HEEEEEEY GUYS!!! It’s that time of year again, the end of year wrapup! I freaking loved 2015, there was just so much great food and my absolute fave place to chillax on a Saturday arvo was at Chester White Cured Diner. They’ve got an amazing selection of cured meats like the Culatello and the truffle salami and I love their Not Carbonara pasta made with uber crispy speck.

My beloved Belle’s Hot Chicken from Melbourne opened a popup joint in Barangaroo and yes the chicken is just as amazing but surprisingly what keeps me coming back every week or so is their fried mushrooms!

Fave burger of the year was definitely at Bar Luca for the Blame Canada burger! I haven’t blogged about the place because honestly whenever I go I can never bring myself to order anything other than this burger! This baby has a juicy 200g wagyu beef pattie, maple glazed streaky bacon, maple aioli AND IS STUFFED WITH POUTINE! Carb on carb ohhhhh yeah baby yeah!

Belly Bao also has a pretty tasty burger called the baoger- a smoky pattie, slices of pickled radish, crisp lettuce leaf, tomato and onions are sandwiched together not with buns but with freshly steamed baos!

Ok ok and I also loved The Lord Gladstone Hotel’s burgers, another place that I haven’t blogged either because I can’t go past trying anything else on the menu except their burgers! The cheeseburger is pretty ace and only $10 on Mon and Tues! And every month or so there’s crazy burger takeovers on the weekend like the Whitecastle slider recreation.

I started a new job at Sparro and it’s been fab, I love what I do and everyone there is awesome and best of all they love their food esp the Javanese Fried Chicken at Ayam Goreng. That crispy skin, that juicy meat, and the spicy yet oh so addictive chilli sauce!

Finally convinced Noods to go to the great US of A! Austin was hands down the tastiest part of the trip but visiting The Grand Canyon was definitely a visit of a lifetime.

Of course after coming back from the states I was dying from the lack of barbecue in Sydney and like magic, Bovine & Swine Barbecue Co opened up in Enmore serving up platters of deeeelicious smoked meats! Get the beef rib and the brisket, you won’t be sorry!

Fave ramen of the year goes to Osan in the Dixon House food court in Chinatown. The creamy tonkotsu is crazy intense! I always ask for the thinner noodles and extra egg 😀

Aaaaand 2015 was the year for many a soft serve at Aqua S! Fave flavour by far was the grape!

Thank you everyone for reading my corner of the verse, if there’s anything you’d like to see more of (or less), let me know in the comments! Have a safe and happy NYE and see you all in 2016!

You know when you see a photo of something and you just know immediately that you’ll love it? That’s what happened when I first saw these Parfaiteroles ($4.50 each) from Osteria di Russo & Russo’s head chef Jason Saxby.

An incredibly crisp choux pastry is stuffed with a super smooth, rich duck liver pate and topped with a swirl of onion and Marsala glaze. Holy crap dat flavour explosion! That textural contrast! That sweet and salty combo! All these exclamations marks!

Noods didn’t care what I picked as long as he got to have the Kangaroo Tonnato ($20). I’m not the biggest fan of kangaroo but I gotta say, this play on the vitello tonato was pretty damn tasty! Cubes of hand cut raw kangaroo rump are seasoned with tuna dressing, caper leaf, rings of pickled onion and dabs of zingy horseradish cream and the whole shebang is scooped up onto shards of flatbread.

We scored complimentary tempura fried zucchini flowers with a house made goats milk ricotta, lemon aspen and chilli salt (Thanks Jason!). The flowers were golden, crisp and unbelievably light and just perfect with the creamy cheese and the chilli salt setting my lips a-tingle.

The Fregola ($29) was unexpected- I haven’t come across smoked eel in too many places and it worked perfectly with the bottarga, wild fennel, chilli and crispy garlic flakes. There was an earthiness to this dish, it was comforting and hearty and honestly I just wanted to curl up in the corner and take my sweet time spooning away at each grain. Also, how pretty is the bowl??

And our last dish was the Manzo ($33), a Rangers Valley skirt steak with a +3 score, charred cos, cornichons and an anchovy & beef fat vinaigrette. The skirt steak was a bit on the lean side but it was super tender and I couldn’t help but chase every last drop of that glorious vinaigrette!

The Formaggio ($15) is a crostini of Pyengana cheddar, quince, Native pepperberry and ALTO Vividus Oil on Pane Carasau. It is seriously the perfect cheese course! There was a generous amount of cheese on the flatbread and the dabs of quince provided a sweet, acidic note to cut through the richness. This was the bomb yo!

The Bellini tastes exactly like the cocktail and is the perfect summer dessert with white peaches, prosecco and peach granita, prosecco jelly, native mint, sherbert and a quenelle of marscapone hiding underneath.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to visit Osteria di Russo & Russo but I’m glad better late than never! Awesome service too, each dish was carefully explained and the wine suggestions were perfect with the food and yep those parfaiteroles have guaranteed a return visit is needed stat!

Osteria di Russo & Russo
158 Enmore Rd,
Enmore

Trading Hours:
Tues – Sun: from 6pm

I had all these grand plans of visiting a cafe out in the inner west over the weekend. But the wait was far too long for my hangry self so we drove away with the intention of grabbing maccas on the way home when lo and behold Zeus Street Greek appeared like a glittering angel of hope!

It’s pretty casual at Zeus- order at the counter before taking your table number and grabbing a seat. They’re licensed, if you feel like a tipple or two, or help yourself to water from the station in the far corner.

Initially I wasn’t going to order the Haloumi ($11.50) as I felt the price was a bit steep but when it arrived I understood why, it’s such a large serving! The Cypriot cheese was lightly grilled so it had that trademark squeakiness and dusted with oregano and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Noods has issues with carb in carb action and didn’t want any of the gyros that came stuffed with chips inside so I made sure to order a side of Feta & Oregano Chips ($8.50) which were bloody amazing. Each chip was golden and delicious and while not exactly the perfect vehicle to transport the crumbly feta to my mouth, it was pretty damn tasty.

I knew The Zeus ($12.50) would be perfect for my slightly hungover body- the pita bread is thick and surprisingly soft and fluffy and held a generous amount of melt in the mouth slow-cooked lamb with Aegean slaw, smoked eggplant, onion and parsley. It had all the flavours (and more) of a kebab but without that greasiness and inevitable feeling of regret.

The Soft Shell Crab ($13.50) was pretty tops, the pita bread holds lightly fried soft shell crab with Aegean slaw, preserved lemon mayo, caramelized onion, sweet chilli and coriander. I would’ve loved more crab in there but hey that’s because I heart crab.

I couldn’t resist the Loukoumades ($8), fluffy Greek doughnuts that were smothered in a honey and cinnamon sauce with a sprinkle of walnuts. The cashier managed to upsell me Mastic Vanilla ice cream ($5) which was deliciously vanilla-y and cut through the richness of the dessert but I wished it came as a scoop on the donuts instead of digging it out of the single serve containers.

With locations in Cronulla, Dulwich Hill, Rosebery and Kotara, I know I’ll be back again to try the rest of gyros on the menu!

Zeus Street Greek
187-­189 Lyons Rd,
Drummoyne

Trading Hours:
Mon – Tues: 11:30am – 9:30pm
Weds to Sun: 11:30am to 10pm

Do you have a list of restaurants that you want to try? I have one that’s about as long as my arm and after stalking Casoni on Instagram I managed to drag the boy out for a lazy long lunch on the weekend.

We start with Fresh Burrata ($19), an Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream and is my second fave food to stab at (first being eggs, duh). Break into the cheese ball and give the river of cheesy happiness a lil mix with the shreds of crisp witlof, juicy grape halves, butter laden breadcrumbs and the drizzle of Nebbiolo vinegar helps to cut through the richness.

The Chicken Liver Parfait, Onion Jam & Crostini ($14) is a winner, the parfait is ridiculously smooth and just oh so easy to schmear inch thick onto the crisp slices of crostini. Side note, I dunno if it’s just me but I totally prefer crostini or any kind of crisp bread over normal bread when eating pate/parfait.

We were originally going to order the Tuna Tartare with pickled cucumber, capers and pane carasau ($18) but instead chose the Beef Carpaccio ($18). The silky ribbons of beef were dotted with a flavour bomb of anchovy mayo and the slivers of Tuscan truffled dwarf peaches provide a pleasant acidic crunch.

For mains I chose the Pumpkin Ravioli ($23), solely because of the burnt butter and sage sauce and it was every bit as incredible as I’d hoped! The delicate parcels of ravioli were stuffed with sweet pumpkin that went perfectly with that burnt butter sauce. Man, how good is burnt butter sauce?! That rich nutty flavour will make your toes curl with happiness, I wish I could’ve licked that plate clean!

Noods has zeroed in on the Chilli, Saffron and Zucchini Risotto with Roasted Scampi ($27) because scampi is the closest he can get to prawns and still be able to breathe. I loved the risotto, each grain was plump and still had a pleasing bite. And yes the scampi was pretty awesome, lightly roasted so the flesh was still sweet and juicy, with just a hint of smokiness.

Didn’t manage to fit in dessert but I did manage to try a negroni and an aperol spritz which are conveniently available on tap 😛 Casoni is a great place for a laid back Saturday lunch, the staff are lovely and the food is tops- I’ll definitely be back for that ravioli!

Casoni
371 – 373 Bourke St,
Darlinghurst

Trading hours:
Tues – Thurs: 5pm – 11pm
Fri – Sat: 12pm–Late