2014 Wrapup
It’s the 2014 wrapup! Fave burgers, fried chicken and donuts 😀
Heeeeey guys! Can you believe 2014 is coming to an end? So you know what that means, it’s time for the end of year roundup! It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster year for us, the boy and I have had some amazing experiences like going to Japan for the first time, moving into the city and celebrating my brother getting married. But we lost our grandfather early this year and our hearts broke into a million pieces. Anywhos ready? Let’s go!
My fave fried chicken goes to Belle’s in Melbourne. Their southern style fried chicken was a thing of beauty- golden and crispy batter with super juicy meat and creamy blue cheese sauce!
And in Sydney, popup Rupert & Ruby, the second restaurant in the crowd funded Icon Park for their amazing fried chicken and fluffy waffles filled with honey butter. Second fave is def Red Pepper, the snow cheese fried chicken is crazy addictive!!
Smoked meats looks to have finally hit Syd and I can’t be happier. I fell head over heels in love with the smoked wings and ribs from Vic’s Meats at the Sydney Fish Markets. Papi Chulo’s is still my go-to for brisket, bone marrow and ceviche, with The Oxford Tavern a close runner up with their ribs.
Work this year has been bumpy, I went from full time to part time and now contract work but it meant I was free to work for Wonderbao at the Night Noodle Markets, making the best baos ever!!! Seriously dat braised pork belly bao was all kinds of amazing and I may have eaten my weight in them. (PS anyone know anyone hiring for admin/social media/marketing coughcough)
Fave cheeseburger this year was from Pub Life Kitchen. Followed closely by Tuckshop, Mary’s, Paper Plane Cafe and newly opened Burger Project. PLK wins because of their crazy ass concoctions every Wed like the truffle & foie gras burger or the fried chicken and pork crackle burger omgz. I’ve yet to try the fried chicken burger from the Mary’s CBD joint but will defs try them soon.
My brother got a chow chow and named him Chowder. It is ridiculous how much I love this fluffy dog! He’s super calm for a 6 month old puppy and doesn’t bark or jump and squeeee HE’S SO FLUFFEHHH!
There was a long weekend escape to Melbourne to eat ALL the donuts and Doughboys Doughnuts were the bomb, super fluffy and freshly dipped into the glazes.
Glazed Doughnuts are currently making the rounds in Syd, popping up at all the good coffee joints and doing the weekend markets. My fave is the peach cobbler followed by the sticky date, the donuts are super fluffy and light and deeeeelicious!
Japan was everything I’d dreamed of and more! The sushi trains where the sushi literally zoomed to your seat on trains; the sheer amount of people at Shibuya crossing; the bowls of ramen that were ridiculously tasty no matter where we ate; the jaw dropping presentations of the food in the department store food courts; everyone was super polite and helpful and argh I want to go back!!!
My baby brother got hitched! Welcome to the family Shirley! The ceremony was at Rayavadee Resort and it is just about the most beautiful place I have ever visited.
We lost our grandfather and there are no words to describe the loss. RIP Goong Goong.
The 6th Annual Sydney Food Bloggers Picnic was the hottest day ever but we had an amazing turnout and meeting bloggers in real life is always a blast!
With the help of the parents, the boy and I have finally moved into the city and surrounded by so many food options it boggles the mind! Not having to worry about public transport home is such a relief! I’ll miss Parra esp all the local cafes but I am so fricken excited to be so close to everything 😀
Aaaand there was that time where I thought building the Sydney Harbour Bridge out of Tim Tams would be a fun project… It was all fun and games right up until parts of the structure started collapsing and we ended up having to use double the amount of melted chocolate to fortify the joints. But hey that was one tasty project!
I leave you with this pic of the mega ice cream sundae served in a sink from Terrigal Ice Creamery. Yep that’s 15 scoops of happiness- cookie dough, hazelnut, New York chocolate, ferraro rocher, pistachio, bacio, chocolate, watermelon, chocolate chip, death by chocolate, milk chocolate, rainbow, pecan, snickers, cookies & cream aaaand whipped cream, fudge, flake and wafers!!! Shared between 5 adults and 2 kids and demolished in minutes haha
Thanks everyone for reading my lil corner of the internet! Here’s to a delicious 2015!
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all a safe, delicious and happy holiday!
Rupert & Ruby, Darlinghurst – CLOSED
I was determined to visit Rupert & Ruby (78 Stanley St, Darlinghurst) before they closed solely for the Fried Chicken & Waffles with honey butter and vanilla bean ice cream and it is AMAZING!
Edit: CLOSED
With the amount of restaurants opening in Sydney, my To Eat List has been growing at a rate that even if I had unlimited funds I would need multiple stomaches. Sadly this means sometimes a restaurant may close and I am left cursing my singular stomach. Rupert & Ruby (78 Stanley St, Darlinghurst) is the second restaurant in Icon Park – the first crowd funded project dedicated to bars and restaurants and is nearing the end of its 3 month run.
The reason the eating machine and I were determined to visit before Rupert & Ruby closed? The Fried Chicken & Waffles ($24)! I mean, just look at it! ISN‘T IT BEAUTIFUL?! Two fluffy waffles are smothered with honey butter which created glorious pockets of melty sweet happiness. The generous scoops of creamy vanilla bean ice cream balances the sweetness and the golden pieces of fried chicken delivers the salty kick to your tastebuds with first confusion then joy. I dunno, I’ve always liked the sweet salty combo but I know it’s not for everyone. But maaaan dat fried chicken is ace! Perfect crisp batter and meat so juicy and tender my soul sung to the heavens.
We really wanted to try their burgers but since Raff had already made a cheeseburger for brekkie we opted for Ruby’s Wagyu Skirt Steak ($29) which was pretty fricken awesome and had us in raptures from the first bite. The steak was medium rare with a smokey char on the outside and just about melted in your mouth. There was also fat, juicy mushrooms hiding underneath and I loved the crispy yam chips and could’ve totally eaten a mountain of them. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I reckon I would’ve liked a little side salad or maybe some chimichurri just to cut through the richness? I know, I’m weak.
The cheesecake flavour changes every coupla days and todays offering was a Lemon Cheesecake ($15) with lemon curd, biscuit crumbs and fresh blueberries. It was the smoothest and creamiest cheesecake I have ever had! And lemon curd always has a special place in my heart. Right next to Nutella. And butterscotch. Aaaaand salted caramel.
There’s a whole bunch of cartoon dogs painted all over the place, with Snoopy out the front and Snowy from Tin Tin hanging out at the coffee station!
Santa’s Little Helper waiting for scraps under the table 😛 Sadly I didn’t spot Family Guy’s Brian Griffin but apparently he’s hiding in the corner somewhere.
I am extremely sad to see Rupert & Ruby go, they shut up shop on the 21st December so get in quick while you can! I will definitely have to hit Fat Rupert’s (249 Bondi Road, Bondi) to get more of that fried chicken action!
Vic’s Meat Market @ Sydney Fish Markets, Pyrmont
Vic’s Meat Market @ Sydney Fish Markets, Pyrmont. The Pork Ribs are fricken awesome. There’s no shame in diving on in and picking up a rib with your hands and sinking your teeth into the smoky goodness. Oh and the Brisket Sandwiches are the bomb!
I heart meat, especially ribs. By golly how good are ribs?! Vic’s Meat Market opened at the Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont about 9 weeks ago and it’s looking like a winner with both the locals and tourists.
Ribs can sell out early and I hated the thought of being deprived of ribs so I set my alarm to wake up early and managed to trek over just before the lunch crowd hit.
I’d been following Anton on Instagram (EDIT: Anton is now over at Bovine and Swine in Enmore) for a while now, drooling over all his pics of glorious smoked meats. The smoker at the back there is Kong, a 2 tonne monster custom built for Vic’s Meat Market by Yoder Smokers in Kansas City and can hold 200kg of meat!
The Pork Ribs (Full rack $40) are fricken awesome. There’s no shame in diving on in and picking up a rib with your hands and sinking your teeth into the smoky goodness. Sure it’s messy but you’ll be filled with a carnivorous glee! Actually you barely need to use your teeth because the meat is so damn tender it’s insane how easily the meat falls off the bones. The ribs are the perfect Kansas style- sweet, sticky and smoky. If you’re of the drown-in-sauce type you can always ask for a bit of the house made sauce on the side.
The Beef Short Rib ($25) is one helluva beast. At first I was all, no worries I can finish this easy! The meat was tender with an edge of fat that had a nice smokey char. I would’ve liked it to be a bit more juicy (I’m not saying it was dry just that I like short ribs juicy) but it’s nothing a swipe of the house made tomato sauce couldn’t fix.
So there I was, happily munching away. I made it about halfway before the meat sweats began and tried alternating bites of palate cleansing slaw but alas! Defeat! I ending up getting my remnants in a takeaway box because no way was I gonna let meat go to waste! The pickles, onions and jalapenos were a nice touch, I would’ve liked a bit of bread to mop up the sauce maybe?
Then there was a visit mid week with eating machine Ramen Raff.
The Chicken Wings ($8) blew my mind. I mean, normally I’m not too keen on wings if they haven’t been deep fried. There’s something about the bumpy bits that makes me think of cellulite on a chicken… ANYWAYS. The skin! It was so crisp! It was almost like eating chicken crackling! And the flesh within was tender and smokey that I was in chicken wing heaven.
I could watch brisket being sliced alllll daaaayyy
The Brisket Sandwich ($10) is the bomb. I sort of wish I could eat this brisket every day. We were asked if we wanted the fatty or lean brisket to which we immediately shouted fatty brisket please! Bring on the fat! And hot damn it was good! Unctuously soft and melt in the mouth tender, this brought back memories from last year’s trip to Texas. There’s also some slaw in the sandwich just to keep you from keeling over from meat overload 😛
The Pulled Pork Sandwich ($10) was pilled sky high with ridiculously tasty pork but my focus was taken away by the dill in the mustard pickle slaw, the one herb that I can’t for the life of me stand so I uh had to eat the pork separately but hey it was still tasty!
There’s also a Wagyu bar in the corner set up teppanyaki style with a chef manning the hot plate. Pick a cut from the menu- there’s Blackmore ($50/150g, $90/250g), Marble Score 11 ($35/150g, $65/250g), Tenderloin ($40/150g, $70/250g), Vic’s pick ($35/150g, $65/250g) and Emperor’s Cut ($60/150g). Watch while it’s then seared and sliced, Japanese-style, and served with a daikon and cucumber garnish and a soy-based dipping sauce. They’re waiting on their liquor licence and once that kicks in they’ll open for dinners which would be tops for those who absolutely hate the horror that is the car park on a weekend.
Next door is the retail side, a room that is basically a giant cool room with row upon rows of meeeeeat.
Noods’ eyes glazed over at the sight of all the steaks! There were grass fed and pasture fed t-bones, scotch fillets, sirloin, ribeye and beef cheeks and of course, gloriously marbled wagyu steaks! We couldn’t resist and bought a couple of AACO F1 Wagyu striploin BMS10+ for dinner along with some bone marrow oh baby oh baby. Don’t worry my heart only skipped a beat or two.
Sausages galore!
There’s Vic’s merch available, as well as a whole wall of cooking utensils, sauces, salts and a section they’ve dubbed the ‘Meat Candy’ bar for all you salami and biltong lovers out there.
So yeah, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who’s ever wished for a butchery at the Fish Markets so I could get all my shopping done in the one spot and I foresee many a visit to Vic’s Meat Market for the ribs and the brisket sandwich!
Sydney Fish Market,
Sydney,
NSW
Trading Hours:
Mon – Sun: 8am – 5pm
Side note: Things are about to get a lil cray in ChocolateSuze land because we’re attempting to pack up and leave Parra and move into the city before Xmas so apologies if I don’t reply to your emails/tweets/dm’s, you can stalk me over on Instagram instead!