Sydney 2013: Bourke Street @ Surry Hills

Just a few weeks ago, my colleagues and I were planning a little adventure to break through our boring routine.  Being an AMEX cardholder, we each had the privilege to claim a free Virgin flight ticket.  So without any hesitation, tickets were booked and we toured some of Sydney’s best eateries over our 2 days of stay.  They were  a kickass crew that were truly supportive of my food blog and we ate like the #yolo tag which stands for “you only live once”.  So how did we do that?  Well we start by boarding a midnight flight from Perth and reached our Sydney hotel at 7am.  From there we walked from Chinatown to the fancy pants suburb, Surry Hill.  Being touristy, many things caught my eye so I could not help pointing the OMD everywhere.

Cheerful vandalism!

#yolo

 

Bourke St Bakery as its name suggest sits on Bourke Street and is the most commended bakery in town. No. 633

Reaching the store at 7.30am, they were still close but seeing them arrange the bread and tarts really made our mouths water. The cold morning did not help too of course! Jee man. Fortunately though, they were no lazy people as the chairs and tables have already been arranged in anticipation of a large crowd which will mainly stand while demolishing their yummy offerings!

All prepped for business!

 

While the queue builds quickly, the handy crew of Bourke St. Bakery were sure to make sure that it did not last.  Standing behind 7 others took less than 10 minutes to reach our turn and before we knew it, we were up at the counter ogling at some really delicious looking pastries!  But nothing caught our eyes more than the tart shells topped with various ingredients.

Our starters were three tarts!  The chocolate ganache tart was yummy.  The shells were short and though the uneven nature of one tart shell was questionable, it was not reason to feel disappointed.  The ganache was rich and really decadent.  It was slightly sweeter than the one at Harvest Espresso @ Victoria Park but still very nice eat.  Could easily have eaten a few more!  The lemon curd tart was superb too.  Its smooth runny custard has just the right amount of zesty lemon juice which balanced well with the sweetness.  Always a favourite!

With the burnt sugar top that releases a lovely cracking noise when cut through with a spoon, it was clear why the ginger brulee tart is a favourite on the internet.  Its sugary top was just right.  Not too thick that it sticks on your tooth when eaten and neither was it too thin to enjoy.  Its gingery flavors were subtle but still unmistakably gingery or so I thought.  Pistachios were like .. “we are pistachios, hi!” and eaten altogether formed a party! Nom nom!

 

After sharing 2 of each flavors among the four of us,  we were still hungry and without hesitation went in for another round haha.This time around, we got the chocolate and raspberry tart.  OMG!  Sinfully good it was.  Airy chocolate mousse had the same richness like the Chocolate Ganache one minus the sugar.  It was chocolaty and the raspberry jam in there was just perfect.   Something about the acidity of berries make it go so very well with chocolate that it is almost a no brainer combination!  It really was a damn good bite.

Now to tempt even more, I held one half and shot a close up ;)! Hehehehe

 

Our last stomach filler for our breakfast were the chocolate croissants which Bel said were awesome during her last trip!

Tearing through to break the croissants into half, each layer tore one by one. The croissants were fluffy and my god.  I just had my cholesterol reduced by 1 thanks to good effort and doing 20-30kms of running a week.  Now this buttery goodness…. jee man!  Jord made a joke on this and tells me to let the future WenY worry about it.  Scumbag Jordan really scumbag!  Anyways, the chocolate was yums but if the croissants were warm, I drool imagining runny chocolate!  Also, Andrew for sure was enjoying himself.  Along with Bel, both Andrew and her are sweet tooth that consume sugar like it is nothing!

 

This is not really a highlight as Perth has some pretty wicked coffee too! But anyways, to complete the experience here it is:Andrew and Jordan’s mocha.  It looked fine and I am no connoisseur expert to comment on coffee so I shall not :P!

 

To conclude, Bourke St. Bakery really lived up to its hype!  Or at least the sweet ones do!  I am pretty sure that there must be a reason why people buy muffins and other delights by the tray loads.  Not to mention, locals are seen walking out in the jammies to queue up with Lycra-cladded cyclists.  While I can describe the many more types of people who queued for a bite at Bourke St Bakery, it is clear that this humble bakery packs something for everyone.  Kudos!  If you are travelling to Sydney anytime soon, this place should be one of the top places on your list of things to eat!  Price wise, we only paid $60 for 4 drinks, 8 tarts and 2 croissants.  What can I say?  Nom nom nom? haha!  Keep a lookout on this space! More to come from my Sydney trip ;)!

And to finish, a few more shots on the way back to Chinatown!

The Blue Door on 268.

 

Graffiti X Fish = Grafishi

 

WenY

Follow me :)!

Bites: Harvest Espresso @ Victoria Park

While I have so many pictures from my South Korea and Hong Kong trip, I felt like this place deserved a little more priority.  Made known to me by my sister and fellow blogger ChompChomp (see her review here), I decided to pay Harvest Espresso a visit.   Located on 627 Albany Highway, Victoria Park, Harvest Espresso appears very understated thanks to its location next to a secondhand car dealer.  Walk in and be amazed at how this little café appears no bigger than one’s bedroom.  But that did not matter.  What they did on our breakfast plate made fishman and I very happy people!

 

Harvest Espresso keeps their menu simple and more importantly, gorgeous.  If you like their Facebook link here, you can see their 2013 menu!

 

To kickoff our breakfast, we had hot drinks and sweet tarts to start!  All tarts were $4.50 each.

The lemon curd tart was my choice as I am now down with a flu and cough so why not reduce the guilt of eating unhealthy stuff by trying to get some Vitamin C for the flu xD!   I loved every bit of this.  This tart was bursting with the flavors of lemon and the short crust was to die for.  It was, thin and crisp!  The perfect base to sit all that delicious lemon curd in.

 

Fishman ordered the chocolate ganache tart.  I had a small piece and it was gorgeous.  It was rich and to help reduce the intensity of the chocolate I believe Harvest Espresso has decided to add some orange zest to prevent this delicious tart from becoming cloying.

 

For the real stuff, I ordered the Seasonal Mushrooms, rocket, goats’ cheese, toasted brioche.  As I have gotten bored of eating the full breakfast wherever I go, I tend to look for different types of food.  Food that expresses the creativity of the chef and café rather than the boring big breakfast.  This usually pays off well and this was the case at Harvest.  The mushroom were cooked well, but for fishman it was a little under.  Nonetheless it was joy and the thought of using a dessert bread, the toasted Brioche was absolutely genius.   The crumbled goats cheese finished off the whole experience with a soft somewhat tangy and creamy cheese.  It was slurps!

Seasonal Mushrooms, rocket, goats’ cheese, toasted brioche

 

For fishman, he ordered the Harvest Spanish Baked Egg, chorizo, tomatoes.  While I only had one spoonful of the bake, I felt like it was really tasty.  You had saltiness in the dish, the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes which all worked very well with the chorizos.  Actually, we had meatballs and not chorizos in there so this was new.  But with a toasted baguette to dip, I would have preferred a bun that can actually soak up the sauce more efficiently.  Something soft. maybe more fluffy like a roll maybe?  Then again, this is my preference while all places always use French Baguette haha.

Harvest Spanish Baked Egg, chorizo, tomatoes, cannellini beans.

 

When we woke up we were starving, but when we were done at Harvest, we were stuffed.  It was definitely a good meal and a great new addition to the ever growing Victoria Park strip!  For me, I enjoyed every bit of my meal today, the tart started the meal well and the shroom, goats’ cheese with brioche finished it well.  Sipping chamomile tea is gay but I do not do coffee.  With a seating capacity of 20 people at anyone time, Harvest Espresso is going to be a very busy place in a not too distant future.  I cannot wait to bring my parents and the little darling there.  They serve her favourite fruit tart from what I see online and I believe they can do it well!  Really have to thank Chomp and sis for the introduction!

 

WenY

Follow me :)!