Youeni Foodstore, Castle Hill
Westies! Youeni Foodstore of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst fame is now open at Castle Hill! Thanks to a tipoff from Everybody Loves Ramen on the wonderful world of Instagram, the boy and I managed to roll out of bed and arrive just in time at Youeni (250 Old Northern Rd, Castle Hill) for the tail end of breakfast. I chose the Pate Brisse Quiche Tart ($5), which is gloriously eggy with bits of caramelised onion providing the occasional sweetness and relief against the incredibly buttery base. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the side salad ($3 extra), the radicchio and watercress leaves are lightly dressed with a citrus-y dressing and ground pepper and I feel virtuous and healthy heh.
Noods has of course chosen The Breakfast ($16)- creamy scrambled eggs on toast, sausage, ginormous field mushroom and a fat vine ripened tomato. The pot of cottage cheese felt a little out of place and adding a side of bacon ($4.50) makes it a tad on the exxy side for a breakfast out west but everything on that plate tastes so fresh that we know we’ll return.
The following weekend and we’re back to try out the lunch menu. We overhear the waitress describing the Roast Lamb Sambo ($13) as bloody awesome so I give it a whirl. While delicious it just didn’t quite blow my mind away- the slow roasted lamb chunks were tender but were unfortunately a little on the cold side and with the torrential rain that day I was hoping for piping hot innards. And argh I hate to be a nit picker but I couldn’t discern any potato that the menu said the sandwich came with nor any of the sweet chilli in the sweet chilli mayo. The bread was awesome though, soft and pillowy in the middle and studded with grains.
Noods has chosen the Angus certified Beef Rump ($26) which looks and tastes glorious though he mourns the absence of the roast potatoes which was swapped with cannellini beans. The beans are forgiven though because there are ribbons of lyonnaise onions aka caramelised deliciousness which just makes everything incredible.
How could we resist the desserts on display at the front counter! A Lemon Meringue Tart ($4) and a Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart ($4) are the lucky winners of the day. The cloud of meringue is light and fluffy and biting through it reveals a layer of lemon which is just sour enough to be tangy but still refreshing.
But it is the salted caramel chocolate tart that holds my heart, the oozy top layer of caramel has me swooning- I want a bucket of the stuff and to be left alone with a spoon. There’s a rich dark chocolate layer on the bottom which balances out the sweetness and of course the shells for both the tarts are buttery perfection.
Other delicious desserts on the day were brownies, an intriguing looking caramelised banana muffin and a chai and chocolate eclair. Next time my pretties!
Glance upwards and you will spy staff hard at work baking.
Ok so it totally looks like Dan Murphy’s has a cafe but it’s Youeni’s which shares the same corner entrance and lift which conveniently goes to their car park so you don’t have to battle the horror that is Castle Towers car park! Service is a bit shaky though friendly and food that’s not ours occasionally arrives at our table but hey they’ve only been open for 2 weeks so cut them some slack! Definitely a welcome addition to the neighbourhood and open 7am-5pm every day with dinner soon to come!
