So we’ve finally moved all our crap to our new digs in Waterloo and we’re slowly branching out and exploring more of this side of town. I’ve been keen to visit Henry Lee’s in Redfern after staring longingly at pics on Instagram of a light filled courtyard with polished concrete floors and potted succulents on each table. Henry Lee’s is located right behind Cake Wines and the best way to enter is via Hart Street.

Feeling somewhat in need of vitamins I’ve ordered the Green Eyes ($20) where pickled sardines are draped seductively on house sourdough toast with nasturtium pesto, lemon bagna cauda, a generous amount of creamy buffalo mozzarella and slices of vine-ripened tomatoes. It’s pretty damn tasty, there’s the balance of salty and sweet though about halfway through I had to remove a bit of greenery haha oh and the Mango, Orange & Passionfruit juice ($8) is the very definition of tasting like summer!

Noods has gone for the The Higgs Bacon Blues Burger ($16), the toasted brioche bun holds a slab of free range bacon, a dollop of maple and coffee infused bacon jam, a perfectly gooey poached egg, kohlrabi remoulade and a cucumber pickle. The burger is one helluva party of intense flavours that will guarantee to wake up your tastebuds.

We return the following week, choosing to sit on the communal table because of the sporadic rain which meant we got to lol at the range of music the kitchen were dancing to 😛 We order the Saint Huck ($18)- Spanish style baked eggs with spicy roasted tomato sauce, toasted quinoa, salty sheep’s milk labneh and house sourdough toast. We added spicy aged chorizo ($4) because, chorizo is life.

The whole thing is like one giant hug, it’s rich and saucy and the eggs are nice and runny and perfect to dip the bread into!

I’ve been craving mushrooms all week and fell in love with The Ripper ($19), a whole field of mushrooms roasted in balsamic and rosemary piled mountain high on house sourdough toast, with smooth hummus, herbed goats cheese, poached egg and dried gremolata.

Aaand because I was feeling ambitious we also ordered the Ham In Glove ($11) toastie stuffed with free range ham off the bone, deliciously melty Gruyere cheese, pickles and hot mustard. No regrets.

Henry Lee’s does get pretty busy on the weekends but it’s well worth the wait! And if things do get dicey while you’re waiting (I’m forever hangry) you can get something from the baked goods section as takeaway.

Henry Lee’s
16 Eveleigh Street,
Redfern

Trading Hours
Open 7 Days: 8am – 3pm

So I’ve been to Hoost in Surry Hills a few times for dinner- in the beginning when there was only one main course on offer each night and the menu rotated daily and then recently when head chef Samantha Pok expanded the menu so diners were able to choose their mains. Buuut today we’re gonna talk about the new brunch menu that’s on Sundays from 10.30am until 2pm.

We start with the Liu Sha Bao hybrid of Salted egg custard croissant ($6.50) and a minted mandarin & strawberry sparkler soda ($5.50) that’s nice and refreshing for this gradually warming weather.

INNARDS! Oh baby oh baby, this is the stuff of dreams! A flakelicious Sonoma Bakery croissant is injected with a molten hot, gloriously rich salted egg yolk custard and the flavour is out of this world amazing.

Noods goes for the Kaya toast with 60 degree eggs ($15). There’s a generous amount of kaya (coconut pandan jam) filling and slices of creamy butter sandwiched between fat slices of sourdough.

The eggs are perfectly gooey and splashed with soy sauce and white pepper. It’s just how they serve it in Malaysia, found on the menus of kopitiam coffee houses. We’re instantly transported back to holiday memories in KL.

Aaaand because I can never resist the call of a super cheesy burger I had to order the Burger, burger ($21) with a 200g beef patty, smoked cheese sauce, pickles, tomato relish, mayo and fries. Look at that cheesy ooze!!! So friggen good and you betcha I dipped my fries into that river of cheese! That patty was a touch over the medium rare that I prefer but the cheese sauce more than made up for it in sauciness and the pickles added a good amount of acidity to cut through the richness.

Hoost Restaurant
98 Fitzroy St
Surry Hills

Brunch: Sundays 10.30am – 2pm

Have you ever walked past a restaurant so many times that after a while you forget it’s even there? I’ve been past the Harbour Plaza branch of the Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant in Chinatown so many times that it’s just blurred into the background and it was only until recently that the fam and I went for lunch.

We were originally going to order the yabbies but the market price was a bit out of our budget so we went for the Steamed Prawns With Garlic ($32) which were amazing. The prawns had been butterflied then twisted in half and were so fricken plump and juicy. The garlic was heady and fragrant and perfect with the vermicelli noodle mountain.

We were drawn to the Deep Fried Chicken with Hot Dry Chilli ($26.50), a basket full of chicken pieces deep fried to golden, crunchalicious perfection. I think I would’ve preferred if the pieces were slightly larger as it was impossible to scoop out the chicken without getting a whole lotta chilli haha but you gotta work for your food right? The chicken has the famed lip-numbing heat but I just couldn’t help going back for more.

The Stir Fried Prawns and Corn with Salted Egg Yolk ($32.50) was pretty damn tasty because I mean, SALTED EGG YOLK!!! (Sidenote: how excited am I that it’s Mid-Autumn Festival soon! Gonna eat allll the mooncakes!) Each and every prawn and corn kernel were coated in the ridiculously irresistible salted egg yolk and had me happily scraping the plate to add to my cholesterol laden body.

Sichuan Style Wontons ($12.50) was the last to arrive and we considered cancelling the order because we’d pretty much eaten everything else and were pretty full but thankfully they arrived just in time and they were incredible! The pork mince in the wontons were just so freaking juicy and the silky wonton skins so light and delicate that it blew our minds.

There’s a few branches of Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant in Sydney, with another location just down the road in Dixon St and I can’t wait to go back for the yabbies!

Red Chilli Sichuan Restaurant
Shop 108, 25-29 Dixon Street,
Chinatown

Trading Hours:
7 days: 11:30am – 2:30pm, 5pm – 10pm

There’s not a lot that gets me excited for Mondays. But then word on the street was that Five Senses coffee would be doing a pop up for 2 weeks in Surry Hills and Shortstop donuts would also be providing a limited range of their doughnuts!

Todays range of donuts were Maple Walnut & Brown Butter, Peanut Butter Caramel & Chocolate, Matcha, Chai Tea and Australian Sea Salt & Honey Cruller.

YASSS @shortstopsydney x @5sensescoffee popup in Surry Hills 🍩☕️

A photo posted by Susan Thye (@chocolatesuze) on Sep 4, 2016 at 4:08pm PDT

I was running a bit late for work so grabbed a piccolo and a cruller to go because, breakfast of champions yo!

[Image credit: Corridor Kitchen] For those with a bit more time, I highly recommend grabbing a stool and trying the filtered coffee flights. Lauren opted for the Processing Flight where each bean has gone through a different process, there’s a Colombian El Mirador, Sumatran Naga Saribu and an Ethiopian Ardi.

Five Senses is also collaborating with Top Paddock and Kettle Black ex-executive chef Jesse McTavish. The Red Fruit Salad ($12) is as pretty as a picture with cubes of watermelon compressed with strawberry vodka, honeydew compressed with beetroot, papaya gel, raspberries, black mint powder and dots of hazelnut mayonnaise.

The Roast Free Range Chicken & Gravy Roll ($14) is popular with the workers in the area, it’s fast to arrive and easy to eat. The bread is delightfully light and fluffy, a good amount of juicy chicken, pickled cucumber, saltbush and ripe slices of avocado. The ‘gravy’ is a glacé di viande of chicken stock, a 10% reduction of the pan juices and chicken stock folded through the chicken before going on the roll.

The Hangar Steak ($19) is on the pricey side but yolo Surry Hills. Luckily it’s incredibly tasty and with a very generous amount of tender steak pieces. There’s caramelised onions, a gloriously rich reduction of beef stock, red wine and herbs and a smattering of dried mushroom powder on the sourdough.

The Maple Bacon and Egg Roll ($12) looks perfect for the brekkie crowd, I will report back when I eat this on Thursday. Yes I plan ahead.

There’s food that’s ready to grab and go, like the Green Salad ($12) which would please the health nuts and is packed full of avocado, brussel sprouts, puffed quinoa, cucumber, rapa leaves and powder with a wine vinegar.

There’s also Fruit Salad with Cascara labne ($12) or Coconut chia with maple, berries and lemon balm.

I can’t wait to get my caffeine hits this week!

Five Senses Pop-Up- Filter: The New Black
64 Kippax St,
Surry Hills

Trading Hours: 3 – 18 September
7 days: 7am – 4pm