So like, I’ve still been having dreams about the tiramisu at Fratelli Paradiso so the boy and I decided to go to its sister restaurant, 10 William St in Paddington for a lazy Saturday lunch.

On a previous visit, back when Dan Pepperell was at the helm, I’d fallen in love with the Whipped ‘bottarga’ pretzel ($14) and I’m glad that current chef Luke Burgess has kept it on the menu. The crusty pretzel is studded with all the seeds of the rainbow and has a deep caramelised flavour but it’s that whipped bottarga dip that has us in raptures. Along with a buttload of garlic, lemon juice, mullet roe, olive and grapeseed oil but oh man it was so freaking delicious and so light and fluffy that you can’t help but load as much as you can onto a piece of pretzel!

The Guanciale ‘sangwich’ ($10) contained a slab of melt in the mouth pork cheek that had been crumbed and deep fried to a satisfying crunch with curls of pickled cabbage to offset the richness.

We were asked if we were sharing everything and replied yes but it never occurred to me that they would split our pasta for us, so this here is half a serving of Busiate, Balmain bug, bulls horn peppers, tarragon ($29) with Noods’ serve in the background. Busiate pasta is my new fave at the moment, the twisty pasta is able to hold so much sauce in one spiral but doesn’t feel like you’re eating too much dough/carb compared with other pastas? I love pasta but that sauce ratio is important to me haha anyways moving on! There was a pretty generous amount of juicy bug meat and I absolutely loved the amount of butter that was in the sauce mmm dat flavour win!

The Pappardelle, buffalo mozzarella, sugo, sobresada ($26) wasn’t quite as amazing as Pepperell’s Pappardelle Bolognese, the silky ribbons of pasta was still on point and I loved the amount of melty mozza but the sauce was on the oily side.

I was reaching max capacity but we all know there’s a separate stomach for dessert! The Tiramisu ($11) is hands down my favourite in Sydney, ridiculously fluffy layers of coffee soaked lady fingers and creamy mascarpone ooh baby! And that splodge of dark chocolate for that extra oomph in deliciousness 😀

10 William St is pretty tiny and they don’t take reservations so be sure to get there as soon as they open. Also, word on the street is that the fine people of Pinbone will be moving into 10 William St in Feb!

From the people that brought The Sardine Room to Potts Point, The Herring Room in Manly has got the locals abuzz. Take the Indian spiced king prawns ($18) for instance, the juicy prawns set the tastebuds alight and the curls of pickled melon with an almond and mint salad bring down the heat a notch, creating one umami packed starter.

The Seared scallops ($18) are perfectly fat specimens that were lightly seared and super juicy. The cauliflower puree was carefully mopped up and woe beget anyone who was too slow sneaking any stray crispy pancetta and beetroot chips…

I was absolutely blown away by the Squid ink & egg yolk ravioli ($18)! The ravioli was black as night, belying super thin pasta that held a gooey egg yolk. I coated every shred of crabmeat in the rich lemon thyme beurre blanc sauce and relished each briny pop of salmon roe. I could’ve eaten that dish FOREVER!

The Salt & pepper squid ($16) disappeared in seconds, the lightly battered curls of squid were tossed through with fresh chilli and basil and were absolutely amazing dunked in the creamy aioli.

Grilled haloumi with rocket & lemon salad ($10) was ordered purely because we all love haloumi haha I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like this squeaky cheese!

For my mains I couldn’t resist the Smoked rainbow trout ($36) which was freaking incredible and cooked so well. It had just the right amount of smokiness so it didn’t overpower the delicate flavour of the trout and the wild mushroom and leek risotto had the perfect bite to each grain. I could probably have done without the truffle oil but overall I’d totally order this again.

Ange chooses the Braised rabbit stifado on potato gnocchi ($36) and after sneaking a bite I develop extreme food envy but luckily I’m friends with people who share their food hehe 😀 The rabbit is meltingly tender and the gnocchi is honest to goodness pillowy and cloud-like. There’s curls of crispy fried sage and I feel like I’ve struck gold each time I dig in and find the dabs of goats curd hidden like buried treasure.

James’ Fried whole baby red snapper ($36) is a beauty, the snapper is fried to a crisp and I gleefully pull off the crispy edges and munch away. The onion, chilli, ginger and sweet soy glaze is a great balance between sweet and salty and I reckon it would’ve been perfect with a bowl of rice to soak it up!

Sadly we were all too full for dessert but with such amazing food and service I know I’ll be back again soon!

ChocolateSuze dined at The Herring Room as a guest of Destination NSW

The Herring Room
94 Pittwater Rd
Manly

Trading Hours:
Mon – Thurs: 5:30pm – 10:30pm
Fri – Sun: 12pm – 3pm, 5:30pm – 10:30pm

I require fried chicken pretty regularly before I start questioning the meaning of life so after several days of eating barbecue in Austin, we headed to Gus’s World Famous Hot & Spicy Fried Chicken (117 San Jacinto, Austin). And let me tell you, Gus’ fried chicken is fricken awesome!!! I got 2 pieces of dark meat (1 thigh, 1 leg) (US$4.25/AU$6.10) that sat on fluffy white bread to soak up the juices and a side of super cheesy mac n cheese (US$2.25/AU$3.25). The batter on the fried chicken was so crisp that the sound of the skin shattering could be heard from the next table! Oh and drinks came in a souvenir cup that you could take home!

Noods went for 3 wings (US$7/AU$10.05) that came with baked beans, slaw and white bread which he absolutely devoured in the blink of an eye. The baked beans are a bit on the stodgy side but the slaw is delightfully light and refreshing.

And for dessert, a slice of Pecan pie (US$3/AU$4.30) with a ginormous scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream (US$0.75/AU$1.10) holy moly that was one deeeelicious pie! Buttery crust, sweet filling studded with a generous amount of pecans and creamy ice cream ftw!

We wanted to try some Tex Mex and headed to Licha’s Cantina (1306 East 6th Street, Austin) for happy hour and the Choriqueso served in a skillet! The minced chorizo on the bottom is smothered in gooey Asadero cheese and topped with a dollop of creamy guacamole and pico de gallo. Cram a forkful into the warm homemade corn tortillas and enter cheesy heaven!

For breakfast the next day we headed to Juan In A Million (2300 E. Cesar Chavez St. Austin) and joined the 30mins queue. I was keen to go partly because it was on Man Vs Food but also because I was curious if the Don Juan El Taco Grande (US$4.60/AU$6.60) really lived up to its hype. And it was so fricken good that I’m flooded with sadness that there isn’t anything like this in Sydney. This breakfast taco beast contains a jumble of potato cubes, scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese and comes with 3 flour tortillas. The staff stop by and check my progress and offer more tortillas but man it defeated me!

Austin is known for their food truck trailer parks and Torchy’s Tacos was high up on my must eat list after hearing JJ wax lyrical about their breakfast tacos! The boy and I shared the Migas taco ($US$2.75/AU$3.95) which had a mountain of scrambled eggs, crispy corn tortilla strips, green chillies, avocado, pico de gallo and shredded cheese all piled onto a corn tortilla. And from the secret menu, the Jack of Clubs taco which had a fried egg, grilled potatoes, black beans, crispy corn tortilla strips, shredded cheese, cilantro, sour cream and hot sauce on a corn tortilla. Freaking amazing! All the flavours were fresh and light and we almost ordered a second round but we resisted because we spotted donuts in the distance.

I’d visited Gourdoughs’ previously and knew I absolutely had to get the Flying Pig (US$5.75/AU$8.25) for Noods because I mean, LOOK AT IT! The super fluffy donut came fresh from the deep fryer, drizzled with maple syrup icing and topped with super crispy bacon omg so good the salty sweet combo is so win!

And also the Blue Balls ($US$4.75/AU$6.80) which were blueberry filled donut holes smothered in blueberry icing and oh boy that was a looot of sugar we’d ingested.

While wandering home back to our air bnb we stumbled upon a food truck park (1104 E 6th St, Austin) and when I spotted the Fried and True van serving state fair food and desserts I knew we had to somehow make space in our stomachs.

We order the Sampler Combo (US$6/AU$8.65) which had deep fried Oreos, deep fried brownies and a deep fried cinnamon bun 😀 I particularly loved the cinnamon bun as the icing was on the melty side and the pastry in the bun tasted like a cinnamon-y donut.

I couldn’t resist the Chocolate dipped bacon (US$5/AU$7.20), the thick cut bacon had a crispy candy shell and was topped with smoked salt which made them ridiculously addictive esp washed down with a cheeky beverage or two.

The Deep Fried Grilled Cheese (US$7/AU$10.10) was pretty insane with the lightly battered sandwich of white bread holding melty American cheese innards, and the whole shebang drizzled in Sriracha sauce.

Aaaand Funnel cake (US$5/AU$7.20) for dessert! For those who’ve not heard of funnel cake before, it’s basically batter poured through a funnel into oil and deep-fried until golden and crisp. Be still my artery clogged heart!

I leave you with this pic of an immaculate display of cut fruit from Whole Foods. My god I love Whole Foods! We visited pretty much every day in Austin and bought so many fruits and veg in an attempt to get some nutrients into our cholesterol laden body. Stay tuned for the last part of my USA trip: San Francisco, land of chowder, hipsters and steep hills!

Occasionally I fixate on a food and it’ll be all that I can think of until I get to eat it. Recently it’s been tiramisu with fluffy clouds of creamy mascarpone, liqueur and coffee drenched lady fingers which was how Sarah, Viv, Eric, Jason and I decided to have lunch at Fratelli Paradiso.

We decide to order a whole bunch from the menu and share so we could try everything which always works out well for me, the queen of indecisiveness. The Bufala mozzarella, strawmato, basil ($24) was the perfect summery start to the meal, the creamy mozza was lightened with a generous drizzle of olive oil and juicy strawbatos which google tells us is a tomato crossed with a strawberry.

I had doubts ordering the Calamari Sant’ Andrea squid fried, rocket, balsamic ($22) because I was afraid it would be a stodgy version of salt and pepper calamari but it was my 2nd fave dish out of everything we had! The batter was so incredibly light and crisp and I may have stealthily ate more than my share 😛

The Scampi spaghetti ($36) was beautifully presented two whole scampi split in half and lightly grilled with bonus pieces of scampi meat hiding within the pasta. There’s also the option of ordering the scampi by itself. Five pieces will set you back $61 but you’re better off getting the spaghetti which was pretty tops. The tomato sauce was slightly acidic and the pasta had the perfect bite.

The Tagliatelle ragu ($24) was a pile of silky ribbons twirled with shreds of melt in your mouth ragu in a rich tomato sauce. This is my idea of the perfect comfort food. It was so satisfying and is the food equivalent to a warm hug.

I loved the twisty pasta in the Fusilli trapanese with red pesto ($23) but I’ve never been a fan of olives as I always find the flavour overpowers everything it touches so I left this one to the others.

The Lasagnetta bolognese ($22) is hands down the winner out of everything. It was just so fricken tasty! It felt like someone’s nonna had lovingly layered each sheet of pasta with alternate spoonfuls of tomato bolognese sauce and a creamy bechamel sauce. This lasagne is definitely not one for sharing!

Aaaand for dessert we order the Tiramisu ($12), the reason for living our visit! And yes, it was everything I’d hoped for- not too sweet, generously portioned and with a perfect mascarpone cream to sponge ratio. Best ending to a meal!

Fratelli Paradiso is open for breakfast too so I defs want to come back in that sweet spot where I can order something from the brekkie menu and then order the lasagne at lunch 😛

Fratelli Paradiso
12 – 16 Challis Ave,
Potts Point

Trading Hours:
Mon – Sat: 7am – 11pm
Sun: 7am – 10pm