Enmore - Sydney NSW

Friands, snails, Danishes and Portuguese tarts - the effect of multiculturalism in an Enmore bakery.

The familiar standard bearer of the Enmore Hotel still stands sentinel at a busy traffic junction.

A  strikingly coloured Vespa on the side of the Great Aunty Three, with smaller servings of noodle soup, the expected banh mi rolls and a buzzing but small customer space.

Enmore has a different train line and may be viewed as Newtown's lesser cousin - but it is worth an easy half day's checking out.  You may then find yourself frequenting some quaint, unique and loveable places to hang out, casually, instinctively and naturally.  It is a kind of suburb that grows on a person's psyche, dopes not require much fuss and what thinks about when seeking a change.  If you reside there it provides a village atmosphere. There is entertainment, off the cuff brunches and breakfasts and the fav bar. As its location is outside Sydney centre, it embraces the best and worst of a capital city life, unless you find yourself saying hello to the same people in gigs, afternoon beer sessions or in intimate dinners. For a relatively small suburb, there are choices to go which suits your mood and urge - whether it is Young Henry's, at nearby Wilford Street,  with head brewer Richard Adamson; or checking out how Jason Saxby heads the delivery and finesse at Osteria di Russo & Russo, reminding one of an old styled Italian house lounge; or feeling the buzz at the Bravo Coffee entrance; or obtaining alternative menus at Revolution Foods; and more.  The streets may look drab and ordinary at times, but it is the people and their creativity expressed that makes Enmore today.

In the inner sanctum - the Shenkin Kitchen. "If it's not made with Love, we don't make it" - and it shows.

Old style and look good cookies that can romanticise a bakery front.

Having vibes of an inner city suburb, Enmore has good transport links, a village atmosphere and sprouting of delightful lifestyle choices.

The Drift Cafe - Corrimal NSW

The escarpment of the Illawarra is not far away on a new concept cafe along Princes Highway in Corrimal, ten minutes north of Wollongong CBD by car.

The Drift offers an innovative menu in breads, juices, rolls and fuller lunch and breakfast options.

Fried egg over bruschetta, with bacon, dipping sauce and fresh greens.

With shades of seaside cabins, little touches of colour and smiling family staff, the Drift has a space that is bright, inviting and buzzing.

Yummy - poached egg with mushrooms and rocket on a sourdough.

The Breakkie rush - with banana, yogurt, oats, honey, cinnamon and milk

One of the specials in its second week of business - black rye  encapsulating ham slices, tomato and a yummy bite.

One of my local cafes - The Drift is sited at 244 Princes Highway, Corrimal NSW 2518.  This si about 15 minutes drive north of Wollongong CBD. The cafe is open everyday except on Tuesdays for breakfast, brunch and lunch, closing between 3 and 4pm.

Mural Graffiti - Newtown, Sydney NSW

In the inner west hubs of Sydney city, the lanes in the boundary between Newtown west and Enmore, including names like Philip, Thurnby, Ford and Wilford, offer amazing and delightful vistas of street art in inspirational and eye catching form.   Most of these feature bio-mechanical forms and visualisation, suggesting of another world in sic-fi, anime, Nordic creatures, Tibetan stylised representations and creatures.  Colours are rich, solid and displayed with powerful strokes. The buildings are industrial and drab otherwise without these spray paint works of devotion and art.   EMOS seems to have done extensive mural work here, although as in any dynamic neighbourhood and practice of so-called graffiti, many of the displays by EMOS have been successively covered by other succeeding artists. This fascinating corner of urban Sydney is not alone with such murals, for you can also catch them along parts of the long and winding King Street in Newtown proper, the Camperdown Memorial Rest park, parts of Surry Hills south of Sydney's Central Station and in n neighbouring Erskinville.

Should such art be more preserved by local councils and utilised as people's expressions?  They illustrate the energy, creativity and freedom of individuals at a certain age, a specific phase of experience and in a sudden burst of expression.  Such displays underline the emphasis that art need not be confined to having big pay checks, indoor galleries and exclusive memberships in societal arrangements.  When I first moved to the Wollongong area, two things impressed me, so many people riding bicycles on the streets and the pervasive presence of purposeful painted electrical boards along most streets in the CBD and nearby suburbs. Ever since then, I have fallen in love especially with the particular forms of yarn bombing, stencil graffiti  and wheat paste graffiti.   Graffiti to me translates as every individual having a special and unique talent - and the challenge is to uncover and lodge this talent free to bloom.

The phrase "to bomb" in graffiti community speak is to paint as many surfaces within a specified area.
'To burn" is to snuff out the immediate competitor in style.  Having your street art still not removed is to continue to have it "burning".   There are dedicated techniques like domming, which refers to rubbing two different types of spray paint whilst they are both still wet.  Using acid solutions to create frosted glass is to etch, named after a real person who first used this approach.  If you increase your repute, you are "getting up" in this spectacular world, perhaps the most simply worded expression to mean what it really means.  If you want your art piece to be difficult to remove, you paint on heaven spots.  Personalities in this space can be varying and colourful themselves, but there is a term called "hat" which indicates the honour among thieves.    If you are inspired to chain public furniture with an old bike lock, you have completed a lock on.  A married couple"" need not have gender issues in street displays, for this just means two simultaneous whole cars painted next to each other, with the gap between the two vehicles connected in a humorous or innovative way of paint (to imply a marriage).  A paint eater is not a person but an unprimed surface where you cannot paint. A toy refers to poor work, as opposed to a king.  If I cannot read text in a graffiti, it means I am looking  at a wildstyle.  Most interesting and significant of all, a graffiti artist in broad speak in this dimension is never used and instead he or she is known as a writer.

The so-called tool bag of the spray paint writer in this world has several items, of which the most important are a respirator, circular objects like buckets, paper towels, an oil painter's palette knife and of course, spray paint itself.  This writer, like one with words, has to plan a mental sweep of what the whole outcome or picture will be like eventually - and then the details within this visualised frame have to be filled in.  Layering is often utilised to create in-depth impact and a complicated vista.  Hidden messages are symbolised by various representations and ambient effects are materialised by using spatulas, straight edges and maybe one's fingers.  The spray art form is said to originate from Mexico but this can be a matter for debate.

What do graffiti writers transform into?   Does it echo something they dabble in only at a certain point of time, or does such urges and activity remain in their hearts throughout ?   Why are there no annual mega events where such artists can gather and show their love in an publicly endorsed extravaganza?  Is part of this practice to leave your unique mark and talent in haste and secrecy - and then to take comfort in the fact that other people do come and view them with pleasure, or with some other form of  reaction and response?   How do property owners view such results? Not everyone takes it positively, like the hotel owners on the Gold Coast in which Justin Bieber stayed recently, in which the young pop sensation decided to become a "writer".  Whatever our reaction to such displays, one cannot deny that anyone can have access to such art in urbanised places.  Will history judge this phenomenon in a more sentimental and grateful manner in the future?

The Cow and the Moon Artisan Gelato - Enmore NSW

There are aromatic gelatos in many places dotted across Australian conurbations, thanks to southern European expertise, offering alternatives to mainstream Australian ice cream from the UK and Asian varieties with a rather startling choice of exotic flavours.  So what is so different about this sorbet and gelato bar at the corner of London Street and Enmore Road in the suburb of Enmore, perhaps a less well known cousin of sprawling nearby Newtown.  The Lord and Lady of The Cow and the Moon - John and Wendy Crowle - hailed from the NSW South Coast, a bakery past and has a love affair with Italy.  John has a fantastic philosophy about his business - and it shows, with sentiment and deja vu invoked in the hearts of the customers, families, children and baby boomers. And son Sam specialises in his single origin coffees.  And his sister Olivia is cheerful.

I had eyed going to sample the coconut flavoured gelato for some time now. It won an award.  Next is to test the pistachio, which always provides the strengths and any shortcomings of any gelato maker. And then I could not resist hazelnut roche. Were they going to be too creamy or thin? Oh why did I not get the salted caramel - okay, maybe next time!  Gelato is best consumed fresh, like seafood.

I found the pistachio with a vivid colour, smooth texture and with a pure taste - not overwhelming, perhaps a bit too creamy for me but overall with  a fresh attitude and with a less fatty sensation on my lips.  Gelato is European in origin, so I am a bit wary of tropical flavours with them - when I dipped into my coconut, it was not gritty, it had just the right  intensity for a difficult flavour and it was not over tyne top.  In Italian, gelato literally means frozen but I did not get my mouth or tongue frozen - merely awakened, teased and satisfied.  I have a weakness for hazelnut, so I knew I was going to be positively prejudiced with my hazelnut roche choice.  The hazelnut flavours were not powered by sweetness but stood their ground.

Location can help. It is easier to find vehicle parking in Enmore - and there is the Enmore Theatre with a variety of gigs and acts that attract the very demographic who may want a pre or post performance place to sit down in or just hang around.  I noticed that the menu can be simple and limited - just coffee and the cold stuff - but that may be its most attractive point. Oh yes, it can get complicated when children look at the variety and may want more than they can consume, especially with accompanying dotting parents. The smile on a child's face pressed against the glass is echoed by the ambiance of the cafe and the easy going manner of the staff, especially Sam.  People can hang around casually waiting for takeaway or just a cone of sorbet - and they feel as if they are in their neighbourhood joint on a lazy weekend arvo.  If all the tables are taken up, hey we can hang on the street and perhaps take the opportunity to view the wall graffiti on nearby lanes.

I must say the coffee blend served lived up to match the gelatos.  My cuppacino was bold but offered a striking flavour. It had body, just the optimal froth on top and a wholesomeness in the cup.  Some competitors have good gelato but less than awesome coffee, but not here.

The name can say it all - the Cow indeed takes each visitor to this cafe to the Moon.

Oh yes, the coffee brings out the gelato, and vice-versa.

Shenkin Kitchen - Enmore NSW

The Shenkin, it just exudes with an attractiveness, a uniqueness and a buzz.  It has an espresso bar in Newtown along King Street and a cafe in nearby Erskinville, but I had longed to pop in its Enmore outlet, opened in April this year, with unusual food, Israeli, influences of Mediterranean and yet with a tinge of Eastern Europe. This Enmore kitchen is open seven days a week for early breakfast until a late tea - and from Wednesday to Saturday evenings, offers dinner menu till 10pm.  It echoes tradition and still feels modern and young.  I compare its refreshing food menu with its daringness to place ladders to hold ceiling lights.  The cafe may be smallish, but invites in mothers with prams, couples in love and is blessed with smiles of the staff and the comfort of its guests.

There are lots of bread options - with rye choices, banana bread and sourdough filling up the mainstream Aussie spectrum, but yet with surprises like bureka and mixed berry baked stuff.   Israeli salads are served with chorizo, bacon and non kosher temptations. The Shenkin big breakfast  may be a safe corner, but then I see shakshuka sauce, hummus, pita bread and couscous.  You can have the varied ingredients in wraps, omelettes, pancakes, burgers or on toast. In one sitting, you allow your palate to be stimulated  by the food styles of more than the Middle East, encroaching a bit around the Mediterranean and with the familiarity of Aussie produce.

The Shenkin honours a street in Tel Aviv. The family who founded this business has a rich past across various countries like Poland, Russia, Egypt and Israel - and the Shenkin significantly illustrates and celebrates the dynamism, energy and cultural vibes of immigration.   The founder, Arie Haikin, opened this delightful business only six years ago, and the cafe outlet has a one Coffee Cup awarded by the Sydney Morning Herald.  Arie has two sons, Din and Bar, to run this eye opener of a modest and yet outstanding restaurant.  It is not just the coffee, milkshakes or juices available  that add to the fun of the Shenkin, but I reckon more so its business concept, its communal spirit and its homely feel.  Tables may be small for couples, but there are also the bigger canteen styled wooden ones that encourage strangers and mates to mingle.

On a late Saturday afternoon, I could see fellow lunchers drop by as if to a friend's place. I am served with a embracing engaged style, the staff seemed relaxed that day even if they had to cope with a ever growing crowd. The setting inside the kitchen outlet is reminiscent of European ghettos and yet so synchronised with the  lifestyle expected around this Newtown- Erskineville-Enmore hub.  I realised that one does not have to always splash excess dollars to create a right mood for diners, only to show the sincere heartfelt energy of well trained welcomeness and tasty food.  Practical and hard working, the Shenkin offers both breakfast and lunch items all day long.  It is akin to open house on a festive day and once the Shenkin opens its doors, it will not turn away people.  I loved the timber flooring at the Enmore outlet, in gratifying contrast to the raw brick of one of its main walls.  Oh yes, a thought about the shakshuka - originating from North Africa, it is based on fresh poached eggs, dazzled by a fiery tomato based sauce and contains no meat or dairy (so it is kosher). Selected olive oil, paprika, cloves, red chill, cumin and capsicums go into the making of the recipe.

The Portuguese inspired omelette, with chorizo, tomatoes and greens - with a rather large serving.