A tale of two food courts

Pea Pa usually hates shopping for anything non food related, but he needs new jeans so we brave a Saturday afternoon in the city. I want to go to Westfield to buy some Baby GAP basics, and I'm keen to check out its flash food court, too.

It's busy and tests my pram steering skills but the parents room alone is worth the trip, with private feeding rooms and fancy L'Occitane hand soap.

Pea Pa has been here before and raved about the Reuben sandwich from Reuben and Moore, so we get one to share. He has a weakness for pickles, so it's easy to see why he loves it. I agree - it's really good.

We browse the other food outlets and almost fork out $8 for a bowl of Justin North's parmesan and truffle fries. Not sure if it's the cost or the calories that's the more guilt inducing, but we resist for now.
 
Just as well, because when hunger strikes again post-shop we detour from our Chinatown car park to Eating World in Dixon St.

Pea Pa has tried to tempt me to visit the Gumshara Ramen place for thick pig bone soup for a while now - the signs there spruik the skincare benefits of all that collagen - but recently he fell for Singapore Shiok! and wants me to try the chicken char kway tiao. He's about to order the specialty, chicken rice, but goes for nasi lemak instead.

For the price of those fries we get a large dome of coconut rice, draped in omelette and surrounded by good things - fried chicken pieces, a pressed pork cake, ikan bilis, sweet sambal and quenching cucumber.

The char kway tiao is saucier than expected and loaded with flavour from the garlicky greens, Chinese sausage and crispy fried pork belly nuggets. Yum. I love it so much I have to chase the last chopstick eluding fragments from the plate with my fingers. Mission accomplished.

Reuben & Moore

Westfield Sydney
Cnr Pitt St Mall and Market St, Sydney NSW 2000
p. (02) 8236 9200
w. http://westfield.com.au/sydney/

Singapore Shiok!

Eating World
25-29 Dixon Street, Chinatown, NSW

Petty Cash Cafe, Marrickville

It's my turn to choose a Rippas lunch location and I choose one of Marrickville's best – the lovely Petty Cash on Enmore Park. Four prams are one too many for us to sit inside, but we manage to squeeze around a large outdoor table.

Like The Kick Inside, this corner cafe is a vintage lovers dream - my flat white comes to the retro table in a proper china cup with a scalloped collectors teaspoon, while my tablemate's teapot wears a crafty knitted tea cosy.

I've only been here for breakfast before. The lunch side of the menu has lots to offer but a wrap in the display at the counter catches my eye - roast pork with roast carrots, red onion and redcurrant jelly.

At first bite, I'm disappointed - unlike the delicious blackened, melting carrots of my childhood Sunday roasts, these carrots are so crunchy as to be almost raw. But crunch isn't a bad thing in a sandwich and luckily the pork has plenty of flavour. The redcurrant jelly, escaping from the ends and making a pool of sticky, meaty juice on the plate, is the star for me, fooling my tastebuds into thinking I've had an afternoon tea treat. Just as well, or I might have had to try one of their signature brownies.

Petty Cash Cafe
68 Victoria Road, Marrickville NSW 2204
p. (02) 9557 2377

Cafe 279, Marrickville

Nana Boot has come to visit Baby Pea and we pop down to the shops for milk, fruit, chocolate and, er, passport photos. With 20 minutes developing time to kill, we head over the road to 279. The blackboard outside offers scones with jam and cream and there are souvlaki specials for $7, but Nana Boot is under doctors orders to eat beef so we decide to split the steak sandwich with chips.

Two of the tables come with squashy sofas so I plonk Baby Pea down beside me while I eat. Steak sandwich isn't something I order often as I'm cautious about tough meat, but this one is better than expected. With thick white toast, grilled onions and a ton of tomato and lettuce, it's not at all glamorous but the flavours come with childhood memories of summer backyard barbecues. The thin steak is well caramelised and beefy, not too chewy. I get most of the chips and I eat them all up with the little bowl of ketchup. Bliss.

Cafe 279
279 Illawarra Road, Marrickville NSW 2204  
p. 02 9558 7434 ‎

Fishermans Wharf restaurant, Pyrmont

Lazy as we are on Sunday mornings, if dumpling cravings strike we don't usually venture further than the Chinese restaurant down the road, but an interview at Fairfax's Pyrmont HQ for Sydney Story Factory volunteers provides the perfect opportunity for brunch at our new favourite yum cha venue in the fish market.

Arriving just after 11am, we're lucky to snag a small table at the back without having to queue. We're immediately offered a plate of takoyaki and don't say no. I first tried these fried octopus balls topped with mayo and bonito flakes at the Marrickville festival a few years ago and have had a soft spot for them ever since.

Apart from our favourite BBQ pork buns, the rest is pretty much a prawnfest - a mini crustacean degustation, with rice noodle rolls, dumplings and funny fat little sweet corn cakes that need a savoury splash of soy to make them interesting.

As you'd expect the prawns are great here. We love the plain har gow with a dab of chilli sauce but the prawn and chive dumplings stand out for their extra garlicky flavour. 

We leave the back way but on our way out to the car park we see the queue at the front entrance now goes all the way to the bottom of the stairs, so go early if you don't want to miss out.

Fishermans Wharf Seafood Restaurant
Level 1, Bank St, Pyrmont NSW 2009
p. 02 9660 9888
w. http://www.fishermanswharf.com.au/

Clipper Cafe, Glebe

This cute cafe at the southern end of Glebe Point Road attracts a quirky crowd. How do I know? Well, the other day I saw a guy perched on one of the footpath tables holding a kitten on a leash. OK, it's not as odd as the guy I saw in the Harajuku area of Tokyo dragging a leek on a leash, but it's still not something you see every day. The kitten was very well behaved, so the trick must be to start them young. It didn't work when I tried it on my cat Chilli a few years ago – she got startled and jumped clean out of the harness, Houdini style.

Anyway, Clipper is clearly a great place to go for a coffee and a chat (ha ha). It's certainly busy on a rainy Friday afternoon and my friend and I don't fancy our chances getting a table until a kind couple relinquish theirs and we're in.

 
After a quick coffee and catch-up we order two dishes to share from the all-day menu - a panini with salami, tomato relish, feta and babaganoush and baked eggs with lamb sausages.

Baby Pea is a bit cranky and I'm distracted by feeding but the sweet garlicky sandwich hits the spot. Once I've settled him back in the pram I can enjoy the eggs - they're perfectly cooked and taste great with the soft sausage and chunky tomato sauce. You can also have them with chorizo or sauteed mushrooms.

Next door is a fantastic French patisserie selling proper baguettes and classic pastries such as pain au chocolat - they even make mini versions, which I've never seen anywhere else.

Clipper Cafe
16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe NSW
p. 0411 800 063