Toby's Estate, Chippendale

Named after its founder, there are four Toby's Estate owned and run cafes in Australia - two in Sydney, one in Melbourne and one in Brisbane. They also have one cafe in Singapore and another one in New York.

After 11 years in Sydney and passing this cafe countless times, I finally had the chance to try their coffee all thanks to my ex-DLC bestie, Jennie, who was re-visiting Sydney from HK. We were doing touristy stuff across the road on the grounds of the University of Sydney, so we had to refuel with some chow.

After some time of renovations, now we could see their roastery through a panel of glass.

Since I had a mocha over at Dave's, I ordered a cappuccino ($3.80) here and was very happy with it. Just like what Peter (my PhD supervisor, who is also my occasional coffee advisor) said, they have good coffee here.

Peter also recommended their french toast because he said it is unique. And so I ordered one to share with Jennie. Mmmm, their french toast with spiced poached pear, strawberries and chai anglaise ($13.50) - yummeh! However, we felt that we could have had a tad more anglaise.

Jennie wanted to be 'health-conscious' and ordered a Botanica cold pressed juice ($8.50). A very green one and she enjoyed it. She even kept the jar.

Toby's Estate, Chippendale
32 - 36 City Road, Chippendale, NSW 2008, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9112 1131
Weekdays 7:00am to 4:00pm (Takeaway from 6:30am)
Weekends 8:00am to 4:00pm

Mad Pizza E Bar @ Newtown

I am so glad that I do not live in Newtown or any where near there because if I did, I would run out of cash very easily and would just develop the mentality of "there is no need to cook because there is so much food around us". For me, Newtown seems to be one suburb I do not fail to bring my non-Sydneysider friends to for the vibrant cafe culture.

When a classmate flew in from Singapore, I allocated half a day for a walkabout in Newtown. I originally wanted to introduce her to some Thai food at Newtown Thai but they were not open at the time. Consequently, we ended up at Mad Pizza E Bar.

The place was empty, allowing us to receive undivided attention from the waitstaff. They were very friendly and helpful with the menu, and allowed us to take our time with our orders.

While waiting for our orders to be served, we could play with the crayons provided at the side of the table. More to keep children busy, but hey, no one said adults are not allowed to scribble with crayons to keep ourselves entertained, right?

I enjoyed their cup of hot chocolate ($3.00), which was not too sweet.

We were recommended the Positano pizza ($19.00), pizza with sweet Spencer Gulf prawns with calamari, NZ clams and tomato with shallots, garlic, flat leaf parsley and lemon. They did not recommend wrongly - the ingredients were plentiful and but did not leave us feeling bloated.

There was also ravioli on lunch special that day, and just plainly because I am a big sucker for ravioli, I ordered it. It was the best ravioli for $10 that I have ever had! Lovely texture of the pasta as I chew into each pillow. The flavours of the stuffing inside the pillow married well with the sauce on the outside.

Left feeling very satisfied and relieved that a random decision to walk into an empty shop turned out to be a good one.



Mad Pizza E Bar @ Newtown
135 King Street, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia.
Tel: +61 2 9550 6500, Fax: +61 2 9550 6599

MakMak Macarons

I first heard of MakMak through a Facebook forum of Malaysians in Australia. I am not a macaron person but the colourful box of little round cuteness caught my attention because the person who shared that photo made a passing mention of the owner being Malaysian.

Malaysian? I did a Google search. Yes, I love Google. So I typed in MakMak Macarons and out came 2k plus results. Hm... I slowly read through the reviews and felt ever so proud that this 'little' brand of highly recommended macarons was started by a Malaysian chap from PJ.

It took me a few months before I paid a visit to their then pop up now permanent shop in Newtown. They are nearer the St. Peters side of Newtown, so I would recommend getting off at St. Peters Station if one is taking the train.

Carlos Heng is the brains behind the business. I found out during our little chat that he studied at BBBS and I instantly made connections to a few of my own friends. Turned out that we have quite a few mutual friends!

These babies are all handmade, hand-piped and 100% gluten-free.

The little mini sweet dessert burgers are made fresh daily in the premises, which means that flavours vary depending on the day. How can you not like this colourful display?

Each macaron is priced at $3. Box of 5 is $15, box of 10 is $27 and a box of 12 is $32. A macaron with a cup of iced tea is $5 but iced tea on its own is $3.50.

As I went in Autumn, they were running a Botanicals theme that was inspired by herbs, flowers and other plants.

I did not know how to choose. So, I ended up taking one of each flavour. Incidentally, there were 12 flavours. Just right.

The 12 flavours we had were:

• Peppermint and Belgian dark chocolate (Speckled green)
• Green tea latte (Dark green with white heart) - this was quite refreshing
• Salted caramel (Ivory)
• Peppermint and Black tea (Pale green) - this was our favourite!
• Rhubarb and Rose (Red/Pink) - thumbs up for this one!
• Peanut butter and Belgian milk chocolate (Blue)
• Passionfruit, Orange and Lemon myrtle (Yellow/Orange) - we liked this one, too!
• Strawberry, Vincotto and Pink peppercorn (Red with designs) - least liked of the lot
• Smoked vanilla and Pecan praline (Brown with designs)
• Apricot and Elderflower (Orange with designs)
• Pistachio (Khaki green)
• Bounty (Brown/White) - too coconuty for us

On some of the macarons, there are unique designs to make them all the more enticing!

Sun, sea, beach, tea, MakMak and good company - best weekend combination ever!

MakMak Macarons

601 King Street, Newtown, NSW 2042, Australia

Tel: +61 2 8095 0045

Tuesday to Friday 11:00am to 7:00pm

Saturday 11:00am to 6:00pm