Coogee Bite Cafe

Shop 126A

Beach Street, Coogee NSW 2034

Ph: 9665 0190

After exchanging a few emails with Tina from FoodBooze&Shoes, she had recommended her fav breakkie places, two of which happened to be in Coogee - where Richard and I were planning to go running the Coogee to Bondi Track & Back (training for the city 2 surf woo!)

After our run (14km in under 2 hrs) & we were famished! We LUCKILY drove past Coogee Bite Cafe on our way out, but wanted to check out Barzura's as well, to see which looked better to eat at.

I didn't have the exact address except for instructions that went like this 'south of Coogee, next to the beach' haha! We totally gave up after 2 mins, and just went to Coogee Bite Cafe, & quickly ordered some grub :)

I was totally eyeing the 'chai latte', & asked for caramel in it aswell (yup, LOVE my extra sweet hot drinks hehe). Beautiful chai latte, will definitely be my drink for next time i'm here.

Richard ordered the eggs with bacon, sausages, grilled tomato, mushrooms, hashbrown & turkish bread.

A very decent serving, & the price was only a tiny dent in our wallets! GREAT value for food :)

I chose another big breakkie which included eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato, spinach, hashbrown & turkish bread.

What annoyed me was that they put the mini tubs of butter right next to the hot food so half of it was melted! I was too hungry to ask for another so i just poured it onto my turkish bread... still good nonetheless!

I LOVED the servings of each part of my plate, i was able to finish it all and was fully s-a-t-i-s-f-i-e-d! i LOVE breakfast when i get lots of little servings of a lot of things, & this is why i enjoyed my meal so much. I think it overly replenished my energy levels from the run hehe

Richard ordered the 'eye opener' which took a while to come out. He only ordered it cos of its name, haha it tasted quite funkY! I didn't like it at all, & neither did he, & THAT'S what you get for ordering wierd named things :P

Coogee Bite Cafe is located close to the beach, so we had a nice cool breeze whilst eating, and semi nice views (while it wasnt front on from the beach, we still did see the water).

Service was quick, food was great, the cafe was packed but we still got our food really quickly.

Next time we're here, we're going to try out Barzura's, & do a comparison :)

Maurizios

1183-1185 The Horsely Drive

Greenway Plaza

Wetherill Park NSW 2164

Ph: 9756 1133

We headed over here after having desert at 'the chocolate room' (yes, we had desert first! we didnt want to be totally stuffed & not be able to have much for desert)

This restaurant has been here since god knows how long?? I remember seeing it when i was little, & always wondering what it was.. that big yellow building!

My boss has dined here with customers quite a few times now, and he's said all good things about it, so i thought it was time to visit the place.

Fresh Herb Bread

Started off with Herb Bread, which was actually kind of stale.. it was really hard to bite into, i usually prefer my herb bread crusty but nice & soft in the middle - but thats just me!

Crumbed asparagus mornay

I chose the asparagus over the spinach & ricotta canneloni because well..

a) i wasnt really hungry

b) i wanted to try something different

c) i was cooking canneloni the next day at home for friends!

I liked this dish, it had a generous amount of sauce (which was very tasty & NOT lacking flavour!) & the asparagus was lightly crumbed & fried so that it still tasted very much like quick-cooked asparagus, fresh & crisp.

Spaghetti marinara

Sam chose his usual seafood pasta, which was a MASSIVE serving even though he only ordered an entree size ??!! MUST'VE been a mix up, it was seriously so big he couldn't finish it (and Sam is ONE BIG eater!)

It looked dry, & he complained that it was as well. It didn't look like he enjoyed it much..

Homemade ravioli

Filled with mixed seafood served n a pink lobster sauce

Julie chose the home-made ravioli, which was a medium sized dish for an entree as well!

Greek Salad

We ordered a salad, assuming everyone's dishes wold be small (since we ordered entree servings only), but we really struggled to even eat the salad,  except me - my asparagus mornay was really tiny hehe! The salad was a very generous serving as well.

I loved the presentation of our dishes, & the service was prompt. Great value for money aswell considering how enormous the serving portions were! Dishes were very modernised, not a bad thing either :)

The Chocolate Room

Shop 45 Stocklands Shopping Centre

Polding Street

Wetherill Park NSW 2164

Ph: 9609 4866

I saw a '$10 off' Voucher for this place in the local newspaper, & was excited to have a 'chocolate cafe' in our area finally (Parramatta is further away, Max Brennars). Julie, Sambath & I Decided to go on a Friday night, i was in a bitter mood, & what can be better then sweetening it up with some chocolate goodness :)

It was quiet actually, i thought it would be abit more busy seeing as they opened just 2 or 3 days ago. It was roughly around 7pm so maybe.. it gets busier later in the night after people have finished dinner/watching a movie.

I noticed the girl at the registers used to do kickboxing at the gym so i said a quick hello how are you before sitting down. Its pretty much like you take a menu, sit down, then up again to the register to order & pay before sitting down again!

They have a wide range of hot chocolates (served in a cuddle cup, which sounds very much like Max Brenners "hug mug"!), i think they had about one page & a half, so it took us a while to decide on which one to get..

I finally decided on the 'coconut' from ancient origins. An intoxicating match of fragrant flakes of coconut dipped in perfumed cocoa of the ivory coast.

Julie chose 'hazelnut' select hazelnuts covered in nougat caramel & drowned in thin dutch cocoa.

Sambath chose the 'apple & cinnamon' rich smooth cocoa combined with the familiar taste of poached apple & infused with undertones of spiced cinnamon.

I really enjoyed reading through the menu of drinks, they describe each drink so intricately, it's beautiful!

We decided against ordering waffles or cakes, & chose this because it looked unique amongst everything else on the menu.

'The Chocolate Room Poffertjes". Yeah, try pronouncing it! Because i spent about 10 minutes trying hehe. Basically these were mini pancake type cakes, drizzled with chocolate (which you can see is obviously not enough!!) & served with vanilla icecream, & strawberries.

Honestly, they were abit dry, & the chocolate wasn't that great :( I think i could do a better job at home..

I'd like to think it was just a one off, i do want to come back & try the waffles & maybe take home some choccies!

Kreative Blogger Award

I have been given the Kreativ Blogger award by Trish@Sugarlace, thanks hun! :)

So now it is my turn to give it to 7 others:

Tom
Lili
Becca
Clara
Cheryl
David
Nicole

Seven things about myself that hopefully people might find interesting:

1) i collect stickers, ink stamps, bottle caps, polaroids/instant photo cameras
2) i like drinking warm tea's & coffee's (hate it when they are too hot!)
3) i finally joined facebook - literally 4 days ago
4) i have obsessive compulsive order when it comes to keeping my hands clean
5) i feel really, REALLY guilty if i exercise less than 5 times a week
6) my feet realy stink
7) i'm struggling to come up with seven things so it'll just have to end here!

The Kreativ Blogger award comes with some rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Arigato Sushi

83 Stanley Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

We had previously eaten at Benbu across the street from Arigato and were really meant to go to the sushi place next door to it, but they were a little bit too busy tonight. Inside it was very different from what I'm used to. There were tables against the walls with little bowls of chalk and the walls were painted with chalkboard paint!

We both attempted to write something on the wall but failed because of other people's thickly caked on graffiti. Epic fail.

What i love about Japanese places is that they sometimes have picture menus! Gotta love previewing the food you're about to order hehe. Its less scarey for people like me - i'm usually scared to try new foods, and most of the time eat what i usually eat :x 

We ordered our usual Edamame, a vegetarian sushi roll, seaweed sushi boat, a salmon roll, salmon belly tuna, flying fish roe boat and a chicken and cucumber sushi roll.

All the vegetarian sushi rolls had the seasoned seaweed as a filling and because of this reason, they were awesome. You can't go wrong with seasoned seaweed at a japanese restaurant! The slightly pickled flavour of the seaweed combined with the slight hint of spiceyness from the chilli made my mouth tingle. It was great!

I loved the salmon belly sushi. The salmon was fresh and had that buttery / creamy salmon flavour with extra butteryness since it's from the salmon's belly (as opposed to the normal cut). The rest of the salmon sushi roll bits were the same as what you'd get at any other japanese restaurant. I love having caviar sushi boats, the little balls of caviar popping in my mouth like pop rocks left a savoury taste.

Lastly there was the fried chicken and cucumber roll which was quite average. The chicken was cooked well, it was slightly warm but not cold. With this one I needed more soy sauce for that extra flavouring.

Although the food here was great, I'd still prefer to go to Benbu!

The Fair Trade Coffee Company

I LOVE sitting by the window/outside to eat, especially around the city because sometimes you see pretty interesting things/peoples.

I had a class all day in the city today, & i think trains are seedy so i drove up with Richard, and we had breakfast here (planned to eat at Badde Manors, but wanted to try another cafe!)

The place had seats outside but we were cold so, by the window we sat. Also in clear view of my car (wary of any traffic officers booking cars without tickets being displayed :P)

It had such a 'home' feel to it, from the retro couches, to the blackboards, & the various materials used to cover benches. How sitting around makes you feel like you're at home & not in a cafe..

We ordered a large pot of chai tea, but straight away regretted this as soon as we had a sip. The tea was quite weak, and not as spiced as we have had our chai tea before (Badde Manors is still our numero uno for chai tea!)

We both ordered the 'mega breakfasts' because we were starved (and also because our favourite meal of the day is Breakfast!)

Mine came with two poached eggs, grilled tomato, half an avocado (VERY generous) sauted mushrooms, steamed pumpkin cubes, toast & butter.

There was nothing particularly special about this breakfast, everything was abit plain & dry.. not really worth the $17-$18 we paid for each dish!

His came with sausages, bacon, poached egg, grilled tomato, mushrooms & fresh spinach leaves. He says 'the bacon is really dry, & my egg yolk isnt runny. But the gluten free bread is aiight'.

The cakes on display look .. average. Not sure if slices have been cut out to 'make' it look like they've been sold? I certainly hope that they haven't been sitting like that for days..

What i do like about the cafe, is the array of postcards & prettiful flyers available for taking :)

There are many other cafes in the area that i want to try out, so will definitely be back in the area again sometime soon :)

Lucky Thai & Lao Restaurant

Shop 3, 134 Edensor Road

Bonnyrigg NSW 2177

ph: 8786 1997

I've always wanted to try out this place. Its settled on the left corner of a row of shops next to a Quix Petrol Station, neighbouring an Italian Restaurant & Gelato Bar, Mechanics Shop, Baby Store, and an asian grocery store.

We were given our menu's, and to my delight - they were photo-menus! My favourite :) I LOVE places with photo-menus obviously because of the eye candy, & to see what we'll be digging into :)

Vegetarian Pad-Thai with Tofu & Vegies $8.90

Vegetarian Pad-Thai $8.90

Both pad thai's were full of tamarind flavours, just the right amount of sweet, sour & salty. The only thing i didn't like was the overcooked rice noodles. Otherwise it was all good, price was quite cheap (but then again, this is way out west, and almost around the corner from woop woop land for some people).

Mango Sorbet $4.00

Deep-fried banana, with coconut sorbet $4.50

I just HAD to have desert, and made Richard order something too so i could try abit hehe.. Desert wasn't the greatest i've ever had, but was good enough for a Mid-Week meal without kind of breaking the budget.

Nothing beats the tempura fried icecream that you can get at 'Sushi Bar Rashai', a place i want to go back to & do a review on it... sometime soon - i have too many places to eat my way through hehe.

Perama Greek Restaurant

88 Audley Street

Petersham NSW 2049

Ph: 02 9569 7534

How was I to know, that tonight I would be eating till my stomach popped open? Fridley & I got together a bunch of Twitterers (food bloggers & non-food bloggers) for a hearty meal at Perama in Petersham.

I was a tad bit late & got seated with the 'non-food bloggers' but also people that weren't on my twitter so that was fun introducing ourselves. I'm quite the twitter addict, sometimes I have it on all day at work .. which is so bad because I never get any work done hehe.

So tonight, because it was such a big group of us (and most of us had big flashy camera's & foodblogs), the owner @DavidTsirekas, cooked us dish after dish after dish (and supplied unlimited wines & drinks) for a measly $50 p/p!! Little did I know that we'd be fed soo much more then what he had bargained for..

When i sat down, there was already Greek salad bowls, & crunchy sesame seeded bread served with an assortment of dips. 

Greek Salad, Mixed Dips with Crusty bread (Tzatziki, Tarama, split pea, olive paste, roast eggplant

Picked mushrooms & octopus

The Greek Salad, had a huge chunk of fetta cheese sitting on top, which is unusual (usually you get small-medium sized cubes tossed throughout the salad). 

The platter of bread & dips was really nice, i tried all the dips, limiting myself with the bread (I really didn't want to get full on bread did I??), and sipped on my glass of 'Big Men In Tights' wine. I'm not usually a red wine fan, but this one was quite light, and refreshing (not too dry) so i was constantly topping up though out the night!

The pickled mushrooms were slightly too vinegar-ish for my liking, so I'd assume the same for the pickled octopus & cabbage.

Pickled artichoke & cabbage

Imambadli - stuffed roasted eggplant, Gravieria - crumbed haloumi

The crumbed & deep fried haloumi was divine (how can you go wrong with fried cheese??) So this is one dish i will DEFINITELY have to have the next time I am here :)

Sheftalies - cypriot sausages, Hand rolled Macedonian Filo Spinach Pie

Deep fried asparagus, shallots, oyster mushrooms, Zucchini & white Yam, BBQ haloumi cheese

The spinach pie was crisp & warm, the way a pastry pie should be, and i was glad i was able to eat this as it had no meat in it whatsoever. The deep fried vegetables were a bit, although the tomato based sauce I didn't have much of .. it had a slight tangy tomato taste which didn't mesh will with my tastebuds at all.

The bbq haloumi with figs, was a fresh dish, and a reminder that haloumi does NOT have to be deep fried in oil to taste nice (although i do prefer it that way hehe).

Vine Dolamathes, Stuffed filo pastries

BBq lambs liver, Chilli Black Mussels

The stuffed filo pastries looked very attractive (pastry! so good, but so so bad) & there was a special cheese filled one for the lone vegetarian a.k.a Me! I'm not a fan of the Vine Dolamathes, ever since i tried some with Richard (he loves these).

Hand cut chips w/ Ouzo Mayo, BBq octopus

Zucchini Fritters, Pork Belly Baclava

Fat deep fried potato chips, boy did my eyes light up when these babies came out. The dip, was Ouzo Mayonnaise, which was a bit too bitter for me.. I told everyone straight up that i didnt like it. Must be an acquired taste? (Ouzo is a Greek liquor flavoured with aniseed)

By this point, all the girls (including myself) were completely stuffed!! Whining of our bloating & asking 'when does it all end??'

Fried calamari, Hand rolled Filo Pumpkin Pie

Fakes Salad, Bezilia -peas cooked with tomato & herbs

Another pastry dish, this time filled with pumpkin with a thicker pastry shell, again, what can i say i'm a lover of pastries :)

There was no way i could try the peas or beans salad .. seriously this is the first time i've been overfed in a restaurant since i converted to vegetarianism!

Lamb Skaras - braised lamb with potatoes & string bean

Lamb Kleftiko - cooked in clay pot with potatoes & olives in a spiced tomato sauce & kasseri cheese

Roast Duck

Ahh.. but our stomachs, just miraculously called out when desert was being served :) Or was it our second stomach kicking in!?

Spiced pear in red wine sauce, Rhuburb rice pudding

Mandarin flavoured milk semolina custard wrapped in filo pastry

Ekmek - oven fired brioche soaked in spice sugar syrup served with clotted cream (kaymaki)

Olive baklava with olive icecream

My favourite would have to be the rhubarb rice pudding, and the olive oil icecream (i know, im thinking the same as what you're thinking!)

Richard for the spiced pear in wine syrup because of his no dairy no gluten diet. It was so nice to be catered for, so nicely, and fed so well by David. I had trouble walking out of the restaurant, for fear of knocking over chairs & tables from my buldging stomach lols.

Keep an eye our for Perama Take 2 (yes you heard me), we'll be making a come back later in the month. Why? Because we just, can.

I BIG thank you to Betty & Lorraine for helping me with menu & names :)

To see all the gorgeous pics (larger sizes) head to my flickr. I really didn't want to make it a heavy picture post, there are over 30 photo's!

Other foodie's posts (yes i think i was the last to write mine up hehe..):

Betty The HUngry Girl

Citrus & Candy

Pigged-Out

Foraging Otaku

Raspberri Cupcakes

Tummy Rumble

NotQuiteNigella

Spicey Icecream

Hope I didn't miss anyone xx

Chat Thai - Haymarket

Mini Tweet-Up with @_mel_ @sporbo @annies102 & myself.  We couldn't decide on any particular type of food, so i suggested Thai (i think this would be the 3rd time eating Thai in about 2-3weeks?)

Firstly suggested by @_mel_ was Longrain, then @sporbo suggested Spice I Am or Chat Thai, then maybe Rambutan?

Longrain didn't take reservations, same with SPice I Am, & i was anti Rambutan: unless we were having cocktails! (they don't have pad thai, did you know that?) haha so yeah.. as you can tell my fav dish is pad thai i really should venture towards other dishes but it's hard cos i don't eat meat.

I made a booking a couple days before, because i hate to wait whilst hungry..

The place was quite packed, and quite a few people already on the waiting list. We didn't get a table sttraight away, probably about 5 minutes since two guys were just finishing up on the table that was reserved for us (or was it just lucky timing?)

Massaman Curry $12

chunky strips of beef, pineapple, peanuts & potatoes

slowly braised in a rich mild coconut curry, made from

a paste of cardamon, turmeric, cinnamon, palm sugar & tamarind

Pad Cha Pbla Gaia $15

fish paste dumplings stir fried with spicy wild ginger, holy basil,

long red chillis, apple eggplants & fresh green peppercorns

Pad Thai $11

a sweet & salty stir fry of thin rice noodles with salted radish, ground peanuts,

garlic, chives, tofu & beansprouts

This pad thai was for me, but i shared it around as it was a big serving! They accommodated to my vegetarianism well, but the dish was not quite flavoury as i hoped it would be. Still nice nonetheless, & a great price for thai in the city.

Pak Boong Fai Daeng $12

water spinach tossed briskly in the wok with oyster sauce,

yellow bean sauce, garlic & chilli

I think this dish was overpriced, at $12 it was more than my pad thai.. but the leaves were fresh & crunchy, and the chilli on it tasted great :)

Desert time.. we couldn't leave without some sticky rice & coconut goodness :)

Sticky Rice Durian $7.50

sticky rice steamed with sweet coconut cream & palm sugar accompanied

with a durian custard & pieces of fresh durian

The girls could straight away pick out that the durian was NOT fresh, but continued mmm-ing whilst eating. I'm also not a fan of durian but this dish was alright for me hehe

Khao Nieaw Sangkaya $7.00

sticky rice steamed with sweet coconut cream & palm sugar

accompanied with a steamed coconut custard

This was basically the same as the durian dish, but with steamed coconut custard instead. Which didn't taste too great (more like rubbery) but the rice & coconut was just divine. Although, they kind of skimped on the coconut milk..

Tao Tung

Icy sweet herbal soup made with longan juice & a variety of beans & stuff

(stuff meaning the photo i took doesnt show the whole description lols)

toddy palm, mung beans, longan, aloe vera jelly

lotus seeds & tapioca balls

This reminded me of a typical 'sam bo luong' viet drink, and i think it's about the same. @sporbo wasn't a fan of coconut milk so opted for this fresh drink instead. To much ice me thinks though!

Overall, the food was very average, nothing to shout about. Service was quick, and pricing was decent. Would i come again? Probably not, knowing how many Thai restaurants are out there i really wanna try as many as i can ;)