Wandering Fel

A few blocks away, we managed to find a big shopping mall named World Square. The Square is just a short distance by walking from Town Hall station, Chinatown district and other major attractions. The three levels of the shopping mall offers a unique selection of fashion (like Glue Store), homewares, lifestyle shopping and restaurants sich as Din Tai Fung, Guzman y Gomez and Grill'd. The supermarket in World Square, Coles, is also one of the spot that we often visit at night in Sydney (simply because we have nowhere else to go). But if you are into grocery (or chocolate shopping), you may want to check different kind of supermarkets that the city has to offer because different supermarket may have different products. 

Since the theme of our travel to Australia is to celebrate my birthday and his birthday 10 days later, Lee insisted that we should really get a cake because that day was the eve of my birthday. I was telling him that I don't really have to eat cake on my birthday night since I am no longer a child. In addition, there may not be any cake shop which still open around 9PM in World Square. But I was wrong and he was able to find Dovetail which happens to have a selection of doughssant (which seems to be a fusion between doughnut and croissant) and cake. For the doughssant, Dovetail offers a variety of interesting flavour such as Strawberry and Pistachio, Hazelnut, Salted Caramel and Blueberry (all priced at AUD 6.95). 

  

Meanwhile, for the flavour and type of the cake selection, Dovetail offers a variety of selection from Tiramisu, Mango Blondie, Carrot Cake, Blackforest and Vanilla (all priced at AUD 6.50). The price for a slice of cake at Dovetail seems to be pretty reasonable considering the fact that a slice of cake can cost to SGD 10 in Singapore. Gone are the days where I can eat cake on daily basis. 

Eventually, we decided on a slice of chocolate cheesecake (AUD 7.60). But because I was still so full after our Thai food feast at Chat Thai, we only celebrated my birthday by eating the cake for breakfast the next day. Hahaha happy birthday me! The chocolate cheesecake from Dovetail is moist and not so sweet but at the same time, I did not get any fantastic feeling from it so yeah. I make it sound that eating food is an orgasm feat. I suppose that's how you get the term "foodgasm".

Dovetail is located at: 

9/644 George Street

Sydney, Australia

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday 7AM - 9.30PM

Sunday 7.30AM - 9.30PM

The restaurant is pretty cozy as there are not many people dining in at 3PM on a Thursday afternoon. Bills was established by local celebrity chef, Bill Granger. As of to-date, he owns Bills in three locations in Sydney. He is an Australian restaurateur and food writer who has written a total of 11 cookbooks so far. I guess that's not an easy feat after all to come up with so many recipes which are loved by many people. He opened his restaurant venture, Bills, in 1993 at Darlinghurst and since then, he has branched out internationally in 2008 to Tokyo, London, Honolulu and Seoul. Bills in Australia are all located in Sydney with three restaurants at Darlinghurst, Bondi Beach and Surry Hills. The restaurant at Surry Hills is located just a few blocks away from our accommodation so we decided to visit Bills for our first meal in Australia. I have never seen fresh apples being put on sale in any cafe in Singapore so I kinda wonder if the Australian really go to cafe to grab an apple. 

Bills offers a variety of dishes ranging from small plates, salads, grain bowls, sandwiches and classic brunch items. Small plates are more like appetisers such as Zucchini Fries, Nigela Seeds and Tahini Yoghurt (AUD 10.50). The salads offered at Bills are rather special too with certain unique combination such as Semolina-crusted Calamari, Grapefruit, Fennel Pomegranate Salad and Yuzu Mayonnaise (AUD 23.50). The main items are classified into (1) Bowls, Grains which is classified further into pasta such as Braised Beef Tagliatelle (AUD 26.50) and rice dish such as Fragrant Chicken, Mushroom and Brown Rice Broth (AUD 23.50), (2) Classics such as its all-time favorite Ricotta Hotcakes (AUD 22.50) and (3) Plates such as Yellow Fish Curry (AUD 29.50) and Parmesan Chicken Schnitzel (AUD 26.50). If you prefer something lighter (although I doubt there are lighter plates in Australia because the serving portion here seems to be leaning toward "generous"), you can also go for Bills' sandwiches and burgers such as Wagyu Burger (AUD 26.50) and Fried Chicken Burger (AUD 18.50). 

But the must-try item in Bills is definitely the ricotte hotcakes with honeycomb butter (AUD 22.50). This dish is the masterpiece of Bill Granger and we had to agree with the netizen's review that this dish taste superb. The hot fluffy ricotta and the melted butter goes very well with the slightly caramelised banana.

Bills is located at:

359 Crown St, Surry Hills

Sydney, Australia

Opening times:

Monday - Friday    7AM - 10PM

Saturday and Sunday 7:30AM-10PM

 

Old Town Central seems to be where a mix or urban settlement and shops residing side by side. I won't be surprised if the rental rate for a room here is skyrocketing despite the small size of the room and the outwardly-run-down appearance of the building. The area is rather quiet on a Saturday morning but you will be surprised when you want to look for seats in any cafe around this area. 

  

YY and R5 could not really function without caffeine intake, so we asked Soe to bring us to nearest coffee place around here. He wanted to introduce us to one of his favourite coffee joints in Hong Kong but in order to reach the cafe, we have to wander around the neighbourhood for a while. 

And made a turn into a deadend corner because the cafe that he brought us is named Cafe Deadend. What an apt and yet pretty creative name for this little corner cafe. The tables in Cafe Deadend were all occupied when we reached the cafe around 10.30AM. I suppose Cafe Deadend must have been pretty popular with the neighbourhood. 

Cafe Deadend has both indoor and outdoor seatings but under the hot weather just like that day, I don't think there are people who wish to opt to sit outside because they would just literally melt away. Another point to note is that you have to do some self-serving if you are sitting outside. So if you want to receive table service, you should go for the indoor seating (if there's capacity). 

 The group were still full from the awesome dim sum feast at Dim Sum Square earlier, so we decided to just stick with coffee. YY who is a fan of hot coffee has ordered her usual favourite latte (HKD 45) while R5 sticks to Iced Cappucino (HKD 50). Coffees taste great although I don't think they are different from the coffee which I tried at 18 Grams at Causeway Bay. I do not really possess a discerning tastebud for coffee. Hahaha. 

We spotted more and more cafes and art boutiques alongside the same street at Old Town Central like Lighthouse, a store specialising in vintage lamps if you like to buy one to place in your room. 

And Teakha, one of the popular Western teahouses in Hong Kong. I initially planned to visit Teakha but Soe said Teakha is somewhat similar to TWG in Singapore and both YY and R5 are not really a fan of tea so we just gave it a miss. Maybe next time, Teakha. 

Cafe Deadend is located at:

G/F, 72 Po Hing Fong

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday 9.30AM - 6PM

Closed on Mondays

The reason of why the cafe is so easily full house is because the cafe is quite small, like at-the-corner kind of cafe. I actually kinda like this kind of cozy small cafe and we don't have such cafes in Singapore. I don't know why but it kinda gives you a comfortable chillax feeling in the neighborhood. But I don't really chill at cafe by myself in Singapore despite I'm being unemployed at the moment. Ah it's probably because paying for coffee at the price of at least SGD 5 is kinda too much for someone who does not earn any income at the moment. Oops why did I ramble on my current life situation? Sorry. Hehe. 

There are only three staffs behind the counter but I guess that's pretty much enough manpower because after all, 18 Grams specialises in coffee although they do have some breakfast items like toast and muffins. The non-caffeinated drinks are also available at 18 Grams if you can't take caffeine. The price for the coffee ranges from HKD 30 to HKD 50 while the price for other selection like chocolate and tea ranges from HKD 45 to HKD 55. 

It seems to be such a waste not to try out their coffee especially after a lot of media such as OpenRice and Oriental Daily gave 18 Grams positive feedback on their coffees. I was quite curious on shakerato and it is apparently a drink prepared using espresso and ice cubes. An iced espresso I suppose? 

Despite the fancy name, I don't think my noob stomach and tastebud can take the wonder of shakerato so I stick to my usual drink, hazelnut latte (or mocha, which seems to be on the sweeter side compared to the other type of coffee). My hazelnut drink has the most amazing latte art I've ever seen so far in my coffee drinking history. I wonder if I should take this opportunity of being unemployed to brush my skill in latte art. But then again, taking up new skill needs money and money is really not on my side at this moment. Sigh. #emoagain

Since I am not really a coffee connoisseur, I can't really review how good a cup of coffee is in detail (for example, by examining its acidity, aroma, body, flavor and aftertaste). My noob review on my hazelnut latte will be well, this is a safest (and pretty enjoyable) coffee to drink when you are not really a coffee drinker. It is easier to enjoy hazelnut latte because the hazelnut syrup creates sweet flavour of the otherwise, bitter coffee. And I, for one, can't really enjoy bitter coffee. Why would I pay so much for something taste bitter, really? My life is already bitter enough as it is. Oops, here we go again. 

18 Grams Specialty Coffee is located at: 

Unit C, G/F, 15 Cannon St.

Causeway Bay

Opening hours:

Daily 8AM - 8PM

We are seated at the indoor area and that's how we found out about the lingering smell that I mentioned earlier. The indoor seating arrangement is catered more toward two diners because of the space constraint. I wonder if the table will fit if the two diners happen to be very hungry and hence, order a lot of food. Hahaha. Just a random thought of mine but so far, it doesn't seem to be a real-world problem here at Botanist. 

Botanist provides brunch stapple such as baked egg (SGD 19), croque madame (SGD 18), corn fritters (SGD 18) and corned beef hash (SGD 19). However, despite being a brunch place, Botanist also offers a selection of pasta dishes and mains such as seafood aglio olio (SGD 23), tagliatelle carbonara (SGD 18) and slow cooked beef cheek (SGD 24). 

For the drinks, Botanist offers a range of coffee, tea and juices. Their coffee seems to be quite popular as we saw every other table definitely has at least one order of coffee. Unfortunately I do not dare to drink coffee after 3 or 4PM, unless I want to be an owl few hours later. The funny thing is my cafehopping buddy, SL, decided not to have any caffeine intake for the next few days because she's aging. LOL. What kind of reason is that but to be fair, her doctor did tell her not to consume coffee too much. So I guess it's wise to just follow the doctor's advice for now until she's getting better. 

Since Botanist is known amongst the netizen for its brunch items, I decided to go for the breakfast platter (SGD 23) and is equally humongous. The platter consists of toast, grilled corn, bratwurst sausage, avocado, hash, thick cut streaky bacon, mushroom, tomato, greens and two sunny side ups. I'm quite sure I'm so not gonna eating this kind of breakfast for the next two weeks after this meal. Despite the fancy combination, I still prefer my usual fix of English breakfast though. I probably just miss that Heinz's beans. Hmm, should I write this request of mine in suggestion box to Botanist? XD

For the portion that is shown above, I suppose the price tag of minimum SGD 20++ is reasonable because the portion is really humongous. I don't mind another visit to Botanist but will probably request for al-fresco seating instead because my clothes and hair are really smelly after our yummy meal. I've also made a mental note to try out their coffee next time. Teehee. 

Botanist is located at: 

74 Neil Road

Singapore

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday 8AM - 6PM

Closed on Mondays

Located between Lebuh Pantai and Lebuh Victoria (note: lebuh means street), China House is probably one of the longest cafe in Penang (if not the longest already) as you can practically enter the cafe from one street to another. It is functioning as cafe-cum-bar-cum-art gallery-cum-library and it has three storeys oh my gawd. And yet, despite its huge space, we still needed to wait for empty seats as the cafe is fully packed around 5PM on Saturday afternoon. 

While waiting for our names to be called, I used the time efficiently to check out what China House is actually selling. This place is cake heaven my goodness. There are so many types of sliced cakes offered from variety of chocolate cakes to cheese cake to citrusy cakes. 

If the cake selection does not overwhelm you by now, the next shelf show variety of other patisseries like doughnuts, pies, cupcakes, muffin, etc. I feel like trying them all but then again that may not be the best idea. Uh oh, but the glazed cinnamon looks like it's calling my name to eat it... #delusional

The weather was still crazy hot even though it's gonna be sunset in the next two hours, so we should really rehydrate ourselves once we were nicely seated. The drinks menu from China House also have a long list of all kind of beverages from juices, coffee, teas, milkshakes and ciders. 

My travel buddy and I took turn in ordering and here are the things that we ordered at China House: a glass of cider, a slice of lemon cake, a slice of chocolate meringue cake, and a glass of Rainbow juice (pineapple, mango and strawberry). 

When my travel buddy came back with a plate of lemon cake on her hand, both of us were looking at each other in amazement. It's not because we have never seen lemon cake before, it's just the size of the cake is so huge. Like so HUGE with the same price that we usually pay for a slice of cake in Singapore. Suddenly, none of us feel like buying any cake in Singapore anymore because we feel kinda cheated. LOL. (Actually until today, I have not bought any cake in Singapore but not because of I'm being petty, more because I'm fat. :P).

I came back with another kind of cake, a classic chocolate cake but the texture of this cake is slightly odd. The cake looks like it can crumble at any time because there's a mixture of meringue in the cake. I usually do not eat meringue on its own because it looks so damn sweet but turns out it gives a nice addition to a classic chocolate cake. Thankfully, the size of this chocolate meringue cake is not as big as the lemon cake earlier.