Birthday Weekend in Sydney Day 1 - Dinner at Il Baretto

Il Baretto
http://www.ilbarettosydney.com/

It is absolutely typical of me to stretch my birthday out for as long as possible to maximize benefits/excuses. As well as a preluding one-week buffer of "Oh, it's my birthday, I can eat what I want" and a celebratory party with friends one whole month after the actual date, I gave myself a 3 day long weekend in Sydney crammed full of food excursions.

The Cheeky Bean Espresso Bar

The Cheeky Bean Espresso Bar
206A Montague Rd, West End

I found mention of Cheeky Bean on The Weekender so one day when I was in need of coffee, I decided to seek it out. It was an easy walking distance from Marc's place in South Brisbane but the morning was drizzly so I took the easy option and drove.

For some reason I had pictured a full blown cafe but Cheeky Bean Espresso Bar is very much a hole-in-the-wall coffee vendor. There are some stools lining the wall outside if you want to stop and read a paper but I personally need more space to linger and relax in public so I ended up taking my purchases back to my car and sipping/eating there.

Lunch at Gramercy

Gramercy Espresso and Eats
200 Edward Street, Wintergarden Laneway, Brisbane CBD

Sometimes, I think of my desire to try any particular food venue as the product of a Strike System. When I see the name of a cafe or restaurant mentioned online, that's the first strike. If I see it again on an alternative source, that's strike two. If it's then mentioned any more times within the space of a week, the venue gets instantly skyrocketed to the top of my 'To Try' list.

Gramercy is one such venue. It was a relative new-comer to my list, since I first heard of it only 2 weeks ago. However, I ended up going there ahead of many cafes that I've been meaning to try for a long, long time, simply because I spotted it mentioned in a variety of sources over a short period of time. My internal hype generator went overboard and I found myself unjustifiably excited over what turned out to be a small, inner city cafe.

Burger Urge in West End

Burger Urge
3/156 Boundary Street, West End

Marc and I are big burger fans so it was strange that we hadn't been to a Burger Urge, especially the one that was just up the road in West End. One of the reasons would be that a few times we walked by it in the past, it looked closed. We usually don't go wandering all the way down there unless we really have no idea what we want to eat and are going by impulse alone. It was on another of 'those' kinds of days where the only thing we knew for sure was that we were hungry; for what, we couldn't say, so we strolled along, saw Burger Urge, and this time, it was open.

It's hard for me to critique any of these gourmet burger venues without comparing them to Grill'd. Burger Urge is decked out more grungy and urban than Grill'd. The tables had pink neons and the walls were plastered with event posters. Metal mesh grills and (oddly) hanging ferns completed the look.

Dinner at DoDoMi

DoDoMi Korean Restaurant
154 Melbourne Street, South Brisbane

Sometimes it is the most accessible restaurants that elude you because you simply forget they exist. I was very pleased when one evening, I was in the mood for something meaty but too lazy to travel for it and remembered a local Korean restaurant we hadn't yet tried. Korean BBQ instantly sprang to mind.

DoDoMi is located in a big corporate-looking building so you probably wouldn't think to go there unless you've walked past several times before and peered in or you Googled the place first. I had only seen it from the outside and expected it to be smallish, maybe like an eatery. The restaurant turned out to be fairly large and spacious.

Stomp Espresso for Breakfast

Stomp Espresso
109 Holland Road, Brisbane

I don't see how it is that I've driven past this cafe so many times in the past without even thinking to stop by. It's en route between Marc's place and my mum and dad's so I literally see it all the time. My theory is that once I'm out of the inner suburbs, it just doesn't occur to me to keep an eye out for good cafes. I think I was actually starving one morning and NEEDED to get food so I pulled over at Stomp and headed in.

If ever I thought that cute, tasteful cafes with un-boring menus are only in existance in Paddington and the likes, I was about to be proven wrong. Stomp was all those things and pet-friendly too to boot. I've even gone so far as to take photos of the vintage table to remind myself how I want to decorate my home in Toowoomba.

Oldtown Kitchen for Lunch

Oldtown Kitchen
221/247 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley

I eat at a fairly culturally diverse range of restaurants but something that isn't too frequent in my dining agenda is Malaysian cuisine. Because of this, when I eat Malaysian food, my mind goes straight to my trip to KL and Boreo last year. This was even more so the case with Oldtown Kitchen because Marc and I went to a restaurant called Old China Cafe and the names are similar.

Not being a regular Valley-goer, I'm not familiar with all the Asian restaurants around. Even so, I was surprised to see Oldtown on Urbanspoon with such a high rating because I'd never heard of it before. The restaurant is located in the McWhirters building, accessible from both the street and the shopping centre. It's split-level with plenty of tables available.

Oli for Lunch and Cake

Olio Cafe and Bar
http://www.bcec.com.au/index.php/cafes-and-restaurant/olio-cafe-bar

Date: Friday the 8th of March
Scenario: Queen Street Mall gunman

I had just finished my impromptu lunch of banh mi from Kim Than and the city was still in lockdown. My car radio was reporting the news play by play and suddenly it was announced that the gunman had been shot. My original plan for the day pre-incident was to meet Marc in the city but with all this going on, I wasn't sure whether to wait around or to bugger off. Marc suggested that they were evacuating the city but he didn't know how long that would take.

I decided to set up camp at South Bank Parklands, grab a drink and enjoy myself. My reasoning was that worst comes to worst, if the city folk were not released any time soon, at least I would have still had a drink.

Crazy for Banh Mi - Kim Than Bakery

Kim Than Bakery
81 Vulture Street, West End

I've been losing my mind over banhi mi and the only cure seems to be... more banh mi. Having said that, it doesn't eliminate my craving, it simply makes me want MORE BANH MI.

Ever since my first taste of this seemingly simplistic Vietnamese pork roll from The Roll Shop in the city, I've been wanting more. My dedication to my blog detracts me from sampling the same location more than once within a short time span so the best solution was to stick to my plan of eating banh mi... but researching other locations. I was going to try some other venues in the city but the Queen Street Mall gunman incident happened exactly when I was planning to have lunch so I had to pull over at West End and rethink my plans. Luckily, there happens to be just a spot in West End that is reknowned for their banh mi.

Dinner at Thai on High, Toowoomba

Thai on High
3/52 High Street, Rangeville

After living in Toowoomba for 2+ years now, I've accepted the fact that I've eaten just about everywhere worth eating. Or HAVE I? One weekend, Byron told me he went to this new Thai restaurant (we don't know if it's actually new or if we just hadn't known about it before) with a group of friends. He was so taken by it that when I got back home after a weekend in Brisbane, we went there for dinner, which was his second consecutive visit there in as many days.

I was confused when I first heard "Thai on High" because I swear that's a Thai restaurant in Brisbane. Google reveals it to be located in Highgate Hill. I don't think these two restaurants are affiliated.

Thai on High in Toowoomba is located in the High Street Plaza. It's a large restaurant for local standards and has a neat fitout. We took up a small table near the window and started looking up the menu.