Mamak, Lindt Cafe, Pasticceria Papa - A day out in the city (30th April)

        I love working for a company which gives us "You Days", a day off every month, or you can save one and have two consecutive days off in a week, think 4 day weekend every once in a while! I generally take mine as they are due, planning it with Ryan so that we can spend the day together if I don't have any errands to run that day. Ever since he's started working night shift, his time is so limited that we rarely ever get to spend a day of a weekend together because he's always busy with other things.

        On my day off in April this year we had planned to visit the fish markets for some nice brunch. Being Friday and knowing how hard and expensive it is to park in the city we decided to drive down to Lilyfield and catch the tram in.

Testing the capabilities of my camera gear.

Artistic no? =p

On the tram.

I love weekdays off, you don't have to deal with the crowds.

There was this strange white cat sitting on one of the platforms.

        The day ended up being absolutely grey and wet so plan B had us in the city, first visiting St Peter Julian Catholic Church at Haymarket and then having lunch close by. As I had read so much about Mamak and all the foodies/bloggers seem to rate this place I mentioned it to Ryan and asked if he wanted to give it a go. We managed to beat the crowds arriving just before 12 but it didn't take very long for the place to fill up.

        This is pretty much our first time eating Malaysian food. We're very suprised by the super fast service. Our drinks are the first to come out, Ryan orders the Teh tarik (I think?) which is a Classic Malaysian sweetened tea, ‘stretched’ for a frothy topping. I order the Teh ‘O’ ais limau which is just an iced tea with a splash of lime. Ryan's tea is nice and comforting for such a wet day outside. My ice tea was refreshing.

        The food almost instantly appears as soon as our drinks are set on the table. Heard great things about the Roti so we decide to try the original Roti Canai served with two curry dips and sambal sauce. We both enjoy the Roti, the sambal is suprisingly not hot as I expected it to be. It was a great combination when combined with the curry sauces. I love the stretchy fluffy texture of the Roti.

        The first of our mains is the Rojak - a Malaysian-style salad with prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, freshly shredded yambean and cucumber, topped with a thick spicy peanut sauce. Loved the textures in this salad though found the sauce a little too sweet. The yambean and cucumber was a nice refreshing cooler when eaten in combination with our spicy curry.

        Our second main is the Kari Kambing - spicy lamb curry slow-cooked until tender. Definately spicy and packed a punch. The lamb was not as tender as we had hoped. It was an experience for our taste buds which have only ever experienced Thai, Vietnamese and Indian curries. We found that this curry was a bit too spicey for our liking, and thought it wasn't quite balanced. The dish was nice but nothing that wowed me.

        Overall, we had a good experience at Mamak, perhaps because we're not used to Malaysian food we wern't all too blown away by it. I'm glad that we did have our Mamak experience though. Maybe next time when we're in the area and there isn't a big queue out the door we will give Mamak another try.

        After lunch the rain has stopped so we wonder down to Darling Harbour. Iron Man 2 poster on the IMAX building.

        Mr Johnny Depp Mad Hatter looks absolutely freakish blown up so big.

        Typical touristy shot, was just testing my zoom capabilities on the larger lens.

Pretty good for a kit lens.

        Was mesmerised by the water fountain wanting to capture the beads of water falling.

        I love the Lindt Cafe, even though we were still full from lunch with no room for dessert (just yet) I just had to stop by and grab a couple of items to take home.

Love the seal.

        Ohhh I havn't seen these Lindor flavours before - Raspberry and Stracciatella. They were yummy!

        Two macarons for a treat later on - Peach and Strawberry. I love the classic flavours of the Lindt macarons, and the technique/finish is done well, they always looks so perfect and taste pretty perfect too. I'm yet to go back and try out their two new flavours, Salt Caramel and Oliv.

Heading back home, or to Lilyfield on the Tram.

        As Haberfield is on the way home I manage to convince Ryan to stop over at Pasticceria Papa so we can try out what is apparantly Sydney's best cheesecake.

        I fall in love with this cheesecake, served with a bit of cream on the side. The cream is suprisingly sweetened and delicious to eat with the cheesecake. The cheesecake itself is smooth and creamy, perfectly flavoured. The pastry crust is a nice and tasty contrast to the cheese filling. "Oh yeah, it's good" is the murmur that comes out of Ryan's mouth. I almost want to lick the plate.

        We had to try the Ricotta Cannoli too. I'm suprised at how crispy the shell is as we've had a fair few cannoli, some have been good, whereas some were just soft and soggy. The ones from Papa's are awesome. I've always wanted to make my own but these are so good I don't think I would bother. Stopping over at Papa's I think was a fitting end to our day out.