Aussie Eats

Before we left for Sydney, one of the most common questions we received after “wait, Sydney, AUSTRALIA?” was “what kind of food do they eat over there?”. JZ and I have spent the past two months sampling some of what Sydney has to offer and here are our findings.

1. Asian food is a must. I was never a fan of Chinese food back home because it was all too often covered in sweet, sticky sauces; but here dumplings and stir fry are fresh and delicious. We are big fans of New Shanghai, which is located in a mall food court, of all places. Their handmade dumplings are perfectly pan-fried, with light, fluffy dough evenly crisped and exploding (literally, we poke holes in the tops to avoid being scalded with that first bite) with pork broth. However, recently, we began exploring Chinatown a bit more and found an awesome Taiwanese restaurant that may be our permanent dumpling spot.

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2. Brekkie is the biggest meal of the day. The cafe scene is huge here, and we have yet receive a bad cup of coffee or breakfast dish. The traditional breakfast platter includes two super toasty pieces of toast (the roof of my mouth is often torn apart post-toast), two poached eggs, and several pieces of bacon with a roasted tomato on the side. JZ thinks that it is bacon heaven here because slices are the size of America’s holiday ham. Different cafes add their own flair with homemade breads, cheeses, and jams to boot. We went to a Middle Eastern themed cafe and had the below cauliflower fritters, smoked turkey, poached eggs, and toast. A substantial entree for an equally substantial price of $18; it is not hard to spend $50 on breakfast when we order coffees. However, lighter breakfasts can be cheaper, with a standard bacon egg roll (sandwich) running about $8.

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3. Coffee definitely stands alone on this list, in addition to it’s mention with breakfast. Everyone seems to drink it, and they all know exactly what they are ordering (I bet not many Caramel Macchiato drinkers in the States really know what a macchiato is). Aussies do not mess around with syrup or flavoring; coffee is taken one of several ways: latte, cappuccino, flat white, long black, piccolo, or machiatto. JZ  and I favor the flat white which is similar to the American cappuccino without any spices or cocoa powder on top. On the weekdays, JZ prefers the long black as his first cup of the day and will take a flat white in the afternoon.

4. Last, but certainly not least, N2 gelato is a huge obsession of mine. It really deserves its own post based on how much I love it and how cool I find the shop, but it also needs to be mentioned in my first food post here. They serve about five unusual flavors which rotate every few days; the gelato is freshly made with liquid Nitrogen, thus the name N2. We have tried lemon bitters, chocolate covered honeycomb, matcha frappe, fig and port, mango sorbet, cendol (a Mayalsian dessert), and chocolate sour cream with dehydrated corn on our first visit together. I check their menu on almost a daily basis to see what is being served at the various locations, so restricting myself to getting a cup when we are in the neighborhood (near Chinatown) makes me feel like I am exercising a lot of self control even if we end up eating it almost weekly.