CeCi Korean Restaurant - Strathfield, NSW

Moving out is tough! You have to pack your belongings, move and transport the items across the city, clean stuff...and then clean some more stuff! I honestly thought I could pack my whole life into a suitcase and move on but clearly...I was very mistaken. My one suitcase turned into racks and racks of shirts, jackets, t-shirts and a couple of round-the-city trips to ferry my stuff from old home to new. In amongst all the uprooting of my life, I've been neglecting my diet lately (literally been surviving off of cup noodles for a week and a bit now). Without proper sustenance, my body began craving proper food and so being the ever loving partner, the Mrs took me to Strathfield and fed me a proper meal.

I've been going to CeCi's for a while now and whilst there's really nothing remarkable looking about this store, this place is a little gem hidden in the middle of Strathfield. The walls are plastered with the usual Korean soju posters as well as various in house specials (such as the flavoured soju...great for a night out). Order any items from the menu and the usual Korean side dishes are shortly brought to your table. This time, we got kimchi, cucumbers, buckwheat jelly, bean sprouts and marinaded potatoes. These little dishes are all delicious in their own right but even more so when you're starving and anticipating the meal you've ordered.

Despite going to a Korean restaurant, my first instinct was to order something that was deep fried. Which to me could only mean one thing: Donkasu (the Korean version of Japanese Tonkatsu...which I believe is a Japanese take on German schnitzel). Served with a side of rice, cabbage salad and a squizzle of bulldog Tonkatsu sauce, this dish is the perfect thing to have when you're craving a sense of belonging and home. Crunchy but not overly greasy, the meat is best served cut up into little bite sized pieces with rice.

The Mrs made the sensible choice and ordered the soft tofu hotpot. There is literally nothing more comforting than mouth-burning tofu swimming in a moorish seafood soup...the searing sensation of the heat and the spice numbs away any sense of homesickness which is ever so slightly mellowed out by eating it with the rice provided. The dish is kept consistently warm from the earthenware pot it's served in and won't be able to stop having more and more until you notice that you have nothing else but a few spoonfuls of soup left...well worth it though!

Since that meal, I've been reinvigorated in my mission to successfully transition from my old place to my new home and so far...I'd like to say it's going well. According to the Mrs, I still have a long, long way to go before I'm completely self-sufficient and responsible for myself but I've got (not a lot) of time to learn and well...least I've got Messina less than 10 minutes walk from me.

Chef's Palette - Strathfield, NSW

We've had quite a scorcher of a long weekend right? For some odd reason, these last couple days have been unbearably hot for spring but that's just Sydney weather for you I guess. As the warmer weather heralds the coming of Summer, most people would be heading to the beach to enjoy the surf and sand but the Mrs and I decided to go to brunch instead (obviously to avoid the crowds). We decided today to try a place that we hadn't yet had the opportunity to try: Chef's Palette.

Situated where My Sweet Memory "used" to be (more on that later), the cafe's quant looking but quite a bit more spacious than it used to be...mostly a result of doing away with the stationary section and replacing that with a kitchen. It wasn't as busy as we'd expected it to be which was great since we could have a pick of any table we wanted. The Mrs and I quickly seated ourselves and once we'd decided what to order, I got up and ordered our food and drinks at the counter.

As expected, the drinks came first: the Mrs' iced coffee and my iced monkey. The iced coffee was pretty standard...nutty coffee mellowed out by creamy ice cream and then chilled to a refreshing coolness which really helped fight off the heat. Definitely not the worst we've had but nothing all too spectacular either. My drink (the iced monkey) was like a blended chocolate frappe with banana powder in it which meant  it tasted like korean banana milk with a hint of chocolate...definitely something different and worth a try.

The food came after a short wait which was great because by this point, the Mrs and I were starving. The Mrs blew out and ordered a house made ricotta cheese dish with extra spinach, bacon, grilled tomato and eggs (she didn't know it came with one egg but the more the better right?). The house made ricotta was really nice and creamy which really worked well with that doughy sonoma toast and overall it was a delicious dish but my one criticism was that they were a bit light-handed with the truffle. As it was, we really couldn't taste any truffle (though we did choose to have the dish not as it was intended so that could be a factor). 

My dish was certainly a highlight: pull pork eggs benedict with a really well made hollandaise sauce and saucy pulled pork that made it a really satisfying dish. You get that moreishness from the eggs and that beautiful hollandaise sauce which gets cut through by that tart tomato based pulled pork. The abundant meatiness made the each bite more enjoyable. I can't say I was a big fan of the slaw though (mainly because the Mrs and I don't like apple) and I found it a bit too sour which really numbed my palette quite a bit. 

I normally really like to see and emphasise the good points of each restaurant I visit but for my experience at Chef's Palette, I unfortunately had to admit that it wasn't all too impressive. Don't get me wrong, the food was definitely not bad or anything but it definitely wasn't substantially different or impressionable either. The items were lacking in the refinement and ingenuity we normally see when we dine out and I was also a little shocked to see My Sweet Memory show up on my banking app after. I'm not too sure if this was a transitional thing or if Chef's Palette is really just a rebranding of MSM...regardless, if they really want to be competitive (especially with such a great little cafe just a little further down the road) they really need to get a few things that help them stand out.

Buttermelt Cafe - Strathfield, NSW

The Mrs and I really haven't had the chance to spend any quality brunching time together this week. She's been pretty inundated with the planning of a very special event we have coming up. Normally, I'd be a lazy one and just stay home cause my food buddy isn't with me but today, I decide to get off my butt and go out for a nice bite to eat and a haircut and boy, am I glad I decided on that. I will only ever get my haircuts from two locations within Sydney and since today, I'm not inclined to head into the CBD, I decided to head to Strathfield as see what was on offer.

Since I missed my partner so much, I decided that I wouldn't be boring and have what I always had (the deluxe set from Tomoya). No, instead I walked around a bit to assess my options and I stumbled upon Buttermelt cafe, situated in the old "Moochi" location. Upon walking past the cafe and seeing the outfit and staff, I decided to head in and grab some lunch...best decision I've made today. The cafe is small and in typical cafe-fashion, has an industrial outfit which lends to the simplistic atmosphere. the cafe if very open so you get to see all the action whilst still being detached and sheltered from it all in one of the cosy tables inside.

Although I missed my other half very dearly, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself because one of the benefits of not eating with your Partner is that you don't need to be considerate of her and you get to order what you truly desire. In my case, I'd spotted another cafe-goer eating a delicious looking mushroom pasta and that pretty much told me what I needed to order and trust me, I was definitely not disappointed. Aside from looking absolutely on point, the dish tasted delightfully fresh and was delicious to boot. I loved the fact that they included two slices of buttered bread to help you soak up all the sauce and I was really pleasantly surprised when the buttered bread turned out to be mildly sweet which helped enhance the moorish and creamy flavours of the pasta.

I'm a die hard carnivore and even I didn't miss the meat in this dish because the addition of the chunky king oyster mushrooms added a really nice textural bite to the whole package. The pasta was cooked al-dente and the bits of cheese and stringy enoki mushrooms made it a delight to eat. 

The coffee was also unexpectedly and amazingly good. Buttermelt stocks Sensory lab beans and whilst I'm not a big bean snob, I know good suppliers when I see them. After a deliciously satisfying meal, I'd normally just gulp down my coffee like it was water but the aroma and taste of the beverage actually managed to slow me down to little sips as I'd enjoyed it so much I subconsciously just wanted to sit there and enjoy the moment.

After my meal, I went off to grab my haircut and on the way to collect my car, I stopped by again to grab a drink for the road. I settled on the green tea smash which I saw someone else have earlier and again, was thoroughly impressed with how well they did it. A bit on the pricier side in terms or iced drinks but definitely well worth it, an intense matcha flavour permeates the whole drink and is well complemented by the mild sweetness of the vanilla ice cream. If you let the flavours just roll in your mouth, near the end, you'll notice a slight bitterness which helps round off the whole drink.

I actually cannot wait to bring the Mrs back to Buttermelt, not just because it's so accessible to the both of us but also because I can't believe that such a little gem was hiding under our noses the whole time. A sincere thank you to you guys at Buttermelt cafe, you'd given me a lovely lunch experience and set my weekend off to a great start.