La Vigne Bakery Eastwood NSW

It was late evening and the first truly chill had set in over the north-west of greater Sydney.
I am always impressed that the La Vigne Cafe is open till late, when the norm is for similar cafes to shut latest by 5pm. Vigne refers to the vineyard and sets the theme for their cakes and displays.

Family groups came in throughout the evening, mostly having take away.  There is 
tightly spaced seating as the place is rather compact, although by street side along Eastwood's so-called Korean section of commerce, near Aldi's.  

Korean bakeries have a slightly different way of making their pastries, breads and cakes.  Some say  they are more light on the bite, others say they are not so intense with ingredients and so the over all flavour is a mixture of French, Oriental and fusion.  One thing strikes me - there are unique Korean stuff they utilise, like red beans, green tea and sticky rice.  This leads to my favourite item from La Vigne - the sweet potato cream cake, heavenly on the taste and elegant on the bite.  It is not starchy at all and breaks all perceptions of carbohydrates dominating anything else.  This particular cake I like is made from  a specific purple coloured sweet potato.

I am told celebrity New Yorker David Chang of Momofuku fame did have a soft spot for the La Vigne.   The coffee here is not that strong but I do find the varoiety of cakes do mroe than make up for this.  Next I yearn to try their Patbingsu!





The La Vigne Bakery is located at 82 Rowe Street, Eastwood NSW.   
Opening hours are from 11am to 10pm every day.
Contact + 61 2 9858 3005



My impressions of the La Vigne Bakery in Eastwood 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:   3 out of 5 



Recommended Menu choices:
Sweet potato cream cake
Gingerbread man
Patbingsu, an ice shave dessert with fruits and red beans, related to ABC Ais Kacang in south-east Asia
Coffee bun
Strawberry Chiffon
Chocolate cake

Alpha Espresso Bar Epping NSW

Worth considering - a generous serve of smoked salmon with your poached egg, veg and bread slices.

Families and couples were digging into their food that late weekend morning.  The menu can be limited and this made me think this is more of your suburban cafe.   Formerly a Pablo & Rusty franchise joint, what first caught my interest was to have good coffee - and this met my high expectations.

The place  is more narrow and deep in kind of layout in the old style rather than more contemporary wider shop fronts.  Weekend papers are strewn over the tables like a hub for breakky devotees.    For me this cafe was just a pit stop between different points on a busy schedule.   So it is not right for me to evaluate or comment further on the food at this juncture.

The location near Epping Rail Station and linked bus stops can be useful.Alpha's competitors could be the Nero Cafe further towards Oxford Street or the facility rooms at the Epping Club near Coles Supermarket.

Toilets are at the back outside but its maintenance could be improved that day.  I find a dearth of public accessible toilets around this part of Epping - and even the one at the rail station is easily for use by commuters as it is within the ticketed area.

The Alpha Espresso Bar is located at 42 Langston Place, Epping NSW.   
Contact + 61 2 9368 4828




My impressions of the Alpha Espresso Bar in Epping NSW:
Ambiance: 2.5 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 

Kingston & Co. Espresso Bar & Diner Chatswood NSW

Poached eggs, pasta, pulled pork, sliders, fish and chips, Nachos, grilled steak, burgers, fish........ you can have it all at KAC.     Diners sit in a semi-industrial interior and in Chatswood, also have a choice of experiencing eating in a self-contained section with glass which is beside a narrow lane that is used by vehicles.on a relatively not so cold day - this to me is the preferred area to gather and everyone can see each other, even the passers-by on the pavement.  There is also an entrance to Westfield nearby.

I sense a delay in getting the food to the table but the serving size is wholesome for most menu items.    More impressive is how the tall young man organises customers, allows sufficient time for each diner to make a choice and then interacts with a friendly but efficient manner.

The underlying philosophy for KAC is to champion good ingredient local producers,  like Country Milk.    I was a bit curious about the mascot doggie in their business logo but forgot to ask.    The KAC is popular with all ages, but more so amongst families with young kids.  In a way, I am glad the Chatswood KAC is not placed in a more impersonal shopping centre floor upstairs and it has more character and general accessibility where it is now.

For lunch, there is a choice of chicken or wild mushroom Risotto.  A festival of Mediterranean delights - chickpeas, grilled Zucchini, roasted eggplant, red onions, Heirloom tomatoes and wild rocket - come with roasted garlic yoghurt for your Moroccan lamb tenderloin salad.

There are smoothies, fruit mixes, iced teas, coconut water and milkshakes in addition to the usual coffees and teas.

Eggs Benny.

Kingston & Co. Chatswood is located at Shop 330-331 at 1 Anderson Street, on the street level of Westfield Chatswood NSW.  
Opening hours are from 730am till late every week day and from 830am till late on weekends.
Contact + 61 2 9419 5341
Other Kingston & Co. joints are located at Penrith and Eastgardens, greater Sydney area, NSW and in the ACT, in Belconnen.




My impressions of Kingston & Co. in Chatswood NSW:
Ambiance: 3 out of 5

Customer Engagement: 3.5 out of 5  (the wait staff are tops)
Culinary Delight: 3.5 out of 5
X Factor:  3 out of 5
Overall:   13/ 4 out of 5 



Recommended Menu choices:
Eggs Atlantic, with smoked salmon, watercress, poached egg and Hollandaise on a Brioche.
Eggs Benedict, with smoked ham, spinach, poached egg and Hollandaise  on a Brioche.
Anything with pork belly
Arvo Banoffee Pie
King's Breakfast
Kingston Ricotta hotcakes, with blueberries, honeycomb butter and fresh bananas. Maple syrup on the side.
Moroccan lamb tenderloin salad.




 

   

Passion Tree Cafe Chatswood NSW

I have been drawn in different directions from the feedback I get from friends on this Passion Tree Cafe.   We can agree on Zumbo, Christopher The, Pishon and Messina, but I get two waves of strong opinions about this Korean set up above Chatswood rail station.

One, it has desserts that you would come back for, purposefully, and not just because you by chance happen to be near by and need to kill some time off waiting or checking the smart phone.

Two, some things are not what they make you expect to be and some are rather pricey for what  you get.  The coffee is so so and not comparable with those dished out by hipster bearded guys at rustic looking dug outs across the Sydney landscape.

Peanut bread with honey butter, cakes, chocolate Fondue, macaroons, cheesecakes and Tortes all served here seem to have no issues with my foodie mates. 

Two particular servings are at dispute in my network.

Patbingsoo  - is it more of the quality of fruit offered, rather than in the making and serving of the whole dish?   This comes with rock melon, pineapple or another fruit with more sharp and confronting flavours.  This ice shaved dessert has a cousin in Ais Kacang in south-east Asia.  Are the flavours not intense enough, or not in harmony, with some ingredients tasting more heavy when eaten with the delicate ones?  Is the problem with the granularity of the ice shave?  Beans and condensed milk are the usual stuff that you find in Patbingsoo as well.

Pancakes, whether Matcha or Taiwanese or Korean - are they not at the right texture, taste and flavour?   The basic things in pancakes are eggs, milk and butter, but I reckon the debate with my mates is whether there is sufficient flavour drawn out from  them.  I realise delicate things do create problems and are not that easy in pleasing every one.

One thing I am firm in my opinion about is the extent to which the Passion Tree Cafe takes  in making things pretty looking.  It is not just those colourful desserts, mainly from fruity inspirations, but also in the clean white interiors, the spaciousness and high ceilings, the white painted chairs and in those same designed chairs hanging from the ceiling.  The surrounding impression of white background - just perhaps reminding me of K-Pop music videos at times - can bring out better the contrasting colours of the cafe's menu offerings.

On a lazy Sunday arvo, there were many youngsters flowing out from the tuition centres ala Chatswood  - and added to that there were school kids from performances in the nearby Concourse.    Several were obviously multi-tasking - doing homework, dating, keeping up with social media and in cyberspace.  As it was a nippy day, many were in better looking clothes, not as sloppy when it is summer in Sydney.  

To me, the ambiance is tropical, East Asian and fruity.   Passion Tree hails from Queensland.   

Intense red from those carved out watermelon balls seems to jump out of some one's order or floating intensely as the wait staff carries it on a tray.     Then it is the drizzle effect with the presentation  - the lines or dots can surround a stack,  a centre piece or around a yummy thing.  And one more thing coming here.....the more people the better, to share in the many delights.  Kids and teenagers especially will appreciate this place.







The Passion Tree Cafe is located at T67, 436 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood Interchange in Chatswood NSW.   
Opening hours are from 1130am to 1000pm every day, with last orders taken by 930pm.


My impressions of the Passion Tree Cafe in Chatswood NSW:
Ambiance: 3.5 out of 5

Customer Engagement: 3.5 out of 5
Culinary Delight: 3 out of 5
X Factor:  3 out of 5
Overall:   13/4 out of 5 



Recommended Menu choices:
Honey bread.
Salted caramel popcorn on waffles.
Chocolate Fondue.
Macaroons.

 

King Dynasty Chinese Restaurant Chatswood NSW

I was shocked to find a long length of human hair as I wen deeper into my Tau FuFa (soy bean curd) dessert.

The King Dynasty says they are meat and steak specialists.  Located at the former site of Kam Fook, it may be a good stop by before or after a Hoyts cinema show and in between shopping.  The morning we were at this restaurant, all fourteen of us, we had a corner table, as big as Chinese as they come, with a strategic view of the early yum cha crowd.

Taro deep fried as in Woo Kok  ( or yam puffs)  芋角   stood out crunchy and not over salty.  The barbecue pork buns were my next favourite, with fluffy dough and appetising char siew inside.   I enjoyed the smooth and yummy veg lightly sauteed in oyster sauce.  The mango pudding in a plastic cup was a tad dry, much a disappointment to my preferred bouncy texture as you scoop in.  

The baked Char Siew So was a winner, a fav amongst my non-Chinese mates.   Chinese favoured congee was there, the ubiquitous version with century old egg and minute bits of chicken - and it was served rather delightfully warm despite a cold morning outside.
Our table had the compulsory steamed bamboo offerings of Siew Mai and Har Gou, both in bite sized cups packed tightly with stuff like pork and prawns.  They were above average on my palate. 

I would not recommend the so called Singapore noodles, looking limpid and lacking taste.

The dining hall is huge for Sydney, maybe this was amplified by the height of the ceiling.  There seems to be a higher level of private dining upstairs, on one side.  The traditional wedding mural is placed permanently on another side for dinners.  The hall can seat 500 people.   When we were there, by 1pm and when we were leaving, the whole place looked packed in and it could have been challenging even to try to find our way out.

Next, may be to try their dinner?







The King Dynasty Chinese Restaurant is located at Shop 600 on Level 6 of the old wing at Westfield Chatswood, best accessible from Anderson Street in Chatswood NSW.   
Opening hours are from 11am to 3pm every week day for lunch; from 10am to 3pm on weekends; and from 530pm to 1030pm every night.
Contact + 61 2 9412 9388
Fully licensed, yum cha for lunch times.




My impressions of the King Dynasty Chinese Restaurant in Chatswood NSW:
Ambiance: 2.5 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