQ Restaurant

7A Falcon St, Crows Nest NSW

Tel: (02) 9906 7393

Opening Hours:  Tues-Sun  11:30am-2:30pm (lunch)

    5pm-10:00pm (dinner)

                        Mon  CLOSED

happy eating!

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, 9 Nov 2010

Another work year has started and I am grateful that, amongst the tasks which will be thrown my way, organising a year-end Christmas party will not be one of them. For many workplaces, preparations for the following year’s Christmas party start almost before the last reveller from the current year’s event has even left the venue. Mistress has been lumped with this task for her workplace and I am most definitely not envious.

As my shiny red heels click-clack along the boards of Woolloomooloo’s finger wharf, there are large groups of men in business suits and ladies in cocktail dresses enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the evening sun outside several of the restaurants located along there. They appear to be the beginnings of year-end work celebrations and the lovely Sarah Ashmore, Functions & Marketing Coordinator of the Pacific Restaurant Group, confirms that Kingsleys is a popular choice for these shindigs and reservations are taken well in advance. All of which is understandable given the location and its view of the city skyline and relaxing surrounds.

But the view and location are all for naught if the food doesn’t stand up to the test of customers and, on this fine evening, twelve eager and camera-wielding food bloggers with appetites at the ready. Cocktails “with a modern twist” are offered all round but I’m afraid I’m not particular au fait in this area and can only remember two things about mine: 1) it was blueberry flavoured and possibly made with sparkling wine, and 2) it was girly and easy to drink.

The sourdough I do remember, with its distinct chewy crust and dense but soft interior enjoyed with real butter. However the show is stolen by the clean flavours of the ‘Burrata mozzarella salad with heirloom tomato and basil’, as well as the ceremony by which the hand-tied ball of cream-filled cheese is hoisted precariously via tweezers from a glass and rested on a bed of awaiting colourful tomato segments and where the remaining balsamic vinegar contents are drizzled over the salad itself.

The ‘Baby octopus with chilli, salt and pepper’ are tender, tasty and not at all greasy. The ‘Steak tartare with truffle aioli and sourdough crostini’ is anointed with a cute little quail egg replete with oozy yolk, and the tartare can be requested unmixed along with an array of condiments for a do-it-yourself experience.

I thought the show had been stolen by the burrata, but that was before the Alaskan king crab legs made their entrance thus completely upstaging everything before it. With pre-cracked shells for eating convenience, the flesh is sweet, springy and briney all in one bite and the triumph is in extricating a piece of meat from a segment of shell intact in its entirety.

Beef Wellingtons, encasing 400 grams of eye fillet to serve two and which require pre-ordering, are cut in half to reveal their blushing pink centres before us and plated by Group Executive Chef, Lars Svensson. Even with the vegetable relief provided by ‘Charred asparagus with parmesan’, ‘Iceberg salad with radish and blue cheese’ (very subtle in blue cheese for those who aren’t fans of it like me!), and ‘Zucchini with peas, mint & Persian fetta’, I fail to finish the meat but make a serious dent into the puff pastry outer and mushroom duxelle. Heh, I am never one to let pastry go to waste.

Dessert time proves that the ‘Chocolate brownie & banana sundae’ is a popular, classic choice, whilst I go for the ‘Toffee cheesecake with praline ice-cream’ in all its silken, toffee-swirled wobbliness. I am also told that the ‘Crème brûlée with sticky blueberry compote’ is crack-a-licious.

Dinner ends with tea, coffee, chocolate-coated coffee beans and happily satisfied bellies while I sit back under the twinkling stars and city lights wondering which lucky people will get to enjoy their Christmas parties there.

Mademoiselle Délicieuse dined as a guest of Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Sydney, and the Pacific Restaurant Group courtesy of Sarah Ashmore.

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Sydney

Restaurant 10, 6 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo NSW

Tel: 1300 546 745

happy eating!

Food to nurse hangovers

It’s hot and stuffy. The sun is blazing outside and rudely creeping in through the blinds. Oh, my eyes! Why is it so bright? You move to roll over. Whoa…the bed, or wherever you parked yourself last night/this morning, feels like a tiny dinghy bobbing about on rough seas. *Bob, bob, bob, bob…* It’s too hot to keep sleeping and you really need something to settle down the party which has been continuing in your stomach and bloodstream despite you stopping hours ago.

Good morning (or afternoon), and a happy new year to you, your stomach, your pounding headache and…so nice of you to join us, Hangover!

Although there are no foods which can miraculously cure hangovers, there are certain foods that somehow make you feel better through nothing other than comfort or placebo effect. If you’re wanting something fast-food yet can’t bear the usual international chains, then Ocean Foods has many deep-fried and more virtuous non-deep fried options. The grilled barramundi with chips (below) is just one of them – it is unbattered and cooked on the spot like all their hot foods. Paired with some sweet, crunchy and not-at-all greasy crab claws as well as a small tub of salad (coleslaw in this instance, pictured below) and you can soothe that hangover whilst having a balanced meal. For something in a more central location, there’s that famous soft-shell crab omelette (unpictured) from Café Ish which the husband keeps raving to everyone about.

Or perhaps you want something a little more pure and soothing. Pho An has any combination of beef, fatty beef, beef meatballs, beef tendon, tripe, chicken, etc in a fragrant Vietnamese beef or chicken broth with slippery flat rice noodles where chewing isn’t even required. Topped with fresh herbs to awaken the senses, stir in chopped chillies for warmth and slurp to restore some much-needed hydration. Noodle bowls are available in small (regular) and large sizes, and your food will appear almost instantly by magic. Peruse the menu at the doorway or ask for a printed menu when seated, as the wall menus are in Vietnamese and Chinese only.

To combine the best of both worlds Ton Ton Regent has ramen, karaage chicken, gyoza and tempura amongst other things, whilst Menya Mappen has udon, soba, lots of fresh crunchy tempura and kakiage, poached egg and small rice bowls all for very affordable prices. And runny eggs always make things better.

Gumshara will give you a thick, sticky, flavoursome and soul-restoring soup where each bowl is taste-tested by the master himself before being served. The noodles are springy and the pork is plentiful. Add a soft-boiled egg and you’re absolutely set for the day. If you want an alternate to noodles the ‘Special Rice’ bowl is serious value at around $8 with a foundation of rice mixed with sesame seeds, soft-boiled egg and vegetables topped with roast pork, and then the whole thing repeated on top of it again – it will satisfy the most ravenous of hangover hungers.

For a variety of eats including deep-fried things, rice, noodles, soups and Hong Kong fusion-style pastas then you simply cannot go past a “cha chaan teng” (茶餐廳). Iced lemon tea rates highly on my long-time loves even though it’s only black tea, sugar syrup and fresh lemon slices. You’ll find sweet drinks incorporating azuki (red) beans and grass jelly as well as Hong Kong-style French toast “sai dor see” (西多士) – typically two slices of white bread sandwiched with peanut butter, deep-fried in eggy batter before being served with butter and golden syrup. Trolley/cart noodles used to be street food sold, well, from a mobile cooking trolley, allowing for personalisation of soup noodles (flat rice noodles, rice vermicelli, Hokkien noodles, flat egg noodles, thin egg noodles, etc) and toppings (dried squid, fish balls, fried fish skin, luncheon meat, ham, pig’s blood jelly, beef meatballs, pork meatballs, chicken wings, mushrooms, etc and an array of vegetables). Not available at many Hong Kong fusion-style cafés in Sydney, Victoria Noodle Restaurant offers a great selection of noodles and toppings as well as other menu items. Try their salt and chilli chicken wings with rice – hangover or no hangover – if you get a chance.

For something healthy and sweet, wowcow serves 98% fat-free yoghurt with active cultures that is smooth and slides easily down the throat. One of Sydney’s earlier frozen yoghurt chains, mix in whatever toppings take your fancy from their display window and pair with cinnamon-sugared wow-sticks (baked churros) for dipping. I spotted Joh Bailey bringing a group of friends here late one night, and don’t forget to crane your head back (provided it doesn't induce too much dizziness) to marvel at the cow feature adorning the ceiling!

Ocean Foods

Corner of Lyons Rd & Gipps St, Drummoyne NSW

Tel: (02) 9181 4336

Opening Hours:  7 days  9am-9pm

Café Ish

82 Campbell St (cnr Foster St), Surry Hills NSW

Tel: (02) 9281 1688

Opening Hours:  Mon-Tues  7am-4pm

                        Wed-Fri  7am-10pm

Sat  9am-10pm

Sun  9am-2:30pm

Pho An

27 Greenfield Pde (near cnr Stewart Ln), Bankstown NSW

Tel: (02) 9796 7826

Opening Hours:  7 days  7am-9pm

Ton Ton Regent

Shop 10.16, Ground floor of Regent Place, 501 George St (cnr Bathurst St), Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9267 1313

Opening Hours:  7 days  11:30am-10pm

Menya Mappen

Shop 11, Ground Floor of Meriton Tower – Skyview Shopping Plaza, 537-551 George St (near cnr Liverpool St), Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9283 5525

Opening Hours:  Sun-Wed  11:30am-10pm

                        Thurs-Sat  11:30am-10:30pm

Gumshara

Shop 209, Lower Ground Level, Harbour Plaza, 25-29 Dixon St (Chinatown), Haymarket NSW

Tel: 0410 253 180

Opening Hours:  Mon  CLOSED

                        Tues-Sun  10am-10pm

Victoria Noodle Restaurant

Shop A8, Lower level of Victoria Plaza, 369 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW

Tel: (02) 9410 1822

Opening Hours:  7 days…11am-10pm

wowcow

Shop 2, 304-308 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW

Tel: (02) 9326 0400

Opening Hours:  Mon-Thurs  11:30am-11pm

                        Fri  11:30am-12 midnight

                        Sat  11am-12 midnight

                        Sun  11am-11pm

happy eating!

Epicure Recipe Cards #26 & #25: Thai Mussels with Sweet Potato, Tuscan Tomato Salad with Marinated Goat’s Cheese

It’s been a couple of months since any of these recipe cards have been posted, or cooked for that matter. I’m pretty certain that I won’t be getting through them all prior to the end of the year especially when I’m becoming increasingly left with recipes which fail to ignite much cooking passion. Or perhaps I’m just lacking cooking passion at the moment, full stop. Such a situation calls for creative interpretations and very, very loose adaptations of recipes.

I like mussels but I don’t like sweet potato. Mussels require multiple rounds of soaking in heavily salted water and draining to remove grit, but it’s more time-consuming rather than being a labour-intensive exercise. Sweet potato I will eat in small amounts, usually as crisp kumara chips, roasted or deep-fried in tempura batter. I don’t enjoy it mashed and I can‘t envisage the taste sensation of cubes of it cooked with mussels. So I decided to do away with the sweet potato and cooked the mussels with garlic, chilli and onion instead, with some crusty bread rolls on the side to soak up the briny shellfish juices. Being a fresh seafood dish, this is one of those things which is more a rough sketch rather than a strict recipe as the amount of seasoning and heat is completely up to the person cooking it. Don’t like/can’t handle chilli? Leave it out. Have some fresh herbs on hand? Throw them in if you think the flavour works.

The fruit and vegetable stalls near where I bought the mussels all had punnets of yellow cherry tomatoes going for cheap at the time. A punnet came home with me, the cherry tomatoes within halved and then mixed with a chopped Roma tomato and olives as a side salad to the mussels. The goat’s cheese was deliberately omitted as I didn’t think it’d be a good companion to the mussels but I particularly liked the vibrant colours as well as the saltiness of the olives echoing the saltiness of the seafood.

This meal was enjoyed a couple of months ago when the weather was cooler, but would be perfect for the weather now which is finally starting to show some signs of summer. It’s easy to prepare and most suited for casual picking at over a drink or two and, preferably, some conversation and laughter.

Garlic & Chilli Mussels (serves 2)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1kg black mussels

·         1 tbs oil

·         2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

·         1 small red chilli, finely sliced (deseeded to reduce the heat, if preferred)

·         ½ small onion, thinly sliced

·         ½ cup dry white wine or water

Method:

1. Soak mussels in liberally salted water for 1-2 hours, changing the water when it gets cloudy. Scrub mussels to remove any barnacles and pull out the beards.
2. In a large pot with a lid, heat oil over medium heat with garlic, chilli and onion until fragrant. Tip in mussels along with the wine, cover with the lid and let steam for 1-2 minutes.
3. Remove lid, stir mussels around before replacing lid and steaming a further 1-2 minutes.
4. Remove lid, season with salt to taste and stir to mix well. Opened mussels should be removed to a serving bowl and the lid replaced to further steam the remaining for another minute.
5. Remove lid and add any opened mussels to the serving bowl. Discard any which remain closed. Serve with crusty bread if desired.

Tomato & Olive Salad (serves 2 as a side)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         ·         250g punnet of cherry/grape tomatoes

·         ·         1 Roma tomato, chopped

·         ·         small handful of pitted Kalamata olives, chopped

·         ·         1-2 splashes balsamic vinegar

·         ·         drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Mix everything together with some ground salt and pepper to taste. Toss well and set aside for 20 minutes before serving to allow flavours to develop.

happy cooking!

Epicure Recipe Card #6: Mozzarella with Fresh Tomato Pesto

I usually have a few of these recipe cards cooked and photographed so that I have some material up my sleeve for those weeks where I either get waylaid by life or am seriously lacking in motivation. Last week I didn’t post a recipe card (due to pre-wedding madness) and this week I had nothing. So over the weekend I asked Monsieur Poisson to choose a recipe card which he’d like to eat and I would make that. He chose this one but followed it up by saying he didn’t feel like anything cool and salad-y. And thus the great mangling of a perfectly fine recipe card began! Out the other end came a margherita-esque pizza.

That classic Italian tricolour combination of basil, mozzarella and tomato works so well on pizza, tossed with pasta or simply as insalata Calabrese. I unfortunately left my grocery shopping a little late and couldn’t get my mits on any fresh mozzarella balls. I had to use packaged cherry bocconcini instead and somehow didn’t put enough of it on the pizza as well! Of course this flavour combination is better in spring when the tomatoes and milk are sweet and the basil is extra green and fragrant, but it’s pretty good otherwise as well – the Italians really know their stuff.

Pizza Margherita (makes 4 medium-sized pizzas)

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         1 quantity of Pizza Dough

·         pizza sauce – made from 1 tbs tomato paste, 1 tbs tomato passata, salt & pepper to taste

·         1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

·         mozzarella/bocconcini, sliced (don’t put too much on or the pizza will be weighed down and soggy)

·         2 tbs shredded basil

·         small basil leaves for serving

Method:

1. Divide the dough into four balls and roll each out on a floured surface to desired thickness. Prick all over with a fork before spreading on a thin layer of pizza sauce.
2. Arrange tomato slices on top of pizzas evenly and sparingly before scattering over shredded basil and topping with cheese slices. Season.
3. Bake for around 5-7 minutes at the hottest setting on your oven (around 270°C on mine) until toppings are cooked and cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven, scatter with small basil leaves and let sit for a couple of minutes before slicing to serve.

happy cooking!

Epicure Recipe Card #8: Warm salmon, potato & dill salad

This time of year is wonderful for cooking and entertaining as the sunsets are late and low and the weather permits for light, summery fare during the day and slightly heartier meals in the evenings. Gone (mostly) is the oppressive heat and sticky humidity which seems to plague Sydney’s summers in more recent years.

This recipe is not so much a salad in its own right as pan-fried fish served with a potato salad. Everyone has their own favourite or a version of their mother’s potato salad, so feel free to serve this alongside your salmon instead. I went and mixed spreadable cream cheese through mine thinking it was a brilliant idea as salmon and cream cheese are always so happy in each other’s company. What really would have worked better is something runnier like sour cream or crème fraîche.

The salmon I’ve used is skinless as opposed to fillets with the skin on as pictured on the recipe card. That is what I had my hands on and it worked well nonetheless. The chunkier end was cooked very much to my liking but unfortunately that meant the flatter end was a little overcooked. Overall a very filling dish despite its unassuming size, which can be attributed to the oiliness of the salmon and the starchiness of the potatoes.

Pan-fried Salmon with Warm Potato Salad

(adapted from The Age – Epicure 50 Best Recipe Cards, recipe by Jill Dupleix)

Ingredients:

·         2 small-medium potatoes, peeled & sliced

·         ½ tsp seeded mustard

·         1 tsp baby capers, rinsed (optional)

·         2 tbs sour cream, crème fraîche or mayonnaise

·         1 tbs cooking oil

·         2 fillets of salmon, pinboned

Method:

1. Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover. Salt well, bring to the boil then simmer until potatoes are tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Season salmon and place flat-side down in pan. Cook until browned and crisp. Turn to the other side and cook to your liking. Remove and set aside to rest while preparing potato salad.
3. Mix together mustard, capers and sour cream. Add drained potatoes and adjust seasoning if necessary. To serve, divide potato salad amongst plates and top with fillet of salmon. Garnish with fresh, soft herbs or a side salad if desired.

happy cooking!

Café Andronicus, 9 Dec 2009

Chatswood has a distinct lack of cafés. There are plenty of little coffee kiosks peppered along Victoria Avenue Mall and throughout the shopping centres but, apart from Café Andronicus, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere in the area that stays open beyond standard business hours. It’s been around for years with a menu which has changed very little and is widely acknowledged for its sub-par service. Although I’ve never received rude service here, it has never been sparkling or even warm in my experience. But we keep coming back because the food is generally good and predictable.

Batman and I meet here for lunch one day as we know we won’t be hassled for sitting and chatting too long. I order a ‘Gourmet Burger’ as I have a major soft spot for warm meat sandwiched between bread with crispy fries on the side. This doesn’t disappoint with a narrow but tall, soft burger roll piled high with salad, a juicy mince patty, bacon and cheese. The fries are golden but underseasoned, however that is easily rectified.

Batman treats herself to the beef lasagne which looks and tastes seriously cheesy whilst being adorned with a generous shaving of further parmesan over the top. A healthy serve of salad can be found on the side dressed with a tangy vinaigrette.

It was more than a surprise to see Café Andronicus closed with all its floor-to-ceiling bifold windows obscured by newspapers not long into the new year. It reopened a couple of weeks later, seemingly without much change, but under the new name of Café New York. The furniture appears the same as does the menu, and I wonder whether the kitchen staff have changed at all. I had the ‘Gourmet Burger’ again recently and it was the same as depicted above. More worrying was when Monsieur Poisson ordered Eggs Benedict (at 2pm) and received a tasteless, runny, Dijon mustard tinted ‘sauce’ instead of the usual Hollandaise…

What style of eatery do you feel is missing from your area? And how far are you willing to travel in the name of good food?

Café Andronicus (now Café New York)

316 Victoria Ave (cnr Archer St), Chatswood NSW

Tel: (02) 9413 1494

Opening Hours:  7 days  9am til late

happy eating!