KIN by us. (Macquarie Park, Sydney)

With social media so prevalent in society, a brand new cafe with delicious food can be so easily promoted via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. It is the case for KIN by us., a very new cafe which opened in Macquarie Park, North Ryde a couple of months ago.

To add to the popularity of this cafe are ex MKR contestants Uel and Shannelle who seem like a lovely couple. Their TV presence has certainly helped with the publicity of their new food venture. And it has turned out to be a hit.

I visited over three occasions to try out the different dishes.

Waffle Belly - caramel soy pork belly, potato waffle, onsen egg, mushrooms and cabbage. This was my dish and I loved it! The pork belly was so tender and packed full of flavour. I don't believe I have had a potato waffle before and was surprised when I cut through it was soft, rather than the crunchy waffle I am normally used to. But I did like the texture and it went so well with the pork belly. And the egg, beautifully cooked by the way. Note that in almost every dish on the menu, there is an onsen egg on offer.

Snap, Crackle, Pop - chicken rice with crackle and onsen egg. The aroma of the rice when the dish was served had me slightly salivating. It was my friend's dish but I managed to get a bite. :) Nice flavours and I enjoyed the crunchy chicken skin crackle. Note to chef: More crackle please! :)

On another visit, I had the Kaya Toast which was homemade coconut jam on toast. I opted not to have the onsen egg. The Kaya had a lovely fragrance, however for $7 I would have liked a couple more half slices? Am I being greedy? Hehe!

LuMi Bar and Dining (Pyrmont, Sydney)

LuMi has been on my list since the first time I saw their food pics on Instagram back in Oct 2014. So far all I have read about the food has been positive reviews and I couldn't wait to dine there. Again it was for another good friend's birthday catch up but why not, eh? :)


This time it was for lunch on a Saturday and we were lucky the weather was in good form.

What a view from the restaurant!

Normally on Saturdays for lunch, there is the a la carte option or a 4 course degustation. However their website did say we could request for the 8 course degustation as long as we gave ample notice. I did! :)

We started with a tasting platter of Cheese tartlet and corn, Rice crisps with salt and vinegar, Cos lettuce with pistachio and horseradish, Potato and Rosemary Focaccia. The rice crisp was paper thin and almost melting in my mouth. And the focaccia was light and fluffy and superb!



And the Chawanmushi certainly played tricks on my mind. The dish looked Japanese but was full of Italian flavours with every mouthful. There was parmesan in the custard, tomato water with basil on top. Loved it!

White cucumber with apple and sour cream. Lovely presentation, clean flavours, crunchy textures and very summery in image and flavours.

Veal Tartare with tarragon, emulsion, roasted capsicum and buckwheat - I completely forgot to take a picture of this delightful dish! Aaargh! :( I loved the crunchy texture of the puffed buckwheat which offset so well against the smooth veal.

Spelt Ravioli with burnt butter, pumpkin, avruga, and chives. Their signature which didn't disappoint. I really liked the visual beauty of the ravioli. 

Spaghetti Alla Chitarra, with Orange beurre blanc, scampi and bottarga - the squid ink pasta was nicely al dente and I could taste bites of the sweet tasting scampi.