1 Abercrombie Lane: Café Bakery, CBD Sydney (5 Oct 2016)

1 Abercrombie Lane, CBD Sydney 2000
https://www.facebook.com/1abercrombielane/

Laneway sandwich life

A laneway experience with milk crates replaced by ironing boards. So many tempting sandwiches on the menu. Decided on the Reuben - Wagyu corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss, pickles, seeds mustard mayo ($14) which was pretty good although I should have gone for the light rye sourdough bread instead of just the white bread as I found out later would have been their recommendation. The flavours worked well together and was filled with lots of thinly sliced and fairly moist corned beef although I would have probably preferred the mustard mayo to be replaced by a more classic Russian dressing. Some more noticeable melted cheese would have been good as well and the sauerkraut tasted more like caramelised onion for me and probably could have had a bit more zing perhaps. There's seating inside but on a nice day it's quite nice to sit outside. You can even tap into the free wifi from Merivale next door at Establishment. Service was friendly. Sandwich prices are on the pricey side but I'm suspecting they're all a decent size and filled with quality ingredients.

Bar Contessa: Café with a very cute babyccino, Balmain (28 July 2013)

371b Darling Street, Balmain NSW 2041

http://www.barcontessa.com.au

Babyccino love in Balmain

There was only one thing on my mind when making the trip to Bar Contessa for brunch with the family and that was getting a cute Babyccino ($2) for my daughter. Not only does she win with a smiley marshmallow face but we get a smile as well from the sight of it. So far the cutest one I've found in Sydney. Thankfully it was mostly froth although it did have some milk underneath so you need to watch your little one in case of spillage. Cappuccino ($3.50) was good and my Hot Chocolate ($4) had good flavour. The French Toast Brioche with banana, strawberry and real maple syrup ($16.50) was a decent portion with a very nice brioche and plenty of fresh fruit. There is a version with bacon and banana but I thought I'd be a little healthier that day. This place is certainly popular with the locals and was pretty packed for Sunday brunch. It can get a bit tight on space and noisy but I guess that just adds to the buzz and atmosphere of the place with a community feel. Service and kitchen were under the pump but seemed to handle with ease — perhaps from many years of experience this place has been around. Quite a few other tempting menu items which tempts me to want to come back.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Efficient service, Buzzing and cozy atmosphere, Reasonably priced and interesting menu, Baby chair available fitted to chairs

CONS: Unfortunately no space in toilet for baby change facilities

MUST TRY: Babyccino for the kids, French Brioche Toast, Visiting to try more of the menu

VERDICT: Certainly a very popular place for locals that makes one of the cutest babyccinos I've seen around Sydney

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Babyccino ($2) — full marks for cuteness, mostly froth but there was some milk at the bottom you have to watch out for in terms of spillage
SIMON FAVOURITE :-) 

Cappuccino ($3.50) — enjoyable flavour

Hot Chocolate ($4) — good flavour 

French Toast Brioche with banana, strawberry and real maple syrup ($16.50) — decent portion, nice brioche, plenty of fresh fruit
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Breakfast all day menu looks like it should be in National Treasure movie

Owner Marco Adoncello and service team 

Sandwiches with Luxe bread

Cakes from Luxe

Very popular for Sunday brunch

Very cool wall art

Oh no, there's goes Simon checking out the toilet with his camera again

One very small toilet accessed through kitchen but kept pretty clean

Bill $28 for 3 with baby on board

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La Focacceria: Café, CBD Sydney (27-28 May, 4-5/12 June 2013)

50 Hunter Street, Sydney NSW 2000

https://www.facebook.com/pages/La-Focacceria/161813360572985

Freshly baked on Hunter

Thanks to Jean-Marc Parodi for inviting me to his cafe La Focacceria right next door to one of my favourite laksa places Malay-Chinese Takeaway. He's passionate about baking their pizzas, focaccias, brioches and pastries each morning in the hope of making them as good as they can be. The focaccia and pizza I tried was quite nice but I don't really have this style of meal for lunch very often unless I'm in of a bit of a rush for a quick bite to eat. What interested me more was their croissants that they bake each morning in a limited supply. A good croissant is rare to find in the CBD and these were very enjoyable for $3.50 each. I even bought a few to take back to work and they were very popular with my work colleagues with one lady even saying it was the best croissant she'd had for a long time. I guess it does make a difference when baked fresh.

Simon the barista makes a decent Cappuccino ($3) and Hot chocolate ($3) and for a light sweet treat you can't go wrong with their freshly baked mini Brioche buns, Chocolate milk roll panini and Raisin milk roll panini for only $1 each. The Mixed berry muffin ($4) was very moist and still warm from the oven. An abundance of fruit is nice to have but it also made it a tad too moist which can become a bit awkward to hold and eat. I also tried the Almond custard croissant ($3.50) and very popular Almond croissant ($4.50) with good flavour and pastry. These go too fast in the morning so be quick or try and get Jean-Marc to save you one like I had to do. Decor and seating is simple and functional but it's the friendly service and freshly baked pastries and croissants that I think will keep enticing customers to come back for that decent coffee and sweet treat for the day. I hope to revisit to try their freshly baked scones and see how they develop their pizzas and foccacias to make them stand out from the crowd. They even have a bacon and egg pizza if that tickles your fancy for a morning calorie hit.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Freshly baked croissants and pastries, Friendly and down-to-earth service, Reasonably priced menu, Nice coffee, Catering available

CONS: Limited supply of croissants sell out too quickly, Toppings for pizzas need to be more interesting for me

MUST TRY: Almond croissant, Croissant, Brioche buns

VERDICT: I think their signature offerings are the freshly baked pastries with a decent coffee but with the right attention to detail and presentation their foccacia and pizza offerings have the potential to be just as good

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Simon the barista (left) and Jean-Marc Parodi the owner (right)

Croissant ($3.50) — baked fresh daily, buttery flaky pastry

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Cappuccino ($3)  — good flavour and body, non bitter

Hot chocolate ($3) — good chocolate flavour, nice temperature

Mushroom pizza ($7 slice) with salad ($10,) — quite nice, decent size, would love more mushroom topping though

Mini brioche ($3.50 large) — nice flavour and soft texture, nice hint of citrus peel in mix
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Salted Caramel Macaron ($2.50) — good flavour, cool storage made the caramel a bit harder than hoped

Focaccia Panino with salame, provolone cheese and roasted peppers ($9) — nice flavour combo, freshly baked foccacia

Mixed berry muffins ($4) — very moist although perhaps a tad too moist and didn't hold its shape well when eating, had lots of fruit

Almond custard croissant ($3.50) — good flavour and pastry, baked fresh daily

Almond croissant ($4.50) — good flavour and pastry, quite moist inside, freshly baked

Chocolate milk roll panini, Raisin milk roll panini ($1 each) — freshly baked, light soft texture, nice flavour

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