ACME, Rushcutters Bay

As an avid watcher of Looney Tunes cartoons as a child, the word Acme conjures up images of dynamite, explosions and Wile. E. Coyote. But I found out that 'ACME' has other meanings as well - a Greek word referring to the best of something, and also a convenient acronym of the first initials of the owners Andy Emerson, Cam Fairbairn, Mitch Orr, and Ed Loveday.

I was keen to see if ACME lived up to its name. It delivered on the Looney Tunes front with cool dynamite shaped light fixtures, but what of the food?

Baloney sandwich - $8

I was insistent on trying the Baloney sandwich, after seeing it appear on my instagram feed several times with people gushing about its amazing-ness. At $8 a pop (when we visited), it's definitely not your standard devon sambo, but there's a delicate quality to the thin sheets of mortadella sandwiched between a fluffy bun. I can't say it blew my socks off though, and certainly didn't meet my expectations based on the hype.

Burrata, nectarine, basil - $26

KIN by us., Macquarie Park

Kin means family. At newly opened cafe KIN by us, Uel and Shannelle aim to welcome you into their family by cooking Asian-inspired food with love, just like they did on My Kitchen Rules.

The cafe is tucked away on the ground floor of a new apartment complex in Macquarie Park. The area is so new the street barely registers on Google Maps, but when we arrived one rainy morning it was clear that half of Sydney knew about it, since there was a mass of people waiting outside for a table.

Menu

After a 45 minute wait, during which Uel was super hospitable, even offering those waiting some Easter eggs (it was Good Friday), we finally got a table and placed our order. We'd had ample time to look at the menu during the wait, so we ordered our food straight away and it all came out quite quickly.

Nana Fufu smoothie - $7

One of the most interesting menu items was the Nana Fufu smoothie, a banana, tofu and honey smoothie. At first sip, the banana flavour hits you, but then later on you get the slight creamy tofu flavour mixed in with the sweetness of the banana and honey.

Latte - $3.50

Coffee is sourced from Reuben Hills and each order comes with a cute little biscuity thing placed carefully on the teaspoon.

Milo mocha - $4

I tried the Milo mocha which was pretty much like a regular mocha but with the added malty goodness of Milo. You couldn't definitely smell the Milo but it wasn't so pronounced in the taste.

Snap, crackle, plop - $10

Popcorn Macarons

I don't like popcorn. People look at me weirdly when I say that, because how could you not like popped corn kernels doused in butter? But seriously, I just think that popcorn doesn't really have much flavour apart from salt, and it gets stuck in your teeth, and it's kind of just like eating air. Salty air.

When I was contacted by Planet Popcorn, a Taiwanese handmade popcorn chain, who offered to send me some popcorn samples, I was all ready to politely decline, but then I saw the flavours. Double Chocolate. Basil Chicken. CORN SOUP. I was officially intrigued and happily accepted the samples. This was a good thing, because this popcorn was pretty awesome - especially the savoury flavours. The basil chicken was peppery and slightly spicy, and the corn soup tastes exactly like the hot corn soup you get out of vending machines in Japan.

Even the original flavour was good, with a very light, sweet coating around each buttery popped corn kernel, ensuring that each piece of popcorn stays crunchy. I thought that the sweet and salty flavour was perfect to go in a popcorn-based dessert, so I decided to make these awesome popcorn macarons.

I realised I hadn't made macarons in a couple of years, and I could definitely tell I was out of practice. It didn't help that this was the first time baking macarons in my current oven, so despite using the same recipe that I've used numerous times before, the temperature was a bit off and they nearly failed on me.

So even though they weren't my best work, they still turned out pretty tasty with a gooey caramel filling and bits of crunchy popcorn sprinkled on top. The other popcorn flavours were devoured pretty quickly by everyone, with the crowd favourites being the corn soup, basil chicken, coffee and original flavours. If you want to try some of Planet Popcorn's popcorn, head over to Westfield Hurstville between 13th-17th April to the new Planet Popcorn store where there will be giveaways, prizes and other launch offers. Don't forget to pick up a packet of corn soup flavoured popcorn too!

Cho Cho San, Potts Point

Well hello again, it's been a while! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I've just returned from a whirlwind trip to Hokkaido in Japan where we got stuck in the airport both there and back, and when we finally landed on home soil, I was off again on another interstate work trip!

So it's kind of nice to be home, and to have time to sit down and blog and just chill. But one thing I started to miss as soon as we got back to Australia was the incredible food in Japan - hell, even the fast food there is way better (Mos Burger anyone?)

So yes, this post is about Japanese food, coz you all know I can never get sick of the stuff. I'd had Cho Cho San on my radar for a while, so I was pretty happy when Charm chose this restaurant to have her farewell dinner.

Tempura eggplant miso - $13

The menu has a selection of dishes designed for sharing, which suited us perfectly as we were able to try little bits of everything. We started with the tempura eggplant miso, a deep fried take on the classic nasu dengaku. The tempura batter was wonderfully light, encasing soft pieces of eggplant and drizzled with a sweet miso sauce, sesame seeds and shallots.

Beef tataki, wild rice, ginger dressing - $14

The beef tataki was like no other I'd had, with super thin slices of fatty raw beef that melted in the mouth, with nutty-tasting wild rice for texture and a light ginger dressing.

Hokkaido scallops, yuzu, katsuoboshi - $18

One of the best things about visiting Hokkaido is the amazing seafood, particularly the crab and scallops. Hokkaido scallops are plump and sweet, and especially sweet when eaten raw. The hokkaido scallop dish at Cho Cho San played up the sweetness of the scallops by contrasting it against the umami flavours of the katsuoboshi (dried bonito) and the tangy flavour of yuzu. There was also chopped radish and wakame seawood for colour.

Tuna, avocado, pickled eggplant - $22

Buffalo Dining Club, Darlinghurst

For a long time, the only cheese I knew about was the plasticky slices of Kraft Singles. I remember trying to make grilled cheese as a kid and wondering why my cheese didn't ooze and melt under the grill quite like the ones I saw on TV.

It wasn't until later on in life that I realised that there was a whole world of cheeses beyond Kraft Singles, all with different flavours and textures. I soon discovered that soft, creamy cheeses like brie and camembert, and stretchy, mild flavoured cheeses like mozzarella were amongst some of my favourites, and sought them out like they were going out of fashion.

Buffalo Dining Club menu

It wasn't long before I found out about burrata, a stretchy pouch of milky mozzarella that holds a surprise flowing river of rich thickened cream inside. When I saw it on the menu at Buffalo Dining Club, I knew I had to have it. The other cheeses would have to wait because the burrata was calling my name!

Burrata with choice of two sides - $20

All the cheeses at Buffalo Dining Club are $20 each and come with a choice of two sides. We decided to get the potato croquettes and honey baby carrots to go with our cheese. The plate also comes with some bread and nduja, a spicy sausage that you can spread onto the bread.

Burrata