Salvage Specialty Coffee, Artarmon

Even though there are plenty of cafes around my area, I still get a little excited when a new one pops up. Word on the street was that there was a new cafe in Artarmon that had awesome coffee and food to boot.

Latte - $3.50

You'd never think that there was a hipster cafe down the little pedestrian walkway leading out from Artarmon train station, but in amongst the Japanese restaurants, convenience stores and bookshops is Salvage Specialty Coffee.

Mecca Coffee

They take their coffee seriously here with the Mecca Dark Horse blend and single origin coffees on offer, and a rather amusing sign saying that any coffee "extras" cost 50c - extras that may or may not include "soy, extra shot, mocha, honey, vampire blood, unicorn tears, kisses from Zooey Deschanel".

Cold brew - $5

Apart from the normal espresso-based coffees, Salvage also do filter coffees including Aeropress and cold brews. The cold brew comes in a cute Salvage bottle and is served with a sphere of ice in a glass to keep it chilled.

Croque madame - $14.50

Harajuku Gyoza, Potts Point

Japan is a country that is a little obsessed with the cute and cuddly. You'll see kawaii mascots everywhere in Japan promoting TV channels, transport passes and even the cities and prefectures themselves! So when I see the logo of Harajuku Gyoza with its cutesy face, it's almost like I'm back in Japan.

Inside, the kawaii theme continues with Japanese-patterned melamine plates and light fixtures saying 'HAI!'. The menu is equally as cutesy, proclaiming "Welcome, Customer-san!", before comparing your appetite to Godzilla and saying "We want your happy face". As for the food items, naturally the menu is gyoza-heavy but there are also other Japanese side dishes and izakaya style dishes available.

There are 5 gyoza dishes at $8 each, and we manage to try 3 out of the 5. For the pork, chicken and duck gyoza, you can choose to have these either grilled or poached. We're after the crispy burnished bottoms of the fried variety, so we choose to have our pork and duck gyoza fried.

Pork gyoza 5pcs (pan fried) - $8

Matcha Chiffon Cake

So it occurred to me a few months ago that it's been AGES since I've posted a recipe - not since October last year in fact. It's not that I don't cook often because we eat regularly at home and I do bake for people's birthdays and other special occasions, but sometimes I just can't be bothered styling the food and taking photos of it. I just want to eat it.

So I thought it was time to get my mojo back, and even though I still haven't quite got this food styling thing, it's nice to be able to share recipes and baking successes - so here is my first recipe post in over 6 months.

I've had a chiffon cake tin for years and always had the intention of making it, but the thought of flat and dense chiffon cakes had always scared me off making them. I don't know why I was so worried because after doing a bit of research and finding a recipe, I made my first chiffon cake with much success!

I chose matcha flavour because green tea is awesome and also because I'd just come back from Japan and was craving matcha desserts. The green tea flavour is quite subtle in this cake but what I particularly love about chiffon cakes is the light and airy texture which makes you feel like you're eating a cloud. A green tea flavoured cloud!

I used a recipe that I adapted from Keiko Ishida's book Okashi: Sweet Treats made with Love. The recipe calls for 5 eggs but uses a 20cm tin, so I have increased the amounts to fit my 25cm tin. This recipe worked really well for me and I've used it to also make a pandan flavoured chiffon cake and chocolate flavoured chiffon cake. Yep, there's definitely going to be plenty of chiffon in my future!