The Dip, Sydney CBD

The Dip was a huge thing when they first opened - good comforting American style burgers in the middle of Sydney? Three cheers for that! I've been many times, but I've never really gotten around to blogging about it as I've never taken many photos, but I finally have a couple!

Good God turns into a semi-night club as the night progresses normally. So it is quite a dark space when you head on down. I wouldn't quite recommend getting the jugs - they are quite expensive for what they are. It's pretty much cordial as it's quite watered down. Definitely light on the shots. But the food is another matter!

Pulled pork nachos, $15.00

Best nachos ever, hands down. Soft pulled pork that's slightly sweet with all that melty cheese and salsa, beans, jalepeno sauce and a sprinkling of spring onion for good measure. Yum.

Southern smoke, $12.00

Yes, I love my pork. It is an incredibly versatile meat I tell you. You can have it on top of nachos and you can also have it in a burger! With apple and cabbage slaw, beans and BBQ sauce, this combination was a winner. Something about apple brings out the sweetness in pork. It's awesome. This burger was incredibly messy to eat with the soft bun, but boy was it worth it. Plus I wasn't going out of my way to impress anyone - good friends deal with friends messily eating burgers :P

The Dip always provides solid food so I never mind heading over again every so once in a while - which I do!

The Dip
55 Liverpool St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Opening Hours
Wednesday - Thursday: 5:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday: 5:00pm - 11:00pm
Saturday: 6:00pm - 11:00pm

Excelsior Jones, Ashfield

Early yesterday morning, my sister and I impulsively decided to head over to Excelsior Jones for breakfast before buying a few necessities in Ashfield. It's about time I headed over there! Excelsior Jones is located in the backstreets of Ashfield suburbia - an unassuming location for such a popular cafe which had won TimeOut Magazine's vote for Cafe of the Year 2013. Despite it being 11am on a Friday, the cafe was surprisingly buzzing with patrons who were chatting over coffee. I can imagine how busy it'd get for weekends!

Skim latte, $3.50

Yes I have been converted into a coffee person after my trip to Melbourne. How did that even happen? Too many cafes over there with all of them recommending coffee whilst we waited for our breakfasts! Excelsior Jones serve their coffees made from Five Senses coffee beans and my flat white was a damned good one with a smooth finish. No complaints here.

Eggs Benedict, $14.00

Onto the food which arrived together not too long after our order. Both my sister and I couldn't go past the eggs benedict. Who doesn't love a soft, gooey poached egg? The moment of truth arrived when we had to cut open the egg. Would it be perfectly runny or will it have been overcooked beyond repair? We breathed a sigh of relief as it was the latter. The hollandaise sauce was all sorts of amazing with the ham and English muffin with the oozy egg yolk providing a wonderful richness.

Pork hock has, $16.00

I was torn between the pork hock and smoked salmon hash but in the end, pork hock won out. And oh my god was this dish good! The potatoes had been fried so that the innards were still fluffy and the skin was crispy which made it very addictive. The addition of the herbs were very welcome, providing that extra pop of freshness on the palette. This dish is carb overload mind you! So many potatoes - it is one best shared :D

Excelsior Jones has been decked out with the foundations of being a good cafe and we left in high spirits after good coffee and delicious food. Situated in the suburb just over where I reside, I foresee plenty of starts to my days here in the near future. I will try the salmon hash next time as well as revisit for the lunch menu! Burgers, anyone?

Excelsior Jones
139A Queen Street, Ashfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9799 3240

Opening Hours
Tuesday - Friday: 7:30am-4:00pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8:00am-4:00pm
Kitchen closed 3:00pm
Closed on Mondays

Macarons of Melbourne

Sorry I've been away for so long fellow readers... I have disappeared for good reason though. I've been eating my way through Melbourne! There were two places in particular that I knew I just HAD to visit. They contain one of my favourite things in the world. Macarons!! Yes, I know they are an expensive habit in terms of eating. Yes, I know there is sooo much sugar in them. Yes, I know they are only a sometimes food. But give a girl a break alright? I was on a mini-holiday!

Our first macaron visit was to La Belle Miette, hidden in a cute unassuming store nestled within Hardware Lane. Isn't it just darling?

There was a huge variety to choose from. I was on a mission here to gather 21 macarons for my friend's 21st so we managed to snag at least one of each flavour for her. But of course, I couldn't let the opportunity of trying some macarons in Melbourne pass me by either so my friend and I decided to share a box. The store ladies were absolutely lovely and ever so patient!

The packaging is also very pretty in shades of pastel.

Left to right: violet & blueberry, salted caramel, mango & coconut, strawberries & cream, rose, cherry blossom & sake, $2.50-$2.75 each (I think?)

I was surprised by the blueberry and violet because I was a bit wary of how strong the floral scent of the violet was. But it was actually very subtle and enhanced the flavour of the blueberry. Very lovely! I was expecting more flavour from the mango and coconut though. It was hard to pick out either one of those BUT there was a tiny dollop of mango puree in the middle! The cherry blossom and sake definitely amazed me. Loved it!

Left to right: pistachio, vanilla, strawberries & cream, mango & coconut, salted caramel, hazelnut

My beautiful friend who studies over at Monash University also bought me a box to try! How sweet of her - I am blessed to have such good friends :) The salted caramel is a flavour that never fails me time and time again! I also particularly enjoyed the creaminess of the strawberries and cream macaron. The texture of the shells were also soft just the way I like it. Though I also love the chewier textured macarons too!

La Belle Miette
30 Hardware Ln
Melbourne, VIC, 3000
www.labellemiette.com.au

Opening Hours
Monday - Thursday: 10:00am - 6:00pm
Friday: 10:00am - 9:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am - 4:00pm

Store number two is further away in South Yarra! But it is also known for their macarons so it was a trip I had to make!

Box of 8 macarons, $22.00

Left to right: carmelised white chocolate, heilala vanilla creme brulee, sour strawberry, passionfruit & kaffir lime, ribena lemonade, pandan, coffee candy (kopiko), bamboo oolong tea

Can I just say oh my god about the flavours? They were all so good! And the best thing was, they managed to stay alive through the flight back to Sydney! I had packed the box with tissues around it due to my paranoia that the delicate macarons would get destroyed during transportation and I was surprised that they did indeed survive the long flight. I was scared air pressure would ruin them but they were as good as new when I opened the box (to my relief). I definitely have favourites - hello creme brulee and pandan!

We also managed to talk to the head pastry chef, Bernard Chu, who was ever so nice as to recommend the best restaurants of Melbourne! It was our last evening there before we had to fly back to Sydney and he encouraged us to make our way to Cumulus Inc (more to come later!) because my friends and I were going to make our way to Chin Chin again. Apparently Sydney's Ms G's run by Dan Hong is better ;) He also mentioned that he was just in Sydney the other week at the Shangri La hotel. Pity the Sydney weather echoed that of Melbourne when he was here - rainy and cold! Fingers crossed he'll get nicer weather when he's next in Sydney :P

Oh macarons of Melbourne, please come to Sydney.

LuxBite
38 Toorak Road
South Yarra, VIC, 3141
www.luxbite.com.au

Opening Hours
Open 7 days 10:30am - 7:00pm