kakawa chocolates, east sydney

A return trip to Kakawa for mango and passionfruit pralines, as well as green tea. Mmmm....

A gift box for chapflap. Apparently the macadmias and meringues from last time were a big hit with his colleagues. From left to right, he's getting a mango and passionfruit, a green tea, a bluberry and yoghurt (I'd be intrigued to find out what this tastes like!) and a raspberry. The blueberry and yoghurt and raspberry pralines are milk chocolate.

A gift box for me :) From left to right, mango and passionfruit, green tea, thai basil and lychee. Both the thai basil and lychee are in dark chocolate, otherwise I would've got the lychee for chapflap as well.

I've just had part of the thai basil one (I confess it was because I didn't remember what the 3rd one was that I chose!) and it is divine. Gift boxes of 4 pralines are $8 each, otherwise you can get pralines individually (unboxed) for $1.80. The people there are lovely, and I read a SMH clipping that was in the front window which describes who they are.

Jin Sun slipped me a bonus peanut butter treat in the bag for me as well, which was delicious. The next time I'm back (which I inevitable will be... so close to my office, and so yum!)  I've got my eyes set on the salted caramel praline, after still having lingering memories of the salted caramels at Rockpool (even though I went there for a work Christmas lunch... what, 2 years ago now?).

Kakawa reminds me a bit of Boon Chocolates - it'd be dangerous though if they too had a seating area for drinking hot chocolates, because I mightn't end up spending much time in the office during winter. I'd really like to see boutique chocolate places like these succeed, because it's obvious that they're really passionate about their product and work their butts off to deliver.

Kakawa Chocolates

147 William Street

East Sydney NSW 2011

(02) 9331 8818

Open Mondays to Saturdays

You can find more information here

nsw school of massage student massages, city

My work friend (the same one who inspired an insatiable Harry's Hot Dog craving the other day) put me onto this beauty service a couple of weeks ago and I've become hooked. For $30 ($25 for your first time), you can have an hour's massage from a student who is supervised. Sure, it's in a room with about 10 other people, but I actually find I personally prefer that to the whole one-on-one massage experience (in which I inevitably start thinking, "should I start talking? Will he/ she initiates a conversation?") And they're very good with the towel maneuvering to ensure no awkward flashing occurs (although the room is nicely darkened, and soft soothing music plays in the background).

Student massages are currently available on Thursday mornings from 10am to 1:30pm and on Saturdays. It's in a good location too for popping out to during work hours if your boss happens to be working from home, plus you feel as though you're helping the students out tin a way. The quality of the massage has varied a little bit (as in they've all been good, just some better than others), but for $30, I'm not complaining!

NSW School of Massage
Level 1, 225 Clarence Street (closest cross-road is Market Street)
Sydney NSW 2000

Bookings essential (they only bring in as many students as bookings) on (02) 9262 2654

You can get more information here

david jones nail bar, city

I'm a relatively late newcomer to the whole beauty services scene. While some girls seem to have grown up with regular salon treatments, nail appointments and be on first name bases with their masseurs, I've only recently discovered the delights of primping and pampering. I've only ever had one professional manicure prior to this experience, and that was with friends during a holiday at a salon that I'd probably never get the chance to go back to. I've decided that it's time to start become a little more polished in my image - as much as I'd like to, I probably can't keep rocking up in thongs to work (for any American readers, that's thongs as in the footwear), having only barely managed to brush my hair and teeth.

I scoured my favourite source of info in relation to all things girly and didn't find a whole lot of recommendations for manicurists in the city. I was particularly looking for somewhere clean, having heard horror stories about re-used tools and infections (argh!) David Jones at Elizabeth Street seemed to fit the bill, being a 10 minute walk from my office and open until 6pm on weeknights (9pm Thursdays and Fridays). I called in the morning and booked for 5:30pm for the same day (being a Monday though, so maybe less busy than other days). So far, so good.

When I arrived the manicurist told me to pick a colour from the vast array of polishes lined up on the wall. I had no idea whatsoever - just wanted something relatively light so it wouldn't be so obvious when it inevitably chipped! So she chose for me and it was fine - the whole thing took about 20 minutes; she chatted to the other manicurists for most of the time which was great by me because I just wanted to zone out after a hard day's work (cough). The result? Shiny shiny nails that apparently will last at least a week. Hopefully a $30 well spent.

David Jones Nail Bar
Basement, corner Elizabeth and Market Streets
Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9266 5424

Appointments recommended

Price list:

rahmen genki, artarmon

My type of magazine shoot!! :)

Rahmen Genki is right next to Sushi-Ya in the alley on the quiet side of Artarmon station. Mum and Dad vetoed my vote to go to Rahmen Genki for lunch, so in revenge, I dragged chapflap there the next day. There's water and Japanese magazines while you wait (which wasn't for very long in our case, because we went at a relatively non-busy time of 2pm on a Sunday, but there were still other tables of people).

It was an unseasonably hot autmum day (leading one of my colleagues to post a rant on facebook about climate change sceptics!) so I went for the cold ramen ($13). Refreshing and lots of vegies, I particularly liked the strongly mirin stock/ sauce.

Chapflap's tonkotsu ramen ($11). Comes with little portions of pickled ginger (check out the super-cute tiny tongs on top of the ginger container!) and cabbage. Look how well-behaved chapflap is in not attacking his ramen as soon as he arrives, rather, waiting until I've snapped away with my camera. I didn't even have to ask him! In my words: well-trained. In his (and possibly many other male's): WHIPPED!

After being told he was allowed to eat (I kid...) chapflap discovered a definite lack of pork in his rahmen. The waitress was very apologetic and brought the above dish out, saying she'd forgot to bring it out in the first instance. I have to say though, it's a little bit on the stingy side for a serving of pork, epsecially compared to Gumshara/ On Ramen etc!

Rahmen Genki

10 Wilkes Avenue

Artarmon NSW 2064

Open 6 days a week for lunch and dinner - closed Tuesdays

(02) 9410 3777

Cash only (leading my Mum to say "it must be run by Cantonese people!". Us being Cantonese, we might be able to say such things... but Ryo's is cash only, and definitely run by Japanese people. The people we dealt with at Rahmen Genki all appeared to be Japanese)

sushi-ya, artarmon

A confronting photo, no?

I have to say I love eating the head of fishes. Sorry to any vegetarians/ squeamish people out there. This was part of the grilled salmon head set (with rice and miso soup - all together about $18) that I had for lunch on Saturday at Sushi-Ya with my parents. Delicious!

Sushi-Ya Artarmon

10 Wilkes Avenue (in the alley on the quiet side of Artarmon station)

Artarmon NSW 2064

Also at Chatswood - we prefer the Artarmon one because it's less busy but no less yum. Unfortunately a lot of flies though if you sit outside like we did (but you can always choose to sit inside, so we were asking for it!)

(02) 9411 1377

Open 7 days for lunch and dinner except Monday lunchtimes

Plenty of parking on streets nearby, or catch the train

accidental brownies

Mum made Almond Roca the other day. Well, not the trademarked-comes-in-a-box almond roca, but a toffee-almond-chocolate concoction that tasted remarkably like the addictive stuff.

Upon my return to the big smoke, I thought I'd give it a try too. I found this recipe and thought, "right, a stick of butter, does that mean the whole 250g pack that we get in Australian supermarkets?" If only I'd checked this out first...

So after putting the entire 250g pack in, I was left with a fudge-like substance that didn't resemble my Mum's creation at all. Oops.

Solution? Turn it into brownies! 

I usually use a brownie recipe from my ever-trusty Kid's Cookbook - this is adapted from the Donna Hay Modern Classics cookbook.

Ingredients

250g butter

1 and 3/4 cup brown sugar

1 packet of Coles slivered almonds (125g?)

1 packet Old Gold dark chocolate (400g)

1 cup plain flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Line a lamington tin with baking paper.

2. Melt butter in pan and stir in brown sugar until it dissolves. Stir continuously for 7 minutes, just like the about.com recipe says, and then ask Mum "why doesn't it thicken?" Mum then says, "no! My recipe said to leave it alone and wait until it thickens." Sigh in over-exasperated fashion.

3. Melt chocolate in microwave. It took my microwave about 2 minutes on medium power.

4. Leave butter and brown sugar mixture alone. Create glass of ice-cold water on Mum's instructions. Drop tiny bits of toffee mixture into water until it forms a droplet rather than dissipates into the water. Get excited.

5. Stir almonds into toffee mixture.

6. Pour toffee mixture into lined lamington tin.

7. Pour chocolate over toffee mixture. Wonder why the toffee seems to be separating into toffee and butter.

8. Place lamington tin into freezer as per about.com recipe instructions.

9. Retrieve lamington tin from freezer 20 minutes later and present to Mum in dismay.

10. Find Donna Hay cookbook and stir eggs together with flour and baking powder in medium mixing bowl.

11. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius.

11. Pour in mass from lamington tin into mixing bowl and stir until combined.

12. Pour mixture into lamington tin once again.

13. Wait until little red light switches off on oven, meaning oven is ready to accept foods. Place lamington tin into oven and hope for the best.

14. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre.

In the end they turned out ok. Lesson to learn? Mother knows best...

recommendations, east sydney

I've been working at my current office for over a year now, and have discovered the following gems tucked around the "East Sydney" (still not a suburb according to Australia Post) region:

Kakawa Chocolates, 147 William Street - I think I first read about it in one of those free city magazines that get handed out at train stations, and it caught my eye because it stocks $5 ice cream sandwiches. Not really the weather for those now, but I picked up some chocolate coated macadamias and chocolate covered meringues when I dropped in the other day. Would love to try the green tea praline next time.

Miss Chu's, 1/150 Bourke Street, just off William Street - the rice paper rolls will set you back $6 per serve, but they're definitely a step up from the 2 boxes for $5 rolls you can get from Hunter Connection in the city after 3pm. They were a big hit at our Christmas picnic in the park last year.

Bar Reggio, 135 Crown Street - for the trecolore pizza, although my colleague always goes for the Australiana (bacon and eggs)...

Big Boy Thai, 82 Stanley Street - call them up to place your order and it'll be ready before you leave the office to collect it.

Lord Roberts Hotel, corner Stanley and Riley Streets - great rooftop, huge lunch specials, my friend gets cravings for their skinnier-than-Maccas chips.

East Sydney Hotel, corner Cathedral and Crown Streets - the pub with no pokies! Yay.

Other regular haunts: Toby's Estate for mid-morning pick-me-ups, Sweet Infinity for mid-afternoon pick-me-ups, Verde, La Mint and Just Another Restaurant for special occasion lunches.

As much as I bemoaned the food choices around here when I first started, it's really grown on me. I'll miss it when I move on in October.

harry's cafe de wheels, woolloomooloo

Ever had a craving that you couldn't shake?

It happens to me all too much for a non-pregnant person. Recent culprits have been the KFC tower burger, chatime roasted milk tea with grass jelly and soy crisps (to the point I trawled each city supermarket for them, and then discovered a bulk source through the Nut Galore at World Square. Dangerous!)

What gets me every time is how specific the craving is, so absolutely nothing else will do. That's the dilemma I faced this morning after my work friend mentioned that she had a hot dog from Harry's the other day. The OCD part of my brain instantly started chanting, "hot dog hot dog hot dog".

I tried to resist, truly. But after seeing the glorious weather outside (begone, humidity!) and checking that it was only 1km from my office to the holy grail I set forth.

I first went to Harry's on a rainy, rainy night with chapflap early on in our relationship. That time, I managed to drop my hot dog on the floor of his car. This time, I kept a firm grip on my hot dog with veggies, and decided that it could possibly be my perfect food - carbs on carbs, rapidly consumable and most importantly, comes with mustard...

A veggie hot dog will set you back only $5.20, but you get this million dollar view.

Harry's Cafe de Wheels

Cowper Wharf Road

Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

(02) 9357 3074

You can get more information here

dong ba, cabramatta

A return visit yesterday following our discovery of this treasure on Valentine's Day. The plates of lettuce/ bean sprouts they provide for your pho/ other chosen noodle are enough to feed a small child. I love the duck and bamboo shoot rice noodles at the bargain basement price of $9. The duck comes on a separate plate, ready to be enjoyed on its vinegary own or dunked in the garlic sauce. The soup comes with an added bonus of a couple of blocks of 豬紅 (coagulated pig's blood), but you can always pick those out.

This time, we also tried the special pho, spanner crab and grilled fish noodles, spring roll vermicelli and pig's knuckle noodles. Only disappointment was that the coffee didn't come with the traditional drip-drip gadget that I invariably make a mess with. Plenty of condensed milk though to cut through the savoury soup goodness.

Finished the afternoon off with an avocado shake from the Thai place in the pedestrian mall (don't know the name sorry... just that it features delicious fried snacks in the front). Apparently it took 3 avocados to make my regular sized drink. No wonder I didn't need dinner last night...

Dong Ba Restaurant
Shop 5, 117 John Street
Cabramatta NSW 2166

(02) 9723 0336

Open 7 days

Also at Shop 6, 40 Park Street, Cabramatta and 296 Chapel Road South, Bankstown

next lunch destination, city

After reading onebitemore's entry comparing the Olive and the Big Bite on Pitt, I ventured over to the very non-descript arcade on Pitt Street (easily identified though by the line threatening to snake out onto Pitt St) to attempt to conquer an entire sandwich for lunch. My smoked salmon (hold the tomato please, it'll just make my sandwich soggy for the next day's lunch) sandwich was delish but gigantic. Will need to return to the Olive once I make it back to being an inner city worker for comparison purposes.

Also spotted a new outlet of Taste Baguette on my wanderings - it's just been reviewed by he needs food and will save me from trekking over to Sussex Lane for my lemongrass beef baguette fix. Greatly distressed by the news that Taste is opening up at new usyd law school though - just a another kick in the guts after us 2008 grads had to put up with giant cockroaches, Cityrail-inspired air-conditioning (hot in summer, cold in winter) and that ever-present strange smell on level 5...

Big Bite on Pitt
250 Pitt Street (between Park and Market Streets)
Sydney NSW 2000

Open 7 days

Best way to jump the queue (without risking being stabbed by hungry officeworkers) - call ahead on (02) 9283 4700

Taste Baguette on Market Street
Corner of George and Market Streets (just abovethe escalators leading down to QVB from Myer)
Sydney NSW 2000

Open 7 days

Also at World Square and Foveaux Street in Surry Hills

karaoke, city

Karaoke. Love it or hate it, there's something quite cathartic about wailing Avril Lavigne into a microphone in a darkened room after too much whisky and green tea.

I've discovered during my relatively recent introduction to the sport (chess is a sport too, right?) that there's not a lot of information on the interwebs about Sydney karaoke establishments. Here's what I've experienced to date:

Karaoke World - 185 Elizabeth Street (near Sheraton on the Park) - (02) 9267 5011

My first karaoke experience took place in these hallowed halls. They actually do have a fairly comprehensive website, which is partly why I used them to book a room for my 21st (all the way back in 2007!) They don't seem to have upped their prices since then, at least on the website. This place provides books with codes for songs in them, if you prefer picking your songs that way, which I can't remember having seen anywhere else.

Big Echo - 104 Bathurst Street (next to Oporto, near corner with Pitt Street) - (02) 9283 2666

A favourite at my last workplace due to the $10 6-9pm happy hour (hours?) promotion, including free Asian drink (lychee water, anyone?). Oporto being next door is handy for those late-night munchies.

Viva - 210 Clarence Street (near QVB) - (02) 9283 7733

Another favourite at my last workplace as it ran the same $10 for 3 hours with drink promotion. Also was relatively lax with BYO until recently. Probably has the best selection of English songs along with Karaoke World of the Sydney karaoke places that I've been to. There's a Japanese grocery store (along with the excellent 100 yen shop!) across the road for snacks. Has also been recently refurbished and ran a Ladies' Night promotion where girls got in free on certain nights, but that's unfortunately ended now. Still wondering where you've heard of it before? A man died after a brawl there in December 2009.

Greenbox Plus - 591 George Street (near World Square) - (02) 9283 8806

The original Greenbox on Pitt Street is now a Japanese bbq restaurant called Shinara. Greenbox Mark II, named Greenbox Plus (edited 17/04/2010 - this place seems to now be just called Greenbox), is tucked away up one flight of stairs what appears to be a residential building. Probably the cleanest place I've been to, but has a reputation for being exxy - a group of 4 of us went for 2 hours on a Thursday night for $12 per person (Asian drink included). Not sure how much it is for Fridays/ Saturdays, which is when prices tend to go up for prime warbling space. (edited 17/04/2010 - a group of 8 of us went on a Friday night from 11am to 1am for $60 an hour, so $15 a person for the 2 hours. Not bad, but no Asian drink included).

Phoenix - 90 Hay Street (in the Chinatown pedestrian mall) - (02) 9211 1776

The only place I can remember that involves going up more than one flight of stairs for a k session. While that was fairly novel, we won't be returning here anytime soon. I've been told they've already cleaned it up a bit from the good old "hire a room complete with companions that will cater to your every need" days, but it was still pretty seedy last time we went. Plus, of course, someone got stabbed there in 2008.

CEO Karaoke - Basement (where else?), 1 Dixon Street - (02) 9283 7883

It has a website! A bit more upmarket than the others, being modelled on the chain of CEO karaokes in HK. Cleanliness on par with Greenbox Plus or thereabouts.

Mizuya - 614 George Street (near the Metro Theatre) - (02) 9266 0866

A relatively recent addition to the Sydney karaoke scene. A package for 10 people set us back $488, including all food and beverages up to that amount and 3 hours' room hire, which is alright value taking into account the range of food and drinks (if you eat/ drink more than the basic $488 amount, you just pay for the extra). The first place I've seen in Sydney with touch-screen song picking systems. Rooms were rectangular though which makes it harder to mingle.

All of the places seem to have cracked down on BYO, which definitely wasn't the case back when I first started going. But of course, going to karaoke isn't just incidental to the primary purpose of drinking, right..

Other places to try which I haven't been to myself: Redbox, Cashbox (? chapflap's not sure if this is still around),  K Square... actually I lie as I have been to K Square (Capitol Square building), just that I don't remember so much about it. Same with Echo Point that I've been to once only (apparently it's haunted).

Outside of the CBD there's Ding Dong Dang (Surry Hills), Swing Box (Neutral Bay - we only found out about this place on a late night visit to Maisy's... there was just a door which looked kind of freaky), Juju's (Kings Cross - a Japanese restaurant which has karaoke late at night... I've been for the food which was good)... let me know if you konw of any others!

on ramen, city

A lot of chapflap's and my meals seem to consist of noodles in soup.

Slight variation on a theme here then because this one features noodles in soup and duck, another one of my faves

I got the "On Ramen Bento" set for $18.80, so I got side dishes comprising of japanese cheese sausage (with mustard, yay!), 2 takoyaki with waving bonito flakes (hello to you too!), salmon sashimi on a bed of carrots (nice and fresh) and a salad with yummy dressing. I felt a bit like I was in a korean restaurant.

I added an egg for $2 too, but was saddened that it wasn't the runny yolk type that I like, which I always eat first when we go to Gumshara. The duck was lovely and moist though, and the soup not too salty

Chapflap had the seafood ramen

He also opted for the On Ramen bento set ($18.80), which include side dishes of 2 takoyaki balls, sashimi, salad and deliciously crunchy (but highly unphotogenic) soft shell crab

All that didn't leave him any room for dessert, I couldn't resist the fluorescence of this pandan ice cream from Passionflower (the bottom ice cream is sticky rice - 2 scoops in a cup for $6 take-away)

The service was pretty good too at On Ramen, so it's a more dignified setting for satisfying your ramen craving than Gumshara. Not as much collagen goodness though

On Ramen

Shop 4, 181-187 Hay Street
Haymarket 2000

Open 7 days, 11am to 10pm

(02) 9211 6663

Cash only, minimum order of $8 pp

adriano zumbo cafe, balmain

We've been a little behind the rest of the Sydney foodblog crowd in making it to Adriano Zumbo Cafe, but it's been worth the wait. The first time we went was Valentine's Day (awww), when we had the chocolate brownie and orange hot chocolate, both of which were delish. Picked up 2 lovely boxes of macarons from the Patisserie too. Speaking of macarons, chapflap picked up a box for me recently from St Germain Patisserie in Redfern on this recommendation. Yum.

Recently we headed back after a leisurely lunch at the Oaks in Neutral Bay (cook your own steak! Fun!) with friends. I had the 5-6-7-8:

Chapflap had Miss Marple Deconstructed:

While the Serial Monogamist enjoyed the La Vie En Rose (Antioxidant's Weekend in the Cross in the background... sorry, no photo of the trippy watermelon dust!):

And the Washingtonienne, It's Not a Hamburger:

If only parking in Balmain wasn't so expensive :(

Oaks Hotel
118 Military Road (cnr Ben Boyd Road)
Neutral Bay NSW 2089

Adriano Zumbo Cafe
Shop 5, 308 Darling Street
Balmain NSW 2040

Adriano Zumbo Patsserie
296 Darling Street
Balmain NSW 2040

St Germain Patisserie
88 Rosehill Street
Redfern NSW 2016

blog review: grabyourfork and notquitenigella

These are the two blogs that got me into the whole food blog thing in the first place, so it's only appropriate that they start off this new exciting adventure.

You can find grabyourfork here. What keeps me coming back is (a) I've met the lady behind the blog through bookcrossing and she's super lovely and (b) the incredible Stomach's Eleven feasts.

notquitenigella features lots of delicious recipes with super-cute photos, the likes of which I can only drool over rather than attempt myself, and glamorous international travels.

Enjoy!

blog addiction: tools of the trade

Here's a shameless plug for another google product - Google Reader. I subscribe to about 70 blogs at last count, and I've categorised them into little folders which I read daily in a specific order (just like I read my weekend paper. How could I ever bring myself to read News Review after Spectrum?) There are other things out there that I've never really got the hang of (StumbleUpon? Digg? Delicious?), so if anyone's willing to teach me, let me know!

time to teach an old blog a new trick?

During tipsy discussions with work friends last night, the subject of this blog came up. Yes, it's been neglected for a little while now, but actually not as long as I thought. I think I would like to keep it up, but perhaps take it in a different direction - there are so many food blogs out there already, all of which I love reading... what there doesn't appear to be is a catalog of what blogs are updated regularly. Granted, there are the grabyourfork's and jenius' lists, but I'd also like to share some other blogs which have helped me get through the daily grind.

So without much further ado, let's start!

sweet infinity, woolloomooloo

I will miss this beautiful bakery when I finish at my current job next year. Just wanted to alert everyone to the fact that they've started making one of my favourite things in the world - arancini, aka delicious rice balls. They make bolognaise, chicken and spinach and ricotta, all for the bargain basement price of $5 each. Haven't had the chance to try one yet because they were all sold out when I headed back to get one for lunch after spotting them on a morning macaroon run. My workmate liked her bolognaise one so much though that she went back for a chicken one in the afternoon!

Update 2 December 2009: finally got my hands on a spinach and ricotta arancini on my third attempt! Went at 10:30am on a Wednesday morning after being told at 11:30am on Tuesday that they didn't make them that day. It was worth the multiple attempts at procurement! Delicious!

Sweet Infinity
53 Riley St (near William Street)
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

(02) 9331 2448

Open 7am-4pm Mondays to Fridays
7am-1pm Saturdays

Get more information here

While you're there, check out the scrumptious cakes like the chocolate honeycomb cake (so want that for my birthday next year) and lemon meringue pies (available in snack and meal size...!) And they're donating all profits from sales on Saturday 5 December to the Sydney Children's Hospital (I read it in the Sun Herald, there doesn't seem to be anything up on their website about it). All the more reason for a visit :)

the chocolate room, city

Do we really need another chocolate cafe in the city? I would have to answer that with a resounding "yes" - we can never have too much chocolate, right? Spotted this place on the corner of Sussex and Bathurst Streets on our way to a movie. Apparently it's only been open for a week, and is the second Chocolate Room in Sydney (the other one's in Parramatta).

We had waffles for 2 ($14) and a iced hazlenut chocolate ($6) - 3 cakes of waffley goodness smothered in chocolate sauce and strawberries washed down with a frothy ferrero rocher-like drink. The iced chocolates come in 20 flavours, and I'm intrigued to find out what the difference is between iced chocolates and chocshakes (apart from the price - chocshakes are $7). Next time, I suppose...

Also picked up 3 individual "Spark" chocolates for $2 each. The shapes of the individual chocolates remind me of Boon, but the patterns aren't as fine.

Update 2 December 2009: the Spark chocolate lived up to its description of "an explosive finish"! It had pop rocks/ wizz fizz or something in it. Nice. The chocolate was a bit gooey though despite the weather cooling down recently - low melting point perhaps?

The Chocolate Room
298 Sussex St (corner with Bathurst St)
Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9269 0004

Find out more here

Open 8:30am - 11pm every day

Also at Shop 11/15 Phillip St, Parramatta NSW 2150 (and in India!)

boon chocolates, darlinghurst

Boon Chocolates was recently featured in SMH and I've also seen it mentioned elsewhere on the web (for example on herecomesthefood). We went early on a Friday night before a late dinner and enjoyed the cosy atmosphere. There are only a few tables upstairs for eating in - it almost felt like sitting in someone's lounge room.

Hot chocolate is served with a deliciously light chocolate mousse and a praline. It was fairly dark upstairs so I didn't bother trying to photograph the drinks, but here's some shots of what we brought home:

Gift box of 5 pralines. I remember the pralines individually were $1.75, but I don't remember how much they were with the gift box and everything. Gift boxes of 8 and more also available.


One of these two chocolates is the Schubert, which features Earl Grey Tea. The other is the Jasmine, which has jasmine tea in it. Alex, who runs the place with his sister, told us that there's also a Mahler chocolate for the other classical music lovers out there. He named the Schubert because of how the flavour stays with you after you've finished it, just like Schubert's music.

Arabica, with coffee.

The gorgeous Janne, with rose.

Kurobiko, with rice crispies!!

The passion that Fanny has for the chocolates is really evident, especially in the elaborate perfume bottles made with chocolate that sit in the display drawers. It's worth dropping by just to see them.

Boon Chocolates
251 Victoria Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

(02) 9356 8876

You can find more information here

Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 12 midday to 8:30pm
Thursdays to Satudays 12 midday to 10:30pm
Sundays 12 midday to 7pm
Closed Mondays

Street parking available close by; note that the section of Victoria Street that Boon is on is a one way street

gia hoi vietnamese restaurant, city

This new Vietnamese place is where Saigon Village used to be, next to Pasteur on the southern end of George Street. It's actually a new outlet of a chain that's already in Canley Heights and South Bankstown, but I'm not sure if it's the same menu at all 3 stores.

We had a large special beef noodle soup ($10) and special vermicelli ($11), washed down with a longan drink ($3.50) and coconut juice ($3.50). All worth a try if you're in the area. The soup of the beef noodle was a bit oilier than our benchmark (Toan Thong in Flemington), but nice nevertheless.

I didn't take any photos of the food because at the time we were too hungry (argh, city traffic!) But here's the menu for reference... a lovely grandfatherly type man was standing at the front of the restaurant beckoning people in and told me to take one :) Click on each image for magnification to a readable size...

Gia Hoi Vietnamese Restaurant
711 George Street
Haymarket NSW 2000

(02) 9211 0221

Open 7 days 10am to 10pm

Also at 230 Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights NSW 2166
(02) 9723 7324

And 299 Chapel Road, South Bankstown NSW 2200
(02) 9796 3388

I think I read on the drinks menu that the Canley Heights outlet is open until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights. Adds another alternative to the kebab/pizza/pie late night snack...