Madang Korean BBQ Restaurant Sydney NSW

I have had potato noodles, pancakes, marinated meats grilling in front of me and delightful dessert concoctions in the various Korean restaurants and cafes across greater Sydney.   Oh yes, I have blocked out the karaoke sessions, bar drinks and yet others more from years gone by.

And yet I have not been to the Madang along Sydney's Pitt Street.....what some others refer to as Koreatown!   Madang here has nothing to do with Papua New Guinea, as diggers from the Korea front know, but is a Korean term for an inner courtyard in a traditional Korean house set up, and which welcomes gatherings and meet-ups.

By hook or crook, no matter how quick a drop by, my mind was set to at least to grab a dish for a quick lunch on a working day.  Alas, the lunch menu was more limited when placed against my expectations, but never mind, let's go for it, all of us!   What would be a dish to test the place, what would be subtle yet providing taste - yet I went against all my initial principles when I saw the spicy seafood soup listed.

I was clear in my mind that it would not be a south-east Asian laksa, nor a French Bouillabaisse, and definitely not a clam chowder.   What was it?  The photo on the menu showed a rather empty bowl of orange looking soup - where were the sea creatures? 

There they were, mostly submerged behind a rather spicy hot dish, mainly several mussels on their shells, with some squid swimming nearby.  The noodles look hand made, but there was just too much water hanging around.

The saving grace was my face entree samplings of pickles, small eats and testers meant to warm up the palate. 

Madang has a reputation for late night availability, so that is my next strategy.  Yet others warn me about the queues that occur, a small price to pay for a city centre that gets more lively in the wee hours and which to has to still catch up with other world cities as to the vibrancy of night life.

Madang visited is located at 371A Pitt Street, Sydney NSW.
No reservations accepted.
Opening hours are from 1130am to 2am every day.
Contact +612 9264 7010





 

Black Star Pastry Kinokinuya Bookshop Galleries Victoria Sydney NSW

The new kid on the block has arrived, oh well, for a few weeks by now.

Apparently thousands of slices of the iconic watermelon and strawberry cake slices are shelled out every day across Sydney.   Now comes the new baby, with luscious and plump lychee yum yums resting on top of a multi-layered concoction, accompanied by the stronger flavours of raspberries.    Both fruits, one tropical and the other temperate, seem to symbolise Australia, where Asian meets up with Caucasian, all in a sea of ethnic diversity. 

Lychee has  a more subtle juiciness, but has its unique taste, by which the risks of it being over come by stronger and more acidic bites can occur.   This does not happen here, although raspberries are sweeter, but they do have more character.  So the choice of both toppings ends in a win win situation.   They look pretty as well, the neutral look of lychee being set off by the flamboyant raspberries.

I do find the layers of this creation interesting, with different sensations from the soft and hard options built for you.   Biting into the choc zone, I did think of dryness and had a flashing thought of the rather flexible bite from the watermelon-strawberry slice.   When I composed myself, I concluded that it is good to have a different make up, to provide contrast in texture.

The new kid costs more per slice and it will be interesting to watch the unavoidable comparison between the two royal siblings.






The Black Star Pastry visited is located at the Kinokinuya Book Store, George Street, Sydney NSW.   This is at level 3 of Galleries Victoria, accessible from Town Hall Station.

Opening hours are from  10am to 630pm every day, except for Thursdays and Sundays.  On Thursdays the opening hours are from 10am to 9pm.  On Sundays the cafe is open from 11am to 6pm.
Contact +61 2 9557 8656

Stellarossa Edward Street Brisbane

I was searching for takeaway coffee and croissants.   We looked at the glass shelf display and could find more sweet stuff.

The young female staff offered to check with the kitchen if fresh croissants could be made.   I thought this was a nice gesture.  It reminded me of another person in Brisbane a few days earlier who thoughtfully suggested I could take the complimentary bus coach from the Domestic Terminal to the International one.  I had aimed to jump on to the Air train, but she said to me. "You would save five dollars."

And I did not have to wait for this bus coach either, it came in as if on cue, as I approached the related stop area.

The Stellarossa cafe here at Santos House has an open preparation counter, with a very focused guy concentrating on his stuff.   I collected my ham and cheese croissants fresh and direct from him, a refreshing encounter as opposed to other cafes where we do not know how our orders have been made.  

Coffee here utilises Arabica and its five and six star blends are popular.  We did not have time to savour the food, with an extensive menu.

That morning, there was a movie location shooting at the corner of Mary and Albert Streets, no that far away -  but we enjoyed walking along Edward Street this particular day....



The Stella Rossa cafe visited is located at 60 Edward Street, Brisbane, Queensland. 
It is run by Adriana and Daniel Jasiecki.

Stellarossa has franchising opportunities and has several outlets in the Brisbane area and other parts of Queensland.already 

Opening hours are from 6am to 4pm every week day - this cafe is closed on weekends.
Contact +61 7 3211 2250 or +61418 763 389 or +61439 215 541

 

Doppio's Espresso Sydney NSW

I have often walked past the Doppio cafe, always bustling in the rush hours, but never stepped in.   I had taken note its catch cry - "the local taste of Europe".    Doppio has been around sixteen years in Sydney CBD.

So on a nippy winter's late morning, after having completed my business applying for a travel visa,  I did need a pick me up and so did not hesitate to try the coffee blend.   There are teas available as well.

The female wait staff was helpful and smiling on approach.   Several people were patiently waiting for their orders, which were being made by the barista carefully even with all this potential pressure. 

There is something of a continental after taste in my coffee, different from the Aussie blends.  I still find this wholesome, flavourful and comfortable.  The cold weather outside does help to make me appreciate my cuppa more.  I have to remind myself that the Doppio coffee is locally roasted. 

I did not have time for food on this occasion.  


Doppio's Espresso visited is located at 284 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW.

Opening hours are from 530am to 5pm every week day and from 7am to noon on Saturdays. 
Contact +61 2 9286 3367


My impressions of Doppio's Espresso, Sydney NSW:

Good coffee, a buzz about the place.  Seems to draw in regulars, office workers and visitors to the Big Smoke.   You can order online.   Located at not exactly the business heart of town.  

Internet - Convenient for You or the Provider of Your Services?

Feeling the creeps from being snooped upon.

Facing the consequences of being a victim of intentional stealing of our data.

Realising that we can have disadvantages suffering a personal invasion of our privacy.

Knowing that hacking has occurred of our financial and health records.

Being tracked of our private movements, and then being taken advantage of with such unauthorised tracking.

Having our unique human identity stolen and then misused by fraudulent behaving people.

These are just some of the rising nature of ways in which we can be potentially robbed, invaded and have our inner selves gutted.

WE are now advised to:

Clear the cookies we incur when ever we use any electronic equipment that has been connected to the cyberspace.   If you do this regularly, it is like regularly changing the locks to your physical property  - it takes patience and determination, but cna be ingrained as part of the routine of life.

Purchase and download authentication apps  - these are available or utilised from software developed by Google and Duo Security.  To me, that sounds like further depending on software companies....

Place a security code on our mobile phones. 

Physically tape off our webcam hole in our desktops and other related equipment.   This old fashioned measure perhaps is the cheapest move an individual can make to fight back.

Avoid publicly accessible Wi-Fi, like in hotels, shopping centres and institutions.  This means you only connect to the Big Universe of Cyberspace through your own known and hopefully secure arrangements.

Be disciplined to use health, financial and property related transactions through only one specified piece of equipment that you have secured well in this big and bad world.

Give up the convenience of connecting your household equipment to the internet - like home security, refrigerators, audio and visual entertainment pieces, solar panel operations and vehicle enablers.

Go shopping and invest in a bug scanner - another gadget to buy!!!   Fun, exciting and mysterious to use, especially in a hotel room, or whenever you have this irritating intuitive feel that you are being monitored, measured and watched.

Never reveal our eyes in digital transmission or social media - always wear shades in photographs, you never know how your eye retinas are going to be digitally measured and stolen.

Always use cash and never a digital means of payment - that means no pay wave on your mob phone or credit card, spend what you already have and have a coin pocket....until the day governments ban the use of currency and cash.

It is now easier for others to rob us behind the scenes in the digital world than for them to confront us face to face or in the physical perspective.

It used to be that fraudsters had to interact with their intended victims face to face, utilising all the tricks of a snake oil salesperson.  These days, in line with the rising impersonal nature of commercial transactions, delivery of services and mindset of human interaction, frauds, corruption and misdemeanours occur through the click of a button, a touch of an LED screen and an electronic exchange across the world.

The experience of being taken advantage of can be a remote and soul destroying experience.

And yet with every month passing into the 21st century, millions of individuals are willingly or forcibly made to adapt to faceless transactions, heartless exchanges and robotic encounters.   It may start as simply innocent as having your utility company make you get only on-line bills.  It can be as big as having the necessary information in life only made accessible through a screen.

Do look around your abode.  How many things do you observe that enable this digital, faceless and cyberspace intruder have access to your privacy?  Do you reflect how much you had to dish up of your hard earned post tax money to get them?   Do you have a terrifying smile then, when you realise that you and your family members are pressured often on an average of every two years to change to a better model of such equipment?  

Providers of services and goods inevitably move us to be more vulnerable to these heightened risks, for various reasons.  One big reason is their containment of costs for the business and the corresponding increase in profitability for their owners, shareholders or management rewards.   for users and consumers, it may be increased convenience....but at what cost?