Simon Food Favourites: Milkshake

06 July 2013

The Milk Bar By Cafe Ish: Cafe, Redfern (3 Jan 2013)

105 Regent Street, Redfern NSW 2016

Shaking up the neighbourhood

When Cafe Ish was in Surry Hills they were famous for their crab omelette so it's good to see they've kept it on the menu after their relocation to Redfern and renaming. A push for sustainable burgers and shakes seems to now be their passion at a price that won't break the bank. You could opt for the Triple bacon cheese burger or include a Korean style topping with kim chi, chilli paste and pickled daikon but I just tried the basic Cheeseburger ($5) which comes with a beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup and grilled onion. The meat is free range pasture fed, the cheese organic free range and the bun house made. It was smallish but deceptively more filling than expected and pretty tasty. The main thing I was after was to try Ais freaking awesome chicken wings ($13) using free range chicken. It had about three wings cut into nine pieces including wing tips. The vinegar and shallot sauce was very tasty but also very messy due to the abundance of sticky sauce so make sure you have plenty of napkins on hand. A finger bowl would have been handy but don't expect one. BYO moist wipes would be my recommendation. Chef and owner Josh Nicholls has been known to freely speak his mind on twitter and in person so tread lightly and don't poke the bear so to speak.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Reasonably priced menu, Free range meat, eggs, cheese and bacon, Arcade games including Pac-Man, Galaga and Donkey Kong, Lolly jars for a sugar hit, Interesting shakes and sundaes on menu

CONS: Not the easiest area to find parking, Chef's bark is as fierce as his twitter feed

MUST TRY: Ais freaking awesome chicken wings with lots of napkins, The crab omelette (signature dish)

VERDICT: A place to rekindle your child memories of burgers, shakes, arcade games and a lolly bag for the road

—

Cheeseburger: beef pattie, cheese, pickles, ketchup, grilled onion ($5) — free range pasture fed meat, organic free range cheese, house made buns, small but more filling than expected

Ais freaking awesome chicken wings: basket of free range crisp fried free range chicken wings with vinegar and shallot sauce ($13) — about 3 wings, 9 pieces including wing tips, tasty, best to share, very messy to eat makes it finger licking good

WORTH TRYING :-)

Chef and owner Josh Nicholls

Table setting

Nice spacious wooden seating and tables at the front

Old school bag of lollies to be had

Arcade games honour board — I was addicted to Galaga as a kid

Sugar fix assured

Retro jukebox

I bit of wayfinding signage would be handy to the toilet although I'm suspecting it might be that folded over piece of paper on the wall?

Toilet kept tidy although has seen better days in terms of its style

I'm suspecting these crates won't be the most comfortable seating for a long stay

Smack bang in the middle of a major intersection

View Larger Map

02 October 2012

Grandma's Little Bakery: Home-styled cooking, Alexandria (30 Sept 2012)

42 O'Riordan Street, Alexandria NSW 2015

http://www.grandmasbakery.com.au

Homely offerings at Grandma's

“A home-styled cooking and baking concept, bringing together flavours and loved recipes from real Grandma's and Grandpa's from all over the world.”

You know a place is kid friendly when you see a designated play area for kids. I didn't get to check the toilets but I'm hoping they also provide change tables. Grandma seems to be quite tech-savvy with the menu provided on iPads. At first it was a bit foreign for me to use as I actually don't use an iPad but after a short time it was quite fun to flick through the pages with the added feature of preview pics of the dishes. I had now idea what shakshuka was so this became very handy to see. Grandma's Haya Spinach and Feta Borekas Vegetarian ($11.50) looked pretty much like it did on the menu with nice pastry and fresh salad although the salad needed a more interesting dressing for my liking than just olive oil. It also seemed to have some sort of dukkha mix sprinkled over it which made it rather gritty on the palate and not particularly pleasing to eat in my books.

My Vanilla Milkshake ($6.50) was more milky than vanilla in taste and I would have loved to have white chocolate shavings to spoon off the top for extra flavour. The Chai Latte ($4.50) had better depth of flavour and thought it would make for a great milkshake flavour option. My Classic Shakshuka Vegetarian ($14.50) came with 2 free range eggs, roast capsicum, tomato and onion with a side of soft bread which came in handy for mopping up the flavours. I couldn't stop thinking of wanting some chorizo or minced lamb in the mix for extra flavour like you find in the Breakfast Tagine Lamb Mince at Kazbah but as a vegetarian dish it was enjoyable. The snow ball cookie in the Grandma's Mix Cookies ($4.90) was a favourite for me which are available in the shop. Hot Chocolate ($4) had a decent amount of chocolate flavour and I really enjoyed the Traditional Apple Strudel ($6.90) mostly because it came with a decent amount of vanilla icecream. The pastry had a nice amount of caramelisation and was served slightly warm although keep in mind it's a small serving.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Interesting menu, Tempting products in the shop, Kid friendly, iPad menu shows a preview of dishes

CONS: Some products in the shop seem quite pricey, They don't leave the iPad menu with you so you'll need to ask for it back in case you need to check it again to order something else

MUST TRY: Apple strudel, Snow Ball Cookie, Revisiting to maybe try the Breakfast Buffet for only $20
VERDICT: A relaxed cafe with shop and bakery full of tempting products that I only wish was closer to home

—