Marrickville NSW

Fresh almonds at the market.

The Cooks River is nearby and this suburb of Sydney is named after a village in North Yorkshire in England.  Before the influx of young artists, musicians and professionals starting around ten years back,  Marrickville seemed destined for gentrification.  Its location relatively near to the city centre in sprawling greater Sydney, plus good transport links, helped nurture its current transformation.

Now there is an annual Marrickville Festival, a local arts tour since 2011 and live music venues, most notably at the Factory Theatre. Australian singer Shannon Noll famously shot one of his music videos, for the track Lift, in Marrickville.  The impression Marrickville gives to me is first, one of an essentially residential corridor, but currently diversifying from its light industrial zones to artisan produce corners, new style cafes and maintaining its music gig scene plus multi-cultural cuisine options.

The stuff of the coffee culture.

The Corinthian Rotisserie at 283 Marrickville Road is a focus of Greek delights, whether they be pickled octopus, Baklava, chicken rubbed with Oregano, grilled lamb with garlic, Retsina wine, Halloumi, tomatoes braised with peas and Kalamata olives.   The restaurant is homely, traditional and comforting, with huge servings for customers and plastic covered red and white checked table cloths decked against wall murals of Mother country scenes.

My cuppa at Pablo & Rusty's in Marrickville.

The barista and coffee scene is vibrant in Marrickville.  Some examples of outlets include the following.
Wicks Park Cafe at 199 Victoria Road continues to provide the former Double Roasters menu item of the B and E roll ( with poached eggs on top of Black Forest Smokehouse bacon) and the roast pork Sambo.

Coffee Alchemy at 24 Addison Road has espresso and filtered coffees made from on-site roasted beans.  Sydneysiders may know about the Coffee Alchemy related Gumption Cafe at the Strand Arcade in the city centre's Pitt Street Mall.

Two Chaps at 122 Chapel Street  offers Blind Man Coffee whilst the
West Juliett Cafe at 30 llwwellyn Street has signature salad creations and popular large sized chocolate chip cookies.

Cornersmith at 314 Illawarra Road is a shining example of organic, free range, home produced and health conscious  clean ingredients.

http://kindlyyours.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/cornersmith-marrickville-nsw.html

Paddington terraces in the outer west of Sydney city.   There is a predominance of 19th century terraced or detached Victorian styled houses and early 20th century Federation residences, attesting to the rich architectural heritage in this part of greater Sydney.




Movie productions that also selected Marrickville as a backdrop include Paradise Road, the Tv series Home & Away, Underbelly: The Golden Mile and the hit 1992 movie Strictly Ballroom.   More well known to baby boomers is the Winged Victory memorial outside the Marrickville Town Hall  - this is the largest known bronzed casting in Australia.  Another feature to visit by walking tourists in Marrickville is Stead House, a manor constructed in both Italian and Victorian traditions and which once belonged to Samuel Cook, the General Manager of the Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's flagship news publication for many years.   Unfortunately this important historical building has been turned into apartments around four years ago.

The old Post Office, now a cafe cum restaurant.

Reputedly providing Vietnamese styled pork rolls for many  years - the Marrickville Pork Roll outlet, a small place with  tasty offerings.

Marrickville is only seven kilometres south-west of Sydney city centre, connected by buses and train lines, and home to the expanding populations wanting to reside near to the Big Smoke that is Sydney.   The area shares boundaries with Petersham, Newtown, St. Peters, Sydenham, Enmore, Stanmore -  previously primary working class districts that are now undergoing urban renewal and resided increasingly by trendy and twenty something hipsters to add to the families and professionals.  The current mix is one of commerical, residential and light industry, with a penchant for a variety of cafes and restaurants, many Indo-Chinese, Greek, Lebanese and modern Australian, but including Nepalese, Portuguese and Japanese.

Always an attractive thirst quencher,  along the main road.

Marrickville personalities have contributed much to Sydney and Australian society.  Test cricketer Ron Saggers and Australian cricket Captain Bob Simpson hailed form this place.  Maybanke Susannah Anderson was a significant reformer  in women's suffrage and the realisation of the Australian Federation.  Jeff Fenech won the world boxing titles three times in his career.  Several well known artistes like singer and actress Trisha Noble;  fashion designer Akira Isogawa;  dancer and choreographer Ross Coleman;  singer Trish Young of the Aussie band The Clouds; singer and songwriter Mark Williams, vocalist for Dragon; actor David Wenham; Tv actor Lisa McCune, Gold Logie winner; and TV actor Virginia Gay, all have called Marrickville home.   So have Major General George Wootten, Commander of the Australian Ninth Division; Arthur Vincent Meehan, orthopaedic surgeon; Damien Leith, winner of the fourth season of TV's Australian Idol; Annette Kellerman, film star, writer and professional swimmer; and Jake Hay, an award winning youth community worker for the Kimberley Region in Western Australia.

The city lifestyle is not lost here.

 The Hellenic Bakery at 371 Illawarra Road is a gem, is located near Marrickville Rail Station and is an interesting trove of Greek heritage pastries, biscuits and baked delights.  I was fascinated by the Poura, a filo pastry roll holding chopped almonds and bathed by a light syrup; Kouroubiethes, a shortbread and almond biscuit dusted wickedly by icing sugar; the vanilla slice called the Milfai; pistachio Torts; the Tiramisu Boat. with chocolate coco spread over Tiramisu al Creme; and the Melamakarona, a vegetable oil and orange juice pastry with fillings of walnuts, cinnamon and clove spices dipped in a light honey syrup, with crushed walnuts covering it.

TIM Products at 407 Enmore Road also specialises in Greek baking, with orange and honey biscuits well known, even amongst some of Wollongong mates.   They offer three sizes of the popular Galaktoboureko, two types of cheese based pastries (one with spinach and the other with Ricotta) and nut rolls.

Kids would love to drop by the Serendipity ice cream factory shop at 333 Enmore Road and adults relish an opportunity to partake the good stuff at the Bourke Street Bakery at 2 Mitchell Street.

Passing by a gelato shop along the main strip of  Marrickville Road.

Colour and variety describes what Marrickville offers.

Interesting enough, one of Marrickville's twinned cities is Bethehelm in Palestine, the others being Funchal on Maderai Island in Portugal and Lanarca in Cyprus.    Its strong cultural linkages to the Middle East precede the concurrent contemporary connections with Vietnam.   Today's emphasis in Marrickville with its younger demographics are facets and amplifications of the slow food movement, a rebellion against the highly commercialised production and supply of food and produce.

The Marrickville Organic Food Markets operate on Sundays at 142 Addison Road.

Cornersmith Picklery at 441 Illawarra Road is a sister joint of the Cornersmith Cafe - it supplies fresh produce from local backyards, runs workshops on pickling plus cheese making  and stocks Marrickville made Feather & Bone meat products. Do not forget to try its signature mustard!

Jiuliano at Unit 22, 10-14 Lillian Fowler Place, opens every week day from 8am to 4pm with fresh pasta products, including its iconic fresh potato based Gnocchi.  Major supermarket chains like Thomas Dux, Coles, Woolworths and Harris Farm stock the Jiuliano products in the greater Sydney region.

The Black Forest Smokehouse at 148 Victoria Road makes small goods all with Aussie meats only, a definite gem.   It offers air dried salami, pates, terrines, Chipolata, smoked bacon, smoked sausages and leg ham.   Run by the Deignan family for four generations, this providore business hails from Queensland with German- Irish roots.

The Paesanella Food Emporium at 150-152 Marrickville Road shines in cheese related products.  This Somma family business that started in 1962 has roots in Naples, Italy.   It runs a deli and the Mozzarella Cafe Bar , offering menu options for breakfast and lunch, with items like the Fresco Breakfast; hot pancakes with Ricotta and blueberry; tasting boards; and a salad with fennel, blue cheese and pear.

Three types of Ricotta are made in the Marrickville base - dry, buffalo and fresh milk.   They also have a buffalo farm in Cairns Queensland and stock at least 3000 inventory items in their retail produce offerings, including the Mascaporne, the Buratta and the Bocconcini.

The Saint Brigid's Catholic Church, at the corner of Livingstone and Marrickville Roads.

Vietnamese food can be found in outlets like Yen for Viet, at 296 Illawarra Road, with folded pancakes filled with fresh herbs, bean sprouts, pork and prawn ( or the Bahn Xeo);
Hanoi Quan at 346b Illawarra Road, has Bun Ca Ca, laden with fish cakes in a peppery soup; and
Marrickville Pork Roll at 236a Illawarra Road has been a long time institution in take away snack baguette rolls that hail from the streets of Vietnam.   Marrickville these days can be seen as when the Mediterranean meets IndoChine, against a landscape and background set by British colonialism and Aussie flavours.  

The Bau Truong chain of restaurants from Cabramatta NSW has a modern outlet in Marrickville.

http://kindlyyours.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/bau-truong-marrickville-nsw.html

Always a hub for new migrant cultures, Marrickville enjoys diversity in food, beliefs and produce.

The traditional pub hotel gets a facelift!

Licensed alcohol hubs to relax in include Lazybones at 294 Marrickville Road;  Gasoline Pony, with a retro piano sing along on Thursday evenings; and the Batch Brewery Company at 44 Sydenham Road, with unusual brews.

It is not all drink and eat in Marrickville.  The Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre was opened on Australia Day in 2011, providing a much appreciated facility in this inner city suburb.  Along ht banks of the Cooks River is the Marrickville Golf Course.   The Newtown Jets Rugby League team  is a feeder for players to the Sydney Roosters and play at Henson Park just off Sydenham Road in Marrickville.   Fraser Park is home to the Fraser Park Football Club and the Randwick Petersham Cricket club utilises the Marrickville Oval.

Sydney Harbour Revisited - Summer begins

It is more than just the Opera House - it is the sky, the water, the colours and the mood.

Classic, iconic and breath taking - but this is just commuting from office back home on a  summery evening.

Yachting - training, idling or just soaking in the surroundings.

Commercial, commuter or convenience  -  perhaps the best way to see Sydney from the ocean.

Youth on the cusp of possibilities.

On a fair twilight with a light breeze, you reflect on what humankind has wrought.  Icons of maritime trading, refined architecture and adventurous imagination, perhaps burying the realities of harsh colonialism,  human persistence and a splendid past isolation.  Our hearts and senses relax in such magical moments when the sun has set, when past is past, the future is not seen and we are with the present moment.

Bennelong Point, named after the first recorded Indigenous Australian to visit Britain.   

Gateway to making or spending money, Circular Quay beams with more than just glitter, for it resonates with a million personal stories of ambition, drudgery and striving.

Whether of solid sandstone, placid waters or shimmering lights, Sydney welcomes you from near and far, with a gentle embrace into the night.

Bulli Foragers Market - NSW

Produce you really cannot find elsewhere - the stall also has apples from  Orange NSW.

Carefully chosen ingredients, vacuumed sealed and freshly consumed.

What a more healthy idea for breakfast or brunch.

Baskets you can borrow to go shopping and browsing.

Salmon and olives, the taste on your palate is more than fulfilled.

Enough said!

Baking extraordinary from Berry NSW.

Biccies for our pawed friends.

Avocados from the Central Coast NSW and apples from Orange NSW.




The Sunday Foragers markets are held every Sunday from 9am to 2pm at the Bulli Showgrounds.
For those coming down the Bulli Pass on the Princes Highway or from the coastal Lawrence Hargrave Drive, turn right at a set of lights before Bulli township.

Cornersmith Marrickville NSW

Billy was energetic, engaging with the customers on another busy arvo.  The clouds had whipped up for a while by now and soon the inevitable expected rain, with turbulent winds and pelting water, washed the windows and outside pavements, as if a baptism by Nature - and I thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance, cocooned in a rather remarkable refuge - the Cornersmith, at the junction between Illawarra and Petersham Roads in a rather densely populated inner suburb of Marrickville.  I somehow sensed that most of the visitors to Cornersmith are regulars, part of the cafe's culture of being different, of being focused on what they are and how they are serious about it.   The place is not overly large, reminiscent of being in Melbourne, its dark shady interior accentuated by the weather.  people moved about with an intent, a purposeful lifestyle.

Oh yes, Billy !  He is from Launceston and works now in this iconic and unique Sydney providore.   He is slim, always looking out over the tables, having a decent conversation with the guests.  Cleaning, serving, suggesting and ensuring things are moving on and taken care of.  I like the savoury relish tasted in my breakfast choice, then I go to select a sweet preserve to take home  - I am thankful that Billy helpfully reminds me, before I lock the purchase in, that this is not what I had at the cafe and is something else completely.

Amidst the diverse multi-cultural landscape that is past and present day Marrickville, twenty minutes by car or train or bus from Sydney's city centre,  is a stand out hipster modern Australian joint that values the slow movement in ethical food, that abhors manufactured processes, that thrives on natural means in preparing food and that is proudly aligned with small scale food originators and growers.

Cornersmith is more than a cafe and coffee hub, it also thrives on making pickles, tonics, preserves and jams - at a separate, dedicated Picklery site not far way from the cafe at 441 Marrickville Road.   A husband and wife team have developed a special cultural hub here - Alex Elliott-Howery has a background in the Eclectica related store Pigeon Ground whilst James Grant came from Mecca Espresso.

I enjoyed my breakfast item for lunch on this visit -  there was harmony between the elements, mainly a clever salad mix with Soba noodles that was uplifting in taste, poached eggs, relish and a Brasserie Breads sourdough.  This dish I had reflected the relative simplicity and sincerity of several creations in the menu, things one would do on the range with organic and more natural stuff, lacking manufactured tastes and factory made sauces.

Many of the dishes are best eaten shared in a communal spirit with mates, partners and family.  The best illustration of this is the Cornersmith Plate, with free range ham as the centre piece, held together by a feta and pomegranate salad, pear slices, red cabbage and Cheddar cheese in a toasted bread cover. Be prepared to be surprised, for a dish you may have gotten fond of may not be available on your next visit but comes back with the rhythm of produce and season.   Think of degustation especially in the evenings when a guest chef may feature one month and another the next.

Produce, origin, freshness and care is what Cornersmith tries hard and succeeds.   There is a clear disdain for artificial additives.  Lots of fruits, relishes and spreads are utilised to reassure, like King William apples from Johnnie's Mum, sesame seeds as garnish, soy milkshakes,  goats cheese and olive Ricotta.    The black boards on the wall are chock-a-block with details, many selections and variety.    There are products and creations from neighbouring suppliers, like in a knit close village community.

Workshops, primarily on baking, preserving, fermenting and pasta making, especially relating to bees, breads, gluten free ingredients and cheese making, are organised on a regular basis.   The main idea is to encourage personal interaction, sharing of joy, opportunity to discover and then apply.

The Cornersmith Cookbook is also available from its website.

My overall impressions:

Food, produce and drinks:   Fun and synchronicity with seasonality in availability.  The produce one can take home have vibes of being lovingly home made.   One has a true feeling of having an experience and bite that cannot be found elsewhere.

Ambiance:  You are in the centre of the Big Smoke, but yet feel echoes of being in the countryside miles away.  And yes, there are beehives on the roof of the cafe.

Customer engagement:  Many customers say it is like coming to the family home for a feed - and they get to partake of things if they could find the time to organise such carefully prepared more healthy combinations.  The La Marzocco barista machine is reassuring. Mum can also  have gently brewed Tea Craft blends.

Seating:  Can be limited at popular hours, but there is always take away!

Cornersmith is located at 314 Marrickville Road, at the corner with Petersham Road in Marrickville.
Telephone: 612 8065 0844
Opening Hours: Cafe is open every week day from 630am to 330pm and on weekends from 730am to 330pm.  Open from Thursday to Saturday evenings from 530pm till late.
Takeaway or sit in, it is your preference.
Vehicle parking can be not easy on the main roads, so best to arrive by train or bus or if you must, park your car on side roads in competition with residents or fellow visitors.

The Picklery at 441 Marrickville Road, Marrickville is open from 9am to 5pm every weekday and on Saturdays, from 830am to 3pm.
Telephone: 612 8964 7463







 

The Foreigner - Bulli NSW

Rustic bread, Aranchini and Spanish olives......a setting like a family restaurant, ample vehicle parking in its own compound.   Formerly named the Vespa Cucina Bulli, the change in restaurant name also means a different, more streamlined menu.  Pizza is still their forte and the interior still looks familiar to me.  Italiana is emphasised but the new menu seems to have no chicken or lamb in its mains.   Service is professional and friendly.

I loved the way my duck breast order was prepared and served - the meat slices were not fatty, had texture and subtle flavours.  This echoed the philosophy behind the Foreigner - seasonality, simplicity and freshness.  Some of the menu items have captivating names, like Piggy In the Middle, Drowned Salmon and the popping Shrimp and Shell for starters.  I had feedback that Peppino's Risotto was tasty and gratifying - besides being more healthy,  served with beetroot, cauliflower, goats cheese and shaved Parmesan.   What I would also like to try at next opportunity is the Red Gurnard Ravioli, with a Bernoisette cuttle fish sauce accompanying the fresh pasta filled with delicate fish.     Some main dishes are also available in entree size.

Stuffed white chocolate crust sits on top of  a Nutella spread pizza - that is the definition of rich, but why not to top out a good meal?  pizzas are served in large size, that is twelve inches.   The topping that caught my eye from this restaurant is with ham, tomato Sugo, Pepporoni, mushroom, basil, olives, Capsicium, Mozerella cheese and onions.  Both just mentioned are what the Foreigner calls the modern pizzas.

Traditional stuff are still there - my classic favourites are the Rucolina and the Ripieno Classico.  The first R has fresh prosciutto, cherry tomatoes, rocket and shaved Parmesan spread over a Mozerella base.  The second R Classico provides you  with salami wrapped with Ricotta, tomato Sugo, basil and Mozarella in a Calzone, the baked oven filled pizza.

Duck breast with garnish of *

The Foreigner Restaurant is located at 323 Princes Highway, Bulli NSW.   This is at the corner of Farrell Road with the Princes Highway and opposite the Bulli Workers Club.
BYO Wine but there is a good selection of spirits, fizz drinks and wines available as well.
Salads and kid's meals are options.
Telephone: 612 4283 5455
Opening Hours:  5pm to 9pm every evening.
Orders are also accepted online.
Click on:
www.vespacucina.com.au

Delivery is made to specific  surrounding suburbs from 5pm to 9pm each day.