Bitton Gourmet Cafe, Alexandria

Another mum's group meeting in Alexandria takes us to pram-magnet Bitton. I'm first to arrive and take a table out in the courtyard, next to the dedicated kids playroom and a huge stack of IKEA highchairs, and order a flat white.

After reading the French-influenced breakfast/lunch menu I can't decide, so I wait to see if anyone will share with me, especially as I want to tuck into some pommes frites. I'm in luck, and my partner chooses the sourdough toast with tomato, goats cheese and basil oil from the breakfast side of the menu. When our waiter comes I'm tempted by the special of duck liver pate, but I never say no to goats cheese.

The chips aren't cheap and don't look French to me but the fresh tomato sauce is a nice touch and probably pleases people without a lifelong addiction to ketchup. 

I think the sourdough is from Brasserie Bread so no complaints there, but with one huge and one tiny slice I had to cut both in half for sharing. It's tasty though, thanks to that goats cheese.

Of course, we can't leave without trying out that play area, so the babies get into some tummy time, or is that skydiving practice?

Bitton Gourmet Cafe
36-37a Copeland Street, Alexandria, NSW 2015
p. (02) 9519 5111
http://www.bittongourmet.com.au

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant, Ashfield

For once, Pea Pa is home on the day his mum comes to visit. We decide to go to Ashfield for lunch, because I've been meaning to get my old record player fixed there for about two years, and because Nana Boot loves prawns. It's win-win.

We're not sure whether to go for New Shanghai or Shanghai Nights next door, so we pick the one that looks the busiest. They also specialise in mini pork buns, aka soup dumplings. Yes.

Baby Pea likes it so much he falls asleep, so we get on with ordering far too much food for three people.

Nana Boot can't eat much, so lucky for her the salt and pepper prawns arrive first. They're perfect and I eat them up tails and all.

The steamed rice and eggplant in garlic sauce come out too. Mains before entrees - why not? This is similar to my favourite eggplant dish from Chinese Noodle in Haymarket, but without the same depth of flavour. Solution? Soy sauce - now it tastes the same. Hooray!

Pea Pa and I get the special - steamed oyster in xo sauce. They're huge and meaty.

Finally, the dumplings and shallot pancake arrive. The dumplings are so good, self saucing with the ginger soup inside, though a splash of vinegar doesn't hurt. Vinegar and soy also liven up the lovely shallot pancake, which is the crispiest one I've ever tried.

Somehow we've managed to eat everything except most of the eggplant and half the rice, so they come home with us. The next day, I fry up the last of Pea Pa's radish cake, stir-fry the eggplant with some shallot and a big spoonful of kecap manis, toss them together and have them for dinner with the re-steamed rice.  I swear leftovers have never tasted so good.

New Shanghai Chinese Restaurant
273 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
p. (02) 9797 7284

Malacca Straits on Broadway

Our first big trip as a family is fast approaching, and the last bit of it will be spent in Malaysia eating our collective body weight in street food. Sydney has it's fair share of that too, we hear, so why wait. It's lunch time, after all.

The modern looking Malacca Straits is short walk from Broadway shopping centre. There are familiar favorites on the menu, but we're strangely drawn to something new - char tau kueh, which sounds a bit like our beloved noodle dish if you swapped the noodles for radish cake. We love the yum cha equivalent of this spongy vegie cake so we give it a go, along with a healthy plate of Hainan chicken rice.

First comes the soup for the chicken rice. Ahhhh.

And here's the rest. The chicken rice is satisfying but not mind-blowing. But ...

... the radish cake is amazing. Rich and creamy and full-flavoured with a definite wow factor. The lady seems impressed we've ordered it, and really wants to know if we like it. She even tells us how to make it. So, a few days later, with some organic daikon from Marrickville markets, Pea Pa does. The recipe is here.

Malacca Straits on Broadway
66 Mountain Street, Broadway NSW 2007
p. 02 8021 7069
http://malaccastraitsbroadway.com.au

Paper Cup Espresso Bar, Stanmore

A new baby sister cafe to Clipper in Glebe, cute little Paper Cup is the ideal venue for a lunch date with a friend who's halfway through brewing her own bub. Pea Pa and I deliver some baby booty to her place in Petersham and with no room in the car for the pram, we get him to drop us off outside the cafe so we won't be late to meet our friend and her six-month-old.

I'm pleased to be pramless so I don't take up too much space at our footpath table. I feed Baby Pea then hand him over to sit with the bump so I can enjoy my flat white. It's strong, serious coffee.

There are a few breakfast things on the menu and just three sandwiches - good news for the indecisive diner. I go for prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and pesto, and my fellow mum nabs the last one with smoked salmon, ricotta, capers and hard-boiled egg.

They come on toasted Turkish, quartered and prettily plated. Mine is a full-flavoured combination and I pull out some of the salty prosciutto to eat on its own so I can enjoy the simple trio of tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella. It's delicious either way, and my friend is just as happy with hers.

We love the service too. Filled water glasses are brought to the table without needing to ask, and they don't even mind when we have a baby brain moment, leave without paying for one coffee and don't realise our mistake for about half an hour. I want to come back again soon and bring my sweet tooth.

Paper Cup Espresso Bar
157/161 Cambridge St Stanmore NSW 2049
w. http://www.papercupcoffee.com.au

Locantro Fine Foods, Leichhardt

I allow plenty of time to walk to Leichhardt for this week's Rippas lunch, so I can browse the baby shop round the corner and feed the Pea before the others arrive. Fifteen minutes early, after splashing out on a Bumbo play tray, I wheel him into Locantro Fine Foods, hoping to find a table to accommodate us.

I'm hovering near a lady who looks like she's about to leave when a man in the corner leaps up from his table and offers it to me. He even cleans it for me, and brings over extra chairs when I say I'm meeting three other mums. Owner Vittorio Locantro clearly values his customers, and it turns out mums make up a hefty number of them – during the week, he says, there's often a pram at every table, or mother's groups of five at a time.

I order a hot chocolate and get feeding, looking out past a stack of food show medals posted on the window. Vittorio's son Pino is the award-winning pastry chef, and the walls display posters of his new cookbook, Dinner with the Baker.

The others arrive and as usual we comment on how fast our boys are growing up. Baby Pea demonstrates this by stealing the opportunity, while I'm cooing over the other babies, to get his hands onto the table and knock my now-cold chocolate all over the table, pram and floor. Oops.

From a limited savoury selection of pies, quiches, sausage rolls and pizza slices, I pick a salami, artichoke and olive pizza and turn down the side salad. This is wise as I manage to cut it up and eat it one-handed. It's a good size for the price, with a light foccacia-style base, lots of cheese and lovely hot salami.

I should follow it with something sweet but instead I channel my change into take-home goodies - thickly sliced ham to go into the pasta dish I've planned for dinner and a loaf of ciabatta to go with it. I'm lucky to sneak a piece of someone else's treat though - an Italian custard-filled doughnut that reminds me of the Very Hungry Caterpillar before he turns into a butterfly.

Locantro Fine Foods
9 Catherine Street, Leichhardt NSW 2040
p. (02) 9568 3637

Hijazi's Falafel, Arncliffe

I love living in Marrickville, but if I had to switch suburbs I wouldn't mind moving to Arncliffe or Turella, if only to eat Hijazi's falafel more often.

As it is, this is only the second time Pea Pa has driven us there, and when I get my hands on the roll and take a bite, it's even better than I remember. The falafel itself is super fresh and crunchy, and everything else from bread to salad and sauces hit the spot. I still can't believe it only costs $3.

Hijazi's Falafel
53 Wollongong Rd, Arncliffe NSW
p. (02) 9599 0726

Gloria's Cafe, Petersham

Lunch with Nana Boot again and this time I suggest a healthy stroll uphill to Petersham. We stop at the art shop on Audley St to buy some picture frames for Baby Pea photos before settling in at Gloria's Cafe. We last ate here more than five years ago. I remember loving the garlic prawns, and the Portuguese hot dog - a roll with ham, cheese, frankfurter and mustard.

The lunch menu also offers $10 salads and my crustacean-loving mum-in-law likes the sound of the prawn croquettes. There are two per serve and I order the bacalao version so we'll have one of each, plus a bowl of fries.

Complimentary olives and bread rolls keep us going until the salads arrive in traditional terracotta dishes.

We're both very satisfied, though we both prefer the bacalao croquette. The Portuguese really know how to cook a good fish cake.

Gloria's Café
1/82 Audley Street, Petersham NSW 2049
p. (02) 9568 3966

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