Indian Chopsticks, Harris Park

I think this is the only Indian Chinese restaurant in Sydney that I know. They serve Chinese food with Indian cooking-style. I love the concept. However, I remember few years back when I went there, the food was not good. So I never went there again ever since. 


I am still curious what the real Indian Chinese food are. I was lucky when I was in India last year, I went to one of Indian Chinese restaurant in Mumbai and it was good. I couldn't remember the name but it's somewhere in Bandra. 


Last weekend, one of my Indian friend wanted to try Indian Chopsticks. I told him that it was not good but he still wanted to try. Then I thought, maybe I just chose wrong food when I went there first time, why don't I give another try. 


We ordered chilli chicken, veg manchurian (I ordered this last time) and chow mien. It's still the same. The food were eatable but maybe I shouldn't go there again until they change the food or the chef. I am really sorry to say this but it's not good. 


The customer service was also terrible. My friend gave his card to pay and this lady said ... it's better for you to pay cash rather than paying by credit card. I thought customers have right to choose how they want to pay, no? Anyway, my friend didn't even give his credit card, he gave his debit card. First mistake, She didn't even check the card before giving comment/make assumption. Second mistake, my friend told her, it's on cheque ... she pressed saving and the payment didn't go through. She made face without even realizing it's her fault for not listening. Third mistake, when my friend wanted to key-in the pin, she took away the machine. How my friend was going to key-in the pin then? We left that place speechless. 

chilli chicken

veg machurian

chow mein

Indian Chopsticks

77 Wigram Street

Harris Park NSW 2150

Phone (02) 9891 4177

http://www.indianchopsticks.com.au

Coffee Garam, Surry Hills

I came to this cafe almost every Saturday after my volunteer work. Since this cafe has new chef, Raj Mehta, they have more options on Indian street snack. I love Indian street snack! This time, I ordered samosa chaat and chai, I think this is the best samosa chaat that I ever tried in Sydney (even maybe the best I ever tried so far). The mix was awesome; the sauce has perfect flavour combination. I really hope they will establish and focus more on Indian street snack and Indian food. The owner, Harvey Parekh, is very friendly and has an excellent customer service. 

samosa chaat

best samosa chaat

coffee garam

chai

Coffee Garam

29-37 Bellevue St

Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia

0423 917 605

http://www.coffeegaram.com

Charlie & Co at Sydney

Finally, the renovated Westfield at Pitts St opened. There is one place that I wanted to try at the food court due to the hype going on. This burger place is owned by French Chef of Becasse (a famous French restaurant, awarded 2 hats by Food Guide), Charlie & Co.

My friends and I went on Thursday, the shopping night. There were quite crowded and there was a long queue at Charlie & Co counter. We were excited ... and of course expecting something special because $16-18 for a burger is not cheap.

The taste is good but I can't say it's really amazing; it's good. The size is allright and filling for me but I don't think it will be enough for some people. Maybe the kitchen was too busy so the taste was not consistent? Anyway, it's worth to try; not necessary want to come back in the future but who knows? When I crave for a burger and I pass Westfield? :)

wagyu burger

Charlie & Co

Sydney Room

Level 5, Westfield Sydney

Cnr Market and Castlereagh St

Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

(02) 8072 7777

http://charlieandco.com.au

Strangers with Candy at Redfern

"Strangers with Candy" what a name for a cafe? :) This cafe was listed in SMH as one of the cafe that we must try. After church, I met up with my friends for brunch ... decided to go to this cafe. 


The portion are really good. I never saw any other cafe serving full chorizo; usually they will only give few slices ... I love chorizo so I found it's a bit annoying :P I was so happy when I was served with full chorizo, scrambled eggs and turkish breads. Because we went there around 12:30pm, we were allowed to order from lunch menu as well. One of my friend ordered Wagyu Beef with smashed potato. It's awesome ... according to him, it's melted inside the mouth :) The only complaint, the turkish breads were not thick enough. I guess it won't be problems for others, it's only me because I like thick breads. 

one ice chocolate

two strawberries banana smoothies 

the wagyu beef with smashed potato

mushroom, poached eggs and turkish breads

chorizo, scrambled eggs and turkish breads

interior

Strangers with Candy

96 Kepos St
Redfern New South Wales 2016
(02) 9698 6000

Cream at Canberra

I went to Canberra over the weekend for my friends' wedding. Before driving back to Sydney, I thought it would be nice to have brunch and it's an opportunity to try a cafe in Canberra. However, I was not sure which cafe I should go so I just drove to city and decided to walk around. 


I passed this Cafe, Cream. It looked good with the huge area, nice displays and when I read the menu, they have what I want. The food and chai were good although I think I still prefer another cafe in Sydney for the home-made beans and the chai. The best would be the chilli jam, it's awesome. The food was good, definately will stop by again when I come back to Canberra. The service was very tentative as well. 

latte

chai

home-made beans, poached egg, chilli jam and sourdough bread

scrambled eggs, mushroom and sourgdough bread

from outside

Cream Cafe

Canberra Center Shop
Bunda St, Canberra ACT 2600
(02) 6162 1448

Open Mon 12pm-11pm; Tue-Fri 8am-11pm; Sat 9am-11pm; Sun 9am-5pm

http://www.creamcafebar.com.au

Cafe Ish, Surry Hills

My friend and I went to Cafe Ish today for brunch. My friend never came to Cafe Ish before and he is curious why Cafe Ish is very famous. I told him, I came to Cafe Ish for the crab soft shell, that's it :) No other places which I know serve crab soft shell for brunch. Cafe Ish also serves very interesting other menu such as emu egg, crocodile sausages, having 3 different salts, etc. I guess it's famous because of the unique menu.

This time, I didn't want to take any risks. I ordered benedict ish, crab soft shell with toast with hollandaise sauce (it was my order when I came to Cafe Ish first time, 2 years ago). My friend ordered veg ish, toast with mushroom, tofu and tomato. For drink, I have no choice so I go for wild chai although I don't really like it. My friend ordered mocha and apparently, it's not bad.

mocha

wild chai

wild chai

veg ish

benedict ish

interesting pepper storage

Cafe Ish

82 Campbell st

Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia

(02) 9281 1688

http://www.cafeish.com.au

Chutney, Harris Park

This was my fourth coming to Chutney. It's one of many new Indian restaurants in Harris Park. Usually, if I went to Harris Park, I would go to Billu's. That day, I thought I wanted to try one of those new restaurants and decide to go to Chutney, next to Billu's. 


At first, I was a bit skeptical whether the food would be good. Guess what? This place served the best dosa that I ever tried in Sydney. I am not a big fan of dosa, but this place makes me want to eat dosa again and again :) My favourite will be mysore dosa; I never tried this dosa before in other places. The second best is rava dosa with paneer. It's not only about dosa; even the masala chai is one of the best. I don't know which tea that they use but it's very nice taste. I keep coming back to Chutney almost every week for dosa and masala chai. 


I guess another place which can compete with Chutney for dosa is the canteen at temple in Helensburgh. They serve awesome dosa too. According to my friend, it was special because they make the dosa like dosa on the street in India. 

dahi bhalla

chilli paneer

rava dosa

best dosa, mysore dosa

Chutney

66 Wigram St
Harris Park NSW 2150
(02) 9893 8202

Coffee Garam, Surry Hills

Coffee Garam is a new Indian-Australian fusion cafe in Surry Hills. First time I heard about the concept, I love it at first-heard (not sight :P). I think there are no other cafe which are having this theme yet in Sydney or maybe even Australia. You can enjoy the cafe atmosphere and menu but in the same times, having those Indian snacks and masala chai. 

When you pass this cafe, you couldn't really see what it's inside. However, when you go inside, you will be amazed with the nice modern interior and very nice colour combination. On the wall, there is a beautiful Taj-Mahal picture. The owner (Harvey Parekh) and the staff are very friendly; they know and remember almost all their customers. 

My friend and I decided to order 2 masala chai, French Toast (of course for me), bacon egg roll for her and my favourite Indian snack bhel puri. I was little bit worried whether my friend will like the chai and bhel puri. Guess what, she loves it! She found masala chai is different but very nice. Bhel puri was spicy but she almost finished the whole bowl by herself :) French Toast was very very good too; the bread was perfect for French Toast. Bacon egg roll is same like other places but my friend likes the sauce a lot and she didn't realize it was bbq sauce only. Masala chai is good but I like my own masala chai better :P My friend and I finished the whole masala chai. I heard the coffee made by the owner was awesome but I don't drink coffee so I didn't order, unfortunately. 


The price is very cheap, looking at the serving size. Bacon egg roll with coffee is only $6. French Toast is $8.50. Masala chai $3.60 for such teapot size was totally cheap! Bhel Puri is $6. With total around $26; My friend and I almost couldn't stand up anymore because we were too full :)


I am really suprised that they can serve such a good food without kitchen. They only have hot plates to prepare everything. 2 thumbs up for them. I really hope more people will know about this cafe because it's such a unique place and have brillliant food. 

bacon egg roll

 french toast

french toast

masala chai

bhel puri

bhel puri

masala chai

scrambled-eggs baquette

scrambled-eggs baquette

Coffee Garam

29-37 Bellevue St

Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia

0423 917 605

http://www.coffeegaram.com

Lafangey Parindey

When I watched the trailer of Lafangey Parindey, I thought it will be a good movie. I went to cinema yesterday with my friend without any high expectations. I thought it will be good and entertaining.


Surprisingly, the movie was really good. The story-line was awesome although there were some parts little bit unreal but it's Bollywood movie, na? Neil Nitin is such a good actor; he delivered his dialogs brilliantly. I was convinced. My favourite moment was when Nandu (Neil Nitin) taught Pinky (Deepika) how to see although she is blind. He put her head into the water and he said something to her. I couldn't remember exactly what he said but it's awesome dialog. Deepika is improving a lot ... she can show more expression nowadays. Kay Kay Menon is awesome; although it's such a short role for him but his appearance definately gave impact for the whole movie.


My friend and I were expecting that this movie will have sad ending. Because everything is too good to be true. We thought Nandu (Neil Nitin) will die in the end. Luckily, this is still Bollywood movie and don't forget, it's a love story movie produced by Yash Raj. I think it will be a better movie if it has a sad ending; giving unexpected ending to the audience. However, it's allright ... this is really a good movie and I don't mind to watch it again. I don't like the music though.

Wahwah Lounge, Waterloo

When I left home on Sunday morning, I knew I want to go to a cafe but I wasn't sure which one I should go. I decided to drive to Waterloo and chose whatever cafe that served French Toast (yes ... I was craving for French Toast). 


My friend wanted to go to The French House but they didn't have French Toast. We decided to go to another cafe and on the way back, we would stop at the French House to buy bread and pastries (the pastries looked so yummy and beautiful).


We went to Wahwah Lounge because they served French Toast (priority) and the place was crowded ... must be something good in this place, we thought. My friend ordered coffee + bruchetta breakfast and I ordered French Toast + strawberries banana smoothie. I could imagine how good the smoothie would be because it was a nice sunny day. Unfortunately, they run out yogurt and they couldn't make smoothie unless I didn't mind to replace yogurt with ice cream. I thought it would be ugly ... then I started looking around and I saw a lady drinking something green and looked fresh. I decided to order that one, the juice name is the pal (pear, apple and lime) hmmmm sounds good!


The French toast is good although the portion was quite small. The pal was awesome! I think I would come back to this cafe again because of the juice. My friend said, the coffee was good too although his food was allright. The service was great too, no complains about that.

the pal, very refreshing

bruchetta breakfast

french toast

Wahwah Lounge

Shop 2, 1 Danks St

Waterloo NSW 2017, Australia

(02) 9699 3456

Open Mon, Tue 7:30am-4pm; Wed, Thu 7:30am-10pm; Fri, Sat 7:30am-5pm; Sun 8am-3pm

http://www.wahwahlounge.net.au