So the boy and I have slowly been knocking cafes off on our places-to-eat-near-our-area list and we finally hit up Morley Eats in Rosebery, just down the road from The Cannery. I was tossing up between the Red Velvet waffle with fruits but instead opted for the savoury route and chose the Hashbrown waffle ($14) with a generous amount of avocado, a light schmear of chilli jam, a fried egg and miscellaneous shrubbery. While I thought the waffle was a perfectly acceptable savoury waffle, I reckon it could’ve done with a bit more potato? The edges of the waffle were nice and crisp and was surprisingly fluffy in the centre but I dunno I think I was just imagining an actual hash brown and then waffled?

On another visit I was feeling a little under the weather and in need of a giant breakfast to replenish my soul so ordered the Grilled halloumi with avo smash, mushrooms and poached eggs ($17). Aaaaand because I couldn’t help myself I added a side of corn fritters ($5). I was totally expecting the corn fritters to be giant crispy nuggets of corn and eyed the plate a good 10 seconds before tentatively cutting into them. My fears of the fritters being doughy were immediately allayed, instead they were fluffy and cloudlike and studded with juicy corn kernels.

The 1/4 Portuguese chicken ($12) was pretty tasty with the accompanying peri peri sauce. The meat was incredibly tender and juicy but the skin! The glorious chicken skin! So crisp! Almost like chicken crackling! And the hand cut chips were great, golden and crunchy with plenty of salt. pickles

Noods can never resist the call of the Shakshuka ($16.50), with Morley Eats’ version serving poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce with peppers, onion and served with a pile o flatbread. It’s hearty and warming for the soul, perfect for this tail end of winter!

Stab stab!

I’ll be back to try the pizzas and the rest of their waffle menu!

Morley Eats
755 Botany Road (Corner Morley Avenue),
Rosebery

Trading Hours
7 days: 7am – 3pm

You know when you keep seeing photos of a certain dish on IG and instantly know that you just HAVE to have it? That was me a couple of weekends ago when I kept seeing pics of food from Ester in Chippendale.

So I dragged the boy over last weekend for a lazy long lunch and we start with Roasted rock oysters ($5 each). They were bloody perfect considering how I normally hate cooked oysters! They were briny, plump specimens, not entirely cooked through so they still quivered when slurped straight from the shell and there was just enough of the zingy horseradish emulsion to set the tastesbuds a-tingle.

The Fermented potato bread ($22) is a must order. A MUST ORDER! The bread is blistered and crusty on the outside from it’s time in the wood fired oven. It’s super light and fluffy on the inside, just begging to be torn apart and dunked into the kefir cream with a squish of dashi jelly and a spoonful of salmon roe.

I ordered the Calamari & lardo on a stick ($16) solely because of the magical word lardo and it did not disappoint. Folds of smoky, tender calamari alternate between delicately thin ribbons of melty lardo that have been slightly caramelised by their baptism in fire.

We couldn’t resist Ester’s take on the classic sausage snag with the Blood sausage sanga ($9). A pillow of fluffy white bread holds a squiggle of mayo (or is it aioli hmm) and a steamed then roasted sausage made from minced pork belly, rice, nuts and pig’s blood. It’s surprisingly balanced, the sausage is damn tasty and doesn’t taste overly meaty or salty.

NOW THIS! THIS! The Potato pasta ($18) is what I’ve been drooling over this past month and it’s just as incredible as I had imagined. The sheets of pasta are silky and tender and hiding a incredibly smooth potato puree that melts on the tongue. The sauce is a potato dashi and puncturing the egg yolk so that it runs all over just adds even more umami to the dish and sends me into a dizzying stupour.

I had my heart set on the sourdough ice cream but when I saw the dessert special float by me I knew I had to have it in my life. BEHOLD! A giantass choux puff filled with cumquat and white chocolate cream!

Innards! The choux is deliciously crisp and flaky, reminiscent of Beard Papa’s cream puffs and the filling while delightfully creamy isn’t too sweet and is just the perfect end to the meal.

Ester
46-52 Meagher St,
Chippendale

Trading Hours:
LUNCH
Sat: 12pm onwards
Sun: 12pm – 6pm

DINNER
Mon – Sat: 6pm – late

So over the weekend the boy and I went to Holey Moley for a round of putt putt (where I completely kicked his ass) and we found ourselves outside The Stinking Bishops, ogling the cheese displayed in the fridge. Surprisingly for someone who’s this cheese obsessed I can’t believe it’s taken me 3 whole years to visit! But hey let’s not dwell.

We start with the Organic chicken liver pate ($20). It is perfect- rich, creamy, ridiculously smooth and the spoonfuls of apple puree and tumble of ginger and tamarind jelly helps to brighten the palette.

The French onion mac & cheese ($26) is one giant mountain of insanity.

LOOK AT IT! My gut is twisting just looking at this haha the creamy mac & cheese is buried under a pile of caramelised onions, scamorza (Italian cow’s milk cheese) and gruyere. It is incredibly cheesy and is every lactose intolerant persons simultaneous dream and nightmare.

There’s a Smoked Wagyu ‘Mr Crispy’ sandwich ($13) on the menu but we choose the Mushroom ‘Mr Crispy’ sandwich ($11).

The sammich is stuffed with juicy field and enoki mushrooms, melty taleggio cheese and a generous schmear of garlic and thyme mayo. The side salad was a welcome addition to cut through the richness of the toastie, especially the florets of pickled cauliflower!

And of course we had to get some cheese! 3 cheeses will set you back $29 and comes with muscatels, a slice of fig and walnut, quince paste and a bowl full of bread, lavosh and crackers. We get a buttery Brie Fermier, the creamy Domaine de Bresse mild blue and the unctuously ripe Epoisses de Bourgogne, in all its gooey, oozy glory.

The Stinking Bishops
5/63-71 Enmore Rd,
Newtown

Trading Hours:
Lunch: Fri – Sun: 12pm – 3:30pm
Dinner: Tues – Thurs: 5pm – 9pm
Fri & Sat: 5.30pm – 10pm

Do we need another burger joint in Sydney? I say the more the merrier, especially if they’re sustainability focused! 4 Ounces Burger Co has set up shop in the old Henley’s Wholefoods in Alexandria and run by head chef Rory Donnelley (ex-Cafe del Mar) and his childhood friend Mitch Coleman. With the majority of their produce sourced from within a 300-kilometre radius of Sydney and hip hop tunes pumping, 4 Ounces is definitely a welcome addition to the burger scene.

The Common ($10) is the classic cheeseburger with 4 Ounces ‘special blend’ pattie (beef sourced from Hereford Red, Orange), slices of Westmont pickles, gloriously melty American cheese, mustard, ketchup and onion on a milk bun which comes from The Bread and Butter Project. For a tenner it’s pretty damn awesome!

You guys totally knew I’d get the Ol’ Dirty ($19) right? I mean, cmon, DONUTS FOR THE BUNS?! Hell yeah! And Donut Papi to boot! There’s two 4 Ounce ‘special blend’ patties, melty American cheese, slices of Westmont pickles, rashers of maple bacon, and a good amount of house sauce all sitting a-pretty between the donuts which surprisingly held up against all that juiciness. And oh how I do love a good sweet and salty combo!

On another visit, Noods chooses the Ghostface ($16) with 4 ounce ‘special blend’ pattie, American cheese, chilli Westmont pickle, hot sauce, jalapeño aioli, lettuce, tomato and onion on a milk bun. We’re not sure if our spice tolerance has improved but we didn’t find this burger spicy at all. The pickles were zingy but yeah could probs do with more hot sauce!

4 Ounces do a pretty kickass chicken burger with the Birdman ($17) and the organic, free-range chicken is sourced from Feather and Bone. The batter on the southern fried chicken is spot on, golden and crisp and encasing perfectly juicy chicken. There’s slices of American cheese, Westmont pickles, lettuce, tomato, a lil hot sauce with the house sauce and housed in a milk bun.

There’s never a contest between normal fries if the option for Loaded Fries ($10) is ever on the menu. 4 Ounces version is a pretty generous serve, the basket of golden fries are loaded with jalapeno aioli, chilli pickles, crispy maple bacon bits, hot sauce and smothered in liquid cheese.

4 Ounces Burger Co
38 Mitchell Road,
Alexandria

Trading Hours:
Tues – Sat: 12pm – 12am
Sun: 12pm – 10pm