Brasserie Bread, Banksmeadow

Ok, I admit it. I'm not a morning person. Call me out for breakfast and I'll probably turn you down in favour of sleeping in. But there are some places that I will make an exception for - and this is one of them. Tell me you're taking me to Brasserie Bread for brekky and I'll gladly leap out of bed to join you.

Walking into Brasserie Bread we were greeted with the smell of freshly baked bread and a whole wall full of artisan breads, including their famous garlic bread. There were also various pastries and cakes on display, as well as preserves and olive oils. But more about that later - first, breakfast!

Richard's Party and Peach & Vanilla Panna Cotta

A lunch with food bloggers always means food. Lots of delicious, mouth-watering, and interesting food. The awesome Richard opened up his home and a gaggle of food-bloggers descended upon it bringing bountiful plates of meat, desserts and other waist-line expanding goodies.

Luther burgers by Suze

Perhaps one of the most intriguing foods was Suze's almost-lethal Luther Burgers. Hidden inside a sticky Krispy Kreme donut was a beef patty, oh-so-crispy bacon, cheese, pineapple, and a fried egg. So wrong, yet so tasty!

Gourmet sausages by The Ninja

Cheese, ham and cherry tomato bread by Shez

Baroque Bistro Patisserie, The Rocks

 

Recently, I raved about the beautiful cakes at La Renaissance Patisserie, so it comes as no surprise that I got just a little bit excited upon finding out that a new French bistro had opened down the road, which was run by the same people as La Renaissance. I promptly booked myself and Sir D in for dinner and headed out one balmy evening to the shiny new glass building in The Rocks that is Baroque Bistro.

Of course, I had done my research before arriving and had perused the online menu at length to decide what we wanted to order. But all of that went out the window when I saw the blackboard specials for the day. There was bouillabaisse, and confit pork, and the desserts! This was going to be a difficult choice indeed.

Gleaming Maple Cheesecake & Glazed Ham

Christmas has well and truly passed now but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a nice glazed ham or a festive cheesecake anytime you want. I spent my Christmas at home surrounded by my loving family and lots of delicious food. Two items on our Christmas menu included a glazed ham from Donna Hay and a gleaming maple cheesecake from Nigella Lawson. To see what other food was on offer that day, check out this post!

My cheesecake was well received, although being my fiercest critic I knew it was overbaked and not as light and creamy as it should be. I'm not sure whether to blame my oven or not but I checked it after half the supposed baking time and it already looked done. I took it out about 10 minutes after that and I knew that it had been in the oven for too long since it was missing the wobbly centre.

Despite my mistakes in making this cheesecake, I would definitely make it again. The maple syrup smells fantastic and permeates through the whole cake. And of course, the gleaming layer of maple syrup on top of the cheesecake is a definite crowd-pleaser.

I've also included in this post (just for you, Trissa!) the orange glazed ham that my Mum made. The glaze was delicious except there simply wasn't enough of it, both when it was being glazed and in taste. The recipe below is straight out of the book but I would suggest perhaps making double quantities of the glaze since most of the glaze was already used up the first time the ham came out of the oven. Glazing it a few more times would also help impart more of the flavour onto the ham.

Ramen Kan, Haymarket

Ramen Kan is a little Japanese restaurant tucked away upstairs, accessed by a dodgy looking lift on Hay Street next to Cold Rock. Yes, the lift is a bit dirty-looking and extremely slow and probably needs replacing but don't be put off! Once those lift doors open you will be rewarded with a dining area complete with decorative touches like bamboo and pebbles, and of course fantastic Japanese food.

Soft shell crab salad - $8.90

Ramen Kan offers lunch specials so we opted to have both of those as well as two entrees to share. The first dish to arrive was the soft shell crab salad which had four soft shell crab halves (2 whole crabs) sitting on top of a bountiful cabbage salad with a tangy dressing. The freshly fried crabs had a light batter with a resounding crunch when bitten into.

Salmon salad - $6.90