Devon by day

I do not think that I am exaggerating if I say that this cafe has been blogged and featured to death in the past year. Therefore, I think I will be forgiven if this blog post has less words than my usual posts.

When I visit a cafe for the first time, I normally order their soy chai. Devon's organic soy chai ($4.00) came served in an adorable (and heavy) teapot.  

Their coffees are also priced around the $4.00 mark.

Now, the affinity felt with Devon is largely due to their very Malaysian menu. Does help that their head chef is a Penangite and that one-half of the owners is also Malaysian.

Other than nasi lemak and roti canai, no Malaysian childhood morning is complete without a brekkie of half-boiled eggs and kaya toast. And so, when I saw the words Kaya Toast ($12.50) flashed across the menu, I had to order it to relive my childhood. Coconut jam and butter spread on crunchy warm pieces of brioche toast with two 63' eggs swimming in light soy... ahh... heaven...

I fell in love with The Little Lost Bread ($16.00), which essentially is a dessert-like French toast. In fact, it is PB&J brioche French toast served with warm banana, Nutella, jam and peanut butter ice-cream. So sinful, so unhealthy but oh so yummy!

Another dish I made sure to try was the KJI fried chicken burger ($19.00). No regrets as the chicken was super crunchy and tasty, especially combined with go juchang, peanut sauce and kimchi slaw.

The burger is also served with a side of chips and aioli.

Breakfast with the Sakumas ($24.50) is a rather filling plateful of a piece of miso grilled king salmon,  a smoked eel croquette, a perfectly done 63' egg, a fistful of radish petit salad and a dollop of Kewpie mayo (anything with Kewpie is delicious, if you ask me!). Luckily we shared this dish, as I found it rather heavy for brekkie.

Their Devonshire Street branch is now exclusively only for day operations. For night operations, they have a new place on Danks Street. Oh, and of course, with a upgraded menu. ;)



Devon Cafe
76 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2043, Australia.
Tel: +61 2 9211 8777; E-mail: info@devoncafe.com.au

Reuben Hills

Am going to try something different with this post. Am going to use just one-liners for each photo. Hah, tough for a long-winded person like moi. Here goes...

Easy to spot the cafe with its simple, no fuss signage and wooden outdoor furniture for patrons who prefer the sun and fresh air (don't know how fresh it would be with passing vehicles)...

The unassuming exterior contrasts the former printing factory turned purpose-designed coffee shrine interior...

Other than the intoxicating aroma of coffee, the catchy (and explicit) names on the menu caught my attention...

Haha, pretty sure they don't use Nescafe here...

Enjoyed my mocha ($4.00) heaps...

The Dirty Bird ($17.50) is a pretty big mouthful of spicy grilled chicken, tomatillo salsa, cheese, pickles and chipotali aioli on brioche...

The NOT Reuben ($18.00) is a wagyu salt brisket, pickled slaw, manchego and horse cream radish on rye...

And my favourite, soft baked eggs with jam on, spinach, ranchero and rye ($18.00)...

Central and Southern American influenced, obviously and one other drink on their menu which is a must-have according to both flatmates: salted caramel milkshake ($8.50). My next visit will see me trying the Really fucking great fried chicken, just to find out how fucking great it is :)

Reuben Hills
61 Albion Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia.
Tel: +61 2 9211 5556
Sunday 7:30am to 4:00pm
Monday to Saturday 7:00am to 4:00pm

The Winery

My visit to The Winery brought me to a part of Surry Hills, which I have never been to. I did not realise that there were so many shops tucked away - mental note to come back here again to check the place out.

It took me longer than everyone else to get to their entrance because I kept looking at the stuff they had outdoors. And some of them made me wonder, like this one; if they really were pointing in the right direction?

We walked up the flight of stairs looked over by a few "people" (faces more like)...

I found the deer taxidermy pretty eery, actually...

We found them quirky and liked the place, everything from the furniture, the decor to their wood panel ceiling. Ideas ran through our minds when we saw how empty boxes could look good through glass cupboard doors - organised mess, no?

We were shown to our table that was tucked away in the corner. When we saw the menu, we went, "Oh, only one page?" Haha, obviously it was more than enough to keep the crowd coming, as the crowd gradually grew and was full.

We shared two jugs of Pimm's & Lemonade (Pimm's, Martini Rosso, mint, cucumber, strawberry, lemon and ginger ale $25/jug).

When the waitress served our entrees, she had to repeat her explanation, as we were too distracted by her Halloween costume!

M liked the dips and olives and toasted bread ($18) lots because she liked the pink and the green ingredients on the plate.

The salt and pepper calamari (special of the day) lacked a little crunch but was flavoursome.

M was the only person who ordered the Spanner crab, cassarecce, chilli, garlic and basil ($28), which we all thought was tasty. We liked how it had an unexpected spicy kick.

Mel and I wanted the salmon cutlet, samphire, kale and lemon ($29). Mel's salmon cutlet was a little too dry for her liking while mine, I thought was just right. We were more impressed with the greens on the side than the fish!

C and S both had the 200g Flat Iron Wagyu served with Cafe de Paris butter, red wine jus and djion mustard ($28). Both had theirs done medium rare, which M could not accept. She could not stand the sight of blood oozing out of a piece of meat... lol!

For dessert, we ordered two serves of mango brûleé with wild lime sorbet ($12) and one serve of chocolate brownie with salted caramel ice-cream ($14). I highly recommend the mango brûleé. The chocolate brownie was not bad but I found it really rich and sweet.

Another big crowd-puller would have to be how thoughtful and observant their waitstaff were. We did not get the name of the young man looking after us but he sure knew how to make an impression. He surprised me with a birthday drink at the end. When we asked how he knew, his reply was, "I saw you girls giving her presents, so I thought it's for her birthday".

Spot on and what a great way to end the night!

A little more on the pricey end but I would not mind paying more for quality hospitality and unique ambience.

They are a little secluded - walk through the old sandstone gates, and if you can see Thomas Dux (how convenient), you are at the right place. Walk down the plant-lined pathway and you should receive a warm welcome from their friendly staff on the wooden platform on your left.

The Winery
285A Crown Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9331 0833, E-mail: info@thewinerysurryhills.com.au
Open daily from midday to midnight

House Restaurant

House Restaurant operates under the Spice I Am umbrella but unlike the main Spice I Am branch, House offers cuisine from the traditional area of Isaan in North Eastern Thailand. It was my first taste of North Eastern Thai food and was little unsure of what to expect.

We tried two types of salad. The Yum Pla Mueg ($14.00), which is a calamari salad with celery, coriander, shallots and onion, served with chilli and lime dressing had a lovely tangy twist due to the lime. Thumbs up.

I got to order the Larb Ped ($18.00), a traditional Isaan salad of minced duck with eschalots, shallots, Vietnamese coriander, mint, ground roasted rice, ground chilli and lime. The combination of coriander and mint, ah... Thumbs up.

The dish that appealed to me the least but found most interesting was the Aorm Gai ($14.00), a chicken curry with dill, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, galangal, garlic, eschalots, shallots, Thai eggplant, pumpkin, Thai lemon basil and choy sum. Too many different flavours going on in there for me. Very rich dish, nevertheless.

We also ordered two dishes off their specials menu. There was a tofu dish (forgive me for I failed to note the name and price of both dishes) and a green curry beef dish.

We saved space for dessert and oreder two out of the three they had on their menu. The ais kacang looking Nam Kaeng Sai ($5.00) is a Thai style shaved ice dessert with sweet potato, sweet taro, pineapple and toddy palm seed topped with Thai caramel sauce and coconut milk. Wonder if the caramel sauce they meant was palm sugar (gula Melaka). Ice shaving was too hard for my liking.

The better dessert was the one with the kinkier name - BTS, which stood for Better Than Sex ($15.00). A toasted brioche served with pandan coconut gelato topped with Thai caramel sauce and sprinkled with roasted black and white sesame seeds. Brioche was melt in your mouth. Thumbs up.

As there is a bar inside, they do not allow BYO and similar to the other popular Thai places, they do not take reservations. However, with a sum of $110 (for 5 of us, which isn't too bad), not being able to pay by card was a little annoying.



House Restaurant
202 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Tel: +61 2 9280 0364, E-mail: info@spiceiam.com
Open daily 11:30am till Late