Excelsior Jones, Ashfield

Excelsior Jones may have only been trading for three weeks (day one was January 11) but locals can't get enough. Ashfield is home to many a fine dumpling house, but finding a decent cafe has always been a struggle. Co-owners Anthony Svilicich and James Naylor (both ex- Le Monde) have come to the rescue, opening up Excelsior Jones in a long-gone local grocery store in a residential street in Ashfield.

The name sounds more like a superhero but apparently Excelsior and Jones were both former names of Queen Street where it sits, research undertaken by Anthony early on.

The corner building on a triangular-shaped block reminds me a little of Cornersmith in Marrickville, and so too, does it herald a new sense of hipster chic in a previously daggy (and proud of it) suburb.


Seating at the kitchen counter

Inside, the dining room is awash with natural light from surrounding large windows. There's plenty of evidence of attention to the finer details, like a slick logo and industrial light fittings and there are more brown science bottles (for tap water and sugar) than a hipster could possibly ask for. Wooden chairs and tables and bare floor boards give a clean finish but minimal insulation can make for a loud and clangy meal when the room is full (and on weekends, that's almost always).


Coffees $3.50

We fuel up with coffees and chai for our weekend breakfast. They use Five Senses coffee beans here and my double shot flat white is reasonably strong with a smooth finish.


Five Senses coffee beans at Excelsior Jones uses Five Senses coffee beans


Chai $4.50


Eggs benedict $14

The breakfast menu runs through lighter options like house-made granola with yoghurt ($10), poached and fresh summer fruits ($11) and sourdough pikelets with strawberry compote and custard ($13). We skip past the sauteed field mushrooms ($14) and bacon and egg sandwich ($10) and move into heartier fare, like the eggs benedict - two toasted muffin halves draped with smoky Black Forest gypsy ham, poached eggs and a runny lake of perfect Hollandaise.


House-cured salmon hash $14
with pearl shallots, fried buckwheat, poached egg and fresh herbs

Hash is my kind of breakfast. Nobbly bits of potato are pan-fried with buckwheat until crispy on the edges, served with micro leaves, sweet bulbs of slow roasted pearl shallots and a quivering poached egg hiding a runny yolk that will spill lusciously over everything in its path. The hash comes with shredded pork hock or chunks of house-smoked salmon, so intensely smoky it jars the palate at first, but the flesh is soft and rich.


View into the open kitchen


Carrot cake

In hindsight we should have shared the pikelets for dessert, but we're distracted by the cakes in the window that include strawberry cheesecake and almond madeleines. We share a demure slice of carrot cake, moist and nutty with an artistic squiggle of cream cheeses frosting and two caramelised walnuts on top.


Carrot cakes and strawberry cheesecakes behind the counter

We don't get to the lunch menu but the slow roasted lamb sandwich ($14), marinated zucchini and haloumi sandwich ($12) and grass-fed Angus beef cheeseburger ($16) all sound tempting. You can even relive your childhood with housemade chicken nuggets and chips ($10) and a spider ($6).




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Excelsior Jones
139A Queen Street, Ashfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9799 3240

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 7.30am-4pm
Saturday and Sunday 8am-4pm
Kitchen closed 3pm
Closed on Mondays

Poplar Central Asian Cuisine, Crows Nest

EDIT: Poplar Central Asian Cuisine has closed

Meat on sticks is good, but meat on swords is better. At Poplar, it’s chunks of lamb skewered onto swords of flattened steel, cooked over charcoal until smoky. Dusted liberally with cumin, the meat is tender and aromatic – if you’re lucky you’ll score a fatty piece that’s reminiscent of a caramelised lamb chop. The sword-like skewers are a throwback to the Central Asian soldiers of yore who would use their swords to grill meat over an open fire.


Zik kawap $12.50 for 5
Charcoal lamb skewers

The family-run Poplar has been open for two years but it’s quiet most nights bar a few loyal diners. It’s a shame because the menu offers a comprehensive selection of dishes that span the breadth of Central Asia, from lamb-filled Uzbek mantou buns to Kazakh lamb with noodles to Russian-style kotlet beef and potato croquettes. The interior is bright and clean, the menu is helpfully illustrated with photos and service is friendly and obliging.


Petir manta $12.50
Uzbek-specialty steamed manta

The zik kawap charcoal lamb skewers are a given. They’re so good you’ll probably order another round.


Dapan ji $20 small ($30 large)
Spicy chicken with potato and dried chilli served with freshly handmade noodles

Dapanji, meaning ‘big plate chicken’, is also a specialty and a much-loved favourite with Uighur locals. It’s a hearty comfort-food dish of chicken pieces on the bone, boiled potato, dried chilli and capsicum mixed through with handmade noodles that are satisfyingly chewy.


Piyaz poshkal $8
Shallot pancakes

Piyaz poshkal, or shallot pancakes, are also a winner – flaky rounds of pastry with a golden bubbled crunch.


Koy tili salad $10
Xinjiang-style lamb tongue salad

If you’re a fan of tripe, Poplar has you covered. The Xinjiang-style lamb tongue salad is vinegary and refreshing, but the lamb trip salad with capsicum is our pick with its sweeter dressing.



Kerin salad $15
Lamb tripe salad with capsicum

Relax. It’s not all innards. The gosh nan is like a pizza on steroids, a thick disc of bread cradling hunks of braised lamb on the bone in a lake of gravy.


Gosh nan $30
Braised lamb served on Central Asian naan



Suyuk ash $12
Xinjiang-style noodle soup

Finish up with suyuk ash, a massive bowl of Xinjiang spicy soup brimming with tomatoes, tofu, black fungus and noodles.



Terhemek salad $8
Cucumber salad


Sujuk $15
Xinjiang-style smoked sausages


Tuhum shorpa $10
Clear egg soup



Zik kawap $12.50 for 5
Charcoal lamb skewers





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Poplar Central Asian Cuisine (CLOSED)
Shop 2, 300 Pacific Highway
Crows Nest 2065
Tel: +61 (02) 9439 9886

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 11am-10pm

This article appears in the February 2013 issue of Time Out Sydney in my monthly Food & Drink column Eat This! [Read online] 

Read more Time Out Sydney reviews

Porteño, Surry Hills

Meat. And fire. The metal frames look more like torture instruments, but to a hot-blooded carnivore, the Argentinian asado barbecue pit offers a reverential appreciation for all things meat.

It's the promise of flesh that brings fervent diners to Porteño. Fifteen minutes before the doors open for dinner, the queue outside is consistently twenty people deep. Inside, the asado takes centre stage, an open charcoal pit that slowly roasts whole beasts for six hours or more. Each day, they cook two whole lambs and two whole pigs.  The unmistakeable smell of animal fat dripping over hissing coals weaves its way into every corner.


Porteno dining room

Arrive early and you'll score one of the moody nooks and crannies littered around the central exposed courtyard. Skylights overhead drench the courtyard in natural light, but its noticeably louder too, with an echo that builds with each diner.


Charcoal grill

The open kitchen means it's worth taking a wander, if only to see your dinner before it's plated. There are flames licking wood in the parilla grill, beasts splayed flat above the asado pit and more tattoos in the kitchen than a season 6 episode of Top Chef.


Beef cuts


Lamb ready for carving 

The menu is larger than you'd expect, with plenty of dishes to keep any waylaid vegetarians satisfied too, including broccoli and ricotta empanadas ($6.50), barbecued eggplant with peppers, cauliflower and tahini ($24) and roast beetroot with witlof and housemade feta ($24).


Lengua en escabeche $8
Pickled veal tongue

We start with the pickled veal tongue, wafer thin and enviably tender, elegantly draped in a pool of refreshing vinaigrette. Sure you can see the tastebuds, but for me, that's half the fun.


Tira de asado $38
Pasture-fed Angus beef short ribs

Pastured-fed Angus beef short ribs are simply done, cooked over charcoal to a caramelised crust. It's not a large portion, with each rib costing close to $10, but the meat is rich and fatty, with an intensity of flavour that comes from pasture-fed beef.

A little pot of chimichurri sauce - parsley, garlic, olive oil, oregano and vinegar - provides an acidic lift. All that's left on our plates are little bones, licked clean.


Cordero a la cruz $46
8 hour wood-fired lamb

The wood-fired lamb and pork don't come cheap either, but when you consider the eight hours of tending required - the animals are rotated and moved constantly around the firepit - it doesn't seem worth quibbling.


Chanchito a la cruz $46
8 hour wood-fired pig

Both the lamb and pig are succulent, hunks of flesh ribboned liberally with creamy fat. All the good bits are here too, like the crispy treats of lamb skin and shards of pork crackling that shatter with a resounding crunch.


Repollito de brusela frito $14
Crispy fried brussel sprouts with lentils and mint

The crispy fried brussel sprouts are a house specialty too, known to convert even the most ardent brussel sprout hater. They're a little on the oily side tonight, but the combination of nutty fried brussel sprouts with lentils and fresh mint leaves is both nourishing and refreshing.


Pulpo asado con chorizo, papas y alioli $26
BBQ octopus, chorizo, potato hash and alioli

We also find room for one more dish, tender barbecued octopus tentacles curled around dabs of intense garlicky alioli on a plank of chorizo. Golden towers of potato hash are a highlight.


Postre chaja $16
South American style pavlova

The postre chaja, described as a South American style pavlova, ticks the meringue and cream boxes. It even has a trail of passionfruit syrup. What it also brings is a turret of fluffy sponge cake, sandwiched with fresh mango, crushed nuts and a sticky puddle of dulce de leche caramel in the middle.


Leche quemada $16
Burnt milk custard with cherry and chocolate ice cream

But the knockout dessert is the leche quemada. The huddle of flan may look unassuming, but its silkiness will make your toes curl, a burnt milk custard that's slightly bitter, incredibly creamy and crowned with a thin veneer of blow-torched caramel.

Cap off your night with a glass of thirty-year-old Pedro Ximenez sherry ($19.50). It's like drinking raisins drenched in honey and golden syrup with a toffee chaser - guaranteed to end your evening on a sweet note.


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Porteno
358 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8399 1440

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday 6pm til late

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Town Bike Pitstop, Redfern

"Town Bike has a double meaning, I know, but we kinda like that," says co-owner John Azzi with a twinkle in his eye. Together with friend Graham Rowe, the two have created the Town Bike Pitstop, combining coffees with bicycle know-how.

The idea came from a shared love of commuter cycling that flourished during their stay in Amsterdam where they were former flatmates. Out the front is the cafe, serving coffee and a concise blackboard menu of breakfasts, sandwiches and snacks. Down the back is the Grease Monkey bicycle repair shop, a partnership with Nathanel Dyon who they found via a mutual friend in Amsterdam.


Bikes for sale and the Redfern Bike Depot at the back

It would be easy to dismiss the Town Bike as 'yet another hipster hangout' (even if they were recently featured in the New York Times) but there's a real sense of heart about a place that earnestly aims to be a part of the wider community. At the rear of the shop is the Redfern Bike Depot where cyclists can pump their tyres and use a dedicated workbench and tools to maintain and fix their bikes for free. They've even provided little packets of cleanser and cloths for de-greasing hands afterwards.


Nathanael Dyon in the Grease Monkey bike repair shop at the back

And as a recent cycling convert (noone picked that one!), it's hard not to appreciate the ease of accessory shopping with a lazy lunch. "You can get your bike fixed and your caffeine fix all in one!" proclaims John with a theatrical wave of his arm.


Original tiles from the original butchery

Most endearing of all is the original tilework, uncovered from its former life as a butchery established in the 1890s.


John Azzi, co-owner of the Town Bike Pitstop 

The menu is short and sweet but well considered given the limitations of the rudimentary kitchen available.


Town Bike Pitstop blackboard menu

The breads are by Sonoma, croissants are from Brasserie Bread and the coffee beans are roasted by Di Gabriel.


Flat white and latte coffees with Di Gabriel beans 


Roast chicken, tomato and dill may with gherkin $9  

There are three sandwiches on the menu today: roast beef, ham with Swiss or roast chicken. The meat pies and egg and bacon rolls on Turkish are all popular, and it takes some willpower to resist the offer of French toast with bacon ($9).


Dutch brekkie ei ham and kas $11.50
Eggs, ham and cheese

I opt for the Dutch breakfast instead, one of John's favourite things to eat in Amsterdam he confesses.


Like a cheesy frittata

The Dutch breakfast is a blistering hot serve of baked cheesy egg mixed through with surprise pockets of free range ham. It's fluffy, salty and rich, reminding me of a cheesy frittata or a double-baked souffle. An alternative version with smoked salmon is also available. Two thick slices of toast slathered with butter will tide you over until dinner.

Quirky but functional with friendly service. Get on your bike and get down there.


Giant chocolate chip cookies


Bikes in the window, including Early Rider bikes for kids




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Town Bike Pitstop
156 Abercrombie Street, Redern, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9699 0096

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 7am - 6pm
Saturday 8am - 4pm


Grease Monkey Bicycles
156 Abercrombie Street, Redern, Sydney
Tel: 0468 514 007

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 2pm


Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Redfern - Eathouse Diner
Chippendale - Cafe Giulia