The Abercrombie, Chippendale

 
Who's heart stops just thinking about a deep-fried Golden Gaytime? As if the Golden Gaytime itself was rich enough, the crew over at the Abercrombie just had to dip it in batter and chuck it in the deep fryer too! My friends and I decided to catch up over a super late lunch after uni, since this hotel is very close by.

They have specials during the week as well as tonnes of lunch specials from 12-4pm for just $10! CHEAP AS.

Korean fried cornflake chicken, $10.00 lunch special

Who doesn't love fried chicken? I've never had one with a cornflake batter, but this was just as good with a nice crunchy exterior, succulent meat and damned awesome with a squeeze of lime and dunked into the spicy mayo on the side. The ketchup heart was a cute touch don't you think?

Deep fried mac n cheese, $10.00 lunch special

Mac and cheese is already comfort food at its finest - creamy, carbolicious and heavy. With a crunchy batter on the outside? Even better. Not something I'd have every day of course :P And definitely goes down with jugs of beer and cider - get them at only $10/jug from 12-10pm Monday to Friday which is insanely good value!

Double reuben dog, $10.00 lunch special

I normally have enough trouble finishing one hot dog (damned being a small Asian girl) so when this huge as double dog came to the table, I was stunned. How was I to finish this? It was bigger than all my guy friend's schnitzels and burgers! They were definitely generous with the mustard,sauerkraut and dill pickle sauce. And squeeze on the ketchup they give you on the side and you have a solid hot dog. Waaay too filling for me but hell yes to getting your bang for buck!

Deep fried chocolate brownie, $7.00

Yes, they now have a deep fried brownie. Whaaat. A bit too heavy for me - I think I'll stick to traditional brownies thanks :)

Deep fried golden gaytime, $7.00

To be honest, I wasn't particularly overly keen for this as it has been hyped up by the food bloggers all over the blogosphere. It was good, but not something so fantastic I wouldn't be able to help myself but rave about it to everyone. It really is like the deep fried ice-creams you get at Asian restaurants but with a Golden Gaytime centre instead :)

All in all, the Abercrombie has solid pub food that is great for uni students on a tight budget. Relaxing vibe, cheap booze and as long as you have good company, you're set for a good time.

The Abercrombie
100 Broadway (Corner Abercrombie Street)  
NSW, 2007, Chippendale

Nutino Brownies With Peanut Butter Swirls

Have you ever decided that you wanted some Nutella on a cold Winter's day only to open the jar and discover that the consistency of your Nutella is well, hard? And not to mention completely unspreadable on bread? Well one day, a friend of mine introduced me to Nutino. It's like Nutella only it doesn't become a strange texture on cold days! Not to mention it's also cheaper! Do I need to convince anyone anymore?

A while back when Nutino was half price, we bought a few jars and this last particular jar had been sitting in our pantry shelf for quite some time. My sister was craving brownies so a batch of brownies were going to be made! (aren't I the nicest sister?)

These brownies are awesome. Gooey just out of the oven, and wonderfully chewy if left to cool. The Nutino taste isn't too prominent, but it seems to help make the brownies richer. If that wasn't enough, I decided to swirl some peanut butter into half the mixture to see how that fared too. It was nice, but I think classic chocolate will always win! The brownies were all gone by the end of the day of the day.

Nutino Brownies With Peanut Butter Swirls
An original recipe by Crystal Noir

Makes one batch using a 26 x 17cm pan

Ingredients

For Nutino Brownie
1/2 cup light Olive Spread (you can substitute margarine or butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup Nutino
1/2 cup baking cocoa
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup milk

For Peanut Butter Swirl
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp plain flour

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and line your tray with baking paper.

To make the brownies
1. Add Olive Spread, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence, salt and Nutino to a large bowl and beat until combined.

2. Mix in baking cocoa and flour until just combined.

3. If the mixture looks a bit too thick, add in desired amount of milk. I ended up using a quarter of a cup of milk.

4. Pour/spoon batter into baking pan.

To make peanut butter swirl
1. Combine all the ingredients. It should resemble a thick paste.

2.Drop little blobs of the peanut butter paste on top of the brownie batter.

3. Using a skewer/chopstick/knife, swirl the blobs together until you are satisfied with how it looks.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cut and then eat!

The peanut butter flavour wasn't too prominent as you can see from my first photo. The peanut butter only sits at the top. So if you are a fan of peanut butter and want a more prominent flavour, I would suggest pouring in half your brownie batter, spoon some blobs of peanut butter, then cover it with the rest of your brownie batter, top it with the remaining peanut butter paste, and then swirl.