Eating My Way Through Europe Part 2

Still so much to tell but it's already been over a month and a half since I got back. Around this point, my camera got damaged. Thankfuly I brought a spare one along (sorry about the photo quality). For a country like Italy, there is so much to try and not much time left to try them all. Then there is Greece and Austria where you educate yourself on what the local cuisine really is and there were a few surprises.

Florence, Italy


Italian cuisine is one of my favourites in Europe. I go weak at carbs and the 5 nights spent in Florence, Rome and Venice was packed with pizza slices, pasta dishes and so much gelato. It is no surprise that food plays a major role in the Italian lifestyle. Like France, the cities in Italy (Florence, Rome and Venice) are packed with restaurants on every corner. The locals told us to try and avoid the pricey restaurants aimed at tourists but with so little time, we just went for the most convenient (and less pricey) one when we were starving after all the walking. Notably, restaurants in Italy often adds a service fee on top of the food which can be pretty annoying if the restaurant service was not enjoyable.

Eating My Way Through Europe (and Singapore) Part 1

11 countries in 6 weeks...impossible? Of course not! A bit rushed though but the experience was still there. If SBS Food Safari has taught us anything, it is that food in Europe is diverse not only between each country but even within certain regions of the country itself. For example, Italy and Spain have their own unique food cuisine based in the North, South and the coastal regions. For six weeks, I have travelled across Western Europe, Great Britain and Singapore with my friend AC and 49 other travellers who are hungry for adventure. As I was travelling with Contiki for most of it, there was sightseeing, eating and lots of drinking and partying! Some of the food we had was incredibly amazing and there were others that were pretty average and somewhat repetitive. Did I mention there was a lot of drinking?

Robocog Cafe, Surry Hills

About a week before my Eurotrip, CC and I decided to catch up for an afternoon outing exploring Surry Hills. However we ended up meeting each other pretty late and most of the places were closed by then. Luckily Robocog is still opened until 4pm and it has been on my wishlist for a very long time. Even though this is one of those cafes that you are more likely to check out if you want to meet from brekkie or brunch but we were so hungry that we didn't care about the time.

Breakfast burrito

It has brunch favourites like eggs benedict along with a bit of Mexican flavour to the menu. that includes quesadillas and burritos. One of their staples is the breakfast burrito consisting ofsautéed chorizo, scrambled eggs, salsa and shredded cheese wrapped in a tortilla. While it got a bit messy by the end, it was certainly very delicious especially with the toasted tortilla and the chorizo. A must try for those who want their Mexican feed in the morning.

French pancakes

Upon seeing the menu, CC was set on trying out the French pancakes which includes mixed berries, ricotta, fresh fruit salad, banana and honey. The layout was pretty clustered with these fillings. Had a bit of the pancakes and it did taste pretty sweet and nicely matched with the berries. I am pretty sure she loved it because she ordered the same item again at a recent visit.

I already had coffee at Single Origin Roasters nearby before meeting up so my friend tried out the one the drinks that Robocog Cafe stocks. She seemed to enjoy it as well.

A great place to relax and chill out with friends within one of the less busy roads in Surry Hills. Will try out more from their menu next time for lunch or brunch as there seems to be so much to check out especially with their Bacon Lover's menu. And it would be very interesting to see how their Eggs Benedict compare against the other cafes in a place like Surry Hills which thrives on cafe culture . Needless to say, it already stands out of the pack based on the menu alone and the toy robots chilling out on the shelves. Prepare for queues at peak times as the cafe can only sit a maximum for 20 people.

Robocog Cafe

249 Riley Street, Surry Hills 2010

(02) 9281 2880

Update so far

At the moment I will be very busy away from blogging as I am currently in Europe and I left my cable back in Australia for uploading awesomely delicious food pictures. I will be back in Sydney on 30th June but knowing how jet lagged I will be, I will try to post something around the first week of July. So far I have tried food from Singapore, UK, France, Italy and Greece; and will also be heading to Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands and Spain. However I have been missing some Sydney food action particularly the Sydney Food Trucks which have finally arrived.

See you all in July!

Spanish Terrazas, Sydney CBD

Garden salad

A friend from high school is having her hen's night at this restaurant in the heart of the Spanish Quarter. I have been here about a couple of times or more previously and have raved on how awesome the paella really is. Seriously in my opinion, this place has the best paella in Sydney! However we all got a set menu of tapas so there will be no paella action tonight. I remember trying a couple of these dishes a while before, and they were pretty good as well so hopefully this time, it's still just as good.

Complimentary bread

I am guessing because this was booked in advance, the food was delivered very quickly. In fact, every single tapas dish came out all at once. It was pretty overwhelming trying to decide which dish to have first. We were also given a side of bread roll, green salad and 2 jugs of sangria.

Garlic mushrooms

I really enjoyed the garlicky taste that the mushrooms offer. It did have a slight spicy kick which is not overbearing for the chilli-noob.

Can't remember the name of this dish...maybe Russian salad or potato salad?

First time trying this dish. Was ok to try but nothing significant compared to the other dishes.

Potatoes aioli

This was heavily covered with a special creamy aioli sauce. Several people on my end of the table said that it tasted a bit cheesy too but I could not detect this. The potatoes were fairly crispy to our liking and is one of the stand out dishes.

Fried Calamari

While it looked like your usual fried calimari from the local shops, it was still very crispy and crunchy throughout our meal - even when we were all too full to finish it off. Best eaten with a dose of lemon.

Garlic Prawns

This was possibly the favourite tapas dish of the night. I remember veryone was raving about this all night. It was presented to us sizzling hot in garlic oil and parsley in a terra cotta dish. Made good use of the bread to clean up the plate. Yummm!

BBQ Spanish Chorizo

When there's Spanish tapas, there's gotta be chorizos. Another dish I enjoyed mainly for the chargilled texture and its tangy flavour.

Albondigas (Meatballs)

Again made good use of the bread for the thick sauce. By this point, everyone was stuffed and struggling to try and polish everything off. But OMG, the meat is seriously juicy that I ignored how full I was getting and tried to stomach as much as I can from this dish. It was deliciously good stuff.

The other end of the table also got a platter with olives, artichokes and the like, I did not manage to get the name for this and cannot find a simlarily matched combo plate on the website. But it did look very delicious.

While we were eating, there was a Spanish band playing some nice tunes. Several diners got up and go crazy on the dance floor. Even a couple of staff members joined in for the fun! Meanwhile, we were finishing up our sangria and getting tequila shots for the bride to be. A night of fun, entertainment and so much food. While the prices are more expensive compared to the other Spanish restaurants in the area, some of the food they deliver here are pretty brilliant in quality and taste. I still wish we had the chance to try the paella though as they did a really good job with the crust in the past...even though if it's very pricey compared to other restaurants.

SHOTS EVERYBODY!

Spanish Terrazas
541 Kent Street Sydney NSW 2000
Contact no: (02) 9283 3046
http://www.spanishterrazas.com.au/

Que Huong, Cabramatta

A nice get together with a few friends in the local area on a rainy Saturday afternoon. We arranged to catch up in Cabramatta which is perfect as the dining options are incredible. Eventually my friend mentioned to meet at Que Huong Restaurant which is located in a hidden alleyway - despite the address stating that it's located on John Street. So it may be a bit hard to find if you don't know your way around the area. This is also right across from Cafe Nho which has gotten a bit of recognition in SBS Feasts magazine a few months ago.

The interior design may not look fancy but it is the basic layout that makes you feel like you're at home with your relatives in Vietnam. While many of Cabramatta's restaurants prides themselves on Pho and other noodle-based dishes, Que Huong's signature dish is banh xeo (or Vietnamese pancake). It is interesting that their menu also includes non-Vietnamese dishes like fish and chips and chicken and chips!

While most of us had banh xeo, one of my friends went with banh uot which consists of wide rice noodles, Vietnamese pork sausage, salad and prawn fried in batter . This dish looked very delicious to try especially with the batter that looked like a mini-banh xeo. My friend definitely enjoyed it.

Banh uot

Now for the dish we've all been waiting for. Interestingly, Que Huong Restaurant also serves banh xeo dac biet (special) so some of us ordered this version. However when we got our meals, the normal version and the special version looked very similar and couldn't find any difference. We did find a few chicken pieces in the special banh xeo version but otherwise, it was not a huge difference.

Banh xeo

The batter was very crispy, thin and slightly oily which was fine for us. The fillings were so fresh with the amount of bean sprouts, prawns, onions, pork belly and spirong onions. It is amazing that despite its think and crispy batter and the dense amount of fillings, it still manages not to break apart. We made good use of the complimentary salad by wrapping pieces of banh xeo with a bit of lettuce and mint and dipping it with nuon cham, which is the best way to eat this dish.

Yummm!

Great place to check out some of the more unique and very authentic dishes that stand out on this restaurant's menu that may be overloooked in other Vietnamese restaurants. And a great introduction to banh xeo if you haven't got the chance to try this dish yet!

Anyone for salad?

Que Huong Restaurant

Shop 16, 70 John Street, Cabramatta 2166
Contact no: (02) 9723 9916

Taste of Sydney 2012, Centennial Park

Sorry for the lateness of this review. The last two months have been so busy for me so doing an epic post like this was going to take a while. Plus uploading photos from iPhone can be a bit of a pain...

Anyone for table tennis?

Considering how messed up the weather was lately, it was no surprise that Thursday's session of Taste of Sydney got cancelled due to the epic downpour of rain (and flooding!!!). Thankfully, the weather over the next few days was perfect but the ground was pretty muddy.

After attending Taste of Sydney over the past couple of years, it was no surprise that the restaurants appearing at the festival will deliver an array of amazing dishes and this year was no exception. In fact I thought there were too many dishes to choose from and not enough Crowns (currency used at Taste festivals) or stomach to devour them all. Most menu items are worth 8, 10 or 12 Crowns with exception to Icon dishes which varies between 8 to 20 Crowns and even 32 Crowns for one Icon dish from Flying Fish.

Hope you are full enough to enjoy the next batch of photos featuring a selection of dishes observed and/or tasted that day. (Warning: Avert your eyes if you are a vegetarian or love little piggies...)