Devon Cafe, Surry Hills

Sorry for disappearing off the planet of my blog dear readers! My assessments are swamping me at the moment as I head towards the last stretch of my bachelor degree. Almost there! This post was dated a while back when S came back to Sydney from Cambridge for a lovely brunch catch up with us :D

Flat white, $3.50

Coffee was excellent. Smooth and easy to down. Bonus points for the pretty coffee art!

Bruschetta, $10.00

Oh my this bruschetta was delicious. The flavours were pretty darn spot on. The bread was very crisp, contrasting nicely with the wonderfully soft eggplant and smooth, creamy hummous. The labne provided a lovely subtle tang that just tickled your palette ever so lightly. Loved oven-baked chickpeas for that added crunch.

Ogre 'Happy Meal', $21.00

We couldn't resist ordering this sheerly because of the name. The ox tongue was seared to a tender, medium rare and simply melted in the mouth. Just look at those gorgeous grill marks on the exterior. Those potato hash bits were oh so moreish with the shattering crunchy outer giving way to the fluffy soft potato on the inside.

Citrus cured salmon, $18.50

Smoked salmon will always be a love of mine. The saltiness of the salmon was counteracted with the refreshingly sweet apple slices that were sliced paper-thin. Pieces of fennel were scattered around for that element of texture. The soft-boiled egg was gloriously sticky and oozed all over the split dill cream when cut. Delicious all put on top of the the slices of brioche!

Nobody kicked us out despite the fact we spent ages there sitting and chatting. The staff were extremely friendly :D There's nothing quite like catching up with girlfriends. Alas we didn't have stomach space to order some of the more dessert-y items on the menu but there's always next time - I foresee more visits back here!

Mancini's Italian Restaurant via Menulog, Belfield

Hooray for the ease of ordering via the internet! Technology really does make our lives easier these days. Thanks to Menulog, I was given the opportunity to test out one of Sydney's top online ordering systems with over 2000 restaurants to choose from. I was given a $25 voucher code and decided to use it on Mancini's Italian Restaurant as there are only certain restaurants that do deliver to your chosen location.

The system itself was very easy to use. Pick your dishes and then confirm details such as address, and then pay through your credit card and voila! Food will be on its way. Of course, there is a delivery fee.

I chose the double pasta deal where you receive two pasta dishes for $25.95 (save $5.95!) with an additional $5.00 delivery fee whacked on top. It would be nice to have a description of what the pastas were when you click to order the double pasta deal as it would save us the bother of having to go back and try remember the Italian names of the pastas - but it's no biggie. It also would've been better if they had a coherent list of all the pastas on the menu besides just the gnocchi and a few others in the list of main courses instead of having to go to their restaurant for descriptions as well. However, the great thing about this particular restaurant was that you could order the night before to receive it for an early lunch. That's a win I say! And it was exactly what I did.

The next morning, I received a call at around 11 to confirm my order and then not long after, a text message as well. It was nice of them to ensure it was what I had ordered. My delivery arrived at exactly 12:45pm on the dot. How precise is that? The delivery man was friendly as he took our pastas out of delivery bag - it was quite amusing being delivered such a small looking box from his delivery bag. The pastas were still steaming hot as we opened up the boxes.

Left to right: Penne Crema Al Pollo  & Gnocchi Sorentina, normally $15.50

The gnocchi came with a napolatana sauce topped with basil and mozzarella cheese - a lot of melted mozzarella cheese! Whilst the gnocchi wasn't house made and albeit a bit stodgy, I still enjoyed this dish and was my preferred one out of the two we ordered. It was a very standard pasta and the napolatana sauce was very flavoursome.

The Crema Al Pollo was supposed to come with fettuccini but they accepted by request to substitute for penne as I find fettuccini messier to eat. The creamy sauce turned out to be the napolatana sauce with the addition of cream, which toned down the flavour a fair bit but I prefer a stronger flavour! And I think I have a preference for my avocado to be raw after trying avocado cooked for the first time. There also wasn't quite enough sauce yet it was oilier in comparison to the gnocchi.

Overall, Menulog is an incredibly easy to use online menu ordering system that is convenient and saves you the trouble of having to leave your house. Because let's face it, sometimes you really don't want to :P I'll gladly order through Menulog again to try other nearby restaurants.

Mancini's Ristorante Italiano
21 Burwood Rd
Belfield, NSW, 2191