In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I wanted to spread the love with some Strawberry Cheesecake Macarons! All you need for this recipe is plain macarons shells (refer to previous post for method) decorated with crushed oatmeal biscuits.

Ingredients for macaron shell:

• 300g of almond meal
• 300g of icing sugar
• 300g of caster sugar 
• 75ml of water 
• 2x 110g of egg whites  (room temperature)

For the strawberry cheesecake filling you will need:

• 250g of cream cheese
• 75g of unsalted butter 
• 200g of icing sugar 
• Strawberry Jam 
• Crushed oatmeal biscuits

To make the cream cheese filling just beat together the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar together. Then layer the jam onto top of the cream cheese filling and sprinkle some more crushed biscuits. Perfect way to say "I love you".


I also piped some shells in heart shapes and decorated some with edible hearts to get into the Valentine's spirit!

A group of us planned a trip to SE Jong Korean BBQ Buffet for VG's farewell. Although it was a Wednesday night we were told this place gets pretty packed so it we made a booking in advance. Good thing that we did as nearly every table in the spacious restaurant was taken. We were promptly seated and the hot coal was brought and placed in our table.

We were overwhelmed by the wide selection of  marinated meats, seafood, fresh Korean sides and salads (Kim Chi!!!) and even sushi. My highlights were the potato noodle salad, mayonnaise prawns, marinated chicken and beef ribs.


We were very impressed about the cleanliness of the restaurant. The waiters were constantly bringing out fresh meat and salad, continually replacing our grill plate and collecting our finished plates. We also noticed that there was surprisingly good ventilation in the restaurant even though they did not have any large vents hanging over the table.


I loved the variety at SE Jong and the buffet style of the restaurant, just make sure you don't grab more than your stomach can fit as there is a surcharge for food wastage. For the price, it is definitely value for money especially if you're in a large group and you're really hungry!




Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet
Address: Shop 1 8 London Street, Campsie
Phone: 02 9787 7126
Opening Times: 11:30am-2.30pm, 5pm-10pm

Last week Pseudodom and I, spontaneously decided to getaway to Melbourne to watch the Australian Open for 2 days. I've heard about and seen many photos of the delicious food at Hardware Sociéte and I knew that we just had to stop by for breakfast.

Since we accumulated quite a sleep debt over the past 2 days, we started the morning off with some caffeine. I ordered a Mocha ($3.50) and Pseudodom had an Earl Grey tea ($4.50) which was served in a little pink tea cosy (below). I don't usually order coffee but it was seriously the best Mocha I've ever had. It was so creamy and definitely satisfied my chocolate and caffeine cravings. 

Onto the food. Everything on the menu sounded so good we were seriously considering ordering two meals each. In the end we listened to our heads instead of our stomachs and negotiated to order three meals with one to share between us.

As we both can't resist anything with chorizo sausages, we shared the Baked Eggs with chorizo sausages, cherry tomatoes and thyme salsa, crunch almonds, queso decabra goats milk cheese ($16). It is as delicious as it looks. The dish was served with fresh slices of bread which we used to mop the addictive tomato salsa. 


I always have a sweet tooth, even in the mornings and was immediately drawn to the Fried Brioche with whipped salted caramel, toasted peanuts and bananas ($17). The salted caramel was lighter than I expected, similar to a buttery melt-in-your-mouth texture which complimented the crisp sweet brioche. This is something I would definitely order again!


Pseudodom also ordered the Bircher muesli which was served with raspberries, oranges  and salted pecans  ($13). I had a taste of the muesli and it was quite sweet but was very light. Pseudodom said it was 'neverending' but in a good way as he finished the whole bowl.


I really loved this cafe, the interior was very cute and bright but also presents a modern feel. This is a place you can come to anytime of the day whether it is for morning coffee, brunch or afternoon tea. The staff was also very friendly and attentive and the service was quite quick. I would definitely make it a priority to come back on my next visit to Melbourne.



 

The Hardware Sociéte
Address: 18-120 Hardware Street, Melbourne, VIC
Phone: 03 9078 5992
Opening times: Mon-Fri: 7:30 am - 3:00 pm, Sat-Sun: 8:30 am - 2:00 pm

To celebrate Linus' birthday, we decided to have a nice girly afternoon tea at The Tea Cosy. I first heard of The Tea Cosy from a friend and I was won over by the cute tea cosies, wide selection of tea and gourmet jams and the fact that their scones are baked fresh. The tea room is located at the back of the Irish Design Shop and as we make our way through to the open courtyard we pass the staircase of teapots and their handmade tea cosies. The courtyard is quite small with a number of tables and chairs crammed against the wall. They do have more seating upstairs on the balcony and also a separate tea room for private events.



From the menu we ordered the 'Deluxe Tasting Basket for Two' which consists of an assortment of scones in a two tiered stand and a selection of gourmet jams, double thickened cream and drinks of your choice ($24). Scones that were in oven today were plain, cheese, chocolate scones. They also had sultana and apple and cinnamon but unfortunately they were out of those. We choose to get two each of the plain and chocolate scones served with wild berry, and pear and vanilla jams. For our drinks, I ordered the Green Tea with Strawberry and Linus had the English Breakfast.
The scones were probably one of the best I've had. I liked the plain scones over the chocolate; they had the perfect amount of crumbliness but were still soft and moist. I love their variety of jams and they had the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness.

I would definitely be back here to try their other selection of specialty scones and jams. I love feel and atmosphere of the The Tea Cosy and it was the perfect place to have a girly afternoon tea. It would be the ideal place to host a kitchen tea, have a baby shower or have a girls day out. Who doesn't love tea cosies!



The Tea Cosy
Address:  33 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney
Phone: (02) 9247 3233
Opening times: Thursdays and Fridays 10am - 4pm, Saturday and Sunday 10-5pm. 
Website: http://theteacosy.com.au

Before our scones birthday date, Linus and I wanted to grab some solid lunch before we stocked up on sugar. We wanted to go somewhere a bit fancier but also try something different for her birthday. Xanthi is definitely a hidden gem located at the top level of Westfield Sydney. As I walked in, I was in awe of the amazing decor and silk draped walls and ceiling.

To start, we decided to get a couple of sharing plates. I only recently discovered one of the best things on Earth, haloumi cheese! So when I saw the Barbeucued Haloumi sharing plate, we had to get it! The Haloumi was barbecued to perfection and had the characteristic 'squeak'. The tomatoes and figs were a great accompaniment to the saltiness of the cheese.


I would definitely recommend a visit to this Chef's Hatted restaurant. The menu has something for everyone and the small sharing plates are perfect if you're wanting to try a bit of everything. Their dessert menu sounded so tempting which included Caramel Bakalava Icecream and Honeymilk Pannacotta but we had to give it a miss as we were so full and had to save our stomachs for afternoon scones at the 'The Tea Cosy'.



Xanthi Bar and Restaurant
Address: 100 Market St Level 6 Westfield Sydney 2000
Phone: 9232 8535
Opening times: Monday–Saturday: 11am–3:30pm, 5pm–11pm,  Sundays 11am–kitchen closes 8pm
Website: http://xanthi.com.au/