Circa Espresso, Parramatta

Inside Circa Espresso

Walking around the quieter side of Parramatta station, it would be hard to miss Circa Espresso. This hole in the wall cafe is situated in a little gap between two residential buildings. A splash of colour from a graffiti-ed wall and patrons sitting on wooden stools and upturned milk crates tell you that there is something hip and happening going on in that little laneway, and that would be Circa's fantastic food and coffee.

Iced coffee - $4

We've ventured out to Suze's hood today for a taste of Circa's breakfast menu. My first experience of Circa was an impressive cup of takeaway coffee and so I'm glad to be heading back to try more of their menu. I start with an iced coffee - not a sugary, cream-topped version but a real iced coffee made purely from coffee and ice.

Avocado on sourdough toast with sea salt, cracked pepper and lemon oil - $7

Temasek, Parramatta

I've heard many times about how amazing the Hainanese chicken is at Temasek, so I jumped at the chance to go and try it when we went there recently with some family friends. There were a lot of us at the table so we got to sample a wide range of their menu. The food didn't take long to come out but what I noticed was that it came out in the order that we ordered the dishes with our waiter - something to keep in mind for next time! This was quite surprising because most of the time at Asian restaurants the dishes just come out whenever they're ready. 

Beef rendang - $17.80

The first dish we ordered was the beef rendang which has tender, fall-apart chunks of beef that are flavoursome from the spices used in the rendang. The sauce was also great with rice.

Sambal Balacaan Kang Kong - $16.80

Next up was the sambal balacaan kang kong - a vegetable dish with water spinach, sambal and shrimp paste. This probably could have done with a bit more chilli kick, but the shrimp paste and garlic added a heap of flavour to the vegetables. 

Hainanese chicken (whole) - $36.00

Sicilian Restaurant, Parramatta for Michael's 21st

Yesterday was my cousin Michael's 21st birthday, so on Saturday night we all got invited to celebrate his birthday at the Sicilian in Parramatta.

Pesto pizza - $12.00

The food kicked off with some pizzas to start. I didn't get a chance to photograph all of the different kinds of pizzas but there were garlic pizzas, herb pizzas, chilli crust pizzas and pesto crust pizzas, all cooked in the Sicilian's woodfired oven. The crusts were thin and crunchy with a generous amount of cheese on the pizza.

Gnocchi alla Romana - $24.00