Badmanner Thymes Espresso

Parramatta is certainly upping the cafe scene with new cafes opening up thick and fast. One of which is Badmanner Thymes Espresso. I know not why it has an unusual name but I have made a note to ask the owners one day!

Badmanner recently started opening on Saturdays. Thank goodness or I would not have had a chance to check it out!

It is a rather small cafe space wise but they managed to add a lot of personality to the decor. A sofa resides against one wall, with a guitar to the side and some Art Deco posters add to the feeling of hipster.

On our almost noon visit, we ordered a combination of breakfast and lunch dishes.

Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon, Spinach, topped with home made hollandaise sauce on sourdough bread. The dish looked 'eggsmazing'!! Sorry, I had to make that one up! I had a bite to try and there was a nice combination of flavours.

Beef Bulgogi roll with marinated thin slices of oyster blade beef, pickled white radish, Spanish onions, sweet potato chips and spinach with home made wasabi aioli and served in a wholemeal soft roll. My first thought when it was presented to me was how on earth am I going to it this humongous roll?!?!? And it even came with cutlery and there was no way I was going to be polite while downing this delicious roll!

Tender, juicy beef with sweet slices of onions. The offsetting texture of the slight crunch of the sweet potato chips amidst all that beef was good. I personally would have liked the sweet potato chips to be even crunchier.

Cafe Lyon (Lindfield, Sydney)

A couple of weeks ago my close friends organised a birthday dinner catch up and it ended up being French themed. This time it was at Cafe Lyon located in the north shore in Lindfield.

When you read this post, you will notice that I have 2 back to back French dinners posted. Lol! Not planned this way, but sometimes these things happen. :)

Cafe Lyon had a nice French feel to their decor. Touches of Paris could be seen in carafes placed around various shelves and posters which were French themed.

We were seated at the first floor and I was thankful for the great lighting. Food bloggers paradise! Yay!

We decided to go for the 3 course menu which was priced at $65 for 3 courses. Pretty good value I say!

Our entrees were:

Zucchini Flowers, French Goats Cheese, Baby Artichoke & Salted Walnut Salad. The verdict from my friend was it was delicious.

Crispy Pork Belly, Boudin Noir, Wilted Spinach & Lentils De Puy. Two of us had this entree and the pork belly was truly crispy with the delicious crackling. The addition of the lentils did bring a rather interesting element to the dish. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our mains were:

Ocean Trout, French Onion Purée, Petit Pois a la Francais, Bacon and Champagne Velouté. The trout looked deliciously crispy and I was told it was delicious.

Vincent (Woollahra, Sydney)

I do enjoy a good French meal every now and then. This one was in Woollahra, a suburb I don't frequent much. But after hearing quite positive reviews about it, it was time to visit.

I was surprised to discover Vincent is actually located in a boutique hotel. The only way into the restaurant is through the main doors of the hotel.

As I sat down, I looked around to try and gain an impression of the surrounds. It did feel quite French, which is good. I also had a peek at their cheese fridge, is that even the right word? Hmmm....

We started with entrees.

Seared scallops and leek, soubise, and vadouvan spice. The scallops were perfectly cooked, the leeks were beautifully charred and had a nice smokey flavour. A rather delicious entree.

Baked cantal soufflé with fine herbs. We had to try this as it was highly recommended by the waitress. It was light, fluffy, and super cheesy. A classic French dish.

Our mains were:

Steak frites with 'beurre Vincent'. It was plated interestingly enough on a metallic dish over the top of a small gas burner. The small fire was for the butter to slowly melt over the grilled steak which was to my surprise not a complete piece of steak but neatly sliced. The steak was medium rare with a touch of pink.

Cho Cho San (Potts Point, Sydney)

The name itself calls for attention. When I first read about Cho Cho San, it was the name of the restaurant that caught my eye. And after reading many positive reviews, I was keen to check it out.

A few weeks ago, there was an opportunity to have lunch here and it was nice that we could actually book a table for lunch.  As opposed to get there early and queue up for a table! When I stepped into the restaurant, my first impressions were bright, light, clean, and modern! I felt excited to be here! The great lighting in the restaurant brought a big food blogger's smile to my face! :)

What's so interesting about Cho Cho San is none of the people at the helm are of Japanese origin and yet the menu is Japanese focused with a modern interpretation.

The menu is divided into Small dishes, Raw bar, Hibachi grill, Others, Sweets and Feed Me Please.

From the Small dishes section, we chose:

Silken tofu in tomato dashi - super smooth tofu with a delicious, flavourful yet subtle dashi. Very elegant broth but so good!

Tempura pumpkin - the pumpkin was soft and sweet with a contrasting texture of the crunchy tempura batter.

Fried chicken - a generous plate of what I would say was a very popular dish with us. The mayo went so well with the fried chicken.

Prawn bun - I wish I could have had more of this. A warm and toasted bun which cradled a beautiful mix of sweet prawn meat which had touches of mayo. Yum to the max! More please! :)