IHOP, 2015

Yes, every year, I go to IHOP.  I go twice.  Every year.  Without fail.  This year was no different.  You can start with my reviews from 2012, 2013, or 2014 if you wish to read about a lot of pancakes.

My last few visits to IHOP were lackluster, as you read about previously, but I had some major love for IHOP over the years (particularly for the Swedish pancakes when I was in graduate school!).  Lately, though, well, it just hasn't done it for me.  Yet I keep going back, twice a year, to redeem either my annual Birthday coupon or my annual anniversary of joining their E-Club coupon, each good for a free meal.

Since I started my blog in 2012, I've visited 8 times.  The freebies program has changed quite a bit during that time.  Originally, I could get basically any breakfast meal I wanted, like a combo meal of pancakes with eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, etc, but now it is limited to just pancakes (technically, any variety of pancakes up to the cost of the Rooty Tooty Fresh N Fruity pancakes).

The combos were great; I had some really quite decent eggs and great hashbrowns alongside my Harvest Grain 'N Nut pancakes on my first visit in 2012.  But then things went downhill.  The Harvest Grain 'N Nut pancakes weren't quite as awesome the next year,  and on my second visit that year, I decided to try the Whole Wheat pancakes instead, and they came out raw  (although the eggs and hashbrowns were stellar on that visit).  Then, 2014.  The Harvest Grain 'N Nut pancakes were hard, thin, and cold.  And, the offer changed to no longer include sides, so, when the pancakes were bad, I had nothing to fall back on.  So I gave up on that particular IHOP location and tried the other, smaller one in the city for my next visit, but, the pancakes again weren't good.

I had pretty much decided to just stop trying.  But then, my birthday happened again, and my inbox had a treat for me.  Free pancakes.  Dammit, I couldn't resist!

Visit #1, August, Beach Street Location

So I went back to the big location, as it was closer to where I was, even though I knew better, I really did.  I sat at the counter.  On one side of me was some tourists who were trying to decide if they should go visit the Mission, and on the other, a mother with her teenage son, who was clearly there only to satisfy him.  He ordered a massive stack of double chocolate chip pancakes topped with whipped cream, she ordered, literally, a single hard boiled egg, and pulled a banana out of her bag with it.  Have I mentioned how much I love people watching at IHOP?

Things had changed slightly at the Beech Street location.  Before, they used to run dual passes, and the pancakes were finished by staff right in front of the counter where I always sit.  Now, they use only the far side pass, and cooks themselves seem to do all the garnishing too.

But that is about all that has changed.  The serving staff still seem to be entirely disorganized.  They don't check on tables, they don't offer refills, etc.  I know this is IHOP, but geez, the folks next to me had no water for a very long time and literally couldn't get anyone to pay attention to them even when forcefully trying to stop servers as they passed by.

The real tragedy to me though is the amount of time that food sits in the window once it is ready.  Sometimes it seems like one side of the kitchen isn't in sync with the other, so an order isn't fully complete, which I can understand.  But mostly, orders are complete and just ... sit there.  The servers just don't stop by to pick things up.  My order was completed a good 5 minutes before my server ever bothered to go check on it.  Sigh.

Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Pancakes. $9.99.

"Four of our signature buttermilk pancakes filled with sweet white chocolate chips, crowned with lush raspberry topping, a drizzle of cream cheese icing and finished with fluffy whipped topping."

This year, I could pick any pancakes up to the value of the Rooty Tooty Fresh N' Fruity ($9.99 at this IHOP).  Given that the Harvest Grain 'N Nut were soooo disappointing the last few times, I decided to just be totally different and try something entirely new.  IHOP has a large pancake selection, ranging from basic buttermilk/blueberry/chocolate chip, to those topped with assorted (not fresh) fruit, to the decadent.  I'll admit, for a moment, I considered the cheesecake stuffed pancakes.  Or the Cinn-a-Stack, stuffed with cinnamon roll filling and topped with cream cheese icing.  Instead, I opted for something middle of the road: Raspberry White Chocolate Chip.  Not as boring as plain buttermilk, but not as sugar coma inducing as the Cinn-a-Stack.

As expected, my pancakes arrived not exactly hot and fresh.  But ... they were at least large and fluffy, as I remembered IHOP pancakes to be back in the day.  Gone were the hard, thin, tiny pancakes.  Things were looking up.

I realized that I probably had never had a buttermilk based pancake from IHOP before, as strange as that sounds.  I mostly got the Harvest Grain 'N Nut or whole wheat.  Not because I was trying to be healthy, I just always liked the heartiness.

The pancakes were well prepared, as I said, large and fluffy.  They didn't have any real buttermilk tang to them, so if I had gotten plain pancakes they would have been quite boring, but with my white chocolate chips inside, they were quite enjoyable.  The chips were small but plentiful.  They weren't really melted, which was actually fine, as they provided a bit of texture (although I think melty would have been nicer).  The white chips were super sweet, and gave great pops of sweetness in every bite.

I hated the "lush raspberry topping".  It was composed of incredibly seedy mushy raspberries in a sweet syrup.  The sweet syrup was actually ok, and it went well with the white chocolate, but the seeds I just couldn't stand.  Luckily for me, the topping was only one the top pancake, and it was very easy to scrape the actual berries off, and just leave the sweet goo behind. (Side note: if you expected to get raspberry in every bite, you'd be pretty sad.  Pancakes #2, #3, and #4 were sans any berry sauce, and there wasn't any berry inside the pancakes themselves either).

Next came the "drizzle of cream cheese icing", which truly was just a drizzle.  It was sweet and enjoyable enough, but honestly, I couldn't really taste it.  White chocolate, glaze, and sweet sauce though are a nice combination.

And finally "fluffy whipped topping", standard stuff, from a can.  It was fine, and certainly turned these into dessert more than breakfast, but, it completed the deal.

So overall, far more successful than any of my last visits.  The pancakes were well made.  I'd even get this variety again, but I'd most certainly leave off the horrible raspberry topping.  Maybe I could get the blueberry compote or strawberry topping instead?

A warning though, this was a sweet offering, for sure.  So many sweet components all together, without anything to really balance it all out.  Don't kid yourself that this was a reasonable thing to have for breakfast (not that much at IHOP is ...).

Oh, and I'll give them a few points for the plating too.  The raspberry goo sorta artfully dripped down the side (intentionally? who knows), the icing drizzle was a zig zag, and the whip was actually centered.

Syrups!

I always have fun with the syrups at IHOP, but these particular pancakes left me with a bit of a conundrum.  They were too sweet to possibly slather MORE syrups on.  But I still wanted to try them all anyway.

The Old Fashioned was fine, but didn't go with the pancakes at all.  Butter Pecan is usually my favorite, but was even a worse match against the white chocolate.

The Strawberry actually went nicely with the white chocolate, and is what inspired me to think that I could perhaps get the strawberry topping instead next time.  But the best was the Blueberry.  Sweet, totally fake, but, well, I like it.

Visit #2, September, Lombard Street Location

Another year, another anniversary of joining the E-Club.  This means ... yes, more free pancakes!  After my lackluster experience at the big SF IHOP on Beech Street for my birthday pancakes a few weeks prior (decently made, but, served cold), I decided to visit the Lombard location for my anniversary pancakes, even though it is much further away.

I've reviewed this location before, but again, I couldn't help but notice the differences between the two locations.  Yes, it was crazy busy, like any IHOP.  The staff move around like crazy.  But here, they are on top of things.  Multiple servers stopped by my table during the meal.  My order was taken quickly.  Food arrived in a normal amount of time.  My bill was brought out as soon as I was done.  I can't say I've ever had those things happen at the other location.  And ... the staff were friendly.  My main server wished me a happy anniversary two times!  The others who stopped by genuinely seemed to care when they asked if there was anything else I needed.  At the other IHOP ... they didn't even check on me.

In the future, I'll definitely return to this location.

Seating.

The main reason I've visited the other location more often, besides that it is closer to me, is that they have counter seating.  I'm rarely able to convince others to come on my IHOP excursions (seriously people, what is wrong with you?  IHOP is amazing!), so I usually go alone.  Sitting at the counter feels more comfortable to me when dining alone than a table.  This location offers only tables, standard IHOP furniture.

But even though I was dining alone, and seated at a table, I wasn't bored.  As always, one of my favorite aspects of visiting IHOP is the people watching.  I'm fascinated by the folks who dine at IHOP, as they are not the same segment of the population I regularly interact with.  On this visit, I had a wonderful treat: the couple next to me, who were seated right after me, had never been to an IHOP before.  They were rather adorable to listen to.

The server came over to them immediately, asking if they'd like to order any drinks.  They eagerly told him, "We've never been to IHOP before, so you tell us, what should we get to drink?"  I almost laughed.  He seemed a bit stunned, and replied, "well, most people get coffee?  Maybe some orange juice?"

But the real fun began as they explored the menu.  "Wait ... the three egg omelette comes with a stack of 3 pancakes  ... on the side?  How is 3 pancakes a SIDE??!", "Woah, look at this one! 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 french toast, 2 pancakes, and hash browns? We could split that that one meal and still never be able to finish it!",  "How does everything come with eggs, a breakfast meat, and hashbrowns on the side?  Just the sides are a full meal!"  Yup, we've all had these reactions to the IHOP menu, but it was pretty fun to listen to them experiencing it all for the first time

They seemed tempted by everything.  The server came back to take their order several times, but they were totally indecisive.  I wanted to tell them to just get pancakes, and stop even considering burgers.  But ... I didn't want to be rude.  It was also amusing to watch the female diner's reaction as orders passed by, huge, huge decadent platters.  Her eyes went wide every time, and she'd grab his arm saying, "Honey, look at that?  That is one person's order!!!"  Oh the novelty of IHOP.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  $9.99.

As I've mentioned, when I was a IHOP regular, in grad school, my order was generally the Swedish pancakes.  I wanted to try them again for old time's sake, but, alas, Swedish pancakes are more expensive than the free anniversary item allowance (currently $9.99, the value of the signature Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity® Pancakes).  The Rooty Tooty is horrible, topped with their really low quality frozen fruit mush, so I never get that.  But I could pick any type of pancakes I wanted, just like last time.

My pancake choice back in the day was always the Harvest Grain ’N Nut® Pancakes.  But given the past visits where they just weren't good, I had to move on.  The Raspberry White Chocolate I had a few weeks prior for my birthday were pretty good (well, the white chocolate pancakes were, not the raspberry topping), and I almost ordered them again.  But I wanted to try something new.

I decided to stick with a buttermilk base, since I liked that in the Raspberry White Chocolate Chip pancakes.  No more Harvest Grain ’N Nut for me.  I knew I didn't want any of the fruit topped ones, as the IHOP "fruit" is frozen, sweet, goo. This ruled out about half my options.  I was momentarily tempted again by the New York Cheesecake pancakes, until I realized that it really makes no sense to put cheesecake in my pancakes.  I like cheesecake, I like pancakes, but even I had no desire to combine these things.  My next almost-choice was again the decadent sounding Cinn-A-Stack.  They were officially removed from the IHOP menus a while but, but, this location still had them listed.  A stack of four pancakes, with sweet cinnamon roll filling between each layer, topped with cream cheese icing.  If I were more hungry, or in the mood for decadence, or had someone to spit with, I certainly would have gone for that one.

Instead, I opted for the only other non-fruit option: chocolate chip pancakes.  These are available with either a chocolate base or buttermilk, I opted for buttermilk.  I also asked for the toppings to be on the side, as I hate having the butter all melt into the top pancake.

My pancakes arrived after only about 10 minutes.  They were piping hot and fresh, steam rolling off of them.  I told you this location is better!

The order came with four large pancakes, each with a perfectly crispy exterior, fluffy interior.  Really nicely prepared.  The base flavor did have a slight buttermilk tang to it, quite good.

Chocolate chips were mixed in, with some pancakes receiving far more than others, not really evenly distributed.  They chips were super melty, which didn't happen with my white chocolate chips.

So, these were good.  Really nicely cooked, good base flavor, nicely melty chocolate.  The only problem?  It turns out, uh, I don't like chocolate chip pancakes.  I like chocolate, don't get me wrong, but I don't usually like it in my baked goods for breakfast.  I prefer plain croissants to chocolate croissants (although I like to slather them in butter or jam).  I had several amazing looking chocolate brioches in Paris, and never liked them, no fault of the fine Parisian boulangeries.  Whoops.  My bad.

Speaking of butter, the butter was fine, generic, but I really liked melting plentiful butter into the pancakes.  The whipped cream was just stuff from a can, and I get how it makes sense with chocolate, but I didn't want it with my pancakes.  It is funny, I love whipped cream on my desserts, but with pancakes, it just doesn't work for me.  I'm glad I had it on the side, and I added it to my coffee instead (mmmm!)

Next time, I'll go back to the white chocolate chip pancakes, just sans the awful raspberry topping.  Or maybe, just maybe, I'll go for the crazy Cinn-a-Stack, if it is still around ...

Syrups!

As always, I explored the syrups.

Not pictured is the sugar-free syrup, which I asked for, just to try, but also because I know I like to drown my pancakes in syrup, so I wanted to at least cut my sugar intake a little.  The sugar free syrup is Cary's brand, and it was actually really gross.  Thick, gloopy, fake tasting.  I forgot how much I disliked it.   Ooops.

The strawberry and blueberry were again laughably fake and fruity, but I do kinda like them.  They didn't go well with chocolate though.

Butter pecan was the winner. Sweet, flavorful, and it did compliment the chocolate the best. I really enjoyed my bites, sans chocolate, loaded up with butter and butter pecan syrup. (Hmm, they should make a pecan flavor pancake!)

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Grandma's Cookies

Ok, so you know I don't really care for cookies.  Particularly not packaged ones.  But everyone knows I love desserts, so, from time to time random baked goods show up on my doorstep.  Like Grandma's Cookies.  No, not MY grandma's cookies, but Grandma's cookies, produced by Frito-Lay.

The company description makes these seem, well, like something Grandma might make I guess: "GRANDMA’S® cookies offer a delicious variety of homemade memories. With flavors like chocolate, peanut butter and lemon pie, every GRANDMA’S treat is baked with love to transport you to your happy place with every bite."  Except, well, they are pre-packaged cookies, with a scary shelf life.

Grandma's has several different lines of cookies, including the "Frosted" collection, with pictures of great looking baked goods on front, like the Frosted Cinnamon Roll, Frosted Lemon Pie (featuring a meringue topped lemon pie), Frosted Blueberry and White Chocolate (with a great looking muffin), and red velvet (classic cupcake).  Of course, the cookies don't have meringue, cream cheese frosting, etc, but the photos sure look good.  They also make Sandwich Creme cookies, basic crispy plain cookies stuffed with assorted flavored creme filling, in peanut butter, strawberry, vanilla, or lemon.

The real quintessential cookies though are probably the "Homestyle" ones, available in the classics of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and peanut butter, along with peanut butter chocolate chunk and chocolate brownie.  It is these that I tried.

If you are in the market for packaged cookies, you can find these anywhere, as in, even at Walmart or your neighborhood convenience store, generally sold as two-packs.

I'll be honest.  The cookies aren't ... bad.  The cookies are large, not like a Chips Ahoy or standard packaged cookies.  They do actually look like they could be homemade.

And, they really are quite soft.  Yes, they actually seem like they could have been made by grandma yesterday, not months ago in a factory.  Not that I want more of these, but, they were better than expected.

Chocolate Brownie Cookie.

"GRANDMA'S Chocolate Brownie Big Cookies are a delicious combination of great taste and good fun baked into one great snack."

I started with a chocolate brownie cookie.  I figured I'd get the one I was least like to like out of the way.

Well, huh.  The chocolate flavor wasn't particularly rich, although it was clearly a cocoa cookie, and had some little chocolate chips in it (although not nearly as generously distributed as in the wrapper picture).  I liked how soft it was, and how "real" it looked.

But, it did have a strangely plasticky flavor, and a bit of a stale aftertaste.  Ah yes, all those random ingredients thrown in there to preserve them, really do make a difference in taste, and, not a good one.

I even took a second bite of this, but in the end, the aftertaste did me in.  If the aftertaste wasn't there however, these really would be worth eating.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie.

"Perfect for satisfying your intense craving. Grandma's Oatmeal Raisin Big Cookies are a unique combination of great taste, great crunch and good fun rolled into one great snack. The only thing better than this big soft delicious cookie, is another!"

Next I moved on to the one I was slightly less skeptical of, but still not excited by: oatmeal raisin.

Like the Chocolate Brownie cookies, the oatmeal raisin were super soft, and again, they really did look homemade.  One of my cookies was so soft that it broke as I pulled it out of the bag, but, I don't consider this a bad thing.

The cookies had some oats, and plenty of raisins.  The raisins were soft, not hard little pellets.  The cookie was very sweet, not a slightly more healthy style that you sometimes get with oatmeal raisin.  It had a slightly complex sweetness though, from the molasses used for sweetener (well, in addition to high fructose corn syrup and regular white sugar of course).

These really weren't bad.  As I'm not really much of a cookie eater, they weren't super exciting to me just as cookies though.  I wanted to crumble them up on top of some warm fruit and serve with whipped cream, basically making them into a crisp topping.  Or I wanted to stuff them with cream cheese frosting, or at least ice them.  Or even make an ice cream sandwich out of them.  Don't get me wrong, they were fine plain, but, a plain cookie just isn't my thing.

Peanut Butter.

"A Classic Favorite. Both grandma's blend the finest ingredients with the creamiest peanut butter to make a tantalizing treat."

Ok, if the other cookies looked fairly homemade, this one really, really looked homemade.  It was even a little ... burnt.  Darker than you'd like.  It also had the little marks on top as if grandma had pressed her fork tines into the top.  Nice little homemade touch.

But the cookie ... wasn't very good.  It was soft, but not moist.  It didn't have great peanut flavor.  It just wasn't very good.   My least favorite of all the cookies.

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Boon Cafe, Sydney

Boon Cafe is not just another cafe in Sydney.  While I adore the cafe culture in Sydney, Boon is something quite different.  For one, it is located on the side of a Thai grocery store, somewhat reminding me of Cafe Sopra and Fratelli Fresh.  The cuisine is thai, always a favorite of mine while I'm in Sydney, and it is brought to you by the folks behind Chat Thai (which I've visited many times).  However, the cuisine is quite different from the numerous other Thai restaurants around town.  During the day it is a cafe, serving breakfast in the morning (eggs, congee, pastries), lunch (rice bowls, noodles, sandwiches, salads, desserts), and then at dinner, it completely transforms, serving Isaan cuisine from north-eastern Thailand (lots of flavor, gutsy ingredients).

From my research, Boon sounded really unique, and like a good choice for a casual meal one Sunday afternoon.  And it was.  My visit was around 12:30pm, on a Sunday.  I had eyes on the fantastic sounding pandan custard toast, while Ojan was looking for a regular, although light, lunch.  We both wanted fun drinks.  And Boon completely fit that bill.  Service was good, the food was decent, and it was indeed a unique experience.  We returned several more times for drinks throughout the week, and were satisfied every time.  I was seriously eyeing their perfect looking croissants, but never got around to ordering one.

I'll be happy to return to try more drinks and some more sweets, although I don't feel particularly compelled to go back for the savory food, as there was nothing that I felt I "need" to have.

The Setting

As I said, Boon is on the side of a Thai grocery store.

Sidewalk Sign.

You won't find a large sign for Boon Cafe on an awning, as the sign on the awning is for the grocery store.  Instead, they just have a little folding sidewalk sign out front.

Counter.

You can order takeaway at a register, which many people did, usually just for a drink or pastry, as they swung through the grocery store.  I did this too, once I realized they use Single Origin espresso!

Or you could ask to be seated, which, we did on our first visit.

Seating.

There aren't many tables, just a few small ones along the sunny window, and a few stuck into the corridor between the cafe and grocer, which is where we were seated, as we got the last table.

Market.

From our table, we had a view into the grocery store, which had a steady stream of traffic.  We wandered through afterwards, and stocked up on some treats.  They packed a ton into the little store, including fresh fruits, packaged desserts, tons of candy, and pantry staples.

Drinks

To say the drink menu at Boon is extensive is an understatement.  I think I spent at least 15 minutes pouring over the drinks menu, even though I had seen it online before.  I had such extreme indecision paralysis.

The menu had pages and pages of drinks, each page getting more exotic than the previous, all with illustrations.  There were hot drinks, cold drinks, icy drinks.  Sweet drinks, bitter drinks, refreshing drinks.  American drinks, Thai drinks, trendy drinks, classic drinks.  How. To. Decide.

I wanted coffee, as Boon sources their beans from my favorite roaster in the city, Single Origin.  But, I can get decent coffee other places.  Then they have very fancy hot chocolate, available in several varieties (dark, hazelnut, caramel).  And iced coffee, iced mochas, iced chocolate.  Or an affogato.  Or frappes.  There are also fresh pressed juices and blended fruit drinks.  House made iced tea tisanes, in a variety of flavors like pandan, longan, lotus root, and more.  Plus traditional thai drinks, including multiple types of thai tea and coffee, hot and iced.  And then a slew of other drinks, like "pink cold milk" or "green syrup with soda".

Decisions are hard.

House Water.

Our server brought over a jug of tap water, and two mismatched cups, moments after we were seated, a nice touch, particularly on a hot day.

Also on our table was a jug with water, and a sprig of figs.  Can they really grow once removed from a tree like this?  I have no idea.

Goldilocks Latte. $5.

"Cold pressed turmeric, milk & Vallentines medicinal honey."

Since Ojan can't have caffeine, he doesn't often get fun hot drinks, so he was thrilled by the drink menu.  The "Goldilocks Latte" caught his eye, as it was a non-caffeinated latte, made from turmeric, milk, and honey, no coffee.  Totally not things I like, but it suited him fine.

I took a sip, and it was very bitter.  Where was this promised honey?  Ojan thought the same thing, saying he liked it, he liked the turmeric, but, he really wanted it sweeter.

And then he got near the end, and found all the honey.  Doh.  It either wasn't mixed in well, or had settled all to the bottom.

Anyway, this was clearly not a drink for me, but he enjoyed having something like a latte sans caffeine.

Goldilocks Latte. $5.

A few days later, we returned to Boon for drinks.  This time, Ojan's Goldilocks latte was served in a glass, rather than mug.  And this time, he heeded his own advice from last time, and stirred it first. And ... this time it was too sweet.  Perhaps it just had more honey in it than before, but, he ended up not liking it, and didn't finish it.

Matcha Frappe. $7.

I wanted a little bit of caffeine, and I just can't resist matcha.  My matcha choices were hot, iced, or a frappe.  I went for the most fun version, the frappe, a regular item at coffee shops and cafes around Sydney, far more common than in the US, probably because the weather is so warm?  It was a hot day, so an icy drink sounded perfect to me.

I meant to add on whipped cream (+$0.50), but forgot.  Doh.  In the photo on the menu, the whipped cream looked so good!

I also meant to ask for it sweetened, but forgot that too.  I was just too overwhelmed by that drink menu!

The frappe was really nicely blended, and clearly made from legit matcha, it was crazy bitter.  I mixed in some sweetener myself, and it was exactly what I wanted.  If I was in the mood for a frozen matcha beverage, I'd definitely get it again, although, I wish they had boba or other fun add-ons.  And I'd get it sweetened, and probably with whip next time.

Decaf Long Black. $3.50.

On the next visit, I just wanted a simple coffee to go along with some sweets, so opted for a long black, decaf.  They use Single Origin roasters, always my favorites for decaf in Sydney.  It isn't amazing decaf, and is a bit more acidic than I like, but, it is better than most.

This coffee was fine, I'm sure the regular would have been better.  They use two different roasts from Single Origin for regular coffee, depending on if you are having it black or white (aka, lattes, etc).

Food

The menu is radically different at lunch and dinner, our visit was at lunch time.

Menu

The food menu is also fairly extensive, and, illustrated, just to make deciding that much harder.

We skipped over the breakfast menu, served from 8am-11am, since it was 12pm, but it included a bunch of egg dishes (not your standard American/Australian picks, although there was a ever trendy avocado and soft boiled egg on toast option!), along with several varieties of congee.

Next came sandwiches and rice bowls, available from 11am-4pm, none of which looked very traditional to me, some open faced, some on sliced bread, some in buns.  I have to admit though, they looked good, even the crispy chicken and papaya salad sandwich.  Continuing on was pages of noodle dishes, also available 11am-4pm, many made from interesting types of pasta, like kamut fusilli or kamut spaghettini, although traditional egg noodles and rice noodles were also in the mix.  There was a crab pasta with smoked chili that looked pretty good, and a bacon pasta, and then a ton of fried rice options.

Then, the som dtum menu, with no fewer than 13 different salads.  Seriously.  These are available from 12 - midnight, so, lunch and dinner.  I thought it was interesting that some of the lunch menu started at 11am, and some at noon.  It was hard to really tell the difference between all the salads, besides different variations of peanuts or not, dried shrimp or fish or crabs, some with noodles, some with greens.

And then the part of the menu I was excited by, the "snacks", mostly composed of sweet toasts, plus, "ice bread", which really I may have to get sometime.  Shaved ice, toast, and syrups, all in one dish? Fascinating. 

Other sweet options included house made pastries on display by the counter at front, and gelato, available in really interesting flavors (cashew butter, single origin coffee, fresh coconut, banana & chocolate), available with fun toppings (salted caramel, pandan custard, dark chocolate, condensed milk), and served optionally inside a crispy bun.

We were there around 12:30pm, and Ojan and I were on totally different schedules.  He wanted a light meal, a salad, and I wanted sweets.  This worked well, as he was able to select from one of the zillion papaya salads, and I could get a sweet toast, and we could dine together, no problem.

Dtum Thai Bpu, 1 Chili. $13.

"Spicy green papaya salad w/dried shrimps, pickled crab *contains peanuts*"

Ojan wanted something light, so he opted for a papaya salad.  He had many, many choices for which particular salad, but settled on this one because he wanted one that wasn't too spicy, and, included peanuts.  He was asked how spicy, and he said "mild", and the server then asked, "one or two chilis?".  He said one.

Seemingly moments later, the salad was ready.  Shockingly fast.

For the most part, it was a pretty standard papaya salad, not particularly remarkable, with shredded green papaya, cherry tomatoes cut in half, crispy green beans, peanuts, little dried shrimps, served over some lettuce.  It wasn't very spicy at all, but, he asked for only one chili (note for next time: definitely go for two!).  I liked how crispy the beans were, but the dried shrimps did make it kinda fishy tasting.  And then, there was the crab on top.

Ojan avoided it for the most part, although I kept telling him he had to eat it.  Finally, he asked the server about it, and she said that yes, you could eat the body, but warned that it was salty.

His expression as he tried it was priceless.  He said it was salty.  And fishy.  "It tastes like the ocean!" he finally declared.  He kept trying it, unsure of if he liked it or not.  Eventually he concluded that he did not like it.

Anyway, it was papaya salad, no more, no less.  Fresh enough, but not exciting.  I guess it is what he wanted?

Toast & Spreads (white, pandan custard). $4.

As for me, I wanted something sweet, and had my eyes on the "toasts and spreads" section of the menu.  I could choose from three types of bread as my base: white, sourdough, or croissant, and many types of topping: sugar, condensed milk, milo, jam, peanut butter, salted caramel, house roasted cashew butter, chocolate hazelnut spread, and pandan custard.

Since I don't like sourdough, that was easy to rule out.  I do love croissants, but, the white toast seemed more classic, and in the photos it looked pretty great, so, white toast it was.  For the spread, this was a bit harder.  The photos of the sugary, condensed milk looked pretty amazing.  Chocolate hazelnut spread was tempting.  The house roasted cashew butter also sounded interesting.  Ojan lobbied for sugar and caramelized milk.  But ... I wanted to get something I wouldn't be able to get back in SF, so, pandan custard it was.  When in Sydney, I basically just eat all the pandan I can (in drinks, in desserts, everywhere)

My toast arrived a few minutes after Ojan's salad, which was perfect, as I had time to have a few bites of his savory salad just to try it, and then I was able to dig into my dish when it was hot.  And, it was delivered hot, freshly toasted.

I really liked the white bread, thick slices of fresh, fluffy, slightly sweet, white bread, cut into strips, and assembled into a tower, with the pandan custard all over it.  There was also a bit of coconut milk (or condensed milk maybe?) on the plate.  It was served with two wooden sticks to spear the pieces.

I really loved my first couple pieces.  They were hot, soft, comforting.  I loved how fluffy the bread was, and how it soaked up the pandan custard.  Really simple, but comfort food.

Some of the edge pieces however were more toasted than I'd like, hard, crispy, and didn't soak in the custard as well.  And, it cooled quickly, and I liked it far less when it wasn't warm.

So, overall, I enjoyed it, but I think it would be best to share, and each just have a couple sticks before they cooled down.  This was a big serve for me to eat fast enough on my own, and Ojan only took one bite before deciding he didn't like it.

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China Doll, Wooloomooloo

Every year when I visit Sydney, we always make a point to get dumplings at some point, as one of our local friends loves dumplings. He happens to be the one who first led us to Chinatown Noodle Restaurant, with its famous dumplings and noodles, and who we went to fancy dim sum at Luya and Yum Yum with on our last visit.  On this visit, we decided to do something a bit different, and go more upscale, to China Doll.

China Doll is the flagship of a restaurant group that also operates China Lane, in the CBD, a slightly more casual venue, and China Diner in Bondi, which is far more casual.   This was my first visit to any of their establishments.

Our visit was on a Saturday afternoon, and we focused mostly on dim sum items, although they serve a large variety of Chinese dishes.  Overall, our experience was positive: the food was good, albeit a bit pricey, service was decent, and food came at a steady clip, each dish delivered as soon as it was ready.  I'd return if someone wanted to, but, I didn't find it particularly memorable (besides the company, of course).

The Atmosphere

Outside Seating.

China Doll is located on Cowper Wharf, in Wooloomooloo, along the strip of trendy restaurants located on the wharf (where Russell Crowe used to own a condo), all of which spill out into the sidewalk.  Each restaurant was full to capacity by 1pm on the lovely Saturday afternoon.

I did request an outdoor table when I made my booking earlier in the week, but, alas, 1 week notice isn't enough to secure a coveted outside slot, and we were ushered inside when we arrived.

Open-ish Kitchen.

The kitchen is fairly open, and you could see the wall of tickets lining up.  The restaurant is pretty large, so there was a constant flurry of activity back there.

Upstairs.

I went on a venture to the bathroom, which was located upstairs.  This level seems to be used mostly for large groups, although I imagine sometimes they split it into smaller tables?

Looking Down.

Since the bathroom is located upstairs, I was able to take a shot from above, looking down on the inside main dining room.  As you can see, these were all rectangle tables, with table clothes, and formal place settings.

My party was on the front left.

Swanky Bathroom.

I don't always include photos or reviews of bathrooms, but, the bathroom here was notable.  It was located behind a HUGE door.  The wallpaper and decor were quite swanky and modern.  A really lovely bathroom experience.

Place Setting.

Place settings were elegant, and our little bowls were swapped out after our first round of dumplings.

 Dim Sum

The menu starts with cold share plates, which we entirely skipped, but that section included several raw seafood preparations (raw tuna, cured kingfish, and ocean trout sashami), plus chicken larb, and some cold salads.

Next up is dim sum, and the area we focused.  It was lunch time, and one member of our party is a serious dumpling fiend, so, dumplings were clearly going to be our focus.  There were 4 types of dumpling-like items, and we got them all.  Our other options in this category were corn and zucchini cakes, mushroom spring rolls, chicken ribs, and steamed scallops.

Dishes all arrived as they were ready, hot and fresh, one at a time, fairly staggered.

Wontons: Pork Prawn & Shiitake w/ Black Vinegar & Soy. $18.

First to arrive was the wontons.

These were ... huge.  Each dumpling was far more than a single bite.  Inside the wrapper was large chunks of prawn, ground pork, and slices of shiitake mushroom.  The filling had a nice chew to it from the sizable chunks of prawn.  The wrapper was thick, necessary to hold in all this filling.

The broth they were in was quite tasty, with a subtle complex flavor from the black vinegar, mixed with the soy.  I appreciated that they included a soup spoon to really lap up all that flavorful sauce.  Oh, and the bits of garlic in the broth for an extra flavor pop.

My second favorite dumpling, third favorite savory dish, and I'd get this again.

Crispy Dumplings: Chicken Prawn & Scallop w/ Red Vinegar. $20.

Soon after the wontons, a completely different type of dumpling arrived, the crispy dumplings.  From soft and slimy, we moved on to crispy.

These were also huge, this time triangle shaped.  The outside was crispy and fried, which I liked.  But ... in the filling, all I could taste was the ground chicken.  I'm not sure where the prawn or scallop were, but, chicken was clearly dominant, and I don't like chicken.

My third pick for dumplings, because I really did like the crispy wrapper, but I wouldn't want another.

Steamed Dumplings: Prawn & Green Bean w/ Red Vinegar. $20.

After a slight lull, two more baskets of dumplings arrived at the same time.

On top we had steamed dumplings, filled with prawns and green beans.  Like the wontons, the chunks of prawn were huge, but in this case, there was not pork to balance it out, and mine tasted really fishy.  I didn't care for it.  But I did really like the crispy, large pieces of green bean inside, not an ingredient I've ever had in a dumpling before.

These wrappers were more translucent, which was fine, but I liked the slimy wonton wrappers and the crispy dumpling wrappers better.

This was served with red vinegar on the side, like the crispy chicken dumplings.  My least favorite of the dumplings.

Shu Mai: Pork Prawn Scallop & Shiitake w/ Chilli Oil. $20.

Our final dim sum item was the shu mai, which arrived alongside the steamed dumplings.

These were clearly the best looking, as they had one of my favorite ingredients, scallops, front and center, right on top.  I wasn't expecting that!

Like the other three dumplings, these were also jumbo sized.  I've really never seen dim sum this large before.

The filling in this was similar to the first wonton, with the pork, prawn, and shiitake, but here there was also the slice of scallop on top (and I think some inside?), and it was shu mai, so the wrapper was not sealed.  The scallop was fully cooked, not mid-rare like I like, and not seared obviously, but it was tender and sweet, and I liked it quite a bit.  Who needs the dumplings?  Hmm, maybe I should have gotten some of the other scallop dishes, since, well, I do love them so.

These were my favorite savory item of the meal.

Red Vinegar, Chili Oil.

I really appreciated how every type of dumpling came with its own sauce. We were warned by the server to only use a little of the chili oil because it was so spicy.  It was not, but it did provide a nice little kick.

Small & Medium Plates

The next section of the menu was "Small & Medium Plates", although there was no indication which items might be "small" and which might be "medium".

Here the options were quite varied, san choy bau (veggie or pork), grilled spatchcock, duck pancakes, and vegetarian fried tofu, plus one item I was eyeing: the chili salt squid.

Chilli Salt Squid. $20.

The squid was delivered to our table piping hot.  I really appreciated how quickly it went from the wok to our table.  It was really nicely cooked, not rubbery.

But what was awesome, besides just being hot, fresh, and well cooked, was the spicing, I guess the "chili salt"?  It was really flavorful, and reminded me a bit of the seasoning you have on potato wedges.  In fact, one of my fellow table mates said he thought it WAS wedges when it showed up.

It was served with a lemon wedge on the side to drizzle over it, and some wok fried red peppers.

I really enjoyed this, a flavorful preparation, and a different treatment of squid than I'm used to.  My second favorite of the savories.  I didn't even really miss having a creamy sauce to dip it in.

Mains 

The largest portion of the menu is mains, however, we mostly skipped it.  There was just about every protein imaginable in this section, and every preparation too.  Lighter choices included a whole steamed market fish, lemongrass blue eye with sago and green mango, XO scallops with silken egg dashi, and barramundi with chili, garlic, and mustard greens.  Heavier, fried seafood options were wok fried marron with ginger shallot chilli and cognac sauce and salt and pepper prawns with toasted chili and garlic.  There were several red meat options, such as whole lamb shoulder for $80, beef fillet with oyster mushrooms, grilled wagyu rump with mushroom, XO, and truffle jus, and a penang curry of slow braised wagyu beef shin.  Oh, speaking of curries, there was also a seafood green curry with flathead, snake beans, and thai basil.  Poultry included tea smoked duck with tamarind and plum and chicken breast with sichuan, soy, and bang bang (uh, bang bang?)  Finally, for vegetarians, there was a single option, eggplant and tofu with sichuan chili bean paste.

But, since it was lunchtime and we wanted a lighter meal, and, because we ordered so much dim sum and smaller items, we opted for only a single main: the pork belly.  Wait, what was I saying about lighter options?

If I were to return for dinner however, I would opt for any of the seafood, and in particular, the XO scallops and the salt and pepper prawns.

Crispy Pork Belly w/ Chilli Caramel & Nam Pla Phrik. $36.

The pork belly was ... ok.  The very edges were indeed crispy, but I didn't care for the consistency of the rest of it.  It was either fatty and mushy, or stringy dark meat.  Now, don't get me wrong, I do like fatty pork belly, and, in this very trip, I had delicious pork belly just a few days prior at Longrain and even in the cafe at my office.  This wasn't just me not liking pork belly, although, maybe I was getting a bit sick of it.

I did love the caramel sauce though, sweet and spicy, all at once.  I also appreciated the red chilies and bits of fried shallot.  So, they nailed the sauce, and I gladly just lapped some up, sans pork belly.

Sides

The sides menu was small, with only two types of rice (jasmine rice or pork and prawn fried rice) and two types of greens (Chinese greens or steamed broccolini with oyster sauce and garlic).

We got rice to go along with the pork belly, but I didn't try it.

Chinese Greens. $12.

We also got the Chinese greens, at Ojan's request.  He wanted something ligher, and with fiber (he's trying to increase his fiber intake).

The greens were fine, but just steamed and quite bitter, and in a light soy sauce, since it was a vegetarian dish.  Oyster sauce would have been tastier.  I guess it was nice to have something light alongside the heavier dishes, but this wasn't a particularly interesting item.

Dessert

Of course, you know me, I won't ever pick a restaurant that doesn't have dessert items I'm interested in.  The dessert menu had two items I wanted, black sticky rice with seasonal fruit and sago pudding with vanilla coconut cream and passionfruit syrup, both items I love, as I just adore puddings.  Plus, the sago gets rave reviews in nearly every review I read.  They also have a few other items, including a trio of gelato and ice cream, a roasted pear with butterscotch, and a chocolate & orange slice with honeycomb.

We were pretty stuffed, and decided to just get one dessert item, since my dining companions were all were happy to skip dessert entirely.  While we were considering which of my two picks to get, and nearly settling on the sago pudding, our server told us he was sending dessert our way.  I knew that China Lane often sends out a dessert platter, making our decision making unnecessary, since it would include both of the items I wanted.   Excellent!

Dessert Platter. $30.

As expected, the dessert platter had my two picks, plus a trio of gelato and ice cream.  One warm dessert, one frozen dessert, and one room temp.  Something for everyone!

Starting from left:

"Black Sticky Rice w/ Seasonal Fruit"

The sticky rice was topped with a little coconut cream, rice bubbles, and a few small slices of mango.  The rice was nicely cooked, not too mushy, not too al dente, served warm.  I liked the crunch from the rice bubbles on top, a cute touch.  Overall though, this didn't wow me.  It certainly wasn't very sweet, not that it was savory, but I wouldn't call it a sweet dessert at all.  It needed far more mango.  My least favorite of our dessert trio, but I appreciated the warm item.

"Selection of Sorbet & Ice Cream"

Next we had three small scoops of frozen delights.  Not something I'd order, since we were eating plenty of ice cream and gelato at gelato shops on this trip (like Messina), but, hey, I'll take free ice cream.

The pink one was strawberry sorbet, way too sweet for me.  The green seemed to be kiwi, also way too sweet, also sorbet.  The white one was creamy, and clearly ice cream.  None of us could place the flavor though.  It seemed vanilla, but ... better than vanilla.  It had some subtle extra flavor going on.  I asked our server, and he confirmed that it was coconut vanilla.  I didn't care for the sorbets, but, the ice cream was nice, making this my second choice on the platter.

"Sago Pudding w/ Vanilla Coconut Cream & Passionfruit Syrup"
And finally, the famous sago.  This was excellent.  It was perfectly creamy, the sago was nicely cooked, and the passionfruit syrup added a nice touch of sweetness.  A sweet, creamy, comforting, dessert, a perfect ending to the meal.

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Martabak Cafe, Sydney

On my recent visit to Sydney, a co-worker wanted to take us on an adventure to get martabak, at the aptly named Martabak Cafe.  Martabak is a Indonesian food, and although both savory and sweet versions exist, we were there to try only the sweet ones.  In particular, he really wanted us all to have the durian one, but, given my previous experience with durian, I wasn't particularly excited about.  But, I'm always up for trying new cuisine, particularly dessert.

The experience certainly was an adventure, but, I assure you, I will not be returning.  We did not enjoy this, and not just because of the durian.

Counter.

Although there is seating, all orders are taken at the register.

The sweet martabak is sold in half or full size (5 or 10 pieces), with an "original" or pandan flavor pancake, and with fillings of peanut, chocolate, cheese, and durian (or any combination thereof).  The menu also had plenty of savory items, and some drinks, but, we were there just for the sweets.

Service was ... not particularly good.  We had to repeat our fairly simple order of 3 items multiple times.  The card reader was broken, with no signage warning us that they were cash only (which, I'd understand if it had just happened, but our host told us that the card reader has never worked when he has visited).  Once we ordered and paid, we took a seat.  The food was delivered to the table, one item at a time (including drinks, so, we each got our drinks several minutes apart).

Es Teh Thailand. $4.95.

"Brewed tea leaf with ice & milk."

The thai iced tea was good, standard thai tea with plenty of sweetened condensed milk.  It was the tastiest part of our adventure.

Durian, Pandan, Half. $11.95.

The first item to arrive was the durian martabak.  We went for pandan flavored, because, well, pandan is a bit novel to us, and green is more fun?  Pandan is a $1 surcharge for any martabak.

I took my first bite, ready to find it repulsive.  It wasn't THAT bad.  At first.  I took a second bite, and then that funk hit.  Ugh, it was horrible.  Sorry, but durian is just not for me.

One co-worker, who had never had durian before, said it tasted like onion, which I kind of understand.

I couldn't get past the durian flavor (and smell) enough to evaluate much more about this.  4/5 of us hated it and didn't take more than a bite or two, but our host eagerly finished the whole thing.

Chocolate Peanut, Pandan, Half. $9.95.

Next we moved on to a more promising option: chocolate peanut.  We again opted for pandan.

I wasn't into the pancake part.  It was spongy and really oily.  I also expected a crispy exterior, and this wasn't very crispy.  Meh.

Chocolate Peanut: Inside.

But, you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanuts, right?

Well, first, the "chocolate" was a bit of a surprise.  The chocolate was ... chocolate sprinkles.  I expected chocolate sauce.  Or ganache.  Or, something more spread-like.  Instead, it was just a layer of chocolate sprinkles, unmelted.  I doubt there was any cocoa content in here.

The peanut was bits of peanut.

So, oily cake I didn't like, non-chocolate filling, and bits of peanut.  Really no redeeming qualities here.

Chocolate Peanut Cheese, Original, Half. $10.50.

Moving on, we picked a chocolate-peanut-cheese, just to try something totally different, with a mix of sweet and salty.  It was on the menu, so, it clearly must be a thing.

It again had the same chocolate sprinkles and ground peanuts, plus, shredded cheese.  Like the chocolate sprinkles, the cheese didn't melt.

I actually did like the flavor combination of sweet and cheese, as I like my sweet and salty, but the pancake again was awful, this time "original" flavored. It was even more oily.  So oily, and not in a good way.

Ojan took one bite of this one and immediately declared "I can not take a second bite of this".  And I assure you, he didn't.

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Waffling Leftovers: Pizza

As I announced last week, I'm going to devote my blog posts on Wednesdays to reviews of my own waffling experiments, rather than of reviewing restaurants, snacks, etc.  Not to toot my own horn, but, waffling leftovers has radically changed the way I think of leftovers, and I hope to inspire others to have some fun too.

So to start, I present the first thing I waffled, and the simplest: leftover pizza.  This wasn't my first time waffling pizza, but was the first time I documented the whole thing.  Of all the items I have waffled, pizza is universally loved by everyone.  My mother has gone so far as to tell me she doesn't even eat pizza when it is fresh anymore, and always waffles it.  Ojan always requests leftover pizza waffled.  I prefer leftover pizza waffled of course, but I have other favorites.  Stay tuned for those.  But for now, the pizza!

The Original: Onion and roasted garlic thin crust pizza.

We started with strategic leftovers: thin crust pizza from Little Star.  Of course, Little Star is all about the deep dish, so this was a strange order, but I actually did it with waffling the leftovers in mind.  I know how amazing waffled pizza is, but I didn't think deep dish would waffle very well.  So, I ordered a thin crust in addition to my regular deep dish, and ate the deep dish when it was hot and fresh, saving the thin one for waffling.  I was planning ahead.

Leftover Slices.

As expected, the leftovers were just like any slices of leftover pizza.  Highly unremarkable.  I had a bite of one slice cold, and didn't even enjoy it.  I knew better things awaited us.

Ready to go: two ways.

After previous success with waffling pizza multiple ways, either open-faced or with dual crusts, I decided to use both techniques again.  A clear winner had yet to be determined.

First up, open faced, as you see on the left.  Yes, you really just stick the slice in whole, and close the top.  Don't worry about the consequences, it will work out, I promise.

Second: dual crust.  In this case, I took two pieces that were about the same size, and stuck them together, so a crust was on each side. You can also achieve this by just folding a single slice over in half.

So the setup?  Easy as pie.  Pizza pie.

Almost ready ...

It always surprises me a little how long the waffling takes.  Sure, I could have pulled it out at this point, as it was hot, but I knew the crust would get even better if I waited just a little bit longer ...

Waffled Pizza, two ways, with marinara dipping sauce.

My patience was rewarded.  Perfectly waffled pizza was ready!  I also included a side of marinara sauce, since it is nice to dip the waffled pizza into something.

So, how did it turn out?  Let's start with the simple, open faced pizza.

Open faced waffled pizza is an interesting thing.  The crust side gets amazingly crispy, which you'd expect.  The face up side also gets a bit crispy, the cheese gets all crusty, just like when cheese oozes out when you make grilled cheese.  When I was growing up, my dad always put slices of cheese onto the grill after making grilled cheese and just cooked them that way, and I loved it.  So crispy cooked cheese has a special place in my heart, and I love that characteristic of open-faced waffled pizza.  This version I like to cut into strips and dunk into the marinara sauce, as finger food.

Ojan prefers the dual crust, which you can do via the fold-over technique, or just using two slices as we did this time.  You get the great crispy crust on both sides, and the inside fills with perfectly melty cheese, much like a calzone.  This version I eat with a fork and knife.

I still can't decide which version I like more.  One is a calzone, one is a finger food, they each have their place.  But I do know for certain that waffled leftover pizza is far, far superior to even fresh pizza.  There is no other way to eat pizza.  Try it.

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7-Eleven Coffee - An Update

This post has been merged into a single master 7-Eleven Coffee post.

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