Cruffins @ Brewtown Newtown, Sydney

Cronuts, aka, croissant + donuts for those of you living under a rock, have taken the US by storm (for good reason).  When I was in Sydney, I kept hearing about their famous cronuts, from a place called Brewtown Newtown (although called "Brewnuts", because, trademarks).

Brewtown Newtown is actually mostly a coffee shop/cafe, not a bakery, so I was a bit skeptical, but so many food blogs raved about this place.  It is in Newtown however, further afield that our normal Sydney adventures take us, so I didn't think I'd really get in a visit.  That is, until we went for dim sum at Luly and Yum Yum, and I was left a bit unsatisfied by the lackluster dessert.  I always need dessert!  The group wanted to get coffee afterwards, and I knew Brewtown Newtown was just down the street.  They could get the coffee they wanted, and I could try a cronut.  Everyone would win.

So I lead us down the street to Brewtown Newtown, where we discovered just how popular it was.  At the front was a place you could order just drinks and baked goods to go (or, go drool over them in the display cases), and the rest of the space was for sit down dining with table service, absolutely packed.

The cafe actually sounds quite nice, serving breakfast and lunch, with seasonal menus focused around farm fresh, "paddock to plate" cuisine, free range, organic, yadda yadda.  Once we sat, I was able to see dishes delivered to tables around us, and it all looked good.  The most impressive is the Elvis Burger: "savory brewnut, canadian bacon, gruyere and mayo served with chips and relish".  Yes, that is a bacon and cheese topped burger, served with cronuts as buns.  OMG.  Many tables ordered this.  I actually laughed a bit, as there were many pairs of male + female together, and the males all ordered the crazy burger, and the females salads.  So ... stereotypical?  I didn't even see a female ask for a bite of one of these.  I totally would have!

Anyway, as for the coffee, they serve Single Origin roasters, one of my favorite beans in Sydney.  I tried a decaf long black ($3.50).  The coffee wasn't very good, harsh and acidic.  It had an oil slick floating on top, never a good sign.  It also had no crema whatsoever.  This is not representative of Single Origin's product, so I'm not sure what went wrong.  I asked to have it topped off with a bit more hot water to dilute it, and was brought a cute little pitcher of hot water so I could dilute it myself.  That was a nice touch.

Ojan opted for a hot chocolate ($4), which was unremarkable.

Interior.

The place was packed, and we had to wait for a table even though it was about 3pm.  The vibe was lively and hopping.  Music selection was a bit hilarious, obviously very hip, moving from 80s pop hits to classical numbers, and everything in between.

The space has brick walls and exposed beams, very industrial feeling.

Brewnuts.

Counters at the front display the baked goods in all their glory, starting with the Brewnuts of course.

The flavors of the day were: cinnamon, glazed, chocolate crumble, blood orange, lemon myrtle, fruit & nut, passion fruit curd, and salted caramel with macadamia.

Unlike some other cronuts, these do not have any filling, rather, they are just the croissant donut, with a hole in the center, and nothing between the layers.  The flavors are all in the toppings.  They did look quite stunning.

Cruffins.

But this is Sydney, and a hip place, so they have continued innovating.  In addition to cronuts they have ... cruffins!  You can probably guess what this is, a hybrid croissant-muffin.  But unlike the brewnuts, these ARE filled.  In my world, filling makes better, so even though I set out to get a cronut, I quickly changed my game plan and started drooling over the cruffins instead.

The cruffins available were lychee & rosewater, lemon meringue, dulce de leche, cinnamon, almond frangipane, and salted caramel with caramel corn.

Salted Caramel with Popcorn Cruffin.

We obviously had to go for a cruffin, even though the brewnuts are the item everyone raves about from Brewtown.  I couldn't resist having not only a croissant with awesome toppings, but filled too!

The lemon meringue looked awesome with the meringue on top, but neither Ojan nor I really like lemon desserts, so, we didn't go for that.  And I don't like rosewater.  Ojan ruled out almond. The cinnamon was too boring.  This left the sweet options of dulce de leche and salted caramel.  The salted caramel came topped with caramel corn, which just seemed a bit too awesome to resist, so, it became the winner.

The caramel corn was indeed quite tasty.  Did it belong perched on top of my cruffin?  Not really, but it was sweet, crunchy, and went perfectly with my coffee.  I'd gladly purchase just their caramel corn.

Inside!

I carefully cut it open to reveal the cream filling.  This was no easy task, as the cream came spilling out, and, croissants aren't exactly easy to cut with a butter knife.

The croissant dough was great.  It was crispy on the outside, buttery and flaky and perfectly laminated dough.  However ... I didn't like the cream.  I'm not sure what it was about it, but the flavor just didn't do it for me.  It was creamy and sweet, so I really should have.  Ojan loved it though, and said this treat made his day.  Of course, he added that he'd like to have some chocolate on top too.

So, this was a quasi-success.  The pastry was good, and that is the hard part to nail, so I have every reason to believe that I would have enjoyed another flavor.  Or, perhaps the Brewnut really is the item to get, as these aren't about the filling, more about the quality pastry.  I'm glad I tried it, and would return to try another item sometime.

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Dinner at Pinbone, Sydney, May 2015

You may recall that on my previous Sydney trip in February 2015, I came back absolutely raving about one place: Pinbone.  I went for dinner on my second to last night in town (and would have gone back the next night if they were open!) and returned for brunch the next day.  The dinner was amazing, the dessert stunning, and the brunch perhaps the best brunch I've ever had.  And I adored the ambiance.

It goes without saying that when I returned to Sydney in May, there was one and only one place that I knew I HAD to return to, and Pinbone was it.  I made a reservation for myself, Ojan, and two of our friends who are locals.  Since I've reviewed the atmosphere, menu concepts, and general elements of the restaurant before, I'll skip that this time around, and dive right in with the review of our meal.

Summary though?  The best chicken liver I've ever had.  The best sunchokes I've ever had.  Fascinating pickled peanuts.  A dish Ojan dubbed "toasted marshmallow salmon".  Overall, a entire meal of winning dishes, all fantastic preparations of familiar ingredients, combined in unexpected ways.  Still my favorite restaurant in Sydney.

To go along with my meal, I also wanted to sip on something alcoholic to truly relax.  The drink menu had two sakes, three beers, wine, and a couple classic cocktails.  Since no one else was drinking, I opted for a glass of wine, and, even though I knew I would mostly ordering seafood, I opted for red.  I was in a red sort of mood. I asked for a recommendation on the lightest option, since I was pairing with seafood. The suggestion was a Jean-Paul Daumen grenach, syrah, merlot, and cab sav blend, which I went for. It was a light, easy drinking wine.  I appreciated that they recommended the least expensive wine on the list, clearly not trying to upsell, and offering up the best one to go with my meal.  The others all enjoyed the house sparkling water, again left on the table in a carafe for us to serve as we pleased.

Individual Snacks

The menu again started with "Individual Snacks", small bites all priced individually.  There were more options this time, but the classics of the "fairy bread", "smoky, cheesy, potato thing" and lamb ribs remained, as did the gougère, although this time filled with corn and bacon, rather than corn and miso as we had before.  All the snack bites were again priced $4-5 each.

Since the snacks are priced individually, each person can order whichever selections they want.  And somehow, everyone in our group wanted slightly different things.  I only tried a few snacks, since I had my eyes on basically ALL the sharing plates that were coming up next.

Assorted snacks, $4-5 each.

We wound up with a hodgepodge of items, but somehow, the kitchen managed to deliver them all at once, very soon after ordering.  As before, I was impressed with the speed at which they pump out the snacks.  The meal throughout had a good pace.

We skipped only three of the "snack" options: the "oyster, beef carpaccio, dill pickle", the "mussel, pickled daikon, chilli", and the chicken popper.

From top left, clockwise:

• Fairy Bread: This is one of Pinbone's signature dishes, a play on the Australian childhood favorite of white bread topped with butter and hundreds and thousands (yes, this is a thing, look it up).  I wanted to try it last time, so I'm glad I was able to this time.  The base was toasted bread (brioche, way more exciting than simple white bread!), and it was spread with creamy mascarpone (I love butter, but mascarpone is even better!), and then, assorted roe and chives.  It was really a fun bite, and I loved how the roe popped in my mouth as I ate it.  The inspiration from fairy bread was obvious, but it actually reminded me a bit more of something American: a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon.  It had the same bread base, creamy spread, and slightly smoky fishy flavor.  In any case, fun, playful, and tasty. 
• Corn and Bacon Gougère: Since I had a gougère last time and didn't really care for it, I skipped it this time around, but the preparation was a bite different.  It had bits of bacon on top and oozed a redish filling, which I assume was a creamy corn with bacon.  Last time it was corn and miso.  I love miso, but, bacon always makes better!
• Smoky, Cheesy, Potato Thing: I also skipped these, since I had them previously.
• Crispy Chicken Skin, Bread Sauce, Anchovy:  Now this was kinda the definition of a perfect snack.  An indulgent snack.  It was crispy and super salty, just like you want any snack to be.  It had a slightly fishy aftertaste, clearly from the anchovy, but it wasn't bad fishy, just, fishy.  I really liked this, and think it would make an awesome canapé or appetizer for a party.
• Pork Crackling, Ricotta, Smoked Rockmelon: Ojan went for this, but, due to the rockmelon, I had to abstain, although I did want to try the crispy pork crackling.  Crispy, salty, creamy, sounded like another great bite.
• Lamb Rib: Another one I skipped, since I don't care for lamb.

All the "snacks" were met with success with the group, and we were off to a tasty, fun start.

Cold Sharing Plates 

Narrowing down our order of sharing plates was incredibly difficult.  I wanted so many of them.

As before, the menu was broken into sections, starting with five light seafood options, moving into six slightly heavier poultry and offal dishes, followed by four more substantial dishes, and finally the largest selection, six vegetarian dishes.

Since I love seafood, we opted for three from the first section, one from the second, and one vegetable dish, skipping the third section entirely.  The kitchen coursed this for us into two groupings, in a way that made the most sense, starting with the cold dishes, moving into the hot.

Chicken liver parfait, persimmon, toast. $18.

Our first course began with our one choice from the second section: chicken liver parfait.  I can't resist a good liver dish (although of course, I prefer it to be foie)!

The other dishes in this section were a rabbit tartare (skipped due to my history with rabbits as pets, I just can't bring myself to eat them), duck hearts (I'm not opposed to trying this, but, limited stomach space!), lamb sweetbreads (this would have been my next choice if we were getting one more dish), and quail (meh, poultry, meh, little birds.  Although honestly, I was interested to see what they could do with quail, since I never care for it, and the chefs here are magic).

When the chicken liver showed up, I was slightly surprised.  Pinbone has a way of taking a list of ingredients and presenting it entirely different than you imagine, and this was no exception, but in this case, it was due to the word "parfait" in the dish name.  I expected a layered dish, probably layers of chicken liver and a persimmon compote, with toast on the side to spread it on.  I was right about the toast, although it was more of a crostini even, super crispy.

The chicken liver was probably the best I've ever had.  It was incredibly smooth and creamy.  Expertly seasoned.  Really flavorful.  You could taste the liver, which I wanted of course, but it wasn't too livery.  I think even those scared of liver would like this.

The persimmon was soft, perfectly ripe, super sweet, excellent paired with the richness of the chicken liver.  Liver and fruit, always a great pairing.

The surprise element of the dish was ... radicchio.  Not listed on the menu, and not what I'd expect to be served with chicken liver.  It really was just pieces of fresh, bitter radicchio.  But it worked.  Once I realized I wanted more liver, but didn't want to fill up on bread, I realized I could create lettuce wraps with the radicchio, stuffing it with a generous spoonful of liver and a chunk of persimmon, and it was awesome.

The perfect bite really was crispy toast, spread with a very generous smear of liver, and topped with a chunk of sweet ripe persimmon.  It had everything going on texture-wise and flavor-wise, crunchy and creamy, rich and sweet.

I really, really enjoyed this dish, as did the others.  I wanted to save room to try everything else, but I couldn't stop going back for more and more of it

My favorite dish of the night, and Ojan's as well, which was surprising, since he doesn't normally like liver, but said it grew on him.  The two of us easily polished this dish off.

Bonus! Peanut custard, pickled peanuts, edamame. $20.

Ok, I lied.  The astute reader will notice that I said there were 6 dishes listed in the second section, I just showed you one, and mentioned 4 that we didn't get.  Where was the 6th?

The 6th dish was a fascinating sounding peanut custard.  We actually discussed ordering it, since it sounded unique, and I do love both custards and peanuts, but, we had to cull our choices, so decided to skip it.

But ... the kitchen brought it out for us, complimentary.  Aww, thanks!  I was secretly thrilled, since I did want to try it from the start.

The base was a chilled creamy custard, which reminded me of soft tofu.  I didn't detect a lot of peanut flavor in it, but I'm not really sure what that would be like, as much as I love peanuts, it isn't like I'd want to eat a big block of peanut butter (ok, wait, nevermind, yes I would).

But that isn't to say that peanuts didn't show up here in a dramatic way.  It was covered in the pickled peanuts, which were just totally crazypants.  I had no idea you could pickle peanuts.  There was so much tartness in these.  I couldn't stop eating them, out of complete fascination.  Pickled peanuts!  Who knew?

The other toppings were edamame and fresh snow pea tendrils.  I loved the burst of freshness against the strong flavors of the pickled peanuts.

It was served in a light vinegar based broth, providing additional tartness.

This was my second to least favorite dish of the meal, but the pickled peanuts were just crazy fascinating, and I'm glad we got to try this dish.  It was in no one's top three.

I again loved the rustic charm of the assorted dishware that everything came on, specially crafted for Pinbone by local artisans.  This one was particularly stunning.

Pickled octopus, white beans, orange. $20.

The final dish that came in our first grouping was pickled octopus, from the first section of the menu.  We skipped the other cold selection from that section of bonito sashimi, which I'm sure was good, but, sounded the least interesting of all our choices.

The octopus was cooked, chilled, and sliced mostly into disks, although we had a few tentacles in the mix as well.  Everyone was skeptical about ordering this dish, since octopus can be so chewy and rubbery, but when done well, I really love it.  Sadly, this went the way everyone feared.  The slices of octopus were quite chewy.

Also in the mix were large white beans, nicely cooked, not mushy, not firm.  It was all sprinkled with a nori dust.

The broth was a citrus based broth, full of flavor, and pretty tasty.  Ojan loved this sauce, and once the octopus was gone, he took a spoon and tried to lap all of it up.  He stopped just short of picking up the dish and licking, but, if it had remained on the table much longer, he probably would have.

My least favorite dish of the evening, but Ojan at least loved the sauce.  Still, not in anyone's top three.

Hot Sharing Plates

Three cold dishes down, it was time to move into the hot dishes.   Our individual plates were exchanged out between the two rounds, which was appreciated, and a brief pause gave us time to contemplate and discuss the previous round.  Ojan couldn't stop talking about the chicken liver, and I don't blame him, it was still on my mind too.

Grilled salmon belly, charred shallot, mirin. $22.

We started with the dish I was most looking forward to, grilled salmon belly.

I wanted to order this on our previous visit, but it didn't make the cut then.  I was so jealous when I saw it walk by time and time again, so this time, we were getting it, no question.  Plus, I knew the Pinbone cooks did great things with the grill, since I loved the grilled kingfish wing so much last time.

The salmon belly was lightly cooked, with beautiful grill marks, served skin on.  It was fatty in a luxurious way.  I thought the char imparted on the fish was great, but Ojan took his first bite, and didn't like it.  "It tastes like burnt marshmallow", he declared.

I thought he was crazy.  It had the perfect char, what was he talking about?  But of course, I was doing my classic technique of trying each component individually first, before combining into a "perfect bite".  It was the puree on the plate that had the strong char flavor, not the fish itself, he just didn't realize this since he was eating it all together.  The puree was made from charred shallots.  It was crazy smoky.  Yes, a bit like a burnt marshmallow, like when you are toasting marshmallows and get impatient, and decide to just let it catch fire and seriously char.  But it wasn't a bad thing, and I loved the flavor of the char, and thought it cut the fattiness of the salmon nicely.  I was also just crazy impressed that they managed to get such an incredibly strong char flavor into that puree.

Once he went into it with his expectations adjusted, Ojan decided he liked it too.  "Toasted marshmallow salmon" he dubbed it, not intending it to be a negative comment, just reflective of what he tasted.  He deemed it the most interesting dish of the night

I also really liked the grilled spring onion that was served with it, and claimed the whole thing for myself.

Overall this was tasty and interesting, my third pick of the night, and second pick of another diner.

Leatherjacket & snowpeas. $22.

Our second hot dish was the leatherjacket.

The final hot dish from the first grouping on the menu was steamed pipis in garlic butter, which we also skipped, since we had pipis a few days prior at Gantry, and they just weren't a favorite.

I had seen photos of this dish, and knew it would be a nice, light offering, which I wanted, since I knew we had several rich dishes in our order, and were gearing up for an epic dessert feast.

The leatherjacket was indeed light, delicate, and somewhat refreshing after the heavier food.  I'm pretty sure this was my first time having leatherjacket.  It was nicely prepared, but not all that remarkable.

It was served over snowpeas, which were thinly sliced and chopped.  I think that was also a first for me, I don't think I've ever had them chopped up so small before.  They were cooked really nicely, not too cooked down, still a bit crispy.  I liked them quite a bit, again, a fascinating preparation of a familiar ingredient.

There were also some tart onions in the mix, which I thought overwhelmed the other more subtle flavors of the dish.

This was my forth, middle-of-the-road pick for me, but a strong favorite of another diner.  He said it was hands down his favorite.  I was amused in this meal how we all picked totally different dishes as our favorites.  I'm used to some slight differences of opinions, but in this meal, reviews were all over the place, although everyone was happy.

As I mentioned, we skipped the third section of the menu, the more substantial dishes of kingfish wings (delicious, but we had this last time, although I was tempted to get it again, as I loved it!), chicken breast (meh, chicken), rump cap (meh, rump), and pork (meh, pork).

Jerusalem artichoke, parnsip, barley. $14.

Our final hot dish was a vegetable selection.  This selection of the menu had the most options, six different choices, all of which were listed just simply as a list of vegetable ingredients, like "fennel, enoki, nori" or "mushrooms, yolk, sake".  We had to ask for clarification on what these dishes might be.

In the end, we took our server's recommendation for her favorite.  Ojan raised some red flags right away, saying "Julie, you don't like artichokes!"  I reminded him that "Jerusalem artichokes" are what we know as "sunchokes", and he immediately took back his statement, knowing how much I love sunchokes.

I came into this expecting to love it, because sunchokes, but wow, even with high expectations, and love of sunchokes, it blew me away.  I've had a lot of sunchoke dishes that I've loved in the past few years, but this was honestly the best sunchoke I've ever had.

Let me break the dish down.

The base was a creamy parsnip puree, smooth, well blended.  It was sprinkled with barley, which I think might have been toasted, as it was a bit crisp, and added a great crunch.  On the side was a grilled lemon, to squeeze and drizzle over.

Those elements were all good, fine, but it was the sunchokes that stole the show.  I have no idea how these were cooked, but they were insanely creamy inside, entirely unexpected  Deeply caramelized on the outside.  So incredibly good.

A perfect bite could easily be composed with creamy and crunchy elements, something I always like.  The second favorite for myself and one other diner, and number one pick for the other.

Dessert

After our feast, we were pretty satisfied, but you know me, I always need dessert.  The Pinbone dessert menu is small, only 4 choices.  You'd think this would make things easy, but we struggled between ordering three or all four.  There were only four of us, and we were pretty full.  I knew from past experience that Pinbone desserts are HUGE, but, three of the four did sounded amazing.  In the end, we ruled out the daily tart and the lemon curd dish since neither Ojan nor I tend to like lemon desserts, although it sounded really fascinating (more on that soon).

Ready for dessert!

Desserts at Pinbone, like the rest of the meal, are designed to be shared, so dessert bowls were soon brought out.  I was stuffed, but waiting in eager anticipation.

Decaf Long Black. $4.

I also ordered a decaf long black to go along with my dessert, as I always do.

I had it the last time I went to dinner at Pinbone, and at brunch the week before (stay tuned for that review), so I was going to leave it out of this review, except there is a funny story.

I ordered my decaf long black, and was told by the server that they didn't have decaf.  I hesitated, because, well, I knew they had it the weekend before.  "Are you sure?", I asked, telling him I had it just a few days prior.  He went to check and came back able to confirm that yes, they did have decaf.  Lols.

I'm glad I checked, since, as always, I loved having my bitter black coffee alongside my sweet desserts and it was the perfect pairing.

Neopolitan. $14.

We started with the "Neopolitan", which we knew that in true Pinbone style wouldn't just be some vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream.

And indeed, it wasn't.

The top layer was actually a vanilla ice, the least interesting.

Next came strawberry tapioca, with an incredibly intense strawberry flavor.  Like the charred scallion puree, I again wondered how they managed to get so much flavor into it.

And finally, chocolate mousse, coated in chocolate crumbles.  Creamy, rich, chocolatey.  Hands down my favorite of the layers.

This was my favorite of the desserts, mostly due to the chocolate mousse layer, but I also liked the strawberry and chocolate combination.  Ojan's favorite as well.

Toasted sorghum ice-cream, buttermilk granita, brittle. $14.

This is the one I was intrigued by, and, since I loved the ridiculous ice cream sundae last time, so I assumed it would be equally elaborate.

The ice cream was creamy, but I didn't detect a very specific flavor to it.  I'm only familiar with sorghum in its usage to make molasses, or toasted and popped for cereal, so it isn't a flavor I know much about, but, this just tasted like sweet, creamy ice cream to me.  Fine, but nondescript.

There was also a fluffy mousse (meringue?), I believe buttermilk flavored, that I didn't care for.  The texture was off for me.

But on top was brittle.  Crispy, sweet brittle, studded with bits of popcorn.  OMG.

I probably don't talk about it often, but I love brittle, and have it several days a week with my morning coffee.  And popcorn is one of my favorite snack foods, savory or sweet.  Caramel corn is always high on my list of munchies.  So, popcorn brittle is right up my alley.  I loved it, and stole most of it to crunch on with my coffee.  Simple, but delicious.

Overall, I didn't care for this dessert much, besides the brittle of course, making it my third pick.  But that brittle was a winner.

Lemon curd, burnt milk, custard, black olive. $14.

Wait, didn't I say I only ordered two!  Yes, yes I did.  We settled on two, but, the lovely staff threw in a bonus dessert for us as well.  I love Pinbone for the food and the atmosphere already, but the staff?  They are what set it even further apart!

As I mentioned, we ruled this out because Ojan and I don't tend to care for lemon desserts.  But it sounded so interesting, with burnt milk and black olives?!

It was also unexpectedly a warm dish, which made it super comforting.

While I didn't like the lemon curd, the creamy custard was lovely, as was whatever the crispy topping was (presumably the black olive was hiding in here, along with the burnt milk?)

I really enjoyed the experience of eating this one, crispy, warm, comforting.  A great end to the meal, my second favorite of the desserts.

While I ranked my preferences of the desserts neopolitan, then lemon, then sorghum, that was the ordering for the dishes in their entirety.  Each one had one component that really stood out, that I really enjoyed.  Ranking just those individually, my list is: peanut brittle, chocolate mousse, crumble topping.  One dinner refused to pick a favorite, saying she enjoyed all three desserts quite a bit.

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The Real Deal All Natural Snacks

I love snack food review days, because really, it just gives me the excuse to try every snack food I come across.  I'm a habitual snacker; every couple hours, I want ... something.  I particularly like things I can eat with my fingers.  Thus, snacks, or, as I often call them, snacky-snacks.

Uh, anyway.  Let's talk about the Real Deal Snacks. This is a company that has been around since 1946 making snack mixes. They claim to have created the first "party mix" and the first ones to make packaged tortilla chips.  I sorta find this hard to believe, but, I'll go with it.

In addition to their snack mix and tortilla chips, they also make veggie chips, cheese crunchies, and gluten-free corn pretzels.  While the snack mix wasn't a hit with myself or any other tasters in my group, I really did enjoy their veggie chips.

Snack Mix

Original Snack Mix

Well, since they invented party mix, seems like the snack mixes were the place to start.  They say, "The Snack Mix is a delightful blend of ingredients: crunchy cheese curls, pretzels, nacho tortilla and corn chips."  It comes in two flavors, Original and Chili Lime.  I tried both.

Crunchy cheese curl, nacho tortilla, pretzel rod, corn chip, bbq corn chip, pretzel twist (clockwise, from top left)

I started by laying out the assortment.  I expected 4 different items from the description, but, bonus, there were 6 - two types of corn chips and two types of pretzels.

(Clockwise, from top left)

Cheese Crunchies: "Light, crispy curls packed with delicious cheese flavor!"

These were basically Cheetoes, but less flavorful.  I appreciated the crunch, and they were my favorite of the mix. "Like a Cheetoes, but less good", said another sampler. "Not that exciting," said another.  The Real Deal also sells these as a standalone product, "Cheese Crunchies".

The nacho tortillas were round, and tasted strongly of tomato.  I guess that is a component of nachos, but I didn't taste anything cheesy.  I had only one of these.  They sell regular white corn tortilla chips, and blue corn, but no seasoned ones individually.

Pretzels were both sticks and twists, just standard pretzels.  I had only one twist. "Tastes like a pretzel stick," said another taster.  The don't sell these pretzels standalone, only the corn based ones, and these were regular flour.

The corn chips were like large size Fritos.  The bbq ones were very different from what I expected, I wouldn't have identified them as bbq, although they were clearly more seasoned than the regular ones.   The non-bbq ones were saltier.  "The salt makes them slightly less horrible", said my tastier.

Overall, I really liked the assorted sizes and textures, but none of the flavors were really that great.

Chili Lime Snack Mix.

I moved on to the Chili Lime version.

These were exactly the same as The Original, but with chili lime seasoning.  The seasoning was a bit zesty, making everything taste a bit like Doritos, which I never like.  I quickly handed this bag off to Ojan.

My only other note here is that the pretzels were particularly bad, they seemed burnt.

Real! Veggie Chips

Sriracha Real! Veggie Chips

The other fun sounding product line is their veggie chips.

"Made from real corn, real peas and real rice".  They come in a bunch of flavors: original, sriracha, and aged white cheddar.

Of course I went for sriracha.

Close up.  Tiny little chips!

These really grew on me.  At first they were just confusing, not really what I'd call a "chip".  They were tiny but also very light.  I could taste rice.  And I could taste peas.  Super strange.  And on top of all that ... some serious spice.  I'm not sure I'd know it was sriracha, which surprised me, since that is a distinctive taste.  But they were seriously spicy.

By the middle of the bag, I was hooked.  When I hit the end, I was devastated.  These were seriously tasty!  The spice level is what kept them addicting :)

A fairly healthy snack too, only 100 calories per bag, 1.25 servings of vegetables, and 80% less fat than potato chips.  And gluten free.  And vegan.

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Quick Bite at Prospect

I live, and work, right near Prospect restaurant.  I've been to the bar area many times, usually just for cocktails and sometimes bar snacks.  You can read all about my past adventures, and the restaurant in general, in old reviews.  I've never loved Prospect the way some of my friends do, but, they also have gone through several chef shuffles, so I do keep giving them a try.

On this particular visit, it was a random night, on the early side, and I had no plans until later in the evening.  I was really craving something tasty, but was incredibly lazy.  And by tasty, I didn't mean my usual desire for decadent desserts or baked goods.  I had plenty of those in my apartment.  I wanted ... an upscale snack.  I know, really an odd mood to be in, but, luckily for me, I could just venture downstairs to Prospect.

I felt a bit silly, dining alone somewhere nice.  Since it was early, the bar area was not busy, and it was easy for me to get a seat, rather than sit awkwardly in the dining room.  I knew I could order off the full menu from the bar from past experience, and was really much more comfortable there.  The bartender was friendly and polite, and took great care of me.

I enjoyed my "snack" quite a bit, and must remember that Prospect is always there as an easy, although non-traditional, option for me!

Amuse Bouche: Halibut Brandade with Spicy Aioli.

Since I had plans later, I only ordered an appetizer, not a full entree.  And as I said, I was just sitting at the bar, not the main dining room.  So I was surprised when an extra bite showed up.  An amuse bouche, even for a bar patron, who was just getting a single appetizer?  Amazing, and appreciated, but I felt slightly bad.  Did they expect me to order an entree next?  I wasn't planning to have a full meal and felt guilty.

Anyway, the amuse was pretty tasty.  It was incredibly hot, clearly fresh out of the fryer.  It was salty, as it was brandade obviously, but it was salty in a good way, if you like intense salt flavor.  Which I do.  The interior was creamy and moist.  The spicy aioli served alongside was creamy and had a slight tang, a nice counterpart to the hot salty bite.  My only complaint is that it was a bit too oily, I think it probably just needed to be drained for a second longer.

It was also a fairly unique choice for an amuse, hot and a heavier sort of dish than an amuse often can be.  I liked it, and could even see it as a regular item on their bar snacks menu.

Monterey Calamari: Squid Ink Spaghetti, Pickled Jalapeños, Viola Turnips, Sea Urchin Emulsion. $15.50.

Since I just wanted a small bite, I opted for an appetizer.  I've been craving calamari lately, so I ordered the dish titled "Monterey Calamari".  Of course, I knew it was Prospect and that there would certainly be a twist on what I was expecting.  So I knew for sure that this wouldn't just be a plate of fried calamari, particularly given that the follow up description said there would be squid ink spaghetti and sea urchin emulsion, all things I love.

When it arrived, I did sorta laugh to myself.  Calamari?  Yes, there were a few rings of calamari on the plate, but this was very much a squid ink pasta dish.  The naming aside, this dish really had my name all over it.  I love squid ink pasta.  I love uni.  And, as I said, I was craving calamari.

The calamari were tiny little rings, and honestly, got completely lost in the dish.  When I found one, it added a little texture, but little else.  The rings were nicely done, not rubbery.  Although the calamari is what drew me in, I didn't really mind them not being prevalent, as everything else was fantastic.

The squid ink pasta had a nice chew to it, slight squid flavor.  It was a generous portion of pasta, particularly for an appetizer.  I had obviously expected this to be a calamari focused dish, with the squid ink pasta being a creative garnish component somehow.  But, instead, it was a great pasta dish.  (I do think it would be better with a thicker form factor of the squid ink pasta, to really get more of the squid ink flavor however).

The sauce was creamy, slightly uni flavored, and stuck to and coated the pasta well.  I really liked the heat and vinegar component provided by the pickled jalapeño.

But the star was the lobe uni on top.  First, I REALLY didn't expect that.  The description just said "sea urchin emulsion", which certainly describes the sauce, but gives no indication that there would be a chunk of bonus uni.  And it was fabulous.  Creamy, sweet, really really excellent.  The best uni I've had in recent memory, better than even at sushi restaurants where it should be the star.

The only thing that wasn't successful about the dish is that, unlike the amuse, it wasn't delivered hot.  It was kinda lukewarm when I received it.  Still delicious, but unfortunate.

One criticism I've had of Prospect in the past is that it seems pricey for what it is, given the portion sizes (I appreciate the smaller portion sizes, and don't want them to change that, but I always feel things are just slightly over-priced).  That was certainly not the case with this dish.  Only $15.50, for a decent size serving of pasta, delicious sauce, and quality uni?  Oh yeah, and some calamari?  Really quite good price.

This was the best dish I've ever had at Prospect.  I'd get it again, although there were a bunch of other things on the menu I'd also like to try.  I'll certainly be going back!

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Dim Sum @ Luyu and Yum Yum, Sydney

During my recent trip to Sydney, it was time to be brave, and break outside our mold of devouring all the Thai food we could find.  And, perhaps even more brave, venturing out of the city a bit, to Newtown.

Several years ago when I was in Sydney I visited Newtown once, with a friend who lived there, for some cheap, unremarkable Thai food.  On my visit just a few months ago, I returned to Newtown, for one and one reason: to get what were supposed to be the best pies in the area at Pie Tin (spoiler, they weren't).  So far, my track record with Newtown wasn't great, and it takes a lot to get me to venture further than necessary (although sometimes the effort pays off great, like the amazing dinner, and subsequent brunch, we had at Pinbone!).  I had high hopes that this journey would prove just as fruitful.

Newtown is mostly comprised of cheaper eats, as it is a student area.  Luyu and Yum Yum, our destination, was not that.  Not that it was high end dining, but, for the area, it certainly didn't fit in.  Far fancier, in decor and food presentation, than anywhere else on the street.  It is even located on the upper level, looking down on all the regular establishments on the street.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it was also fairly new.  I know, I know.  Now I'm just getting crazy.  Going somewhere new, further away, and not getting thai or brunch, the only things I've really loved in Sydney?  But, reviews from food blogs I follow in Sydney were strong.  The photos looked great.  The same was true for the Gantry, which we visited a few nights earlier, and it was good.  I was starting to trust my food bloggers.

So, on Sunday morning, Ojan and I headed to Newtown, to Luyu and Yum Yum, to meet two Sydney friends for dim sum. It had been ages since either of us had dim sum, and we were quite looking forward to it.

Service was a bit strange.  The hostess didn't know where to seat us, even though the restaurant was empty when we arrived, and we had a booking.  We often had to flag someone down in order to get more water.  The server didn't know what teas did not contain caffeine, suggesting a green tea to Ojan when he said he wanted something without caffeine.  Some of our dumplings took a very long time to arrive.  They did do a good job of clearing dishes as they were finished though, and every dish arrived piping hot, so hot that we often had to wait a few minutes for items to cool down so we wouldn't scald the inside of our mouths.

Overall, it was fine.  The food was good enough, clearly care was put into making each dumpling, and quality ingredients were used, but nothing really stuck out.  The selections were creative and it was a nicer setting than typical dim sum/yum cha.  But it was really pricey.  I see no reason to return.

The Space

Interior.

The restaurant has an open feel with high ceilings.  The large bar along the side didn't have much activity as we were there at lunchtime, but I read that they make some interesting tea based cocktails.

Tables and chairs.

The decor is fairly swanky, obviously brand new.  Lots of wood.  The color palette was stark, black and white, with wood tones mixed in.

White bowls and plates, plus black chopsticks, were set on every table.

They needed better sound isolation, with all the hard surfaces, as nothing absorbed noise.  As the room filled up, it quickly got hard to hear our tablemates.  Partially, it was due to the very loud music, all high energy pop.  It didn't quite seem to fit the mood of the restaurant, and I found the noise level to be a bit ridiculous for a mid-day meal, and it certainly hampered our ability to chat with our friends.

Centerpiece.

The center of the table had a mat with a tea pot, 4 little tea cups, and a plant.  A nice idea, but, it didn't turn out to be practical.  As soon as our table started piling up with dishes, which happened not only to us but to everyone around us, it was clearly in the way.  We didn't have enough space for all our dumplings, much less this random thing in the middle.

The tea pot also turned out to be decorative only.  When we ordered tea, it came in a different pot.  Not really sure why they had a decorative pot on every table in the first place.  Still, it was decent decor.

Glass Walled Kitchen.

The kitchen is enclosed in glass, so you can spy on the cooks in action.  I was able to watch cooks meticulously filling the dumplings and loading up the steamer baskets.  They didn't seem to make them exactly to order, as they would prepare a big batch of each style at a time, but they were steamed to order.

Swanky Bathroom Sink.

The swanky decor continues into the bathroom, with gray slate tiles, strange black metal faucets, and copper (?) washbasins.

I don't normally review the bathrooms, but, there was something unique here.

There, I fixed it.

The hand dryer.  In the midst of all the brand new, swanky decor, the hand dryer was held up by duct tape.  I found this way too funny.

Menus

Menu: Dumplings & Dim Sum.

The reason we were there was for dumplings, which make up a majority of the menu, along with some other small dim sum style bites.  These are mostly all sold in quantities of 4, which was perfect since our group was 4, except for a few random ones that came in sets of 3.  We didn't ask for anything to be modified, particularly since I wasn't planning on having several of them, yet we were brought 4 every time.  This was nice of them I guess, but they should have asked, especially since they charged extra in every case, and, like I said, I didn't want some of them.  The prices below will be for 3 even though 4 are shown, since I didn't write down the adjusted prices.

We ordered all but one type of dumpling available on the menu, plus a few other small bites.

We ordered an initial set of 7 items, then added on another 3, and then went back at the end for a final round of the favorites.

Menu: Main Dishes.

The rest of the menu is main dishes, and we skipped it entirely, but we did see some good looking fried rice, stir fried veggies, salt and pepper squid, and amazing looking deep fried eggplant.  If I went back, I'd certainly get the deep fried eggplant, but we had so much fried food on our trip that I just wasn't in the mood at the time.

Dipping Sauces: Soy, vinegar, sesame chili oil.

We were provided with three sauces to go along with the dumplings.  I set to work perfecting my mix, which I put in my individual bowl.  I'm not quite sure if that is what I was supposed to do, since it was a large bowl, not a dipping bowl, but I don't know how else you could make a dipping sauce.

Dumplings

Over the course of the meal, we ordered every type of dumpling, except for the vegetarian mushroom dumplings.

Flying Seafood Dumpling (4). $13.80

"Scallop, Fish-ball, Prawn, Asparagus & Flying Fish Roe in Rice Dough Steamed."

This was probably the dumpling I was most excited for, since I love scallops.  I was thrilled to see the scallop perched right on top, not chopped up and mixed with other fillings.

Inside the dumpling was the fish ball, prawn, and asparagus.  I didn't taste any asparagus, nor prawn really, just a moist fish ball.  It was fine, but, I wanted to detect more individual flavors.  The scallop was a slice on top, tender, delicate, and on top of that was flying fish roe, which added fun pops as they burst.

The rice dumpling wrapper was nicely done, not too thin, not too thick, perfectly steamed.

Overall, this was fine, and I liked all the seafood, but there just wasn't much flavor to it.  My second favorite bite of the meal, for the scallop alone.

Mr Luyu “Starburst” Dumpling (4). $11.80.

"Chicken & Mr Luyu Homemade Soup in Fruit Infused Flour Dough Steamed."

This is one of their signature dumplings, a stunner with the colorful wrappers.

The online menu lists this as a pork dumpling, but alas, when we visited it was chicken.  I don't like chicken, but tried it anyway, since I was fascinated by the sound of the fruit infused dough.

The filling was indeed a chicken ball, plus some flavorful soup.  Good enough, but, again, chicken.  I didn't taste anything fruity in the dough, although there was obviously color to it.  More beautiful than tasty.

Each dumpling came perched atop a slice of carrot.  Woah, genius!  I honestly don't understand why more places don't do this, as dumplings always stick, and, particularly with soup dumplings this becomes tragic, since it causes them to burst when you pick them up.  That care was nice to see.

My 7th pick of the meal.

Mr Yumyum Pot Sticker (4). $10.80.

"Chicken, Ginger, Shallot & Chinese Cabbage in Seaweed Flour Dough Pan-Seared."

The online menu also lists the pot stickers as pork, but alas, for us they were chicken.  I skipped them, but the seaweed bits in the wrapper skin looked like a nice touch, and the fresh garnish under each pot sticker was a nice presentational element.

Why was everything chicken that should have been pork though?

Caviar Dumpling (4). $13.80.

"Prawn, Carrot, Coriander & Celery in Rice Dough Steamed."

These were great looking dumplings, little bags, tied up with a leaf, and meticulously topped with caviar.

Inside the dumpling was a mix of prawn, carrot, and celery.  The vegetables were minced and slightly crunchy, which I actually liked.  The prawn was a bit fishy.

The rice dough wasn't as successful here as in the Flying Seafood dumpling, it came out slimier.

I did really like the caviar on top, super salty, and like the roe from the flying seafood, it added a fun pop.

My third pick of the meal.

Mr Luyu’s Herb Dumpling (4). $11.80.

"Prawn & Chives in Rice Dough Steamed."

Another rice dough dumpling, this time with translucent skin.  Everyone was quite impressed with the skin on this.

Inside was a whole prawn and chopped chives.

This wasn't very interesting to me, just a prawn.  My 6th pick.

"Kiss Me" Dumplings (4). $10.80.

"Chicken, Ginger, Shallot, & Lulu Homemade Soup in Flour Dough."

I skipped the "Kiss Me" dumplings, since again, chicken.  These were classic soup dumplings, albeit with chicken instead of pork.

It is a bit hard to see, but on top, the red is actually little lips for decoration.  So cute.

Two of our diners said these was the best of the dumplings, and ordered a final round of them for "dessert" after we were done with everything else.

Snow White Rabbit Dumplings (3). $12.80.

"Prawn, Asparagus, Bamboo Shoot, Luyu Home-made Creamy Soup in Chrysanthemum infused Potato Starch Dough."

Ok, speaking of cute.  If I thought the lips on the "Kiss Me" were cute, they were nothing compared to the rabbits!

Yes, look closely, and you'll see that the dumplings are shaped like rabbits, ears and eyes and all!

I complained about not being able to taste any asparagus in the flying fish dumpling, which was not the case here.  Inside was a whole piece of asparagus, so full of flavor, a bit crunchy, and quite tasty. The bamboo also added further crunchy bits.

The dough was a bit thicker, perhaps because it was potato starch rather than flour or rice?  It was soft and a tiny bit doughy, but I liked that.

My absolute favorite, and the most interesting flavor and texture wise.  I'm not sure why it normally comes as only 3 pieces though, when most come as 4.

Manga Dumpling "Hedgehog" (3). $12.80.

"King Oyster Mushrooms, Chinese Mushroom, Fungi, Carrot, Corriander in Flour Dough Baked."

Continuing to get cuter.  I failed at the photo here though, as I didn't get a shot of these from the front.  Doh.

They really, truly looked like hedgehogs.  Certainly the cutest and most elaborate of all of the dumplings.  They had eyes in front and spines down their backs.  OMG.  So cute.

These were almost good.

They were more like buns, but called dumplings.  The dough was soft and slightly sweet.  The topside was crunchy where the spines were carved out.  I would have really liked the dough, except that they were just drowned in oil.

The menu said these were baked, but, I'm not sure how that was possible given how much oil was on them.  They really seemed fried.  The oil just ruined them.

Inside was a mushroom filling that wasn't very interesting.  Nothing really mattered though besides the oil.  The others thought I was exaggerating when I tried the first one and reacted strongly to the amount of oil, but they quickly agreed.  We all saw the potential in these, but alas, they were not executed well.  I imagine the oil is needed to achieve the crispy top, but, there has to be a better way to do it.

This should have just been an order of 3, but, 4 were brought to us, and we were charged extra.  We wished that only 3 came, as we didn't even want to finish 3.  My 4th pick though, for creativity and potential in the sweet, soft dough.

Small Bites

We also opted for a few of the other non-dumpling small bites.  We skipped about half the items from this section, including chicken buns, the crispy "mini frisbee", spring rolls, and the king prawn, since most of those were fried, and heavier than what we were in the mood for.

Garlic Bread (4). $7.80.

"Garlic, Cheese & Butter in Plain Flour “Man Tow"."

Yes, we ordered something called garlic bread.  I knew from my research that this was not going to actually be garlic bread.

The base was mantou, Chinese steamed bun.  It was topped with garlic, butter, and cheese.

The bun was soft and fluffy, and I kinda liked that.  The topping was very cheesy, but I didn't really taste any garlic.

I was fascinated by this, and we all found it interesting, but, I didn't actually like it.  I'm not sure why, cheesy bread should be a good thing.  My 5th pick. 

Duck Pancake (4). $16.80.

"Duck, Spring Onion & Cucumber."

This is certainly not something I'd order since I don't care for duck, but the group wanted it.

Ojan really liked it, and declared it the best item of the meal.  I asked if I'd possibly like it, since he knows my tastes pretty well, and he said maybe.  So, against my better judgement, I tried it.

The pancake was a thin dough wrapping.  It wasn't oily or anything, fairly soft.

Inside was the duck, smothered in hoisin sauce, complimented by a fresh cucumber spear.  The sauce was tasty, but, I just don't care for the gaminess of duck.

As I said though, Ojan really liked it.

Dessert

Dessert: Fruit Tart.

And finally, dessert.

No dessert is listed on the menu, but I know they always offer a dessert, and it changes daily.  Today it was a "fruit tart".  I asked what fruit was used and was told strawberry and I think mango?  It didn't really sound great, but, I needed my dessert.  Plus the server said it was really good and that it was creamy.

Um, what?  When he said creamy, I expected, well, a cream filling.  Maybe a custard?  This was not creamy at all.  The filling was chopped up apple cubes coated in yogurt.  It was not cooked.  While technically I guess yogurt is creamy, this was not.  And he never mentioned apple, the primary ingredient.

The promised strawberry was one tiny little slice on top as a garnish, along with a sprig of mint.  The rest of the tart was all apple.  Funny how he didn't mention apple in his description.

The filling was crazy sour.  Tart apple.  Sour yogurt.  Literally no sweetness.

The crust was a crispy shell that I did like, but, wow, I didn't care for the filling at all, and this really wasn't a dessert to me.  It belonged as a breakfast item perhaps, just fruit and yogurt.

I left highly unsatisfied, and went to seek out cronuts (stay tuned).

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