Baked Goods from Tout Sweet

Last week, I reviewed the cookies from Tout Sweet.  I dubbed the "Naughty Peanut" one of the best cookies I've ever had, and even deemed it breakfast appropriate.

But, it turns out, Tout Sweet does offer some slightly-more-acceptable-for-breakfast baked goods, so I've tried those too.  I didn't love any though, and would rather just have that cookie for breakfast.

Gougère:  Fresh thyme, chive & gruyere cheese.  $3.25.

Hmm.  Eggy, and light, but not cheesy.  How was this not cheesy?

I got a bunch of these for my co-workers, not really thinking I'd love them, but wanting a savory option for those who don't like sweets first thing in the morning.  I cut them in half, and every person took only a half of one, and not a single one of us even finished our halves.  We even tried warming them up to make them a bit more exciting, but they really fell flat.  Would not recommend, and will not try again.

Sadly, I somehow lost the rest of my notes and reasoning on this, so, I don't have much to say except that they were a fail, all around.

Hazelnut Crumble Coffee Cake. $3.50

For those of us who like sweets, I opted for the classic coffee pairing ... coffee cake.  The woman taking my order said it was one of her favorite items.

I wasn't overly impressed at first.  The back crust was almost burnt and very dry.  The cake itself was fairly moist, but not very spiced.  It all seemed fairly unremarkable.  But as I dug in more, I found a lot of subtlety to it that surprised me.  It did have a nice level of sweetness, due to the fruit and the streusel, but wasn't overly sweetened otherwise.  Often coffee cake can be way too sweet, but this wasn't.  The chunks of apple? (pear? ) were surprisingly my favorite part.  They were the perfect texture, not too soft and mushy, but not too crisp.  They seemed to be concentrated as a layer on top, right under the crumble, leaving the rest of the cake fairly plain.  Speaking of the crumble, that is where the woman taking my order sold me.  She sorta swooned over it.  It was made from hazelnuts, and was somehow a bit bitter.  Yet sweet like a streusel.  I'm not sure if the bitter and sweet play was intentional, or if perhaps the hazelnuts had gotten a bit over-toasted.  A few bites also had a tiny hint of salt to them, which really amped up those bites.  A nice touch.  I think a little bit more salt in the crumble would take this up a notch.

The crumble and the fruit were both good in this, and perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for coffee cake, because even though I appreciated those elements, I didn't love the coffee cake.  Maybe it was just slightly over-cooked, as I said, the back crust really did seem burnt.  I also think the proportions were just a bit off.  The fruit was good, but only existed in the very top and very bottom.  The crumble was good, but was obviously just on top.  Since the cake was so tall, this left a very large center that was a bit boring. I think just making it less tall, although less impressive looking, would have actually made it tastier, as you'd get more flavors in every bite.  Or, throwing in a streusel layer or more fruit inside.

The slice was absolutely massive for $3.50.  It was massive in height, and in width.  The photo above is after I'd already taken a huge chunk out of it.  My family always served pie slices according to the "one pie is 6 slices" rule.  I always thought this was a totally normal serving for a single person.  And of course it should have a scoop or two of ice cream with it.  And maybe some whipped cream too.  Since that is how my family served it, and whenever I went out that is how restaurants served it, it really wasn't until the past few years that I've realized that not everyone eats pie in such size slices on a regular basis.  When I go out to restaurants, people, gasp, suggest SHARING a single dessert.  They say things about "restaurant portion sizes" being crazy large.  Or I go to dinner parties and they carve up their cakes and pies into slices meant for children.  I always thought they were being stingy.  Turns out, this is what normal people do?  My friends now refer to the slices I (or my family) serve as "Parent Family Slices".  When I'm serving pies or cakes, people now specify things in those terms.  "I'd like a slice of the pecan pie, 1/3 of a Parent Family Slice please".  Anyway, rambly story short, this was totally a Parent Family Slice.  And definitely splitable.

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Mamak, Sydney

Update Review, February 2016

On our recent trip to Sydney, I had only a few places on my list that I really wanted to return to: Ms. G's for cheeseburger spring rolls, cocktails, and epic desserts.  Pinbone for dinner and fantastic dessert.  Mamak for the sweet roti.  Sadly, Pinbone closed, but we did take one venture to Ms. G's (review coming soon!), and, a few days later, to Mamak.

If you haven't read my original review of Mamak, I suggest you start there, and then return here, since I'll skip the general details this time around.

Like pros, we arrived right when they opened at 5:30pm, and got into the first seating.  We had a group of 3, which was a good size to share a few entrees, and order not one, but two, desserts.

Service was as I remembered, a bit scattered and random since you don't have a dedicated server, but fast and efficient.  They really move customers through the restaurant as fast as possible.  The only other thing I noticed different this time was the paintings on the wall, all of either the exterior of the restaurant, or inside, of patrons dining, chefs cooking, etc.  I'm sure these were there last time and I just didn't see them, and I meant to get a photo, but, alas, I didn't.

Anyway, on to the food.  The savory dishes didn't really do it for me this time around, but man, that sweet roti ... I want more, now!

Savory

Savory Roti bawang $7.

"With lashings of sweet red onions. Served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce."

I know that Mamak is most known for the roti, but, besides the dessert roti, I didn't recall being particularly impressed with the savory roti before.  I voted to skip the roti, but the others wanted it.  They got one of the same one we had last time, with red onion inside.

It was the first item to arrive, literally moments after ordering it.  How on earth did it come that fast?  Since I didn't really like it last time, and I knew I really didn't like the curry dips and there was nothing else to dip it in yet, I opted to just skip it, since they seemed to like it.

Ojan said it was his favorite savory dish of the night, so perhaps I missed out.

Ayam goreng. $4.50/piece.

"Malaysian-style fried chicken. Marinated with herbs and spices and full of flavour."

The rest of the food quickly piled onto our table, within 4 minutes of the roti.  I recalled that last time the food came a bit staggered, but, that was not the case tonight.  Our table was full, instantly.

This came from the Mains section of the menu, although sold in individual pieces, as a single piece isn't really a "main" ...

Last time , you may recall that I had a revelation with the fried chicken.  I never like chicken, but, wow, the batter on the fried chicken was so good that I was the one pushing to order the chicken this time.  The others went along with it, but certainly didn't really want it.  We ordered one piece each, and received two thighs and one drumstick.

The chicken was the biggest disappointment of the night.  It was ... awful.  The skin wasn't crispy, the batter had no flavor.  I don't understand how it was so great last time and so truly horrible this time.  I tried a few bites, and discarded my piece.  Ojan saw me push mine away, and declared, "If Julie doesn't have to finish her piece of chicken, I don't either!"  Both our pieces went unfinished.   Easily the worst dish of the night.

Mee goreng. $13.

"Spicy wok-tossed hokkien noodles with eggs, prawns, fish cake slices and fresh bean sprouts."

Next up, we finally tried something from the Rice and Noodles section of the menu.

Ojan had been really into hokkien noodles on this trip, so when I saw Mamak had a dish with them, I pointed it out, and he gladly opted to order it (they also make the dish with ramen noodles, if you prefer ...)

The noodles came mixed with scrambled egg, small chunks of prawns, slices of fish cake, bean sprouts, and asian greens.  On the side was a slice of lime, a slice of tomato, and 3 slices of cucumber.  The later items seemed a bit strange, but, perhaps that is traditional for Malaysian food?

The lime was great to have, as the dish really needed the acid.  The greens were crisp and bitter.  The noodles were decently cooked.  There was some spicing to the dish.  But overall ... it fell pretty flat for me.  Ojan seemed to like it well enough though, his second favorite dish of the savories.

For me, it just made me remember the really tasty hokkien noodles we had at our office a few days prior, and I longed for them ...

Rojak. $15.

"A Malaysian-style salad. Prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, freshly shredded yambean and cucumber, topped with a thick spicy peanut sauce."

Our priciest dish, also from the Mains section, was a salad.

Now, why on earth would I order a salad?  Well, because it was "topped with a thick spicy peanut sauce".  Do you recall my last visit to Mamak, where we didn't like the satay, but I adored the peanut sauce?  As in, I ate it all by the spoonful?  Yeah, I hoped this would have the same peanut sauce, smothering the salad.  Not exactly a healthy, light salad, but really, what do you expect from me?

The server did tell us when we ordered that they were out of yambean and had to substitute green apple instead.  This almost made me reconsider, but, I really wanted that peanut sauce, and really didn't want the satay.  I do wonder if in the future I could just ask for a side of peanut sauce with the roti?  That is what I really want, savory roti with something tasty to dip it in.

Anyway, I digress.  When this salad arrived, the table was fairly stunned.  I know the others were skeptical of my ordering a salad in the first place, but, I know they weren't expecting this ... tower.

Prawn Chips.

Perched on top of the stack were 3 large prawn chips, that is, chips with actual whole prawns fried into them.  I actually liked the chip, particularly when dunked in the sauce, but I didn't like the little prawn ... are you supposed to eat the hard shell?  Ojan didn't even try a bite of one of these, so, I got two chips.

Bread slices?

Under the chips were ... soft bread slices?  Maybe these were the coconut fritters?  I'm really not sure.  But they were soft, orange, and really soaked up the sauce well.  I liked them, dunked in plenty of sauce.

Are you noticing a theme here?  Yes, I liked the peanut sauce.  It wasn't quite as magical as I remembered from before, but, it was good.  Great peanut flavor, and spicy too.  Oh, and there was tons of it, the salad was absolutely smothered in it.

Underneath all of the sauce and bread-like products was the more salad-like components, a large mound of shredded green apple and cucumber.  The shreds were light and fresh, and actually a nice compliment to the carbs and heavy sauce.  And, as much as I don't really like green apple, I have to admit, the apple and peanut sauce really did go well together, reminding me of apple slices with peanut butter that I ate as a snack way back in the day.

Also in the mix was fried cubes of tofu, and half a hard boiled egg.  None of us wanted the egg.

Overall, I liked this in that it was really different, and I liked the peanut sauce, but I wouldn't necessarily order it again.  The only savory dish I really liked though.

Sweets

Roti Tisu. $11.

"Paper-thin, extra-crispy and served tall."

But we all know I was there mostly for dessert.  I absolutely adored the Roti Bom last time.  We skipped the non-roti desserts, and moved right to the sweet roti section of the menu, since the other desserts just weren't quite for us before.  We ruled out the banana roti, but then were stuck.  I obviously wanted the Roti Bom again.  Ojan put in a vote for the kaya version, which I also wanted.  And our local friend wanted the Roti Tisu, which he said was always good.

Since we were all fairly stuffed, we decided the tisu was a lighter option than the kaya one, and opted to get it and the roti bom.  Plus, we've seen enough of the roti tisu go by that it was a bit hard to resist the spectacle of a giant wizard hat ...

The sweet roti tisu took a few minutes longer than the savory to be ready, but still arrived fairly quickly after we ordered it.  They really keep things moving right along.

It was ... very oily.  Yet crazy crispy.  Very, very thin layers of roti, dripping in oil, yet somehow it wasn't at all soggy.  I don't entirely understand.

It also was impressive, structurally.  It managed to stand upright until the very end, even as we ripped off chunks and unraveled it.  One of my dining companions dubbed it an "engineering feat".  It really never fell over.

But, was it good?  Meh.  It wasn't bad, but it was really quite boring.  The dough was sweet, it was coated in sugar, but beyond that, there wasn't actually any flavor.  It just wasn't interesting taste-wise.  It was also annoying to eat, although it never fell over, it was annoying to rip off chunks.

It was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, which none of us touched while eating it.  We had no idea how you would even use the ice cream if you wanted it.  You couldn't dunk the fragile roti into the ice cream, and you couldn't eat the roti with a spoon, so ... yeah.  We didn't use it.

The ice cream just sat there melting, until it got really nice and melty, about the same time the roti bom arrived, a full 18 minutes later ...

Roti Bom. $9.50.

"A truly indulgent roti served thicker, richer and sweeter (Allow 20 mins)."

The roti bom also came with a scoop of ice cream, this one fresh, so not melty.  Did I ever mention that I love melty ice cream?  This turned out perfect, as the other two could split the fresh ice cream, and I got a whole scoop of melty ice cream from the previous dish to myself.  We all had what we wanted.

The ice cream also makes much more sense with this dessert, as it is warm, and warm dessert and cold ice cream go so well together.  Plus, well, you eat it with a fork, so it was easy to get a bite with both ice cream and roti in it.  I'm still puzzled by the ice cream with the previous roti.

The ice cream was also much better than I remembered.  Last time I commented that I wished they didn't serve it with ice cream, and I still think I'd prefer whipped cream, but, I did like the ice cream this time around, it had a good vanilla flavor to it, not plain.

But what about that roti?

OMG.  That is just about all I have to say.  The center was doughy, the outside was crispy, it was oily but in a very good way.  The whole top side was caramelized.  It was hot and fresh.  Almost like the most amazing fried dough meets a kouign amann.  So, soft and doughy, but crispy and caramelized.

Obviously, dish of the night for me, and the others.  It made our visit worthwhile.  I'd return again just for this dish.  I wonder if I could just get it to go?

Original Review, 2015

For our final meal in Sydney on our most recent visit , we decided to be a bit risky.  I had a long list of places I still wanted to go.  Near the top of my list was Rockpool Bar and Grill.  I wasn't flying on Qantas this time around, and thus, it was my only chance to experience Neil Perry cuisine (we hadn't yet gotten there due to always being in a large group, and we were finally just a group of 3).  We also never got iconic meat pies, or any of the crazy Asian desserts in Haymarket that I was constantly eying.  I still wanted to do all these things.

But for some reason, when our final night, a Monday, rolled around, nothing I previously wanted sounded appealing.  At Rockpool B&G, I wanted to get the crumbed prawn roll and the onion rings.  And great cocktails of course.  But a week and a half of eating at restaurants and bars every night had worn me out.  I had great cocktails nearly every night.  I didn't need more cocktails.  I'd been eating huge heavy meals, and fried food in particular sounded totally unappealing.

What did I want?  What I wanted was carbs.  Bready carbs.  And sauce to dip the carbs in.  Partially, I think I was still sad that I didn't enjoy the roti and curry at Sailor's Thai this time around.  Also, the Asian cafe at my office had been serving up great curries with assorted things to dip in, and I had loved them all.  It was just the mood I was in.  I knew what I wanted.

Since my dining companions tend to humor me, I assumed they'd be up for my change of plans, and I informed them around 4:30pm that rather than going to Rockpool Bar and Grill at 6pm as planned and stated on our calendars, we were going to go to Mamak for Malayasian food (in particular, roti).  And uh, we needed to leave the office soon.

Why so soon?  Well, I knew Mamak's reputation.  They always, literally always, have a queue.  They don't take reservations.  If you've walked down Goulburn Street in Sydney, I'm sure you've seen it.  I knew that if we showed up at 6pm, we would have a long wait.  It wouldn't get better if we went later, and we needed to get back to the hotel to pack anyway.  There was only one option: get there before they opened again for dinner service, at 5:30pm.  Thus, we needed to leave the office around 5pm, and, since it was our final day, we'd need to start leaving basically at 4:30, since we had a slew of people to say goodbye to.

Luckily for me, my buddies took this all in stride, and immediately started packing their things up.  5pm on the dot, our merry band of 3 set off for Mamak.  We rounded the corner at 5:20ish, and, well, yup, there was a queue going down the sidewalk already.  I hoped we'd make it in the first seating, otherwise we'd need to wait for the entire restaurant to turn, which would easily take an hour.

We did make it in that seating, and quite enjoyed the meal.  The food was good, the prices really reasonable, and I'd certainly return.  I'm already planning what I'll order next time.  And, since I've returned to San Francisco, I've starting trying to find somewhere with amazing dessert roti, because I just can't get this out of my head!

The Space

Table.

As I said, we made it into the first seating, so it was empty when we entered.  The restaurant interior is no frills, wooden tables, already laid out with plates, napkins, and cutlery in the center.  Menus are plastic.

Orders were rapidly taken on an tablet, a very common practice in casual Asian restaurants in Sydney.  Once this restaurant starts moving, it doesn't stop.  When you are done eat, you head to the register at the front and give them your table number, the waitstaff don't bring checks to your table.  That would slow them down.

The vibe is loud.  As the restaurant filled, which it did immediately, the noise level just kept increasing.  By 5:32pm, it was full and energetic.

Roti Kitchen.

The main savory kitchen is in back somewhere, but right in front is the roti kitchen, making both the sweet and savory roti.  This seems to be another common practice in the area, as both Home and Chat Thai have their dessert kitchens right in front in the window as well.  It helps give the folks lined up along the window in front something to watch!

We didn't have a chance to watch the roti kitchen in action since we were seated as soon as they opened, but I stopped on the way out to admire their work.  It really is an impressive setup.

The piles of eggs reminded me of Cafe Jacqueline in San Francisco, where they serve basically only souffle (savory and sweet), and the kitchen is filled with eggs.

Roti Dough.

Roti dough was already pre-portions and ready to go.  And go they did.  The chefs moved so fast, cranking through orders.  And every table ordered roti of some sort.

Roti Action.

On one cooktop, a sweet roti stuffed with kaya was being prepared.  On another was a classic savory roti.  And on the third, which you can almost see behind the podium here, the crazy thin cone shaped dessert roti cone was being formed.  Each station ha a dedicated function and was busy the whole time.

Laminated menus.

The menu is broken into roti, satay, mains, rice & noodles, and of course, desserts.

We certainly didn't order the same way as most folks around us, choosing the skip basically all the mains and rice and noodles.  But this was strategic on my part.

Even though Mamak wasn't at the top of my list, I had done my research, and I knew which things were supposed to be the best.  If I were with a larger group, I would have thrown in a noodle dish, since those did actually look pretty good.  Or a curry to have more sauces to dunk roti into.  But we were only 3 people, Ojan can't handle food that is too spicy, and we most certainly wanted to save room for desserts (yes, plural), so we had to pick and choose the minimal set of best items.

I was amused by the quantities of food ordered by tables around us, until I realized that they too were strategic.  My sample size is only 3 tables, but each and every one of them ordered roti (devoured on the spot), satay or fried chicken (also quickly disappeared), a rice or noodle dish (shared, ate about half of and packaged up the rest), and then several curries (ordered as takeaway, delivered to their tables boxed up in an a bag from the start).  They knew which items needed to be consumed fresh, ate those, and brought the rest home, presumably for the next day.  That was another way to get it all!

In full disclosure, I had actually visited Mamak once before, on my very first trip to Sydney, when some locals took us.  They selected the dishes, and I don't remember much, except that both Ojan and I thought it was way overhyped and were annoyed that we waited in line so long for food that wasn't great.  I'm pretty sure we got basic roti, curries, and no desserts though.  I knew better this time.

Drinks

Limau ais. $4

"Fresh lime with syrup on ice."

We started with drinks.  Tap water was the only water option, delivered with plastic cups with a carafe of water to refill as you needed.  Again, the waitstaff weren't going to bother with you after the initial order.

Mamak does not have a liquor licensee, but I saw many folks brought their own wine.  We didn't care though, as our previous week was so full of drinking, it was nice to have a night off, particularly when we'd be up early to fly out in the morning.

The drink menu is actually fairly large, with both hot and cold beverages, but unfortunately most are tea or coffee based, and since I didn't want caffeine, my only real options were basic soft drinks (Coke products) or this, the "limau ais".

The other two diners also opted for one of these.  When the trio of cute mugs arrived, Ojan immediately said, "this must be the water?"  We all somehow assumed that our drinks were going to be slushies with crushed ice.  I have no idea why we all thought that, as the menu clearly just said "on ice".

Anyway, it was basically just sweet limeade.  Very sweet limeade.  I diluted mine down with regular water as I drank it, so by the end, I just had slightly limey sweet water.

It was fine, and actually, having a sweet refreshing drink alongside the spicy food was a good call.  It wasn't particularly notable though, and in the future, I'd probably just bring my own sparkling water with me.

Savories

Savory Roti: Roti Canai. $5.50.

"The original roti. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside."

We obviously had to start with roti, since that is the feature of the restaurant, and, what I was craving.

Now, this might not look like what you expect roti to look like, right?  Isn't roti supposed to be flat?  It turns out, no, not all roti is flat.  I knew from reading Mamak's reviews that this would be a unique option, so we opted to try it, new to all of us.

The roti canai arrived only several moments after we ordered.  It was crazy hot and fresh, and Ojan sorta burned his fingers trying to rip off a piece.

It was basically a big puff ball.  I have no better way to describe it.  Yet the outside was crispy, almost with scales on it?  The inside however was fluffy.

I thought it was fun to have the contrast of the crispy outside and the soft moist inside, and ripping chunks off (once cooled) was very satisfying (we should have more foods to eat with our hands!), but, I thought the roti itself was pretty boring.

Of course, it should be all about the sauces.  All roti are served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce.

The first curry had whole lentils in it, and was fairly mild.  It tasted like ... lentils.  And I don't like lentils.  Uh-oh.

The next curry was smooth, so I was hopeful, but, alas, it was also clearly made from lentils.  It was a bit spicier, but, all I could taste was lentils.

The sambal was provided in a small portion, just a dollop on the platter, but it was more than enough.  This was potent stuff, very fishy, made from shrimp paste, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, shallots, lime juice, and vinegar.

I was glad to try this dish, but I wouldn't get it again.  $5.50 price was very reasonable.

Savory Roti: Roti Bawang. $6.50.

"With lashings of sweet red onions."

I also wanted a classic flat roti.  For regular roti, the other choices are butter, egg, or stuffed with meat and cabbage.  Simple butter didn't seem that interesting, I'm not really into egg, and meat seemed too heavy, thus, red onion it was.

This roti arrived several minutes after our first one.  It too was crazy hot.  I really appreciate that they serve the food the moment it is ready here.  This one came sliced into triangles, so, no finger burning occurred as we claimed our first bites.

I expected the roti to be a bit crispier on the outside, this was mostly just soft.  It wasn't too oily.  It was absolutely loaded up with thin slices of red onion.  The onion was incredibly flavorful, which I appreciated, but, I again didn't care for the curries, since they were the same as before, lentil based.

I liked this more than the roti canai, but, I actually think I might just skip roti next time around.  Or I'd get it, but also make sure to have a curry alongside so I had something else to dunk it in.

$6.50 price is totally affordable.

Appetizer: Beef Satay. $9/ half dozen.

"Grilled over flaming charcoal for that authentic Malaysian flavour. Served with a sweet and spicy peanut sauce."

The next part of the menu is satay, available as chicken or beef, by the half dozen.  It is the only appetizer, although I think they consider the savory roti appetizers too.  Since I don't like chicken, beef it was.

The satay took a fairly long time to arrive after the roti.  Once I realized how much I disliked the sauces, I tried to save some roti to dunk in the peanut sauce that I knew was coming with the satay.  But I had a dilemma, as the roti got cold long before the satay arrived.  I saved it anyway, and used it with the sauce, but, this wasn't ideal.

Anyway, the satay.  Thin skewers of beef, cooked very well done.  It was ... just beef.  It was fine, but I didn't really taste the charcoal grill at all, and, obviously, this is not how I like my beef.  Ojan said he thought his family would really like it.

On the side were a few slices of cucumber and red onion.  We enjoyed stabbing them with our skewers and dunking them in sauce.

And now for that sauce.  When the dish arrived, I thought the size of the bowl of peanut sauce was a bit extreme.  A huge bowl of sauce for only 6 little satay skewers?  Really?

I was grateful for that sauce.  It was crazy delicious.  Not like any other peanut sauce I've had before, but I realized that I've never had Malaysian peanut sauce before, only Thai style.  It had chunks of peanut, but seemed onion and tomato based?  It was sweet and spicy at the same time.  I used it with my cold roti.  I used it with chunks of cucumber.  And then, no shame, I just ate it by the spoonful.  Over and over again.  I really loved the sauce.  I'd purchase it by the bottle if they sold it.

I'd get satay again in the future only in order to have the sauce, but, I don't actually want the satay at all.  The $9 price seemed fine for satay and a generous bowl of deliciousness.

Next time I would like to actually get the single salad on the menu.  It looked really interesting, topped with prawn and coconut fritters, and absolutely smothered in this peanut sauce.  Since I ate that sauce by the spoonful, clearly, I was looking for more things to put it on, and some refreshing vegetables might be just the answer.  Next time.

Main: Ayam Goreng. $14.

"Malaysian-style fried chicken. Marinated with herbs and spices and full of flavour."

The majority of the menu at Mamak is main dishes, predominantly curries (chicken, fish, lamb, veggie), stir fries (prawns, cuttlefish, chicken, spinach, long beans), noodles, or rice (fried rice, or a simple dish that is actually just a pile of coconut rice served with some accompaniments, apparently Malaysia's national dish, but it looked incredibly boring to me).

Besides the curries, stir fries, rice, and noodles, there is the aforementioned single salad and this, the famous fried chicken.

We skipped all the mains, except the chicken.  Yes, the chicken.  Yes, I hate chicken.  But just go with me here.  We saw orders go by of many of these others dishes, particularly the rice and noodles, but I feel no remorse for skipping them.  I had read so many reviews of how great this chicken was, plus, honestly, I was excited for the roti and dessert, I figured I'd try a bite of the chicken, and just load up on the items I was more interested in.

Ojan totally called me on this, realizing that I was basically ordering it for the others, not myself.  He explained to the other diner that I was looking out for their needs, even though they hadn't voiced any preferences.  When the chicken came, Ojan took his first piece, took a bite, and offered me a bite.  He expected that I'd take one bite, say, "eww, chicken", and hand it right back.

I didn't.  I took one bite.  I think my eyes might have gone wide.  I took another bite.  I probably looked dumbfounded.

The fried chicken was nothing short of amazing.  I honestly didn't know you could make chicken taste this good.

The batter was flavorful and spiced.  The exterior was super crispy.  Seriously, all other crispy chicken just tries to be this, and never succeeds.  And inside?  The moistest, juiciest chicken I've ever encountered.  Every bite had juices pouring out.

How did they make it so crispy?  How did they lock the juices in?  I have no idea.  I can safely say that I have never enjoyed chicken this much.  It was actually good.  Yes, I would have preferred that they had battered just about anything else in that flavorful batter and made it magically crispy.  I didn't actually want it to be chicken.  But for chicken ... wow.  I ate more of the actual chicken than I ever expected, but also totally massacred a piece eating just the crispy outside.  Yes, chicken skin, batter, and oil.  Remember when I said that I didn't want heavy, fried food?  Whoops.

Our order of 4 pieces had two drumsticks and two breast/thigh chunks each.  I think we probably could have specified a preference if we had one.

Available by the piece for $4 or a standard serving size of 4 pieces for $14, which is what we opted for.  I'd get this again.  Yes, the chicken.

Dessert

Dessert: Cendol $6.

"Starch noodles made from fresh pandan leaves, with gula-melaka syrup, coconut milk and shaved ice."

Moving on to dessert.  There were two non-roti options, both based on shaved ice.  One involved red bean, corn, grass jelly, and rose-syrup, which did sound interesting, but, we had to go for the one with pandan, since we were fascinated by pandan on this trip and ordered it every opportunity that we got.  You just don't see pandan often in the US.

This dessert arrived very quickly after we ordered it, and new silverware was brought out (3 spoons, 3 forks, and 1 knife), but no share plates.  The dish itself was served with one soup spoon inside, which none of us ended up using, opting for our personal regular spoons instead.

The base of the dessert was bright green pandan noodles, which you can't actually see here.  They were soft and had a decent texture, not too mushy, not too hard.  The flavor was subtle, but, I think that is how it generally is with pandan.

The noodles were swimming in a broth made from coconut milk.  It was a thin broth, not thick like the coconut cream often served with Thai desserts.  It was sweet and fairly coconuty.

On top was the shaved ice, very thinly shaved.  It was a cold day, so I didn't actually want a cold dessert, but, I think this would be very refreshing on a hot day, and actually went really nicely after a spicy meal.  While we opted away from most of the spicy dishes, if we'd had the curries, we'd certainly want this.

Drizzled all over everything was the gula-melaka syrup.  None of us knew what that was so I had to look it up.  Gula-melaka is just palm sugar.  It was obviously sweet, a richer flavor than standard sugar, and almost tasted like coffee.

Overall, this was interesting.  A dessert made with noodles in broth with ice is certainly outside the realm of normal American desserts, so I appreciated trying it.  And I did like the coconut and pandan flavors.  But, certainly not something I'd order again.  Maybe I'd try the other iced dessert?

$6 for a full size dessert seemed like a great price.

Dessert: Roti Bom. $9.

"A truly indulgent roti served thicker, richer and sweeter (Allow 20 mins)."

As I said, there were two shaved ice based desserts.  But there is also an entire dessert roti section.

Dessert roti are available in several forms, starting with a simple version with sliced banana, a crazy thin tall cone version, or one stuffed with kaya (pandan and coconut spread), all served with ice cream.  I did actually really want the kaya one, since I have enjoyed kaya in the past (like the dessert at Ms. G's where I first discovered it), but in choosing only one roti, I couldn't get past the roti bom.

First, it was described as "truly indulgent" and "richer and sweeter".  Um, hello!  Plus I'd seen photos, and had a good idea what to expect.

I'm a bit surprised they serve this, given that it takes 20 minutes to prepare, compared to just several minutes for the others, and their desire to turn the restaurant around so quickly.  It came long after our other dessert.  It meant we sat there occupying a precious table for far longer than necessary.  But, I'm sure glad they offer it.

Like all the food, it came to use ridiculously fresh, piping hot.  We suddenly understood why we were provided with one knife, it was to cut this up, although that was no easy feat.

The exterior was crispy and somewhat caramelized from all the sugar.  The very middle was doughy and warm, which I adored.  The entire thing was indeed rich and indulgent.  It was also very sweet.

To cut the sweet was the scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  Not much to say about that, it was just vanilla ice cream.  I love cold ice cream with my warm desserts, and this certainly needed a creamy component on the side, but I would have preferred whipped cream.  Ice cream was just a bit much.

This was really quite good, and I'm glad we ordered it.  My favorite part was the doughy center.  I'd get this again, but I'm also still curious to try the standard less sweet, less thick, kaya stuffed roti.  The $9 price was again totally reasonable for a full size dessert, particularly given that it came with ice cream too.

Since leaving Sydney, this is the dish I haven't been able to forget.  I want more.  Now.

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Tyrrell's Old English Crisps

Short and sweet today.

I like snacks.  I like chips.  I travel.  I try random things in other countries.

At some point, I went to England.  I tried Tyrrell's "Old English Chips".  My American readers will know these as "chips".  Tyrell's also makes other packaged snack foods, like "nibbles" (rice crackers, coated peanuts, etc), tortilla chips, and "poshcorn" (popcorn!), but, the crisps are all I tried.

Old English Crisps

"We're Tyrrells of Tyrrells Court Farm and we make fine English crisps from local Herefordshire potatoes. We cook them by hand in small batches and we always leave the jackets on. Well, it's only polite."

Crisps are the primary product line, and they offer quite a few flavors, some more, uh, interesting than others.  Starting with basic sea salt and ranging to "lobster cocktail", with many stops in-between (black pepper, coronoation chicken, sweet chili and red pepper, Sunday best roast chicken ...).  I never found the more unique flavors, so sadly, I can't telll you what a Worchestershire Sauce and Sundried Tomato chip tastes like.

Veg Crisps.

"A colourful union of earthy beetroots, sweet carrots and that unsung hero of the Sunday roast: the parsnip – all made to sing with a pinch of sea salt.".

The veggie crisps were all in tiny chunks, not full size chips as I expected.  I had a hard time distinguishing the carrots from the parsnips.  All were very oily, but the veggie flavor was decent.

Mature Cheddar Cheese & Chives.

"Little in life is quite as glorious as the tangy hit of mature cheddar in concert with the wonderfully oniony twang of that most snippable of herbs, the chive."

These were good crispy chips, and came in assorted sizes and shapes.

The cheddar wasn't very strong ... not as strong as I expected from the "mature" name.  The chive flavor was decent.  I wanted them to be more like cheddar and sour cream chips.

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Cookies from Tout Sweet Patisserie

Do you remember, back in 2012, when Tout Sweet Patisserie opened in San Francisco, and I reviewed the macarons?  Or when I reviewed the cookies Yigit Pura (the pastry chef and owner) made at a cooking demo a few months later?  Or a year later, when I reviewed some assorted candies (including the best marshmallows I'd ever had?)  I intended to do a whole series on Tout Sweet, and totally forgot to publish the rest.  Oops!

So, fast forward a few years.  Tout Sweet is still there inside Macy's near Union Square.  Yigit is still around town, often showing up at cooking demos or charity events.  He is clearly a perfectionist, the master of subtleties of flavors and textures.  His creations are never too sweet, often balanced by tartness, bitterness, or saltiness.  For every creamy component, he has a crunchy counterbalance.

Today's I'm focusing on Tout Sweet cookies exclusively, not usually my dessert of choice, but, a staple for many of you.  And ... I'm pretty sure one of these is the first cookie I've ever declared awesome.

"Easter Cookie" ($4.00) and Vanilla Macaron ($1.85). 

The "Easter Cookie" was a walnut shortbread, with lemon icing.  It had a great buttery base, like any good shortbread.  The walnuts added some crunch and additional flavor.  The icing had a slightly lemon flavor to it.  Overall, very tasty, particularly for such a seemingly simple cookie!

The macaron was just a simple vanilla macaron.  Like all of the others I've tried, I thought the cookie wasn't that remarkable, but the filling had a nice vanilla bean flavor.  Overall better than most of the other macarons I've tried from Tout Sweet, but I still don't love them.

I win plating points for this one right?  They did not come stacked like this, but  I thought the macaron looked totally cute perched on top of the shortbread.

Price was a bit high for the shortbread, standard for the macaron.

The Naughty Peanut Cookie: Salted Peanuts, Corn Flakes, Marshmallow, Sea Salt.  $2.25.

Ok, this was kinda awesome.  It just had so many great things going on.  It sounds so simple, really, just corn flakes and peanuts held together with some marshmallow in a cookie base, right?

Imagine the love child of a peanut butter cookie and a rice crispie treat, uh, except where you ran out of rice crispies and used corn flakes instead, and then smushed it flat.  Ok, bad analogy.  It is unlike anything else you've ever had.  It is its own thing, and a delicious thing at that.

First, it was super crunchy.  Now, you may recall that I don't usually like crisp style cookies.  Nothing makes me sadder than chocolate chip, peanut butter, or sugar cookie that isn't a bit under done and ooey-gooey.  But for this type of cookie, it worked, and would have been really strange soft.  It was fun to eat because it was so crunchy, satisfying in the same way as eating potato chips.

Speaking of chips, the other reason they are addicting, besides the crunch, is ... the salt.  And this cookie had that going on too.  The peanuts were salted, and the whole thing was amped up on sea salt.  In the way that made you just want more and more.  You wanted more crunch, you want more salt, more more more!

Yet, it was also sweet, due to the marshmallow.  Salty and sweet. Crispy and crunchy.  Addicting.  This is a winner.

I'm also convinced this is a totally reasonable breakfast item.  Corn flakes? That is just cereal, check.  Peanuts?  Added protein, check!

Since my eyes were bigger than my stomach when I stopped in at Tout Sweet, I came home with far too many treats to consume in a single day.  So I had this cookie a day old (ok, of course I snuck a bite when it was fresh just to make sure it was good!), and it was still perfectly fine.  Next time you stop into Tout Sweet, I recommended getting an extra cookie, and having it for breakfast the next day ...

I also decided that these cookies would go really well with ice cream.  I'm really not sure what brought this thought on, as it was perfectly enjoyable on its own, but for some reason, it was just screaming "go get more of me and turn them into ice cream sandwiches!"  So, on my next visit, I stocked up on a few extra naughty peanut cookies.  I threw them into my freezer for safekeeping immediately.  One evening a few weeks later, when I was in "I need something to cheer me up" mood, I opened the freezer, saw the cookies, saw a pint of vanilla ice cream next to them, and I knew what to do.  About 20 seconds later I was eating a homemade ice cream sandwich, and it was amazing.  So I modify my recommendation further: next time you go to Tout Sweet, get an extra one for breakfast.  And then get a dozen more to stash in your freezer.  They keep totally fine and you can pull them out anytime.  Or for bonus points, stuff them with ice cream.

I've tried a zillion things from Tout Sweet at this point, and this was certainly a highlight.

Chocolate Chunk with Sea Salt Cookies.

I attended an event at my apartment building with Tout Sweet cookies (and other treats, stay tuned for  reviews of those!)  To say I was pleased with their choice of sweets provided is an understatement.

The chocolate chunk cookie however was exactly the style of cookie that I don't care for - hard and crispy, although I could appreciate the generous amount of chocolate inside, along with the big disk on top of each.  The sea salt was the winning element, flecked on top.  Salt really does just enhance the flavors of everything, even sweet desserts, and Yigit has figured this out.

Italian Soda with Lemon-Orange Simple Syrup.

At the event, they were serving perrier waters, with lemon-orange simple syrup mixed in.  This was far tastier than the flavor syrups you normally find to mix in waters, and I really enjoyed it.

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Waffling Leftovers: Cheesy Grits

By now, you know the drill.  I love to take leftovers and stick them in my waffle iron, to varying levels of success.  

So far, I've told you about my ventures with Italian food main dishes (pizza, lasagna, etc) and with assorted casseroles (mac and cheese, tuna noodle, etc).  You can read about all my trials here.

Now, we move to side dishes, starting with cheesy grits.

Cheesy grits was an interesting one for me, because I adore cheesy grits ... when they are fresh.  But every time I've tried to save grits, I've never been able to really do them justice when re-heating the next day.  I've tried many techniques, on the stovetop with some extra milk added in, baked in the oven, etc, but, short of deep frying, nothing has really worked.

Until now.  It turns out, leftover grits waffle beautifully.  Will it waffle?  YES YES YES.  Grits, even more than pizza, are my biggest success story.

Before this experiment, even I, the girl who saves everything, felt that leftover polenta and grits were rarely worth saving.  I’ll never throw them out again. This was incredible, and I look forward to making it again.

Leftover Cheesy Grits.

Grits is probably the most simple thing I have tried to waffle.  I started with unattractive leftover cheesy grits, loaded up with butter, cream, burrata, and mascarpone. The grits were creamy and tasty enough originally, but leftover, it was just a solid blob.  It didn’t look very good.  Leftover grits never reheat very well, but I'm incapable of throwing things out.  I had no expectations this would work.

I didn’t bother crust the grits.  I didn’t bother add anything to them.  I just stuck a chunk in and walked away for a few minutes.  I mostly considered this a research experiment, and figured I'd likely even throw the results out.

I returned to find something that blew me away.

Waffled Grits: Success!

I declare this my biggest success so far.   Better than the pizza.  Better than the mac and cheese.  The transformation was incredible.

The outside was perfectly crispy, due to the high fat content I’m sure.  The best crust I've achieved so far.   Inside was gooey and moist.  The cheesy flavor was delicious.

I devoured the grits-waffle plain, but I think it would be tasty taken a sweet route and drizzled with some maple syrup.  Or turned into a breakfast with an egg on top.  Or even made savory with another kind of sauce.  But honestly, it was complete enough just plain, and I loved it.

Leftover Cheesy Grits #2.

A few months later, I took my own advice and saved more grits.   Yup, another lump of leftover, totally unappetizing, rock solid, cheesy grits.

I eagerly cut off a chunk and stuck it into the waffle iron.  Seriously, so easy.  Easiest item to waffle so far, no crusting required, really easy to just insert into the waffle iron as a solid mass.  The same is true once it cooks, I haven't ever had any issues with grits coming apart.  So, as unappealing as they look, the clumpy mass really does work well for waffling.

Waffled Cheesy Grits Success #2.

And again, the cheesy grits waffled like a charm.  I did leave them in a bit too long (or, perhaps 350 degrees was a bit too hot), as the outside got a bit darker than I would have wanted ideally.

But, besides that error on my part, this was fantastic.  Super crusty outside for a great crunch and structural integrity, yet moist and fluffy inside.  Easy-peasy.

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Bread and Circus Wholefoods Canteen, Sydney

Sydney has an amazing cafe culture, particularly places that serve brunch.  This is one of my favorite aspects of Sydney (well, besides the weather, the beaches, the thai food, the tropical fruit, the friendly people ... Ok, I love a lot of things about Sydney!), but, the amazing cafes are certainly a big draw for me.  That, and the fact that brunch is often my favorite meal, generally an excuse to eat desserts and call it a "meal".

On my recent visit, we took a walk even further outside the CBD than normal, to Alexandria, to a cafe I had read about somewhere called Bread and Circus.  They serve breakfast until 12 on weekdays, and all day on weekends (along with daily lunch after 12pm).  The lunch offerings are actually fairly unique, "boxes" of assemble-your-own-sandwiches, with the sliced bread and other ingredients in a box, even if you are dining in.  An interesting concept I guess, but, we weren't there for lunch, you know me, I'm all about breakfast and brunch!

Our group of 6 arrived at 11am on a Sunday, and joined the orderly queue lined up inside.  We were seated within about 10 minutes, so it wasn't much of a wait.  The place is clearly very popular, as it was bustling the whole time we were there.

Service was ... well, awful.  We were constantly asking for things as nothing was ever provided and getting any attention took considerable effort.  One of our dining companions was a local, and he said that this is normal for the area, that cafes are under-staffed and staff just can't take time to pay attention to tables.  This certainly seemed true, as our server seemed busy not lazy, just, never able to give us any time.

The food was ... mediocre-poor.  Many things were missing from our dishes, but, we didn't bother try to get these issues resolved, as we couldn't get any service anyway.  Needless to say ... I won't be returning.

The Setting

Front Register.

Bread & Circus is located in one large interior area alongside a Campos cafe, and the two spaces are just divided by little quasi-walls they put up.  On the Bread & Circus side, the walls are ... pink, and decorated with lots of plants.  It all felt busy and cluttered to me.

The register to pay at was along this front pink divider.

Barista Station.

On one side is a barista, and next to that, an extensive juicing station.   These were very busy stations.  Drinks were served in cute pink mugs.  Noticing a theme?

The barista area also had more plants, and some random vegetables on the counter.

Pink: check.  Clutter: check.

Kitchen.

The main kitchen is open in the middle, but hidden behind more plants, random vegetables, and fruits.  We couldn't really see much action in the kitchen.

Booths, Water Station.

Booths were all brightly colored.  The water station had a sign saying that it was reverse osmosis filtered water, which seemed funny, as only the servers ever filled up water jugs, and I'm sure most patrons never saw this.

Condiments.

On the table was a (pink) bucket with spoons, forks, and knives so we could serve our own cutlery, tabasco (red and green), pepper, salt, and a bowl of spiced brown sugar.  Warning: if you want any other sort of sugar/sweetener, please bring your own, this is all they have available.

Plates & Bowls.

Guess what color the plates were?  Yup, pastel pink.  The pinks really got a bit too cutesy for me.

Drinks

The drink menu is even larger than the food menu, one huge page, double sided.  They have all the expected coffee drinks, including the ever trendy "Liquid Lama" with coffee blended with butter and coconut oil.  They also offer a huge number of cold pressed juices, blends, and smoothies.  One whole side of the drink menu is a tea menu, both hot and cold (nit: they listed the rooibos under black tea!)

Our group ordered an assortment of drinks, many of them juices, which I had to stay away from due to watermelon at that station.

Pimms without Pimms. $6.

"Preservative-free ginger beer poured over slices of cucumber lime and seasonal fruit w/ fresh mint."

Ojan went for this drink, and it really was impressive.  Slices of lime, slices of cucumber, slices of pears, halves of strawberry, and mint leaves were all inside.  Oh, and there was a little spoon made of ice!

It not only looked good, it was good.  It was refreshing and had a great ginger flavor.  Ojan loved it, and said it was the best part of the meal.  I agree.  The slices of fruit and cucumber were a bit funny though, but, it gave him something to munch on during the rather long wait for food.

Decaf Iced Long Black. $3.50.

I just wanted coffee, but since it was 90+ degrees out, I wanted it iced.  They had regular iced coffee available, but, not decaf, so I went for a decaf iced long black (basically, an americano, just with the shot poured in after the water).  It came in a regular glass, with exactly 3 ice cubes, all of which promptly melted.

The coffee wasn't great, and I needed more ice.  Luckily, one of my dining companions had asked for ice about 10 minutes earlier, and it came about 5 minutes later (it only takes 15 minutes to get ice here!), so I was able to add some to my coffee.

The others got juice blends, but, since they went for ones containing watermelon, I stayed far away.

Food

Since we were there before noon, only the breakfast menu was available, but that is what I wanted anyway.  I had my eyes on the ricotta pancakes, as I'm still looking for somewhere to replace Bills, since I haven't enjoyed it the last few times I was in Sydney.  I also wanted the fancy sounding porridge (they do porridge so well in Sydney!).  And I heard great things about the scrambled eggs.  Oh, and it was my last day in Sydney, and I realized I hadn't had halloumi yet, so I wanted that too.

I was having a hard time deciding what to order, so I asked if folks wanted to share, and, luckily for me, they did.  Thus, I ordered everything I wanted ... "for the group".

Foxy Spring Porridge. $15.

"Pre-soaked and whisked organic rolled oats, w/ caramelized banana, toasted coconut, blueberry, pistachio and mint drizzled with agave, a dollop of organic clotted cream."

So, that porridge.  A hot bowl of porridge is a rather strange thing to get when it is 90 degrees, which we realized once we had ordered, but, there weren't actually many items that weren't hot.  Some chilled overnight oats sure sounded better at that point though ...

Anyway, the porridge was a huge disappointment.  It really was just a big bowl of really, really mushy oatmeal.  The oats had no flavor at all.  There were generous toppings though, including the toasted coconut, some blueberries, a ton of caramelized banana, pistachios, and springs of mint.

I did like the caramelized banana, they did a nice job creating a crispy candy top, but everything else fell a bit flat.  I appreciated the crunch from the pistachios and coconut.  We all thought the porridge was really bland, and Ojan resorted to mixing in some of the brown sugar from the table to give it some sweetness.  Where was that agave from the description anyway?  Oh, and speaking of where are things, um ... where was the clotted cream?  Clearly, one major reason I ordered this was for the cream!

I tried to get a server's attention for a good 10 minutes, and finally gave up, as it was too late to ask for clotted cream at that point.

Anyway, this was really not good, my least favorite dish.

Caramelised lemony banana pancakes. $19.

"Banana, ricotta and biodynamic egg flourless pancake w/maple syrup, lemon compound butter, caramelised banana and strawberry."

Next we had the pancakes.  When I think of banana ricotta pancakes, I think of Bills, and, the last few times I went to Bills I didn't love it, so I was hoping these would be great and be my replacement.  They were not.  They were far worse.

The pancakes were thin, and not at all light and fluffy like a ricotta pancake should be.  I'm not actually sure they had ricotta in them.  They also just tasted ... healthy.  I didn't like the pancake at all.

The strawberry on the side was just strawberry.  The banana was nicely caramelized, like in the porridge.  The ricotta on the side was ... ricotta.  Not sweetened nor flavored in any way.  Syrup was syrup.

Where was the lemon compound butter from the menu description?  No where.  No plain butter either.  No lemon element whatsoever.  "lemony banana pancakes", eh?  Sigh.

So another dish that was just ... boring.  The pancakes weren't good, and although I like ricotta and I liked the brulee banana, they didn't really go together very well, and I had no real desire to eat this dish either.  I drizzled some maple syrup over the ricotta, and ate the slightly sweetened ricotta with strawberries, but, alas, not a winner.  And ... $19?

I wouldn't get it again, but, I guess it was my second to least favorite, as the sides were marginally better than the porridge.

Parmesan not-so-scrambled eggs, chilli version. $20.

"Biodynamic eggs w/ fresh chilli [or] real truffle oil, under shaved parmesan w/ avocado, baby spinach, tomato, fresh herbs and sourdough."

One of my tablemates really wanted eggs, so we got the scrambled eggs.  Since Ojan hates truffle, we went for the chilli version.

The eggs were actually good, soft, fluffy, and really did have some kick from the chilli. We didn't detect much parmesan though.

I didn't try the avocado since I'm allergic, the toast since I hate sourdough, or the tomato slices or spinach, so, I don't have much to say about this dish, besides the fact that the eggs were the only thing that I ate that was actually good.  Uh, my favorite dish?  Surprise, given that I don't generally care for eggs.

Grilled haloumi. $6.

We also opted for a side of simple grilled haloumi, 3 slices.

The haloumi was grilled, not too squeaky, a bit salty naturally, but not seasoned in any additional way.  It was fine I guess, but I prefer more of a char, or at least some seasoning.  Second pick of the meal, but I wouldn't get it again.

Morning Jumble, small. $15.

"Very brilliant bircher or crunchy granola w/ a selection of fresh, seasonal fruit and biodynamic yoghurt and a drizzle of agave syrup."

As we sat waiting, and waiting, and waiting for our food, we saw basically every other table ordering plates that had tons of fresh fruit on them, along with bowls with something in them.  I saw passionfruit, dragonfruit, figs, and more.  We looked at the menu, and saw two items that sounded like fruit and yogurt.  The first was the fruit plate: "seasonal fresh fruit w/ biodynamic yoghurt and a drizzle of agave syrup".  The second was the super bowl: "biodynamic yoghurt w/ strawberry, stone fruit, kiwi,  passionfruit, banana, blueberry, toasted coconut,  fresh mint and maple syrup."  These sounded very similar, both with yogurt, both with fruit, just one had agave and one had maple syrup, and one specified which fruit it was?  The fruit looked good though, so we wanted to add this on to our order.

We asked another server what the dish was that he brought to the table next to us, loaded with fruit.  "Is that the fruit plate or the super bowl?", we asked.  The answer?  Neither.  It was the third nearly identical menu item, the "morning jumble", the same fruit and yogurt and agave, but with granola too.  Since I like granola, this sounded better to me, so we went for it.

This dish is also available with bircher muesli instead, which I obviously would have ordered in a heart beat, but, sadly, they were out of bircher muesli already by 11am!

The yogurt was in a little bowl, just plain yogurt, tart, topped with pomegranate seeds.   Meh.

We had one half a passionfruit, it was dried out.  The two cherries were decent.  A few slices of fig were ok.  The grapes, with pits, had very bitter skins.  The three slices of dragonfruit were watery and flavorless.  The nectarine slices were fine.  And then, a lot of mint.  The fruit was fine, but, certainly it looked better than it actually tasted.

The granola was loaded with nuts, seeds, and tons of hard-as-rocks raisins.  I hate it when granola is like this.

And, like the other dishes, we didn't taste any agave.

Very mediocre, middle pick of the meal for me.

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