Cappuccino – indeed, not bad I’m told.

And the latte.  These come in small and large. Syrup or non syrup. Quite reasonably priced.

Okay, having gained a bit of a spare tyre aka muffin top over winter, I tried to go for something healthy (ie no sausage or bacon).  For me this came in the form of the mushroom, ham and pesto omelette with no cheese.  With a slice of sourdough and some mange-tout as salad, it was very satisfying, and not over cooked at all. Baby Lucas adored it too and helped me polish off a third of it!  The filling was generous but did not overcome the eggs.

Salmon benedict – perfect chubby ooozy eggs and a generous amount of salmon.  But what puzzled me was why it wasn’t served on english muffins, and instead only one piece of toast? Not that much sauce, but oh well, my friends seemed to not care much!

Now what I SHOULD have ordered and lingered over for a bite was the French toast.  Yuuummm…. it was sooo soft and delicious – soaked brioche, fried until brown, not too eggy, and this gorgeous berry compote on it.  It was delicious and I could have eaten alot more – but definitely not the whole plate as I definitely need some savoury for my breaky.

They also make a baklava French toast which I am curious to try for next time!

We also tried the crab linguine, main sized.  I thought it could be a bit bigger, but otherwise it was nice – the pasta cooked al dente, fragrant olive oil and not stingy on the crab.  It was especially nice with the chilli oil that was offered to us.

I’m please to advise that the cool rooms are now filled with all sorts of goodies now.  Great fresh produce – what a colourful display!  I was hoping there would be some exotic goodies like heirloom tomatoes but alas they were just mandarins

If you like cheese, this could be heaven for you to be locked up in the cheese room!

Some ready made frozen pastas too.  But one thing I did not like in there was some gyoza! Hello! Japanese food in an Italian cafe??  There are ssoooo many Korean shops in Strathfield,  I think that one Italian shop could remain pure please

And as predicted, the hooks above the deli counter, now have meats and smallgoods hanging for you to drool over..

The restaurant itself is a wide open warehouse space on ground level, and a mezzanine level.  A number of very large communal tables made of polished timber are surrounded by trendy stainless steel chairs.  A bar runs along the length of the window for gazing out into the street – or for me to sit and read my paper as I intend to, every single weekend for the rest of my life  There are also tables of four as well.  Well , not time to eat yet – so I browsed around the shop.  It wasn’t so huge, but the offerings were quality.  Fresh italian crusty bread in every shape you would need for your weekend gourmet table, and at VERY reasonable prices.

The deli has a wide variety of salumi and other meats, as well as anti pasti.  Judging by the hooks above it, I am guessing that some lovely legs of proscuitto may soon arrive

Some yummy meat to go?

And for cheese buffs – there is also a climate and humidity controlled room!!!!  Two in fact!  I think they are still to stock, it is opening day after all

And its unique drawcard – the roasting facility.  Shiny, spanking new in red, and enclosed in a glass room for all to watch.  If you want to make your own blend, you can – if you want 50kgs minimum that is!

I had lunch plans… but gee it certainly was hard to resist the sweets on offer there  they looked so fresh they might as well have come from nonna’s oven that day.  Tick to resisting temptation

Although I did have to have a drink.  What’s the point of going to a coffee roaster and warehouse if I don’t sample their namesake?  I had a skim mocha. It was only $3.50.  And believe me, it was GOOD.   So smooth down your throat and not harsh or bitter or burnt at all like some coffees!

Well, I had had a taste.  I wanted more. So I went back that night for dessert!  First up – skim hot choc.  Not bad.  But i asked for more chocolate as it tasted of warm milk.

For dessert – the most inexpensive creme brulee ever – only $8!   Perfect sugary crust, and served generously with four slices of fresh made biscotti.   Sorry that the custard still didn’t beat my gold standard of best ever creme brulee (the Sheraton on the Park buffet one) – but hey, it’s opening day!   There’s still time to perfect it!

I looked longingly at the plates of pizza and pasta going by – sad that I had had dinner already  But…. sad no more, because as I lifted my eyes, this giant mamma of a plate came at me! Wow!!!  Italian waffles, the special – only $9!!!  TWO waffles served with hazelnut gelato and whipped cream.

But wait – there’s more – sandwiched between them were two further scoops of gelato – chocolate and Italian vanilla!  Where in town do you get even just 3 scoops of gelato for that price, let alone waffles!!!  I was informed by the manager that the waffles are made by an Italian lady daily.   Let me say that the chocolate gelato was to die for.  It was dark and rich and I could say that it was probably made with the best quality chocolate money could buy.

This place has so much promise.  I really look forward to trying more things and keeping you up to date!

More virtue growing as after one hour, we still had had only that small cold pre-prepared course!  So at 1:30, finally finally, we got our mains:  eggs three ways: Chorizo and sun dried tomato egg tart; spinach and mushroom omelette on a ciabatta crouton; and an egg benedict.  The tart was very fresh and eggs cooked still a bit runny – perfect! Would have loved some more chorizo though.  My favourite was the omelette. The spinach was very tasty, and was drizzled with a goats cheese dressing.  And finally, the egg benedict –  the sauce was universally agreed to be excellent, but the ham was disappointing, as it tasted like shaved ham from woollies, and almost on its last day IMHO.

You can see why we chose this deal as we got a third course. A waffle to share between two, with two scoops of vanilla bean gelato on top, drizzled with coulis and white chocolate sauce in the holes.  Oh MMAaaannnnn it was ssoooooooooooooooooooo nice…. the best waffle I’ve ever had!!!  Still warm, crispy on the edges from the sugar, and just the perfect amount of sweetness combined with the sauces.  This is definitely worth coming for, and in combination with the apolegetic free coffees, was almost enough to quench my annoyance at the long wait for the table (I know it wasn’t their fault, but still, 35 minutes I could have gone for a lovely walk in the park!) and the long wait for the food.

I also loved the room – however slightly noisy – which therefore makes it perfect to bring your kids!  I’ll be back to try their dessert tasting plate which we eyed off the table next to us!

Beneath the stained glass arched entrance is a clear glass display of beautiful pieces of fine cake art.  It is soooo hard to choose from – tiramisus, mousse cake slices, gigantic macarons sandwiched with ganache, and their signature three texture chocolate mousse cake to name but a few..

They also have a good selection of family sized cakes, all too delicious to eat – topped with gorgeous strawberries, macarons and other jewels of adornment.   The style is less crazy, definitely not plain classic, each one a beautiful work of art that seems too good to ruin by eating.

What paticceria in Sydney would dare not offer a macaron. These chubby cuties sandwiched generously in ganache and irresstible in their pastel beauty.

I’d say that once word of this places gets around, there certainly won’t be many cakes for FoodieChat to photograph!  And the lady behind the counter was so nice, urging me to take piccies – unlike an unnamed new bakery in the Strand which haughtily said “we will be having professional photographers do our publicity”. Obviously unaware of the power of you guys, my readers!

If you can’t eat cake all the time, and let’s face it, breakfast is definitely offlimits, they also offer a selection of danishes, croissants and banana bread. OK, so still cake like, but everyone eats these

If you have time to eat in, definitely definitely try their cafe menu.  The paninis and sandwiches are gorgeous, true to their Italian style, and very good value at $14 each.  Oh, and there’s also the amazing antipasti too.  I can definitely see this place becoming one of my regulars.  But maybe i shall have to force myself to take the stairs each time, just to make myself deserve that last bite of cake  Marie Antoinette would certainly feel at home here!

Just in time for the Sydney International Food Festival, Bacco is also offering high tea for $45 per person.

www.bacco.com.au

This funky little cafe even sells coffee making wares.  It shows that they are serious about their beans! Because they even blend and grind their own!

Despite the tempting cakes and coffee machine shopping, we were here for a feed.  There is a good chalkboard menu of specials, as well as an all day breakfast menu and some toasted turkish bread specials.  The BLT arrived and I immediately had food envy.  It was stuffed with layers of crispy bacon, not dry at all, gourmet mesclun, and tomatoes – it certainly puts soggy white iceberg lettuce filled tiny BLTs to shame!  It’s served with a leaf salad that has a yummy balsamic vinegrette.

I selected something from the specials menu.  I have thing for corn fritters, and as they had the on the menu, along with garlic fried mushrooms, roasted tomatoes and grilled capsiscums, I didn’t even think twice.   It was definitely dressed up to city style standards, but what I was disappointed about was that the fritters were more like pikelets studded with some corn kernels.  Bills’ corn fritters have made me accustomed to more like corn cakes, which are chunky and barely held together with flour.  So almost 100% corn if you will.

Because there was no dressing or sauce served with it, the dish lacked of seasoning. But I have to say, if there were pikelets they would have been perfect as they were so fluffy!  Build your own breakfast is also available:  this is smoked salmon, poached eggs and spinach.  Perfectly poached eggs with just set whites and runny yolks.  I think the spinach was expected to be sauteed as in the city, but overall, a balanced dish.

The service isn’t as fast as your typical CBD joint, but that also means you aren’t pushed out and can linger over your coffee.   What also caught my eye was the sign out the front for mums saying ‘brst feeding welcome’.  Worth a try if you’re in town and looking for well priced, freshly prepared light meals

The menu was HUGE!  Ssssoooo many choices.  It’s a big menu for  a big breakfast. So many different things to try, ranging from bacon and egg rolls to ‘Voluptuous Veg’ – aka poached eggs on green beans and sweet potato and zucchini fritters.  We opted for the sweet corn fritters with poached eggs, spinach, bacon and tomato relish.  Two big corncakes arrived piled high with bacon (a bit crispier would have been better) and lavished with perfectly poached eggs and a dollop of relish.  Check out the size of this mountain of food!! Exactly what I was hoping for and more!  The fritters were not too doughy yet still held together well.  Sort of like chunky pancakes, with a spicy curry flavour from the relish which added a slight heat.

Everyone was eating mushys and their garlicky aroma filled the air as you walk in.  Side of mushys – $3.

And second most popular choice, the BIG BREKKY, the cafe’s namesake!  Two rashers of bacon, two eggs any way you like, two MASSIVE slices of buttered toast, vine ripened cherry tomatoes, a small chorizo, more mushys, and for some different – potato gratin and pear chutney.  Admittedly, I didn’t really like the gratin that much. A plate full of saturated fat needs a fried hash brown IMHO And personally I’m not a fan of savoury fruit, so my chutney stayed on the plate.  Everything else was delish though. The eggs were cooked crispy on the edges, mushys full of garlic flavour, and the cherry tomatoes a very posh touch.  Great value at $18.

This little cafe must have been a local’s secret – until SMH unleashed it!  It hits all the right notes without being pretentious or posh.  Great food and REALLY good service from the friendly staff, totally unphased by the number of kids there – who can also play outside on the grassy outdoor back area too.  Very quick service too.

Well one disadvantage of sitting near the kitchen is seeing all the goodies go past.  And what we could not let past was a taste of the pancakes.  Baci pancakes in fact.  YUM, two huge thick flapjacks sandwiched with (not enough ) nutella, dusted generously with icing sugar and cocoa and fresh strawberries. See for yourself!   I found them a bit doughy, but my friends liked it that way.  A scoop of ice cream really would have completely made the dish too!  But I think we definitely had had our weeks’ serve of calories hehehe.  What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

We were famished by the time we got there, so first up was to order some roasted garlic bread.  Each serve came with four generous wedges of garlic bread with a twist. It was bread with whole baked caramelised cloves through it. And boy was there alot of garlic!  The husband of my manager was said to say “you reek!” when she got home!  But we as a whole team wolfed it all down.  It came served with extra garlic butter, as well as a walnut sauce which was a bit redundant as it was a bit sweet and the bread was sweet anyway.  I would have preferred the garlic to be more integrated into the bread as it was a bit offputting to chew through whole cloves of garlic.

Hunger staved, we could then turn our attention to ordering.  We were having the $29 team lunch, which comprised a choice of one of four courses with a glass of house wine, beer or soft drink; AND tea or coffee at the end.  First choice, was their signature fish and chips.  The fish was hake (ie shark), which is not atypical of fish and chips in Australia, but could be improved by using flathead for example.  They were crispy and served on crispy fries.

Second choice was olive crusted slow cooked lamb.. I don’t eat lamb, but was informed that it was braised so tender it fell apart at the mere touch of the fork, and the serving size was also very generous.   Served with mash topped with ratatouille and a basil dressing, it sounded a bit busy with the jus, but that’s just my opinion, uninformed

My choice was the sirloin with watercress salad and chips.  The steak was very tender and the salad tangy.  I quite enjoyed it!  I particularly loved the giant chips, stacked like a little block of potato jenga

Fourth and final choice was a vegetarian trio. No once chose it, so no piccies sorry!  Apart from the potential view, the absolute stand out star of the show as dessert.  Hats off to the pastry chef for producing such amazing tastes, and for the management for the very reasonable prices!  Overwhelmingly most popular was the lemon tart and bombe alaska.

The lemon tart was in fact a lemon BRULEE tart – yummmm the crispy toffee coating makes an already delicious tart just that little bit more luxurious.  The lemon was perfectly balanced between tangy and sweet.

And it paired so well with the little bombe alaska – also with lemon gelato in the centre.  The outside eggwhite wasn’t the cooked eggwhite type however can be forgiven for the flavour.

Second most popular was the chocolate tasting plate.  You’re getting the gist of these superb two or three for the price of one desserts?

A chocolate tart, chocolate terrine and ummm don’t know what the third one was, but I was assured that they were all delicious.

All in all, a great value lunch.  This is restaurant food at bistro prices.  If it was a sunny day, it would have been idyllic.  And coming here simply for dessert would be worth it on its own.  Quick, the $29 lunch deal ends in September!

Also unlike other stuffy high teas in Sydney, Bathers does NOT put everyone’s food onto the one tea stand in an attempt to make it not look stingy! Bathers puts two persons food on the one stand, no need to make it look good value because it already is!

Many people eat savoury sweet sweet, but for me, I start with hot then move to savoury then to sweet.  First up, scones!  One each, still warm, and of a good size, served with whipped cream and strawberry jam.  High tea purists might argue that clotted cream or double cream should be served.  But I prefer my cream with as little saturated fat as possible, it makes it much less heavy.

The sweets of the day were a bread and butter pudding slice, a hazelnut chocolate mousse layered slice, and a passionfruit meringue.  These were all lovely, but probably not up to 5 star hotel standards.  The bread and butter pudding could have been warm for my liking; and the chocolate on the layered slice wasn’t quite tempered, but the gold leaf was a very elegant touch.  The mousse could also be a bit firmer to make the chocolate thing easier to eat, as it squished when you used your fork to eat it.  I liked the taste of the mousse though, as well as the passionfruit tart.  But I was a bit sad that I think the meringue wasn’t evenly torched, and I don’t think it was done the cooked way (ie to add hot sugar syrup into the egg white).

The savouries were a delightful change on traditional crust off sandwiches! We each got a shitake mushroom bun (chinese style), a mushroom tart and a smoked salmon finger sandwich.  The shitake mushroom bun wasn’t quite up to chinese standard, especially since it was cold, as the bun was a bit gluggy, when it should be fluffy and warm.  The filling had a delicious earthy flavour though.  The tarts were absolutely perfect, bite sized and full of flavour.  And finally, the smoked salmon finger sandwich on rye with creme fraiche was as good as the best I’ve had.

Your $25 also includes any coffee including cappucinos, mochas etc, and also a pot of tea. All in all, amazing value.  All so good that in fact I forgot to take pictures of the view! hehe. Oh well.  If you can get here, do try it.  It’s something different from other high teas.  The only problem though is that there are no bookings, and it’s only on Mondays to Fridays.  Don’t let that stop you though!

Inside the store, it’s even cuter, with pink cupboards, pink and brown checkered floor and rows and rows of perfect cupcakes behind glass display cabinets. (I didn’t notice this lovey dovey couple on the left until I got home, the guy blended so well with the decor ).  The restaurant has a row of benches where you can eat it (it costs more though) and enjoy a coffee.

All the treats from the book are on display here.  The most popular is the red velvet, and of course the traditional vanilla cupcake, each is adorned with a lick of pastel cream.  New flavour of the day was the earl grey tea flavour.

These mounds of calories and goodness were in fact rocky roads, rather than rocky road topped cupcakes as I had imagined.

Apart from the cupcakes, Hummingbird Bakery also has large cakes. Sadly, I didn’t realise you could buy these by the slice, until too late

Despite the fact that I was still full from lunch, I decided I did not want to carry around a cupcake whilst shopping. So I had to eat one there. Eating in costs just slightly more – but at least it allowed me to dissect what’s so good about these cupcakes After much agonising deliberation, I decided on a chocolate cupcake for something different, swathed in a gorgeous lemon coloured vanilla frosting.

The cake to icing ratio was less pleasing to me than to the traditional American audience (ie 50% cupcake 50% ‘frosting’!), however the cake was deliciously moist without being sickly sweet, and the icing wasn’t grainy at all, and quite buttery.

I highly highly recommend the book, the cupcake recipe does in fact have sooo little butter, which means that you can eat them relatively guilt free

Buy the book from Amazon here