Cavalier Specialty Café // Truffling around (●♡∀♡)

It that time of the year again, truffle season! Last year I went to a few places hunting for delicious truffle dishes, so of course this year there is no exception. First place to fulfill my truffle craves was Cavalier Specialty Cafe located in between Crows Nest and St Leonard. I invited Stephanie since last year she wasn't able to come due to work, so she was quite excited to try it out. You can read last year post on this cafe "here".

Cavalier Specialty Coffee

34 Oxley St, Crows Nest, Sydney

Opening Hours: 

Mon: CLOSED

Tues & Fri: 6:30am - 2:30pm

Sat & Sun: 8am - 2pm

INSTAGRAM

FCBA x MonteAltoRoasters // Casual Dining with fellow instafoodies! (*⌒▽⌒*)θ～♪

On Thursday, 11th August, I was invited by FCBA community to join them and a group of other foodies for a feast at the newly opened Monte Alto Roasters located in Crows Nest. They have been up and running for just over a month now and they have been expanding their good food, drinks and music with many of the locals. They are opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as offering a unique drink menu from the bar. 

TRUFFLE SEASON // Cavalier Speciality Coffee in St Leonards *(*´∀｀*)☆

Last Tuesday I met up with my friend, Virginia, for a catch brunch session. We decided to try something new and close to the both of us, so we decided on Cavalier Specialty Coffee, which is a 8-10min walk from St Leonards station. My main reason for choosing this place was because of their truffle menu that they are offering in July. So we ordered 3 dishes topped with truffle, along with a cup of coffee each. 

Cavalier Specialty Coffee

34 Oxley St, Crows Nest, Sydney

Opening Hours: 

Mon: CLOSED

Tues & Fri: 6:30am - 2:30pm

Sat & Sun: 8am - 2pm

Ph: n/a

INSTAGRAM

The truffles they are using are the highest grade truffle available, and is also locally grown down on the farm in Pemberton, where little mate Peri sniffed them out on his hunt. I was so lucky to get to see these two large truffles in their beautiful form and boy do they smell amazing!!!

First off, I ordered a mocha with truffle milk, topped with a pinch of salt and slice of truffle. I must say, when I heard truffle milk I was a bit weird-ed out. However, once I tried it, it actually had a really lovely taste, slightly mellow yet sweet, as the salt slightly enhanced the flavors of the truffle, milk and chocolate. 

The first main dish I tried was the Spanner Crab Brunch, topped with truffle (AUD$23 + $10; for truffle). It is a slow poached Queensland spanner crab with jersey milk, smoked sea mayonnaise, basil and 2 poached eggs. I absolutely loved this dish! It was light yet full of delicate flavor's!! However I couldn't really taste the truffle in this so I probably give this dish a miss for the addition of truffles. 

We also ordered another hot dish, which was their 3 Cheese Mushroom Macaroni, topped with truffles (AUD$16 + $10), which came with melted Mozzarella and cheddar cheese, macaroni, mushrooms, crumbs and snowie 50 month Caccionerone. It was quite a heavy and rich dish, I couldn't really taste the mushrooms much, but the truffles came through a bit here. 

Now I did save the best till last and it was their Tiramisu French Toast, topped with truffles (AUD$16 + $10). This is Cavalier's take on french toast with layers of mascarpone cream, chocolate and dulce de leche coffee cream served on brioche. Their french toast was absolutely divine!! It doesn't leave you with that sickly sweet after taste at all, which was perfect for me! I loved how the combination of the sweet ingredients went very well with the flavors and aromas of the shaved truffles! This is such a beautiful dish and I highly recommend everyone to try it out! 

I must say the spanner crab and french toast was my favourite dishes of the day. However I would have loved if the spanner crab was a little bit bigger in serving as it was quite a small dish. Regardless, I can definitely see myself coming back here for some more of the truffle milk coffees and trying their other dishes, maybe without the truffle this time as they do make the dish that much more expensive! 

♥♥♥♥♥

[120716]
Good morning guys! As you are reading this I am at work, learning more about my role and all!! Life is definitely going to be more and more busier every day, but since I'm young now it's good to work as hard as you can to earn that extra cash and invest into your relationships (with friends, family and your partner) as well as your future! 
Anyways have a lovely and beautiful morning, while I sit at my work desk craving for some truffle milk mocha!! 

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH

 

The Tall Lemongrass // Sydney - Crows Nest eats (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Earlier this week I was invited by Wendy, to have dinner at her restaurant located in Crows Nest, called The Tall Lemongrass. They offer a modern yet authentic Thai food menu and have unique trademark dishes such as the Yum Aubergine Stack and Egg Net Mieng Khumm.

The interior of the place looked quite lovely and created a wonderful atmosphere to relax and enjoy your meal. I loved the deep orange wood craving placed around their restaurant on their walls. 

The Tall Lemongrass
136 Willoughby Rd, Crows Nest, Sydney NSW

Opening Hours: Mon-Sun: 11am - 3pm & 5pm - topm

Ph: (02) 9966 0350

INSTAGRAM

For our first entrée we had the Mieng Khumm egg net with prawn. It came with sweet radish, grounded peanut, cooked prawns, freshly chopped galangal, lime, ginger, red onion and betel leaf, wrapped in an egg net. We could taste all the herbs, which gave a refreshing and zingy taste to it, and the prawns were cooked to perfection too. 

The other entrée we got was The Cigar, which was chicken mince with coriander, fish sauce and white pepper rolled inside a thin egg pastry. You usually get a serving of 10 sticks, however we got 8 as Wendy wanted us to have more room in our stomach for her other dishes. 

These came out freshly fried as they were piping hot and they are a great snack while waiting for your mains to come out. However, I think these would have tasted even better if they had some prawns in them too. 

Our last entrée was the Mieng Khumm with duck which also came with freshly chopped galangal, lime, ginger and red onion in a betel leaf and tamarind sauce. They were a bit heavier with the fish sauce so it was a tad salty and I wish the duck was a little more smokier too. However this was a delightful entrée to have because of how light and refreshing it was. It usually serves 4 but we cut it down to 2. 

Our first main we had was their Deep fried duck in plum sauce, and it is a slow-cooked merryland duck, deep fried with sauce from the wok. The duck was very tender as the meat just fell off the bone and the plum sauce went very well with the duck. It was very delicious and became one of my favourite dishes of the night. 

Next up was the Massaman beef curry, it was a slow cooked gravy beef and potato in a red curry paste with coconut milk. I quite liked the flavours and the beef was quite tender too, but my partner thought it tasted closer to rendang curry.

My favourite Thai dish is usually the crispy pork belly with beans and they had a whole page with pork dishes, which got me pretty excited. Wendy ordered us the Prik Khing crispy pork, which was presented on a beautiful plate. The flavouring of the sauce was delicious and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. I was really looking forward to the crispy and crunchy skin but I think the pork had absorbed the sauce too much so it went soft. 

My partner was ready to try their Crying tiger, where the grilled beef is marinate with chilli and soy sauce with sticky rice on the side. Usually the beef are served medium-rare but this one was a bit overcooked so it had more of a chew than usual. Also the sauce is not like the traditional one we usually have when we eat Thai, but still quite good. As for the sticky rice, I had never seen a crying tiger dish served with it before, but it was in fact nice and different. 

We were super full but we had to try their Yum Aubergine Stack as it is one of their signature dishes on their menu. It comes with chicken, prawns, onion, mint, coriander and chilli sandwiched between two deep fried eggplant, dressed in their signature yum dressing. The dish looks amazing and I really enjoyed this final dish! It was really refreshing, light yet very flavourful, with all the ingredients used and I can see why it is a signature dish.

Then it was time for dessert, where we we contemplating if we should have it or not. We decided we should and so we ordered their Banana fritters and Black sticky rice. 

The banana fritters were also fried to order, so they were served warm. The batter was not too thick so it had that nice crunch on the outside and warm cooked banana on the inside. It was also drizzled in some maple syrup for that extra sweetness to it. 

I really enjoyed their black sticky rice with coconut cream. Once again it was served hot and the rice was not overly sweet or sticky too. It is probably one of the best black sticky rice I had in a while and definitely a great way to end our dining experience!!

Overall, The Tall Lemongrass is a lovely place, as their staff are friendly, the atmosphere and interior is gorgeous and their dishes have generous serving portions, which is perfect to share with friends or family. Prices I would say are mid-high range, depending on what you order. Also, some dishes were more seasoned than others, I loved how they used lot of herbs to bring out even more flavours of the ingredients which is why I did enjoy my meal. 

Before I left, I had to take a photo with the lovely owner, Wendy! She is a really lovely person and she also recommended most of the dishes to us that night too. Although this dining experience was taken up on the gratuitous invitation, I wrote down my honest opinion on each dish that we had that night. I cannot wait to come back again, since it is not too far for me to get to and hopefully dine with Wendy herself, if she is not too busy. 

♥♥♥♥♥

[170416]
Good afternoon everyone! I have been a bit busy as I had an essay due last Friday and an online quiz due by Monday morning, which is why I haven't been able to blog the last few days. Anyway I will be filming a review video for an online shop for you guys soon so subscribe to my channel to keep updated. 

Remember to like my facebook page, subscribe to my youtube channel, follow my instagram:"lazypandah" & LOOKBOOK:lazypandah for daily updates! 

Comments are love ♥

-LAZYPANDAH