East Phoenix, Zetlands

Following the lovely nuptials between Mr&Mrs N at Blackburn Gardens, the remnant MSG Cafeteria peeps lingered in the gardens to fancy artistic shots (by Ivanhoe) before heading to the Intercontinental Hotel in Double Bay for sustenance in the form of coffee and fries.

With 20min to go till the start of the night-time reception, we then headed out on the short drive south to East Village, Zetlands. Set inside the relatively new shopping centre, East Phoenix is located on the third level and has ample capacity to fit at least 300 (there were 23 guest tables at the reception, with at least 12 people per table and room for a large dance floor), with three private function rooms.

Front Entrance

As per usual Chinese Banquet receptions, it looked like another full venue.

Frangos, Petersham

Frangos was another place that Ivanhoe and Lenni also raved about in Petersham, which is conveniently located across the road from Sweet Belem. There was a queue out the door of the fast food place so that must surely be a good sign... until you see see customers throwing away half a tray of hot chips... hmmm...

Front Counter

As you line up in the queue, you get to see stacks of cooked charcoal chicken waiting to be served as well as a view of the large selection of sides.

Salads

Sides

Sweet Belem, Petersham

Ivanhoe and Lenni raved about the Portuguese tarts from Sweet Belem so this bakery was included as a food pit stop in Petersham. Surprisingly, this was up the road from The Tiny Giant so our walk to here came to an end within 2 min.😂

Entrance of Baker

Bakery Sign

The Tiny Giant, Petersham

When Ivanhoe first invited me to a foodie adventure trip to Petersham with Ali and Lenni, I was totally excited because it would be within the vicinity of The Tiny Giant! I've seen many pics from the cafe on Instagram so I suggested that we visit this place during our food crawl through Petersham.

The day started out with a trip to the e-waste disposal place in Marrickville (a very enlightening experience) and took a slight detour to the The Addison Road Community Centre. We were all disappointed to discover that the Marrickville markets were actually open on Sunday, rather than Saturday, so we ended up checking out the various shops within the community centre. During our stroll through the Community Centre, we spotted some live poultry by a small fair-trade cafe, and walked through the community gardens in search of some (invisible) bunnies. Apparently Ivanhoe saw some bunnies on her last visit but we didn't see any... conned again by Ivanhoe within the space of 30min!

Afterwards, we headed to The Tiny Giant in Petersham and were able to score a free parking spot nearby so we didn't have to walk too far to the cafe.

Outside of Cafe

Small Bar, Crows Nest

I recently came here to celebrate the momentous first birthday party of mini-Aunt T. Small Bar seems to be the go-to place for special occasions for MSG Cafeteria due to its convenient and central location so I thought I'd use this opportunity to document and share the food experience.

Located along Willoughby Street (i.e. main food street) in Crows Nest, Small Bar faces some intense competition in the food stakes. There is limited seating outside the main entrance and along the long aisle towards the courtyard around the back, however the courtyard space is big enough to accommodate 40+ people.

Outside of Restaurant

Aunt T & Co. went all out on the event with the food and decor, even decorating the courtyard with balloons, banner and bunting. Also, Ivanhoe was recruited to apply her artistic skills to create the time capsule slips for guests to fill in.

Noodle Night Market 2016, Sydney CBD

Every year during Good Food month (i.e. Oct), the Sydney Night Noodle Markets are held in Hyde Park within the Sydney CBD. Lines of stalls are opened providing visitors just a glimpse of the (mainly Asian) foods on offer around Sydney. Ironically, despite being labelled as a 'noodle' market, most of the stores actually don't even have a noodle menu item.

Despite arriving around just after 6pm, the crowds in Hyde park were in epic proportions and gradually got bigger as the night went by.

Entrance Closest to Town Hall Station

Fortune Cat Art

Giant Fortune Cat
(recycled from Chinese New Year?)

Bernie's Diner, Moss Vale

After an enjoyable lunch at Biota Dining, Bowral, the group headed off south to Bernie's Diner.

Entrance of Diner

Set in Moss Vale, Bernie's Diner resembles the classic American diner from the 1950-70's (à la Grease) with bright red bar stools and booth seating, and a black and white checked floor. Their menu here is actually rather extensive and included burgers, sides, drinks, dessert - oh the choices...:

Biota Dining, Bowral

Just outside of the Bowral town centre, Biota Dining is a fine-dining restaurant shrouded by a tall row of bushes along the main street. There is limited parking outside the restaurant but don't be discouraged by the sheer number of cars filling the car park - the spots may be occupied by people attending a party/function in the small area next to their bar.

En Route from Car Park to Restaurant

Biota Dining offers both degustation tasting menu ($145+ pp; requires reservations beforehand) or bar dining during lunch hours. As this was a last-minute food stop, our group didn't have a booking so we rocked up to see if they were able to fit us in for a late lunch. Ivanhoe did try calling beforehand but got stuck with their voicemail...

Li-Sun Exotic Mushroom Tour, Mittagong

Two months ago, Ivanhoe began organising a group road trip to Bowral in order to attend the Li-Sun Exotic Mushroom farm tour in nearby Mittagong over the Labour Day long weekend. I wasn't quite sure what to expect so I did a little research/light reading to get myself prepared for what was ahead.

Fortunately, the weather on this day was awesome and we headed down south early in the morning so that we could scout out the local cafes in the Bowral town centre before the tour. The time soon came to head to the local swimming pool car park, which was the pickup point for the tour.

Shuttle Bus

Le Montage, Lilyfield

Ever since I received my 'golden ticket' invite inside a choc block, I've been looking forward to B&J's wedding for some time... cos the wedding had to be running on a chocolate theme, right? As an FYI/fun fact: unbeknownst to the bride and groom, 1st Oct is actually referenced in 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory' story as the day on which the golden ticket bearers could enter into the chocolate factory - how appropriate for the wedding!

The wedding ceremony and reception was to be held at Le Montage, which I had previously been to for a night-time wedding reception and the location just screamed CLASS (or maybe it was because the other couple had put in a lot of time, effort and clearly ~moolah~ to creating an awesome wedding reception)!

Sign in Driveway

So on this sunny, but seriously windy, day, I actually set up early with T-bone and Ally to check out the nearby Orange Grove markets and used this chance to source breakfast and baked goods before attending to my ushering duties for the wedding ceremony.