Bitton Gourmet Cafe, Alexandria

We were close to Alexandria that same day and I've heard a lot about Bitton so we decided to head off there. Hey she was driving after all. Which is good because I can't be trusted with directions at all. My friends all know this sadly...

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Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, Glebe

Uni days and tutoring are long and arduous. Some people cry, others shop, I eat. Boathouse is semi on the way to my uni but some how I managed to get us lost. Only me. 

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Lorraine's Patisserie, CBD

Lorraine's. Again. This time for a free pie promo to promote Merivale's newest product: Bert's pie and Bert's sausage roll. A quick 'on-the-way' to uni detour brings me along there on a dreadful winters day. Really packed as you'd imagine so if you're going to take advantage of it today, thoroughly recommend you get there by 11:45.

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Black Star Pastry, Newtown

Newtown - a treasure trove of fashion trends, 6.50 thai, music, street art and good food as i'm slowly discovering. Whilst passing Oscillate Wildly the other night, I spotted a quaint little bakery next door and it turns out it was the famous Black Star Pastry. Christopher The is the genius at work here, formerly of 2 hatters Universal and Claudes, Christopher has since left and opened up a little patisserie in the heart of Newtown.  I haven't had much time to visit it lately but I knew a visit was inevitable sooner or later.

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The Pie Tin, Newtown

I like pie. You guys up for pies? Course. Cooool. Conversation seems so short and to the point these days. Take that conversation for instance, 2 replies and it was organised with a group of old friends. But with pie involved, need there be much disagreement? Pie in itself is only a 3 letter word. What on earth am I talking about. Anyway of late, it seems like The Pie Tin in Newtown is quite possibly the most blogged about eatery this year. I mean who doesn't like a little braised portion of meat with good old puff pastry slapped down with some ketchup? It's not far from my uni; just a 10 minute walk down City Road into the hip part of New Town. Wait hold that, all of New Town seems pretty exciting, from your second hand stores, book shops and some $6.50 Thai to cure an academic's ailing stomach so pretty much all of it is worth exploring.

Autumn. It's the season of cardigans, gloves, heavy boots and scarves, sunny yellow/ burnt orangey hues, apples, hearty roasts, pumpkins, cinnamon and cocoa. Its the season with that hit of coolness; a reason to get all cosied up and take brisk strolls around the park while watching the occasional Autumn sky light up with a burst of crimson purple. It's the season where all those cheesy childhood memories of running around while brown leaves were spin/floating around come to be. From the tree, the transition from summer into autumn is so apparent with the shock of vibrant maroon gradually taking over. Autumn's such a wonderful season.

Communal tables down the centre, hanging lamps, exposed brickwork with a dash of quirky colour and vintage  decorations make this a very welcoming dining area. I'm already won over immediately stepping in. 

Tender Steak, cheddar cheese, smokey bacon 11 with chips

Lamb and Rosemary 6.80

Slow Roast Beef Brisket, hickory smoke and mushrooms 12 with sides

My beef brisket pie was quite good. There were quite a lot of grisly and chewy bits and they could of been chopped up a bit more but that pastry was a stand out, with the smokey peppers lighting up every bite. There were only 3 sides on display, fortunately the sides I ordered were well done. The coleslaw didn't have the living life chopped out of it and it retained a lot of the crunch factor which made it so delicious.

There wasn't too much sharing go around but I did manage to be force fed a stack of chips. Thanks to Heston Blumenthal, I can't even look at the humble chip the same anymore. They way he describes it: a glass like outer layer with a fluffy inside just makes me want to make some. Now I view all chips with a critical eye. These ones were soft and not particularly crunchy and thanks to my high salt tolerance, the over seasoning was only just bearable.

Lemon Meringue Pie 7.50

You might think that is a whopping amount of meringue but it works really well to counteract the tartness of the lemon and I love a good acidic creamy lemon curd. You might want to have some of that with the more neutral double cream which does wonders counteracting that sweetness. 

Snickers Pie 7-50

My peanut butter obsession sees me ordering the Snickers Pie. Quite selfishly actually, I neglected J and his peanut allergy. Sorry mate. I was pretty disappointed a Reeses pie wasn't out on display but the Snickers one surely made up for it. Creamy layer after layer of thick caramel and peanut butter mouse punctuated with snickers bits on top of chocolate and a chocolate biscuit base topped with more snickers. Delicious.

When you factor in the ginormous portions, Pie Tin comes at pretty good value. Deviate off the main road into the quiet neighbourhood and it's hard not to be drawn in to the allure of fresh home-made pies. Look forward to the next on my list of Newtown eats: Black Star.



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Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

Widely agreed as one of Sydney's best bakeries and being an avid lover of good bread and pie, one morning I shot out of bed as early as I could in the excitement of getting to Bourke Street Bakery.




Judging from the queue, it seems like the bakery was one of Sydney's worst kept secrets. The line kept getting longer and longer and every time one person had ordered and left, 2 more took their place in the line. I was going with the family so that resulted in pictures of half eaten tarts and cut up pastries because by the time I came around to taking pictures of them, they had already dug in. Unusual because I'm always the one that eats everything before everyone takes pictures of food. I guess love of food and impatience does run in the family.

Chicken, Pea, Sweet Potato, Lime Pickle 5

Far from your usual cream based frozen chicken pies, this pie was packed with flavour. Chucks of chicken, peas and sweet potato are dressed in a wonderful tomato sauce and lime pickle which gave it a very... Indianish sort of flavour. Not much to go on, I know. I love the look of it, handmade with all the grooves and all. Perfection is overrated anyway.

Beef Brisket, Red Wine and Mushroom Pie 5.30

Beef pie here was dissappointing. Flavour was top notch and mushrooms gave it an earthy bite, however the beef was lacking and I think I only had one chunk out of the entire pie. What it had a lot of, however, was heaps of tendon which had a very gelatinous texture and would of went well with a bit more meat. 

Passionfruit Meringue Tart 5

Oh man this tart was goooood. You get the caramelised meringue on the outside, and a tart passionfruit custard on the inside, housed within a short pastry case. 

Ginger Creme Brulee Tart 4.80

Yeah it was like this when I got to taking a picture of it, I swear. And this tart was just as goooood.  Custard had the right amount of sweetness, full of spices and had a distinctively gingery flavour. The tart itself was wonderfully crisp and the brulee had a slight hint of bitterness that went well with the custard. I'm struggling to pick between which tart I like better. I'm looking at the recipe now and it's frighteningly difficult to make. Still won't stop me trying though...

Eggplant, Stracchino and Olive Pizza 6.50

Yeah... That's what happens when I turn my eyes away for a moment to order more. It gets eaten. It was undeniably good, melted down, freshly toasted and an incredibly awesome combo.

It's a bloody long walk from Central Station but definitely worth it. The food is surprisingly cheap, fresh and so damn tasty. Hipsters run the cornershop, highly efficient albeit slightly impatient. You've got to figure out what you want before you even enter. They ask you "how many hot items do you want?" before you even figure out exactly what. But inside, I really wanted to reply with the answer "Can I have a little of everything?". The tarts here are real winners and I am absolutely coming back for more because I know I'll fail recreating them. This is a great bakery no Sydney-sider shouldn't pay a visit.



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