Category: Brunch

Sik Gaek Korean Restaurant

Sik Gaek Korean Restaurant Review:

Our review this week came from a Korean restaurant in Campsie, Sik Gaek Korean. They are actually a BBQ and Hot Pot restaurant. However, it would seem a bit out of place eating them at noon. They don’t really have a ‘lunch menu’, so we ordered some dishes that can be enjoyed at lunchtime (at least by our standards).

They have quite a massive range of kimchi banchan (side dishes). We went there twice already and had 10 different complimentary side dishes.

Jap Chae – $10 – Fried Potato noodles with vegetables

Japchae is a popular Korean dish made of glass noodles. It is a savoury dish that is quite sweet. Our little one could easily munch a large portion of them… even with all of those vegetables.

Bibimbap in hot stone bowl – $13

Bibimbap is a dish that doesn’t need an introduction. Probably if there is a question ‘name a Korean food’ in the Family Feud show, it would score close to 100.

Bibimbap at Sik Gaek was a decent portion.

Bibimbap with raw beef – $15

This is the variant of ‘normal’ bibimbap. Instead of getting the cooked beef, you get raw beef. It is an incredibly risky proposition as raw beef is quite delicate. However, I quite like their bibimbap with raw beef. It was very fresh.

Boneless Fried Chicken – $32 – Soy-glazed whole fried chicken

The fried chicken at Sik Gaek wasn’t as dense nor sticky as the other notable Korean restaurants. Their lightness was actually quite perfect for lunchtime. We ordered the boneless version of the fried chicken.

Last, but definitely not least, there is quite a ‘surprise’ towards the back of the restaurant. They have two gaming machines and a small play area for the kids. It’s a great way to keep them occupied!

The final verdict for Sik Gaek Korean Restaurant

Sik Gaek is a BBQ restaurant. However, we can’t really comment on them because we were only there for their ‘lunch’ menu. We enjoyed our lunch at Sik Gaek. Although, probably ordering just the chicken was more than enough for lunch.

Do you think I should go?
Sik Gaek is quite a nice option for lunch.

Rating for Sik Gaek Korean Restaurant:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $13 – $32 per dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

115 Clissold Parade, Campsie 2194

May 9, 2018
Coffee Tank

Coffee Tank Review:

I had a catch up for a brunch with a friend of mine who is also a coffeeholic, WPF. He suggested we went to Coffee Tank because he has never been there. It was just a stroll from our place. Coffee Tank is a relatively new coffee shop in Marrickville (more like in between Marrickville and Dulwich Hill).

They have quite the ‘usual suspects’ in a cafe’s menu. Looking around the restaurant, they are also pretty big on the vegan and organic bowl stuff.

Fill the Tank Brekkie – $19 – eggs, bacon, chorizos, mushrooms and haloumi served with toasted sourdough

This is the biggest dish on the menu. They put in quite a generous serving of everything. I guess they are focusing more on the quantity in this dish.

Morning Bowl – $17.50 – Kale, quinoa, mushrooms, haloumi, sesame-coated avocado, pomegranate and poached eggs

Kale and avocado have been popping up in Sydney’s cafe scene in recent years. Throw in pomegranate and quinoa and you get the trend of 2017 in one dish.

Benny Stack – $17.50 – English muffin, spinach, mushrooms, poached eggs and salmon topped with hollandaise sauce

Benny stack is one of the more traditional brekkie options at the cafe. You can probably measure how good a cafe is based on its eggs benedict. It is a safe bet.

The final verdict for Coffee Tank

We had quite an enjoyable brunch at Coffee Tank. However, I.

Do you think I should go?

Coffee tank seems to be the destination for people living in the area. However, they are facing a lot of competitions with the sheer number of brunch places in Inner West.

Rating for Coffee Tank:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: around $20 per person

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

1/395 Marrickville Road, Marrickville 2204

+61 433 468 568

Jan 26, 2018
Mentmore and Morley

Mentmore and Morley Review:

I walked past this restaurant pretty often but have not been to it until recently. The price point at Mentmore and Morley isn’t exactly within my ‘office lunch’ budget. We had a chance to taste it when one of our colleagues had a farewell party.

They serve quite a modern-esque Australian cafe dishes with dishes like haloumi and polenta, burgers, and poke. They also serve quite a few local beers.

M&M Burger & Sweet Potato Fries – $18 – 160g prime beef pattie, bacon, provolone, dill pickle, tomato chutney, cos leaves

My friend told me that the burger was pretty good. He would rate it a ‘7’. You can also choose chicken burger instead of beef pattie.

Polenta & Haloumi – $18 – fried polenta, haloumi, asparagus, avocado, Raw Sisterhood sauerkraut salad, fried egg, yuzu dressing

This dish is very pretty! I’m not usually a veggie eater, but I would gladly eat this dish!

Caesar Salad – $14/18 – anchovy aioli, cos lettuce leaves, streaky bacon, grana parmesan, free range egg, sourdough croutons

If you are more into the traditional dish, then the Caesar salad is for you.

Chilled Soba with Salmon – $16/20 – Tasmanian flaked salmon, chilled soba noodles, cucumber, spring onion, sesame seeds, chia seeds, wakame salad edamame, dashi broth, ginger & shallot dressing

Mentmore and Morley had a nice twist to the Japanese cold soba. The dish does look predominantly green and fresh.

Salmon Poke Bowl – $18 – with brown rice, edamame, wakame, enoki, avocado, ginger & soy mirin dressing

Poke bowl is part of the ‘dish of the day’ on the menu board.

The Great Roast – $15/18 – Beets, parsnip, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, shallots, mushrooms, sunflower seeds, pine nuts peas, salsa verde & goats cheese

I’m sure if all salad can look this good, kids will be happy to eat them!

Cape Byron Sirloin Steak – $28 – crushed kipfler potatoes, greek salad, salsa verde & jus

This is the dish that I actually ordered. The steak was grilled to my liking. There was probably a tad too much salt on it even after dipping in Salsa Verde. The crushed kipfler potatoes went really well with the jus.

The final verdict for Mentmore and Morley

Mentmore and Morley served pretty dishes. All of our dishes had that aura of ‘Oh… I don’t mind eating that although I don’t like what’s in it’. However, it is still beyond my normal office lunch budget.

Do you think I should go?
If I don’t live in the area, I probably would go here for weekend brunch.

Rating for Mentmore and Morley:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $18 – $28 main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

55 Mentmore Rd, Rosebery 2018

+61 2 9697 3617

Jan 18, 2018
O!Momo | OMomo Nepali Cafe

O!Momo – OMomo Nepali Cafe Review:

This review was probably 6 years overdue. I promised a friend of mine to visit his momo stall in a Saturday market (yes… such a bad friend!). However, that stall has now evolved into a full-blown Nepali restaurant/cafe in Kogarah, called O!Momo.

Their menu was quite simple: Momo of all kinds and a few other Nepali snacks.

When you order a plate of momo, you can choose any 2 sauces from 5 of their chutneys: Yellow chutney, Green chutney, Tomato Chatney, Red Chutnew, and Badam Chutney. By default, they are all quite spicy except for the yellow chutney.

Monkey Platter – $18 – A sample plate of the following: aloo dum, Sadeko wai wai, Choila, Chicken Lollipop

If you don’t know what to order for entree, they give you an option to try a bit of all of them… and that’s exactly what we did on our first visit. In short, they are: spicy potato, crispy noodles salad, chicken salad, and deep fried chicken lollipop.

Chicken Sadeko Wai Wai – $7 – Noodle salad with chickpeas and puff rice, crispy, tangy spicy

Since we enjoyed the sadeko wai wai so much on our first visit, we ordered just that in our second visit. According to the chef, this dish was not 100% Nepali as he has drawn inspiration from Indonesian’s crispy shallots and noodles.

Momo platter – $20 – 4 pcs of steamed, pan fry, chili and sadeko

Similar to the entree, this should be your choice if you did not know what to order. In total, you will get 16 momos. $20 for 16 momos? That’s not bad, eh?

Tareko (Deep Fried) – $11 – 8 Delicious handmade Nepali dumplings

Instead of 4 dumplings, you actually get 8 dumplings for the individual ones. So if you like a particular style of cooking, you might as well order that instead of the momo platter.

Chilli (Stir Fried) – $12 – 8 Delicious handmade Nepali dumplings

For our second visit, we tried the buffalo chilli momo. They charge $2 extra for buffalo momo. That chilli momo got us hooked from the first time we tried them! The chef explained it to us that they actually triple-cooked this momo. First they steamed it, then deep fried, before stir-frying it with their chili sauce.

Drinks

They have a few drink options, including a Nepali beer. However, on this occasion we chose the watermelon juice.

The final verdict for O!Momo – OMomo Nepali Cafe

I’m not saying this because I know the guy who runs the show… but their momo were very nice! That triple-cooked momo got us hooked from the very first minute… and did I mention we visited them 2 more times after our initial visit?

Do you think I should go?

Definitely! If you are interested in trying Nepali dumplings, O!momo is the place to be.

Details:

126 Railway Parade, Kogarah 2217

+61 2 7900 5603

http://omomo.com.au/

Nov 27, 2017
The Wayzgoose Cafe

The Wayzgoose Cafe Review:

In that last long weekend, we went on a getaway to the Blue Mountain. This week’s review is from a cafe in Leura called The Wayzgoose Cafe. The cafe prided itself of their ‘famous flowerpot’ scones. They advertised the scones literally everywhere in the restaurant. We’ll talk about the scones later on as it took quite a while to prepare.

They have the usual breakfast menu along with a few sandwiches and pies for lunch. In addition to the scones, they also have quite a few desserts on the menu.

Homemade Beef, Guiness & Potato Pot Pie – $18.90 – served with salad and chips

I must say the pie looked very well presented. It made me want to devour it on the spot. However, the flavour did not hit the spot for me. It could probably use a bit more seasoning in the stew.

Toasted Chicken & Mayonnaise Sandwich – $8.50 – served with chips

Our son ordered the toasted sandwich and he had no difficulties in finishing it – an indicator that the sandwich was pretty good.

Famous Flowerpot Scones – $6.50 – with mixed berry jam and cream

When the scones arrived, I was quite surprised that it literally came in a flower pot! The scones was quite big and had a generous serving of jam and whipped cream.

Latte

The final verdict for The Wayzgoose Cafe

The Wayzgoose Cafe is quite a decent cafe at the heart of the blue mountain in Leura. We quite enjoyed eating their famous flowerpot scones.

Do you think I should go?

When you are in Blue Mountain, you will most likely end up in Leura for your lunch anyway.

Rating for The Wayzgoose Cafe:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: $20 per person

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

174 Leura Mall, Leura, Sydney, NSW

+61 2 4784 1973

http://www.wayzgoosecafe.com.au

Oct 19, 2017
Manmaru

Manmaru Review:

There is a little cafe in Dulwich Hill that has recently been transformed to a Japanese-inspired cafe called Manmaru by its owners. Their menu heavily features vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. The fun part is: they don’t have a fixed menu. They change the menu according to the fresh produce they could find on the day. Interestingly, they managed to combine Japanese ingredients with your usual Australian brunch options.

Miso Beef Brisket – $10 – with asian slaw shichimimayo

The burger might be the cheapest and simpler item on the blackboard that day. However, the brisket was so tasty and worked really well with the asian slaw.

Koji scrambled egg – $16 – with miso butter mushroom

The koji scrambled egg looked like a simple egg, mushroom and a few slices of toast. However, that mushroom is anything but simple. They are jam-packed full of flavour!

Organic lamb with sweet potato – $13 – with housemade tomato chutney and salad

There were four different pies that day. They ran out of our first choice, chicken leek and mushroom. Considering that we are not big on black beans and vegetarian option, our pick went to organic lamb. The pie had a more middle-eastern influence.

White chocolate matcha latte – $6

Considering it’s quite a cold day last week. The white chocolate matcha latte really suited the occasion. The cold weather did not stop the kids to try their rose lychee milkshake tho!

The final verdict for Manmaru

I like a little variety for my brunch. Manmaru delivered a Japanese-inspired brunch that was quite a rarity in Inner West, or even Sydney.

Did you know?

Manmaru also has little cakes and pastries if you are looking for a more bite-sized treat.

Rating for Manmaru:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $10 – $18 per dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

495 Marrickville Road, Dulwich Hill 2203

+61 4 1456 6624

https://www.manmaru.com.au/

Jul 21, 2017