Ninou Boulangerie Pâtisserie Viennoiserie, Rosebery

Ninou first came to my attention when their fascinating desserts kept popping up on social media and therefore I was excited when the opportunity came by for a visit to their cafe in Rosebery, courtesy of FCBA. The concept of a French-inspired bakery in Sydney is intriguing - having authentic French bread loaves, baguettes and desserts all accessible at our fingertips without need to fly the required twenty odd hours to the "city of love".

Inside Cafe

But does it live up to the hype?

Roadtrip to Bilpin

A few months ago, a few friends and I decided to go on a road trip together to visit a friend working in the Windsor vicinity. After doing some research into the surrounding areas, a friend suggested that we visit Bilpin for a day trip.

Bilpin is located just over 1.5hrs drive north-west of Sydney and is popularly known as the 'Land of the Mountain Apple', due to the rich fruit orchids and bountiful gardens that line the main (Bells Line of) road, which runs through the Blue Mountain region. The famous produce from the region are the locally grown/produced apples, juice and cider. Since they don't usually advertise the source of apples at the local supermarkets nor do I usually partake in cider (or any alcoholic drink), this place didn't really ring any bells so I was up for the challenge.

Roadtrip!

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

Uncle Tetsu's, Sydney CBD

The Japanese cheesecake craze hit fever heights when Uncle Tetsu's opened the doors of its first store in Australia and people reported wait times of over an hour just to grab their hands on one of these babies.

Fast forward several weeks, the store is still super popular, especially among Asians. On this particular night, the lines were surprisingly rather short (perhaps up to a dozen people in the queue, compared the hundred or so that I saw the last time I was in the city) so as a last-minute surprise for PapaBear on his birthday, I decided to bite the bullet and line up.

Cheesecake Sign

The Waffle Shack, Ultimo

Anyone who knows me well will know I looovvve waffles - I got a waffle maker for my 21st and I cannot stop raving about Toscano's choc chip waffles. As a matter of fact, I'm actually munching on it right now as I'm writing this, much to the dismay of my fellow work colleagues as it generates wafts of sweet baked goods smell across the office once it comes out of the toaster... nomnomnom.... Hence I was uber excited when a FCBA event was held at The Waffle Shack as it could only mean one thing - wafffllessss!!!

My eagerness knew no bounds since I ended up scouting the place twice (because I was that eager) before the designated start time... all within hours of trying out the 'Sexy Me' egg waffle from Haven. Surprisingly, The Waffle Shack was sort of a hole-in-the-wall, sharing common space with a mobile phone reseller and a convenience store. I think I may have scared Chris (the owner) with my near-stalky photo-taking of him in action when there were no customers.

Outside of Store

Waffle Stack on Display

Passion Tree, Chatswood

I've heard a lot of hype around Passion Tree - their cakes here (and at the similarly named Passiontree Velvet in Macquarie Centre - are they under the same company since they also sell the exact same cakes and macarons?) give Zumbo desserts a run for their money (literally, since they're in the same price range) but more importantly, they're famous for their Bing Soo desserts involving a hollowed out fruit - like watermelon, rock melon, or pineapple - topped with shaved ice, fruit balls, and ice cream/block. Since this place was personally recommended by a friend, I decided to take the plunge and actually visit the cafe. I have previously walked by several times before but decided against jumping straight to dessert in lieu of eating a proper dinner.

The inside of the cafe is decorated with white decor (think white tables, chairs and wall cladding) but this highlighted the bright, colourful desserts on display:

Outside of Cafe

Front Counter

Desserts For Sale

Flour Drum, Newtown

A while ago, Aunt-T joined MSG Cafeteria to various food blogger groups, which were mentioned on our blog but I never really asked about.. And it wasn't until I recently logged into the blog email for the first time that I discovered 50+ unread emails - a veritable minefield of spam (of the inedible type) and gold (of the edible type) because within the long list of unread emails were exclusive invites to food tasting events!

One of the recent invites received was from the Food Critics & Bloggers Australia (a.k.a. FCBA) for a tasting event at Flour Drum, Newtown. Having rarely been to Newtown (mainly to visit Black Star Pastry and Brewtown Newtown), I had to research on how to get here.

Located 10 min walk, or 4 min by bus, from Newtown station, Flour Drum sits inconspicuously among boutique shops along the main road but is rather like a hidden gem in the rough - for inside the cafe are some of the friendliest staff I've encountered and serve mouth-watering cakes. The co-owners - Christopher, Victor and Johnny - were easy to chat with and happily engaged in conversations with various customers scattered across the cafe (except maybe Johnny, who as the executive chef of Flour Drum spends a lot of his time in the kitchen - he stayed up till 3-4am making cakes for the weekend!!).

Outside of Cafe

Kürtősh, Crows Nest

Following our escapade to Mosman, Ivanhoe, Lenni and I decided to return back to Crows Nest for dessert given the lack of options for dessert along Military Road, Mosman at night (choices were down to Salt Cheese & Meats or Rosso Cavallino, which offered small cakes or gelato respectively). Given the extremely cold nature of the night, we decided to visit Kürtősh, which sells a wide selection of cakes and pastries, and adequate seating away from the external elements.

Kürtősh Cafe

When you first enter Kürtősh, you'll notice the large marble bench tops and the copious amounts of dough waiting to be rolled into the Hungarian pastries known as kürtőskalács, a.k.a. kurtosh (also the name of the cafe) - the pastry is rolled into a long strip, wrapped around a wide spit and glazed before being roasted/baked:

Staff rolling out Kurtosh Pastry

Sample Kurtosh on Display

Black Star Pastry, Sydney CBD

Being a major fan of Black Star Pastry cakes, it was on my 'to-do' list to take SissyG to Newtown and visit the bakery... that was until I checked out there website and discovered that they recently opened a new branch in Kinokuniya, CBD. Since we were going into the city to watch Kung Fu Panda 3 and visit Sepia, I insisted on a afternoon dessert stop here:

Entrance of Cafe

Just like the branch in Newtown, this cafe offers coffee and a range of mouth-watering cakes:

Individual Cakes on Display

More Cakes and Tarts
(look at that popcorn cake!)

In addition to the usual cake menu, there is a new cake on the block that is (supposedly) only offered at this particular branch (a lie.. also saw it at the Newtown branch) - the Raspberry Lychee Chocolate Cake ($10):

Top View

Side View

Another multi-layer cake, this cake is constructed with the following layers (from top to bottom):

1. Raspberries and lychees (coated in gelatin), topped with an edible flower
2. Cream
3. Sponge cake
4. Raspberry marshmallow 
5. Vanilla cream
6. Chocolate biscuit/cake

Presentation-wise, the Raspberry Lychee Chocolate Cake is very pretty and it didn't taste overly sweet or cream-y. However, instead of doing a raspberry marshmallow layer, I think they opted for a simpler/quicker option of just placing the normal round raspberry marshmallows into the vanilla cream and the chocolate 'biscuit' base turned out to be more like a chocolate sponge cake. Overall, it's a good addition to their cake menu (although only at this branch only).

Also, a sneaky peek at their signature Strawberry and Watermelon Cake:

Strawberry and Watermelon Cake ($7.50)

One of the Asian girls sharing the table with us actually ended up eating two of these...#respect

There is limited seating within the cafe area so you'll need to wait if there are no available tables or takeaway and consume at the nearby TGV underground food court.

Foodcraft Espresso & Bakery, Erskinville

The Foodcraft Espresso & Bakery was brought to my attention after reading an online news article about their "world famous" Tella Balls - a massive doughnut ball filled with nutella! Being a major chocolate fan, I was eager to check this out.

When my friend and I arrived on a sunny Saturday morn, there was one serious crowd waiting outside the cafe and it took us almost half an hour before we finally landed a table inside:

Selection of Baked Goods - the bottom level is filled with Tella Balls!

Just looking at the Tella Balls can make any chocolate lover drool:

"World Famous" Tella Balls ($4.50) - Doughnut Balls filled with Nutella;
Also available with Five Berry Jam, Salted Caramel, Vanilla Bean Ricotta

If you're not a fan of doughnuts, you can opt for a cruffin (croissants baked in shape of muffins):

Cruffins ($6)

Who in their right mind would not take up the change to conquer the Tella Ball Shake:

Tella Ball Shake ($10) - Chocolate Milkshake
topped with Tella Ball

This is one monstrously chocolate-y meal in itself - a mason jar filled with a choc shake and topped with a Tella Ball! TBH, the Tella Ball is like a glorified giant doughnut ball with a generous dose of nutella that sort of explodes when you bite into it. I ended up dissecting and eating the Tella Ball on the saucer with a teaspoon (kindly offered by my friend, leftover from her latte) as it is sort of hard to eat it when all you're offered is a thick straw...

Bacon and Egg Panini ($10)

My friend opted for the bacon and egg panini - she had better luck eating it this time without creating a mess on the plate and rated it higher than the bacon and egg roll from The Missing Piece.

I would like to return again and try the actual food items from their menu but unfortunately it's a bit of a trek to get there via public transport (either travel to Newtown or Erskinville Station) and parking is a nightmare on weekends.

Black Star Pastry and Brewtown Newtown, Newtown

As part of some crazy idea for making the most of my early (5am) start to the day, I decided to go bakery hopping around Newtown on the way home from the airport.
Note to self: question thinking if you ever decide to do this again... especially if trip is followed by a full day of events...

After much research, I decided to limited the list down to two bakeries that I could fit in my busy schedule for the day.

Black Star Pastry

This bakery is located at the end of the road (resembles a cul-de-sac but has a small discreet side lane that runs perpendicular off Australia St) and sits smack bang between some cute shops. There are seats lined outside the bakery for customers to leisurely eat their baked goods and drink coffee.

Due to my early start to the day, I arrived at the bakery just before 7am. Although the bakery opened at 7am, I was still too early to pick up the strawberry and watermelon cake that I ordered (earliest pick-up time is 8am at the Newtown store) so I wandered around the neighbourhood in search for a nearby cafe that was open - sadly, the only thing open that I encountered was a Caltex petrol station (though I did see two people with coffeeeeeee).

After spending some time at the public park around the corner, I decided to wander back to the bakery in hopes of picking my cake sneakily 15min earlier (with success!) and to check out the other cakes/pastries on offer:

Display of Cakes and Mouses

Vast Array of Cookies, Tarts and Brownies

They have a vast selection available and contrary to a review that I read online, there are actually slices of their Strawberry and Watermelon Cake available before 9am!

The Infamous Strawberry and Watermelon Cake

The Strawberry and Watermelon Cake consists of the following layers (from top to bottom):

1. Fresh strawberries coated in a clear glaze, topped by slivered pistachios and dried rose petals
2. Thin layer of cream
3. Almond dacquoise (almond meal cake, soaked in syrup)
4. Rose-scented cream
5. Watermelon
6. Cream
7. Cake

I have no idea how these people came up with the idea of putting real watermelon inside a cake but it works. The cake was good (and looks pretty) but I wouldn't rave about it - it was like a cream overload and is probably over-hyped. However, it sure was an experience to taste.

You can book online via their website for portions of their cakes (minimum of 4 portions, as pictured above) but this requires at least 2 days notice. Otherwise, if you order within 24 hrs (like I did), you will need to ring up to make an phone order or visit the bakery real early (e.g. 7-8am) in order to purchase your cake of choice.

Brewtown Newtown

After navigating the back roads/lanes through Newtown (I think I may have driven in the wrong direction through parts of it... but there were no signs to tell me otherwise aside from the line of cars parked in the opposite direction =P), I finally made it to Brewtown Newtown - famous for their cronuts (i.e. croissant shaped in a donut and deep fried):

(Clockwise from top left) Salted Caramel Popcorn Cruffin; Lychee Rosewater Cronut; Pineapple Pistachio Cronut

Choolate Cruffin; Glazed Cruffin, Cinnamon Cruffin; Passionfruit Cruffin

Some close-ups of the cronut/cruffin:

Lychee Rosewater Cronut

Salted Caramel Popcorn Cruffin

I personally tried the salted caramel popcorn cruffin, as well as the chocolate and cinnamon cronuts - the cronuts win hands-down. Although the cronuts were the equivalent of an edible heart-attack (from all the oil/butter/sugar content), it was all soft and flaky, and just yummy.. *nomnomnom*... On the other hand, I found the cruffin to have a similar texture of a dud croissant from the supermarkets. However, it did have a surprise creamy salted caramel centre inside, and was topped by salted caramel sauce as well as a popcorn brittle with traces of edible gold leaf.

Cronuts are not to be eaten on a regular basis and should come with a health warning - to be avoided by diabetics or health fanatics.