15/4/11

Love Grub, Alexandria

For this fortnight's meeting of my RPA mums group (Rippas?), we've arranged to meet at one member's house then head to the cafe round the corner. It's a lovely day and I've left the pram at home – negotiating the stairs at Marrickville at Erskineville stations is easier with Baby Pea in the pod – so there's one less set of wheels to accommodate at our footpath table.



The daytime menu has breakfast and lunch, sandwiches and sushi but as its almost three we also have the option of the dinner menu, which includes a selection of Japas (Japanese tapas). Well, recently pregnant ladies and raw fish are an irresistible combination, and with separate requests for kingfish and tuna it makes sense to order the large sashimi plate to share. We also pick the pork gyoza and chicken karaage.

Japas sounds like a gimmick, but Love Grub takes its cuisine seriously. The regular among us reveals that the chef trained with Shaun Presland of Saké restaurant in The Rocks, and says his food is just as good.

The half-dozen gyoza are first to arrive, pretty, well flavoured and easy to eat - so easy that I only remember to snap the plate when there's one left.


Our sashimi comes with an apology for the wait while all the fish was prepared and the attention to detail and quality is obvious – it's absolutely beautiful, and we savour every piece.



We realise quite late that they've forgotten our karaage and when we remind them we get a little extra. I could easily have eaten a whole portion of the salty fried chicken with salmon pink mayo, so I don't hesitate to nab the last nugget before I bundle up my own little love grub for the walk back to Erko.



Love Grub
38 Mitchell Road, Alexandria NSW 

p. 02 9318 2323
w. http://lovegrub.com.au/

Love Grub on Urbanspoon

14/4/11

The Kick Inside Espresso Lounge, Erskineville

A few years ago a Melbourne friend took me to those bars that are all comfy couches, long-neck beers and retro knickknacks that work together but don't try too hard. The kind of place that makes you feel at home, or the home you wish you had. The Kick Inside is just like that. We almost miss it as we charge up Erskineville Road to eat lunch at a better-known cafe, but it catches my friend's eye and we think, why not? But is it good? A local overhears and says yes - it's really lovely. So in we go.




Spacewise, on a busy weekend it could be a pram-wielder's nightmare but it's midweek and we're fine at the oval table we choose. The menu is brief and mostly breakfast-related but there are sandwiches, a pizza and two salads on offer - we go for both, plus the kitchen's recommendation of a tuna sandwich. I've done my coffee drinking for the day but the others enjoy their Golden Cobra brews.


The salads arrive on mismatched plates and sharing with my dairy-fearing friend means I get all the feta in the pear and walnut salad, which is filled out with rocket and baby spinach coated in a sharp lemon dressing. The other has free-range chicken, Paesanella bocconcini (again, all mine), avocado, tomatoes and more greens, this time with a hint of balsamic in the dressing. It's refreshing to see a salad assembled before your eyes and with good ingredients - well, the tomatoes could be riper but I can't blame the Kick kitchen for that.


We take up the offer of soy and linseed on the side and it's freshly baked, restaurant-quality sourdough, too. Pea Pa's nicoise-style sandwich, meanwhile, is declared a hit, thanks to the happy marriage of bread and potato. Even the hard-boiled egg, of which he's a fellow hater, is entirely welcome.


Of course, Baby Pea is a long way from demanding his own babycinos and even a kid-friendly cafe wouldn't supply much to hold his interest yet, so it's a nice surprise to find him fascinated by the thick black lines of the We Buy Your Kids wall mural.


Another drawcard, which I discover only after I do my usual in-seat shuffle, is that the bathroom out the back has a lounge room attached with a sofa that could be a comfortable, private-ish spot for feeding the baby. I'll have to come back and find out.


The Kick Inside Espresso Lounge
43 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville NSW 2204
p. 02 9517 2255

The Kick Inside on Urbanspoon

5/4/11

BBQ One Kitchen, Eastwood

Confession - there's no pram in today's post, but there are a few greens on the plate if that helps. On our way to visit family on the north side, Pea Pa suggests a detour to Eastwood for Chinese and hands me his iPhone to search one of his favourite food blogs for tips. The review has our mouths watering but the name of one recommended dish seals the deal - Pei Pa duck. 


Prewarned that the restaurant would be crowded, we come in carrying Baby Pea in his capsule and a nice lady puts us at a table against the wall. It takes a while to get our order taken but the wait is well worth it. Not only that, but there's a bonus dish to keep you going while you wait - a big bowl of ugly/beautiful chicken soup - grey-beige, gloopy and utterly delicious.


Don't fill up too much though, because the portions are huge. For $15 each we get two large plates of steamed rice and greens topped with top-quality barbecue goodies. We've gone for the roast suckling pig twice, one serve sharing a plate with the Pei Pa barbecued duck, and there's a dish of hoisin sauce for dipping.


Maybe not everyone could tuck into tender suckling swine with their own little milk-fed piglet sitting beside them, but I have no qualms about it - in fact I can't imagine anything more heavenly, though later I feel like I've pigged out a little bit too much. The duck can't claim the same crispy skin but it's not too fatty and the moist, flavoursome meat is almost as tasty.

We grab a menu on the way out so we'll be ready to try something different next time we're passing through, though it's going to be hard to resist that little piggy ...

BBQ One Kitchen
Shop 10-11/160 Rowe St (Eastwood Shopping Centre)
p. 02 9874 5323

BBQ One Kitchen on Urbanspoon

4/4/11

Let's Eat, Marrickville

Thai is one of my favourite cuisines to cook at home but one I avoid eating out for fear of disappointment. Most neighbourhood restaurants aren't bad, they just err on the side of sweet and bland and when you've seen one takeaway menu, you've seen them all.

That was until Let's Eat popped up in the site of a scary old Vietnamese restaurant on the other side of the train tracks. Pea Pa and I stumbled in one lunchtime, ate some crispy fish and fell in love. Now it's our number one pick when we want a pick-me-up dinner delivered (try the tom yum gai), or a place to take visiting friends and family.


Usually packed with people come dinnertime - probably not very pram-friendly - Let's Eat Thai is much more quiet in the afternoon and you can also enjoy the standard noodle, rice, curry and stir-fry dishes at a bargain price. After much debate over the menu we settled on two chilli-licious choices - the spicy noodle and the pad prik sod with prawns.

The spicy noodle is similar to pad see ew - stir-fried flat rice noodles with egg and Chinese broccoli, but with chilli and basil for extra flavour. It arrives with just the right amount of char and kick and we scoff it while it's hot.

 
The pad prik sod with pork is my newest takeaway favourite and I'm not sure how the sweet soy bean paste sauce will go with prawns. To my delight, it tastes even better. Let's Eat does prawns very well - they look barely cooked and taste fresh and succulent. In the way of vegies, there's only onions and lots of long red chilli for flavour as well as heat. The rice soaks up the amazing sauce and we feel very satisfied, but not too full.


That's good because we've got our eye on the desserts. $3.50 buys you sago with coconut milk or sticky rice with Thai custard (for an extra $4 you can have it with mango). We go the sago to share.


The sago spheres are a lovely shade of green and are clustered like frogspawn in a pool of warm, thick coconut soup that's super sweet. We stir them in and slurp, chew and swallow - yum.

We're in and out without overspending or waking up the little one, and with only a twenty minute walk home too. Tops.

Let's Eat
352 Illawarra Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
p. 02 9558 9508

Let's Eat on Urbanspoon