85 Degrees Bakery Cafe Hurstville NSW

There are several outlets of this bakery cafe for several years now in Australia.  Did they coem from the USA?

Each franchised outlet is in a busy area, often in suburbs so-called by a diverse Asian demographic.   The one in Hurstville is rather roomy and lots of baked stuff on its shelves.   The base of Sydney operations is in Chester Hill, a suburb south-west of the Sydney city centre.


Some of the cake creations would be viewed as rather leaning on the East Asian dimension  - Strawberry Angel (with chocolate base and top) and Mango Cheese ( with yoghurt).   However, to counter this perspective, there are also Death by Chocolate, US Cheesecake, Coffee Brulee and Blueberry Marble options.    


The pastries are definitely filled with ingredients more suited to perhaps Anime loving fans and non-mainstream cultures - for example, garlic, pork, tuna, green tea, red bean, shallots, pork floss, coconut, Hokkaido butter cream and Boroh or pineapple buns.   Sung seems to be a variation emphasised by 85 Degrees -  you can have them in calamari and pork or or just in pork and refer to the original Rou Sung Bao or pork floss buns (with a milk bread base).


I am not a fan of milk based pastries but here we have the Milk Pudding, Creamy Bread, Cream Brulee, Japanese Cream Boroh, Snow Milky and Double Premium Milk pastries.   The coffee list is rather standard.   


Consistency in the outcomes of baked products can be so important and with a number of outlets, 85 Degrees also has a wide menu list.   Such a business thrives on turnover and I am sure they are keeping a constant eye on their output.




  

Toast		European		Japanese
Toast Von Red Bean		Baguette		Coconut Chicken Tail Bun
White Toast		Toast pizza		French Donut
Mini Butter		French Soft Garlic		Japanese Cream Boroh Bun
Chocolate Chips Bun		French Cheese Sticks		Red Bean Bread
Walnut Honey Rolls		French pizza		Snow milky
Rose Cheesy Bun		Linseed & Cranberry		Shredded Cheese
Green Tea & Red Bean Rolls		Swiss Chocolate		Coconut Twist
Milk Toast		Turandot Cranberry		Multi layer taro
Creamy Bread		Honey Citrus Walnut		Hokkaido Butter Cream
		Charlotte Green		OZ Sandwich
		Walnut Raisin Multigrain		Calamari pork sung
		Multigrain		Double Cheese Pizza
		Cream Brulee		Brioche
				Double Premium Milk
				Prime Cheddar Cheese

Taiwanese		Danish		Other
Mini Boroh Bun		Boroh Danish		Garlic Bread
Garlic Hot Dog		Boroh Cream Danish		Maple Brick Toast
Taiwanese Donut		Apple Danish		Brown Sugar Square
Butter boroh bun		Tuna Danish		Italian Spice Crunch
Milk Pudding		Danish Cream		Caesar the Great
85 Sandwich		Danish Ham
Shallots Bread		Danish Hot Dog
Neapolitan
Italian Pizza
3 Sisters
Pork Sung Bun
Bread Stick
BBQ Chicken
Shallot Pork Floss
Cheese Dog
Sultana Cookies
Sweet Toast
Gibralta

85 Degrees Bakery Cafe visited is located at 246 Forest Road, Hurstville NSW, not far walking from the rail station.

Opening hours are from 730am to 930pm every week day; from 8am to 930pm on Saturdays; and from 8am to 9pm on Sundays.
Contact    + 61 2 9580 8889



My impressions of  the 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe at Hurstville NSW:
Ambiance: 3 out of 5

Customer Engagement: 3 out of 5
Culinary Delight:  3 out of 5
X Factor: 2.5 out of 5
Overall:   11 /4  out of 5

 

Miss Saigon Hurstville NSW

Stir fried flat rice noodles buried under a heap of veg, chicken, corn bits and carrots.

I recall having dropped by this restaurant many years ago when Hurstville was already showing signs of being one of the most non-mainstream suburbs in the southern part of the greater Sydney area.  


The restaurant's name resonated with a spectacular and popular musical staged at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney's Chinatown, with the inevitable Filipino artiste taking the lead about the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the American War.


Well, this modest place at one end of the now crowded and bustling Forest Road, the main business strip for Hurstville, continues to dish out standard fare from the Vietnamese cooking genre.   Perhaps the strategy is to provide good old simple fare that is modestly priced, consistent with expectations of the target market, who could be families out on a social outing, singles and couples who cannot bother to cook and those in a hurry to have a quick meal after alighting from the nearby rail station or from many of the passing buses.


I did notice an interesting section this recent visit on the menu - starch noodle soup or the Hu Tieu Dai.   They come served  steaming hot with the usual seafood or pork chops.  Why starched? To me, it looked like the Koay Teow Thng soup found in many street food locales in south-east Asia,  especially popular amongst Fujian diaspora who settled away from southern China overseas for  many generations by now.


Pho, of course is a useful, iconic test for any Vietnamese food place and Miss Saigon serves only beef options here, still tasty according to my mates.


One of my fav orders at such places is the Chim Cut, or marinated quail pieces then deep fried to give an extra crunch on the bite.    Another quick snack is the Banh Xeo, where bean sprouts, pork slices, prawns and chopped shallots are whipped up into a pancake fold, which is presented with fresh mint leaves, fish sauce dips and freshly peeled lettuce on your plate.


The restaurant looks a bit jaded in its walls - and although the framed wood cuts are lovely, perhaps need a refreshed overhaul in look and feel, away from its rather current brownish feel.  There are competitors nearby, but perhaps mainly from the mainland China variety, which does offer another sort of cuisine, more affecting the traditional Cantonese culinary places. 


Still, Miss Saigon is open the whole day and echoes comfort food for many Asian- Australians, even if the younger ones have moved one in taste, residential base and mindset to other parts of greater Sydney - or even to London, California, Singapore and back to Vietnam itself.


I did enjoy my serve of the Viet-Chinese version of Sar Hor Fun.  The wok heat came through the noodles,  the serving size was not over the top and the stir fry was thorough  (first photo on this blog post).   There was no pennywort drink that day but we settled fro the young coconut juice at AUD3.50, a bargain price compared to most similar restaurants these days.

Miss Saigon is located at 185C Forest Road, Hurstville NSW.

Opening hours are from 10am to 10pm every day.
Contact    + 61 2 9585 0068



My impressions of Miss Saigon at Hurstville NSW:
Ambiance: 2.5 out of 5

Customer Engagement:  3.5 out of 5
Culinary Delight:  3.5 out of 5
X Factor: 2.5  out of 5
Overall:   12 /4  out of 5

 

Cool Mac Cafe Kirribilli NSW

Eggplant Benedict.

This is Cool McCool to me - and reaffirming that after so many years, Australia is still flowering with experimentation, fusion and coming out with delightful culinary results perhaps not so easily found else where. 

Japanese and French disciplines have bloomed some time ago in combination, exchange of techniques and in using the best of ingredients.  What about Japanese or other Asian inspirations with modern Australian?  Here in this seemingly unassuming cafe on the lower end of Burton Street, Kirribilli, on Sydney's lower north shore, something good is happening, even if small and gradually.  Whether for lunch or breakfast, I do find some interesting variations being served here.

Siracha and sesame are used to marinate chicken.   Ramen is cleverly labelled "Cool Men" and there are Kinoko mushrooms on simple toast.   A twist on noodle soups is the green tea flavoured soup, although I am not sure I will go down well on this.  Katsu is provided in a  roll remniscent of Mr Bao at York Street Sydney CBD or at the markets at the Bondi Beach Public School on Saturdays and at the Central Park Markets on Sunday mornings.   Coffee is by Campos.

There can be limited seating on a busy day but you can always take away.   The place is rather upper crust Sydney - I can hear of conversations about returning from New York, performing in London, the glories of running in cold weather and more.  Darling pets wait on the pavement fro their owners.  The cars on the street are Tesla, BMW and Benz. 

The Cool Mac Cafe visited is located at  Shop 2, 34 Burton Street, Kirribilli NSW.

Opening hours are from from 6am to 4pm every week day and from 7am to 4pm on weekends.
Contact + 61 2 9955 3087



My impressions of the Cool Mac Cafe in Kirribilli NSW:
Ambiance:  3 out of 5

Customer Engagement:  4 out of 5
Culinary Delight:  3.5 out of 5
X Factor:   3 out out of 5
Overall:     13.5 /  4  out of 5




My recommended dishes from the menu are:

Bang Bang Chicken Salad  -  tomatoes, cucumber and greens grace the sesame and Siracha flavoured chicken.


The Notorious Pig Roll -  old fashioned sweet soy pork belly, garnished by cabbage, pickles and black garlic , all stuffed in a Baguette.


Eggplant Benedict with toasted Pancetta and 63 degree Onsen eggs.

The Saint Aloysius College Junior School across Burton Street.