St Honore Bakery North Sydney

While we were in North Sydney we went looking for the St Honore Bakery because I had read that made an incredible sourdough.

We came away with an absolutely beautiful opera cake and a lovely loaf of ficelle.

The opera cake was rich and beautiful, moist and flavourful and DD's mother and I really enjoyed it.

The ficelle was unfortunately a little too sour for me, but had a beautiful texture and a lovely crusty outside.

St Honore Bakery
50 Miller St
North Sydney, NSW
Ph 02 9929 4388

Goodies

One of the great things about visiting Sydney was that I got a chance to visit some of the stores that I shop at online or read about on blogs.

One of these was Peter's of Kensington. The building is huge and awesomely pink. I loved that there are even tour buses stopping off here and waiting for their busload of ladies to return with their arms full of pink bags. I also loved the massive piles of Peter's boxes sitting outside a dock waiting to be sent to online shoppers, I remember getting boxes like that!

Inside it's a veritable rabbit warren of goodies, from beauty products and fragrances on the ground floor, to toys and models on the stairs, to more on the floors above! There is so much stuff in there and when you add in the crowds of people, it can get a little claustrophobic but it was still very cool.


We also visited The Essential Ingredient in North Sydney. I've read about this shop many a time on food blogs and when we passed it one day I asked if we could come back and check it out. It's very elegantly arranged with a fantastic variety of cooking things, some of which I've never seen before. I could have stayed there for ages, as it was DD had to run out and put more money in our meter.


There was also a visit to Victoria's Basement (apparently it's the place to go to get knives, I saw some I loved but they were too expensive to buy) and Accoutrement in Mosman.

Goodies from Peter's of Kensington and Accoutrement (now I have a wooden fork like Nigella!)

Goodies from The Essential Ingredient

Peter's of Kensington
57 Anzac Pde
Kensington, NSW
Ph 02 9662 1099
www.petersofkensington.com.au

The Essential Ingredient
477 Pacific Hwy
Crows Nest, NSW
Ph 02 9439 9881
www.sydneyessential.com.au

Victoria's Basement
Cnr McEvoy and Harley Sts
Alexandria, NSW
Ph 02 9557 1954
(other locations across Sydney also)
www.victoriasbasement.com.au

Accoutrement
611 Military Rd
Mosman, NSW
Ph 9969 1031
www.accoutrement.com.au

Max Brenner Chocolates

We were driving through St Ives one day after talking about Belle Fleur and chocolate shops in general and saw this, a Max Brenner Chocolate Bar:


So, of course we had to come back and check it out. Max Brenner opened his first chocolate workshop in Israel in 1996, making and selling his chocolates out of his boutique-like workshop. Since then he has aspired to take chocolate to a whole new level and to create an entirely new chocolate culture (and one day, his own chocolate bald man city).

His chocolate culture philosophy is so awesome I have to quote it here (from his official site):

""It's not only about mixing exotic spices or creating delicate mousses. It is more than just an excellent gourmet product. Chocolate, more than any other food, is integrated in to many aspects of our lives. It is a symbol of contradicting emotions and sensations. On one hand, it is the most romantic gift, on the other hand it is a commodity which is traded on the stock exchange. It is sold like a prestigious piece of jewelry carefully selected from a glass case but also as an addictive snack available at every corner store. It is tasted like a fine wine and licked off of fingers dipped straight in to the bowl. It is sexy, nostalgic, and forever an object of fantasy for children and grownup children. These diverse chocolate associations are the inspiration behind Max Brenner's new chocolate culture""

The way they talk about chocolate really does take the whole taste sensation to another level. It becomes soulful, an experience to be savoured. It's pretty cool.

When you enter you are greeted with these tantalizing vats of molton chocolate being stirred and churned and connected to giant pipes (labelled chocolate) running all over the ceiling. It's almost Willy Wonka-esque, but ever so much more elegant.


The colour scheme is all chocolate brown. There's dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate tones throughout the store. The colours and the lighting (which was quite soft and gentle) made it very cosy and comforting, much like the chocolate itself.

the store

the store including the chocolate case

There is quite a large selection of food available, most all of it being chocolate, filled with chocolate, dipped in chocolate or covered with chocolate. The food is served on reasonably large plates and then melted chocolate is drizzled very liberally across the plate. Behind the cafe counter they have a massive stainless steel mixing bowl kept warm with the chocolate being frequently stirred. We didn't choose to eat and just tried some hot drinks.

My milk chocolate mocha served in a hug mug. There were four choices of mocha (and most of the other chocolate drinks as well): dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and reduced calorie. I chose milk chocolate and it was fabulous. It was creamy and comforting and the flavour was beautifully subtle and chocolatey. The hug mug is awesome too, I wanted to buy one but resisted and regretted it. I've now discovered that Max Brenner has an Australian online shop, maxdirect.com.au, so I think I might have to get one from there. The hug mug is perfect for milk drinks where the ideal temperature isn't scalding, it's meant for those drinks that are warming and gentle. I can just imagine drinking my warm milk and vanilla from it on nights when I can't sleep...

DD has a cappucino in a kangaroo cup. The kangaroo cup has a lip on the side meant to hold little pieces of chocolate, which will melt from the heat of the drink. You then use the end of the special spoon to clean out the melted chocolate from the groove as a treat. I was too busy enjoying my mocha to really remember what DD's drink was like, but I do remember tasting it and thinking that it was a good coffee. I don't drink coffee, so I'm not really the best judge though.

After our drinks I went for a wander around the store part to see their chocolate offerings.

the chocolate case

We bought a few things from here and also from the Parramatta store when we visited so we could take our Max Brenner experience with us.

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar is a chocolate lover's heaven, it's chocolate so many ways that there is something there that is perfect for you and sings to you and fulfils you in a way that only really really good chocolate can. I've never had anything like that level of chocolate satisfaction ever before and I don't think I ever will again until our next trip to Sydney.

That being said, the service there is a little questionable and sometimes the atmosphere isn't the best. The St Ives store is very popular with chocolate-lovers of all ages and when we visited one afternoon at around four the place was packed. The tables had been pushed together (all except one of the indoor tables) and there were school bags littering the floor (all over the floor, not just in a corner). It was loud and busy. While this definately isn't the store's fault, we really just wanted to get takeaway and get out it was that off-putting. It was disappointed as we were planning on staying and trying something to eat. When we visited early on Wednesday morning, the store was much more enjoyable. It wasn't busy, but there were other people there quietly enjoying their drinks and there was no furniture rearrangement. The service all three times we visited (twice at St Ives and once at Parramatta) was unenthusiastic at best although we couldn't fault what they delivered to us.

I am much more satisfied just remembering how much I enjoyed our first visit specifically and all of the chocolate in general.

The haul from Max Brenner: a box of milk chocolate praline rolled in fresh roasted almonds, a bag of milk chocolate caibos (milk chocolate chunks), some milk chocolate powder (single country of origin, it's from Venezuela), a tin of milk chocolate cubes filled with praline and caramelized pecan bits and a 9 piece truffle/praline gift box.


Milk chocolate praline rolled in fresh roasted almonds: this was the first chocolate I tasted and when I did, I though that this was how all chocolate with nuts in it should taste like. It was awesome. The box only had five chocolates, they were gone too soon.


Milk chocolate cubes filled with praline and caramelised pecan bits: these were smaller than praline and almonds, with a higher chocolate to nut ratio. The nuts were speckled throughout the cubes and they were slightly sweeter. I liked these a little better than the first ones, but it was really close to call.


The 9-piece gift box: top row (from left) praline with dark chocolate, praline with mocha and one that I can't remember.
middle row (from left) praline with roasted coconut, peanut butter cream, whipped milk chocolate cream
bottom row (from left) dark chocolate cream with mint leaves, praline with caramelised pecan, praline with milk chocolate

Notes on the gift box.

Praline with dark chocolate
* thick and creamy, rich dark chocolatey taste

Praline with mocha
* gorgeous mocha taste, not as meltingly creamy as the praline with dark chocolate. Too good to share!

The one I can't identify
* chocolate coating, whipped inside, it's light but not as light as the whipped milk chocolate. I can't pick out a flavour though

Praline with roasted coconut
* crunchy praline with just a hint of roasted coconut flavour

Peanut butter
* rich gooey peanut butter taste - better than a peanut butter cup anyday

Whipped milk chocolate cream
* light and fluffy fun chocolate, I think I prefer the chocolates with stronger flavours though

Dark chocolate cream with mint leaves
* yummy! think of the best after dinner mint you've ever tasted and then imagine it creamier and richer.

Praline with caramelised pecan
* more crunchy praline, nice and sweet matching well with the milk chocolate. very similar to the boxed ones, which I loved

Praline with milk chocolate
* creamy and soothing, it's the chocolate to eat when you're feeling in need of a little comfort. Or whenever actually, it's really really good.

Luckily for me, DD doesn't like praline so he wasn't interested in tasting any of these. Luckily for my waistline, there actually wasn't a lot of chocolate there. This was a little disappointing though because I've nearly run out but since there's now maxdirect.com.au, I'm sure I'll survive.

Max Brenner Chocolate Bar
Shop 1, Ground Floor
235 Mona Vale Rd
St Ives, NSW
Ph 02 9988 0700
(other locations across Sydney and Melbourne also)
www.maxbrenner.com

Belle Fleur Chocolates at Rozelle

Our quest for gastronomic pleasure continued with a visit to Belle Fleur Chocolates in Roselle. Belle Fleur is located on Darling Street, which is the same street as Adriano Zumbo, Victoire Bakery and the Orange Grove Markets. It is quite an exciting street.


The store is lovely and open with their chocolates beautifully presented. You can dreamily look over the array of truffles at the front counter or browse through their packaged gift chocolates, single origin chocolates, chocolate pieces, block chocolate... it was very cool.

We visited Belle Fleur twice for an assortment of truffles. The first time we were quite restrained in our selection, picking only six few different flavours to try. The second time we were better educated about what we liked and didn't like and purchased some more of our favourites (and not just one of each this time!) and some more new tastes.

Chocolates nestled in their little blue box.

Our first selection which included a pistachio chocolate, a cappucino cup, mint-filled, caramel-filled.

The second selection

One thing I have learned about holiday food blogging is that I really should have taken notes as it's now almost two weeks since we visited and I can only remember a few of the flavours. I will do better next time.

One of the ones I do remember is the chilli chocolate truffle. The chilli was very subtle and DD couldn't even taste it until I told him to look for the little bit firey aftertaste. After he picked up on that he became a big fan. We bought more of these when we back the second time.

The coconut log was also a winner. I'm not usually a fan of coconut, unless it's in the form of coconut milk, but I liked this. The coconut flavour was also very subtle and it was a true coconut taste, rather than a sickly Bounty-type of coconut (please excuse me any Bounty fans, but I really don't like them). This was another we had to try again.

The cappucino cup was quite large. I had seen them before on Not Quite Nigella and I was excited to be able to buy one to try myself, but I was surprised at their size. NQN felt that the coffee taste wasn't particularly strong in her cup. I can happily report that mine had no such problems. There was a very strong coffee taste in this truffle, too much for a non-coffee drinker like me. It looks beautiful though.

The caramel chocolate cup was another favourite. The caramel wasn't too sweet, but just sweet enough to provide a balance to the chocolate. We bought more of these too.

I do remember that I didn't really like the mint-filled or the pistachio truffle. The pistachio one tasted almost liquer-y and was too strong for me. I can't remember why I didn't like the mint. One of the two chocolates that looked a bit like cupcakes was another that I didn't like, but I can't remember what it was or why I didn't like it. The other one, on the other hand was really good. How's that for a vague paragraph?



Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates
658 Darling St
Roselle, NSW
Ph 02 9810 2690
www.bellefleur.com.au

Adriano Zumbo at Balmain

I first read about Adriano Zumbo over at Not Quite Nigella. The more NQN wrote about him, the more smitten I became. I had no idea where Balmain was in the scheme of things in Sydney, and I know DD was a little concerned about the traffic driving across town, but I was very hopeful he would agree to go. He did agree to go, wonderful boy that he is, although he did want to leave the house very early so we would get through the city before the traffic really started to kick in. We left at 6am and the traffic updates on the radio were already reporting delays.

We found Adriano's tiny little pattiserie on Darling Street in Balmain, very close to the Woolworths. The store is very narrow, but one long side is lined with masterpieces of cake and pastries.


The staff there are fabulous, the gentleman who served us was only too happy to talk about the range, food blogging, great food sites in Sydney, Kitchenaids, you name it! He even made some market recommendations on our second visit, telling us that we had to try the bacon and egg roll at the Orange Grove Markets (more on that later). He was also very nice when I asked if I could take a photo, but he asked me to make sure the cakes looked good. I hope my photography is worthy of them. Trust me, they look even more amazing in person.

We visited twice. The first time I chose a selection to try.


Almond croissant: this was heady with what I think was amaretto in the centre filling. The croissant was lovely and flakey with a gentle sweet glaze. It was also huge!


Macarons (peanut butter and lemon curd): I have never tasted a true macaron, even though I have tried my hand at making my own. These were fantastic. They were light with a perfect filling to outside ratio. The peanut flavour was pure and true and the lemon curd was divine.


Piste as she goes: I really really liked this one. There was just so much contrast to the textures between the layers. Piste as she goes is praline riz souffle, milk chocolate mousse, cinnamon ganache and pistachio mousse. It was flavourful in almost a spicy way. The textures were my favourite though, from the crunchy crackly base to the silky smoothness of the mousses.


Chocolate sacher: This is layers of chocolate sacher cake and dark chocolate ganache layers. It was decadently rich and pure chocolate heaven.

Chocadz: We were also given a chocadz to try, as the guy serving said that it was his favourite in the entire shop. The chocadz is a base of hazlenut meringue, salted caramel ganache, milk chocolate and rolled in nuts. I had never tasted salted caramel before, but after one bite of this I was hooked. The entire centre of this little tower is pure salted caramel ganache, and when you take a bite your teeth just sink into caramelly goodness. The meringue base is a wonderful counterbalance to the thick salted caramel. I had to agree, this was one of my favourites too.


Cloud 9: While we didn't try Cloud 9, I had to take a picture of it. It, like all the other cakes in the store, is a pure work of art. Almost too good looking to be eaten. Almost.

We returned later in the week for a second visit. The same guy was serving and even remembered us. That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it, hehe. This time I had promised DD I would be quick, so I chose a selection of macarons.


Macarons (lemon curd, peppermint, passionfruit, rose and I think orange was the last one): I love these delicate little macarons. Lemon curd is my hands down favourite, but I also enjoyed the passionfruit. The other three, while beautifully flavoured, just weren't flavours that I enjoy so it's entirely my issues that stopped me from enjoying these beauties.

In addition to the macarons, I also bought every possible thing in the store that had salted caramel in it. That meant more Chocadz, a salted caramel chocolate and this:



I can't remember his name or what he was or what was in him apart from salted caramel, but he was the most delicious, delectable thing I have ever tasted! The crisp layers had a gorgeous toffee crunch to them which mixed beautifully with the creamy filling. I did share these cakes with DD's mum, and this one was by far our biggest favourite. I wish I wish I had taken more notice of what he was when I bought him.

Update: he is a salted caramel mille-feuille (thanks bowb!)

I hope that everyone at Adriano Zumbo, including the great man himself, knows how much pleasure his creations bring to everyone who tries them, because seeing these wonderous cakes and tasting these amazing flavours was an experience in itself, and I am very glad that I had the opportunity.

Adriano Zumbo Patissier
296 Darling St
Balmain, NSW
Ph 02 9810 7318
adrianozumbo.com

bills Woollahra

Nestled off this gorgeous tree-lined street is bills at Woollahra, where we went for breakfast on a slightly grey Tuesday morning. I love Bill Granger, I really love his books, his show, his food philosophy and his recipes, so I was very excited to be going to visit.

bills Woollahra is set off the road in Queen's Court, which means that the inside is well insulated from road noise and the outdoor courtyard is protected from the wind while still allowing in the sunshine. Well, it would if there was sunshine when we went. We sat inside in a corner table. It was only 10 minutes after opening time and there was only other one other table occupied so we were served nice and quickly.

the very simple breakfast menu

DD had investigated the menu before we went, printing out a copy of the sample menu from Bill's website. He was quite amused to see that the actual menus looked exactly the same as his home-printed copy, just on thicker paper which had Bill's logo on the back. It was a tough choice for me, as I was having trouble deciding between Bill's famous eggs or his equally famous ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter which I have tried to cook myself before. In the end we decided to try:

Hot chocolate with Callebaut ($4) - see the gorgeous chocolate pieces so vibrantly contrasting with creamy pale whiteness of the steamed milk. It was so pretty!

A cappucino for DD.

Scrambled organic eggs with sourdough toast ($12.80 ea). DD had a side of bacon ($4.50), I had a side of chicken chipolatas ($5.00) and some aged cheddar ($3.80).

It was amazing. The eggs were creamy and tasty and when you added the aged cheddar and the sourdough toast, it became sublime. The sourdough was crusty and perfectly toasted and when you lifted up the first slice you found a pat of butter patiently softening between the warmed pieces of toast. There were so much on the plate too, I couldn't finish mine and I'm ashamed to say that I only managed one of my chipolatas (it was unfortunately forgettable compared to the rest of the meal). DD developed a taste for my aged cheddar too, so I was forced to share my cheese.

From our seat in the corner we could see a plate of massive muffins sitting on the shelf from the kitchen, but we didn't try anything else.

The service was nice and friendly, although we did have to go hunting for the bill when we ready to leave.

While what I've written sounds quite brief, it's hard to explain just how much I enjoyed the meal. I think it was partially because I had built it up in my head because I do like Bill Granger so much and because nothing about the meal disappointed me, so it became almost like a revelation for me. I am so very glad that we went and that we have had this experience. The only thing that could have possibly made it better was if Bill had picked that morning to visit Woollahra and I got to meet him. But hey, not all dreams can come true.

Another picture of my hot chocolate this time after stirring. It was so hard to put my spoon in and mar that beautiful whiteness, but I wanted to taste it!

bills Woollahra
Queen's Court
118 Queen St
Woollahra, NSW
Ph 02 9328 7997
www.bills.com.au

Chimi's Burgerbar update

We went for a visit to Chimi's Burgerbar on Friday night looking for a burger but unfortunately found it closed.

The message on their website reads:

Thanks to all of you who loved Chimi's burgers, unfortunately Chimi's has closed and we are so sorry to have let it go.

You have all been great customers and helped spread the word of our shop to the surrounding areas but it just wasn't enough. We will always be grateful and we are sorry to have let you all down.

The Chimi's crew.

It's a sad thing, they were very good burgers that we enjoyed very much. So many places now are just targetting the "fancy" burgers and don't focus on doing the simple ones well. Vale, Chimi's... I will miss your Moo with Cheese.

Mann Wah Chinese Restaurant

After a few very very busy morning and very early starts, we found ourselves heading back home around 2pm, tired and a little hungry. DD has fond memories of Chinese restaurants in the northern beaches of Sydney and really wanted to go back to Mann Wah in Newport.

Mann Wah has a fantastic lunch menu, with giant servings with rice for $7-$8. We visited twice and enjoyed it immensely. On our first visit, we had szechuan beef and mongolian lamb and on our second we had Singapore noodles and szechuan beef again.

DD loved the szechuan beef, which is why he had it twice. It was quite spicy, but the meat was so tender and flavourful. The lamb was equally tender and it was so easy to eat. The Singapore noodles were a little hot and slightly bland for me, but I do think that's me rather than the dish as I feel this about a lot of Singapore noodles. I did drown the dish in thick soy and that made it awesome.

We both were very happy with both of our visits and it would have been great to visit them for dinner, but unfortunately we ran out of time.

Mann Wah Chinese Restaurant
317-321 Barrenjoey Rd
Newport, NSW
Ph 02 9997 6981

Sydney Market Roundup - Frenchs Forest Organic Market

Sunday morning dawned grey and drizzly, but armed with umbrellas we set out for Frenchs Forest Organic Markets. These markets have a little bit of sentimental value to me, as these were the very first Sydney markets DD and I visited right at the beginning of my interest in food. They are classic growers' markets and very little has changed in the 12 months between our visits.

There were some lovely German smallgoods, Japanese omelettes, bacon and egg rolls, a wonderful stall selling nuts (see below), there was beautiful bread, great coffee, fantastic flavoured olive oils and a Gympie Farm butter stall!


I had to buy some Gympie Farm butter so I could start buying some of the amazing bread I kept seeing. I was a little surprised (I don't know why, it does make sense when you think about it) that the tubs were $1 more expensive in Sydney and they had cool Gympie Farm stickers on them (I'm easily amused). The salted butter we bought from these markets was seriously salted too, with salt flecks quite visible in the butter. The salted butter we normally get is much less obviously salted and is more multi purpose. The Sydney butter was, however, quite perfect for tasting a wide range of sourdoughs and ciabattas.


Frenchs Forest Organic Market
Parkway Hotel
Frenchs Forest Rd East
Frenchs Forest, NSW
Open every Sunday, 8:30am - 1:00pm

Sydney Market Roundup - Moore Park EQ Fresh Produce Market

We caught the tail end of the fresh produce markets in the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park. There were some lovely food stalls there with fresh pasta and sauces, cheeses, gozlemes, corn on the cob, lamb souvlakis and sizzling garlic prawns. Of course, we were still pretty full from our market morning so we didn't try anything that day. We did return two more times, once on a craft market morning (Bent St Bazaar) and another on the fresh produce morning. I tried a corn on the cob but unfortunately missed out on some lamb souvlaki as the stall wasn't there.

There was nothing really memorable about these markets, but they were lovely to wander around before our movie and before visiting Peters of Kensington.

Like all of the markets, there was some gorgeous flowers.


EQ Fresh Produce Markets
The Entertainment Quarter
122 Lang Rd
Moore Park, NSW
Wednesday and Saturday 10am - 3:30pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm

Sydney Market Roundup - Mosman Market

After breakfast, we headed out to the Mosman Craft Markets. There was beautiful crafts and jewellery, but I had to admit that we were only there for one thing:


Gozlemes! On our last visit we tried the spinach and cheese gozleme, but since then I've read that the spicy minced beef mixture really takes the already fantastic gozleme to another level. I have to say that I completely agree. These were amazing. DD was still full from breakfast, but I quite happily made sure that the gozleme didn't go to waste.


We sat on the large concrete steps, surveyed the crowds below and listened to some spectacular live jazz. It was a great end to a beautiful morning.

Mosman Market
Military Rd, Mosman, NSW
First Saturday of every month (except January), 8am - 3pm