Bourke St Bakery

Fuck yeah this is the shit. An oldie but a goodie, a Sydney institution and luckily one of my locals. I've been here three times the last week.

I was so hungry all those times, I forgot to take too many photos, plus I come here all the time. You should too. Actually don't, it's already hard enough to get a seat during peak times.

Pork and fennel sausage roll. Tear that mutha up and get it in ya!

$7.50 for a dine in sausage roll and latte. I was happy with that. Coffee is always good.


 Then I had the prune and brandy custard tart for $5.50.

Service is mediocre. I keep thinking "soup nazi" whenever I'm jammed in here waiting to order. So I shuffle quickly, don't smile, place my order and cough up the cash, then get out of people's way. I'm not here for the service. I'm here for my sausage roll and coffee so I walk away happy.

You also can't beat the $5 sourdough loaf. A decent loaf for a decent price.

Bourke St Bakery
633 Bourke Street
Surry Hills
http://www.bourkestreetbakery.com.au/

This Means War

I still can't believe my hubby came along to watch This Means War with me. He really does love me, a fact confirmed by the sheer act of him keeping his mouth shut...for most of the movie anyway.

Image (C) Player Affinity

Reese (Lauren in the film) is cute, she always is. My favourite part is her dancing and singing along to "This is How We Do It" by Montel Jordan in her kitchen. I couldn't get that song out of my head the rest of the night.

The guys (Chris Pine and Tom Hardy from left to right) are good looking too so they're all easy on the eye. For CIA agents I thought they could be a little more buff, in some scenes it looked like Tom Hardy had man boobs. Come on, my hubby is a banker and he's more worked out!

I won't bore you (or myself) with giving you the low down of the plot, you can get that here, where obviously people have nothing better to do than give you a blow by blow and ruin the movie for you.

What I will bring your attention to is Chris Pine's eyes. They are super blue and dreamy. His overall look is hot, but for the most part he's so hot he's ugly, it's like he's too symmetrical or something. And what's up with Reese's man jaw? But no surprises there, she always had that.

Can't get enough of Tom Hardy's kung fu moves and shooting bad guys (or kids playing paint ball) action. Karate chop!

Image (C) Flicks and Bits

It was fun for the bromance feel good aspect of it and funny for like 10% of the time. It made me want Lauren to disappear out of the picture so the guys could end up together, or something like that.

Lin-mania!

Jeremy Lin, lin baby, lintastic, linalicious, linsanity, linsane asylum, lindarella story...it goes on. Lin-mania has even reached Australian shores, hard for it not to since we're so entrenched in American culture.

Image (C) Getty Images, sourced from News One

I can't help it, I like Lin. I like his underdog story. A regular boy, went to Harvard University and studied economics and played basketball since he was young because he loves it. He gets dropped from two teams in one season and is about to get dropped from his current team the NY Knicks, sleeps on his brothers couch then out of sheer luck or destiny or whatever universal power got him to that moment, it's game on. The allstar players are off sick or holidaying or something, the NYK are desperate so they give Lin a shot. He explodes onto the basketball court, gives it all he has and it's linsanity, linmania and you know the rest.

He gives me hope that I can achieve any crazy or what may seem unrealistic, far fetched dream I set my mind to.

And his best feature? His humility. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. It's hard not to like him.

Good on him, well done, keep up the great work son.

Now I gotta get me one of those t-shirts.

Image (C) J/Z Printshop

Fleur Wood Warehouse Sale

Sydneysiders love a brand name discounted. If they don't then they're crazy or they have way too much disposable income.

Who would pay $295 for a day dress? Not me. I picked this puppy up for $89 at the Fleur Wood warehouse sale in Surry Hills.

Water sprite dress

This top was $69, discounted from $119. Admittedly pricier than what I wanted to pay for a top from a warehouse sale. I considered changing the coloured tag on it so for the more reasonable price of $29, but concluded it would be bad karma. Aww so pretty and girly.

The Spanish Fly

Spanish tapas, dinner time, smack bang in the middle of The Spot in Randwick. I've been here often this week; The Spot really is one of my favourite spots in Sydney. Villagey type of feel with bustling cafes and restaurants dotting the circumference of the round about. The roaring buses slamming on their brakes to drop off passengers and then racing past the pedestrian crossings to make it in time down to Coogee. Never ride one of those buses drunk...I've done it, it didn't end well.

I've heard good things about The Spanish Fly from a few of my friends who have been. It's always packed out.

We get in early to secure a seat. I mean it, it was like 5:45pm and it was off the back of a late hearty lunch at home. This place gets busy, by 6:30pm it was full. If it was Spain, we'd be rocking up to dinner at 10:30pm...just saying. FYI you can only make bookings for groups 5 people and larger.

My expectations are neutral because I've always been disappointed with Spanish in Sydney. I do enjoy the outdoor setting though and the framed poster of Dali which faces me during my meal.

I thank the universe for the memories of delicious food in Barcelona, one particular awesome little restaurant recommended by a local and hidden in one of the alley ways in the Gothic Quarter. Patatas bravas (yes the simplest of dishes) that melted in your mouth yet was still crispy. How they achieved this antithesis I'm not sure, I just thank them for it. And its spicy mayonnaisey goodness of a sauce to die for. For this reason I persist with Spanish cuisine. I know its great. They have some of the best chefs in the world. Surely I can get some scrap, some semblance of it here?

Sangria, my standard vino of one of their $15 cocktails? I figure $15 for a cocktail is decent by Sydney terms, so cocktail it is. I get their signature "Spanish Fly". Expecting it to be grandiose in appearance, after all it is their namesake cocktail, I'm disappointed when it comes out. I think it was all those thoughts about Barcelona and the Dali exhibition I saw in Berlin that got me excited in the first place.

Cocktail not flashy at all. Hard on eradicated in an instant. Poof, gone.




Taste was OK, if I could taste the alcohol then it would have been better (and made up for the other flavours lacking).

The first dish that comes out: stuffed zucchini flowers. I love tiny things, like tiny zucchini, so its a hit.

Especially because it's coupled with a generous smear of the subtle tasting roasted pimiento (capsicum) sauce.

Next are the mushrooms. Another hit. I love love love mushrooms.These are done well, pleasantly so. Texturally delightful. Tastefully enticing. The simple things really are the best.

The chicken with house made peri peri sauce follows. It’s spicy. I love it. Even with the oily bed caressing it. There’s a party in my mouth and the mushrooms are a nice respite from it. So I alternate between the two, whilst sucking down my cocktail. Sweet relief. 

I’m getting excited, I can’t wait to taste the other dishes we ordered. And this is where the meal turns.

Patatas bravas are brought out next. How can anyone get these wrong? They were clearly reheated, OMG cardinal sin! One of the most inexpensive ingredients and easiest to cook. WTF?

The slow cooked pork with pear sauce, resting on a bed of red cabbage. It’s sweet. Nice idea in theory. Even better if it wasn’t slightly warm and the crispy pork skin was well, crispy, instead of rubbery.

Chocolate pudding for dessert, or something like that. My companion talks it up before it arrives; not a good sign. I’m highly wary by this stage but willing to give it a crack, even though my sixth (food) sense told me to go for the churros.

We dig in, it's gooey. Too gooey. I'm waiting to get to some cakeyness to balance it out but I can barely scrape any cakeyness from the side or top. It's all undercooked goo. My stomach starts to turn almost immediately and I spend the next two hours sitting uncomfortably, clutching my stomach throughout the movie, wishing I never had dessert.

Total of six dishes consumed between two people, plus one cocktail. The bill shy of $100. The verdict: The Spanish Fly is neither here nor there, but perhaps worth me giving it another try and ordering the fave dishes of our friendly waiter such as the king prawns or the lamb. I'd go back for the mushies, chicken and zucchini flowers alone. For a not so extensive menu, there were quite a few seafood dishes (which my companion is allergic to hence why I didn't try any). The atmosphere is great, the service is friendly and the neighbourhood bustling. A great date night spot and I suspect the more sangria, wine or cocktails consumed, the better the food will taste and the easier it will go down.

Try it and then watch a movie at the Ritz. Oh yeah, and try the churros and let me know how they are!

The Spanish Fly
35 St Pauls Street
The Spot, Randwick