Wednesday 23 December 2015

Le Monde Cafe @ Surry Hills // Review

It's been a while since the last brunch but with the excuse to also see friends again - not sure if more excited for food or friends?! :P

Le Monde is a small cafe space where you and your friends can inhabit a corner by the cushions and talk for ages while the counter bustles with takeaway coffee and croissant orders. It's a nice mix!


It's nice and quiet during a weekday with the only sounds being nearby chatter and the grinding of the coffee. Natural light floods through the windows and along with some indoor lights, create a dim but well lit space for a sunny brunch! 



 


We ordered the Matcha pancakes ($16), Pulled pork ($18) and the Bacon Egg Roll Special ($10).

I'm a sucker for all things matcha so I loved the fluffiness of the pancakes with that slight bitterness of green tea! What totally completed the dish was that coffee expresso syrup. It was definitely one of the most delicious and different pancake flavour combinations I've had! Total winner! I now need this coffee syrup in my life!



 


And for the other dishes (on the Specials chalkboard), the pulled pork was just the right texture and softness but the bread was a little hard and a mission with the cutlery! Surprisingly the bacon and egg roll was pretty good for its price. The waiter took it out and it was so loaded!

Not sure if anything else on the menu will bring me back anytime soon since it doesn't have as many daring fusion choices as most modern cafes. But I still loved the oxymoronic quiet/bustling atmosphere on the two opposite sides of the cafe! They do a pretty good capucinno too!




Three word summary: Cosy, modern, detached
Ambience 4/5
Fare $-$$
Service 4/5
Foodwise 4/5

Have a fab summer
MVPD xx







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Sunday 20 December 2015

Hakiki Turkish Ice Creamery @ Enmore // Review

Something about the name makes me think of tropical island flavors but those kind of ice creameries are so yesterday and we were feeling something more exotic and traditional!



Turkish ice cream looks like the 'normal', humble ice cream....until you take a spoon from it! It just keeps dragging out like I doesn't want to be eaten = The Australian Summer ice-cream-melting issue solved! Apparently Turkish ice cream is traditionally eaten with knife (no spooning here!) and fork.

 

1. You don't just go here and get some simpleton caramel flavour (even they're way too good for that).
2. You also don't just go in for one scoop especially when you have your eyes on four different flavours!


Here's our guide on what flavours were our favs:

Baklava: What's better than baklava? Baklava ice cream that's what. We loved the fillo pastry bits - just the way it soaks up some of the ice cream but still gives a chewy change in texture makes me feel so happy and zen!

Rock melon and feta: yes you read this right! Great balanced combination of salty and sweet I don't know how I didn't discover this before! Who even thought of this (next best after Bill Gates clearly)!

Grape molasses & tahini: the halva were amazing little crumbly chunks made from tahini that I just looked forward to throughout this whole flavour.

Caramelized fig and walnut: what is a Turkish bazaar without the sweet, distinct perfume of figs of late summer afternoons?

 


Of course there are many other flavours but we didn't want to hit them all in one go! There needs to be an excuse for a second visit!!

Next time you brunch or dinner in Newtown we highly recommend you stop at the dinner menu and trek it past Gelato Blue (sorry), N2 and Cloud9 as your portal to Turkey awaits you!

10/10 ice cream! You can't really compare it to Messina and Cow and Moon in terms of flavour since they're so different (Hello feta + melon!?)!!

 

Buuut if my taste buds served me right, I think Turkish ice cream is traditionally a little sweeter! Who's complaining?

Our advice: 'go large or go home'



Where you'll find it:
Shop 1, 63-71 Enmore Rd, Newtown

MVPD xoxo







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Thursday 17 December 2015

Sunday 13 December 2015

#5 The Importance of Loving Yourself

Even as I write this—I’m doubting myself. Have I reached a designated check point to even reliably write something like this? Perhaps the question is, do I even love myself?

For now, at this particular moment, I say yes. I think learning to love yourself and give yourself time and nourishment to grow individually is so important. Not important because I’m only 18, nor is it important because everyone says it’s important. But rather, because to love yourself puts you on stable foundations for the rest of your life.

That is not to say you can’t have moments of disappointment. It is OK to not always be happy, so long as you proactively consider your situation and take measures to proceed.

Always proceed.

That brings me nicely to the next point of this musing.

There is no such thing as regret.

Consider this; you've hooked up with a particular someone you should not have even in the first place (there was alcohol involved).

Let me unpack this simply, painlessly and easily.

If you cannot change the past, whats the point in dwelling. Yes, you can formulate other actions that would/should be taken next time should you find yourself in that same predicament. But regret is so socially constructed. It demands we reprimand ourselves on things that we have done, diluting the lesson we have learnt in the process. Regret is a giant black cesspit. Don't give it your valuable time.  
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