Max Brenner - Chocolate Paradise

We were on our way to the Sydney Aquarium from Circular Quay, and both kids were fast asleep so when I saw the Max Brenner Cafe just before we hit Wynyard station, I suggested to hubby that perhaps we should celebrate my second born's lunar birthday and take a dessert break. We had hoped the kids would stay asleep so that we could enjoy some couple time over the new dessert menu at Max Brenner's, but their chocolate dessert radar is probably as good as mine, so as soon as the dessert was served, they both woke up.
I had seen pictures of this Praline Meringue Extravagant Puff on Instagram, and it had made me salivate, so even though I had no BFF to share it with, I took the plunge and ordered it.
Why don't the hubby and I share desserts? Well, we have a mutual understanding that either our taste in desserts can be quite different, or we will both want to enjoy the same dessert in its entirety. So no sharing of desserts at the point of ordering, although after we dig in, we are welcome to taste each other's dessert and even swap if we end up not liking what we ordered.
It was one of those days where my dessert was totally a hit and my hubby felt his was not so much.
He was lucky the kids woke up as my first born absolutely loved the chocolate balls that came with his chocolate brownie fudge sundae. We love that they kept the balls off the actual sundae and ice cream and served it on the side, as that made it possible for my daughter to have all the chocolate balls to herself, just the way she liked it (since she was also allergic to milk, it saved me some trouble of separating balls from cream)
I helped myself to his chocolate ice cream which tasted great with my puff by the way, and also his fudge brownies. I loved that all the chocolate was not too sweet dark chocolate type, so it was ultra palatable. The chocolate sundae was served on a very cute wooden block with pictures and words so it was a great sundae to photo.
But it was not as satisfying as my order which was DaBomb! You have to eat it yourself to know what I mean. My only constructive feedback regarding my dessert is how it could have been more extravagantly puffed up and more generous vanilla ice cream beneath. For ice cream suckers like me, the serving I had was not enough for one, much less for 2, since this dessert was recommended for BFF sharing.
So I really enjoyed our little afternoon  distraction as a family in a chocolate haven. The cafe was easy for us to push our giant Stokke stroller into and even when we parked it at the table near the centre of the café, there was lots of space. The baby enjoyed the strawberries on my dessert and quite surprisingly was not impressed by the fudged brownie. Echoes my take on how it was really not too sweet type of chocolate brownie. Those strawberries were fresh and pretty, well washed and beautifully sliced. Portion was also good.
There was an alfresco area outside the café as well, which would have been good for summer.
One other interesting point was when you ask for ice water, they give you a bottle and glasses. The water tasted so good and was so refreshing when you drink it after the desserts. My 3 year old was happily going "cheers!" and commenting repeatedly how "delicious!" her water was (with her chocolate balls)
The café has a restroom too, which was useful for parents like us to take the kids in case they needed to do a pee before dessert.
I've never thought I would enjoy my Max Brenner experience this much, as I haven't stepped in one for more than 10 years. But now that I have been in one, it beats Oliver Brown, Lindt and Gurlain café experiences hands down, so I'm definitely going to go again.

Moochi Yogurt

Moochi is all the hype in Sydney these days and the little booth that popped up in our hood in Bankstown was so busy busy with long queues throughout the day, we had to try it!
The verdict:
1. Fruit flavored yogurt I.e. Watermelon, pomegranate, mango and original flavors are delicious! Coconut flavor is too strong and not recommended. Biscotti flavor I have not tried but probably not as good as I hardly see people order it.
2. Stick to the actual yogurt + fresh fruit toppings. They have lychee, berries and mango which complement the fruit yogurt flavors well.
3. From regular cup upwards, you can choose 2 flavors of yogurt to mix and match. Watermelon & pomegranate are a good mix.
4. Choose your toppings wisely as they are additional $0.50 per topping. There are crazy toppings like lychee pearls and strawberry pearls etc. I even saw someone choose honeycomb chocolate and gummy bears to go with his Massive sized moochi!!!

Breakfast at Rumbles - Meat this Time!

A revisit to our favorite cafe in Eastwood - Rumbles - for a non-vegetarian breakfast this time, proved to be very satisfying!
My bacon & eggs were so delicious my baby had egg all over her face & shirt by the time we were done! Daddy's French toast was also gone before we knew it. Fresh orange juice was a generous portion (it filled Kyo's sippy cup 2 times = 6 oranges). The Cappuccino was average though, and started me thinking how Eastwood needs a "Kopi-tiam" serving good strong Singapore Kopi-Si...
It's a great morning hangout as there are lots of fellow cafe goers with their dogs (which keeps my baby busy & entertained).

Pancakes On The Rocks

Was looking for a dessert hangout to go to with the kids around Darling Harbor and stumbled upon the perfect place - Pancakes On The Rocks!!!
This pancake chain's original outlet at the Rocks has been an all time favorite and we hadn't had a chance to take Kyo there yet so it was a no brainer to try this outlet out. No queue on New Years Eve and excellent service, coupled with Aussie sized portions of everything made for a delicious experience.
Hubby & I went to dessert pancakes immediately and my Devil chocolate pancakes were AWESOME! Strawberries on the side were a little too sour and my berry baby didn't eat more than 2, proving they really weren't in season - haha!!!
Our friends ordered Ribs and Caesar Salad as well as kids sized fish & chips and those looked great as well.
The iced teas were too sweet though and diet coke was off the tap so not so good. Our friends ordered iced chocolate (which looked sinful but yummy) and chocolate milk came in kids size (not sure why).

Chat Thai Westfield Sydney

A New Year's Eve present from our baby girl - an undisturbed meal at Chat Thai Westfield downtown Sydney CBD.
Service was great and we were lucky to get a table just before the lunch crowd.
My recommendations:
1) ice-blended fruit juice is yummy! My hubby got the ice-blended watermelon. I ordered a coconut juice drink and it was not spectacular. Only had 2 slices of coconut in it as well so not value for money.
2) the spicy vermicelli salad with mussels and squid (and prawns for those who are not allergic) was a generous portion that can be tailored to the level of spiciness of your choice. It quenched my craving for mussels and had more than 6 mussels and 6 pieces of squid in total and alot of yummy veges and vermicelli.
3) chicken pad thai received a thumbs up from hubby and was stir fried perfection even though it was non spicy and had no shrimp in it.
4) chicken satay was 2 thumbs up. Expensive compared to the S$0.70 per stick satay back in Singapore but very succulent and yummy with authentic satay peanut sauce.
5) Mussel omelette was a rare menu item I thought I'll try. It took 20mins of preparation and came out piping hot, but tasted more like a non spicy version of Korean pancake than an omelette. Very big and generous portion and I ended up taking away as I couldn't finish it after a whole bowl of salad.

Powerhouse Musuem Sydney - The Wiggles Exhibition

Are you looking for a place in Sydney to take the kids that's both educational and fun for the old and young?
The Powerhouse Musuem Sydney would be a great choice - http://www.powerhousemuseum.com
Check out my takeaways when I visited with my 16month old in Spring...

1) The Wiggles exhibit is a MUST-GO! Filled with entertaining and interactive activities throughout the exhibit, we had a lot of fun even though my toddler had not been introduced to the Wiggles before. One observation though: The activities are fun for kids who have started walking. For babies who are crawling, might be abit dangerous as the older kids get all excited and are running around. For babies in arms, the loud music and active kid visitors might scare them.
My 16month old loved dancing in front of the big screen with the Wiggles songs going on and on, cutting fruit and making fruit salad, making a rose and having tea at Dorothy the Dinosaur's garden, exploring the big ship and taking a ride in the Wiggles' big red car!

2) If the kids are done with the exhibits and parents need a break over some food or coffee/tea, head out to the courtyard on level one where there's a playground to keep older kids busy whilst mummies and daddies relax over a cuppa coffee at Santos Cafe.

3) the Musuem is open from 10am-5pm everyday except Christmas Day

4) There's free wifi throughout the Musuem!

5) How to get there: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/visit/howtogethere.php Fastest way to get to the Musuem is via the monorail where a covered walkway from Paddy's Market station takes you straight to the Powerhouse Musuem entrance. Alternatively you can walk from Central station, but be prepared to walk for at least 15mins as there are many traffic lights to contend with before you arrive on Harris Street.

6) Admission fees are AUD12 per adult and AUD6 for children aged 4-15. Children under 4 enter free of charge. There are also family admission rates of AUD30 - for 2 adults and up to 2 kids or 1 adult and up to 3 kids
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/visit/hours&charges.php

7) For a list of current exhibitions: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/

8) After the Musuem, it is also easy to head off on foot for shopping at Paddy's Markets or head for the shops on main George Street. What I did was get a monorail day pass (AUD9.80) and took a leisurely ride around Darling harbor, enjoying the view before heading to the Sydney Aquarium and a huge children's playground at World Square.

Vegetarian Series - Sydney NSW - Top Ryde City - Bar Angelo Pizzeria

We decided to try this pizzeria as we really needed to eat something different after almost a week of homecooked vegetarian Chinese dishes!
The bruschetta was a refreshing starter with fresh tomatoes that tasted extraordinarily sweet since they were cleverly salted... Next up, the vegetarian pizza tasted so good with eggplant and cheese that I forgot to take a picture of it! We decided to indulge ourselves in a nutella pizza for dessert (since baby was fast asleep throughout lunch), and it was simply heavenly!!! Topped with vanilla bean ice cream, macadamia nuts, bananas and strawberries, combined with nutella on a perfectly oven baked pizza thin crust, it was drool drool drool yum yum yum all the way (till baby woke up) . Sparkling water and ice-blended watermelon, plus a very friendly waiter, complemented our whole meal to make our first time at Bar Angelo Pizzeria a wonderful experience.

Vegetarian Series - Sydney NSW - Eastwood Sakae

Walked past this Japanese restaurant our first time at Eastwood last Friday and decided we would lunch there today with my Japanese friends as it passed the queue test at 4pm with more than just a couple of diners, had a good variety of ala carte and was just next to the Eastwood shopping centre.
Lunch today was thumbs up! Although me and hubby were restricted to vegetarian choices, we still managed to order a couple of dishes:
1. Seaweed and Tofu salad - comes with kewpie mayo and goma (sesame) dressing. Very refreshing!!
2. Agedashi tofu - big serving enough for 4 people and tofu did not fall out of the outer layer easily and not too salty...
3. Cha soba - available cold and hot, my hubby ordered it hot and actually praised it so it must be good (since he actually doesn't really like soupy noodles!!)
4. Tobikko don (fish roe on rice) - a very colorful and special dish that was actually very delicious!!! A little high on cholesterol but what the heck!!
5. vegetable tempura - this was very well fried, not too oily nor overdone and the dashi was refreshing too! Portion was big too and went well with my hubby's cha soba.

If you are in the Eastwood neighborhood, do try out this restaurant. FYI - boys, there's a very pretty Japanese waitress too on the weekends so it's a great place for those who like some eye candy with their nihon shoku... Hahahhaa

Unfortunately Sakae does not accept American Express credit card. Also, if you wanted cold tea instead of hot, it would cost $3 more. So go with the hot Ocha as they'll serve you a pot of tea and you'll realize the restaurant is quite generous with their teabags as there are tea bags in the tea cups as well as the teapot. Try the bento sets too if you can eat meat and fish as apparently they are delicious and good value!!!

Gelato Messina

Craving for a good ice-cream that is both sweet and salty? Try Gelato Messina's salted caramel and white chocolate and you will not be disappointed! Generous portions of white chocolate pieces wedged within a salted caramel ice-cream, providing a rich sensory experience for any adventurous tastebud!
The other surprisingly good flavor is he chocolate chip. The ice-cream is slightly brownish like a frosted chocolate malt, but it's actually not too sweet and tastes much better than most conventional chocolate chip gelatos.
The Gelato Messina at the refurbished The Star (previously known as Star City casino) is definitely worth a visit as the ice-cream is so good you see people in that area - old and young - unable to resist temptation and end up with a cone or cup of ice-cream in winter!