The Cuban Place Sydney CBD NSW

Coffee and chocolate Mocha Dome with candied peanuts, sweet peanut roll and a dollop of salted caramel ice cream.

Black beans are an integral part of Cuban cooking and cuisine, together with bay leaves, garlic, rice and red kidney beans.   The classic and pervasive presence of black beans and rice  had resulted in a traditional dish called "Moors and Christians".    Sofrito, a heady seasoning mix of green pepper, Oregano, ground pepper and onions, results from quick frying.  

This had led to my prior silo perspective about Cuban food, the preoccupation with sauteing as a cooking technique, plus the imagery of the tropical climate, sugar cane plantations and laid back non-chalance, especially before the USA removed long time embargoes on the sizeable island nation in the Caribbean.

I had missed the point.     Being located at the cross roads of African slave routes, Spanish adventurers, indigenous Taino tribes,  French Caribbean and Portuguese trading routes, and Arabic ingredients, Cuba had years of experimenting with fusion, diverse cultural vibes and ingredients.   I am reminded that many of the produce we take for granted in culinary disciplines today were originally from near Cuba - all types of chillies, tomatoes, corn, cocoa, potatoes and more.     I was amazed when I was told there is a significant Chinese quarter in Havana.  Cuba is relatively near to Florida USA compared to Australian travelling standards.  So there you go, my earlier pre-conceptions about Cuban cuisine were properly and rightfully smashed at this very juncture.

Twice cooked pork neck with a creamy corn, black bean puree and Cassava crackling combination.    The puree and corn matched the pork but I found it a generous serve overall.

Beer battered fish comes with a corn Tortilla.   Plantains are deep fried and served with a Merken sauce  ( a heady Chilean blend of smoked and dried chillies with cumin, coriander and salt).   

Jalapeno, garlic, onions and various spices are used to uplift deep fried chicken wings.      This was what I observed about the easy snacks to accompany the various bar offerings at the Cuban Place, tucked away in another world once you get inside a rather spacious venue for a CBD location.   The place is not bright like a Chinese restaurant, lighting is subdued and there are corners to hide away.  Can I hold a cocktail gathering here?  Of course.     Can I hold a private corporate function?  When would you like to book....


The piped-in music, ethnic, party like and uplifting enough to make you want to dance between courses, does not come in early at dinner time, but only thoughtfully brought in when you have savoured the culinary delights.   This is when the Mojito had set into the senses.  Havana is the birth place of this Highball, concocted in the mists of history either by sugar cane plantation slaves or through episodes involving Brit adventurer Sir Francis Drake, claimed to be a favourite of American author Ernest Hemingway and may be linked to the lime seasoning or marinade with a related name - Mojo.    Nothing to do with Emojis or  the oft-used phrase, "My Mojo", this sauce originated from the Canary Islands to the east of Cuba.  This brings home to me once again the cosmopolitan outcomes of Cuban food.    Mojo is often used on native central American root vegetables like the Malanga, Yuca and the Boniato.

Grasslands premium 250 gram Scotch fillet accompanied by rosemary and garlic flavours and twiced cooked potatoes.

Latin American cuisine has expectations of De la Parrilla - "from the grill".  The dry aged ribeye at 110 grams comes at a $110 price tag, whilst the Wagyu Rump from Oakleigh Ranch is at $47.  All such grills come with a mushroom medley, Chimichurri sauce and sauteed potatoes.

Historic Cuban approaches to meats are to first marinate them in lime or orange juices before roasting to such an extent that the meat falls off the bone.  I may have missed the availability of the Boliche, a beef roast stuffed with hard boiled eggs and Chorizo sausage, an awesome idea for a hungry night!    To me, I understand the underlying philosophy in Cuban meat preparation is simple - dried spices with fresh meats.

Thirteen of us at the table were exposed to a spectrum in recipes of seafood, meats, salads, desserts and wines, though the latter was obviously not from Cuba itself.  I found it stimulating in conversations with my fellow diners - with their detailed observations and facial impressions, when tasting, most delightful to me.

Crispy leek, Kipfler potatoes and a Varadero Sofrito Confit  dressed the pan fried Barramundi.

I so loved my fish mains -  the freshness of the Barramundi seeped through its tender and rather amiable texture.  Yet the skin was crispy and the traditional Sofrito sauce did not clash with the inherent nature of the seafood.  I am not usually comfortable to have potatoes with sea produce but this dish showed me why they are used together.    Leek was in the background, contrasting with the solidity of the other ingredients.

We had kicked off the dinner with a sampling of the Kingfish Ceviche.  This set the tone for me.  I  appreciated the delicateness of this carefully crafted presentation, oozing with different sensations and yet it all held together to get the appetite going.   Every little mouthful revealed, mystified and satisfied.

The staff were professional in engaging with us and yet made us feel thoroughly relaxed throughout the evening.    The Sommelier was passionate in his description of each wine degustation, telling us the background, the notes, the highlights, the cautions and why they were matched with our food courses.   I recall fondly the sight of the young lady staff member who wore a striking red in her pretty Cuban dress  - what an uncommon sight in Sydney, far away from Havana as it can be!

Gnocchi made with green banana  and potato, served with  a sauteed mushroom Consomme and shavings of Manchego cheese.

The Wine Degustation:

Trumpter Torrontes 2015 from Mendoza Argentina  for the entree (Para Empezar).

The mains ( or Fondo) were graced by a Rapel Valley, Chile 2014 Carmenere (Santa Rita Reserve).

To accompany the dessert or Postres, we were served an Oscatel from the Limari Valley in Chile - a 2014 Santa Rita late harvest of Alexandria/ Gewurztraminer. This was my personal  top choice that evening after a long day, for its lightness and not over sweetness struck the right notes with me.






The Cuban Place is located at 125 York Street, opposite the bus stops at the QVB, in Sydney city centre, NSW.   It is fully licensed.
Opening hours are from noon till late from Tuesdays to Fridays; from  5pm till late on Saturdays; and closed for private functions on Sundays and Mondays.
Cuban and Latin American music band in attendance on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The bar is open from 3pm from Tuesdays to Fridays and from 6pm on Saturdays.
Contact + 61 2 9264 4224


My impressions of the Cuban Place in Sydney NSW:
Ambiance: 3.5 out of 5

Customer Engagement:  4 out of 5
Culinary Delight:  4 out of 5
X Factor:  3.5  out of 5
Overall:   15/4 out of 5

Recommended Menu Choices:
Pan de Queso - tapioca and cheese puffs, garnished by Cuajada Seca, quince relish and guava.
Tamales con Cerdo a la Criola - hand made Tamales accompanied by a marinated pork cutlet.
Ropa vieja de Cordero  -  Aussie lamb is braised with yoghurt and served with tomato Salsa. melted onions and Confit garlic potatoes.
Sustainable fish of the day, graced with Kipfler potatoes, Varadero Sofrito Confit and leek strips.
Mocha Dome, with sweet peanut roll, salted caramel ice cream and candied peanuts.



This blog writer dined with the courtesy of the restaurant and arranged by Zomato.
It was a pleasure to be able to meet up with fellow bloggers. 

Smart Apps, New Addictions

I currently spend most of my App time on the smart phone with the same few things. Diary schedule, Safari, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram. 

It is reported that 80 pc of users' mobile time is spent on just three Apps - Facebook, WhatsApp and Chrome. Hmmn, what about WeChat?

A hundred million Uber sourced rides were chalked up in 2014 alone. Not only is the conventional taxicab sector threatened, but the concentration of the younger generation in crowded city centres also points to lowering vehicle ownership rates. Why buy the cow when you milk it only when you occasionally need it?

Usage of internet around the world has surprisingly flattened, with annual growth rates at nine per cent. Is there more hope and promise of growth in non-OECD nations where however the penetration of networks remains low and the cost to access the digital space remains high?

High potential is now focused on portable equipment, where you can virtually manage your digital and real world without going home or to a base business office, which allows you to be in touch from anywhere and which is where sellers and buyers meet. Will it be the tool for the next major digital disruption beyond the internet?  Or is it doomed to be the next passe thing?

Looks like we not only made the landline telephone, tablets and computer desktop eventually redundant, we no longer go to work in a fixed venue, we rely less on being physically present and we sacrifice more of our privacy and data to a force external to and beyond our control.  By being contactable wherever we are, we can lose a significant sense and balance of psychological refuge and security. 

We can literally arrange our regime and lives from a hand held device which eventually may not require physical input. We may lose our sense of physical touch and communicate more in other ways.   We are inviting more vibes of being more impersonal in our interactions with the outside world. Do you reckon you spend more time physically with your smart phone than with your most beloved?

We continue to expect and have higher instances of instantaneous response and execution. Our minds begin to be wired more in processes of bytes and numbers.   We question the need to commute when cyberspace allows us to be rewarded and reciprocated without making much physical movement. We no longer require a briefcase, wallet or diary and we can really go anywhere without keys.

Hey we may even no longer need Uber rides.  Vehicles will use artificial intelligence and automation to self drive. There shall be no need for drivers licenses and personal identity will be integrated with cyberspace code technology.   Machines and equipment talk more to each other and decide without involving us.

Smart phones allow powerful analytics about our individual selves, enabling others to know more about us than ourselves.  They may also inevitably contribute to the degradation of social interaction skills, when things in daily living can be attained without actually speaking to another human being.  The telephone speaking feature of the so called phone may be superseded, unless it is just speaking to software or a robot, like already seen in helplines.

We shall sink deeper in dependency on a few dominating Apps for almost all aspects of an ordinary life - food preparation or delivery, transport, work, trading, shopping, banking, dating, image recording, communicating, meeting up virtually, educating or training, managing our health, being entertained, taking part in political processes, etc. Or will we?

There must be still a dimension for each of us to retain of what it means to be human and to have that difference in personal creativity.  Somehow, some way, I hope.  Perhaps the personal time of individuals so freed up (provided they are not gaming, gambling or social media connecting otherwise) can mean  more intimate relationship building with Nature, the outdoors, the inner soul and people who really matter to them.

Horse drawn carriages were replaced by railroad trains and automobiles.   The next phase of technological change is much more sophisticated than these historical developments.  Millions are providing content voluntarily to be utilised by technology connectors for profit, and these connectors are the new emerging class of middlemen.

In human history, much advantage has been earned and gained by those smart enough to place themselves between a need and a supplier.   The middleman need not grow the produce, create the artistic output or do the work  - they just build, use and maintain a cyberspace vehicle.  They follow the tradition of bankers, importers and exporters, wholesalers and auctioneers in the past and currently for any worthwhile activity and endeavour in the pursuit of big time profit.

A typical Saturday morning will no longer mean doing the rounds, for example, with newsagents, cafes, school playing fields, petrol stations and the markets.  

An effective broker you choose will streamline your stated needs and get them done and delivered for you who see yourself as hipster, parent and previously busy person.  

When you wake up for the day, your groceries are already delivered to your door,  you know the news highlights from cyberspace even before you tune your tv and radio (hey, Daddy, what are those?).   Your coffee may just already have been made on the dot like clockwork and no humans were involved in preparing your cuppa.  Do we really learn or retain the general skills of living, or continue to rely more on specialists - and perhaps rely more on the vast source of content in cyberspace, whether they can be trusted or not.

Brokers are already acting on your behalf when you buy food, insurance, properties and vehicles.   These individuals are more smart than smart phones.  They instinctively know products and produce change and they go with the flow before any body else.  These brokers do not just anticipate your apparently real needs but also create requirements you think you must have, stirred on by all types of media, commercial, social and possibly manipulative.


One night, when the whole human universe is comfy and snuggled into this vast dependency, there is likely to be a crash.   What humans create is often subverted, misused and held for ransom.  Watch this space.

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Property Rush, Locals Cannot Afford

The march of foreign cash has significantly affected the parameters and dynamics of property pricing and accessibility for many locals particularly in Western countries, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Not often mentioned in media discussion is what these markets and their governments are doing or not doing to resolve this situation.

Noveau rich or ambitious individuals with excess to plenty of cash would need to invest, spend or transform their cash holdings into other forms of assets. What their funds can buy with properties back in their country of origin may not compare with the quality of houses, farms and resorts they find in other nations with higher standards of governance, environment and health measures. So these people get into countries with open markets, economies, mindsets and sense of fair play.

What the Joes and Janes in countries receiving these outsiders may not fully appreciate is that foreigners may not have the same standards in political correctness, cultural norms and accepted commercial behaviour.

Foreigners may also have intimate and practical knowledge of how to overcome any regulatory or legislative roadblocks. This is either due to their hiring of local experts or their sheer passion to go around obstacles in the markets they target.

External factors causing unreasonable spikes in property prices, for example, are usually outside the effective management of individuals, local governments and parties in various stages of a transactional sale or purchase.

Media, political parties and action groups in the countries receiving such disruptive foreign transactions must increasingly look at themselves for workable solutions.

I have heard of foreign buyers of property, who are caught breaching important rules and restrictions,  say they could not proceed with their illegal purchases without the cooperation of local lawyers, real estate agents and bankers whom they engaged to advise them.

State governments, local councils and Federal authorities also stand to gain huge revenue streams with higher property exchange prices and a higher turnover of sales and purchases.

Better recognition and acknowledgement of such vested interests by local parties in the sales of properties to foreigners must first be highlighted before anything else.

I do not see a rush by foreigners rushing to buy properties in countries with big pollution, corruption, employment, economic and political problems. Many countries in the world, unlike Canada, Australia and the UK, are not so friendly to non citizens or non residents being so blatantly allowed to buy properties, especially when the houses or apartments are left unoccupied.

Even more interesting is the fact that many non-Western nations significantly better value the strategic, security and political implications of parcelling out the leasing or ownership of public important assets,  like ports, highways, air terminals, resource land and telecommunication networks.

Nations, which work hard to rely more on developing their own economic niches, resources and uniqueness, will prosper better than those which are just happy for foreigners to determine the fate and prospects of their economy.  It is a crucial time that Western societies and economies do not take the easy way out for only short term gains.

Nations which do not seriously rethink and restrategise their socio-political, financial and economic models in the 21st century are doomed to a lower quality of life.

In the Australian capital cities, property speculators are encroaching dangerously to operate in lower income suburbs, as the ugly head of a low supply of residential houses, as opposed to units, has not been resolved.

Even if foreign buyers begin to face more taxes and tighter rules in the Australian market, these may prove to be ineffective to stop the bulldozer of easy money, willing local partners and street smart approaches by foreign buyers.

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West Juliett Marrickville NSW

Olive oil used to scramble eggs.   Well trained staff, with a good demeanour, approaching and chatting with customers.   Sited on a not so noisy corner of an otherwise busy suburb. 
Everyone gets a boisterous hello on entering through a sort of automated closing door for an entrance.   A semi-industrail interior with no frills, but more than balanced with the warmth inside and of the staff.     Bar drinks are labelled "Medicine". 

I say do check this out for the wonderful difference in food and experience.     It is not just another modern Australian brunch, lunch and breakfast place  - it shows delightful touches of Greek, fusion and creativity.   Efficient delivery after you order.   You can sit by the windows and watch a certain corner of Marrickville go by.   If you choose outdoor pavement tables, you realise that the area is rather residential, which some firmly say is more Enmore than Marrick's.

Salted caramel (left) and peanut crunch (right) cookies.

The  cookies were what I was tipped to try or take home.  I would describe my first bite as gratifying - intense , condensed richness.  Yet not oily, not crumbly.    They had wonderful texture.   The salted caramel was not over powering but just right.  The peanut crunchiness was addictive.    There are vibes to me that West Juliett can be like a confluence of old and new school, the best of tradition and the adventure of the new.   I say the biscuits echo this perspective.                     

Generous serves of cakes - to be shared for the joy, wholesomeness and flavour.

The cakes more than met my expectations, full bodied, with a texture that gave a mellow comfy feeling on the palate and delightfully topped by pistachios, orange rinds, walnuts and carefully presented enhancers.    Perfect for an elegant afternoon tea in your garden or pergola.  The cream was only an adjunct to the main star - the cake itself.  

Pickled onions and fresh herbal picks accompany the olive oil soft scrambled eggs, Sorrel, Fennel, Yoghurt and smoked salmon.

Least to say,  I had a most refreshingly uplifting scrambled eggs, not just because of its presentation, but more so due to the light extra fluffiness of the egg mixture.  

Fruits, herbs, well braised meats and Mediterranean ingredients.   Nuts, grains, Jersey milk, pastries and avocado.  The healthy concept is not flagged in your face but gently folded into creative dishes.   A hub that attracts a gathering, away from the city centre but not too far away.    The wait staff smile with a sincerity and that adds a bonus to the already good menu. A great place for a developing date.  The first thought to bring your kids or Nanna.   Darling doggies would not mind waiting on the spacious pavements.

Do consider going at less obvious meal times, if you can, on weekends.

West Juliett  is located at  30 Llywellyn Street, at the corner with Juliett Street in Marrickville, NSW.  
Opening hours are from 7am to 4pm every day except Sundays; on Sundays from 8am to 4pm.
Contact + 61 2 9519 0101


My impressions of West Juliett in Marrickville NSW:
Ambiance: 3 out of 5

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

Recommended Menu Choices:
Long hour braised pork or chicken.
Caraway, Kasseri, burnt onions and mushroom on toast.
Salt caramel cookies.
Spelt olive oil pumpkin bread.






 

Coffee Tea & Me Cafe Marrickville NSW

It was just on the cusp of dawn.  

This cafe was already brewing the coffee and early risers were inside.  Neighbouring shops were still shut and Wicks Park was just across the nearby junction. 

The Campos blend was done justice by the barista - strong, flavourful and with body.    What attracted me to go inside initially was the wide choice of bagel breakfasts.   I could have just gave this place a walk past miss but I was curious about their more than several ways with bagels.  The spectrum included Hummus, Tofu, salmon, cottage cheese, Salami, roast beef and seasoned chicken.

I settled for a morning combo of a cuppa with a bagel and my choice was under ten dollars, 
Trying to avoid bacon, I finally opted for this ingredient with scrambled eggs and cheese when the version with greens was not available that day.

In this competitive and discerning market,  I noticed that the bagels were not what I expected and something was missing in the overall bite.  I am not sure what it was, were they prepared even before an order was made at the counter?  

Standing or sitting customers seemed transfixed with the coffee the barista was preparing.   
The two staff members were busy with their tasks and I did not wait too long for my eat-in bagels.  A supplier's employee was delivering boxes with a trolley and this accentuated how narrow the space was in the cafe -  he had to keep being apologetic when he kept coming in the way of those waiting for their freshly made coffee.

Most of the fillings in the bagels skewed towards breakfast stuff and at the time of early day I visited, there were more coffee takeaways than for other things.   To me, this seemed to be a quick stop by station as people scurried afterwards to the main business of day, to their parked vehicles, to the public transport and to work.


Bagels are evidently stacked up here and tables evoke Year One school desks.   The blackboard is written up fully with the space available.  One can deduct that this is a practical operation   - there is nothing over done in the layout and meagre furnishings.   Having said that, I took a fancy to the retro stuff they have around in the cafe, like the fridge, the shelves and the rustic feel inside.

Oops, with my preoccupation with bagels, I must say there were other food stuff there which I did not pay attention to.






Coffee Tea & Me Marrickville is located at 100b Sydenham Road, at the corner of with Victoria Road in Marrickville NSW.   
Opening hours are from 6am to 6pm every day.
Contact + 61 2  7900 8045
Other outlets of CTM are at Potts Point and Redfern NSW.


My impressions of Coffee Tea & Me at Marrickville NSW:
Ambiance: 3 out of 5

Customer Engagement:  3.5 out of 5
Culinary Delight: 3 out of 5 (the good coffee)
X Factor:  2.5 out of 5
Overall:    3 out of 5