‘zumbo cafe is open, you should have your day off there!’ came the sms from bowb last thursday and at just the right moment too as i was contemplating what to do for 3 hours by myself in the city awaiting the boys’ ramen challenge that night. one bus ride later (442 from the qvb!) and im standing in the courtyard of adriano zumbo cafe chocolat (308 Darling St, Balmain (inside Balmain Mall, about 6 stores to the right of the patisserie)


for days, weeks, months we have been waiting for this cafe to open and belle had been awesome enough to give us updates complete with photos


the lights how they make me hungry, like giant mint balls no?


and there be chocolates! $9.50 per 100g


and more chocolates! and macarons at the back are $2each. there are some savoury stuff available but um youre at a chocolate cafe!


the cafe is not that big which gives it its charm i s’pose =P the gorgeous lounge area is a shiny wood paneled room filled with soft cushions of red, black and white


and hung high above was this impressive chandelier which for some reason reminded me of red licorice or twizzlers…


but you dont care about the inside right you just want to see the food! sadly on that first day the desserts hadnt begun and because it IS a chocolate cafe and all the chocolates looked so preety i decided i didnt need dinner and selected 5 to go along with my fabulous hot chocolate. the glass it was small but so deliciously chocolatey (2 days later when i return the glass has transformed into a giant mug whee!). both the fried egg and the rotten egg are my immediate first choices from the chocolate display, the fried egg a disk of white chocolate with a chewy fruity centre and a sprinkle of pepper and the rotten egg a milk chocolate disk studded with rice crispies and a chewy red centre which for some reason reminds me of the cookieman harlequin biscuit centres… the butterscotch is gleefully bitten into and its innards sucked out mmm salty sweet goodness and i selected the unfortunately named red wine cameltoe partly because of the name and partly because it was pink and shiny… apparently it is a pretty common chocolate mould and as bowb says what else can you expect from a 27 y.o boy =P


or a 25 y.o girl heh heh


visit number 2 to the cafe was with foodbloggers lorraine, belle and william, richard, chris and tim. while waiting for everyone to arrive we check out the gourmet traveller mag which had an article on the zumbo king before the lovely counter-girl rachel informed us that the menus werent ready yet and explained to us the 3 desserts that were available. we order 1 of each and before we know it our drinks arrive. lorraine picks the iced cherry chocolate ($4.50), belle opts for the dark hot chocolate and i the milk hot chocolate ($4). my hot chocolate is perfect and i am momentarily silenced and content to drink nothing but this drink for the rest of my life


then our desserts arrive and cameras are whipped out in a frenzy


the famous miss marple concoction from king zumbos patisserie laughs and makes an entrance as the miss marple deconstructed ($13.50)- marscapone crepes with maple & strawberry + orange jellies and i am instantly filled with dessert envy but luckily today we have decided we’re all family and plates are passed around and shared before returning to its original owner.


lorraine picks ‘the younger years’ – hot chocolate fondant with peanut butter icecream and raspberry injection ($13.50) and is rather amused with the syringe and kidney dish. the spoonful i managed to sneak was sublime i love peanut butter in pretty much any dessert


as soon as the words ‘it’s not a hamburger’ ($13.50) came out of rachel’s mouth i knew i had to have it even without knowing what it was lol and i was absolutely delighted because lately ive been on an icecream sandwich phase and my dessert was a chocolate macaron icecream sandwich with a dolce latte gelato and a rice pudding base garnished with crushed up chocolate cookie ‘soil’ we couldnt quite figure out why it tasted like a banoffee pie but hey im not complaining because it was fantastic!


after our desserts went to dessert heaven our group began stumbling off leaving lorraine, richard and i to have a chat with rachel who said she pretty much lives in that cafe arriving super early and staying until close. it’s also nice to know that you can bring the cakes you have bought from the patisserie to the cafe to eat. just as we step out the door we notice mr adriano zumbo himself standing at the coffee window. lorraine and i nudge each other ‘say something to him!’ ‘im shy you do it!’ ‘no way dude!’ he must have heard us because he turned and we ended up chatting with him, finding out his sister works in a morgue so she knows where to source new unused syringes for the desserts and laughing at him because he was covered in permanent marker from being chopper reid at a halloween party


it was great to see everyone again hope we can do it again soon and as for the rest of you go forth and visit the chocolate cafe!

2 hours before the show was to start, the mothership managed to score us some free tix to the highlight of good food month which everyone has been talking about- ferran adria. he was in sydney (and melb) to spruik his new book a day at elBulli.


and for the next 2 hours my little mind was blown away by the gorgeous photo slideshows that were interspersed with adrias talk. dressed in his chefs whites, the man was charming with a wry sense of humour that managed to be conveyed perfectly by his translator. he was passionate and so eager to share his techniques and experiences such as the mimetiso technique making jelly in the perfect shape of strawberries.

there was a round of laughter when adria showed a film clip on how he made his unique sponge cake with something as simple as a microwave which he claimed provided the most incredibly lightest texture. famous for his use of nitrogen in the kitchen adria says “nitrogen is a very simple product but everyone associates it with science… like it’s from mars… but please dont stick your finger in liquid nitrogen it will hurt!”


adria said his greatest pressure is respect. “in creativity the worst enemy is monotony. to avoid the monotony it’s important to create a certain amount of chaos. what is chaos? not knowing what to do.” attending this talk was probably as close as ill ever get to ferran adria and elBulli- did you know his 50 seat restaurant takes only 8,000 people a year and a crazy two million apply for places? while i was totally engrossed in his talk i wasnt a huge fan of the q&a time where the editor from good living and 2 sydney chefs asked him questions which sounded so un-spontaneous. another peeve of mine was the amount of people who left their seats while he was talking just so they could secure a book for him to sign at the end. pfft it’s not like you can press pause and rewind to see what youve missed out while you were gone!


after the show there was a mad rush for the queue to get adria to sign their book but what some unlucky people found out was that if you had preordered the ticket + book deal then the book was already signed heh heh and they got kicked off the queue which meant they missed out on the photo lol a giant thank you to aunty nancy (and her sons gf) who got us the tix!


and since we hadnt had any dinner we crossed the street to swissotel for a sugar hit!


‘three treats with chocolate’- milk chocolate velvet cheesecake; dark chocolate with caramel & pear; white chocolate with coconut sorbet. the cheesecake was gorgeously smooth but my favourite part of the dessert was the square of caramel and pear sweet, but not cloying


the drinks were a bit on the strong side haha but very pretty looking at least =P

edit: returned to menya haymarket for a quick feed and noticed the photos of the previous menya godzilla ramen challenger winners are gone. not sure if this means they’ve stopped the challenge will ask again on next visit

Menya (Shop TG8, 8 Quay Street, Haymarket) is home to the giant bowls of ramen and to the famed godzilla challege. the boy has been psyched the past month having mini challenges of 2x menya ramen in 15mins for lunch and then feeling nauseous haha


over four times the portion of a menya ramen- over 2kgs the sign exclaims and all for the low low price of $29.90! if you finish the bowl in under 30mins it is free and youve earnt a photo on the wall of fame


the boys line up glasses of water in anticipation. wally was the only challenger game enough to attempt the godzilla with noods. funnily enough they asked the boys to move to the table by the wall i think in case we ate their food lol


and heres the giant bowl of noodles! they opted for the soy based soup over the tonkotsu because they knew that even tho the fatty tonkotsu soup was tastier it was definitely more salty and more filling than the soy based


noods looking slightly scared


the bowl is bigger than his head…


the boys before they begin. they didnt start right away and waited for the noodles to cool down a bit before the waitress started timing them


cleverly they both asked for bowls (at which the waitress replied with ok but you cant share) and noods seemed to have much fun making a mess and dumping out the noodles into the smaller bowls before it could absorb the soup


the supporters cheering them along


fiona and i run outside and snap some fotos of them from the window above


but oh no wally is first to crack!


and noods is struggling


noooooo


lol sadly wally is a massive fail with what looks like half the godzilla bowl of ramen left


and noods we declare an awesome fail with just one bowl of ramen left


the laminated warning they had to read before attempting the challenge- “please stop eating if you are experiencing dizziness or nausea. If you do, please let the staff know straight away. We take no responsibility for any adverse health effects that results from consuming this product” haha they wont be attempting the challenge for a while but theres always next time… and other restaurants =P

‘dya think they’re gonna lock us foodbloggers in a room and then kill us?’ was a question that did the rounds a few weeks ago when an invite to a website launch was received. ‘nah they wouldnt bother feeding us if their intention was to kill us’ came the slightly reassuring response. alot of people still believe blogs are all about the mundane ramblings of the average joe and there has been alot of talk on the blogosphere on whether or not we have the right to write if we are not ‘professionals’ pfft

the problem now with print media is that by the time this seasons fruit and vegetables start appearing at the farmers markets us food bloggers will see it and immediately cook/bake and then blog about it straight away. theres such a huge collection of blogs out there, all with different takes on recipes that when the magazines hit the shelves it feels as if weve already seen it which we have because blogging is so immediate (and free heh). the website launch that we (helen from grab your fork, lorraine from not quite nigella , christie from fig and cherry, anna from morsels and musings, lisa from spicy icecream and kathryn from limes and lycopene) were invited to was for all recipes. all recipes is the world’s largest food-focused social networking website and has recently launched an aussie website where all measurements are in the metric and if youre unsure on how to start a blog you can register as a member, create a profile page and add your own reviews and photos.

step 1: start with one comfortable and unique venue. after a one hour crazy cab ride to surry hills, i found myself climbing up 3 flights of stairs (almost there! the signs encourage) and step into a gorgeous open plan room filled with tea light candles and sparkling fairy lights. in the centre of the room is a long table with namecards that have been strategically placed and are surrounded by bright red chillis.


a nametag! i chortle to myself oh how i feel so special!


step 2: add twenty flavoursome guests. and flavoursome they were! a mix of food bloggers and industry media as well as the reps from all recipes


step 3: stir thru 3 delicious hand-picked authentic dishes. dinner tonight was made from recipes on the all recipes website.


grilled kangaroo and cactus tostada


jamaican prawns


but the star of the night were these absolutely awesome chilli chocolate brownies. crispy crunchy outsides and gooey fudgey chocolatey innards with the perfect amount of chilli heat that was not too high in the burning. i polish off my brownie super fast and start eyeing christies untouched dessert who hands over her plate about halfway thru and then the gorgeous darcie from zing tells me she doesnt eat chocolate and also hands me her plate. i dont argue. 3 brownies are better than 1 =D


step 4: top with good conversation, great wine and a relaxed atmosphere. our food matching wines were from starvedog lane. the bartender also made one sexy mojito mmm


step 5: season with 2 guest speakers – lisa sharples, company president and ian ‘herbie’ hemphill, spice guru. sadly i didnt take any photos when they gave their little talks but this was the awesome gift pack i got- a shiny silver mixing bowl from all recipes and a box of herbies spices. the dinner was a lovely relaxed event and i got to chat to some of the reps from the website who had flown in from the states. it was thrilling to be recognised and be treated ‘like a rockstar’ (heh heh found that on the zing blog) but its great that food bloggers are finally getting some credit. much thanks to all recipes for inviting us to the launch and to darcie for making sure we arrived there and back safely we had an awesome time!