Eat Art Truck Review

Food Trucks are practically in front of my doorstep, not literally but they're as close as they're going to get and by that I mean they were at Parramatta and by 'they', I actually mean one. So Eat Art Truck........ To be honest, I wasn't going to have lunch from Eat Art Truck but two of my lovin' food more so than the norm friends who also follow and love MasterChef couldn't make it so that persuaded me to go and give it a try. I found the food to be mixed, first of all, it was raining that day and I was in an internal dilemma about whether I should even take photos or not because I had my umbrella in one arm, tote in the other along with a bag of groceries.

The chicken was paired quite nicely with the macadamia and aioli sauce but the fries were a let down, there was no wow factor just better than McDonald fries.

Adriano Zumbo The Star Review

Finally can say that I have tasted Zumbarons. Are they worth the hype and the trek- to be frank yes and no- you do get a lot of exotic flavours at a decent price and quality control is definitely there but in my opinion (only) I think that other places fare better.

 Wunderbar $9

One day I shall buy you, maybe in September when I drag my dad along

 Lip Smack Whack

 Lots of Variety

 Lychee & Coconut, Almond & Pear, Bread and Butter Pudding, Passionfruit, Caramelised Banana and  Balsamic Vinegar, Salted Butter Popcorn @ $2.50 each

 Salted butter popcorn

This was the first one that I tried and it was quite strange experience eating it because it was chewy. For now I'm going to say chewy but in a delicious way. The salted butter really came through in the ganache or filling was so light it tasted almost as if it were real salted butter that you buy from the supermarket... or at least I hope it was suppose to give that impression rather than being real butter (hahaha I don't think that's possible). The popcorn, however wasn't really there except for the macaron shell but I guess its these exotic flavours (and also their name, can't forget that) that brings flocks of people to Zumbo stores around the state- I mean where else do you see lines of people queuing to pay in stores besides on their grand opening.

 Caramelised banana with balsamic vinegar- with a special surprise inside.

I was forward looking to this one the most but in the end it was the most disappointing. I tasted caramel but no banana, they should of just renamed it as caramel with balsamic vinegar because that was definitely there. The 'surprise' that I was referring to is a balsamic vinegar compote or jam in the centre of the ganache which balances the caramelised 'banana' ganache well.

Passionfruit

You can never go wrong with passionfruit, if the unspeakable does occur then let me and we shall tarnish the image of whoever ruined the good name of passionfruit. Fortunately, as the first passionfruit macaron that I've seen, it lived up to my expectations- it had a lovely combo of sweet and sour, just like a real passionfruit. Although I wonder why there were black sesame seeds on top of the shells- strange, yes they are a quirky way of resembling the seeds of a real passionfruit but they taste well with the macaron as a well; I know it's minor but it's there. 

Bread and Butter Pudding

I'm lost for words on how to describe this one. It was nice but I wouldn't buy it again. That's all.

Almond & Pear

I was also curious as to how you can combine almond with pear because you're already using almond meal for the shells, turns out that there's whole almonds inside. Hard to taste the pear as the filling was overly sweet but look at how fat that macaron is. value for money <3

Lychee and coconut

Coconut flavour was definitely there, it's one of those dominant flavours that tends to overwhelm and obscure whatever it's mixed with and that was exactly the case, it was difficult to see how it was a lychee AND coconut macaron. The filling was more creamy and thus smoother so I found that to be a pleasant change up in comparison to the chewier filling of the first two macarons that I had.

Overall, I find the ganache to be far too chewy meaning they get stuck to your teeth, the ideal macaron should have a smooth shell texture, it needs to be delicate yet slightly crispy but not so much so that it becomes crunchy like a cookie. The fillings needs to be smooth, and light and overall the macaron should not be too sweet and the flavours need to be distinct. So how did Zumbarons fare, well I did complain about the filling a bit so I think that's where they're lacking and I might be being picky here or a tad too critical but the shells seemed a bit dense (just a bit). That said, what I loved about Zumbos was that compared to it's competitors, they're one cheaper, two a bit fatter so you get more for your money and three each macaron that I bought was only chosen after they checked that there were no cracked shells. I really appreciated this because Ladurée didn't take the initiative to do the same and thus I ended up with most of my macarons being cracked. So yeah Zumbo gets a big thumbs up for aesthetics, price and quality control 

Bitter's Rankings for Macarons in Sydney according to value for money and of course TASTE

1. Baroque/ La Renaissance

2. Adriano Zumbo

3. Ladurée 

Next stop on the best macaron hunt is Mak Mak in Newton which is conveniently located close to uni so hopefully I can go in the next month or so.

 

Chur Burger Review

Visited another hipster joint and this time I looked the part.... haha there is so much that I can draw from this when you consider it from a Belonging perspective but I won't brood on that matter.

To get to Chur, simply use the Elizabeth St exit at Central and then walk for around 5-10 minutes depending on the traffic lights. At first my friend and I were at bit puzzled because there were 4 chefs already at work in the open kitchen and then BAM suddenly there was a long queue for orders for both eat-in and takeaway (that's why you need 4 chefs plus lots of waitstaff). So if you decide to go to Chur get there early they usually open at 11:30 a.m. (see website of course for exact details) and thankfully we go there around just before noon so we could grab our own table. Another thing to note is that Chur is more for the casual catchup nothing intimate because of all the seats get taken fast, plus there's a fast turnover so expect noise and lots of it. although you do get the novelty of sitting on a barrel <-- that's cool.

Menu

Crumbed Fish Filled, pickled cucumbers, lemon mayo, dill $10
I think you're a terrible decider of food there is nothing on this menu that isn't worth trying. The lovely crumbed fish fillet just works wonders when eaten together with the tanginess from the pickled cucumber and the mayo and finishing it all off is the warm, soft bun.

Sweet potato fries $5

I love my sweet potatoes or Goguma in Korean so it's not surprising that it was an absolute must for me to order the Sweet potato fries when I spotted it on the menu. The fries were a tad bit too salty for my liking but I have always said that the best fries need no salt but I expect to be the only one of this opinion so I won't complain any further. All in all they were so good and healthy (:

Chips with chilli salt $5

LOVE THEM!!!!  I would go back just for the chips but there's no way I could pass their burgers. For anyone with a strong aversion to chilli, there is hardly any chilli in these chips, in fact I did not taste it all. 

Grilled lamb, mint sauce, feta, red onion, aioli $10

The lamb patty was a bit burnt and I'm paranoid over anything burnt or carcinogenic so I was a bit frightened when I saw the edges of the bun and the patty but I got over that as soon as I tucked into my burger. When it came out it seemed quite small when I was comparing to other burgers that I've had but  the burger on its own minus the sides was already filling so don't judge a book by its cover guys. Whilst this little bad boy may seem miniature in stature it's enough to quench the hunger of many grown men.  

Dressing the part

I'm sure all the Masterchef fans would get this sign

Eating at the park opposite Gelato Messina and turns out the locals do it as well.

500ml take home tub $9, chocolate fondant, apple pie and passionfruit sorbet. Chocolate fondant was better than expected, lovely rich, dark chocolate but it was so light, apple pie was a tad too sweet and to be honest I prefer Gelatissimo's version instead and finally you cannot go wrong with passionfruit.

Chur Burger:

Sweet Infinity Review

I don't frequent The Strand much that's about to change. I really want to try the cafes there, they have a lot of business so that can only mean good food and coffee. I think it's quite unfortunate that Sweet Infinity has been slammed by many other reviews on Urbanspoon- based on my own experience the service wasn't that bad. Of course you should remember that most of the reviewers came in only because of coupons.

 I don't know why but the macarons here remind me of Mak Mak macarons, I wonder if they bought them off Mak Mak for $2.50 only to be resold at $3.50 yes that's right the big sized macarons are $3.50 that's 20c dearer than Ladurée that's is located just across the road from The Strand. I think they'd better rethink their pricing if they're at all concerned about the longevity of their business.

 Chicken, Mushroom and white wine pie $6
One word, disappointment. I had another MKR 'Jake moment'; in fact I'm going to coin that phrase whenever a place tries to shortchange a customer but only providing core ingredients in meagre quantities. In my case it was the chicken, I swear out of the whole pie, I only got like 3 bites of chicken breasts and they were tiny as well, I mean if they had compensated with more mushroom then that would of placated me but no, there were barely any mushrooms as well only sauce. That said, the pastry was lovely but you can't expect someone to be satisfied when they pay $6 for a reasonably small pie with barely any stuffing.

Apple Crumble $6
I quite liked it, I still haven't perfected my own shortcrust pastry so I admire anyone who can pull it off especially since it wasn't too buttery so it was ideal for my palate. Although it wasn't much of a crumble or do I have the wrong image/definition of what an apple crumble should be like?
Let me know your thoughts.

Scari Berri

Scari Berri is a frozen yogurt store at Bondi Beach, on Groupon they had a promotion similar to that of Noggi where you spend $5 to receive the equivalent of $10. I ordered a teapot of Green Tea- Jasmine Marigold Globe Armaranth however the tea was far too weak for my liking although I did enjoy the novelty of watching the tea bloom. Also, now that my friends got me a clear tea pot set I can hold high teas in the near future after a string of trial and error attempts at petit fours and macarons though.

 Normal Price: Teapot $8 and Melting moments cookie $4

Second used Groupon of the day at Movenpick, same deal as the first time. I think I have tried every flavour that I've wanted to try now. If anyone from Movenpick sees this, you guys should seriously consider me as a brand ambassador.

Baroque Macarons + La Renaissance Cafe Patisserie Review

If you haven't heard of Baroque or La Renaissance then you are missing out on so much; settled neatly in the picturesque suburb, The Rocks, Baroque Bistro is a French restaurant with a patissiere division- La Renaissance. Macarons are available for purchase at both shops however large cakes are only available at La Renaissance.

Last week I made the trip to The Rocks to buy one of two cakes for my 18th birthday party.

 Located right next to Guylian Chocolate Cafe

Takeaway box for 5

 Macarons were $2.70 each takeaway or $3 dine-in and after having Ladurée macarons, no price tag can ever phase me again. 

 From the left: Jasmine- White chocolate ganache infused with jasmine tea, Pistachio & Sour Cherry- Pistachio and cinnamon white chocolate ganache with a sour cherry centre, Lime, Mango & Coconut, Salted Caramel- caramel with Fleur de Sel (pure sea salt from Britanny, France), and Blackcurrant- Cassis flavoured white chocolate ganache and cassis fruit paste. 

Remember how I raved about Ladurée's salted caramel macaron? Whilst I still stand by that, I think that I have been won over by Baroque's macarons (and their price)- they truly deserve the title of Sydney's best macaroons. With Ladurée, a lot of the macarons that I bought had cracked shells whereas Baroque's were still intact. I absolutely loved the Jasmine- the infused tea flavor was present but not detract away from the white chocolate ganache, and the lime, mango and coconut macaron had excellent flavor combination; you first get that kick of lime and coconut before you start searching for the mango (it’s there, you just have to look for it)

 Larme de Gaugin Large $52 (serves approx 10) 

Exotic tear-drop shaped cake; light creamy mixed 
berry mousse, encased in a decorative almond sponge (joconde*), and topped with glazed mixed berries

*Joconde: A mixture of eggs, ground almonds, icing sugar
and a little flour, made into sponge like sheets

 One of my friends had a La Renaissance cake for her 18th as well, and on both occasions we were not disappointed. The acidity of the berry mousse worked so well with the joconde. Whilst I do have a sweet tooth, at times overbearing sweetness tends to overpower and detract from the cake but not with this one, the light berry mousse provided a subtle kick of sugary goodness to balance the slight tartness. The glazing, or thin layer of jelly added another dimension to the cake making this cake a real pleasure to eat!

Loved the seasonal fruits just wished there were more and who can tell me what that yellow fruit is because when I ate it, it tasted like those popping ball you get when you buy frozen yogurt.

My second cake was from Pishon Patissiere and Cake Cafe- Mocha Chiffon Cake with cream (Large $38)

It took me a while to decide which place to link back to Urbanspoon but since I bought everything from La Renaissance it is only fitting that Urbanspoon information is also for La Renaissance.