There’s been quite a few new restaurants opening recently in Sydney which is awesome and hopefully a sign that the hospitality industry is bouncing back from the horror that was 2020. Beast & Co (425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills) has recently taken over the site of Bare Grill, serving Czech cuisine and what caught my eye was their beef tartare.

The Beef tartare ($26) has got to be one of my favourites in Sydney! The flavours are balanced, there’s the crunch of chopped pickles and the perfectly seasoned chopped beef. I highly rate the garlic-y crisp bread too, it’s such a perfect beer snack and on Tuesday’s you can get the tartare and 500ml beer for $24 which is crazy good value.

The Cold cooked fish ($14) is ceviche style- the fish is ‘cooked’ in a traditional vinegar pickling liquid used in the Czech Republic. The fish changes depending on what’s fresh at the market and today’s offering was salmon and the curls of pickled chilli and onion makes for a bright and zingy starter.

The Chicken liver pate ($18) is a generous serve with 2 quenelles served with onion jam, pickled vegetables and a bowl of grilled bread. The pate isn’t completely smooth but I quite liked that there was a bit of texture and happily slathered inch thickness portions.

A definite must order is the Duck breast ($32). The skin is so incredibly crisp, the layer of fat perfectly rendered and the meat baby pink and juicy. There’s a bed of caramelised red cabbage, red grapes, berries, and a swirl of the most delicious port wine reduction that I would’ve licked off the plate had I been alone.

The twice cooked chicken breast ($26) is first sous-vide and then finished in the pan, ensuring the chicken is incredibly juicy and tender. Special shoutout to the creamed corn, I freaking love corn in all it’s forms!

Lately my favourite cut of steak is the flank and Beast & Co’s 300g flank steak ($34) sure is a beauty, a perfect medium rare, tender and so incredibly flavoursome that it doesn’t even need the accompanying horseradish cream.

We can’t have steak without mash so a serve of Potato purée ($9) is ordered and woah baby all the butter has me swooning with joy.

Beast & Co
425 Bourke Street,
Surry Hills

It’s been YEARS since I’ve eaten pancakes. I still have very vivid memories of working at a certain pancake chain back in uni years but then I spotted the very instagrammable Happyfield (96 Ramsay Street, Haberfield) and I HAD to go. Just be warned, while they do take your name and number, the wait time for a table can stretch up to an hour if you go on the weekend. Oh and they’re licensed! I highly recommend Yulli’s cider haha #notsponsored

The Sweet stack ($21) is pretty as a picture and comes with 2 pancakes, charred banana, fruit, whipped cream and 100% Canadian maple syrup. And yes it does taste as good as it looks, the pancakes are light and not at all stodgy. I loved the char on the banana and who doesn’t love a drowning of good maple syrup??

The Savoury stack ($22) comes with 2 pancakes, 2 fried eggs, crispy bacon, Pepe Saya butter and 100% Canadian maple syrup. I love the sweet and salty combo so this is much more my jam. Also Pepe Saya is bomb, I can never have enough butter.

All sides are $5 and I couldn’t resist ordering the Hashbrown, which is definitely not like your usual soggy hashbrowns. Instead, Happyfield’s housemade version is golden with perfectly crisp edges and super fluffy innards.

I can’t help but smirk at the name of the McLovin Muffin ($12) but this was my absolute fave and I reckon a must order! Unlike the Maccas version, the chicken sausage patties tasted much lighter and well, less processed. The folded eggs were perfect and melty cheddar cheese, chipotle mayo and chicken and herb salt brought everything together in one delicious package.

On a return visit after waiting 1.5 hours (my god never go on a weekend), we ordered the Steak and eggs ($25) off the lunch menu. The grilled flank was a touch over but plenty tasty smothered with the green peppercorn bearnaise. There’s also a hash brown, tomato and grilled gem heart hiding under the fried egg blanket.

Happyfield
96 Ramsay St,
Haberfield

Well, it’s that time again for the 2020 recap. The year started with devastating bushfires and then COVID-19 started to spread like out of a horror movie. I was lucky enough to still keep my job but at reduced hours and was grateful that my team and my friends were able to communicate with each other thru the lockdown months.

There was a lot of tv watched, from the ridiculousness that was Tiger King to the nostalgia of Kobra Kai, and finally getting into super addictive K dramas- Crash Landing On You and The King Eternal Monarch were my faves. Surprisingly Masterchef was a big hit this year, the new judges were a breath of fresh air to the same ol same ol format over the years and it was fun screaming at the tv again.

I caved and bought a Nintendo Switch about a month into lockdown and then didn’t sleep after getting Animal Crossing. I obsessed over turnip prices and collecting all the fish and insects for my museum before switching over to Pokémon Sword and catching all the Pokémon (gotta catch em all!)

Nimbus, our pile of fluff and pure doggo happiness finally joined the fam after being on a wait list since 2018! She’s so incredibly smart and will do anything for chicken. She has grown so fast, from being a shoe stealing, sock chewing fiend to a joyful, bouncing blur that wants pats from everyone.

Random hobby wise, many puzzles were completed, notably a 1000 piece rainbow though of course, I ceebs framing. I learnt how to make paracord bracelets and made quite a few cheese platters over on @helloisitbrie and while I’m still very much a noob I’ve enjoyed learning and arranging and making them all pretty.

Joined TikTok and felt so old but can’t stop won’t stop haha and while I didn’t bake any sourdough I did make a heck of a lot of biscoff cheesecakes, cheesy shin ramen and grilled cheese toasties. And dino chicken nuggies.

While eating out was cut down a lot this year, highlight of the year was the set menu at @chaco_bar, the chawanmushi was sublime and the yakitori just fantastic and special mention to the cloud-like soufflé pancakes from @gram_pancakes_australia

I hope everyone has a safe and delicious new year, here’s to 2021!

When Kowloon Café opened in Chinatown last year I was so excited to devour all my fave Hong Kong cha chaan teng eats since damn Covid19 means no travel for the immediate future >.< The restaurant fit out is awesome with vintage thermos on every table, diner style booths and a menu that is split into snacks and larger meals.

The Crispy butter pineapple bread ($6.80) is a sight for sore eyes! The fluffy bolo bao bun with the signature crackly pineapple looking glazed top is sliced in half, lightly toasted and sandwiched back together with a fat square of butter in the centre.

The bun is perfect with super fluffy innards although the butter does have a slight margarine-y mouth feel but all in all it’s a great snack.

Anyone that knows me knows about my love for eggs so I had to give the Super thick scrambled egg sandwich ($8.80) a try and it did not disappoint. Soft white bread gently holds a giant pillow of scrambled eggs (more folded than scrambled), this is not a sandwich of textures but a sandwich of pure happiness.

And because I wanted more eggs, we ordered the Scrambled egg with a lot of shallot rice with prawns ($15.80), their wording not mine lol. The eggs were again more folded than scrambled but were perfectly silky. The shallot oil was crazy addictive and the giant prawns fresh and juicy.

The Cheese and beef tenderloin mix instant noodle ($15.80) is the very definition of comfort food, the beef is oh so tender with lil fat nubbins. And not gonna lie but I love me some instant noodles and the slightly sweet but rich curry just made for the perfect food on a rainy day. I would’ve loved grated cheese for higher melty factor instead of the parmesan cheese but it was still appreciated because I will accept all gifts of cheese.

Kowloon Cafe,
Shop 7A-9A 421-429, Sussex St,
Haymarket