Toriciya, Cammeray

There's something about finding a fantastic restaurant that's in a hidden, unsuspecting location that makes it so satisfying. It might be to do with the fact that it feels like you've stumbled across someone's secret, which is definitely the case with Toriciya, a restaurant that's tucked away in an almost-residential area of Cammeray. There were plenty of Japanese people enjoying bottles of sake and yakitori in this izakaya, so we got a table and joined in the fun.

Sake was the first order of the night, and it was hard to choose with such an extensive selection available. We eventually chose a sake on the sweeter side to go with our food.

Kingfish and jalapeno carpaccio

Papaya Thai, Cammeray

I've mentioned before that Thai is not my favourite cuisine, but it's hard to ignore when someone avidly recommends a restaurant to you. Queen Chu once mentioned that Papaya Thai served some pretty delicious food, so I got together a few friends to see what the fuss was about. The restaurant itself looked great with nice lights and candles (which sadly also made for a dark restaurant and dodgy photos), brightly coloured flowers and comfortable cushions for the wooden bench seating.

Tung tong (4 pcs)

I left Queen Chu in charge of ordering and we started with tung tong (moneybags). These are filled with a mixture of chicken, crab meat, peanuts, peas and corn, wrapped with a wonton skin and tied with a shallot. The wonton skin is fried to a crisp and it shatters as I bite into it. The moneybags are also served with a sweet plum sauce on the side.

Pad ku-ae teaw himmaparn

Belgian Beer Cafe, Cammeray, for Half Price Mussels!

Did someone say mussels? With Belgian fries? For half price??

I'm always on the hunt for a bargain and one that included a huge pot of mussels and Belgian fries was not one that I was going to pass up. Sir D and I waltzed up to Belgian Beer Cafe in Cammeray one Wednesday afternoon for a late lunch. The place was still buzzing at 2pm but we were seated promptly.

We were given huge double-sided A3 sized menus with food on one side and beer on the other. My eyes zoomed into the section entitled "Mussels" to check out all the flavours - there were so many to choose from! I couldn't decide between 3 of them so I said, "Let's get all three!" (out comes my greedy side). Sir D suggested we start off with two and if we were still hungry then get the third one. A wise decision, since we were so full after two pots that we had to sit and digest for a while before we left.

Provençale Mussels - $13.45 (normally $26.90)